HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT WHITINGS ARE GENUINE?

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3639, 25 August 1880, Page 2

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT WHITINGS ARE GENUINE?

A Sebmok delivered by the See. R. Laishley in the Congregational Church, on Sunday ■ the 22nd instant. - . s (Concluded from our last.)

But if we can conceive it possible under these circumstances that corruptions or mutilations of the original narratives or Gospels could find their way into the Churches, that dream must vanish when another consideration is placed before us. namely, the impoßsioiHty of introducing extensive alterations or corruptions into a multitude of manuscripts, scattered through all parts of the then civilised world. And you will see that to render the plan of corruption successful, the greater portion must be gradually or concurrently changed for the majority would give authority to the text. Let us look at this for a few minutes! The early centuries of Christianity formed no part of what we customarily call "The dark ages." Books were not rarities then, although only existing in manuscript. And while in the troublous times of the Church the Scriptures were guarded with such care, that (at ene period, at least) he who surrendered a copy to the enemies of the truth was suspended from his membership in the Church; copies of the Scriptures would be multiplied, or purchased, to the utmost abilty of the poor and suffering Christians. One writer, if I can trust my memory, estimates or supposes that towards the end of the 2nd century there may have been 10,CG3 copies of the Gospel in existence. Thos. Cooper, - like an old and experienced debater, in his defence of the integrity of the Gospels, as we have them, guards his position to the uttermost, by gratuitously reducing tho supposed or estimated number to 1500. It is not very material which number we take, but I think the former is as likely to be proximalely correct as the latter. Listen to the words of TVrtulliau in hia apology for the Christians—" Were we disposed," he says, " to act the part, I will not say of secret assassins, but of open enemies, should we. want forces and numbers? Are there not multitudes of us in every part of the world p It is true we are but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all your towns, cities, islands, castled, boroughs, counsels, camps, " courts, palaces, senate, forum—we leave you only your temples. For what war should we not be reedy and well prepared, even though unequal in numbers: we—who die with so much pleasure, were it not that our religion requires us rather to suffer death than to. inflict it." The Scriptures, then; must have been, we must reasonably believe, •very numerous at this period; and we may believe not exceedingly scarce at much earlier periods. Now, let us remember that the sceptical theory is this: That our present Gospels are corrupted Gospels, into which legendary miracles, " cunningly devised fables" have been introduced; and let us see what, in accepting this theory, we are required to believe. We are required to believe that the early corruptors of t!ie Gospels, to entirely succeeded in their plans, that there is not to day one uncorrupted copy of these Gospels existing—that, is to say, there is not one in which, the history of the Saviour's miracles does not exist. ! Nay, further, that the*e corruptors of tlie Go-pels co far succeeded that there does not remain even the record of one un- ' corrupted copy ever having existed. Nay, farther, that this corruption of the Scrip, tures was accomplished no one knows , how, no one knows where, no one knows , by- whose instrumentality. Can you. believe it my friends? To me it is incredible. Dut now, permit me to produce Lome important circumstantial evidence leading to the- same results—that is, leading to the conclusion that the Gospels, as we at present possess them, are substantially the same as those possessed by the Church-iu the earliest days. We shall not' be surprised to find that during the period extending from (he last quarter to the 2nd century to the time of our Lord's Ascension, in proportion as we draw nearer to that great event, the evidence to be derived from the uninspired writers gradually diminishes in quantity : but we shall find this evidence supplemented by other evidence of a convincing character. About the year ad. 170 Pothiuus, the aged bishop of Lyons, sent an account of the sufferings of the Christian martyrs at Lyons to the Church of Asia and Phrygia. In this epistle are exact references to the Gospels of Luke and John, and to the Acts of the Apostles (Paley). Justin Martyr, who died at the latest about the year 163, and who is described as flourishing about a.p. 140 (that is, I suppose, was then in his vigor), has in his writings about 200 references to the actions and teachings of Our Lord. He expressly tells us that the sources of his information were written documents, which he designates "Memoirs of the Apostles and their companions," and which he occasionally calls "Gospels." These references render it in the highest degree probable that he bad in his possession one or more of our Gospels; and possibly some of those documents men. tioned by St. L,uke in his preface ; and he might have obtained gome of his information from oral tradition, which mast

have existed at that time in its freshness. But from whatever source or sources he may have derived his information, 196 out of the 200 references to the events in the evangelical history are far all practical purposes the same as those contained in the Evangelists. Justin also affirms that those "Memoirs of the Apostles," which he elsewhere calls "Gospels, 1' were pub licly read in the Christian assemblies. Now, let us bear in mind that although Justin's works roav bear date about 140 or 145, his historical recollections would extend from this manifestly mature period of his life through many of the preceding years of the Church's history. The books which he quotes must therefore have been I earlier than his time, or he would have known and specified their origin. We may safely say that their reputation, on ! his testimony, would extend to 25 or 30 years earlier, or within 85 or 90 years of our Lord's ministry. A very commanding and almost apostolical character meets our view at this period of the Church's history, in Polycarp, the Bishopof Smyrna, who perished by martyrdom at an extremely advanced age in ad. 167. Ihe testimony given respecting him by his disciple frenseus, who in his youth bad known him, is as follows :—•• I can tell, the place in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his life, and his form of person, and the discourses he made to the people, and how he related his conversation with John and oihers who had seen the Lord, and how he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine, as he had received them from the eye witnesses, from the Word of' Life; all which Polycarp related agreeable to the Scriptures." (Paley.) Of Polycarp we have one undoubted epistle, which though a short letter contains nearly 40 clear allusions to the books of the New Testament. Amongst these are copious allusions to the Gospel of St. Mntthew, and some passages found in the Gospels both of Matthew and Luke (Paley ) Marcion, also although accounted a heretic, affords in his extant writings undubitable proof that the Gospels by St. Luke, existed durn? the opening years of the 2nd century. At the clore of the Ist century, during which time Polycarp was in his vigor, en epistle by Clement, who is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Phil. 4ch. St., is believed to have bean written. He quotes the sayings of the Lord Jesus as recorded by the Evangelists. Let me give you two striking illustrations: •• Especially," he says, "remembering the words ofgtbe Lord Jesus, which he spake, teaching gentleness and long suffering, for this he said—' Be ye merciful that ye may obtain mere;/; foi'givo that it may be forgiven rnto you ; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged ; as ye show kindness, co shall kindness be shows uutc you; with what mersure ye mete, with the s. me shall it be measured unto you.' Again he -says, ' Remember the words of the Lord Jesns, for he said, ' Wo, to that man by whom offences come; it were, better for him that he had not been born, than that he should offend one of my elect; it wpre better for him that a milistone should be 1 tied about his neck, and that he should be drowned in . the ceu, than that he should .offend one of my little ones.'" Ignatius, who, according to ancient Chris tien writers, wps bishop of Antioch 37 years after Christ's Ascension, wroO come epistles, of which remains still exist, and in which are allusions to the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. There is a\co an epistle ascribed, with much probability, to Barnabas, the companion of St. P< ul, in which some striking allusions are made to St. Matthew's Gospel. Thus the remnant 3of the earlier uninspired Christian literature abundantly prove, that a detailed account of our Lord's ministry was current in the Church, and was accepted by it as .constituting the very centre of its Christianity, and they establish as a certainty that the current accounts agreed in all their main features with those in our Evangelists, while it is most worthy of remark that the references to anything not contained in the Gospels are surprisingly few. And so far the evidence is very conclusive that any set of facts which depicted the Lord Jequs in an aspect of character diff rent from the delineation of him in our Gospels was unknown in the Church during the period in question. But we come now to a very important witness. Modern criticism has fully established the genuiueness of the four most important Epistles of St. Paul, viz., Corinthians 1 and 2, Romans, and Gatatians, while an overwhelming majority of unbelieving critics concede the faot that these four letters are the veritable compositions of the Apostle'; they are' almost equally satisfied that the Apocalypse is the work of one of the original followers of Jesus, the Apostle John. A large number will allow that four more letters which have been attributed to St. Paul are likewise his genuine productions, viz., Thess., 1 and 2, Philippians, and Philemon. Here then we are in possession of eight letters bearing on the innermost facts of Christianity ; all of which were composed within less than 32 years after the Crucifixion. They prove that within 28 years of His Crucifixion a superhuman charaoter was ascribed to the Lord Jesus by Paul himself, and by those to whom his letters were addressed, and consequently that they must have possessed an account of his life and ministry, which justified thj ascription tohimof such a charucter.' In other words, the accounts then current must have depicted Him as a worker of min«e!es. 16 is true the apostle says little of the Saviour's miracle;); and we cannot doubt that one reason why lie says so little, is that they were so universally known and believed in by the Churches. Bat be does speak of one, perhaps the greatest connected with the history of the Lord Jesus, His resurrection from the dead, with such confidence that he makes the hope of the believer dependent on its.truth,, and cays " If Christ be not risen, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." But he adds, " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." Paul had been the bitterest enemy of Christ and, of His cause, and if in Jerusalem, as is probable, at the time, as he certainly was shortly after the. resurrection of the Lord, he would examine to the uttermost the facts of the case. Thus earlier than his epistles, would the Apostle's historical recolleo-, tions extend, and render his testimony of utmost iralue. (See,!.."Good Words" January, 1879, article by Esv. Prebendary liow, M.A.) Are we then prepared (q . eliminate all which U miraculous from the Gospel histories, or to reject those histories as corrupted and altered from earlier records! so that they might oontain legendary wooden whioh were not in the fint

records of Christianity? (In this ia the purpose of the attempt to shake oar confidence in the credibility of the Evangelists). I think not! We might as well attempt to blot the sain from the firmament as to expunge the miracles of Christ from the records of the N v -»w Testament. But for the piracies of Ohrist and his Apostles, Christianity would not be.here to day—would not hare a foot of space oa which to stand in the wide world.; Did you ever tliiok of this P The apostles and first disciples of the Lord would hire had no adequate ground of argument upon which to stand in their appeals to mankind without the miracles 6f the Lord Jesus, and the same miraculous power bestowed upon themselves by His Spirit. Let us suppose them, afffer the Ascension of the Lord to Glory, appealing to one of their own countrymen y ** We have found Him " they say, "Of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Great Messiah; come unite with as m establish--ing His kingdom in the world." " What! " he would reply,/ •• Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews P What sign did he show, or wha/ sign to you show that I should beUeve in HimP Moses gave us signs.XOur fathers did eat manna in the wilderness as it is written He gave them bread from Heaven to eat." " We have no si#ns, no miracles to which to refer," His disciples would reply; " but we coniSdently appeal as evidence to the transcendent excellence both of his character and his teaching. "We know that God spake by Mo-es ;" their.countryman would reply " by the testimony of God in signs aod wonders, bet as for this man, we know not whence he is." Baffled by their countrymen, thus, the disciples might say, "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles." And amidst all the misery and helplessness of paganism they might believe that the.prospects and promises of the New Dispensation would obtain -■ consideration. Hence we are told that the disciples went forth and preiehed everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the words with signs following. But there is yet another line of circumstantial evidence- which I cannot extensively pursue this evening, but which strengthens our belief in the genuineness of the Gospels which we posse*!—it arises from the character of the Gospels themselves. I will just indicate what I meaa. The Gospels are not pieces of literary patchwork—they hare cot been tampered with as we are told; there is • distinct individuality belonging -to eaoh writer, and a unity of style runs, through each history, which no practised eyocan fail to discover. We can recognise the hind-writing of one with who:e manuscripts we are familiar. The painter.or the sculptor can discern; the mind and band of the originator of any distinguished work before him. We recognise the style of any well-known poet. Homer may have leaned for his characters; upon events or traditions, or on written fragments, but none other could have framed from them the " Iliad." So it is in the . Gospels. Luke " the beloved physician's '* hand is manifest, John'the 'Apostle's is very marked, Matthew and Mark have both a distinctive feature of style.; and they stand before us as fon- distinct witnesses of great and important facts. The close coincidence which, exists between the narratives of the Gospels and such other history of the times as we WMCesa, so far as these can be compared, shew the writers *a have been alike conversant with the facts of the day and to be toothful recorders. The plaoesrnamed in the. Gospels are about 60 in number, and the writers shew familiar. acquaintance with the irenea they describe; and while many of the places hare. been destroyed or greatly changed' by time and violence, yet the truth of these local allusions has.been- largely confirmed by the assiduous research of modern travellers. Then again besides our.Cord and his Apostles, about 30 other p«fcon« are named in the coarse f: of,"Gospel history. These include the tiro Emperors, Augustas and. Tibe»JM,, Herod the Great, Arohelaus, Herod Antipas. and Herodias, Pontius-Pilate, Annas and Caiphas, the Syrian Governor Cyreuius or Qairinius. and the Tetrarchs Philip and Lysaoias, affording abundant opportunity for detection had, miutatamenta existed, yet in every instance the Gospel statement it in agreement with the known facts of Koman, Syrian, and Jewish history, while in some instfnees, there are special and minute coincidences. The reconcilable diversity of tte Gospels, with substantial unity amidst their variation in deiails, is also a strong evidence of their common truth, while the spirit of candour which pervades them unites our confidence in their truth and impartiality. These are some of the leading lines of thought which, did our time permit us,. we might pursue; but I pause and ask you—Shall we then relinquish these writings, which have been the solaeeof millions, which have transformed, and are transformiag the. moral aspect >f the world; which form a bond of union between the followers of the Lord Jesus in every place, and unite all ages of the Church in faith and sympathy; which are our only guide to holiness, and hope and heaven. Shall ire surrender them to unbelief, which, while we ask for bread, offers us a stone P And I would remark in passing, that no fresh disoovery of ancient manuscripts will, I believe, greatly change- the Bcoeived Text. These will undoubtedly receive the utmost eoasideration; and exercise influence in proportion according to their intribsio value, j^ati when I remember from, how va^a number of ancient manuscripts the present text has been derived; while some verbal alterations may be accepted from fresh sources of information, and even perhaps come greater ohauges be introduced; yet I am persuaded that nothing will arise which will materially aiTeot the historical." accuracy of the present New, Testament Scriptures, or ohange their doctrinal teaching—nothing will arise to shake the faith of the Christian in the written Word, or dim his hope of immortality. Let us , then not be content to accept and defend these Scriptures, but let us seek to diffuse , the knowledge of them wherever man is found in tin and misery wherever Satan reigns until the enemy of God and man shall fall, dethroned, discrowned, and He whose right it is shall reign—the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, to whom be glory and dominion 1 for evermore. - ; " I speak as unto wi«e. men, judge ye what I say." Ami*. :