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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
Haviflg displayed the evidence on which we cofrie to the conclusion that the works of ancient times car * be satisfactoffly traced and proved to belong to the &ras i ® which they purport to belong , the author proceeds to inquire , ( as to such of these works as are professedly historical , ) on what grounds , and with what limitations , such works deserve confidence as narratives of
facts ; an inquiry Which he follows under several appropriate heads , pointing out very judiciously how strongly the very imperfections and inaccuracies of an author sometimes establish his general fidelity . He next details the confirmations which the evidence of ancient historians derives from independent and external sources * 1 st , from evidence derived from the general literature of the nations of antiquity , referring incidentally to the sam& persons and things , and furnishing coincidences which often
demonstrate more forcibly than the most direct testimony ; 2 d , the corroborative evidence deduced from chronological inscriptions and calculations ; 3 d , the geographical evidence deduced from references to durable inequalities or diversities of the earth ' s surface , the permanency of names of places , &c . ; 4 th , a similar confirmation drawn from a comparison of the descriptions of physical peculiarities , manners and usages , with facts now in existence ; 5 th , from the existing remains of ancient art ; of buildings , sculptures , gems , inscriptions , coins , paintings , Mosaics , vases , implements , and
arms . The next chapter is devoted to elucidating certain general principles applicable to all questions of genuineness and authenticity , under the following general heads or propositions : 1 st , That facts remote from our personal observation may be as certainly proved by evidence that is fallible in its kind as by that which is not open to the possibility of error ; 2 d , That facts
remote from our personal knowledge , are not necessarily more or less certain in proportion to the length of time that has elapsed since they took place ; 3 d , That the validity of evidence in proof of remote facts is not affected , either for the better or the worse , by the weight of the consequences that may happen to depend upon them- —a proposition which we are inclined to think Mr . Taylor has put rather too broadly , and without certain
allowances with which , as a general canon of the credibility of evidence , it must be qualified ; 4 th , That a calculation of actual instances , taken almost from any class Qf facts , will prove that seemingly good evidence is incomparably more often true than false ; 5 th , That the strength of evidence is not proportioned to its simplicity or perspicuity , or to the ease with which it may be apprehended b y all persons . TW next and most important head of our author ' s argument is a comparison of the relative strength of the evidence which Supports ' the genuineness
atid' authenticity of the Hol y Scriptures , and that of dtfher Ancient writings , which he pursues under thfc feHowm ^ leading : pa rticulars :- ^ The number of Mafiuttcripte which passed down thrbugh the middle ages ; the antiquity of stime existing Manuscripts ; the extent of surface Over which copies were diffused at an early date ; the importance attached to the books by their posse ^ ftdrs ; the resfteet paid to them by copyists of later ages ; the wide sepatfatiort oi * t&e open hostility of those by Whom tihese books wereptfeserved ;
the visible effects of th ^ sfe books from age to age ; tihe immense body of tefeiv etices ^ and quotations *; tfhe equally important corroborative testimony of earl y versions ; flie vernacular extinction of thci language ' s or idioms iri which fch « te bt ) Gfe » Wfcrte written ; the means of comparison witlv sburfeus Works , WWith \ wbr ] & intended to shtofc the reputation Acqiiii ^ d % outers ¦; ' ¦ attd the strength of the inference from the genuineness 1 W& £ ci ^ Wlky dl the * books .
Untitled Article
522 ftein&w ^ Tap for m the Transmmi&n of Ancient Books .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1827, page 522, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1798/page/50/
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