50 . IIOE.^ PAULINiE. 



written betM^een the first and second of these journeys. I. 

 St. Paul had been already twice at Corinth, this supposition 

 must be given up ; and every argument or observation 

 which depends upon it falls to the ground. Again, the Acts 

 of the Apostles not only record no more than two journeys 

 cf St. Paul to Corinth, but do not allow us to suppose that 

 more than two such journeys could be made or intended by 

 him within the period which the history comprises ; for from 

 his first journey into Greece to his first imprisonment at 

 Rome, with which the history concludes, the apostle's time 

 is accounted for. If therefore the epistle was written after 

 the second journey to Corinth, and upon the view and expec- 

 tation of a third, it must have been written after his first 

 imprisonment at Rome, that is, after the time to w^hich the 

 history extends. When I first read over this epistle with the 

 particular view of comparing it with the history, which I 

 chose to do without consulting any commentary whatever, 1 

 own that I felt myself confounded by this text. It appeared 

 to contradict the opinion, which I had been led by a great 

 varietv of circumstances to form, concerning the date and 

 occasion of the epistle. At length, however, it occurred to 

 my thoughts to inquire, whether the passage did necessarily 

 imply that St. Paul had been at Corinth twice ; or whether, 

 when he says, " this is the third time I am coming to you," 

 he might mean only that this was the third time that he was 

 ready, that he v»'as prepared, that he intended to set out on 

 his journey to Corinth. I recollected that he had once be- 

 fore this purposed to visit Corinth, and had been disappoint- 

 ed in this purpose ; which disappointment forms the subject 

 of much apoiogy and protestation, in the first and second 

 chapters of the epistle. Noav, if the journey in which he 

 had been disappointed was reckoned by him one of the tim'^s 

 in which " he was coming to them," then the present would 

 be the third time, that is, of his being ready and prepared to 

 come ; although he had been actually at Corinth only opci 

 before. This conjecture being taken up, a further exaniina 



