satisfy my mind that the epistle was written
by St. Paul, and by St. Paul in the situation
in which the history places him. Let it be
remembered, that in the nineteenth chapter
of the Acts, St. Paul is represented as driven
away from Ephesus, or as leaving however
Ephesus, in consequence of an uproar in that
city, excited by some interested adversaries
of the new religion. The account of the
tumult is as follows: "When they heard
these sayings," viz. Demetrius's complaint
of the danger to be apprehended from St.
Paul's ministry to the established worship of
the Ephesian goddess,
wrath, and cried out,

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they were full of saying, 'Great is And the whole city

Diana of the Ephesians.
was filled with confusion; and having caught
Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's companions in
travel, they rushed with one accord into the
theatre; and when Paul would have entered
in unto the people, the disciples suffered him
not; and certain of the chief of Asia, which
were his friends, sent unto him desiring
that he would not adventure himself into the
theatre. Some, therefore, cried one thing,
and some another: for the assembly was
confused, and the more part knew not where-
fore they were come together. And they

1

drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward; and Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made his defence unto the people; but, when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.' When he was arrived in Macedonia, he wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians which is now before us; and he begins his epistle in this wise: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ; and whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation: and our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that, as.

ye

ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life; but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." Nothing could be more expressive of the circumstances in which the history describes St. Paul to have been, at the time when the epistle purports to be written; or rather, nothing could be more expressive of the sensations. arising from these circumstances, than this passage. It is the calm recollection of a mind emerged from the confusion of instant danger. It is that devotion and solemnity of thought, which follows a recent deliverance. There is just enough of particularity in the passage to show that it is to be referred to the tumult at Ephesus; "We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia." And there is nothing more; no mention of Demetrius, of the seizure of St. Paul's friends,

of the interference of the town-clerk, of the occasion or nature of the danger which St. Paul had escaped, or even of the city where it happened; in a word, no recital from which a suspicion could be conceived, either that the author of the epistle had made use of the narrative in the Acts; or, on the other hand, that he had sketched the outline, which the narrative in the Acts only filled up. That the forger of an epistle, under the name of St. Paul, should borrow circumstances from a history of St. Paul then extant; or, that the author of a history of St. Paul should gather materials from letters bearing St. Paul's name may be credited: but I cannot believe that any forger whatever should fall upon an expedient so refined, as to exhibit sentiments adapted to a situation, and to leave his readers to seek out that situation from the history; still less that the author of a history should go about to frame facts and circumstances, fitted to supply the sentiments which he found in the letter. It may be said, perhaps, that it does not appear from the history, that any danger threatened St. Paul's life in the uproar, at Ephesus, so imminent as that from which in the epistle he represents himself to have

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been delivered. This matter, it is true, is not stated by the historian in form; but the personal danger of the apostle, we cannot doubt, must have been extreme, when the "whole city was filled with confusion;" when the populace had "seized his companions ;" when, in the distraction of his mind, he insisted upon coming forth amongst them;" when the Christians who were about him "would not suffer him;" when "his friends, certain of the chief of Asia, sent to him, desiring that he would not adventure himself in the tumult; when, lastly, he was obliged to quit immediately the place and the country," and when the tumult was ceased, to depart into Macedonia." All which particulars are found in the narration, and jus→ tify St. Paul's own account," that he was pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that he despaired even of life; that he had the sentence of death in himself; i. e. that he looked upon himself as a man condemned to die.

No. IV,

It has already been remarked, that St. Paul's original intention was to have visited