Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-10-30
Religious Miscellany.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ChapSer III.

Chapter III.
On the internal MARKS Of Truth and
Honesty TO be found IN the Neao Tesla
ngent
Ii. We shall now look into The New
Testament itself, and endeavor to lay be-
fore the reader the internal marks of truth
and honesty. which are to be found in it.
Under this head, it may be right to in
sist upon the minute accuracy, which
runs through all its illusions to the exist
ing manners and circumstances of the
times. To appreciate the force of this ar
gument it would be right to attend to the
peculiar situation of Judea, at the time of
our Savior. 1t was then under the domin-
ion of the Roman emperors, and comes
| frequently under the notice of the profane
historians of that period. From this
source we derive great variety of infor-
nation, as to the manner in which the en-
perors conducted the government of their
different provinces; what degree of indul-
gence was allowed to the religious opin-
ions of the people whom they held in sub
lection; in how far they were suffered to
live under the administration of their own
laws; The power which was vested in the
presidents Of provinces; and a number of
other circumstances relative to the crimi-
nal and civil jurisprudence of that period.
In this way, there is a great number OF
different points in which the historians oil
the New Testament can be brought into
comparison with the secular historians Of
, the age. The history of Christ and his
! apostles contains innumerable references
t to the state of public affairs. 1t is not the
: uals. They had attracted much of tht
S public attention. They had been befor
e the governors of the country They hat
: passed through the established forms Q
S Justice; and some of them underwent th
e trial and punishment of the times. 1t
r easy to perceive, then, that the New Fes
e lament writers were led TO allude to
n, number of these circumstances In the pc
of litical history and constitution Of the time:
h (which came under the cognlZance OF OF
= dinarv historians. This was delica
Mt ground for an inventor to tread upon an
he particularly, if he lived at an age subs,
its Iquent to the time of his history. +
he might in this case have fabricated tai
v by combining himself to the obscure ar
" familiar incidents of private history; b
Ito it is only for true and contempora
ID historian to sustain continued accurac
for through his minute and numerous all
'ch sions to the public policy and governme
nd of the times.
7ill Within the period of the Gospel hist
nv, Judea experienced good many vic
IL Il -.
the one time it formed part of kingdom I
my der Herod the Great. AT another, it for
are led part of a smaller government uno
IDS. lArchelaus. 1t after this came under
are direct administration of Roman COVE
nay or; which form was again interrupted
ing several years, by the elevation of He
nd Agrippa to the sovereign power, as ex
seek cised by his grandfather; and it is at
left in the form of province at the c
d to clusion Of the evangelical history. TIL
! to were also frequent changes In the poll
in al state of the countries adjacent to Jul
,ade and which are often alluded TO in the \
of a Testament. A caprice of the reign
q emperor often gave rise to new forr
oral government, and new distribution of
,ect- ritory. 1t will be readily conceived,
With With much these perpetual fluctuations in
this state of public affairs, both in Jucea
could It's nelghborhood, must aad TO the pc
.har- and difficulty of that ordeal to which
from Gospel history has been subjected.
pro- On this part of the subject there
70 me want of witnesses with whom to cor.
But the writers of the New Testament.
can addition to the Roman writer's who
fl l touched upon the affairs of Judea, we
ing TO the benefit of Jewish historian, VIII
nduc- given us a protested history of his
arged country. From him, as was to be e.
lation- ed, we have far greater quantity {
,ly be- pious and detailed narrative, relai
LANCER the internal affairs OF Judea, to the