and it will be a proof of these points a thousand years hence, or as long as the books exist. Quinctilian having quoted as Cicero's that well-known trait of dissembled vanity:"Si quid est in me ingenii, Judices, quod sentio quam sit exiguum." The quotation would be strong evidence, were there any doubt that the oration which opens with this address actually came from Cicero's pen. These instances, however simple, may serve to point out to the reader, who is little accustomed to such researches, the nature and value of the argument."

16. The Scripture quotations found in the writings of the Fathers are in various forms. Sometimes the names, and sometimes the words, of the sacred writers are mentioned; and what is of importance to be noticed, the quotations from the books of the New Testament are addressed to persons who admitted the authenticity and genuineness of these books: And the testimony of the Fathers, therefore, is in reality the testimony of the numerous persons for whose use their writings were intended.

17. The Apostolic Fathers, so called from their having been closely connected with the apostolic age, are Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, who all are witnesses of the genuineness of the books of the New Testament, and of the reality of the facts recorded in them. In the writings of these apostolical fathers, there is all the notice taken of the books of the New Testament that could be expected. Barnabas, though so early a writer, appears to have been acquainted with the gospel of St Matthew. Clement, writing in the name of the church of Rome to the church of Corinth, on occasion of some dissension there, desires them to take into their hands the epistle of the blessed apostle Paul, written to them; and refers them particularly to a part of that epistle in which he admonished them against strife and contention. He has likewise, in his epistle, undeniable allusions to Paul's epistle written to the church over which he presided, and in whose name he wrote. Hermas makes such allusions to

the books of the New Testament as were suitable to his design. Ignatius, writing to the church of Ephesus, takes notice of the epistle of Paul written to them, in which he makes mention of them in Christ Jesus. Lastly, Polycarp, writing to the Philippians, refers them to the epistle of the blessed Paul written to them: if not also to the epistles sent to the Thessalonians, Christians of the same province. He makes, besides, numerous and manifest allusions to other books of the New Testament. It is evident that these venerable fathers have not omitted to take notice of any book of the New Testament which their design led them to mention. Their silence, therefore, about any other books can be no prejudice to their genuineness. Besides, that is sufficiently attested by other credible testimonies.

18. But what shall I say of the numerous and unexceptionable witnesses which come under the notice of the historian of Christianity from the apostolic age downwards through the lapse of time? What shall we say to the continuity of this testimony given by so many in every succeeding age, and in circumstances so trying to their integrity and fidelity? To this public duty to the truth, which the followers of Christ have discharged in their successive generations, and often at the expense of their lives, the world is indebted for the preservation and transmission of the precious blessing of the glorious gospel. We have express, positive, and cumulative evidence, that the books of the New Testament were written by those whose names they bear, even the apostles of Jesus Christ, who was crucified at Jerusalem in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, when Pontius Pilate was governor in Judea. It is the concurring testimony of early and later ages, and of writers of all countries in the several parts of the known world, Europe, Asia, and Africa :-It is the testimony of those called heretics, as well as of the orthodox: These books were received from the beginning with the greatest respect, and have been publicly and solemnly read in the

assemblies of Christians throughout the world in every age from that time to this. They were early translated into the languages of different countries and people :they were quoted by way of proof in all arguments of a religious nature, and were appealed to on both sides in all points of controversy that arose among Christians themselves: they were likewise recommended to the perusal of others as containing the authentic account of the Christian doctrine; and many commentaries have been written upon them, to explain and illustrate them: All which affords full assurance of their genuineness and integrity. If these books had not been written by those to whom they are ascribed, and if the things related in them had not been true, they could not have been received from the beginning: If they contain a true account of things, the Christian religion is from God, and is of divine authority.

19. With the view of diminishing, if not of nullifying, the impression which this evidence must produce on every serious and attentive mind, it has been said that apocryphal gospels were composed in the early days of Christianity. Undoubtedly, there were such books composed, published, and read, immediately after the apostolic age: but this fact only confirms the truth of the evangelical history. Every one who observes that these books are called gospels of Peter, Paul, Thomas, Matthias, Bartholomew, or Acts of Paul, Andrew, John, and other apostles, must suppose that the composers did not intend to disparage them. On the contrary, they had great respect for them, and knew that other Christians had the same reverence for them; therefore, by recording traditions which they pretended to have received concerning the discourses and miracles of Christ and his apostles, they endeavoured to recommend some particular opinions which they had embraced. Serapion, bishop of Antioch, about the year 200, in his censure of the gospel of Peter, says, Having read it over, we have found that the main part of the book is agreeable to the right doctrine of our Saviour.

20. The publication of these apocryphal books, as Lardner observes, was very much owing to the fame of Christ and his apostles. The many narrations or short histories, referred to by St Luke in the introduction to his gospel, were owing probably to an honest zeal for Christ; and the composers supposed that their histories would be acceptable to many who had heard of Jesus, and believed in him: but being defective, they were soon laid aside; and the gospels of the four evangelists, when published, were universally received by the faithful as the authentic histories of Jesus Christ.

21. The apocryphal gospels and acts published afterwards, were also owing to the fame of Christ and his apostles, and the great success of their ministry. In the second century the philosophical converts to Christianity brought with them their philosophical principles; and having been used to schemes of philosophy, they formed to themselves a scheme of religion different from that commonly received among Christians. These peculiar opinions they endeavoured to support by philosophical reasonings; and in order to recommend them, they laid hold of such traditions concerning Christ and his apostles, though groundless, as were at all favourable to them. These, with fictitious discourses and histories of their own invention, they inserted into a volume, which they published with the title of the Gospel, Acts, or Travels, of some apostle. To this it is owing, that in so many of this sort of books may be observed the doctrine of two principles, the evil nature of matter, and other errors. "No writings," says Augustine, "ever had a better testimony afforded them, than those of the apostles and evangelists: nor does it weaken the credit and authority of books received by the church from the beginning, that some other writings have been without ground, and falsely ascribed to the apostles for the like has happened, for instance, to Hippocrates; but yet his genuine works have been distinguished from others which have been published under

his name." Nearly all the great writers of antiquity have had books ascribed to them which were not theirs.

22. The early Christians received with the greatest caution books attributed to the inspired penmen. It was in consequence of this extreme caution that for some time the epistle to the Hebrews, some of the catholic epistles, and the Revelation, were doubted of by many, when other books of the New Testament were universally acknowledged:-And we have all the satisfaction that can be reasonably desired that the books received by them were received upon good ground, and that others were as justly rejected.

23. "On a point of ordinary history," says Dr Chalmers, "the testimony of Tacitus is held decisive because it is not contradicted. The history of the New Testament is not only not contradicted, but confirmed by the strongest possible expressions which men can give of their acquiescence in its truth; by thousands who were either agents or eyewitnesses of the transactions recorded, who could not be deceived, who had no interest, and no glory to gain by supporting a falsehood, and who, by their sufferings in the cause of what they professed to be their belief, gave the highest evidence that human nature can give of sincerity. In the New Testament itself—in the concurrence of its numerous, and distinct, and independent authors in the uncontradicted authority which it has maintained from the earliest times of the church-in the total inability of the bitterest adversaries of our religion to impeach its credibility-in the genuine characters of honesty and fairness which it carries on the very face of it; in these, and in every thing else, which can give validity to the written history of past times, there is a weight and a splendour of evidence, which the testimony of Tacitus cannot confirm, and which the absence of that testimony could not have diminished."

24. From the foregoing observations it appears, First, That the books of the New Testament were regarded from