(_II_) _The Pauline Epistles._--The following extracts from the testimony of the Tübingen critics on four of Paul's epistles, are instructive.
De Wette says, in his introduction to the "Books of the New Testament" (123, a.):--"The letters of Paul bear the marks of his powerful genius. The most important of them are raised above all contradiction as to their authenticity; they form the solid kernel of the book of the New Testament."
Baur says, in his "Apostle Paul" (1, 8):--"Not only has no suspicion of the authenticity of these Epistles even arisen, but they bear so incontestably the seal of the originality of Paul, that one cannot comprehend for what reason critics could raise any objection to them."
Weizsæker writes (Apost. Zeitalter, 1866, p. 190):--"The letters to the Galatians and the Corinthians are, without doubt, from the hand of the Apostle; from his hand also came incontestably the Epistle to the Romans."
Holtzmann says ("Einleit in's N. T.," p. 224):--"These four Epistles are the Pauline Homologoumena (books universally received) in the modern acceptation of the word. We can realize, with respect to them, the proof of authenticity undertaken by Paley against the free-thinkers of his time."
M. Renan in _The Gospels_ (pp. 40, 41), thus expresses himself:--"The epistles of Paul have an unequaled advantage in this history--that is, their absolute authenticity." Of the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Romans, Renan speaks as "indisputable and undisputed;" and adds, "The most severe critics, such as Christian Baur, accept them without objection."
=7. Archeological Evidence Confirming the Bible.=--Prof. A. H. Sayce, M. A., sums up his learned treatise on the testimony of the ancient monuments, thus:--"The critical objections to the truth of the Old Testament, once drawn from the armory of Greek and Latin writers, can never be urged again; they have been met and overthrown once for all. The answers to them have come from papyrus and clay and stone, from the tombs of ancient Egypt, from the mounds of Babylonia, and from the ruined palaces of the Assyrian kings."
=8. Missing Scripture.=--Those who oppose the doctrine of continual revelation between God and His Church, on the ground that the Bible is complete as a collection of sacred scriptures, and that alleged revelation not found therein must therefore be spurious, may profitably take note of the many books not included in the Bible, yet mentioned therein, generally in such a way as to leave no doubt that they were once regarded as authentic. Among these extra-biblical scriptures, the following may be named; some of them are in existence to-day, and are classed with the Apocrypha; but the greater number are unknown. We read of the Book of the Covenant (Exo. xxiv, 7); Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numb. xxi, 14); Book of Jasher (Josh. x, 13); Book of the Statutes (I Sam. x, 25); Book of Enoch (Jude 14); Book of the Acts of Solomon (I Kings xi, 41); Book of Nathan the Prophet, and that of Gad the Seer (I Chron. xxix, 29); Book of Ahijah the Shilonite, and visions of Iddo, the Seer (II Chron. ix, 29); Book of Shemaiah (II Chron. xii, 15); Story of the Prophet Iddo (II Chron. xiii, 22); Book of Jehu (II Chron. xx, 34); the Acts of Uzziah, by Isaiah, the son of Amoz (II Chron. xxvi, 22); Sayings of the Seers (II Chron. xxxiii, 19); a missing epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (I Cor. v, 9); a missing epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. iii, 3); missing epistle to the Colossians, written from Laodicea (Col. iv, 16); a missing epistle of Jude (Jude 3); a declaration of belief mentioned by Luke (i, 1).