the Jews, and the impious Galileans relieve not only their own people, but ours also, that our poor should be neglected by us, and be left helpless and destitute." He also, in an oration, accused the impious Galileans of providing for the poor, whom their own priests had neglected, a species of humanity to which they were addicted; thereby recommending the worst of things, by an exhibition of their liberality. "For beginning with their love feasts and the ministry of tables, as they call it, (for not only the, name, but the thing also is common among them) they have drawn away the faithful to impiety." He also wrote a satire on the people of Antioch, in which he states that the noble, the wealthy, and the poor-the most, if not the whole of the city, were offended at him, because they loved impiety. For so impious were they, that when he went on a solemn day, to pay his homage in the temple of Apollo, there were none present to do honor to the god, nor did the great city provide any beasts for the sacrifice; but neglecting their duty to the gods, they maintained the poor with their goods, and thus brought their impiety into esteem."

The last quotation we will give from Julian contains an important but strange concession, considering the source from whence it emanated: "After all," says he, "these (Galileans) have in some degree a proper sense of religion, for they worship no abject and vulgar deity, but that God who is truly all powerful and all good, by whose direction the sensible world is conducted; the same, I am persuaded, that we also worship, under different names. They therefore seem to me to act very consistently, as they are not transgressors of the laws, but only err in paying their worship to this one God, in neglect of all the rest, and in thinking that we only, whom they style the Gentiles, are precluded from his influence."

The quotations which have been given from the writings of the emperor Julian, and for which we are chiefly indebted to the laborious Lardner, clearly show, that however humble the reasoning of the imperial apostate, yet he has in spite of himself, given a noble testimony to the antiquity and genuineness of the New Testament Scriptures; and by a few sentences, the design of which was to show that there is nothing divine in the Christian religion, he has done more than could be accomplished by much research into the writings of the fathers, explicitly and directly to establish the origin of Christianity. Infidels have appropriated the arguments of this man, and it is but reasonable that Christians should avail themselves of the facts. And by this virulent enemy of our faith, and to the discomfiture of the modern Infidel, we are assured, that Jesus Christ was born at the

time of the taxing, or, as properly rendered by Julian, enrolling in the time of Cyrenius, in the reign of Augustus; that this doctrine was promulgated by himself and his apostles, in the reigns of Tiberius Ceasar and Claudius, the latter of whom died about twenty years after the death of Christ.

He also informs us that within that period, not only some maid servants, and slaves, and some men and women, but Cornelius and Sergius, men of eminence, were converted from among the Gentiles. In two lines he has told us, that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were all writers of the New Testament Scriptures; that John wrote his gospel after the others, and after the death of Peter and Paul, (or according to the date generally assigned by Christians, viz. about A. D. 68.) He also informs us, that previous to that time, a great multitude of men in the cities of Greece and Italy had embraced Christianity. He further informs us, that Jesus had healed the lame, and the blind, and had cast out devils, and rebuked the wind, and walked on the sea; and although he did not seem to view these as mighty works, yet he shows that they who disparaged them could not deny them, and that for them, Jesus had been celebrated down to his own time.

Thus, the most illustrious enemies of Christianity of ancient times, silence the suspicion of our anonymous Italian-exhibit in a clear light the folly and falsehood of the manifesto writer, when he says, "It cannot be shown, by any evidence that they (the New Testament Scriptures) were written by the persons whose names they bear." "And because it can be shown by evidence, both external and internal, that they were written by other persons ;" and also when he says, they were not written in the times to which they refer."

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Although it may seem somewhat out of place, we must be permitted here to introduce another witness, also an apostate from the Christian faith, who, although a modern, bears too important a testimony for it to be omitted; and that is the manifesto writer himself, (Mr. Taylor,) who in his Diegesis, a work published sometime after his manifesto appeared, inconsistent as it may seem, says: "There can be no doubt, (whether Christianity be received or rejected,) that Paul was a most distinguished and conspicuous metaphysician, who lived and wrote about the time usually assigned, and that those epistles which go under his name in the New Testament, are in good faith, (and even with less alteration than many other writings of equal antiquity have undergone,) such as he either penned or dictated."*

* Taylor's Diegesis, p. 377.

Thus it appears from the testimony of adversaries of Christianity, that two of Michaelis' marks, that a book is not genuine, are not applicable to the writings of the New Testament, for "no well founded doubts have been raised from" their "first appearance in the world, whether" they "proceeded from the authors to whom" they "are ascribed." And no long series of years "did" elapse after" the death of the "authors" in which the books are unknown;" but they were repeatedly quoted by virulent enemies, who had ample means of deciding upon the question of their genuineness, and whose cause would have been most effectually subserved by the exposure of a forgery.

Another mark of Michaelis that a book is not genuine, is, when the immediate friends of the alleged author, who were best able to decide upon the subject, denied it to be his. This mark is not applicable to the writings of the New Testament; for the immediate friends and disciples of the writers of the New Testament not only acknowledged these writings to be theirs, but quoted extensively from them, regulated their lives according to the precepts contained in them, and many of them submitted to persecution, imprisonment, and death, in attestation of their faith in the divine mission of the writers.

There is now in existence, and before me while I write, a volume entitled, "The Genuine Epistles of the Apostolic Fathers, St. Clement, St. Polycarp, St. Ignatius, St. Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Martydoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp." This book, as its title indicates, purports to contain their genuine writings, and all of them were among the number of the primitive disciples of Jesus Christ. Barnabas is mentioned in the New Testament as the companion of Paul. Clement was the bishop of the congregation in Rome, whom all antiquity agrees to be the person mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Philippians. Hermas, who is mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Romans; Ignatius, who was appointed the bishop of Antioch, thirty-seven years after the death of Christ; and Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who was the friend of the apostle John. All antiquity ascribes these writings to the men whose names they bear, and it is clear from their contents that their authors were pious and good men; and in them some of the writers of the New Testament are mentioned by name, and others in the Scriptures are so expressly alluded to by these fathers, as to prove most clearly that such writings must have existed when they wrote. They were distinguished from the writings of those who lived in the second and third cen

turies by a style of evangelical simplicity, in the spirit of peace, charity, and resignation, worthy of the age in which their authors are represented to have lived; and free from that display of learning which occurs in the writings of those fathers, who followed in the immediately succeeding centuries.

The epistle of Barnabas bears internal evidence that it was written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army, and before the reduction of the remaining cities of Judea, of which Josephus has given an account, after the taking and burning of the temple. Speaking of the temple at Jerusalem, he says, "Through their waging war, it was destroyed by their enemies." He also says, "Consider yet this also; that ye have seen so great signs and prodigies in the people of the Jews, and thus God forsakes them." Therefore, should it even be disputed that Barnabas is the author; the book was evidently written by a zealous Christian, and at the time specified, i. e. when God was forsaking the Jews as a nation. Any one who will attentively read this epistle, will readily perceive that its author must have been on terms of intimacy with Paul; for as Dr. Lardner observes, it has in it "many Pauline phrases." "To give the character of the author," says he, "in one word, he resembles St. Paul, his fellow-laborer, without copying him." No books of the New Testament are expressly named in this epistle; yet it contains expressions which are identically the same that occur in the gospel of Matthew, and to several passages in the other books he evidently alludes. The following table drawn up by Dr. Lardner, must convince every honest enquirer that the New Testament writings were extant when Barnabas wrote; or, at least, that he was conversant with some of the writers of that book.

NEW TESTAMENT. Matt. xvi. 24. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.

Matt. xx. 16. So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Ch. xxii. 14. For many are called, but few are chosen.

Matt. v. 42. Give to him that asketh thee.

Luke vi. 30. Give to every man that asketh thee.

BARNABAS.

Ch. vii. So they, saith he, whọ will see me, and obtain my kingdom, must receive me with many afflictions and sufferings.

Ch. iv. Let us therefore beware, lest it should happen to us, as it is written, There are many called, few chosen.

Ch. xix. Give to every one that asketh thee.

NEW TESTAMENT. Matt. ix. 13. For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Matt. xxii. 43, 44. He saith unto them, how then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. See Psalm cx. 1.

Matt. xxiv. 22. And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Matt. xxv. 5. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6. And at midnight there was a cry made; The bridegroom cometh. 10. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.

Matt. xxvi. 31. For it is written, (see Zech. xiii. 7., ) I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock be scattered abroad.

Acts x. 42. That it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead.

2 Tim. iv. 1. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick. and the dead.

Peter iv. 5. Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.

Rom. ix. 10, 11, 12. And not only this, but when Rebekah had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, (for the children not being yet born-) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

BARNABAS.

Ch. v. That he might show that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Ch. xii. But because they would say, that Christ is the son of David, therefore fearing and knowing the error of sinful men, he says, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Behold how David calls him Lord.

Ch. iv. For this cause the Lord has shortened the times and days, that his beloved might hasten his coming to his inheritance.

Ch. iv. Take heed lest at any time sitting still, now that we are called, we fall asleep in our sins, and the wicked one getting power over us stir us up and shut us out of the Kingdom of the Lord.

Ch. v. When I shall smite the shepherd, then the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

Ch. vii. If, therefore, the Son of God, who is Lord of all, and shall judge the quick and the dead, hath suffered.—

Ch. xiii. Barnabas argues that the followers of Jesus are the people of God. "But let us enquire," says he, "whether this people be the heir or the former; and whether the covenant belong to us or to them. Hear then con