Unpopular and penniless, if the gospel story were not true, how could it have had preachers? When Paul was changed from a persecutor to a disciple, behold the prospect the Savior presents to him, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my sake." Paul declares, "The Holy Ghost testifieth that in every city bonds and afflictions abide me. Yet none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy" (Acts xx, 23, 24). In another place he adds, "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day T have been in the deep: in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness" (II. Cor. xi, 24-27).
Man can give no higher proof of his veracity, save to seal his testimony with his blood. This the apostles did. All, except John, suffered martyrdom for the truth of the gospel.
CHAPTER VII.
NEW TESTAMENT FACTS CORROBORATED BY SECULAR WRITERS.
TERTULIAN'S WORKS—EXTRACT FROM TACITUS—VALUE OF COTEMPORARY CORRESPONDENCE—PLINY'S LETTER—PROOF OF THE SAINTS' MORALITY—GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE FROM ALL OTHER RELIGIONS—NO OTHER SYSTEM DEPENDS UPON SIMILAR INFLUENCES.
In a former chapter was shown some of the internal evidences of the validity of the New Testament. By continuing our investigations we find other and valuable proofs of its authenticity. There was no printing in those days; therefore the people to whom the gospels and epistles were addressed, had the opportunity of knowing by the handwriting whether these documents were genuine or not. For example, Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, says: "The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." These words show indeed the heart of an apostle; but what a business man would most appreciate is the fact how greatly these few lines add to the security against forgery. It is a hard thing to forge a signature, but give a business man two lines of any man's writing besides that, and he is perfectly secure against imposition. The churches to whom the epistles were written and to whom the gospels were delivered consisted largely of business men, merchants, traders, city chamberlains and officers of Caesar's household. Does any one think that such men could not tell the handwriting of the apostle who had lived among them for years or that they cared less for the documents of the gospel, for which they risked their lives, than we would care about the genuineness of a ten dollar check? Tertulian, who lived from A. D. 145 to 222, was one of the most learned men of that age. He was well versed in Roman law, in ancient philosophy, history and poetry. He had been brought up a heathen, and was not therefore likely to favor the teachings of the apostles without due investigation. His writings are interesting, throwing much light on the circumstances and social questions of that age. He traveled extensively among the churches which the apostles had planted and claims to have seen the original copies of Matthew and John and the epistles written to the churches at Rome, Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus and Philippi, and refers skeptics to the places where these documents could be found. That these writings contained the same words as are in our present New Testament is evident from the numerous quotations in Tertulian's works.
In the British and other museums may be found thousands of manuscripts on every conceivable subject embracing every age for the past sixteen hundred years and even some still earlier. Among these manuscripts are over two thousand copies of the New Testament, some of them dating back to apostolic times. These manuscripts have been scrutinized by the most critical scholars; yet the result of this examination is merely the suggestion of thirteen unimportant alterations in the seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine verses of the New Testament. This is a fact utterly unexampled in the history of manuscripts. We are thus, by the special providence of God, as undoubtedly in possession of genuine copies of the gospels and epistles, some of which were written while the companions of the Savior were still living and the divine authority and Priesthood were still upon the earth, as we are of genuine copies of the Constitution of the United States and of the Declaration of Independence.
There is no history so trustworthy as that prepared by cotemporary writers, especially by those who have themselves been actively engaged in the events which they relate. Such history never loses its interest, nor does the lapse of ages, in the least degree, impair its credibility. While the documents can be preserved, Xenophon's "Retreat of the Ten Thousand," Wellington's dispatches, and Washington's letters to Congress, will be as trustworthy as on the day they were written. Of the great facts described in these documents addressed to their cotemporaries, able at a glance to detect a falsehood, we never entertain the least suspicion. Many such historical allusions might be quoted.
We have selected one from the well-known works of Tacitus, the celebrated Roman historian, who lived between A. D. 60 and 120, and wrote a history of Rome up to the reign of the emperor Trajan. Concerning this extract from the history of Tacitus the infidel, Gibbon, says, "The most skeptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this important fact and the integrity of this important passage of Tacitus." After relating the burning of the city of Rome by order of Nero, and his attempt to transfer the odium of it to the Christians, Tacitus says:
"The author of that name was Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal, under the procurator Pontius Pilate. But this pestilent superstition, checked for a while, broke out afresh and spread not only over Judea, where the evil originated, but also in Rome, where all that is evil on the earth finds its way, and is practiced. At first, those only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect; afterwards, a vast multitude were discovered by them; all of whom were condemned, not so much for the crime of the burning of the city, as for their enmity to mankind. Their executions were so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified; while others having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up for lights in the night time and thus burned to death. For these spectacles Nero gave his own gardens, and, at the same time, exhibited there the diversions of the circus; sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer, and, at other times driving a chariot himself; until at length these men, though really criminal and deserving of exemplary punishment, began to be commiserated as people who were destroyed, not out of regard to the public welfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man."