SECT. II. The Harmony and Connection, subsisting between all the - SECT. III. The Preservation of the Scriptures is a Proof of their Truth - 405 II. Beneficial Effects of Christianity upon Society in general - - 406-409 V. Historical Facts further attesting the Benefits conferred by the Gospel upon the VI. Effects produced by Christianity in private Life, compared with those produced The Advantages possessed by the Christian Religion over all other Religions, a demonstrative Evidence of its Divine Origin and Peculiar Advantages of Christianity over all other Religions, in VIII. Its Tendency to eradicate all evil Passions from the Heart IX. Its Contrariety to the Covetousness and Ambition of Mankind Inability to answer all Objections, no just Cause for rejecting the Scriptures. Unbelievers in Divine Revelation more credulous - 438-445 CHAP. VI. Recapitulation of the Evidences for the Truth and Divine Authority of the Scriptures. -Moral Qualifications for Reasons why the Apocryphal Books were rejected from the Canon of Scripture:- I. THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS POSSESS NO INTERNAL AUTHORITY TO PROCURE THEIR ADMISSION INTO THE SACRED CANON. 1. Not one of them is extant in pure ancient Biblical Hebrew 2. They were all written subsequently to the cessation of the Prophetic Spirit 470 3. Not one of the Writers or Authors of them, in direct terms, advances any claim 4. The Apocryphal Books contain many Things which are either fabulous or con- tradictory to the Canonical Scriptures in Facts, Doctrines, and Moral Practice, [ii.] Statements which are contradictory to the History related in the Canonical Books, and to other statements contained in the Apocryphal Books 471, 472 [v.] Passages in the Apocryphal Books which are so inconsistent with the relations of all other profane Historians, that they cannot be admitted without much greater Evidence than belongs to these Books II. THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS POSSESS NO EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TO PROCURE THEIR 1. They were never received into the Sacred Canon by the ancient Jewish Church; and therefore they were not sanctioned either by Jesus or by his divinely 2. No Jewish Writers, subsequent to the time of Jesus Christ, have cited the Apo- cryphal Books as forming part of their Canon of Scripture. On the contrary, 3. The Apocryphal Books were not admitted into the Canon of the divinely inspired Scriptures in any Catalogue of the Sacred Books recognised by any Council of the ancient Christian Church, nor in any Catalogues published by the Fathers or Ecclesiastical Writers of the first four Centuries 4. Testimonies of the principal later Divines of the Eastern or Greek Church, and of the Latin or Western Church, from the fifth to the fifteenth Century, that the Apocryphal Books form no part of the Canon of divinely inspired 5. Confessions of learned Romanists in the sixteenth Century, who lived before, during, and after the so-called Council of Trent, that the Apocryphal Books are no part of the Canon of the divinely inspired Scriptures 6. The Apocryphal Books are rejected by the Oriental or Greek Church from the SECT. II. On the Writings usually called the Apocryphal Books of the IV. These Apocryphal Books are so far from affecting the Credibility of the genuine Books of the New Testament, that the latter are confirmed by them No. IV. On the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles 538-541 No. V.- Examination of the Difficulties attendant on the Propagation CHAP. I. The principal Prophecies relative to the Messiah, with their Accomplishment, in the very Words of the New Testament 549 SECT. I. Prophecies relative to the Advent, Person, Sufferings, Resurrec- CHAP. II. The principal Predictions by Jesus Christ, relative to his Sufferings, Death, Resurrection, the Spread of the Gospel, and the SECT. I. Predictions (for the Confirmation of his Disciples' Faith) that they would find Things according to his Word SECT. II. — Predictions of Jesus Christ, relative to his Sufferings, Death, DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. I. Map of the Peninsula of Sinai, with part of Egypt, illustrating the Journeyings of the Israelites from Egypt to the Land of Canaan, to face Vol. II. page 587. II. Map of Canaan as divided among the Twelve Tribes, illustrating the period from Joshua to the accession of David, to face the title-page of Vol. III. III. Map of Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ, illustrating the Gospels, to face Vol. III. page 14. IV. Map, illustrating the travels of St. Paul, to face Vol. IV. page 481. The following FAC-SIMILES and VIGNETTES are inserted in the different Volumes. 1. A Coin, representing the Temple of the Ephesian Diana, &c., elucidating Acts xix. 35. inserted in Vol. I. page 196. 2. A Coin, struck by order of Titus to commemorate the Destruction of Jerusalem, inserted in Vol. I. page 198. inserted in Vol. III. page 19. of Esdraelon, inserted in Vol. III. page 33. inserted in Vol. III. page 261. 5. Plan of the Temple at Jerusalem, 6. Vignette, representing the Golden Candlestick used in the second Temple, from the Triumphal Arch of Titus at Rome, inserted in Vol. III. page 266. 7. Vignette, representing the Table of Shew Bread, from the Triumphal Arch of Titus, inserted in Vol. III. page 267. 8. Vignette, representing the form of an ancient British Writing Tablet on Wood, inserted in Vol. III. page 508. 9. Vignette, representing the Grotto at Nazareth, which is said to have been the House of Joseph and Mary, 10. Fac-simile of the Codex Alexandrinus, 11. Fac-simile of the Codex Vaticanus, 12. Fac-simile of the Codex Beza, inserted in Vol. III. page 608. inserted in Vol. IV. page 157. inserted in Vol. IV. page 164. inserted in Vol. IV. page 175. 13. Fac-simile of the Codex Cottonianus of the four Gospels, inserted in Vol. IV. page 177. 14. Fac-simile of the Codex Rescriptus of Saint Matthew's Gospel, INTRODUCTION TO ERSITY OF MICH THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. ON THE GENUINENESS, AUTHENTICITY, INSPIRATION, ETC. OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. CHAPTER I. ON THE POSSIBILITY, PROBABILITY, AND NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION. THAT there now is, and that for more than three thousand years there has been, in the world, a separate people called the JEWS, who are distinguished by peculiar customs, and profess a peculiar religion: - Further, that there now is, and that for more than eighteen centuries there has existed, in the world, a religion called the CHRISTIAN; and that its professors, as well as the Jews, appeal to certain books, by them accounted sacred, as the basis on which their religion is founded: These are FACTS which no one can controvert. I. The volume, to which Jews and Christians thus respectively appeal, is termed the BIBLE, that is, THE BOOK, by way of eminence. It comprises a great number of different narratives and compositions, written by several persons, at distant periods, in different languages, and on various subjects. Yet all of these, collectively, claim to be a DIVINE REVELATION, that is, a discovery afforded by God to man of Himself or of His will, over and above what He has made known by the light of nature, or the power of human reason. - The objects of our knowledge are of three kinds: Thus, some things are discernible by the light of nature, without revelation: of this kind is the knowledge of God from the creation of the world, "for his invisible things, even his eternal power and godhead, since the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." Other things are of pure and simple revelation, which cannot be known by the light of nature: such is the doctrine of the salvation of the world by Jesus Christ. Others, again, are discoverable by the light of nature, but imperfectly, and therefore stand in need of a revelation to give them further proof and evidence: |