A compleat history of the canon and writers, of the books of the Old and New Testament, by way of dissertation, with useful remarks on that subject ... by L.E. Du Pin ... ; done into English from the French original.

SECT. IV. That the Books of the New Tectament have not been Corrupted.

THE second Truth that those Books were not corrupted, is establish'd upon the same Evidence. It is certain in the first place, that the Originals of the Gospels, and of the Epistles of the Apostles and of the Evangelists, wrote by their own Hands, or by those to whom they had dictated them, did remain for some time in the Churches for which those Gospels were wrote, or to whom those Letters were directed. Tertullian seems also to assure us, that in his time there were Churches which had this precious Pledge in their keeping; when he says, speaking of those Apostolical Churches, that there they repeat their Au∣thentick Letters, Apud quas Authenticae Literae eorum recitantur; Terms which seem to design the Originals themselves. But tho' those words should be other∣wise understood, the Respect which they had in the Churches for the Gospels and the Epistles of the Apostles, leaves us no Room to doubt, but they preser∣ved the Originals a long time, and that Copies of them were immediately wrote, which were spread in a little time through all the Churches, where they read them publickly. Had those Copies been False, it had been impossible but the Fraud must have been discovered immediately by comparing them with the Originals. The Apostolical Churches who still had them, would soon have con∣victed of Forgery those falsified and interpolated Copies, and not have suffered them to have been made use of. All the Christians who had seen and read the Originals, would have been so many Witnesses to depose against them: Other∣wise how could all the Copiers agree together to make the same Falsifications? How could those False Copies have been spread through the World in a little time, without any of the Churches having preserved the True Ones? It cannot then be said, That the Writings of the Apostles were falsified, either during their Lives, or speedily after their Death; nor is it to be doubted, that St. Cle∣ment the Roman, Hermas, St. Polycarp, St. Justin, St. Ireneus, and the most An∣cient Authors, had the Genuine Writings of the Apostles. The Apostolical Churches preserved them as they received them from the Apostles: They were the same in all Churches of the Earth. How was it possible they could be cor∣rupted and falsified throughout in an uniform Manner? Is it credible, that all the Churches, and that all Christians should agree to falsifie Them, and that they could have concealed this Imposture? Would not the Jews and Pagans have upbraided them with this Change? The Hereticks that came after, would they have spared the Christians in such a Case? When Valentine and Marcion falsified the Gospels, they were convicted of the Crime, by proving, That the Gospels kept by the Churches were more Ancient than theirs, and that their Falsifica∣tion was of a later Date. In short, Can it be imagined that all the Copies of the New Testament, could have been changed and corrupted? How could that Falsification have been effected? Who was the Author of it? In what time can they say it was done? It cannot be said to have been since the time that we had the Writings of Christian Authors; for all the Passages of the New Testa∣ment which they quote, are agreeable to the Books we have, and they quote so great a Number of them, that 'tis, morally speaking, impossible that they changed them in their Works. Nor can it be said, That this Corruption was effected before any Christian began to write, that is to say fifteen or twenty Years after the Death of the Apostles, in a time when there were many Wit∣nesses still remaining that had received them from the Apostles themselves. Could there be then any Person so impudent as to change those Books? And sup∣posing

there were; is it possible that all Christians would have believed them, contrary to the Universal Testimony of the Disciples. How was it possible to impose upon so many entire Societies, who had received those Books of the A∣postles, who read them continually in their Assemblies, upon so many Chri∣stians who read them in private, had the Contents of them by Heart, and respected them as Sacred Books? Would not they have universally risen up against this Change? Those whom they suppose to have corrupted or altered them, they did so either in the Essential Part, that is to say in the Doctrine, or in things of small Consequence, and without touching upon the Essentials of the Doctrine. The latter is not likely; for if they left the same Doctrine remaining, to what purpose was it to corrupt the Text? And the first was impossible, because the Christians, who knew the Doctrine of the Apostles, and died every one in Defence of it, would rather have lost their Lives, than suffered their Ancient Doctrine to be overturned. In a Word, How was this Change effected? Was it all at once? Was it insensibly? The Former is extra∣vagant; for how can we suppose, that all the Christians of the Earth should agree to falsifie the Sacred Books all at once, and in one and the same Man∣ner, and that they could effect that Design every where without Opposition? The Latter is no less difficult to believe; for to bring that to pass there must of necessity have been many Men, living in different Times and Places, that had the same Design and End to corrupt the Books of the Apostles; and they must al∣ways have found the Spirits of Christians disposed to receive their Fictions. Whereas, on the contrary, it is certain, by the Testimony of Christian Authors, That from the time of St. Clement and St. Polycarp till now, there was no con∣siderable Change made in the Books of the New Testament. The Text is E∣qual, Uniform, of the same Stile, and contains the same Doctrine; nor does there appear therein any Interposiation, Contradiction or Difference; so that there is more Ground to believe, that they are entirely Suppositious than falsified or corrupted. 'Tis not denied, but some Mistakes may have slip'd into them, as into all other Books, by the Neglect of the Copiers; but this cannot be called a Corruption or Falsification that changes neither the Historyn or the Doctrine of those Books.