40.  Brief and imperfect as is the sketch which Luke has given us, it is sufficient for the instruction of the churches in subsequent ages.  God deals with them not as with children, to whom the command, “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” must continually be repeated; but as with full-grown men, who need general principles rather than specific and minute directions.  The facts recorded in the Acts of the Apostles are of a representative character.  They embody the spirit of apostolic times, and the great principles upon which the cause of Christ must ever be conducted.  Fuller information in respect to details might gratify our curiosity, but it is not necessary for our edification.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL.

1.  The apostolic epistles are a natural sequence of the office and work committed by the Saviour to the apostles.  They were the primitive preachers of the gospel, and, under Christ, the founders of the Christian church.  From the necessity of the case they had a general supervision of all the local churches, and their authority in them was supreme in matters of both faith and practice.  It was to be expected, therefore, that they should teach by writing, as well as by oral instruction.  It does not appear, however, that epistolary correspondence entered originally into their plan of labor.  Their great Master taught by word of mouth only, and they followed his example.  “We,” said the twelve, “will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”  Acts 6:4.  It was only when circumstances made it necessary, that some of them took up the pen to write to the churches.  Passing by for the present the disputed question of the time when the epistle of James was written, and assuming that the conversion of Paul took place about A.D. 36, we have an interval of at least sixteen years between this event and the date of his earliest epistles, those to the Thessalonians, written about A.D. 53.  The apostles did not regard themselves as letter-writers, but as preachers of the word.  They took up the pen only when some special occasion made it necessary.  The apostolic epistles are incidental; and for this very reason they are eminently life-like and practical.  In respect to themes, and the manner of handling them, they present a rich variety.  All the great questions of faith and practice that have agitated the Christian church since the apostolic age come up for discussion in these letters, not indeed, in their ever-varying outward forms, but in their great underlying principles.  Thus the providence of God has provided in them a rich storehouse of truths for the instruction and edification of believers to the end of time.