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the Old Testament in general, and of Moses in particular, have thus been fully proved. I have directed my chief attention to the authenticity of the books of Moses: 1st, Because this being established with regard to them, that of the other books of the Old Testament follows of course; these writings being mutually and immediately dependent on each other: And, 2dly, because the Mosaic record being the basis of the Jewish dispensation, which was preparatory and introductory to Christianity, it will follow, that if that ancient dispensation was not of divine authority, neither is the Christian.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE GENUINENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW

TESTAMENT.

1. As the origin and nature of Christianity are to be learned from the writings which compose the New Testament, it is an object of primary importance to ascertain their genuineness and authenticity.

2. The reality of the facts on which Christianity is founded is demonstrably certain. For if we suppose the New Testament to have been written at a period much later than that in which it is affirmed these facts took place; and that the story was framed and imposed on the world as an authentic account of persons and events which had no real existence; what could have led those concerned in such forgery to have stated so many things discreditable to themselves, and in the estimation of the world disadvantageous to their cause? On the supposition that the story was altogether of their own making, why should they have made the poverty, the condemnation, and ignominious death of their Master occupy so promi

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nent a place? These things, as they perfectly knew, must have made an impression on mankind most unfavourable to the reception of the new religion and as they had it in their power to omit or insert what they pleased, it is clear that the rejection and crucifixion of their leader would never have been admitted.

3. If, on the other hand, it be alleged, that when the New Testament was composed, the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish rulers, his condemnation by the Roman governor, and his crucifixion as a malefactor, were so notorious, that the writers, in order to maintain the appearance of consistency, were obliged to state them ;-this is to acknowledge the reality of the leading facts on which Christianity is founded. Indeed, these facts were admitted, during at least the first four centuries of the Christian era, by the enemies as well as by the friends of the gospel : namely, "That the Author of Christianity, who had many followers during his own life, was crucified at Jerusalem when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea; that his disciples, notwithstanding, continued to believe in him, and publicly asserted that he had risen from the dead; that their numbers continued to increase, and were soon spread from Judea to the utmost limits of the Roman empire; that they universally abhorred every other form. of religion but that which they received from Christ; that the Christians made numerous converts wherever they went; that they assembled on a certain day in every week to worship him who was crucified in Palestine, and to sing hymns to him as to a God; that they then bound themselves by an oath to abstain from theft, adultery, and every other crime,-never to violate promises, or to refuse restitution of goods committed to their custody; that their first lawgiver had taught them to regard one another as brethren, and that they were closely attached to one another; that when their faith was in question, rather than renounce it, they resigned themselves without resistance to sufferings and to death itself; and that, in some

of the provinces, a few years after the death of Christ, the governors reported to the emperors, that Christianity had made such an impression on the cities, towns, and villages, as to produce in many of them a general desertion of the heathen temples." I observe, then,

4. (I.) The books of the New Testament, twenty-seven in number, written by eight different authors, who were contemporary with Jesus Christ, and which contain the history of our Lord, the doctrines and precepts of his religion, and an account of its first propagation in the world, we receive as the genuine writings of those whose names they bear, for the same reason that we receive the compositions of Xenophon, Cæsar, and Tacitus, because we have the uninterrupted testimony of all intervening ages to their genuineness, and have no ground to suspect imposition. Indeed, we have far stronger evidence for the genuineness of the books of the New Testament, than can be produced for that of the best classic authors. The authenticity of the former was admitted at the period when they first appeared, and that by persons who were acquainted with the penmen. The nature of the style, in place of contradicting this testimony, confirms it. Enemies of every degree of bitterness, as well as friends, never expressed a doubt on the subject.

5. (II.) The facts on which Christianity is founded, and the record of which we have in the New Testament, were admitted from the commencement of the Christian era. The testimony of Tacitus is well known. He confirms the statements of Scripture regarding the following facts:-That Judea was a Roman province in the reign of Tiberius,—that Pilate was the procurator,—that Christ was put to death by Pilate,-that the Christian doctrine soon spread over Judea,-that, in the time of Nero, the Christians were very numerous, that Christ was the founder of that sect, and that they were generally hated, and subjected to extreme sufferings on account of their religion.

Suetonius, Pliny, and Lucian, accord with that of Tacitus. The account which these celebrated heathen writers give of Christianity, agrees in every material point with that of the evangelists. While they speak of it in opprobrious terms, they acknowledge the reality of the facts in which it had its origin, and the rapid and powerful influence which it acquired over the minds of multitudes. Tacitus speaks of the followers of Jesus as a people who were commonly known by the name of Christians, who were so called from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death by the procurator, Pontius Pilate; that Christianity, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only over Judea, where it had its rise, but as far as Rome, where, in the tenth or eleventh year of Nero, Christians were very numerous.

6. The letter of Pliny the younger to Trajan has been often quoted. That epistle proves that Christians were then no obscure sect, that many of every age and rank bore this name; and that they were so numerous in Pontus and Bithynia, as to have caused the usual sacrifices to be neglected, and the temples to be deserted. It also mentions that Christians were wont to meet together, on a stated day, and worship Christ as God. Lucian says of them, that their first Lawgiver taught them that they are all brethren, when once they have turned and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship this master of theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according to his laws. The testimonies of all ancient heathen writers, however brief and incidental their notices are, confirm the gospel history. Their allusions to Christianity, in every case in which they allude to it, assume the certain reality of the facts on which it is founded. Even their silence may be viewed as confirmatory of the truth; for in their writings there is no vestige of an account of the origin and nature of Christianity different from that which is given by the evangelists."It is not like the death of Cyrus the Great, a competition between opposite accounts, or

between the credit of different historians. There is not a document, or scrap of account, either contemporary with the commencement of Christianity, or extant within many ages after that commencement, which assigns a history substantially different from ours."

7. There is another class of unexceptionable witnesses to the reality of the facts on which Christianity is founded, and to the authenticity and genuineness of the New Testament, namely, the earliest writers in opposition to Christianity. They neither question the leading facts of the gospel history, nor that these facts were made known to the Christians by the sacred writings.

8. The principal adversaries who wrote against the Christian religion in the first four centuries, are Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, and Julian. The three former wrote within the compass of the first three centuries, and before the establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire by Constantine: Celsus, who lived in the middle of the second century, was the first who wrote with the avowed design of refuting Christianity. The period which he chose for this purpose was a time of persecution. His works are lost; and the only remaining fragments have been preserved in eight books of Origen, which he wrote against him. As Celsus undertook a laboured argument against the Christians, and as he wrote so late as the time of Marcus Antoninus, when they were openly persecuted, and rendered better known by the persecution which they endured, and by the apologies which were made for them, we may reasonably expect to find in his work the most valuable testimony to the books of the New Testament. He accordingly admits not only the facts to which the gospel history relates, but he reasons on the conclusions deduced from them, and thus acknowledges the authenticity and genuineness of the narratives. which are transmitted to us in the Christian Scriptures. He refers to these Scriptures generally, and to numerous particular texts which he quotes from them.

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