166 HOR^ 1 AULxKJi. 



CHAPTER X. 



T1I2 £ECONI) EPISTLE TO THE THE SS AT-ONIAN S 



I. It may seem odd to allege obscurity itself as an ar- 

 gimieiit, or to draw a proof in favor of a writing from that 

 which is naturally considered as the principal defect in its 

 composition. The present epistle, however, furnishes a pas 

 sage hitherto unexplained, and probably inexplicable by us, 

 the existence of which, under the darkness and difficulties 

 that attend it, can be accounted for only by the supposition 

 of the epistle being genume ; and upon that supposition is 

 accounted for with great ease. The passage which I allude 

 to is found in the second chapter : " That day shall not 

 come, except there come a falling away first, and that man 

 of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth and 

 exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is 

 worshipped ; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of 

 God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, 



that W^HEN I WAS YET WITH YOU, I TOLD YOU THESE THINGS? 



And noiu ye know what luithholdeth that he might be re- 

 'vealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already 

 work : only he who noiv letteth will let, until he be taken 

 out of the u'ay. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, 

 whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, 

 and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." It 

 were superfluous to prove, because it is in vain to deny, 

 that this passage is involved in great obscurity, more espec- 

 ially the clauses distinguished by italics, Now the obser 

 vation I have to offer is founded upon this, that the passage 

 expressly refers to a conversation which the author had pre- 

 viously holden with the Thessalonians upon the same sub- 

 ject : "Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, 

 I told you these things? And now ye know what with- 

 holdeth." If such conversation actually passed — if, while 

 *' he was yet with them, he told them those things," then 



