8 K0R2E PAULINA. 



undesignedness : and this test applies to every supposition ; 

 for whether we suppose the history to be true, but the letters 

 spurious ; or. the letters to be genuine, but the history false ; 

 or, lastly, falsehood to belong to both — the history to be a 

 fable, and the letters fictitious — the same inference will re- 

 sul t : that either there will be no agreement between them, 

 or the agreement will be the effect of design. Nor will it 

 elude the principle of this rule, to suppose the same person 

 to have been the author of all the letters, or even the author 

 both of the letters and the history ; for no less design is nee 

 essary to produce coincidence between different parts of a 

 man's own writings, especially when they are made to take 

 the different forms of a history and of original letters, than 

 to adjust them to the circumstances found in any other 

 writing. 



With respect to those writings of the New Testament 

 which are to be the subject of our present consideration, ] 

 think that, as to the authenticity of the epistles, this argu 

 ment, where it is sufficiently sustained by instances, is near- 

 ly conclusive ; for I cannot assign a supposition of forgery, 

 in which coincidences of the kind we inquire after are likely 

 to appear. As to the history, it extends to these points : it 

 proves the general reality of the circumstances ; it proves 

 the historian's knowledge of these circumstances. In the 

 present instance, it confirms his pretensions of having been 

 a contemporary, and in the latter part of his history a com- 

 panion of St. Paul. In a word, it establishes the substantial 

 truth of the narration ; and substantial truth is that which, 

 in every historical inquiry, ought to be the first thing sought 

 after and ascertained : it must be the groundwork of every 

 other observation. 



The reader then will please to remember Uiis word U7i- 

 desig7iedness, as denoting that upon which the construction 

 and validity of our argument chiefly depend. 



As to the proofs of undesignedness, I shall in this place 

 say httle ; for I had rather the reader's persuasion shouli 



