shown. ‘The use of the present tense in viii. 4 ff. ; ix. 6, 9; x. 1ff.; xiii. 10ff., is not decisive. Attempts to identify the persecution alluded to in x. 2 are the merest guess-work. To refer it to the Neronian persecution (64) is to assume that it was addressed to Rome, and is, therefore, to beg the question. The reference of x. 36 and xii. 3 to the persecution of Domitian (95), is utterly without foundation, to say nothing of the fact that it is not certain that those two passages refer to persecution at all. Against a date near 95 is the use of the epistle by Clement, unless the Roman address can be proved. Otherwise, some time would be required for it to obtain such currency and recognition as would account for Clement’s familiarity with it. Against a very late date is also the fact that Timothy appears as an active evangelist, which could hardly have been the case if the letter was written as late as 90. Against a very early date is the admitted fact that a second generation of Christians is addressed; and that the references to persecution apparently point toa comparatively distant time. If we are to lay stress on the omission of all reference to the destruction of J erusalem, as I think we must co, it seems to me that the epistle was written not far from 67.
There is no reason for disputing the author’s acquaintance with the writings of Paul, as there is none for asserting his dependence upon them. There are lexical resemblances and resemblances in thought and phrasing, but nothing to show that the writer of Hebrews drew upon Paul to any consider- able extent. The coincidences with Galatians which are pointed out are superficial, and may be fairly traced to com- mon Jewish ideas with which both writers were familiar. As to Romans, Ephesians, and Corinthians, the resemblances are, in a number of cases, due to quotation from the same source ; in other cases they occur in warnings from the example of the Israelites ; in others again there is a coincidence of a current phrase, such as “if God permit,” which any author might use. In some other instances cited the resemblance is too remote to be significant.
As to the influence of Philo, we may freely admit the evi- dences of the writer’s Alexandrian training, and the possibility,