, 1865-06-16

among nlass Of other prod WIS madt
by come Chutch Council, Ia sinp pic falesaood
a. these books were tho saMc authority O
the Christian church In the third aud secoaG
CENTURIES, and msy therefore be aasumed t.
have BET n In the latter half of the first or III
to the very time they were written, as the1
now are. During this period no one chusri
had or claimed any such Jurisdiction as VA
afterwards assnm' by tht Church Of ROME
to decide such q question. There WAS no au
| lhority to call the Couscil- B.sI1e3 htstor,
is silent both upon the fact that any sucf
character Of any competing Scriptures, with
ont which there could be no need Of suck 9
Council. Bob the voice and the suerce o.
history 'theleio.e prove that We havs In OH
New Testament TIC genuine productions sub
s'antinlly rs their authors wrote -nem- There
exists no such accumulated testimony In fl.
vor Of The genuinentss Of I'll other anclrnt
books combined.
II. The authenticity Of the books Of the
New Tcstsm nt I. e. 1hat ther were written
| by Tic men whose name they bear, who were
partly eyc.wltnesses, partly by prisons con
1emIoraneous With the events narrated. Is
sustaintd by the following lipe Of argument.
i. They have The same evidence which
zeuophcn's Anabasis or any other classical
| work has for its authenticity. They were
from Ctr earliest kneWledge Of them entitled
| as the works Of tAose whose nam. they bear
they were never entitled as the works
ct any Other author7, nor have auy
other wcrks clatmed their titles. Had
aud ap gone seD ABROAD Willie thsir authois
were unknown, disputes aa 10 thelr author.
ship would have arisen, aud when coppists
came to prt1x The names OF their authors,
various pRulcs would have been prcaxed &C.
cerdioE to the belief prevalent at the varlous
times aEd places where they were copied. A.
thcy became 80 widely circulated aver Eu.
rope, Asia and Africa, In the first half Of the
second CENTURY as to be as commonly gu ,ted
then as to-day, il would have been impossible
TO prefix the lanes of the authors without
upon ths II authotslIp, which did NOT then
Gxiss, or disc3,d as to who their authors werc
Either the names Of their authors must have
been p'ehxed prior to their publication,
which otld prove their au 'henttcIty, O., ii
sfie- wards, there must havc been evidence
to who The authors we're, In which case this
yeiy concord upon the point would imply
that !! Vas too clear for dispute.
?. The Apostolic Fathers, by which arc
meant the lmm. dlAtc disciples uf the Apos-
Ties, cite the words Of the Srw Testament as
God smith," or at is writun," showing
That these Christians who had b.en intimate
with the persons named as the authors Of
these works, quoted h.m as the word OF God.
Ihete ore Cltment OF R5:ne, mentioned in
PHILIPPIANS, sr. s., as af.ltow-iaborer OF Paul,
aiterEa;d Bishop Of Rome Ba,nabus Of Cyl
pEus t!equenily mtn:ioDed as u co-laeorer of
Paul, 1enatiu-, Bishop Of Antioch, In Syris.
wterc he Is said t., have been ordained By
Peer; Folyca'p, disciple OF John. ord In ID
by htr4 Bishop Of Smyrna. where he died d
martyr, and Pap.as, Bishop Of Hleropo1ie, n
sns 81 that e. azc ro1aa na1er ta si to css asa
ize that future agg.s would lose the personal
and ttaditiona1y kuowledgs. they possessed,
teHved from the Apostles themselves,
ED would be stut up to the
wlittcn New Testament as Their
only source Of insstuc ion. They were
written books. Thrs Pap'as tells Us that he
sought 70 learn from every quarter the ira
d.ti0ns Of t1ose who lad cunycIssd with the
Ed rs. thinking that he should not profit SO
much By the narratives OF books rs by the
living sud abiding voice Of the Lo.d's disc!-
Itss." % again l'enEns in earnest language
tells With wha' Joy he listened to the words
OF Pols carp when he told Of his in ercoursc
with those who had seeu tbs Lord and how
Hose wLo had been with Christ spoke Of his
mighty works aid tea :hrgs. Notwi' hstand-
Ing this prI1eltnc for aud reliance on oral
teachings, C'cmtnt, 1snatius and Po'ycarp
Epht sans rud Philippians, while Papias
sptass as fellows Of the gospels Of Matthew
q, d Marx:
'tNow Mathew composed the oracles In Il ~
and exch one interpreted til m I. no WAS able.
wrote Accurately whatever he remembered. though
he did not {tecord} in order that which vas either
eald nr done bJ Christ. For he neither heard the
sxid, attached himself 70 Petes. who used to tams
his tcsch!ngs to Ueet the immediate wants Of hls
heA1eft; xod not zs making connected narration
Of tho Lorn's ul.courtes. So Marx committed no
II p mar Ina
be recalled then, to Find For he tooK hefd to
one thtDc-to omit no0e Of the facts II 1t be heard
tleM."
5. In the suo-apostolIc> >sge Justin Martyr
(botu about 4. y. q, died 1Gd} learned Cnsis-
tian philosopher, quotes the Gospel from
memory, interviewing the words WhIch we
fud separately In Matthew, Marx and Luke.
Thus tho differences ia these narratfons which
we'e a century a-o the weap MS Of inddels.
bt come the proofs of their authenticity and
independent cotemporary authorship. Like
all tie early Fathers be introduces no quota-
tlons Of language of apochryphll writer's,
He styles the Gospel 'Memoirs Of the Apos-
jesus Christ" He has 10 illusions to gospel
history, quoting them Twelve times as Me-
mot.s OF the Apustles," knd six times az
:" The Memoirs. 7" in the other instances using
their Language without mentioning them.
He speaks OF Chtis!'s changing the Eams Of
1
As The fact Is only recorded in MarE, this
confirms tbs theory that Mark wTote under
the authority Of Peter. In citing fact which
Is &nly recorded In Luke he says "In the
memoi1t, which say were composed by the
Apostles and Moe .aho .joEoto.d ar,n, it Is
down." DC. This shows 1ha' the distinction
between the Gospc,s written by tho apostles
Matthew and John and by the disciples Mark
and llkcs Was then too familiar to require
other than mcie mention, to tie understood.
So Tertullian (born 1G0) writes, 'sJoan aud
imp:nnt faith In us; Luke aud Mark. ont Of tho
number O. their followers, refrush IT," Justin
refers also to The Apocalypse, but only to the
Episilea hy borrowing Pauline forms Of ex-
preston. 1rennus, disciple Of Polycarp,
who was disciple Of J-hn, became Bishop
OF Lyons i. u. III. He says:
New Matthew published hts treatse on thu
Gospet smong t4e Aeorrws, ia their own dlslect,
Nh.e Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome aud
founding The ch1r<h there. Bu. Aiser toe:r death.
wrote down Whist Peter had preached and delly-
esrr It TO u. And Luke. also the follower Of
Panl, wrote ont IN book the GOSPEL which was
preached ~ uat Apoatle. .A!.esward John the
dlscsple OF rte Lord who also lea1cd upon has
breast, be too published .. Gospel vhile he was
liy1nE u Ephesus, II Asss."
and speaks OF the whole as suffered by the
word Of God and his spirit" OF course our
space permits rs 10 make mere selections
from the evidence adduced that before the
close Of the second century all the books'of
the New Testamt Mt were received as canon
Rome nor any other, had then any authority
10 impose such bel!efi. could only have re-
suited from the facts, As these books were
probably all written during the latter half
oil the first century, or within sixty yesrs af-
ter the death o, Christ, thez were less than
century old when the testimony We have
considered was being given. The witnesses
tho.s whom they quote. They were men Of
learning snd p!ety, and. had tbs mesus Of
knowing whether The authorship of these
books was disputed, and II 60 Of finvestgating
I he merits Of the dispute. Bnt the author-
ship was wholly undisputed, though the
t.nt as the basis Of religion constantly It,
lacked BY enemies OF all kinds But even
they, {. 9. Celsus, Pofphysy aud Julian cou-
ced; AID asssumr the authenticity Of the
books.
4. The New Testament since adopted By
the Roman Church ia shown to have been
Published complete In its present form prior
5. As the Apostles were I'll Hebrews who
had leaned Greek as their second language,
It bzing the second language Of Judea and
the Roman world at that titne, the fact that
these books are written in such 'hebra!stic''
Greek xs only Hebrew could write proves
that they were written bY men Of the class
OF their reputed authors.
6. Tho complicated political aud social
condition Of Jndea at the time In which the
events Of the New Testament occurred--tt
being under joint Roman and Jewish
govcInment--exlsted but for that brief period
and In that region. They arc only incident
ally mentioned in these books. They could
not have been forged by any writer's Of anoth.
er period or nation without immense learn
Ing, while the language and style Of most of
these books shoWa they we're written BY IN.
by Dr.. Mast Of the coIncldents between what