The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1880-04-28

ested 0lshops,rto noise and tumult,
the prospects and hopes ofpromo-
tion and translations, and other like
causes; the reverence paid them By
many Christians is truly surprising
"All the world saw says Barbeyrac,
(Histor. Acct. Of the Silence of Moral
| lily, sec. 10), who quotes an author
who can not be suspected Of any i'll
will toward the Fathers, "the dread
full cruelties that were committed in
their unhappy centuries; they main.
tanned sieges in their monasteries;
they battled in their councils; they
treated with the utmost cruelty all
whom they but suspected to favor
opinions which too often proved to
be such as nobody understood, not
even those that defeated them with.
the greatest Zeal and obstinacy."-
These" says he, "are the great
lights Of the church, These are the
Holy Fathers, whom we must take
for men for true piety and knowl-
edge zone council" says another
historian, (Echard Rom. History,
vol III, 50, "was summoned to an
null what another had done, and all
things were managed with that fac.
lion, strife and contention, as if they
labored to quench the spirit Of meek.
ness and brotherly love, so often rec
commended in the Gospel. Some
were banished, some were imprison-
ed, and against others they proceed
ed with more severity, even to the
loss Of their lives
This character which even the
most partial defenders of the Fathers
are forced to admit leads US natural
ly to ask, whence such men had the
authority to establish u new canon?
They produced no authority from
Jesus, none from the Apostles, moth
ing was even said in the writings
about which they decided, so they
were reduced to claim a traditional
right, supported only by their own
word, which, considering what men
they were, will never be allowed to
be any authority at all. We do not
hearof any pretension to extraordi-
nary assistance or revelation to these
councils from God, so that the au-
thority which they attach to these
writings appear to have been entire
ly accidental.
Ofthis opinion is also Mr.. Collins,
Gn Grounds and Reasons, p. 49, he
says: "Jesus and his apostles do fire.
quently and emphatically style the
books of the Old Testament the
Scriptures, and refer men to them as
their rule and canon; but no new
books are declared by them to have
that character. Hence if Jesus and
his apostles have declared no books
to be canonical, | would ask who did,
and who could afterward declare or
make any books canonical? If ithad
been deemed proper and suited 10
the state of christianity to have Civ
en- or declared q new canon or digest
of laws, it would seem most proper
to have been done by Jesus or his
apostles, and not left to any after
them to do, but especially not left to
be settled long after their times, by
weak, fallible, factious and interested
men, who were disputing with one
another about the genuiness of all
books bealing the names Of the apos-
ties, and contending with one an
other about the authority of every
different book" 1t you'd be tedious
tocontinue this subject, If you wish
to learn farther particulars, | refer
you to any history of the church, or
of the Roman Empire. / shall in
my next proceed to the examination
of the internal evidence of the Cos.
pei writings.
TO DE. CONTINUED. -l.5