Wheeling compiler. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [i.e. W. Va.]) 1829-1831, 1830-02-03


church; that Heather and Jewish ad
yersaries admitted our books; that manu-
scripts now extant are of date reaching
back to the very time when Jerome had the
Autographs, or the transcripts Of them, IN
bis hands.
! We next proceeded to inquire into the
c~edlbiEty. or full and entire trustworthi
ness Of all the matters recorded in these
. authentic books. And here we stated, that
r 10 the same way as other histories are
proved to be worthy of credit, so were our
sacred books-we showed that the proofs
OF authenticity included, in this case, the
proofs Of the facts contained in the writings
That the contemporary heather historians
-Ir ort all the main facts on which Chris
uanr, ses,s-ihat The Jewish histoD51
Josepnus, though an enemy to the C1ris-
tan faith. confirms Iu a thousand inHances,
/ the gospel narrative-,hat MahoGet dared
not 10 call in question It's truth-and that
the internal character and stylebf the writ
ings, the evident simplicity gnd circum-
stanhality Of the history, the rumber of the
witnesses, their holy lives, he pure doc
trine they taught ,and the offerings they
endured, even unto death, 10 attestatlon of
facts of which they were competent wit
nesses, and which passed under their own
observation. made it impossible that they
should deceive Us.
And this authentic and credible charac-
ter Of the New Testament, was not merely
established, but established by an accumu
latoh of testimony which almost Oppres-
sed the mind Every kind Of proof Of
which the case was susceptible, poured IN
upon US. The evidence seemed to be
auguenting by the labors Of learned men.
5yth investigation ofmedals, the recovery
of manuscripts, the illustration of ancient
factsin history, continually in every age.
In fact, no ancient books have an one
hundedth part of the evidence which sur
rounds and encircles the holy scriptures
Men are acting every hour in their most
important temporal concerns, with lnimto-
" less reason. than the case of Christlani-
ty demands. The reliance placed on the
credit of witnesses IN our courts of iudlca-
ture. is folly, compared with the rational
confidence inspired by the testimony of
1 Moses and the prophets, Of Christ and The
apostles. We showed, in short, that the
evidences for the authenticity and crejl-
ibilty &C tho Nov Testament are uuPaTdi-
leled-the world never saw any thing
resembling It. No religion was ever re-
corded in sacred books, by the first ioun-
ders of it, and submitted at the time to the
inspection and investigation Of mankind
but the Christian. And against all this
evidence, nothing eau be alleged. There
lis no counter-statement, there Is no other
account of the rise of Christianity. The
n New Testament stands without competl'
tor
And yet all this oyerpowering evidence
lis only the beginning of a series of proofs.
We cane, next, to consider the magnl-
icent apparatus which surrounded the
DIVINE AUTHORITY of the religion con-
I tanned in these authentic and credible
books.
And here we first contemplated with adj
mratlon the miracles of our Lord and his
apostles. And having proved that the
facts involved in each miracle, viewed abb
stractedly from their cause, we're undenia-
biy established by the same testimonies as
supported the credibility OF the narrative
generally; we consider the number anc
variety of our Lords mighty works, the
palpable and clear suspension Of the laws
of nature which they exhibited, the circum.
| stances of publicity under which they were
performed, the abiding effects Of them, the
Dfophetc oracles of the former Testament
which were accomplished by them, and the
national usages and monuments which
were. in consequence, set up at the time
and which subsist to the present day
\ Such miracles, supported by such eyi.
dence-a whole nation Of witnesses to them
Ia new and holy religion set up from the
first on the footing of them-interwover
{. indissolubly with the religion, in attesta-
ton of which those who wrought them lived
and suffered and died-such miracles the
world has never seen, except in the dis
pensation Of the same revelation under
Il Moses. The unsophisticated conclusion
of the human mind, on perusing the
records ofthem, is, that the Christian reli
giOn Is of God.
And what shall we then say of the pro
digious scheme of prophecy fulfilled ii
every past age, and fulfilling now before
oar eyesl What shall we say ola scheme
which, beginning with the fall Of man &C
companied the Jewish church in eact
period, and stretches on to the consuma
ton Of all things-which ceniered all it: