With hearty good-will and real pleasure, and yet not without feelings of sadness, I revisit the scenes of one of the most delightful periods of my life. It was here that I received my first lessons in science from venerated instructors, most of whom have gone to other fields; some of them-alas, how soon and suddenly !--to "That undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns." I came here a babe in Christ. The first five years of my new and better life were spent within these classic walls. Sacred hours, and sacred spots, and Christian friends, and youthful associates, are fondly remembered still. I would thank God that, through my brief life, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places: but I have seen few better days than I have seen amid these scenes and friends of my youth. Amongst these especially dear were those with whom, when as yet there was here no Ambassador of God, no Sanctuary, no Bible Society, no Sabbath-school,-I might almost say, no Sabbath,-in our lonely dormitory I often met, and spake, and prayed for better days to our beloved Alma Mater. The days came sooner than we had believed. God was with us. The little seed germinated and grew and watered and fostered by his care, it became a tree with goodly branches and some precious fruit. I rejoice that it still lives and flourishes; and count it one of the most delightful privileges of my life, to return in my maturer, though scarcely realized manhood, and endeavor to contribute something towards helping this tree to strike deeper its roots, to spread wider its branches, and to bear more abundant and yet more precious fruit. I am called to maintain before you the authority of the Sacred Canon and the integrity of the Sacred Text, as part of a Course of Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity. The sub ject is both copious and difficult, and might well have demanded me to enter immediately on its discussion. But I could not deny myself, and you, I trust, will excuse these brief introductory reminiscences. I proceed now to the duty assigned me. I propose, then, so to present the history and authority of the Sacred Scriptures, and the history, preservation, and integrity of the text, as to show them to be the Word of God, and Christianity to be divine. In order to make the argument as short, and yet as comprehensive and conclusive as possible, I shall endeavor to maintain a series of propositions, which involve all that is essential to a just view of the subject. I. My first proposition is, that the Books of the New Testament are genuine: that is, they were written, as they profess to have been written, by the Apostles and attendants on the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity at our day is a great fact, wide-spread over the world. We trace it back through every generation to the days of Augustus Cæsar, and find its origin in a crucified Jew. Tacitus and Suetonius, both reliable historians who flourished in little more than fifty years after the time, give unequivocal testimony on the subject. The former tells us, in his Annals,* that "Christus, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator, Pontius Pilate: that he originated a religiont in Judea, which, though checked for a while, broke out again and spread through Judea, and soon extended to Rome: that his followers from him were called Christians, and were very numerous at Rome in the reign of Nero (some thirty years after his death): that here they were exceedingly hated as criminal, and yet were subjected by the emperor, in order to avert from himself the infamy of having commanded the city to be set on fire, and to gratify his own wanton cruelty rather than to promote the public welfare, to such grievous and numerous sufferings as to excite the commiseration of the people." The latter, in his life of Nero,‡ says, that "the Christians were punished,-a sort of men of a new and magical (or pernicious!) superstition." Upon the testimony of Tacitus, the infidel Gibbon remarks: "The most skeptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated pas Tacit. Annal. xv. 44. § Maleficæ. + Superstitio. sage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions the punishment which Nero inflicted on the Christians, 'a sect of men who had embraced a new and criminal superstition.' The latter may be proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts; by the inimitable character of the style of Tacitus; by his reputation, which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud; and by the purport of his narration, which accused the first Christians. of the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that they possessed any miraculous or even magical powers above the rest of mankind." Pliny, the younger, who lived about the same time, while Governor of Pontus and Bithynia (A.D. 107), wrote a letter to Trajan, the emperor, requesting advice as to the proper manner of proceeding against the Christians. From this letter we learn, that "they were now (some seventy years after Christ) very numerous in those regions, embracing every age and rank and sex, and pervading, not only the cities, but the lesser towns and the open country also: that they were brought before the civil tribunals, and tried for no crime but their Christianity, and punished for their obstinacy if they refused to abjure it: that it appeared from these investigations, that they were wont to meet together on a stated day, and sing among themselves a hymn to Christ as God, and to eat a meal in common, but without any disorder; and to bind themselves by a solemn oath (sacramento), not to commit wickedness, but to abstain from theft, and robbery, and adultery, and falsehood, and unfaithfulness; while they steadfastly refused to invoke the gods, and to make supplication before the emperor's image: and that by their influence the temples had become almost forsaken, the sacred solemnities intermitted, and victims went begging for purchasers :"—all which, you cannot but observe, while, like the other passages, it proves the remarkable spread of Christianity and the cruel persecutions of the early Christians, throws not a little light on the atrocious crimes of which Gibbon speaks as charged by Tacitus upon them, and on the pernicious character which Suetonius ascribes to the new superstition. Now it is every way probable that one who had successfully founded such a society, would, either by his own hands or the hands of his more intimate and chosen disciples, give out his doctrines and precepts in writing. It is every way probable that Plin. Ep. b. x. ep. 97. such writings would be highly valued by all his followers: and that as the sect multiplied and spread, copies of these writings would also be multiplied and spread; and that they would be carefully preserved, and constantly appealed to, as the standard of opinion and practice acknowledged by all of the new persua sion. Our New Testament Canon contains no book that professes to have been written by Christ. It consists, as you know, of five Historical Books, twenty-one Epistolary, and one Prophetical. Of the Historical Books, four, called Gospels, are ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and contain brief histories of the birth, doctrines, works, death, and resurrection of Christ; and the fifth, called the Acts, and also ascribed to Luke, contains an account of Christ's ascension to heaven, of the early propagation of his principles, and organization of his church by his disciples amongst both Jews and Gentiles, and of the miraculous conversion and call, and subsequent labors of Paul till his imprisonment at Rome. Of the Epistles, fourteen are ascribed to Paul; and the remaining seven, called Catholic, are ascribed one to James, two to Peter, three to John, and one to Jude. These were all written on different occasions, to different churches and individuals, and contain further developments of the doctrines and precepts which Christ would have to govern his Church. The only Prophetical Book, the Revelation, is ascribed to John, the author of the Gospel and the three Epistles. Of these authors, all were Apostles of Christ, duly commissioned to go forth and teach, and do mighty works in his name, excepting two, Mark and Luke. These, according to the books themselves, and all ancient tradition, were attendants on the Apostles,-or, as the Fathers called them, apostolical men, who wrote with the knowl edge and approbation of the Apostles. While, then, none of the books profess to have been written by Christ, all of them are handed down to us as from the Apostles and apostolical men. From what I have already said, it must be admitted that there is no presumption against their genuineness; but the presumption is decidedly in their favor. It is obvious, from the very inspection of the books, that they were written at different times and places, to different churches and individuals, on various doctrinal and practical subjects, just as circumstances called for them. At first, therefore, of course, they were separate, and scattered over different countries, in the possession of the dif |