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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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to ^ M ^ 4 ; b ^ a ^ e ? % t sifence j ^ y p& eagily ^ xi $ spn& < I : f A * ^ i * 4 ?^ ° f mailing tJagm , say , more than ^ he , dr cuifistances , under w ^ h they , > yrote , could allow them to . ^ Pp . 1 # > 13 .
sayv ^ p ; Mar ^ , % , gfr | gg ^ he . just explanation ch ; the insufficiency of , the A postpiic lE ^ aiheirs , fts mtriesses , Jo t&e authenticity of itW Christian Scripr tures , adds , — ' * there is another reason for ribt % egiitiiinjg ^ th their Works ,
which : is ' th * 'HWs tfogett ; th&n the preceding ! "VPHeii we appeal to one sfet of wn % in& , \ f $ t the purpose ' of esta r blishing /^ ie authenticity of , another , we should tajce ' especiajl care that the writings to which we make our first appeal , should ; themselves be free from all suspicion . But the writings ascribed to the Apostolic Fathers , and espe *
cially the Epistles which bear the name of Ignatius , have descended to us in a very questionable shape . And , though we should probably j £ O too far , if we asserted ,, as some critics have done , that they aje Entirely spurious , this at least is certain , that if they came
originally from the hands of those fathers , their writings have been so interpolated with passages , which from the nature of the subjects could riot liave existed in the first century , as to cast a shade over that which may probably be
genuine . —rNothing has so contributed to impair the proof , that the New Testament is authentic , as the importance which has been falsely attached to the works of the Apostolic Fathers /' For t | | | | e reasons the learned Prelate proposes to invert the order which has been liitherto observed in
conducting the proof of authenticity . He proposes to begin with the fathers of the fourth century , and to ascend , through the third and the second , to the first century . —Such is the kind of prpof , which he proceeds , in his following ( the twenty-fourth ) lecture , to offer ,
as the external evidence for the Christian Scriptures . , < ; Qf thjjj , inverajpn of the u $ i * al arraugemsntwe gippdy approve , so far » s it regajrdd the particular class of heaters &nd readers for whom Bishop Ma $ * h ? 8 Lectures are intended .
Lardnefs method is different , because A * wrote with , % * . design of enabling ^ persons of ordinary capad ^ ies , wbp luive not i Mb i opportunity of reading ancient wthc ^ p , to judge for them-
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^ lyjear . c onqemwg , jke OT tj ^ n ^ l evidence qfrfhh ; fertrwlat ^ mctW ; Ne ^ 3 Fp ^ a ^ ment ^ * ; ' , Froi ^ . Jecajai in t ^ Q jtftjfa , ffoj&cii Sisliop . Mar | £ a § cen $ V t&Lm # & 9 MX > ?
Nazianziim , ip j ^ . Oj ^ et Chuyc ^ , and thence &o \ #$ ^ Eirr ^ ebius of C ^ saretv , O ^ rigen ; Tei ^ ulUati ^ Clem ^ it o $ Alexandria , and irenaeiipf Hfere he cpwlu ^ i ^ f ^ tB ^ o ^ i ^ ^ his authorities ifo . ); he ^ it fff ^ f afg ^ $ * $ New T ^ m ^ i ^ ^ . tejjy « ft ^ fift ^ jlectjuif ^ . he givj ^ . ^^ es ^ pf ^^ preceding u ^ qjiiiri ^ s ,... AcjC ^ rdii ^ , ] m obsjurv ^; that , all . tU ^ bqoks which we receive Vat preserit o ^ s the Christian ^ ci rip t ^ res , < f were , ^ received : in ^ . the fourth century , as the \ yorks of the authors to whom they are ascribed /* ' SjtuV ,, greater weight , an 4 correctness
belong , we presume , to the ; well known catalogue of Eusebius of Caesarea , wl ^ ich is limited to " the four Gospels , the Acts of tUe Apostles , thirteen Epistles of St . Paul , ; the first Epistle of St . Peter , and the first Epistlei . of St . John . " f We do not take , on , ourselves
to pronounce that " the doubtful or rejected books" are altogqtlier destitute of authority : we think , however , that the Margaret Professor has unduly magnified the evidence In their behalf , and treated too slightly the reasoning of objectors .
In this part of his undertaking he institutes a very ingenious and satisfactory argument to shew that fC if the historical books of the New Testament were universall y received , they must have been received as authentic in the
very places , where they were composed , and by the persons ^ to wliom they were first delivered , and" that , iix like manner , " whatever apostplie epistles were universally received , they must have been received as authentic by the very persons , or communities , to whom they were immediately '
addressecj . " Their content ? and the date OJT their acknowledged existence , render it impossible that the } ' should have been forgeries . The Pfofessor should have di&tgpdfly - ¦ , - ' _ - - ¦ ¦ ' ¦ iT — * Pref . to The Credibility , & . c . Parlt II .
+ Al * these writing ? Eusebius places among ' « the bo 6 ks whichI vir ^ re ixhfaier sally received > and this i ^ the only part of "his catalogue with which we are at pfesent cortcemcQ * - > ; '
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; ^ * &e \? iew . ^ M < t * xh 8 XJoursejof lectures * Hftirt -V * v 4 f&
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 475, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/31/
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