4. THE MAJOR PROPHETS

ISAIAH

This most eminent and holy man began to prophesy about seven hundred and sixty years before Christ, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh, kings of Judah. This last king was extremely wicked; and under his reign, and by his command, it is said that Isaiah suffered martyrdom, being sawed asunder with a wooden saw! He is supposed to have been of the blood royal of Judah; and is the most sublime of all the prophets. His prophecies are so clear and minute, that they appear rather to be narrations of things past, than predictions of things to come. Of these prophecies the first five chapters are supposed to have been delivered in the reign of Uzziah; the sixth in the reign of Jotham; the seventh to the fifteenth in the reign of Ahaz; and the rest in that of Hezekiah. His predictions of the advent, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glorious conquests of Jesus Christ, are so clear and pointed, as to have gained him the appellation of the evangelical prophet. He spoke clearly also of the calling of the Gentiles; and foretold the ruin that Nebuchadnezzar brought on the Tyrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Philistines; and also the ruin of Nebuchadnezzar himself, and the Babylonish empire. He is supposed to have prophesied about fifty or sixty years.


JEREMIAH

This man was a priest of the tribe of Benjamin; and entered on the prophetic office about the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, seventy years after the death of Isaiah. He foretold the ruin, captivity, and restoration of the Jews, and the destruction of the Babylonish empire. He also predicted the calling of the Gentiles. He lived to see the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and suffered much himself; all which he feelingly describes. When Jerusalem was taken, and the king of Babylon had committed the government of the land to Gedaliah, Jeremiah continued in Judea: but Ishmael, who was of the seed royal, having slain Gedaliah, the remaining Jews, fearing the Chaldeans, fled to Egypt, whither this prophet was carried, and there died or was put to death. He prophesied about forty-five years, during the reigns of Josiah, Jekoiakim, and Zedekiah, and under the government of Gedaliah; about five hundred and eighty-eight years before Christ.


LAMENTATIONS

The Lamentations of Jeremiah, composed after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of Judah, are divided into five distinct chapters, which are so many beautiful elegies bewailing those sad events. Chap. i-iv, are written in acrostics, each verse beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in consecutive order. The third chapter is written in double acrostics; and the fifth in single lines, without this artificial order.


EZEKIEL

This prophet was one of the Jews who were carried captive to Babylon, with Jehoiakim, king of Judah. He began to prophesy in Chaldea, about the fifth year of the captivity, before Christ five hundred and ninety-five years; and continued about twenty-five years. He preached against the iniquities of the Jews; and foretold the destruction of several neighboring nations, enemies to the Jews. He was chiefly sent for the edification of the poor captives in Babylon. He foretold the calling of the Gentiles, and the glorious state of the church of God, under the similitude of a temple, the parts of which he very minutely describes. He is on the whole very obscure.


DANIEL

This prophet was also one of the captives in Babylon, whither it is supposed he was carried when very young. He was contemporary with Ezekiel; and was famous for wisdom, penetration, and piety. His prophecies concerning the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem, the formation of the Chaldean, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, and their revolutions, are so very clear that their very dates are fixed. That concerning the advent and death of our Lord is the clearest prophecy ever delivered: though he lived nearly six hundred years before our Lord, he foretold the very year in which he should be manifested, and the year in which he should be cut off. He, and his companions, after running great risks, and suffering great hardships, were raised to great honors in, the kingdom of Babylon. His prophecy is a lasting monument against the Jews of the truth of the Christian religion. He died about five hundred and thirty-six years before Christ.

5. THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS

HOSEA

This prophet is thought by some to have been the earliest of all the prophets. He was certainly contemporary with Isaiah; and exercised his office in the kingdom of Israel, about the same time that Isaiah exercised his in the kingdom of Judah. His prophecies are chiefly directed against the ten tribes, previously to their being carried into captivity. He also predicts the coming of the Messiah, and the glorious state of the Christian church. He flourished from seven hundred and eighty-five to seven hundred and twenty-five years before Christ.


JOEL

This prophet was contemporary with Hosea, and flourished about seven hundred and eighty-five years before the incarnation. His prophecy may be considered in the light of a very solemn sermon, warning the Jews to repent of their sins; foretelling a grievous famine which was to be occasioned by an innumerable host of locusts; promises the penitent Gods mercy; and foretells in a very pointed manner that great outpouring of the divine Spirit which should take place under the gospel dispensation.


AMOS

This man was neither of the sacerdotal nor prophetic order: but was a herdsman, a keeper of cattle, in the territory of Tekoa; and was sent by God to call the people of Israel to repentance, and denounce the divine judgments against the workers of iniquity. He foretells the judgments of God which were to fall on the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. He flourished about seven hundred and eighty-seven years before Christ.


OBADIAH

This is the shortest of all the prophets. His prophecy refers to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, whom he threatens with utter destruction, because of their cruelty and oppression to the Jews. It is supposed that he lived about five hundred and eighty-seven years before the Christian era; and was contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel.


JONAH

Jonah was a native of Gath-Hepher, in Galilee; and was sent by God to denounce his judgments against the Ninevites: but, fearing for his personal safety, he determined on leaving is own country; and so took ship, and endeavored to escape to Tarshish. Meeting with an extraordinary storm, the sailors, concluding that there must be some person aboard against whom there was divine wrath, questioned him on the subject. He confessed his sin, was thrown overboard, and was swallowed by a fish, in whose belly he remained three days and three nights; and was a type of our Lords death and resurrection. The fish having cast him up on dry land, he went to Nineveh, delivered the divine message; the people trembled, fasted, and repented, and were saved. He is supposed to have flourished about eight hundred and sixty-two years before our Lord.


MICAH

This prophet was sent to reprove both Israel and Judah for their manifold sins, which he did with great warmth and fidelity. He foretold their captivities; comforted the godly; and predicted the incarnation of our Lord, mentioned the very place of his birth, Bethlehem, described his offices as King and Priest of his people, and foretold the glory of the Christian church in the latter days. He flourished at the same time with Isaiah and Hosea, about seven hundred and fifty years before the Christian era.


NAHUM

Though the Ninevites had repented at the preaching of Jonah, they did not continue to bring forth the fruits of repentance. This prophet was, therefore, sent to foretell their destruction, and the ruin of the Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital. This destruction was effected by the Medes and Babylonians, about sixty years after. Nahum lived under the reign of Hezekiah, about ninety years later than Jonah, or about seven hundred and seventy-two years before the Christian era. He is the most sublime and energetic of all the minor prophets.


HABAKKUK

The preceding prophet foretold the destruction of the Assyrians who carried the ten tribes into captivity; and Habakkuk foretold the ruin of the Chaldeans, who completed the captivity of this unhappy people, by carrying away the two tribes that remained. He is suppose to have been contemporary with Jeremiah, and to have flourished about six hundred and twenty-six years before our Lord. The prayer in the third chapter of this prophecy is inimitably fine.


ZEPHANIAH

This prophet was sent to the Jews under Josiah to foretell them of their approaching captivity by the Chaldeans, on account of their idolatry, and other heinous offenses; of which he strenuously exhorts them to repent. He foretells also the destruction about to be brought on the Philistines, Moabites, Ethiopians, and Assyrians. He flourished about six hundred and thirty years before Christ.


HAGGAI

This prophet, with the two following, was sent to the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity. He reprehends their negligence in not building the temple, being more intent on their secular interests than on the glory of God; on account of which God sent a dearth, by which they had been grievously distressed. At his instigation, the people resumed the work, which had been sadly neglected, and the temple was soon finished: and though that temple was much inferior to that built by Solomon; yet he foretold that its glory should be greater than that of the former; which was accomplished in the Messiahs honoring it with his presence and preaching. He lived about five hundred and twenty years before Christ.


ZECHARIAH

This was the second prophet sent to the Jews after their return from captivity; and he encouraged the people to proceed with the building of the temple. There are many prophetic visions in this book which relate to the Jews; and several prophecies relative to our Lord; his riding into Jerusalem as a King; the thirty pieces of silver, for which Judas sold his Master; the destruction of the Jews; and the calling of the Gentiles. He flourished about five hundred and twenty years before our Lord.


MALACHI

This was the third and last prophet sent to the Jews after their return from the Babylonish captivity. From his prophecy, it appears that the Jews were in his time generally corrupted. They had not only neglected, but profaned the divine service; these he sharply reproves; and encourages them much who in those times of degeneracy continued faithful. He foretells the coming of Christ, and very clearly speaks of his forerunner, John the Baptist. He intimates that no other prophet would be sent to them; and that they must be careful to observe the law of Moses till the advent of the Messiah. He flourished about three hundred and ninety-seven years before the incarnation; and was the last prophet ever sent to the Jewish people. His book, therefore, properly closes up the canon of the Old Testament. About this time Ezra, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, had made a complete collection of all the sacred books of the Jews, in which all the major as well as the minor prophets were included; though some think that Simon the Just added Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Malachi, to Ezras work. This is the same collection which exists to the present day; to which nothing has been added, and from which nothing has been taken away. See Ezra.

The next extraordinary messenger with whom the Jews were favored, was JOHN THE BAPTIST, of whom this prophet (Malachi) so clearly speaks. After him came GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH; who before his ascension to heaven, commissioned his disciples, who were afterward called apostles, to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, beginning first at Jerusalem, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). This was accordingly done; and the word of the Lord had free course, ran, and was glorified.


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GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE BOOKS CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).

I come now to consider the writings of the New Covenant, which were the effect of this revelation of Jesus Christ, and the mission of his apostles; and shall divide them into four classes:

I. The historical books: including the four gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles.

II. The thirteen epistles of St. Paul.

III. The catholic or general epistles: viz., of James, Peter, John, and Jude.

IV. The Apocalypse, or book of the Revelation. Of these different books I shall endeavor to point out the author, the time when written, and the chief subject of each.

1. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS, VIZ., THE FOUR GOSPELS, AND ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

ST. MATTHEW

This evangelist is supposed to be the same who is also called Levi, son of Alpheus. He was by birth a Jew; and, like the rest of our Lords disciples, a native of Galilee; and appears to have been at first a collector of the public taxes under the Roman government. He was called by our Lord to be a disciple when sitting in his public office by the seaside, near the city of Capernaum.

He was placed by our Lord in the number of his apostles, and continued with him during his life. After the ascension of Christ, he was at Jerusalem; and received the Holy Spirit with the rest of the disciples, on the day of Pentecost. His gospel (i. e., his history of the incarnation, preaching, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord) is generally allowed to be the most ancient part of the writings of the New Covenant. It is very probable that he wrote this book in Hebrew, about the eighth year after the ascension of our Lord, or A. D. 37, and that it was, by himself or some other, translated into Greek about A. D. 61.

Matthew being a constant attendant on our Lord, his history is an account of what he saw and heard; and, being influenced by the Holy Spirit, his history is entitled to the utmost degree of credibility. Whether he was martyred for the truth, or died a natural death, is uncertain.


ST. MARK

This is the same who is called John Mark; and who traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, and afterward into other countries. "And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark" (Acts 12:25).

It is supposed that he wrote this gospel at Rome, about A. D. 64, and that he died at Alexandria, in in the eighth year of the reign of Nero, the Roman emperor. It is very probable that he had seen the gospel written by St. Matthew, as he omits several things which are amply detailed by that evangelist. At the same time he inserts several curious particulars not mentioned by any of the others.


ST. LUKE

St. Luke is the most elegant of all the evangelical writers; his language being purer and much more free from Hebraisms than any of the rest. He was an early convert to Christianity, and was St. Pauls fellow laborer, (Philemon, ver. 24,) and accompanied him when he first went to Macedonia; and from Greece, through Macedonia and Asia, to Jerusalem; and from Jerusalem again to Rome, where he stayed with him the two years of his imprisonment in that city. It is generally believed that he finished and published his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles in Greece, about A. D. 47, both of which he dedicates to Theophilus, an honorable Christian friend of his in that country. His gospel, like those of the preceding evangelists, gives an account of the birth, preaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. It is supposed that he died in peace about the eightieth or eighty fourth year of his age.


ST. JOHN

This evangelist was the son of a fisherman named Zebedee, and his mothers name was Salome. They were probably of Bethsaida; and the father and his sons James and John followed their occupation on the sea of Galilee. Both these brothers were called to the apostleship; and John is supposed to have been about twenty-five years of age when he began to follow our Lord. It is likely that he was one of our Lords relatives; and was that disciple whom it is said our Lord loved: that is, he had a peculiar affection for him. He was also an eye and ear witness of our Lords labors, journeyings, discourses, miracles, sufferings, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension.

The gospel of John presupposes the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke: the grand facts he has in common with them; but he supplies many particulars which are not found in the others. St. Matthew seems to labor to prove the fact of the reality of our Lords incarnation or humanity: on the other hand, John takes up the eternal divinity, which he powerfully establishes; and gives us many invaluable discourses and conversations of our Lord with his disciples, as well as several miracles that are not found in the other evangelists. No one of the gospels gives us the whole history of our Lord; we must read all four, to have this complete. John was banished by the Roman emperor, Domitian, to the isle of Patmos, in the AEgean Sea: but his successor Nerva having recalled all the exiles banished by Domitian, John returned to Ephesus, where he died, aged upward of one hundred years. The holy Virgin is said to have lived with him till her death, which took place about fifteen years after the crucifixion.


ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

The book of the Acts of the Apostles is the fifth and last of the historical books. It was doubtless written by St. Luke, probably about A. D. 63; and is dedicated to the same noble personage, Theophilus, to whom he dedicated his gospel. The design of the apostle in writing this book appears to have been twofold:

1. To relate in what manner the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost were communicated on the day of Pentecost; and the subsequent miracles performed by the apostles, by which the truth and divine origin of Christianity were confirmed.

2. To deliver such accounts as proved the claim of the Gentiles to admission into the church of Christ. In this book we see how the Christian church was formed and settled.

The apostles simply proclaimed the truth of God, relative to He passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ; and God accompanied their testimony with the demonstration of his Spirit. The consequence was, thousands embraced Christianity, and openly professed it at the risk of their lives. They were converted, not merely from one religious sentiment to another, but from sin to holiness. Their tempers, passions, and moral prospects were all changed; and they only lived to bring glory to God, and to do good to men. This mighty change is everywhere in this book attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit, which took of the things which were Christs, and applied them to the souls of the people. Such was the Christian church at its formation: and such it must be to the end of the world, if it deserve the name of Christian.

2. THE THIRTEEN EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

Paul, at first called Saul, was born of Jewish parents at Tarsus, a city of Cilicia. When young, he was sent to Jerusalem for the purpose of receiving a Jewish education; and was placed there under a most eminent doctor or rabbi, called Gamaliel. He joined the Jewish sect called Pharisees, who were at once the best learned, the most proud, hypocritical, and intolerant of all the Jews. Paul imbibed much of their spirit, as he acquired the whole of their learning. He became proud, overbearing, and haughty; and grievously persecuted the Christians: but as he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, with authority from the chief priests, to bind and variously persecute all that bore the Christian name, he had a most remarkable vision, which see related in Acts, chap. 9, in consequence of which he carefully examined and embraced the Christian faith; and afterward became one of the most zealous promoters and successful defenders of that cause which he had before so inveterately persecuted.

Of his labors, sufferings, and travels, we have an ample account in the book of the Acts. He was long imprisoned at Rome; and at length suffered martyrdom, having his head cut off, by an order of the Roman emperor, Nero, on June 29, A. D. 66.

Rome, to whose inhabitants, or rather to the Christian church there, this epistle was directed, was the metropolis of the Roman empire, and the mistress of the world.

The occasion of writing this epistle was the following: Many Gentiles as well as Jews having been converted by the preaching of the gospel, the latter refused to admit the former to all the privileges of the church of Christ, unless they submitted to be circumcised; as they supposed that this was the only gate through which they should be admitted into the fold. In this epistle St. Paul shows that the Jewish rites and ceremonies were done away; that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, had sinned against God; and that no sacrifices or observances of the Jewish law could make atonement for sin; (for by its works no soul could be justified;) God had therefore appointed a new way of salvation, the sacrifice of Christ, and faith in that sacrifice. That this privilege was not granted to the Jews alone, but equally to the Gentiles; that none could be saved but in this way; and that those who were thus saved stood upon the broad ground of Gods infinite mercy, and were equal in their religious rank, rights, and privileges. This view of the subject gave the apostle ample scope, 1st, to show the absolute inefficacy of human works, whether consisting in moral obedience or in observation of religious rites and ceremonies, to purchase the favor of God, or make an atonement for sin: and, 2d, the sovereign efficacy of the death of Christ, and faith in the merit of that death, to bring the soul into the favor of God, and give it a right to eternal life that sacrificial offering of Christ being the sole ground procuring these, and faith the means of applying its benefit to the guilty conscience.


FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

Corinth, to which this and the following epistle were sent, was one of the most celebrated cities of Greece. It is situated on a gulf of the same name; and was anciently the capital of the Peloponnesus, or Achaia. It was joined to the main land by a narrow isthmus, or neck of land, that had the port of Lecheum on the west, and the port of Cenchrea on the east, by which it commanded the commerce both of the Ionian and AEgean Seas. By the port of Lecheum it received the merchandise of Italy, and of the western nations; and by the port of Cenchrea it received that of the AEgean Sea, the coasts of Asia Minor, and of the Phoenicians. As this city abounded in riches, so did it in luxury and corruption of manners: and no place in the habitable globe needed the gospel of Christ more than this did. Here a church was founded, the principal members of which were eminently endowed with the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit: but as some dissensions had arisen among them concerning things lawful and unlawful, what might be done with a clear conscience, and what ought not to be done, they wrote to St. Paul to give his judgment, and settle these disputes. This first epistle is in answer to that letter; in which, among other things, he discusses the question of the unlawfulness of eating things offered to idols: and enters at large into a consideration of that most important doctrine, the resurrection from the dead, and its proofs drawn from the natural and moral world, and from the resurrection of the body of our blessed Lord.


SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

The preceding epistle having been well received, and its exhortations and reprehensions having produced the desired effect, the apostle writes this to comfort and confirm them in the truth. He reproves a false apostle who had insinuated himself among them, and endeavored to render their minds evil affected toward himself. In this epistle he vindicates his own doctrine and conduct against the aspersions of that false apostle, gives an affecting account of his own trials and sufferings, and strongly exhorts them to holiness of heart and life.


EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS

Galatia or Gallograecia, was anciently a part of Phrygia, in Asia Minor bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the west by Bithynia, on the south by Pamphylia, and on the north by the Euxine Sea.

The church of God founded in this place seems to have been greatly perplexed and disturbed by some Jewish teachers, who endeavored to persuade the converted Gentiles that unless they were circumcised, and kept the law of Moses, they could not be saved. Many having been stumbled and turned aside by these teachers, the apostle wrote to them,

1. To vindicate his own apostleship which those false teachers had undervalued.

2. To assert and maintain the doctrine of justification by faith, from which they had been departing. And,

3. To call them back to the liberty of the gospel from which, under those bad teachers, some of them had apostatized.

He proves at large,

1. That no rites or ceremonies of the Jewish law could avail in their justification.

2. That their own works could avail nothing in reference to their acceptance with God; the only way of salvation being by faith, and that this was the original way, for Abraham was justified by faith long before the law was given.

3. That the curse of the law was upon every sinner, and is not removed but by the sacrifice of Christ.

EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS

Ephesus was a very famous city of Ionia, and once the metropolis of that part of the world. The grand subject of this epistle is to prove that the great mystery of God, which had been hidden from all former ages, was opened and explained by calling the Gentiles into the church, making them one with the converted Jews, and placing them under the one great and Only Shepherd, Christ Jesus. The apostle also shows the necessity of the doctrine of justification by faith; enters into a description of the heights, lengths, and breadths of Christian holiness; points out the enemies of true believers; shows them the spiritual armor with which they are to defend themselves and concludes by giving them the most pointed directions relative to the cultivation of their hearts, their moral conduct, and particularly their exact fulfillment of all the relative duties.


EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS

Philippi was a town of Macedonia, in the confines of Thrace, and near the northern extremity of the AEgean Sea. St. Paul first preached the gospel here about A. D. 53, and established one of the most pure and excellent churches. False teachers had crept into this church also, against whom he warns the people exhorts them to unity and concord, points out to them the glory which shall be revealed to the truly faithful, speaks of the blessedness of his own experience, and thanks and commends them for the contributions they sent to supply his wants.


EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS

Colosse, or Colossa, was a city of Phrygia Pacatiana, now a part of Natolia, in Asia Minor, situated on an eminence on the south side of the river Meander. There is a very great similarity between this epistle and that to the Ephesians It contains the very depth and essence of Christian doctrine and Christian experience; strongly excites to holiness of heart and life; and exhorts to a regular fulfillment of the relative duties, viz., parents and children, husbands and wives, masters and servants, &c.


FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

Thessalonica, now called by the Turks Salonichi, is a seaport town of Turkey, in Europe, and anciently the capital of Macedonia. Paul and Silas preached the gospel in this city about A. D. 51 or 52. This epistle is probably the first that St. Paul wrote: and it appears that the church of Thessalonica was the purest of all the apostolic churches. The apostle finds scarcely any thing among them to reprove. They had received the whole truth as it was in Jesus, and their conduct was conformed to it. They had a faith that worked, a love that labored, and a hope which enabled them to bear all afflictions patiently, and wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus. The directions which he gives in the last chapter, relative to the perfection of their Christian faith and character, are of the utmost importance; and intimately concern all Christian churches, and all who bear the Christian name.


SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS

It appears that the second epistle was written shortly after the first, the main design of which is to warn the people against crediting a false report which they had heard relative to the sudden appearing of Christ to judge the world; which they had so far received and credited as actually (at least some of them) to give up their secular affairs, as being inconsistent with the expectation of so solemn an event, so speedily to take place. On this subject the apostle sets them right by giving just notions of the future judgment, predicts a certain apostasy from the faith, and exhorts them to obedience and fidelity in all the circumstances of life in which God may place them.


FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY

Timothy, the person to whom this epistle is addressed, was the son of a Gentile, by a Jewish woman named Eunice, the daughter of a Jewess named Lois. It is likely that, at the time that Lois was converted to the Christian faith, her husband was dead, as was also the husband of Eunice; and that the grandmother, mother, and son lived all together. Their son Timothy became strongly attached to St. Paul, received the Christian faith in its power, became an evangelist, and traveled with the apostle through different parts, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The apostle having left him in the City of Ephesus to superintend the church in that place, he wrote this first epistle to him, probably about A. D. 64 or 65, in which he gives him direction,

1. To oppose those fables invented by Jewish teachers to recommend the observance of the Mosaic law as necessary to salvation.

2. To oppose those uncertain genealogies by which certain persons wished to show their descent from Abraham, on the persuasion that they should be saved merely because they were his descendants.

3. That he might oppose a foolish propensity which they had to the discussion of intricate questions, which, instead of leading to godliness, engendered strife.

4. The apostle gives him suitable directions how to act the part of an evangelist; how to rule the church of God; and how to repress irregularities, and maintain truth.

SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY

This was in all probability written a short time after the first; for the same sort of persons, doctrines, and practices are reprobated in the second which were condemned in the first. The same commands and instructions are given to Timothy in the second as in the first. The same remedies for the corruptions which had taken place at Ephesus are prescribed in the second as in the first. And in this second epistle every thing is addressed to Timothy as the superintendent both of the preachers and laity in the church of Ephesus. All which prove that, as the same persons and the same state of things continued when this second epistle was written, as when the first was written, consequently both must have been sent within a short time of each other.

In this epistle St. Paul strongly exhorts his son Timothy to hold fast the form of sound words which had been delivered to him; shows him what and how to preach; predicts the evils of the latter times and his own approaching martyrdom; and sends salutations to different friends. Both epistles are a treasury to the church of Christ, and of the utmost consequence to all preachers of the gospel.


EPISTLE TO TITUS

From frequent mention made of this person in St. Pauls epistles, we learn that he was a Greek, and most probably a heathen till converted to Christianity by St. Paul. He accompanied this apostle in several of his journeys; and was at last left by him in the island of Crete, as superintendent or bishop of the churches there planted. Crete is a very large island in the Mediterranean Sea; being about one hundred and eighty miles long, by about forty broad.

This epistle is very similar to the First Epistle to Timothy. They are both principally occupied in describing the qualifications of those who should be appointed to ecclesiastical offices; and the ingredients in this description are nearly the same in both epistles.

Timothy and Titus are both cautioned against the same prevailing corruptions; the phrases and expressions in both letters are nearly the same; and the writer accosts his two disciples with the same salutations; which shows, not only that the two epistles were written by the same person, but nearly about the same time, viz., A. D. 65.


EPISTLE TO PHILEMON

Philemon seems to have been a person of consideration, affluence, and charity, in the city of Colosse and a distinguished Christian, who had a church at his house; and frequently entertained the Christians and Christian ministers who passed that way.

The occasion of writing this letter was the following: Onesimus, a slave, had on some pretense or other run away from his master, Philemon, and come to Rome, where St. Paul then was as a prisoner, though dwelling in his own hired house and guarded by a Roman soldier. Onesimus, having found him out, was converted by the apostle, who wrote this letter to his friend Philemon in behalf of one who, though formerly unfaithful, was now restored to a better mind. The recommendation is managed with great skill and address, and was no doubt successful. The epistle contains no pointed reference to and particular doctrine of Christianity; but is a model for recommendatory and intercessory letters. It was probably written about A. D. 62.


EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

This is allowed to have been the last written by St. Paul of which we have any knowledge; and was most probably composed in A. D. 63. The design was to prevent the Jews who had received the gospel from turning back again to Mosaic rites and ceremonies. And, to accomplish this design, he shows them that the law was but the shadow of good things to come, and the gospel the substance; that the former without the latter was without meaning, and without use; and that every thing in and under the law pointed out some corresponding spiritual good under the gospel. The major part of the epistle is a comment upon the law, and the most beautiful illustration of it that ever was or can be given. On the prophetic, sacerdotal, and regal offices of Christ, it is both ample and luminous; and no man can read it without having his head enlightened and his heart mended. It is by far the most elegant, the most argumentative, and the most useful epistle of the great apostle of the Gentiles. In it he concentrates all his learning, all his legal knowledge, and all his evangelical experience and unction. The epistle everywhere shows the hand of a master; and that hand was guided by the unerring wisdom of the eternal Spirit.

3. THE CATHOLIC OR GENERAL EPISTLES

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

James the Less, one of the disciples and kinsmen of our Lord, has been most generally supposed to have been the author of this epistle; and that it is the oldest of all the apostolical epistles, and perhaps prior to any of the gospels. It seems to have been written to comfort and edify the believing Jews, who were scattered through the different nations of the earth. It is written much in the style of a Jewish prophet; and seems to be a connecting link between the law and the gospel, as John the Baptist was between Judaism and Christianity. The style of it is elevated, and the diction compressed and clear; and the lessons of morality and submission to the divine will which it conveys are not surpassed by any thing found in the writings of the other apostles.


FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER

Peter was a native of Bethsaida, in Upper Galilee; and by trade a fisherman. He and his brother Andrew were called early to be disciples of Christ. Being married, he had removed his family to Capernaum and his house there seems to have been the usual residence of our Lord when in those districts. He is generally supposed to have obtained the crown of martyrdom at home, at the beginning of Neros persecution, about A. D. 64 or 65.

His epistles seem to be written to the believing Jews and Gentiles; especially those who were suffering persecution, or were obliged to leave their country on account of the gospel, and take refuge in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. He exhorts them to patience, submission, perseverance, and holiness, after the example of our Lord; and concludes with suitable exhortations to the elders to guard and feed the flock of Christ.


SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER

This is addressed to the same persons as the first, and on nearly the same occasion. He shows that the believing Gentiles, though uncircumcised, were entitled to the same privileges as the believing Jews; exhorts them to patience and steadiness in their Christian profession; warns them against false prophets, and professing Christians whose lives were unholy; refers to the day of judgment, and wonderfully describes the action of the fire by which all things shall be destroyed; but predicts a renovation of all things, so that a new heaven and a new earth should be, by the power of God, generated as out of the old.


FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

The writer of these three epistles is the same as John the evangelist, of whose history we have already had a sketch in speaking of his gospel. This epistle appears to have been written before the destruction of Jerusalem, and probably A. D. 68 or 69.

The design of this epistle is to inculcate the doctrine of holiness of heart and life springing from love to God and man. Indeed this love seems to be his text, and he has written the whole epistle on this text. His own soul was filled with this heavenly fire; and it shone on and warmed all around.


SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN

This epistle is of a private nature, being written to an eminent Christian matron in or near Ephesus, probably a deaconess of the church; or one who was in the habit of accommodating apostles and itinerant evangelists. He commends her for her piety, for the Christian state and discipline of her family; warns her against false doctrines and false teachers; and concludes by hoping shortly to pay her a visit.


THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN

This is also an epistle of a private nature, being written to an eminent Christian friend of the name of Gaius, to whom he earnestly wishes,

1. Health of body;

2. Health of soul; and,

3. Prosperity in secular affairs.

He commends him for his charity and hospitality, warns him against a troublesome person of the name of Diotrephes, and promises to pay him a visit shortly. Both these persons must have been near the apostles habitation, as he was now about ninety years of age, and consequently incapable of taking any long journey. Both these epistles are supposed to have been written between A. D. 80 and 90. The exact time is not known.


EPISTLE OF JUDE

We know no more of this person than what he tells us himself, in the beginning of this epistle, that he was a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James. But, as there were several Judes and several Jameses, we know not which is intended. It is not directed to any particular church or people, but to Christians in general; and hence it has been called a general epistle. He warns the churches of Christ against false teachers, and against apostasy; and describes the false teachers of the time in the most vivid colors. The exhortation in verses 20, 21, is forcible and affectionate; and the doxology in verses 24 and 25 is well adapted to the subject, and is peculiarly dignified and sublime. It is supposed that this epistle was written about A. D. 64 or 65.

4. THE APOCALYPSE, OR BOOK OF THE REVELATION

This is generally allowed to be written by John the evangelist, author of the gospel and of the three epistles lately reviewed; and that it was written while he was an exile in the isle of Patmos; and published after his return, about A. D. 96. It is undoubtedly the latest piece of the New Covenant: after which the divine Spirit has not thought proper to add any thing farther to the Christian code. This, therefore, finishes and seals up vision and prophecy under the New Testament, as Malachi does under the Old.

The book opens with a splendid appearance of the Lord Jesus, as the Ancient of days, in his sacerdotal vestments; who dictates to John seven epistles, or letters, which he orders him to send to seven churches in Asia Minor; viz., Ephesus, Smyrna Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.


After these, there are a profusion of hieroglyphic [symbolic] representations; accompanied by a tissue of most solemn prophecies, supposed to regard not only the church, but the different governments of the world, from that time to the day of judgment. Several of these prophecies appear to have been already fulfilled, some in the act of being accomplished, and others remain which respect future ages. The book is written with great dignity and majesty of figure, metaphor, and coloring: and several of the prophecies in it bear a strikingsimilitude to some in the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel. Obscure as it is, God pronounces a blessing on all them who shall read it; and because it closes the canon of the New Testament and revelation in general, God thus speaks:

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18,19).

With this apostle the reader may well add,

"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:5,6).

ALL THESE BOOKS COLLECTIVELY, whether given to the Jewish or Christian church, are sometimes termed THE SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT; and generally through all Christian countries, and in almost all languages, The Bible from a Greek word Biblos, a BOOK, as being the only book that teaches the knowledge of the true God;

• the origin of the universe;
  
  
• the creation and fall of man;
  
  
• the commencement of the different nations of the earth;
  
  
• the confusion of languages;
  
  
• the foundation of the church of God;
  
  
• the abominable and destructive nature of idolatry and false worship;
  
  
• the divine scheme of redemption;
  
  
• the immortality of the soul;
  
  
• the doctrine of the invisible and spiritual world;
  
  
• a future judgment;
  
  
• and the final retribution of the wicked in the pains of eternal perdition, and of the good in the blessedness of an endless glory.

From this Bible, or collection of sacred writings, the following principles have been extracted; which, though they do not contain every particular, yet they exhibit the grand principles of revealed religion; and, in several cases, the reasons on which they are founded. I have endeavored to deduce them in their dependent and progressive order, that the mind may be easily and gradually led from primitive to secondary and ultimate truths, through the whole economy of divine justice, mercy, and grace, as far as these things are revealed to us in the sacred writings, or seem fairly deducible from the different parts of divine revelation.

This is a desideratum, or thing to be desired, but not yet furnished, which few catechisms, creeds, or confessions of faith attempt to supply, though in them we might reasonably expect to find such principles.

I have seen most compositions of this kind; but have not found in any of them such a condensed synopsis, or general view of those principles, on which every Christian must found his faith, if he wish it not to stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. Bodies of divinity, so called, are out of the question; as being by far too voluminous for the purpose; nor do they in general contain principles, but rather systems of doctrines, most of which are founded on party creeds.

These Scriptures we know to be revelations from heaven:

1. By the sublimity of the doctrines they contain; all descriptions of God, of heaven, of the spiritual and eternal worlds, being in every respect worthy of their subjects and on this account widely differing from the childish conceits, absurd representations, and ridiculous accounts, given of such subjects in the writings of idolaters, and superstitious religionists, in all nations of the earth.

2. The Bible is proved to be a revelation from God, by the reasonableness and holiness of its precepts; all its commands, exhortations, and promises having the most direct tendency to make men wise, holy, and happy in themselves, and useful to one another.

3. By the miracles which it records: miracles of the most astonishing nature, which could be performed only by the almighty power of God: miracles which were wrought in the sight of thousands, were denied by none, and attested through successive ages by writers of the first respectability, as well enemies as friends of the Christian religion.

4. By the truth of its prophecies, or predictions of future occurrences, which have been fulfilled exactly in the way, and in those times, which the predictions delivered many hundreds of years before had pointed out.

5. By the promises which it contains promises of pardon and peace to the penitent, of divine assistance and support to true believers, and of holiness and happiness to the godly, which are ever exactly fulfilled to all those who by faith plead them before God.

6. By the effects which these Scriptures produce in the hearts and in the lives of those who piously read them; it being always found that such persons become wiser, better, and happier in themselves, and more useful to others: better husbands and wives; better parents and children; better governors and subjects and better friends and neighbors. While those who neglect them are generally a curse to themselves, a curse to society, and a reproach to the name of man.

7. To these proofs may be added the poverty, illiterate and defenseless state of our Lords disciples and the primitive preachers of his gospel. The Jewish rulers and priesthood were as one man opposed to them; they sought by every means in their power to prevent the preaching of Christianity in Judea; the disciples were persecuted everywhere, and had not one man in power or authority to support them, or espouse their cause; yet a glorious Christian church was founded even at Jerusalem; thousands received and professed the faith of Christ crucified, and many of them gladly sealed the truth with their blood. When they had preached the gospel throughout Judea, they went to the heathens, preached the gospel in different parts of the Lesser Asia, Greece, and Italy. In all these places they had to contend with the whole power and influence of the Roman empire, then entirely heathen, and the mistress of all the known world! Christian churches, notwithstanding, were founded everywhere; and even in Rome itself, the throne of the Roman emperor! Here they were as defenseless as in Judea itself; they had to contend with all the idolatrous priests, with all the Greek philosophers, with the secular government, and with the many millions of the deluded and superstitious populace, who, instigated by furious zeal, endeavored by the most barbarous acts of persecution to support their false gods, idols, temples, and false worship: yet, before the preaching of these poor, comparatively unlearned, and totally defenseless men, idolatry fell prostrate; the heathen oracles were struck dumb; the philosophers were confounded; and the people were converted by thousands; till at last all Asia Minor and Greece, with Italy, and the various parts of the Roman empire received the gospel, and abolished idolatry! Had not this doctrine been from God, and had not He by his Almighty power aided these holy men, such effects could never have been produced. The success, therefore, of the unarmed and defenseless apostles and primitive preachers of Christianity is an incontrovertible proof that the gospel is a revelation from God; that it is the means of conveying light and life to the souls of men; and that no power, whether earthly or diabolic, shall ever be able to overthrow it. It has prevailed, and must prevail, till the whole earth shall be subdued, and the universe filled with the glory of God. Amen.

All these are proofs which cannot be contradicted, that these Scriptures are a revelation from God; and, consequently, the only complete directory of the faith and practice of men.

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, said an eminent scholar, have God for their Author, the Salvation of mankind for their end, and Truth without any mixture of error for their matter.

As a revelation from God, they have stood the test of many ages; and as such maintained their ground against every species of enemy, and every mode of attack. Truth is mighty, and must prevail.

This revelation is now complete. God will add nothing more to it, because it contains every thing necessary for men, both in reference to this world and that which is to come: and he has denounced the heaviest judgments against those who shall add to it, or diminish any thing from it.