EPISTLE TO THE EPHESJANS. . 133 



Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, sbice ive heard 

 of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have 

 to all the saints." Col. 1:3. Thus he speaks to the Ephe 

 sians, in the epistle before us, as follows : " Wherefore I also, 

 after I licard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto 

 all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making men- 

 tion of you in my prayers." Chap. 1:15. The terms of 

 thi;i address are observable. The words " having heard of 

 your faith and love," are the very words, we see, which he 

 uses towards strangers ; and it is not probable that he should 

 employ the same in accosting a church in which he had long 

 exercised his ministry, and whose "faith and love" he must 

 have personally known. *= The epistle to the Romans was 

 written before St. Paul had been at Rome ; and his address 

 to them runs in the same strain with that just now quoted : 

 " I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your 

 faith is spoke7i of throughout the whole world." Rom. 1 : 8. 

 Let us now see what was the form in which our apostle was 

 accustomed to introduce his epistles, when he wrote to those 

 with whom he was already acquainted. To the Corinthi- 

 ans it was this : " I thank my God always on your behalf, 

 for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." 

 1 Cor. 1:4. To the Philippians : " I thank my God upor 

 every remembrance of you." Phil. 1:3. To the Tliessa- 

 lonians : •' We give thanks to God always for you all, making 

 mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceas- 

 ing your work of faith, and labor of love." 1 Thess. 1 : 3, 

 To Timothy : " I thank God, whom I serve from my fore- 



* Mr. Locke endeavors to avoid this difficulty, by explaining 

 *■'■ their faith, of which St. Paul had hea.rd," to mean the steadfastnc;5F 

 of their persuasion that they were called into the kingdom of Gol, 

 without subjection to the Mosaic institution. But this interpretation 

 ieems to me extremely hard • for in the manner in which faith is here 

 jcined with love, in the expression " your faith and love," it could not 

 mean to denote any particular tenet which distinguished one set oi 

 Christians from others : forasmuch as the expression describes the gen- 

 oraJ virtues of the Christian profession. Vide Locke in loc. 



