Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-04

of insensate faith by such work as THU
revision, must necessarily compel many
hitherto unreasoning believers to ask them
selves seriously what their faith rests upon
and when they once go outside of the New
Testament and begin to inquire into tn.
evidence for its authenticity, they viii
realize that they have been pursuing as I'M
intelligent course in the past as ever wa.
followed by the disciples of what they
have been taught to regard as false re
hgions.
When man FIRST learns that no certain
trace OF any of the Synoptics can be found
later back than a century and half after
the death of Christ, and when he comes tc
reflect that all the enormous assumptions
OF Christianity /; the miraculous concep.
ton, the miracles, the resurrection. the as.
cension-all its essential propositions, in
short-are derived from irresponsible
authorities all of whom must have
written generations subsequent tc
the occurrence Of the alleged events
when, too, he considers that fol
every one of these stories there is required
an amount of evidence sufficient to
overcome the enormous antecedent in.
credibility of the alleged occurrences, but
that the evidence actually forthcoming is
not of character to demonstrate with any
approach to certainty even the most COM
mon place circumstances; when he under
stands that the world is further required
to believe that these extraordinary and I'M
authenticated stories OF miraculous occur
rences are the best possible creden-
tials for the equally amazing dogmas ad.
vanced by the Churches when he learns
to perceive that in order to evade
criticism the orthodox apologists make the
revelation rest on the miracles, and the
miracles rest on the revelation he will
for the first time comprehend why skepti.
cism Is advancing so rapidly in these days,
and why the apologists cannot stem It's
course.
1t is of course clear to all who have ex.
amined the question seriously, that even il
the authenticity of the Gospels could be
esta blished completely, the testimony OF
the men who wrote them would be wholly
incompetent to substantiate the miracu-
lous narration. We know that their+age
was one of ignorance and superstition,
that they were infamed with zeal, that
they were Incapable OF judging intelli.
gently upon supernatural allegations, and
that they wrote long after the occurrence
of the events they undertook TO record.
We know that if at the present time 9
man should undertake to write detailed
account OF something that happened twenty
years ago, he would be unable to avoid
serious blunders, because he could moi
obtain absolutely accurate evidence re-
garding it. But in their time nothing
that we should consider evidence was called
for. Resurrections from the dead, healing
by laying on of hands, the exorcism o.
dem oniacs, and similar miraculous per-
formances, were looked upon as quite il
the ordinary way. In the writings of the
early Fathers swarm of these miracles is
vouched for, and they are talked about as
if they had little or no significance.
Again, it was never decided in those days
by what agency supernatural events were
brought about. It was agreed that there
were good and bad agencies, but it was not
agreed how one could be distinguished
from the other So that, even if it were
possible to believe that supernatural occur
rences did take place, they could not be
advanced as proof of divine revelation,
because there would be no means of demon
strating the nature of their origin.
As it is we have New Testament con-
tanning the most amazing assertions, and
SO singularly discordant on the most
vital points of that narrative that it is
impossible to effect any harmony between
the Gospels. These discords occur in the
accounts Of the crucifxion, the resurrec-
ton, and the ascension, particularly
yet it is upon these stories that the essen
tial dogmas of Christianity rest, and il
they are untrue there is no foundation left
for the structure. These and similar facts
are sure to be ascertained by all who are
moved to examine the credentials of the
New Testament for themselves, and there
can be no doubt that the new revision will
have strong tendency to induce this
wholesome and enlightening kind Of study.
The revisers have shown the world how in.
accurate is the version upon which the
English-speaking Christians have so long
relied, and in doing this they have uncon-
sciously suggested the wisdom of examin-
ing the foundations of creed which stands
SO much in need Of publication and re-
vision. The revisers have done their work
well, and unless we are much mistaken
they have builded better than they knew.