people.' Acts, ch. xiii. v. 30 and 31. Not- 1 Ep. Cor. withstanding all this; we here find St. Paul round ly afferting that he was feen of above five hundred brethren at once, and boldly adding, that the greater part of them were then alive.' This, it may be thought, was risquing a great deal; but Paul undoubtedly knew the distance between Corinth and Jerufalem: that more than twenty years had elapfed fince the affair happened; and in course, the difficulty of examining witneffes. But did he recollect that a good cause may be ruined by endeavouring to prove too much? And where flept his boasted spirit of prophecy? Could he not foresee that these accounts would, in after times, be compared? After times quoth orthodoxy, the spirit of thefe after times is much too bold in queftioning fuch myfteries. This deters me not from asking-Who St. Paul means by the twelve to whom Jefus appeared? Was Judas with the eleven? And was he fo favoured? But, notwithstanding the different manner in which his death is related by the evangelifts, I apprehend he was really dead before the refurrection of his deferted master; and certain it is, that Matthias was not elected till after the afcenfion. The last, but I suppose not intended the least proof adduced by St. Paul, is himfelf- And laft of all he was feen of me alfo.' To this he adds fome humiliating circumstances; but left they should make too deep an impreffion, he immediately follows it 1 Ep. Cor. it up, with an affertion that his own labours in the gofpel were more abundant than all the apoftles put together. We do not read that any of them were favoured by an interview with their Mafter after his afcenfion, nor does Paul tell us plainly when or where he was fo favoured. Was it in his way to Damafcus, when, as he told Agrippa-' At mid-day O king, I faw in the way a light from Heaven, above the brightness of the fun, fhining round about me, &c.' Or was it at fome private conference, in which he was, as he told the Galatians, inftructed by Christ himfelf? Or was it, about eight years after, when he was caught up to the third heaven, where he heard unspeakable words? of which we shall have occafion to speak hereafter. This 1 5th chap. of his ift Epiftle to the Corinthians gave rife, I apprehend, to the expectancy of a Millenium which prevailed among the Chriftians feveral ages- For as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift fhall all be 'made alive. But every man in his own order; Chrift the first fruits, afterward they that are 'Chrift's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he fhall have delivered up the kingdom to God even to the Father, when he fhall have his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet: but when he faith all things are put under ‹ him, him, it is manifeft that he is excepted which 1 Ep. Cor. did put all things under him. And when all s things fhall be fubdued unto him, then fhall "the Son alfo himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.' Whether these were fufficient grounds for that opinion, fuppofing it a real prophecy, I know not; and having no fuch fuppofition, I fhall not make the enquiry. This paffage however plainly evinces St. Paul's opinion of God's fupremacy over Chrift in a very clear and explicit manner: why he altered this opinion, or at least why he taught a different doctrine afterwards in defiance of his own curfe, I know not: certain however it is that he did fo. There is a pompofity in the language of this chapter, beyond. every other part of Paul's works; that were the fenfe anfwerable, I fhould not afcribe it to him; as it is, I am inclined to believe it has been embellished by the poetic pen of St. Luke; who before this had done as much for Mary the mother of Jefus; and for Simeon the father of the Baptist John. In verfes 51 and 52, Paul fays"Behold I fhew you a myftery; we shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed; in a mo 4 ment; in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: (for the trumpet fhall found) and the ⚫ dead shall be raised incorruptible; and we shall 'be changed.' Is it not a little extraordinary that the faint could fhew them a mystery, and yet be fo 1 Ep. Cor. fo wretchedly ignorant and mistaken as to the part he was to act in it himself? It is, by thefe two verfes, plain enough, that he expected to be changed without being fubjected to corruption : but the Epiftle which, before this, he had written to the Theffalonians, puts this expectancy beyond all doubt: (ch. iv. v. 15, 16, and 17.) viz.- For this we fay unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, fhall not prevent ' them which are afleep. For the Lord himself ' fhall defcend from Heaven with a fhout; with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump < of God: and the dead in Chrift fhall rise first. Then we which are alive, and remain, fhall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and fo fhall we ever be with 'the Lord.' After this, what dependance have we upon Paul's doctrine, even where he tells us This we fay unto you by the word of the 'Lord?' Orthodoxy, unable to help the faint out of this pit of corruption; will endeavour to collect a mift over it; they will tell us, that the faint fpoke not this as by the fpirit of prophecy, but as a repetition only of his Lord's declarations*. But this is planting a labyrinth around it; into which all may enter, few return. From this 15th chapter great part of our burial fervice * Vide page 52. is taken. The exclamation in the 55th verfe- 1 Ep. Cor. O death, where is thy fting! O grave, where is thy victory!' is founded, commentators fay, upon the rhapsody of Hofea, ch. xiii. v. 14. Why is not the 4th verfe of the said rhapsodical chapter quoted? Or as it is more plainly expreffed by the noble and poetic prophet Isaiah, ch. xliii. v. 10 and 11- Before me there was no 'God formed, neither fhall there be after me. ' I; even I, the Lord and befide me, there is · no Saviour.' This indeed would not have fuited Paul's purpose quite fo well as fome other quotations he has made. In chap. xvi. Paul orders the Corinthians to make immediate collections for the faints of Jerufalem; and mentions fome precautions, which intimate a fear that imputations of embezzlement might be levelled at him; how far the event warranted the fufpicion, is furmised page 265. He concludes this First Epistle with If any man love not the Lord Jefus Chrift; let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, &c. This, with many fimilar inftances already recited, plainly fhews, that the Chriftian faint was ftill governed by the Jewish spirit. We will now examine his Second Epiftle to 2 Ep. Cor. the Corinthians. In chap. ii. he nibbles at the power of forgiving fins is cautious, and at length doth it in the perfon of Chrift; left Sa'tan fhould get an advantage. In chap. iii. he covertly draws a comparifon between Mofes and • himself, |