the Hebrews, and is prosecuted more extensively in the latter epistle, than in any of the other acknowledged epistles of Paul. Noesselt has used the same argument, in order to prove that the epistle to the Hebrews must have been written to the church in Thessalonica; and Weber, to shew that it was written to the Corinthians. Might it not be used, with similar effect, to show also that it was written to the Romans? Such an argument may be of some weight in the question, whether Paul, or some other person, wrote the epistle to the Hebrews; but it cannot be of much avail to show that this epistle was written to the church at Galatia, rather than to some other church.

(7) But the argument on which Storr seems to place most reliance of all, and which, if well founded, is of a historical and not of a conjectural nature, is that deduced from 2 Pet. 3: 14-16.

As this passage is not only adduced by Storr, for the purpose of shewing that the epistle to the Hebrews was written to the Galatians; but is also adduced by him, and by many other critics of great reputation, for the purpose of proving that Paul must have been the author of the epistle to the Hebrews; in order to save repetition, I shall here examine it in reference to both of these topics, since I must of necessity institute an examination of it, with respect to the topic now under discussion.

The passage runs thus: "Wherefore, beloved, since ye are in expectation of these things [viz. the changes described in the preceding context], make strenuous efforts that ye may be found of him [Christ] in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider the delay of our Lord as to his coming, a matter of favour: even as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, hath written to you; as [he has done] likewise in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood; which the ignorant and the unstable pervert, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."

To understand the nature of the argument drawn from this, we must advert to some circumstances mentioned in the epistles of Peter. His first epistle is directed to the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 1 Pet. 1: 1. His second is directed to the same churches; for he says, "This second epistle, beloved, I write to you, in which I aim to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance," 2 Pet. 3: 1. To the above named churches in Asia Minor, then, the second epistle of Peter was directed.

The nature of Storr's argument may now be understood. It is this. 'In all the epistles of Paul, excepting that to the Hebrews, the churches are designated to which they were sent; but not so in the epistle to the Hebrews. Peter says, that Paul had written a letter to the churches in Asia Minor whom he addresses; as our beloved brother Paul hath written TO YOU. Now this cannot advert to any of his letters which have inscriptions, as they are not directed to the afore-named churches in Asia Minor. Consequently, Peter must refer to the epistle to the Hebrews, which is the only one that has no inscription. It follows, therefore, not only that Paul wrote this letter, but that he wrote it to some of the churches addressed by Peter. Most probably, then, it was written to Galatia. Especially is this credible, since the epistle to the Hebrews contains those

very warnings and sentiments to which Peter adverts, as being comprised in the letter of Paul to the churches in Asia Minor whom he addresses.'

One is tempted, at first view, to acquiesce in a statement seemingly so probable, and to conclude that the inference drawn by Storr is substantially supported. A closer examination, however, suggests formidable difficulties, which must not be passed over in silence.

I omit, at present, any consideration respecting the genuineness of the second epistle of Peter so much called in question, and disputed by many churches of ancient times. It is unnecessary here to take other ground in regard to it than that which Storr himself has taken, i. e. to admit its genuineness. What then does the passage of Peter, now in question, teach us?

(1) That Paul had written a letter to the churches whom Peter addressed, ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν. (2) That he had urged on them the same considerations which Peter himself had urged; even as our beloved brother Paul hath written to you. (3) That in all his epistles (viz. all that had been read by them), he had urged the same or the like considerations; as likewise in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things.

The question, on which the point under discussion mainly turns, is, What are the things to which Peter refers, as treated of in common by him and by Paul?

To find an answer to this, we may make three suppositions. First, they are all the subjects treated of in the preceding part of Peter's epistle; or secondly, they are those comprised in the preceding part of the third chapter; or thirdly, they are those things suggested by the immediate context, in connexion with the passage already cited.

Now the first of these suppositions cannot be admitted; for Paul is so far from treating, in all his epistles, of every subject comprised in the whole of Peter's second epistle, that he has no where treated of some of them. If Peter then referred to the epistles of Paul which are now extant, it is clear he did not mean to say, that Paul had, in every epistle of his, discussed the same subjects that he himself had discussed throughout his second letter.

But Storr urges in a special manner the second supposition, viz. that the subjects presented to view in the third chapter of Peter's second epistle, are particularly treated of in the epistle to the Hebrews; and consequently that Peter must have referred to these subjects, and to that epistle. The sum of the third chapter of Peter is, 'That the heavens and the earth are perishable; that they will be destroyed by fire; that the delay to destroy the ungodly must not be imputed to slackness on the part of the Lord, who puts off this catastrophe on account of his long-suffering towards men; and that the time when they shall be dissolved by fire, will come speedily and unexpectedly, and then the heavens and the earth will be destroyed, and new heavens and a new earth created.' Such is the context. Then follows the exhortation; "Beloved, keep yourselves unspotted and blameless; and regard the delay of your Lord's coming as a favour; even as our beloved brother Paul has written to you, etc." Now where has Paul written any thing respecting the dissolution of the material elements of the universe by fire, and the creating of new heavens and

a new earth instead of them? I do not find this subject treated of in the epistle to the Hebrews; nor is it touched upon in all the epistles of Paul; it is only adverted to in some of them. It is then,

Thirdly, the exhortation in the immediate context, to keep themselves unspotted and blameless, in view of their Lord's coming, which Peter means to say had been urged by Paul on the persons whom he addressed, as well as by himself. This is the plain grammatical construction; and it is the only one which will bear examination, by comparing it with the contents of Paul's epistles.

But exhortation of such a nature is far from being contained only in the epistle to the Hebrews. The epistles to the Corinthians, Philippians, the first to the Thessalonians, the first to Timothy, and that to Titus, contain direct exhortations of this sort; and the other epistles of Paul exhibit repeated intimations of the same nature. If the argument is good, then, to prove that the epistle to the Hebrews was written to the Galatians, because it contains such sentiments and exhortations as those in question, then the same argument might prove, that any of the other epistles of Paul were written to the same church, because they contain the like sentiments.

But there is one of the churches in Asia Minor to which Peter wrote, namely that of Galatia, to which a letter of Paul now extant is addressed. May not this be the very epistle to which Peter adverts, and not the epistle to the Hebrews? In chapter 6: 7-9, is a passage of warning and exhortation, grounded on the doctrine of future retribution. This possibly may be the very passage to which Peter adverts; or if any should think it too general to satisfy the reference which he makes, (as one would naturally be rather prone to think), then the exhortation may have been in a letter now lost. That some of Paul's letters are lost is pretty certain, from 1 Cor. 5:9-11; see also, Phil. 3: 1. Evidently one of John's epistles is lost; "I wrote to the church," says he in his second epistle, verse 9, "but Diotrephes, who loves preeminence, did not receive us.” We have no remains of the epistle to which he here adverts. of Paul, which Peter mentions, may have shared the same fate. At most, the epistle to the Hebrews, even supposing it to be proved that Paul wrote it, has no special claim to be considered as the one adverted to by Peter.

The letter

If then it cannot be shewn, (as I am fully persuaded it cannot), that Peter, in the passage under consideration, adverts to the epistle to the Hebrews, of course it cannot be shewn from Peter's testimony, that Paul wrote this epistle. This argument has, indeed, been often and strongly urged by modern and late critics, in order to establish this point; but it will not abide the test of examination. The ancient church, it is well known, never brought it forward to support the opinion that Paul was the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. Storr himself, who urges it very strongly, concedes that it was never employed by the Christian fathers. It does not follow, indeed, that it has no validity, because it was not employed by them. But it would seem, at least, that the proof to be derived from it is not so obvious, nor so conclusive, as some modern critics have deemed it.

(8) Storr adduces the special circumstances of the churches addressed in the epistles to the Galatians and to the Hebrews, as a ground for the opinion, that both epistles were directed to the church at Galatia. The Galatians,' says he, 'had for a long time been Christians; so had the Hebrews. The Galatians were persecuted and misled by false teachers, and were in danger of defection from Christianity; so were the Hebrews.' Now so far from finding evidence of sameness, in the representations of the two epistles respecting these circumstances, I find proof of dissimilarity so great as to exclude all hope of supporting the opinion of Storr, and to shew that the admission of it would do great violence to the laws of probability. To the Galatians Paul says, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him who called you to the grace of Christ, unto another gospel," Gal. 1:6. To the Hebrews he says, “When for the time [i. e. plainly the long time since they professed Christianity] ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again to be taught the first elements of religion," Heb. 5: 12. Again, "Call to mind the former days in which, when ye were enlightened, ye endured a great fight of afflictions," 10: 32. And again, the writer calls on them to "remember the example of their former teachers, who were deceased," 13: 7.

Then as to persecution, the Hebrews had suffered the loss of their property by it, 10:34; but there is no intimation of this in respect to the Galatians. Indeed, there is no proof that out of Palestine persecution was such, in the apostolic age, (one or two instances only excepted), as to deprive men of either property or life. The Roman magistracy did not permit this, either out of Palestine or in it, so long as they were in authority. This is evident from several passages of history in the Acts; e. g. Acts 18: 12, 17. 19: 35-40. Acts xvI. XXVI. Then there is a great difference between the kind of persecution animadverted upon in the epistle to the Galatians, and in that to the Hebrews. In the former, Christians are addressed as in danger, from their pressure, of incorporating Judaism with Christianity, and making the continued profession of it essential to salvation; in the latter, they are every where addressed as in danger of a final and total renunciation of the Christian religion. In the one, they are dehorted from superadding the Jewish ceremonies to Christianity; in the other, from utterly abandoning the Christian religion.

But further; Paul says, in Gal. 6:11," Ye see how LARGE a letter I have written to you with my own hand." Yet this epistle consists of only sir chapters of a moderate length. How then could Paul say to a part of the same church, in a letter accompanying this, "I beseech you, brethren, to bear with a word of exhortation from me, for I have written unto you dia Boazέwv, IN A FEW WORDS," or briefly, Heb. 13:22. Yet this brief epistle is more than twice as long as the large letter which accompanied it. Could Paul so forget himself, on such an occasion as this?

Again, Paul often adverts, in his epistle to the Galatians, to the fact that he was the first who taught them the doctrines of Christianity. Yet in the epistle to the Hebrews there is not a word of this; but, plainly, the whole manner of the letter, and specially the manner in which he speaks of the teachers of those whom he addresses, implies that he had not himself planted the church to which his letter was directed.

But what determines the question beyond all hope of supporting the views of Storr, is, that in the epistle to the Galatians, their teachers are animadverted upon with great severity, on account of their improper conduct and erroneous doctrines. They are represented as perverting the gospel of Christ; as having an erroneous zeal for selfish purposes, 4: 17. 5: 13; and the apostle even proceeds so far as to express a wish, that they might be cut off from the church, 5: 12. But how totally dif ferent is the character given of teachers, in the epistle to the Hebrews! "Obey your teachers, and be subject to them; for they watch over your souls as they that must give an account;" i. e. they are altogether worthy of your confidence and obedience, 13: 17. And at the close of the letter, he sends his affectionate salutations to them, 13 : 24.

These considerations seem to remove all probability, and even possibility that the epistle to the Hebrews was, as Storr maintains, written at the same time and place as the epistle to the Galatians, and that it was also directed to the same church.

The excellent character and distinguished acuteness of Storr, entitle almost any opinion which he has seriously defended to examination; but I cannot resist the impression, that he has utterly failed in defending the sentiment which has now been examined.

I have, throughout this investigation, proceeded on the supposition that Paul wrote the epistle to the Hebrews; which Storr fully believed. Whether there is sufficient reason to believe that Paul was the author of the epistle, will be a subject of discussion in a subsequent part of this introduction. In the mean time I shall concede this point, (while examining the question relative to its destination), to all the writers who have assumed it in supporting their respective opinions. Such is the case with most of those, whose various opinions relative to the destination of our epistle still remain to be examined, or to which any reference will be made.

6. Was the epistle directed to the church at Thessalonica ?

The character which has just been given of Storr will also apply, in respect to some of its prominent traits, to Noesselt, late professor of Theology at Halle, who has maintained, in an essay devoted to this purpose, that the epistle to the Hebrews was written to the churches in Macedonia, or rather to the church at Thessalonica; Opusc. Fascic. I. No. 10. Semler had done this before him; but on somewhat different grounds, and with less plausible reasons. On this account, I shall now, without particularly adverting to the efforts of Semler, proceed to examine the more ably supported opinion of Noesselt.

The general principle to which Noesselt makes an appeal in his argument, in itself considered, is correct. He endeavours to show, that 'there are circumstances mentioned in the epistle to the Hebrews, in Paul's epistles to the Thessalonian church, and in the life of this apostle, which af ford a very striking agreement; so striking as to render it altogether probable, that Paul must have directed to this church the epistle which is now inscribed, To the Hebrews; and that he must have written it during