"Scripture was rightly translated," by the means just mentioned. And Justin Martyr says expressly that it contained the prophetic writings, and indeed quotes the prophets including Moses from it, because he "that says very translation was then in the hands of "almost every Jew all the world over." (c) Here, then, is strong evidence of the correctness of the original Greek translation. And the general correspondence of the Hebrew Bibles now in existence, and of the Septuagint copies in Greek, is a proof that both have been handed down to us without material variation, and that either is therefore, in the main, genuine and authentic. Thus, then, we establish the existence of the Prophetical books of the Old Testament (nearly as we now have them) at least 287 years before the Christian æra; and we may farther remark, that most of them are referred to and quoted, often with high distinction, by Christ and his Apostles, in the several passages mentioned below. (d) I shall only add, that

(c) Euseb. Præp. Evan. 1. 1. Just. Mart. Apol. ii. sect. 38. See also Origen's quotation from the Septuagint version of Isaiah, in the following Letter on Prophecy, and Gregorie on the LXX Interpreters. (d) Isaiah, in Matt. iv. 14. viii. 17. xii. 17. xiii. 14. Mark, vii. 6. Luke, iii. 4. iv. 7. John, xii. 39, 41. Acts, viii. 28. xxviii. 25. Rom. ix. 27. x. 16, 20, &c. Jeremiah, Matt. ii. 17, 18. xvi. 14. Ezekiel, compare Rev. xix. 17—21. xx. 8, 9. with Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. 1-20. Daniel, Ezek. xiv. 14. xxviii. 3. Matt. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14. Hosea, Matt. ii. 15. ix. 13. xii. 7. Rom. ix. 25, 26. Joel, Acts, ii. 16. Rom. x. 13. Amos, Acts, vii. 42, 43. xv. 15, 17. Jonah, Matt. xii. 39, 41. xiv. 4. Luke, xi. 29, 30. Micah, Matt. ii. 5, 6. John, vii. 42. Habakkuk, Acts, xiii. 41. Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 2. Heb. x. 37, 38. Haggai, Heb. ii. 26. Zechariah, Matt. xxi. 4, 5. xxvi. 31. Mark, xiv. 27. John, xii. 15. xix. 37. Rev. i. 7. Malachi, Matt. xi. 10. xvii. 10-12. Mark, i. 2. ix. 12. Luke, i. 16, 17. vii. 27. xvi. 26. Rom. ix. 13.

our Saviour's emphatic language, "All things MUST "be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, "and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning "me," (e) is a remarkable attestation in favour of the truth, in the fullest sense, of all the books of the Old Testament, since he here adopts the threefold distribution under which the Jews comprehended every portion of their Sacred Volume.

That this latter testimony, however, may bear upon our inquiry with all the weight to which it is entitled, it is now requisite that we investigate the genuineness and authenticity of the New Testament. And here, in addition to the general arguments advanced in the beginning of this letter, I shall adduce a few particular evidences. Now, first, it is indisputable, that the primitive publishers of Christianity wrote books containing an account of the life and doctrine of their master, several of which bore the names of the various books which now constitute the New Testament; and, farther, passages cited from those books by very early writers, are found in the copies now existing of the

(e) Luke xxiv. 14.-In favour of the genuineness of our present text of the prophecies, the following very just observation deserves attention. "It may be inferred from the admission of Celsus, that the prophecies 66 were found in the Jewish Scriptures in his time; and since then no "alteration has been made in them by the Jews. But if so, this is the strongest presumption that the Jews had never altered them before. "For, if, when by the fulfilment of the prophecies in the person of Christ, "they were most tempted to erase predictions, so hostile to their own "creed, they made no change, much less would they do it when the "temptation was diminished." See Mr. F. Cunningham's Hulsean Prize Essay on the books of Origen against Celsus. The same inference is deducible from Justin Martyr's controversy with Trypho the Jew.

respective books. Secondly, the early Christians had as good opportunities of satisfying themselves as to the genuineness of these books, as other ancients had with regard to the genuineness of books on other subjects which they received: and since the new religion required considerable renunciations, and exposed its professors to heavy persecutions, it is unreasonable to suppose they would adopt it without a due examination. Thirdly, there were many books issued under the names of the Apostles, which were, notwithstanding, rejected by the primitive Christians; which proves that they were not very open to deception. Fourthly, we do not find that either the Jews or the Heathens, with whom the early Christian apologists were engaged, ever called in question the genuineness of the records to which their attention was called. Fifthly, the books of the New Testament were, in very early times, collected into a distinct volume. Thus, EUSEBIUS says that Quadratus and others, the immediate successors of the apostles, carried the Gospels with them in their travels. MELITO speaks of the Old Testament, as in contradiction to the collection called the New Testament. TERTULLIAN divides the Christian Scriptures into the Gospels and Apostles, and calls the whole volume the New Testament. (f)

But, farther, the principal books of the New Testament are quoted, or alluded to, by a series of Christian writers, in regular succession from the apostolic times.

(f) See on this, and connected subjects, Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. 23. lib. iii. cap. 3, 4, 25, 39. lib. v. cap. 8, 24. lib. vi. cap. 21, 23. lib. vii. cap. 25, &c.

IGNATIUS, for example, became bishop of Antioch 37 years after Christ's ascension. In his most interesting Epistles are undoubted allusions to the Gospels of Matthew and John, though they are not marked as quotations.

POLYCARP, who had been taught by the Apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, has nearly forty allusions to the New Testament in one short epistle, several of them quoted, without hesitation, as the words of Christ. He obviously quotes from Matthew, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2d Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1st and 2d Thessalonians, 1st and 2d Timothy, 1st Peter, and 1st John.

JUSTIN MARTYR, who died at latest about the year 163, has several distinct and copious extracts from the Gospels and the Acts: and by his calling Jesus Christ the Son of God and "Apostle," which is no where done in Scripture but in Hebrews iii. 1, it would seem that he was acquainted with that Epistle. In all his works there are but two instances in which he refers to any thing, as said or done by Christ, which is not related in the Gospels now extant. All his references suppose the books notorious, and that there were no other accounts of Christ received and credited. He also says expressly, that the "Memoirs of the Apostles (which elsewhere he calls the Gospels) are read in 66 public worship."

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HEGESIPPUS, a converted Jew, who flourished 30 years after Justin, says, that in his journey from Palestine to Rome," in every city the same doctrine was

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taught, which the law, and the prophets, and the "LORD teacheth."

POTHINUS, bishop of Lyons about 170, then 90 years old, sent an epistle to Asia containing an account of the sufferings of that Church. In this epistle he makes exact references to the Gospels of Luke and John, and to the Acts of the Apostles.

IRENEUS, successor to Pothinus, and who asserts that "he had seen Polycarp," gives positive testimony to most of the books of the New Testament. He does not, however, quote Jude: but from the book of Revelation he makes frequent and large quotations. He asserts, that the story which the Gospels exhibit is that which the Apostles told, and that the Gospels were written," as the foundation and pillar of our 'faith." He then describes the authors, traces the origin, and defends the genuineness of their histories. He affirms also, that in his time there were four, and only four Gospels, which by his references appear to be those we now have. (g)

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(g) Words can scarcely be framed to declare more clearly the authenticity of the four Gospels, than the following from the Third Book of Irenæus, against Heresies :-" We have not received," says this Father, "the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any other than those by "whom the Gospel has been brought to us; which Gospel they first "preached, and afterwards by the will of God committed to writing, "that it might be for time to come the foundation and pillar of our faith. "For after our Lord rose from the dead, and they (the Apostles) were "endued from above with the power of the Holy Ghost coming down 66 upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all things. They "then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the bless"ing of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one alike, the "Gospel of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, wrote a Gospel in "their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel