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to Corinth with letters of commendations from the Ephefian Chriftians; " and when, Apollos was difpofed to pass into Achaia, "the brethren wrote, exhorting the difci

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ples to receive him." Here the words of the epiftle bear the appearance of alluding to fome specific inftance, and the history supplies that inftance; it fupplies at least an instance as appofite as poffible to the terms which the apostle ufes, and to the date and direction of the epiftle, in which they are found. The letter which Apollos carried from Ephefus, was precisely the letter of commendation which St. Paul meant; and it was to Achaia of which Corinth was the Capital, and indeed to Corinth itself (Acts, chap. xix. ver. 1), that Apollos carried it; and it was about two years before the writing of this epistle. If St. Paul's words be rather thought to refer to fome general ufage which then obtained among Chriftian churches, the cafe of Apollos exemplifies that ufage; and affords that fpecies of confirmation to the epistle, which arises from feeing the manners of the age, in which it purports to be written, faithfully preferved.

No.

No. XI.

Chap. xiii. ver. 1. "This is the third time I am coming to you" (TPITOV TETO ερχόμαι).

Do not these words import that the writer had been at Corinth twice before? yet, if they import this, they overfet every congruity we have been endeavouring to eftablish. The Acts of the Apostles record only two journeys of St. Paul to Corinth. We have all along fuppofed, what every mark of time except this expreffion indicates, that the epiftle was written between the first and fecond of thefe journeys. If St. Paul had been already twice at Corinth, this fuppofition must be given up; and every argument or obfervation which depends upon it, falls to the ground. Again, the Acts of the Apoftles not only record no more than two journeys of St. Paul to Corinth, but do not allow us to fuppofe that more than two such journeys could be made or intended by him within the period which the history comprises; for, from his firft journey into Greece to his firft imprisonment at Rome,

with which the hiftory concludes, the apoftle's time is accounted for. If therefore the epistle was written after the second journey to Corinth, and upon the view and expectation of a third, it must have been written after his first imprisonment at Rome, i. e. after the time to which the history extends. When I first read over this epistle with the particular view of comparing it with the history, which I chofe to do without confulting any commentary whatever, I own that I felt myself confounded by this text, It appeared to contradict the opinion, which I had been led by a great variety of circumftances to form, concerning the date and occafion of the epiftle. At length however it occurred to my thoughts to inquire, whether the paffage did neceffarily imply that St. Paul had been at Corinth twice; or whether, when he fays "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 was prepared, that he intended to fet out upon his journey to Corinth, I recollected that he had once before this purposed to vifit Corinth, and L

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had been disappointed in his purpose; which disappointment forms the fubject of much apology and protestation, in the first and fecond chapters of the epiftle. Now, if the journey in which he had been disappointed was reckoned by him one of the times in which "he was coming to them,” then the prefent would be the third time, i. e. of his being ready and prepared to come; although he had been actually at Corinth only once before. This conjecture being taken up, a farther examination of the paffage and the epiftle, produced proofs which placed it beyond doubt. "This is the third time I am coming to you:" in the verfe following these words he adds, "I toid you before, "and foretel you, as if I were present the

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Secondtime; and being abfent, now I write "to them which heretofore have finned, "and to all other, that if I come again, I "will not fpare." In this verse, the apostle is declaring beforehand what he would do in his intended vifit: His expreffion therefore, as if I were present the second time," relates to that vifit. But, if his future visit would only make him prefent among them a fecond

a fecond time, it follows that he had been already there but once. Again, in the fifteenth verse of the first chapter, he tells them, "In this confidence, I was minded to come "unto you before, that you might have a "Second benefit." Why a fecond, and not a third benefit? why δευτεραν, and not τρίτην χαριν, if the τριτον ερχομαι, in the fifteenth chapter, meant a third visit? for, though the vifit in the first chapter be that visit in which he was disappointed, yet, as it is evident from the epiftle that he had never been at Corinth, from the time of the dif appointment to the time of writing the epistle, it follows, that if it was only a fecond vifit in which he was difappointed then, it could only be a fecond vifit which he propofed now. But the text which I think is decifive of the question, if any question remain upon the fubject, is the fourteenth verse of the twelfth chapter: "Behold the third time I am ready to come to you" (Ιδε, τριτον ετοίμως εχω ελθειν). It is very clear that the τριτον ετοίμως εχω ελθειν of the twelfth chapter and the the thirteenth chapter, are equivalent ex

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