ed to notice the
attempt if it had been made, is a clear proof that they were not
corrupted by the Christians.

"Equally satisfactory is the evidence for the integrity and
incorruptness of the New Testament. The multiplication of copies, both
of the original and of translations into a variety of languages, which
were read, not only in private, but publicly in the religious
assemblies of the early Christians; the reverence of the Christians
for these writings; the variety of sects and heresies which soon arose
in the Christian Church, each of whom appealed to the Scriptures for
the truth of their doctrines, rendered any material alteration in the
sacred books utterly impossible; while the silence of their acutest
enemies, who would most assuredly have charged them with the attempt
if it had been made, and the agreement of all the manuscripts and
versions extant, are positive proofs of the integrity and
incorruptness of the New Testament; which are further attested by the
agreement with it of all the quotations which occur in the writings of
the Christians from the earliest age to the present time. In fact, so
far from there having been any gross adulteration in the Sacred
Volumes, the best and most able critics have proved that, even in
lesser matters, the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament have suffered
less from the injuries of time and the errors of transcribers than any
other ancient writings whatever; and that the very worst manuscript
extant would not pervert one article of our faith, nor destroy one
moral precept."

Add to this the testimony of the British Critic. "Not one syllable
penned by eight obscure authors of the Scriptures of the New
Testament, received by the Church as canonical at the death of John,
has been lost in the course of eighteen centuries. Yet of the
historical works of Tacitus half at least are wanting; out of the one
hundred and forty-four books of Livy only thirty-five exist; the
collections of Atticus have entirely perished; the orations of
Hortensius are known only through the allusions of his rival; and the
literary fame of the great dictator survives but in two narratives,
one of which has sometimes been doubted. 'Where is the wise? Where is
the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?' May it not be the
power of God which, amidst this wreck of eloquence and learning, has
preserved unmutilated, even to these later days, the simple and
unstudied compositions of the illiterate Gal