more than nine times to a page.1 To show that őτi is not unknown to or unused by the writer of the Hebrews, we need only refer to its use in 2: 6 bis ; 3: 19; 7, 8, 14, 17; in four consecutive verses, ch. 8: 9, 10, 11, 12; in 11:8; 12: 17, 13, 18 et al. "Conjunctions which mark the end, purpose, or cause for which something is done," are frequent in Paul. See the use of iva also, e. g., in Heb. 2:17; 3:13; 4:11, 16; 5:1; 6:12, 18;-12: 3, 13, 27; 13:12, 17, 19; of oπws in 2:9. For the use of eis Tó with the Infin., claimed as Pauline, Stuart says: "In Rom. I find fifteen cases; in 1 Cor. five; in 2 Cor. four; in Gal. one; in Eph. three; in Col. not one;" and, to omit the other epistles, "in Heb. seven times, and two others of the same nature."

2. "The vigor and fire of his [Paul's] mind are expressed in the vigor and fervency of his style." The vigor of the style in the Hebrews has, we believe, scarcely been questioned; and if there is any want of fire, as compared with the acknowledged epistles of Paul, it is because fire is less demanded in a piece of consecutive reasoning than in writings of a more hortatory or polemic character. For the same reason, irregularities of construction are of course fewer and less marked than in some of the Pauline epistles, but yet not enough so to mark diversity of authorship. To our own mind, a frequency of such irregularities in such a piece of writing, and for such an object, would be far more un-Pauline than a sparing use of them. But as examples of suspended sentences, digressions, and anacolutha, see Heb. 5:6;7:1; 9:7, 11, 12,3 et al.; and for interrogations and exclamations, for which the apostle's style is distinguished, compare, e. g., Heb. 1:5, 13, 14; 2:3, 6, 17, 18; 9:14; 10: 2, 29; 11: 32; 12:7, 9, et al.

3. "The apostle's style is distinguished by fulness and copiousness. He had abundance of good Greek words at his command,"* etc. As the only objection of any weight

1 See Stuart's Comm. Introd. § 12.

2 Ibid.

3 See also remarks of Stuart on these passages in Introd. § 12, and Comm. on the passages; also Forster, Auth. Hebr.

Davidson, Introd. Vol. II. p. 150.

ever alleged against the Epistle to the Hebrews is that first started by Origen, that the author wrote too good Greek, it is hardly worth while to say a word under this head. But two or three particulars may be noticed. "The great

variety of particles which the writer [Paul] uses, is seen from a few passages, such as Gal. 2:12; 1 Thess. 1:8 to the end; Rom. 3:25, 26," et al. "Besides, they are varied at pleasure, so as to express distinctions and shades of signification." According to the opinion of the same writer, the only difference in the Hebrews is that the same characteristic is carried a little further, since the Greek particles are there used" with greater copiousness and variety than in any of Paul's epistles of equal length," as, it may be added, is entirely natural in a writing which has so many characteristics of a systematic treatise.

2

"The rich fulness of the writer's [Paul's] mind.... may also be seen in his copious use of synonymes and rich participial constructions." " Set over against this Seyf farth's objection against the Pauline authorship of the Hebrews: "Our author [i. e., of the Hebrews] is partial to the use of participles and of the Genitive Absolute. He employs eighty-four active participles and a hundred and seven passive and middle ones, and seven cases of the Genitive Absolute; while in the Epistle to the Romans there are only ninety active participles and forty-two passive, and no case of the Genitive Absolute" (p. 81). But, lest this make a wrong impression, Stuart puts the principle to test in some of the other epistles. "If," he says, "I have rightly counted, the Epistle to the Colossians has Act. Participles thirty-four; passive, forty; pages, three; average number to a page, twenty-four. Ephesians has Act. Part. sixty; Pass., twenty-four; pages, four and a half; average to a page, twenty-three. If nineteen participles on a page proves one epistle spurious, what shall we say of ese epistles which have twenty-three and twenty-four to a page?"

1 Davidson, Introd. Vol. II. p. 150.

2 Ibid. III. p. 251.

8 Davidson, Introd. II. p. 151.

See also further remarks upon the Gen. Absol. in Stuart's Introd.

4. "Tenderness, delicacy, disinclination to severity, are conspicuous features in his [Paul's] mental character."1 These qualities are certainly as prominent in the Hebrews, considering the subject-matter and the more general destination of the epistle. The author, in his exhortations, includes himself with those addressed; as, for example, in 2: 1, 3, "How shall we escape," etc., and so passim. One of the most pointed rebukes in the epistle, in the end of ch. v. and beginning of ch. vi., is followed by: "Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love," etc. So in the latter part of the 10th chapter, 19 sq., the most faithful and pointed admonitions are accompanied by words of encouragement, and a most delicate reference to previous acts of kindness toward himself and others, in the midst of persecution and reproach and worldly loss. And how could the delicacy or tenderness be better exhibited than in ch. xii.? as, for example, in the 3d and following verses: "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds," etc. See, also, 13:1-3. There is also a peculiar delicacy shown in this epistle, on the supposition that Paul is the author, in not referring to his apostolic calling to the Gentiles, and his success in labor among them.

We have enumerated the principal points in the characteristics of Paul as presented by Davidson, and we know of no one who has exhibited them more at length and more clearly, and it is certainly not a little remarkable that they should be so distinctly illustrated in one epistle, to a particular class of readers, on a specific subject. We can hardly refrain from quoting one further passage from the same author, in reference to the character of Paul, so well would it be established from the Epistle to the Hebrews alone. "Thus there is a refined perception of propriety, an avoidance of the distasteful in the view of his readers, along with as much fidelity as

1 Davidson's Introd. as above.

the most direct language could convey. It is therefore impossible to resist the idea that his feelings were always under control, else such phenomena could not have happened. He is never borne away by mere enthusiasm. Infallibly guided as he was, there are minute distinctions which show that discretion never forsook him, even in moments of the highest emotion. The reasoning faculty was quick and powerful, so that his enlarged feelings could find expression as well in the finer and less perceptible streams of propriety, as in the full channel of Christian love." 1

Similarity of Thought and Expression in the Hebrews and acknowledged Epistles of Paul.

The passages where the same or synonymous words are used, or there is a similarity of thought, or peculiarity either in thought or expression, are many, and this argument would be deficient without an enumeration of some of them.

Heb. 1 : 2. Δι' οὗ [Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ] καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας [ὁ Θεὸς] ἐποίησε.

Eph. 3 : 9. Τῷ [θεῷ] τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι διὰ ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Heb. 1:3. ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ.

Col. 1 : 15. Ο ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου.

Phil. 2 : 6. Ὃς ἐν μορφῇ ὑπάρχων.

2 Cor. 4: 4. Ος ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Heb. 1:3. Φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ.

Col. 1 : 17. Τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκε.

Heb. 1 : 4. Τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον παρ' αὐτοὺς κεκληρονόμηκεν ὄνομα.

Eph. 1 : 21. Υπεράνω . . . . παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι.

Phil. 2 : 9. Ὁ Θεὸς . . . . . ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα· ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων,

κ. τ. λ.

1 Vol. II. p. 152.

Heb. 1 : 3. Εκάθισεν ἐν δεξιῖ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν ὑψηλοῖς. Eph. 1 :20. Εκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ αὑτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. The similarity of sentiment and language between Heb. 1:2, 3, and Eph. 1: 18-21 is highly significant.

Heb. 1 : 5. Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε.

Acts 13 : 33. Υιός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. Heb. 1: 5. Εγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτῷ εἰς πατέρα, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι εἰς υἱόν.

2 Cor. 6 : 18. Εσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς πατέρα, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς υἱοὺς κ. τ. λ. There is plainly, in both these passages, an allusion to 2 Sam. 7: 14, but with a different application. Heb. 1: 6. Τόν πρωτότοκον

κος.

Rom. 8 : 29. Εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν τὸν πρωτότοκον.

Col. 1 : 15. Πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως. Ver. 13. Πρωτότο

It should be noticed that the appellative in these last quotations is nowhere else applied to Christ in the New Testament except Rev. 1: 5. And the common literal quotation from Ps. ii., in ver. 5, not elsewhere applied to Christ in the New Testament, points more emphatically to the same author from the similarity of sentiment in the preceding context, directed also to the same individuals, the Jews.

Heb. 1: 1. Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πύλαι ὁ Θεὸς λαλή σας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων, ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ.

Acts 13 : 32. Καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελιζόμεθα τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἐπαγγελίαν γενομένην, ὅτι ταύτην ὁ Θεὸς ἐκπεπλήρωκε τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῶν ἡμῖν, ἀναστήσας Ἰησοῦν. With Heb. 1 : 1, as quoted above, Eph. 3: 4, 5 should be compared, where, as Forster says, "we meet fresh marks of the same hand." Who can doubt, on a careful examination of all the preceding passages, that Forster is not far wrong when he says: “The result is, that every quotation, every thought, and

This word, not elsewhere found in the New Testament, has parallel phrases used only by Paul: e. g., Rom. 3 : 2, κατὰ πάντα τρόπον; Philip. 1:18, παντὶ τρόπῳ ; 2 Thess. 3: 16, ἐν παντὶ τρόπῳ.