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.

2. Of the twenty-one epistles contained in the New Testament _fourteen_
belong to Paul (if we include the anonymous letter to the Hebrews), all
written in the prosecution of his great work as the apostle to the
Gentiles. The Saviour's personal ministry was restricted to the Jews,
and so was that of the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples whom he
sent forth before his crucifixion. Matt. 10:5, 6; 15:24; Luke 10:1. But
his last command was: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost." Matt. 28:19. In carrying into execution this command, which
involved such an immense change in the outward form of God's visible
earthly kingdom, it was necessary--

(1) That the apostles should insist very earnestly and fully on the
great fundamental doctrine of the gospel, that men have justification
and eternal life, not through the law of Moses, or any oth