Once in modern times a nation had the opportunity of showing the world a specimen of an infidel republic. The Bible was publicly burned. Death was declared an eternal sleep; God was declared a fiction, the Sabbath was abolished and religious worship denounced. And what was {86} the consequence? Revolution after revolution occurred. Thousands, aye millions, of the sons of France were slain in the wars that ensued. Wave after wave of blood rolled through the guilty streets of Paris, and the people were clothed in mourning from one end of the land to the other. In the Declaration of Independence it is declared that, "Mankind are endowed _by their Creator_ with certain inalienable rights." It is well said: the law of God is the only secure basis for the rights of man. {87} CHAPTER VI. VALIDITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AS SHOWN BY INTERNAL EVIDENCE. INFLUENCE OF THE SCRIPTURES--THEIR AGREEMENT WITH SECULAR HISTORY--COLONY OF PHILIPPI--ANCIENT COIN--CERTAINTY OF BIBLE HISTORY--GIBBON'S TESTIMONY--QUOTATIONS OF CELSUS--MARCION THE APOSTATE--CLASSIFICATION OF NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS--AVOCATIONS OF THE APOSTLES--THEIR MANNER OF PREACHING--THEY CHALLENGED CRITICISM--DENIAL OF MIRACLES, A MODERN INVENTION--SUFFERINGS OF THE APOSTLES--THEY SEALED THEIR TESTIMONY WITH THEIR BLOOD. Faith rests upon facts, superstition on theories. Faith is increased by intelligence, superstition by ignorance, Faith courts investigation for thereby it is strengthened; superstition shuns it as fatal to its existence. Thousands can bear witness to the truth of the words of the Savior, "If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself;" yet surrounded as we are by skeptics and cavilers of every sort, it is well that we should be prepared to ward off the fiery darts of the wicked, to meet them with their own arguments, and as the youthful {88} David did to Goliath in days of old, cut off the boastful atheistic giant's head with his own sword. In looking over the history of the world, we find that those books, which collectively are called the scriptures, have in all ages, exerted a controlling influence over the destinies of mankind. Their teachings are perused with pleasure by the child, and pondered with patience by the philosopher. Their practical wisdom has guided the judgment of the wisest kings of antiquity and still teach the humblest peasant his duty to his neighbor. Their precious promises have lighted the prophetic eyes of old; they are still chanted by the mother over her cradle, and by the orphan over the tomb. Here, thousands of miles distant from the places where they were first revealed, in a language unknown alike at Cumorah and Jerusalem, they rule as lovingly and as powerfully as in their native soil.