Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-05-07

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from all other books? Whose book is
it? Who made it? Infdels have the
strangest ideas on that subject. l rec
ollect in Marlboro, Mass, l read in a
newspaper an article written by an in
fdel, which stated that the Council of
Nice, in the year 325, compiled the
New Testament. They had lot of
Gospels and Epistles, genuine and
spurious, and no one could distinguish
between the two; SO they put them all
on the floor and prayed that the good
ones might get up on the communion
table and the bad ones stay on the
floor; and that was the way the pres
ent New Testament was compiled.
And that is the kind of food that inf
dels are made to swallow and digest;
for that very statement can be found
in various infdel books now issued by
infdel publishers This writer said
that this account rested on the authori-
ty of Papias, an early Christian Bishop.
l replied, in lecture, that there was
one difficulty about that story-that
Papias was dead and buried hundred
and fifty years before the Council Of
Nice was held; but as they might
have got the news from "the spirits, !"
that might be no great objection to
them. The man rose to explain, and
said that this was not the right Papias,
but that it was another Papias. IAN OBJ
scure Christian bishop of the fourth
century," told him | thought he
was obscure; so obscure that no one
ever heard of him before or since. On
investigation it was learned that a
German dominic, named John Pappus,
preacher in Strasburg, and professor
at Munster, who died in 1910, discov-
cred this story in an old Greek manu-
script entitled "Synodikon," which
was written by some old romancer
back in the dark ages, about the year
900, for it relates things whick occur
red as late as 879, over five hundred
years after the Council of Nice was dead
and buried. And this story, written
nobody knows when, where, or by
whom, has been swallowed, believed,
and published by infdels far and near,
as an account of the origin of the New
Testament; and the men who believe
and peddle such fables call Christians
fools for believeing the Bible.
have on one of my library shelves,
between twenty and thirty volumes,
containing about twelve thousand
pages of writings of different Christian
authors who wrote before A. D. 1926,
when the Council of Nice was held
Many of those books are full of Scrip
ture. Those writers had the same
books which we have; they quoted the
same passages we quote; they quoted
from the same Gospel and Epistles
from which we quote.
Origen, wrote a hundred years be-
fore the Council of Nice; quotes 5,745
passages from all the books in the
New Testament; Tertullian, A. D. 200,
makes more than 5000 quotations
from the New Testament books; Glenn
ent, A. b. 1914, quotes $50 passages;
Irenaus, A. D. IT'S, quotes 767 pass
ages; Polyearp, who was martyred A.
D. l65, after having served Christ
eighty-six years. in a single epistle
quoted 36 passages; Justin Martyr, A.
D. 14O, also quotes from the New Tes-
lament; to say nothing of heather and
infdel writer's like CELSIUS, A. D. $50,
and Porphyry, a. D. 304, who referred
to or quoted scores of the very pass
ages now found in the Scriptures
which we have. Indeed, Lord Hailes,
of Scotland, having searched the writ
ings of the Christian Fathers to the
end of the third century, actually found
the whole of the New Testament, with
the exception of less than a dozen
verses, scattered through their writings
which are still extant; so that, if at the
time of the Council of Nice every copy
of the New Testament had been ami
hilated, the book could have been re-
produced from the writings of early
Christian Fathers, who quoted the
book as We quote it, and who believed
it as we believe it, And now infdels
talk about the Council of Nice getting
up the New Testament. You might
as well talk about town council get
ting up the Revised Statues of the
state or nation, because they happened
to say they accepted or received them.
The Council of Nice did nothing of the
kind The books of the New Testa-
ment were received from the apostles
who wrote them, and were carefully
preserved, and publicly read in the
churches of Christ long before the
Council of Nice was held.
Says Tertullian, A. d. 200, eff you
are willing to exercise your curiosity
proftably in the business of your sal
vation, visit the apostolic churches; in
which the very chairs of the apostles
still preside in their places; in which
their very authentic letters are recited,
sounding forth the voice and represent
the countenance of every one of them.
Is Achaia near you? You have Cor
inth. If you are not far from Mace
donia you have Philippi and Thessa-
lonica; if you can go to Asia you have
Ephesus, but if you are near to Italy
you have Rome"
These apostolic churches received
the Gospels at the hands of the men
who wrote them; and the Epistles were
written and signed by men whom they
well knew. Paul wrote, "The saluta-
tion of me, Paul, by mine own hand,
which is the token in every epistle, so
| write"
Now, what did these writer's testify?
They testified things which they knew.
The apostle John does not say, "That
which we have dreamed, imagined, or
guessed at, that thing we declare
unto you;" but, THAT which was from
the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled, of the Word of
Life" John l. l. This was their
testimony. They testified they saeo
Christ in his life and in his death; that