st, as a testimony to
all future ages of Christ's abhorrence of hypocrisy, and
consequently of the doom which hypocrites will receive from him
at the last day. Matt. 7:21-23.

The fact that Luke has omitted some events in the history of
Paul, as, for example, his journey into Arabia, which occurred
during the three years that intervened between his conversion
and his first visit to Jerusalem, Acts 9:22-26 compared with
Gal. 1:15-18, is no argument against the credibility of his
narrative. Difficulties that arise simply from a writer's
brevity must not be allowed to set aside satisfactory evidence
of his competency and truthfulness. The historical difficulties
connected with Stephen's address do not concern Luke's
credibility as a historian, and the discussion of them belongs
to the commentator.

5. The book of Acts closes with a notice that "Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern
the Lord Jesus, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." As it adds
no notice of the issue of his imprisonment, or of what afterwards befell
him, we naturally infer that the book was written at Rome about this
time, that is, about A.D. 63.

II. _The Acknowledged Epistles_, 6. It is well known that doubts
existed, to a greater or less extent, in the primitive churches before
the fourth century, respecting the apostolic origin and authority of
certain books which now constitute a part of the New Testament canon.
Hence the distinction made by Eusebius between the _acknowledged_ books,
(_homologoumena_) that is, those that were universally received from the
first, and the _disputed_ books, (_antilegomena_,) books respecting
which some entertained doubts. The _acknowledged_ books are, the four
gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen epistles of Paul which
bear his name at the beginning, the first epistle of Peter, and the
first epistle of John; twenty in all. The _disputed_ books are, the
epistle to the Hebrews, the epistle of James, the second epistle of
Peter, the second and third epistles of John, the epistle of Jude, and
the book of Revelation; seven in all. The gospels and the Acts have been
already considered, and the disputed books are reserved for the
following chapter. Some remarks will here be made on the fifteen
acknowledged epistles.

7. The epi