united to their bodies which were sleeping; and, this being done, the living, who remain behind on earth, will be caught up into the air to meet the Lord [and them]. Thus were they to be comforted, and not to sorrow as if their dear friends had lost anything; for, in fact, they had been the gainers and supposing that day to come in their own time, would have the advantage over them.

:

And now he goes on to speak of that great day itself, in terms which doubtless they in their eagerness fastened upon, and interpreted of its too speedy coming. Now occurs the first of those afterwards often-repeated exhortations to walk in light, as children of the day (see also Rom. xiii. 12, 13; Eph. v. 8; Col. i. 12, 13); now is found the first germ of that description of the armour of God, or of light, which he afterwards expanded so gloriously (Eph. vi. 10). Now also first we come to those short insulated admonitions which have been compared to strings of pearls,-with which in after years he was in the habit of coming towards the conclusion of his Epistles (see Rom. xii. 9-18; 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 14; 1 Tim. iv. 11-16; 2 Tim. iv. 1-5). We may remark that he con cludes the Epistle in full consciousness of its

inspired and authoritative character. 'I adjure you by the Lord,' he says, 'that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.' Such vehemence would ill become the writer of any mere human letter. And this remark is important considering it is the earliest among his Epistles. He wrote in full consciousness of his apostolic power.

The second Epistle is far too important, as to the explanation of one portion of its contents, to be included in the remaining short space allotted to this chapter. We hope to devote our next to its consideration. Meantime we may make an observation on a matter which is especially worth notice in this earliest Epistle. Though the Apostle, in the address of both, associates with himself Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy, who had been his companions in preaching the Word at Thessalonica, and continues this method of speech by the use of the first person plural as far as ch. xi. 18, yet there he explains 'we' to mean, ‘I, Paul,' and when he recurs to it again, asserts that which was true of himself alone and not of his two companions (ch. iii. 1). But he soon breaks away into the first person singular (ch. iii. 5), and though most of the remainder of the Epistle is expressed

in the plural form, yet in his final adjuration he confines himself to the singular. This serves to shew, that, though more names than one may be mentioned at the beginning of an Epistle, and though the formality of using the plural prevail through the greater part of it, yet it is the apostolic authority of St. Paul himself which is the sanction of the whole, and the individual thought of St. Paul that works out the arguments and enforces the exhortation.

We now proceed to the recounting of the more important varieties in reading, and corrections in rendering, necessary to be noticed in this Epistle.

Of the former, there are but few, and these not of the first importance.

In ch. i. 1, some of our oldest authorities omit the words 'from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.' And though other authorities almost as ancient contain the words, the omission seems to point to the original text. Elsewhere the corresponding words are not omitted, and it is probable that they may have been inserted here to conform this to those other places.

In ch. ii. 19, Christ' is omitted in all our oldest authorities, and should certainly be erased.

In ch. iii. 2, for and minister of God and our fellow labourer in the Gospel of Christ,' our ancient MSS. have very various expressions.

has only the words and fellow Sinaitic and Alexandrine have only

The Vatican

worker;' the

and minister

of God; the Claromontane MS. has and fellowworker with God in the Gospel of Christ,' which is most likely to have been the original text, and to have been varied on account of the difficulty presented by the unusual expression. In verses II and 13, the word 'Christ' is omitted in all the most ancient MSS. "The Lord Jesus' seems to have been at this time St. Paul's constant way of naming the Saviour. And it is to be noted, that he was charged at Thessalonica before the magistrates with proclaiming another king, one Jesus.'

In ch. iv. I, after the words 'please God,' all our most ancient MSS. insert 'even as also ye are walking.' In ver. 7, 'us' should be read 'you.' In ver. 13 all our most ancient MSS., instead of 'I,' have 'we.'

In ch. v. 3, at the beginning, For' is omitted by the Alexandrine and Sinaitic MSS., and in the ancient Syriac version and the most ancient Fathers the Vatican and Claromontane MSS.

read 'But.' In ver. 5, all the oldest authorities begin the verse 'For ye are,' &c. In ver. 20, 21, the words ought to stand 'Despise not prophesyings, but prove all things;' i. e., on the one hand do not think lightly of any utterances of the word of God by whomsoever made: on the other, do not be led by everything so spoken, but put all things to the test. See on this place below.

We now come to what will prove, in the Epistles, the far more serious task, that of enumerating passages in which our English version fails to give the force, and very often the correct meaning, of the original.

In ch. i. 3, 'hope in our Lord Jesus Christ' is incorrect. The original has hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, i. e., of his coming-the great subject of the Epistle. In ver. 4, 'knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, should be,

knowing, bre

thren beloved by God, your election.'

In ver. 8, 'sounded' should be hath sounded.' The Apostle is speaking, not of a thing long past, but of one which had just taken place, and was then continuing. In ver. 10, 'delivered' ought to be 'delivereth.'

In ch. ii. 1, 'was not' should be 'hath not