THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3699, 2 November 1880, Page 2

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Sib,—ln your Saturday'sissue" Speio" replies to " Sceptic " asking very reason. ably for some model religion or sene pretension to any authoritive publication of hit doctrines. Christianity claims that her truths are embodied in a permanent^ inspired record; ask the Deist where his system it to be found, and he will .tefl you with an air of triumph that Jt ii inscribed on the very elements of man's nature, and yet there are scarcely two indiTiduals who interpret the record in the same, manner. At 'any rate* it it something-which lies too much in the region of doubt and abstraction to satisfy common minds: the very constitution of human nature seems to require so—Si thing beyond it and nothing so exactly meets (he exigencies of the ease a* « written record, bearing the stamp of divine authority; a record whioh shall not only be open alike' to til, bit which shall be so plain ths* nothing but obstinate prejudice or gross depravity shfll be abVto jwvent it. Deism has no such recordv To the SMet uncultivated peasant who inquires where her doctrines ere rto be:->, found she oan only reply by bidding hist aoamine with the.,glories, of nature -around Idm, or notice what is passing in his own bosom. Bat if Christianity > be, futerrogated in respeot to her doctrines^ she points at once'to a record of them with' wveVshe has identified her ownrexistenoe. In the saored; Scriptures is ' contained { every important doctrine and' Pfeeept wftien Jesus and his apostles inculcated, as well as every, essential net' by whittr fne divinity of our religion is proved^' and the record comes to us in a form bait adapted to the circumstances and Mpaeities of ifren. is not a course of abstract ret* soning or continuous' history, belt a« admixture: of dtwtrinef aM'preoepts, principles and facto, tn'irom r!tjfattfcjbif different persons at different pmods; tM in circumstances ■ which ; forbad*;'jnt possibility of oblloiioii/". Hdw' „ttsft are two points of view; in^, wiiei this written record to, which Ohniti«U«ty appeals may be considered is rendering her evidence more distinct and impressive* In the first place, the truths whieh..she inculcates, and the facts by which she is sustained arejhere brought koine to the very sense, so, that,, he that runneth nay read and understand. And then the very fact that, such a reeerd exists, taken in connection with its character, faraisnes decisive proof of the divine origin oc Christianity. And if "Sceptic" denies this, let him tell me how such a book as the New Testamtent could have ever come to be generally received, if it contained only the record of a base imposture^. Especially how came it to be received ,by« the very people among whom the wonder* ful facts whioh it records, purport to have taken place, and who must infallibly hive known whether such' facto Asdoeonrred, or not. If he tells me that it was introduced at a period subsequent to that fet wbich> it: claims to have been, then I ask ■ him. for anything like a; parallel in *he, whole record of human experience, for that' credulity which should have admitted its claim under such circumstances should have admitted that such a wonderful twin of events as the New Testament desoripesj —events having a most important bearing on the destines of the world. If this were so, I ask him how this book cans to best extensively received by inquisitive*ant investigating minds P howthe£sots«hiek it contains came to be alluded to by soar of the most celebrated heathen writers ft the very time of their ocoutrenceP howl it came to pass that there are variola quotations made from it by' many differMl: authors from the time, that it-clsisss to have been written P In a word, hew'is It that all historical testimony fixes the date of these writings and of the wets, which they record at the period in wkjeh Ohria. tianity professes to hive been introduced and I ask yet again how omsws ajlthia harmony, both in respect to db^st and precepts in the production ef to mmj authors at various tiuue>»|s^ii4et different eircimstaieesP WsjsJlß>soiie« all the simplicity andl beaitar o|«iit7S originality and grandeur of tjbMghVtlie elevated morality, the pcrfeet plrity,

which breathe in the writings of these unlettered peasants if we deny that they had communion with the source of ell wisdom, which is necessary to stamp their productions with the seal of inspiration, and of course their relicion with the seal of divinity ? It must be seen then that whether we consider the Scriptures a* embodying the truth and facts of Christianity and thus making them palpable to the senses, or as illustratipg more directly the evidence of Christianity by giving the only satisfactory account of her origin by the wonderful peculiarities of their internal structure, we are brought in either case to the conclusion that she has in her written record a mighty advantage over iceptism.—l am, &c, . ■ '. ..'.■' 'W. -.