The Evidences of Christianity

Not one mark of spuriousness is found in our sacred books 74

The circumstances of the case make it impossible that they

should be forgeries

Men practically act on the slightest grounds as to the au-

thenticity of writings, where the contents commend

themselves to their judgment

The burden of proof lies on the objector to Christianity

The providence of God conspicuous in the evidences of

authenticity

The duty of having an authentic faith in the truths of

Christianity

LECTURE V.

THE DIRECT PROOF OF THE AUTHENTICITY

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.-Acts xxvi. 26.

The testimony to our sacred books can be traced up from

the present time to the days of the Apostles

The sacred canon was settled with care and discrimi-

nation

There are all the marks of integrity and truth in the tes-

timony of ancient Christians

Admissions of Heathen and Jewish adversaries

Number and antiquity of our manuscripts

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None of these external proofs of authenticity can be ad-

duced for the Apocryphal books of the New Testament 103

The style and manner of the books of the New Testa-

ment furnish an unanswerable proof of their genuine-

ness

Unexpected confirmations from a Syriac version of the

New Testament

Codex Alexandrinus

Maso-Gothic version

A remarkable fragment discovered in 1740

The sacred volume is unique and unparalleled

Review of the argument for the authenticity

Love of Christians to the Bible

LECTURE VI.

CREDIBILITY OF THE GOSPEL HISTORY.-

LUKE i. 1-4.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOKS INVOLVES THE CREDIBI-

LITY; for it is very rare to meet with any authentic

histories, in which the principal facts are untrue

The principal facts of the New Testament are very few,

and peculiarly prominent

Testimonies already adduced to the genuineness of the

books, prove their credibility

PROOFS OF CREDIBILITY DERIVED FROM OTHER SOURCES;

from the governors of the Roman provinces

From Heathen writers

From Jewish writings, especially Josephus

From the character of many of the converts to the Chris-

tian faith

From the testimony of Mahomet

From the religious rites and usages springing out of the

facts of Christianity, which continue to the present

day

From several ancient monuments which have survived

the wreck of time

THE CHARACTER AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SACRED

WRITERS ESTABLISH THE CREDIBILITY OF THEIR WRI-

TINGS

The number of witnesses

They had full knowledge of the things they attest

The testimony they bear is to facts, of which they were

competent judges

They were persons of transparent integrity of character 138

Of sound mind, and by no means credulous or rash
They relate events at the spot where they occurred, and
before the multitudes who witnessed them

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Their whole subsequent lives were marked by unparal-

leled benevolence and holiness

140

They had nothing to expect for their testimony but tem-

poral calamities and death

140

No one convert ever complained of being imposed upon 141

If our account be false, where is the true one?

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Our faith must practically correspond with what we have

Every miracle consists of two distinct and palpable facts 153

THE WONDERFUL ACTIONS ASCRIBED TO OUR SAVIOUR AND

HIS APOSTLES, REALLY TOOK PLACE

The credibility of the gospel history applies to these

They were believed by the converts of the first century,

and attested to those of the second

Institutions still subsist which took their rise from them

The minute and artless account of them seals their truth

Objections answered; fallibility of human testimony

Experience

Transmission of remote facts

THESE FACTS WERE, PROPERLY SPEAKING, MIRACULOUS

The facts of the gospel were plain and palpable miracles

They were done openly as divine acts

Before the Jewish nation, accustomed to judge of mi-

racles

And were both numerous and various

Our Lord was himself the subject of miracles

Permanent effects were produced by the gospel mi-

racles

They were wrought for a high and holy end

THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THESE MIRACLES, AND THE RE-

LIGION THEY ARE SAID TO ATTEST IS SUCH, AS TO PROVE

ITS DIVINE ORIGIN

Our Saviour and his apostles appeal to their mighty

works

They were predicted as the evidence of the Messiah

An appropriate attestation to a divine religion

They were performed by those who had all other signs of

a divine mission

They are incorporated with the instructions

172

The success of the gospel, resting on the miracles, proves

that the doctrine was from God

No other religion ever was established by miracles, but

the religion of the Bible

The inference from the miracles to the truth of Christi-
anity is conclusive

The impression which a review of Christian miracles is

calculated to produce

The importance of yielding to conviction

The danger of resting in a mere historical faith

LECTURE VIII.

DIVINE AUTHORITY OF CHRISTIANITY.

PROPHECY.-2 PETER i. 16-21.

A review of the whole argument to this point

The argument from prophecy compared with that from

miracles

Definition of prophecy

The extent of scriptural prophecy

Page

The harmony of all its parts in the person and salvation

The practical and important ends which the scheme of

prophecy subserved, and still subserves, in the church 197

The prodigious scheme of prophecy has the impress upon

it of the infinite majesty of God

It should stimulate the humble inquirer.
He should study the sacred volume with holy and in-
creasing diligence

And always with a view to some practical end

LECTURE IX.

DIVINE AUTHORITY.-THE FULFILMENT OF

PROPHECY.-ISAIAH xli. 21-24.

Predictions marking out the Messiah, and fulfilled in our

Lord

Respecting his birth

His life, sufferings, and death

His miracles and doctrine

Part I. THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PROPHECIES RESPECTING

THE MESSIAH, proves a divine prescience

His two-fold character, God and man

The number of the prophets, and the independence of
their predictions

The circumstances connected with the fulfilment, especi-
ally the accumulation of prophetical inspiration
The spiritual offices predicted of Messiah, which our
Lord fulfilled, and is now fulfilling in the church
The humble acknowledgment of faith in the Messiah

The contrast afforded by the unbelief of the Jews

The duty of seeking after the spiritual blessings which

Messiah bestows

Part II. THE FULFILMENT

OF PROPHECY, IN EVENTS

WHICH RELATE ΤΟ THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN

CHURCH, CONFIRMS THE PRECEDING EVIDENCE