3. The goodness of God, and its compatibility with 325 328 335 336 340 The truth of the Scriptures is a necessary conse 347 349 1. Immediate creation.-a) Immediate creation out of out of the materials already created, § 31 b) The reality of it-proved from the miracles, § 36 372 c) Necessity of admitting the possibility of the supernatural agency of God in the world, in ref- 3. Divine government in the course of nature-Per- The doctrine of divine Providence affords no jus- 383 389 2. Importance of this doctrine.-Baptism in the name 397 457 II. Divinity of the Holy Spirit, and his personal dif- ference from the Father and the Son, § 45 III. The difference between Father, Son, and Holy BOOK I. OF THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. PART I. OF THE GENUINENESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. §1. Testimony of heathen writers respecting the extension of Christianity and the early existence of the religious writings of the Christians. It is evident from the testimony even of authors who were not Christians, that during the reign of Nero and the period immediately subsequent, the Christians were not only augmenting their numbers in Judea, where Christianity had originated; but were also extending their influence into other countries(1); and used certain sacred writings(2), which were in part peculiar to themselves, and different(3) from the more ancient religious books of the Jews. ILLUSTRATION 1. Evidence of the early existence and multiplication of the Christians. Tacitus,' in his narrative of the extensive conflagration, with which Rome was visited during the reign of Nero, makes use [1 Caius Cornelius Tacitus, the intimate friend of Pliny the younger, was born A. D. 61 or 62. He was appointed to some of the highest offices of honour and confidence under the emperor Vespasian and his successors, of the following language ;-" Nero," in order to avert the suspicion that the city had been set on fire by his private command, "inflicted the most studied tortures upon a class of persons, odious for their vices, and known among the populace by the name of Christians. This name was derived from Christ, who was executed by Pontius Pilate the procurator, during the reign of Tiberius. But this pernicious superstition, which was suppressed at the time, again burst forth and pervaded not only Judea, where the evil had commenced, but also the city itself, the place in which every thing that is shameful concentrates, and every thing atrocious is practised."" The testimony of Suetonius is very brief, and couched in the following words;- "Punishments were inflicted on the and was contemporaneous with some of the apostles. In addition to this testimony, Tacitus, in his account of the incidents of the year of our Lord 57, states, that Pomponia Græcina, a lady of eminent rank, was accused of what he terms a foreign superstition (superstitionis externa), which, as Lipsius (ad locum) observes, was very probably the Christian relig ion. S.] 1 "Quæsitissimis poenis affecit, quos per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat. Auctor nominis ejus Christus, qui Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat. Repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursus erumpebat, non modo per Judæam, originem ejus mali, sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt, celebranturque." Annales, Lib. XV. c. 44. [2 Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, a Roman biographer and historian, flourished in the reigns of Trajan and Adrian. He was most probably born about the beginning of the reign of Vespasian A. D. 70. This writer also states that between the years A. D. 41 and 54, Claudius the emperor, "Judæos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit,” i. e. he banished the Jews from Rome, who were continually making disturbances, Chrestus being their leader,—that is, as Grotius states, on account of the doctrines of Christ. For both Tertullian (Ap. c. 3.) and Lactantius (Div. Inst. L. 4. c. 7.) state that the heathen pronounced the Saviour's name Chrestus; and Dr Lardner (Works vol. 7. p. 266) remarks "it is not impossible that the Jewish enmity against those of their own country or others who had embraced Christianity, might produce some disputes and disturbances which came to the emperor's ear." Yet it must be confessed that Orosius, of the fifth century, was in doubt as to the meaning of this passage. S.] Christians, a race of men addicted to a new and mischievous (magical) superstition." 2 And Pliny, in his well known epistle, makes the following [1 To this version of the word maleficæ, the translator is aware that some objection can be made. Its more commonly received signification is pernicious, mischievous; and thus it has been rendered in the passage before us by the learned and excellent Lutheran divine, Dr Mosheim. According to either version, the passage proves indisputably the fact in support of which it is adduced. The version adopted has however these advantages; it not only proves that Suetonius was acquainted with the new sect called Christians, but it farther evinces the falsity of the insinuation which the unbelieving Gibbon advanced to invalidate the evidences of Christianity, viz. that the great historians of the day have taken no notice of the pretended miracles of the first Christians, &c. For this passage of Suetonius proves that he had heard of those miracles, although having for obvious reasons not examined the evidence of their truth, he ascribed them to a magical superstition. This translation is adopted by Dr Watson, Lardner, and many other men, and in support of his opinion the learned Bishop of Landaff says "The Theodosian Code must be my excuse for dissenting from such respectable authority; in IX Cod. Theod. Tit. XVI. we read; 'Chaldæi, ac Magi, et ceteros quos vulgus maleficos ob facinorum multitudinem appellat-Si quis magus vel magicis contaminibus adsuetus qui maleficus vulgi consuetudine nuncupatur.' Nor ought any friend of Christianity to be astonished or alarmed at Suetonius' applying the word magical to the Christian religion; for the miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles, principally consisted in alleviating the distresses, by curing the obstinate diseases, of human kind; and the proper meaning of magic as understood by the ancients is a higher and more holy branch of the art of healing.” Dr Flatt also in his Annotationes ad Philosophiam Kantii &c. says, that this testimony of Suetonius undoubtedly does authorize the inference, that the miracles of Jesus and his apostles must have been historically true. S.] 2" Afflicti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novæ ac maleficæ." Nero, c. 16. [3 Caius Plinius Cæcilius Secundus was born A. D. 61 or 62. He enjoyed the particular friendship of Trajan, who made him consul. His celebrated letter, from which the extract in the text is taken, was written A. D. 107. It is the testimony of one of the most enlightened men of that age, which establishes the important facts, that the ground of the persecution against the Christians in Pontus and Bithynia was, that they drew men away from the worship of their deities; that in less than seventy years after the disciples first preached Jesus to the gentiles, Christians abounded in Pontus and Bithynia to such a degree, that the heathen temples were visibly neglected, and their remaining friends began to fear "whereunto this thing would grow;" that they were generally remarkably constant in their profession; and many other facts of the deepest interest to the Christian heart. S.] |