The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1888-01-29

The epistle to the Romans is Trea-
tise on Justification by Faith that to
the Hebrews a Treatise on the Priesthood
o. Christ Each stands out in the New
Testament in bold relief and monumental
grandeur. Each is complete in itself
and each is supplementary to the other
Each has its own chara cteristics and
style. Each seems imperatively to claim
separate master mind for it's author
And of the two, the epistle to the He
brews, although much shorter than that
to the Romans, is so much more thor
oughly furnished with the riches OF the
Old Testament that we naturally feel
that we cannot go far wrong in ascribing
1t to the pen Of him who was mighty In
the Scriptures.
Leaving, then, Paul's great letter to
the Romans out of our estimate, we find
the epistle to the Hebrews presenting a
front to all the other inspired letters of
the New Testament, in relation to the
Old Testament, which distinguishes it as
the production of one who had made the
Hebrew Scriptures his study by day and
by night 1t covers only 81 pages while
they together cover l27 pages. Yet in
its short space it contains within sight of
one thousand words quoted from the Old
Testament, while all the others together
have only 937. This indicates, for this
letter, place and an authorship of it's
own.
But we come now to the last and the
most conclusive argument against the
Pauline authorship of this epistle. This
argument is founded on the difference of
style. To one not versed in the philoso-
ply of style this argument will perhaps
seem weak. To one well acuuair ted
with 1T, the argument will be very nearly
unanswerable.
1t has long been noted as one of the
glories and miracles of inspiration that.
each inspired writer, although infallibly
guided by the Holy Spirit, retained his
own peculiarities of origin, education, in
dlvldual personality, and style of writ
ing. And this furnishes incidental and
therefore unperceived evidences of genu-
ineness and authenticity which sustains
the holy records of our faith.
The style of Paul In his known epistles
differs from the style of the epistle to the
Hebrews as thoroughly as the style of
TaLltus differs from that OF Cicero. or as
the style of Goldsmith differs from that
OF Samuel johnson, or as the sstyle of
Milford differs from that OF Macaulav
This subject has been considered, in our
day, more carefully by Canon Farrar
than by any other writer of equal learn
ing and taste, and l do not know anv
stronger mode OF presenting the truth
than n some Of be words "The differ
ences between tho epistle to the Hebrews
and the epistles Of Paul are differences
which go down to The roots Of the being
That the same pen should have been
engaged on both is a psychological i'm
p slblllty. est Paul is often stately
and often rhetorical, and sometimes writes
more in the style of treatise than of a
letter but the stateliness and rhetoric
and systematic treatment of the epistle
to the Hebrews In no wav resemble his
The torn and rhythm of it's sentences are
wholly different. Paul is often impas
stoned and often argumentative, and so
ls the author of the episte to the He.
brews but the passion and dialectics of
the latter furnish the most striking con-
trast to those of the former. The writer
OF Hebrews cites differently from St..
Paul. he writes differently, he argues
differently, he declaims differently, he
constructs and connects his sentences
differently, he builds up his paragraphs
on wholly different model. st. Panl ia
constantly mingling two constructions
leaving sentences unfinished, breaking
into personal illusions, substituting the
syllogism of passion for the syllogism of
logic. The writer of the epistle to the
Hebrews IS never irregular he is never
personal be never struggles Tor expires.
sion; he never loses himself in pa.
renthesis be is never hurried into an
anacoJuthon
Paul has his own style of rhetoric.
breathless, impetuous, bursting out like
lava stream of spontaneous passion.
But never under any circumstances does
Paul use rhetoric for its own sake
Never does he look out tor expressions
which shall merely please by their own
sonorous majesty. Never does he in
dulge in the balanced equilibrium of
euphonious clauses. HIS expression are
never leisurely"
The movement Of the author of the
epistle to the Hebrews is that of our
oriental Sheikh, with his robes of honor
wrapped around him the movement Of
Paul Is that of an athlete girded for the
race. The rhetoric Of the former. even
when 1T is a. It's most msiesiic volume il
like the smooth flow OF river amid
green fields the rbetorio of p,rI a. Ill