BOOK FOURTH THE BIBLICAL LITERATURE OF RHETORIC CHAPTER XI. THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC XII. SPOKEN RHETORIC AND THE 'BOOK OF DEUTERON OMY'. PAGE 263 CHAPTER XI THE EPISTLES: OR WRITTEN RHETORIC THE word 'rhetoric' has several meanings. In the sense that belongs to its most common usage it has little connection with the purpose of the present work. Questions of style seem to me to belong to the study of lan- Literature of guage rather than to the study of literature; unless Rhetoric the Address in such cases as the Book of Wisdom, where we see a peculiarity of style of sufficient magnitude to make the composition a literary class by itself, the morphological distinctness of which must be kept in mind by one who would appreciate the argument. At present I am using the word 'rhetoric' in a different sense, as the literature of address. The Biblical literature of address falls into two main divisions: the Epistle, or Written Address, and Oratory, the Spoken Address. Epistolary Literature: the Written Address The Epistolary literature of the Bible constitutes a department of the highest importance as regards its subject-matter. But its treatment need occupy only a small space in a work of which the purpose is to note distinctions of literary form. All that is necessary is to point out that the generic term 'epistle' covers three classes of composition worth distinguishing, without reckoning the Epistle of St. James, and the First Epistle of St. John, which will be treated as a part of Wisdom literature. The first and largest class is made up of epistles in the strictest sense,- the Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse. These have the full form of epistolary correspondence: commencing with a salutation Epistles of Pastoral Intercourse name. from the Apostle,' with whom other names are joined in some cases, to a distinct church or fellow-worker; ending with further salutations and sometimes an autograph message, and with greetings, general or by Sometimes messages to individuals, or about the treatment of individuals, appear in the body of the letter; information is given as to the writer's condition, or his prospective movements and the possibility of personal visits to his correspondents; reference is made to affairs of the church or person addressed, and even to financial questions or to the disposal of articles of luggage left behind. The matter of the epistle, moreover, is called forth by particular circumstances; though in treating the particular the writer can rise or digress to the deepest principles touched in the I Corinthians highest forms of expression. The First Epistle to the Corinthians is an ideal example of this type. Its earlier paragraphs are drawn from St. Paul by tidings he has heard of the Church at Corinth: tidings of factions, of moral laxity, of proceedings against brethren in secular courts. Then he turns to answer questions of principle, or of ecclesiastical policy, which have been conveyed to him on behalf of the Corinthian church; he thus treats of celibacy, of the idol feasts which constituted a burning question in the early days of Christianity, of the relation of the sexes in places of worship; the question of diverse spiritual gifts seems also to be among those put to him, and in treating it he is led to the famous outpouring on 'charity,' or 'love.' He concludes with a summary of the 'gospel' he has preached, but a summary really designed for a single purpose, to meet doubts that had arisen concerning the resurrection doctrine of the Apostles. Other Pastoral The other pastoral epistles are, in their general character as a branch of literature, covered by this typical example. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a later stage in the correspondence to which the first belongs. That to the Galatians is a personal remonstrance from St. Paul to churches with which he conceived himself to have a 1 In the case of II, III John the writer appears only as 'the Elder.' |