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the composition of the Pentateuch can, with any show of reason or probability, be assigned. The only remaining question is, whether it can be thought to have been written during the three hundred and fifty-six years which elapsed between the entrance of the Israelites into Palestine, and he appointment of Saul to be king of Israel.

to my words; for these men are not drunken, as ye
suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you,
by miracles, and signs, and wonders, which God did
by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know;
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having re-
ceived of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he
hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.'
"Thus, by the miraculous effusion of the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost, were the resurrection
and ascension of Christ proved to a variety of nations
of Asia, Africa, and Europe, all the quarters of the
globe which were then known, as completely as if he
had actually appeared among that mixed multitude in
Jerusalem, reproved the high priest and council of the
Jews for their unbelief and hardness of heart, and then
ascended in their presence to heaven. They had such
evidence as was incontrovertible, that St. Peter and the
other Apostles were inspired by the Spirit of God; they
could not but know, as every Theist admits, that the

"Now, the whole history which we have of that period utterly forbids such a supposition. The Israelites, though perpetually lapsing into idolatry, are uniformly described as acknowledging the authority of a written Law of Moses; and this Law, from generation to generation, is stated to be the directory, by which the Judges governed the people. Thus, Samuel expressly refers to a well-known commandment of Jehovah, and to the divine legation of Moses and Aaron, in a speech which he made to the assembled Israelites. Thus, the man of God, in his prophetic threat to Eli, similarly refers to the familiar circumstance recorded in the Pentateuch, that the house of his ancestor had been chosen to the Pontificate out of all the tribes of Israel. Thus, when the nations are enumerated which were left to prove the people, it is said that they were left for this purpose, that it might be known whether the Israelites would hearken unto the commandments of Jeho-Spirit of God never was, nor ever will be, shed abroad vah, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Thus, Joshua is declared to have written the book which bears his name, as a supplement to a prior book which is denominated the book of the Law of God. Thus, likewise, he especially asserts, that this book of the Law of God is the book of the Law of Moses; speaking familiarly of precepts which are written in that book; represents himself as reading its contents to all the assembled people, so that none of them could be ignorant of its purport; and mentions his writing a copy of it in the presence of the children of Israel. And thus, finally, we hear of the original, whence that copy is professed to have been taken, in the volume of the Pentateuch itself; for we are there told, that Moses with his own hand wrote the words of THIS Law in a BOOK; and that he then commanded the Levites to take THIS BOOK of the Law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant, that it might be there for a witness in all succeeding ages against the Israelites, in case they should violate its precepts."-Abridged from FABER'S Hora Mosaicæ.

Note B.-Page 49.

to enable any order of men to propagate falsehood with success; one of those, who by this inspiration were speaking correctly a variety of tongues, assured them, that Jesus of Nazareth whom they had slain was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of God; and that the same Jesus had, according to his promise, shed abroad on the Apostles that which they both saw and heard. The consequence of all this, we are told, was, that three thousand of his audience were instantly converted to the faith, and the same day incorporated into the church by baptism.

"Would any in his senses have written a narrative of such events as these, at the very time when they are said to have happened, and in any one of those countries, to the inhabitants of which he appeals as witnesses of their truth, if he had not been aware that their truth could not be called in question? Would any forger of such a book as the Acts of the Apostles, at a period near to that in which he relates that such astonishing events had happened, have needlessly appealed for the truth of his narrative to the people of all nations, and thus gone out of his way to furnish his readers with innumerable means of detecting his imposture? At no period, indeed, could forged books, such as the received as authentic, unless all the events which they record, whether natural or supernatural, had been believed, all the principal doctrines received, and all the rites of religion which they prescribe practised, from the very period at which they represent the Son of God as sojourning on earth, laying the foundation of his church, dying on a cross, rising from the dead, and ascending into heaven. The argument cannot, perhaps, be employed to prove the authenticity of all the Epistles which make so great a part of the New Testament; but it is certainly as applicable to some of them as it is to the Gospels and the book called the Acts of the Apostles.

"In events so public and so signal, there was no room for mistake or deception. Of all the miracles re-four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, have been corded in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments there is not one of which the evidence is so multiplied as that of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost; for it rests not on the testimony of those, whether many or few, who were all with one accord in one place. It is testified by all Jerusalem, and by the natives of regions far distant from Jerusalem; for there were then, says the historian, 'dwelling at Jerusalein, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven; and when the inspiration of the disciples was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were all confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, one to another, Behold, are not all these who speak Galileans? and how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.'

"It hath been objected by infidelity to the resurrection of Christ, that he ought to have appeared publicly, wherever he had appeared before his crucifixion; but here is a miracle displayed much farther than the resurrection of Christ could have been by his preaching openly, and working miracles for forty days in the temple and synagogues of Jerusalem, as he had done formerly; and this miracle is so connected with the resurrection, that if the Apostles speaking a variety of tongues be admitted, the resurrection of Jesus cannot be denied. In reply to those (probably the natives of Jerusalem), who, imagining that the Apostles uttered gibberish, charged them with being full of new wine, St. Peter said, 'Ye men of Judæa, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken

"The Apostles, as Michaelis justly observes,* 'frequently allude, in their Epistles, to the gift of miracles, which they had communicated to the Christian converts by the imposition of hands, in confirmation of the doctrine delivered in their speeches and writings, and sometimes to miracles which they themselves had performed.' Now, if these Epistles are really genuine, the miracles referred to must certainly have been wrought, and the doctrines preached must have been divine; for no man in his senses would have written to large communities that he had not only performed miracles in their presence, in confirmation of the divine origin of certain doctrines, but that he had likewise communicated to them the same extraordinary endowments Or if we can suppose any human being to have possessed sufficient effrontery to write in this manner to any community, it is obvious, that, so far from gaining credit to his doctrine by such assertions, if not known to be true, he would have exposed himself to the utmost ridicule and contempt, and have ruined the cause which he attempted to support by such absurd conduct.

* Introduction to the New Testament, chap. 2, sec. 1,

"St. Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians is ad- | dexterity of his hands, and persuade the ignorant and dressed to a Christian church which he had lately the credulous that more than human means are requifounded, and to which he had preached the Gospel site for the performance of his extraordinary feats; but only three Sabbath-days. A sudden persecution obliged he will hardly persuade those whose understandings him to quit this community before he had given to it remain unimpaired, that he has likewise communiits proper degree of consistence; and what is of conse- cated to his spectators the power of working miracles, quence in the present instance, he was protected nei- and of speaking languages which they had never ther by the power of the magistrate nor the favour of learned, were they conscious of their inability to perthe vulgar A pretended wonder-worker, who has form the one or to speak the other. If the Epistle, once drawn the populace to his party, may easily per- therefore, was written during the life of St. Paul, and form his exploits and safely proclaim them. But this received by the Corinthian church, it is impossible to very populace, at the instigation of the Jews, had ex doubt but that St. Paul was its author, and that among cited the insurrection which obliged St. Paul to quit the the Corinthians were prevalent those spiritual gifts of town. He sends therefore to the Thessalonians, who which he labours to correct the abuse. If those gifts had received the Gospel, but whose faith, he appre- were never prevalent among the Corinthian Christians, hended, might waver through persecution, authorities and this Epistle was not seen by them until the next and proofs of his divine mission, of which authorities age, it could not have been received by the Corinthian the first and the chief are miracles and the gifts of the church as the genuine writing of the Apostle, because Holy Ghost.* Is it possible, now, that St. Paul, with- the members of that church must have been aware, out forfeiting all pretensions to common sense, could, that, if those gifts of which it speaks had been really when writing to a church which he had lately esta- possessed and so generally displayed by their fathers, blished, have spoken of miracles performed and gifts as it represents them to have been, some of themselves of the Holy Ghost communicated, if no member of that would surely have heard their fathers mention them; church had seen the one or received the other; nay, if and as the Epistle treats of some of the most important many members had not witnessed both the performance subjects that ever occupied the mind of man, the introand the effusions of the Holy Ghost? But it is equally duction of death into the world through Adam, and the impossible that the Epistle making this appeal to mi- resurrection of the dead through Christ, they must have racles and spiritual gifts could have been received as inferred that their fathers would not have secreted from authentic, if forged in the name of St. Paul, at any them, their children, a treatise on topics so interesting future period, during the existence of a Christian church to the whole human race."-Gleig's Edition of Stackat Thessalonica. In the first two chapters it represents house's History of the Bible, vol. 3, Introd. p. 11, &c. its author and two of his companions as having been lately in that city, and appeals to the church for the manner in which they had conducted themselves while there, and for the zeal and success with which they had preached the Gospel, and it concludes with these awful words: 'I adjure you (ook vuas) by the Lord, that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren ;' i.e. all the Christians of the community. Had St. Paul and Timotheus and Sylvanus never been in Thessalonica, or had they conducted themselves in any respect differently from what they are said to have done in the first two chapters, these chapters would have convicted the author of this Epistle of forgery, at whatever time it had made its first appearance. Had they been actually there, and preached, and wrought miracles just as they are said to have done; and had some impostor, knowing this, forged the Epistle before us at a considerable distance of time, the adjuration at the end of it must instantly have detected the forgery. Every Thessalonian Christian of common sense would have said, 'How came we never to hear of this Epistle before? Its author represents himself and two of his friends as having converted us to the faith a very short time before it was written and sent to us, and he charges those to whom it was immediately sent in the most solemn manner possible, that they should cause it to be read to every one of us; no Christian in Thessalonica would, in a matter of this kind, have dared to disobey the authority of an Apostle, especially when enforced by so awful an adjuration; and yet neither we nor our fathers ever heard of this Epistle till now that Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus are all dead, and therefore incapable of either confirming or refuting its authenticity! Such an Epistle, if not genuine, could never have been received by any community.

"The same Apostle, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, corrects the abuse of certain spiritual gifts, particularly that of speaking divers kinds of tongues, and prescribes rules for the employment of these supernatural talents; he enters into a particular detail of them, as they existed in the Corinthian church; reasons on their respective worth and excellence; says that they were limited in their duration, that they were no distinguishing mark of Divine favour, nor of so great importance as faith and virtue, the love of God, and charity to our neighbours. Now, if this Epistle was really written by St. Paul to the Corinthians, and they had actually received no spiritual gifts, no power, imparted by extraordinary means, of speaking foreign languages, the proper place to be assigned him were not among impostors, but among those who had lost their understanding. A juggler may deceive by the

* 1 Thess. i. 5-10.-See Hardy's Greek Testament, Whitby on the Place, with Schleusner and Parkhurst's Lexicons on the word δύναμις.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE UNCORRUPTED PRESERVATION OF THE BOOKS

OF SCRIPTURE.

THE historical evidence of the antiquity and genuineness of the books ascribed to Moses, and those which contain the History of Christ and the establishment of his religion, being thus complete, the integrity of the copies at present received is the point next in question. With respect to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the list of Josephus, the Septuagint translation, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, are sufficient proofs that the books which are received by us as sacred are the same as those received by the Jews and Samaritans long before the Christian era. For the New Testament, besides the quotations from almost all the books now included in that volume and references to them by name in the earliest Christian writers, catalogues of authentic scriptures were published at very early periods, which, says Dr. Paley, "though numerous, and made in countries at a wide distance from one another, differ very little, differ in nothing material, and all contain the four Gospels.

"In the writings of Origen which remain, and in some extracts preserved by Eusebius, from works of his which are now lost, there are enumerations of the books of Scripture, in which the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are distinctly and honourably specified, and in which no books appear besides what are now received.(8) The date of Origen's works is A. D. 230.

"Athanasius, about a century afterward, delivered a catalogue of the books of the New Testament in form, containing our Scriptures and no others; of which he says, 'In these alone the doctrine of religion is taught; let no man add to them, or take any thing from them."(9)

"About twenty years after Athanasius, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, set forth a catalogue of the books of Scripture publicly read at that time in the church of Jerusalem, exactly the same as ours, except that the 'Revelation' is omitted.(1)

"And, fifteen years after Cyril, the council of Laodicea delivered an authoritative catalogue of canonical Scripture, like Cyril's, the same as ours, with the omission of the 'Revelation.'

"Catalogues now become frequent. Within thirty years after the last date, that is, from the year 363 to near the conclusion of the fourth century, we have catalogues by Epiphanius, (2) by Gregory Nazianzen,(3) by Philaster bishop of Brescia in Italy,(4) by Amphilochius

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bishop of Iconium, all, as they are sometimes called, clean catalogues (that is, they admit no books into the number besides what we now receive), and all, for every purpose of historic evidence, the same as ours.(5)

Within the same period, Jerome, the most learned Christian writer of his age, delivered a catalogue of the books of the New Testament, recognising every book now received, with the intimation of a doubt concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews alone, and taking not the least notice of any book which is not now received.(6) "Contemporary with Jerome, who lived in Palestine, was Saint Augustine, in Africa, who published likewise a catalogue, without joining to the Scriptures, as books of authority, any other ecclesiastical writing whatever, and without omitting one which we at this day acknowledge.(7)

"And with these concurs another contemporary writer, Rufen, presbyter of Aquileia, whose catalogue, like theirs, is perfect and unmixed, and concludes with these remarkable words: "These are the volumes which the fathers have included in the canon, and out of which they would have us prove the doctrine of our faith." "(8)

This, it is true, only proves that the books are substantially the same; but the evidence is abundant, that they have descended to us without any material alteration whatever.

"1. Before that event [the time of Christ], the regard which was paid to them by the Jews, especially to the law, would render any forgery or material change in their contents impossible. The law having been the deed by which the land of Canaan was divided among the Israelites, it is improbable that this people, who possessed that land, would suffer it to be altered or falsified. The distinction of the twelve tribes, and their separate interests, made it more difficult to alter their law than that of other nations less jealous than the Jews. Farther, at certain stated seasons, the law was publicly read before all the people of Israel ;(9) and it was appointed to be kept in the ark, for a constant memorial against those who transgressed it.(1) Their king was required to write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites, and to read therein all the days of his life; (2) their priests also were commanded to teach the children of Israel all the statutes, which the Lord had spoken to them by the hand of Moses;(3) and parents were charged, not only to make it familiar to themselves, but also to teach it diligently to their children;(4) besides which, a severe prohibition was annexed, against either making any addition to, or diminution from, the law.(5) Now, such precepts as these could not have been given by an impostor who was adding to it, and who would wish men to forget rather than enjoin them to remember it: for, as all the people were obliged to know and observe the law under severe penalties, they were, in a manner, the trustees and guardians of the law, as well as the priests and Levites. The people, who were to teach their children, must have had copies of it; the priests and Levites must have had copies of it; and the magistrates must have had copies of it, as being the law of the land. Farther, after the people were divided into two kingdoms, both the people of Israel and those of Judah still retained the same book of the law: and the rivalry or enmity that subsisted between the two kingdoms, prevented either of them from altering or adding to the law. After the Israelites were carried captive into Assyria, other nations were placed in the cities of Samaria in their stead; and the Samaritans received the Pentateuch, either from the priest who was sent by order of the king of Assyria, to instruct them in the manner of the God of the land,(6) or several years afterward from the hands of Manasseh, the son of Joiada the high priest, who was expelled from Jerusalem by Nehemiah, for marrying the daughter of Sanballat the governor of Samaria; and who was constituted, by

(5) Epiphanius omits the Acts of the Apostles. This must have been an accidental mistake, either in him or in some copyist of his work; for he elsewhere expressly refers to this book, and ascribes it to Luke. (6) Lard. Cred. vol. x. p. 77.

(7) Ib. p. 213.

(8) Ib. p. 187.

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Sanballat, the first high priest of the temple at Samaria.(7) Now, by one or both of these means, the Samaritans had the Pentateuch as well as the Jews; but with this difference, that the Samaritan Pentateuch was in the old Hebrew or Phoenician characters, in which it remains to this day; whereas the Jewish copy was changed into Chaldee characters (in which it also remains to this day), which were fairer and clearer than the Hebrew, the Jews having learned the Chaldee language during their seventy years' abode in Babylon. The jealousy and hatred which subsisted between the Jews and Samaritans made it impracticable for either nation to corrupt or alter the text in any thing of consequence without certain discovery; and the general agreement between the Hebrew and Samaritan copies of the Pentateuch, which are now extant, is such as plainly demonstrates that the copies were originally the same. Nor can any better evidence be desired that the Jewish Bibles have not been corrupted or interpolated, than this very book of the Samaritans ; which, after more than two thousand years' discord between the two nations, varies as little from the other as any classic author in less tract of time has disagreed from itself by the unavoidable slips and mistakes of so many transcribers.(8)

"After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the book of the law and the prophets were publicly read in their synagogues every Sabbath-day;(9) which was an excellent method of securing their purity, as well as of enforcing the observation of the law. The Chaldee paraphrases, and the translation of the Old Testament into Greek, which were afterward made, were so many additional securities. To these facts we may add, that the reverence of the Jews for their sacred writings is another guarantee for their integrity: so great, indeed, was that reverence, that, according to the statements of Philo and Josephus,(1) they would suffer any torments, and even death itself, rather than change a single point or iota of the Scriptures. A law was also enacted by them, which denounced him to be guilty of inexpiable sin, who should presume to make the slightest possible alteration in their sacred books. The Jewish doctors, fearing to add any thing to the law, passed their own notions as traditions or explanations of it; and both Jesus Christ and his apostles accused the Jews of entertaining a prejudiced regard for those traditions, but they never charged them with falsifying or corrupting the Scriptures themselves.

"2. After the birth of Christ. For, since that event, the Old Testament has been held in high esteem both by Jews and Christians. The Jews also frequently suffered martyrdom for their Scriptures, which they would not have done had they suspected them to have been corrupted or altered. Besides, the Jews and Christians were a mutual guard upon each other, which must have rendered any material corruption impossible, if it had been attempted: for if such an attempt had been made by the Jews, they would have been detected by the Christians. The accomplishment of such a design, indeed, would have been impracticable, from the moral impossibility of the Jews (who were dispersed in every country of the then known world) being able to collect all the then existing copies, with the intention of corrupting or falsifying them. On the other hand, if any such attempt had been made by the Christians, it would assuredly have been detected by the Jews: nor could any such attempt have been made by any other man or body of men, without exposure both by Jews and Christians. To these considerations, it may be added, that the admirable agreement of all the ancient paraphrases and versions, and the writings of Josephus, with the Old Testament as it is now extant, together with the quotations which are made from it in the New Testament, and in the writings of all ages to the present time, forbid us to indulge any suspicion of any material corruption in the books of the Old Testament; and give us every possible evidence of which a subject of

(7) Neh. viii. 28. Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xi. c. 8. Bishop Newton's Works, voi. i. p. 23.

(8) Dr. BENTLEY's Remarks on Freethinking, part i. remark 27 (vol. v. p. 144, of Bp. RANDOLPH's Enchiridion

(9) Deut. xxxi. 9-13. Josh. viii. 34, 35. Neh. viii. 1-5. Theologicum, 8vo. Oxford, 1792).

(1) Deut. xxxi. 26.

(3) Levit. x. 11.

(5) Deut. iv. 2, xii. 32.

(2) Deut. xvii. 18, 19. (4) Deut. xvii. 18, 19. (6) 2 Kings xvii. 26.

(9) Acts xiii. 14, 15. 27. Luke iv. 17-20, (1) Philo, apud. Euseb. de Præp. Evang. lib. viii. c. 2. Josephus contra Apion. lib. i. § 8.

this kind is capable, that these books are now in our hands genuine and unadulterated.

"3. Lastly, the agreement of all the manuscripts of the Old Testament (amounting to nearly eleven hundred and fifty) which are known to be extant, is a clear proof of its uncorrupted preservation. These manuscripts, indeed, are not all entire; some contain one part, and some another. But it is absolutely impossible that every manuscript, whether in the original Hebrew, or in any ancient version or paraphrase, should or could be designedly altered or falsified in the same passages, without detection either by Jews or Christians. The manuscripts now extant are, confessedly, liable to errors and mistakes from the carelessness, negligence, or inaccuracy of copyists; but they are not all uniformly incorrect throughout, nor in the same words or passages; but what is incorrect in one place is correct in another. Although the various readings, which have been discovered by learned men, who have applied themselves to the collection of every known manuscript of the Hebrew Scriptures, amount to many thousands, yet these differences are of so little real moment, that their laborious collations afford us scarcely any opportunities of correcting the sacred text in important passages. So far, however, are these extensive and profound researches from being either trivial or nugatory, that we have, in fact, derived from them the greatest advantage which could have been wished for by any real friend of revealed religion; namely, the certain knowledge of the agreement of the copies of the ancient Scriptures, now extant in their original language, with each other, and with our Bibles.(2)

"Equally satisfactory is the evidence for the integrity and uncorruptness of the New Testament in any thing material. The testimonies adduced in the preceding section in behalf of the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament are, in a great measure, applicable to show that it has been transmitted to us entire and uncorrupted. But, to be more particular, we remark, that the uncorrupted preservation of the books of the New Testament is manifest,

"1. From their contents; for, so early as the two first centuries of the Christian era, we find the very same facts, and the very same doctrines universally received by Christians, which we of the present day believe on the credit of the New Testament.

"2. Because a universal corruption of those writings was impossible, nor can the least vestige of such a corruption be found in history. They could not be corrupted during the life of their authors; and before their death, copies were dispersed among the different communities of Christians, who were scattered throughout the then known world. Within twenty years after the ascension, churches were formed in the principal cities of the Roman empire; and in all these churches, the books of the New Testament, especially the four Gospels, were read as a part of their public worship, just as the writings of Moses and the Prophets were read in the Jewish synagogues.(3) Nor would the use of them be confined to public worship; for these books were not, like the Sybilline Oracles, locked up from the perusal of the public, but were exposed to public investigation. When the books of the New Testament were first published to the world, the Christians would naturally entertain the highest esteem and reverence for writings that delivered an authentic and inspired history of the life and doctrines of Jesus Christ, and would be desirous of possessing such an invaluable treasure. Hence, as we learn from unquestionable authority, copies were multiplied and disseminated as rapidly as the boundaries of the church increased; and translations were made into as many languages as were spoken by its professors, some of which remain to this day; so that it would very soon be rendered absolutely impossible to corrupt these books in any one important word or phrase. Now, it is not to be supposed (without violating all probability), that all Christians should agree in a design of changing or corrupting the origi(2) Bp. TOMLINE'S Elements of Christ. Theol. vol. i. (3) Dr. LARDNER has collected numerous instances in the second part of his Credibility of the Gospel History; references to which may be seen in the general index to his works, article Scriptures. See particularly the testimonies of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, and Augustine.

p. 31.

nal books; and if some only should make the attempt, the uncorrupted copies would still remain to detect them. And supposing there was some error in one translation or copy, or something changed, added, or taken away; yet there were many other copies and other translations, by the help of which the neglect or fraud might be or would be corrected.

"Farther, as these books could not be corrupted during the life of their respective authors, and while a great number of witnesses were alive to attest the facts which they record: so neither could any material alteration take place after their decease, without being detected while the original manuscripts were preserved in the churches. The Christians who were instructed by the Apostles, or by their immediate successors, travelled into all parts of the world, carrying with them copies of their writings; from which other copies were multiplied and preserved. Now, as we have already seen, we have an unbroken series of testimonies for the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament, which can be traced backwards, from the fourth century of the Christian era to the very time of the Apostles: and these very testimonies are equally applicable to prove its uncorrupted preservation. Moreover, harmonies of the four Gospels were anciently constructed; commentaries were written upon them, as well as upon the other books of the New Testament (many of which are still extant), manuscripts were collated, and editions of the New Testament were put forth. These sacred records, being universally regarded as the supreme standard of truth, were received by every class of Christians with peculiar respect, as being divine compositions, and possessing an authority belonging to no other books. Whatever controversies, therefore, arose among different sects (and the church was very early rent with fierce contentions on doctrinal points), the Scriptures of the New Testament were received and appealed to by every one of them, as being conclusive in all matters of controversy: consequently it was morally impossible, that any man or body of men should corrupt or falsify them in any fundamental article, should foist into them a single expression to favour their peculiar tenets, or erase a single sentence, without being detected by thousands,

"If uny material alteration had been attempted by the orthodox, it would have been detected by the heretics; and, on the other hand, if a heretic had inserted, altered, or falsified any thing, he would have been exposed by the orthodox, or by other heretics. It is well known that a division commenced in the fourth century, between the eastern and western churches, which, about the middle of the ninth century, became irreconcilable, and subsists to the present day. Now, it would have been impossible to alter all the copies in the eastern empire; and if it had been possible in the east, the copies in the west would have detected the alteration. But, in fact, both the eastern and western copies agree, which could not be expected if either of them was altered or falsified. The uncorrupted preservation of the New Testament is farther evident,

"3. From the agreement of all the manuscripts. The manuscripts of the New Testament which are extant are far more numerous than those of any single classic author whomsoever; upwards of three hundred and fifty were collected by Griesbach, for his celebrated critical edition. These manuscripts, it is true, are not all entire : most of them contain only the Gospels; others, the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles; and a few contain the Apocalypse or Revelation of John. But they were all written in very different and distant parts of the world; several of them are upwards of twelve hundred years old, and give us the books of the New Testament, in all essential points, perfectly accordant with each other, as any person may readily ascertain by examining the critical editions published by Mill, Kuster, Benget, Wetstein, and Griesbach. The thirty thousand various readings which are said to be found in the manuscripts collated by Dr. Mill, and the hundred and fifty thousand which Griesbach's edition is said to contain, in no degree whatever affect the general credit and integrity of the text. In fact, the more copies are multiplied, and the more numerous the transcripts and translations from the original, the more likely is it, that the genuine text and the true original reading will be investigated and ascertained. The most correct and accurate ancient classics now extant are those of which we have the greatest number of manuscripts; and the most

There are four circumstances which never fail to give credibility to a witness, whether he depose to any thing orally or in writing.

1. That he is a person of virtuous and sober character. 2. That he was in circumstances certainly to know the truth of what he relates.

3. That he has no interest in making good the story. 4. That his account is circumstantial.

depraved, mutilated, and inaccurate editions of the old writers are those of which we have the fewest manuscripts, and perhaps only a single manuscript, extant. Such are Athenæus, Clemens Romanus, Hesychius, and Photius. But of this formidable mass of various readings, which have been collected by the diligence of collators, not one-tenth,-nay, not one-hundredth part, either makes or can make any perceptible, or at least any material alteration in the sense in any modern In the highest degree these guarantees of faithful and version. They consist almost wholly of palpable errors exact testimony meet in the Evangelists and Apostles. in transcription, grammatical and verbal differences, That they were persons of strict and exemplary virsuch as the insertion or omission of an article, the sub- tue, must by all candid persons be acknowledged; so stitution of a word for its equivalent, and the transposi- much so, that nothing to the contrary was ever urged tion of a word or two in a sentence. Even the few that against the integrity of their conduct by the most mado change the sense, affect it only in passages relating licious enemies of Christianity. Avarice and interest to unimportant historical and geographical circum- could not sway them, for they voluntarily abandoned stances, or other collateral matters; and the still smaller all their temporal connexions, and embarked in a cause number that make any alteration in things of conse- which the world regarded, to the last degree, as wretched quence, do not on that account place us in any absolute and deplorable. Of their sincerity they gave the utmost uncertainty. For, either the true reading may be dis-proof in the openness of their testimony, never affectcovered by collating the other manuscripts, versions, ing reserve, or shunning inquiry. They delivered their and quotations found in the works of the ancients; or, testimony before kings and princes, priests and magisshould these fail to give us the requisite information, trates, in Jerusalem and Judea where their master we are enabled to explain the doctrine in question from lived and died, and in the most populous, inquisitive, other undisputed passages of holy writ. and learned parts of the world, submitting its evidences to a fair and impartial examination.

"4. The last testimony, to be adduced for the integrity and uncorruptness of the New Testament, is furnished by the agreement of the ancient versions and quotations from it, which are made in the writings of the Christians of the first three centuries, and in those of the succeeding fathers of the Church.

"Their minds were so penetrated with a conviction of the truth of the Gospel, that they esteemed it their distinguished honour and privilege to seal their attestation to it by their sufferings, and blessed God that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach and shame for their profession. Passing through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report, as deceivers, and yet true. Never dejected, never intimidated by any sorrows and sufferings they supported; but when stoned, imprisoned, and persecuted in one city, flying to another, and there preaching the Gospel with intrepid boldness and heaven-inspired zeal. Patient in tribulation, fervent in spirit, rejoicing under persecution, calm and composed under calumny and reproach, praying for their enemies, when in dungeons cheering the silent hours of night with hymns of praise to God. Meeting death itself in the most dreadful forms with which persecuting rage could dress it, with a serenity and exult

"The testimony of versions, and the evidence of the ecclesiastical fathers, have already been noticed as a proof of the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament. The quotations from the New Testament in the writings of the fathers are so numerous, that (as it has frequently been observed) the whole body of the Gospels and Epistles might be compiled from the various passages dispersed in their commentaries and other writings. And though these citations were, in many instances, made from memory, yet, being always made with due attention to the sense and meaning, and most commonly with a regard to the words as well as to the order of the words, they correspond with the original records from which they were extracted:-anation the Stoic philosophy never knew. In all these irrefragable argument this, of the purity and integrity with which the New Testament has been preserved." (HORNE'S Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, vol. i. chap. 2, sect. 3.)

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CREDIBILITY OF THE TESTIMONY OF THE SACRED
WRITERS.

THE proofs of the existence and actions of Moses and Christ, the founders of the Jewish and Christian religions, having been adduced, with those of the antiquity and uncorrupted preservation of the Records which profess to contain the facts of their history, and the doctrines they taught, the only question to be determined before we examine those miracles and prophecies on which the claim of the Divine authority of their mission rests, is, whether these records faithfully record the transactions of which they give us information, and on which the divinity of both systems, the Jewish and the Christian, is built. To deny this because we object to the doctrines taught, is equally illogical and perverse, as it is assuming the doctrine to be false before we have considered all the evidence which may be adduced in its favour; to deny it because we have already determined to reject the miracles, is equally absurd and impious. It has already been proved, that miracles are possible; and whether the transactions related as such in the Scriptures be really miraculous or not, is a subsequent inquiry to that which respects the faithful recording of them. If the evidence of this is insufficient, the examination of the miracles is unnecessary; if it is strong and convincing, that examination is a subject of very serious import.

We might safely rest the faithfulness of the Scriptural Record upon the argument of Leslie, before adduced; but, from the superabundance of evidence which the case furnishes, some amplifications may be added, which we shall confine principally to the authors of the New Testament.

public scenes showing to the world a heart infinitely above what men vulgarly style great and happy, infinitely remote from ambition, the lust of gold, and a passion for popular applause, working with their own hands to raise a scanty subsistence for themselves, that they might not be burdensome to the societies they had formed, holding up to all with whom they conversed, in the bright faithful mirror of their own behaviour, the amiableness and excellence of the religion they taught, and in every scene and circumstance of life distin guished for their devotion to God, their unconquered love for mankind, their sacred regard for truth, their self-government, moderation, humanity, sincerity, and every divine, social, and moral virtue that can adorn and exalt a character. Nor are there any features of enthusiasm in the writings they have left us. We meet with no frantic fervours indulged, no monkish abstraction from the world recommended, no maceration of the body countenanced, no unnatural institutions established, no vain flights of fancy cherished, no absurd and irrational doctrines taught, no disobedience to any forms of human government encouraged, but all civil establishments and social connexions suffered to remain in the same state they were before Christianity. So far were the Apostles from being enthusiasts, and instigated by a wild undiscerning religious phrensy to rush into the jaws of death, when they might have honourably and lawfully escaped it, that we find them, when they could, without wounding their consciences, legally extricate themselves from persecution and death, pleading their privileges as Roman citizens, and appealing to Cæsar's supreme jurisdiction."(4)

As it was contrary to their character to attempt to deceive others, so they could not be deceived themselves. They could not mistake in the case of feeding of the five thousand, and the sudden healing of lepers, and lame and blind persons; they could not but know, whether he with whom they conversed for forty days was the same Jesus, as he with whom they had daily and familiar intercourse long before his crucifixion.

(4) HARWOOD'S Introduction to the New Testament.

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