The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1881-06-09
CORRESPOyDENCE.
CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.


1st. The strictly ethical moral teachings as the
prohibition Of licentiousness, and the command tG
honesty. These teachings carry with them their Owl
sanction.
ID. The dogmatie teachings, Christ's divinity
and atonement These teachingsd do not. like the 9th
carry their proof and sanction but rest on
the character and authority of their authors.
ID. The positive ceremonial commands, as bap
tisin, and other similar ordinances. These like the
last, rest basis of authority.
4th. The facts: as the mirieles the death and res
direction of Christ These facts of course rest on
historical evidence 1t from the fact. pertaining
to the author and first preachers Of Christianity that
We learn their character and authority. The great
supernatural facts in the history of Christ, for ex
ample, arc his credentials. :. Believe me for the
very works sake" John, xiv, p he said, more
than occasion.
The dogmatie and positive elements in the New
Testament rest the historical elements. Hence
the importance of an inquiry into the evidence on
which those facts rest.
1t is not too much to say, examination of Chris
tanity is, first of ALL inquiry into the claims OF
that book to historical authenticity
ID. IIIsroRIc,L AUTHESTIcnY.-Ihe New Testa
ment consists of twenty-seven separate writings.
These writings commonly ascribed to eight writ
One to Matthew, one to Mark, two TO Luke,
FIVE to John, fourteeen to Paul, two to PeteI one
James and one to Jude.
Christians hold ~ that there were such persons
these; t2 that they lived in tho times when the
things recorded in the writings took place C3 that
they had, generally first hand knowledge of these
facts and wrote them down in the book aseribed to
them and called by their nnmes; 90 that they told
the truth, when they wrote them. On what grounds
do G1,r;at I..,l.l r..
these twentyseyen writings are in mems hands
Christians esteem them the sacred book of their re-
ligion They are more read studied and discussed
than any other writings in the world; and directly
or indirectly create much OF the mental activity
about us. Where did Christians and others now
living-that is the present generation-cet them
All answer ..From the last generation Sometimes
it is said the writings are forgeries but no one places
the forgery in this age Sometimes they are so cor
rupted to have lost their identity but no one Laws
the charge at the door of men now living. They
in the world thirty fifty years ago, and were
held in their present estimation. Old men now liv-
ing say they were. Particular copies now existing
were existing then. The literature Of that age at
tests the same fact Nor did that generation forge
or corrupt these writings. 1t received them from
the one Just before them So they were held in the
same estimation that they are now. And so VIC can
20 back, generation by generation, for fifteen hun
dred years; Tor all that time, there IN not genera
ton oil men that did not have the and that did not
account Tor their having them as We account Tor our
having them to-day. Enrh age hands them on TO the
next with the certificate, I'VE received tins book
from our fathers. The Older members OF the COM
hunity always denver an oral testimony; this tes-
tmony Is confirmed by the Old books IN public or
private hands, and this, again, by the evidence OF