Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1840-01-01


" goes beyond all ordinary historical evil
dence. A profane historian relates Sc
rles OF events which happen in parlic- !.
ular age and we count it well, il 1t be
his own age, and if the history which he
gives US be the testimony Of a con'empo
fary author Another historian succeeds
nun al the distance of Years, and, by re-
PeatIng the same story, gives the addition-l
FaI evidence of his testimony TO It's truth.
A third historian perhaps goes over the
same ground, aud lends another contifm-
alton to the history. And il is thus, bv
collecting all the lights which are thinly
scattered over the tract Of ages ana of cen
tarles, that we obtain al! the evidence
which can be got, and all the evidence
that is generally wished for.
Now, there Is room for a thousand pre-
sumpiious, which, if admitted, would ov-
erturn the whole of this evidence. For
lany thing We know, the first historians
may have had some interest in Disgusting |
the truth, or substituting In It's place d !
falsehool, and fabrication. True, it has
not been contraditted, but they form a
very small number of men, who feel !
strong Y or particularly interested in a
question of history. The literary and
speculative men Of that age may have
perhaps been engaged in other pursuits,
or their testimonies may have persisted in
the wreck OF centuries. The second his
torian may have been so far removed in
point of time f ON the events of his mar
ratives. that he can furnish us, not with
an independent, but with a derived testi-
mony. He may have copied his account
from the original historian, and the false
hoods have come down to us 10 the shape
of an authentic and wel-attesled history.
Prescriptions may be multiplied without
end vet in spite Of them, there Is a nat
ural confidence in the veracity OF man,
which disposes US to as firm a belief in
many of the facts of ancient history, as in
the occurrences of the present day.
The history of the Gospel, however,
: stands distinguished from all other histo-
ry by the uninterrupted nature of It's tes-
: timony, which carries down its evidence,
: without a chasm, from its earliest promu-
g1ton to the present day. We do not
Speak of the superior weight and splendor
of its evidences, at the first publication of
5 that history, as being supported, not mere
Iy by the testimony of one, but by the
! concurrence of several independent wit
!; nesses We do not speak of It's suisse
5 quent writers, who follow one another III
e far closer and more crowded train, than
! there is any other example of in the his
l. tory or literature Of the world. We speak
e OF the strong though unwritten testimony
e of It's numerous proselytes, who, in the
e very fact of their proSel ytism, give the
) strongest possible confirmation to the Cos
pei, anc fill up every chasm in the record
n ed evidence of past times.
Ie In the written testimonies for the truth
Of the Christian religion, Barnabas come
- next in order to the first promulgators {
the evangelical story. He was a conten
= porary of the apostles, and writ a YER
few years after the publication of the pie
es which make up the New Testamen
Vt Clement follows, who Vas a fellow la DO
er of Paul, and writes an epistle in til
Ii name of the church of Rome, to tt
ID church of Coriuth. The written testim
ire mics follow one another with a closene
5. and rap div Of which there is no e
ght ample; bat what we insist on at preser
ew is the unwriten and implied testimony
h it the people who composed these tv
the churches There can be no fact bet
the established than that these two church
Of were planted in the days of the apostle
au- and that the Epistles which were resqe
the ivelv addressed TO them, were held IN
his utmost authority and veneratlon. The
ian is no doubt, that the leading facts OF
tes- Gospel history were familiar to them
nth, that it was i'll the power OF many lndtv
E uals amongst them 10 verify these IA
Use. either by their own personal observatI
lon, or by dn actual conversation with e
lem, witnesses and that in particular, it Y
Wit in the power Of almost every indiviJ
Y OF in the church of Corinth, either to vel
ure, the miracles which ST. Paul aliudes to
ind his epistle TO that church, or to detect
,e Of expose the imposition, had there been
lony foundation for such an allusion. W
!, IN do we see in all this, but the strongest 7
New sibIe testimony of whole people to
The truth Of the Christian miracles III
we is nothing like This ia common history
that the formation of a society, which can
nder ly be explained by the history OF
ELF Gospel, aud where the conduct OF eV
f the individual furnishes distinct pledge
d for evidence OF lis truth. And to have a
b has view Of the argument, we must ref
Icienl that it is not one. bit 10 nv societies,
lught tered over the different countries of
ional world; that the principle upon W
zee to each society was formed, was the dl
ether authority Of Christ and his apostles,
: his ing upon the recorded miracles of
Id de- New Testament; that these mir
The were wrought with publicity, and