office. These considerations establish the fact that an oral account of His life must have been handed down in the Church prior to the publication of written Gospels, sufficiently definite to constitute the Christianity of the converts. The intimations contained in the Epistles prove that such was the fact. First let us consider St. Paul’s own positive assertions. The most important is in 1 Cor. xv. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you (γνωρίζω, I remind you of, or refresh your memories respecting) the Gospel (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all (ἐν πρώτοις, as matter of prime importance) that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Let it be observed that the subject which the Apostle was here discussing with certain members of this Church—the possibility of a resurrection of the dead—led him to refer to the first principles of Christianity as he had taught them. They denied the truth of a material resurrection. St. Paul draws their attention to the fact that Christianity as taught by him consisted of a body of facts. The following points are clearly deducible from the passage before us. 1. The εὐαγγέλλιον, or message of good news, which the Apostle had announced at his first preaching at Corinth, consisted of a body of facts as distinct from mere doctrinal teachings; and that whatever doctrines he taught were built on them as a foundation. 2. Among the facts of prime importance which he announced, was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. 3. He states that in his preaching there were matters of prime importance, of which Christ’s death and resurrection was one. It follows therefore that there were other matters of prime importance, which his present argument did not require him to notice. This is obvious from the nature of the case: the announcement of Christ’s death and resurrection would have been scarcely intelligible without the addition of a great many other facts to give it meaning. But further, the assertion that there were facts of prime importance, implies that there were also points of secondary importance, which he must have announced likewise, or in other words, that the Gospel which he proclaimed must have consisted of an account, more or less full, of the human life of Jesus. 4. This account the Apostle says that he delivered to the Corinthian Church. The words imply that he committed it in a formal manner to their keeping, as the ground of their Christian instruction. This he likewise affirms that he had no less formally received.