"All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you: they shall make known unto you all things which are done here." Colos. chap. iv. 7-9. Both Epistles represent the writer as under imprisonment for the gospel; and both treat of the same general subject. The Epistle therefore to the Ephesians, and the Epistle to the Colossians, import to be two letters written by the same person, at, or nearly at, the same time, and upon the same subject, and to have been sent by the same messenger. Now, every thing in the sentiments, order, and diction of the two writings corresponds with what might be expected from this circumstance of identity or cognation in their original. The leading doctrine of both Epistles is the union of Jews and Gentiles under the Christian dispensation; and that doctrine in both is established by the same arguments, or, more properly speaking, illustrated by the same similitudes*. "One head," 99 66 one body," " one new man, ""one temple," are in both Epistles the figures, under which the society of believers in Christ, and their * St. Paul, I am apt to believe, has been sometimes accused of inconclusive reasoning, by our mistaking that for reasoning which was only intended for illustration. He is not to be read as a man, whose own persuasion of the truth of what he taught always or solely depended upon the views under which he represents it in his writings. Taking for granted the certainty of his doctrine, as resting upon the revelation that had been imparted to him, he exhibits it frequently to the conception of his readers under images and allegories, in which if an analogy may be perceived, or even sometimes a poetick resemblance be found, it is all perhaps that is required. common relation to him as such, is represented*. The ancient, and, as had been thought, the indelible distinction between Jew and Gentile, in both Epistles, is declared to "" Beside this consent in be "now abolished by his cross. the general tenor of the two Epistles, and in the run also and warmth of thought with which they are composed, we may naturally expect, in letters produced under the circumstances, in which these appear to have been written, a closer resemblance of style and diction, than between other letters of the same person, but of distant dates, or between letters adapted to different occasions. In particular we may look for many of the same expressions, and sometimes for whole sentences being alike; since such expressions and sentences would be repeated in the second letter (whichever that was) as yet fresh in the author's mind from the writing of the first. This repetition occurs in the following examplest.: Ephes. ch. i. 7. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins ‡." Colos. ch. i. 14. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins§.” When verbal comparisons are relied upon, it becomes necessary to state the original; but that the English reader may be interrupted as little as may be, I shall in general do this in the note. + Ephes. ch. i. 7. Εν ω εχομεν την απολύτρωσιν δια το άίματος αυτό, την άφεσιν των παραπτωμάτων. § Colos. ch. i. 14. Εν ω εχομεν την απολυτρωσιν δια το αίματος αυτό, την aqisi TWV Åμagtv. However, it must be observed, that in this latter text many copies have not δια τε άίματος αυτό. Beside the sameness of the words, it is further remarkable that the sentence is, in both places, preceded by the same introductory idea. In the Epistle to the Ephesians it is the "beloved" (yanμery); in that to the Colossians it is "his dear Son,” (v18 тng ayawns aury,) “in whom we have redemption." The sentence appears to have been suggested to the mind of the writer by the idea which had accompanied it before. Ephes. ch. i. 10. "All things both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him*." Colos. ch. i. 20. "All things by him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heavent." This quotation is the more observable, because the connecting of things in earth with things in heaven is a very singular sentiment, and found no where else but in these two Epistles. The words also are introduced and followed by a train of thought nearly alike. They are introduced by describing the union, which Christ had effected, and they are followed by telling the Gentile churches that they were incorporated into it. Ephes. ch. iii. 2. "The dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you ward‡." Colos. ch. i. 25. "The dispensation of God, which is given to me for you§." Of these sentences it may likewise be observed, that the accompanying ideas are similar. In both places they are immediately preceded by the mention of his present sufferings; in both places they are immediately followed by the Ephes. ch. i. 10. † Colos. ch. i. 20. Ephes. ch. iii. 2. Colos. ch. i. 25. Τα τε εν τοις έρανοίς και τα επί της γης, εν αυτώ. Την οικονομίαν της χάριτος το Θεό της δοθείσης μοι εις ύμας. mention of the mystery which was the great subject of his preaching. Ephes. ch. v. 19. "In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord*." Colos. ch. iii. 16. "In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lordt." Ephes. ch. vi. 22. "Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts‡." " Colos. ch. iv. 8. "Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts§." In these examples, we do not perceive a cento of phrases gathered from one composition, and strung together in the other; but the occasional occurrence of the same expression to a mind a second time revolving the same ideas. 2. Whoever writes two letters, or two discourses, nearly upon the same subject, and at no great distance of time, but without any express recollection of what he had written before, will find himself repeating some sentences in the very order of the words, in which he had already used them; but he will more frequently find himself employing some principal terms, with the other inadvertently changed, or with the other disturbed by the intermixture of other * Ephes. ch. v. 19. Ψαλμος και ύμνοις και ώδεις πνευματικαίς, άδοντες και ψάλλοντες εν τη καρδια ύμων τῷ Κυρίῳ. † Colos. ch. iii. 16. Ψαλμοις και ύμνοις και ώδεις πνευματικαίς, εν χάριτι άδοντες εν τη καρδια ύμων τῷ Κυρίῳ. + Ephes. ch. vi. 22. Οι επεμψα προς έμας εις αυτό τότο, όμων, και παρακαλέση τας καρδίας ύμων. iva γνωτε τα περι § Colos. ch. iv. 8. Ον επεμψα προς ύμας εις αυτό τούτο, ἵνα γνῳ τα περὶ ὑμων, και παρακάλεση τας καρδίας ύμων. words and phrases expressive of ideas rising up at the time; or in many instances repeating not single words, nor yet whole sentences, but parts and fragments of sentences. Of all these varieties the examination of our two Epistles will furnish plain examples: and I should rely upon this class of instances more than upon the last; because, although an impostor might transcribe into a forgery entire sentences and phrases, yet the dislocation of words, the partial recollection of phrases and sentences, the intermixture of new terms and new ideas with terms and ideas before used, which will appear in the examples that follow, and which are the natural properties of writings produced under the circumstances in which these Epistles are represented to have been composed-would not, I think, have occurred to the invention of a forger; nor, if they had occurred, would they have been so easily executed. This studied variation was a refinement in forgery which I believe did not exist; or, if we can suppose it to have been practised in the instances adduced below, why, it may be asked, was not the same art exercised upon those which we have collected in the preceding class? Ephes. ch. i. 19. ch. ii. 5. "Towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead (and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, And hath put all things under his feet; and gave him to be the head over all things, to the church, which is his body, the fulness of all things, that filleth all in all) and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins (wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the : |