Of
The Books of the New Testament
Address to the Believers in the Book Called the Scriptures
The New Testament contains twenty-seven books, of
which four are called Gospels; one called the Acts of the Apostles;
fourteen called the Epistles of Paul; one of James; two of Peter; three
of John; one of Jude; one called the Revelation.
None of those books have the appearance of being
written by the persons whose names they bear, neither do we know who the
authors were. They come to us on no other authority than the Church of
Rome, which the Protestant Priests, especially those of New England,
call the Whore of Babylon.
This church, or to use their own vulgar language,
this whore, appointed sundry
councils to be held, to compose creeds for the people, and to regulate
Church affairs. Two of the principal of these councils were that of
Nice, and of Laodicea (names of the places where the councils were held)
about three hundred and fifty years after the time that Jesus is said to
have lived. Before this time there was no such book as the New
Testament.
But the Church could not well go on without having
something to show, as the Persians showed the Zend-Avesta, revealed they
say by God to Zoroaster; the Bramins of India, the Shaster, revealed,
they say, by God to Brama, and given to him out of a dusky cloud; the
Jews, the books they call the Law of Moses, given they say also out of a
cloud on Mount Sinai.
The Church set about forming a code for itself out of
such materials as it could find or pick up. But where they got those
materials, in what language they were written, or whose handwriting they
were, or whether they were originals or copies, or on what authority
they stood, we know nothing of, nor does the New Testament tell us.
The Church was resolved to have a New Testament, and
as, after the lapse of more than three hundred years, no handwriting
could be proved or disproved, the Church, which like former impostors
had then gotten possession of the State, had everything its own way. It
invented creeds, such as that called the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicean
Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and out of the loads of rubbish that were
presented it voted four to be Gospels, and others to be Epistles, as we
now find them arranged.
Of those called Gospels, above forty were presented,
each contending to be genuine. Four only were voted in, and entitled:
the Gospel according to St.
Matthew -- the Gospel according
to St. Mark -- the Gospel
according to St. Luke -- the Gospel
according to St. John.
This word
according, shows that those books have not been written by Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, but according to some accounts or traditions,
picked up concerning them. The word "according" means agreeing with, and
necessarily includes the idea of two things, or two persons.
We cannot say,
The Gospel written by Matthew according to Matthew, but we might
say, the Gospel of some other person according to what was reported to
have been the opinion of Matthew. Now we do not know who those other
persons were, nor whether what they wrote accorded with anything that
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John might have said. There is too little
evidence, and too much contrivance, about those books to merit credit.
The next book after those called Gospels, is that
called the Acts of the Apostles. This book is anonymous; neither do the
councils that compiled or contrived the New Testament tell us how they
came by it. The Church, to supply this defect, say it was written by
Luke, which shows that the Church and its priests have not compared that
called the Gospel according to St. Luke and the Acts together, for the
two contradict each other.
The book of Luke, xxiv., makes Jesus ascend into
heaven the very same day that it makes him rise from the grave. The book
of Acts, i. 3, says that he remained on earth forty days after his
crucifixion. There is no believing what either of them says.
The next to the book of Acts
is that entitled, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle[1]
to the Romans." This is not an Epistle, or letter, written by Paul or
signed by him. It is an Epistle, or letter, written by a person who
signs himself TERTIUS, and sent, as it is said in the end, by a servant
woman called Phebe. The last chapter, ver. 22, says, "I Tertius, who
wrote this Epistle, salute you."
Who Tertius or Phebe were, we know nothing of.
The epistle is not dated. The whole of it is written
in the first person, and that person is Tertius, not Paul. But it suited
the Church to ascribe it to Paul. There is nothing in it that is
interesting except it be to contending and wrangling sectaries. The
stupid metaphor of the potter and the clay is in chapter ix.
The next book is entitled "The First Epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Corinthians." This, like the former, is not an
Epistle written by Paul, nor signed by him. The conclusion of the
Epistle says, "The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from
Philippi, by Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus, and Timotheus."
The second epistle entitled, "The second Epistle of
Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians," is in the same case with the
first. The conclusion of it says, "It was written from Philippi, a city
of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas."
A question may arise upon these cases, which is, are
these persons the writers of the epistles originally, or are they the
writers and attestors of copies sent to the councils who compiled the
code or canon of the New Testament? If the epistles had been dated this
question could be decided; but in either of the cases the evidences of
Paul's hand writing and of their being written by him is wanting, and,
therefore, there is no authority for calling them Epistles of Paul. We
know not whose Epistles they were, nor whether they are genuine or
forged.
The next is entitled, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the Galatians." It contains six short chapters, yet the writer of it
says, vi. 11, "Ye see how large a letter I have written to you with my
own hand." If Paul was the writer of this it shows he did not accustom
himself to write long epistles; yet the epistle to the Romans and the
first to the Corinthians contain sixteen chapters each; the second to
the Corinthians and that to the Hebrews thirteen each.
There is something contradictory in these matters. But
short as the epistle is, it does not carry the appearance of being the
work or composition of one person. Chapter v, 2, says, "If ye be
circumcised Christ shall avail you nothing." It does not say
circumcision shall profit you nothing, but Christ shall profit you
nothing. Yet in vi, 15, it says "For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."
These are not reconcilable passages, nor can
contrivance make them so. The conclusion of the epistle says it was
written from Rome, but it is not dated, nor is there any signature to
it, neither do the compilers of the New Testament say how they came by
it. We are in the dark upon all these matters.
The next is entitled, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the Ephesians." Paul is not the writer. The conclusion of it says,
"Written from Rome unto the Ephesians by Tychicus."
The next is entitled, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the Philippians." Paul is not the writer. The conclusion of it says,
"It was written to the Philippians from Rome by Epaphroditus." It is not
dated. Query, were those men who wrote and signed those Epistles
journeymen Apostles, who undertook to write in Paul's name, as Paul is
said to have preached in Christ's name?
The next is entitled, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the Colossians." Paul is not the writer. Doctor Luke is spoken of in
this Epistle as sending his compliments.
"Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you." (iv, 14). It
does not say a word about his writing any Gospel.
The conclusion of the epistle says, "Written from Rome to the
Colossians by Tychicus and Onesimus."
The next is entitled, "The first and the second
Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians." Either the writer of
these Epistles was a visionary enthusiast, or a direct impostor, for he
tells the Thessalonians, and, he says, he tells them by the Word of the
Lord, that the world will be at an end in his and their time; and after
telling them that those who are already dead shall rise, he adds, iv,
17, "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them
into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever
with the Lord."
Such detected lies as these, ought to fill priests
with confusion, when they preach such books to be the Word of God. These
two Epistles are said in the conclusion of them, to be written from
Athens. They are without date or signature.
The next four Epistles are private letters. Two of
them are to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon. Who they were,
nobody knows.
The first to Timothy, is said to be written from
Laodicea. It is without date or signature. The second to Timothy, is
said to be written from Rome, and is without date or signature. The
Epistle to Titus is said to be written from Nicopolis in Macedonia. It
is without date or signature.
The Epistle to Philemon is said to be written from Rome by
Onesimus. It is without date.
The last Epistle ascribed to Paul is entitled, "The
Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews," and is said in the
conclusion to be written from Italy, by Timothy.
This Timothy (according to the conclusion of the epistle called
the second Epistle of Paul to Timothy) was Bishop of the Church of the
Ephesians, and consequently this is not an Epistle of Paul.
On what slender cobweb evidence do the priests and
professors of the Christian religion hang their faith! The same degree
of hearsay evidence, and that at third and fourth hand, would not, in a
court of justice, give a man title to a cottage, and yet the priests of
this profession presumptuously promise their deluded followers the
Kingdom of Heaven. A little reflection would teach men that those books
are not to be trusted to; that so far from there being any proof they
are the Word of God, it is unknown who the writers of them were, or at
what time they were written, within three hundred years after the
reputed authors are said to have lived.
It is not the interest of priests, who get their
living by them, to examine into the insufficiency of the evidence upon
which those books were received by the popish councils who compiled the
New Testament. But if Messrs. Linn and Mason would occupy themselves
upon this subject (it signifies not which side they take, for the event
will be the same) they would be better employed than they were last
Presidential election, in writing jesuitical electioneering pamphlets.
The very name of a priest attaches suspicion on to it the instant he
becomes a dabbler in party politics.
The New England priests set themselves up to govern
the state, and they are falling into contempt for so doing.
Men who have their farms and their several occupations to follow,
and have a common interest with their neighbors in the public prosperity
and tranquility of their country, neither want nor choose to be told by
a priest who they shall vote for, nor how they shall conduct their
temporal concerns.
The cry of the priests that the Church is in danger,
is the cry of men who do not understand the interest of their own craft;
for instead of exciting alarms and apprehensions for its safety, as they
expect, it excites suspicion that the foundation is not sound, and that
it is necessary to take down and build it on a surer foundation. Nobody
fears for the safety of a mountain, but a hillock of sand may be washed
away! Blow then, O ye priests, "the Trumpet in Zion," for the Hillock is
in danger.
[1] According to the criterion of the Church, Paul was not an apostle; that appellation being given only to those called the Twelve. Two sailors belonging to a man-of-war got into a dispute upon this point, whether Paul was an apostle or not, and they agreed to refer it to the boatswain, who decided very canonically that Paul was an acting apostle but not rated.
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