subjects the most varied, appears in his style also.  It naturally takes the complexion of his themes.  To understand this one has only to compare the epistle to the Romans with those to the Corinthians; the epistle to the Galatians with that to the Ephesians; and all these with the epistles to the Philippians and Thessalonians.  His style may be compared to a clear window, which shows with fidelity the ever varying forms and scenes that pass before it.

5.  The commentaries that have been written on the epistles of Paul would themselves constitute a large library.  Our own century has been very fruitful in them, and some of them are accessible to every reader.  For this reason our notice of the separate epistles may well be brief.  Our aim will be to give the occasion of each, its chronological order in the series, its connection with the apostle’s missionary labors, its scope, and the office which it accomplishes in the plan of revelation.

In connection with Paul’s epistles the reader should carefully study the history of his life and labors, as given in the Acts of the Apostles.  From Acts 9:23-26 compared with Gal. 1:16-18, we learn that the first three years after Paul’s conversion were spent at Damascus and in Arabia.  Then he went up to Jerusalem, but after a short sojourn there was driven away by the persecution of the Jews, and retired to his native city, Tarsus in Cilicia.  Acts 9:29, 30.  After an interval of some time, which he spent “in the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (Gal. 1:21), “Barnabas departed to Tarsus, for to seek Saul.  And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch.”  Acts 11:25, 26.  This is supposed to have been about A.D. 43, seven or eight years after his conversion.

Here begins his recorded public ministry in Antioch and from Antioch as a centre.  See above, Chap. 29, No. 38.  It embraces three great missionary tours (Acts 13:1, etc.; 15:36, etc.; 18:23, etc.), and four visits to Jerusalem besides that already noticed.  Acts 11:27-30 compared with 12:25; 15:2; 18:22; 21:15.  The last of these ended in his captivity and imprisonment, first at Cesarea and afterwards at Rome, with an intervening perilous voyage and shipwreck.  Acts chap. 21-28.  See the incidents of Paul’s life chronologically arranged in Davidson’s Introduct. to New Test., vol. 2, pp. 110-112, with the annexed table; in Horne’s Introduct., vol. 4, pp. 490-495; in Conybeare and Howson, vol. 2, Appendix 2; and in the commentaries of Hackett, Alford, Wordsworth, etc.

6.  As the epistles of Paul stand in the New Testament, they are not arranged in chronological order.  The principle of arrangement seems to have been, first, those to churches, then, those to individuals; the further order being that of relative size, with this modification; that two epistles addressed to the same church should stand together, and that