34 5. Author of the appeals to theScripture as the foundation, that he intended to build upon, and the Au- thority which he would profs them withal, fupplies the Room of that intimation of his Apbfiolical Authority, which in other places hemaketh ufeof. And it fervesto the very fame purpofe. For as in thofeEpiftles he propofeth his Apofolical Authority as the immediate reafon of their Affentand Obedience ; fo in this he doth the Scripturesof the Old Teftament. And this is the true and proper caufé, that renders the prefixing of his Apofiolical Authority, whichhis Name muff neceffarilyaccompany, needlefs, becaufe ufelefs, it being that which he intended net to ingage in this bulmefs. And for bitt,- fdf, he fufficiently declares inthe clefs of hisEpifite who he was s for though fomemay imagine that he is nett fo certainly knownunto 'us, from what he there layes of him.. felf, yet none can be fofond to doubt whether he werenot thereby known to them to whom hewrote; fo that neither hath thisObjeCtion in it any thing. of real weight or moment. áo. Wehave fpoken before unto the Hxftation ofthe LatinChurch, which by Come is objeéted, efpecially by Erafmus, and given the Reafons of it, .manifetting that it is of no force toweaken our Affertion ; untowhichI fhall now only add, that after it was receivedamongft them as Canonical, it was never quettioned by anyLearnedMan orSynod of old, whetherSt. Paul was the Author of it or no, but they all with one confent afcribed it unto him, as hathbeenat large by others declared. The remaining Excepti- ons which by Tome are infiltedon, are taken from fome paffages in the Epittle it Pelf; that principallofChap. a. and theThird, where the Writer of it feems to reckon him- felf, among thenumber, not oftheApoftles, but of their Auditors. Butwhereas it. is certain and evident, that the Epiflle waswritten before theDefiruition of theTemple, yea, the beginning of thole Wars that ended therein , or the death of lames, whileft fundry of the Apofiles were yet alive, it cannot be, that the Penman o tt fhould really" place himfelf amongft the generation that fucceeded them; fo that the Words mafi of necellity admit of anotherInterpretation, asflail be manifefted in its proper place; for whereas both this and other things of the fame nature, mullbe conldered and fpoken unto, in the places where they occurr, I !hallnot here anticipate what of neceffitymull be inflted on in its due feafon s efpecially conldering of how fmall importance the Objections taken from them, are. Andthis is the fumm of what bath as yet by any been objected unto tour affignation of this Epifite unto St. Paul; by the confederation whereof theReader will be direced into the Judgement he isto make on the Argu- mentsand Tefiimonies that we (hall produce, in the Confirmation of our Affertion, and there we now.proceed unto under the feveral Heads propofed in the entrance of our .Difcourfe. 21. Among!) the Arguments ufually baffled on toprove this Epifile to have beenwritten by St. Paul,`theTeftimony given untoit by St. Peter, deferves Confideration in the first place, and is indeedof it felf fufficient todetermine the Enquiryabout it. His Words to this purpofe, Epift. 2. Chap. 3. v. r 5, 16. are; And account that the Long-fufering of our Lord is Salvation, even as our belovedBrother Paul alfil according unto the Tfdomgiven unto him bath written unto you ; as alto inall his Epifihs Peaking in them of theft things, inwhich arefome things hard to be underfiood, which they that are unlearned and unfable wrefi, as thy do alfil the other Scriptures unto their owndefiruaion. To clear this Teftimony, fomefew things midi be obferved in it, and concerning it. As (s.) That St. Peter wrote this Second Epifile unto the fame Perfons, that is, the fame Churches and People to whom he wrote his Firfi. This (to omit other Evidences of it himfelf teltifies, Chap. 3. I. ThisSecond Epifite, BelovedInowwrite untoyou;' it was not only,abfolutelyhis Second Epittle, but theSecondwhich he wroteto thefamePerfons ; handling in both the fame general Argument, as himfelfinthe next words affirms.' (z.) That hisFirf Epifite was written unto the Jews or Hebrews in the Afilan Difperfion. bxi,axloit naeotariáµott d`iamopñt Ilór7a, ties. to theElea Strangersof the Difperfion ofPontus,Galatia, Cappadocia, Afia, andBithyniá, Chap. r. r. that is the 86,1`exa mnTáe la Tp J'tamrake, as St. JamesRyles the fame Perfons, Chap. i i. thetwelveTribes, or Hebrews of the twelveTribes of Ifrael in theirDifperfion.. Thefe areeiorUbnou hatmogae, or la Tñ haoropi, are thofe whom the JewsofJerufalem called the Peom,pà .lf1 `EMúvro, John7.3 5. theDifperfion, or thofe_of theirNation, that weredifperfed amongthe Gentiles; Thofe efpecially they intend in theGreekEmpire. Thefe theycalled 1ft1tl' P i rt the elderfion or flatteringof Ifrael, when they were liftedamong!{all Nations, like the lifting of aSieve , Amos 9.9. Pfal. 1+7.2. they are called `18äw1 Tr), which the LXX. according to the Phrafe in their dayesrender zäriéacaapát met Iepaña,, the diJperfion,, or thofe flattered abroad of Ifrael, as
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