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TIE EpiStIeS Of Raul.-WE have alluded to
Paul as the principal letter writer in the New
Testament When that change which passed
over him with the shock of a spiritual earth
quake, had subsidized into resolute attachment
to the new religion, what ardor and heroiSm
were seen to be united in him-what a rare
combination of intellect and heart, of enthusi-
asm and perseverance, Still with him there
was no stoical abnegation of humanity; while
he lived for the world, he lived i'll the world
de shrunk from the scourge, and declared
himself citizen of Rome, and the shnddering
expectation Of a Roman dungeon suggested
the warmth and comfort of "cloak." The
culture Of the schools was ip him, 'haptised
with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Words
We're often unable to convey his thoughts; they
reel and stagger beneath the weight and power
of his conceptions. And whether we turn to
his alarmed appeal to the people of Lycaonia
where he was taken for the god Of eloquence to
his pleading at the bar of Felix and Agrippa-
or whether we survey his letter to the Church in
Rome, in its fulness, profoundly, and compac-
ted system-or his Episte to Cornth, SO vari-
ed and magnificent in argument SO earnest
and SO persuasive in remonstrance and vindi
cation-or the missive sent to Gaatia, SO vivid
and startling in its surprise, mitigation or sor-
row-or that to Ephesus, so opulent in thought
and exalted in sentiment, as if to compensate
for the costly books of magic which had been
given to the fames-or that to Phillippi, so
warm and exuberant in its congratulations to
the first European city where the gospel had
been proclaimed-or that to Colosse, exposing
the insidious assaults of specious philosophy
which corrupted the purity and marred The
simplicity of the gospel-or his twin commu-
nicationS to TheSsaonca, calm, alfectionate,
and consolatory-Or those to Timothy and Ii
tus, replete with the sage and cordial advices
OF paternal kindness, and long and varied eX-
perience-or the brief note to Philemon con-
corning a dishonest and fugative slave, who
had been Unexpectedly brouoh to ''the knowl-
edge of the truthh-or,th epistolary tractate ad-
dress to the Hebrews, with its powerful demon
stration of the superior glory and the unchang
ing permanence and spirituality of the New
Dispensation-to whichever of these compost
tlons we turn, we are struck with the same lofty
genius and fervid eloquence, the same elevated
and selfdenylng temperance, the same throb
bing of a noble and yearning heart, the same
masses Of thought luminous and many tinted
like the cloud which glows under reflected
splendors of the setting sun, the same vigorous
mental grasp which, amid numerous digres-
sions, is ever tracing truths up to first princi-
ples-al these the results of master mind
into which nature and grace had poured in roy
al profusion, their rarest and richest endow-
ments.
In the epistles, what specimens have we not
of almost every form of mposition-descrip
ton, narrative, argument, oratory-bod invec-
tive and sudden strophe-antithesis and
climax-the brief words of anger-the sad re-
grets of disappointed hope-the soft breathings
of affection-the vehement outburst of self
vindication-the long and effective argument,
often ending in an anthem-logic swelling into
lyrics--the terse deliverance ofethical maxims,
and the cordial greeting and kind remember
ance of former friends. No wonder that Lon
ginus adds Paul Of Tarsus to list of names,
(which were the crown of all eloquence and
Grecian genius" There are some passages in
the Epstles to the Corinthians which have all
the vehement and thrilling penetration of De-
mosthenes, and other sections in the same
books, which, in elevation, imagery, and music,
have no parallel, even in the Plantonic dia-
logues.-Nortb British ReUie,0.