66

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Chrift in "you, the Son of glory "." P. "For our gospel "came not to you in word only 9." "Where"unto he called you by our gofpel." "Ac"cording to the glorious gofpel of the bleffed "God, which was committed to my trusts." "Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and "an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith " and "verity." "But hath in due times "manifefted his word through preaching, " which is committed unto me, according to "the commandment of God our Saviour"."

Agreeably to the character of an apostle of the Gentiles, he writes his epiftles to churches that were full of idolatrous Gentiles converted to the faith: fo much is acknowledged by all. And I am apt to believe (and should be glad this matter might be thoroughly confidered) that he wrote them only to believing Gentiles in thofe churches., I think, when this matter is duely confidered, it will appear, that Paul wrote his epiftles to the Gentile believers only (if the believing Jews and Gentiles did ufe to meet in one affembly, and had not feparate ones), from the character he takes to himself in thofe epiftles, the characters

"

he gives those he addreffes himself to, and the ftrain, and several particular paffages, of the epiftles themselves. Though, I confefs, in fome of them, he introduces a Jew, that he may the better shew the Gentiles the falfeness of the Jewish reasoning, or the vanity of their pretenfions w. Thus, I think, St. Paul wrote to the Gentiles; as the other apoftles, at least during the life of St. Paul, wrote only to the Jews, or profelytes.

And though it seems plain to me that St. Paul wrote the epiftle to the Hebrews, yet he does not write it in the character of an

apostle, beginning the epistle, "Paul an "apoftle of Jefus Chrift, &c." as he always does in his epiftles to the Gentile churches; but, " God, who at fundry times and in di"vers manners fpake unto the Fathers by the

prophets, hath in these last days fpoken "unto us by his Son, &c." Nor does he ever in that epistle give them any order or commandment, or exercise any act of authority; on the contrary, he points their obedience to others, and, in my apprehenfion, to the Jew ish apostles residing at Jerufalem; and defires only their prayers for himself.

W

Particularly, Rom. ii. and vii. Col. ii. 20. ad fin. and iii. 1-5.

See the First Effay.

y Heb. xiii. 17.

7 Ver. 18. See the First Effay, and the Abstract.

And though St. Paul always first preached to the Jews, wherever there were Jews in the places to which he came; and fays himfelf, that he had teftified" (the word which I own denotes the manner of preaching peculiar to an apostle)" to Jews as well as "Greeks";" yet it is plain he did not go to those places in queft of Jews, but of Gen tiles. And that he first teftified, or preached, to Jews in those places where there were both Jews and Gentiles, was, as I apprehend, to take away the pretence of complaint, or offence, from the Jews, which they might have had, if the gospel had not been first offered to them, and their furious oppofition to it (for which reafon alfo he offers it to the Gentiles only, after the Jews had rejected it); as also, that he might, if poffible, provoke his brethren the Jews to jealoufy (as he says on the like occafion, Rom. xi. 14.). But I do not find that he acts in the character of an apoftle towards them, in any other way than that of testifying to them. At least, we have no inftance of his conferring the Holy Ghost on those Jews to whom he teftified; or of his inflicting bodily diftempers on any of them, for the offences any of them committed; or of his working any of his fpecial miracles among them. Unless we fuppofe Timothy a Jew; who indeed a Jew by the law of

was

Judæa, as born of a Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek".

I can by no means think the epistle usually afcribed to Barnabas to be his: yet it is evi dently writ to the Gentiles; as may plainly appear, pag. 163. 165. 174, 175. 185. in the tranflation of it by our moft reverend Primate, Dr. Wake. Which makes me very much furprized to find his Grace fay, in his differtation concerning Barnabas (in which, I confefs, however, his Grace is far from being fingular) that this epiftle was written to the Jews: thofe paffages which I refer to making it clear beyond all exception that it was written to the Gentiles; and there being none, that seem to me to give much colour to the contrary opinion. However, this epistle is a very antient forgery; and may ferve to fhew, that the perfon who forged it, writing it to the Gentiles, knew well that his character was that of an apoftle of the Gentiles; and that it was therefore forging in character to address his epiftle to thofe of his own province.

It may, perhaps, be objected against what I have advanced" of the feparate provinces of "the apoftles of the Jews and of the Gen"tiles," that it would be ftrange, if none of the twelve apostles fhould have preached to the Gentiles, when our Saviour commands the

Acts, chap, xvi,

3

eleven

eleven "to go, and preach the gofpel to all "nations (uanTEÚσαTE wάνтα тa evn) ;" and, as Mark relates it, to " go into all the world, "and preach the gospel to every creature." But I hope it will be thought a fufficient anfwer to this difficulty,

1. That Peter and the rest of the apostles preached the gospel, at the feast of Pentecofte, to Jews, devout men out of every nation dwelling at Jerufalem." It is the same word (ἄνδρες ευλαβεις ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνες τῶν ὑπὸ ἢ ἐρανὸν) but with a stronger expreffion added to it. And thus the apoftles and first christians understood Chrift's commiffion; for when they went out of Judæa, "they preached to the Jews only f"

2. That Peter first preached to the profelytes of the gate. And, it is very probable, preached to them at other times, and other places, afterwards; fince he writes to them that were scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Afia, and Bithynia, and writes to them as if he had formerly preached or written to them: for he writes" to put them "in remembrance," and writes in feveral parts of both his epiftles, as being well acquainted with them and their affairs.

e Matt. xxviii. 19.

i

Acts ii. 5. 1bid. chap. x.

2 Pet. i. 12.

d Mark xvi. 15.

f Ibid. xi. 19.

1 Pet. i. 1,