Vicar of Banbury and fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. Read more about Lancaster here.
WORKS
The Popular Evidence of Christianity: Stated and Examined. Oxford, J. Parker, 1831. xix, 369 pp. 21 cm. Bampton lectures; 1831. Also here.
Contents: With a half title entitled "Eight discourses preached before the University of Oxford in the year MDCCCXXXI., at the lecture founded by the late Rev. John Bampton, M.A., Canon of Salisbury." (TM): The burden of Lancaster's work is the refutation of the claim that "the evidences of [the truth of the gospel] can, in some measure at least, be estimated by the learned only: and that the unlearned are, as to this particular, bound to give credit to the learned, and to acquiesce in the conclusions of persons more competent than themselves," a claim that Lancaster calls "pernicious" (p. 2). Lancaster undertakes "to demonstrate the contrary, by providing at length such a view of the proofs of revealed religion, as may suffice for the reasonable conviction of all men; and by contending, as I advance, that such proofs, without requiring any deference of ignorance to the authority of learning, are perfectly valid and tenable." (p. 3)
The Co-incidence of natural with revealed religion. A Sermon at the annual lecture instituted in Harvard College by the last will and testament of the Honorable Paul Dudley, Esq; delivered November 1, 1775. By Samuel Langdon, D.D. president of Harvard College. [Three lines from Acts] Boston: Printed by Samuel Hall, in School-Street, 1776. 26, [2] pp.; 8⁰.
A Discourse on the unity of the church as a monumental pillar of the truth: designed to reconcile Christians of all parties and denominations in charity and fellowship, as one body in Christ: delivered before an association of ministers convened at Portsmouth, October 12, 1791, and in substance repeated at a lecture in Hampton Falls, January 26, 1792. / By Samuel Langdon, D.D. Minister of the Gospel in Hampton Falls, in the state of New Hampshire; [Two lines from 1 Corinthians]. Printed at Exeter [N.H.]: by Henry Ranlet, and sold at his office in Main-Street, 1792. 30, [2] pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
A Summary of Christian faith and practice; Being an attempt to exhibit the doctrines and precepts of the New-Testament in a concise and easy view, chiefly in Scriptural language, for the assistance of Christians of all denominations in recollecting the main articles of their common profession. In three parts.
Containing part I. The capital articles of Christian faith. Part II. The apostolic doctrine of salvation by believing in Jesus Christ. Part III. The principal heads of evangelical duties. /
Boston: New-England: Printed and sold by Kneeland and Adams, in Milk-Street, and J. Edwards, in Corn-Hill., 1768. 61, [3] pp.; 22 cm. (8vo)
Government corrupted by vice, and recovered by righteousness: A Sermon preached before the honorable Congress of the colony of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England, assembled at Watertown, on Wednesday the 31st day of May, 1775. Being the anniversary fixed by charter for the election of counsellors. / By Samuel Langdon, D.D. president of Harvard College in Cambridge. [Two lines from Proverbs]. Watertown [Mass.]: Printed and sold by Benjamin Edes, 1775. 29, [3] pp.; 19 cm. (12mo)
"We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the ETERNAL KING, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at His pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption; or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states, by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of His providence. To this our text leads us; and though I hope to be excused on this occasion from a formal discourse on the words in a doctrinal way, yet I must not wholly pass over the religious instruction contained in them.
"Let us consider--that for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted, or entirely dissolved; and that nothing but a general reformation can give ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored, by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and that Divine Providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men."
The Republic of the Israelites an example to the American states: A sermon, preached at Concord, in the state of New Hampshire; before the Honorable General Court at the annual election. June 5, 1788. / By Samuel Langdon, D.D. Pastor of the church in Hampton-Falls. Exeter [N.H.] : Printed by Lamson and Ranlet, M,DCC,LXXXVII. [1788] 48 pp.; 20 cm. (4to and 8vo)
... That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured which a people can reasonably claim, and you are impowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his Son Jesus Christ, who is far superior to Moses, a complete revelation of his will, and a perfect system of true religion, plainly delivered in the sacred writings; it will be your wisdom in the eyes of the nations, and your true interest and happiness, to conform your practice in the strictest manner to the excellent principles of your government, adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue. By this you will increase in numbers, wealth, and power, and obtain reputation and dignity among the nations; whereas, the contrary conduct will make you poor, distressed, and contemptible.
* Soon after this Sermon was delivered, the Convention of the State of New Hampshire, met according to adjournment, and on the twenty-first day of June accepted the proposed general Constitution of government. This being the ninth State which has acceded to this form of national Union, it will be carried into effect; and there is no reason to doubt of the speedy accession of all the other States, which are now debating on the important question. May all rejoice in the Lord, who has formed us into a nation, and honour him as our Judge, Lawgiver, and King, who hath saved us, and will save us from all enemies and fears, if we thankfully receive and rightly improve his great mercies.
A Summary of Christian faith and practice: Being an attempt to exhibit the doctrines and precepts of the New-Testament in a concise and easy view, chiefly in Scriptural language, for the assistance of Christians of all denominations in recollecting the main articles of their common profession. In three parts. Containing part I. The capital articles of Christian faith. Part II. The apostolic doctrine of salvation by believing in Jesus Christ. Part III. The principal heads of evangelical duties. / By Samuel Langdon, D.D. Pastor of the First Church in Portsmouth in New-Hampshire; [Four lines from John]. Boston; New-England: Printed and sold by Kneeland and Adams, in Milk-Street, and J. Edwards, in Corn-Hill, 1768. 61, [3] pp.; 22 cm. (8vo). Also here.
Lange, John P. (Johann Peter)
(1802-1884)
German theologian.
WORKS
[Das Leben Jesu nach den Evangelien. English.] The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ: A Complete critical examination of the origin, contents, and connection of the Gospels. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1958, 1872. 4 v.; 22 cm. Each vol. has special t.p./ Translation of Das Leben Jesu nach den Evangelien./ Vol. 1 translated by S. Taylor and J.E. Ryland; vol. 2 tr. by J.E. Ryland and M.G. Huxtable; vol. 3 tr. by R.E. Wallis amd S. Manson; vol. 4 tr. by S. Manson and Robert Smith./ "This 1958 edition is reproduced complete and unabridged from the 1872 edition published by T. & T. Clark."- verso, title-page./ Includes bibliographical references and index. [Translated from the German of J.P. Lange] ; Edited, with additional notes by Marcus Dods. Buy this book here.
Languet, Hubert
(1518-1581)
Diplomat and scholar.
WORKS
[Vindiciae contra tyrannos. Part 4 -- English] A Short apologie for Christian souldiours: wherein is conteined, how that we ought both to propagate, and also if neede require, to defende by force of armes, the Catholike Church of Christ, against the tyrannie of Antichrist and his adherentes: penned by Stephanus Iunius Brutus, and translated into English by H.P. for the benefite of the resolution of the Church of England, in the defence of the gospel. London: Printed by Iohn Wolfe, for Henry Carre, 1588. [32] pp.
[Vindiciae contra tyrannos -- English] Vindiciæ contra tyrannos, a defence of liberty against tyrants, or, Of the lawful power of the prince over the people, and of the people over the prince: being a treatise / written in Latin and French by Junius Brutus [pseud.] and translated out of both into English. London: Printed for Richard Baldwin, 1689.
[4], 164 pp. (from t.p.): Questions discussed in this treatise: I. Whether subjects are bound and ought to obey princes, if they command that which is against the law of God -- II. Whether it be lawful to resist a prince which doth infring [sic] the law of God, or ruine the Church, by whom, how, and how far it is lawful -- III. Whether it be lawful to resist a prince which doth oppress or ruine a publick state, and how far such resistance may be extended, by whom, how, and by what right, or law it is permitted -- IV. Whether neighbour princes or states may be, or are bound by law, to give succours to the subjects of other princes, afflicted for the cause of true religion, or oppressed by manifest tyranny.
Vindiciæ contra tyrannos, a defence of liberty against tyrants, ; or, Of the lawfull power of the Prince over the people, and of the people over the prince / being a treatise written in Latin and French by Junius Brutus, and translated out of both into English. London: Printed by Matthew Simmons, and Robert Wilson, 1648. [2], 148 pp.
Lardner, Nathaniel
(1684-1768)
English theologian. (TM): Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768) was a dissenting minister who devoted his life to producing the apologetic masterpiece of the 18th century, the multi-volume Credibility of the Gospel History.
Lardner's christological views were not orthodox, though he stated publically that he was not an Arian. These issues, however, do not affect his historical work. Richard Watson included works by Lardner and several other dissenters in his Collection of Theological Tracts, (2nd edition 1791; see especially the Preface, p. xix).
Read more about Lardner here.
WORKS
The Credibility of the Gospel History; or, the facts occasionally mention'd in the New Testament; confirmed by passages of ancient authors who were contemporary with Our Saviour or His apostles, or lived near their time. Volume 1. Volume 2. London: J. Chandler, 1727. 2 volumes. 20 cm.
On Josephus. Extract from Credibility, Part 1, vol 2, 3rd edition.
(TM):Lardner's objective may be explained in his own words:
The peculiar design of this work is to enable persons of ordinary capacities, who, for want of a learned education, or of sufficient leisure, are deprived of the advantage of reading over ancient writings, to judge for themselves concerning the external evidence of the facts related in the New Testament. . . .
The method taken in this work is to set down in the first place the representation, which the sacred writers have given of persons, facts, customs or principles; and then to produce passages of other ancient writers, which confirm or illustrate the account delivered in the New Testament.
Lardner executes his design with incredible thoroughness. The question of the census in Luke 2:1-2, for example, fills 86 pages (volume 1, pp. 260-345). Virtually every subsequent apologist who takes up the historical argument is explicitly indebted to him.
In a work of this scope, written this long ago, it is inevitable that there should be some places where modern scholarship diverges from Lardner's opinions or where new discoveries shed a fuller light on issues he discusses. But when he errs, it is generally on the side of being overly critical of the evidence for his own case, as when he rejects the (then recently-discovered) first epistle of Clement of Rome, which is now widely acknowledged to be genuine. And in all cases his massive research remains an invaluable resource, a detailed and scrupulously honest map of all prior thinking on each topic he covers. No one who aspires to be a well-informed student of apologetics can neglect this monumental work, which fills the first four and a half volumes of Kippis's 10 volume edition of Lardner's Works.
Thomas Chalmers, Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation:
We offer no reflection against the assiduous Lardner, who, in his credibility of the Gospel history, presents us with a collection of testimonies which should make every Christian proud of his religion. In his evidence for the authenticity of the
different pieces which make up the New Testament, he begins with the oldest of the fathers, some of whom were the intimate companions of the original writers.
According to our view of the matter, he should have dated the commencement of his argument from a higher point, and begun with the testimonies of these original writers to one another. In the second Epistle of Peter, there is a distinct reference made to the writings of Paul; and in the Acts of the Apostles, there is a reference made to one of the four Gospels. Had Peter, instead of being an apostle, ranked only with the fathers of the church, and had his epistle not been admitted into the canon of scripture, this testimony of his would have had a place in the catalogue, and been counted peculiarly valuable, both for its precision and its antiquity. There is certainly nothing in the estimation he enjoyed, or in the circumstances of his epistle being bound up with the other books of the New Testament, which ought to impair the credit of his testimony. But in effect, his testimony does make a weaker impression on the mind, than a similar testimony from Barnabas, or Clement, or Polycarp. It certainly ought not to do it, and there is a delusion in the preference that is thus given to the latter writers. It is, in fact, another example of the principle which we have been so often insisting upon. What profane authors are in reference to Christian authors at large, the fathers of the church are in reference to the original writers of the New Testament. In contradiction to every approved principle, we prefer the distant and later testimony, to the testimony of writers, who carry as much evidence and legitimate authority along with them, and who only differ from others in being nearer the original sources of information. We neglect and undervalue the evidence which the New Testament itself furnishes, and rest the whole of the argument upon the external and superinduced testimony of subsequent authors.
A History of the Apostles and Evangelists, writers of the New Testament: With remarks and observations upon every book of the New Testament, In three volumes. Volume 1. Volume 2. Volume 3. The second edition. London: printed for J. Buckland, and W. Fenner; J. Waugh; P. Davy, and B. Law; and T. Field, 1760.
A Large Collection of ancient Jewish and heathen testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion, with notes and observations. London: sold by J. Buckland and T. Longman and J. Waugh, 1764-. 4 v. ; 28 cm. Volume 1. Containing the Jewish testimonies, and the testimonies of heathen authors of the first century.--Volume 2. Containing the testimonies of heathen writers of the second century.--Volume 3. Containing the testimonies of heathen writers of the third century, and to the conversion of Constantin, the first Christian emperour.--Volume 4. Containing the testimonies of heathen writers of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries.
The Circumstances of the Jewish People an argument for the truth of the Christian religion: three discourses on Romans XI.ii. London: Sold by J. Noon, in Cheapside, T. Sanders, in Little Britain, and Mr. Fenner, in Grace-church street, 1743. 82 pp.; 21 cm.
A Vindication of three of Our Blessed Saviour's miracles; viz. the raising of Jairus's daughter, the widow of Naim's son and Lazurus: in answer to the objections of Mr. Woolston's fifth discourse on the miracles of Our Saviour. London: Printed for Theodore Sanders, Richard Ford, and John Gray, 1729. xvi, 111 pp.; 21 cm.
The Works of Nathaniel Lardner, D.D., containing Credibility of the Gospel history, Jewish and heathen testimonies, History of heretics, and his sermons and tracts: In eleven volumes: with general chronological tables, and copious indexes. London, 1788.
Volume 1 of 11. 686 pp. v. 1-5, The life of Dr. Lardner / Andrew Kippis. The credibility of the Gospel history. Volume 2 of 11. 560 pp. Volume 3 of 11. 555 pp. Volume 4 of 11. 524 pp. Volume 5 of 11. 426 pp. Volume 6 of 11. 681 pp. History of the Apostles and evangelists, writers of the New Testament. Volume 7 of 11. 468 pp. Jewish testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion. Testimonies of ancient heathen authors. Volume 8 of 11. 483 pp. v. 8-9. Testimonies of ancient heathen authors, concluded. The state of Gentilism under the Christian emperors. The history of the heretics of the two first centuries after Christ. Volume 9 of 11. 535 pp. Volume 10 of 11. 665 pp. Fifty-three sermons Volume 11 of 11. 559 pp. Tracts. Indexes.
The Works of Nathaniel Lardner, To the first volume is prefixed the life of the author, by Andrew Kippis. London: W. Ball,
1838. 10 vol.; 24 cm.
The Happiness of a free government, and the means of preserving it: illustrated in a sermon, delivered in West-Springfield, on July 4, 1794, in commemoration of American independence! Springfield, Mass., James R. Hutchins, 1794. 21 pp.
We are informed of only one government, which was framed under the immediate direction of heaven; and this was a republick. Monarchy was permitted, but never was instituted, by divine authority. The Jews had it, because they would have it. God prescribed for them a better government. The form which he prescribed was well adapted to their genius and circumstances; and, in its fundamental principles, was equally suitable for any other people. Among the privileges secured to them by their constitution, there was one, which might be considered as the foundation of all the rest; and is, indeed, the basis of all free government -- That their Rulers should be chosen by, and from among themselves.
... A PEOPLE under a free government will be happy, as long as they are virtuous and wise. They may become vicious and corrupt. They are then liable to be influenced by private connections, party spirit, bribery or flattery, promises or rewards, or the artifice and intrigue of crafty and designing men.
When this is the case, they give up their security, lose their liberty, and sink into slavery.
To frame and reform their own government, and to choose and change their own governors, is the natural right of mankind; but a right which few nations have the happiness to enjoy, or the boldness to claim. These American states are now in the full possession and free exercise of this right; and may they ever have the wisdom to retain it.
Steadfastness in religion, explained and recommended in a sermon, delivered, in the First parish in West-Springfield. West-Springfield, [Mass.], 1797. 30 pp.
A View of the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion; In fortynine discourses on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians: with a preliminary discourse on the evidences of the gospel, especially those derived from the conversion, ministry and writings of that apostle. First edition. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1801.
616 pp.; 21 cm.
A View of the doctrines and duties of the Christian religion; In fortynine discourses on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians: with a preliminary discourse on the evidences of the gospel, especially those derived from the conversion, ministry and writings of that apostle. Second edition, revised and corrected. Worcester, Mass.: Isaiah Thomas, 1810. 597 pp.; 21 cm.
Congressman. Read more about Laurens here
and here.
WORKS
A South Carolina protest against slavery: being a letter from Henry Laurens, second President of the Continental Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; dated Charleston, S.C., August 14th, 1776. Now published from the original. New York, G.P. Putnam, 1861. 1 p. l., [5]-6, [17]-34 pp. 21 cm.
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life: Adapted to the state and condition of all orders of Christians. 8th edition. Dublin: Printed for W. and H. Whitestone, 1779. vii, 430 pp.; 18 cm.
Christianity Its Own Proof, briefly demonstrated from the known state and condition both of man and the world. To which is added, a word of advice to the serious Christian; chiefly selected from the writings of the late ... William Law, A.M. Sheffield; printed for the author, and sold by William Wright, 1790. 36 pp.
Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration; or, The New-birth. Offer'd to the consideration of Christians and Deists. London: printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, 1739. [2],102 pp.
On Justification by Faith and Works: A dialogue between a methodist and a churchman. London: printed for J. Richardson,
1760. [4], 81,[3] pp.
Johannis Clerici Harmonia evangelica. Cui subjuncta est Historia Jesu Christi. Ex quatuor Evangeliis concinnata. Accesserunt tres dissertationes de annis Christi, deque concordia & auctoritate Evangeliorum. Opus absolutissimum ad multorum instans desiderium formâ hâc compendiariâ recusum, & dissertatione prooemiali de potioribus harmoniarum evangelicarum scriptoribus auctum. Lugduni, Apud Petrum Martau, 1700 [54], 384 (i.e. 386), 235, 96 p. front. In Latin.
Fictitious imprint; printed at Altdorf. Cf. Weller, Die falschen und fingirten Druckorte, I., p. 286./ Pages 385-386 incorrectly numbered 383-384./ Edited by J.M. Lange.
"All critics unite in commendation of Le Clerc's Harmony. He has arranged the history of the four evangelists, according to chronological order, in columns parallel to each other, in Greek and Latin; and under the text he has given a Latin paraphrase, the design of which is to remove apparent contradictions. Le Clerc promised to publish Annotations on his Harmony, which have never appeared. A Latin edition of it was printed at Altorf in 1700, in 4to.; and an English translation of it, is said by Walchius, to have been published at London in the same year, also in 4to."
The Harmony of the Evangelists. Being the whole text of the four Gospels dispos'd according to the Order of Time in which the Things related in them were done. Each Gospel being rang'd in a Separate Column, exhibiting at one view the Concurrence or Variation that is between them in every Circumstance. With a paraphrase underneath, in which the Four Evangelical Histories of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are digested into one intire Narration; and the difficult Passages occurring in any of them, explain'd. With useful dissertations. By John Le Clerc. London, 1701. 641 pp.
Also here and here.
A Supplement to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase and annotations on the New Testament. In which his interpretation is examin'd: and further explain'd by new remarks upon every chapter. By Monsieur Le Clerc. To which is prefix'd, a letter ... Likewise his paraphrase, ... on the beginning of St. John's Gospel. London: printed for Sam. Buckley, and sold by Jeffery Wale, 1704. xxiv, [2], 668, [16]pp.
[Bibliothèque universelle et historique de l'année. English.] The Lives of Clemens Alexandrinus, Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea, Gregory Nazianzen, and Prudentius the Christian poet: containing an impartial account of their lives and writings, together with several curious observations upon both. Also a short history of Pelagianism. Written originally in French by Monsieur Le Clerc; and now translated into English. London: printed for Richard Baldwin, at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1696. [8], 389, [1] pp.
With Hugo Grotius. [De veritate religionis Christianae. English.] Truth of the Christian Religion in Six Books. Done into English by John Clarke. The 10th ed., with additions, particularly one whole book of Mr. Le Clerc's Against indifference of what religion a man is of. London: Printed for B. Law and Son, W. Otridge, R. Baldwin, and F. & C. Rivington, 1793. [30] p., 352 p. 22 cm.
A Supplement to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase and annotations on the New Testament; In which his interpretation is examin'd: and further explain'd by new remarks upon every chapter. To which is prefix'd, a letter ... Likewise his paraphrase, ... on the beginning of St. John's Gospel. London: printed for Sam. Buckley, and sold by Jeffery Wale, 1704. xxiv,[2],668, [16] pp.
[De l'incrédulité, où l'on examine les motifs et les raisons générales qui portent les incrédules à rejetter la religion chrétienne, avec deux lettres où l'on en prouve directement la vérité. English] A Treatise on the Causes of Incredulity. London: printed for A. and J. Churchill, and sold by Edward Castle next Scotland-yard by Whitehall, 1697. viii, 327, [1] pp.
[Genesis, sive Mosis prophetæ liber primus. English.] Twelve Dissertations out of Monsieur Le Clerk's Genesis, concerning the Hebrew tongue. Manner of interpreting the Bible. Author of the Pentateuch. Temptation of Eve by the Serpent. Flood. Confusion of languages. Original of circumcision. Divine appearances in the Old Testament. Subversion of Sodom. Pillar of salt. Coming of Shiloh. Several obscure texts in Genesis explain'd and illustrated. Done out of Latin by Mr. Brown. To which is added, a dissertation concerning the Israelites passage through the Red Sea, by another hand. London: printed and are to be sold by R. Baldwin, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1696. [8], 344 pp.; 8vo.
Leaming, Jeremiah
(1717-1804)
The first person elected Bishop in Connecticut. Loyalist to the British during the Revolution. Read about Leaming here.
The Evidences for the truth of Christianity, in a sermon, with an appendix. New-York: Printed by Hugh Gaine, at his Book-store and Print. Office, at the Bible, in Hanover-Square,
1790. 28 pp.; 23 cm. (8vo)
Leathes, Stanley
(1830-1900)
Rector of Cliffe-at-Hoo, Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral, Professor of Hebrew, King's College, London. Read about Leathes here.
The Witness of St. Paul to Christ; being the Boyle lectures for 1869 ; with an appendix on the credibility of the Acts in reply to the recent strictures of Dr. Davidson. Rivingtons, 1869. 334 pp. Also here.
The Witness of St. John to Christ. Boyle lectures; being the Boyle lectures for 1870 : with an appendix on the authorship and integrity of St. John's gospel and the unity of the Johannine writings. Rivingtons, 1870. 368 pp. Also here.
Old Testament Prophecy: Its Witness as a Record of Divine Foreknowledge: the Warburton Lectures for 1876-1880: with Notes on the Genuineness of the Book of Daniel and the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Hodder and Stoughton, 1880. 318 pp.
Prominent Mormon, executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Among his last words: "I do not believe everything that is now being taught and practiced by Brigham Young. I do not care who hears it. It is my last word... I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner." Read about Lee here.
Natural Theology; or, The existence, attributes and government of God including the obligations and duties of men, demonstrated by arguments drawn from the phenomena of nature. Syracuse, N.Y.: Wesleyan Methodist Pub. House, 1866. 196 pp.
Memoir of the Life of Richard Henry Lee, and his correspondence with the most distinguished men in America and Europe,
illustrative of their characters, and of the events of the American revolution. Philadelphia, H.C. Carey and I. Lea,
1825. 2 vol. front. (port.) 22 cm. Volume 1 of 2. Volume 2 of 2. Volume 2 also here.
"I have seen it observed by a great
writer, that Christianity, by introducing into Europe the
truest principles of humanity, universal benevolence, and
brotherly love, had happily abolished civil slavery. Let
us, who profess the same religion, practise its precepts;
and by agreeing to this duty, convince the world that we
know and practise our true interests, and that we pay a
proper regard to the dictates of justice and humanity!" From Vol. I, p. 19, the first speech of Richard Henry Lee in the House of Burgesses of Virginia.
Guénée, Antoine, (1717-1803). Letters of Certain Jews to Voltaire and for the Old Testament: with critical reflections and a short commentary extracted from a greater. In two volumes. Philadelphia: Printed by William Young, Bookseller, no. 52, Second-Street, the corner of Chesnut-Street., 1795. [4], 7-519, [3] pp.; 22 cm. (8vo). Note(s): Attributed to Antoine Guénée in the Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, Paris, 1817, v. 19./ Error in paging: p. 210 misnumbered 102.
Leigh, Benjamin Watkins
(1781-1849)
Lawyer and politician. Read more about Leigh here and here.
(TM): John Leland, an English dissenting (Presbyterian) minister who settled in Dublin, well deserves Hunt's description as 'the indefatigable opponent of the whole generation of the deists.' Near the end of his life he began writing a series of letters to a friend regarding the history of the controversy, and the result was this massive work, the only tolerably complete contemporary survey of the vast literature on both sides. Read more about Leland here
WORKS
A View of the principal deistical writers that have appeared in England in the last and present century: with observations upon them, and some account of the answers that have been published against them; in several letters to a friend. The Fifth edition. London: Printed by W. Richardson and S. Clark, for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, and T. Longman in Pater-oster-Row. 1766. Volume 1 of 2. 443 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 463 pp.
A View of the principal deistical writers that have appeared in England in the last and present century: with observations upon them, and some account of the answers that have been published against them; in several letters to a friend. London: Published by W. Baynes, Bookseller, 54, Paternoster Row, 1808. Volume 1 of 2. 508 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 508 pp.
Critique of Henry Dodwell, Jr.'s book Christianity not Founded on Argument, from the 1837 edition.
Another argument with which he makes a mighty parade is to this purpose, that no religion can be rational that is not founded on a free and impartial examination. And such examination supposes a perfect neutrality to the principles which are examined, and even a temporal disbelief of them, which is what the gospel condemneth. But this proceeds upon a wrong account of the nature of free examination and inquiry. It is not necessary to a just inquiry into doctrines or facts, that a man should be absolutely indifferent to them before he begins that inquiry, much less that he should actually disbelieve them; as if he must necessarily commence atheist, before he can fairly examine into the proofs of the existence of God. It is sufficient to a candid examination, that a man applieth himself to it with a mind open to conviction, and a disposition to embrace truth on which side soever it shall appear, and to receive the evidence that shall arise in the course of the trial. And if the inquiry relateth to principles in which we have been instructed, then, supposing those principles to be in themselves rational and well founded, it may well happen, that, in inquiring into the grounds of them, a fair examination may be carried on without seeing cause to disbelieve, or doubt of them through the whole course of the enquiry; which in that case will end in a fuller conviction of them than before.
(TM): The casual origin of Leland's View still shows in the disproportionate space given to the work of Lord Bolingbroke, who is no longer considered to be a major figure. But as Leland's survey runs to over 900 pages, there is no lack of material on other deists such as Blount, Toland, Collins, Morgan, Tindal, Annet, Chubb, and Hume, in each case citing copiously from the responses given to them. Students of the history of apologetics will want to supplement their reading of Leland with other works, such as the second volume of John Hunt's Religious Thought in England and Sir Leslie Stephen's unsympathetic but extensive discussion of the deist controversy in his History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. But no one interested in 18th century apologetics can afford to be without Leland's work.
The View is of much more than merely historical value; because it gives a minute account of numerous responses to the deists, it contains a comprehensive defense of Christianity against all of the objections that its most determined adversaries in the Enlightenment could raise. Leland's own summary of the controversy shows that he understood both the magnitude of the issues and the nature of the achievement of the defenders of Christianity:
They [the deists] have appealed to the bar of reason; the advocates for Christianity have followed them to that bar, and have fairly shewn, that the evidences of revealed religion are such as approve themselves to impartial reason, and, if taken together, are fully sufficient to satisfy an honest and unprejudiced mind. (Letter 35)
A Defence of Christianity. In two parts. Part I. The law of nature considered. Part II. The authority and usefulness of revelation and the sacred writings. The second edition, corrected. London: printed for John Ward, 1753. 2 volumes.
Part 1; Part 2
The Divine Authority of the Old and New Testament asserted: with a particular vindication of the characters of Moses, and the prophets, our saviour Jesus Christ, and his apostles, against the unjust aspersions and false reasonings of a book, entitled, The moral philosopher. London: printed for Richard Hett: and sold by Mr. George Risk in Dublin, 1739-1740. 2 volumes.
Reflections on the late Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the study and use of history:especially so far as they relate to Christianity and the Holy Scriptures: to which are added observations on some passages in those letters concerning the consequences of the late revolution and the state of things under the present establishment. London: Printed for B. Dod, 1753. xix, [1], 167, [1] pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
A Supplement to the first and second volumes of the View of the deistical writers: Containing additions and illustrations relating to those volumes. In several letters to a friend: To which is added, Reflections on the late Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the study and use of history, as far as relates to the Holy Scriptures. The third edition, corrected and enlarged. With a large index to the three volumes. London: Printed for B. Dod ..., 1756. xvi, 155, [6], clxii-clxxvi, [8], 177-368, [40] pp.; 22 cm. (8vo)
The Memoirs of the Duke of Sully, prime-minister to Henry the Great. Edition: A new edition, revised and corrected, with additional notes, some letters of Henry the Great, and a brief historical introd. London: Printed for W. Miller; (London: Printed by W. Bulmer and co.) 1810. 5 vol.: ports.; 25 cm. Volume 1 extracts.
British mathematician, philosopher of science and Christian apologist who is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College, Oxford University. Pastoral Advisor of Green Templeton College and Fellow of Wycliffe Hall. Learn more about Lennox here.
Extract:
Science as we know it exploded onto the world stage in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Why then and why there? Alfred North Whitehead's view, as summarised by C. S. Lewis, was that: "Men became scientific because they expected law in nature, and they expected law in nature because they believed in a lawgiver." It is no accident that Galileo, Kepler, Newton and Clerk-Maxwell were believers in God.
Melvin Calvin, Nobel Prize-winner in biochemistry, finds the origin of the conviction, basic to science, that nature is ordered in the basic notion: "that the universe is governed by a single God, and is not the product of the whims of many gods, each governing his own province according to his own laws. This monotheistic view seems to be the historical foundation for modern science."
Far from belief in God hindering science, it was the motor that drove it. Isaac Newton, when he discovered the law of gravitation, did not make the common mistake of saying: "now I have a law of gravity, I don't need God." Instead, he wrote Principia Mathematica, the most famous book in the history of science, expressing the hope that it would persuade the thinking man to believe in a Creator.
Newton could see, what sadly many people nowadays seem unable to see, that God and science are not alternative explanations. God is the agent who designed and upholds the universe; science tells us about how the universe works and about the laws that govern its behaviour. God no more conflicts with science as an explanation for the universe than Sir Frank Whittle conflicts with the laws and mechanisms of jet propulsion as an explanation for the jet engine. The existence of mechanisms and laws is not an argument for the absence of an agent who set those laws and mechanisms in place. On the contrary, their very sophistication, down to the fine-tuning of the universe, is evidence for the Creator's genius. For Kepler: "The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order which has been imposed on it by God and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics."
As I scientist then, I am not ashamed or embarrassed to be a Christian. After all, Christianity played a large part in giving me my subject.
... there are eminent, scientists, like Professor William Phillips (Physics Nobel Prizewinner, 1998), Professor Sir John Polkinghorne FRS (Quantum Physicist, Cambridge) and, in the United States, the current Director of the National Institute of Health and former Director of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins (to name just three) who, though well aware of Hume's argument, nevertheless publicly, and without either embarrassment or any sense of irrationality or absurdity, affirm their belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which they regard as the supreme evidence for the truth of the Christian worldview. ...
In any case, hallucination theories are severely limited in their explanatory scope: they only attempt to explain the appearances. They clearly do not account for the empty tomb - no matter how many hallucinations the disciples had, they could never have preached the resurrection in Jerusalem, if the nearby tomb had not been empty.
To anyone who knows anything about the ancient laws regarding legal testimony, it is very striking that the first reports mentioned in the Gospels of appearances of the Risen Christ were made by women. In first-century Jewish culture, women were not normally considered to be competent witnesses. At that time, therefore, anyone who wanted to invent a resurrection story would never have thought of commencing it in this way. The only value of including such a story would be if it were both true and easy to verify. Its very inclusion, therefore, is a clear mark of historical authenticity.
The evidence of the empty tomb, the character of the witnesses, the explosion of Christianity out of Judaism and the testimony of millions today are inexplicable without the resurrection. As Holmes said to Watson: "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
Video presentation. Bethinking 2/6: John Lennox on Stephen Hawking's "The Grand Design." Posted on Dec 18, 2012. John Lennox critiques physicist Stephen Hawking's book "The Grand Design" and explains why, despite its media hype, neither God nor philosophy is dead.
Video presentation. A Matter of Gravity: God, the Universe & Stephen Hawking -- Presented at the University of Cape Town South Africa. Uploaded March 15, 2013. (Earlier presented as the 2010 Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion (Dundee University), posted on February 5, 2011.) Professor John Lennox investigates Steven Hawking's metaphysical claims in his latest book "The Grand Design".
Anglican divine. Read more about Leslie here.
(TM): "Charles Leslie (1650-1722) was a nonjuror'an Anglican clergyman who refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary after the revolution in 1688 and, in consequence, lost his benefice. In this brief and vigorous work, Leslie proposes four tests for determining whether a reported event is an actual miracle:
1. That the matter of fact be such, that men's outward senses, their eyes and ears may be judges of it.
2. That it be done publicly in the face of the world.
3. That not only public monuments be kept up in memory of it, but some outward actions be performed.
4. That such monuments, and such actions or observances be instituted, and do commence from the time, that the matter of fact was done.
The first two rules, Leslie explains, 'make it impossible for any such matter of fact to be imposed upon men at the time, when such fact was said to be done, because every man's eyes and senses would contradict it.' The latter two rules assure those of us who come after that the account was not invented subsequent to the time of the purported event. In a later work, Deism Refuted, Leslie supplemented these with four more marks in order to show how high a standard the evidence for the gospels met.
WORKS
A Short and Easy Method with the Deists:
Wherein the certainty of the Christian religion is demonstrated. In a letter to a friend. By Mr Charles Leslie. To which is annexed, a letter from the author, to a deist. Edinburgh: printed by Sands, Murray, and Cochran. Sold by W. Gordon, and other booksellers, 1753. viii, 76 pp. 1846 edition.
Preface: It was the fortune of Mr. Leslie to be acquainted with the Duke of Leeds of that time; who observed to him that, although he was a believer of the Christian religion, he was not satisfied with the common methods of proving it; that the argument was long and complicated; so that some had neither leisure, nor patience to follow it, and others were not able to comprehend it; that, as it was the nature of all truth to be plain and simple, if Christianity were a truth, there must be some short way of showing it to be so; and he wished Mr. Leslie would think of it. Such a hint to such a man, in the space of three days, furnished a rough draught of the Short and Easy Method with the Deists; which he presented to the Duke; who looked it over, and then said, 'I thought I was a Christian before, but I am sure of it now; and, as I am indebted to you for converting me, I shall henceforth look upon you, as my spiritual father.' And he acted accordingly; for he never came into his company afterward without asking his blessing. (TM): "Leslie's Short and Easy Method produced a powerful effect and was instrumental in the conversion of the well-known deist Charles Gildon."
A Short and Easy Method with the Jews: Wherein the certainty of the Christian religion is demonstrated by infallible proof from the four rules made use of against the deists. Shewing, that these four rules do oblige the Jews, as much or more than the deists, to the acknowledgement of Christ. The eighth edition corrected. London: printed for Geo. Strahan, 1737. viii, [4], 208 pp.
The Truth of Christianity Demonstrated:
with a dissertation concerning private judgment and authority: to which is prefixed a vindication of the Short method with the Deists. 7th edition. London: Printed for George Strahan, 1727. xij, 148, 44, [4] pp.; 21 cm.
What are we to make of Jesus Christ? From The Essential C. S. Lewis, edited by Lyle W. Dorsett. Simon and Schuster, 1996, 560 pp.
Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don't work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel.
The Year of Narnia: 1950; The Chronicle of the Oxford University, C. S. Lewis Society, Vol. 7, Issue 2, April 2010.
Among Lewis's published works in 1950, "What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?" could have been written in almost any period of Lewis' life once he became a Christian. That it came in 1950, a few years after the end of the war (Lewis mentioned Hitler by name in the essay), in the midst of the meetings of the Socratic Club, and during his theological maturity is very appropriate. This message is good for anyone to read at any time. The essay first appeared in the book Asking Them Questions, edited by Ronald Selby Wright. What Jesus Christ is to make of us is far more important, Lewis wrote, than what we are to make of Him. Much of the argumentation in this essay appeared also in Mere Christianity, from the "poached egg" illustration to the outrageous claims Jesus made, especially the claim to be able to forgive sins. The essay also included a brief discussion of the attempt to call the Gospels legend,2 something that Lewis did not have time for in his Mere Christianity chapter, "The Shocking Alternative," when it was originally given as a BBC talk. Insisting that the Gospels were not legends and that he was qualified to know, Lewis anticipated arguments he would later use in the essay "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism" (1959). In this essay, Lewis may have been responding to the liberal World Council of Churches, which had held its opening conference in Amsterdam in August 1948. This essay may have coincided intentionally with many of the topics at the Socratic Club during Hilary Term, 1950. Topics such as "The Nature of Faith," "Certainty," "Grounds for Disbelief in God," and "Freudian Psychology and Christian Faith" were debated during the spring, perhaps forming a theme related to faith. In the next term, on May 15, the famous atheist A. G. N. (Anthony) Flew and Bernard Williams debated "Theology and Verification." 2 On May 1, the topic "Can We Trust the Gospels?" was debated at the Oxford Socratic Club by the Form Critic D. E. Nineham and G. E. F. Chilver.
"Christian Apologetics". First published in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, edited by Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), pp. 89-103.
(1) I find that the uneducated Englishman is an almost total sceptic about History. I had expected he would disbelieve the Gospels because they contain miracles: but he really disbelieves them because they deal with things that happened 2000 years ago. He would disbelieve equally in the battle of Actium if he heard of it. To those who have had our kind of education, his state of mind is very difficult to realize. To us the Present has always appeared as one section in a huge continuous process. In his mind the Present occupies almost the whole field of vision. Beyond it, isolated from it, and quite unimportant, is something called 'The Old Days' - a small, comic jungle in which highwaymen, Queen Elizabeth, knights-in-armour etc. wander about. Then (strangest of all) beyond The Old Days comes a picture of 'Primitive Man'. He is 'Science', not 'history', and is therefore felt to be much more real than the Old Days. In other words, the Pre-historic is much more believed in than the Historic.
(2) He has a distrust (very rational in the state of his knowledge) of ancient texts. Thus a man has sometimes said to me 'These records were written in the days before printing, weren't they? and you haven't got the original bit of paper, have you? So what it comes to is that someone wrote something and someone else copied it and someone else copied that and so on. Well, by the time it comes to us, it won't be in the least like the original.' This is a difficult objection to deal with because one cannot, there and then, start teaching the whole science of textual criticism. But at this point their real religion (i.e. faith in 'science') has come to my aid. The assurance that there is a 'Science' called 'Textual Criticism' and that its results (not only as regards the New Testament, but as regards ancient texts in general) are generally accepted, will usually be received without objection. (I need hardly point out that the word 'text' must not be used, since to your audience it means only 'a scriptural quotation'.)
(3) A sense of sin is almost totally lacking. Our situation is thus very different from that of the Apostles. The Pagans (and still more the metuentes (Note The metuentes or 'god-fearers, were a class of Gentiles who worshipped God without submitting to circumcision and the other ceremonial obligations of the Jewish Law. See Psalm cxviii. 4 and Acts x. 2)) to whom they preached were haunted by a sense of guilt and to them the Gospel was, therefore, 'good news'. We address people who have been trained to believe that whatever goes wrong in the world is someone else's fault - the Capitalists', the Government's, the Nazis', the Generals' etc. They approach God Himself as His judges. They want to know, not whether they can be acquitted for sin, but whether He can be acquitted for creating such a world.
... Something will usually have to be said about the historicity of the Gospels. You who are trained theologians will be able to do this in ways which I could not. My own line was to say that I was a professional literary critic and I thought I did know the difference between legend and historical writing: that the Gospels were certainly not legends (in one sense they're not good enough): and that if they are not history then they are realistic prose fiction of a kind which actually never existed before the eighteenth century. Little episodes such as Jesus writing in the dust when they brought Him the woman taken in adultery [Note John viii. 3-8] (which have no doctrinal significance at all) are the mark.
...One of the great difficulties is to keep before the audience's mind the question of truth. They always think you are recommending Christianity not because it is true but because it is good. And in the discussion they will at every moment try to escape from the issue "true--false" into stuff about a good society, or morals, or the incomes of bishops, or the Spanish Inquisition, or France, or Poland--or anything whatever. You have to keep forcing them back, and again back, to the real point. Only thus will you be able to undermine (a) Their belief that a certain amount of "religion" is desirable but one mustn't carry it too far. One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important. (b) Their firm disbelief of Article XVIII. Of course it should be pointed out that, though all salvation is through Jesus, we need not conclude that He cannot save those who have not explicitly accepted Him in this life. And it should (at least in my judgement) be made clear that we are not pronouncing all other religions to be totally false, but rather saying that in Christ whatever is true in all religions is consummated and perfected. But, on the other hand, I think we must attack wherever we meet it the nonsensical idea that mutually exclusive propositions about God can both be true.
Mark Hamilton. C. S. Lewis on "Christian Apologetics". From Ashland Theological Journal 35 (2003). Mark Hamilton (MA, MA, DMin from A TS) is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ashland University.
In 1945 C.S. Lewis delivered a speech to a group of Anglican Church pastors and youth leaders in Wales on the topic of Christian Apologetics and this lecture is printed in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, edited by Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970) 89-103 under the title of "Christian Apologetics." Many of the points Lewis makes in his lecture to this audience are quite timeless. Church leaders and pastors who work on the frontlines of Christian ministry today would be wise to heed his directives for practical apologetics.
Mere Christianity. HarperOne, March 2001. 256 pp. Also here. Buy Mere Christianity book here.
"Is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in Him? But the truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him. But in the meantime, if you are worried about the people outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself. Christians are Christ's body, the organism through which He works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man's fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work." --pg. 64.
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
... "Right actions done for the wrong reason do not help to build the internal quality or character called a "virtue," and it is this quality or character that really matters.
There is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all you reasoning power comes: you could not be right and he wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on."
Chapter 32:
... "'Niceness'- wholesome, integrated personality - is an excellent thing. We must try by every medical, educational, economic, and political means in our power to produce a world where as many people as possible grow up `nice'; just as we must try to produce a world where all have plenty to eat. But we must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world - and might even be more difficult to save.
"For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature. Of course, once it has got its wings, it will soar over fences which could never have been jumped and thus beat the natural horse at its own game. But there may be a period, while the wings are just beginning to grow, when it cannot do so: and at that stage the lumps on the shoulders - no one could tell by looking at them that they are going to be wings - may even give it an awkward appearance.
"But perhaps we have already spent too long on this question. If what you want is an argument against Christianity (and I well remember how eagerly I looked for such arguments when I began to be afraid it was true) you can easily find some stupid and unsatisfactory Christian and say, 'So there's your boasted new man I Give me the old kind.' But if once you have begun to see that Christianity is on other grounds probable, you will know in your heart that this is only evading the issue. What can you ever really know of other people's souls-of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles? One soul in the whole creation you do know: and it is the only one whose fate is placed in your hands. If there is a God, you are, in a tense, alone with Him. You cannot put Him off with speculations about your next door neighbours or memories of what you have read in books. What will all that chatter and hearsay count (will you even be able to remember it?) when the anaesthetic fog which we call 'nature' or `the real world' fades away and the Presence in which you have always stood becomes palpable, immediate, and unavoidable?"
Miracles. HarperCollins Publishers
February 2001. 304 pp. Buy this book here.
"All the essentials of Hinduism would, I think, remain unimpaired if you subtracted the miraculous, and the same is almost true of Mohammedanism. But you cannot do that with Christianity. It is precisely the story of a great Miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically Christian."
... "Now of course we must agree with Hume that, if there is absolutely "uniform experience" against miracles, if, in other words, they have never happened, why then they never have. Unfortunately, we know the experience against them to be uniform only if we know that all the reports of them are false. And we can know all the reports of them to be false only if we know already that miracles have never occurred. In fact, we are arguing in a circle."
Fern-Seed and Elephants. Originally entitled "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism", Lewis read this essay at Westcott House, Cambridge, on 11 May 1959. Published under that title in Christian Reflections (1981), it is now in Fern-seed and Elephants (1998).
Tom Gilson. The Gospel Truth Of Jesus; What Happens to Apologetics If We Add "Legend" to the Trilemma "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord"?. "The Gospel Truth of Jesus" first appeared in the May/June 2014 issue of Touchstone.
"Lewis was always more at home looking at the evidence of the Gospels themselves than at the historical circumstances surrounding them. In one classic essay (variously titled 'Fern-Seed and Elephants' or 'Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism,' depending on where you find it) he delineates the Gospels as true 'reportage' rather than fable, and concludes, 'The reader who doesn't see this has simply not learned to read.'"
The Great Divorce. HarperOne; New edition edition, March 3, 2009. "Everyone who wishes it does. Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened."
p. 75.
The Literary Impact of the Authorised Version. The Ethel M. Wood lecture delivered before the University of London on 20th March, 1950. London: The Athlone Press, 1950. Pbk. pp. 26. This lecture is licenced to remain on-line until 31st July 2011.
The Resurrection: A Symposium. Revell, 1896. "Christianity without the Resurrection." Also, related essays by Alexander MacLaren, D. L. Moody, C. H. Spurgeon, and T. DeWitt Talmage.
The History of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Comprehending all that the four evangelists have recorded concerning him: all their relations being brought together in one narration in the very words of Scripture.
New-York, Printed by D. Fanshaw, 1821. 229 pp.
Lightfoot, John
(1602-1675)
English Biblical scholar. Read more about Lightfoot here
WORKS
A Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles chronicall and criticall: The difficulties of the text explained, and the times of the story cast into Annals. The first part: from the beginning of the books to the end of the twelfth chapter: with a briefe survey of the contemporary story of the Jewes and Romans. London: Printed by R.C. for Andrew Crooke, 1645. 331 pp.; 19 cm.
A Handful of Gleanings out of the Book of Exodus probable solution of some of the mainest scruples, and explanation of the hardest places of that Booke ... London: Printed by R. Cotes for Andrew Crooke, and are to be sold at his shop, 1643. [4], 58 pp.
The Harmony of the foure Evangelists: among themselves, and with the Old Testament: the first part: from the beginning of the Gospels to the baptisme of our Saviour ... ( -the second part. From the baptism of our Saviour, to the first Passeover after ...).
Part 1.
The Harmony, chronicle and order of the Old Testament: The Years observed and laid down chronically; and the books, chapters, stories, prophesies, &c. taken up orderly, as the naturall method, and genuine series of the chronology and history doe require. With reasons given of dislocations of texts and stories, where they come: very many remarkable observations upon the text as it goes along: difficulties in the chronology untyed: differences in the relating of stories reconciled: and abundance of places in the Old Testament, briefly cleared. Also, a second part of the Harmony of the four Evangelists among themselves, and with the Old Testament; from our Saviours baptism to the first Passeover after. London: Printed by R. Cotes for John Clark, and are to be sold at his shop entring into Mercers-Chappell, at the lower end of Cheapside, 1647. [16], 108, 72, 65-72, 81-206, [12], 136 pp.
Part 2. Part 3.
[Horae hebraicae et talmudicae. English.] A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica. Online version. 1859 ed. published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, under title: Horae hebraicae et talmudicae./ Originally written in Latin and published at intervals between 1658 and 1674. It is not known by whom the translation was made.
Order for Day of Thanksgiving, November 27, 1861.. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 5, edited by Roy P. Basler. "The Municipal authorities of Washington and Georgetown in this District, have appointed tomorrow, the 28th. instant, as a day of thanksgiving, the several Department will on that occasion be closed, in order that the officers of the government may partake in the ceremonies."
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion.
It is therefore recommended to the People of the United States that, at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall have been received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings; that they then and there implore spiritual consolations in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the Divine Guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders, and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries of the earth.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the army and the navy of the United States victories on land and on the sea so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that the Union of these States will be maintained, their constitution preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But these victories have been accorded not without sacrifices of life, limb, health and liberty incurred by brave, loyal and patriotic citizens. Domestic affliction in every part of the country follows in the train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and confess the presence of the Almighty Father and the power of His Hand equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows:
Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday the 6th. day of August next, to be observed as a day for National Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer, and I invite the People of the United States to assemble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and in the forms approved by their own consciences, render the homage due to the Divine Majesty, for the wonderful things he has done in the Nation's behalf, and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger, which has produced, and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, to change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, and to visit with tender care and consolation throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles and sieges, have been brought to suffer in mind, body or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation, through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine Will, back to the perfect enjoyment of Union and fraternal peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who,while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address -- In one of his most powerful speeches, President Lincoln invokes God and Scripture in marking the nation's triumph over slavery and laying the groundwork for peace.
To the friends of Union & Liberty. May 9, 1864. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 7, edited by Roy P. Basler.
Enough is known of Army operations within the last five days to claim our especial gratitude to God; while what remains undone demands our most sincere prayers to, and reliance upon, Him, without whom, all human effort is vain. I recommend that all patriots, at their homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Proclamation of Thanksgiving and Prayer, September 3, 1864. Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 7, edited by Roy P. Basler, pp. 533-534.
The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States fleet and army in the harbor of Mobile and the reduction of Fort-Powell, Fort-Gaines, and Fort-Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the Army under Major General Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the City of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgement to the Supreme Being in whose hands are the destinies of nations. It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of public worship in the United-States, thanksgiving be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United-States, for its overthrow; and also that prayer be made for the Divine protection to our brave soldiers and their leaders in the field, who have so ofen and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy; and for blessing and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that he will continue to uphold the Government of the United-States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our working men in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of Freedom and Humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby, appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day, which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens wherever they may then be as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do farther recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings of Peace, Union and Harmony throughout the land, which it has pleased him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty four, and, of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.
John Falkner Blake. A Sermon on the services and death of Abraham Lincoln preached in Christ church, Bridgeport, Conn., Easter Sunday, April 16th, 1865. Repeated in the North Congregational church, Bridgeport, April 19th, 1865. New York:; W.H. Kelley & Bro., 1865. 29 pp.; 24 cm.
Nelson L. Brakeman. A Great man fallen: A Sermon preached in the Methodist Church, Baton Rouge, La., April 23, 1865, on the death of Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States. New Orleans: Printed at the New Orleans times book and job office, 1865. 32 pp.; 22 cm.
Schuyler Colfax. Life and principles of Abraham Lincoln. Philadelphia: J.B. Rodgers, Printer, 1865. 29 pp.; 24 cm.
"Delivered at the Court House Square, at South Bend, April 24, 1865."/ "Mr. Colfax, by invitation of the Christian Commission, repeated this address at Bryan Hall, Chicago, on Sabbath, April 30th ... . As he said many things there extemporaneously, in addition to his manuscript which was printed in the Chicago tribune, he has revised it, making these additions."--Cf. verso, t.p./ Reproduction of original from Huntington Library.
Cornelius H. Edgar. Three sermons occasioned by the assassination of President Lincoln, preached in the Reformed Dutch Church, Easton, Pa., April 16th, 19th, and 23d, 1865 by C. H. Edgar. Easton, Pa.: Printed at the "Free Press" office, 1865. 20 pp.; 22 cm.
Joseph Parrish Thompson.Abraham Lincoln, his life and its lessons: A Sermon, preached on Sabbath, April 30, 1865. New York: Loyal Publication Society, 1865. 38 pp.; 23 cm.
T. M. (Thomas Mears) Eddy. Abraham Lincoln: A Memorial discourse, delivered at a union meeting, held in the Presbyterian Church, Waukegan, Illinois, Wednesday, April 19, 1865, the day upon which the funeral services of the President were conducted in Washington, and observed throughout the loyal states as one of mourning. Chicago; (Chicago), 1865. 22 pp. Also here.
The President's Words: A Selection of passages from the speeches, addresses, and letters of Abraham Lincoln.
Boston: Walker, Fuller, 1865. 186, iv pp.; 17 cm. Introduction by Edward Everett Hale./ Advertisements: iv p. at end./ Includes index.
Lindsell, Harold
Modern apologist.
WORKS
The Battle for the Bible. Zondervan, September 1978. Buy this book here.
Lingle, Walter Lee
(b. 1868)
Presbyterian minister.
WORKS
Finals on at Davidson. Sermon by Dr. Walter L. Lingle of the First Church, Atlanta, GA. Charlotte Daily Observer, May 29, 1911, pp. 1, 4.
Presbyterians, their history and beliefs. Richmond, Va.: John Knox press, [1944]. 4 p. L., 11-127 pp. 20 cm. 1978 edition, limited preview here.
Linnemann, Eta
Modern Biblical scholar.
WORKS
The Lost Gospel Of Q - Fact Or Fantasy?". Trinity Journal, 17.1 (1996): 3-18. "In sum, Q's existence cannot be corroborated from manuscript evidence, Paul's letters, or the known history of the early church. Q and the 'Q people' are an historical fiction, no more real than the man in the moon. It would be intellectually irresponsible to rethink Christian faith based on such a tale."
Testimony. Edited transcript of a lecture given Wednesday, November 7, 2001, 7:00 p.m. Grace Valley Christian Center, Davis, California. As part of the Faith and Reason series, sponsored by Grace Alive! and Grace Valley Christian Center.
"As a theologian, I was steeped in historical-criticism. If the Lord had not taken me out of it, I would still be in it. But the Lord can do all things, and he is able even to save one out of this theology. How did he do it?
"First, the Lord convinced me with several experiences. I came to the realization that all the hard historical-critical work I was doing as a professor was not truth. To find this out was a dreadful shock for me, because truth had been my guiding star from childhood days. At the same time, through other experiences, I realized that historical-critical work gives no help in preaching the gospel. I, as most historical-critical theologians do, thought I was serving the church and God, but finally realized that my theological work did not help at all.
"... For many years I had taught my students the historical-critical theory that there is a synoptic problem, whose only solution is the two-source theory. I taught that Matthew and Luke copied Mark, and then added their own information from another source. Now I found this had no basis. It is nothing but a hypothesis, though it is considered by many to be a fact. I began to examine these things, studying the arguments one by one. I concluded that there is not the slightest proof of it, and the arguments for it are based on secular reasoning.
"Then I was led to the question of whether or not there non-genuine letters in the New Testament. The historical-critical theologians say that of the thirteen letters attributed to Paul, only seven are really written by him, although it is plainly written in the Bible that Paul wrote them all. In fact, these theologians say that the writers were lying when they said the letters were from Paul. Thus, they call these Scriptures pseudepigraphs, falsely inscribed writings. I began to investigate and after much time found that none of the arguments for doubting Paul's authorship was valid.
"So I found out you can trust your Bible. You cannot trust historical critical theology or higher criticism. It is not trustworthy. I praise God for bringing me out of it, and pray that he will use me to bring others from criticism to Christ. "
This article is taken, by permission, from the "Author's Introduction" of Eta Linnemann's book, Historical Criticism of the Bible: Methodology or Ideology?, translated by Robert W. Yarbrough, published by Baker Book House, 1990.
"By God's grace I experienced Jesus as the one whose name is above all names. I was permitted to realize that Jesus is God's Son, born of a virgin. He is the Messiah and the Son of Man; such titles were not merely conferred on him as the result of human deliberation. I recognized, first mentally, but then in a vital, experiential way, that Holy Scripture is inspired.
"Not because of human talk but because of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in my heart, I have clear knowledge that my former perverse teaching was sin. At the time I am happy and thankful that this sin is forgiven me because Jesus bore it on the cross.
"That is why I say "No!" to historical-critical theology. I regard everything that I taught and wrote before I entrusted my life to Jesus as refuse. I wish to use this opportunity to mention that I pitched my two books Gleichnisse Jesu . . . and Studien zur Passionsgeschichte, along with my contributions to journals, anthologies, and Festschriften. Whatever of these writings I had in my possession I threw into the trash with my own hands in 1978. I ask you sincerely to do the same thing with any of them you may have on your own bookshelf."
[Gibt es ein synoptisches problem? English.] Is There a Synoptic Problem? Rethinking the literary dependence of the first three Gospels. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1992. 219 pp.: ill. ; 22 cm. From The Lost Gospel Of Q - Fact Or Fantasy?". Trinity Journal, 17.1 (1996), p. 5: "Concerning Mark as an alleged source, I have already answered this question in my book Is There a Synoptic Problem? My results showed that there is no evidence that Matthew and Luke were literarily dependent on Mark. Nothing prevents the conclusion that the three
Synoptics could have been written independently." Cf. pp. 155-191.
The third edition. 1743. 77, [3] p. 18 cm. (12mo)
"Honoured Sir,
Since you are pleased to enquire what are my thoughts about the mutual toleration of Christians in their different professions of religion, I must needs answer you freely, that I esteem that toleration, or liberty to think and act for themselves in matters of religion, to be the chief characteristical mark of the true church. For whatsoever some people boast of the antiquity of places and names, or of the pomp of their outward worship; others, of the reformation of their discipline; all, of the orthodoxy of their faith: these things, and all others of this nature, are much rather marks of men striving for power and empire over one another, than of the Church of Christ. Let any one have never to true a claim to all thse things, yet if he be destitute of charity, meekness, and goodwill in general towards all mankind, even to those that are not Christians, he is certainly yet short of being a true Christian himself. Luke 22:25."
TO THE READER--"That the Holy Scriptures are one of the greatest blessings which God bestows upon the sons of men, is generally acknowledged by all who know any thing of the value and worth of them. In them the Lord hath dilucidly displayed that counsel of his will that is of infinite concernment to us to understand, in order to our present being accepted of him here, and at last brought to the fullest enjoyment of himself in glory. 'Tis wonderful to behold, how full and perfect this world is, with respect to this end: what can man desire to know, which is necessary hereunto, that the light thereof discovers not? What direction can he expect, by which he may be fortified against all enemies of his good, either within or without him, that is not there given? What encouragements would he have, which are not therein displayed before him? And what cavils can be brought against any part of truth contained therein, to which they themselves yield not a full resolve, one place of Scripture so exactly clearing, expounding, and illustrating another? Yet, to amazement, it is observed, that man, who is so highly and principally concerned in it, doth too little value it: he can weary himself in any secular affair, but diligently to search the Scriptures according to our Lord's advice, is to him tedious and burdensome."
A Collection of several pieces of Mr. John Locke, Never before printed, or not extant in his Works. Publish'd by the author of the life of the ever-memorable Mr. John Hales, &c. London, M.DCC.XX. [1720]. 438 pp.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. London, Printed for T. Longman, B. Law and Son, J. Johnson, C. Dilly, G.G. and J. Robinson, T. Cadell, J. Sewell, W. Otridge, W. Richardson, F. and C. Rivington, W. Goldsmith, T. Payne, Leigh and Sotheby, S. Hayes, R. Faulder, B. and J. White, W. Lowndes, G. and T. Wilkie, and J. Walker, 1794. 9 volumes, front. (port.) 23 cm. Volume 1 of 9. 590 pp. Volume 1. Preface to the works. Life of the author. An analysis of Mr. Locke's doctrine of ideas. An essay concerning human understanding, to the end of Book III, Chap. VI.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 2 of 9. 492 pp. Volume 2. An essay concerning human understanding concluded. Defence of Mr. Locke's opinion concerning personal identity. Of the conduct of the understanding. Some thoughts concerning reading and study for a gentleman. Elements of natural philosophy. A new method of a common-place-book.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 3 of 9. 498 pp. Volume 3. A letter to the Right Rev. Edward Lord Bishop of Worcester, concerning Mr. Locke's Essay of human understanding. Mr. Locke's reply. An answer to Remarks upon an Essay concerning human understanding. Mr. Locke's reply to the Bishop of Worcester's answer to his second Letter.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 4 of 9. 495 pp. Volume 4. Some considerations of the consequences of lowering the interest, and raising the value of money. Short observations on a printed paper, entitled, 'for encouraging the coining silver money in England, and after, for keeping it here'. Further considerations concerning raising the value of money. Two treatises of government.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 5 of 9. 585 pp. Volume 5. A letter concerning toleration, being a translation of the Epistola de tolerantia. A second letter concerning toleration. A third letter for toleration. A fourth letter for toleration.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 6 of 9. 429 pp. Volume 6. The reasonableness of Christianity. A vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity, from Mr. Edward's Reflectons. A second vindication.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 7 of 9. 447 pp. Volume 7. A paraphrase and notes on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, I and II Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesians; to which is prefixed an Essay for the understanding of St. Paul's Epistles, by consulting St. Paul himself.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 8 of 9. 479 pp. Volume 8. Some thoughts concerning education. An examination of P. Malebranche's opinion of seeing all things in God. A discourse of miracles. Memoirs relating to the life of Anthony, first Earl of Shaftsbury. Some familiar letters between Mr. Locke, and several of his friends.
Thomas Cooke, editor. The Works of John Locke. Ninth edition. Volume 9 of 9. 577 pp. Volume 9. Continuation of familiar letters between Mr. Locke, and several of his friends. [Miscellaneous letters and pieces]
The Reasonableness of Christianity, as deliver'd in the scriptures. To which is added, a first and second vindication of the same; from some Exceptions and Reflections in a Treatise by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, Intitled, Some Thoughts Concerning the Several Causes and Occasions of Atheism, especially in the present Age. The sixth edition. London: Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, in Petermoster-Row; J. Pemberton, against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street; and E. Symon, in Cornhill, 1736. 296 pp. Extracts here.
242. Though yet, if any one should think, that out of the saying of the wise heathens, before Our Saviour's time, there might be a collection made of all these rules of morality, which are to be found in the Christian religion; yet this would not at all hinder, but that the world, nevertheless, stood as much in need of Our Savior, and the morality delivered by him. Let it be granted (though not true) that all the moral precepts of the gospel were known by some body or other, amongst mankind, before. But where, or how, or of what use, is not considered.
... But such a body of Ethics, proved to be the law of nature, from principles of reason, and reaching all the duties of life, I think nobody will say the world had before Our Saviour's time. 'Tis not enough, that there were up and down scattered sayings of wise men, conformable to right reason. The law of nature, was the law of convenience too; and 'tis no wonder that those men of parts, and studious virtue (who had occasion to think on any particular part of it), should by meditation light on the right, even from the observable convenience and beauty of it, without making out its obligation from the true principles of the law of nature, and foundations of morality. But these incoherent apophthegms of philosophers, and wise men, however excellent in themselves, and well intended by them, could never make a morality, whereof the world could be convinced; could never rise to the force of a law that mankind could with certainty depend on. Whatsoever should thus be universally useful, as a standard to which men should conform their manners, must have its authority either from reason or revelation. 'Tis not every writer of morals, or compiler of it from others, that can thereby be erected into a law-giver to mankind; and a dictator of rules, which are therefore valid, because they are to be found in his books, under the authority of this or that philosopher. He that any one will pretend to set up in this kind, and have his rules pass for authentic directions, must shew, that either he builds his doctrine upon principles of reason, self-evident in themselves, and that he deduces all the parts of it from thence, by clear and evident demonstration; or, must shew his commission from heaven, that he comes with authority from God, to deliver his will and commands to the world. In the former way, nobody that I know, before Our Saviour's time, ever did, or went about to give us a morality. Tis true, there is a law of nature: but who is there that ever did, or undertook to give it us all entire, as a law; no more nor no less, than what was contained in, and had the obligation of that law? Who, ever made out all the parts of it, put them together, and shewed the world their obligation? Where was there any such code, that mankind might have recourse to, as their unerring rule, before Our Saviour's time? If there was not, 'tis plain, there was need of one to give us such a morality; such a law, which might be the sure guide of those who had a desire to go right: and, if they had a mind, need not mistake their duty; but might be certain when they had performed, when failed in it. Such a law of morality, Jesus Christ hath given us in the New Testament; but by the latter of these ways, by revelation. We have from him a full and sufficient rule for our direction, and conformable to that of reason. But the truth and obligation of its precepts, have their force, and are put past doubt to us, by the evidence of his mission. He was sent by God: His miracles shew it; and the authority of God in his precepts cannot be questioned. Here morality has a sure standard, that revelation vouches, and reason cannot gainsay, nor question; but both together witness to come from God the great law-maker. And such an one as this out of the New Testament, I think the world never had, nor can any one say is any where else to be found. Let me ask any one, who is forward to think that the doctrine of morality was full and clear in the world, at Our Saviour's birth; whether would he have directed Brutus and Cassius (both men of parts and virtue, the one whereof believed, and the other disbelieved a future being), to be satisfied in the rules and obligations of all the parts of their duties; if they should have asked him where they might find the law, they were to live by, and by which they should be charged or acquitted, as guilty or innocent? If to the sayings of the wise, and the declarations of philosophers, he sends them into a wild wood of uncertainty, to an endless maze, from which they should never get out: if to the religions of the world, yet worse: and if to their own reason, he refers them to that which had some light and certainty; but yet had hitherto failed all mankind in a perfect rule; and we see, resolved not the doubts that had risen amongst the studious and thinking philosophers; nor had yet been able to convince the civilized parts of the world, that they had not given, nor could, without a crime, take away, the lives of their children, by exposing them....
Editor, Works of John Locke, Ninth edition, 1793: "From one who knew so well how to direct the researches of the human mind, it was natural to expect that Christianity and the Scriptures would not be neglected, but rather hold the chief place in his inquiries. These were accordingly the object of his more mature meditations; which were no less successfully employed upon them, as may be seen in part above. His Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the Scriptures, is a work that will richly repay the labour of being thoroughly studied, together with both its Vindications, by all those who desire to entertain proper notions concerning the pure, primitive plan of Christ's religion, as laid down by himself: where they will also meet with many just observations on our Saviour's admirable method of conducting it. Of this book, among other commendations, Limborch says, 'Plus verae 'Theologiae ex ill quam ex operotis multorum Systematibus haufiffe me ingenue fateor.' Lee. March 23, 1697."
A Second Vindication of the reasonableness of Christianity, as deliver'd in the scriptures. By John Locke, Esq. The fifth edition. London: Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, in Pater-noster Row; J. Pemberton, against St. Dunstand's Church in Fleet-street; and E. Symon, in Cornhill, 1736. 407 pp. Also issued as part of The Reasonableness of Christianity, sixth edition, 1748.
A Common place-book to the Holy Bible: or, the scripture's sufficiency practically demonstrated. Wherein The Substance of Scripture, Respecting Doctrine, Worship, and Manners, Is reduced to its proper Head: Weighty Cases are resolved, Truths confirmed, and difficult Texts illustrated and explained. The fourth edition; improved with twelve intire additional chapters; many errors in the former editions are amended. London, MDCCXXXVIII. [1738]. 334 pp.
Paraphrase and Notes upon the Epistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, I & II Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesians. To which is prefix'd, an essay for the understanding of St. Paul's Epistles, by consulting St. Paul Himself. By John Locke, Esq. The Fourth edition. London: Printed for A. Ward, S. Birt, T. Osborn, C. Hitch, J. Oswald, A. Millar, J. Hodges, J. Pemberton, F. Gosling, and T. Cooper. 1742. 423 pp.
Editor, Works of John Locke, Ninth edition, 1793: "In his Paraphrase and Notes upon the epistles of St. Paul, how fully does our author obviate the erroneous doctrines (that of absolute reprobation in particular), which had been falsely charged upon the apostle! And to Mr. Locke's honour it should be remembered, that he was the first of our commentators who showed what it was to comment upon the apostolic writings; by taking the whole of an epistle together, and striking off every signification of every term foreign to the main scope of it; by keeping this point constantly in view, and carefully observing each return to it after any digression; by tracing out a strict though sometimes less visible, connexion in that very consistent writer, St. Paul; touching the propriety and pertinence of whose writings to their several subjects and occasions, he appears to have formed the most just conception, and thereby confessedly led the way to some of our best modern interpreters. Vide Pierce, pref. to Coloff. And Taylor on Rom. No. 60."
History of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ; containing, in order of time, all the events and discourses recorded in the four evangelists, &c. With some short notes for the help of ordinary readers. London: Printed for W. Mears and F. Clay without Temple-Bar, and J. Hooke and T. Woodward in Fleetstreet, 1721. 325 pp.
"Thus the law of nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other men's actions, must, as well as their own and other men's actions, be conformable to the law of nature, i.e. to the will of God, of which that is a declaration, and the fundamental law of nature being the preservation of mankind, no human sanction can be good, or valid against it."
Book II, p. 285, Chapter XI, §135.
"Human laws are measures in respect of men whose actions they must direct, howbeit such measures they are as have also their higher rules to be measured by, which rules are two, the law of God, and the law of nature; so that laws human must be made according to the general laws of nature, and without contradiction to any positive law of scripture, otherwise they are ill made."
Book II, p. 285, Chapter XI, §135. Citing Richard Hooker, from Eccl. Pol. 1. iii, sect. 9 (1888 edition):
"The same Thomas, therefore, whose definition of human laws we mentioned before, doth add thereunto this caution concerning the rule and canon whereby to make them: 'Human laws are measures in respect of men whose actions they must direct, howbeit such measures they are, as have also their higher rules to be measured by, which rules are two, the law of God and the law of Nature. So that laws human must be made according to the general laws of Nature, and without contradiction unto any positive law in Scripture, otherwise they are ill made.'
[Epistola de Tolerantia. English] A Letter concerning toleration. By John Locke, Esq. A new edition. London: Printed by J. Crowder, Warwick-Square, for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1800. 142 pp. British Library.
Some Thoughts concerning education. By John Locke, Esq. The fourteenth edition. London: Printed for J. Whiston, W. Strahan, J. and F. Rivington, B. White, L. Davis, Hawes, Clarke and Collins, W. Johnston, W. Owen, T. Caslon, S. Crowder, T. Longman, B. Law, C. Rivington, E. Dilly, J. Wilkie, T. Cadell, S. Baker, T. Payne, T. Davies, G. Robinson, T. Becket, and J. Robson, 1772. 336 pp. Contents, Dedication, and instruction on educating children to read the Bible, pp. 231-233.
Extracts. Contents, Dedication by John Wynne, Introduction by Locke, Chapter X: Of our Knowledge of the Existence of a God; Chapter XVIII: Of Faith and Reason, and their distrinct Provinces; Chapter XIX: Of Enthusiasm.
Volume 2. Cummings & Hilliard and J. T. Buckingham, 1813. Extract: "The study of morality, I have above mentioned as that that becomes a gentleman; not barely as a man, but in order to his business as a gentleman. Of this there are books enough writ both by ancient and modern philosophers; but the morality of the gospel doth so exceed them all, that, to give a man a full knowledge of true morality, I shall send him to no other book, but the New Testament."
James Peirce. A Paraphrase and notes on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Colossians, Philippians, and Hebrews: After the manner of Mr. Locke. To which are annexed several critical dissertations on particular texts of scripture. The second edition. By James Peirce, With a paraphrase and notes on the three last chapters of the Hebrews left unfinish'd by Mr. Peirce; and an essay to discover the Author of the Epistle and Language in which it was originally written, by Joseph Hallett, jun. London, 1733 [1737]. 604 pp. Contents: A paraphrase and notes on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians, with an appendice upon Ephes. IV. 8. / [J. Peirce] London: J. Noon, 1725 -- A paraphrase and notes on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, to which are added two dissertations. One on Gal. IV. 21--v. 1. The other on Matth. II. l3, l4, l5./ James Peirce. London: J. Noon and S. Chandler, 1725 -- A paraphrase and notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews / J. Peirce. London: J. Noon andJ. Chandler, 1734 -- A paraphrase and notes on the three last chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews / Joseph Hallett. London: J. Purser, 1733 -- A paraphrase and critical commentary on the prophecy of Joel / Samuel Chandler. London: J. Noon, 1735.
James Peirce. A Paraphrase and notes, on the Epistle to the Hebrews. London: Printed for J. Noon, at the White Hare, near Mercer's Chapel, Cheapside; and J. Chandler, at the Cross Keys in the Poultry, 1727. 199 pp.
Editor. The People's Bible history: prepared in the light of recent investigations. Chicago: H.O. Shepard, 1896. xxix, 910 pp.: ill., maps; 27 cm. By some of the foremost thinkers in Europe and America ; edited by Geo. C. Lorimer; with an introduction by William Ewart Gladstone.
Contents: General introduction, by W.E. Gladstone.
--Old Testament: Literature, by A.H. Sayce; Manuscripts, by S.I. Curtiss.
--From the creation to the dawn of human history, by F.W. Farrar.
--From the call of Abraham to the bondage of Israel, by E.H. Capen.
--From the birth of Moses to the beginnings of freedom, by F.W. Gunsaulus.
--From the patriarchal tent to the priestly tabernacle, by G.F. Pentecost.
--From the invasion of Canaan to the last of the judges, by R.S. MacArthur.
--From the rise of the monarchy to its decline, by Martyn Summerbell.
--From the division of the empire to the last of the kings, by F.M. Bristol.
--From the captivity in Babylon to the return of the exiles, by W.T. Moore.
--From the close of the old era to the beginning of the new, by E.E. Hale.
--New Testament: Literature, by J.A. Beet;
--Manuscripts, by C.R. Gregory.
--From the birth in Bethlehem to the crucifixion on Calvary, by W.C. Wilkinson.
--From the descent from the cross to the ascent to the throne, by Samuel Hart.
--From the outpouring of the spirit to the death of St. Paul, by J.M. Gibson.
--From the fall of Jerusalem to the triumph of Christianity, by G.C. Lorimer.
--Index.
To lawyers ...: Evidence irrebuttable which can change your lives. [Dallas, TX: Luckhoo Ministries, 1990s. 25 pp.; 21 cm.
I have been a lawyer for 42 years. During this period I have received many credits in and out of my profession, but until three years ago I regarded Jesus as just another pathway to Eternal Life. I was not an atheist but felt erroneously that I was saved and that all the other members of the various religions throughout the world who believed in a God were also going to the glorious Kingdom, which God promised.
Since then I have sought to study the many religions and to place under the microscope of examination an in depth study of the grounds on which one is called to accept:
1. That there is a God;
2. That Jesus was the son of God;
3. That Salvation or Eternal Life could only be obtained through an acceptance of Jesus as the Christ.
Now as a lawyer placing his case before the tribunal of the world or before you members of the legal profession of before you the jury there are certain basic concepts of evidence, which we must accept either by:
1. Direct evidence and/or
2. Circumstantial evidence, which must point unerringly to the acceptance of one proposition only, otherwise that proposition must be deemed as denied. Our whole approach must be legal and not emotional. Was my original conception correct or my views accepted but a bare 3 years ago logical, factual and wholly acceptable?
Now the greatest authority known to England and America on the subject of legal evidence is Professor Simon Greenleaf whose work "The Testimony of Evangelists" I commend to you, but today rather than cite erudite works -- some of which I shall give at the end of this summation. Let me ask you to consider first principles and to examine the evidence and reasoning in support of the recorded opinions of many of the most famous members of our learned but highly sceptical profession. Further ascertain whether there is established acceptance of their case beyond a reasonable doubt concerning the Christian Religion and implicitly to the acceptance of the Holy Bible and whether these lead you to the conclusion that Salvation can only be won through Jesus, the Christ, the Christ who must be acknowledged in our hearts and confessed by our lips.
God and me: A Servant and slave of Lord Jesus Christ proudly serving the only true and mighty God. [Dallas, Tex.: Lionel Luckhoo, 1900s-1999? [i], 30 pp.; 22 cm.
Extracts of Christian Lawyers from The Bench and Bar of Mississippi New York: E.J. Hale & Son, 1881, 539 pp.: ports.; 24 cm. and The Bench and Bar of Texas, St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1885. 610 pp.: ports.; 24 cm. [ZIP file]
"I take it for granted that a system of rewards and punishments is necessary to efficient government. The laws of our physical organization involve such a system. He who regards these laws is rewarded by a healthy, sound action of the body, while he who puts them at defiance, is punished with sickness, pain, and an enfeebled constitution. Rewards and punishments are among the essential elements of a peaceful and prosperous community. They occupy an important place in the moral government of God.
"The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of reward. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He considered reproach for Christ's sake greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. The reason assigned is, that he had respect unto the recompense of reward. David declared, 'Verily there is a reward for the righteous.' Retribution was constantly held up by the prophets. 'If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' Our Lord and his apostles constantly exhibited this principle in the divine government. Paul says, 'He that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him.'"
Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron
(1772-1863)
Lord Chancellor of England. Read more about John Singleton Copley here.
WORKS
Sir Theodore Martin. Extracts from A Life of Lord Lyndhurst from letters and papers in possession of his family. London: J. Murray, 1883. xi, 532 pp.
English statesman. Learn more about Lyttelton here and here.
WORKS
Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of Paul: being an argumentative and rational defence of the Christian revelation; deduced from the peculiar circumstances of St. Paul before his conversion, and the effects which followed it; as exemplified in his life, and in the doctrines which he preached: In a letter to Gilbert West, Esq./ By Lord George Lyttleton. [Two lines from Ecclesiastes] First Boston edition. Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring. Sold at their bookstore, no. 2, Cornhill, 1800. 95, [1], 23, [1] pp.; 17 cm. (12mo). 1819 edition.
Britton H. Tabor. Skepticism Assailed, 1895: "Lord Lyttleton [sic] and his friend, Gilbert West, were both men of known ability, who had become skeptical on a superficial study and investigation of the Bible. They both entertained the idea that the Bible was an imposture, and entered into an agreement to expose what they assumed to be its fallacies. It was decided that West should write an attack on the resurrection, and Lord Lyttleton one on the conversion of St. Paul.
"Both entered upon their chosen tasks with the avowed determination to oppose Christianity. But at the conclusion of their labors, instead of exulting over an exposure, as they had planned to do, both sadly lamented the follies of their past lives, and regretted that they had not sooner thoroughly investigated the Scriptures. Revolutionized in their convictions, they had become firm believers in our Holy Bible as being the Word of God.
Lord Lyttleton said he found that every step of Paul's life after conversion showed honesty and sincerity of purpose, and that his account of the said conversion removed it from all visionary or speculative fields. He said that Paul was either a wicked impostor, or that his testimony was true; and that he referred to too many witnesses, dates, paces, and facts not to have been exposed if what he had stated was a dream or a lie, and that the facts and evidence corroborating Paul's testimony justified but one rational conclusion.
"This profound lawyer and eminent jurist, thorough investigator and strong reasoner, whose fame will live as long as law is enforced, after full and thorough investigation, declared that he had no doubt whatever of the truth of Paul's testimony relating to the facts that led to his conversion and sudden change from an avowed Pharisee and persecutor to the greatest missionary the world has ever produced.
"In our judgment, Lord Lyttleton's argument is the strongest ever written on the conversion of Paul, and is absolutely conclusive. Every one ought to read it."
The Conversion of a Mahometan to the Christian Religion: described in a letter from Gaifer, in England, to Aly-ben-Hayton, his friend in Turkey."--P. [1]-17, 2nd count. First published at London in 1757 with title: The Christian indeed. Attributed to John Edwards in the Dictionary of national biography./ "The bird of paradise. By the late Rev. Samuel Stennett. (Extracted from the Baptist register, published in England by the Rev. Dr. Rippon.)"--P. [18]-23, 2nd count./ Booksellers' advertisement, p. [24], 2nd count.
