V. THE TESTIMONY OF THE UNQUESTIONED THE argument contained in the previous study may seem to many too distant, too long and difficult to master and remember, for men involved in the hurry and hard driving of a fast and feverish age. We can suppose such persons ready to ask, Is there no more. brief and simple argument, which can be easily grasped and held as it were with the hand, by which we may be reasonably assured in regard to the ground of our faith? Are there not some New Testament books, for example, which are so well authenticated, and so undeniably genuine, as to command the unwavering assent of all reasonable and competent men, believers and unbelievers alike? To this question we now proceed, first of all, to reply emphatically in the affirmative, and thereafter we shall go on to deduce the legitimate and very important consequences. We pass, in the present study, from the testimony of the ancient Church and ancient heretics to the testi mony of modern unbelievers and hostile critics. It is well known to all that the New Testament, during the last hundred years, has been subjected to the fiercest criticism, of the most minute and searching description, and not unfrequently by men whose eyes were preternaturally sharpened by the extreme of bitter antagonism. With the common ruck of ignorant and ribald enemies, whose minds have been utterly blinded or maddened by hatred of Christianity, and who can in no sense be regarded as authorities by competent men on either side, we have at present no concern whatever. There are hostile critics who, for their splendid scholarship, laborious investigation, and reasonable spirit, clearly stand out as representative men, and are universally acknowledged on both sides as such. With these we shall follow the same course as in the previous argument, and cite as witnesses a few of such acknowledged representatives, selected also from representative countries. The object immediately before us at present is, to discover what are the books which the school of extreme negative criticism leaves remaining untouched as unquestionably authentic productions of the Apostolic Age, and of the authors whose names they bear. We take no books whatever into consideration in this study, except those whieh such critics with practical unanimity admit to be undeniably authentic. These books, it is well known, are the first four Epistles of Paul-Romans, I Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians—and the Revelation of John. We fix our attention first of all, and more especially, on the four Epistles of Paul which we have just mentioned, and which the reader will do well to impress upon his mind. We have now to show that they are unhesitatingly accepted as authentic by the learned school of negative criticism with which we have at present to do. In order to do so more effectively, we proceed at once to cite as witnesses the three highest representatives of the school in Germany, France, and England respectively. We begin with Germany, and summon Baur as the representative witness. He was for many years professor at Tübingen in Würtemberg, and hence his followers are sometimes called 'the Tübingen School. He died in 1861. He was perhaps the most distinguished scholar and the ablest critic that the negative school has as yet produced, and he may be regarded as its head and grand authority in the present generation. But the testimony of Baur is most abundant and explicit. He says:-'In the Homologumena [or acknowledged Epistles of Paul] there can be reckoned only the four great Epistles of the apostle, which take precedence of the rest in every respect—the Epistle to the Galatians, the two Epistles to the Corinthians, and the Epistle to the Romans. There has never been the slightest suspicion of unauthenticity cast upon these four Epistles, and they bear so incontestably the character of Pauline originality, that there is no conceivable ground for the assertion of critical doubts in their case.1 This testimony is strong and emphatic in the highest degree, and is well worthy of being read a second time. We may just mention, in passing, that Strauss, whose name is perhaps more widely known in this country than that of Baur, and who created such a sensation in 1835 by his Life of Jesus, frankly admits the same thing. He speaks of it as a well-known fact, in regard to these Epistles, that their 'genuineness is not contested.' 2 We pass from Germany to France, and cite as representative witness, Renan, the author of the romantic Life of Jesus, which startled the Christian world about twenty-six years ago almost as much as the earlier work of Strauss had done. But in regard to his testimony to the four Epistles under consideration, the head and representative of the French School is no less emphatic and categorical than that of the German School. He speaks of these Epistles as 'indisputable and undisputed (épîtres incontestables et incontestées);' and adds, 'We have nothing to say of these Epistles [in the way of adverse criticism]; the severest critics, such as Baur, accept 1 Paulus, der Apostel, p. 276. English translation, vol. ii. pp. 110 f. 2 Der alte und der neue Glaube, 8te Aufl., p. 41. 3 them without objection." In another place he speaks of them as being texts of an absolute authenticity, of complete sincerity, and without legends;" and once more he characterizes them as being, by the acknowledgment of all, of indubitable authenticity?' He accepts as genuine several other Epistles of Paul, in addition to these four; but what we have to note at present is his emphatic testimony to Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians, as incontestably genuine productions of the apostle. From France we return to England. As the representative witness of the Home School of extreme unbelieving criticism, we cite the anonymous author of the work called Supernatural Religion. Like the representatives of Germany and France, he announces himself as 'accepting the Epistles to the Galatians, Corinthians, and Romans in the main as genuine compositions of the Apostle Paul.'* The expression, in the main,' refers probably to the last two chapters of Romans, which he agrees with Baur in rejecting. He also declares in another passage: 'As to the Apostle Paul himself, let it be said, in the strongest and most emphatic manner possible, that we do not suggest the most distant suspicion of any historical statement he makes. We implicitly accept the historical statements, 1 Saint Paul, p. v. 2 Les Apôtres, p. xxix. 3 Les Évangiles, p. xi. 4 Supernatural Religion, vol. iii. p. 323 (2nd edition). |