SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE IV.

JOHN, CHAP. XV.-VERSE 26.

BEFORE the descent of the Holy Ghost, we find the apostles ignorant of the nature of the Christian redemption: this shown. Difference of their sentiments after that descent described. They were then instructed immediately from heaven; and this instruction they committed to writing for the benefit of Christians in all ages. This is to be understood of the expression, that the holy Scriptures are of divine authority, or given by inspiration of God. There appears to be no intelligible distinction between original revelation and inspiration: this point enlarged on, previously to the production of the principal evidences of Christianity, intended to be brought forward. Fresent object, to prove that the books of the New Testament are genuine works of inspired writers.

First observation, that these books have not been forged, in modern times, but have been known and received among Christians for many ages. We have editions of them from the very birth of the art of printing; but many manuscripts much older. All these agree so completely in the text, that not a feature of Christianity is altered by their variations. Agreement also of ancient versions dilated on. Comments by the Latin and Greek fathers. By these we are carried back to the fourth century, and even then these were considered as old books; and when we refer, still farther, to the earlier Christian writers, we find innumerable references to them, &c. Stability of this foundation of Christianity, even if we were ignorant of the particular writers to whom each book belongs.

But there is no such defect in our evidence: this shown.

The undisturbed possession of their title through so many ages first commented on. Those, who were most able and most interested to examine this title, did not call it in question. Concessions of enemies, such as Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, and Julian, considered.

Direct testimony of friends dilated on that of Clemens Romanus, of Ignatius, of Polycarp. Excellency of their evidence.

As Christianity spread itself, the books written by its professors increased; all of which bear testimony to the genuineness and authority of the Scriptures, till we come to the times of general councils. The testimony of Justin Martyr, and of Irenæus, particularly considered. Concluding and recapitulatory remarks.

DISCOURSE IV.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

[Preached on Whitsunday.]

JOHN, CHAP. XV.-VERSE 26.

When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

BEFORE the descent of the Holy Ghost, we find the apostles ignorant of the nature of the Christian redemption. Notwithstanding the lowly appearance of our Saviour, his quiet and unaspiring temper and demeanor, they could not depart from their original Jewish prejudices, but expected a temporal deliverance: Lord, when wilt thou restore the kingdom to Israel?' 6 Lord, grant that my two sons may sit, one on thy right-hand, the other on thy left, in thy kingdom.' Such, during the life of Jesus, were the expectations of his disciples; and when his death had blasted their ambitious hopes, they seemed to despond, and almost to doubt whether God had not forsaken them. But soon after their false notions were corrected, their fears dissipated, their views were enlarged from the single people of the Jews to all the nations on earth, and raised also from earth to heaven. Thus the promise of our Saviour expressed in my text was fulfilled : The Spirit, whom he sent from the Father, testified of him;' not only by enabling his disciples, a company of unlettered fishermen, to speak, without practice or study, to the Parthian and the Libyan, the Arabian and the Roman, nations the most distant in their situa

tion, the most dissonant in their languages; but also by bearing witness even to the witnesses themselves, by opening gradually to their minds the whole economy of the Christian dispensation. Of this they had learned but little from the mouth of their Master: the hour was not yet come for their full instruction; they were to receive it immediately from heaven; and, having received, they committed it to writing, for the benefit of Christians in all ages: and this, I conceive, is what we are to understand, when it is said, that the holy Scriptures are of divine authority, or were given by the inspiration of God. He, who acquires knowlege, not by the use of any natural faculty, neither by immediate perception, nor by reasoning, nor by instruction, but in some inexplicable, miraculous manner, is inspired. He, who sets down in writing the knowlege so obtained, composes an inspired work. There appears to be no intelligible distinction between original revelation and inspiration: and yet men seem to have entertained an obscure notion of something more; otherwise they could not have been perplexed with so many difficulties concerning the accuracy and perfection of the Scriptures. They contain some few passages, which appear to have no relation to religion, and many facts, which the writers certainly knew in the ordinary way. Nor does there seem any reason to expect marks of the interposition of heaven in such matters. The great truths impressed on their minds neither obliterated their former knowlege, nor made it perfect. When they speak, for instance, of a Roman custom, or a Jewish tradition, we are not to imagine that these things were revealed from above, nor to require greater accuracy in their accounts of them, than in other writers, who treat of the affairs of their own age and their own country. When they relate the wonderful events which they had seen and heard, it will be no objection to their credit as human witnesses, that we find in their several histories of the same fact, such a variety of circumstances or of method, as always occurs in other the most exact narrations. Difficulties of this kind could never have arisen, or must have been easily removed, had either the impugners or defenders of the sacred writings

See the same subject farther pursued in Discourse XV.

formed precise ideas of the nature of inspiration, and attended to its use. This was not to teach men history or philosophy, not to instruct them in the arts of composition, or the ornaments of human learning; but to make them understand and believe the religion of Jesus.

Intending to lay before you, as occasion shall serve, the principal evidences of Christianity, I judged it not improper (and the present solemnity suggested it) to inquire what we are to understand by inspiration, before we attempt to prove that the books of the New Testament are the genuine works of inspired writers.

To this proof we will now proceed and begin with such parts of it as are the least disputable.

First, then, we may observe, that the books of the New Testament have not been forged in modern times,* but have been known and received among Christians for many ages. We have not only editions of them from the very birth of the art of printing, but many manuscripts much older. Some of them, as is probable, have been preserved more than one thousand years; and all these, though from every part of the Christian world, agree so nearly in representing the same text, that, by the various readings collected from them, not a feature of Christianity can be disguised. The very worst manuscript extant, as an able critic assures us, would not pervert one article of faith, or destroy one moral precept. Besides these copies in the original language, we have also many ancient versions; some of them in languages which are not now, and for several centuries have not been, spoken in any corner of the globe: and their agreement with each other, and with the present text, is a full proof, that the Scriptures, we now read, are the same which were received by the Christian church in the several ages when these versions were made. We may next examine the comments which have descended to us from the Latin and Greek Fathers on most of the books, and their frequent citations of them all; and these will carry us up to the fourth century, and satisfy us, that no great alterations have happened since that period.

* See Chapman's Eusebius, p. 332. and the Remarks on Freethinking, p. 76. 2d edit.