The two stages of the history of the N. T. present in this respect a ver}' striking contrast. The list of the canonical books shows how largelj' epistles were used in tiie expansion and organization of the Church. Those which have survived may he regarded as the representatives of many others that are lost. AVe are perhaps too much in the habit of forgetting that the absence of all mention of written letters from the Gos- pel historj' is just as noticeable. With the exception of the spurious letter to Abgarus (q. v.) of Edessa (Euseb. //. E. i, 13) there are no epistles of Jesus. The explanation of this is to be found partly in the circum- stance of one who, known as the "carpenter's son," was training as his disciples those who, like himself, belonged to the class of laborers and peasants, partly in the fict that it was by personal rather than by written teaching that the worli of the prophetic office, which he reproduced and perfected, had to be accomplished. See Jesus Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles we have tiie short epistle addressed by the apostolic council hold at Jerusalem to the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts xv, 23-24). There is also a letter from Claudius Lysias to Felix, which may 1 e supposed to preserve the official style of the provinces. Both these use the common Greek formulas, beginning, after the names of the writer and the person written to, with the salutation, and ending with the adieu. The epistles of the N. T. in their outward form are such as might be expected from men who were brought into contact with Greek and Koman customs, them- selves belonging to a different race, and so reproducing the impoi-ted style with only partial accuracj'. They begin (the Epistle to the Hebrews and 1 John except- ed) with the names of the writer, and those to whom the ejiistlc is addressed. Then follows the formula of sal- utation (analogous to the tii Trndrrcn^ of Greek, the S., S. 7>., or S. D. M., salutcm, sulu/em dic'tt, aalidem dicit miilfam, of Latin coiTespondence) — generally in Paul's Epistles in some combination of the words "grace, mercy, and peace" (\(inic, tXiot;, £i'p»'/i'r/) ; in others, as in Acts xv, 23; James i, 1, with the closer equivalent of x-rn'ofo', " greeting," which last is never used by Paul. Then the letter itself commences in the first person, the singular and ]ilural licing used, as in the letters of Cicero, indiscriminately (comp. 1 Cor. ii ; 2 Cor. i, 8, 15 ; 1 Thess. iii, 1, 2; and passim). When the substance of the letter has been comjileted, ques- tions answered, truths enforced, there come the indi- vidual messages, characteristic, in Paul's E])istles es- pecially, of one who never allowed his personal aflfec- tions to lie swallowed u]) in (he greatness of his work. The conclusion in this case was probably modified by the fact that the letters were dictated to an amanuen- sis. When he had done his work, the apostle took up the pen o' reed, and added, in his own large" charac- ters (Gal. vi, 11\ the authenticating autogra])h, some- times with special stress on the fact that this was his writing (1 Cor. xvi, 21 ; Gal. vi, 11 ; Col. iv, 18 ; 2
Thess. iii, 17), always with one of the closing formulas of salutation, "Grace be with thee" — "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." In one instance, Kom. xvi, 22, the amanuensis in his own name adds his salutation. In the "farewell" (ippojao of Acts xxiii, 30, tppoja^e of Acts xv, 29) we have the equivalents to the vale, valefe, M'hicli formed the cus- tomarj' conclusion of lioman letters. It need hardly be said that the fact that Paul's Epistles were dictated in this way accounts for many of their most striking peculiarities, the frequent digressions, the long paren- theses, the vehemence and energj' as of a man who is speaking strongl}' as his feelings prompt him rather than writing calmly. An allusion in 2 Cor. iii, 1 brings before us another class of letters which must have been in frequent use in the earl}' ages of the Christian Church, the tTriuToXcii avaTariKai, cr letters nf recom- mendation, by which travellers or teachers were com- mended by one church to the good offices of others. Other persons (there mav he a reference to Apollos, Acts xviii, 27) had come to the Church of Corinth relj"^- ing on these. Paul appeals to his converts as Christ's epistle (tTTcrroX?) Xokttov, 2 Cor. iii, Pi), written, "not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God." — Kit- to, s. V. ; Smith, s. v. For other particulars as to the material and implements iised for epistles, see Writ- ing.
EPISTLES, Apostolical. All the revelations of God to mankind rest upon historj'. Therefore in the Old, as well as in the New Test<ament, the history of the deeds of (iod stands /?/•«/, as being the basis of holy writ ; thereupon follow the books which exhibit the doctrines and internal life of the men of God — in the Old Testament the Psalms, the writings of Solomon, etc., and in the New Testament the epistles of the apostles ; finalh', there follow in the Old Testament the writings of the prophets, whose vision extends into the times of the New Testament ; and at the conclu- sion of the New Testament stands its only prophetic 'L,ook, the Kevelatlon of John.