* The Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was written
probably in the fourth or fifth century.
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II. An argument of great weight with those who are judges of the proofs
upon which it is founded, and capable, through their testimony, of being
addressed to every understanding, is that which arises from the style
and language of the New Testament. It is just such a language as might
be expected from the apostles, from persons of their age and in their
situation, and from no other persons. It is the style neither of classic
authors, nor of the ancient Christian fathers, but Greek coming from men
of Hebrew origin; abounding, that is, with Hebraic and Syriac idioms,
such as would naturally be found in the writings of men who used a
language spoken indeed where they lived, but not the common dialect of
the country. This happy peculiarity is a strong proof of the genuineness
of these writings: for who should forge them? The Christian fathers were
for the most part totally ignorant of Hebrew, and therefore were not
likely to insert Hebraisms and Syriasms into their writings. The few who
had a knowledge of the Hebrew, as Justin Martyr, Origen, and Epiphanius,
wrote in a language which hears no resemblance to that of the New
Testament. The Nazarenes, who understood Hebrew, used chiefly, perhaps
almost entirely, the Gospel of Saint Matthew, and therefore cannot be
suspected of forging the rest of the sacred writings. The argument, at
any rate, proves the antiquity of these books; that they belonged to the
age of the apostles; that they could be composed, indeed, in no other.*

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