lii HORiE PAULINA. 



are negatived and excluded, as they have never found ad- 

 mission into any catalogue of apostolical writings acknow- 

 ledged by, or known to the early ages of Christianity. In 

 the first of these I found, as I expected, a total evitation of 

 circumstances. It is simply a collection of sentences from 

 the canonical epistles, strung together with very little skill. 

 The second, which is a more versute and specious forgery, 

 is introduced with a list of names of persons who WTote to 

 St. Paul from Corinth ; and is preceded by an account suffi- 

 ciently particular of the manner in which the epistle was 

 sent from Corinth to St. Paul, and the answer returned. 

 But they are names which no one ever heard of; and the 

 account it is impossible to combine with any thing found in 

 the Acts, or in the other epistles. It is not necessar}^ for me 

 to point out the internal marks of spuriousness and impos- 

 ture which these compositions betray ; but it was necessary 

 to observe, that they do not afford those coincidences which 

 w^e propose as proofs of authenticity in the epistles which we 

 defend. 



Having explained the general scheme and formation oi 

 the argument, I may be permitted to subjoin a brief account 

 of the manner of conducting it. 



I have disposed the several instances of agreement under 

 separate numbers ; as well to mark more sensibly the divis- 

 ions of the subject, as for another purpose, namely, that the 

 reader may thereby be reminded that the instances are in 

 dependent of one another. I have advanced nothing which 

 [ did not think probable ; but the degree of probability by 

 which different instances are supported, is undoubtedly very 

 different. If the reader, therefore, meets wdth a number 

 which contains an instance that appears to him unsatisfac- 

 tory, or founded in mistake, he will dismiss that numbei 

 from the argument, but without prejudice to any other. He 

 will have occasion also to observe, that the coincidences dis- 

 coverable in some epistles are much fewer and weaker than 

 what are supplied by others. But he will add to his obser- 



