30 



REV. G. F. WHIDBORNE, M.A., F.G.S., ON 



answer this question exliaustively would need a treatise in 

 itself. The full proof must go into much detail, which it would 

 be impossible here to attempt. It would from its nature, not 

 only need long historical dis(}uisition ; but the examination of 

 the internal evidence of each particular book. But without 

 attempting this it may here suffice to give in outline reasons 

 why this claim must be admitted. 



(1) It is to be observed, that, if the claim be not true it is 

 false ; — in a large degree it is knowingly false. The words " God 

 said," " Jesus- said," govern a very large proportion of its pages. 

 The question, therefore, resolves itself into this : — is it thinkable 

 that a book being what the Bible is, and containing what the 

 Bible contains, can be even in part knowingly false ; l)ecause 

 otherwise it must be true ; and therefore its claim to be the 

 Word of God must, speaking generally, be true. 



(2) It is also to be observed, that the fact of the liistoric 

 character of the Bible can be abundantly established. The New 

 Testament can be traced back by external evidence to, or to 

 the borders of, Apostolic times. Not only from Christian, but 

 from heathen, sources the historic character of its facts and 

 incidents may be largely confirmed.* Thus we reach the 

 historic Christ, and through Him, as well as through Jewish 

 (and archaiological) sources, we reach the general historic fact 

 of the Old Testament, accepted by them as the authoritative 

 Word of God. Without entering on questions of Higher 

 Criticism, the Bible can be shown to have been, as it is, 

 regarded by the ancient Jewish Church for centuries before 

 the Christian era, as at once a history and a revelation. Its 

 historic facts are still receiving; more and more confirmation 

 from archaeological discoveries. Its places are being unearthed, 

 and reinstated as the landmarks of its land. Its connections 

 with coeval nations are being verified by the freshly discovered 

 archives of those nations. Very recently a remarkable 

 exemplification of this has occurred. Doul3t had been cast 

 upon the Mosaic social laws ; it had been argued that they 

 presented too matured a civilization for their asserted age ; but 

 now the laws of a Chakkean king, centuries before Moses, have 

 been foundf ; and some of these social laws so tally with the 



^ To take one subsidiary instance — it is implied by Roman annals that 

 at Ephesus, at the time of St. Paul's visit, there Avere " deputies " in 

 power there, as stated in the Acts, whereas the almost universal Eoman 

 rule was a single governor ; the words "town-clerk" and "worshipper" 

 are found on Koman coins. 



t Dr. Pinches, Trans. Vict. Inst., vol. xxxv, p. 228. 



