Full text of "View of the evidences of Christianity ... with annotations by Richard Whately"

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN!
AT LOS ANGELES

THE GIFT OF

MAY TREAT MORRISON

IN MEMORY OF

ALEXANDER F MORRISON

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A VIEW

OF THE

EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

IN THREE PARTS.

WILLIAM PALEY, M.A.,

ARCHDEACON OF CARLISLE.
WITH

ANNOTATIONS

By RICHARD WHATELY, D.D.,

ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.

NEW YORK:
JAMES MILLER, 522 BROADWAY.

MDCCCLXV.

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A.. ALTORB, PKINTEH.

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CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction 1

PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
Of the antecedent credibility of miracles 11

PART I.

Of the direct historical Evidence of Christianity, and wherein it is distin-
guished from the Evidence alleged for other Miracles.

Propositions stated 37

PROPOSITION I.

That there is satisfactory evidence, that many, professing to be
original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives
in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in
attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their belief of those accounts ; and that
they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of
conduct 37

CHAPTER I.

Evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators of Christianity,

from the nature of the case 37

4Z9747

1 V CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

Evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators of Christianity,

from 'profane testimony 51

CHAPTER III.

Indirect evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators of
Christianity, from the Scriptures and other ancient Christian
writings 57

CHAPTER IV.
Direct evidence of the same 63

CHAPTER V.
Observations upon the preceding evidence 76

CHAPTER VI.

That the story, for which the first propagators of Christianity

suffered, was miraculous 80

CHAPTER VII.

That it was, in the main, the story which we have now, proved by

indirect considerations 84

CHAPTER VIII.

The same proved from the authority of our historical Scriptures.. . 99

CHAPTER [X.

Of the authenticity of the historical Scriptures; in Eleven

Sections 115

Sect. I. Quotations of the historical Scriptures by ancient Chris-
tian writers 12\

CONTENTS. V

Sect. II. Of the peculiar respect with which they Avere quoted . . 141

Sect. III. The Scriptures were, in very early times, collected

into a distinct volume 144

Sect. IV. And distinguished by appropriate names and titles of

respect 147

Sect. V. Were publicly read and expounded in the religious

assemblies of the eai-ly Christians 149

Sect. VI. Commentaries, &c, were anciently written upon the

Scriptures 152

Sect. VII. They were received by ancient Christians of different

sects and persuasions 156

Sect. VIII. The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen
Epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of John, and the First of
Peter, were received without doubt, by those who doubted
concerning the other books of our present canon 162

Sect. IX. Our present Gospels were considered by the adversaries
of Christianity, as containing the accounts upon which the
religion was founded 166

Sect. X. Formal Catalogues of authentic Scriptures were pub-
lished ; in all which our present Gospels were included lVl

Sect. XL The above propositions cannot be predicated of those
books which are commonly called apocryphal books of the
New Testament 1 73

CHAPTER X.
recapitulation 177

V , CONTENTS.

Of the direct historical Evidence of Christianity, and wherein it is distin-
guished from the Evidence alleged for other Miracles.

PROPOSITION II.

CHAPTER I.

That there is not satisfactory evidence, that persons pretending to
be original witnesses of any other similar miracles, have acted
in the same manner, in attestation of the accounts which they
delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of the truth
of those accounts 181

CHAPTER II.
Consideration of some specific instances °i ) ]

PART II.

Of the Auxiliary Evidences of Christianity.

CHAPTER I.
Prophecy 208

CHAPTER II.
The morality of the Gospel 220

CHAPTER III.
The candor of the writers of the New Testament 248

CHAPTER IV.
Identity of Christ's character 257

CHAPTER V.
Originality <>f < 'luist's character 266

CONTENTS. VII

CHAPTER VI.

Conformity of the facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in
Scripture, with the state of things in those times, as repre-
sented by foreign and independent accounts 269

CHAPTEE VII.
Undesigned coincidences 295

CHAPTER VIII.
Of the history of the resurrection 298

CHAPTER IX.

Of the propagation of Christianity 302

Sect. II. Reflections upon the preceding account 318

Sect. III. Of the success of Mahometanism 324

PART III.

A Brief Consideration of some Popular Objections.

CHAPTER I.
The discrepancies between the several Gospels 336

CHAPTER II.
Erroneous opinions imputed to the Apostles 339

CHAPTER III.

The connection of Christianity with the Jeivisk history 343

CHAPTER IV.
Rejection of Christianity 347

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

That the Christian miracles are not recited, or appealed to, by
early Christian writers themselves, so fully or frequently as
might have been expected 359

CHAPTER VI.

Want of universality in the knowledge and reception of Chris-
tianity, and of greater clearness in the evidence 307

CHAPTER VII.
The supposed effects of Christianity 375

CHAPTER VIII.
Conclusion 383

INTRODUCTIOIT.

IT — :iild be superfluous to expatiate on the excellences of a
": - well known as Dr. Pale; - Bat it

appeared to me desirable to republish it with some a>I
order to meet the new si pes (though withorr <ibstantial

novelty i which op^ - don to t Jos has f late
- med. As - bserved by an able Write -r in the Cautions
Ti - X .29 .-Infidelity — or at least that appr
Infidelity, the absence oi a well-grounded and firm belief — is
among the chief cause- f the - - under which we

. - faith was xed upon thai darion :

•nal evidence upon which I stand his A] sties .it.

N proportion - taken to make men's knowledge :

that evidence keep pace wirh the ac
of other things: and then, when d bts began

- - ught si infirm belief, _ :he

imagination and the feelin_-. - asoi

who hard. _ ed in anything . _ 1 in dreading to take
the only saj urse. While -Id men t

Church on its own word, and the othei to trust 1 v are
without one intelligible - for believ _ -

- it that so many have made np their minds
neither, and so manv more are vainly si __ _ to maintain
a firm -

• The- strength inc :' the Infidel is in our w

folly: and it is our a odless fears whid
midable. For. the truth is, that against the su': - :

Christianity itself, as distinguis sions oi

it. modern Infidelitv — however it mav boast of new discovei -

1* : INTRODUCTION.

• •

— has nothing more to say than lias been said and refuted a
thousand times. It may seem to present a terrible form in the
obscurity which German metaphysics have thrown around it :
but upon a nearer view, the spectre will resolve itself into the
old worn-out clothes of Collins, and Toland, and Chubb, and
Hume, which are now too soiled and threadbare to be exhibited
openly in the day-light.'

To Paley's Evidences, and his Horce Paulina, and to the
little book of Introductory Lessons on Christian Evidences,
published several years ago, no answer, as far as I know and
believe, has ever been brought forward. The opponents of
Christianity always choose their own position ; and the posi-
tion they choose is always that of the assailant. They bring
forward objections ; but never attempt to defend themselves
against the objections to which they are exposed.

The cause of this it is easy to perceive. Objections — not
only plausible, but real, valid, and sometimes unanswerable
objections — may be brought against what is nevertheless true,
and capable of being fully established by a preponderance of
probability; — by showing that there are more and weightier
objections on the opposite side. If, therefore, any one can in-
duce you to attend to the objections on one side only, wholly
overlooking the (perhaps weightier) opposite ones, he may
easily gain an apparent triumph. A barrister would have an
easy task if he were allowed to bring forward all that could
be said against the party he was opposed to, and to pass over
in silence all that could be urged on the other side, as not
worth answering.

And many of the best-established and universally admitted
historical facts might in this way be assailed, by showing that
they are in many respects very improbable. The history, for
instance, of Napoleon Bonaparte has been shown to contain a
mucli greater amount of gross and glaring improbabilities than
any equal portion of Scripture-history ; or perhaps even than
all the Scripture-Narratives together. And yet all believe it;
because the improbability of its being an entire fabrication is
incalculably greater.

And practically, all reasonable men proceed on the maxim
of an ancient Greek author, which is repeatedly cited by Aris-

INTRODUCTION. 3

totle; that 'it is probable that many wwprobable things will
happen.'

Indeed, were it not so, every intelligent and well-informed
man would be a prophet. By an extensive study of History,
and observation of Mankind, he would have learned to judge
accurately what kind of events are probable. And if nothing
ever happened at variance with probabilities, — if every thing was
sure to turn out conformably to reasonable expectations (which
is just what is always assumed by anti-christian writers), then
such a person might sit down and write a prospective history of
the next century ; and do this as easily and as correctly as he
could write a history of the last century : even as astronomers
can calculate forwards the eclipses that are to come, as easily
as they can calculate backwards those that are past.

Let those objectors then, who are merely objectors, try the
experiment of writing a conjectural prophetic history. Their
histories, I conceive, would be found a good deal at variance
with each other ; and all of them, when the time arrived, at
variance with the events.

Of those who profess Christianity in a certain ' non-natural
sense,' while disbelieving what is commonly understood by that
word, there are two principal sects, usually called the Mythic
and the Naturalist ; both of which arose in Germany (where,
however, they are now out of fashion), but which are patronized
by some English and American writers. The Mythics repre-
sent the whole of the Scripture History as a series of Parables,
never designed to be believed as literally true, any more than
^Esop's Fables, though intended (like them) to convey some
moral lessons. The Naturalists, on the contrary, maintain the
general truth of the history, but explain the miraculous portions
of it as natural events. A person, for instance, supposed to be
dead, but in reality in a trance, happened to awake just when
Jesus approached : a storm happened to abate at a critical mo-
ment : a fever-patient recovered health, and a blind man, sight,
through the force of enthusiastic emotion : the five thousand,
and the four thousand, were fed with bread which some of
their number had brought with them : Jesus waded through a
shallow part of the lake, and was supposed to be walking on the
Mate; - : Arc.

4 INTRODUCTION.

These systems, which are about equal in point of reasonable-
ness, are as much opposed to each other as they are to ordinary
Christianity. The ^Naturalists point out the absurdity of ima-
gining that a party of GaliUean peasants giving out that they
were messengers from Heaven, and reciting moral tales and
maxims, could have ever been listened to, and could have in-
duced great multitudes, both of Jews and of Gentiles, to con-
temn what they had been accustomed to hold most sacred, to
forfeit what they held most dear, and to encounter bitter perse-
cution in their cause. And the Mythics, again, expose the
monstrous absurdity of the explanations framed by their oppo-
nents. 1

1 cannot but think there is much truth in what is said by
each of these parties ; that is, that each are fully borne out in
what they say of the opposite.

There are some persons however, who, from various cause-.
deprecate the study of ehristian-evidences altogether, 2 or at

east would confine it to an exceedingly small number of learned

Men whose inclinations and opportunities have led them to
devote their lives to it. I have heard even men of good sense
in other points, remark that to investigate all the reasons for
and against the reception of Christianity would be more than

he labor of a whole life ; and that therefore all except per-
haps some five or six out of every million, had better not
trouble themselves at all about the matter. It is very strange
that it should tail to occur to any man of good sense, that
it may he possible, and easy, and, in many cases, highly
desirable, to have sufficient reasons for believing what we do
believe; though these reasons may not he the twentieth pari
of what might he adduced, if there were any need for it. Any

me of us, for instance, may be fully convinced, and on wry
good grounds, that he was in such and such places yesterday,
ami s:iw such and such persons, and said and did so and so.

But all the evidence that might he collected of all tins — sup-
•sing, for instance, that this was needful, with a view to some

i In the Annotation on Part 2, cb. i. vol. i , I have offered some remarks on the
dvantage afforded to the advocates of these extravagances by the rash language
>f some enthusiasts.

2 See Cautitmx for the Times, N<>s. 11. 12.

INTRODUCTION. 5

trial that was going on — would perhaps fill a volume. Suppose,
for example, you had to repel some charge by proving an alibi /
what a multitude of circumstances, and what a crowd of
witnesses, you might bring forward to prove that you really
were in such a place at such a time !

In every case, except perhaps the one case of religion, every
one would perceive the absurdity of refusing to attend to any
reasons at all, because there might be a multitude of other
reasons also, which we had not the power, or the leisure to in-
vestigate. And since therefore it has pleased the All-wise to
create Man a rational animal, and there is always some cause,
though often a very absurd one, for any one's believing or dis-
believing as he does, and since on all subjects men are often led
to reject valuable truths, and to assent to mischievous false-
hoods, it is surely an imj)ortant part of education that men
should be trained in some degree to weigh evidence, and to dis-
tinguish good reasons from sophistry, in any department of life,
and not least in what concerns religion.

But when the mass of the unlearned people (it has been
said) do believe in a true religion, no matter on what grounds,
it is better to let them alone in their uninquiring faith, than to
agitate and unsettle their minds by telling them about evi-
dences. They should be kept in ignorance, we are told, that
the truth of Christianity was ever doubted by any one ; that is,
they must be kept in ignorance not only of the world around
them, but of all books of history, including the Bible. It has
even been publicly maintained in a work which was the organ
of a powerful and numerous party in our Church, that an
ignorant rustic who believes Christianity to be true, merely
because he has been told so by those he looks up to as his
superiors, has a far better ground for his belief than Paley or
Grotius, or any other such writer. JSTow this is the ground on
which the ancient and the modern Pagans, and the Mahometans,
rest their absurd faith, and reject the Gospel. The evidence
therefore which has proved satisfactory to the most enlightened
Christians is, it seems, absolutely inferior to that which is mani-
festly and notoriously good for nothing !

Yet it is possible that some of those who speak thus may
really believe that Christianity itself can stand the test of evi-

fi INTRODUCTION.

dence; but they wish that some other things also should be
believed, which will not stand that test. They wish men to
give credit to some mediaeval legends of miracles, and unsup-
ported traditions, and new dogmas of human device ; and they
would rather not encourage them to cultivate the habit which
the Apostle Peter recommends, of being 'ready to give a
reason of their hope.' lie who is trying to pass a large amount
of coins, some good and some counterfeit, will be alarmed at
seeing you apply a chemical test to the pure gold, lest you
should proceed in the same way with the rest.

Others, not belonging to the party just alluded to, have
publicly and very strongly proclaimed their conviction that any
inquiry into the evidences of our religion is most likely to lead
to infidelity. 'Many thanks!' an infidel might reply, 'for
that admission ! I want nothing more. That all inquiry, while
it will establish a belief in what is true, will overthrow belief in
Christianity or any other imposture, is just what /think. iBut
nothing coming from me could have near the force of such an
admission from you?

One is loth to attribute to writers who are professed advo-
cates of Christianity an insincere profession, and a disguised
hostility, and yet, supposing them sincere, the absurdity of
their procedure seems almost incredible. ' Save me from my
friends,' we may say, ' and let our enemies do their worst.' Let
one of these writers imagine himself tried in a court of justice,
and his counsel pleading for him in a similar manner : ' Gentle-
men of the jury, my client is an innocent and a worthy man,
take my word for it: but 1 entreat you not to examine any
witnesses, or listen to any pleadings; for the more you inquire
into the case, the more likely you will be to find him guilty.'
Every one would say that this advocate was either a madman,
or else wilfully 1 ict raying his client.

In confirmation of what I have now said, I subjoin extracts
(to which many more might have been added) from writers of
different schools, to show the coincidences between an avowed
Atheist and professed favorers of Christianity, of different
parties, and the contrast they all present to the New Testament
writers.

INTRODUCTION.

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INTRODUCTION.

The charge of "timidity' brought against those who court
inquiry, appeal to evidence, and defy refutation, reminds one
of the anecdote told of some North-American Indians, who
on one occasion, when acting as allies with our troops, were
attacked by an enemy. The Indians, as their custom is, fled,
and sheltered themselves behind trees, while the English sol-
diers stood firm under a heavy fire, and repulsed the assailants.
They expected that their Indian friends would have admired
their valor. But the interpretation these put upon it was, that
the English were too much frightened to run away ; — that
they were so paralyzed by terror as not to have had sufficient
presence of mind to provide for their safety !

There is another class of persons who take a different view,
but I cannot think a right one, of the study of Christian
evidences. They acknowledge its use and necessity ; but they
dislike and deplore that necessity. They view the matter
somewhat as any person of humane disposition does the arming
and training of soldiers ; acknowledging, yet lamenting, the
necessity of thus guarding against insurrections at home, or
attacks from foreign nations; and though, when forced into a
war, he rejoices in meeting with victory rather than defeat,
he would much prefer peaceful tranquillity. Even so, these
persons admit that evidences are necessary in order to repel
unbelief; but all attention to the subject is connected in their
minds with the idea of doubt / which they feel to be painful,
and dread as something sinful.

Far different, however, are men's feelings in reference to any
person or thing that they really do greatly value and admire,
when they have a full and firm conviction. 1 No one in ordi-
nary life considers it disagreeable to mark and dwell on the
constantly recurring proofs of the excellent and admirable quali-
ties of some highly valued friend — to observe how his character
stands in strong contrast to that of ordinary men ; and that
while experience is constantly stripping off the fail' outside from
vain pretenders, and detecting the wrong motives which adul-
terate the seeming virtue of others, his sterling excellence is
made more and more striking and conspicuous vwry day: on
the contrary, we feel that this is a delightful exercise of the
mind, and the more delightful the more we are disposed to love

1 ( buiirm* for tht Time*.

INTRODUCTION. 9

and honor him. Yet all these are proofs, — or what might be
used as proofs, if needed, — of his really being of such a char-
acter. But is the contemplation of such proofs connected in
our own mind with the idea of harassing doubt, and anxious
contest? Should it not then be also delightful to a sincere
Christian to mark, in like manner, the proofs which, if he look
for them, he will continually find recurring, that the religion he
professes came not from Man, but from God, — that the Great
Master whom he adores was indeed the ' way, the truth, and the
life,' — that ' never man spake like this man ;' — and that the
Sacred Writers who record his teaching were not mad enthu-
siasts, or crafty deceivers, but men who spoke in sincerity the
words of truth and soberness which they learned from Him ?
Should he not feel the liveliest pleasure in comparing his re-
ligion with those false creeds which have sprung from human
fraud and folly, and observing how striking is the difference ?

And so also, in what is called Natural Theology — the proofs
of the wisdom, goodness, and power of God — how delightful to
a pious mind is the contemplation of the evidence which it
presents ! What pleasure to trace, as far as we can, the
countless instances of wise contrivance which surround us in
the objects of nature, — the great and the small — from the
fibres of an insect's wing, to the structure of the most gigantic
animals — from the minutest seed that vegetates, to the loftiest
trees of the forest — and to mark everywhere the work of that
same Creator's hand, who has filled the universe with the
monuments of his wisdom ; so that we thus (as Paley has ex-
pressed it) make the universe to become one vast Temple !

It is not for the refutation of objectors merely, and for the
conviction of doubters, that it is worth while to study in this
manner, with the aid of such a guide as Paley, the two volumes
— that of Nature and that of Revelation — which Providence
has opened before us, but because it is both profitable and
gratifying to a well-constituted mind to trace in each of them
the evident handwriting of Him, the Divine Author of both.

Some passages in several Works by different Authors, which
illustrate some of the points treated of by Paley, I have thought
it better to reprint, than merely to give references to them,
which might cause trouble and inconvenience to the reader.

A VIEW

OF THE

EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.

I DEEM it unnecessary to prove that mankind stood in need
of a revelation, because I have met with no serious person
who thinks that even under the christian revelation we have
too much light, or any degree of assurance which is superfluous.
I desire moreover that in judging of Christianity it may be
remembered, that the question lies between this religion and
none ; for, if the christian religion be not credible, no one v
with whom we have to do, will support the pretensions of any
other.

Suppose then the world we live in to have had a Creator;
suppose it to appear from the predominant aim and tendency of
the provisions and contrivances observable in the universe, that
the Deity, when He formed it, consulted for the happiness of
his sensitive creation ; suppose the disposition which dictated
this council to continue ; suppose a part of the creation to have
received faculties from their Maker, by which they are capable
of rendering a moral obedience to his will, and of voluntarily
pursuing any end for which He has designed them ; suppose
the Creator to intend for these his rational and accountable
agents a second state of existence, in which their situation will
be regulated by their behavior in the first state, by which
supposition (and by no other) the objection to the divine
government in not putting a difference between the good and
the bad, and the inconsistency of this confusion with the care
and benevolence discoverable in the works of the Deity, is done
away ; suppose it to be of the utmost importance to the subjects

12 Evidences of Christianity.

of this dispensation to know what is intended for them, that is,
suppose the knowledge of it to be highly conducive to the
happiness of the species, a purpose which so many provisions
of nature are calculated to promote: suppose, nevertheless,
almost the whole race, either by the imperfection of their
faculties, the misfortune of their situation, or by the loss of
some prior revelation, to want this knowledge, and not to be
likely without the aid of a new revelation to attain it; under
these circumstances is it improbable that a revelation should be
made? Is it incredible that God should interpose for such a
purpose? Suppose Him to design for mankind a future state,
is it unlikely that He should acquaint them with it?

Now in what way can a revelation be made but by miracles?
In none which we are able to conceive. Consequently, in what-
ever degree it is probable, or not very improbable, that a revela-
tion should be communicated to mankind at all, in the same
degree is it probable, or not very probable, that miracles
shou ld be wrought. Therefore, when miracles are related to
have been wrought in the promulgating of a revelation mani-
festly wanted, and, if true, of inestimable value, the improba-
bility which arises from the miraculous nature of the things
relate'!, is not greater than the original improbability that such
a revelation should be imparted by God.

1 wish it however to be correctly understood, in what
manner, and to what extent, this argument is alleged. We do
qo1 assume the attributes of the Deity, or the existence of a
future slate, in order to prove the reality of miracles. That
reality always must be proved by evidence. We assert only,
that in miracles adduced in support of revelation, there is not
any such antecedent improbability as no testimony can sur-
mount. And I'm- the purpose of maintaining this assertion, we
contend, that tin.: incredibility of miracles related to have been
wrought in attestation of a message from God, conveying intel-
ligence of a future state of rewards and punishments, and teach-
ing mankind how to prepare themselves for that state, is not
in itself greater than the event, call it either probable or impro-
bable, of the two following propositions being true: namely,
first, thai a future state of existence should be destined by < tod

for his Inn nan creation ; and, secondly, that, being so destined,
lb- -1 Id acquaint them with it. It is not necessary for our

Preparatory Considerations. 13

purpose that these propositions be capable of proof, or even
that, by arguments drawn from the light of nature, they can be
made out to be probable. It is enough that we are able to say
concerning them, that they are not so violently improbable, so
contradictory to what we already believe of the divine power
and character, that either the propositions themselves, or facts
strictly connected with the propositions (and therefore no farther
improbable than they are improbable), ought to be rejected at
first sight, and. to be rejected by whatever strength or compli-
cation of evidence they be attested.

This is the prej udication we would resist. For to this length
does a modern objection to miracles go, viz., that no human
testimony can in any case render them credible. I think the
reflection above stated, that, if there be a revelation, there
must be miracles ; and that under the circumstances in which
the human species are placed, a revelation is not improbable,
or not improbable in any great degree, to be a fair answer to
the whole objection.

But since it is an objection which stands in the very thresh-
old of our argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to every proof,
and to all future reasoning upon the subject, it may be neces-
sary, before we proceed farther, to examine the principle upon
which it professes to be founded ; which principle is concisely
this, that it is contrary to experience that a miracle should be
true, but not contrary to experience that testimony should be
false.

Now there appears a small ambiguity in the term ' expe-
rience,' and in the phrases ' contrary to experience,' or ' con-
tradicting experience,' which it may be necessary to remove in
the first place. Strictly speaking, the narrative of a fact is
then only contrary to experience, when the fact is related to
have existed at a time and place, at which time and place we
being present did not perceive it to exist ; as if it should be as-
serted, that in a particular room, and at a particular hour of a
certain day, a man was raised from the dead, in which room,
and at the time specified, we being present and looking on
perceived no such event to have taken place. Here the asser-
tion is contrary to experience properly so called ; and this is a
contrariety which no evidence can surmount. It matters noth-
ing-, whether the fact be of a miraculous nature or not But

14 Evidences of ( 7t ristianity.

although this be the experience, and the contrariety, which
Ajchbishop Tillotson alleged in the quotation with which Mr.
Hume opens his essay, it is certainly not that experience, nor
that contrariety, which Mr. Hume himself intended to object.
And, short of this, I know no intelligible signification which
can be affixed to the term 'contrary to experience,' but one,
viz., that of not having ourselves experienced any thing similar
to the thing related, or, such things not being generally experi-
enced by others. I say ' not generally ;' for to state concern-
ing the fact in question, that no such thing was ever experi-
enced, or that universal experience is against it, is to assume
the subject of the controversy.

Now the improbability which arises from the want (for this
properly is a want, not a contradiction) of experience^ is only
equal to the probability there is, that, if the thing were true,
we should experience things similar to it, or that such things
would be generally experienced. Suppose it then to be true
that miracles were wrought upon the first promulgation of
Christianity, when nothing but miracles could decide its autho-
rity, is it certain that such miracles would be repeated so often,
and in so many places, as to become objects of general experi-
ence? Is it a probability approaching to certainty? Is it a
probability of any great strength or force? Is it such as no
evidence can encounter i And yet this probability is the exact
converse^ and therefore the exact measure of the improbability
which arises from tin- want of experience, and which Mr.
Hume represents as Invincible by human testimony.

It is not like alleging a new law of nature, or a new experi-
ment in natural philosophy; because, when these are related,
it i> expected that, under the same circumstances, the same
effeel will follow universally; and in proportion as this expec-
tation is justly entertained, the want of a corresponding expe-
rience negatives the history. Hut to expect concerning a
miracle that it should succeed upon repetition, is to expect that,
which would make it cease to lie a miracle, which is contrary
to its nature as BUch, ami would totally destroy the iise and
purpose for which it was wrought.

The force of experience a- an objection to miracles is founded
in tin' presumption, either that the course t>i~ nature is inva-
riable, or that, if it be ever varied, variations will be frequent

Preparatory Considerations. 15

and general. Has the necessity of this alternative been de-
monstrated ? Permit us to call the course of nature the agency
of an intelligent Being, and is there any good reason for judg-
ing this state of the case to be probable? Ought we not
rather to expect, that such a Being, upon occasions of peculiar
importance, may interrupt the order which He had appointed,
yet, that such occasions should return seldom ; that these inter-
ruptions consequently should be confined to the experience of
a few ; that the want of it, therefore, in many, should be matter
neither of surprise nor objection?

But as a continuation of the argument from experience it is
said, that, when we advance accounts of miracles, we assign
effects without causes, or we attribute effects to causes inade-
quate to the purpose, or to causes of the operation of which we
have no experience. Of what causes, we may ask, and of
what effects does the objection speak? If it be answered that,
when we ascribe the cure of the palsy to a touch, of blindness
to the anointing of the eyes with clay, or the raising of the
dead to a word, we lay ourselves open to this imputation ; we
reply, that we ascribe no such effects to such causes. We
perceive no virtue or energy in these things more than in other
things of the same kind. They are merely signs to connect the
miracle with its end. The effect we ascribe simply to the
volition of the Deity ; of whose existence and power, not to say
of whose presence and agency, we have previous and indepen-
dent proof. We have therefore all we seek for in the works of
rational agents, a sufficient power and an adequate motive. In
a word, once believe that there is a God, and miracles are not
incredible.

Mr. Hume states the case of miracles to be a contest of
opposite improbabilities, that is to say, a question whether it be
more improbable that the miracle should be true, or the testi-
mony false ; and this I think a fair account of the controversy.
But herein I remark a want of argumentative justice, that, in
describing the improbability of miracles, he suppresses all those
circumstances of extenuation, which result from our knowledge
of the existence, power, and disposition of the Deity, his concern
in the creation, the end answered by the miracle, the impor-
tance of that end, and its subserviency to the plan pursued in
the work of nature. As Mr. Plume has represented the ques-

16 Evidences of Christianity.

tion, miracles are alike incredible to him who is previously
assured of the constant agency of a Divine Being, and to him
who believes that no such Being exists in the universe. They
are equally incredible, whether related to have been wrought
upon occasions the most deserving, and for purposes the most
beneficial, or for no assignable end whatever, or for an end
confessedly trifling or pernicious. This surely cannot be a
correct statement. In adjusting also the other side of the
balance, the strength and weight of testimony, this author has
provided an answer to every possible accumulation of historical
proof, by telling us, that we are not obliged to explain how the
story of the evidence arose. Now I think that we are obliged ;
not, perhaps, to show by positive accounts how it did, but by a
probable hypothesis how it might so happen. The existence of
the testimony is a phenomenon. The truth of the fact solves
the phenomenon. If we reject this solution, we ought to^have
some other to rest in ; and none even by our adversaries can be
admitted, which is not consistent with the principles that regu-
late human affairs and human conduct at present, or which
makes men then to have been a different kind of Beings from
what they are now.

But the short consideration which, independently of every
other, convinces me that there is no solid foundation in Mr.
Hume's conclusion is the following. When a theorem is pro-
posed to a mathematician, the first thing he does with it is to
try it upon a simple case; and, if it produce a false result, he is
sine that there must be some mistake in the demonstration.
Now to proceed in this way with what may be called Mr.
Hume's theorem. If twelve men, whose probity and good
sense I had long known, should seriously and circumstantially
relate to me an account of a miracle wrought before their eyes,
and in which it was impossible that they should be deceived ; if
the governor of the country, hearing a rumor of this account,
should call these men into his presence, and offer them a short
proposal, either to confess the imposture, or submit to be tied
up to a gibbet ; if they should refuse \\\\\\ one vice to acknow-
ledge that there existed any falsehood or imposture in the case;
if this threat were communicated to them separately, yet with
ii" different effect ; if it was at last executed ; if I myself saw
them, one after another, consenting to be racked, burnt, or

Annotations. 17

strangled, rather than give up the truth of their account ; still,
if Mr. Hume's rule be my guide, I am not to believe them.
Now, I undertake to say that there exists not a skeptic in the
world who would not believe them ; or who would defend such
incredulity.

Instances of spurious miracles supported by strong apparent
testimony undoubtedly demand examination. Mr. Hume has
endeavored to fortify his argument by some examples of this
kind. I hope in a proper place to show that none of them
reach the strength or circumstances of the christian evidence.
In these, however, consists the weight of his objection. In the
principle itself I am persuaded there is none.

ANNOTATIONS.

i Mankind stood in need of a revelation.''

These words would admit of being so understood as to be
open to the reply, ' Why then was it not bestowed on all
mankind?' But the Author shortly after explains his meaning
to be merely — what must surely be admitted as nothing unrea-
sonable — ' only that in miracles adduced in support of revela-
tion, there is not any such antecedent improbability as no testi-
mony can surmount.'

I have endeavored to show, in a subsequent part of this
volume, that we have good reason for regarding every individual
civilized man — whether Christian, Deist, or Atheist — as himself
a portion of a standing monument of what may be fairly called
a ' revelation' to mankind.

''In what way can a revelation he made, but by miracles V

It is important to keep in mind that a Miracle in the etymo-
logical sense — i. e. a mere wonder — proves nothing. It is a
proof, only when it is (as it is commonly called in our Scrip-
tures) a Sign. When any one performs something beyond
human power, or foretells something undiscoverable by human
sagacity, appealing to this as a sign that he is the bearer of a
divine message, it is then, and then only, that this becomes
miraculous evidence.

18 Evidences of Christianity.

But the practice which is but too prevalent is much to be
deprecated, of applying the words ' miraculous' or 'providen-
tial' to any unusual occurrence; as it' the divine providence had
nothing to do with ordinary events. A great advantage is
given to anti-christians by this rash and irreverent language
coming from advocates who, professing pre-eminent piety, are in
reality guilty of presumptuous impiety, in proclaiming (vir-
tually) that ' thus saith the Lord ; when the Lord hath not
spoken.'

A clergyman having pointed out (in conformity with our
Lord's declaration, Luke xiii.) that we are not warranted,
in the absence of a distinct revelation to that effect, to speak
of the late famine as a special judgment from Heaven on
the sufferers, and a sign of divine wrath against the nation
for extending toleration to Roman-catholics, was, for this, de-
nounced, publicly, in print, by a brother clergyman, as denying
all revelation !

Well may our religion say, ' Save me from my friends, and I
fear not my enemies !'

' The force of Experience, as an objection to miracles, is founded
on the presumption, either that the course of Nature is in-
variable] &c.

There is a passage in the Quarterly Revieio (Oct., 1859),
which is so much to the purpose that I have taken the liberty
of extracting a portion of the substance of it.

' It would perhaps have been more clear, if the defenders of
the christian miracles had used the expression of ' the now-
< .risi'i ikj course of Nature,' or, ' the ordinary course of things as
now observed by us.' For, if by ' the course of Nature' be
understood, that which is conformable to the divine appoint-
ment, then, to speak of any thing occurring that is preter-
natural, would be a contradiction.

'Some persons however who admit the possible, and the
actual occurrence of miracles, are accustomed to speak as if
they thought (though perhaps that is not really their meaning)
that the ' Courxr <>f Xuti/rS is something that goes on of itself ;
but that God has the power, which lie sometimes exercises, of
interrupting it ; even as a man who has constructed some such

Annotations. Id

engine as — for instance — a mill, leaves it usually to work of
itself' (tor they forget that there is an external agency which keeps
it in motion, and of which the millwright has availed himself)
but which he has the power of stopping when he sees cause.

' But any one who believes in a universal divine government,
and divine foreknowledge, must believe that whatever has at
any time happened, must be in accordance with a pre-arranged
system, though it may be a portion of that system widely
different from those other portions that come under our habitual
experience. It will then be a departure from the ordinary
course of nature ; and there may have been such an arrange-
ment originally made that such an extraordinary event shall,
when it occurs, serve as a sign, in attestation of the divine Will
in some point.

' This may be easily illustrated even from works of human
agency. Suppose, for instance, a clock so constructed as to
strike only at the hour of noon. A child might suppose, from
an observation of several hours, that it was the nature of that
clock to move silently ; and when he heard it strike, he might
account this a departure, from its nature : though it would be,
in fact, as much a part of the maker's original design, as any
of the movements ; his design having been to announce the
hour of noon, and no other.

' But a similar misapprehension of the nature of the machine
would be much more likely to prevail, if a clock could be so
constructed as to strike only at the end of a year / or at the
end of a century ; supposing the maker to have kept his design
from being generally known. If, at the end of the year, lie
dispatched, with a message from himself, certain messengers to
whom he had made known the construction of the clock, and
whom he had authorized to announce the striking, as an attes-
tation of their coming from him, this would be a decisive proof
of the genuineness of their message.

' Now this may serve as an illustration of the view which an
intelligent believer may fairly take of miraculous evidence :
namely, that the christian miracles are not — properly speaking
— ' violations of the Laws of Nature,' but departures from the
present ordinary course of Nature, in conformity with an
arrangement originally so made as to let these be signs evi-
dencing a divine mission.

20 Evidences of Christianity.

' And to pronounce boldly that no such occurrence ever did
or can take place, on the ground that it has not come under
our own experience, and that the strongest evidence for it is to
be at once rejected unheard, is manifestly a most rash and
unphilosophical procedure. If we could suppose a butterfly,
which is born in the spring, and lives but two or three months,
to be endowed with a certain portion of rationality (enough
perhaps for a German Rationalist, or a Humite) he might lay
it down as a Law of Nature, that the trees should be green, and
the fields enamelled with flowers. And if some animal of a
superior order assured him that formerly the trees were bare of
leaves, and the fields covered with snow, he might deride this
as contrary to all Experience, and to all Analogy, and a physical
impossibility. And in this he would not be more unphiloso-
phical than some who are called philosophers.'

In fact, there is a strong proof, independent of the Scrip-
ture-narratives, that something at variance with our ordinary
present experience of the course of Nature as now subsisting
among us — namely, a direct communication to Man from some
superhuman Being — did formerly take place. The existence of
civilized Man at the present day, is a standing monument
of it.

Some persons are accustomed to talk as if savages could, and
sometimes did, invent for themselves, one by one, all the useful
arts, and thus raise themselves to a civilized state, without any
assistance from men already civilized. One may meet with
fine descriptions — though altogether fanciful — of this supposed
progress of men towards civilization. One man, it has been
supposed, wishing to save himself the trouble of roaming
through the woods in search of wild fruits and roots, would
bethink himself of collecting the seeds of these, and cultivating
them in a spot of ground cleared and broken up for the pur-
pose. And finding that he could thus raise more than enough
for himself, he might agree with some of his neighbors to let
them have a part of the produce in exchange for some of the
game and fish they mighl have taken. Another man, again, it
has been supposed, would endeavor to save himself the labor
and uncertainty of hunting, by catching some kinds of wild
animals alive, and keeping them in an inclosure to breed, that
he might have a supply always at hand.

Annotations. 21

And again, another, it is supposed, might devote himself to
the occupation of dressing skins for clothing, or of building
huts, or canoes, or making various kinds of tools ; and might
subsist by exchanging these with his neighbors for food. And
bv thus devoting his chief attention to some one kind of
manufacture, he would acquire increased skill in that, and
would strike out useful new inventions.

Thus, these supposed savages having gradually come to be
divided into husbandmen, shepherds, and artisans of various
kinds, would begin to enjoy the various advantages of a division
of labor, and would advance, step by step, in all the arts of
civilized life.

Now all this description is likely to appear plausible at the
first glance, to those who do not inquire carefully, and reflect
attentively. But on examination, it will be found to be con-
tradicted by all history, and to be quite inconsistent with the
real character of such Beings as savages actually are. In
reality, such a process of inventions and improvements as that
just described, is what never did, and never possibly can, take
place in any savage tribe left wholly to themselves.

All the nations of which we know any thing, that have risen
from a savage to a civilized state, appear to have had the ad-
vantage of the instruction and example of civilized men living
among them. Every nation that has ever had any tradition of
a time when their ancestors were savages, and of the first in-
troduction of civilization among them, always represent some
foreigner, or some Being from Heaven, as having first taught
them tire arts of life.

Thus, the ancient Greeks attributed to Prometheus — a sup-
posed superhuman Being — the introduction of the use of fire.
And they represented Triptolemus and Cadmus, and others,
strangers, from a distant country, as introducing agriculture
and other arts. And the Peruvians have a like tradition con-
cerning a person they call Manco-Capac, whom they represent
as the offspring of the sun, and as having taught useful arts to
their ancestors.

On the other hand, there are great numbers of savage tribes,
in various parts of the world, who have had no regular inter-
course with civilized men, but who have been visited by several
voyagers, at different times, and, in some instances, at very

22 Evidences of Christianity

distant periods. And it appears from comparing together the
accounts of those voyagers that these tribes remain perfectly
stationary; not making the smallest advance towards civiliza-
tion.

For example, the people of the vast continent of New Hol-
land, and of the large island of Papua, (or New Guinea,) which
lies near it, who are among the rudest of savages, appear to
remain (in those parts not settled by Europeans) in exactly the
same brutish condition as when they were first discovered.
They roam about the forests in search of wild animals, and of
some few eatable roots, which they laboriously dig up with
sharpened sticks. But though they are often half starved, and
though they have to expend as much toil for three or four
scanty meals of these roots as would suffice for breaking up and
planting a piece of ground that would supply them for a year,
it has never occurred to them to attempt cultivating those
roots.

The inhabitants, again, of the islands of Andaman, in the
Eastern Ocean, appear to be in a more degraded and wretched
state than even the New-Hollanders.

The Xew-Zealanders, again, in the interval of above 125
years between the first discovery of their islands by Tasmau,
and the second discovery by Captain Cook, seem to have made
no advances whatever, but to have remained just in the same
condition. And vet they were in a far less savage state than
that of the New-Hollanders; being accustomed rudely to cul-
tivate tin 1 ground, and raise crops of sweet-potatoes.

And such appears to be, from all accounts, the condition of
all savage, or nearly savage tribes. They seem never to invent
any tiling, or to make any effort to improve ; so that what few
arts they do possess, (and which, in general, are only such as to
enable them just to support life,) must be the remnant that
they have retained from a more civilized state from which their
ancestors had degenerated.

When, indeed, men have arrived at a certain stage in the
advance towards civilization, (far short of what exists in
Europe,) if is then possible for them, it' nothing occurs to keep
them back, to advance fur her and further towards a more
civilized state.

And there is no one, of the arts that may not be invented by

Annotations. 23

men whose minds have been already cultivated up to a certain
point. Those, for example, who have been accustomed to work
in one kind of metal, may discover the use of some other met-
al. Those who are accustomed to till the ground, and whose
faculties have received some considerable degree of improve-
ment, may introduce the culture of some new vegetable. And
if men have been used to make woollen cloth, they may pro-
ceed from that to linen or cotton cloth ; or, on the other hand,
they may proceed from linen to woollen.

And this it is that misleads some persons in their notions re-
specting savages. For finding that there is no one art which
might not have been invented by unassisted Man, supposing
him to have a certain degree of civilization to start from, they
hence conclude that unassisted Man might have invented all
the arts, supposing him left originally in a completely savage
state. But this is contradicted by all experience ; which shows
that men in the condition of the lowest savages never have
made the first step towards civilization, without some assist-
ance from without.

Human society may be compared to some combustible sub-
stances which will not take fire spontaneously, but when once
set on fire, will burn with continually increasing force. A
community of men requires, as it were, to be kindled, and re-
quires no more.

Perhaps, when you try to fancy yourself in the situation of
a savage, it occurs to you that you would set your mind to
work to contrive means for bettering your condition ; and that
you might perhaps hit upon such and such useful inventions ;
and hence you may be led to think it natural that savages
should do so, and that some tribes of them may have advanced
themselves in the way above described, without any external
help. But nothing of the kind appears to have ever really oc-
curred ; and what leads some persons to fancy it, is, that they
themselves are not savages, but have some degree of mental
cultivation, and some of the habits of thought of civilized
men ; and therefore they form to themselves an incorrect no-
tion of what a savage really is — just as a person who possesses
eyesight, cannot understand correctly the condition of one born
blind.

But those who have seen a good deal of real savages, have

24 Eoidences of Christicmity.

observed that they are not only feeble in mental powers, but
also sluggish in the use of such powers as they have, except
when urged by pressing want. When not thus urged, they
pass their time either in perfect inactivity, or else in dancing,
in decorating their bodies with paint, or with feathers and
shells, or in various childish sports. They are not only bru-
tishly stupid, but still more remarkable for childish thoughtless-
ness and improvidence. So that it never occurs to them to
consider how they may put themselves in a better condition a
year or two hence.

Now such must have been the condition of all mankind
down to this dav, if thev had all been, from the first, left with-
out any instruction, and in what is called a state of nature — that
is, with the faculties Man is born with, not at all unfolded or ex-
ercised by education. For, from such a state, unassisted Man
cannot, as all experience shows, ever raise himself. And con-
sequently, in that case, the whole world would have been peo-
pled with mere savages in the very lowest state of degradation.

The very existence, therefore, at this day, of civilized men,
proves that there must have been, at some time or other, some
instruction given to Man in the arts of life, by some Being su-
perior to Man. For since the first beginnings of civilization
could not have come from any human instructor, they must
have come from one «wj?£r-hnman.

It has been shown, then, that the whole world would now
have been peopled with the very lowest savages, if men had
never received any instruction, and yet had been able to subsist
at all. But it is doubtful whether even this bare subsistence
would have been possible. It is more likely that the first
generation would all have perished for want of those few arts
which even savages possess, and which (as has been above re-
marked) were probably not invented by savages, but are rem-
nants which they have retained from a more civilized state.
The knowledge, for instance, of wholesome and of poisonous
roots and fruits, the arts of making fish-hooks and nets, bows
and arrows, or darts, and snares for wild animals, and of con-
Btructing rude huts, and canoes, and some other such simple
arts, arc possessed, more or less, by all savages, and are neces-
sary to enable them to support their lives. And it is doubtful
whether men left completely in a state of nature — that is,

Annotations. 25

wholly untaught — would not all perish before they could invent
them for themselves.

For, we should remember that Man, when left in a state of
nature, untaught, and with his rational powers not unfolded, is
far less fitted for supporting and taking care of himself than
the brutes. They are much better provided both with instincts
and with bodily organs, for supplying their own wants. For
example, those animals that have occasion to dig, either for
food, or to make burrows for shelter — such as the swine, the
hedgehog, the mole, and the rabbit, have both an instinct for
digging, and snouts or paws far better adapted for that purpose
than Man's hands. Yet man is enabled to turn up the ground
much better than any brute ; but then this is by means of
spades and other tools, which Man can be taught to make and
use, though brutes cannot. Again, birds and bees have an in-
stinct for building such nests and habitations as answer their
purpose as well as the most commodious beds and houses made
by men ; but Man has no instinct that teaches him how to
construct these. Brutes, again, know by instinct their proper
food, and avoid what is unwholesome ; but Man has no instinct
for distinguishing the nightshade-berry 1 (with which children
have often been poisoned) from wholesome fruits. And quad-
rupeds swim by nature, because their swimming is the same
motion by which they advance when on land ; but a man, fall-
ing into deep water, is drowned, unless he has learnt to
swim.

It appears, then, very doubtful whether men left wholly un-
taught, would be able to subsist at all, even in the state of the
lowest savages. But at any rate, it is plain they could never
have risen above that state. And consequently the existence of
civilization at this day is a kind of monument attesting the fact
that some instruction from above must, at some time or other,
have been supplied to mankind. And the most probable con-
clusion is, that Man when first created, or very shortly after-
wards, was advanced, by the Creator Himself, to a state above
that of a mere savage.

These arguments, which have been before the Public in

1 The berry of the deadly nightshade (not the woody nightshade common in
hedges) looks like a black cherry, and has a sweet taste, and no unpleasant smell.

26 Evidences of Christianity.

various forms for thirty years, are, of course, so unacceptable
to an ti christian Writers, as to have called forth the utmost in-
genuity of several of them in attempting a refutation. And
their attempts have been such complete and palpable failures,
that it cannot be accounted presumptuous to pronounce that a
refutation is impossible. 1

To be more and more confirmed in the belief of some con-
clusion, the more numerous, and the more able are the zealous
opponents of it, when they fail to produce any disproofs is so far
from indicating an arrogant disdain of them, that it indicates
the very contrary. For the greater their number, and their
ingenuity, the stronger is the presumption, that some of them
would have detected any flaw, had there been any, in the argu-
ments for the conclusion they reject.

And the establishing of this is the most complete discom-
fiture of the adversaries of our religion, because it cuts awav
the ground from under their feet. For you will hardly mjpet
with any one who admits that there has been some distinct
Revelation, properly so called, given to Man, and yet denies
that that revelation is to be found in our Bible. On the con-
trary, all who deny the divine authority of the Bible, almost
always set out with assuming, or attempting to prove, the
abstract impossibility of any revelation whatever, or any
miracle in the ordinary sense of these words; and then it is
that they proceed to muster their objections against Chris-
tianity in particular. But we have seen that we may ad-
vance and meet them at once in the open field, and overthrow
them at the first step, before they approach our citadel ; by
proving that what they set out with denying is what must have
taken place, and that they are, in their own persons, a portion
of the monument of its occurrence. And the establishing of
this, as it takes away the very ground first occupied by the
opponents of our Faith, so it is an important preliminary step
for niir proceeding, in the next place, to the particular evidence
fc that faith. Once fully convinced that God must at some
time or other have made nhhc direct communication to Man,
and that even those who dislike this conclusion strive in vain to

• Bee LeduTU on Political Economy, and Lecture On the Origin of Civilization, for a
fuller development of the argument.

Annotations. 27

escape it, we are thus the better prepared for duly estimating
the proofs that the Gospel is in truth a divine message.

' It is said that when we advance accounts of miracles, we as-
sign effects without causes.,

The expression now most commonly in use among such
reasoners as Paley is here alluding to, is, that so and so is a
' physical impossibility ;' by which they mean, it seems, that it
is not of such a character as would never be reckoned miraculous
by any one ; and that therefore it is to be at once pronounced
incredible, by whatever proofs attested ; which is just saying,
in a slightly circuitous way, that ' no miracle is credible, be-
cause — no miracle is credible!' For, much of what, in the
present day, is called ' Science' and ' Philosophy,' consists in
merely begging the question.

But, in ordinary usage, the expression of ' physically impos-
sible' is applied to what is beyond the human powers, and to
any thing at variance with the present course of nature. And
many persons — including some who are far from being either
ignorant or silly — do commonly use this language, while yet
they believe that ' physical impossibilities' (in the above sense)
have, under certain circumstances, taken place, and may again.
They believe that there exists a Being of more than human
power, to whom things are possible, which are impossible to
Man. And they hold it not incredible that what is inconsist-
ent with that portion of the course of Nature which is now go-
ing on among us, may have occurred formerly, and may occur
hereafter. For instance, while they regard it as physically
impossible for men (and so, with other animals) to come into
existence without parents, they yet believe that there was a
time when men did not exist ; and that consequently the first
of the race must have so come into existence.

They may perhaps believe also that though it is not in ac-
cordance with the present course of Nature for Man to receive
communications direct from Heaven, or through some super-
human Being, this must have taken place formerly ; since, ehe,
all mankind would have been savages at this day.

And though accounting exemption from death, or restoration
of the dead to life, a physical impossibility, tney believe in an
Agent capable of conferring immortality.

2S Evidences of Christianity.

By the way, when it is said, (as it has been,) that for
Man to be exempt from death, appears, on reflection, a physical
impossibility, there seems no good ground for speaking of this
as a thing apparent 'on reflection ;' that expression usually re-
lating to what is learnt, not from direct observation and ex-
perience, or from direct testimony, but from reasoning on col-
lateral eireunistanccs. Now it is not from any a priori reason-
ing, but from observation and testimony that we infer Man's
mortality. If we could imagine an intelligent Being, of a dif-
ferent nature from ours, to come from some other planet, and
visit our globe, and not only to see human Beings, but to ac-
quire some knowledge of the physiology of the human frame,
lie would see no reason for at once inferring the necessary mor-
tality of Man. lie would see provision made for a continual
decay indeed, but also, for a continual renovation. Every part
of the body, including the most solid bones, is undergoing a
constant process both of absorption, and also, of repair ; the
material for which is supplied by our food. There is no a pri-
ori reason why these two processes should not exactly balance
each other forever. That the decay does always at length
outstrip the renovating process, so as ultimately to produce
dissolution, is what he might learn from observation ; not
however without much aid from testimony. For no one per-
son's observation would be sufficient alone, to afford reason-
Mr proof of Man's mortality as a universal law of Nature.
That it is a law of Nature, we learn, not from ' reflection,' but
from our own and others' experience.

It is worth remarking, however, that there is no ground for
the supposition entertained by some, that Scripture represents
Man to have been originally of an immortal nature. Some,
n-oceeding on that supposition, and assuming that this could
qoI have hem literally true, -have thence inferred that this por-
tion of Scripture, and an indefinite number of other portions
likewise, must he mythical legends, meaning any thing at all,
OT nothing ;it nil.

But the contrary of tin' notion I am alluding to, is plainly
implied by what is Baid of the 'Tree of Life,' as that on which
depended Man's preservation from death. And there is nothing
antecedently impossible, or improbable, in the supposition that
this fruit was endued with the virtue of fortifying the constitu-

Annotations. 29

tion, — by being applied from time to time, — against the decays
of age ; in the same maimer as ordinary food from day to day
supports us against death and from famine ; or as, in some per-
sons, the habitual use of certain medicines is found to keep off
some particular disease. It is not at all incredible, that the
Creator may have bestowed on some fruit such a virtue ; which
is not, in itself, at all more wonderful than that opium, for in-
stance, should produce sleep, or strong liquors a temporary
madness.

Supposing then this to have been the true state of the case,
our first Parents, though they had eaten of the Tree of Life,
would, of course, when afterwards debarred from the use of it,
not live forever. But it is worth remarking, that if we were
to hazard a conjecture on the subject, we should expect to find
that persons whose constitution had for a time been thus forti-
fied, though they would at length die, yet would live much
longer than Man's natural term of years ; and that they would
even be likely to transmit such a constitution to their descend-
ants as should confer on these also a great degree of longevity ;
which would only wear out gradually, in many successive gene-
rations.

We know indeed that no such medicine does now exist ; but
we know this, only from experience. And to maintain that
therefore none such ever did, or could exist, is a mere assump-
tion, and a very rash and groundless one.

' Once believe that there is a God, and miracles are not incredible.''

A remarkable change has taken place in the antichristian
world since Paley's time. In his day, and long before, the far
greater part of those who denied the Gospel, were what are called
Deists. They professed belief in a God in the ordinary accep-
tance of the word — namely, a personal intelligent agent, the
Maker and Ruler of the universe. And many of them professed
to believe also in a future state. Those again, who denied all
this, plainly professed themselves Atheists.

Now, however, and for the last half-century, it is rare to
meet with a Deist in the above sense. The opponents of
Christianity generally reject the belief of a personal Deity ;
and yet they do not usually call themselves Atheists ; but

30 Evidences of Christianity.

apply the term ' God' to the system of the Universe itself. And
the greater part of them assume the title of Christians. They
believe in Christianity, all but the history and the doctrines.
The history they consider as partly true, but partly a Myth,
and partly an exaggerated and falsified report ; and the doc-
trines as a mixture of truth with errors and pious frauds. Yet
though in reality much further removed from Christianity than
a Jew or a Mahometan, they are quite ready to take that oath,
' on the true faith of a Christian,' which many have regarded as
the great bulwark of the christian character of our Legislature !
And we should observe that, with hypocrisy (against which, it
lias been most truly remarked, no legal enactments can afford
security) these persons are not at all chargeable. They are to
be censured indeed for an unwarrantable use of the terms they
employ ; — for inventing a new language of their own, and
calling it English. But since they tell us what it is they do
mean by Christianity, they cannot fairly be accused of deceit.

1 am told that the school or sect to which most of these
Writers belong is called ' Positivity? and that its doctrine is
the worship of Human Naturae. If the reader has no clear no-
tion concerning this system, he is probably, so far, on a level
with its authors.

Here is a specimen (to which many more might have been
added) of the transcendental style in which some of these philo-
sophers seek to enlighten mankind.

'It [Religion] is a mountain air; it is the embalmer of the
world. It is myrrh, and storax, and chlorine, and rosemary.
It makes the sky and the hills sublime ; and the silent song of

the stars is it Always the seer is the sayer. Somehow

his dream is told, somehow he publishes it with solemn joy,
Sometimes with pencil on canvas, sometimes with chisel on
Stoue' sometimes in towers and aisles of granite, his soul's

worsLip is builded Man is the Wonder Maker. He is

seen amid miracles. The stationariness of religion, the assump-
tion that the age of inspiration is past, that the Bible is closed;
the fear of degrading the character of Jesus by representing
Him as a Man, indicate with sufficient clearness, the falsehood
of our theology. It is the office of a true teacher to show ns
that God is, not was — that He speaketh, not spoke. The
true Christianity — a faith like Christ's in the infinitude of

Annotations. 31

Man — is lost. None believeth in the soul of Man, but only in
some man or person old and departed ! In how many churches,
and by how many prophets, tell me, is Man made sensible that
he is an infinite soul ; that the earth and heavens arc passing
into his mind ; and that he is drinking forever the soul of God !
The very word Miracle, as pronounced by christian churches,
gives a false impression ; it is a monster ; it is not one with the

blowing clover and the falling rain Man's life is a miracle,

and all that Man doth A true conversion, a true Christ, is

now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful senti-
ments. The gift of God to the soul is not a vaunting, overpower-
ing, excluding sanctity, but a sweet natural goodness like thine
and mine, and that thus invites thine and mine to be, and to grow.'

' If thou hast any tidings,' says Falstaff to Pistol, ' prithee
deliver them like a man of this world.'

It has been often remarked as a curious phenomenon in
human nature, that some religious enthusiasts have been men
of good sense in all matters but one ; and yet will say, and
write, and approve, the most astounding absurdities in what
relates to religion. But it is equally true, and a no less curious
fact, that some a?iti-re\ig\ous, enthusiasts will exhibit equally
strange anomalies. For example, an able Writer on other sub-
jects has argued that such miracles as are ascribed to Jesus
could not have been wrought by him ; since, if they had been,
the Jews could not have avoided believing in Him. Yet, al-
most in the same breath, he declares that he himself would
not have believed in Jesus, even if he had been an eye-witness
of those miracles I 1 But, apart from this inconsistency, we might
point out to him that he has before his eyes strong evidence of
the force of Jewish prejudice. He sees Jews clinging to a
religion which he believes to be false, and to be proved false in
a most striking manner — clinging to it for ages together in

1 Greg's Creed of Christendom, pp. 204-207. His reason is, because, though
we cannot account for such facts now by natural causes, science may discover a
natural account for tbem hereafter. It would be shorter to say at once, that we
cannot believe any fact of ancient history, because something may be discovered
hereafter to refute the truth of it — or that we cannot believe any man to be honest,
because he may turn out a rogue — or, indeed, trust any moral evidence, because
all moral evidence leaves a possibility of the fact being otherwise. But see Lessons
on Evidence, Lesson v., s 2. p. 32. 10th edition.

32 Evidences of Christianity.

spite of the clearest rational evidence, and even the sensible
proof afforded by the destruction of their Temple, and their own
dispersion over the earth. In reality, we have no difficulty in
accounting for the rejection of Christianity by the majority of
the Jews. It is he who should account for its reception by so
many of them. The rejection of Christianity by the Jews no
more shows that Christianity had not good proof to offer, than
the rejection by the same people of pure deism or atheism, or
whatever else they dislike, proves that nothing inconsistent with
their prejudices can be supported by clear and cogent reasons.
The reception of Christianity by them supposes prejudice over-
come by something y and the question is, by what? The rejec-
tion of it implies nothing but the steady action of a principle
known by plain fact to exist, and known by plain fact also to
be capable of resisting the strongest evidence.

' Mr. Hume states the case of miracles to he a contest of opposite
improbabilities ; — a question whether it he more improbable
that a miracle should he true, or the testimony false?

In reference to Hume's essay on miracles, it is worth ob-
serving that many persons have overlooked the circumstance
that though he doubtless meant his readers to accept his argu-
ment as valid, he must himself have perceived that it is, on his
own principles, elsewhere maintained, utterly futile, and a mere
mystification. For he speaks of our 'experience of the course
of Nature,' while, according to his views, there is no such thing
as 'a course of nature;' — at least, any that can be known by
us : and we cannot have any reasonable belief of any thing, ex-
cept what he calls the ideas in our own minds ; so that on his
system, a miracle that is believed, has as much reality as any
thing at all, whether miraculous or not, can have

But a- f<>r the question what he did really believe, probably
he would have been as much at a loss as any one else to an-
swer it with truth. For he seems to have SO long indulged the
habit of writing (as the phrase is) 'for effect,' and considering
merely what might be BO plausibly stated as to gain admiration
for ingenuity, that he ultimately lost all thought of ever in-
quiring seriously what is true, or of really believing or disbe-
lieving any thing.

Annotations. 33

His argument respecting miracles, stated clearly, and in
regular form, would stand thus : —

Testimony is a kind of evidence very likely to be false :

The evidence for the christian miracles is testimony:

Therefore it is likely to be false.

Now it is plain that every thing turns on the question whether
what is meant be all testimony, or some. The former in what
no one in his senses would maintain. If a man were to carry
out this principle, and reject all testimony to any thing that is
in itself improbable, 1 he would be consigned to a madhouse.
But if the meaning be some testimony, this is true enough, but
involves a gross fallacy : ' [Some] testimony is likely to be
false ; and the evidence for the christian miracles is [some]
testimony,' proves nothing. 2 One might as well say ' books
[viz. some books] consist of mere trash ; Hume's Works are
books ; therefore they consist of mere trash.'

Of course, if any narrative is rejected on the ground of its
being more improbable — in Hume's language, ' more miracu-
lous' 3 — than the falsity of the testimony to it, this is a fair pro-
cedure. And whether this is or is not the case, is the very
question on which, in each instance, issue is to be joined.

It is worth remarking by the way, that Hume has, in treating
of evidence, fallen into a blunder which most schoolboys would
detect. He lays down as a principle, that any witnesses, or
other evidences, on one side of a question, are counterbalanced
and neutralized by an equal number (supposing them individual-
ly of equal weight) on the opposite side ; and that the numerical
excess on the one side is the measure of the probability. Thus,
if there are ten witnesses on the one side, and fifteen on the
other, ten of these are neutralized by the opposite ten ; and the
surplus of live gives the amount of the probability. A mere tyro
in Arithmetic could have taught him that the measure of the
probability is the p?'oportion — the ratio of the two numbers to
each other. But by his rule, if in some case there were two
witnesses on the one side, and four on the opposite, and in

1 As, for instance, the existence and the exploits of Bonaparte. See Historic
Doubts.

3 The fallacy is (in the language of Logicians) that of a ' Middle-term undistri-
buted ;' or, as some express it, ' taken twice particularly.'

a See Historic Doubts, p. 24, .and Hume's Essays, 8th and 10th.

34 Evidences of Christianity.

another case, ninety-eight on the one side, and a hundred on
the other, these two cases would be alike ; since in each there
is an excess of two on one side : i. e., that one to two is the same
thing as forty-nine to fifty.

' The existence of the testimony is a phenomenon. The truth of
the fact solves the phenomenon. If we reject this solution,
we ought to have some other to rest in?

To take into account only the improbabilities on one side,
wholly disregarding those on the other, is a procedure so grossly
absurd, that though many fall into it in some particular cases,
any one who should act thus throughout, would be at once set
down as a madman. The events, for instance, which have
occurred in Europe during the last seventy years, are, many of
them, excessively improbable ; l and a man would be, on Hume's
principle, bound to disbelieve them, saying that he is 'iot
bound to explain how the story arose.' But it is plain we are
bound to point out some way in which false statements of such
events might have arisen, or else to admit them (as in fact every
one does) to be true.

It is wonderful how many persons, not wanting generally in
good sense, overlook the obvious truth, that to disbelieve is to
believe / belief of the falsity of any proposition, being a belief of
the truth of its contradictory. Excessive credulity, and exces-
sive incredulity, though opposed, in reference to each separate
proposition, are the same mental quality. If one juryman is so
strongly prepossessed against a prisoner, and another in his
favor, that the one is ready to condemn him, and the other
to acquit him on slight evidence, or on none at all, then the
one is crerfithnix as to hie guilt, and incredulous as to his
innocence ; and the other is equally credulous and incredulous
on the opposite side. Even so, to <7/VI>elieve the superhuman
origin of Christianity, is to believe its human origin: and
which belief demands the more easy faith, is the very point at
issue.

And it maybe added, that there are many cases in which
doubt would imply great credulity. If, for instance, any one
could be found who doubted whether there are any Pyramids in

See Historic Doubts.

Annotations. 35

Egypt, or any such city as Paris, because he had never seen
them, and it is more common for travellers to lie than for
kings to build pyramids, he would be believing what every one
would call immeasurably improbable ; namely, the possibility
of thousands of independent witnesses agreeing in the same
false story.

It has been said, however, since the time of Paley, that
Hume's argument would have been valid, if, instead of the
word ' Experience' he had used ' Analogy,' and that he would
have been justified in maintaining that though some things may
be made credible which are at variance with our Experience, no
testimony can establish any thing that is at variance with
Analogy.

Let us try. We will take the very instance which Hume
himself alludes to ; the account given of ice, to one who had
always lived in a hot climate. Suppose some travellers de-
scribing this to an inhabitant of the interior of Africa, and
urging, when he manifested incredulity, that though he had no
experience of water becoming solid, there was something anal-
ogous in wax and tallow, which are solid when cold, and
liquid when warm. He might answer, ' This I admit, and yet
I have detected your falsehood ; and I will show you how : it is
a well-known Law of Nature that heat expands bodies, and
cold contracts them : in particular I have observed this in the
very case of water, which occupies more space when warm, and
is more and more condensed as it cools. If therefore it could,
by a great degree of cold, be brought to the state of a solid,
your ice, as you call it, would be greatly condensed, and would
sink in water. Yet you tell me that on the contrary it floats /
which is clearly quite at variance with analogy. ' Hast thou
appealed unto Analogy? Unto Analogy shalt thou go !'

' But again, you tell me of a vast body of water which you
call Sea, and which you say covers three-fourths of the world.
And you urge that though I have never seen it, I have seen
lakes in my own country, which are something analogous ; and
that no one can pronounce how large a lake may be. Yery
well : but then you tell me that this vast lake is brine, although
it is supplied from rivers, and rain, which are both fresh water.
This is at variance not only with my own direct experience, but
with the analogy of all that I have experienced. And moreover,

36 Evidences of Christianity.

you tell me that this salt water contains abundance offish.
Now I have even tried an experiment which refutes you. I
have put fish of various kinds into vessels of salt water ; and it
hills them, yet you tell me of fish living and abounding in your
briny lake !

' And again, you tell me that some of these fishfiy in the air.
Perhaps you mean this statement for a kind of Parable, or
poetical Figure, designed to convey some moral lesson. But
literally, it is a manifest physical impossibility. According to
all experience and all analogy, birds are formed for flying in
air, and fish for swimming in water. You tell me however of
a bird which you call Apteryx, in a country called New Zea-
land, which has no wings at all ! I may perhaps believe that,
when I believe in your flying fish !

' You also tell me that you have found in caverns and in rocks,
the remains of the animals that formerly inhabited the earth ;
which, it seems, were all of them quite different from those that
inhabit it now. Fossil remains, as you call them, of Man, or
of any of the animals, or the plants, now existing, are never
found. Now if all those ancient species of plants and animals
became extinct, and new ones, such as we now see around us,
were created, this is quite at variance with Analogy. For we
see no such new species coming into existence now.

' But then you tell me that no plants or animals ever were
created at all ; but that the lowest of these gradually rose, in
many generations, into higher and higher. "Worms and snails
ripened in the course <>f many ages, into fish, then reptiles,
then quadrupeds, apes, and lastly men. Now this is against all
analogy. Our people, and our forefathers, have always kept cattle
and poultry, and cultivated corn; and they never find that corn
becomes palm-trees, or that slice]) produce cows or dogs, or that
the apes in our forests ripen into men. Neither the creation
of new Bpecies, nor the change of one species into another, is
analogous to any thing we have observed. And you yourselves
have told us that you have found in the ancient temples of a
country called Egypt, pictures supposed to be above three
thousand years old, of men and various animals, such as are
now found on the earth.

'All that you have been telling us therefore is at variance
with the Analogy to which you yourselves have referred us.'

PART I.

OF THE DIEECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND
WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED
FOR OTHER MIRACLES.

f FHE two propositions which I shall endeavor to establish are
• /JL these :

I. That there is satisfactory evidence that many, profess-
ing to be original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed
their lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and
solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts ; and that
they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of
conduct.

II. That there is not satisfactory evidence that persons pro-
fessing to be original witnesses of other miracles, in their
nature as certain as these are, have ever acted in the same man-
ner, in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and
properly in consequence of their belief of those accounts.

The first of these propositions, as it forms the argument, will
stand at the head of the following nine chapters.

CHAPTER I.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be
original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their
lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered,
and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts ;
and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to
new rules of conduct.

TO support this proposition, two points are necessary to be
made out : first, that the founder of the institution, his (jy
associates and immediate followers, acted the part which the

42974?

38 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

proposition imputes to them : secondly, that they did so in attes-
tation of the miraculous history recorded in our scriptures, and
solely in consequence of their belief of the truth of this history.

Before we produce any particular testimony to the activity
and sufferings which compose the subject of our* first assertion,
it will be proper to consider the degree of probability which the
assertion derives from the nature of the case / that is, by
inferences from those parts of the case which, in point of fact,
are on all hands acknowledged.

First then, the christian religion exists, and therefore by
some means or other was established. JSTow it either owes the
principle of its establishment, i. e. its first publication, to the
activity of the person who was the founder of the institution
and of those who were joined with him in the undertaking, or
we are driven upon the strange supposition, that, although they
might lie by, others would take it up ; although they were
quiet and silent, other persons busied themselves in the success
and propagation of their story. This is perfectly incredible.
To me it appears little less than certain, that, if the first
announcing of the religion by the founder had not been followed
up by the zeal and industry of his immediate disciples, the
J attempt must have expired in its birth. Then as to the kind
and degree of exertion which was employed, and the mode of
life to which these persons submitted, we reasonably suppose it
to be like that which we observe in all others who voluntarily
become missionaries of a new faith. Frequent, earnest, and
laborious preaching, constantly conversing with religious
persons upon religion, a sequestration from the common
pleasures, engagements, and varieties of life, and an addiction
to one serious object, compose the habits of such men. I do
not sav that this mode of life is without enioyment, but I sav
that the enjoyment springs from sincerity. With a conscious-
ness at the bottom of hollowncss and falsehood, the fatigue and
restraint would become insupportable. I am apt to believe
that very few hypocrites engage in these undertakings; or,
however, persist in them long. Ordinarily speaking, nothing
can overcome the indolence of mankind, the love which is
natural to mosl tempers of cheerful society and cheerful scenes,
or the desire, which is common to all, of personal ease and free-
dom, but conviction.

Chap, i.] Probable Sufferings of Christians. 39

Secondly, it is also highly probable, from the nature of the
case, that the propagation of the new religion was attended
with difficulty and danger. As addressed to the Jews, it was
a system adverse not only to their habitual opinions, but to
those opinions upon which their hopes, their partialities, their
pride, their consolation was founded. This people, with or
without reason, had worked themselves into a persuasion, that
some signal and greatly advantageous change was to be effect-
ed in the condition of their country, by the agency of a long-
promised messenger from heaven. 1 The rulers of the Jews,
their leading sect, their priesthood, had been the authors of this
persuasion to the common people. So that it was not merely
the conjecture of theoretical divines, or the secret expectation
of a few recluse devotees, but it was become the popular hope
and passion, and, like all popular opinions, undoubting, and
impatient of contradiction. They clung to this hope under
every misfortune of their country, and with more tenacity as
their dangers or calamities increased. To find therefore that
expectations so gratifying were to be worse than disappointed ;
that they were to end in the diffusion of a mild unambitious
religion, which, instead of victories and triumphs, instead of
exalting their nation and institution above the rest of the
world, was to advance those whom they despised to an equality
with themselves, in those very points of comparison in which
they most valued their own distinction, could be no very pleas-
ing discovery to a Jewish mind ; nor could the messengers of
such intelligence expect to be well received or easily credited.
The doctrine was equally harsh and novel. The extending of
the kingdom of God to those who did not conform to the law
of Moses, was a notion that had never before entered into the
thoughts of a Jew.

The character of the new institution was, in other respects
also, ungrateful to Jewish habits and principles. Their own
religion was in a high degree technical. Even the enlightened
Jew placed a great deal of stress upon the ceremonies of his

i ' Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tem-
pore Judcea profecti rerum potirentur.' — Sueton. Vespasian, cap. 4-8.

' Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum Uteris contineri, eo ipso tem-
pore fore, ut valesceret oriens, profectique Juda:a rerum potirentur.' — Tacit. Hist.
lib. v. cap. 9-13.

40 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

law, saw in them a great deal of virtue and efficacy; the gross
and vulgar had scarcely any thing else ; and the hypocritical
and ostentatious magnified them above measure, as being the
instruments of their own reputation and influence. The chris-
tian scheme, without formally repealing the Levitical code,
lowered its estimation extremely. In the place of strictness
and zeal in performing the observances which that code pre-
scribed, or which tradition had added to it, the new sect
preached up faith, well-regulated affections, inward purity and
moral rectitude of disposition, as the true ground, on the part
of the worshipper, of merit and acceptance with God. This,
however rational it may appear, or recommending to us at
present, did not by any means facilitate the plan then. On the
contrary, to disparage those qualities which the highest char-
acters in the country valued themselves most upon, was a sure
way of making powerful enemies. As if the frustration of the
national hope was not enough, the long-esteemed merit m rit-
ual zeal and punctuality was to be decried, and that by Jews
preaching to Jews.

The ruling party at Jerusalem had just before crucified the
founder of the religion. That is a fact which w r ill not be dis-
puted. They therefore who stood forth to preach the religion,
must necessarily reproach these rulers with an execution, which
they could not but represent as an unjust and cruel murder.
This would not render their office more easy, "™ their situation
more safe.

With regard to the interference of the Roman government
which was then established in Judea, I should not expect, that,
despising as it did the religion of the country, it would, if left
to itself, animadvert, either with much vigilance, or much se-
verity, upon the schisms and controversies which arose within
it. Yet there was that in Christianity which might easily af-
ford a handle of accusation with a jealous government. 1 The
Christians avowed an unqualified obedience to a new master.
They avowed also that he was the person who had been fore-
told to the Jews under the suspected title of King. The spir-
itual nature of this kingdom, the consistency of this obedience
with civil subjection, were distinctions too refined to be enter-
tained by a Roman president, who viewed the business at a great

1 See Acts xvii. 7.

Chap, i.] Probable Sufferings of Christians. ±1

distance, or through the medium of very hostile representa-
tions. Our histories accordingly inform us, that this was the
turn which the enemies of Jesus gave to his character and pre-
tensions in their remonstrances with Pontius Pilate. And
Justin Martyr, about a hundred years afterwards, complains
that the same mistake prevailed in his time ; ' ye having heard
that we are waiting for a kingdom, suppose, without distin-
guishing, that we mean a human kingdom, when in truth we
speak of that which is with God.' 1 And it was undoubtedly a
natural source of calumny and misconstruction.

The preachers therefore of Christianity had to contend with
prejudice backed by power. They had to come forward to a
disappointed people, to a priesthood possessing a considerable '
share of municipal authority, and actuated by strong motives of
opposition and resentment ; and they had to do this under a
foreign government, to wdiose favor they made no pretensions, t
and which was constantly surrounded by their enemies. The
well-known, because the experienced fate of reformers, when-
ever the reformation subverts some reigning opinion, and does
not proceed upon a change already taken place in the senti-
ments of a country, will not allow, much less lead us, to sup-
pose, that the first propagators of Christianity at Jerusalem and
in Judea, with the difficulties and the enemies which they had
to contend with, and entirely destitute, as they were, of force,
authority, or protection, could execute their mission with per-
sonal ease and safet}\ .

Let us next inquire what might reasonably be expected by
the preachers of Christianity when they turned themselves to
the heathen Public. Now the first thing that strikes us is,
that the religion they carried with them was exclusive. It
denied without reserve the truth of every article of heathen
mythology, the existence of every object of their worship. It
accepted no compromise : it admitted no comprehension. It \J
must prevail, if it prevailed at all, by the overthrow of every
statue, altar, and temple in the world. It will not easily be
credited that a design, so bold as this was, could in any age be
attempted to be carried into execution with impunity.

For, it ought to be considered, that this was not setting
forth, or magnifying the character and worship of some new

1 Ap. l me - p. 16, el. Thirl.

42 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

competitor for a place in the Pantheon, whose pretensions
might be discussed or asserted without questioning the reality
of any others. It was pronouncing all other gods to be false,
and all other worship vain. Prom the facility with which the
Polytheism of ancient nations admitted new objects of worship
into the number of their acknowledged divinities, or the patience
with which they might entertain proposals of this kind, we can
argue nothing as to their toleration of a system, or of the pub-
lishers and active propagators of a system, which swept away
the very foundation of the existing establishment. The one
was nothing more than what it would be, in Popish countries,
to add a saint to the calendar ; the other was to abolish and
tread under foot the calendar itself.

Secondly, it ought also to be considered, that this was not
the case of philosophers propounding in their books, or in their
schools, doubts concerning the truth of the popular creed* or
even avowing their disbelief of it. These philosophers did not
go about from place to place to collect proselytes from amongst
the common people ; to form in the heart of the country socie-
ties professing their tenets ; to provide for the order, instruc-
tion, and permanency of these societies ; nor did they enjoin
their followers to withdraw themselves from the public worship
of the temples, or refuse a compliance with rites instituted by
the laws. 1 These things are what the Christians did, and what
the Philosophers did not: and in these consisted the activity
and danger of the enterprise.

Thirdly, it ought also to be considered, that this danger
proceeded not merely from solemn acts and public resolutions
of the State, but from sudden bursts of violence at particular
places, from the license of the populace, the rashness of some
magistrates and the negligence of others ; from the influence
and instigation of interested adversaries, and, in general, from
the variety and warmth of opinion which an errand so novel
and extraordinary could not fail of exciting. I can conceive
that the teachers of Christianity might both fear and suffer

1 The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus, allowed,
or rather enjoined, nun to worship tin' gods of the country, and in the establish-
ed form. Bee passages to this purpose, collected from their works by Dr. Clarke,
Nat. and Rev /.'</. p. 180, ed. v. Except Socrates, they all thought it wiser to
comply with the iaws than to contend.

Chap, i.] Probable Sufferings of Christians. i3

much from these causes, without any general persecution being
denounced against them by imperial authority. Some length
of time, I should suppose, might pass, before the vast machine
of the Roman empire would be put in motion, or its attention
be obtained to religious controversy : but, during that time, a
great deal of ill-usage might be endured, by a set of friendless,
unprotected travellers, telling men, wherever they came, that
the religion of their ancestors, the religion in which they had
been brought up, the religion of the State and of the magis-
trate, the rites which they frequented, the pomp which they
admired, was throughout a system of folly and delusion.

Nor do I think that the teachers of Christianity would find
protection in that general disbelief of the popular theology, which
is supposed to have prevailed amongst the intelligent part of the
heathen Public. It is by no means true that unbelievers are
usually tolerant. They are not disposed (and why should they ?)
to endanger the present state of things, by suffering a religion
of which they believe nothing, to be disturbed by another of
which they believe as little. They are ready themselves to
conform to anything; and are, oftentimes, amongst the fore-
most to procure conformity from others, by any method which
they think likely to be efficacious. When was ever a change
of religion patronized by infidels ? How little, notwithstand-
ing the reigning skepticism, and the magnified liberality of that
age, the true principles of toleration were understood by the
wisest men amongst them, may be gathered from two eminent
and uncontested examples. The younger Pliny, polished, as
he was, by all the literature of that soft, and elegant period,
could gravely pronounce this monstrous judgment : ' those who
persisted in declaring themselves Christians, I ordered to be led
away to punishment (i. e. to execution), for I did not doubt,
whatever it was that they confessed, that contumacy and inflexible
obstinacy ought to be punished? His master, Trajan, a mild
and accomplished prince, went, nevertheless, no farther in his
sentiments of moderation and equity, than what appears in the
following rescript : ' That Christians are not to be sought for ;
but if any are brought before you, and convicted, they are to
be punished.' And this direction he gives, after it had been
reported to him by his own president, that, by the most strict,
examination, nothing could be discovered in the principles of

44 Evidences of Christianity. [Parti.

these persons, but ' a bad and excessive superstition, accom-
panied, ir seems, with an oath of mutual federation, to 'allow
themselves in no crime or immoral conduct whatever.' The
truth is, the ancient heathens considered religion entirely as an
affair of State, as much under the tuition of the magistrate as
any other part of the police. The religion of that age was not
merely allied to the State ; it was incorporated into it. Many
of its offices were administered by the magistrate. Its titles of
pontiffs, augurs, and flamens, were borne by senators, consuls,
and generals. Without discussing therefore the truth of the
theology, they resented every affront put upon the established
worship as a direct opposition to the authority of government.
Add to which, that the religious systems of those times,
however ill supported by evidence, had been long established.
The ancient religion of a countrv has always many votaries, and
sometimes not the fewer because its origin is hidden in remote-
ness and obscurity. Men have a natural veneration for anti-
quity, especially in matters of religion. What Tacitus says of
the Jewish, was more applicable to the heathen establishment,
'Hi ritus, quoquo modo inducti, antiquitate defenduntur.' It
Mas also a splendid and sumptuous worship. It had its priest-
hood, its endowments, its temples. Statuary, painting, archi-
tecture, and music, contributed their effect to its ornament and
magnificence. It abounded in festival shows and solemnities,
to which the common people are greatly addicted ; and which
were of a nature to engage them much more than any thing of
that sort among us. These things would retain great numbers
on its side by the fascination of spectacle and pomp, as well as
interest many in its preservation by the advantage which they
(\vc\v from it. 'It was moreover interwoven,' as Mr. Gibbon
rightly represents it. 'with every circumstance of business or
pleasure, of public or private life, with all the offices and
amusements of society.' Upon the due celebration also of its
rites, the people were taught to believe, and did believe, that
the prosperity of their country in a great measure depended.

I am willing to accept the account of the matter which is
given by Mr. Gibbon: 'The various modes of worship which
prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people
as equally true, by the philosophers as equally false, and by the
magistrate as equally useful ;' and I would ask, from which of

Chap, i.] ProbcMe Sufferings of Christians. 45

these three classes of men were the christian missionaries to
look for protection or impunity? Could they expect it from
the people, ' whose acknowledged confidence in the public
religion' they subverted from its foundation ? from the philo-
sopher who, ' considering all religions as equally false,' would
of course rank theirs among the number, with the addition of
regarding them as busy and troublesome zealots? or from the
magistrate who, satisfied with the 'utility' of the subsisting
religion, would not be likely to countenance a spirit of proselyt-
ism and innovation ; a system which declared war against every
other, and which, if it prevailed, must end in a total rupture
of public opinion ; an upstart religion, in a word, which was
not content with its own authority, but must disgrace all the
settled religions of the world ? It was not to be imagined that
he would endure with patience, that the religion of the Emperor
and of the State should be calumniated and borne down by a
company of superstitious and despicable Jews.

Lastly ; the nature of the case affords a strong proof, that
the original teachers of Christianity, in consequence of their
new profession, entered upon a new and singular course of
life. We may be allowed to presume, that the institution
which they preached to others, they conformed to in their own
persons ; because this is no more than what every teacher of a
new religion both does, and must do, in order to obtain either
proselytes or hearers. The change which this would produce
was very considerable. It is a change which we do not easily
estimate, because, ourselves and all about us being habituated to
the institution from our infancy, it is what we neither experi-
ence nor observe. After men became Christians, much of their
time was spent in prayer and devotion, in religious meetings, in
celebrating the eucharist, in conferences, in exhortations, in
preaching, in an affectionate intercourse with one another, and
correspondence with other societies. Perhaps their mode of
life, in its form and habit, was not very unlike the Unitas
Fratrum, or of modern Methodists. Think then what it was
to become such at Corinth, at Ephesus, at Antioch, or even at
Jerusalem. How new ! how alien from all their former habits
and ideas, and from those of everybody about them ! What a
revolution there must have been of opinions and prejudices to
bring the matter to this !

46 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

"We know what the precepts of the religion are ; how pure,
how benevolent, how disinterested a conduct they enjoin; and
that this purity and benevolence is extended to the very
thoughts and affections. We are not perhaps at liberty to take
for granted that the lives of the preachers of Christianity were
as perfect as their lessons ; but we are entitled to contend, that
the observable part of their behavior must have agreed in a
great measure with the duties which they taught. There was
therefore, which is all that we assert, a course of life pursued
by them, different from that which they before led. And this
is of great importance. Men are brought to any thing almost
sooner than to change their habit of life, especially when the
change is either inconvenient, or made against the force. of na-
tural inclination, or with the loss of accustomed indulgences.
' It is the most difficult of all things to convert men froin
vicious habits to virtuous ones, as every one may judge from
what he feels in himself, as well as from what he sees in
others.' 1 It is almost like making men over again.

Left then to myself, and without any more information than
a knowledge of the existence of the religion, of the general
story upon which it is founded, and that no act of power, force,
or authority, was concerned in its first success, I should con-
clude, from the very nature and exigency of the case, that the
author of the religion during his life, and his immediate dis-
ciples after his death, cvaied themselves in spreading and pub-
lishing the institution throughout the country in which it
began, and into which ir was firsl carried; that, in the prose-
cution of this purpose, they underwent the labors and troubles
which we observe the propagators of new sects to undergo;
that the attempt must necessarily have also been in a high
degree dangerous; that from the subject of the mission, com-
pared with the fixed opinions and prejudices of those to whom
the missionaries were to address themselves, they could hardly
fail of encountering strong and frequent opposition; that, by
the hand of government, as well as from the sudden fury and
unbridled license of the people, they would oftentimes expe-
rience injurious and cruel treatment; that, at any rate, they
niii-t have always had bo much to fear for their personal

1 Hartley's Essays on Man, p. 190.

Chap, i.] Annotations. 47

safety, as to have passed their lives in a state of constant peril
and anxiety ; and lastly, that their mode of life and conduct,
visibly at least, corresponded with the institution which they
delivered, and, so far, was both new, and required continual
self-denial.

ANNOTATIONS.

' The ruling party at Jerusalem had just before crucified the

Founder of the religion.''

If the idea of Christ's Resurrection occurred to the disciples
at all, it must have occurred to them as a thing to be proved.
' Something' may have made it congenial to their own minds ;
but nothing could have bewitched them to believe it would turn
out congenial to the minds of priests and people reeking with
the blood of a murdered Messiah. And they must, therefore,
have plainly perceived that, in spreading such a story, their
personal safety was at stake. We read, accordingly, of their
being ' straitly threatened by the Jewish rulers, as intending to
brine: on them this man's blood.'

*»

'A system which swept away the very foundation of the existing

establishment?

The ancient Romans and other Pagans seldom objected to
the addition of a new god to their list ; and it is said that some
of them actually did propose to enrol Jesus among the number.
This was quite consonant to the genius of their mythological
system. But the overthrow of the whole system itself, and the
substitution of a fundamentally different religion, was a thing
they at first regarded with alarm and horror ; all their feelings
were enlisted against such a radical change. So also in the unre-
formed Churches. The enrolment from time to time of a new
saint in the calendar, or the promulgation of a new dogma, are
acceptable novelties. But those who would abolish all saint-
worship, and restore Christianity to its primitive purity, are
denounced as heretical innovators. Any one, therefore, who
should imagine that the Gospel may have been originally re

48 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

eeived with some degree of favor on account of its being new,
because, forsooth, men like novelties, and that, therefore, some-
thing short of the most overpowering miraculous proofs might
have sufficed for its introduction and spread, — such a person
must have entirely overlooked the distinction between the
kinds of things in which men do or do not favor what is new.

' That the n ligion of the Emperor and the State should he
calumniated and borne down by a company of superstitions
and despicable Jews?

Dean Milman has given 1 a vivid and just description of the
kind of reception likely to await the promulgators of the Gospel
in heathen cities.

' Conceive then the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the tentmaker
or the fisherman, entering, as strangers, into one of the splendid
cities of Syria, Asia Minor, or Greece. Conceive them, I mean,
as unendowed with miraculous powers, having adopted their
itinerant system of teaching from human motives, and for
human purposes alone. As they pass along to the remote and
obscure quarter, where they expect to meet with precarious
hospitality among their countrymen, they survey the strength
of the established religion, which it is their avowed purpose t<>
overthrow. Everywhere they behold temples on which the ut-
most extravagance of expenditure has been lavished by succeed-
ing generations; idols of the most exquisite workmanship, to
which, even if the religious feeling of adoration is enfeebled, the
people are strongly attached by national or local vanity. They
meet processions, in which the idle find perpetual occupation, the
young excitement, the voluptuous a continual stimulant to their
passions. They behold a priesthood, numerous, sometimes
wealthy; nor are these alone wedded by interest to the estab-
lished faith; many of the trades, like those of the makers of
silver shrines in Ephesus, are pledged to the support of that to
which they owe their maintenance. They pass a magnificent
theatre, on the splendor and success of which the popularity of
lie' existing authorities mainly depends; and in which the
serious exhibitions are essentially religious, the lighter as inti-

Bampton Lectures, I-. vi. ]>. 269.

Chap, i.] Annotations. • 49

mately connected with the indulgence of the Laser passions.
They behold another public building, where even worse feel-
ings, the cruel and the sanguinary, are pampered by the ani-
mating contests of wild beasts and of gladiators, in which they
themselves may shortly play a dreadful part,

' Butcher' d to make a Roman holiday !'

Show and spectacle are the characteristic enjoyments of the
whole people, and every show and spectacle is either sacred to
the religious feelings, or incentive to the lusts of the flesh ; those
feelings which must be entirely eradicated, those lusts which
must be brought into total subjection to the law of Christ. They
encounter likewise itinerant jugglers, diviners, magicians, who
impose upon the credulous, and excite the contempt of the en-
lightened : in the first case, dangerous rivals to those who should
attempt to propagate a new faith by imposture and deception;
in the latter, naturally tending to prejudice the mind against all
miraculous pretensions whatever: here, like Ely mas, endeavor-
ing to outdo the signs and wonders of the Apostles ; there,
throwing suspicion on all asserted supernatural agency, by the
frequency and clumsiness of their delusions. They meet philo-
sophers, frequently itinerant like themselves ; or teachers of
new religions, priests of Isis and Serapis, who have brought
into equal discredit what might otherwise have appeared a proof
of philanthropy, the performing laborious journeys at the sacri-
fice of personal ease and comfort, for the moral and religions
improvement of mankind ; or at least have so accustomed the
public mind to similar pretensions, as to take away every attrac-
tion from their boldness or novelty. There are also the teachers
of the different mysteries, which would engross all the anxiety
of the inquisitive, perhaps excite, even if they did not satisfy,
the hopes of the more pure and lofty-minded. Such must have
been among the obstacles which would force themselves on the
calmer moments of the most ardent ; such the overpowering
difficulties, of which it would be impossible to overlook the
importance, or elude the force; which required no sober calcu-
lation to estimate, no laborious inquiry to discover ; which met
and confronted them wherever they went, and which, either in
desperate presumption, or deliberate reliance on their own pre-
ternatural powers, they must have contemned and defied.

■A

50 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

'The commencement of their labors was usually dishearten-
ing, and ill-calculated to keep alive the flame of ungrounded
enthusiasm. They begin their operations in the narrow and
secluded synagogue of their own countrymen. The novelty of
their doctrine, and curiosity, secure them at first a patient atten-
tion ; but as the more offensive tenets are developed, the most
fierce and violent passions are awakened. Scorn and hatred are
seen working in the clouded brows and agitated countenances
of the leaders : if here and there one is pricked to the heart, it
requires considerable moral courage to acknowledge his convic-
tion ; and the new teachers are either cast forth from the indig-
nant assembly of their own people, liable to all the punishments
which they are permitted to inflict, scourged and beaten ; or, if
they succeed in forming a party, they give rise to a furious
schism ; and thus appear before the heathen with the danger-
ous notoriety of having caused a violent tumult, and broken
the public peace by their turbulent and contentions harangues :
at all events, disclaimed by that very people on whose traditions
they profess to build their doctrines, and to whose Scriptures
they appeal in justification of their pretensions. They endure,
they persevere, they continue to sustain the contest against
Judaism and paganism. It is still their deliberate, ostensible,
and avowed object to overthrow all this vast system of idol-
atry ; to tear up by the roots all ancient prejudices ; to silence
shrines, sanctified by the veneration of ages as oracular; to
consign all those gorgeous temples to decay, and all those
images to contempt; to wean the people from every barbarous
and dissolute amusement

' But in one respect it is impossible now to conceive the
extent to which the Apostles of the crucified Jesus shocked all
the feelings of mankind. The public establishment of Chris-
tianity, the adoration of ages, the reverence of nations, has
thrown around the CT088 of Christ an indelible and inalienable
sanctity. No effort of the imagination can dissipate the illu-
sion of dignity which has gathered round it; it has been so
long dissevered from all its coarse and humiliating associa-
tions, that it cannot be cast back and desecrated into its »tate
of opprobrium and contempt. To the most daring unbeliever
among ourselves, it is the symbol — the absurd, and irra'ional,
he may conceive, but still the ancient and venerable symbol —

Chap, ii.] Testimony of Prof ane Writers. 51

of a powerful and influential religion : what was it to the Jew
and to the heathen ? the basest, the most degrading punish-
ment of the lowest criminal ! the proverbial terror of the
wretched slave ! it was to them, what the most despicable and
revolting instrument of public execution is to us. Yet to the
cross of Christ, men turned from deities in which were embodied
every attribute of strength, power, and dignity ; in an incre-
dibly short space of time multitudes gave up the splendor, the
pride, and the power of paganism, to adore a Being who was
thus humiliated beneath the meanest of mankind, who had
become, according to the literal interpretation of the prophecy,
a very scorn of men, and an outcast of the people?

CHAPTER II.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to he ori-
ginally witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their
lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and
solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts / and
that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules
of conduct.

AFTER, thus considering what was likely to happen, we are
next to inquire how the transaction is represented in the
several accounts that have come down to us. And this inquiry
is properly preceded by the other, forasmuch as the reception
of these accounts may depend in part upon the credibility of
what they contain.

The obscure and distant view of Christianity, which some of
the heathen writers of that age had gained, and which a few
passages in their remaining works incidentally discover to us,
offers itself to our notice in the first place : because, so far as
this evidence goes, it is the concession of adversaries ; the source
from which it is drawn, is unsuspected. Under this head a
quotation from Tacitus, well known to every scholar, must be
inserted as deserving of particular attention. The reader will
bear in mind that this passage was written about seventy years

52 Evidt nces of Christianity. [Part I.

after Christ's death, and that it relates to transactions which
took place about thirty years after that event. Speaking of
the fire which happened at Rome in the time of Nero, and of
the suspicions which were entertained that the Emperor him-
self was concerned in causing it, the historian proceeds in his
narrative ami observations thus:

• But neither these exertions, nor his largesses to the people,
m>r his offerings to the gods, did away the infamous imputation
under which Nero lay of having ordered the city to be set on
fire. To put an end, therefore, to this report, he laid the
guilt, ami inflicted the most cruel punishments, upon a set of
people who were held in abhorrence for their crimes, and called
bv the vulgar Christians. The founder of that name was
Christ, who suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, und^er his
procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, thus
checked for a while, broke out again ; and spread not only o>fcer
Judea, where theevil originated, but through Rome also, whither
every thing had upon earth finds its way, and is practised.
Some who confessed their sect were first seized, and afterwards
by their information a vast multitude were apprehended, who
were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning Rome, as
of hatred to mankind. Their sufferings at their execution were
aggravated by insult and mockery ; forsomewere disguised in
the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs — some
wore crucified —and others were wrapped in pitched shirts, 1 and
set on tire when the day closed, that they might serve as lights
to illuminate the night. N"ero lent his own gardens for these
executions; and exhibited at the same time a mock Circensian
entertainment, being a spectator of the whole in the dress of a
charioteer, sometimes mingling with the crowd on foot, and
sometimes viewing the spectacle from his car. This conduct
made the sufferers pitied ; and though they were criminals, and
deserving the severest punishment, yet they were considered as
sacrificed, not bo much out of a regard to the public good, as to
gratify the cruelty of one man.'

( )ur concern with this passage :it present is only so far as it
affords a presumption in support of the proposition which we

' This is rather a paraphrase, but is justified by what the Scholiast upon Juve-
nal says—' Nero maleficos homines tela et papj ro ft cerfl supervestiebat. et sic
mi ignem ad moved jubebat.' Lard. Jewish and Heath. Tut , vol. i. p. 359.

Chap, ii.] Testimony of Profane Writers. 53

maintain, concerning the activity and sufferings of the first
teachers of Christianity. Now, considered in this view, it
proves three things; 1st, that the founder of the institution was
put to death; 2dly, that in the same country in which he was
put to death, the religion, after a short check, broke out again
and spread; 3dly, that it so spread, as that, within thirty-four
years from the author's death, a very great number of Christians
(ingens eorum multituclo) were found at Rome. From which
fact, the two following inferences may be fairly drawn ; 1st,
that if, in the space of thirty-four years from its commence-
ment, the religion had spread throughout Judea, had extended
itself to Rome, and there had numbered a great multitude of
converts, the original teachers and missionaries of the institu-
tion could not have been idle / 2dly, that when the author of
the undertaking was put to death as a malefactor for his attempt,
the endeavors of his followers to establish his religion, in the
same country, amongst the same people, and in the same age,
could not but be attended with danger.

Suetonius, a writer contemporary with Tacitus, describing the
transactions of the same reign, uses these words : ' Affecti
suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novre et
maleficae.' l ' The Christians, a set of men of a new and mis-
chievous [or magical] superstition, were punished.'

Since it is not mentioned here that the burning of the city
was the pretence of the punishment of the Christians, or that
they were the Christians of Rome who alone suffered, it is pro-
bable that Suetonius refers to some more general persecution
than the short and occasional one which Tacitus describes.

Juvenal, a writer of the same age with the two former, and
intending, it should seem, to commemorate the cruelties ex-
ercised under Nero's government, has the following lines : 8

Pone Tigellimim, ted a, lncebis in 111 A,,

Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant,

Et latum media sulcum deducit 3 arena.

'Describe Tigellinus [a creature of Nero's], and you shall
suffer the same punishment with those who stand burning in
their own flame and smoke, their head being held up by a stake
fixed to their chin, till they make a long stream of blood and
melted sulphur on the ground.'

1 Suet. Nero. cap. 16. ! Sat. i. ver. 155. 3 Forsan ' deducis.'

5± Evidences of Christianity. Part I.

If this passage were considered by itself, the subject of the
allusion might be doubtful ; but when connected with the testi-
mony of Suetonius, as to the actual punishment of the Christians
by Nero ; and with the account given by Tacitus of the species
of punishment which they were made to undergo ; I think it
sufficiently probable, that these were the executions to which
the poet refers.

These things, as hath already been observed, took placa
within thirty-one years after Christ's death, that is, according
to the course of nature, in the lifetime, probably, of some of
the apostles, and certainly in the lifetime of those who were
converted by the apostles, or who were converted in their time.
If, then, the founder of the religion was put to death in the
execution of his design; if the first race of converts v to the
religion, many of them, suffered the greatest extremities for
their profession, it is hardly credible, that those who cine
between the two, who were companions of the author of the
institution during his life, and the teachers and propagators of
the institution after his death, could go about their undertaking
with ease and safety.

The testimony of the younger Pliny belongs to a later
period ; for although he was contemporary with Tacitus and
Suetonius, yet his account does not, like theirs, go back to the
transactions of Nero's reign, but is confined to the affairs of
his own time. His celebrated letter to Trajan was written
about seventy years after Christ's death ; and the information
to be drawn from it, so far as it is connected with our argument,
relates principally to two points: first, to the number of
Christians in Bithynia and Pontus, which was so considerable
as to induce the governor of these provinces to speak of them
in the following terms: ' Multi, omnis aetatis, utriusque sexus
etiam — neque enini ci\ itates tantum, sed vicos etiani et agros,
superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est.' 'There are many
of every age and of both sexes — nor has the contagion of this
superstition seized cities only, but smaller towns also, and the
open country.' Great exertions must have been used by the
preachers of Christianity to produce this state of things within
this time. Secondly, to a point which hath been already
noticed, and which 1 think of importance to be observed,
namely, the sufferings to which Christians were exposed, with

Chap, ii.] Testimony ofProfane Writers. 55

out any public persecution being denounced against them by
sovereign authority. For, from Pliny's doubt how he was to
act, his silence concerning any subsisting law upon the subject,
his requesting the emperor's rescript, and the emperor, agreea-
bly to his request, propounding a rule for his direction, without
reference to any prior rule, it may be inferred, that there was,
at that time, no public edict against the Christians in force.
Yet from this same epistle of Pliny, it appears ' that accusa-
tions, trials, and examinations were, and had been, going on
against them in the provinces over which he presided ; that
schedules were delivered by anonymous informers, containing
the names of persons who were suspected of holding or of fa-
voring the religion ; that, in consequence of these informations,
many had been apprehended, of whom some boldly avowed their
profession, and died in the cause ; others denied that they were
Christians ; others, acknowledging that they had once been
Christians, declared that they had long ceased to be such.' All
which demonstrates that the profession of Christianity was at
that time (in that country at least) attended with fear and dan-
ger ; and yet this took place without any edict from the Ro-
man sovereign commanding or authorizing the persecution of
Christians. This observation is farther confirmed by a rescript
of Adrian to Minucius Fundanus, the proconsul of Asia :' from
which rescript it appears that the custom of the people of Asia
was to proceed against the Christians with tumult and uproar.
This disorderly practice, I say, is recognized in the edict, be-
cause the emperor enjoins, that, for the future, if the Christians
were guilty, they should be legally brought to trial, and not be
pursued by importunity and clamor.

Martial wrote a few years before the younger Pliny ; and,
as his manner was, made the sufferings of the Christians the
subject of his ridicule. 2 Nothing, however, could show the

' Lard. Heath. Ted., v. ii. p. 110.
- In matutina nuper spectatus arena

Mucins, imposuit qui sua membra focis,
Si patiens fortisque tibi durusque videtur,

Abderitanae pectora plebis babes ;
Nam cum dicatur, tunica pnesente molesta,
Ure° mannm : plus est dicere, Non facio.

tt Forsan • thure manum.'

56 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

notoriety of the fact with more certainty than this does.
Martial's testimony, as well indeed as Pliny's, goes also to
another point, viz., that the deaths of these men were martyr-
doms in the strictest sense, that is to say, were so voluntary
that it was in their power, at the time of pronouncing the sen-
tence, to have averted the execution "by consenting to join in
heathen sacrifices.

The constancy, and by consequence the sufferings of the
Christians of this period, is also referred to by Epictetus, who
imputes their intrepidity to madness, or to a kind of fashion or
habit ; and about fifty years afterwards, by Marcus Aurelius,
who ascribes it to obstinacy. ' Is it possible [Epictetus asks]
that a man may arrive at this temper, and become indifferent
to those things, from madness or from habit, as the Qal%lka/mV x
1 Let this preparation of the mind [to die] arise from its «wn
judgment, and not from obstinacy like the Christians P 2

ANNOTATION.

' Ure manuni?

Tli ere seems no ground for the proposed conjectural emen-
dation of this passage. It seems to have been a practice, in the
days of the en 1 pi re, to entertain the Roman populace with
scenic representations of passages in the early Roman history;
among others, Scsevola's burning his hand. And if some
wretched captive or malefactor was compelled actually to per-
form that part, with only the alternative of being burnt to
death in the • tunica molesta,' it would have required, Martial
remarks, more fortitude to refuse than to comply.

1 Epic, 1. iv. c. 7. 2 Marc. Aur. Med., 1. xi. c. 3.

Chap, iii.] Testimony of Ch/ristiam. Writers. 57

CHAPTER III.

There is satisfactory evidence, that many, professing to he origi-
nal witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their lives in
labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in
attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their belief of those accounts/ and that
they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rides of
conduct.

OF the primitive condition of Christianity, a distant only
and general view can be acquired from heathen writers.
It is in our own books that the detail and interior of the trans-
action must be sought for. And this is nothing different from
what might be expected. "Who would write a history of
Christianity but a Christian ? Who was likely to record the
travels, sufferings, labors, or successes of the Apostles, but one
of their own number, or of their followers? Now these books
come up in their accounts to the full extent of the proposition
which we maintain. We have four histories of Jesus Christ.
We have a history taking up the narrative from his death, and
carrying on an account of the propagation of the religion, and
of some of the most eminent persons engaged in it, for a space
of nearly thirty years. We have, what some may think still
more original, a collection of letters, written by certain principal
agents in the business, upon the business, and in the midst of
their concern and connection with it. And we have these
writings severally attesting the point which we contend for,
viz., the sufferings of the witnesses of the history, and attesting
it in every variety of form in which it can be conceived to
appear ; directly and indirectly, expressly and incidentally, by
assertion, recital, and allusion, by narratives of facts, and by
arguments and discourses built upon these facts, either referring
to them, or necessarily presupposing them.

I remark this variety, because, in examining ancient records,
or indeed any species of testimony, it is, in my opinion, of the
greatest importance to attend to the information or grounds of
argument which are casually and undesignedly disclosed ; foras-

58 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

much as this species of proof is, of all others, the least liable to
be corrupted by fraud or misrepresentation.

I may be allowed therefore, in the inquiry which is now
before us, to suggest some conclusions of this sort, as prepara-
tory to more direct testimony.

1. Our books relate, that Jesus Christ, the founder of the
religion, was, in consequence of his undertaking, put to death,
as a malefactor, at Jerusalem. This point at least will be
granted, because it is no more than what Tacitus has recorded.
They then proceed to tell us, that the religion was, notwith-
standing, set forth at this same city of Jerusalem, propagated
from thence throughout Judea, and afterwards preached in
other parts of the Roman empire. These points also are fully
confirmed by Tacitus, who informs us that the religion, after a
short check, broke out again in the country where it toofc its
rise ; that it not only spread throughout Judea, but had reached
Rome ; and that it had there great multitudes of converts : and
all this within thirty years after its commencement. Now
these facts afford a strong inference in behalf of the proposition
which we maintain. What could the disciples of Christ expect
for themselves when they saw their master put to death?
Could they hope to escape the dangers, in which he had per-
ished? If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you, was the warning of common sense. With this example
before their eyes, they could not be without a full sense of the
peril of their future enterprise.

2. Secondly, all the histories agree in representing Christ as
foretelling the persecution of his followers.

'Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill
you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.' 1

' When affliction or persecution ariseth fur the word's sake,
immediately they are offended.'"

'They shall lav hands on you, and persecute you, delivering
you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought
before kings and rulers for my name's sake — and ye shall be be-
trayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends,
and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.' 3

1 Matt, xxiv. 9. - Mark iv. 17. See also x. 30.

s Luke xxi. 12-1G. See also xi. 49.

Chap, iii.] Testimony of Christian Writers. 59

'The time cometh, that he that killeth you will think that
he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto yon,
because they have not known the Father nor me. But these
things have I told you, that when the time shall come ye may
remember that I told you of them.' 1

I am not entitled to argue from these passages, that Christ
actually did foretel these events, and that they did accordingly
come to pass, because that would be at once to assume the
truth of the religion ; but I am entitled to contend, that one
side or other of the following disjunction is true: either that
the evangelists have delivered what Christ really spoke, and
that the event corresponded with the prediction ; or that they
put the prediction into Christ's mouth, because, at the time of
writing the history, the event had turned out so to be : for the
only two remaining suppositions appear in the highest degree
incredible, which are, either that Christ rilled the minds of his
followers with fears and apprehensions, without any reason or
authority for what he said, and contrary to the truth of the
case ; or that, although Christ had never foretold any such
thing, and the event would have contradicted him if he had,
yet historians who lived in the age when the event was known,
falsely as well as officiously, ascribed these words to him.

3. Thirdly, these books abound with exhortations to patience,
and with topics of comfort under distress.

' Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword ? Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.' 2

' We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; we are
perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but not forsaken ;
cast down, but not destroyed ; always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our body — knowing that he which raised up
the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present

us with you For which cause we taint not; but, though our

outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by
day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment.

i John xvi. 4. See also xv. 20. and xvi. 33.
3 Rom. viii. 35, 37.

60 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

worketh for us a far more exceedino; and eternal weight of
glory.' l

k Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the
name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of
patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye
have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of
the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.' 2

'Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye
were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly
whilst ye vcere made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and
afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them
that were so used ; for ye had compassion of me in my bonds,
and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your-
selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring sub-
stance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, whicl^ hath
great recompense of reward ; for ye have need of patience, that
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise.' 3

' So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God,
for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribula-
tions that ye endure. "Which is a manifest token of the righ-
teous judgment of God, that ye may be accounted worthy of
the kingdom for which ye also suffer.' 4

w We rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; and nor only so,
but we glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience
hope.' 5

'Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened
unto you ; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
Bufferings. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the
will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well
doing, as unto a faithful Creator.' 6

What could all these texts mean, if there was nothing in
the circumstances of the times which required patience, which
called for the exercise of constancy and resolution ? Or will

1 2 Cor. iv. 8-10, 14, 10, 17. * James v. 10, 11.

3 Heb. x. 32-36. • 2 Thess. i. 1-5. 6 Rom. v. 3. 4.

• 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, 19.

Ciiap. iii.] Annotation. 61

it be pretended that these exhortations (which, let it be observed,
come not from one author, but from many) were put in, merely
to induce a belief in after-ages, that the first Christians were
exposed to dangers which they were not exposed to, or under-
went sufferings which they did not undergo? If these books
belong to the age to which they lay claim, and in which age,
whether genuine or spurious, they certainly did appear, this
supposition cannot be maintained for a moment ; because I
think it impossible to believe that passages, which must be
deemed not only unintelligible, but false, by the persons into
whose hands the books upon their publication were to come,
should nevertheless be inserted, for the purpose of producing an
effect upon remote generations. In forgeries which do not
appear till many ages after that to which they pretend to
belong, it is possible that some contrivance of that sort may
take place ; but in no others can it be attempted.

ANNOTATION.

' These books abound with exhortations to patience, and with
topics of comfort under distress.''

Yery remarkable however, and very characteristic of truthful-
ness, is the calm, and almost careless tone in which both miracles
and persecutions are spoken of. There is no attempt to
express, or to excite, either admiration, or indignation, or
pity ; — no sign of what is called ' writing for effect.' On
this subject I cannot forbear extracting a most admirable
passage from the London Review, No. II. pp. 345, 316.

' Theirs is a history of miracles ; the historical picture of
the scene in which the Spirit of God was poured on all flesh :
and signs and wonders, visions and dreams, were part of the
essentials of their narratives. How is all this related ? With
the same absence of high coloring and extravagant descrip-
tion with which other writers notice the ordinary occurrences
of the world : partly, no doubt, for the like reason, that they
were really familiar with miracles ; partly, too, because to them
these miracles had long been contemplated only as subservient
measures to the great object and business of their ministry —

62 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the salvation of men's sonls. On the subject of miracles, the
means to this great end, they speak in calm, unimpassioned
language ; on man's sins, change of heart, on hope, faith, and.
charity ; on the objects, in short, to be effected, they exhaust
all their feelings and eloquence. Their history, from the nar-
rative of our Lord's persecutions, to those of Paul, the abomi-
nation of the Jews, embraces scenes and personages which
claim from the ordinary reader a continual effusion of sorrow,
or wonder, or indignation. In writers who were friends of the
parties, and adherents of the cause for which they did and
suffered so great things, the absence of it is on ordinary
grounds inconceivable. Look at the account even of the cruci-
fixion. Not one burst of indignation or sympathy mixes witli
the details of the narrative. Stephen the first martyr is
stoned, and the account comprised in these few words, 'ffhey
stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.' The varied and immense labors and suf-
ferings of the Apostles are slightly hinted at, or else related in
this dry and frigid way : ' And when they had called the
Apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.' ' And there
came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who per-
suaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of
the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the dis-
ciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the
city ; and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.'

'And. when they had laid many stripes upon them, they east
them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely:

'Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the
inner prison, nnd made their feet fast in the stocks.

'And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises
unto God : and the prisoners heard them.

' And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken : and in 1 mediately all the
doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.'

'Had these authors no feeling? Had their mode of life
bereaved them of the common sympathies and sensibilities of
human nature? Pead such passages as St. Paul's parting
address to the elders of Miletus; the same Apostle's recom-
mendation of the offending member of the Corinthian Church

Chap. iv\] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 63

to pardon ; and more than all, the occasional bursts of conflict-
ing feeling, in which anxious apprehension for the faith and
good behavior of his converts is mixed with the pleasing recol-
lection of their conversion, and the minister and the man are
alike strongly displayed ; and it will be plain that Christianity
exercised no benumbing influence on the heart. No : their
whole soul was occupied with one object, which predominated
over the means subservient to it, however great those means
might be. In the storm, the pilot's eye is flxed on the head-
land which must be weathered ; in the crisis of victory or de-
feat, the general sees only the position to be carried, and the
dead and the instruments of death fall around him unheeded.
On the salvation of men, on this one point, the witnesses of
Christ and the ministers of his Spirit, expended all their
energy of feeling and expression. All that occurred — mis-
chance, persecution, and miracle — were glanced at by the eye
of faith, only in subserviency to this mark of the prize of their
high calling, as working together for good, and all exempt from
the associations which would attach to such events and scenes,
when contemplated by themselves, and with the short-sighted-
ness of uninspired men. Miracles were not to them objects of
wonder, nor mischances a subject of sorrow and lamentation.
They did all, they suffered all, to the glory of God.' l

CHAPTER IV.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to he original
witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their lives in
labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily 'undergone in
attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their belief of those accounts / and that
they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules
of conduct.

THE account of the treatment of the religion and of the
exertions of its first preachers, as stated in our scriptures
(not in a professed history of persecutions, or in the connected

1 London Rcvieiv, No. II. p. 346.

64 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

manner in which I am about so recite it, but clispersedly and
occasionally, in the course of a mixed general history, which
circumstance alone negatives the supposition of any fraudulent
design), is the following: 'That the founder of Christianity,
from the commencement of his ministry to the time of his
violent death, employed himself wholly in publishing the in-
stitution in Judea and Galilee; that, in order to assist him in
this purpose, he made choice, out of the number of his fol-
lowers of twelve persons, who might accompany him as he
travelled from place to place ; that, except a short absence upon
a journey, in which he sent them, two by two, to announce
his mission, and one, of a few days, when they went before him
to Jerusalem, these persons were statedly and constantly attend-
ing upon him ; that they were with him at Jerusalem when
he was apprehended and put to death ; and that they ^ere
commissioned by him, when his own ministry was concluded,
to publish his gospel, and collect disciples to it from all coun-
tries of the world.' The account then proceeds to state, ' That,
a few days after his departure, these persons, with some of his
relations, and some who had regularly frequented their society,
assembled at Jerusalem ; that, considering the office of preach-
ing the religion as now devolved upon them, and one of their
number having deserted the cause, and, repenting of his perfidy,
having destroyed himself, they proceeded to elect another into
his place ; and that they were careful to make their election
out of the number of those who had accompanied their master
from the first to the last, in order, as they alleged, that he
might be a witness, together with themselves, of the principal
facts which they were about to produce and relate concerning
him; 1 that they began their work at Jerusalem, by publicly
asserting that this Jesus, whom the rulers and inhabitants of
that place had so lately crucified, was, in truth, the person in
whom all their prophecies and long expectations terminated;
that he had been sent amongst them by God; and that he was
appointed by God the future judge of the human species ; that
all who were solicitous to secure to themselves happiness after
death, ought to receive him as such, and to make profession of
their belief, by being baptized in his name.' 2 The history

1 Acta i. 21, 22. s Acts xi.

Chap, i v.] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 65

goes on to relate, 'that considerable numbers accepted this
proposal, and that they who did so, formed amongst themselves
a strict union and society ; ! that, the attention of the Jewish
government being soon drawn upon them, two of the principal
persons of the twelve, and who also had lived most intimately
and constantly with the founder of the religion, were seized as
they were discoursing to the people in the temple ; that, after
being kept all night in prison, they were brought the next
day before an assembly, composed of the chief persons of the
Jewish magistracy and priesthood ; that this assembly, after
some consultation, found nothing, at that time, better to be
done towards suppressing the growth of the sect, than to
threaten their prisoners with punishment, if they persisted 5
that these men, after expressing, in decent but firm language,
the obligation under which they considered themselves to be,
to declare what they knew, ' to speak the things which they
had seen and heard,' returned from the council, and reported
what had passed to their companions ; that this report, whilst
it apprized them of the danger of their situation and under-
taking, had no other effect upon their conduct than to produce
in them a general resolution to persevere, and an earnest prayer
to God to furnish them with assistance, and to inspire them
with fortitude, proportioned to the increasing exigency of the
service.' 2 A very short time after this, we read ' that all the
twelve apostles were seized and cast into prison ; 3 that, being
brought a second time before the Jewish Sanhedrim, they were
upbraided with their disobedience to the injunction which had
been laid upon them, and beaten for their contumacy ; that
being charged once more to desist, they were suffered to depart ;
that however they neither quitted Jerusalem, nor ceased from
preaching, both daily in the temple, and from house to house ; 4
and that the twelve considered themselves as so entirely and
exclusively devoted to this office, that they now transferred
what may be called the temporal affairs of the society to other
hands.' 5

1 Acts v. 41. 2 Acts iv. s Acts v. 18. * Acts v.

* I do not know that it has ever been insinuated that the Christian mission, in
the hands of the apostles, was a scheme for making a fortune, or for getting money.
But it may nevertheless be fit to remark upon this passage of their history, how
perfectly free they appear to have been from any pecuniary or interested views what-

66 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

Hitherto the preachers of the new religion seem to have
had the common people on their side ; which is assigned as the
reason why the Jewish rulers did not, at this time, think it
prudent to proceed to greater extremities. It was not long,
however, before the enemies of the institution found means to
represent it to the people as tending to subvert their law, de-
grade their lawgiver, and dishonor their temple. 1 And these
insinuations were dispersed with so much success, as to induce
the people to join with their superiors in the stoning of a very
active member of the new community.

The death of this man was the signal of a general persecu-
tion, the activity of which may be judged of from one anecdote
of the time : ' As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, enter-
ing into every house, and haling men and women, committed
them to prison.' This persecution 2 raged at Jerusalem with so
much fury, as to drive 3 most of the new converts out of the
place, except the twelve apostles. The converts, thus ' scatter-
ed abroad,' preached the religion wherever they came : and
their preaching M-as, in effect, the preaching of the twelve ;
for it was so far carried on in concert and correspondence with
them, that, when they heard of the success of their emissaries in
a particular country, they sent two of their number to the place
to complete and confirm the mission.

An event now took place of great importance in the future

ever. The most tempting opportunity which occurred, of making a gain of their
converts, was by the custody ami management of the public funds, when some of
the richer members, intending to contribute their fortunes to the common sup-
port of the society, sold their possessions, and laid down the prices at the apos-
tles' feet. Vet so insensible, or undesirous, were they of the advantage which
thai confidence afforded, that, we find, they very soon disposed of the trust, by
putting it into the hands, not of nominees of their own, but of stewards formally
eleeted tor the pm pose by the society at large.

We may add also, that this excess of generosity, which cast private property
into the public stock, was so far from being required by the apostles, or imposed
as a law of Christianity, that Peter reminds Ananias that he had been guilty, in
his behavior, of an officious and voluntary prevarication ; for whilst, says he,
thy estate remained unsold, ' was it not thine own ? and, after it was sold, was
it not in thine own power ?'

1 Acts vi. 12. a Acts viii. 3.

3 Acts viii. 1. 'And they were all scattered abroad ;' but the term 'all' is
not, I think, to be taken strictly, or as denoting more than the generality ; in like
manner as in Acts ix. :;."> — ' And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and
tinned to the Lord.'

Chap iv.] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 67

history of the religion. The persecution 1 which had begun
at Jerusalem followed the Christians to other cities, in which
the authority of the Jewish Sanhedrim over those of their
own nation was allowed to be exercised. A young man, who
had signalized himself by his hostility to the profession, and
had procured a commission from the council at Jerusalem to
seize any converted Jews whom he might find at Damascus,
suddenly became a proselyte to the religion which he was
going about to extirpate. The new convert not only shared,
upon this extraordinary change, the fate of his companions, but
brought upon himself a double measure of enmity from the
party which he had left. The Jews at Damascus, upon his
return to that city, watched the gates night and day with so
much diligence, that he escaped from their hands only by
being let down in a basket by the wall. Nor did he find him-
self in greater safety at Jerusalem, whither he immediately
repaired. Attempts were there also soon set on foot to destroy
him ; from the danger of which he was preserved by being sent
away to Cilicia, his native country.

For some reason, not mentioned, perhaps not known, but
probably connected with the civil history of the Jews, or with
some danger 2 which engrossed the public attention, an inter-
mission about this time took place in the sufferings of the
Christians. This happened at the most only seven or eight,
perhaps only three or four, years after Christ's death. Within
which period, and notwithstanding that the late persecution
occupied part of it, churches, or societies of believers, had been
formed in all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria ; for we read that the
churches in these countries ' had now rest, and were edified,
and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of
the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.' 3 The original preachers of
the religion did not remit their labors or activity during this
season of quietness ; for we find one, and he a very principal

1 Acts ix.
2 Dr. Lardner (in which he is followed also by Dr. Benson) ascribes this cessa-
tion of the persecution of the Christians to the attempt of Caligula to set up
his own statue in the Temple of Jerusalem, and to the consternation thereby
excited in the minds of the Jewish people ; which consternation for a season sus-
pended every other contest.

3 Acts ix. 31.

68 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

person amongst them, passing throughout all quarters. We
find also those who had been before expelled from Jerusalem
by the persecution which raged there, travelling as far as
Phcenice, Cyprus, and Antioch ; ! and, lastly, we find Jerusalem
again the centre of the mission, the place whither the preachers
returned from their several excursions, where they reported the
conduct and effects of their ministry, where questions of public
concern were canvassed and settled, from whence directions
were sought, and teachers sent forth.

The time of this tranquillity did not, however, continue
long. Herod Agrippa, who had lately acceded to the govern-
ment of Judea, ' stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the
church.' 2 He began his cruelty by beheading one of the twelve
original apostles, a kinsman and constant companion of the
founder of the religion. Perceiving that this execution gratified,
the Jews, he proceeded to seize, in order to put to death,
another of the number ; and him, like the former, associated
with Christ during his life, and eminently active in the service
since his death. This man was, however, delivered from prison,
as the account states, 3 miraculously, and made his escape from
Jerusalem.

These things are related, not in the general terms under
which, in giving the outlines of the history, we have here men-
tioned them, but with the utmost particularity of names,
persons, places, and circumstances ; and, what is deserving of
notice, without the smallest discoverable propensity in the
historian to magnify the fortitude, or exaggerate the sufferings,
of his party. When they fled for their lives, he tells us.
When the churches had rest, he remarks it. When the people
took their part, he does not leave it without notice. When
the apostles were carried a second time before the Sanhedrim,
lie is careful toobserve that thev were brought without violence.
When milder counsels were suggested, he gives us the author
of the advice, and the speech which contained it. AVhen, in
consequence of this advice, the rulers contented themselves
with threatening the apostles, and commanding them to be
beaten with stripes, without urging at that time the persecution

1 Acts xi. 19. a Actsxii.l. 8 Acts xii. 3-17.

Chap, iv.] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 69

farther, the historian candidly and distinctly records their for-
bearance. When, therefore, in other instances, he states
heavier persecutions, or actual martyrdoms, it is reasonable to
believe that he states them because they were true ; and not
from any wish to aggravate, in his account, the sufferings which
Christians sustained, or to extol, more than it deserved, their
patience under thern.

Our history now pursues a narrower path. Leaving the
rest of the apostles, and the original associates of Christ, en-
gaged in the propagation of the new faith (and who there is not
the least reason to believe abated in their diligence or courage),
the narrative proceeds with the separate memoirs of that
eminent teacher, whose extraordinary and sudden conversion
to the religion, and corresponding change of conduct, had before
been circumstantially described. This person, in conjunction
with another, who appeared amongst the earliest members of
the society at Jerusalem, and amongst the immediate adherents 1
of the twelve apostles, set out from Antioch upon the express
business of carrying the new religion through the various pro-
vinces of the Lesser Asia. 2 During this expedition we find, that
in almost every place to which they came, their persons were
insulted, and their lives endangered. After being expelled from
Antioch in Pisidia, they repaired to Iconinm. 3 At Iconium an
attempt was made to stone them. At Lystra, whither they
fled from Iconium, one of them actually was stoned, and drawn
out of the city for dead. 4 These two men, though not them-
selves original apostles, were acting in connection and conjunc-
tion with the original apostles ; for, after the completion of
their journey, being sent upon a particular commission to
Jerusalem, they there related to the apostles 5 and elders the
events and success of their ministry, and were, in return, re-
commended by them to the churches, ' as men who had
hazarded their lives in the cause.'

The treatment which they had experienced in the first
progress, did not deter them from preparing for a second.
Upon a dispute, however, arising between them, but not con-
nected with the common subject of their labors, they acted as

1 Acts iv. 36. 2 Acts xiii. 2. 3 Acts xiii. 50.

5 Acts xv. 12-26.

70 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

wise and sincere men would act : thev did not retire in disgust
from the service in which they were engaged, but, each devoting
his endeavors to the advancement of the religion, they parted
from one another, and set forwards upon separate routes.
The history goes along with one of them ; and the second
enterprise to him was attended with the same dangers and per-
secutions as both had met with in the first. The apostle's
travels hitherto had been confined to Asia. He now crosses,
for the first time, the ./Egean Sea, and carries with him,
amongst others, the person whose accounts supply the infor-
mation we are stating. 1 The first place in Greece at which he
appears to have stopped was Philippi in Macedonia. Here
himself and one of his companions were cruelly whipped,- cast
into prison, and kept there under the most rigorous custody^
being thrust, whilst yet smarting with their wounds, into tha
inner dungeon, and their feet made fast in the stocks. 2 Not-
withstanding this unequivocal specimen of the usage which they
had to look for in that country, they went forward in the
execution of their errand. After passing through Amphipolis
and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica ; in which city the
house in which they lodged was assailed by a party of their
enemies, in order to bring them out to the populace. And
when, fortunately for their preservation, they were not found
at home, the master of the house was dragged before the magis-
trate for admitting them within his doors. 3 Their reception at the
next city was something better; but neither here had they con-
tinued long before their turbulent adversaries, the Jews, excited
against them such commotions amongst the inhabitants, as
obliged tlif apostle to make hi- escape by a private journey to
At liens. 1 The extremity of the progress was Corinth. His
abode in this city, for some time, seems to have been without
molestation. At length, however, the Jews found means to
-tii- up an insnrrectioD against him, and to bring him before
the tribunal of the Roman president. 5 It was to the contempt
which thai magistrate entertained for the .lews and their con-
troversies, of which he accounted Christianity to be one, that
our apostle owed bis deliverance. 6

1 Acts xvi. 11. ^ v. 23, 24, 33. » Acts xvii. 1-5.

4 V. 13. » Acts xviii. 12. » V. 18.

Chap, i v.] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 71

This indefatigable teacher, after leaving Corinth, returned by
Ephesus into Syria ; and again visited Jerusalem, and the
society of Christians in that city, which, as hath been repeatedly
observed, still continued the centre of the mission. 1 It suited
not, however, with the activity of his zeal to remain long at
Jerusalem. We find him going from thence to Antioch, and,
after some stay there, traversing once more the northern pro-
vinces of Asia Minor. 2 This progress ended at Ephesus ; in
which city the apostle continued in the daily exercise of his
ministry two years, and until his success, at length, excited the
apprehensions of those who were interested in the support of
the national worship. Their clamor produced a tumult, in
which he had nearly lost his life. 3 Undismayed, however, by
the dangers to which he saw himself exposed, he was driven
from Ephesus only to renew his labors in Greece. 4 After
passing over Macedonia, he thence proceeded to his former
station at Corinth. 5 When he had formed his design of return-
ing by a direct course from Corinth into Syria, he was com-
pelled by a conspiracy of the Jews, who were prepared to
intercept him on his way, to trace back his steps through
Macedonia to Philippi, and from thence to take shipping into
Asia. Along the coast of Asia he pursued his voyage with all
the expedition he could command, in order to reach Jerusalem
against the feast of Pentecost. 6 His reception at Jerusalem
was of a piece with the usage he had experienced from the Jews
in other places. He had been only a few days in that city
when the populace, instigated by some of his old opponents in
Asia, who attended this feast, seized him in the temple, forced
him out of it, and were ready immediately to have destroyed
him, had not the sudden presence of the Eoman guard rescued
him out of their hands. 7 The officer, however, who had thus
seasonably interposed, acted from his care of the public peace,
with the preservation of which he was charged, and not from
any favor to the apostle, or indeed any disposition to exercise
either justice or humanity towards him ; for he had no sooner
secured his person in the fortress, than he was proceeding to
examine him by torture. 8

1 Acts xviii. 22. 2 V. 23. 3 Acts xix. 1, 9, 10.

4 V. 29, 31. 6 V. 1. « V. 16.

7 Acts xxi. 27-33. » Acts xxii. 12, 24.

72 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

From this time to the conclusion of the history, the apostle
remains in public custody of the Roman government. After
escaping assassination by a fortunate discovery of the plot, and
delivering himself from the influence of his enemies by an
appeal to the audience of the emperor, 1 he was sent, but not
until he had suffered two years' imprisonment, to Rome. 2 lie
reached Italy after a tedious voyage, and after encountering in
his passage the perils of a desperate shipwreck. 3 But although
still a prisoner, and his fate still depending, neither the various
and long-continued sufferings which he had undergone, nor the
danger of his present situation, deterred him from persisting in
preaching the religion ; for the historian closes the account by
telling us, that, for two years, he received all that came unto
him in his own hired house, where he was permitted to '(Jwell
with a soldier that guarded him, 'preaching the kingdom r)f
God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesifcs
Christ, with all confidence.'

Now the historian, from whom we have drawn this account,
m the part of his narrative which relates to St. Paul, is sup-
ported by the strongest corroborating testimony that a history
can receive. We are in possession of letters written by St.
Paul himself upon the subject of his ministry, and either
written during the period which the history comprises, or, if
written afterwards, reciting and referring to the transactions of
thai period. These letters, without borrowing from the history,
or the history from them, unintentionally confirm the account
which the history delivers in a great variety of particulars.
"What belongs to our present purpose is the description exhi-
bited of the apostle's sufferings; and the representation, given
in the history, of the dangers and distresses which he under-
went, not only agrees, in general, with the language which he
himself uses whenever he speaks of his life or ministry, but is
also, in many instances, attested by a specific correspondency of
time, place, and order of events. If the historian puts down
in his narrative that at Philippi the apostle 'was beaten with
many stripe-, casl into prison, and there treated with rigor and
indignity,' 4 we find him, in a letter 5 to a neighboring church,

1 Acts x.w. 9, 11. 3 Acts xxiv. T, » Acts xxvii.

' Arts xvi. 24. 6 1 Thess. ii. 2.

Chap. iv\] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 73

reminding his converts, that, 'after he had suffered before, and
was shamefully entreated at Philippi, he was bold, nevertheless,
to speak unto them (to whose city he next came) the Gospel of
God.' If the history relate, 1 that at Thessalonica, the house in
which the apostle was lodged, when he first came to that
place, was assaulted by the populace, and the master of it
dragged before the magistrate for admitting such a guest within
his doors, the apostle, in his letters to the Christians of
Thessalonica, calls to their remembrance 'how they had re-
ceived the Gospel in much affliction.' 2 If the history deliver
an account of an insurrection at Ephesus, which had nearly
cost the apostle his life, we have the apostle himself, in a letter
written a short time after his departure from that city, de-
scribing his despair, and returning thanks for his deliverance. 3
If the history inform us, that the apostle was expelled from
Antioch in Pisidia, attempted to be stoned at Iconiuin, and
actually stoned at Lystra, there is preserved a letter from him to
a favorite convert, whom, as the same history tells us, he first
met with in these parts ; in which letter he appeals to that
disciple's knowledge 'of the persecutions which befell him at
Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.' 4 If the history make the
apostle, in his speech to the Ephesian elders, remind them, as
one proof of the disinterestedness of his views, that, to their
knowledge, he had supplied his own and the necessities of his
companions by personal labor, 5 we find the same apostle, in
a letter written during his residence at Ephesus, asserting of
himself, ' that even to that hour he labored, working with his
own hands.' 6

These coincidences, together with many relative to other *
parts of the apostle's history, and all drawn from independent
sources, not only confirm the truth of the account in the par-
ticular points as to which they are observed, but add much to
the credit of the narrative in all its parts; and support the
author's profession of being a contemporary of the person whose
history he writes, and, throughout a material portion of his nar-
rative, a companion.

1 Acts xvii. 57. 2 1 Thess. i. 6. 3 Acts xix. 2 Cor. i. 8, 9.

4 Acts xiii. 50. xix. 5, 19. 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. « Acts xx. 34,

8 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12.

74 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

What the epistles of the apostles declare of the suffering
state of Christianity, the writings which remain of their com-
panions and immediate followers expressly confirm.

Clement, who is honorably mentioned by St. Paul in his
epistle to the Philippians, 1 has left us his attestation to this
point in the following words : ' Let us take [says he] the
examples of our own age. Through zeal and envy the most
faithful and righteous pillars of the church have been persecuted
even to the most grievous deaths. Let us set before our eyes
the holy apostles. Peter, by unjust envy, underwent, not one
or two, but many sufferings ; till at last being martyred, he
went to the place of glory that was due unto him. For the
same cause did Paul, in like manner, receive the reward of his
patience. Seven times he was in bonds ; he was whipped, was
stoned ; he preached both in the east and in the west, leaving
behind him the glorious report of his faith; and so haviag
taught the whole world righteousness, and for that end travelled
even unto the utmost bounds of the west, he at last suffered
martyrdom by the command of the governors, and departed
out of the world, and went unto his holy place, being become
a most eminent pattern of patience unto all ages. To these
holy apostles were joined a very great number of others, who,
having through envy undergone, in like manner, many pains
and torments, have left a glorious example to us. For this,
not only men, but women, have been persecuted; and, having
suffered very grievous and cruel punishments, have finished
the ourse of their faith with firmness.' 2

Hernias, saluted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Komans,
in a piece very little connected with historical recitals, thus
speaks : ' Such as have believed and Buffered death for the
name of Christ, and have endured with a ready mind, and have
given up their lives with all their hearts.' 3

Polycarp, the disciple of John, though all that remains of
his works be a very short epistle, has not left this subject un-
noticed. — k I exhort [says he] all of you, that ye obey the word
of righteousness, and exercise all patience, which ye have seen
set forth before your eyes, not only in the blessed Ignatius,

1 Philip, iv. 3. 2 Clem. adCor. c. v. vi. Abp. Wake's trans.

'' Shepherd of Hermas, c. xxviii.

Chap, iv.] Direct Evidence of Sufferings. 75

and Lorimus and Rufus, but in others among yourselves, and
in Paul himself and the rest of the apostles ; being confident
in this, that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and
righteousness ; and are gone to the place that was due to them
from the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved
not this present world, but him who died and was raised again
by God for us.' 1

Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, recognizes the same
topic, briefly indeed, but positively aud precisely. ' For this
cause [i. e. for having felt and handled Christ's body after his
resurrection, and being convinced, as Ignatius expresses it, both
by his flesh and spirit], they [*. e. Peter, and those who were
present with Peter at Christ's appearance] despised death, and
were found to be above it.' 2

Would the reader know what a persecution in these days
was, I would refer him to a circular letter, written by the
church of Smyrna soon after the death of Polycarp, who, it
will be remembered, had lived with St. John ; and which letter
is entitled a relation of that bishop's martyrdom. ' The suf-
ferings [say they] of all the other martyrs were blessed and
generous, which they underwent according to the will of God.
For so it becomes us, who are more religious than others, to
ascribe the power and ordering of all things unto him. And
indeed who can choose but admire the greatness of their minds,
and that admirable patience and love of their master, which
then appeared in them ? who, when they were so flayed with
whipping, that the frame and structure of their bodies were
laid open to their very inward veins and arteries, nevertheless
endured it. In like manner, those who were condemned to the
beasts, and kept a long time in prison, underwent many cruel
torments, being forced to lie upon sharp spikes laid under their
bodies, and tormented with divers other sorts of punishments ;
that so, if it were possible, the tyrant, by the length of their
sufferings, might have brought them to deny Christ. 3

1 Pol. ad Phil. c. ix. a 19 Ep. Smyr. c. iii. 3 Ed. Mot. Pol. c. ii.

76 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

CHAPTER Y.

There is satisfactory evidence that many , professing to have been
original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their lives
in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in
attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their belief of those accounts / and that
they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of
conduct.

UPON the history, of which the last chapter contains an
abstract, there are a few observations which it may be
proper to make, by way of applying its testimony to the parti-
cular propositions for which we contend.

I. Although our scripture history Leaves the general account
of the apostles in an early part of the narrative, and proceeds
with the separate account of one particular apostle, yet the
information which it delivers so far extends to the rest, as it
shows the nature of the service. When we see one apostle suf-
fering persecution in the discharge of his commission, we shall
not believe, without evidence, that the same office could, at
the same time, be attended with ease and safety to others.
And this fair and reasonable inference is confirmed by the direct
attestation of the letters, to which we have so often referred.
The writer of these letters not only alludes, in numerous pas-
sages, to his own sufferings, but speaks of the rest of the
apostles as enduring like sufferings with himself. 'I think
that God hath set forth us f/o a/postles last, as it were, ap-
pointed to death ; for we are made a spectacle unto the world,
and to angels, and to men : even unto this present hour, we
both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and
have no certain dwelling-place ; and labor, working with our
own hands : being reviled, we l>les> ; being persecuted, we suffer
it; beiner defamed, we entreai : we are made as the filth of the
Id, and as the offscouring of all things unto this day.' 1 Add
to which, that in the short account that is given of the other

1 1 Cor. iv. et seq.

Chap, v.] Observations on the above Evicl < m^e . 77

apostles, in the former part of the history, and within the sho-t
period which that account comprises, we find, first, two of them
seized, imprisoned, brought before the Sanhedrim, and threat-
ened with further punishment; 1 then, the whole number im-
prisoned and beaten : 2 soon afterwards one of their adherents
stoned to death, and so hot a persecution raised against the
sect, as to drive most of them out of the place ; a short time
only succeeding, before one of the twelve was beheaded, and
another sentenced to the same fate ; and all this passing in the
single city of Jerusalem, and within ten years after the foun-
der's death, and the commencement of the institution.

II. Secondly : We take no credit at present for the mira-
culous part of the narrative, nor do we insist upon the correct-
ness of single passages of it. If the whole story be not a
novel, a romance ; the whole action a dream ; if Peter, and
James, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles mentioned in the
account be not all imaginary persons ; if their letters be not
all forgeries, and, what is more, forgeries of names and
characters which never existed ; then is there evidence in our
hands sufficient to support the only fact w T e contend for (and
which, I repeat again, is, in itself, highly probable), that the
original followers of Jesus Christ exerted great endeavors to
propagate his religion, and underwent great labors, dangers,
and sufferings, in consequence of their undertaking.

III. The general reality of the apostolic history is strongly
confirmed by the consideration, that it, in truth, does no more
than assign adequate causes for effects which certainly were
produced, and describe consequences naturally resulting from
situations which certainly existed. The effects were certainly
there, of which the history sets forth the cause, and origin, and
progress. It is acknowledged on all hands, because it is
recorded by other testimony than that of the Christians them-
selves, that the religion began to prevail at that time, and in
that country. It is very difficult to conceive how it could
begin, or prevail at all, without the exertions of the founder
and his followers in propagating the new persuasion. The his-
tory now in our hands describes these exertions, the persons
employed, the means and endeavors made use of, and the

1 Acts iv. 3, 21. 2 Acts v. 18, 40.

78 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

labors undertaken in the prosecution of this purpose. Again,
the treatment which the history represents the first propagators
of the religion to have experienced, was no other than what
naturally resulted from the situation in which they were con-
fessedly plaeed. It is admitted that the religion was adverse,
in a great degree, to the reigning opinions, and to the hopes
and wishes of the nation to which it was first introduced ; and
that it overthrew, so far as it was received, the established
theology and worship of every other country. We cannot feel
much reluctance in believing that, when the messengers of such
a system went about not only publishing their opinions, but
collecting proselytes, and forming regular societies of proselytes,
they should meet with opposition in their attempts, or that this
opposition should sometimes proceed to fatal extremities. Our
history details examples of this opposition, and of the sufferings
and dangers which the emissaries of the religion underwent,
perfectly agreeable to what might reasonably be expected, from
the nature of their undertaking, compared with the character
of the age and country in which it was carried on.

IV. Fourthly : The records before us supply evidence of
what formed another member of our general proposition, and
what, as hath already been observed, is highly probable, and
almost a necessary consequence of their new profession, viz.,
that, together with activity and courage in propagating the
religion, the primitive followers of Jesus assumed, upon their
conversion, a new and peculiar course of private life. Imme-
diately after their master was withdrawn from them, we hear of
their ' continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication :' !
of their ' continuing daily with one accord in the temple;' 2 of
'many being gathered together praying.' 3 We know what
strict injunctions were laid upon the converts by their teachers.
Wherever they came, the first word of their preaching was,
' Repent !' We know that these injunctions obliged them to
refrain from many Bpeciee of licentiousness, which were not, at
that time, reputed criminal. We know the rules of purity,
and the maxims of benevolence, which Christians read in their
books; concerning which rules, it is enough to observe, that,
if they were, I will not say completely obeyed, but in any

i Acts i. 14 a Acts ii 16 3 Arts xii. 12.

Chap, v.] Observations on the above Evidence. 79

degree regarded, they would produce a system of conduct, and
what is more difficult to preserve, a disposition of mind, and a
regulation of affections, different from any thing to which
they had hitherto been accustomed, and different from what
they would see in others. The change and distinction of
manners, which resulted from their new charater, is perpetually
referred to in the letters of their teachers. ' And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in
times past ye walked, according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience ; among whom also
we had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind, and were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others.' ! — ' For the time
past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine,
revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they
think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of
riot.'' 2 St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, after
enumerating, as his manner was, a catalogue of vicious
characters, adds, ' Such were some of you, but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified.' 3 In like manner, and alluding to the
same change of practices and sentiment, he asks the Roman
Christians 'what fruit they had in those things whereof they
are now ashamed?' 4 The phrases which the same writer
employs to describe the moral condition of Christians, compared
with their condition before they became Christians, such as
'newness of life,' being 'freed from sin,' being 'dead to sin;'
' the destruction of the body of sin, that, for the future, they
should not serve sin ;' ' children of light and of the day,' as
opposed to 'children of darkness and of the night,' 'not sleeping
as others,' imply, at least, a new system of obligation, and,
probably, a new series of conduct, commencing with their con-
version.

The testimony which Pliny bears to the behavior of the
new sect in his time, and which testimony comes not more
than fifty years after that of St. Paul, is very applicable to

i Eph. iii. 1-3. See also Tit. iii. 3 ^ i p e t. iv. 3, 4.

3 1 Cor. vi. 11. 4 Rom. vi. 21.

80 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the subject under consideration. The character which this
writer gives of the Christians of that age, and which was
drawn from a pretty accurate inquiry, because lie considered
their moral principles as the point in which the magistrate
was interested, is as follows : — He tells the emperor, ' that some
of those who had relinquished the society, or who, to save
themselves, pretended that they had relinquished it, affirmed.
that they were wont to meet together, on a stated clay, be-
fore it was light, and sung among themselves alternately a
hymn to Christ as a God ; and to bind themselves, by an oath,
not to the commission of any wickedness, but that they would
not be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery ; that they would
never falsify their word, or deny a pledge committed to them,
when called upon to return it.' This proves that a morality,
more pure and strict than was ordinary, prevailed at that time
in christian societies. And to me it appears, that we aie
authorized to cany this testimony back to the age of the
apostles ; because it is not probable that the immediate hearers
and disciples of Christ were more relaxed than their successors
in Pliny's time, or the missionaries of the religion than those
whom they taught.

CHAPTER VI.

There is satisfactory evidence, that many, professing to have
been original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their
lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in atf< station of the accounts which tht y dt livered, and
solely in consequence of their belief of the truth of those
accounts / <>nd that they also submitted, from the same mo-
tives, to new rules of condurf.

WHEN we consider, first, the prevalency of the religion at
this hour; secondly, the only credible account which can
he given of it- origin, viz. (lie activity of the founder and his
associates; thirdly, the opposition which that activity must
naturally have excited; fourthly, the tare of the founder of the
religion, attested by heathen writers as well as our own ; fifthly,

Chap, vi.] The Christian History miraculous. 81

the testimony of the same writers to the sufferings of Christians,
either contemporary with, or immediately succeeding, the
original settlers of the institution ; sixthly, predictions of the
sufferings of his followers ascribed to the founder of the re-
ligion, which ascription alone proves, either that snch predic-
tions were delivered and fulfilled, or that the writers of Christ's
life were induced by the event to attribute such predictions to
him; seventhly, letters now in our possession, written by some
of the principal agents in the transaction, referring expressly to
extreme labors, dangers, and sufferings, sustained by them-
selves and their companions ; lastly, a history purporting to be
written by a fellow-traveller of one of the new teachers, and,
by its unsophisticated correspondency with letters of that per-
son still extant, proving itself to be written by some one
well acquainted with the subject of the narrative, which his-
tory contains accounts of travels, persecutions, and martyr-
doms, answering to what the former reasons lead us to expect;
when we lay together these considerations, which, taken sepa-
rately, are, I think, correctly such as I have stated them in the
preceding chapters, there cannot much doubt remain upon our
minds, but that a number of persons at that time appeared i
the world, publicly advancing an extraordinary story, and, for
the sake of propagating the belief of that story, voluntarily
incurring great personal dangers, traversing seas and kingdoms,
exerting great industry, and sustaining great extremities of ill-
usage and persecution. It is also proved that the same per-
sons, in consequence of their persuasion, or pretended persua-
sion of the truth of what they asserted, entered upon a course
of life in many respects new and singular.

From the clear and acknowledged parts of the case, I
think it to be likewise in the highest degree probable, that
the story, for which these persons voluntarily exposed them-
selves to the fatigues and hardships which they endured, was a
miraculous story; I mean, that they pretended to miraculous I J
evidence of some kind or other. They had nothing else tov ^
stand upon. The designation of the person, that is to say,
that Jesus of Xazareth, rather than any other person, was the
Messiah, and as such the subject of their ministry, could only
be founded upon supernatural tokens attributed to him. Here
were no victories, no conquests, no revolutions, no surprising

82 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

elevation of fortune, no achievements of valor, of strength, or
of policy, to appeal to ; no discoveries in any art or science, no
great efforts of genius or learning to produce. A Galilean
peasant was announced to the world as a divine lawgiver. A
young man of mean condition, of a private and simple life, and
who had wrought no deliverance for the Jewish nation, was de-
clared to he their Messiah. This, without ascribing to him at
the same time some proofs of his mission, (and what other but
supernatural proofs could there be ?) was too absurd a claim to
be either imagined, or attempted, or credited. In whatever
degree, or in whatever part, the religion was argumentative,
when it came to the question, ' Is the carpenter's son of Naza-
reth the person whom we are to receive and obey V there was
nothing but the miracles attributed to him, by which Iris pre-
tensions could be maintained for a moment. Every controversy
and every question must presuppose these ; for, however such
controversies, when they did arise, might, and naturally would,
be discussed upon their own grounds of argumentation, without
citing the miraculous evidence which had been asserted to
attend the founder of the religion (which would have been
to enter upon another, and a more general question), yet we
are to bear in mind, that without previously supposing the
existence or the pretence of such evidence, there could have
been no place for the discussion of the argument at all. Thus,
for example, whether the prophecies, which the Jews inter-
preted to belong to the Messiah, were, or were not, applicable
to the history of Jesus of Nazareth, was a natural subject of
debate in those times : and the debate would proceed, with-
out recurring at every turn to his miracles, because it set out
with supposing these ; inasniucli as without miraculous marks
and tokens (real or pretended), or without some such great
change effected by his means in the public condition of the
country, as might have satisfied the then received interpretation
of these prophecies, 1 do not see how the question could ever
have been entertained. Apollos, we read, 'mightily convinced
the .lews, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ ;' l
bill unless Jesus had exhibited some distinction of his person,
some proof of supernatural power, the argument from the old

« Acts xviii. 28.

Chap, vi.] The Christian History miraculous. 83

scriptures could have had no place. It had nothing to attach
upon. A young man calling himself the son of God, gathering
a crowd about him, and delivering to them lectures of mo-
rality, could not have excited so much as a doubt amongst
the Jews whether he was the object in whom a long series
of ancient prophecies terminated, from the completion of which
they had formed such magnificent expectations, and expecta-
tions of a nature so opposite to what appeared : I mean, no
such doubt could exist when they had the whole case before
them, when they saw him put to death for his ofliciousness,
and when by his death the evidence concerning him was
closed. Again, the effect of the Messiah's coming, supposing
Jesus to have been he, upon Jews, upon Gentiles, upon their
relation to each other, upon their acceptance with God, upon
their duties and their expectations ; his nature, authority, office,
and agency ; were likely to become subjects of much considera-
tion with the early votaries of the religion, and to occupy their
attention and writings. I should not, however, expect that in
these disquisitions, whether preserved in the form of letters,
speeches, or set treatises, frequent or very direct mention of
his miracles would occur. Still miraculous evidence lay at the
bottom of the argument. In the primary question, miraculous
pretensions, and miraculous pretensions alone, were what they
had to rely upon.

That the original story was miraculous, is very fairly also
inferred from the miraculous powers which were laid claim to
by the Christians of succeeding ages. If the accounts of these
miracles be true, it was a continuation of the same powers ; if
they be false, it was an imitation, I will not say, of what had
been wrought, but of what had been reported to have been
wrought, by those who preceded them. That imitation should
follow reality ; fiction be grafted upon truth ; that, if miracles
were performed at first, miracles should be pretended after-
wards, agrees so well with the ordinary course of human affairs,
that we can have no great difficulty in believing it. The con-
trary supposition is very improbable, namely, that miracles
should be pretended to by the followers of the apostles and first
emissaries of the religion, when none were pretended to, either
in their own persons or that of their master, by these apostles
and emissaries themselves.

84 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

ANNOTATION.

'■Miraculous pretensions alone were what they had to rely on?

That the christian miracles were, at the time, admitted by
opponents, we have a proof in a very curious book now extant
among the Jews, the Toldoth Jeschu [ Generation of Jesus~\ , which
Paley seems not to have known. 1 It is the Jewish statement of
the origin of the religion of Jesus ; and it fully confirms the New
Testament statement that his adversaries acknowledged the fact
of his miracles (except only the resurrection), and attributed
them to magical art. Now this book, which is very ancient,
though the exact date of its composition is not known, must Ijave
been compiled from the very earliest traditions. For, it i§ in-
credible that if the contemporaries of Jesus had denied the
facts, their descendants should afterwards have acknowledged
those facts, and resorted to the hypothesis of magic.

CHAPTER YII.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to have
been original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their
lives in labors, dangers, ami sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in attestation of the accounts which they <l< Hr< red, and
solely in const qyu n<'< of their belief of tin truth of those ac-
counts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.

IT once then being proved, that the first propagators of the
christian institution did exert great activity, and subject
themselves 1<> great dangers and sufferings, in consccpience, and
I'mi- the sake <>f an extraordinary, and I think we may say,

1 An English translation of it was published some years ago, by an antiehristian

1 kseller, under the title of the Gospel according to the Jews. He was stupid

enough to think that it made against Christianity.

Chap, vii.] The original Christian Story. 85

of a miraculous stoiy of some kind or other ; the next great
question is, Whether the account, which our scriptures contain,
be that story ; that which these men delivered, and for which
they acted and suffered as they did ?

This question is, in effect, no other than, whether the story
which Christians have now, be the story which Christians had
then f And of this the following proofs may be deduced from
general considerations, and from considerations prior to any
inquiry into the particular reasons and testimonies by which
the authority of our histories is supported.

In the first place, there exists no trace or vestige of any
other story. It is not, like the death of Cyrus the Great, a
competition between opposite accounts, or between the credit
of different historians. There is not a document, or scrap of
account, either contemporary with the commencement of Chris-
tianity, or extant within many ages after that commencement,
which assigns a history substantially different from ours. The
remote, brief, and incidental notices of the affair, which are
found in heathen writers, so far as they do go, go along with
us. They bear testimony to these facts : that the institution
originated from Jesus ; that the founder was put to death, as a
malefactor, at Jerusalem, by the authority of the Roman
governor, Pontius Pilate ; that the religion nevertheless spread
in that city, and throughout Judea ; and that it was propagated
from thence to distant countries ; that the converts were nume-
rous ; that they suffered great hardships and injuries for their
profession ; and that all this took place in the age of the world
which our books have assigned. They go on further, to de-
scribe the manners of Christians in terms perfectly conformable
to the accounts extant in our books ; that they were wont to
assemble on a certain day ; that they sung hymns to Christ as
to a god ; that they bound themselves by an oath not to com-
mit any crime, but to abstain from theft and adultery, to ad-
here strictly to their promises, and not to deny money deposited
in their hands ; T that they worshipped him who was crucified

2 Vide Pliny's Letter. Bonnet, in his lively way of expressing himself, says —
' Comparing Pliny's Letter with the account in the Acts, it seems to me that I had
not taken up another author, but that I was still reading the historian of that
extraordinary society.' This is strong ; hut there is undoubtedly an affinity, and
nil the affinity that could be expected.

86 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

in Palestine ; that this their first lawgiver had taught them
that they were all brethren ; that they had a great contempt
for the things of this world, and looked upon them as com-
mon ; that they flew to one another's relief ; that they cherished
strong hopes of immortality ; that they despised death, and
surrendered themselves to sufferings. 1 This is the account of
writers who viewed the subject at a great distance ; who were
uninformed and uninterested about it. It bears the characters
of such an account upon the face of it, because it describes
effects, namely, the appearance in the world of a new religion,
and the conversion of great multitudes to it, without descend-
ing, in the smallest degree, to the detail of the transaction
upon which it was founded, the interior of the institution, the
evidence or arguments offered by those who drew over others
to it. Yet still here is no contradiction of our story ; no other
or different story set up against it ; but so far a confirmation
of it, as that, in the general points upon which the heathen
account touches, it agrees with that which we find in our own
books.

The same may be observed of the very few Jewish writers, of
that and the adjoining period, which have come down to us.
Whatever they omit, or whatever difficulties we may find in
explaining the omission, they advance no other history of the
transaction than that which we acknowledge. Josephus, who
wrote his Antiquities, or History of the Jews, about sixty years
after the commencement of Christianity, in a passage generally
admitted as genuine, makes mention of John under the name
of John the Baptist ; that he was a preacher of virtue ; that he
baptized his proselytes; that lie was well received by the people;
that he was imprisoned and put to death by Herod ; and that
Herod lived in a criminal cohabitation with Herodias his
brother's wife. 2 In another passage, allowed by many, although

1 ' It is incredible what expedition they use when any of their friends are known
to be in trouble. In a word, tiny spare nothing upon such an occasion — for these
miserable men have no doubt they shall he immortal, and live forever : therefore
they contemn death, and many surrender themselves to Bufferings. Moreover,
their firsi lawgiver lias taught them thai they are all brethren, when once they

have turned and rei aced the gods of the Greeks, ami worship this master of

theirs who was crucified, ami engage to live according to his laws. They have
also a sovereign contempt for all the things of this world, and look upon them as
common.'— Lucian de Mbrte Peregrini, t. i. p. 565, ed. Grrev.

1 Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. v. sect. I, 'J.

Chap, vii.] The original Christian Story. 87

not without considerable question being moved about it, we hear
of ' James, the brother of him who was called Jesus, and of
his being put to death.' 1 In a third passage, extant in every
copy that remains of Josephus's history, but the authenticity of
which has nevertheless been long disputed, we have an explicit
testimony to the substance of our history in these words : —
' At that time lived Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a
man, for he performed many wonderful works. He was a
teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He
drew over to him many Jews and Gentiles. This was the
Christ ; and when Pilate, at the instigation of the chief men
among us, had condemned him to the cross, they who before
had conceived an affection for him did not cease to adhere to
him ; for on the third day he appeared to them alive again, the
divine prophets having foretold these and many wonderful
things concerning him. And the sect of the Christians, so
called from him, subsists to this time.' 2 Whatever become of
the controversy concerning the genuineness of this passage ;
whether Josephus go the whole length of our history, which, if
the passage be sincere, he does ; or whether he proceed only a
little way with us, which if the passage be rejected, we confess
to be the case ; still what we asserted is true, that he gives no
other or different history of the subject from ours, no other or
different account of the origin of the institution. And I think
also that it may with great reason be contended, either that the
passage is genuine, or that the silence of Josephus was designed.
For, although we should lay aside the authority of our own
books entirely, yet when Tacitus, who wrote not twenty, per-
haps not ten, years after Josephus, in his account of a period
in which Josephus was near thirty years of age, tells us, that
a vast multitude of Christians were condemned at Home ; that
they derived their denomination from Christ, who, in the reign
of Tiberius, was put to death, as a criminal, by the procurator
Pontius Pilate ; that the superstition had spread not only over
Judea, the source of the evil, but had reached Rome also : —
when Suetonius, an historian contemporary with Tacitus, relates
that, in the time of Claudius, the Jews were making disturb-
ances at Rome, Chrestus being their leader ; and that, during

1 Antiq. 1. xx. cap. ix. sect. 1. a Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. iii. sect. 3.

88 Evidences of Christianity [Part L

the reign of Nero, the Christians were punished ; under both
which emperors Joseplms lived ; when Pliny, who wrote his
celebrated epistle not more than thirty years after the publica-
tion of Josephus's history, found the Christians in such numbers
in the province of Bithynia as to draw from him a complaint,
that the contagion had seized cities, towns, and villages, and
had so seized them as to produce a general desertion of the
public rites ; and when, as hath already been observed, there is
no reason for imagining that the Christians were more numerous
in Bithynia than in many other parts of the Roman empire ; it
cannot, I should suppose, after this, be believed, that the reli-
gion, and the transaction upon which it was founded, were too
obscure to engage the attention of Josephus, or to obtain a
place in his history. Perhaps he did not know how to represei 1 1
the business, and dispose of his difficulties by passing it over
in silence. Eusebius wrote the life of Constantino, yet omits
entirely the most remarkable circumstance in that life, the death
of his son Crispus ; undoubtedly for the reason here given.
The reserve of Josephus upon the subject of Christianity
appears also in his passing over the banishment of the Jews by
Claudius, which Suetonius, we have seen, has recorded with an
express reference to Christ. This is at least as remarkable as
his silence about the infants of Bethlehem. 1 Be, however, the
fact, or the cause of the omission in Josephus, 2 what it may, no
other or different history on the subject has been given by him,
or is pretended to have been given.

r>ut farther; the whole series of christian writers, from the
firsl age of the institution down to the present, in their discus-
sions, apologies, arguments, and controversies, proceed upon
the general story which our scriptures contain, and upon no

1 Michaelis has computed, and, ;is it should seem, fairly enough, that prohably

Dot c than twenty children perished by this cruel precaution. Michael.

Ititrod. loth. X. Test, translated by Marsh, vol. i. c. ii. sect. 11.

1 There is no notice taken of Christianity iii the Mishna, a collection of Jewish
traditions compiled about the year 180, although it contains a Tract De Cultu
rinn, 'Of strange or idolatrous Worship :' yel it cannot be disputed but that
Christianity was perfectly well known in the world at this time. There is ex-
tremely little notice of the subject in the Jerusalem Talmud, compiled about the
ye;ir 800, and not iniieh more in the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 500, although
both these works are of a religious nature, and although, when the first was
compiled, Christianity was upon the point of becoming the religion Of the state,
and. when the latter was published, had been so for '200 years.

Chap, vii.] The original Christian Story. 89

other. The main facts, the principal agents, are alike in all.
This argument will appear to be of great force, when it is
known that we are able to trace back the series of writers to a
contact with the historical books of the New Testament, and to
the age of the first emissaries of the religion, and to deduce it,
by an unbroken continuation, from that end of the train to the
present.

The remaining letters of the apostles (and what more original
than their letters can we have ?), though written without the
remotest design of transmitting the history of Christ, or of
Christianity, to future ages, or even of making it known to
their contemporaries, incidentally disclose to us the following
circumstances : Christ's descent and family, his innocence, the
meekness and gentleness of his character (a recognition which
goes to the whole gospel history), his exalted nature, his cir-
cumcision, transfiguration, his life of opposition and suffering,
his patience and resignation, the appointment of the eucharist
and the manner of it, his agony, his confession before Pontius
Pilate, his stripes, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, his appear-
ance after it, first to Peter, then to the rest of the apostles, his
ascension into heaven, and his designation to be the future
judge of mankind : the stated residence of the apostles at
Jerusalem, the working of miracles by the first preachers of
the gospel, who were also the hearers of Christ : l the successful
propagation of the religion, the persecution of its followers, the
miraculous conversion of Paul, miracles wrought by himself,
and alleged in his controversies with his adversaries, and in
letters to the persons amongst whom they were wrought ;
finally, that miracles were the signs of an apostle. 2

1 Heb. ii. 3. ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which, at
the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that
heard him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and loonders, and with
divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost V I allege this epistle without hesita-
tion ; for, whatever doubts may have been raised about its author, there can be none
concerning the age in which it was written. No epistle in the collection carries about
it more indubitable marks of antiquity than this does. It speaks, for instance,
throughout, of the temple, as then standing, and of the worship of the temple as
then subsisting. — Heb. viii. 4. ' For, if he were on earth, he should not be a
priest, seeing there are priests that offer according to the law.' — Again, Heb. xiii. 10.
' We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.'

a 2 Cor. xii. 12. ' Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all
patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.'

90 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

In an epistle bearing the name of Barnabas, the companion
of Paul, probably genuine, 1 certainly belonging to that age, we
have the sufferings of Christ, his choice of apostles and their
number, his passion, the scarlet robe, the vinegar and gall, the
mocking and piercing, the casting lots for his coat, 2 his resur-
rection on the eighth [i. e., the first day of the week 3 ], and the
commemorative distinction of that day, his manifestation after
his resurrection, and lastly, his ascension. We have also his
miracles generally but positively referred to in the following
words : ' finally, teaching the people of Israel, and doing many
wonders and signs among them, he preached to them, and
showed the exceeding great love which he bare towards them.' 4

In an epistle of Clement, a hearer of St. Paul, although
written for a purpose remotely connected with the christian
history, we have the resurrection of Christ, and the subsequent
mission of the apostles, recorded in these satisfactory termi:
' The apostles have preached to us from our Lord Jesus Christ
from God — For, having received their command, and being
thoroughly assured hy the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
they went abroad, publishing that the kingdom of God was at
hand.' 5 We find noticed also, the humility, yet the power of
Christ, 6 his descent from Abraham, his crucifixion. We have
Peter and Paul represented as faithful and righteous pillars of
the Church, the numerous sufferings of Peter, the bonds,
stripes, and stoning of Paul, and more particularly his exten-
sive and unwearied travels.

In an epistle of Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, though only
a brief hortatory letter, we have the humility, patience, suffer-
ings, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, together with the
apostolic character of St. Paul, distinctly recognized. 7 Of this
same father we are also assured by Irenanis, that he [Irenanis] had
heard him relate, ' what he had received from eye-witnesses con-
cerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine.' 8

In the remaining works of Ignatius, the contemporary of

1 It is very strange that many reckon Barnabas the Apostle the author of this
epistle, and reckon him among the ' Apostolical Fathers.' If it had heen believed to
be by him, it would doubtless have been received as Holy Scripture. If. hy some other
prrson, there is no sufficient proof of his having been contemporary with the Apostles.

J Ep. Bar. c. vii. 3 Ibid. C. vi. * Ibid. c. v.

* Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xlii. ' Ibid. c. xvi.

7 L'ol. Ep. ad Phil, c v., viii., ii., iii. 6 Ir. ad Flor. ap. Eub. l.v.c. 20.

Chap, vii.] The original christian Story. 91

Polycarp, larger than those of Polycarp (yet, like those of
Polycarp, treating of subjects in no wise leading to any recital
of the christian history), the occasional allusions are propor-
tionally more numerous. The descent of Christ from David,
his mother Mary, his miraculous conception, the star at his
birth, his baptism by John, the reason assigned for it, his
appeal to the prophets, the ointment poured on his head, his
sufferings under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, his
resurrection, the Lord's day called and kept in commemoration
of it, and the Eucharist, in both its parts, are unequivocally
referred to. Upon the resurrection this writer is even circum-
stantial. He mentions the apostles eating and drinking with
Christ after he was risen, their feeling and their handling him ;
from which last circumstance Ignatius raises this just reflection —
' They believed, being convinced both by his flesh and spirit ; for
this cause they despised death, and were found to be above it.' l

Quadratus, of the same age with Ignatius, has left us the
following noble testimony: — 'The works of our Saviour were
always conspicuous, for they were real ; both they that were
healed, and they that were raised from the dead : who were
seen not only when they were healed or raised, but for a long
time afterwards : not only whilst he dwelled on this earth, but
also after his departure, and for a good while after it, insomuch
that some of them have reached to our times.' 2

Justin Martyr came little more than thirty years after
Quadratus. From Justin's works, which are still extant, might
be collected a tolerably complete account of Christ's life, in all
points agreeing with that which is delivered in our scriptures ;
taken indeed, in a great measure, from those scriptures, but
still proving that this account, and no other, was the account
known and extant in that age. The miracles in particular,
which form the part of Christ's history most material to be
traced, stand fully and distinctly recognized in the following
passage : — ' He healed those who had been blind, and deaf, and
lame from their birth, causing, by his word, one to leap, another
to hear, and a third to see; and by raising the dead, and making
them to live, he induced, by his works, the men of that age to
know him.' 3

1 Ad Smyr. c. iii. 2 Ap. Eus. H. E. 1. iv. c. 3.

3 Just. Dial, cum Iryph. p. 288. ed. Thirl.

92 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

It is unnecessary to carry these citations lower, because the
history, after this time, occurs in ancient christian writings as
familiarly as it is wont to do in modern sermons; occurs
always the same in substance, and always that which our
evangelists represent.

This is not only true of those writings of Christians which
are genuine, and of acknowledged authority, but it is, in a great
measure, true of all their ancient writings which remain ;
although some of these may have been erroneously ascribed to
authors to whom they did not belong, or may contain false
accounts, or may appear to be undeserving of credit, or never
indeed to have obtained any. Whatever fables they have mixed
with the narrative, they preserve the material parts, the leading
facts, as we have them ; and, so far as they do this, although
they be evidence of nothing else, they are evidence that the^p
points were fixed, were received and acknowledged by all Chris-
tians in the ages in which the books were written. At least, it
may be asserted, that, in the places where we were most likely
to meet with such things, if such things had existed, no relics
appear of any story substantially different from the present, as
the cause, or as the pretence, of the institution.

Now that the original story, the story delivered by the first
preachers of the institution, should have died away so entirely
as to have left no record or memorial of its existence, although
so many records and memorials of the time and transaction
remain ; and that another story should have stepped into its
place, and gained exclusive possession of the belief of all who
professed themselves disciples of the institution, is beyond any
example of the corruption of even oral tradition, and still less
consistent with the experience of written history : and this im-
probability, which is very great, is rendered still greater by the
reflection, that no such change, as the oblivion of one story
and the substitution of another, took place in any future period
of the christian era. Christianity hath travelled through dark
and turbulent ages ; nevertheless it came out of the cloud and
the storm, such, in substance, as it entered in. Many additions
were made to the primitive history, and these entitled to dif-
ferent decrees of credit: many doctrinal errors also were from
time to time grafted into the public creed, but still the original

Chap, vii.] The original christian Society. 93

story remained the same. In all its principal parts it has been
fixed from the beginning.

Thirdly, The religious rites and usages that prevailed amongst
the early disciples of Christianity, were such as belonged to,
and sprung out of, the narrative now in our hands ; which
accordancy shows, that it was the narrative upon which these
persons acted, and which they had received from their teachers.
Our account makes the founder of the religion direct that his
disciples should be baptized : we know that the first Christians
were baptized. Our account makes him direct that they
should hold religious assemblies : we find that they did hold
religious assemblies. Our accounts make the apostles assemble
upon a stated day in the week : we find, and that from infor-
mation perfectly independent of our accounts, that the Christians
of the first century did observe stated days of assembling. Our
histories record the institution of the rite which we call the
Lord's Supper, and a command to repeat it in perpetual suc-
cession : we find, amongst the early Christians, the celebration
of this rite universal. And indeed we find concurring in all the
above-mentioned observances, christian societies of many dif-
ferent nations and languages, removed from one another by
great distance of place and dissimilitude of situation. It is
also extremely material to remark, that there is no room for
insinuating that our books were fabricated with a studious
accommodation to the usages which obtained at the time they
were written ; that the authors of the books found the usages
established, and framed the story to account for their original.
The scripture accounts, especially of the Lord's Supper, are too
short and cursory, not to say too obscure, and in this view,
deficient, to allow a place for any such suspicion. 1

Amongst the proofs of the truth of our proposition, viz., that
the story, which we have now, is, in substance, the story which
the Christians had then, or, in other words, that the accounts in
our gospels are, as to their principal parts at least, the accounts
which the apostles and original teachers of the religion delivered,

1 The reader who is conversant in these researches, hy comparing the short
scripture accounts of the christian rites above-mentioned with the minute and
circumstantial directions contained in the pretended apostolical constitutions,
will see the force of this observation ; the difference between truth and forgery.

94 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

one arises from observing, that it appears by the gospels them-
selves, that the story was public at the time ; that the christian
community was already in possession of the substance and
principal parts of the narrative. The gospels were not the origi-
nal cause of the christian history being believed, but were them-
selves among the consequences of that belief. This is expressly
affirmed by St. Luke in his brief, but, as I think, very important
and instructive preface. ' Forasmuch [sa}^s the evangelist] as
many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of
those things which are most surely believed amongst us, even as
they were delivered unto us, which, from the beginning, were
eye-witnesses and ministers of the word / it seemed good to me
also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the
very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
that thou mightest know the certainty of those things vmerein
thou hast been instructed.'' — This short introduction testifies*
that the substance of the history, which the evangelist was
about to write, was already believed by Christians ; that it was
believed upon the declarations of eye-witnesses and ministers of
the word ; that it formed the account of their religion, in which
Christians were instructed ; that the office which the historian
proposed to himself, was to trace each particular to its origin,
and to fix the certainty of many things which the reader had
before heard of. In St. John's Gospel, the same point appears
from hence, that there are some principal facts, to which the
historian refers, but which he does not relate. A remarkable
instance of this kind is the ascension, which is not mentioned
by St. John in its place, at the conclusion of his history, but
which is plainly referred to in the following words of the sixth
chapter: 1 'What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up
where ho was before?' And still more positively in the words
which Christ, according to our evangelist, spoke to Mary after
his resurrection, 'Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to
my Father; but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father, unto my God and
yourGod.' 2 This can only be accounted for by the supposition,
that St. John wrote under a sense of the notoriety of Christ's
ascension, amongst those by whom his book was likely to be

1 Also John iii. 13, and xvi. 28. a Ibid. xx. 17.

Chap, vii.] The original christian Story. 95

read. The same account must also be given of St. Matthew's
omission of the same important fact. The thing was very well
known, and it did not occur to the historian that it was neces-
sary to add any particulars concerning it. It agrees also with
this solution, and with no other, that neither Matthew nor John
disposes of the person of our Lord in any manner whatever.
Other intimations in St. John's Gospel of the then general
notoriety of the story are the following : His manner of intro-
ducing his narrative, [ch. i. ver. 15,] ' John bare witness of
him, and cried, saying,' evidently presupposes that his readers
knew who John was. His rapid parenthetical reference to
John's imprisonment, ' for John was not yet cast into prison,' *
could only come from a writer whose mind was in the habit of
considering John's imprisonment as perfectly notorious. The
description of Andrew by the addition ' Simon Peter's brother,' 2
takes it for granted that Simon Peter was well known. His
name had not been mentioned before. The evangelist's notic-
ing 3 the prevailing misconstruction of a discourse which Christ
held with the beloved disciple, proves that the characters and.
the discourse were already public. And the observation which
these instances afford, is of equal validity for the purpose of the
present argument, whoever were the authors of the histories.

These four circumstances, first, the recognition of the ac-
count in its principal parts by a series of succeeding writers ;
secondly, the total absence of any account of the origin of the
religion substantially different from ours ; thirdly, the early
and extensive prevalence of rites and institutions, which result
from our account ; fourthly, our account bearing, in its con
struction, proof that it is an account of facts, which were known
and believed at the time, are sufficient, I conceive, to support
an assurance, that the story which we have now, is, in general,
the story which Christians had at the beginning. 1 say in
general', by which term I mean, that it is the same in its
texture, and in its principal facts. For instance, I make no
doubt, for the reasons above stated, but that the resurrection
of the founder of the religion was always a part of the chris-
tian story. Nor can a doubt of this remain upon the mind of

1 John iii. 24. 2 Ibid. i. 40. 3 Ibid. xxi. 24.

96 Evidences of Christianity. [Part 1.

any one, who reflects that the resurrection is, in some form or
other, asserted, referred to, or assumed, in every christian writ-
ing, of every description, which hath come down to us.

And if our evidence stopped here, we should have a strong
case to offer : for we should have to allege, that, in the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, a certain number of persons set about an
attempt of establishing a new religion in the world; in the
prosecution of which purpose, they voluntarily encountered
great dangers, undertook great labors, sustained great suffer-
ings, all for a miraculous story which they published wherever
they came ; and that the resurrection of a dead man, whom,
during his life, they had followed and accompanied, was a con-
stant part of this story. I know nothing in the above state-
ment which can, with any appearance of reason, be disputed :
and I know nothing in the history of the human species similar
to it.

ANNOTATION.

' There is no foomfor i/nsin noting that our hooks were fabricated
with a studious accommodation to the usages which obtained
at the time when they ivere written.''

Not only is this true, but the omission in the New Testa-
ment of many things which — humanly speaking — we should
have expected to find there, is a strong (though often over-
looked) internal evidence of divine agency. 1 "We find in the
New Testament nothing of the character of the Catechisms,
such as wu are sure must have been employed for instructing
learners in the first rudiments of Christianity: nor again
do we find any thing of the nature of a Creed / nor a Liturgy /
nor any tiling answering to a Rubric (or a set of Canons pre-
scribing the mode of administering the Sacraments, and of con-
ducting all parte of the Church-Service; nor any precise de-
scription <>t' tin- manner of ordaining Ministers, and of carrying
mi ( 'hurrh-govt. mnu nt.

Y<-t all these things, we are sure, must have existed. We
even find frequent mention of prayers offered up by Apostles;

'See Essay on the Omit

Chap, vii.] Annotation. 97

and of their ' breaking bread' [celebrating the Lord's Supper]
in the congregations. But the prayers which they used, on
these and on other occasions, are not recorded. And it is very
remarkable that the only two prayers of the Apostles that we
do find recorded in words, had reference to such peculiar
occasions (the election of an Apostle in Acts i., and their first
persecution, Acts iv.) as made them quite unsuitable for ordinary
public worship. The same is the case, in a less degree, with the
three Hymns, that of Zacharias, that of the Virgin Mary, and
that of Simeon, which are introduced from the New Testament
into our Service. They had, each, reference to a peculiar
occasion, but not to such a degree as to unfit them altogether
for ordinary worship ; for which they have been adopted
accordingly. The same may be said of the prayers of the first
martyr, Stephen ; and also of those prayers of Jesus Himself
which are recorded in John's Gospel. One short form of
prayer which our Lord taught to his disciples — and that,
before the chief part of the Gospel had been revealed — is all
that we find recorded.

Now that no Liturgies, Creeds, or other Formularies, such
as we have been speaking of, should have been committed to
writing by any of the Apostles or Evangelists, is a fact which
will appear the more unaccountable, — humanly speaking, —
the more we reflect on the subject. Supposing Paul to have
been too much occupied with other writings to find leisure for
recording such things, why was it not done, by his direction or
permission, by one or other of his companions and assistants ?
— by Luke, or Timothy, or Titus, or some of the others whom
we find mentioned ? If not by any of these, why not by Bar-
nabas, or Peter, or some other Apostle ? or by some of their
numerous fellow-laborers ?

There must have been hundreds quite competent to the task ;
which would have been merely to write down what they saw and
heard ; and this would have been eagerly read by thousands,
and carefully copied and preserved. Yet what it would have
been, seemingly, so natural and so easy to do, by each of a
great number of men, was done by no one.

And as the drawing up of such records is what would natu-
rally have occurred to men of any nation, situated as the
Apostles and their companions were, so, it seems doubly strange

98 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

that this should not have occurred to Jews ; to men brought up
under that Law which prescribed with such minute exactness
all the ceremonials of their worship, — all the Articles of their
belief, — and all the rules they were to observe.

The omission, therefore, which we have been speaking of is,
on all natural principles, quite unaccountable, and, indeed,
incredible. And there seems no way of explaining it, except
by concluding that the Apostles and their attendants were
Si^>'-naturally restrained from drawing up any such written
records as we have been speaking of. "We must conclude that
divine Providence had decreed that no Canons, Liturgies, or
Creeds, &c, should form any part of Holy Scripture ; and that,
accordingly, the inspired Writers were withheld from com-
mitting any to paper.

And in confirmation — if any confirmation could be needed—
of what we have now been saying, we find that soon after thS
age of inspiration, and when men were left to act on their own
judgment, they did draw up Creeds (several of which have come
down to us), Liturgies, and directions for the celebration of
divine worship, called the ' Apostolical Constitutions.' Pliny
records the custom of the Christians in his day (in the early
part of the second century), of singing ' a hymn to Christ as
God.' This is supposed by some to have been that which we
call the ' Te Deum,' or some portion of it. But at any rate it
must have been something written down and learnt by the con-
gregation. Whatever may he urged in behalf of extemporary
prayers, a hymn at least could not be so. And these composi-
tions, though professing to be records of what had come down
by tradition from the times of the Apostles (which is, probably,
in part true), were never received by any Church as Holy
Scripture. Even the Church of Rome, which pronounces all
traditions sanctioned by itself, of equal authority with Scripture,
still maintains the distinction. It has never inserted in the
New Testament any of those compositions we have been speak-
ing of. And here we have, by the way, a testimony which
would, alone, completely refute the wild theory of some (so-
called) Theologians, that the New Testament was a compilation
drawn up in the third or fourth Century from floating Tradi-
tions. It would be a sufficient answer (though many other
disproofs might be given) to remark, that in that case it would
not have failed to contain the Liturgies. Apostolic Constitutions,

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 99

&c, which were then in circulation ; — and in circulation with a
tradition of their being derived from the Apostles. Now, ODe
would have expected, as most probable (humanly speaking), that
many compositions of this kind, drawn up by several of the
Apostles and their numerous attendants, would have come down
to us as a portion of the New Testament.

But that no one of them should have committed to writing
any thing of the kind, is, according to the ordinary course of
nature, quite incredible.

We have here, therefore, in this omission, a standing miracle /
— at least, a monument of a miracle. The christian Scriptures,
considered in this point of view, are in themselves a proof of
their having been composed under superhuman guidance ; since
they do not contain what we may be certain they would have
contained, had the Writers been left to themselves.

And the argument, we should observe, is complete, even
though we should be quite unable to perceive the wisdom of
this ordinance of Providence, or at all to conjecture why the
sacred Writers were thus withheld from doing what they must
naturally have been disposed to do. For if the gospel was not
from Man, it must have been from God. Though we may not
be able always to explain why the christian Scriptures are, in
each point, just such as they are, still, if we can perceive them
to be such as they certainly would not have been if composed by
unaided Man, we must conclude~that the Writers were divinely
overruled.

CHAPTER VHI.

There is satisfactory evidence, that many persons, professing to
have been original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed
their lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily
undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered,
and solely in consequence of their belief of the truth of those
accounts / and that they also submitted, from the same
'motives, to new rules of conduct.

THAT the story which we have now is, in the main, the
story which the apostles published, is, I think, nearly cer-
tain from the considerations which have been proposed. But

100 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

whether, when we come to the particulars and the detail of the
narrative, the historical books of the New Testament be deserv-
ing of credit as histories, so that a fact ought to be accounted
true because it is found in them ; or whether they are entitled
to be considered as representing the accounts, which, true or
false, the apostles published ; whether their authority, in either
of these views, can be trusted to, is a point which necessarily
depends upon what we know of the books, and of their
authors.

Now, in treating of this part of our argument, the first, and
a most material, observation upon the subject is, that such was
the situation of the authors to whom the four gospels are
ascribed, that, if any one of the four be genuine, it is sufficient
for our purpose. The received author of the first was an
original apostle and emissary of the religion. The received
author of the second was an inhabitant of Jerusalem at tbfe
time, to whose house the apostles were wont to resort, and him-
self an attendant upon one of the most eminent of that num-
ber. The received author of the third was a stated companion
and fellow-traveller of the most active of all the teachers of the
religion, and in the course of his travels frequently in the
society of the original apostles. The received author of the
fourth, as well as of the first, was one of these apostles. No
stronger evidence of the truth of a history can arise from the
situation of the historian than what is here offered. The
authors of all the histories lived at the time, and upon the spot.
The authors of two of the histories were present at many of the
scene- which they describe; eye-witnesses of the facts, ear-
witnesses of the discourses; writing from personal knowledge
and recollection ; and, what strengthens their testimony, writing
upon a subjeel in which their minds were deeply engaged, and
in which, as they must have been very frequently repeating the
accounts to others, the passages of the history would be kept
continually alive in their memory. Whoever reads the gospels
(and they ought to be read forthis particular purpose) will find
in {hem not merely a general affirmation of miraculous powers,
but detailed circumstantial accounts of miracles, with specifica-
tions of ti , place, and persons; and these accounts many and

various. In the gospels, therefore, which bear the name of
Matthew and John, these narratives, if they really proceeded

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 1\}1:

from these men, must either be true, as far as the fidelity of
human recollection is usually to be depended upon, that is,
must be true in substance, and in their principal parts (which
is sufficient for the purpose of proving a supernatural agency),
or they must be wilful and meditated falsehoods. Yet the
writers who fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if they be
such, are of the number of those who, unless the whole con-
texture of the christian story be a dream, sacrificed their ease
and safety in the cause, and for a purpose the most inconsistent
that is possible with dishonest intentions. They were villains
for no end but to teach honesty, and martyrs without the least ;
prospect of honor or advantage.

The gospels which bear the name of Mark and Luke,
although not the narratives of eye-witnesses, are, if genuine,
removed from that only by one degree. They are the narra-
tives of contemporary writers, of writers themselves mixing
with the business, one of the two probably living in the place
which was the principal scene of action ; both living in habits
of society and correspondence with those who had been present
at the transactions which they relate. The latter of them
accordingly tells us (and with apparent sincerity, because he
tells it without pretending to personal knowledge, and without
claiming for his work greater authority than belonged to it),
that the things which were believed amongst Christians, came
from those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the word ; that he had traced up accounts to their
source ; and that he was prepared to instruct his reader in the
certainty of the things which he- related. 1 Very few histories
lie so close to their facts ; very few historians are so nearly
connected with the subject of their narrative, or possess such
means of authentic information as these.

The situation of the writers applies to the truth of the facts
which they record. But at present we use their testimony to
a point somewhat short of this, namely, that the facts recorded
in the gospels, whether true or false, are the facts, and the sort

1 Why should not the candid and modest preface of this historian he believed
as well as that which Dion Cassias prefixes to his Life of Cummodus ? ' These things
and the following I write not from the report of others, but from my own knowl-
edge and observation.' I see no reason to doubt but that both passages describe
truly enough the situation of the authors.

102 ij'dences of Christianity. [Parti.

of facts which the original preachers of the religion alleged.
Strictly speaking, I am concerned only to show, that what the
gospels contain is the same as what the apostles preached. Now
how stands the proof of this point? A set of men went about
the world publishing a story composed of miraculous accounts
(for miraculous from the very nature and exigency of the case
they must have been), and upon the strength of these accounts,
called upon mankind to quit the religions in which they had
been educated, and to take up from thenceforth a new system
of opinions, and new rules of action. What is more in attes-
tation of these accounts, that is, in support of an institution of
which these accounts were the foundation, the same men vol-
untarily exposed themselves to harassing and perpetual labors,
dangers, and sufferings. We want to know what these accounts
were. We have the particulars [i.e. many particulars] from
two of their own number. We have them from an attendant
of one of the number, and who there is reason to believe was
an inhabitant of Jerusalem at the time. We have them from
a fourth writer, who accompanied the most laborious missionary
of the institution in his travels ; who, in the course of these
travels, was frequently brought into the society of the rest ;
and who, let it be observed, begins his narrative by telling us
that he is about to relate the things which had been delivered
by those who were ministers of the word and eye-witnesses of
the fact. I do not know what information can be more satis-
factory than this. We may, perhaps, perceive the force and
value of it more sensibly, if we reflect how requiring we should
have been if we had wanted it. Supposing it to be sulli-
ciently proved, that the religion now professed amongst us,
owed its original to the preaching and ministry of a number of
men, who, about eighteen centuries ago, set forth in the world
a new system of religious opinions, founded upon certain extra-
ordinary things which they related of a wonderful person who
had appeared in Judea ; suppose it to be also sufficiently proved,
that, in the course and prosecution of their ministry, these men
had subjected themselves to extreme hardships, fatigue, and
peril ; but suppose the accounts which they published had not
been committed to writing till some ages after their times, or
a1 leasl that no histories, but what had been composed some
ages afterwards, had reached our hands ; we should have said,

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 103

and with reason, that we were willing to believe these men
under the circumstances in which they delivered their testi-
mony, but that we did not, at this day, know with sufficient
evidence what their testimony was. Had we received the par-
ticulars of it from any of their own number, from any of those
who lived and conversed with them, from any of their hearers,
or even from any of their contemporaries, we should have had
something to rely upon. Now, if our books be genuine, we
have all these. "We have the very species of information which,
as it appears to me, our imagination would have carved out for
us, if it had been wanting.

But I have said, that, if any one of the four gospels be
genuine, we have not only direct historical testimony to the
point we contend for, but testimony which, so far as that point
is concerned, cannot reasonably be rejected. If the first gospel
was really written by Matthew, we have the narrative of one
of the number from which to judge what were the miracles,
and the kind of miracles, which the apostles attributed to
Jesus. Although for argument's sake, and only for argument's
sake, we should allow that this gospel had been erroneously
ascribed to Matthew ; yet, if the gospel of St. John be genuine,
the observation holds with no less strength. Again, although
the gospels both of Matthew and John could be supposed to
be spurious, yet, if the gospel of St. Luke was truly the com-
position of that person, or of any person, be his name what it
might, who was actually in the situation in which the author
of that gospel professes himself to have been ; or if the gospel
which bears the name of Mark really proceeded from him ; we
still, even upon the lowest supposition, possess the accounts of
one writer at least, who was not only contemporary with the
apostles, but associated with them in their ministry ; which
authority seems sufficient, when the question is simply what it
was which these apostles advanced.

I think it material to have this well noticed. The New
Testament contains a great number of distinct writings, the
genuineness of any one of which is almost sufficient to prove
the truth of the religion : it contains, however, four distinct
histories, the genuineness of any one of which is perfectly suffi-
cient. If, therefore, we must be considered as encountering
the risk of error in assigning the authors of our books, we are

104 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

entitled to the advantage of so many separate probabilities.
And although it should appear that some of the evangelists had
seen and used each other's works, this discovery, whilst it
subtracts indeed from their character as testimonies strictly
independent, diminishes, I conceive, little, either their separate
authority, by which I mean the authority of any one that is
genuine, or their mutual confirmation. For, let the most dis-
advantageous supposition possible be made concerning them ;
let it be allowed, what I should have no great difficulty in ad-
mitting, that Mark compiled his history almost entirely from
those of Matthew and Luke ; and let it also, for a moment, be
supposed that these histories were not, in fact, written by
Matthew and Luke ; yet, if it be true that Mark, a contem-
porary of the apostles, living in habits of society with the
apostles, a fellow-traveller and fellow-laborer with some of
them ; if, I say, it be true that this person made the compila-
tion, it follows, that the writings from which he made it existed
in the time of the apostles, and not only so, but that they were
then in such esteem and credit that a companion of the apostles
formed a history out of them. Let the gospel of Mark be
called an epitome of that of Matthew ; if a person in the situa-
tion in which Mark is described to have been, actually made
the epitome, it affords the strongest possible attestation to the
character of the original.

Again, parallelisms, in sentences, in words, and in the order
of words, have been traced out between the gospel of Matthew
and that of Luke ; which concurrence cannot easily be explained
otherwise than by supposing, either that Luke had consulted
Matthew's history, or, what appears to me in no wise incredible,
that minutes of some of Christ's discourses, as well as brief me-
moirs of some passages of his life had been committed to writing
at the time, and that such written accounts had by both authors
been occasionally admitted into their histories. Either suppo-
sition is perfectly consistent with the acknowledged formation
of St. Luke's narrative, who professes not to write as an eye-
witness, hut to have investigated the original of every account
which hi' delivers ; in other words, to have collected them from
such documents ami testimonies, as he, who had the best oppor-
tunities of making inquiries, judged to he authentic. Therefore,
allowing that this w r riter also, in some instances, borrowed from

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 105

the gospel which we call Matthew's, and once more allowing, for
the sake of stating the argument, that that gospel was not the pro-
duction of the author to whom we ascribe it; yet still we have,
in St. Luke's gospel, a history given by a writer immediately
connected with the transaction, with the witnesses of it, with the
persons engaged in it, and composed from materials which that
person, thus situated, deemed to be safe sources of intelligence ;
in other words, whatever supposition be made concerning any
or all the other gospels, if St. Luke's Gospel be genuine, we
have in it a credible evidence of the point which we maintain.

The gospel according to St. John appears to be, and is on all
hands allowed to be, an independent testimony, strictly and pro-
perly so called. Notwithstanding, therefore, any connection,
or supposed connection, between some of the gospels, I again
repeat, what I before said, that, if any one of the four be gen-
uine, we have, in that one, strong reason, from the character
and situation of the writer, to believe that we possess the
accounts which the original emissaries of the religion delivered.

II. In treating of the written evidences of Christianity, next
to their separate, we are to consider their aggregate authority.
Now, there is in the evangelic history a cumulation of testimony
which belongs hardly to any other history, but which our
habitual mode of reading the scriptures sometimes causes us to
overlook. When a passage, in any wise relating to the history
of Christ, is read to us out of the epistle of Clemens Romanus,
the epistles of Ignatius, of Polycarp, or from any other writing
of that age, we are immediately sensible of the confirmation
which it affords to the scripture account. Here is a new wit-
ness. Now, if we had been accustomed to read the gospel of
Matthew alone, and had known that of Luke only as the
generality of Christians know the writings of the apostolical
fathers, that is, had known that such a writing was extant and
acknowledged ; when we came, for the first time, to look into
what it contained, and found many of the facts which Matthew
recorded, recorded also there, many other facts of a similar
nature added, and throughout the whole work the same general
series of transactions stated, and the same general character of
the person who was the subject of the history preserved, I
apprehend that we should feel our minds strongly impressed by
this discovery of fresh evidence. We should feel a renewal of

106 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the same sentiment in first reading the gospel of St. John.
That of St. Mark perhaps would strike us as an abridgment of
the history with which we were already acquainted ; but we
should naturally reflect, that if that history was abridged by
such a person as Mark, or by any person of so early an age, it
afforded one of the highest possible attestations to the value of
the work. This successive disclosure of proof would leave us
assured, that there must have been at least some reality in a
story which, not one, but many, had taken in hand to commit
to writing. The very existence of four separate histories would
satisfy us that the subject had a foundation ; and when, amidst
the variety which the ditferent information of the different
writers had supplied to their accounts, or which their different
choice and judgment in selecting their materials had produced,
we observed many facts to stand the same in all ; of th$se
facts, at least, we should conclude, that they were fixed in their
credit and publicity. If, after this, we should come to the
knowledge of a distinct history, and that also of the same age
with the rest, taking up the subject where the others had left
it, and carrying on a narrative of the effects produced in the
world by the extraordinary causes of which we had already been
informed, and which effects subsist at this day, we should think
the reality of the original story in no little degree established
by this supplement. If subsequent inquiries should bring to
our knowledge, one after another, letters written by some of
the principal agents in the business, upon the business, and
during the time of their activity and concern in it, assuming all
along and recognizing the original story, agitating the ques-
tions that arose out of it, pressing the obligations which re-
sulted from it, giving advice and directions to those who acted
upon it ; I conceive that we should find, in every one of these,
a still further support to the conclusion we had formed. At
present the weight of this successive confirmation is, in a great
measure, unperceived by us. The evidence does not appear to
us what it is; for, being from our infancy accustomed to re-
gard the Xew Testament as one book, we see in it only one
testimony. The whole occurs to us as a single evidence ; and
its differenl parts, not as distinct attestations, but as different
portions only of the same. Yet in this conception of the sub-
ject we are certainly mistaken; for the very discrepancies

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 107

amongst the several documents which form our volume, prove,
if all other proof were wanting, that in their original composi-
tion they were separate, and most of them independent pro-
ductions.

If we dispose our ideas in a different order, the matter
stands thus : — Whilst the transaction was recent, and the
original witnesses were at hand to relate it ; and whilst the
apostles were busied in preaching and travelling, in collecting
disciples, in forming and regulating societies of converts, in
supporting themselves against opposition ; whilst they exercised
their ministry under the harassings of frequent persecution, and
in a state of almost continual alarm, it is not probable that, in
this engaged, anxious, and unsettled condition of life, they
would think immediately of writing histories for the informa-
tion of the public or of posterity. 1 But it is very probable, that
emergencies might draw from some of them occasional letters
upon the subject of their mission, to converts, or to societies of
converts, with which they were connected ; or that they might
address written discourses and exhortations to the disciples of
the institution at large, which would be received and read with
a respect proportional to the character of the writer. Accounts
in the mean time would get abroad of the extraordinary things
that had been passing, written with different degrees of infor-
mation and correctness. The extension of the christian society,
which could no longer be instructed by a personal intercourse
with the apostles, and the possible circulation of imperfect or
erroneous narratives, would soon teach some amongst them the
expediency of sending forth authentic memoirs of the life and
doctrine of their master. When accounts appeared, authorized
by the name, and credit, and situation of the writers, recom-
mended or recognized by the apostles and first preachers of
the religion, or found to coincide with what the apostles and
first preachers of the religion had taught, other accounts would
fall into disuse and neglect; whilst these, maintaining their
reputation (as, if genuine and well founded, they would do)
under the test of time, inquiry, and contradiction, might be

1 This thought occurred to Eusebius— ' Nor were the Apostles of Christ greatly
concerned about the writing of books, being engaged in a more excellent ministry,
which is above all human power.' — Eccles. Hid. 1. iii. c. 24. The same considera-
tion accounts also for the paucity of christian writings in the first century of its era.

108 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

expected to make their way into the hands of Christians of
all countries of the world.

This seems the natural progress of the business; and with
this the records in our possession, and the evidence concerning
them, correspond. We have remaining, in the tirst place, many
letters of the kind above described, which have been preserved
with a care and fidelity answering to the respect with which we
may suppose that such letters would be received. But as these
letters were not written to prove the truth of the christian
religion in the sense in which we regard that question ; nor
to convey information of facts, of which those to whom the
letters were written had been previously informed ; we are not
to look in them for any thing more than incidental allusions to
christian history. We are able, however, to gather from
these documents various particular attestations which have been
already enumerated ; and this is a species of written evidence,
as far as it goes, in the highest degree satisfactory, and in point
of time perhaps the first. But for our own circumstantial
information we have, in the next place, five direct histories,
bearing the names of persons acquainted, by their slfmrrtoTr,
with the truth of what they relate, and three of them purport-
ing, in the very body of the narrative, to be written by such
persons ; of which books we know that some were in the hands
of those who were contemporaries of the apostles, and that, in
the age immediately posterior to that, they were in the hands,
we may say. of every one, and received by Christians with so
much respect and deference, as to be constantly quoted and
referred to by them without any doubt of the truth of their
accounts. They were treated as such histories, proceeding from
such authorities, might expect to be treated. In the preface to
one of our histories we have intimations left us of the existence
of some ancient accounts which arc now lost. There is nothing
in this circumstance that can surprise us. It was to be
expected, from the magnitude and novelty of the occasion, that
such accounts would swarm. When better accounts came forth,
these died away. Our present histories superseded others.
They soon acquired a character and established a reputation
which does not appear to have belonged to any other: that, at
least, can be proved concerning them, which cannot be proved
concernin<r any other.

Chap, viii.] Our Historical Scriptures. 109

But to return to the point which led to these reflections.
By considering our records in either of the two views in which
we have represented them, we shall perceive that we possess a
collection of proofs, and not a naked or solitary testimony ;
and that the written evidence is of such a kind, and comes to
us in such a state, as the natural order and progress of things,
in the infancy of the institution, might be expected to produce.

Thirdly : The genuineness of the historical books of the
New Testament is undoubtedly a point of importance, because
the strength of their evidence is augmented by our knowledge '
of the situation of their authors, their relation to the subjeqt,
and the part which they sustained in the transaction ; and the
testimonies which we are able to produce, compose a firm
ground of persuasion that the gospels were written by the
persons whose names they bear. Nevertheless, I must be
allowed to state, that to the argument which I am endeavor-
ing to maintain, this point is not essential ; I mean so essential
that the fate of the argument depends upon it. The question
before us is, whether the gospels exhibit the story which the
apostles and first emissaries of the religion published, and for
which they acted and suffered in the manner in which, for some
miraculous story or other, they did act and suffer. Now let us
suppose that we possessed no other information concerning
these books than that they were written by early disciples of
Christianity ; that they were known and read during the time, or
near the time, of the original apostles of the religion ; that by
Christians whom the apostles instructed, by societies of Christians
which the apostles founded, these books were received (by which
term 'received,' I mean that they were believed to contain
authentic accounts of the transaction upon which the religion
rested, and accounts which were accordingly used, repeated,
and relied upon), this reception would be a valid proof that
these books, whoever were the authors of them, must have
accorded with what the apostles taught. A reception by the
first race of Christians is evidence that they agreed with what
the first teachers of the religion delivered. In particular, if
they had not agreed with what the apostles themselves preached,
how could they have gained credit in churches and societies
which the apostles established ?

Now the fact of their early existence, and not only of their

110 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

existence, but their reputation, is made out by some ancient
testimonies which do not happen to specify the names of the
writers : add to which, what hath been already hinted, that two
out of the four gospels contain averments in the body of the
history, which, though they do not disclose the names, fix the
time and situation of the authors, viz. that one was written
by an eye-witness of the sufferings of Christ, the other by a
contemporary of the apostles. In the gospel of St. John
[xix. 35], after describing the crucifixion, with the particular
circumstance of piercing Christ's side with a spear, the historian
adds, as for himself, ' and he that saw it bare record, and his
record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might
believe.' Again [xxi. 24], after relating a conversation which
passed between Peter and the disciple, as it is there expressed,
whom Jesus loved, it is added, ' this is the disciple which^tes-
tifieth of these things and wrote these things.' This testimony,
let it be remarked, is not the less worthy of regard because it
is in one view imperfect. The name is not mentioned ; which,
if a fraudulent purpose had been intended, would have been
done. The third of our present gospels purports to have been
written by the person who wrote the Acts of the Apostles ; in
which latter history, or rather latter part of the same history,
the author, by using in various places the first person plural,
declares himself to have been a contemporary of all, and a com-
panion of one of the original preachers of the religion.

ANNOTATIONS.

' The Authors of all the histories lived at the time, and on

the spot.''

Among the many points of internal evidence which go to re-
fute the hypothesis of some German Neologists — of the Gospels
being a compilation from some floating traditions of the third
or fourth century — one is, the designation of our Lord by his
name 'Jesus,' by which, of course, lie was known during his
abode on earth. Other christian writers — and even the same,
in their Epistles to Christians (and Matthew and Mark, in the

Chap, viii.] Annotations. Ill

titles prefixed to their Gospels) — naturally designate Him by
his title, as Christ. And it is inconceivable that such inarti-
ficial and unpractised writers as the Evangelists, would, if they
had lived two or three hundred years later, have avoided, in
their compilations, the mode of expression commonly in use
among them. That Contemporaries, on the other hand, should
write as the Evangelists have written, is just what was to be
expected. How natural, on the other hand, it would have been
for writers at a later period to use the word ' Christ' or ' Jesus
Christ' where the Evangelists have used ' Jesus,' is shown by
the headings of Chapters in our Authorized Yersion, where we
continually read ' Christ,' while Jesus is in the text. And this
leads many readers to overlook the circumstance just men-
tioned. Indeed the ignorant or thoughtless are apt to suppose
the divisions into Chapters to be the work of the Sacred Writers ;
and to mistake those Headings for Scripture ; or at least to for-
get that they are not so. 1

In the passages where we read, ' One is your Master, even
Christ," 1 and '"'because ye belong to Christ] there is good reason
to conclude that a gloss has crept into the text. For, it would
have been quite at variance with our Lord's practice if He had
proclaimed Himself as the Christ, instead of leaving men — as
He did — to draw that inference for themselves. 2 But as a gloss
[an explanatory note] the insertion of the words is very natural.

In the passage where we read [Matt, xi.] that ' John had
heard in the prison the works of [the] Christ,' the meaning
doubtless is that he had heard of Jesus performing such works
as had been the predicted signs of the promised Messiah or
Christ; and sent to ask for a confirmation of that evidence.
And Jesus accordingly replies by a reference to the very pro-
phecy in question [Isai. xxxv.], ' Go and tell John what things
ye have seen.'

What has been said of the word ' Christ,' holds good in re-

1 This blunder seems to have been committed in a Theological Dictionary in con-
siderable circulation ; which says, under the head of Deacon, that ' the first place
where the Deacons are so called in Scripture, is in ch. vi. of Acts,' though the
word never once occurs in the whole Book of Acts.

2 It was only to the woman of Samaria, which was not the usual scene of his
ministry, and to his Apostles in private, after Peter had of himself drawn the in-
ference, and finally when solemnly adjured by the High Priest, that he Himself
claimed t\m title.

112 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

ference to the word ' Christian,' which the Sacred Writers never
apply to those who embraced the Gospel ; though it was in use
in their time, and was generally adopted soon after, as it has
been ever since. 1 The word occurs but thrice in the New
Testament, and never, as applied by Christians to each other.
They are called ' Saints,' ' Brethren,' ' Elect,' and by other
titles which belonged to God's People of old.

The Gospels, however, doubtless were, in some degree, a
compilation from records written by several Disciples shortly
after our Lord's ascension ; some probably in Hebrew, and some,
in Greek ; each recording some transactions or discourses at
which he had been present. Sometimes we find in two of the
Evangelists passages word for word the same. In these cases
probably both had access to the same Greek Record. Some-
times we find all the details exactly the same, in matt&r, but
with a slight difference in the words. In these cases, no doubt,
they used the same Hebrew Record ; each translating it for
himself into Greek. And sometimes, again, we find a ' general'
agreement in two passages, but with a slight variation in the
details ; just as one might expect in the reports given by two
independent witnesses.

The four Gospels would naturally absorb, and soon super-
sede those smaller detached portions of history. But there is
probably one — the history of the woman taken in adultery —
thai was not originally inserted in any of them. Where it now
stands, it has the air of an interpolation; and in some MSS.
it is absent altogether; while in some it appears in Luke's
Gospel and not in John's. Probably ir was inserted in this
last, after John's time, as being a narrative admitted to be
authentic, but too short to form a distinct book.

As comjiositions, the four Gospels are, as I have above re-
marked, strikingly inartificial and unstudied. A circumstance
which many readers overlook, is, that the first three of them
give no accounl of the first opening of our Lord's ministry, —
his 'beginning of miracles;' — but speak of Him as preaching
in a tone of high authority, and being listened to, and calling
Disciples, and being followed — before any mention is made of
mighty works done by Him. But for the supply of this

1 Si't- Senium on Christian Sumts.

Cnap. viii.] Annotation*. 113

omission which John's Gospel supplies, any one of the other
histories would have appeared, at the present day, hardly
credible. For, an obscure peasant claiming to be a messenger
from Heaven, yet displaying no miraculous signs, would never
have been listened to by any one. But the Evangelists were
writing for men among whom it was, and had long been,
notorious that Jesus did display such signs. ' For these things
were not done in a corner.'

That any one should reject Christianity, and pronounce its
Founder an impostor, and the history a string of fables, this,
however irrational, is at least intelligible. But that any one
professing Christianity should speak of Jesus (which some have
done) as not Himself appealing to his miracles as evidence of
his divine mission, is something quite inexplicable.

4 These letters were not written to prove the truth of the christian

religion?

The once-notorious Tom Paine says of Paul's Epistles, that
' the author, whoever he was, attempts to prove his religion by
arguments.'

If in any other subject besides religion a man were to fall
into such absurdities, as in that subject one may often meet with,
he would be regarded as an idiot. Suppose for instance an
agricultural treatise, giving directions for the best mode of
cultivating corn and rearing cattle ; and that some reader of it
should remark, ' the author, whoever he was, attempts to prove
by arguments that corn and flesh afford nutriment, and will
command a price in the markets :' this would be a parallel to
Paine's remark.

And again, suppose some other reader of the same treatise,
should, on perceiving that there is no argument of the kind in
it, infer that the author did not know, or did not believe, that
bread is fit for food, or that corn and cattle are of any use,
this would be a parallel to what has been advanced since
Paine's time. For some writers have actually inferred from the
absence in Paul's Epistles, of reference to the miracles of Jesus,
that he either did not believe them, or else regarded them as
furnishing no evidence. A man of plain good sense, untainted
with German theories, would draw the opposite conclusion.

114 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

He would remember that these Epistles were addressed to
Christians; — to men who had embraced the Gospel, and
acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth as sent from God, on the
strength of the ' mighty works' which alone could have obtained
for Him a reception from any one. If then these Epistles had
contained assertions of those mighty works, this might have
excited a reasonable suspicion that the miraculous facts were
not fully admitted, or else that the Epistles were forgeries.
But these facts being admitted, in order for these men to have
become Christians, any allusion to them in those Epistles would
have been unnecessary and unnatural.

The Apostle does sometimes refer to his own miracles (as to
something perfectly well known) in addressing those among
whom rival teachers had crept in who sought to disparage him.
But if he had strongly and frequently dwelt on these j his
miraculous powers, this would have given some ground for sus-
pecting that they were not universally and fully admitted.

A Lecturer in the higher branches of Mathematics does not
occupy an advanced class of pupils with demonstrations of the
first Book of Euclid's Elements. And if it should thence be
inferred that he did not assent to those demonstrations, we
should think this a very strange kind of reasoning.

It has been inferred, in like manner, that Jesus Himself laid
no stress on miraculous signs, because, in his conversation with
Nicodemus, He does not dwell on them. It would have been
strange if He had ; considering that this man had just said
' We know that Thou art a teacher sent from God ; for no man
can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with
him.' If Nicixk'mus had been in any doubt, then Jesus would,
we must suppose, have said to him, as He did to some others,
'•The works thai I do in my Father's name, they bear witness
of in*'/ But Nicodemns being already convinced of his divine
mission, nci-dod only a correction of his erroneous notions con-
cerning the character of the kingdom of the Messiah ; whom he
expected (as did all the Jews) to be a great temporal prince
and conqueror, founding an empire of which the Jews by birth
were to be the subjects.

Chap, ix.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 115

CHAPTER IX.

There is satisfactory evidence that many persons, professing to
he original witnesses of the christian miracles, passed their
lives in labors, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily under-
gone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and
solely in consequence of their belief of the truth of those
accounts ; and that they also submitted, from the same
motives, to new rules of conduct.

' Of the Authenticity of the Scriptures.' 1

"ATOT forgetting, therefore, what credit is due to the evangelic
JAI history, supposing even any one of the four gospels to be
genuine ; what credit is due to the gospels, even supposing
nothing to be known concerning them but that they were
written by early disciples of the religion, and received with
deference by early christian churches ; more especially not for
getting what credit is due to the New Testament in its capacity of
cumulative evidence ; we now proceed to state the proper and dis-
tinct proofs, which show not only the general value of these records,
but their specific authority, and the high probability there is
that they actually came from the persons whose names they bear.

There are, however, a few preliminary reflections, by which
we may draw up with more regularity to the propositions upon
which the close and particular discussion of the subject depends.
Of which nature are the following :

I. We are able to produce a great number of ancient manu-
scripts, found in many different countries, and in countries
widely distant from each other, all of them anterior to the art
of printing, some certainly seven or eight hundred years old,
and some which have been preserved probably above a thousand
years. 2 We have also many ancient versions of these books,
and some of them into languages which are not at present, nor
for many ages have been, spoken in any part the world.
The existence of these manuscripts and versions proves that the

1 On this subject the reader is referred to Mr. Estcott's valuable Work on the
Canon of Scripture, containing the results of much curious research. — Ed.

2 The Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was written pro-
bably in the fourth or fifth century.

116 Evidences of Christian it y \ [Parti.

scriptures were not the production of any modern contrivance.
It does away also the uncertainty which hangs over such pub-
lications as the works, real or pretended, of Ossian and
Rowley, in which the editors are challenged to produce their
manuscripts, and to show where they obtained their copies.
The number of manuscripts, far exceeding those of any other
book, and their wide dispersion, afford an argument, in some
measure, to the senses, that the scriptures anciently, in like
manner as at this day, were more read and sought after than
any other books, and that also in many different countries.
The greatest part of spurious christian writings are utterly lost,
the rest preserved by some single manuscript. There is weight
also in Dr. Bentlev's observation, that the New Testament has
suffered less injury by the errors of transcribers than the works
of any profane author of the same size and antiquity ; tha| is,
there never was any writing in the preservation and purity of
which the world was so interested or so careful.

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
v . . . . .

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 bears no

resemblance to that of the New Testament. The Nazarenes,

who understood Hebrew, used chiefly, perhaps almost entirely,

the gospel of St. 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 be-

Chap, ix.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 117

longed to the age of the apostles ; that they could be composed
indeed in no other. 1

III. Why should we question the genuineness of these
books ? Is it for that they contain accounts of supernatural
events ? I apprehend that this, at the bottom, is the real,
though secret, cause of our hesitation about them ; for, had the
writings inscribed with the names of Matthew and John related
nothing but ordinary history, there would have been no more
doubt whether these writings were theirs, than there is concern-
ing the acknowledged works of Josephus or Philo ; that is,
there would have been do doubt at all. Now it ought to be
considered that this reason, however it may apply to the credit
which is given to a writer's judgment or veracity, affects the
question of genuineness very indirectly. The works of,
Bede exhibit many wonderful relations ; but who for that
reason doubts that they were written by Bede? The same of- /
a multitude of other authors. To which may be added, that
we ask no more for our books than what we allow to other
books in some sort similar to ours. We do not deny the
genuineness of the Koran. We admit that the history of
Apollonius Tyanseus, purporting to be written by Philostratus,
was really written by Philostratus.

IY. If it had been an easy thing in the early times of the
institution to have forged christian writings, and to have ob-
tained currency and reception to the forgeries, we should have
had many appearing in the name of Christ himself. No
writings would have been received with so much avidity an(
respect as these ; consequently none afforded so great tempta-
tion to forgery. Yet have we heard but of one attempt of this
sort deserving of the smallest notice, that in a piece of a very
few lines, and so far from succeeding, I mean, from obtaining
acceptance and reputation, or an acceptance and reputation in
any wise similar to that which can be proved to have attended
the books of the New Testament, that it is not so much as men-
tioned by any writer of the three first centuries. The learned
reader need not be informed that I mean the epistle of Christ
to Abgarus, King of Edessa, found at present in the work of

1 See this argument stated more at large in Michaelis's Introduction (Marsh's
translation), vol. i. c. 2, sect. 10, from which these observations are taken.

118 Evidences of Christianity. [Parti.

Eusebius, 1 as a piece acknowledged by him, though not without
considerable doubt whether the whole passage be not an inter-
polation, as it is most certain, that after the publication of
Eusebius's work this epistle was universally rejected. 2

V. If the ascription of the gospels to their respective
authors had been arbitrary or conjectural, they would have
been ascribed to more eminent men. This observation holds
concerning the three first gospels, the reputed authors of which
were enabled, by their situation, to obtain true intelligence, and
were likely to deliver an honest account of what they knew,
but were persons not distinguished in the history by extraor-
dinary marks of notice or commendation. Of the apostles, I
hardly know any one of whom less is said than of Matthew ;
or of whom the little that is said, is less calculated to magnify
his character. Of Mark nothing is said in the Gospels ; ajad
what is said of any person of that name in the Acts, and in
the Epistles, in no part bestows praise or eminence upon him.
The name of Luke is mentioned only in St. Paul's Epistles, 3 and
that very transiently. The judgment, therefore, which assigned
these writings to these authors proceeded, it may be presumed,
upon proper knowledge and evidence, and not upon a voluntary
choice of names.

VI. Christian writers and christian churches appear to have
soon arrived at a very general agreement upon the subject, and
that without the interposition of any public authority. When
the diversity of opinion, which prevailed, and prevails among
Christians in other points, is considered, their concurrence in
tin' canon of Scripture is remarkable, and of great weight, espe-
cially as it seems to have been the result of private and free
Inquiry. We have no knowledge of any interference of autho-
rity in the question before the council of Laodicea in the year
363. Probably the decree of this council rather declared than

- 1 Hht.Eccl. 1. i.e. 15.
'Augustin, a.d. 395, (De Comens. Evang. c. 34,) had heard that the Pagans
pretended to be possessed of an epistle from Christ to Peter and Paul ; but he had
never seen it, and appears to doubt of the existence of any such piece, either
genuine or spurious. No other ancient writer mentions it. He also, and he alone,
notices, and that in order to condemn it. an epistle ascribed to Christ by the Mani-
chees. a.i>. 270, and ashort hymn attributed to him by the Priscillianists, a n. 378,
(cont. Faust, Wan. lib, xxviii. c. 4). The lateness of the writer who notices these
things, the manner in which he notices them, and, above all, the silence of every
preceding writer, render them unworthy of consideration.

5 Col. iv. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 11. Philem. 24.

Chap, ix.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 119

regulated the public judgment, or, more properly speaking, the
judgment of some neighboring churches ; the council itself
consisting of no more than thirty or forty bishops of Lydia and
the adjoining countries. 1 Nor does its authority seem to have
extended farther ; for we find numerous christian writers, after
this time, discussing the question, ' what books were entitled to
be received as scripture,' with great freedom,upon proper grounds
of evidence, and without any reference to the decision at Laodicea.

These considerations are not to be neglected ; but of an
argument concerning the genuineness of ancient writings, the
substance undoubtedly and strength is ancjentJ^siimeejT^

This testimony it is necessary to exhibit somewhat in detail ;
for when christian advocates merely tell us, that we have the
same reason for believing the Gospels to be written by the
evangelists whose name they bear, as we have for believing the
Commentaries to be Caesar's, the jEneid Virgil's, or the
Orations Cicero's, they content themselves with an imperfect
representation. They state nothing more than what is true,
but they do not state the truth correctly. In the number,
variety, and early date of our testimonies, we far exceed all
other ancient books. For one, which the most celebrated
work of the most celebrated Greek or Roman writer can allege,
we produce many. But then it is more requisite in our
books than in theirs, to separate and distinguish them from
spurious competitors. The result, I am convinced, will be
satisfactory to every fair inquirer ; but this circumstance renders
an inquiry necessary.

In a work, however, like the present, there is a difficulty in
finding a place for evidence of this kind. To pursue the detail
of proofs throughout, would be to transcribe a great part of
Dr. Lardner's eleven octavo volumes : to leave the argument
without proofs, is to leave it without effect ; for the persuasion
produced by this species of evidence depends upon a view and
induction of the particulars which compose it.

The method which I propose to myself is, first to place
before the reader, in one view, the propositions which comprise
the several heads of our testimony, and afterwards, to repeat

1 Lardner's Cred. vol. viii. p. 291 et seq.

120 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the same propositions in so many distinct sections, with the
necessary authorities subjoined to each. 1

The following, then, are the allegations upon the subject,
which are capable of being established by proof:

I. That the historical books of the New Testament, meaning
thereby the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are
quoted or alluded to by a series of christian writers, beginning
with those who were contemporary with the Apostles, or who
immediately followed them, and proceeding in close and regular
succession from their time to the present.

II. That when they are quoted, or alluded to, they are
quoted or alluded to with peculiar respect, as books mi generis y as
possessing an authority which belonged to no other books, and as
conclusive in all questions and controversies amongst Christians.

III. That they were, in very early times, collected into^a
distinct volume.

IV. That they were distinguished by appropriate names and
titles of respect.

V. That they were publicly read and expounded in the
religious assemblies of the early Christians.

YI. That commentaries were written upon them, harmonies
formed out of them, different copies carefully collated, and
versions of them made into different languages.

VII. That they were received by Christians of different sects,
by many heretics as well as catholics, and usually appealed to
by both sides in the controversies which arose in those days.

VIII. That the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thir-
teen Epistles of St. Paul, the First Epistle of John. and the first of
Peter, were received without doubt, by those who doubted con-
cerning t he other books which are included in our present canon.

IX. That the Gospels were attacked by the early adver-
saries of Christianity, as books containing the accounts upon
which the religion was founded.

X. That formal catalogues of authentic scriptures were pub-
lished; in all which our present sacred histories were included.

XI. That these propositions cannot be affirmed of any other
books claiming to be hooks of scripture; by which are meant

those 1 ks which are commonly called apocryphal books of

the New Testament.

1 The reader, when he lias the propositions before him, will observe that the
in nt. if he should omit the sections, proceeds connectedly from tliis point.

Ch. ix. § i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 121

Section I.

The historical boohs of the New Testament, meaning thereby
the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are quoted,
or alluded to, by a series of christian writers, beginning with
those who were contemporary with the apostles, or who imme-
diately followed them, and proceeding in close and regular
succession from their time to the pre sent.

The medium of proof stated in this proposition is, of all
others, the most unquestionable, the least liable to any
practices of fraud, and is not diminished by the lapse of ages.
Bishop Burnet, in the History of his own Times, inserts various
extracts from Lord Clarendon's History. One such insertion
is a proof that Lord Clarendon's History was extant at the
time when Bishop Burnet wrote, that it had been read by
Bishop Burnet, that it was received by Bishop Burnet as a
work of Lord Clarendon's, and also regarded by him as an
authentic account of the transactions which it relates ; and it
will be a proof of these points a thousand years hence, or as
long as the books exist. Quintilian having quoted as Cicero's, 1
that well-known trait of dissembled vanity,

' Si quid est in me ingenii, Judices, quod sentio quain sit exiguum' —

the quotation would be strong evidence, were there any doubt,
that the oration, which opens with this address, actually came
from Cicero's pen. These instances, however simple, may
serve to point out to a reader, who is little accustomed to such
researches, the nature and value of the argument.

The testimonies which we have to bring forward under this
proposition are the following :

I. There is extant an epistle ascribed to Barnabas, 2 the
companion of Paul. It is quoted as the epistle of Barnabas by
Clement of Alexandria, a.d. 191 ; by Origin, a.d. 230. It is
mentioned by Eusebius, a.d. 315 ; and by Jerome, a.d. 392, as

1 Quint, lib. xi. c. i.
* Lardnev's Cred. ed. 1755, vol. i. p. 23 et seq. The reader will observe from
the references, that the materials of these sections are almost entirely extracted
from Dr. Lardner's work — mv office consisted in arrangement and selection.

122 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

an ancient work in their time, bearing the name of Barnabas,
and as well known and read amongst Christians, though not
accounted a part of Scripture. It purports to have been
written soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, during the
calamities which followed that disaster ; and it bears the
character of the age to which it professes to belong.

In this epistle appears the following remarkable passage : —
' Let us, therefore, beware lest it come upon us, as it is written,
There are many called, few chosen.' From the expression,
' as it is written,' we infer, with certainty, that, at the time
when the author of this epistle lived, there was a book extant,
well known to Christians, and of authority amongst them, con-
taining these words — ' Many are called, few chosen.' Such a
book is our present Gospel of St. Matthew, in which this text
is twice found, 1 and is found in no other book now known.
There is a further observation to be made upon the terms of
the quotation. The writer of the epistle was a Jew. The
phrase ' it is written' was the very form in which the Jews quoted
their Scriptures. It is not probable, therefore, that he would
have used this phrase, and without qualification, of any books
but what had acquired a kind of scriptural authority. If the
passage remarked in this ancient writing had been found in one
of St. Paul's epistles, it w r ould have been esteemed by every
one a high testimony to St. Matthew's gospel. It ought,
therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it i* found
was probably by very few years posterior to those of St. Paul.

Besides this passage, there are also in the epistle before us
several others, in which the sentiment is the same with what
we meet with in St. Matthew's gospel, and two or three in
which we recognize the same words. In particular, the author
of the epistle repeats the precept, ' Give to every one that
asketh thee;' 2 and saith that Christ chose as his apostles, who
were to preach the gospel, men who were great sinners, that he
might show that he came ' not to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance.' 3

II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement,
Bishop of Rome,* whom ancient writers, without any doubt or

1 Matt, xx. 10, xxii. 14. 2 Ibid. v. 42. 3 Ibid. ix. 13.

1-anlncr's ('ml. vol. i. p. ti'2 et seq.

Cli. ix. §i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 123

scruple, assert to have been the Clement whom St. Paul
mentions, Phil. iv. 3, ' with Clement also, and other my fellow
laborers, whose names are in the book of life.' This epistle is
spoken of by the ancients as an epistle acknowledged by all ;
and, as Irenserus well represents its value, ' written by Clement,
who had seen the blessed apostles and conversed with them, who
had the preaching of the apostles still sounding in his ears, and
their traditions before his eyes.' It is addressed to the church
of Corinth ; and what alone may seem almost decisive of its
authenticity, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, about the year 170,
[i. e. about eighty or ninety years after the epistle was written,]
bears witness, ' that it had been wont to be read in that church
from ancient times.'

This epistle affords, amongst others, the following valuable
passages : ' Especially remembering the words of the Lord
Jesus which he spake, teaching gentleness and long-suffering;
for thus he said i 1 Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ;
forgive, that it may be forgiven unto you ; as you do, so shall
it be done unto you ; as you give, so shall it be given unto you ;
as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye show kindness, so
shall kindness be shown unto you ; with what measure ye mete,
with the same it shall be measured to you. By this command,
and by these rules, let us establish ourselves, that we may
always walk obediently to his holy words.'

Again : Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for he
said, ' AVoe to that man by whom offences come ; it were better
for him that he had not been born, than that he should offend
one of my elect ; it were better for him that a millstone should
be tied about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the
sea, than that he should offend one of my little ones.' 2

In both these passages we perceive the high respect paid to

1 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' — Matt. v. 7. 'For
give, and ye shall be forgiven ; give, and it shall be given unto you.' — Luke vi.
37, 38. ' Judge not, that ye be not judged ; for with what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again.' — Matt. vii. 2.

2 Matt, xviii. 6 : ' But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe
in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and
that he were cast into the sea.' The latter part of the passage in Clement agrees
more exactly with Luke xvii. 2. ' It were better for him that a millstone were
handed about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one
of these little ones.'

124 Er'nh no* of Christianity. [Part 1.

the words of Christ as recorded by the evangelists: ' Remember
the words of the Lord Jesus — by this command and by these
rules let ns establish ourselves, that we may always walk obe-
diently to his holy words.' We perceive also in Clement a
total unconsciousness of doubt, whether these were the real
words of Christ, which are read as such in the gospels. This
observation indeed belongs to the whole series of testimony, and
especially to the most ancient part of it. Whenever any thing
now read in the gospels, is met with in an early Christian
writing, it is always observed to stand there as acknowledged
truth, i. e. to be introduced without hesitation, doubt, or apology.
It is to be observed also, that as this epistle was written in the
name of the church of Rome, and addressed to the church of
Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhibiting the judgment not
only of Clement, who drew up the letter, but of these churches
themselves, at least as to the authority of the books referred t5.
It may be said, that, as Clement hath not used words of
quotation, it is not certain that he refers to any book whatever.
The words of Christ, which he has put down, he might himself
have heard from the apostles, or might have received through
the ordinary medium of oral tradition. This hath been said ;
but that no such inference can be drawn from the absence
of words of quotation is proved by the three following con-
3i derations : First, that Clement, in the very same manner,
namely, without any mark of references, uses a passage now
found in the epistle to the Romans; 1 which passage, from the
peculiarity of the words which compose it, and from their
order, it is manifest that lie must have taken from the book.
The same remark may be repeated of some very singular senti-
ments in the epistle to the Hebrews. Secondly, that there are
many sentences of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians
standing in Clement's epistle without any sign of quotation,
which yet certainly are quotations; because it appears that
('lenient had St. Paul's epistle before him, inasmuch as in one
place he mentions it in terms too express to leave us in any
doubt — 'Take into your hands the epistle of the blessed
apostle Paul.' Thirdly, that this method of adopting words
of Scripture, without reference or acknowledgment, was, as

1 Rom. i. '29.

Ch. ix. § i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 125

will appear in the sequel, a method in general use amongst
the most ancient Christian writers. These analogies not only
repel the objection, but cast the presumption on the other side;
and afford a considerable degree of positive proof, that the
words in question have been borrowed from the places of Scrip-
ture in which we now find them.

But take it if you will the other way, that Clement had
heard these words from the apostles or first teachers of Chris-
tianity; with respect to the precise point of our argument, viz.
that the scriptures contain what the apostles taught, this sup-
position may serve almost as well.

III. Near the conclusion of the epistle to the Romans, St.
Paul, amongst others, sends the following salutation: 'Salute
Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hennas, Patrobus, Hermes, and the
brethren which are with them.'

Of Hennas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Chris-
tians as contemporary with St. Paul, a book bearing the name,
and it is most probable rightly, is still remaining. It is called
the Shepherd or Pastor of Hennas. 1 Its antiquity is incon-
testable, from the quotations of it in Irenseus, a.d. 178, Clement
of Alexandria, a.d. 194, Tertullian, a.d. 200, Origen, a.d. 230.
The notes of time extant in the epistle itself agree with its
title, and with the testimonies concerning it, for it purports to
have been written during the lifetime of Clement.

In this piece are tacit allusions to St. Matthew's, St. Luke's,
and St. John's gospels ; that is to say, there are applications
of thoughts and expressions found in these gospels, without
citing the place or writer from which they were taken. In
this form appear in Hernias the confessing and denying of
Christ; 2 the parable of the seed sown; 3 the comparison of
Christ's disciples to little children ; the saying, ' he that
putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adul-
tery;' 4 the singular expression, 'having received all power
from his father,' in probable allusion to Matt, xxviii. 18, and
Christ being the ' gate,' or only way of coming ' to God,' in
plain allusion to John xiv. 6 — x. 7, 9. There is also a pro-
bable allusion to Acts v. 32.

1 Lardner's Ored. vol. i. p. 111.
a Matt. x. 32, 33 ; or Luke xii. 8, 9. 3 Matt. xiii. 3 ; or Luke viii. 5.

* Luke xvi. 18.

126 Evidences of Christianity. [Parti.

Tliis piece is the representation of a vision, and has by many
been accounted a weak and fanciful performance. I therefore
observe, that the character of the writing has little to do
with the purpose for which we adduce it. It is the age in
which it was composed that gives the value to its testimony.

IY. Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient christian writers,
became Bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven years after
Christ's ascension ; and therefore from his time, and place,
and station, it is probable that he had known and conversed
with many of the apostles. Epistles of Ignatius are referred
to by Polycarp, his contemporary. Passages found in the
epistles now extant under his name are quoted by Irenseus,
a.d. 178, by Origen, a.d. 230 ; and the occasion of writing the
epistles is given at large by Eusebius and Jerome. What are
called the smaller epistles of Ignatius are generally deemed, to
be those which were read by Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius. 1

In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the
gospels of St. Matthew and St. John ; yet so far of the same
form with those in the preceding articles, that, like them, they
are not accompanied with marks of quotation.

Of these allusions the following are clear specimens :

' Christ was baptized of John, that all righteous-
ness might be fulfilled by him.''

'-Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harm.-
less as a dove?

' Yet the spirit is not deceived, being from God;

for it knows ivhence it comes and whither it goes?

'lie (Christ) is the door of the Father, by

which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,

and the Apostles, and the Church.'

As to the manner of quotation this is observable : — Ignatius,

in one place, speaks of St. Paul in terms of high respect, and

quotes his epistle to the Ephesians by name; yet in several

MatO

John.

1 Lardner's Cred. vol. i. p. 147.

9 Ch. iiL 15. 'For thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness.' xi. 16. 'Be
ye therefore wise as Berpents, and harmless as doves.'

3 Ch. iii. 8. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cornel h, and whither it goeth; so isevery one that
is born of the spirit.' x. 9. 'I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he
shall 1»" saved.'

Oh. ix. § i.J Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 127

other places he borrows words and sentiments from the same
epistle without mentioning it : which shows, that this was his
general manner of using and applying writings then extant,
and then of high authority.

Y. Polycarp 1 had been taught by the apostles ; had conversed
with many who had seen Christ ; was also by the apostles
appointed Bishop of Smyrna. This testimony concerning
Polycarp is given by Irenseus, who in his youth had seen him.
'I can tell the place,' saitli Irenseus, 'in which the blessed
Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and coming in, and
the manner of his life, and the form of his person, and the dis-
courses he made to the people, and how he related his conver-
sation with John and others who had seen the Lord, and how
he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the
Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine, as he had
received them from the eye-witnesses of the word of life : all
which Polycarp related agreeable to the scriptures.'

Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country and
persons of the apostles is thus attested, we have one undoubted
epistle remaining. And this, though a short letter, contains
nearly forty clear allusions to books of the New Testament ;
which is strong evidence of the respect which Christians of that
age bore for these books.

Amongst these, although the writings of St. Paul are more
frequently used by Polycarp than other parts of scripture, there
are copious allusions to the gospel of St. Matthew, some to
passages found in the gospels both of Matthew and Luke, and
some which more nearly resemble the words in Luke.

I select the following, as fixing the authority of the Lord's
prayer, and the use of it amongst the primitive Christians. 'If
therefore we pray the Lord that he will forgive U8, we ought
also to forgive.''

' With supplication, beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead
us into temptation?

And the following, for the sake of repeating an observation
already made, that words of our Lord, found in our gospels,
were at this early day quoted as spoken by him ; and not only
so, but quoted with so little question or consciousness of donbt,

i Laiiliiei's Oral. vol. i. p. 192.

128 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

about their being really bis words, as not even to mention,
much less to canvass, the authority from which they were
taken.

' But remembering what the Lord said, teaching, Judge not,
that ye be not judged ; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven ; be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ; with what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again.' 1

Supposing Polycarp to have had these words from the books
in which we now find them, it is manifest that these books were
considered by him, and, as he thought, considered by his
readers, as authentic accounts of Christ's discourses ; and that
that point was incontestable.

The following is a decisive, though what we call a tacit,
reference to St. Peter's speech in the Acts of the Apostles :- —
' whom God hath raised, having loosed the pain^ of death.' 2 '

YI. Papias, 3 a hearer of John, and companion of Polycarp,
as Irenseus attests, and of that age as all agree, in a passage
quoted by Eusebius, from a work now lost, expressly ascribes
the respective gospels to Matthew and Mark ; and in a manner
which proves, that these gospels must have publicly borne the
names of these authors at that time, and probably long before :
for Papias does not say, that one gospel was written by Mat-
thew, and another by Mark ; but, assuming this as perfectly
well known, he tells us from what materials Mark collected his
account, viz., from Peter's preaching, ?,nd in what language
Matthew wrote, viz., in Hebrew. Whether Papias was well
informed in this statement or not ; to the point fur which I
produce this testimony, namely, that these books bore these
names at this time, his authority is complete.

The writers hitherto alleged, had all lived and conversed
with some of the apostles. The works <>f theirs which remain
:ni' in general very short pieces, yet rendered extremely valuable
by their antiquity; and none, short as they are, but what
contain some important testimony to our historical scriptures. 4

1 Mutt. vii. 1,2; v. 7. Luke vi. 37, 38. « Acts ii. 24.

3 Lindner's Cred. vol. i. p. 2:39.
• That the quotations are more thinly strown in these, than in the writings of
the nrxt and of succeeding ages, is. in a good measure, accounted for by the ob-
servation, tbat the Scriptures of the New Testament had not yet, nor by their
recency hardly could have, become a general part of christian education ; read, as

Chap. ix. §i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 129

VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more than
twenty years after the last, follows Justin Martyr. 1 His re-
maining works are much larger than any that have yet been
noticed. Although the nature of his two principal writings, one
of which was addressed to heathens, and the other was a con-
ference with a Jew, did not lead him to such frequent appeals
to christian books, as would have appeared in a discourse in-
tended for christian readers ; we nevertheless reckon up in
them between twenty and thirty quotations of the Gospels and
Acts of the Apostles, certain, distinct, and copious : if each
verse be counted separately, a much greater number ; if each
expression, a very great one. 2

We meet with quotations of three of the gospels within
the compass of half a page : ' And in other words he says,
Depart from me into outer darkness, which the Father hath
prepared for Satan and his angels,' (which is from Mat-
thew xxv. 41). ' And again he said in other words, I give
unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and
venomous beasts, and upon all the power of the enemy.' (This
from Luke x. 19.) ' And before he was crucified, he said,
The son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of
the Scribes and Pharisees, and be crucified, and rise again the
third day.' (This from Mark viii. 31.)

In another place Justin quotes a passage in the history of
Christ's birth, as delivered by Matthew and John, and fortifies
his quotation by this remarkable testimony: 'as they have
taught, who have writ the history of all things concerning our
Saviour Jesus Christ ; and we believe them.'

Quotations also are found from the Gospel of St. John.

What, moreover, seems extremely material to be observed,
is, that in all Justin's works, from which might be extracted

the Old Testament was, by Jews and Christians from their childhood, and thereby
intimately mixing, as that had long done, with all their religions ideas, and with
their language upon religions subjects. In process of time, and as soon perhaps
as could be expected, this came to be the case. And then we perceive the effect,
in a proportionably greater frequency, as well as copiousness of allusion.*

1 Lardner's Cred. vol. i. p. 258.

2 ' He cites our present canon, and particnlarly our four Gospels continually, I
dare say, above two hundred times.' — Jones's New and Full Method, App. vol. i.
p. 589, ed. 1726.

e Mich, Intr. c. ii. sect. vi.
9

130 Evidences of Christianity. [Part 1.

almost a complete life of Christ, there are but two instances, in
which he refers to any thing as said or done bv Christ, which
is not related concerning him in our present gospels : which
shows, that these gospels, and these, we may say, alone, were
the authorities from which the Christians of that day drew the
information upon which they depended. One of these in-
stances is of a saying of Christ not met with in any book now
extant. 1 The other, of a circumstance in Christ's baptism,
namely, a fiery or luminous appearance upon the water, which,
according to Epiphanius, is noticed in the Gospel of the He-
brews : and which might be true ; but which, whether true or
false, is mentioned by Justin, with a plain mark of diminution,
when compared with what he quotes as resting upon scripture
authority. The reader will advert to this distinction; 'and
then, when Jesns came to the river Jordan, where Johmwas
baptizing, as Jesus descended into the water, a fire also was
kindled in Jordan ; and when he came up out of the water,
the apostles of this oar Christ ha/ve written that the Holy Ghost
lighted upon him as a dove.'

All the references in Justin are made without mentioning
the author ; which proves that these books were perfectly no-
torious, and that there were no other accounts of Christ then
extant, or, at least, no others so received and credited as to
make it necessary to distinguish these from the rest.

But although Justin mentions not the authors' names, he
calls the books, Memoirs composed by the Apostles. Memoirs
composedly the Apostles and their Companions ; which descrip-
tions, the latter especially, exactly suit with the titles which
the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles now bear.

1 'Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ lias said. Tu whatsoever I shall find
you. in the same I will also judge you.' Possibly Justin designed not to quote
any text, hut to represent the sense of many of our Lord's sayings. Fabricius has
observed, that this Baying lias been quoted by many writers, and that Justin is the
only one who ascribes it to our Lord, and that perhaps by a slip of his memory.

Words resembling these are read repeatedly in Ezekiel, ' I will judge them ac-
cording to their ways' (vii. '■">. xxxiii. 20). It is remarkable that Justin had but
JU81 before expressly quoted Ezekiel. Mr. Jones upon this circumstance founded
a conjecture, that Justin wrote only 'tin' Lord hath said,' intending to quote
the words of God, or rather the sense of those words, in Ezekiel ; and that some
transcriber, imagining these to he the words of Christ, inserted in his copy the
addition 'Jesus Christ.' — Vol. i. p. 539.

Chap. ix. §i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 131

VIII. Hegesippus 1 came about thirty years after Justin.
His testimony is remarkable only for this particular ; that he
relates of himself, that, travelling from Palestine to Rome, he
visited upon his journey many bishops ; and that, ' in every
succession, and in every city, the same doctrine is taught, which
the Law, and the Prophets, and the Lord teacheth.' This is an
important attestation, from good authority, and of high
antiquity. It is generally understood that by the word ' Lord,'
Hegesippus intended some writing or writings, containing the
teaching of Christ, in which sense alone the term combines with
the other terms ' Law and Prophets,' which denote writings ;
and together with them admits of the verb ' preacheth,' in the
present tense. Then, that these writings were some or all of
the books of the New Testament, is rendered probable from
hence, that in the fragments of his works, which are preserved
in Eusebius, and in a writer of the ninth century, enough,
though it be little, is left to show, that Hegesippus expressed
divers things in the style of the Gospels, and of the Acts of the
Apostles ; that he referred to the history in the second chapter
of Matthew, and recited a text of that Gospel as spoken by our
Lord.

IX. At this time, viz., about the year 170, the churches of
Lyons and Yienne in France sent a relation of the sufferings of
their martyrs to the churches of Asia and Phrygia. 2 The
epistle is preserved entire by Eusebius. And what carries in
some measure the testimony of these churches to a higher age
is, that they had now for their bishop Pothinus, who was ninety
years old, and whose early life consequently must have imme-
diately joined on with the times of the apostles. In this
epistle are exact references to the Gospels of Luke and John,
and to the Acts of the Apostles. The form of reference is the
same as in all the preceding articles. That from St. John is
in these words : ' Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by
the Lord, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth
God service.' 3

X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. Irenseus 4
succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he had

1 Lardner's Cred. vol. i. p. 314.
a Lardner's Cred. vol. i. p. 332. 3 John xvi. 2. * Lard. vol. i. p. 344.

132 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. In the
time in which he lived, he was distant not much more than a
century from the publication of the Gospels : in his instruction,
only by one step separated from the persons of the Apostles,
lie asserts of himself and his contemporaries, that they were
able to reckon up, in all the principal churches, the succession
of bishops from the first. 1 I remark these particulars concerning
Irena?us with more formality than usual ; because the testimony
which this writer affords to the historical books of the New
Testament, to their authority, and to the titles which they bear,
is express, positive, and exclusive. One principal passage, in
which this testimony is contained, opens with a precise assertion
of the point which we have laid down as the foundation of our
argument, viz., that the story which the Gospels exhibit is the
story which the Apostles told. ' "We have not received,' saith
Irenaeus, ' the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any
others than those by whom the gospel has been brought to us.
Which gospel they first preached, and afterwards, by the will of
God, committed to writing, that it might be for time to come
the foundation and pillar of our faith. — For after that our Lord
rose from the dead, and they (the apostles) were endowed from
above with the power of the Holy Ghost coming down upon
them, they received a perfect knowledge of all things. They
then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men
the blessings of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one
alike, the gospel of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, writ
a gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were
preaching the gospel at Rome, and founding a church there.
And after their exit, Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of
Peter, delivered to us in writing the things that had been
preached by Peter. And Luke, the companion of Paul, put
do wo in a book the gospel preached by him (Paul). After-
wards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned upon his
breast, he likewise published a gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus
in Asia.' It* any modern divine should write a book upon the
genuineness of the Gospels, he could not assert it more ex-
pressly, or state their original more distinctly, than Irenaeus

1 Adv. Hceres., 1. iii. c. 3.

Ch. ix. § i.] A uthentidty of the Historical Scriptures. 133

hath done within little more than a hundred years after they
were published.

The correspondency, in the days of Irenaeus, of the oral and
written tradition, and the deduction of the oral tradition through
various channels from the age of the apostles, which was then
lately past, and, by consequence, the probability that the
books truly delivered what the apostles taught, is inferred also
with strict regularity from another passage of his works. ' The
tradition of the Apostles [this Father saith] hath spread itself
over the whole universe ; and all they, who search after the
sources of truth, will find this tradition to be held sacred in
every church. We might enumerate all those who have been
appointed bishops to these churches by the apostles, and all
their successors, up to our days. It is by this uninterrupted
succession that we have received the tradition which actually
exists in the church, as also the doctrines of truth, as it was
preached by the apostles.' 1 The reader will observe upon this,
that the same Irenseus, who is now stating the strength and
uniformity of the tradition, we have before seen recognizing, in
the fullest manner, the authority of the written records ; from
which we are entitled to conclude, that they were then con-
formable to each other.

I have said, that the testimony of Irenseus in favor of our
gospels is exclusive of all others. I allude to a remarkable
passage in his works, in which, for some reasons sufficiently
fanciful, he endeavors to show, that there could be neither
more nor fewer gospels than four. With his argument we have
no concern. The position itself proves that four, and only four,
gospels were at that time publicly read and acknowledged.
That these were our gospels, and in the state in which we now
have them, is shown from many other places of this writer be-
side that which we have already alleged. He mentions how
Matthew begins his gospel, how Mark begins and ends his, and
their supposed reasons for so doing. He enumerates at length
the several passages of Christ's history in Luke, which are not
found in any of the other evangelists. He states the particular
design with which St. John composed his gospel, and accounts
for the doctrinal declarations which precede the narrative.

1 Ir. in Hcer. 1. iii. c. 3.

1 34 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

To the book of the Acts of the Apostles, its author and
credit, the testimony of Irenaeus is no less explicit. Referring
to the account of St. Paul's conversion and vocation, in the
ninth chapter of that book, ' Nor can they [says he, meaning the
parties with whom he argues] show that he is not to be credited,
wlio has related to us the truth with the greatest exactness.'
In another place, he has actually collected the several texts, in
which the writer of the history is represented as accompanying
St. Paul, which leads him to deliver a summary of almost the
whole of the last twelve chapters of the book.

In an author, thus abounding with references and allusions
to the Scriptures, there is not one to any apocryphal christian
writing whatever. This is a broad line of distinction between
our sacred books and the pretensions of all others.

The force of the testimony of the period which we h^ve
considered, is greatly strengthened by the observation, that it
is the testimony, and the concurring testimony, of writers who
lived in countries remote from one another. Clement flourished
at Rome, Ignatius at Antioch, Polycarp at Smyrna, Justin
Martyr in Syria, and Irenaeus in France.

XL Omitting Athenagoras and Theophilus, who lived about
this time ;' in the remaining works of the former of whom are
clear references to Mark and Luke ; and in the works of the latter,
who was bishop of Antioch, the sixth in succession from the
apostles, evident allusions to Matthew and John, and probable
allusions to Luke (which, considering the nature of the compo-
sitions, that they were addressed to heathen readers, is as much
as could be expected) ; observing also, that the works of two
learned christian writers of the same age, Militiades and Pan-
tsenus, 2 are now lost ; of which Miltiadea Eusebius records, that
his writings ' were monuments of zeal for the divine oracles ;'
and which Pantamus, as Jerome testifies, was a man of pru-
dence and learning, both in the divine scriptures and secular
literature, and had left many commentaries upon the holy
scriptures then extant : passing by these without further
remark, we come to one of the most voluminous of ancient
christian writers, Clement of Alexandria. 3 Clement followed

' Lard. vol. i. pp. 400. 422. 2 Ibid. vol. i. pp. 418, 450.

3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 469

Oh. ix. § i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 135

Irenaeus at the distance of only sixteen years, and therefore
may be said to maintain the series of testimony in an uninter-
rupted continuation.

In certain of Clement's works, now lost, but of which various
parts are recited by Eusebius, there is given a distinct account
of the order in which the four gospels were written. The
gospels which contain the genealogies, were (he says) written
first, Mark's next, at the instance of Peter's followers, and
John's the last; and this account he tells us that he had
received from Presbyters of more ancient times. This testi-
mony proves the following points : that these gospels were the
histories of Christ then publicly received, and relied upon ; that
the dates, occasions, and circumstances of their publication were
at that time subjects of attention and inquiry among Christians.
In the works of Clement which remain, the four gospels are
repeatedly quoted by the names of their authors, and the Acts
of the Apostles is expressly ascribed to Luke. In one place,
after mentioning a particular circumstance, he adds these
remarkable words : ' We have not this passage in the four
gospels delivered to us, but in that according to the Egyptians ;'
which puts a marked distinction between the four gospels and
all other histories, or pretended histories, of Christ. In another
part of his works, the perfect confidence, with which he
received the gospels, is signified by him in these words : ' That
this is true, appears from hence, that it is written in the Gospel
according to St. Luke ;' and again, ' I need not use many
words, but only to allege the evangelic voice of the Lord.'
His quotations are numerous. The sayings of Christ, of which
he alleges many, are all taken from our gospels, the single
exception to this observation appearing to be a loose 1 quotation
of a passage in St. Matthew's gospel.

XII. In the age in which they lived, 2 Tertullian joins on
with Clement. The number of the gospels then received, the

1 ' Ask great things, and the small shall be added unto you.' Clement rather
chose to expound the words of Matthew (vi. 33) than literally to cite them ; and
this is most undeniably proved by another place in the same Clement, where he
both produces the text and these words as an exposition: — 'Seek ye first the
kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, for these are the great things ; but the
small things, and things relating to this life, shall be added unto you.' — Jones's
New and Full Method, vol. i. p. 553.

3 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 561.

136 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

names of the evangelists, and their proper descriptions, are
exhibited by this writer in one short sentence : — ' Among the
apostles, John and Matthew teach ns the faith ; among apos-
tolical men, Luke and Mark refresh it.' The next passage to
be taken from Tertullian, affords as complete an attestation to
the authenticity of our books, as can be well imagined. After
enumerating the churches which had been founded by Paul, at
Corinth in Galatia, at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ephesus ;
the church of Rome established by Peter and Paul ; and other
churches derived from John ; he proceeds thus : — ' I say then,
that with them, but not with them only which are apostolical,
but with all who have fellowship with them in the same faith,
is that gospel of Luke received from its first publication, which
we so zealously maintain ;' and presently afterwards adds — ' The
same authority of the apostolical churches will support the
other gospels, which we have from them and according to them,
I mean John's and Matthew's, although that likewise, which
Mark published, may be said to be Peter's, whose interpreter
Mark was.' In another place Tertullian affirms, that the three
other gospels were in the hands of the churches from, the
beginning, as well as Luke's. This noble testimony fixes the
universality with which the gospels were received, and their
antiquity ; that they were in the hands of all, and had been so
from the first. And this evidence appears not more than one
hundred and fifty years after the publication of the books.
The reader must be given to understand that, when Tertullian
speaks of maintaining or defending (tuendi) the Gospel of St.
Luke, he only means maintaining or defending the integrity of
the copies of Luke received by christian churches, in opposi-
tion to certain curtailed copies used by Marcion, against whom
he writes.

This author frequently cites the Acts of the Apostles under
that title, once calls it Luke's commentary, and observes how
St. Paul's epistles confirm it.

After this general evidence, it is unnecessary to add par-
ticular quotations. These, however, are so numerous and
ample, as to have led Dr. Lardner to observe, 'that there are
more and larger quotations of the small volume of the New
Testament in this one christian author, than there are of all

Chap. ix. §i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 137

the works of Cicero in writers of all characters for several
ages.' 1

Tertullian quotes no christian writing as of equal authority
with the Scriptures, and no spurious book at all ; a broad line
of distinction, we may once more observe, between our sacred
books and all others.

We may again likewise remark the wide extent through
which the reputation of the Gospels, and of the Acts of the
Apostles, had spread, and the perfect consent in this point of
distant and independent societies. It is now only about one
hundred and fifty years since Christ was crucified ; and within
this period, to say nothing of the apostolical Fathers who have
been noticed already, we have Justin Martyr at Neapolis,
Theophilus at Antioch, Irenajus in France, Clement at Alex-
andria, Turtullian at Carthage, quoting the same books of his-
torical Scriptures, and, I may say, quoting these alone.

XIII. An interval of only thirty years, and that occupied by
no small number of Christian writers, 2 whose works only re-
main in fragments and quotations, and in every one of which is
some reference or other to the gospels (and in one of them —
Hippolytus, as preserved in Theodoret — is an abstract of the
whole gospel history), brings us to a name of great celebrity in
christian antiquity, Origen 3 of Alexandria, who, in the quan-
tity of his writings, exceeded the most laborious of the Greek
and Latin authors. Nothing can be more peremptory upon
the subject now under consideration, and, from a writer of his
learning and information, more satisfactory, than the declara-
tion of Origen, preserved, in an extract from his works, by
Eusebius : ' That the four gospels alone are received without
dispute by the whole church of God under heaven ;' to which
declaration is immediately subjoined a brief history of the
respective authors, to whom they were then, as they are now,
ascribed. The language holden concerning the gospels through-
out the works of Origen which remain, entirely corresponds
with the testimony here cited. His attestation to the Acts of

1 Lard. vol. ii. p. 647.
3 Minucius Felix, Apollonius. Cains, Asterius, Urbanus, Alexander bishop of
Jerusalem, Hippolytus, Ammonius, Julius Africanus.

3 Lard. vol. iii. p. 234.

138 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the Apostles is no less positive : ' And Luke also once more
sounds the trumpet, relating the acts of the Apostles.' The
universality with which the scriptures were then read, is well
signified by this writer, in a passage in which he has occasion
to observe against Celsus, 'That it is not in any private books,
or such as are read by a few only, and those studious persons,
but in books read by everybody, that it is written, the invi-
sible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by things that are made.' It is to no
purpose to single out quotations of scripture from such a writer
as this. We might as well make a selection of the quotations
of scripture in Dr. Clarke's sermons. They are so thickly
sown in the works of Origen, that Dr. Mill says, ' If we had
all his works remaining, we should have before us almost the
whole text of the Bible.' 1

Origen notices, in order to censure, certain apocryphal gos-
pels. He also uses four writings of this sort ; that is, through-
out his large works he once or twice, at the most, quotes each
of the four ; but always with some mark, either of direct repro-
bation, or of caution to his readers, manifestly esteeming them
of little or no authority. ».

XIV. Gregory, bishop of Neocesarea, and Dionysius of
Alexandria, were scholars of Origen. Their testimony, there-
fore, though full and particular, may be reckoned a repetition
only of his. The series, however, of evidence, is continued by
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who flourished within twenty
years after Origen. ' The church [says this Father] is watered
like Paradise, by four rivers, that is, by four gospels.' The
Acts of the Apostles is also frequently quoted by Cyprian under
that name, and under the name of the ' Divine Scriptures/
In his various writings are such constant and copious citations
of scripture, as to place this part of the testimony beyond con-
troversy. Nor is there, in the works of this eminent African
bishop, one quotation of a spurious or apocryphal Christian
writing.

XV. Passing over a crowd 2 of writers following Cyprian, at

1 Mill, Proleg. cap. vi. p. 66.
a Novatus, Rome, a. d. 251. Dionysius, Rome. a. d. 259. Commodian, a. d.
270. Anatulius. Liuxlicea, a. d. 270. Theognostus, a. d. 282. Methodius,
Lycia, a. i). 290. I'hileas, Egypt, a. d. 296.

Ch. ix. § i.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 139

different distances, but all within forty years of his time ; and
who all, in the imperfect remains of their works, either cite
the historical scriptures of the New Testament, or speak of
them in terms of profound respect; I single out Victorin,
bishop of Pettaw in Germany, merely on account of the remote-
ness of his situation from that of Origen and Cyprian, who
were Africans : by which circumstance, his testimony taken in
conjunction with theirs, proves that the scripture histories, and
the same histories, were known and received from one side of
the christian world to the other. This bishop 1 lived about
the year 290 ; and in a commentary upon this text of the
Revelations, ' The first was like a lion, the second was like a
calf, the third like a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle,'
he makes out that by the four creatures are intended the four
Gospels ; and, to show the propriety of the symbols, he recites
the subject with which each evangelist opens his history. The
explication is fanciful, but the testimony positive. He also
expressly cites the Acts of the Apostles.

XYI. Arnobius and Lactantius, 2 about the year 300, com-
posed formal arguments upon the credibility of the christian
religion. As these arguments were addressed to Gentiles, the
authors abstain from quoting christian books by name, one of
them giving this very reason for his reserve : but when they
come to state, for the information of their readers, the outlines
of Christ's history, it is apparent that they draw their accounts
from our Gospels, and from no other sources ; for these state-
ments exhibit a summary of almost every thing which is related
of Christ's actions and miracles by the four evangelists. Arno-
bius vindicates, without mentioning their names, the credit of
these historians, observing, that they were eye-witnesses of the
facts which they relate, and that their ignorance of the arts of
composition was rather a confirmation of their testimony, than
an objection to it. Lactantius also argues in defence of the
religion, from the consistency, simplicity, disinterestedness, and
sufferings of the christian historians, meaning by that term our
evangelists.

XVII. We close the series of testimonies with that of Euse-
bius, 3 bishop of Caesarea, who flourished in the year 315, con-

1 Lard. vol. v. p. 214. a Ibid. vol. vii. pp. 43, 201. s Ibid. vol. iii. p. 33.

140 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

temporary with, or posterior only by fifteen years to, the two
authors last cited. This voluminous writer, and most diligent
collector of the writings of others, beside a variety of large
works, composed a history of the affairs of Christianity from
its origin to his own time. His testimony to the scriptures is
the testimony of a man much conversant in the works of
christian authors, written during the three first centuries of its
era ; and who had read many which are now lost. In a pas-
sage of his evangelical demonstration, Eusebius remarks, with
great nicety, the delicacy of two of the evangelists, in their
manner of noticing any circumstance which regarded them-
selves, and of Mark, as writing under Peter's direction, in the
circumstances which regarded him. The illustration of this
remark leads him to bring together long quotations from each
of the evangelists ; and the whole passage is a proof, that
Eusebius, and the Christians of those days, not only read the
gospels, but studied them with attention and exactness. In a
passage of his ecclesiastical history, he treats, in form, and at
large, of the occasions of writing the four gospels, and .of the
order in which they were written. The title of the chapter is,
' Of the Order of the Gospels ;' and it begins thus : ' Let ius
observe the writings of this apostle John, which are not con-
tradicted by any ; and, first of all, must be mentioned, as
acknowledged by all, the gospel according to him, well known
to all the churches under heaven ; and that it has been justly
placed by the ancients the fourth in order, and after the other
three, may be made evident in this manner.' Eusebius then
proceeds to show that John wrote the last of the four, and that
his gospel was intended to supply the omissions of the others ;
especially in the part of our Lord's ministry, which took place
before the imprisonment of John the Baptist. He observes,
' that the apostles of Christ were not studious of the ornaments
of composition, nor indeed forward to write at all, being wholly
occupied with their ministry.'

This learned author makes no use at all of christian
writings, forged with the names of Christ's apostles, or their
roinpanions.

We close this branch of our evidence here ; because, after
Eusebius, there is no room for any question upon the subject ;
the works of christian writers being as full of texts of scrip-

Chap. ix. §2.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. Ill

ture, and of references to scripture, as the discourses of modern
divines. Future testimonies to the books of scripture could
only prove that they never lost their character or authority.

Section II.

When the scriptures are quoted, or alluded to, they are quoted
with peculiar respect, as books sui generis ; as possessing an
authority which belonged to no other books, and as conclusive
in all questions and controversies amongst Christians.

Beside the general strain of reference and quotation, which
uniformly and strongly indicates this distinction, the following
may be regarded as specific testimonies.

I. Theophilus, 1 bishop of Antioch, the sixth in succession
from the apostles, and who flourished little more than a century
after the books of the New Testament were written, having
occasion to quote one of our gospels, writes thus : ' These
things the holy scriptures teach us, and all who were moved by
the Holy Spirit, among whom John says, In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God.' Again : ' Con-
cerning the righteousness which the law teaches, the like things
are to be found in the prophets and the gospels, because that
all being inspired, spoke by one and the same Spirit of God.' 2
No words can testify more strongly than these do, the high and
peculiar respect in which these books were holden.

II. A writer against Artemon, 3 who may be supposed to
come about one hundred and fifty-eight years after the publi-
cation of the scriptures, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, uses
these expressions : ' Possibly what they [our adversaries] say,
might have been credited, if first of all the divine scriptures did
not contradict them ; and then the writings of certain brethren
more ancient than the times of Victor.' The brethren mentioned
by name, are Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement, Irenseus,
Melito, with a general appeal to many more not named. This
passage proves, first, that there was at that time a collection
called divine scriptures ; secondly, that these scriptures were

1 Lard. Ored. part ii. vol. i. p. 429. a Ibid. vol. i. p. 448.

8 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 40.

142 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

esteemed of higher authority than the writings of the most
earlv and celebrated Christians.

III. In a piece ascribed to Hippolytus, 1 who lived near the
same time, the author professes, in giving his correspondent
instruction in the things about which he inquires, 'to draw out
of the sacred fountain, and to set before him from the sacred
scriptures, what may afford him satisfaction.' He then quotes
immediately Paul's epistles to Timothy, and afterwards many
books of the New Testament. This preface to the quotations
carries in it a marked distinction between the scriptures and
other books.

IY. ' Our assertions and discourses,' saith Origen, 2 ' are un-
worthy of credit ; we must receive the scriptures as witnesses.'
After treating of the duty of prayer, he proceeds with his argu-
ment thus : ' What we have said may be proved from the
divine scriptures.' In his books against Celsus, we find this
passage : ' That our religion teaches us to seek after wisdom,
shall be shown, both out of the ancient Jewish scriptures, which
we also use, and out of those written since Jesus, which are
believed in the churches to be divine.' These expressions afford
abundant evidence of the peculiar and exclusive authority
which the scriptures possessed.

Y. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, 3 whose age lies close to that
of Origen, earnestly exhorts christian teachers, in all doubtful
cases, ' to go back to the fountain ; and if the truth has in any
case been shaken, to recur to the gospels and apostolic writ-
ings.' — ' The precepts of the gospel,' says he in another place,
' are nothing less than authoritative divine lessons, the founda-
tions of our hope, the supports of our faith, the guides of our
wav, the safeguards of our course to heaven.'

YI. Novatus,' a Roman, contemporary with Cyprian, appeals
to the scriptures, as the authority by which all errors were to
be repelled, and disputes decided. ' That Christ is not only
man, but God also, is proved by the sacred authority of the
divine writings.' — ' The divine scripture easily detects and
confutes the frauds of heretics.' — 'It is not by the fault of the

1 Lard. Cred. vol. iii. p. 112. a Ibid. pp. 287, 288, 289. » Ibid. vol. iv. p. 840.

4 Ibid. vol. v. p. 102.

Ch. ix. § 2.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 143

heavenly scriptures, which never deceive.' Stronger assertions
than these could not be used.

VII. At the distance of twenty years from the writer last
cited, Anatolius, 1 a learned Alexandrian, and bishop of Laodicea,
speaking of the rule for keeping Easter, a question at that day
agitated with much earnestness, says of those whom he opposed,
' They can by no means prove their point by the authority of
the divine scripture.'

VIII. The Arians, who sprung up about fifty years after
this, argued strenuously against the use of the words consub-
stantial and essence, and like phrases ; because they were not in
scripture.'' 2 And in the same strain, one of their advocates
opens a conference with Augustine, after the following man-
ner : ' If you say what is reasonable, I must submit. If you
allege any thing from the divine scriptures, winch are common
to both, I must hear. But unscriptural expressions (gum
extra scripturam sunt) deserve no regard.'

Athanasius, the great antagonist of Arianism, after having
enumerated the books of the Old and New Testament, adds,
' These are the fountains of salvation, that he who thirsts may
be satisfied with the oracles contained in them. In these alone
the doctrine of salvation is proclaimed. Let no man add to
them, or take any thing from them.' 3

IX. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, 4 who wrote about twenty
years after the appearance of Arianism, uses these remarkable
words : ' Concerning the divine and holy mysteries of faith, not
the least article ought to be delivered without the divine scrip-
tures.' "We are assured that Cyril's scriptures were the same
as ours, for he has left us a catalogue of the books included
under that name.

X. Epiphanius, 5 twenty years after Cyril, challenges the
Arians, and the followers of Origen, ' to produce any passage
of the Old or New Testament, favoring their sentiments.'

XL Poebadius, a Gallic bishop, who lived about thirty years
after the council of Nice, testifies, that ' the bishops of that
council first consulted the sacred volumes, and then declared
their faith.' 6

1 Lard. Cred. vol. v. p. 146. s Ibid. vol. viii. pp. 283, 284.

3 Ibid. vol. xii. p. 182. * Ibid. vol. viii. p. 276. * Ibid. p. 314.

o Ibid. vol. ix. p. 52.

1-W: Evidences of Christianity. [Part 1.

XII. Basil, bishop of Cesarea, in Cappadocia, contemporary
with Epiphanius, says, ' that hearers instructed in the scriptures
ought to examine what is said by their teachers, and to embrace
what is agreeable to the scriptures, and to reject what is other-
wise.' 1

XIII. Ephraim, the Syrian, a celebrated writer of the same
times, bears this conclusive testimony to the proposition which
forms the subject of our present chapter: 'The truth written
in the sacred volume of the gospel, is a perfect rule. Nothing
can be taken from it, nor added to it, without great guilt.' 2

XI Y. If we add Jerome to these, it is only for the evidence
which he affords of the judgment of preceding ages. Jerome
observes, concerning the quotations of ancient christian writers,
that is, of writers who were ancient in the year 400, that they
made a distinction between books ; some they quoted as of
authority, and others not: which observation relates to the
books of scripture, compared with other writings, apocryphal or
heathen. 3

Section III.

The scriptures were in very early times collected into a distinct

volume.

Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch within forty years
after the ascension, and who had lived and conversed with
the apostles, speaks of the gospel and of the apostles, in terms
which render it very probable, that he meant by the gospel, the
book or volume of the Gospels, and by the apostles, the book
or volume of their Epistles. His words in one place are, 4
' fleeing to the Gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to the Apostles
as the presbytery of the Church ;' that is, as Le Clerc inter-
prets them, ' in order to understand the will of God, he fled to
the gospels, which he believed no less than if Christ in the
flesh had been speaking to him ; and to the writings of the
apostles, whom he esteemed as the presbytery of the whole

1 Lard. Cred. vol. ix. p. 124. Ibid. p. 202. » Ibid. vol. x. pp. 123, 124.

4 Ibid. part. ii. vol. i. p. 180.

Ch. ix. § 3.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 145

christian church.' It must be observed, that about eighty
years after this we have direct proof, in the writings of Clement
of Alexandria, 1 that these two names, ' Gospel' and ' Apostles,'
were the names by which the writings of the New Testament,
and the division of these writings, were usually expressed.

Another passage from Ignatius is the following : — ' But the
Gospel has somewhat in it more excellent, the appearance of
our Lord Jesus Christ, his passion and resurrection.' 2

And a third, ' Ye ought to hearken to the Prophets, but
especially to the Gospel, in which the passion has been mani-
fested to us, and the resurrection perfected.' In this last pas-
sage the prophets and the gospel are put in conjunction ; and
as Ignatius undoubtedly meant by the Prophets a collection
of writings, it is probable that he meant the same by the
Gospel, the two terms standing in evident parallelism with each
other.

This interpretation of the word ' gospel' in the passages above
quoted from Ignatius, is confirmed by a piece of nearly equal
antiquity, the relation of the martyrdom of Polycarp by the
Church of Smyrna. 'All things,' say they, < that went before
were done, that the Lord might show us a martyrdom accord-
ing to the gospel, for he expected to be delivered up as the
Lord also did.' 3 And in another place, ' We do not commend
those who offer themselves, forasmuch as the gospel teaches us
no such thing.' 4 In both these places, what is called the
gospel seems to be the history of Jesus Christ, and of his
doctrine.

If this be the true sense of the passages, they are not only
evidences of our proposition, but strong and very ancient proofs
of the high esteem in which the books of the New Testament
were holden.

II. Eusebius relates, that Quadratus and some others, who
were the immediate successors of the apostles, travelling abroad
to preach Christ, carried the gospels with them, and delivered
them to their converts. The words of Eusebius are : ' Then
travelling abroad, they performed the work of evangelists, being
ambitious to preach Christ, and deliver the scripture of the divine

1 Lard. Cred. vol. ii. p. 516.
' Ibid. p. 182. a Ig. Ep. c. i. * Ibid. c. iv.

146 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

gospels? 1 Eusebius had before him the writings both of Quad-
ratic himself, and of many others of that age, which are now
lost. It is reasonable, therefore, to believe, that he had good
grounds for his assertion. What is thus recorded of the gos-
pels took place within sixty, or at the most seventy, years after
they were published : and it is evident, that they must, before
this time (and, it is probable, long before this time), have been
in general use, and in high esteem in the churches planted by
the apostles, inasmuch as they were now, we find, collected
into a volume ; and the immediate successors of the apostles,
they who preached the religion of Christ to those who had not
already heard it, carried the volume with them, and delivered
it to their converts.

III. Irenseus, in the year 178, 2 puts the evangelic and
apostolic writings in connection with the law and the prophets,
manifestly intending by the one a code or collection of chris-
tian sacred writings, as the other expressed the code or collec-
tion of Jewish sacred writings. And,

IV. Melito, at this time bishop of Sardis, writing to^one
Onesimus, tells his correspondent, 3 that he had procurea an
accurate account of the books of the Old Testament. The
occurrence, in this passage, of the term Old Testament, has
been brought to prove, and it certainly does prove, that there
was then a volume or collection of writings called the New
Testament.

V. In the time of Clement of Alexandria, about fifteen years
after the last quoted testimony, it is apparent that the chris-
tian scriptures were divided into two parts, under the general
titles of the Gospels and Apostles ; and that both these were
regarded as of the highest authority. One, out of many ex-
pressions of Clement alluding to this distribution, is the follow-
ing : — 'There is a consent and harmony between the law and
the prophets, the apostles and the gospel.' 4

VI. The same division, ' Prophets, Gospels, and Apostles,'
appears in Tertullian, 6 the contemporary of Clement. The col-
lection of the gospels is likewise called by this writer the

1 Lard. Cred. pt. ii. vol. i. p. 236. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 383.

Ibid. p. 331. * Ibid. vol. ii. p. 516. 6 Ibid. p. 631.

Cli. ix. § 4.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 147

'Evangelic Instrument;' 1 the whole volume, the 'New Testa-
ment;' and the two parts, the 'Gospels and A po sties.' 2

VII. From many writers also of the third century, and
especially from Cyprian, who lived in the middle of it, it is col-
lected, that the christian scriptures were divided into two codes
or volumes, one called the 'Gospels or Scriptures of the Lord,'
the other, the ' Apostles, or Epistles of Apostles.' 3

VIII. Eusebius, as we have already seen, takes some pains
to show, that the Gospel of St. John had been justly placed by
the Ancients 'the fourth in order, and after the other three.' 4
These are the terms of his proposition ; and the very introduc-
tion of such an argument proves incontestably, that the four
gospels had been collected into a volume, to the exclusion of
every other ; that their order in the volume had been adjusted
with much consideration ; and that this had been done by those
who were called Ancients in the time of Eusebius.

In the Diocletian persecution in the year 303, the scriptures
were sought out and burnt ; 5 many suffered death rather than
deliver them up ; and those who betrayed them to the perse-
cutors were accounted as lapsed and apostate. On the other
hand, Constantine, after his conversion, gave directions for
multiplying copies of the divine oracles, and for magnificently
adorning them at the expense of the imperial treasury. 6 What
the Christians of that age so richly embellished in their pros-
perity, and, which is more, so tenaciously preserved under per-
secution, was the very volume of the New Testament which we
now read.

Section TV.

Our present sacred writings were soon distinguished by appro-
priate names and titles of respect.

I. Polycarp: 'I trust ye are well exercised in the holy
scriptures — as in these scriptures it is said, Be ye angry
and sin not, and let not the sun go down upon your

1 Lard. Ored. vol. ii. p. 574. a Ibid. p. 632. * Ibid. vol. iv. p. 846.

4 Ibid. vol. viii. p. 00. a Ibid. vol. vii. p. 214 et seq.

Ibid. p. 432.

148 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

wrath.' 1 This passage is extremely important; because it
proves that, in the time of Polycarp, who had lived with the
apostles, there were christian writings distinguished by the
name of ' holy scriptures' or sacred writings. Moreover, the
text quoted by Polycarp is a text found in the collection at
this day. What also the same Polycarp hath elsewhere quoted
in the same manner, may be considered as proved to belong to
the collection ; and this comprehends St. Matthew's, and, pro-
bably, St. Luke's gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, ten epistles
of Paul, the first epistle of Peter, and the first of John.' 2 In
another place Polycarp has these words : ' Whoever perverts
the oracles of the Loi^d to his own lusts, and says there is
neither resurrection nor judgment, he is the first-born of
Satan.' 3 — It does not appear what else Polycarp could mean by
the ' oracles of the Lord,' but those same ' holy scriptures,'
or sacred writings, of which he had spoken before.

II. Justin Martyr, whose apology was written about thirty
years after Polycarp's epistle, expressly cites some of our pre-
sent histories under the title of gospel, and that not. as a
name by him first ascribed to them, but as the name by which
they were generally known in his time. His words are theafe :
— ' For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which
are called gospels, have thus delivered it, that Jesus commanded
them to take bread, and give thanks.' i There exists no doubt,
but that, by the memoirs above mentioned, Justin meant our
present historical scriptures, for, throughout his works, he
quotes these, and no others.

III. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, who came thirty years
after Justin, in a passage preserved in Eusebius (for his works
are lost), speaks ' of the scriptures of the Lord.' 5

IV. And at the same time, or very nearly so, by Irenseus,
bishop of Lyons, in France, 6 they are called ' divine scriptures,'
— 'divine oracles,' — 'scriptures of the Lord,' — ' evangelic and
ai 'ostolic writings.' 7 The quotations of Irenreus prove decidedly,
that onr present Gospels, and these alone, together with the

1 Lard. Cred. vol. i. 203. a Ibid. p. 223. s Ibid. p. 222.

* Ibid. p. 271. " Ibid. p. 298.

c The reader will observe the remoteness of these two writers in country and
situation.

7 Ibid. p. 343 et seq.

Ch. ix. § 5.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 149

Acts of the Apostles, were the historical books comprehended
by him under these appellations.

Y. St. Matthew's gospel is quoted by Theophilus, bishop
of Antioch, contemporary with Irenaeus, under the title of the
' evangelical voice ;" and the copious works of Clement of
Alexandria, published within fifteen years of the same time,
ascribe to the books of the New Testament the various titles of
'sacred books,' — 'divine scriptures,' — 'divinely inspired scrip-
tures,' — ' scriptures of the Lord,' — ' the true evangelical canon.' 2

"VI. Tertullian, who joins on with Clement, besides adopting
most of the names and epithets above noticed, calls the gospels
' our Digesta,' in allusion, as it should seem, to some collection
of Roman laws 3 then extant.

VTI. By Origen, who came thirty years after Tertullian,
the same, and other no less strong titles, are applied to the
christian scriptures, and, in addition thereunto, this writer
frequently speaks of the ' Old and New Testament,' — ' the
ancient and new scriptures,' — ' the ancient and new oracles.' 4

VIII. In Cyprian, who was not twenty years later, there are
' books of the spirit,' — ' divine fountains,' — ' fountains of the
divine fulness.' 5

The expressions we have thus quoted are evidences of high
and peculiar respect. They all occur within two centuries
from the publication of the books. Some of them commence
with the companions of the apostles ; and they increase in
number and variety, through a series of writers, touching
upon one another, and deduced from the first age of the
religion.

Section V.

Our scriptures werepublicly read and expounded in the religious
assemblies of the early Christians.

Justin Martyr, who wrote in the year 140, which was seventy
or eighty years after some, and less, probably, after others
of the g-oopels were published, giving, in his first apology,

1 Lard. Cred. vol. i. p. 427. a Ibid. vol. ii. p. 515. 3 Ibid. p. 630.

4 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 280. 5 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 844.

150 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

an account, to the Emperor, of the christian worship, has this
remarkable passage : —

' The memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets,
are read according as the time allows ; and, when the reader
has ended, the president makes a discourse, exhorting to the
imitation of so excellent things.' 1

A few short observations will show the value of this testimony.

1. The ' memoirs of the apostles,' Justin in another place
expressly tells us, are what are called ' gospels ;' and that they
were the gospels, which we now use, is made certain by Justin's
numerous quotations of them, and his silence about any others.

2. Justin describes the general usage of the christian church.

3. Justin does not speak of it as recent or newly instituted,
but in the terms in which men speak of established customs.

II. Tertullian, who followed Justin at the distance of about
fifty years, in his account of the religious assemblies of Chris-
tians as they were conducted in his time, says, ' We come
together to recollect the divine scriptures ; we nourish our
faith, raise our hope, confirm our trust, by the sacred word.' 2

III. Eusebius records of Origen, and cites for his authority
the letters of bishops contemporary with Origen, that, when fie
went into Palestine about the year 216, which was only sixteen
years after the date of Tertullian's testimony, he was desired by
the bishops of that country to discourse and expound the scrip-
tures publicly in the church, though he was not yet ordained a
presbyter. 3 This anecdote recognizes the usage, not only of
reading, but of expounding, the scriptures ; and both as subsist-
ing in full force. Origen also himself bears witness to the
same practice : 'This [says he] we do, when the scriptures are
read in the church, and when the discourse for explication is
delivered to the people.' 4 And, what is a still more ample
testimony, many homilies of his upon the scriptures of the New
Testament, delivered by him in the assemblies of the church,
are still extant.

IV. Cyprian, whose age was not twenty years lower than
that of Origen, gives his people an account of having ordained
two persons, who were before confessors, to be readers ; and

1 Lard. Ored. vol. i. p. 273. " Ibid. vol. ii. p. 628. s Ibid. vol. iii. p. 68.

Ibid. p. 302

Chap. ix. § 5.] Authenticity of the Historical Scrijrftires. 15 1

what they were to read, appears by the reason which he gives
for his choice : — ' Nothing [says Cyprian] can be more fit, than
that he, who has made a glorious confession of the Lord, should
read publicly in the church ; that he who has shown himself
willing to die a martyr, should read the gospel of Christ, by
which martyrs are made.' 1

Y. Intimations of the same custom may be traced in a great
number of writers in the beginning and throughout the whole
of the fourth century. Of these testimonies 1 will only use
one, as being, of itself, express and full. Augustine, who ap-
peared near the conclusion of the century, displays the benefit
of the christian religion on this very account, the public read-
ing of the scriptures in the churches, ' where [says he] is a con-
fluence of all sorts of people of both sexes ; and where they hear
how they ought to live w r ell in this w r orld, that they may de-
serve to live happily and eternally in another.' And this cus-
tom he declares to be universal : ' The canonical books of
scripture being read everywhere, the miracles therein recorded
are well known to all people.' 2

It does not appear that any books, other than our present
scriptures, were thus publicly read, except that the epistle of
Clement was read in the church of Corinth, to which it had
been addressed, and in some others ; and that the Shepherd of
Hermas was read in many churches. Nor does it subtract
much from the value of the argument, that these two writings
partly come within it, because we allow them to be the genuine
writings of apostolical men. There is not the least evidence,
that any other gospel, than the four which we receive, was ever
admitted to this distinction.

1 Lard. Cred. vol. iv. p. 482. » Ibid. vol. x. p. 276 et seq.

152 .Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

Section YI.

Commentaries were anciently written upon the scriptures ; har-
monies formed out of them y different copies carefully col-
lated / and versions made of them into different languages.

No greater proof can be given of the esteem in which these
books were hold en by the ancient Christians, or of the
sense then entertained of their value and importance, than the
industry bestowed upon them. And it ought to be observed,
that the value and importance of these books consisted entirely
in their genuineness and truth. There was nothing in them
as works of taste, or as compositions, which could have induced
any one to have written a note upon them. Moreover it shows
that they were even then considered as ancient books. Men
do not write comments upon publications of their own times :
therefore the testimonies cited under this head afford an evi-
dence which carries up the evangelical writings much beyond
the age of the testimonies themselves, and to that of their,
reputed authors.

I. Tatian, a follower of Justin Martyr, and who nourished
about the year 170, composed a harmony, or collation, of the
gospels, which he called Diatessaron, Of the four. 1 The title,
as well as the work, is remarkable ; because it shows that then,
as now, there were four, and only four, gospels in general use
with Christians. And this was little more than a hundred years
after the publication of some of them.

II. Pantaenus, of the Alexandrian school, a man of great
reputation and learning, who came twenty years after Tatian,
wrote many commentaries upon the holy scriptures, which, as
Jerome testifies, were extant in his time. 2

III. Clement of Alexandria wrote short explications of many
books of the Old and New Testament. 3

IY. Tertullian appeals from the authority of a later version,
then in use, to the authentic Greek. 4

Y. An anonymous author quoted by Eusebius, and who
appears to have written about the year 212, appeals to tbo

i Lard. Ored. vol. i. p. 307. 3 Ibid. p. 455. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 4G2.

• Ibid. p. 638.

Ch. ix. § 6.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 153

ancient copies of the scriptures, in refutation of some corrupt
readings alleged by the followers of Artemon. 1

YI. The same Eusebius, mentioning by name several wri-
ters of the church who lived at this time, and concerning
whom he says, ' There still remain divers monuments of the
laudable industry of those ancient and ecclesiastical men,'
[i. e., of christian writers who were considered as ancient in
the year 300], adds, 'There are besides treatises of many
others, whose names we have not been able to learn, orthodox
and ecclesiastical men, as the interpretations of the divine
scriptures given by each of them show. 2

VII. The five last testimonies may be referred to the
year 200 ; immediately after which, a period of thirty years
gives us

Julius Africanus, who wrote an epistle upon the apparent
difference in the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, which he
endeavors to reconcile by the distinction of natural and legal
descent, and conducts his hypothesis with great industry
through the whole series of generations. 3

Ammonius, a learned Alexandrian, who composed, as Tatian
had done, a harmony of the four gospels; which proves, as
Tatian's work did, that there were four gospels, and no more,
at this time in use in the church. It affords also an instance
of the zeal of Christians for those writings, and of their solici-
tude about them. 4

And, above both these, Origen, who wrote commentaries, or
homilies, upon most of the books included in the New Testa-
ment, and upon no other books but these. In particular, he
wrote upon St. John's gospel, very largely upon St. Mat-
thew's, and commentaries, or homilies, upon the Acts of the
Apostles. 5

VIII. In addition to these, the third century likewise
contains

Dionysius of Alexandria, a very learned man, who com-
pared, with great accuracy, the accounts in the four gospels
of the time of Christ's resurrection, adding a reflection which
showed his opinion of their authority : ' Let us not think that

l Lard. Cred. vol. iii. p. 46. 2 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 551. 3 Ibid. vol. hi. p. 170.

4 Ibid. p. 122. 6 Ibid. pp. 352, 192, 202, 245.

154 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

the evangelists disagree, or contradict each other, although
there be some small difference ; but let us honestly and faith-
fully endeavor to reconcile what we read. 1

Yictorin, bishop of Pettaw in Germany, who wrote com-
ments upon St. Matthew's gospel. 2

Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch; and Hesychius, an Egyptian
bishop, who put forth editions of the New Testament.

IX. The fourth century supplies a catalogue 3 of fourteen
writers, who expended their labors upon the books of the
New Testament, and whose works or names are come down
to our times ; amongst which number it may be sufficient, for
the purpose of showing the sentiments and studies of learned
Christians of that age, to notice the following :

Eusebius, in the very beginning of the century, wrote ex-
pressly upon the discrepancies observable in the gospels, and
likewise a treatise, in which he pointed out what things are
related by four, what by three, what by two, and what by one
evangelist. 4 This author also testifies, what is certainly a
material piece of evidence, ' that the writings of the apostles
had obtained such an esteem, as to be translated into every
language both of Greeks and barbarians, and to be diligently
studied by all nations.' 5 This testimony was given about the
year 300 ; how long before that date these translations were
made does not appear.

Damasus, bishop of Rome, corresponded with St. Jerome
upon the exposition of difficult texts of scripture; and, in a
letter still remaining, desires Jerome to give him a clear ex-
planation of the word Hosanna, found in the New Testament ;
' he [Damasus] having met with very different interpretations
of it in the Greek and Latin commentaries of catholic writers
which he had read.' 6 This last clause shows the number and
variety of commentaries then extant.

1 Lard. Cred. vol. iv. p. 661 .

'Eusebius a. d. 315

Juvencus, Spain 330

Theodore, Thrace 334

Hilary, Poietiers 354

Fortunatus 340

Apollinarius of Lao-

dicea 362

Damasus. Rome 366

*Ibid. vol. viii. p. 46. » Ibid.

a Ibid. p.

195

Gregory, Nyssen. .a. d.

371

Didymus of Alex. . . .

370

Ambrose of Milan. . . .

374

Diodore of Tarsus. . . .

378

Gaudent. of Brescia. .

387

Theodore of Cilicia. . .

394

392

398

p. 201. « Ibid, vol

ix. p.

108.

Ch. ix. § 6.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 155

Gregory of Nyssen, at one time appeals to the most exact
copies of St. Mark's gospel ; at another time compares to-
gether, and proposes to reconcile, the several accounts of the
resurrection given by the four evangelists', which limitation
proves, that there were no other histories of Christ deemed
authentic beside these, or included in the same character with
these. This writer observes, acutely enough, that the dis-
position of the clothes in the sepulchre, the napkin that was
about our Saviour's head, not lying with the linen clothes, but
wrapped together in a place by itself, did not bespeak the terror
and hurry of thieves, and therefore refutes the story of the
body being stolen. 1

Ambrose, bishop of Milan, remarked various readings in the
Latin copies of the New Testament, and appeals to the original
Greek ;

And Jerome, towards the conclusion of this century, put
forth an edition of the New Testament in Latin, corrected, at
least as to the gospels, by Greek copies, ' and those [he says]
ancient.'

Lastly, Chrysostom, it is well known, delivered and published
a great many homilies, or sermons, upon the Gospels and the
Acts of the Apostles.

It is needless to bring down this article lower ; but it is of
importance to add, that there is no example of christian writers
of the three first centuries composing comments upon any other
books than those which are found in the New Testament, ex-
cept the single one of Clement of Alexandria, commenting upon
a book called the Revelation of Peter.

Of the ancient versions of the New Testament, one of the
most valuable is the Syriac. Syriac was the language of Pales-
tine when Christianity was there first established. And although
the books of scripture were written in Greek, for the purpose
of a more extended circulation than within the precincts of
Judea, yet it is probable that they would soon be translated
into the vulgar language of the country where the religion first
prevailed. Accordingly a Syriac translation is now extant, all
along, so far as it appears, used by the inhabitants of Syria,

1 Lard. Cred. vol. ix. p. 163.

156 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

bearing many internal marks of high antiquity, supported in
its pretensions by the uniform tradition of the East, and con-
firmed by the discovery of many very ancient manuscripts in
the libraries of Europe. It is about two hundred years since a
bishop of Antioch sent a copy of this translation into Europe,
to be printed ; and this seems to be the first time that the
translation became generally known to these parts of the world.
The Bishop of Antioch's Testament was found to contain all
our books, except the second epistle of Peter, the second and
third of John, and the Revelation ; which books, however, have
since been discovered in that language in some ancient manu-
scripts of Europe. But in this collection, no other book, beside
what is in ours, appears ever to have had a place. And, which
is very worthy of observation, the text, though preserved in a
remote country, and without communication with ours, differs
from ours very little, and in nothing that is important. 1

Section YEL

Our scriptures were received by ancient Christians of different
sects and persuasions, by many heretics as well as catholics,
and were usually appealed to by both sides in the contro-
versies which arose in those days.

The three most ancient topics of controversy amongst Chris-
tians, were the authority of the Jewish constitution, the
origin of evil, and the nature of Christ. Upon the first of
these, we find, in very early times, one class of heretics reject-
ing the Old Testament entirely ; another contending for the
obligation of its law, in all its parts, throughout its whole
extent, and over every one who sought acceptance with God.
Upon the two latter subjects a natural, perhaps, and venial,
but a fruitless, eager, and impatient curiosity, prompted by the
philosophy and by the scholastic habits of the age, which car-
ried men much into bold hypotheses and conjectural solutions,

1 Jones on the Canon, vol. i. c. 14.

Ch. ix. § 7.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 157

raised, amongst some who professed Christianity, very wild and
unfounded opinions. I think there is no reason to believe that
the number of these bore any considerable proportion to the
body of the christian church ; and amidst the disputes which
such opinions necessarily occasioned, it is a great satisfaction
to perceive, what in a vast plurality of instances we do per-
ceive, all sides recurring to the same scriptures.

I. 1 Basilides lived near the age of the apostles, about the
year 120, or perhaps sooner. 2 He rejected the Jewish institu-
tion, not as spurious, but as proceeding from a being inferior
to the true God ; and in other respects advanced a scheme of
theology widely different from the general doctrine of the chris-
tian church, and which, as it gained over some disciples, was
warmly opposed by christian writers of the second and third
century. In these writings there is positive evidence, that
Basilides received the gospel of Matthew ; and there is no suf-
ficient proof that he rejected any of the other three ; on the
contrary, it appears that he wrote a commentary upon the
gospel, so copious as to be divided into twenty-four books. 3

II. The Valentinians appeared about the same time. 4 Their
heresy consisted in certain notions concerning angelic natures,
which can hardly be rendered intelligible to a modern reader.
They seem, however, to have acquired as much importance as
any of the separatists of that early age. Of this, sect Irenseus,
who wrote a. d. 172, expressly records, that they endeavored
to fetch arguments for their opinions from the evangelic and
apostolic writings. 5 Heracleon, one of the most celebrated of
the sect, and who lived probably so early as the year 125, wrote
commentaries upon Luke and John. 6 Some observations also
of his upon Matthew are preserved by Origen. 7 Nor is there
any reason to doubt that he received the whole New Testa-
ment.

Ill The Carpocratians were also an early heresy, little, if

1 The materials of the former part of this section are taken from Dr. Lardner's
History of the Heretics of the two first Centuries, published since his death, with ad-
ditions by the Bev. Mr. Hogg, of Exeter, and inserted into the ninth volume of
his works, of the edition of 1788.

» Ibid. vol. ix. p. 271. ' Ibid. ed. 1788, pp. 305, 306.

4 Ibid. pp. 350, 351.

6 Ibid. vol. i. p. 383. 6 Ibid. vol. ix. ed. 1788, p. 352. ' Ibid. p. 353.

158 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

at all, later than the two preceding. 1 Some of their opinions
resembled what we at this day mean by Socinianism. With
respect to the scriptures, they are specifically charged, by Irenseus
and by Epiphanius, with endeavoring to pervert a passage in
Matthew, which amounts to a positive proof that they received
that gospel. 2 Negatively, they are not accused, by their adver-
saries, of rejecting any part of the ISTew Testament.

IV. The Sethians, a.d. 150 ; 3 the Montanists, a.d. 156 ; 4 the
Marcosians, 160 ; 5 Hermogenes, a.d. 180 ; 6 Praxias, a.d. 196 ; 7
Artemon, a.d. 200 ; 8 Theodotus, a.d. 200; all included under
the denomination of heretics, and all engaged in controversies
with Catholic Christians, received the scriptures of the New
Testament.

V. Tatian, who lived in the year 172, went into many ex-
travagant opinions, was the founder of a sect called Encratites,
and was deeply involved in disputes with the Christians of that
age ; yet Tatian so received the four gospels, as to compose a
harmony from them.

YI. From a writer, quoted by Eusebius, of about the year
200, it is apparent that they, who, at that time, contended for
the mere humanity of Christ, argued from the scriptures ; fir
they are accused, by this writer, of making alterations in their
copies, in order to favor their opinions. 9

VII. Origen's sentiments excited great controversies, the
Bishops of Rome and Alexandria, and many others, condemn-
ing, the Bishops of the East espousing them ; yet there is not
the smallest question, but that both the advocates and adver-
saries of these opinions acknowledged the same authority of
scripture. In his time, which the reader will remember was
about one hundred and fifty years after the scriptures were
published, many dissensions subsisted among Christians, with
which they were reproached by Celsus ; yet Origen, who has
recorded this accusation without contradicting it, nevertheless
testifies, that the four gospels were received without dispute, by
the whole church of God under heaven."

• Laid. vol. ix. p. 309. 3 Ibid. 318. 3 Ibid. p. 455.

' Ibid. p. 482. 5 Ibid. p. 348. « Ibid. p. 473.

» Ibid. p. 433. a Ibid. p. 4G6. • Ibid. vol. iii. p. 4G.

10 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 042.

Ch. ix. § ".] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 159

VIII. Paul of Samosata, about thirty years after Origen, so
distinguished himself in the controversy concerning the nature
of Christ, as to be the subject of two councils, or synods, as-
sembled at Antioch, upon his opinions. Yet he is not charged
by his adversaries with rejecting any book of the New Testa-
ment. On the contrary, Epiphanius, who wrote a history of
heretics a hundred years afterwards, says, that Paul endea-
vored to support his doctrine by texts of scripture. And
Vicentius Lirinensis, a. d. 434, speaking of Paul and other
heretics of the same age, has these words : ' Here, perhaps, some
one may ask, whether heretics also urge the testimony of scrip-
ture. They urge it, indeed, explicitly and vehemently ; for
you may see them flying through every book of the sacred
law.' 1

IX. A controversy at the same time existed with the Noe-
tians or Sabellians, who seem to have gone into the opposite
extreme from that of Paul of Samosata and his followers. Yet,
according to the express testimony of Epiphanius, Sabellius
received all the scriptures. And with both sects Catholic writers
constantly allege the scriptures, and reply to the arguments
which their opponents drew from particular texts.

We have here, therefore, a proof that parties, who were the
most opposite and irreconcilable to one another, acknowledged
the authority of scripture with equal deference.

X. And as a general testimony to the same point, may be
produced what was said by one of the bishops of the council of
Carthage, which was holden a little before this time. ' I am of
opinion that blasphemous and wicked heretics, who pervert the
sacred and adorable words of the scriptures, should be exe-
crated.' 2 Undoubtedly what they perverted, they received.

XL The Millennium, Novatianism, the baptism of heretics,
the keeping of Easter, engaged also the attention and divided
the opinions of Christians, at and before that time (and, by
the way, it may be observed, that such disputes, though on
some accounts to be blamed, showed how much men were in
earnest upon the subject) ; yet every one appealed for the
grounds of his opinion to scripture authority. Dionysius of
Alexandria, who flourished a. d. 247, describing a conference or

1 Lard. vol. xi. p. 158. « Ibid. p. 839.

1 60 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

public disputation, with the Millenarians of Egypt, confesses of
them, though their adversary, ' that they embraced whatever
could be made out by good arguments from the holy scrip-
tures.' 1 Novatus, a. d. 251, distinguished by some rigid senti-
ments concerning the reception of those who had lapsed, and
the founder of a numerous sect, in his few remaining works
quotes the gospel with the same respect as other Christians did ;
and concerning his followers the testimony of Socrates, who
wrote about the year 440, is positive, viz., ' That in the disputes
between the Catholics and them, each side endeavored to sup-
port itself by the authority of the divine scriptures.' 2

XII. The Donatists, who sprung up in the year 328, used
the same scriptures as we do. 'Produce [saith Augustine]
some proof from the scriptures, whose authority is common to
us both.' 3

XIII. It is perfectly notorious, that, in the Arian contro-
versy, which arose soon after the year 300, both sides appealed
to the same scriptures, and with equal professions of deference
and regard. The Arians, in their council of Antioch, a. d. 341,
pronounce, that, ' if any one, contrary to the sound doctrin$ of
the scriptures, say that the Son is a creature, as one of the
creatures, let him be an anathema.' 4 They and the Athana-
sians mutually accuse each other of using xinscriptural phrases ;
which was a mutual acknowledgment of the conclusive author-
ity of scripture.

XIY. The Priscillianists, a.d. 378, 5 the Pelagians, a.d. 405, 6
received the same scriptures as we do.

XY. The testimony of Chrysostom, who lived near the year
400, is so positive in affirmation of the proposition which we
maintain, that it may form a proper conclusion of the argument.
' The general reception of the gospels is a proof that their
history is true and consistent; for, since the writing of the
gospels, many heresies have arisen, holding opinions contrary
to what is contained in them, who yet receive the gospels either
entire or in part.' 7 I am not moved by what may seem a
deduction from Chrysostom's testimony, the words ' entire or

1 Lard. vol. iv. p. 666. a Ibid. vol. v. p. 105. s Ibid. vol. vii. p. 243.

4 Ibid. p. 277. 6 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 325. 8 Ibid. vol. xi. p. 52.

7 Ibid. vol. x. 316.

Ch. ix. §7.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 161

in part ;' for, if all the parts which were ever questioned in our
gospels, were given up, it would not affect the miraculous
origin of the religion in the smallest degree : e. g.

Cerinthus is said by Epiphanius to have received the gospel
of Matthew, but not entire. What the omissions were does
not appear. The common opinion, that he rejected the two
first chapters, seems to have been a mistake. 1 It is agreed,
however, b}* all who have given any account of Cerinthus, that
he taught that the Holy Ghost (whether he meant by that
name a person or a power) descended upon Jesus at his bap-
tism ; that Jesus from this time performed many miracles, and
that he appeared after his death. He must have retained
therefore the essential parts of the history.

Of all the ancient heretics the most extraordinary was
Marcion. 2 One of his tenets was the rejection of the Old Tes-
tament, as proceeding from an inferior and imperfect deity ;
and in pursuance of this hypothesis, he erased from the Npw,
and that, as it should seem, without entering into any critical
reasons, every passage which recognized the Jewish Scrip-
tures. He spared not a text which contradicted his opin-
ion. It is reasonable to believe that Marcion treated books
as he treated texts : yet this rash and wild controversialist
published a recension, or chastised edition, of St. Luke's
gospel, containing the leading facss, and all which is neces-
sary to authenticate the religion. This example affords proof,
that there were always some points, and those the main
points, which neither wildness nor rashness, neither the fury
of opposition nor the intemperance of controversy, would
venture to call in question. There is no reason to believe
that Marcion, though full of resentment against the Catholic
Christians, ever charged them with forging their books. ' The
Gospel of St. Matthew, the Epistle to the Hebrews, with those
of St. Peter and St. James, as well as the Old Testament in
general (he said), were writings not for Christians but for
Jews.' 3 This declaration shows the ground upon which

1 Lard. vol. ix. ed. 1788, p. 322.
a Ibid. sect. ii. c. x. Also Michael, vol i. c. i. sect, xviii.
3 I have transcribed this sentence from Michaelis (p. 38), who has not, how-
ever, referred to the authority upon which he attributes these words to Marcion.

162 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

Marcion proceeded in his mutilation of the scriptures, viz., his
dislike of the passages of the books. Marcion flourished about
the year 130.

Dr. Lardner, in his General Review, sums up this head of
evidence in the following words : ' Noetus, Paul of Samosata,
Sabellius, Marcellus, Photinus, the Xovatians, Donatists,
Manicheans, 1 Priseillianists, beside Artemon, the Audians, the
Arians, and divers others, all received most or all the same
books of the New Testament which the Catholics received ; and
agreed in a like respect for them as writ by apostles, or their
disciples and companions.' 2

Section VIII.

The four Gosjxl*, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of St.
Paul, the first Epistle of John, and the first of Peter, were
received without doubt by those who doubted concerning the
other books ivhich are included in our present Canon.-

I state this proposition, because, if made out, it shows tl&t
the authenticity of their books was a subject amongst the
early Christians of consideration and inquiry ; and that, where
there was cause of doubt, they did doubt ; a circumstance
which strengthens very much their testimony to such books as
were received by them with full acquiescence.

I. Jerome, in his account of Caius, who was probably a
presbyter of Rome, and who flourished near the year 200,
records of him, that reckoning up only thirteen epistles of
Paul, he says the fourteenth, which is inscribed to the Hebrews,
is not his; and then Jerome adds, ' With the Romans to this
day it is not looked upon as Paul's.' This agrees in the main
with the account given by Knsebius of the same ancient author
and his work ; except that Knsebius delivers his own remark in
more guarded terms, 'And indeed to this very time, by

1 This must be with an exception, however, of Faustus, who lived so late as
the year 384.

2 Lard*, vol. xii. p. 12. — Dr. Lardner's future inquiries supplied him with many
other instances.

Ch. ix. § 8.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 163

some of the Romans, this epistle is not thought to be the
apostle's.' 1

II. Origen, about twenty years after Caius, quoting the
epistle to the Hebrews, observes that some might dispute the
authority of that epistle, and therefore proceeds to quote to
the same point, as undoubted books of scripture, the Gospel of
St. Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul's first Epi^ilr
to the Thessalonians. 2 And in another place, this author
speaks of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus : — ' The account come
down to us is various, some saying that Clement, who was
bishop of Rome, wrote this epistle ; others, that it was Luke, the
same who writ the Gospel and the Acts.' Speaking also in the
same paragraph of Peter, ' Peter [says he] has left one epistle,
acknowledged ; let it be granted likewise that he wrote a second,
for it is doubted of. 1 And of John, 'He has also left one
epistle, of a very few lines ; grant also a second and a third,
for all do not allow these to be genuine.' Now let it be noted,
that Origen, who thus discriminates, and thus confesses his own
doubts, and the doubts which subsisted in his time, expressly
witnesses concerning the four gospels, ' that they alone are
received without dispute by the whole church of God under
heaven.' 3

III. Dionysius of Alexandria, in the year 247, doubts con-
cerning the Book of Revelation, whether it was written by St.
John ; states the grounds of his doubt ; represents the diversity
of opinion concerning it, in his own time, and before his time. 4
Yet the same Dionysius uses and collates the four gospels, in a
manner which shows that he entertained not the smallest sus-
picion of their authority, and in a manner also which shows
that they, and they alone, were received as authentic histories
of Christ. 5

IV. But this section may be said to have been framed on
purpose to introduce to the reader two remarkable passages,
extant in Eusebius's ecclesiastical history. The first passage
opens with these words — ' Let us observe the writings of the
apostle John which are uncontradicted ; and first of all must be
mentioned, as acknowledged of all, the gospel according to him,

» Lard. vol. iii. p. 240. 2 Ibid. p. 246. 3 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 234.

« Ibid. vol. iv. p. 670. 5 Ibid. p. 661.

164 Evidences of Christianity . [Part I.

well known to all the churches under heaven.' The author
then proceeds to relate the occasions of writing the gospels, and
the reasons for placing St. John's the last, manifestly speaking
of all the four as parallel in their authority, and in the certainty
of their original. 1 The second passage is taken from a chapter,
the title of which is, ' Of the Scriptures universally acknowledged,
and of those that are not such.' Eusebius begins his enumera-
tion in the following manner: — '■In the first 'place are to be
ranked the sacred four Gospels, then the book of the Acts of
the Apostles : after that are to be reckoned the Epistles of Paul.
In the next place, that called the first Epistle of John, and the
Epistle of Peter, are to be esteemed authentic. After this is
to be placed, if it be thought fit, the Revelation of John, about
which we shall observe the different opinions at proper seasons.
Of the controverted, but yet well known, or approved by the
most, are that called the Epistle of James, and that of Jude,
and the second of Peter, and the second and third of John,
whether they are written by the evangelist, or another of the
same name.' 2 He then proceeds to reckon up five others, not
in our Canon, which he calls in one place spurious, in another
controverted, meaning, as appears to me, nearly the same thing
by these two words. 3

It is manifest from this passage, that the four Gospels, and
the Acts of the Apostles, (the parts of scripture with which our
concern principally lies) were acknowledged without dispute,
even by those who raised objections, or entertained doubts,
about some other parts of the same collection. But the passage
proves something more than this. The author was extremely
conversant in the writings of Christians, which had been pub-
lished from the commencement of the institution to his own
time ; and it was from these writings that he drew his knowledge
of the character and reception of the books in question. That
Eusebius recurred to this medium of information, and that he

1 Laid. vol. viii. p. 90. 2 Ibid. vol. viii. p. 89.

» That Eusebius could not intend, by the word rendered 'spurious,' what we at
present mean by it. is evident from a clause in this very chapter, where, speaking
of the Gospels of Peter and Tbomas, and Matthias and some others, he says, ' Tbey
are not so much as to be reckoned among the spurious, but are to be rejected as
altogether absurd and impious.' — Vol. viii p. 98.

Ch. ix. § 8.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 165

had examined with attention this species of proof, is shown,
first, by a passage in the very chapter we are quoting, in which,
speaking of the books which he calls spurious, ' None [he says]
of the ecclesiastical writers, in the succession of the apostles,
have vouchsafed to make any mention of them in their writings ;'
and secondly, by another passage of the same work, wherein,
speaking of the first epistle of Peter, ' This [he says] the presby-
ters of ancient times have quoted in their writings as undoubt-
edly genuine ;* and then speaking of some other writings bear-
ing the name of Peter, ' We know [he says] that they have not
been delivered down to us in the number of catholic writings,
forasmuch as no ecclesiastical writer of the ancients, or of our
times, has made use of testimonies out of them.' 'But in the
progress of this history,' the author proceeds, ' we shall make
it our business to show, together with the successions from the
apostles, what ecclesiastical writers, in every age, have used
such writings as these which are contradicted, and what they
have said with regard to the scriptures received in the New
Testament, and acknowledged by all, and with regard to those
which are not such.' 2

After this it is reasonable to believe, that, when Eusebius
states the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, as un-
contradicted, uncontested, and acknowledged by all ; and when
he places them in opposition, not only to those which were
spurious in our sense of that term, but to those which were
controverted, and even to those which were w r ell known and
approved by many, yet doubted of by some ; he represents not
only the sense of his own age, but the result of the evidence
which the writings of prior ages, from the apostles' time to
his own, had furnished to his inquiries. The opinion of Eusebius
and his contemporaries appears to have been founded upon the
testimony of writers whom they then called ancient: and we
may observe, that such of the works of these writers as have
come down to our times, entirely confirm the judgment, and
support the distinction which Eusebius proposes. The books
which he calls ' books universally acknowledged,' are in fact

Lard. vol. viii. p. 99. a Ibid. p. Ill,

166 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

used and quoted in the remaining; works of christian writers
during the 250 years between the apostles' time and that of
Eusebius, much more frequently than, and in a different manner
from, those, the authority of which, he tells us, was disputed.

Section IX.

Our historical scriptures were attached by the early adversaries
of Christianity, as containing the accounts upon which the
religion was founded.

I. Near the middle of the second century, Celsus, a heathen
philosopher, wrote a professed treatise against Christianity. To
this treatise, Origen, who came about fifty years after him,
published an answer, in which he frequently recites his
adversary's words and arguments. The work of Celsus is lost ;
but that of Origen remains. Origen appears to have given us
the words of Celsus, where he professes to give them, ver^y
faithfully ; and, amongst other reasons for thinking so, this is
one, that the objection, as stated by him from Celsus, is some-
times stronger than his own answer. I think it also probable
that Origen, in his answer, has retailed a large portion of the
work of Celsus : ' That it may not be suspected [he says] that
we pass by any chapters, because we have no answers at hand,
I have thought it best, according to my ability, to confute
every thing proposed by him, not so much observing the
natural order of tilings, as the order which he has taken
himself.' '

Celsus wrote about one hundred years after the Gospels
were published ; and therefore any notices of these books from
him are extremely important for their antiquity. They are,
however, rendered more so by the character of the author; for
the reception, credit, and notoriety of these books must have
been well established amongst Christians, to have made them
subjects of animadversion and opposition by strangers and by
enemies. It evinces the truth of what Chrysostom, two cen-

1 Or. Cent. Cels. 1. i. sect, 41.

Ch. ix. § 9.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 167

tunes afterwards, observed, that 'the Gospels, when written,
were not hid in a corner or buried in obscurity, but they were
made known to all the world, before enemies as well as others,
even as they now are.' '

1. Celsus, or the Jew whom he personates, uses these words
— ' I could say many things concerning the affairs of Jesus,
and those, too, different from those written by the disciples of
Jesus, but I purposely omit them.' 2 Upon this passage it has
been rightly observed, that it is not easy to believe, that if
Celsus could have contradicted the disciples upon good evidence
in any material point, he would have omitted to do so ; and
that the assertion is, what Origen calls it, a mere oratorical
flourish.

It is sufficient however to prove, that, in the time of Celsus,
there were books well known, and allowed to be written by the
disciples of Jesus, which books contained a history of him. By
the term disciple, Celsus does not mean the followers of Jesus in
general, for them he calls Christians, or believers, or the like,
but those who had been taught by Jesus himself, i. e. his
apostles and companions.

2. In another passage, Celsus accuses the Christians of
altering the gospel. 3 The accusation refers to some variations
in the readings of particular passages ; for Celsus goes on to
object, that when they are pressed hard, and one reading has
been confuted, they disown that, and fly to another. "We
cannot perceive from Origen that Celsus specified any particular
instances, and without such specification the charge is of no
value. But the true conclusion to be drawn from it is, that
there were in the hands of the Christians, histories, which were
even then of some standing ; for various readings and corrup-
tions do not take place in recent productions.

The former quotation, the reader will remember, proved that
these books were composed by the disciples of Jesus, strictly so
called ; the present quotation shows that, though objections
were taken by the adversaries of the religion to the integrity
of these books, none were made to their genuineness.

3. In a third passage, the Jew, whom Celsus introduces,

1 In Matt. Hum. i. 7.
Lardnev' Jewish and Heathen Testim. vol. ii. p. 274. s Ibid. p. 275.

168 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

shuts up an argument in this manner : — ' These things then
we have alleged to you out of your own w? i itinys, not needing
any other weapons.' ! It is manifest that this boast proceeds
upon the supposition that the books, over which the writer
affects to triumph, possessed an authority by which Christians
confessed themselves to be bound.

4. That the books to which Celsus refers were no other than
our present Gospels, is made out by his allusions to various
passages still found in these Gospels. Celsus takes notice of the
genealogies, which fixes two of these gospels : of the precepts,
Resist not him that injures you, and, If a man strike thee on
one cheek, offer to him the other also ; 2 of the woes denounced
by Christ ; of his predictions ; of his saying that it is impossible
to serve two masters ; 3 of the purple robe, the crown of thorns,
and the reed in his hand ; of the blood that flowed from the
body of Jesus uj)on the cross, 4 which circumstance is recorded
by John alone ; and [what is instar omnium for the purpose
for which we produce it] of the difference in the accounts given
of the resurrection by the evangelists, some mentioning two
angels at the sepulchre, others only one. 5 i

It is extremely material to remark, that Celsus not only per-
petually referred to the accounts of Christ contained in the four
Gospels, 6 but that he referred to no other accounts ; that he
founded none of his objections to Christianity upon any thing-
del ivcred in spurious gospels.

II. What Celsus was in the second century, Porphyry be-
came in the third. His work, which was a large and formal
treatise against the christian religion, is not extant. We must
be content therefore to gather his objections from christian
writers, who have noticed in order to answer them : and enough
remains of this species of information, to prove completely, that
Porphyry's animadversions were directed against the contents
of our present Gospels, and of the Acts of the Apostles ; Por-
phyry considering that to overthrow them w 7 as to overthrow the
religion. Thus he objects to the repetition of a generation in St.

1 Lardnor's Jewish and Heathen Testim. vol. ii. p. 276. s Ibid, p 276.

8 Ibid. |> -J77. * Ibid. pp. 280, 281. B Ibid. p. 282.

The particular, of which the above are only ti few. are well collected by Mr.
Bryant, p 1 ID.

Ch. ix. § 9.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 169

Matthew's genealogy ; to Matthew's call ; to the quotation of a
text from Isaiah, which is found in a psalm ascribed to Asaph;
to the calling of the lake of Tiberias a sea ; to the expression
in St. Matthew, ' the abomination of desolation ;' to the varia-
tion in Matthew and Mark upon the text ' the voice of one
crying in the wilderness,' Matthew citing it from Isaias, Mark
from the Prophets ; to John's application of the term ' "Word ;'
to Christ's change of intention about going up to the feast of
tabernacles (John vii. 8) ; to the judgment denounced by St.
Peter upon Ananias and Sapphira, which he calls an impreca-
tion of death. 1

The instances here alleged serve, in some measure, to show
the nature of Porphyry's objections, and prove that Porphyry
had read the Gospels with that sort of attention which a writer
would employ who regarded them as the depositories of the re-
ligion which he attacked. Besides these specifications, there
exists in the writings of ancient Christians general evidence,
that the places of scripture upon which Porphyry had remarked
were very numerous.

In some of the above cited examples, Porphyry, speaking of
St. Matthew, calls him your evangelist ; he also uses the term
evangelists in the plural number. What was said of Celsus is
true likewise of Porphyry, that it does not appear that he con-
sidered any history of Christ, except these, as having authority
with Christians.

III. A third great writer against the christian religion was
the emperor Julian, whose work was composed about a century
after that of Porphyry.

In various long extracts, transcribed from this work by Cyril
and Jerome, it appears 2 that Julian noticed by name Matthew
and Luke, in the difference between their genealogies of Christ ;
that he objected to Matthew's application of the prophecy,
' Out of Egypt have I called my son' (ii. 15), and to that of ' a
virgin shall conceive' (i. 22) ; that he recited sayings of Christ
and various passages of his history, in the very words of the
evangelists ; in particular, that Jesus healed lame and blind
people, and exorcised demoniacs, in the villages of Bethsaida
and Bethany : that he alleged that none of Christ's disciples

» Jewish u?id Heathen Test. vol. iii. p. 166 et seq. a Ibid. vol. iv. p. 77 et seq.

170 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

ascribed to him the creation of the world, except John ; that
neither Paul, nor Matthew, nor Luke, nor Mark, have dared to
call Jesus, God : that John wrote later than the other evan-
gelists, and at a time when a great number of men in the
cities of Greece and Italy were converted ; that he alludes to
the conversion of Cornelius and of Sergius Paulus, to Peter's
vision, to the circular letter sent by the apostles and elders at
Jerusalem, which are all recorded in the Acts of the Apostles :
by which quoting of the four Gospels and the Acts of the
Apostles, and by quoting no other, Julian shows that these
were the historical books, and the only historical books, received
by Christians as of authority, and as the authentic memoirs of
Jesus Christ, of his apostles, and of the doctrines taught by
them. But Julian's testimony does something more than rep-
resent the judgment of the christian church in his time. It
discovers also his own. He himself expressly states the early
date of these records : he calls them by the names which they
now bear. He all along supposes, he nowhere attempts to
question, their genuineness.

The argument in favor of the books of the ]STew Testament
drawn from the notice taken of their contents by the early
writers against the religion, is very considerable. It proves
that the accounts which Christians had then, were the accounts
which we have now ; that our present scriptures were theirs.
It proves, moreover, that neither Celsus in the second, Por-
phyry in the third, nor Julian in the fourth century, suspected
the authenticity of these books, or ever insinuated that Chris-
tians were mistaken in the authors to whom they ascribed them.
Not one of them expressed an opinion upon this subject dif-
ferent from that which was held by Christians. And when we
consider how much it would have availed them to have cast a
doubt upon tins point, if they could; and how ready they
showed themselves to be, to take every advantage in their
power; and that they were all men of learning and inquiry;
their concession, or rather their suffrage, upon the subject, is
extremely valuable.

In the case of Porphyry, it is made still stronger, by the
consideration that he did in fact support himself by this species
of objection, when lie saw any room for it, or when his acute-
ness could supply any pretence for alleging it. The prophecy

Ch. ix. § 10.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 171

of Daniel he attacked upon this very ground of spuriousness,
insisting that it was written after the time of Antiochus
Epiphanes, and maintains his charge of forgery by some, far-
fetched indeed, but very subtle criticisms. Concerning the
writings of the New Testament, no trace of this suspicion is
anywhere to be found in him. 1

Section X.

Formal catalogues of authentic scriptures were published, in all
which our present sacred histories were included.

This species of evidence comes later than the rest ; as it was
not natural that catalogues of any particular class of books
should be put forth until christian writings became numerous ;
or until some writings showed themselves, claiming titles
which did not belong to them, and thereby rendering it
necessary to separate books of authority from others. But,
when it does appear, it is extremely satisfactory ; the catalogues,
though numerous, and made in countries at a wide distance
from one another, differing very little, differing in nothing
which is material, and all containing the four Gospels. To this
last article there is no exception.

I. In the writings of Origen which remain, and in some
extracts preserved by Eusebius, from works of his which are
now lost, there are enumerations of the books of scripture, in
which the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are dis-
tinctly and honorably specified, and in which no books
appear beside what are now received. 2 The reader, by this
time, will easily recollect that the date of Origen's works is
a. d. 230.

II. Athanasius, about a century afterwards, delivered a
catalogue of the books of the New Testament in form, con-

1 Michaelis' Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 43. Marsh's Transla-
tion.

5 Tnrdner's Cred. vol. iii. p. 234 et. seq. ; vol. viii. p. 196.

172 Evidences of Christianity. [Parti.

taining our scriptures and no others ; of which he says, ' In
these alone the doctrine of religion is taught ; let no man add
to them, or take any thing from them.' 1

III. Ahout twenty years after Athanasius, Cyril, bishop of
Jerusalem, set forth a catalogue of the books of scripture
publicly read at that time in the church of Jerusalem, exactly
the same as ours, except that the ' Revelation' is omitted. 2

IV. And, fifteen years after Cyril, the Council of Laodicea
delivered an authoritative catalogue of canonical scripture,
like Cyril's, the same as ours, with the omission of the ' Reve-
lation.'

V. Catalogues now became frequent. Within thirty years
after the last date, that is, from the year 363 to near the
conclusion of the fourth century, we have catalogues by
Epiphanius, 3 by Gregory Nazianzen, 4 by Philaster bishop of
Brescia in Italy, 5 by Amphilochius bishop of Iconium, all, as
they are sometimes called, clean catalogues (that is, they admit
no books into the number beside what we now receive),
and all, for every purpose of historic evidence, the same as
ours. 6 <■

VI. Within the same period, Jerome, the most learned
christian writer of his age, delivered a catalogue of the books
of the New Testament, recognizing every book now received,
with the intimation of a doubt concerning the Epistle to the
Hebrews alone, and taking not the least notice of any book
which is not now received."

VII. Contemporary with Jerome, who lived in Palestine,
was St. Augustine in Africa, who published likewise a cata-
logue, without joining to the scriptures, as books of authority,
any other ecclesiastical writing whatever, and without omitting
one which w r e at this day acknowledge. 8

VIII. And witli these concurs another contemporary
writer, Rusen, presbyter of Aquileia, whose catalogue, like
theirs, is perfect and unmixed, and concludes with these

1 Lard. Cred. vol. viii. p. 223. * Ibid. vol. viii. p. 270. * Ibid. p. 3G8.

4 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 132. " Ibid. p. 373.

• Epiphanius omits the Acts of the Apostles. This most have been an acciden-
tal mistake, either in him, or in some copyist of his work ; for he elsewhere ex-
pressly refers to this honk, and ascribes it to Luke.

7 Ibid. vol. x. p. 77. s ibid. p. 213.

Ch. ix. § 11.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 173

remarkable words : ' These are the volumes which the Fathers
have included in the canon, and out of which they would have
us prove the doctrine of our faith.' l

Section XI.

These propositions cannot be predicated of any of those boohs
which are commonly called apocryphal books of the New
Testament.

I do not know that the objection taken from apocryphal
writings is at present much relied upon by scholars. But
there are many, who, hearing that various gospels existed in
ancient times under the names of the apostles, may have taken
up a notion, that the selection of our present gospels from the
rest, was rather an arbitrary or accidental choice, than founded
in any clear and certain cause of preference. To these it may
be very useful to know the truth of the case. I observe there-
fore,

I. That, beside our gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, no
christian history, claiming to be written by an apostle or apos-
tolical man, is quoted within three hundred years after the
birth of Christ, by any writer now extant, or known ; or, if
quoted, is not quoted without marks of censure and rejection.

I have not advanced this assertion without inquiry ; and I
doubt not, but that the passages cited by Mr. Jones and Dr.
Lardner, under the several titles which the apocryphal books
bear ; or a reference to the places where they are mentioned,
as collected in a very accurate table, published in the year
1773 by the Eev. J. Atkinson ; will make out the truth of the
proposition to the satisfaction of every fair and competent judg-
ment. If there be any book which may seem to form an ex-
ception to the observation, it is a Hebrew Gospel, which was
circulated under the various titles of the Gospel according to the
Hebrews, the Gospel of the Nazarenes, of the Ebionites, some-
times called of the Twelve, by some ascribed to St. Matthew.
This Gospel is once, and only once, cited by Clement Alexan-

' Lard. Cred. vol. x. p. 187.

171 Evidences of Christianity. [Parti.

drinus, who lived, the reader will remember, in the latter part
of the second century, and which same Clement quotes one
or other of our four Gospels in almost every page of his work.
It is also twice mentioned by Origen, a.d. 230 ; and both times
with marks of diminution and discredit. And this is the
ground upon which the exception stands. But what is still
more material to observe is, that this Gospel, in the main,
agreed with our present Gospel of St. Matthew. 1

ISTow if, with this account of the apocryphal Gospels, we
compare what we have read concerning the canonical scriptures
in the preceding sections ; or even recollect that general, but
well-founded, assertion of Dr. Lardner, ' That in the remaining
works of Irenreus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, who
all lived in the two first centuries, there are more and larger
quotations of the small volume of the ISTew Testament than of
all the works of Cicero, by writers of all characters, for several
ages;' 2 and if to this we add, that, notwithstanding the loss of
many works of the primitive times of Christianity, we have,
within the above-mentioned period, the remains of christian
writers, who lived in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, the
part of Africa that used the Latin tongue, in Crete, Greece,
Italy and Gaul, in all which remains references are found to
our evangelists ; I apprehend, that we shall perceive a clear and
broad line of division, between those writings, and all others
pretending to similar authority.

II. But besides certain histories which assumed the names
of Apostles, and which were forgeries properly so called, there
were some other christian writings, in the whole or in part of
an historical nature, which, though not forgeries, are denomi-
nated apocryphal, as being of uncertain or of no authority.

Of this second class of writings I have found only two which
are noticed by any author of the three first centuries, without
<'\ press terms of condemnation ; and these are, the one, a book
entitled The Preaching of J \ t< i\ quoted repeatedly by Clement
Alexandrinus, a.d. 196 ; the other, a book entitled The Reve-

' In applying to this Gospel, what Jerome in tin: latter end of the fourth cen-
tury lias mentioned of a Hebrew Gospel, I think it probable that we sometimes
confound it with a Hebrew copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, whether an original or
version, which was then extant.

"- r.-inl Greet, vol. xii. p. 53.

Oh. ix. § 11.] Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures. 175

lotion of Peter, upon which the above-mentioned Clement
Alexandrinus is said, by Eusebins, to have written notes; and
which is twice cited in a work still extant, ascribed to the same
author.

I conceive, therefore, that the proposition we have before
advanced, even after it hath been subjected to every exception,
of every kind, that can be alleged, separates, by a wide in-
terval, our historical scriptures from all other writings which
profess to give an account of the same subject.

"We may be permitted, however, to add,

1. That there is no evidence that any spurious or apocryphal
books whatever existed in the first century of the Christian
era : in which century all our historical books are proved to
have been extant. ' There are no quotations of any such books
in the apostolical fathers, by whom I mean Barnabas, Clement
of Rome, Hernias, Ignatius and Polycarp, whose writings reach
from about the year of our Lord TO, to the year 108 ;' (and
some of whom have quoted each and every one of our histo-
rical scriptures). ' I say this,' adds Dr. Lardner, ' because I
think it has been proved.' l

2. These apocryphal writings were not read in the churches
of Christians ;

3. Were not admitted into their volume ;

4. Do not appear in their catalogues ;

5. Were not noticed by their adversaries ;

6. Were not alleged by different parties, as of authority in
their controversies ;

7. Were not the subjects, amongst them, of commentaries,
versions, collations, expositions.

Finally ; beside the silence of three centuries, or evidence,
within that time, of their rejection, they were, with a consent
nearly universal, reprobated by christian writers of succeeding
ages.

Although it be made out by these observations, that the
books in question never obtained any degree of credit and
notoriety, which can place them in competition with our scrip-
tures, yet it appears from the writings of the fourth century,
that many such existed in that century, and in the century

i Lird. Cred. vol. xii. p. 158.

176 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

preceding it. It may be difficult at this distance of time to
account for their origin. Perhaps the most probable explica-
tion is, that they were in general composed with a design of
making a profit by the sale. Whatever treated of the subject
would find purchasers. It was an advantage taken of the pious
curiosity of unlearned Christians. With a view to the same
purpose, they were many of them adapted to the particular
opinions of particular sects, which would naturally promote
their circulation amongst the favorers of those opinions.
After all, they were probably much more obscure than we
imagine. Except the Gospel according to the Hebrews, there
is none of which we hear more than the Gospel of the
Egyptians ; yet there is good reason to believe that Clement, a
presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt, a. d. 184, and a man of
almost universal reading, had never seen it. 1 A Gospel ac-
cording to Peter, was another of the most ancient books of this
kind ; yet Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, a. d. 200, had not read
it, when he heard of such a book being in the hands of the
Christians of Rhossus in Cilicia ; and speaks of obtaining a
sight of this gospel from some sectaries who used it. 2 Even
of the Gospel of the Hebrews, which confessedly stands at the
head of the catalogue, Jerome, at the end of the fourth century,
was glad to procure a copy by the favor of the Nazarenes of
Berea. Nothing of this sort ever happened, or could have
happened, concerning our Gospels.

One thing is observable of all the apocryphal christian writ-
ings, viz., that they proceed upon the same fundamental history
of Christ and his apostles, as that which is disclosed in our
scriptures. The mission of Christ, his power of working
miracles, his communication of that power to the apostles, his
passion, death, and resurrection, are assumed or asserted by
every one of them. The names under which some of them
came forth, are the names of men of eminence in our histories.
What those books give are not contradictions, but unauthorized
additions. The principal facts are supposed, the principal
agents the same; which shows that these points were too much
fixed to be altered or disputed.

If there be any book of this description, which appears to

1 Jones, vol. i. p. 243. 3 Lard. Cred. vol. ii. p. 557.

Chap, x.] Recapitulation. 177

have imposed upon some considerable number of learned Chris-
tians, it is the Sybilline oracles; but when we reflect upon the
circumstances which facilitated that imposture, we shall cease
to wonder either at the attempt or its success. It was at that
time universally understood, that such a prophetic writing ex-
isted. Its contents were kept secret. This situation afforded to
some one a hint, as well as an opportunity, to give out a Writing
under this name, favorable to the already established persuasion
of Christians, and which writing, by the aid and recommenda-
tion of these circumstances, would in some degree, it is proba-
ble, be received. Of the ancient forgery we know but little ;
what is now produced could not, in my opinion, have imposed
upon any one. It is nothing else than the gospel history, woven
into verse ; perhaps was at first, rather a fiction, than a forgery ;
an exercise of ingenuity more than an attempt to deceive.

CHAPTER X.

Recapitulation .

THE reader will now be pleased to recollect, that the two
points which form the subject of our present discussion,
are, first, that the founder of Christianity, his associates, and
immediate followers, passed their lives in labors, dangers, and
sufferings ; secondly, that they did so, in attestation of the
miraculous history recorded in our scriptures, and solely in
consequence of their belief of the truth of that history.

The argument by which these two propositions have been
maintained by us, stands thus :

No historical fact, I apprehend, is more certain, than that the
original propagators of Christianity voluntarily subjected them-
selves to lives of fatigue, danger, and suffering, in the prosecu-
tion of their undertaking. The nature of the undertaking ;
the character of .the persons employed in it ; the opposition of
their tenets to the fixed opinions and expectations of the country,
in which they first advanced them ; their undissembled condem-
nation of the religion of all other countries ; their total want of
power, authority, or force, render it in the highest degree pro-
bable that this must have been the case. The probability is

178 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

increased, by what we know of the fate of the founder of the
institution, who was put to death for his attempt ; and by what
we also know of the cruel treatment of the converts to the in-
stitution, within thirty years after its commencement : both
which points are attested by heathen writers, and, being once
admitted, leave it very incredible that the primitive emissaries
of the religion, who exercised their ministry, first, amongst the
people who had destroyed their master, and afterwards, amongst
those who persecuted their converts, should themselves escape
with impunity, or pursue their purpose in ease and safety.
This probability, thus sustained by foreign testimony, is ad-
vanced, I think, to historical certainty, by the evidence of our
own books ; by the accounts of a writer who was the companion
of the persons whose sufferings he relates ; by the letters of the
persons themselves ; by predictions of persecutions ascribed to
the founder of the religion, which predictions would not have
been inserted in his history, much less have been studiously
dwelt upon, if they had not accorded with the event, and which,
even if falsely ascribed to him, could only have been so ascribed
because the event suggested them : lastly, by incessant exhor-
tations to fortitude and patience, and by an earnestness, repe-
tition, and urgency upon the subject, which were unlikely to
have appeared, if there had not been, at the time, some extra-
ordinary call for the exercise of these virtues.

It is made out also, I think with sufficient evidence, that
both the teachers and converts of the religion, in consequence
of their new profession, took up a new course of life and be-
havior.

The next question is, what they did this for. That it -was, for
a miraculous story of some kind or other, is to mv apprehension
extremely manifest ; because, as to the fundamental article, the
designation of the person, viz., that this particular person, Jesus
of Nazareth, ought to be received as the Messiah, or as a mes-
senger from God, they neither had, nor could have, any thing but
miracles to stand upon. That the exertions and sufferings of
the apostles were for the story which we have now, is proved by
the consideration that this story is transmitted to us by two of
their own number, and by two others personally connected with
them; that the particularity of the narrative proves, that the
writers claimed to possess circumstantial information, that from

Chap, x.] Recapitulation. 179

their situation they had full opportunity of acquiring such infor-
mation, that they certainly, at least, knew what their colleagues,
their companions, their masters taught; that each of these hooks
contains enough to prove the truth of the religion ; that, if any
one of them therefore be genuine, it is sufficient; that the genu-
ineness however of all of them is made out, as well by the general
arguments which evince the genuineness of the most undisputed
remains of antiquity, as also by peculiar specific proofs, viz.,
by citations from them in writings belonging to a period im-
mediately contiguous to that in which they were published ;
by the distinguished regard paid by early Christians to the
authority of these books (which regard was manifested by
their collecting of them into a volume, appropriating to that
volume titles of peculiar respect, translating them into various
languages, digesting them into harmonies, writing commentaries
upon them, and, still more conspicuously, by the reading of
them in their public assemblies in all parts of the world): by
an universal agreement with respect to these books, whilst
doubts were entertained concerning some others ; by contending
sects appealing to them ; by the early adversaries of the reli-
gion not disputing their genuineness, but, on the contrary,
treating them as the depositories of the history upon which the
religion was founded ; by many formal catalogues of these, as
of certain and authoritative writings, published in different and
distant parts of the christian world ; lastly, by the absence or
defect of the above-cited topics of evidence, when applied to
any other histories of the same subject.

These are strong arguments to prove, that the books actually
proceeded from the authors whose names they bear (and have
always borne, for there is not a particle of evidence to show
that they ever went under any other); but the strict genuine-
ness of the books is perhaps more than is necessary to the sup-
port of our proposition. For even supposing that, by reason of
the silence of antiquity, or the loss of records, we knew not
who were the writers of the four Gospels, yet the fact, that
they were received as authentic accounts of the transaction
upon which the religion rested, and were received as such by
Christians at or near the age of the apostles, by those whom
the apostles had taught, and by societies which the apostles
founded ; this fact, I say. connected with the consideration

180 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

that they are corroborative of each other's testimony, and that
they are farther corroborated by another contemporary history,
taking np the history where they had left it, and, in a narra-
tive built upon that story, accounting for the rise and produc-
tion of changes in the world, the effects of which subsist at
this day ; connected, moreover, with the confirmation which
they receive, from letters written by the apostles themselves,
which both assume the same general story, and, as often as
occasions lead them to do so, allude to particular parts of it;
and connected also with the reflection, that if the apostles de-
livered any different story, it is lost (the present and no other
being referred to by a series of christian writers, down from
their age to our own ; being likewise recognized in a variety of
institutions, which prevailed, early and universally, amongst the
disciples of the religion); and that so great a change, as the
oblivion of one story and the substitution of another, under
such circumstances, could not have taken place: this evidence
would be deemed, I apprehend, sufficient to prove concerning
these books, that, whoever were the authors of them, they ex-
hibit the story which the apostles told, and for which, conse-
quently, they acted, and they suffered.

If it be so, the religion must be true. These men could not
be deceivers. By only not bearing testimony, they might have
avoided all their sufferings, and have lived quietly. Would men
in such circumstances pretend to have seen what they never
saw ; assert facts which they had no knowledge of ; go about
lying, to teach virtue ; and, though not only convinced of
Christ's being an impostor, but having seen the success of his
imposture in his crucifixion, yet persist in carrying it on ; and
so persist, as to bring upon themselves, for nothing, and with a
full knowledge of the consequence, enmity and hatred, danger
and death?

op. 2, Ch. L] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 181

OF THE

DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

PROPOSITION II.

CHAPTER I.

Our First Proposition was, ' That there is satsifactory evidence,
that many, pretending to be original witnesses of the chris-
tian miracles, p>assed their lives in labors, dangers, and
sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone, in attesta-
tion of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in con-
sequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts ; and
that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules
of conduct?

Our Second Proposition, and which now remains to be treated
of, is, ' That there is not satisfactory evidence, that persons
pretending to be original witnesses of any other similar
miracles, have acted in the same manner, in attestation of
the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence
of their belief of the truth of those accounts?

I ENTER upon this part of my argument, by declaring how
far my belief in miraculous accounts goes. If the re-
formers in the time of Wickliff, or of Luther ; or those of
England, in the time of Henry the Eighth, or of Queen Mary ;
or the founders of our religious sects since, such as were Mr.
Whitfield and Mr. Wesley in our own times ; had undergone
the life of toil and exertion, of danger and sufferings, which we
know that many of them did undergo, for a miraculous story ;
that is to say, if they had founded their public ministry upon
the allegation of miracles wrought within their own knowledge,
and upon narratives which could not be resolved into delusion
or mistake ; and if it had appeared, that their conduct really
had its origin in these accounts, I should have believed them.
Or, to borrow an instance which will be familiar to every one
of my readers, if the late Mr. Howard had undertaken his
labors and journeys in attestation, and in consequence of a

182 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

clear and sensible miracle, I should have believed him also.
Or, to represent the same thing under a third supposition ; if
Socrates had professed to perform public miracles at Athens ;
if the friends of Socrates, Phsedo, Cebes, Crito, and Simmias,
together with Plato, and many of his followers, relying upon
the attestation which these miracles afforded to his pretensions,
had, at the hazard of their lives, and the certain expense of
their ease and tranquillity, gone about Greece, after his death,
to publish and propagate his doctrines ; and if these things
had come to our knowledge, in the same way as that in which
the life of Socrates is now transmitted to us, through the hands

7 O

of his companions and disciples, that is, by writings received
without doubt as theirs, from the age in which they were pub-
lished to the present, I should have believed this likewise.
And my belief would, in each case, be much strengthened, if
the subject of the mission were of importance to the conduct
and happiness of human life ; if it testified any thing which it
behooved mankind to know from such authority ; if the nature
of what it delivered, required the sort of proof which it alleged ;
if the occasion was adequate to the interposition, the tnd
worthy of the means. In the last case ny faith would be
much confirmed, if the effects of the transaction remained ;
more especially, if a change had been wrought, at the time, in
the opinion and conduct of such numbers, as to lay the foun-
dation of an institution, and of a system of doctrines, which
had since overspread the greatest part of the civilized world.
I should have believed, I say, the "testimony, in these cases ;
yet none of them do more than come up to the apostolic
history.

If any one choose to call assent to its evidence credulity,
it is at least incumbent upon him to produce examples in winch
the same evidence hath turned out to be fallacious. And this
contains the precise question which we are now to agitate.

In stating the comparison between our evidence, and what
our adversaries may bring into competition with ours, we will
divide the distinctions which we wish to propose into two kinds,
those which relate to the proof, and those which relate to the
miracles. Under the former head we may lay out of the
case,

I. Such accounts of supernatural events as are found only

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 183

in histories by some ages posterior to the transaction, and of
which it is evident that the historian could know little more
than his reader. Ours is contemporary history. This differ-
ence alone removes out of our way the miraculous history of
Pythagoras, who lived live hundred years before the christian
era, written by Porphyry and Jainblicus, who lived three hun-
dred years after that era; the prodigies of Livy's history; the
fables of the heroic ages ; the whole of the Greek and Bom an, as
well as of the Gothic mythology ; a great part of the legendary
history of Popish saints, the very best attested of which is
extracted from the certificates that are exhibited during the
process of their canonization, a ceremony which seldom takes
place till a century after their deaths. It applies also with
considerable force to the miracles of ApolloniusTyane us, which
are contained in a solitary history of his life, published by
Philostratus, above a hundred years after his death ; and in
which, whether Philostratus had any prior account to guide
him, depends upon his single unsupported assertion. Also to
some of the miracles of the third century, especially to one
extraordinary instance, the account of Gregory, bishop of Neo-
cesarea, called Thaumaturgus, delivered in the writings of
Gregory of Nyssen, who lived one hundred and thirty years
after the subject of his panegyric.

The value of this circumstance is shown to have been
accurately exemplified in the history of Ignatius Loyola, the
founder of the order of Jesuits. 1 His life, written by a com-
panion of his, and by one of the order, was published about
fifteen years after his death. In which life, the author, so far
from ascribing any miracles to Ignatius, industriously states
the reasons why he was not invested with any such power.
The life was republished fifteen years afterwards, with the
addition of many circumstances, which were the fruit, the
author says, of further inquiry, and of diligent examination ;
but still with a total silence about miracles. When Ignatius
had been dead near sixty years, the Jesuits, conceiving a wish
to have the founder of their order placed in the Roman
calendar, began, as it should seem, for the first time, to attri-
bute to him a catalogue of miracles, which could not then be

1 Douglas's Criterion of Miracles, p. 74.

184 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

distinctly disproved ; and which there was, in those who gov-
erned the church, a strong disposition to admit upon the slen-
derest proofs.

II. We may lay out of the case, accounts published in one
country, of what passed in a distant country, without any
proof that such accounts were known or received at home. In
the case of Christianity, Judea, which was the scene of the
transaction, was the centre of the mission. The story was
published in the place in which it was acted. The church of
Christ was first planted at Jerusalem itself. With that church
others corresponded. From thence the primitive teachers of
the institution went forth ; thither they assembled. The
church of Jerusalem, and the several churches of Judea, sub-
sisted from the beginning, and for many ages ; * received also
the same books, and the same accounts, as other churches
did.

This distinction disposes, amongst others, of the above-men-
tioned miracles of Apollonius Tyaneus, most of which are
related to have been performed in India, no evidence remaining
that either the miracles ascribed to him, or the histo|y of
those miracles were ever heard of in India. Those of Francis
Xavier, the Indian missionary, with many others of the Romish
breviary, are liable to the same objections, viz., that the ac-
counts of them were published at a vast distance from the sup-
posed scene of the wonders. 2

III. We lay out of the case transient rumors. Upon the
first publication of an extraordinary account, or even of an
article of ordinary intelligence, no one, who is not personally
acquainted with the transaction, can know whether it be true
or false, because any man may publish any story. It is in
the future confirmation, or contradiction, of the account ; in
its permanency, or its disappearance ; its dying away into
silence, or its increasing in notoriety ; its being followed up by
subsequent accounts, and being repeated in different and inde-
pendent accounts, that solid truth is distinguished from fugitive

1 The succession of many eminent bishops of Jerusalem, in the three first cen-
turies, is distinctly preserved, as Alexander, a. d. 212, who succeeded Narcissus,
then 116 years old.

3 Doug. Chit. p. 84.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. ] 85

lies. This distinction is altogether on the side of Chris-
tianity. The story did not drop. On the contrary, it was
succeeded by a train of action and events dependent upon it.
The accounts, which we have in our hands, were composed
after the first reports must have subsided. They were fol-
lowed by a train of writings upon the subject. The historical
testimonies of the transaction were many and various, and con-
nected with letters, discourses, controversies, apologies, succes-
sively produced by the same transaction.

TV. We may lay out of the case what I call naked history.
It has been said, that if the prodigies of the Jewish history
had been found only in fragments of Manetho, or Berosus. we
should have paid no regard to them: and I am willing to
admit this. If we knew nothing of the fact, but from the
fragment; if we possessed no proof that these accounts had
been credited and acted upon, from times, probably, as ancient
as the accounts themselves; if we had no visible effects con-
nected with the history, no subsequent or collateral testimony
to confirm it ; under these circumstances, I think that it
would be undeserving of credit. But this certainly is not our
case. In appreciating the evidence of Christianity, the books
are to be combined with the institution ; with the prevalency
of the religion at this day ; with the time and place of its
origin, which are acknowledged points; with the circumstances
of its rise and progress, as collected from external history ;
w r ith the fact of our present books being received by the
votaries of the institution from the beginning; with that of
other books coming after these, filled with accounts of effects
and consequences resulting from the transaction, or referring
to the transaction, or built upon it; lastly, with the con-
sideration of the number and variety of the books themselves,
the different writers from which they proceed, the different
views with which they were written, so disagreeing as to repel
the suspicion of confederacy, so agreeing as to show that they
were founded in a common original, i. e., in a story sub-
stantially the same. Whether this proof be satisfactory or not,
it is properly a cumulation of evidence, by no means a naked
or solitary record.

Y. A mark of historical truth, although only a certain way,
and to a certain degree, is particularity, in names, dates,

186 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

places, circumstances, and in the order of events preceding or
following the transaction : of which kind, for instance, is the
particularity in the description of St. Paul's voyage and ship-
wreck, in the 27th chapter of the Acts, which no man, I
think, can read without being convinced that the writer was
there ; and also in the account of the cure and examination of
the blind man, in the 9th chapter of St. John's Gospel, which
bears every mark of personal knowledge on the part of the
historian. 1 I do not deny that fiction has often the particu-
larity of truth ; but then it is of studied and elaborate fiction,
or of a formal attempt to deceive, that we observe this.
Since, however, experience proves that particularity is not con-
lined to truth, I have stated that it is a proof of truth only to
a certain extent, i. e., it reduces the question to this, whether
we can depend or not, upon the probity of the relator : which is
a considerable advance in our present argument ; for an express
attempt to deceive, in which case alone particularity can appear
without truth, is charged upon the evangelists by few. If the
historian acknowledge himself to have received his intelligence
from others, the particularity of the narrative shows, prima
facie, the accuracy of his inquiries, and the fulness of IiSb
information. This remark belongs to St. Luke's history. Of
the particularity which we allege, many examples may be found
in all the gospels. And it is very difficult to conceive, that
such numerous particularities, as are almost everywhere to be
met with in the scriptures, should be raised out of nothing, or
be spun out of the imagination without any fact to go upon. 2

It is to be remarked, however, that this particularity is only
to be looked for in direct history. It is not natural in re-
ferences or allusions, which yet, in other respects, often afford,
as far as they go, the most unsuspicious evidence.

1 Both these chapters ought to be read for the sake of this very observation.

s 'Their is always some; truth where there are considerable particularities re-
lated ; and they always seem to bear some proportion to one another. Thus
there is a great want of the particulars of time, place, and persons, in Maudlin's
account of the Egyptian Dynasties, Etesias's of the Assyrian Kings, and those
which the technical chronologers have given of the ancient kingdoms of Greece ;
and. agreeably thereto, these accounts have much fiction and falsehood, with
some truth : whereas Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, and Caesar's
of the War in Gaul, in both which the particulars of time, place, and persons
are mentioned, are universally esteemed true to a great degree of exactness.' —

lla.ltey. vol. ii. p. 109.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 187

VI. We lay out of the case such stories of supernatural
events, as require on the part of the hearer, nothing more than
an otiose assent ; stories upon which nothing depends, in which
no interest is involved, nothing is to be done or changed in con-
sequence of believing them. Such stories are credited, if the
careless assent that is given to them deserve that name, more
by the indolence of the hearer, than by his judgment : or
though not much credited are passed from one to another
without inquiry or resistance. To this case, and to this case
alone, belongs what is called the love of the marvellous. I
have never known it carry men further. Men do not suffer
persecution from the love of the marvellous. Of the indifferent
nature we are speaking of, are most vulgar errors and popular
superstitions : most, for instance, of the current reports of appa-
ritions. Nothing depends upon their being true or false. But
not, surely, of this kind were the alleged miracles of Christ
and his apostles. They decided, if true, the most important
question upon which the human mind can fix its anxiety. They
claimed to regulate the opinions of mankind, upon subjects in
which they are not only deeply concerned, but usually refractory
and obstinate. Men could not be utterly careless in such a
case as this. If a Jew took up the story, he found his darling
partiality to his own nation and law wounded ; if a Gentile, he
found his idolatry and polytheism reprobated and condemned.
Whoever entertained the account, whether Jew or Gentile, could
not avoid the following reflection : — ' If these things be true, I
must give up the opinions and principles in which I have been
brought up, the religion in which my fathers lived and died.'
It is not conceivable that a man should do this upon any idle
report or frivolous account, or, indeed, without being fully
satisfied and convinced of the truth and credibiltty of the nar-
rative to which he trusted. But it did not stop at opinions.
They who believed Christianity, acted upon it. Many made it
the express business of their lives to publish the intelligence.
It was required of those who admitted that intelligence, to
change forthwith their conduct and their principles, to take up
a different course of life, to part with their habits and grati-
fications, and begin a new set of rules, and system of behavior.
The apostles, at least, were interested not to sacrifice their ease,
their fortunes, and their lives for an idle tale ; multitudes

188 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

beside them Mere induced, by the same tale, to encounter op-
position, danger and sufferings.

If it be said, that the mere promise of a future state would
do all this ; I answer, that the mere promise of a future state,
without any evidence to give credit or assurance to it, would do
nothing. A few wandering fishermen talking of a resurrection
of the dead could produce no effect. If it be further said, that
men easily believe what they anxiously desire, I again answer
that, in my opinion, the very contrary of this is nearer to the
truth. Anxiety of desire, earnestness of expectation, the vast-
ness of an event, rather causes men to disbelieve, to doubt, to
dread a fallacy, to distrust, and to examine. When our Lord's
resurrection was first reported to the apostles, they did not
believe, we are told, for joy. This was natural, and is agreeable
to experience.

VII. We have laid out of the case those accounts which re-
quire no more than a simple assent ; and we now also lay out
of the case those which come merely in affirmance of opinions
already formed. This last circumstance is of the utmost im-
portance to notice well. It has long been observed, that Popish^
miracles happen in Popish countries ; that they make no con-
verts : which proves that stories are accepted, when they fall in
with principles already fixed, with the public sentiments, or
with the sentiments of a party already engaged on the side the
miracle supports, which would not be attempted to be pro-
duced in the face of enemies, in opposition to reigning tenets or
favorite prejudices, or when, if they be believed, the belief
must draw men away from their preconceived and habitual
opinions, from their modes of life and rules of action. In the
former case, men may not only receive a miraculous account?
but may both act and suffer on the side, and in the cause,
which the miracle supports, yet not act or suffer for the miracle,
but in pursuance of a prior persuasion. The miracle, like any
other argument, which only confirms what was before believed,
is admitted with little examination. In the moral as in the
natural world, it is change which requires a cause. Men are
easily fortified in their old opinions, driven from them with
great difficulty. Now, how does this apply to the christian
history? The miracles, there recorded, were wrought in the
midst of enemies, under a government, a priesthood, and a

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 189

magistracy, decidedly and vehemently adverse to them, and to
the pretensions which they supported. They were Protestant
miracles in a Popish country ; they were Popish miracles in
the midst of Protestants. They produced a change; they
established a society upon the spot, adhering to the belief of
them; they made converts; and those who were converted,
gave up to the testimony their most fixed opinions and most
favorite prejudices. They who acted and suffered in the
cause, acted and suffered for the miracles ; for there was no
anterior persuasion to induce them, no prior reverence, prejudice,
or partiality, to take hold of. Jesus had not one follower when
he set up his claim. His miracles gave birth to his sect. No
part of this description belongs to the ordinary evidence of
Heathen or Popish miracles. Even most of the miracles
alleged to have been performed by Christians, in the second
and third century of its era, want this confirmation. It con-
stitutes indeed a line of partition between the origin and the
progress of Christianity. Frauds and fallacies might mix them-
selves with the progress, which could not possibly take place
in the commencement of the religion; at least, according to
any laws of human conduct that we- are acquainted with.
What should suggest to the first propagators of Christianity,
especially to fishermen, tax-gatherers, and husbandmen, such a
thought as that of changing the religion of the world ; what
could bear them through the difficulties in which the attem pt
engaged them ; what could procure any degree of success to the
attempt ; are questions which apply with great force to the
setting out of the institution, with less to every future stage of it.
To hear some men talk, one would suppose the setting up of
a religion by miracles to be a thing of every day's experi-
ence ; whereas the whole current of history is against it. Hath
any founder of a new sect amongst Christians pretended to
miraculous powers, and succeeded by his pretensions ? ' "Were
these powers claimed or exercised by the founders of the sects
of the Waldenses and Albigenses ? Did "Wickliff in England
pretend to it ? Did Huss or Jerome in Bohemia ? Did Luther
in Germany, Zuingliusin Switzerland, Calvin in France, or any
of the reformers advance this plea ? 1 The French prophets,

1 Campbell on Miracles, p. 120, ed. 1766.

190 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

in the beginning of the present century, ventured to allege
miraculous evidence, and immediately ruined their cause by
their temerity. ' Concerning the religion of ancient Rome, of
Turkey, of Siam, of China, a single miracle cannot be named,
that was ever offered as a test of any of those religions before
their establishment.' '

"We may add to what has been observed, of the distinction
which we are considering, that, where miracles are alleged
merely in affirmance of a prior opinion, they who believe the
doctrine may sometimes propagate a belief of the miracles
which they do not themselves entertain. This is the case of
what are called pious frauds ; but it is a case, I apprehend,
which takes place solely in support af a persuasion already
established. At least it does not hold of the apostolical his-
tory. If the apostles did not believe the miracles, they did
not believe the religion ; and, without this belief, where was
the piety, what place was there for any thing which could bear
the name or color of piety, in publishing and attesting mir-
acles in its behalf? If it be said that many promote the
belief of revelation, and of any accounts which favor thaj
belief, because they think them, whether well or ill founded, of
public and political utility, I answer, that if a character exist,
which can with less justice than another be ascribed to the
founders of the christian religion, it is that of politicians, or
of men capable of entertaining political views. The truth is,
that there is no assignable character which will account for the
conduct of the apostles, supposing their story to be false. If
bad men, what could have induced them to take such pains
to promote virtue? If good men, they would not have
gone about the country with a string of lies in their
mouths.

In appreciating the credit of any miraculous story, these
are distinctions which relate to the evidence. There are other
distinctions, of great moment in the question, which relate to
the miracles themselves. Of which latter kind the following
ought carefully to be retained.

I. It is not necessary to admit as a miracle, what can be
resolved into & false perception. Of this nature was the demon

1 Adam's on Miracles, p. 75.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 191

of Socrates ; the visions of St. Anthon y, and of many others ;
the vision which Lord Herbert of Cherbury describes himself
to have seen ; Colonel Gardiner's vision, as related in his life,
written by Dr. Doddridge. All these may be accounted for
by a momentary insanity ; for the characteristic symptom of
human madness is the rising up in the mind of images not
distinguishable by the patient from impressions upon the
senses. 1 The cases, however, in which the possibility of this
delusion exists, are divided from the cases in which it does not
exist, by many, and those not obscure marks. They are, for
the most part, cases of visions or voices. The object is hardly
ever touched. The vision submits not to be handled. One
sense does not confirm another. They are likewise almost
always cases of a solitary witness. It is in the highest degree
improbable, and I know not, indeed, whether it hath ever been
the fact, that the same derangement of the mental organs
should seize different persons at the same time ; a derange-
ment, I mean, so much the same, as to represent to their im-
agination the same objects. Lastly, these are always cases of
momentary miracles ; by which term I mean to denote miracles
of which the whole existence is of short duration, in contra-
distinction to miracles which are attended with permanent
effects. The appearance of a spectre, the hearing of a super-
natural sound, is a momentary miracle. The sensible proof is
gone w T hen the apparition or sound is over. But if a person
born blind be restored to sight, a notorious cripple to the use
of his limbs, or a dead man to life, here is a permanent effect
produced by supernatural means. The change indeed was
instantaneous, but the proof continues. The subject of the
miracle remains. The man cured or restored is there : his
former condition was known, and his present condition may
be examined. This can by no possibility be resolved into false
perception : and of this kind are by far the greater part of the
miracles recorded in the New Testament. When Lazarus was
raised from the dead, he did not merely move, and speak, and
die again ; or come out of the grave and vanish away. He
returned to his home and his family, and there continued ; for
we find him, some time afterwards, in the same town, sitting

Batty on Lunacy.

192 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

at table with Jesus and his sisters ; visited by great multitudes
of the Jews, as a subject of curiosity ; giving, by his presence,
so much uneasiness to the Jewish rulers as to beget in them
a design of destroying him. 1 No delusion can account for
this. The French prophets in England, some time since, gave
out that one of their teachers would come to life again, but
their enthusiasm never made them believe that they actually
saw him alive. The blind man, whose restoration to sight at
Jerusalem is recorded in the ninth chapter of St. John's Gos-
pel, did not quit the place, or conceal himself from inquiry.
On the contrary, he was forthcoming, to answer the call, to
satisfy the scrutiny, and to sustain the brow-beating of Christ's
angry and powerful enemies. When the cripple at the gate
of the temple was suddenly cured by Peter, 2 he did not imme-
diately relapse into his former lameness, or disappear out of
the city ; but boldly and honestly produced himself along with
the apostles, when they were brought the next day before the
Jewish council. 3 Here, though the miracle was sudden, the
proof was permanent. The lameness had been notorious, the
cure continued. This, therefore, could not be the effect of anv
momentary delirium, either in the subject or in the witnesses
of the transaction. It is the same with the greatest number
of the Scripture miracles. There are other eases of a mixed
nature, in which, although the principal miracle be momentary,
some circumstance combined with it is permanent. Of this
kind is the history of St. Paul's conversion. 4 The sudden
light and sound, the vision and the voice, upon the road to
1 )amascus, were momentary : but Paul's blindness for three
days in consequence of what had happened ; the communica-
tion made to Ananias in another place, and by a vision inde-
pendent of the former; Ananias finding out Paul in conse-
quence of intelligence so received, and finding him in the con-
dition described ; and Paul's recovery of his sight upon Ananias
laying his hands upon him, — are circumstances which take the
transaction, and the principal miracle as included in it, entirely
out of the case of momentary miracles, or of such as may lie
accounted for by false perceptions. Exactly the same thing
may be observed of Peter's vision preparatory to the call of

' John xii. 1, 2, 9, 10. » Acts Hi. 2. ' Ibid, i v. 14. «Ibidix.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 193

Cornelius, and of its connection with what was imparted in a
distant place to Cornelius himself, and with the message dis-
patched by Cornelius to Peter. The vision might be a dream ;
the message could not. Either communication, taken sepa-
rately, might be a delusion ; the concurrence of the two was
impossible to happen without a supernatural cause.

Beside the risk of delusion which attaches upon momentary
miracles, there is also much more room for imposture. The
account cannot be examined at the moment. And, when that
is also a moment of hurry and confusion, it may not be difficult
for men of influence to gain credit to any story which they
may wish to have believed. This is precisely the case of one
of the best attested of the miracles of Old Rome, the appear-
ance of Castor and Pollux in the battle fought by Posthumius
with the Latins at the lake Pegillus. There is no doubt but
that Posthumius, after the battle, spread the report of such an
appearance. No person could deny it, while it was said to last.
No person, perhaps, had any inclination to dispute it after-
wards ; or, if they had, could say with positiveness, what was,
or what was not seen, by some or other of the army, in the
dismay and amidst the tumult of a battle.

In assigning false perceptions as the origin to which some
miraculous accounts may be referred, I have not mentioned
claims to inspiration, illuminations, secret notices or directions,
internal sensations, or consciousness of being acted upon by
spiritual influences, good or bad ; because these, appealing to
no externa] proof, however convincing they may be to the per-
sons themselves, form no part of what can be accounted mirac-
ulous evidence. Their own credibility stands upon their alliance
with other miracles. The discussion, therefore, of all such
pretensions may be omitted.

II. It is not necessary to bring into the comparison what
may be called tentative miracles ; that is, where, out of a great
number of trials, some succeed ; and in the accounts of which,
although the narrative of the successful cases be alone preserved,
and that of the unsuccessful cases sunk, yet enough is stated to
show that the cases produced are only a few out of many in
which the same means have been employed. This observation
bears, with considerable force, upon the ancient oracles and
auguries, in which a single coincidence of the event with the

194 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

prediction is talked of and magnified, while failures are forgot-
ten, or suppressed, or accounted for. It is also applicable to
the cures wrought by relics, and at the tombs of saints. The
boasted efficacy of the king's touch, upon which Mr. Hume
lays some stress, falls under the same description. Nothing is
alleged concerning it, which is not alleged of various nostrums,
namely, out of many thousands who have used them, certified
proofs of a few who have recovered after them. No solution of this
sort is applicable to the miracles of the gospel. There is noth-
ing in the narrative which can induce, or even allow, us to be-
lieve, that Christ attempted cures in many instances, and suc-
ceeded in a few, or that he ever made the attempt in vain.
He did not profess to heal everywhere all that were sick ; on
the contrary, he told the Jews, evidently meaning to represent
his own case, that, ' although many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and
six months, when great famine was throughout all the land, yet
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow :' and that 'many
lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet, and
none of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian.' l By
which examples he gave them to understand, that it was not the
nature of a divine interposition, or necessary to its purpose, to
be general ; still less, to answer every challenge that might be
made, which would teach men to put their faith upon these
experiments. Christ never pronounced the word but the
effect followed. 2 It was not a thousand sick that received his
benediction, and a few that were benefited ; a single paralytic
is let down in his bed at Jesus's feet, in the midst of a sur-
rounding multitude ; Jesus bid him walk, and he did so. 3 A
man with a withered hand is in the synagogue ; Jesus bid

1 Luke iv. 25.
2 One, and only one, instance may be produced in which the disciples of Christ
do seem to have attempted a cure, and not to have been able to perform it. The
story is very ingenuously related by tbree of the evangelists. The patient was
afterwards healed by Christ himself ; and the whole transaction seems to have
been intended, as it was well suited, to display the superiority of Christ above all
who performed miracles in his name ; a distinction which, during his presence in
the world, it might be necessary to inculcate by some such proof as this.

3 Mark ii. 3.

° Mark ix. 14. Matt. xvi. 20.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 195

him stretch forth his hand, in the presence of the assembly,
and it was restored whole like the other.' 1 There was nothing
tentative in these cures ; nothing that can be explained by the
power of accident.

We may observe also, that many of the cures which Christ
wrought, such as that of a person blind from his birth, also
many miracles beside cures — as raising the dead, walking upon
the sea, feeding a great multitude with a few loaves and fishes
— are of a nature which does not in any wise admit of the sup-
position of a fortunate experiment.

III. We may dismiss from the question all accounts in which,
allowing the phenomenon to be real, the fact to be true, it still
remains doubtful whether a miracle were wrought. This is
the case with the ancient history of what is called the thun-
dering legion, of the extraordinary circumstances which ob-
structed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem by Julian,
the circling of the flames and fragrant smell at the martyrdom
of Polycarp, the sudden shower that extinguished the fire into
which the Scriptures were thrown in the Diocletian persecu-
tion ; Constantine's dream ; his inscribing, in consequence of it,
the cross upon his standard and the shields of his soldiers ; his
victory, and the escape of the standard-bearer; perhaps also
the imagined appearance of the cross in the heavens, though
this last circumstance is very deficient in historical evidence.
It is also the case with the modern annual exhibition of the
liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples. It is a
doubt likewise, which ought to be excluded by very special
circumstances from these narratives which relate to the super-
natural cure of hypochondriacal and nervous complaints, and
of all diseases which are much affected by the imagination.
The miracles of the second and third century are, usually,
healing the sick, and casting out evil spirits, miracles in which
there is room for some error and deception. We hear nothing
of causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear,
the lepers to be cleansed. 2 There are also instances, in Chris-
tian writers, of reputed miracles, which were natural operations,
though not known to be such at the time — as that of articulate
speech after the loss of a great part of the tongue.

1 Matt. xii. 10. ' Jovtin's Remarks, vol. ii. p. 51.

196 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

IV. To the same head of objection nearly, may also be re-
ferred accounts in which the variation of a small circumstance
may have transformed some extraordinary appearance, or some
critical coincidence of events, into a miracle ; stories, in a word,
which may be resolved into exaggeration. The miracles of the
Gospel can by no possibility be explained away in this manner.
Total fiction will account for any thing ; but no stretch of ex-
aggeration that has any parallel in other histories, no force
of fancy upon real circumstances, could produce the narratives
which we now have. The feeding of the five thousand with a
few loaves and fishes surpasses all bounds of exaggeration. The
raising of Lazarus, of the widow's son at Nain, as well as many
of the cures which Christ wrought, come not within the com-
pass of misrepresentation. I mean, that it is impossible to as-
sign any position of circumstances, however peculiar, any acci-
dental effects, however extraordinary, any natural singularity,
which could supply an origin or foundation to these accounts.

Having thus enumerated several exceptions, which may
justly be taken to relations of miracles, it is necessary, when we
read the Scriptures, to bear in our minds this general remark,
that, although there be miracles recorded in the New Testamefrt
which fall within some or other of the exceptions here assigned,
yet that they are united with others to which none of the same
exceptions extend, and that their credibility stands upon this
union. Thus the visions and revelations which St. Paul asserts
to have been imparted to him, may not, in their separate evi-
dence, be distinguishable from the visions and revelations which
many others have alleged. But here is the difference. St.
Paul's pretensions were attested by external miracles wrought
by himself, and b} T miracles wrought in the cause to which
these visions relate ; or, to speak more properly, the same his-
torical authority which informs us of one informs us of the other.
This is not ordinarily true of the visions of enthusiasts, or even
of the accounts in which they are contained. Again, some of
Christ's own miracles were momentary; as the transfigura-
tion, the appearance and voice from heaven at his baptism,
a voice from the clouds upon one occasion afterwards (John
xii. 30), and some others. It is not denied, that the distinction
which we have proposed concerning miracles of this species
applies, in diminution of the force of the evidence, as much to

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Alleged Evidence for the Miracles. 197

these instances as to others. But this is the case, not with all
the miracles ascribed to Christ, nor with the greatest part, nor
with many. Whatever force therefore there may be in the
objection, we have numerous miracles which are free from it;
and even these to which it is applicable, are little affected by it
in their credit, because there are few, who, admitting the rest,
will reject them. If there be miracles of the New Testament,
which come within any of the other heads into which we have
distributed the objections, the same remark must be repeated.
And this is one way, in which the unexampled number and
variety of the miracles ascribed to Christ, strengthens the cred-
ibility of Christianity. For it precludes any solution, or con-
jecture about a solution, which imagination, or even which ex-
perience might suggest concerning some particular miracles, if
considered independently of others. The miracles of Christ
were of various kinds, 1 and performed in great varieties of sit-
uation, form, and manner ; at Jerusalem, the metropolis of the
Jewish nation and religion ; in different parts of Judea and
Galilee ; in cities and villages ; in synagogues, in private
houses ; in the street, in highways ; with preparation, as in the
case of Lazarus ; by accident, as in the case of the widow's son
of Nain ; when attended by multitudes, and when alone with
the patient ; in the midst of his disciples, and in the presence of
his enemies ; with the common people around him, and before
Scribes and Pharisees, and rulers of the synagogues.

I apprehend that, when we remove from the comparison the
cases which are fairly disposed of by the observations that have
been stated, many cases will not remain. To those which do
remain, we apply this final distinction : ' that there is not satis-
factory evidence, that persons, pretending to be original wit-
nesses of the miracles, passed their lives in labors, dangers, and
sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone in attestation
of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in conse-
quence of their belief of the truth of those accounts.'

1 Not only healing every species of disease, but turning water into wine (John
ii.) ; feeding multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (Matt. xiv. 14 ; Mark iv. 35 ;
Luke ix. 12 ; John iv. 5) ; walking on the sea (Matt. xiv. 23) ; calming a storm
(Matt. viii. 26 ; Luke viii. 23) ; a celestial voice at his baptism, and miraculous
appearance (Matt. iii. 17; afterwards John xii. 28); his transfiguration (Matt.
xvii. 1-8 ; Mark ix. 2 ; Luke ix. 28 ; 2 Ep. Peter i. 16, 17) ; raising the dead in
three distinct instances (Matt. ix. 18 ; Mark v. 22 ; Luke viii. 41 ; vii. 14 ; John xi.)

108 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

ANNOTATIONS.

' The particularity in the description of St. PauVs voyage and
shipnoreck :/ which no man, I think, can read without being
convinced that the writer was there.''

A most interesting work on this subject has since appeared ;
Smith's Voyage and shipwreck of St. Paid, in which the au-
thor has, with great and ingenious assiduity, thrown a wonder-
ful amount of light on this portion of history.'

' The French prophets gave out that one of their teachers would
come to life again ; but their enthusiasm never made them
believe that they actually saw him alive?

Very remarkable is the case of the pretended prophetess
Joanna Southcote, who, some years ago, persuaded a band of
deluded followers that she would rise from the dead. Credu-
lous as they were, they would probably not have believed this
if they had not been previously believers in our Lord's resur-
rection. And yet, after all, they never brought themselves to
believe that her resurrection, which (unlike his disciples) thtey
were fully expecting, ever did take place.

Lamentable as is the spectacle of human weakness exhibited
by those fanatics, we ought to be thankful for the confirmation
of our faith which it affords to those ' that have ears to hear.'
Suppose a man of inquiring and candid disposition to have the
question strongly brought before his mind, whether it is possi-
ble for a number of persons to believe in the resurrection — sup-
posing it not to have taken place — of one whom they had long
and intimately known, and of whose death they were witnesses ;
and to believe that they saw him, touched him, conversed with
him, ate and drank with him, many times, during a period of
several weeks ; he would here find an answer in the negative,
with as strong proof as a negative admits of. For, these peo-
ple had been, we should remember, brought up in the belief of
the resurrection of a divine teacher ; which the Apostles had not.
And they were as fully prepared as the Apostles were the re-
verse, to expect such an event. We may be assured, therefore,
that if such a delusion had been at all possible, it would have
occurred in that instance.

Prop. 2, Ch. i.] Annotations. 199

' We may dismiss from the question all cases in which, allow-
ing the fact to be true, it still remains doubtful whether a
miracle were wrought?

Some Writers, having a leaning toward the naturalistic
school, while they admit the general truth of the Scripture-
narratives, have labored hard to make out that some of the
miracles recorded may be explained as natural occurrences ;
though the rest, they acknowledge to imply a superhuman
agency. They forget that even if their explanations had been
as reasonable as they are emphatically the reverse, there would
still have been a mere waste of perverted ingenuity : since if
it be once established that a certain person did possess super-
human power, it is of no practical consequence whether he
performed a hundred miracles, or only fifty.

It is to be remarked that in several cases of what are
reckoned miracles (and justly so, if the evidence be sufficient),
there is, in the occurrence itself — though an unusual one —
nothing that is properly miraculous ; but only, in the prediction
of it. Such, for instance, are what are called the miraculous
draughts of fishes — the swallowing up of Korali and his com-
pany by an earthquake — the drought and famine announced
by Elijah — and several others.

Some years ago, a person of eminent ability in his own
department, but who was ambitious of displaying his powers
on matters which he had not studied, was declaiming on the
destruction of Sennacherib's army, which, he said, was doubt-
less the effect of the Simoom — the pestilential blast from the
Desert which has often proved fatal to travellers. There was
therefore, he said, nothing miraculous in the event — nothing
that could not be accounted for by natural causes. ' And
what difference does that make' (said a youth who was in the
company), ' if it was prophesied V

If it had been declared beforehand concerning those eighteen
who were crushed by the fall of a tower, 1 that they had — like
Korah — ' provoked the Lord ;' and that they would in conse-
quence suffer an untimely and violent death, this would au-
thorize a belief in the prophetic character of the person who
announced this. And so also, if the Cholera, or the Famine,

1 Luke xlii.

200 Evidences of Christianity. [Fart I.

which visited us, had been predicted by any one at a time
when there was no reason — humanly speaking — for expecting
any such event, and he had announced, as by a divine revela-
tion, both the precise time, and the exact circumstances of the
visitation, and that it was a sign of divine displeasure towards
the sufferers, we should have recognized him as an ins|)ired
Prophet. But as it is, any one who presumes, in defiance of
our Lord's declaration (Luke xiii.), to use such language, and
moreover to denounce as ungodly all who venture to differ
from him, shows himself as deficient in sound judgment, as in
Christian modesty and Christian charity.

And there is reason to think that the rash language of daring
pretension used by some religious enthusiasts, may have con-
duced to foster and spread those rationalistic extravagances
which I have noticed in the Introduction to this volnme. When
men speak of being ' moved by the Spirit' to say what they do
say — which is, in other words, to claim inspiration — when they
describe themselves as speaking (as Paul did) ' with demon-
stration of the Spirit and of power' — when they regard every
thought or design that is ' strongly borne in on their mind' as
an ' answer to prayer,' and an undoubted direction from Heaven
— when they speak of following the ' inward light' they possess,
as an infallible divine guide — when they interpret every re-
markable occurrence as a sign from Heaven, and reckon any
event that furthers their object as a manifest divine interposi-
tion in their favor — the Rationalist may step forward and say,
' this is all just what was done by the first promulgators of
Christianity. Any remarkable event, they called a miracle ;
just as you do. Like you, they considered as a divine revela-
tion, or direction from above, any strong conviction, or strong
impulse. Their miracles were only poetically-colored pictures
of such tilings as arc taking place around us. Their inspira-
tion — their guiding inward light — were only those vivid im-
pressions, and those grand designs, which are common to you
with them. Both causes are alike miraculous or non-miracu-
lous. And in both, belief in the miracle is not the cause, but
the effect, of the reception of the doctrine.' '

1 To prove that this representation is not that of Rationalists alone, but of
eel eh rated Theologians and Preachers, I suhjoin as a specimen (one out of many)
a passage from a newspaper. I do not indeed engage for the accuracy of such

Prop. 2, Ch. ii.] Hume's alleged Parallels. 201

Thus it is that presumptuous and unwise Christians prepare
the way for the inroads of that covert infidelity, which by
making every thing miraculous, makes, in fact, nothing mirac-
ulous, and virtually destroys the whole character of inspiration,
by making it universal. A king would be virtually dethroned,
if all his subjects were elevated to regal power.

Little damage, comparatively, would be done by the assail-
ants of our Faith, if they were not thus unconsciously aided by
its injudicious defenders.

CHAPTER II.

BUT they, with whom we argue, have undoubtedly a right to
select their own examples. The instances with which Mr.
Hume hath chosen to confront the miracles of the New Testa-
ment, and which, therefore, we are entitled to regard as the
strongest which the history of the world could supply to the
inquiries of a very acute and learned adversary, are the three
following :

1. The cure of a blind and of a lame man at Alexandria, by
the Emperor Vespasian, as related by Tacitus ;

2'. The restoration of the limb of an attendant in a Spanish
church, as told by Cardinal de Ketz ; and

3. The cures said to be performed at the tomb of the Abbe
Paris, in the early part of the present century.

1. The narrative of Tacitus is delivered in these terms:
' One of the common people of Alexandria, known to be dis-
eased in his eyes, by the admonition of the god Serapis, whom
that superstitious nation worship above all other gods, pros-
trated himself before the emperor, earnestly imploring from
him a remedy for his blindness, and entreating that he would

Reports ; but it is certain that they are widely circulated, and if uncontradicted
likely to gain credit.

' Dr. on the Frisk Revivals. — On Sunday night Dr. preached to a

crowded congregation, and in the course of his sermon he introduced the subject
of the revivals in Ireland. He had not, he said, himself personal evidence of this
'awakening,' but he had had communications from clergymen of different persua-
sions and from laymen ; and these and his own reflections convinced him that this
was indeed the work of the Lord, and that we were really in the midst of the
time prophesied by Joel, when ' your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your
old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions.' '

202 Evidences of Christianity. [Part 1.

deign to anoint with his spittle his cheeks and the balls of his
eyes. Another, diseased in his hand, requested, by the admo-
nition of the same god, that he might be touched by the foot
of the emperor. Vespasian at first derided, and despised their
application ; afterwards, when they continued to urge their peti-
tions, he sometimes appeared to dread the imputation of vanity ;
at other times, by the earnest supplication of the patients, and
the persuasion of his flatterers, to be induced to hope for suc-
cess. At length he commanded an inquiry to be made by
the physicians, whether such a blindness and debility were vin-
cible by human aid. The report of the physicians contained
various points ; that in the one the power of vision was not
destroyed, but would return if the obstacles were removed ;
that, in the other, the diseased joints might be restored, if a
healing power were applied ; that it was, perhaps, agreeable to
the gods to do this ; that the emperor was elected by divine
assistance ; lastly, that the credit of the success would be the
emperor's, the ridicule of the disappointment would fall upon
the patients. Vespasian, believing that every thing was^in the
power of his fortune, and that nothing was any longer incredi-
ble, whilst the multitude, which stood by, eagerly expected fiie
event, with a countenance expressive of joy executed what he
was desired to do. Immediately the hand was restored to its
use, and light returned to the blind man. They who were
present, relate both these cures, even at this time, when there
is nothing to be gained by lying.' 1

Now, though Tacitus wrote this account twenty-seven years
after the miracle is said to have been performed, and wrote at
Rome of what passed at Alexandria, and wrote also from report ;
and although it does not appear that he had examined the story,
or that he believed it (but rather the contrary), yet I think his
testimony sufficient to prove that such a transaction took place ;
by which I mean that the two men in question did apply to
Vespasian ; that Vespasian did touch the diseased in the manner
related ; and that a cure was reported to have followed the
operation. But the affair labors under a strong and just sus-
picion, that the whole of it was a concerned imposture brought
about by collusion between the patients, the physician, and the

1 Tac. Tli*t. lib. iv.

Prop. 2, Ch. ii.] Hume's alleged Parallels. 203

emperor. This solution is probable, because there was every
thing to suggest, and every thing to facilitate such a scheme.
The miracle was calculated to confer honor upon the emperor,
and upon the god Serapis. It was achieved in the midst of the
emperor's flatterers and followers ; in a city, and amongst a
populace, beforehand devoted to his interest, and to the worship
of the god ; where it would have been treason and blasphemy
together to have contradicted the fame of the cure, or even to
have questioned it. And what is very observable in the ac-
count is, that the report of the physicians is just such a report
as would have been made of a case in which no external marks
of the disease existed, and which, consequently, was capable of
being easily counterfeited, viz., that in the first of the patients
the organs of vision were not destroyed — that the weakness
of the second was in his joints. The strongest circumstance
in Tacitus's narration is, that the first patient was ' notus tabe
oculorum' — remarked or notorious for the disease in his eyes.
But this was a circumstance which might have found its way
into the story in its progress from a distant country, and during
an interval of thirty years ; or it might be true that the malady
of the eyes was notorious, yet that the nature and degree of
the disease had never been ascertained ; a case by no means
uncommon. The emperor's reserve was easily affected ; or it
is possible he might not be in the secret. There does not
seem to be much weight in the observation of Tacitus, that
they who were present continued even then to relate the story
when there was nothing to be gained by the lie. It only
proves that those who had told the story for many years per-
sisted in it. The state of mind of the witnesses and spectators
at the time, is the point to be attended to. Still less is there
of pertinency in Mr. Hume's eulogium upon the cautious and
penetrating genius of the historian ; for it does not appear that
the historian believed it. The terms in which he speaks of
Serapis, the deity to whose interposition the miracle was attri-
buted, scarcely suffer us to suppose that Tacitus thought the
miracle to be real, ' by the admonition of the god Serapis, whom
that superstitious nation (dedita superstitionibus gens) worship
above all other gods.' To have brought this supposed miracle
within the limits of comparison with the miracles of Christ,
it ought to have appeared that a person of a low and private

204 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

station, in the midst of enemies, with the whole power of the
country opposing him, with every one around him prejudiced
or interested against his claims and character, pretended to
perform these cures ; and required the spectators, upon the
strength of what they saw, to give up their firmest hopes and
opinions, and follow him through a life of trial and danger ;
that many were so moved, as to obey his call, at the expense,
both of every notion in which they had been brought up, and
of their ease, safety, and reputation ; and that by these begin-
nings a change was produced in the world, the effects of which
remain to this day ; a case, both in its circumstances and con-
sequences, very unlike any thing we find in Tacitus's relation.

2. The story taken from the Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz,
which is the second example alleged by Mr. Hume, is this :
' In the church of Saragossa in Spain, the canons showed me
a man whose business it was to light the lamps, telling me that
he had been several years at the gate with one leg only. I saw
him with two.' x

It is stated by Mr. Hume, that the Cardinal who relates this
story did not believe it ; and it nowhere appears that he eitter
examined the limb, or asked the patient, or indeed any one, a
single question about the matter. An artificial leg wrought
with art would be sufficient, in a place where no such con-
trivance had ever before been heard of, to give origin and cur-
rency to the report. The ecclesiastics of the place would, it is
probable, favor the story, inasmuch as it advanced the honor
of their image and church. And if they patronized it, no other
person at Saragossa, in the middle of the last century, would
care to dispute it. The story likewise coincided, not less with
the wishes and preconceptions of the people, than with the
interests of their ecclesiastical rulers : so that there was preju-
dice backed by authority, and both operating upon extreme
ignorance, to account for the success of the imposture. If, as
I have suggested, the contrivance of an artificial limb was then
new, it would not occur to the Cardinal himself to suspect it ;
especially under the carelessness of mind with which he heard
the tale, and the little inclination he felt to scrutinize or ex-
pose its fallacy.

1 Liv. iv., a. d. 1654.

Prop. 2, Chap, ii.] Hume's alleged Parallels. 205

3. The miracles related to have been wrought at the tomb of
the Abbe Paris admit in general of this solution. The patients
who frequented the tomb were so affected by their devotion,
their expectation, the place, the solemnity, and, above all, by
the sympathy of the surrounding multitude, that many of them
were thrown into violent convulsions ; which convulsions, in
certain instances, produced a removal of disorders depending
upon obstruction. "We shall, at this clay, have the less diffi-
culty in admitting the above account, because it is the very
same thing as hath lately been experienced in the operations
of animal magnetism ; and the report of the French physi-
cians upon that mysterious remedy is very applicable to the
present consideration, viz., that the pretenders to the art, by
working upon the imaginations of their patients, were fre-
quently able to produce convulsions; that convulsions so pro-
duced are amongst the most powerful, but, at the same time,
most uncertain and unmanageable applications to the human
frame which can be employed.

Circumstances, which indicate this explication in the case of
the Parisian miracles, are the following :

1. They were tentative. Out of many thousand sick, infirm,
and diseased persons, who resorted to the tomb, the professed
history of the miracles contains only nine cures.

2. The convulsions at the tomb are admitted.

3. The diseases were, for the most part, of that sort which
depends upon inaction and obstruction, as dropsies, palsies,
and some tumors.

4. The cures were gradual ; some patients attending many
days, some several weeks, and some several months.

5. The cures were many of them incomplete.

6. Others were temporary. 1

So that all the wonder we are called upon to account for is,
that out of an almost innumerable multitude which resorted to
the tomb for the cure of their complaints, and many of whom
were there agitated by strong convulsions, a very small pro-
portion experienced a beneficial change in their constitution,
especially in the action of the nerves and glands.

Some of the cases alleged do not require that we should

1 The reader will find these particulars verified in the detail, by the accurate
inquiries of the present Bishop of Sarum, in his Criterion of Miracles, p. 132, et seq.

206 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

have recourse to this solution. The first case in the catalogue
is scarcely distinguishable from the progress of a natural re-
covery. It was that of a young man, who labored under an
inflammation of one eye, and had lost the sight of the other.
The inflamed eye was relieved, but the blindness of the other
remained. The inflammation had before been abated by medi-
cine ; and the young man, at the time of his attendance at the
tomb, was using a lotion of laudanum. And, what is a still
more material part of the case, the inflammation after some
interval returned. Another case was that of a young man
who had lost his sight by the puncture of an awl, and the
discharge of the aqueous humor through the wound. The
sight, which had been gradually returning, was much improved
during his visit to the tomb ; that is, probably, in the same
degree in which the discharged humor was replaced by fresh
secretions. And it is observable, that these two are the only
cases which, from their nature, should seem unlikely to be
affected by convulsions.

In one material respect I allow that the Parisian miracles
were different from those related by Tacitus, and from ^lie
Spanish miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. They had not, like
them, all the power and all the prejudice of the country on
their side to begin with. They were alleged by one party
against another — by the Jansenists against the Jesuits. These
were of course opposed and examined by their adversaries. The
consequence of which examination was, that many falsehoods
were detected — that with something really extraordinary much
fraud appeared to be mixed. And if some of the cases upon
which designed misrepresentation could not be charged were
not at the time satisfactorily accounted for, it was because the
efficacy of strong spasmodic affections was not then sufficiently
known. Finally, the cause of Jansenism did not rise by the mira-
cles, but sunk, although the miracles had the anterior persuasion
of all the numerous adherents of that cause to set out with.

These, let us remember, are the strongest examples which
the history of ages supplies. In none of them was the miracle
umquivocal • by none of them were established prejudices and
persuasions overthrown ; of none of them did the credit make
its way, in opposition to authority and power ; by none of
them were many induced to commit themselves, and that in

Prop. 2, Ch. ii.] Annotation. 207

contradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortification, dan-
ger, and sufferings ; none were called upon to attest them, at
the expense of their fortune and safety. 1

ANNOTATION.

The pretenders to the art [of Animal Magnetism] by working
upon the imagination of their patients] &c.

At the time when Paley wrote, he had no means of knowing
that the report of the French Physicians, to which he alludes,
was other than carefully and candidly made. Time has since
brought much truth to light on the subject ; and the most dili-
gent and fair-minded inquirers have for several years been con-
vinced, that, though (as was to be expected) many instances of
imposture and of delusion have occurred, a real, and powerful,
and serviceable agent has been discovered ; which does not
however in the smallest degree shake the evidence for the
Scripture-miracles, except in the minds of the wrong-headed
and the thoughtless.

1 It may be thought that the historian of the Parisian miracles, M. Montgeron,
forms an exception to this last assertion. He presented his book (with a suspicion,
as it should seem, of the danger of what he was doing) to the king ; and was short-
ly afterwards committed to prison, from which he never came out. Had the mir-
acles been unequivocal, and had M. Montgeron been originally convinced by them,
I should have allowed this exception. It would have stood, I think, alone in the
argument of our adversaries. But beside what has been observed of the dubious
nature of the miracles, the account which M. Montgeron has himself left of his
conversion, shows both the state of his mind, and that his persuasion was not built
upon external miracles. ' Scarcely had he entered the churchyard, when he was
struck,' he tells us, ' with awe and reverence, having never before heard prayers
pronounced with so much ardor and transport as he observed among the suppli-
cants at the tomb. Upon this, throwing himself on his knees, resting his elbows
on the tombstone, and covering his face with his hands, he spake the following
prayer : thou, by rvhose intercession so many miracles are said to be performed, if it be
true, that a part of thee surviveth the grave, and that thou hast influence with the Almighty,
JiavepUy on the darkness of my understanding, and through his mercy obtain the removal of
it.' Having prayed thus, 'many thoughts,' as he saith, 'began to open them-
selves to his mind ; and so profound was his attention that he continued on his
knees four hours, not in the least disturbed by the vast crowd of surrounding
supplicants. During this time all the arguments which he had ever heard or
read in favor of Christianity occurred to him with so much force, and seemed to
him so strong and convincing, that he went home fully satisfied of the truth of
religion in general, and of the holiness and power of that person, who,' as he
supposed, ' had engaged the divine goodness to enlighten his understanding so
suddenly.'— Douglas, Crit. of Mir p. 214.

PART II.

OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

CHAPTER I.

Prophecy.

ISAIAH lii. 13, liii. ' Behold, my servant shall deal pru-
dently, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonished at thee ; his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men :
so shall he sprinkle many nations ; the kings shall shut their
mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall
they see ; and that which they had not heard shall they con-
sider. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed ? For he shall grow up before hjm
as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground ; he hath
no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid, as it were, our faces from him ; he was despised,
and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastise-
ment of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned
every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so
he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from
judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was
cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of
my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death ; because he had done

Chap. L] Prophecy. 209

no violence, neither was any deceit in his month. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief.
When thou shalt make his sonl an offering for sin, he shall see
his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his sonl, and shall be satisfied : by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniqui-
ties. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong ; because he hath
poured out his soul unto death : and he was numbered with
the transgressors ; and he bare the sin of many, and made in-
tercession for the transgressors.'

These words are extant in a book, purporting to contain the
predictions of a writer who lived seven centuries before the
Christian era.

That material part of every argument from prophecy, namely,
that the words alleged were actually spoken or written before
the fact to which they are applied took place, or could by any
natural means be foreseen, is, in the present instance, incon-
testable. The record comes out of the custody of adversaries.
The Jews, as an ancient father well observed, are our librarians.
The passage is in their copies as well as in ours. With many
attempts to explain it away, none has ever been made by them
to discredit its authenticity.

And, what adds to the force of the quotation is, that it is
taken from a writing declaredly prophetic / a writing, professing
to describe such future transactions and changes in the world
as were connected with the fate and interests of the Jewish
nation. It is not a passage in an historical or devotional com-
position, which, because it turns out to be applicable to some
future events, or to some future situation of affairs, is presumed
to have been oracular. The words of Isaiah were delivered by
him in a prophetic character, with the solemnity belonging to
that character ; and what he so delivered, was all along under-
stood by the Jewish reader to refer to something that was to
take place after the time of the author. The public sentiments
of the Jews, concerning the design of Isaiah's writings, are
set forth in the book of Ecclesiasticus : ' He saw, by an excel-
lent spirit, what should come to pass at the last, and he com-
forted them that mourned in Sion. He showed what should

210 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

come to pass forever, and secret things or ever they came.' —
(Chap, xlviii. ver. 24.)

It is also an advantage which this prophecy possesses, that
it is intermixed with no other subject. It is entire, separate,
and uninterruptedly directed to one scene of things.

The application of the prophecy to the evangelic history is
plain and appropriate. Here is no double sense : no figurative
language, but what is sufficiently intelligible to every reader of
every country. The obscurities — by which I mean the expres-
sions that require a knowledge of local diction, and of local
allusion — are few, and not of great importance. ]STor have I
found that varieties of reading, or a different construing of
the original, produce any material alteration in the sense of
the prophecy. Compare the common translation with that
of Bishop Lowth, and the difference is not considerable. So
far as they do differ, Bishop Lowth's corrections, which are the
faithful result of an accurate examination, bring the description
nearer to the New Testament history than it was before. In
the fourth verse of the fifty-third chapter, what our Bible ren-
ders 'stricken,' he translates 'judicially stricken:' and in the
eighth verse, the clause ' he was taken from prison and fr^m
judgment,' the Bishop gives, 'by an oppressive judgment he
was taken off.' The next words to these, ' who shall declare
his generation ?' are much cleared up in their meaning by the
Bishop's version, ' his manner of life who would declare V i. e.,
who would stand forth in his defence ? The former part of
the ninth verse, ' and he made his grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death,' which inverts the circumstances
of Christ's passion, the Bishop brings out in an order perfectly
agreeable to the event ; ' and his grave was appointed with the
wicked, but with the rich man was his tomb.' The words in
the eleventh verse, ' by his knowledge shall my righteous ser-
vant justify many,' arc, in the Bishop's version, 'by the knowl-
edge of him shall my righteous servant justify many.'

It is natural to inquire what turn the Jews themselves give
to this prophecy. 1 There is good proof that the ancient
Rabbins explained it of their expected Messiah; 2 but their

1 ' Vaticinium hoc Esaire est cavnificina Babbinorum, de quo aliqui Judaei mihi
confessi sunt, Etabbinos, suos ex propheticis Bcripturis facile se extricare potuisse,
tnodo /:--,,,,/» tacuisset.' — Hulse, Theol. Jud., p. 318, quoted by Poole in loc.

- Hulse, Theol. Jud., p. 430.

Chap. i.J Prophecy. 211

modern expositors concur, I think, in representing it as a descrip-
tion of the calamitous state and intended restoration of the
Jewish people, who are here, as they say, exibited under the
character of a single person. I have not discovered that their
exposition rests upon any critical arguments, or upon these in
any other than a very minute degree. The clause in the ninth
verse, which we render ' for the transgression of my people was he
stricken,' and in the margin ' was the stroke upon him,' the Jews
read ' for the transgression of my people was the stroke upon
tin m? And what they allege in support of the alteration amounts
only to this, that the Hebrew pronoun is capable of a plural, as
well as of a singular signification : that is to say, is capable of
their construction as well as ours. 1 And this is all the varia-
tion contended for : the rest of the prophecy they read as we
do. The probability, therefore, of their exposition is a subject
of which we are as capable of judging as themselves. This
judgment is open indeed to the good sense of every attentive

1 Bishop Lovvth adopts in this place the reading of the Seventy, which gives
smitten to death, ' for the transgression of my people was he smitten to death.'
The addition of the words ' to death,' makes an end of the Jewish interpretation of
the clause. And the authority, upon which this reading (though not given by the
present Hebrew text) is adopted, Dr. Kennicot has set forth by an argument, not
only so cogent, but so clear and popular, that I beg leave to transcribe the sub-
stance of it into this note. ' Origen, after having quoted at large this prophecy
concerning the Messiah, tells us, that having once made use of this passage, in a
dispute against some that were accounted wise among the Jews, one of them re-
plied, that the words did not mean one man, but one people, the Jews, who were
smitten of God, and dispersed among the Gentiles for their conversion ; that he
then urged many parts of this prophecy, to show the absurdity of this intepreta-
tion, and that he seemed to press them the hardest by this sentence — ' for the
transgression of my people was he smitten to death.' Now, as Origen, the author
of the Hexapla, must have understood Hebrew, we cannot suppose that he would
have urged this last text as so decisive, if the Greek version had not agreed here
with the Hebrew text ; nor that these wise Jews would have been at all distressed
by this quotation, unless the Hebrew text had read agreeably to the words 'to
death,' on which the argument principally depended ; for, by quoting it imme-
diately, they would have triumphed over him, and reprobated his Greek version.
This, whenever they could do it, was their constant practice in their disputes with
the Christians. Origen himself, who laboriously compared the Hebrew text with
the Septuagint, has recorded the necessity of arguing with the Jews, from such
passages only, as were in the Septuagint agreeable to the Hebrew. Wherefore, as
Origen had carefully compared the Greek version of the Septuagint with the
Hebrew text ; and as he puzzled and confounded the learned Jews by urging upon
them the reading ' to death' in this place ; it seems almost impossible not to
conclude, both from Origen's argument, and the silence of his Jewish adver-
saries, that the Hebrew text at that time actually had the word agreeably to the
version of the Seventy.' — Lowth's Itaiah, p. 242.

212 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

reader. The application which the Jews contended for, appears
to me to labor under insuperable difficulties ; in particular, it
may be demanded of them to explain, in whose name or person,
if the Jewish people be the sufferer, does the prophet speak,
when he says, ' he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and
afflicted ; but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was
upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.' Again, the
description in the seventh verse, ' he was oppressed and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth ; he was brought as a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so
he openeth not his mouth,' quadrates with no part of the
Jewish history with which we are acquainted. The mention of
the ' grave,' and the ' tomb,' in the ninth verse, is not very
applicable to the fortunes of a nation ; and still less so is the
conclusion of the prophecy in the twelfth verse, which ex-
pressly represents the sufferings as voluntary, and the sufferer
as interceding for the offenders, ' because he hath poured out
his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgres-
sors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors.'

There are other prophecies of the Old Testament, inter-
preted by Christians to relate to the gospel history, which are
deserving both of great regard, and of a very attentive consid-
eration : but I content myself with stating the above, as well
because I think it the clearest and the strongest of all, as
because most of the rest, in order that their value be repre-
sented with any tolerable degree of fidelity, require a discus-
sion unsuitable to the limits and nature of this work. The
reader will find them disposed in order, and distinctly explained,
in Bishop Chandler's treatise upon the subject: and he will
bear in mind, what has been often, and, I think, truly urged
by the advocates of Christianity, that there is no other emi-
nent person, to the history of whose life so many circumstan-
ces can be made to apply. They who object, that much has
been done by the power of chance, the ingenuity of accommo-
dation, and the industry of research, ought to try whether the
same, or any thing like it, could be done, if Mahomet, or any
other person, were proposed as the subject of Jewish prophecy.

Chap, i.] Prophecy. 213

II. A second head of argument from prophecy is founded
upon our Lord's predictions concerning the destruction of Jeru-
salem, recorded by three out of the four evangelists.

Luke xxi. 5-25. ' And as some spake of the temple, how
it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for
these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the
which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying,
Master, but when shall these things be ? and what sign shall
there be when these things shall come to pass ? And he said,
Take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in my
name saying, I am Christ ; and the time draweth near. Go
ye not therefore after them. But, when ye shall hear of wars
and commotions, be not terrified ; for these things must first
come to pass, but the end is not by and by. Then said he
unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in divers
places, and famines and pestilences : and fearful sights, and
great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these,
they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, deliver-
ing you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought
before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall
turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what ye shall answer ; for I will give
you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed
both by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk and friends ; and
some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye
shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there
shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience
possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem com-
passed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is
nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the moun-
tains ; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out ;
and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are
written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with
child, and to them that give suck, in those days ; for there
shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led

214 Evidences of Christianity. [Part IT.

away captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.'

In terms nearly similar, this discourse is related in the 24th
chapter of Matthew, and the 13th of Mark. The prospect of
the same evils drew from our Saviour, upon another occasion,
the following affecting expressions of concern, which are pre-
served by St. Luke [xix. 41] : ' And when he was come near,
he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which
belong unto thy peace ; but now they are hid from thine
eyes, for the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies
shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and
keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the
ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave
in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the
time of thy visitation.' These passages are direct and explicit
predictions. References to the same event — some plain, some
parabolical, or otherwise figurative — are found in divers other
discourses of our Lord. 1

The general agreement of the description with the event,
viz., with the ruin of the Jewish nation, and the capture ol
Jerusalem under Yespasian, thirty-six years after Christ's
death, is most evident ; and the accordancy in various articles
of detail and circumstance has been shown by many learned
writers. It is also an advantage to the inquiry, and to the
argument built upon it, that we have received a copious
account of the transaction from Josephus, a Jewish and con-
temporary historian. This part of the case is perfectly free
from doubt. The only question which, in my opinion, can be
raised upon the subject, is, whether the prophecy was really
delivered he/ore the event, I shall apply, therefore, my ob-
servations to this point solely.

1. The judgment of antiquity, though varying in the precise
year of the publication of the three Gospels, co?icws in assign-
ing them a date prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. 2

2. This judgment is confirmed by a strong probability

1 Matt, xxi. 33-46; xxii 1-7; Mark xii. 1-12; Luke xiii. 1-9; xx. 9-20;
xxi. 5-13.

' Lardner, vol. xiii.

Chap. i.J Prophecy. 215

arising from the course of human life. The destruction of
Jerusalem took place in the seventieth year after the birth of
Christ. The three evangelists, one of whom was his immediate
companion, and the other two associated with his companions,
were, it is probable, not much younger than lie was. They
must, consequently, have been far advanced in life when Jeru-
salem was taken ; and no reason has been given why they
should defer writing their histories so long.

3. If the evangelists, 1 at the time of writing the gospels, had
known of the destruction of Jerusalem, by which catastrophe
the prophecies were plainly fulfilled, it is most probable, that,
in recording the predictions, they would have dropped some
word or other about the completion ; in like manner as Luke,
after relating the denunciation of a dearth by Agabus, adds,
' which came to pass in the days of Claudius Csesar :' 2 whereas
the prophecies are given distinctly in one chapter of each of
the three first gospels, and referred to in several different pas-
sages of each, and, in none of all these places, does there appear
the smallest intimation that the things spoken of were come to
pass. I do admit that it would have been the part of an im-
postor, who wished his readers to believe that his book was
written before the event, when in truth it was written after it,
to have suppressed any such intimation carefully. But this
was not the character of the authors of the gospel. Cunning
was no quality of theirs. Of all writers in the world, they
thought the least of providing against objections. Moreover,
there is no clause in any one of them, that makes a profession
of having written prior to the Jewish wars, which a fraudulent
purpose would have led them to pretend. They have done
neither one thing nor the other. They have neither inserted
any words, which might signify to the reader that their
accounts were written before the destruction of Jerusalem,
which a sophist would have done ; nor have they dropped a
hint of the completion of the prophecies recorded by them,
wdiich an undesigning writer, writing after the event, could
hardly, on some or other of the many occasions that presented
themselves, have missed of doing.

> Le Clerc, Diff. HI. de Quat. Ev. num. vii. p. 541. * Acts xi. 28.

216 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

4. The admonitions 1 which Christ is represented to have
given to his followers to save themselves by flight, are not easily
accounted for upon the supposition of the prophecy being fab-
ricated after the event. Either the Christians, when the siege
approached, did make their escape from Jerusalem, or they did
not: if they did, they must have had the prophecy amongst
them : if they did not know of any such prediction at the time
of the siege, if they did not take notice of any such warning,
it was an improbable fiction, in a writer publishing his work
near to that time (which, upon any even the lowest and most
disadvantageous supposition, was the case with the gospels now
in our hands) and addressing his work to Jews and to Jewish
converts (which Matthew certainly did), to state that the fol-
lowers of Christ had received admonitions, of which they made
no use when the occasion arrived, and of which, experience
then recent proved, that those, who were most concerned to
know and regard them, were ignorant or negligent. Even if
the prophecies came to the hands of the evangelists through no
better vehicle than tradition, it must have been by a tradition
which subsisted prior to the event. And to suppose, that
without any authority whatever, without so much as even a^iy
tradition to guide them, they had forged these passages, is to
impute to them a degree of fraud and imposture, from every
appearance of which their compositions are as far removed as
possible.

5. I think that, if the prophecies had been composed after
the event, there would have been more specification. The
names or descriptions of the enemy, the general, the emperor,
would have been found in them. The designation of the time
would have been more determinate. And I am fortified in
this opinion by observing, that the counterfeited prophecies of
the Sibylline oracles, of the twelve patriarchs, and, I am in-

' Luke xxi. 20, 21. 'When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,
then know that the desolation thereof is nigh ; then let them which are in Judea
flee to the mountains, and let them whirl) arc in the midst of it depart out, and
let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.'

Matt. xiv. 18. 'When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then
lei them which be in Judea lice unto the mountains ; let him which is on the
house-top not come down to take any thing out <>f his house, neither let him
which is in the held return hack to take his clothes.'

Chap, i.] Annotations. 217

clined to believe, most others of the kind, are mere transcripts
of the history, moulded into a prophetic form.

It is objected that the prophecy of the destruction of Jeru-
salem is mixed, or connected, with expressions which relate to
the final judgment of the world; and so connected, as to lead
an ordinary reader to expect, that these two events would not
be far distant from each other. To which I answer, that the
objection does not concern our present argument. If our
Saviour actually foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, it is
sufficient ; even although w T e should allow, that the narration of
the prophecy had combined together what had been said by
him upon kindred subjects, without accurately preserving the
order, or always noticing the transition of the discourse.

ANNOTATIONS.

It is important to keep in mind that there are fouk points
requisite to establish the claim of any alleged Prophecy to pro-
ceed from a divine revelation :

(1) It must have been delivered prior to the event. 1

(2) It must correspond precisely with the event ; and must
not be in such vague and general language as the predictions
in vulgar Almanacs ; that ' a certain great personage is likely
to have cause for uneasiness,' &c.

(3) It must be something beyond mere human sagacity.
This rule precludes the predictions of eclipses, &c.

(4) It must be a prediction that could not have caused its
own fulfilment, by suggesting to some one who knew of it, a
corresponding procedure.

For instance, our Lord's riding into Jerusalem in the manner
that had been foretold, only indicated his claiming to be the
Messiah, but did not establish his claim ; since it was what any
one could have done. But the other predictions respecting
Him depended for their accomplishment on his adversaries, or
on some superhuman power.

1 Bacon, in his Essay on Prophecies, remarks that many which have passed for
such, were probably framed after the event.

218 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

It is worth remarking, in reference to this subject, that
there is a passage in the 2d Epistle of Peter which seems to
represent him (through an error in our Version) as attri-
buting more weight, as evidence, to Prophecies, than to the
miraculous signs of which he had been eye-witness. But our
Translators did not well understand the force of the Greek
Article ; an attention to which will clearly show the true sense
of the Original, which is, 'We have the Word of Prophecy
more sure ;' i. e. made, by the fulfilment of it, more clear than
when it was uttered. 1

It is worth remarking also that the passage occurring shortly
after, ' No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpreta-
tion,' does not express the sense of the Original. 2

The right sense, I cannot doubt, of the whole passage, is,
' We have the Word of Prophecy confirmed' [viz., by the event
fulfilling it] : ' for no prophecy is to be interpreted by the words
themselves in which it is written' [ypa^rjg id lag' emkvoeug] (but
by the event), ' for it came not by man's device,' [*. <?., if men
had been left to their own judgment, they would have probably
foretold things quite plainly,] ' but as they were moved by the
Spirit of God' [whose decree was, that the clear and full under-
standing of the predictions should not take place at the time
when they were uttered.]

It is worth observing, too, that if we look to the fulfilled
prophecies of our Lord's comiiig, they were obscure and doubtful
tiU they were fulfilled. However plain they may appear to us
now, it is certain that the whole, or very near the whole, of the
Jewi>li people mistook their meaning, and that the greater part
of them rejected the Christ when He did come, precisely be-
came He did wot fulfil the expectations which they had founded
on their interpretation of the prophecies. Some few, very
cautious men, among them, perhaps said within themselves,
' God has promised us a deliverer ; but what kind of a deliverer

1 ':x°f cv PeffmiTtpov Tbv Trpo<pftTtK&v \6ynv : not rbv irpotprfTtKov \6yov, tov (ic0nt6Tcpov,

which would have expressed the sense of onr Version.

3 The Apostle is now contrasting prophecies of Holy Scripture with any othrr
prophecies : nor would he, had such been his meaning, have said ypa<pni, but
(According to invariable usage) TIIS ypatpT/f. Doubtless the word Mat agrees, not
with htXuacwi, but with ypi'Pnf. which is governed by hMoiux.

Chap, i.] Annotations. 219

he will be, and what will be the blessings he is to bring, we
cannot clearly see ; we will patiently wait the event.'

And others again (like most of the disciples), though -they
had formed expectations of a temporal Messiah, yielded humbly
and candidly to the evidence of Christ's miracles, and submit-
ted to learn from Him. When He did come, then a practical
question arose. Before his coming there was nothing to be
done, in consequence of interpreting the prophecies this way or
that. But when a person appeared who was supposed to be
the Christ, then it became a duty to examine his claims, and
either reject Him as an impious impostor, or acknowledge
and submit to Him as from heaven. And as soon as men
were thus called on to act, observe what a blaze of light is be-
stowed, in contrast to the faint twilight which prevailed before,
when nothing practical was involved. Jesus wrought such
miracles that his opponents were compelled to refer them to
the agency of demons. None but the obstinately prejudiced
could have any doubt of his divine mission.

And this is just of a piece with the general character of
God's teaching. Speculative matters are touched on slightly
and obscurely ; but practical questions are made plain to every
candid mind.

The prophecies concerning Christ's coming were, before He
did come, very obscure ; and the right interpretation of them
was not necessary for practice : after He was come, and when
they were fulfilled, the right interpretation of them became a
matter of the highest practical importance ; and then, the
event made them clear to every fair inquirer.

' Out LotoVs predictions concerning the destruction of

Jerusalem?

It is a most remarkable point in this prophecy and its ac-
companying directions, that the disciples were directed to fly,
not as soon as the war should break out, but ' when Jerusalem
should be encompassed with armies ;' which might be expected
— humanly speaking — to intercept their flight.

Now how stands the event ? The Koman army, when en-
camped before the city, was seized with a strange and sudden
panic, such as no one could have conjectured ; and made a
hasty retreat. This afforded a triumph to the Jewish warriors ;

220 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

though only temporary, as the llomans soon returned ; but the
interval allowed the escape of the Christians.

And this proves — among other things — that the prophecy
could not have been forged after the event. For if the Chris-
tians did — as no doubt was the fact — conform to the precept
given, this could have been only in consecpience of that pre-
cept ; since otherwise their conduct in doing so would have
been unaccountable. And if it be supposed that they did not
adopt that course, then, a forger of a feigned prophecy would
not have inserted a direction that had not been complied
with.

CHAPTEE II.

The Morality of the Gospel.

IX stating the morality of the Gospel as an argument of its
truth, I am willing to admit two points : first, that the
teaching of morality was not the primary design of the mission ;
secondly, that morality, neither in the Gospel, nor in any other
book, can be a subject, properly speaking, of discovery.

If I were to describe in a very few words the scope of Chris-
tianity, as a revelation? I should say, that it was to influence
the conduct of human life, by establishing the proof of a future
state of reward and punishment — ' to bring life and immortality
to light.' The direct object, therefore, of the design is, to sup-
ply motives, and not rules; sanctions, and not precepts. And

1 Great and inestimably beneficial effects may accrue from the mission of Christ,
and especially from his death, which do not belong to Christianity as a revelation :
that is. they might have existed, and they might have been accomplished,
though we had never, in this life, been made acquainted with them. These
effects may be very extensive. They may be interesting even to other orders of
intelligent Beings. I think it is a general opinion, and one to which I have long
come, that the beneficial effects of Christ's death extend to the whole human
species. It was the redemption of the world. 'He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but for the whole world.' 1 John ii. '2. Probably the
future happiness, perhaps the future existence of the species, and more gracious
tei mis of acceptance extended to all, might depend upon it. or be procured by it.
Now these effects, whatever they he, do not belong to Christianity as a revelation >
because they exist with respect to those to whom it w not revealed.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 221

these were what mankind stood most in need of. The members
of civilized society can, in all ordinary cases, judge tolerably
well how they ought to act ; but without a future state, or,
which is the same thing, without credited evidence of that state,
they want a motive to their duty ; they want at least strength
of motive, sufficient to bear up against the force of passion, and
the temptation of present advantage. Their rules want autho-
rity. The most important service that can be rendered to hu-
man life, and that, consequently, which, one might expect be-
forehand, would be the great end and office of a revelation
from God, is to convey to the world authorized assurances of
the reality of a future existence. And, although in doing this
or by the ministry of the same person by which this is done,
moral precepts, or examples, or illustrations of moral precepts,
may be occasionally given, and be highly valuable, yet still
they do not form the original purpose of the mission.

Secondly, morality, neither in the gospel, nor in any other
book, can be a subject of discovery, properly so called. By
which proposition, I mean that there cannot, in morality, be
any thing similar to what are called discoveries in natural
philosophy, in the arts of life, and in some sciences ; as the
system of the universe, the circulation of the blood, the polarity
of the magnet, the laws of gravitation, alphabetical writing,
decimal arithmetic, and some other things of the same sort ;
facts, or proofs, or contrivances, before totally unknown and
unthought of. Whoever therefore expects, in reading the New
Testament, to be struck with discoveries in morals, in the man-
ner in which his mind was affected when he first came to the
knowledge of the discoveries above mentioned ; or rather in the
manner in which the world was affected by them, when they
were first published ; expects what, as I apprehend, the nature
of the subject renders it impossible that he should meet with.
And the foundation of my opinion is this, that the qualities of
actions depend entirely upon their effects, which effects must
all along have been the subject of human experience.

When it is once settled, no matter upon what principle, that
to do good is virtue, the rest is calculation. But since the
calculation cannot be instituted concerning each particular
action, we establish intermediate rules ; by which proceeding,
the business of morality is much facilitated, for then it is con-

222 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

cerning our rules alone that we need inquire, whether in their
tendency they be beneficial : concerning our actions we have
only to ask, whether they be agreeable to the rules. We refer
actions to rules, and rules to public happiness. Now, in the
formation of these rules, there is no place for discovery prop-
erly so called, but there is ample room for the exercise of wis-
dom, judgment, and prudence.

As I wish to deliver argument rather than panegyric, I shall
treat of the morality of the gospel, in subjection to these ob-
servations. And after all, I think it such a morality, as, con-
sidering from whom it came, is most extraordinary ; and such
as, without allowing some degree of reality to the character and
pretensions of the religion, it is difficult to account for: or, to
place the argument a little lower in the scale, it is such a
morality as completely repels the supposition of its being the
tradition of a barbarous age or of a barbarous people ; of the
religion being founded in folly, or of its being the production
of craft : and it repels also, in a great degree, the supposition
of its having been the effusion of an enthusiastic mind.

The division, under which the subiect may be most cgn-
veniently treated of, is that of the things taught, and the man-
ner of teaching.

Under the first head, I should willingly, if the limits and
nature of my work admitted of it, transcribe into this chapter
the whole of what has been said upon the morality of the gos-
pel, by the author of The Internal Evidence of Christianity :
because it perfectly agrees with my own opinion, and because
it is impossible to say the same things so well. This acute
observer of human nature, and, as I believe, sincere convert to
Christianity, appears to me to have made out satisfactorily the
two following positions, viz.

I. That the gospel omits some qualities, which have usually
engaged the praises and admiration of mankind, but which in
reality, and in their general effects, have been prejudicial to
human happiness.

II. That the gospel has brought forward some virtues, which
possess the highest intrinsic value, but which have commonly
been overlooked and contemned.

The first of these propositions he exemplifies, in the instances
of friendship, patriotism, active courage; in the sense in which

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 223

these qualities are usually understood, and in the conduct
which they often produce.

The second, in the instances of passive courage or endurance
of sufferings, patience under affronts and injuries, humility,
irresistance, placability.

The truth is, there are two opposite descriptions of character,
under which mankind may generally be classed. The one pos-
sesses vigor, firmness, resolution : is daring and active, quick
in its sensibilities, jealous of its fame, eager in its attachments,
inflexible in its purpose, violent in its resentments.

The other, meek, yielding, complying, forgiving ; not prompt
to act, but willing to suffer ; silent and gentle under rudeness
and insult, suing for reconciliation where others would demand
satisfaction, giving way to the pushes of impudence, conceding
and indulgent to the prejudices, the wrong-headedness, the in-
tractability of those with whom it has to deal.

The former of these characters is, and ever hath been, the
favorite of the world. It is the character of great men.
There is a dignity in it which universally commands respect.

The latter is poor-spirited, tame, and abject. Yet so it hath
happened, that, with the founder of Christianity, this latter is
the subject of his commendation, his precepts, his example ;
and that the former is so, in no part of its composition. This,
and nothing else, is the character designed in the following re-
markable passages : ' Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also ; and if any
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him
have thy cloak also ; and whosoever shall compel thee to go a
mile, go with him twain : love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you.' This certainly
is not common-place morality. It is very original. It shows
at least (and it is for this purpose we produce it) that no two
things can be more different than the Heroic and the Christian
character.

Now the author, to whom I refer, has not only remarked
this difference more s 4 rongly than any preceding writer, but has
proved, in contradiction to first impressions, to popular opinion,
to the encomiums of orators and poets, and even to the suf-
frages of historians and moralists, that the latter character

224 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

possesses the most of true worth, both as being most difficult
either to be acquired or sustained, and as contributing most to
the happiness and tranquillity of social life. The state of his
argument is as follows :

I. If this disposition were universal, the case is clear: the
world would be a society of friends. Whereas, if the other dis-
position were universal, it would produce a scene of universal
contention. The world could not hold a generation of such
men.

II. If, what is the fact, the disposition be partial ; if a few
be actuated by it, amongst a multitude who are not ; in what-
ever degree it does prevail, in the same proportion it prevents,
allays, and terminates quarrels, the great disturbers of human
happiness, and the great sources of human misery, so far as
man's happiness and misery depend upon man. Without this
disposition enmities must not only be frequent, but once begun,
must be eternal ; for each retaliation being a fresh injury, and,
consequently, requiring a fresh satisfaction, no period can be
assigned to the reciprocation of affronts, and to the progress of
hatred, but that which closes the lives, or at least the inter-
course, of the parties.

I would only add to these observations, that, although the
former of the two characters above described may be occasion-
ally useful ; although, perhaps, a great general, or a great
statesman, may be formed by it, and these may be instruments
of important benefits to mankind, yet is this nothing more than
what is true of many qualities, which are acknowledged to be
vicious. Ehctj is a quality of this sort. I know not a stronger
stimulus to exertion. Many a scholar, many an artist, many a
soldier has been produced by it. Nevertheless, since in its
general effects it is noxious, it is properly condemned, certainly
is not praised, by sober moralists.

It was a portion of the same character as that we are de-
fending, or rather of his love of the same character, which our
Saviour displayed, in his repeated correction of the ambition
of his disciples; his frequent admonitions, that greatness with
them was to consist in humility ; his censure of that love of
distinction, and greediness of superiority, which the chief per-
sons amongst his countrymen were wont, on all occasions, great
and little, to betray. 'They [the Scribes and Pharisees] love

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 225

the uppermost rooms of feasts, and the chief seats in the syna-
gogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men,
Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your
Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren ; and call no man
your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in
heaven ; neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master,
even Christ; but he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and
he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.' * I make no
farther remark upon these passages (because they are, in truth,
only a repetition of the doctrine, different expressions of the
principle, which we have already stated), except that some of
the passages, especially our Lord's advice to the guests at an
entertainment (Luke xiv. 7), seem to extend the rule to what
we call 'manners j which was both regular in point of consis-
tency, and not so much beneath the dignity of our Lord's
mission as may at first sight be supposed ; for bad manners are
bad morals.

It is sufficiently apparent, that the precepts we have recited,
or rather the disposition which these precepts inculcate, relate
to personal conduct from personal motives ; to cases in which
men act from impulse, for themselves, and from themselves.
"When it comes to be considered what is necessary to be done
for the sake of the public, and out of a regard to the general
welfare (which consideration, for the most part, ought exclu-
sively to govern the duties of men in public stations), it comes
to a case to which the rules do not belong. This distinction is
plain ; and, if it were less so, the consequence would not be
much felt, for it is very seldom that, in the intercourse of pri-
vate life, men act with public views. The personal motives,
from which they do act, the rule regulates.

The preference of the patient to the heroic character, which
we have here noticed, and which the reader will find explained
at large in the work to which we have referred him, is a pecu-
liarity in the christian institution, which I propose as an argu-
ment of wisdom very much beyond the situation and natural
character of the person who delivered it.

II. A second argument, drawn from the morality of the New

1 Matt, xxiii. 6 ; see also Mark xii. 29 ; Luke xx. 43, xxiv. 7.

226 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

Testament, is the stress which is laid by our Saviour upon the
regulation of the thoughts. And I place this consideration
next to the other, because they are connected. The other re-
lated to the malicious passions ; this to the voluptuous. Together
they comprehend the whole character.

' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,

fornications, etc. These are the things which defile a man.'

— Matt. xv. 19.

' Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye
make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they are full of extortion and excess. — Ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness ;
even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.' — Matt, xxiii
25, 27, 2S.

And more particularly that strong expression (Matt. v. 28),
1 Whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath com-
mitted adultery with her already in his heart'

There can be no doubt with any reflecting mind, but that
the propensities of our nature must be subjected to regulation ;
but the question is, where the check ought to be placed, upon
the thought, or only upon action. In this question, our
Saviour, in the texts here quoted, has pronounced a decisive
judgment. He makes the control of thought essential. In-
ternal purity with him is everything. Now I contend that
this is the only discipline which can succeed : in other words,
that a moral system, which prohibits actions, but leaves the
thoughts at libert} r , will be ineffectual, and is therefore unwise.
I know not how to go about the proof of a point, which depends
upon experience, and upon a knowledge of the human consti-
tution, better than by citing the judgment of persons, who
appear to have given great attention to the subject, and to be
well qualified to form a true opinion about it. Boerhaave,
speaking of this very declaration of our Saviour, ' Whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed
adultery with her in his heart,' and understanding it, as we do,
to contain an injunction to lay the check upon the thoughts,
was wont to say, that ' our Saviour knew mankind better than
Socrates.' Haller, who has recorded this saying of Boerhaave's,

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 227

adds to it the following remarks of his own ;' ' It did not escape
the observation of our Saviour, that the rejection of any evil
thoughts was the best defence against vice ; for when a de-
bauched person fills his imagination with impure pictures, the
licentious ideas which he recalls, fail not to stimulate his desires
with a degree of violence which he cannot resist. This will be
followed by gratification, unless some external obstacle should
prevent him from the commission of a sin, which he had in-
ternally resolved on.' ' Every moment of time [says our author]
that is spent in meditations upon sin, increases the power of
the dangerous object which has possessed our imagination.' I
suppose these reflections will be generally assented to.

III. Thirdly, had a teacher of morality been asked con-
cerning a general principle of conduct, and for a short rule of
life ; and had he instructed the person who consulted him
' constantly to refer his actions to wdiat he believed to be the
will of his Creator, and constantly to have in view, not his own
interest and gratification alone, but the happiness and comfort
of those about him,' he would have been thought, I doubt not,
in any age of the world, and in any, even the most improved
state of morals, to have delivered a judicious answer; because,
by the first direction, he suggested the only motive which acts
steadily and uniformly, in sight and out of sight, in familiar
occurrences and under pressing temptations ; and in the second,
he corrected, what, of all tendencies in the human character,
stands most in need of correction, selfishness, or a contempt of
other men's conveniency and satisfaction. In estimating the
value of a moral rule, we are to have regard, not only to the
particular duty, but the general spirit ; not only to what it
directs us to do, but to the character which a compliance with
its direction is likely to form in us. So, in the present in-
stance, the rule here recited will never fail to make him who
obeys it considerate, not only of the rights, but of the feelings
of other men, bodily and mental, in great matters and in small ;
of the ease, the accommodation, the self-complacency of all
with whom he has any concern, especially of all who are in his
power, or dependent upon his will.

Now what, in the most applauded philosopher of the most

1 Letter to his Daughter.

228 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

enlightened age of the world, would have been deemed worthy
of his wisdom, and of his character, to say, our Saviour hath said,
and upon just such an occasion as that which we have feigned.

'Then one of them which was a lawyer, asked him a ques-
tion, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great
commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind ; this is the first and great commandment:
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself: on these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.' — Matt. xxii. 35-40.

The second precept occurs in St. Matthew, on another occasion
similar to this [xix. 16], and both of them upon a third similar
occasion in Luke [x. 27]. In these two latter instances, the
question proposed was, ' What shall I do to inherit eternal life V

Upon all these occasions, I consider the words of our Saviour
as expressing precisely the same thing as what I have put into
the mouth of the moral philosopher. Nor do I think that it
detracts much from the merit of the answer, that these pre-
cepts are extant in the Mosaic code : for his laying his finger,
if I may so say, upon these precepts ; his drawing then? out
from the rest of that voluminous institution ; his statins- of
them, not simply amongst the number, but as the greatest and
the sum of all the others ; in a word, his proposing of them to
his hearers for their rule and principle, was our Saviour's own.

And what our Saviour had said upon the subject, appears to
me to have fixed the sentiment amongst his followers.

St. Paul has it expressly, ' If there be any other command-
ment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself ;" and again, ' For all the law is ful-
filled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself.'' 1

St. John, in like manner, ' This commandment have we from
him, that he who loveth God, loveth his brother also.' 3

St. Peter, not very differently, ' Seeing that ye have purified
your souls in obeying the truth, through the spirit, unto un-
feigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with
a pure heart fervently.' 4

1 Rom. xiiL 7. 4 GaL v. 14 ' 1 John iv. 21. 4 1 Pet. i. 22.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 229

And it is so well known, as to require no citations to verify
it, that this love, or charity, or, in other words, regard to the
welfare of others, runs in various forms through all the pre-
ceptive parts of the apostolic writings. It is the theme of all
their exhortations, that with which their morality begins and
ends, from which all their details and enumerations set out, and
into which they return.

And that this temper, for some time at least, descended in
its purity to succeeding Christians, is attested by one of the
earliest and best of the remaining writings of the apostolical
fathers, the epistle of the Roman Clement. The meekness of
the christian character reigns throughout the whole of that
excellent piece. The occasion called for it. It was to com-
pose the dissensions of the church of Corinth. And the vene-
rable hearer of the apostles does not fall short, in the display
of this principle, of the finest passages of their writings. He
calls to the remembrance of the Corinthian church its former
character, in which ' ye were all of you [he tells them] humble-
minded, not boasting of anything, desiring rather to be sub-
ject than to govern, to give than to receive, being content
with the portion God had dispensed to you, and hearkening
diligently to his word ; ye were enlarged in your bowels, having
his sufferings always before your eyes. Ye contended day and
night for the whole brotherhood, that with compassion and a
good conscience the number of his elect might be saved. Ye
were sincere, and without offence, towards each other. Ye
bewailed every one his neighbour's sins, esteeming their defects
your own.' 1 His prayer for them was for the ' return of peace,
long suffering, and patience.' 2 And his advice to those, who
might have been the occasion of difference in the society, is
conceived in the true spirit, and with a perfect knowledge of
the christian character. ' Who is there among you that is gene-
rous ? Who that is compassionate ? Who that has any charity ?
Let him say, if this sedition, this contention, and these schisms,
be upon my account, I am ready to depart, to go away whither-
soever ye please, and do whatsoever ye shall command me, only
let the flock of Christ be in peace, with the elders who are set
over it. He that shall do this, shall get to himself a very great

1 Ep. Clem. Rom. c. 2 ; Abp. Wake's Translation. 2 Ibid. c. 58.

230 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

honour in the Lord ; and there is no place but what will be
ready to receive him, for the earth is the Lord's and the ful-
ness thereof. These things they, who have their conversation
towards God, not to be repented of, both have done, and will
always be ready to do.' 1

This sacred principle, this earnest recommendation of for-
bearance, lenity, and forgiveness, mixes with all the writings
of that age. There are more quotations in the apostolical
fathers, of texts which relate to these points, than of any other.
Christ's sayings had struck them. ' Not rendering [said Poly-
carp, the disciple of John] evil for evil, or railing for railing,
or striking for striking, or cursing for cursing.' 2 Again, speak-
ing of some whose behaviour had given great offence, ' Be ye
moderate [says he] upon this occasion, and look not upon such as
enemies, but call them back as suffering and erring members,
that ye save your whole body.' 3

' Be ye mild at their anger [saith Ignatius, the companion
of Poly carp], humble at their boastings, to their blasphemies
return your prayers, to their error your firmness in the faith ;
when they are cruel, be ye gentle: not endeavouring^ to
imitate their ways, let us be their brethren in all kindness and
moderation ; but let us be followers of the Lord, for who was
ever more unjustly used, more destitute, more despised?'

IY. A fourth quality, by which the morality of the gospel is
distinguished, is the exclusion of regard to fame and reputation.

' Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen
of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is
in heaven.' 4

'When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou
hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and
thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.' 6

And the rule, by parity of reason, is extended to all other
virtues.

I do not think, that either in these, or in any other passage
of the New Testament, the pursuit of fame is stated as a vice ;
it is only said that an action, to be virtuous, must be indepen-
dent of it. I would also observe, that it is not publicity, but
ostentation, which is prohibited ; not the mode, but the motive,

1 Ep. Clem. Rom. c. 54. « Pol. Ep. ad Phi!, c. 2

3 Pol. Ep. ad Phil. c. 11. * Matt, vi 1. » Matt, vi. 6.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 231

of the action, which is regulated. A good man will prefer that
mode, as well as those objects of his beneficence, by which he
can produce the greatest effect ; and the view of this purpose
may dictate sometimes publication, and sometimes concealment.
Either the one or the other may be the mode of the action,
according as the end to be promoted by it appears to require.
But from the motive, the reputation of the deed, and the fruits
and advantage of that reputation to ourselves, must be shut
out, or, in whatever proportion they are not so, the action in
that proportion fails of being virtuous.

This exclusion of regard to human opinion, is a difference,
not so much in the duties, to which the teachers of virtue would
persuade mankind, as in the manner and topics of persuasion.
And in this view the difference is great. When we set about to
give advice, our lectures are full of the advantages of character,
of the regard that is due to appearances and to opinion ; of what
the world, especially of what the good or great, will think and
say ; of the value of public esteem, and of the qualities by which
men acquire it. Widely different from this was our Saviour's in-
struction ; and the difference was founded upon the best reasons.
For, however the care of reputation, the authority of public
opinion, or even of the opinion of good men, the satisfaction of
being well received and well thought of, the benefit of being
known and distinguished, are topics to which we are fain to
have recourse in our exhortations, the true virtue is that which
discards these considerations absolutely, and which retires from
them all to the single internal purpose of pleasing God. This
at least was the virtue which our Saviour taught. And in
teaching of this, he not only confined the views of his followers
to the proper measure and principle of human duty, but acted
in consistency with his office as a monitor from heaven.

Next to what our Saviour taught, may be considered the
manner of his teaching ; which was extremely peculiar, yet, I
think, precisely adapted to the peculiarity of his character and
situation. His lessons did not consist of disquisitions ; of any-
thing like moral essays, or like sermons, or like set treatises upon
the several points which he mentioned. When he delivered
a precept, it was seldom that he added any proof or argument;
still seldomer, that he accompanied it with, what all precepts

232 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

require, limitations and distinctions. His instructions were
conceived in short emphatic sententious rules, in occasional re-
flections, or in round maxims. I do not think that this was a
natural, or would have been a proper method for a philosopher
or a moralist; or that it is a method which can be successfully
imitated by us. But I contend that it was suitable to the cha-
racter which Christ assumed, and to the situation in which, as
a teacher, he was placed. He produced himself as a messenger
from God. He put the truth of what he taught upon autho-
rity. 1 In the choice, therefore, of his mode of teaching, the
purpose by him to be consulted was impression ; because con-
viction, which forms the principal end of our discourses, was to
arise in the minds of his followers from a different source, from
their respect to his person and authority. Now, for the pur-
pose of impression singly and exclusively (I repeat again, that
we are not here to consider the convincing of the understand-
ing) I know nothing which would have so great force as strong
ponderous maxims, frequently urged, and frequently brought
back to the thoughts of the hearers. I know nothing that
could in this view be said better, than ' Do unto others |is ye
would that others should do unto you : the first and great icom-
mandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ; and the
second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'
It must also be remembered that our Lord's ministry, upon
the supposition either of one year or of three, compared with
his work, was of short duration ; that, within this time, he
had many places to visit, various audiences to address; that his
person was generally besieged by crowds of followers; that he
was, sometimes, driven away from the place where he was
teaching by persecution, and, at other times, thought fit to
withdraw himself from the commotions of the populace. Under
these circumstances nothing appears to have beenso practicable,
or likely to be so efficacious, as leaving, wherever he came, con-
cise lessons of duty. These circumstances at least show the
necessity he was under of comprising what he delivered within
a small compass. In particular, his sermon upon the mount

1 "/say unto you, Swear not at all; /say unto you, Resist not evil; /say unto
you, Love your enemies."*

* Matt. v. 34, 39, 44.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 233

ought always to be considered with a view to these observations.
The question is not, whether a fuller, a more accurate, a more
systematic, or a more argumentative discourse upon morale
might not have been pronounced ; but whether more could have
been said in the same room, better adapted to the exigencies of
the hearers, or better calculated for the purpose of impression ?
Seen in this light, it hath always appeared to me to be admira-
ble. Dr. Lardner thought that this discourse was made up of
what Christ had said at different times, mid upon different occa-
sions, several of which occasions are noticed in St. Luke's
narrative. I can perceive no reason for this opinion. I believe
that our Lord delivered this discourse at one time and place,
in the manner related by St. Matthew, and that he repeated
the same rules and maxims at different times, as opportunity
or occasion suggested ; that they were often in his mouth, were
repeated to different audiences, and in various conversations.

It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, which pro-
ceeds not by proof but upon authority, not by disquisition but
by precept, that the rules will be conceived in absolute terms,
leaving the application, and the distinctions that attend it, to
the reason of the hearer. It is likewise to be expected, that
they will be delivered in terms, by so much the more forcible
and energetic, as they have to encounter natural or general
propensities. It is further also to be remarked, that many of
those strong instances, which appear in our Lord's sermon,
such as ' If any man will smite thee on the right cheek, turn
to him the other also : If any man will sue thee at law, and
take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also : Whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain : though they
appear in the form of specific precepts, are intended as descrip-
tive of disposition and character. A specific compliance with
the precepts would be of little value, but the disposition which
they inculcate is of the highest He who should content him-
self with waiting for the occasion, and with literally observing
the rule when the occasion offered, would do nothing, or
worse than nothing ; but he who considers the character and
disposition which is hereby inculcated, and places that disposi-
tion before him as the model to which he should bring his own,
takes, perhaps, the best possible method of improving the bene-
volence, and of calming and rectifying the vices of his temper.

234 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

If it be said that this disposition is unattainable, I answer,
so is all perfection ; ought therefore a moralist to recommend
imperfections ? One excellency, however, of our Saviour's
rules is, that they are either never mistaken, or never so mis-
taken as to do harm. I could feign a hundred cases, in which
the literal application of the rule, ' of doing to others as we
would that others should do unto us,' might mislead us : but I
never yet met with the man who was actually misled by it. 1
Notwithstanding that our Lord bid his followers ' not to resist
evil,' and ' to forgive the enemy who should trespass against
them, not till seven times but till seventy times seven,' the
christian world has hitherto suffered little by too much placa-
bility or forbearance. I would repeat once more, what has
already been twice remarked, that these rules were designed to
regulate personal conduct from personal motives, and for this
purpose alone.

I think that these observations will assist us greatly in
placing our Saviour's conduct, as a moral teacher, in a proper
point of view : especially when it is considered, that to deliver
moral disrp:iisitions was no part of his design, to teach morality
at all was only a subordinate part of it ; his great business
being to supply, what was much more wanting than lessons of
morality, stronger moral sanctions, and clearer assurances of a
future judgment. 2

The parables of the New Testament are, many of them, such
as would have done honour to any book in the world ; 1 do not
mean in style and diction, but in the choice of the subjects, in
the structure of the narratives, in the aptness, propriety, and
force of the circumstances woven into them ; and in some, as

1 Tt is pointed out in the Lessons on Morals (L. iv.) that the utter misapprehension,
which is not uncommon, of the whole character and design of the precept, misleads
men nut into the mis-application, but the non-application of it. They often seem to
regard it as very g I in theory.' but unfit for practice.

1 Some appear to require in a religious system, or in the books which profess to
deliver that, system, minute directions for every ease and occurrence that may arise.
This, say they, is necessary to render a revelation perfect, especially one which has
for its object the regulation ot human conduct. Now, how prolix, and yet how in-
coinplete ami unavailing such an attempt must have been, is proved by one notable
example : 'The [ndoo and Mussulman religion are institutes of civil law, regulating
the minutesl questions both of property, and of all questions which come under the
cognizance of the magistrate. And to what length details of this kind are neces-
sarily carried, when once begun, may be understood from an anecdote of the Mus-
sulman code, which we have received from the most respectable authority, that no
less than .sn-rnhj-jin' thousand traditional precepts have been promulgated." — Hamil-
ton's Translation of tin Hedayaor Guide.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 235

that of the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the Pharisee and
the publican, in an union of pathos and simplicity, which, in
the best productions of human genius, is the fruit only of a
much exercised and well-cultivated judgment.

The LoraVs Prayer, for a succession of solemn thoughts, for
fixing the attention upon a few great points, for suitableness to
every condition, for sufficiency, for conciseness without ob-
scurity, for the weight and real importance of its petitions, is
without an equal or a rival.

From whence did these come ? Whence had this man this
wisdom ? Was our Saviour, in fact, a well-instructed philoso-
pher, whilst he is represented to us as an illiterate peasant ?
Or shall we say that some early Christians of taste and educa-
tion composed these pieces, and ascribed them to Christ ? Be-
side all other incredibilities in this account, I answer, with Dr.
Jortin, that they could not do it. No specimens of composi-
tion, which the Christians of the first century have left us,
authorise us to believe that they were equal to the task. And
how little qualified the Jews, the countrymen and companions
of Christ, were to assist him in the undertaking, may be
judged of from the traditions and writings of theirs which were
the nearest to that age. The whole collection of the Talmud
is one continued proof, into what follies they fell whenever they
left their Bible ; and how little capable they were of furnishing
out such lessons as Christ delivered.

But there is still another view, in which our Lord's dis-
courses deserve to be considered ; and that is, in their nega-
tive character, not in what they did, but in what they did not,
contain. Under this head, the following reflections appear to
me to possess some weight.

I. They exhibit no particular description of the invisible
world. The future happiness of the good, and the misery of
the bad, which is all we want to be assured of, is directby and
positively affirmed, and is represented by metaphors and com-
parisons, which were plainly intended as metaphors and com-
parisons, and as nothing more. As to the rest, a solemn
reserve is maintained. The question concerning the woman
who had been married to seven brothers, ' Whose shall she be
on the resurrection V was of a nature calculated to have drawn

236 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

from Christ a more circumstantial account of the state of the
human species in their future existence. He cut short, however,
the inquiry by an answer, which at once rebuked intruding curi-
osity, and was agreeable to the best apprehensions we are able to
form upon the subject, viz. ' That they who are accounted worthy
of that resurrection, shall be as the angels of God in heaven.'
I lay a stress upon this reserve, because it repels the suspicion
of enthusiasm ; for enthusiasm is wont to expatiate upon the
condition of the departed, above all other subjects ; and with a
wild particularity. It is moreover a topic which is always lis-
tened to with greediness. The teacher, therefore, whose prin-
cipal purpose is to draw upon himself attention, is sure to be
full of it. The Koran of Mahomet is half made up of it.

II. Our Lord enjoined no austerities. He not only enjoined
none as absolute duties, but he recommended none as carrying
men to a higher degree of divine favour. Place Christianity,
in this respect, by the side of all institutions which have been
founded in the fanaticism, either of their author, or of his first
followers : or rather compare, in this respect, Christianity as it
came from Christ, with the same religion after it fell into other
hands ; with the extravagant merit very soon ascribed to Celi-
bacy, solitude, voluntary poverty ; with the rigours of an
ascetic, and the vows of a monastic life ; the hair shirt, the
watchings, the midnight prayers, the obmutescence, the gloom
and mortification of religious orders, and of those who aspired
to religious perfection.

III. Our Saviour uttered no impassioned devotion. There
was no heat in his piety, or in the language in which he ex-
pressed it ; no vehement or rapturous ejaculations, no violent
urgency in his prayers. The Lord's prayer is a model of calm
devotion. His words in the garden are unaffected expressions,
of a deep indeed, but sober piety. He never appears to have
been worked up into anything like that elation, or that emotion
of spirits, which is occasionally observed in most of those, to
whom the name of enthusiast can in any degree be applied.
I feel a respect for methodists, because I believe that there is
to be found amongst them, much sincere piety, and availing,
though not always well-informed, Christianity; yet I never
attended a meeting of theirs, but I came away with the reflec-
tion, how different what I heard was from what I read ; I

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 237

do not mean in doctrine, with which, at present, I have no
concern, but in manner ; how different from the calmness, the
sobriety, the good sense, and I may add, the strength and
authority, of our Lord's discourses.

IV. It is very usual with the human mind, to substitute
forwardness and fervency in a particular cause, for the merit of
general and regular morality ; and it is natural, and politic, also,
in the leader of a sect or party, to encourage such a disposition
in his followers. Christ did not overlook this turn of thought :
yet, though avowedly placing himself at the head of a new
institution, he notices it only to condemn it. ' Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ?
and then will I profess unto you, I never knew you, depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.'' 1 So far was the author of
Christianity from courting the attachment of his followers by
any sacrifice of principle, or by a condescension to the errors
which even zeal in his service might have inspired ! This was
a proof both of sincerity and judgment.

V. Nor, fifthly, did he fall in with any of the depraved
fashions of his country, or with the natural bias of his own
education. Bred up a Jew, under a religion extremely techni-
cal, in an age and amongst a people more tenacious of the
ceremonies than of any other part of that religion, he delivered
an institution, containing less of ritual, and that more simple,
than is to be found in any religion, which ever prevailed
amongst mankind. We have known, I do allow, examples of
an enthusiasm, which has swept away all external ordinances
before it. But this spirit certainly did not dictate our Saviour's
conduct, either in his treatment of the religion of his country,
or in the formation of his own institution. In both he dis-
played the soundness and moderation of his judgment. He
censured an overstrained scrupulousness, or perhaps an affecta-
tion of scrupulousness, about the Sabbath ; but how did he
censure it ? not by contemning or decrying the institution itself,

1 Matt. vii. 21, 22.

238 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

but by declaring that ' the sabbath was made for man, not
man for the sabbath ;' that is to say, that the sabbath was to
be subordinate to its purpose, and that that purpose was the
real good of those who were the subjects of the law. The
same concerning the nicety of some of the pharisees, in paying
tithes of the most trifling articles, accompanied with a neglect
of justice, fidelity, and mercy. He finds fault with them for
misplacing their anxiety. He does not speak disrespectfully
of the law of tithes, or of their observance of it, but he assigns
to each class of duties its proper station in the scale of moral
importance. All this might be expected perhaps from a well-
instructed, cool, and judicious philosopher, but was not to be
looked for from an illiterate Jew, certainly not from an impetu-
ous enthusiast.

VI. Nothing could be more quibbling, than were the com-
ments and expositions of the Jewish doctors, at that time ; no-
thing so puerile as their distinctions. Their evasion of the
fifth commandment, their exposition of the law of oaths, are
specimens of the bad taste in morals which then prevailed.
"Whereas in a numerous collection of our Saviour's apothegms,
many of them referring to sundry precepts of the Jewish law,
there is not to be found one example of sophistry, or of false
subtlety, or of anything approaching thereunto.

VII. The national temper of the Jews was intolerant, narrow-
minded, and excluding. In Jesus, on the contrary, whether we
regard his lessons or his example, we see not only benevolence,
but benevolence the most enlarged and comprehensive. In the
parable of the good Samaritan, the very point of the story is,
that the person relieved by him, was the national and religious
enemy of his benefactor. Our Lord declared the equity of the
divine administration, when he told the Jews (what, probably,
they were surprised to hear) ' That many should come from
the east and west, and should sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, but that the children of
the kingdom should be cast into outer darkness." His reproof
of the hasty zeal of his disciples, who would needs call down
fire from heaven to revenge an affront put upon their
Master, shows the lenity of his character, and of his religion ;

1 Matt. viii. 11.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 239

and his opinion of the manner in which the most unreason-
able opponents ought to be treated, or at least of the manner
in which they ought not to be treated. The terms, in which
his rebuke was conveyed, deserve to be noticed : — ' Ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of.' 1

VIII. Lastly, amongst the negative qualities of our religion,
as it came out of the hands of its founder and his apostles, we
may reckon its complete abstraction from all views either of
ecclesiastical or civil policy ; or, to meet a language much in
fashion with some men, from the politics of either priests or
statesmen. Christ's declaration, that ' his kingdom was not of
this world,' recorded by John ; his evasion of the question,
whether it was lawful or not to give tribute unto Caesar, men-
tioned by the three other evangelists ; his reply to an appli-
cation that was made to him, to interpose his authority in a
question of property, ' Man, who made me a ruler or a judge
over you?' ascribed to him by St Luke; his declining to
exercise the office of a criminal judge in the case of the
woman taken in adultery, as related by John, are all intel-
ligible significations of our Saviour's sentiments upon this head.
And with respect to politics, in the usual sense of that word,
or discussions concerning different forms of government, Chris-
tianity declines every question upon the subject. Whilst
politicians are disputing about monarchies, aristocracies, and
republics, the Gospel is alike applicable, useful, and friendly
to them all ; inasmuch as, 1st, it tends to make men virtuous,
and as it is easier to govern good men than bad men under
any constitution : as, 2ndly, it states obedience to government
in ordinary cases, to be not merely a submission to force, but
a duty of conscience; as, 3rdly, it induces dispositions favour-
able to public tranquillity, a Christian's chief care being to pass
quietly through this world to a better: as, 4thly, it prays for
communities, and for the governors of communities, of what-
ever description or denomination they be, with a solicitude and
fervency proportioned to the influence which they possess upon
human happiness. All which, in my opinion, is just as it
should be. Had there been more to be found in scripture
of a political nature, or convertible to political purposes, the

1 Luke ix 55.

240 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

worst use would have been made of it, on whichever side it
seemed to lie.

When, therefore, we consider Christ as a moral teacher
(remembering that this was only a secondary part of his office;
and that morality, by rhe nature of the subject, does not admit
of discovery, properly so called) ; when we consider either
what he taught, or what he did not teach, either the substance
or the manner of his instruction ; his preference of solid to
popular virtues, of a character which is commonly despised, to
a character which is universally extolled ; his placing, in our
licentious vices, the check, in the right place, viz., upon the
thoughts ; his collecting of human duty into two well-devised
rules, his repetition of these rules, the stress he laid upon them,
especially in comparison with positive duties, and his fixing
therebv the sentiments of his followers; his exclusion of all
regard to reputation in our devotion and alms, and, by parity
of reason, in our other virtues; when we consider that his in-
structions were delivered in a form calculated for impression,
the precise purpose in his situation to be consulted ; and that
they were illustrated by parables, the choice and structure of
which would have been admired in any composition whatever :
when we observe him free from the usual symptoms of enthu-
siasm, heat and vehemence in devotion, austerity in institu-
tions, and a wild particularity in the descriptions of a future
state ; free also from the depravities of his age and country ;
without superstition amongst the most superstitious of men, yet
not decrying positive distinctions or external observances, but
soberly recalling them to the principle of their establishment,
and to their place in the scale of human duties; without
sophistry or trifling, amidst teachers remarkable for nothing so
much, as frivolous subtleties and quibbling expositions; candid
and liberal in his judgment of the rest of mankind, although
belonging to a people, who affected a separate claim to divine
favour, and, in consequence of that opinion, prone to uncha-
ritableness, partiality, and restriction : when we find, in his
religion, no scheme of building up a hierarchy, or of minister-
ing to the views of human governments: in a word, when we
compare Christianity, as it came from its author, either with
other religions, or with itself in other hands, the most re-
luctant understanding will be induced to acknowledge the

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 241,

probity, I think also the good sense, of those to whom it owes
its origin ; and that some regard is due to the testimony of such
men, when they declare their knowledge that the religion pro-
ceeded from God ; and when they appeal, for the truth of their
assertion, to miracles which they wrought, or which they saw.

Perhaps the qualities which we observe in the religion, may
be thought to prove something more. They would have been
extraordinary, had the religion come from any person ; from
the person from whom it did come, they are exceedingly so.
What was Jesus in external appearance? A Jewish peasant,
the son of a carpenter, living with his father and mother in a
remote province of Palestine, until the time that he produced
himself in his public character. He had no master to instruct
or prompt him. He had read no books, but the works of
Moses and the Prophets. He had visited no polished cities.
He had received no lessons from Socrates or Plato ; nothing
to form in him a taste or judgment, different from that of the
rest of his countrymen, and of persons of the same rank of life
with himself. Supposing it to be true, which it is not, that all
his points of morality might be picked out of Greek and
Pom an writings, they were writings which he had never seen.
Supposing them to be no more than what some or other had
taught in various times and places, he could not collect them
together.

Who were his coadjutors in the undertaking, the persons
into whose hands the religion came after his death ? A few
fishermen upon the lake of Tiberias, persons just as uneducated,
and, for the purpose of framing rules of morality, as unpro-
mising, as himself. Suppose the mission to be real, all this is
accounted for; the unsuitableness of the authors to the pro-
duction, of the characters to the undertaking, no longer sur-
prises us ; but, without reality, it is very difficult to explain,
how such a system should proceed from such persons. Christ
was not like any other carpenter ; the apostles were not like
any other fishermen.

But the subject is not exhausted by these observations.
That portion of it, which is most reducible to points of argu-
ment, has been stated, and, I trust, truly. There are, how-
ever, some topics, of a more diffuse nature, which yet deserve
to be proposed to the reader's attention.

242 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

The character of Christ is a part of the morality of the
Gospel : one strong observation upon which is, that, neither
as represented by his followers, nor as attacked by his enemies,
is he charged with any personal vice. This remark is as old
as Orio-en : — 'Though innumerable lies and calumnies had
been forged against the venerable Jesus, none had dared to
charge him with an intemperance.' 1 Not a reflection upon his
moral character, not an imputation or suspicion of any offence
against purity and chastity, appears for five hundred years after
his birth. This fanltlessness is more peculiar than we are
apt to imagine. Some stain pollutes the morals or the morality
of almost every other teacher, and of every other lawgiver."
Zeno the stoic, and Diogenes the cynic, fell into the foulest
impurities; of which also Socrates himself was more than sus-
pected. Solon forbade unnatural crimes to slaves. Lycurgus
tolerated theft as a part of education. Plato recommended
a community of women. Aristotle maintained the general right
of making war upon Barbarians. The elder Cato was remark-
able for the ill-usage of his slaves. The younger gave up the
person of his wife. One loose principle is found in almost all
the Pagan moralists ; is distinctly, however, perceived ins the
writings of Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, and
that is, the allowing, and even the recommending to their dis-
ciples, a compliance with the religion, and with the religious
rites, of every county into which they came. In speaking of
the founders of new institutions, we cannot forget Mahomet.
His licentious transgressions of his own licentious rules ; his
abuse of the character which he assumed, and of the power
which he had acquired, for the purposes of personal and privi-
leged indulgence ; his avowed claim of a special permission
from heaven of unlimited sensuality, is known to every reader,
as it is confessed by every writer, of the Moslem story.

Secondly, in the histories which are left us of Jesus Christ,
although very short, and although dealing in narrative, and
not in observation or panegyric, we perceive, beside the absence
of every appearance of vice, traces of devotion, humility, be-
nignity, mildness, patience, prudence. I speak of traces of

• Or. /,/-. Cds. L3 num. :!6. ed. Bencd.
2 See m:niy iii<t:inces collected by Grotius de Ver. in the notes to his second book,
p. l l<>. Pocock'a edition.

Chap, ii.] The Morality of the Gospel. 243

these qualities, because the qualities themselves are to be col-
lected from incidents ; inasmuch as the terms are never used
of Christ in the gospels, nor is any formal character of him
drawn in any part of the New Testament.

Thus we see the devoutness of his mind, in his frequent
retirement to solitary prayer ;' in his habitual giving of thanks;*
in his reference of the beauties and operations of nature to the
bounty of providence ; 3 in his earnest addresses to his Father,
more particularly that short but solemn one before the raising
of Lazarus from the dead; 4 and in the deep piety of his be-
havior in the garden, on the last evening of his life ; 6 his
humility, in his constant reproof of contentions for superiority ; 8
the benignity and affectionateness of his temper, in his kindness
to children, 7 in the tears which he shed over his falling coun-
tiy, 8 and upon the death of his friend ; B in his noticing of the
widow's mite ; 10 in his parables of the good Samaritan, of the
ungrateful servant, and of the Pharisee and publican, of which
parables no one but a man of humanity could have been the
author : the mildness and lenity of his character is discovered,
in his rebuke of the forward zeal of his disciples at the Sama-
ritan village ;" in his expostulation with Pilate ; 12 in his prayer
for his enemies at the moment of his suffering, 13 which, though
it has been since very properly and frequently imitated, was
then, I apprehend, new. His prudence is discerned, where
prudence is most wanted, in his conduct upon trying occasions,
and in answers to artful questions. Of these the following are
examples: — His withdrawing, in various instances, from the
first symptoms of tumult, 14 and with the express care, as
appears from St. Matthew, 15 of carrying on his ministry in quiet-
ness ; his declining of every species of interference with the
civil affairs of the country, which disposition is manifested by
his behavior in the case of the woman caught in adultery, 18
and in his repulse of the application which was made to him,
to interpose his decision about a disputed inheritance: 17 his judi-

1 Matt. xiv. 23. is. 28. xxvi. 36.
3 Matt. xi. 25. Mark via. 6. John vi. 23. Luke xxii. 17. 3 Matt, vi 26, 28.
4 John xi. 41. 6 Matt, xxvi. 36-17. 6 Mark ix. 33.

1 Mark x. 16 B Luke xix. 41. 9 John xi. 35.

10 Mark xii. 42. " Luke ix. 55. n John xix. 11.

18 Luke xxiii. 34. H Matt. xiv. 22. Luke v. 15, 16 John v. 13 ; vL 15.

16 Matt. xii. 19. ,B John viii. 1. 1T Luke xii. 14.

244 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

cious, yet, as it should seem, unprepared answers, will be con-
fessed in the case of the Roman tribute ;' in the difficulty con
cerning the interfering relations of a future state, as proposed
to him in the instance of a woman who had married seven
brethren; 9 and, more especially, in his reply to those who
demanded from him an explanation of the authority by which
he acted, which reply consisted, in propounding a question to
them, situated between the very difficulties, into which they
were insidiously endeavoring to draw Mm. 3

Our Saviour's lessons, beside what has already been re-
marked in them, touch, and that oftentimes by very affecting
representations, upon some of the most interesting topics of
human duty, and of human meditation ; upon the principles,
by which the decisions of the last day will be regulated ; 4 upon
the superior, or rather the supreme, importance of religion ; B
upon penitence, by the most pressing calls and the most en-
couraging invitations ; 8 upon self-denial, 7 watchfulness, 8 placa-
bility, 9 confidence in God, 10 the value of spiritual, that is, of
mental worship, 11 the necessity of moral obedience, and the
directing of that obedience to the spirit and principle- of the
law, instead of seeking for evasions in a technical construction
of its terms. 12 *

If we extend our argument to other parts of the New Testa-
ment, we may offer, as amongst the best and shortest rules of
life, or, which is the same thing, descriptions of virtue, that
have ever been delivered, the following passages:

'Pure religion, and undefiled, before God, and the Father,
is this ; to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
■> keep himself unspotted from the world.' 13

'N<»w the end of the commandment is, charity, out of a pure
heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. '' 4

'For the grace of God thai bringeth salvation, hath appeared
to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world.' 16

1 M:iti xxii. 19. - thid. 28. 8 Ibid. xxi. 'J:: el seq. ' Matt xxv. 1 et scq.

6 Mark viii 35. Matt. \i. 31-33. Luke xii. 16. 21; I. 5.
Luke xv T Matt v 29. " Mark xiii. 37. Matt, xxiv 42; xxv. 13.

■Luke wii. I Matt, x viii 33. '"Matt, v.25-30.

" John rp. 23, 24 '- .Man v. 11. l * James i. 27. u 1 Tim. i 5.

16 Tit ii 11, 11

Chap, ii.] Annotations. 245

Enumerations of virtues and vices, and those sufficiently ac-
curate, and unquestionably just, are given by St. Paul to his
converts in three several epistles. 1

The relative duties of husbands and wives, of parents and
children, of masters and servants, of christian teachers and
their flocks, of governors and their subjects, are set forth by
the same writer/ not indeed with the copiousness, the detail, or
the distinctness, of a moralist, who should, in these days, sit
clown to write chapters upon the subject, but with the leading
rules and principles in each ; and, above all, with truth, and
with authority.

Lastly, the whole volume of the New Testament is replete
with piety / with, what were almost unknown to heathen mo-
ralists, devotional virtues, the most profound veneration of the
Deity, an habitual sense of his bounty and protection, a firm
confidence in the final result of his counsels and dispensations,
a disposition to resort, upon all occasions, to his mercy, for the
supply of human wants, for assistance in danger, for relief from
pain, for the pardon of sin.

ANNOTATIONS.

' The members of civilized society can, tn all ordinary cases,
judge tolerably well how they ought to acV

Paley is, here, and in several other places, at variance with
what he has said in his Moral Philosophy ; that 'the only dif-
ference between an act of prudence, and an act of virtue, is,
that in the one case we consider what we may gain or lose in
the present world, and in the other, what we shall gain or lose
in the next world.' For, it is plain that on this principle, men
to whom a future state had not been revealed, so far from
* understanding what they ought to do' would have had no
more notion of ' ought,' or of duty, than a blind man, of
colors.

This fundamental error in Paley's views (which I have fully

1 Gal. v. 19. Col. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii.
2 Eph. v. 33; vi 1, 5. 2 Cor. vi. 6, 7. Rom. xiii.

246 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

treated of in the Annotations on his Moral Philosophy) goes to
weaken very much the force of his arguments from the moral
character of Jesus, and of his gospel.

' They exhibit no particular description of the invisible world?

Let any one who meets with an unbeliever, who treats Chris-
tianity as a series of ' cunningly devised fables,' ask him how it
happens that none of the Sacred Writers has given a full, de-
tailed, and captivating description of everything that is to take
place at the end of the world ; — of all the interesting particulars
of the glorified bodies with which the faithful will rise, and of
the heavenly joys to which they will be admitted.

Nothing certainly could have been more likely to gratify the
curiosity of believers, and even to attract fresh converts, than a
lively and magnificent description of heavenly glories. And
those who gave full credit to the writer, as the Corinthians evi-
dently did to Paul, would not have hesitated to believe his
account of these things. Had he been an impostor, it would
not have been at all difficult for him to invent such a descrip-
tion ; and had he been an enthusiast, he could not have avoided
it. One, whose imagination had got the better of his judg-
ment, and whose wild fancies were regarded by himself a* re-
velations, could never have treated of such a subject as this
without being tempted by its mysterious and deep interest, to
invent, and actually believe, a vast number of particulars
respecting the other world.

Why, then, you may ask, do we find nothing of this nature
in the writings of the Apostles ? The plain answer is, because
they were not either impostors or enthusiasts ; but plain,
simple, honest men, who taught only what had been revealed
to them, and what they had been commissioned to reveal to
others. You may safely defy an unbeliever to give any other
answer to the question, if he can. For near eighteen centuries
has this proof remained uncontradicted ; and in all that time
no one lias given, or even attempted to give, any explanation
of the brief, unadorned, cool, and unpretending accounts which
the New-Testament-writers give of matters so interesting to
man's curiosity, except by considering them as upright and
sober-minded men, setting forth what they knew to be truth,
just as they had received it.

Chap, ii.] Annotations. 247

And it should be observed, that if we were totally unable
to perceive the wisdom, or to guess the cause, of the Sacred
Writers giving us such scanty accounts of the life to come,
still, the proof which this scantiness affords of the truth of
what they say, remains the same. For if they wrote as no
impostor and no enthusiast ever would write, they could have
been neither. What cannot have come from Man, must have
come from God ; whether we can perceive anything of its
divine excellence, or not.

' Our Lord enjoined no austerities.''

This very remarkable point 1 have dwelt on at large in the
Essay on Christian Self-denial • and more briefly in the Les-
sons on Morals, and the Lessons on Mind.

' lie censured an overstrained scrupulousness about the Sabbath ;
but how did He censure it f

Paley's words may be understood to imply that any man had
an equal right with the Lord Jesus to dispense with the ob-
servance of the Sabbath. But our Lord Himself implies the
contrary, in saying ' The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath."

Paley, in his Moral and Political Philosophy (bk. v. ch. 6),
treats of ' Sabbatical Institutions ' — the Jewish Sabbath, and the
Lord's Day. And when (a good many years after) the same doc-
trine, in substance with his, was put forth by another author, and
again by others, subsequently, it was decried, not merely as erro-
neous, but as an unheard-of novelty. Not merely many of the illi-
terate, but several also who were supposed to be learned Divines,
spoke of it (and that in published works) as something that had
never before occurred to any christian writer. Now it was indeed
no novelty in Paley's time ; his view being what was almost uni-
versal throughout Christendom for the first fifteen centuries and
more ; and had been set forth by Calvin and others of the most
eminent Reformers. But it is not perhaps very strange that
persons of no extensive reading, should have been ignorant of
ancient books, some of them in Latin. But Paley's work had
been for half a century a text-book in a great university. And
that any writer on these subjects should either be himself

1 This point is fully treated in the Tlwughts on the Sabbath.

248 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

ignorant of its contents, or should calculate on that ignorance
in his readers, is really wonderful. As for the soundness or
unsoundness of Paley's doctrine, that is a question of opinion,
and is one on which I shall not now enter. But the existence
of his opinions is a matter of fact / and is a fact of which
one might have supposed all readers to he aware. But
its having been thus overlooked, is a sti^ong proof that an
author of great celebrity may be much talked of, and yet
little known.

I have thought it necessary to advert — not without reluc-
tance — to this matter, because any such error, when detected
(as it is sure to be, sooner or later), leads to consequences ex-
tending far beyond the immediate question it may happen to
relate to. When a religious teacher makes such a misstate-
ment of facts as proves him to be either grossly and culpably
ignorant of what he ought to have clearly ascertained, or else
guilty of disingenuous suppression, all the rest of his teaching
is likely to be regarded with a distrust which may be unde-
served, but which cannot be wondered at.

' The lenity of his character, and of his Religion! 1

Paley seems to imply that our Lord represented a rejection
of Him as a sin that would be more leniently dealt with than
rebellion against the Lord under the Old Dispensation. But
the distinction drawn is evidently between temporal, and future
judgments. For He says expressly that it would be 'more
tolerable for Sodom, in the Day of Judgment, than for that
city' which should reject his messengers.

CHAPTER III.

The Candor of the Writers of the New Testament.

I MAKE this candor to consist, in their putting down many
passages, and noticing many circumstances, which no
writer whatever was likely to have forged ; and which no
writer would have chosen to appear in his book, who had been
careful to present the story in the most unexceptionable form,
or who bad thought himself at liberty to carve and mould the

Chap, iii.] Candor of tke Writers of the New Testament. 249

particulars of that story, according to his choice, or according
to Ills judgment of the effect.

A strong and well-known example of the fairness of the
evangelists, offers itself in their account of Christ's resurrection,
namely, in their unanimously stating, that, after he was risen,
he appeared to his disciples alone. I do not mean that they
have used the exclusive word alone ; but that all the instances
which they have recorded of his appearance, are instances of
appearance to his disciples : that their reasonings upon it, and
allusions to it, are confined to this supposition ; and that, by
one of them, Peter is made to say, ' Him God raised up the
third day, and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to
witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and
drink with him after he rose from the dead.' 1 The commonest
understanding must have perceived, that the history of the
resurrection would have come with more advantage, if they had
related that Jesus appeared, after he was risen, to his foes as
well as his friends, to the Scribes and Pharisees, the Jewish
council, and the Roman governor : or even if they had asserted
the public appearance of Christ in general unqualified terms,
without noticing, as they have done, the presence of his dis-
ciples upon each occasion, and noticing it in such a manner
as to lead their readers to suppose that none but disciples were
present. They could have represented it one way as well as
the other. And if their point had been, to have the religion
believed, whether true or false ; if they had fabricated the
story ah initio, or if they had been disposed, either to have
delivered their testimony as witnesses, or to have worked up
their materials and information as historians, in such a manner
as to render their narrative as specious and unobjectionable as
they could ; in a word, if they had thought of anything but of
the truth of the case, as they understood and believed it ; they
would, in their account of Christ's several appearances after
his resurrection, at least have omitted this restriction. At this
distance of time, the account as we have it is perhaps more
credible than it would have been the other way ; because this
manifestation of the historians' candor, is of more advantage
to their testimony, than the difference in the circumstances of

1 Acts x. 40, 41.

250 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

the account would have been to the nature of the evidence.
But tliis is an effect which the evangelists would not foresee ;
and I think that it was by no means the case at the time when
the books were composed.

Mr. Gibbon has argued for the genuineness of the Koran,
from the confessions which it contains, to the apparent dis-
advantage of the Mahometan cause. 1 The same defence vindi-
cates the genuineness of our Gospels, and without prejudice to
the cause at all.

There are some other instances in which the evangelists
honestly relate what, they must have perceived, would make
against them.

Of this kind is John the Baptist's message, preserved by St.
Matthew and St. Luke [xi. 2 ; vii. 18]. ' Now when John had
heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his dis-
ciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or
look we for another V To confess, still more to state, that John
the Baptist had his doubts concerning the character of Jesus,
could not but afford a handle to cavil and objection. But
truth, like honesty, neglects appearances. The same observa-
tion, perhaps, holds concerning the apostacy of Judas. 2 i

John vi. 66. ' From that time many of his disciples went
back, and walked no more with him.' Was it the part of a
writer, who dealt in suppression and disguise, to put down this
anecdote ?

Or this, which Matthew has preserved [xiii. 58] ? ' He did
not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.'

1 Vol. ix. c. 50, note 96.
5 T bad once placed amongst these examples of fair concession, the remarkable words
of St. Matthew, in his account of Christ's appearance upon the Galilean mountain:
' And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted.'* I have since,
however, been convinced, by what is observed concerning this passage in Dr. Towns-
bend's Discoursef upon the resurrection, thai t lie transaction, as related by St. Mat-
tin iw, was really this: 'Christ appeared first at a distance; the greater part of the
company, the moment they saw him, worshipped, but some, as yet, i.e. upon this
lii-t distant view of his person, doubted; whereupon Christ came up\ to them, and
spake to them,' &c: that the doubt, therefore, was a doubt only at first, for a mo-
nnnt. and upon his being seen at a distance, and was afterwards dispelled by his
nearer approach, and by his entering into conversation with them.

* Ch. xxviii. 17. t Pa fe' e m -

t St. Matthew's words are Kui ir.»o.Tt>flv i'.tj'nUi i\i\rrrci' «»> r. This intimates,
that, when he first appeared, it was at a distance, at least from many of the specta-
tors — Ibid, p I'iT.

Chap, iii.] Candor of the Writers of the New Testament. 251

Again, in the same evangelist [v. 17, 18]. 'Think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets ; I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil ; for, verily, I say unto you, till heaven
and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled.' At the time the gospels were
written, the apparent tendency of Christ's mission was to
diminish the authority of the Mosaic code, and it was so con-
sidered by the Jews themselves. It is very improbable, there-
fore, that, without the constraint of truth, Matthew should
have ascribed a saying to Christ, which, jprimo intuitu, militated
with the judgment of the age in which his gospel was written.
Marcion thought this text so objectionable, that he altered the
words, so as to invert the sense. 1

Once more, Acts xxv. 19. ' They brought none accusation
against him, of such things, as I supposed, but had certain
questions against him of their own superstition, and of one
Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.' Nothing
could be more in the character of a Roman governor than these
words. But that is not precisely the point I am concerned
with. A mere panegyrist, or a dishonest narrator, would not
have represented his cause, or have made a great magistrate
represent it, in this manner, i.e., in terms not a little disparag-
ing, and bespeaking, on his part, much unconcern and indiffe-
rence about the matter. The same observation may be repeated
of the speech which is ascribed to Gallio (Acts viii. 14). ' If it
be a question of words, and names, and of your law, look ye to
it, for I will be no judge of such matters.'

Lastly, where do we discern a stronger mark of candor,
or less disposition to extol and magnify, than in the con-
clusion of the same history ? in which the evangelist, after
relating that Paul, upon his first arrival at Rome, preached
to the Jews from morning until evening, adds, ' And some
believed the things which were spoken, and some believed
not.'

The following, I think, are passages which were very
unlikely to have presented themselves to the mind of a forger
or a fabulist.

Matt. xxi. 21. ' Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily

1 Lard. vol. xv. p. 422.

-•"'- Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not
only do this, which is done unto the fig-tree, but also, if ye
shall say unto tin's mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou
cast into the sea, it shall be done ; all things whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done.' 1 It appears to
me very improbable that these words should have been put into
Christ's mouth, if he had not actually spoken them. The term
'faith,' as here used, is perhaps rightly interpreted of confi-
dence in that internal notice, by M'hich the apostles were
admonished of their power to perform any particular miracle.
And this exposition renders the sense of the text more easy.
But the words, undoubtedly, in their obvious construction,
carry with them a difficulty, which no writer would have
brought upon himself officiously.

Luke ix. 59. ' And he said unto another, Follow me ; but
he said, Lord, suffer me, first, to go and bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go
thou and preach the kingdom of God." This answer, though
very expressive of the transcendent importance of religious
concerns, was apparently harsh and repulsive ; and sitch as
would not have been made for Christ, if he had not Really
used it. At least, some other instance would have been
chosen.

The following passage, I, for the same reason, think impos-
sible to have been the production of artifice, or of a cold for-
gery : — ' But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his
brother, without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment?
and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in
danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
shall be in danger of hell fire [Gehennse].' Matt. v. 22. It
is emphatic, cogent, and well calculated for the purpose of
impression; but is inconsistent with the supposition of art or
wariness on the part of the relator.

The short reply of our Lord to Mary Magdalen after his
ressurrection (John xx. lfi, 17), 'Touch me not, for I am not
yet ascended unto my Father,' in my opinion, must have been
founded in a reference or allusion to some prior conversation,
for the want of knowing which, his meaning is hidden from us.

1 See also xvii. 20. Luke xvii. G. 9 See also Matt. viii. 21.

Chap, iii.] Candor of the Writers of the New Testament. 253

This very obscurity, however, is a proof of genuineness. No
one would have forged such an answer.

John vi. The whole of the conversation, recorded in this
chapter, is, in the highest degree, unlikely to be fabricated,
especially the part of our Saviour's reply between the fiftieth
and the fifty-eighth verse. I need only put down the first sen-
tence. ' I am the living bread which came down from
heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever;
and the bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world.' "Without calling in question the expo-
sitions that have been given of this passage, we may be per-
mitted to say, that it labors under an obscurity, in which it is
impossible to believe that any one, who made speeches for the
persons of his narrative, would have voluntarily involved them.
That this discourse was obscure even at the time, is confessed
by the writer who has preserved it, when he tells us at the con-
clusion, that many of our Lord's disciples, when they had heard
this, said, 'This is a hard saying, who can bear it?'

Christ's taking of a young child, and placing it in the midst
of his contentious disciples (Matt, xviii. 2), though as decisive
a proof, as any could be, of the benignity of his temper, and
very expressive of the character of the religion which he wished
to inculcate, was not by any means an obvious thought. Nor
am I acquainted w r ith anything in any ancient writing which
resembles it.

The account of the institution of the Eucharist bears strong
internal marks of genuineness. If it had been feigned, it
would have been more full. It would have come nearer to the
actual mode of celebrating the rite, as that mode obtained
very early in christian churches : and it would have been more
formal than it is. In the forged piece called the Apostolic
Constitutions, the apostles are made to enjoin many parts of
the ritual which was in use in the second and third centuries
with as much particularity as a modern rubric could have done.
Whereas, in the history of the Lord's supper, as we read it in
St. Matthew's gospel, there is not so much as the command to
repeat it. This, surely, looks like undesignedness. I think
also that the difficulty arising from the conciseness of Christ's
expression, 'This is my body,' would have been avoided in a
made-up story. I allow that the explication of these w r ords,

25i Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

given by Protestants, is satisfactory ; but it is deduced from a
diligent comparison of the words in question with forms of
expression used in scripture, and especially by Christ, upon
other occasions. No writer would arbitrarily and unneces-
sarily have thus cast in his reader's way a difficulty, which,
to say the least, it required research and erudition to clear up.

Now it ought to be observed, that the argument which is
built upon these examples, extends both to the authenticity of
the books and to the truth of the narrative : for it is impro-
bable, that the forger of a history in the name of another
should have inserted such passages into it : and it is impro-
bable also, that the persons whose names the books bear should
have fabricated such passages ; or even have allowed them a
place in their work, if they had not believed them to express
the truth.

The following observation, therefore, of Dr. Lardner, the most
candid of all advocates, and the most cautious of all inquirers,
seems to be well-founded: — ' Christians are induced to believe
the writers of the gospel, by observing the evidences of piety
and probity that appear in their writings, in which there is no
deceit or artifice, or cunning or design.' ' No remarks,' js Dr.
Beattie hath properly said, ' are thrown in to anticipate objec-
tions ; nothing of that caution, which never fails to distinguish
the testimony of those who are conscious of imposture ; no en-
deavor to reconcile the reader's mind to what may be extraor-
dinary in the narrative.'

I beg leave to cite also another author, 1 who has well ex-
pressed the reflection which the examples now brought forward
were intended to suggest. ' It doth not appear that ever it
came into the mind of these writers, to consider how this or
the other action would appear to mankind, or what objections
might be raised upon them. But, without at all attending to
this, they lay the facts before you, at no pains to think whether
they would appear credible or not. If the reader will not
believe their testimony, there is no help for it : they tell the
truth, and attend to nothing else. Surely this looks like sin-
cerity, and that they published nothing to the world but what
they believed themselves.'

As no improper supplement to this chapter, I crave a place

1 Duchal, pp. 97, 98.

Chap, iii.] Candor of the Writers of the New Testament. 255

here for observing the extreme naturalness of sonie of the
things related in the New Testament.

Mark ix. 23. ' Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway
the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I
believe, help thou mine unbelief.' The struggle in the father's
heart, between solicitude for the preservation of his child, and
a kind of involuntary distrust of Christ's power to heal him, is
here expressed with an air of reality, which could hardly be
counterfeited.

Again (Matt. xxi. 9), the eagerness of the people to introduce
Christ into Jerusalem, and their demand, a short time after-
wards, of his crucifixion, when he did not turn out what they
expected him to be, so far from affording matter of objection,
represents popular favor in exact agreement with nature and
with experience, as the flux and reflux of a wave.

The Rulers and Pharisees rejecting Christ, whilst the com-
mon people received him, was the effect which, in the then state
of Jewish prejudices, I should have expected. And the reason
with which they who rejected Christ's mission kept themselves
in countenance, and with which also they answered the argu-
ments of those who favored it, is precisely the reason which
such men usually give : — ' Have any of the Scribes or Pharisees
believed on him?' John vii. 48.

In our Lord's conversation at the well (John iv. 29), Christ
had surprised the Samaritan woman with an allusion to a single
particular in her domestic situation, 'Thou hast had five hus-
bands, and he, whom thou now hast, is not thy husband.' The
woman, soon after this, ran back to the city, and called out to
her neighbors, ' Come, see a man which told me all things
that ever I did.' This exaggeration appears to me very natural ;
especially in the hurried state of spirits into which the woman
may be supposed to have been thrown.

The lawyer's subtlety in running a distinction upon the word
neighbor, in the precept 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself,' was no less natural than our Saviour's answer was de-
cisive and satisfactory. (Luke x. 29.) The lawyer of the New
Testament, it must be observed, was a Jewish divine.

The behavior of Gallio, Acts xviii. 12-17, and of Festus,
xxv. 18, 19, have been observed upon already.

256 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

The consistency of St. Paul's character throughout the whole
of his history, (viz. the warmth and activity of his zeal, first
against, and then for Christianity) carries with it very much
the appearance of truth.

There are also some proprieties, as they may be called, ob-
servable in the gospels ; that is, circumstances separately suit-
ing with the situation, character, and intention of their respec-
tive authors.

St. Matthew, who was an inhabitant of Galilee, and did not
join Christ's society until some time after Christ had come into
Galilee to preach, has given us very little of his history prior
to that period. St. John, who had been converted before, and
who wrote to supply omissions in the other gospels, relates
some remarkable particulars, which had taken place before
Christ left Judea to go into Galilee. 1

St. Matthew [xv. 1] has recorded the cavil of the Pharisees
against the disciples of Jesus, for eating 'with unclean hands.'
St. Mark has also [vii. 1] recorded the same transaction (taken
probably from St. Matthew), but with this addition, ' For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands
often, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; and^when
they come from the market, except they wash they eat not ;
and many other things there be which they have received to
hold, as the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of
tables.' Now St. Matthew was not only a Jew himself, but it
is evident, from the whole structure of his gospel, especially
from his numerous references to the Old Testament, that he
wrote for Jewish readers. The above explanation therefore in
him would have been unnatural, as not being wanted by the
leaders whom he addressed. But in Mark, who, whatever use
he might make of Matthew's gospel, intended his own nar-
rative for a general circulation, and who himself travelled to
distant countries in the service of the religion, it was properly
added.

1 Hartley's Obs. vol. ii. p. 103.

Chap, iv.] Identity of Christ's Character. 257

CHAPTER IT.

Identity of Christ's Character.

THE argument expressed by this title I apply principally to
the comparison of the three first gospels with that of St. John.
It is known to every reader of scripture, that the passages of
Christ's history preserved by St. John, are, except his passion and
ressurrection, for the most part different from those which are de-
livered by the other evangelists. And I think the ancient account
of this difference to be the true one, viz. that St. John wrote after
the rest, and to supply what he thought omissions in their nar-
ratives, of which the principal were our Saviour's conferences
with the Jews at Jerusalem, and his discourses to his apostles
at his last supper. But what I observe in the comparison of
these several accounts is, that, although actions and discourses
are ascribed to Christ by St. John, in general different from
what are given to him by the other evangelists, yet, under this
diversity, there is a similitude of manner, which indicates that
the actions and discourses proceed from the same person. I
should have laid little stress upon a repetition of actions sub-
stantially alike, or of discourses containing many of the same
expressions, because that is a species of resemblance, which
would either belong to a true history, or might easily be
imitated in a false one. Nor do I deny, that a dramatic writer
is able to sustain propriety and distinction of character, through
a great variety of separate incidents and situations. But the
evangelists were not dramatic writers ; nor possessed the talents
of dramatic writers ; nor will it, I believe, be suspected, that
they studied uniformity of character, or ever thought of any
such thing, in the person who was the subject of their his-
tories. Such uniformity, if it exist, is on their part casual ;
and if there be, as I contend there is, a perceptible resemblance
of manner, in passages, and between discourses, which are in
themselves extremely distinct, and are delivered by historians
writing without any imitation of, or reference to, one another,
it affords a just presumption, that these are, what they profess
to be, the actions and the discourses of the same real person ;
that the evangelists wrote from fact, and not from imagination.

258 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

The article in which I find this agreement most strong, is in
our Saviour's mode of teaching, and in that particular property
of it, which consists in his drawing of his doctrine from the oc-
casion ; or, which is nearly the same thing, raising reflections
from the objects and incidents before him, or turning a par-
ticular discourse then passing into an opportunity of general
instruction.

It will be my business to point out this manner in the three
first evangelists ; and then to inquire whether it do not appear
also, in several examples of Christ's discourses preserved by
St. John.

The reader will observe in the following quotations, that the
Italic letter contains the reflection, the common letter the inci-
dent or occasion from which it springs.

Matt. xii. 40, 50. 'Then they said unto him, Behold thy
mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered, and said unto him that told him, Who
is my mother ? and who are my brethren ? And he stretched
forth his hands towards his disciples, and said, Behold my
mother and my brethren ; for whosoever shall do the will of my
Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and Itfster,
and mother.'

Matt. xvi. 5. 'And when his disciples were come to the
other side, they had forgotten to take bread ; then Jesus said
unto them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
and of the Sadducees.' And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have taken no bread. — How is it that
ye do not understand, that I spake it not to you concerning
bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and
of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade
them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.''

Matt. xv. 1, 2, 10, 11, 17-20. 'Then came to Jesus Scribes
and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy
disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? for they wash

not their hands when they eat bread. And he called the

multitude, and said unto them, Hear and understand, Not that
which- goeth into the mouth dejileth a man, but that which cometh

out of the mouth, this dejileth a man. Then answered Peter,

and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus

Chap, iv.] Identity of Christ's Character. 259

said, Are ye also yet without understanding ? Do ye not yet
understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth
into the belly, and is cast out into the draught ? but those
things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart, and they defile the man ; for out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies ; these are the things which defile a man, but to

EAT WITH UNW ASHEN HANDS DEFILETH NOT A MAN." Olll*

Saviour, upon this occasion, expatiates rather more at large
than usual, and his discourse also is more divided ; but the con-
cluding sentence brings back the whole train of thought to the
incident in the first verse, viz. the objurgatory question of the
Pharisees, and renders it evident that the whole sprung from
that circumstance.

Mark x. 13, 14, 15. 'And they brought young children to
him, that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those
that brought them ; but when Jesus saw it, he was much dis-
pleased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
God : verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein?

Mark i. 16, 17. ' Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the
sea, for they were fishers; and Jesus said unto them, Come ye
after me, and I will make you fishers of men?

Luke xi. 27. ' And it came to pass as he spake these things,
a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto
him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which
thou hast sucked ; but he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they
that hear the word of God, and keep it?

Luke xiii. 1-5. ' There were present at that season some
that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices; and Jesus answering said unto them,
Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali-
leans, because they suffered such things f I tell you nay, but
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish?

Luke xiv. 15. ' And when one of them, that sat at meat
with him, heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he
that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he
unto him, A certain man made a areat supper, and bade many,'

260 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

&c. The parable is rather too long for insertion, but affords a
striking instance of Christ's manner of raising a discourse from
the occasion. Observe also in the same chapter two other
examples of advice, drawn from the circumstances of the enter-
tainment and the behavior of the guests.

We will now see, how this manner discovers itself in St-
John's historv of Christ.

John vi. 26. ' And when they had found him on the other
side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when earnest thou
hither? Jesus answered them, and said, Yerily I say unto
you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because
ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the
meat which perisheth, bid for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, tohich the Son of Man shall give unto you'

John iv. 12. ' Art thou greater than our father Abraham,
who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his child-
ren, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her [the
woman of Samaria], Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that L shall
give him, shall never thirst f but the water that L shall, give
him, shall be in Mm a well of water, springing up into^ever
lasting life.'

John iv. 31. ' In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him,
saying, Master, eat ; but he said unto them, I have meat to eat
that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to
another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat? Jesus saith
unto them, My meat is, to do the will of him that sent me, and
to finish his work.'

John ix. 1-5. ' And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man
which was blind from his birth : and his disciples asked him,
saving, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind ? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his
parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in
him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is
day .' the night cometh, 'when no man can work. As long as 1
am in the world, I am the light of the world.'

John ix. 35-40. ' Jesus heard that they had cast him [the
blind man above-mentioned] out ; and when he had found him,
he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? And
he answered and said, Who is he. Lord, that I might believe on

Chap, iv.] Identity of Christ's Character. 261

him ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him,
and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I be-
lieve ; and he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment
I am come into this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might he made blind?

All that the reader has now to do, is to compare the series of
examples taken from St. John, with the series of examples taken
from the other evangelists, and to judge whether there be not a
visible agreement of manner between them. In the above
quoted passages, the occasion is stated, as well as the reflection.
They seem therefore the most proper for the purpose of our
argument. A large, however, and curious collection has been
made by different writers, 1 of instances, in which it is extremely
probable that Christ spoke in allusion to some object, or some
occasion then before him, though the mention of the occasion,
or of the object, be omitted in the history. I only observe that
these instances are common to St. John's Gospel with the other
three.

I conclude this article by remarking, that nothing of this
manner is perceptible in the speeches recorded in the Acts, or
in any other but those which are attributed to Christ, and that,
in truth, it was a very unlikely manner for a forger or fabulist
to attempt ; and a manner very difficult for any writer to exe-
cute, if he had to supply all the materials, both the incidents,
and the observations upon them, out of his own head. A forger
or a fabulist would have made for Christ discourses exhorting to
virtue and dissuading from vice in general terms. It would
never have entered into the thoughts of either, to have crowded
together such a number of allusions, to time, place, and other
little circumstances, as occur, for instance, in the sermon on
the mount, and which nothing but the actual presence of the
objects could have suggested. 2

II. There appears to me to exist an affinity between the his-
tory of Christ's placing a little child in the midst of his disciples,
as related by the three first evangelists, 3 and the history of
Christ's washing his disciples' feet, as given by St. John. 4 In

'Newton On Daniel, p. 148, note a; Jortin, Lis. p. 213; Bishop Law's Life of
Christ.

2 See Bishop Law's Life of Christ.
' Matt xviii. 1 ; Mark ix. 33 ; Luke ix. 46. 4 Ch. xiii. 3.

262 Evidences of Christianity. [Part IT.

the stories themselves there is no resemblance. But the affinity
which I would point out, consists in these two articles : first,
that both stories denote the emulation which prevailed amongst
Christ's disciples, and his own care and desire to correct it.
The moral of both is the same. Secondly, that both stories are
specimens of the same manner of teaching, viz. by action ; a
mode of emblematic instruction extremely peculiar, and, in
these passages, ascribed, we see, to our Saviour, by the three
first evangelists and by St. John, in instances totally unlike,
and without the smallest suspicion of their borrowing from
each other.

III. A singularity in Christ's language, which runs through
all the evangelists, and which is found in those discourses of St.
John that have nothing similar to them in the other gospels, is
the appellation of ' the Son of Man ;' and it is in all the
evangelists found under the peculiar circumstance of being
applied by Christ to himself, but of never being used of him,
or towards him, by any other person. It occurs seventeen times
in Matthew's gospel, twelve times in Mark's, twenty-one times
in Luke's, and eleven times in John's, and always with this
restriction. ^

IV. A point of agreement in the conduct of Christ, as
represented by his different historians, is that of his withdraw-
ing himself out of the way, whenever the behavior of the mul-
titude indicated a disposition to tumult.

Matt. xiv. 22. ' And straightway Jesus constrained his disci-
ples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side,
while he sent the multitude away. And when he had sent the
multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.'

Luke v. 15, 16. ' But so much the more went there a fame
abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear, and
to be healed by him of their infirmities : and he withdrew him-
self into the wilderness and prayed.'

"With these quotations compare the following from St. John.

Chap. v. 13. ' And he that was healed wist not who it was,
for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that
place.'

Chap. vi. 15. ' "When Jesus therefore perceived that they
would come and take him by force to make him a king, he
departed again into a mountain by himself alone.'

Chap, iv.] Identity of Christ's Character. 263

In this last instance St. John gives the motive of Christ's
conduct, which is left unexplained by the other evangelists, who
have related the conduct itself.

V. Another, and a more singular circumstance in Christ's
ministry, was the reserve, which for some time, and upon some
occasions at least, he used in declaring his own character, and
his leaving it to be collected from his works rather than his
professions. Just reasons for this reserve have been assigned. 1
But it is not what one would have expected. We met with it
in Matthew's gospel (xvi. 20), ' Then charged he his disciples
that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.' Again,
and upon a different occasion, in Mark's (iii. 11), 'And nnclean
spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried,
saying, Thou art the Son of God ; and he straitly charged them
that they should not make him known.' Another instance simi-
lar to this last is recorded by St. Luke (iv. 41). What we thus
find in the three evangelists, appears also in a passage of St.
John (x. 21, 35). ' Then came the Jews round about him, and
said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt ? If
thou be the Christ tell us plainly.' The occasion here was dif-
ferent from any of the rest ; and it was indirect. We only dis-
cover Christ's conduct through the upbraidings of his adversa-
ries. But all this strengthens the argument. I had rather at
any time surprise a coincidence in some oblique allusion, than
read in it broad assertions.

VI. In our Lord's commerce with his disciples, one very
observable particular is the difficulty which they found in under-
standing him, when he spoke to them of the future part of his
history, especially of what related to his passion or resurrection.
This difficulty produced, as was natural, a wish in them to ask
for further explanation ; from which, however, they appear to
have been sometimes kept back, by the fear of giving offence.
All these circumstances are distinctly noticed by Mark and
Luke, upon the occasion of his informing them (probably for
the first time) that the son of man should be delivered into the
hands of men. ' They understood not,' the evangelists tell us,
' this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it
not ; and they feared to ask him of that saying.' Luke ix. 45.

See Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity.

2G4 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

Mark ix. 32. In St. John's gospel, we have, upon a different
occasion, and in a different instance, the same difficulty of ap-
prehension, the same curiosity, and the same restraint : — ' A
little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while and
ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some
of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith
unto us ? A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a
little while and ye shall see me, and because I go to the Father ?
They said, therefore, "What is this that he saith, a little while ?
We cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask him, and said unto them,' &c. John xvi. 16 et
seq.

YII. The meekness of Christ during his last sufferings, which
is conspicuous in the narratives of the three first evangelists, is
preserved in that of St. John under separate examples. The
answer given by him, in St. John, 3 when the high priest asked
him of his disciples and his doctrine, ' I spake openly to the
world, I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple,
whither the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing;
why askest thou me ? Ask them which heard me, what I have
said unto them ;' is very much of a piece with his reply $> the
armed party which seized him, as we read in St. Mark's gospel,
and in St. Luke's : a ' Are ye come out as against a thief with
swords and with staves to take me ? I was daily with you in
the tem])le teaching, and ye took me not.' In both answers
we discern the same tranquillity, the same reference to his
public teaching. His mild expostulation with Pilate upon two
several occasions, as related by St. John,' is delivered with the
same unruffled temper, as that which conducted him through
the last scene of his life, as described by his other evangelists.
His answer, in St. John's gospel, to the officer who struck him
with the palm of his hand, 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness
of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me ?' 4 was such an
answer, as might have been looked for from the person, who, as
he proceeded to the place of execution, bid his companions (as
we are told by St. Luke 6 ) weep not for him, but for themselves,
their posterity, and their country ; and who, whilst he was sus-

1 Ch. xviii. 20. s Mark xiv. 48; Luko xxii. 52. 9 Ch. xviii. 34; xix. 11.

1 Ch. xxviii. 23. 6 Ch. xxiii. 28.

Chap, iv.] Identity of Christ's Character. 265

pended upon the cross, prayed for his murderers, ' for they
know not [said he] what they do.' The urgency also of his
judges and his prosecutors to extort from him a defence to the
accusation, and his unwillingness to make any (which was a
peculiar circumstance) appears in St. John's account, as well as
in that of the other evangelists. 1

There are moreover two other correspondencies between St.
John's history of the transaction and theirs, of a kind some-
what different from those which we have been now men-
tioning.

The three first evangelists record what is called our Saviour's
agony, i.e. his devotion in the garden immediately before he
was apprehended ; in which narrative they all make him pray,
' that the cup might pass from him.' This is the particular
metaphor which they all ascribe to him. St. Matthew adds,
' O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except
I drink it, thy will be done.' 2 Now St. John does not give
the scene in the garden ; but when Jesus was seized, and some
resistance was attempted to be made by Peter, Jesus, according
to his account, checked the attempt with this reply : ' Put up
\\\j sword into the sheath ; the cup which my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it?' 3 This is something more
than consistency : it is coincidence ; because it is extremely
natural, that Jesus, who, before he was apprehended, had been
praying his Father, that ' that cup might pass from him,' yet
with such a pious retractation of his request, as to have added,
' If this cup may not pass from me, thy will be done ;' it was
natural, I say, for the same person, when he actually was
apprehended, to express the resignation to which he had already
made up his thoughts, and to express it in the form of speech
which he had before used, ' The cup which my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it?' This is a coincidence between
writers, in whose narratives there is no imitation, but great
diversity.

A second similar correspondency is the following : Matthew
and Mark make the charge, upon which our Lord was con-
demned, to be a threat of destroying the temple ; ' We heard

1 See John xix. 9 ; Matt, xxvii. 14 ; Luke xxiii. 9.
2 Ch. xxvi. 42. s Ch. xviii. 11.

266 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

him say, I will destroy this temple, made with hands, and,
within three days, I will build another made without hands ;"
but they neither of them inform us, upon what circumstance
this calumny was founded. St. John, in the early part of the
history, 3 supplies us with this information ; for he relates, that,
upon our Lord's first journey to Jerusalem, when the Jews
asked him, ' "What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou
doest these things? he answered, Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will raise it up.' This agreement could hardly
arise from any thing but the truth of the case. From any care
or design in St. John, to make his narrative tally with the nar-
ratives of the other evangelists, i* certainly did not arise, for
no such design appears, but the absence of it.

A strong and more general instance of agreement, is the
following : The three first evangelists have related the ap-
pointment of the twelve apostles ; 3 and have given a catalogue
of their names in form. John, without ever mentioning the
appointment, or giving the catalogue, supposes, throughout his
whole narrative, Christ to be accompanied by a select party of
disciples ; the number of these to be twelve ; 4 and whenever
he happens to notice any one as of that number, 5 it is £ne
included in the catalogue of the other evangelists; and the names
principally occurring in the course of his history of Christ, are
the names extant in their list. This last agreement, which is
of considerable moment, runs through every gospel, and through
every chapter of each.

All this bespeaks reality.

CHAPTER V.

Originality of our Saviour's Character.

fTIIE Jews, whether right or wrong, had understood their pro-
-*- phecies to foretell the advent of a person, who by some
supernatural assistance should advance their nation to inde-
pendence, and to a supreme degree of splendor and pros-

1 Mark xiv. 5. 5 Ch. ii. 19.

s Matt. x. 1; Mark iii. 14; Luke vi. 12.

* Ch. vi. 7. r ' Ch. xx. 24: vi. 71.

Chap, v.] Originality of Christ's Character. 267

perity. This was the reigning opinion and expectation of the
times.

Now, had Jesus been an enthusiast, it is probable that his
enthusiasm would have fallen in with the popular delusion, and
that, whilst he gave himself out to be the person intended by
these predictions, he would have assumed the character to which
they were universally supposed to relate.

Had he been an impostor, it was his business to have flat-
tered the prevailing hopes, because these hopes were to be the
instruments of his attraction and success.

But, what is better than conjectures, is the fact, that all the
pretended Messiahs actually did so. We learn from Josephus
that there were many of these. Some of them, it is probable,
might be impostors, who thought that an advantage was to be
taken of the state of public opinion. Others, perhaps, were
enthusiasts, whose imagination had been drawn to this parti-
cular object, by the language and sentiments which prevailed
around them. But, whether impostors or enthusiasts, they
concurred in producing themselves in the character which their
countrymen looked for, that is to say, as the restorers and
deliverers of the nation, in that sense in which restoration and
deliverance were expected by the Jews.

"Why therefore Jesus, if he was, like them, either an enthu-
siast or impostor, did not pursue the same conduct as they did,
in framing his character and pretensions, it will be found diffi-
cult to explain. A mission, the operation and benefit of which
was to take place in another life, was a thing unthought of as
the subject of these prophecies. That Jesus, coming to them
as their Messiah, should come under a character totally
different from that in which they expected him ; should deviate
from the general persuasion, and deviate into pretensions abso-
lutely singular and original ; appears to be inconsistent with the
imputation of enthusiasm or imposture, both which, by their
nature, I should expect, would, and both which, throughout
the experience which this very subject furnishes, in fact have,
followed the opinions that obtained at the time.

If it be said, that Jesus, having tried the other plan, turned
at length to this ; I answer, that the thing is said without
evidence ; against evidence ; that it was competent to the rest
t<> have done the same, yet that nothing of this sort was thought
of bv any.

268 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

ANNOTATION.

' That Jesus coming to them as their Messiah, should come in a
character totally different from that in which they expected
h im. 3

The Jews, it is said, 1 had certain expectations of what their
Messiah was to be ; and the character of Jesus strongly im-
pressed many of them to the belief that He was the Messiah ;
and hence they were led afterwards to fancy that He must have
done what the Messiah ought to have done.

Indeed ! we answer. But then, unfortunately for this Theory,
it is notorious that the Jews expected a very different kind of
Messiah from what Jesus is described to have been. They
expected a conquering Prince, not a Crucified Teacher.

'No matter for that,' it is rejoined: 'for this only shows
that the disciples of Jesus modified their previous notions of the
Messiah so as to suit such facts of his history as could not be
denied.' But when the Theory takes this shape, it plainly
leaves itself without a foundation. If Jesus neither wrought
miracles to prove his divine mission, nor in any way fulfilled
the expectations of the Messiah, what was there to impress
men's minds so strongly with the conviction that He was the
Messiah ? Take away his miracles, and you leave Him nothing
but the character of an humble Teacher, followed by a few
poor peasants, addressing calm lessons of morality to a people
-wallowed up in factious strife and ceremonial superstition — a
people divided between the hot bigotry of the Pharisees, and
the cold incredulity of the Sadducees — but selfish and worldly
to the heart's core, in both extremes, and agitated by that most
absorbing of all excitements — a fierce political agitation. Read
Josephus's account of that age and generation, and then say
whether such a cause was likely to produce such an effect.

But again, when Jesus was first believed to be the Messiah,
it must have been upon the pc rsuasion that He would fulfil the
popular expectations of the Messiah. How then came the
belief in his Messiahship to remain after He had tailed to fulfil
them ; and to remain so strongly imprinted, as to change the

Strauss, Leben Jem.

Chap. \ i.J Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 269

very foundation on which it was built ? ' The necessity of the
case,' it is replied, ' required that his Disciples should accom-
modate their views to known facts. "When it was certain that
He was put to death, they could only mend the matter by fancy-
ing that He had risen again.'

Now the necessity of all this for Dr. Strauss's Theory is plain
enough : but it is not easy to see its necessity for anything else.
For the Apostles were not modern philosophers, prepared to
sacrifice everything to a theory, but plain unsophisticated men.
Their hopes had been confessedly disappointed, and their
faith had failed. Hope, Faith, and Courage, had been buried
in their Master's tomb. These might rise again with Him,
but they could not raise Him, when they were not themselves
revived. And the question is, What revived them ? It is idle
to say, ' an altered view of the prophecies,' because that is only
suggesting again the same question in another form — What
altered their view of the prophecies? These prophecies,
according to the Infidels, can only be made to speak of the
Messiah's sufferings by one who already believes in a suffering
Messiah. If they really do predict ' Christ's sufferings, and the
Glory that should follow,' let this be distinctly allowed, and we
shall know how to use the admission. But if they do not, the
question still recurs, What produced the strong persuasion,
which made the Disciples fancy a meaning so remote from the
notions of that age, so different, — as we are told, — from the
natural meaning of those prophecies ?

CHAPTER VI.

ONE argument, which has been much relied upon (but not
more than its just weight deserves), is the conformity of
the facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in scripture, with
the state of things in those times, as represented by foreign and
independent accounts. Which conformity proves, that the
writers of the New Testament possessed a species of local
knowledge, which could only belong to an inhabitant of that
country, and to one living in that age. This argument, if well
made out by examples, is very little short of proving the abso-

270 Evidences of Christianity. [Pari II.

lute genuineness of the writings. It carries them up to the
age of the reputed authors, to an age, in which it must have
been difficult to impose upon the christian public, forgeries in
the names of those authors, and in which there is no evidence
that an}- forgeries were attempted. It proves at least, that
the books, whoever were the authors of them, were composed
by persons living in the time and country in which these things
were transacted; and consequently capable, by their situation,
of being well informed of the facts which they relate. And
the argument is stronger, when applied to the New Testament,
than it is in the case of almost any other writings, by reason of
the mixed nature of the allusions which this book contains.
The scene of action is not confined to a single country, but dis-
played in the greatest cities of the Roman empire. Allu-
sions are made to the manners and principles of the Greeks,
the .Romans, and the Jews. This variety renders a forgery
proportionably more difficult, especially to writers of a poste
rior age. A Greek or Roman Christian, who lived in the
second or third century, would have been wanting in Jewish
literature ; a Jewish convert in those ages would have been
equally deficient in the knowledge of Greece and Kome. 1 .

This, however, is an argument which depends entirely upon
an induction of particulars ; and as, consequently, it carries
with it little force, without a view of the instances upon which
it is built, I have to request the reader's attention to a detail
of examples, distinctly and articulately proposed. In collect-
ing these examples, I have done no more than epitomize the first
volume of the first part of Dr. Lardner's Credibility of the Gos-
pel History. And I have brought the argument within its
present compass, first, by passing over some of his sections in
which the accordancy appeared to me less certain, or upon sub-
jects not sufficiently appropriate or circumstantial ; secondly,
by contracting every section into the fewest words possible,
contenting myself for the most part with a mere apposition of
passages; and, thirdly, by omitting many disquisitions, which,
though learned and accurate, are not absolutely necessary to
the understanding or verification of the argument.

1 Michaeli's Introduction to the New Testament (Marsh's translation), c. ii. sec. xi.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed hy independent Accounts. 271

The writer principally made use of in the inquiry, is Josephus.
Josephus was born at Jerusalem four years after Christ's ascen-
sion. He wrote his history of the Jewish war some time after
the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in the year of
our Lord 70, that is, thirty-seven years after the ascension ;
and his history of the Jews he finished in the year 93, that
is, sixty years after the ascension.

At the head of each article, I have referred, by figures in-
cluded in parentheses, to the page of Dr. Lardner's volume, where
the section, from which the abridgment is made, begins. The
edition used is that of 1741.

I. (p. 14.) Matt. xi. 22. ' When he [Joseph] heard that
Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go thither : notwithstanding, being warned of
God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee.'

In this passage it is asserted, that Archelaus succeeded Herod
in Judea ; and it is implied, that his power did not extend to
Galilee. Now we learn from Josephus, that Herod the Great,
whose dominion included all the land of Israel, appointed
Archelaus his successor in Judea, and assigned the rest of his
dominions to other sons ; and that this disposition was ratified,
as to the main parts of it, by the Roman emperor. 1

St. Matthew say6, that Archelaus reigned, was king in Judea.
Agreeably to this, we are informed by Josephus, not only that
Herod appointed Archelaus his successor in Judea, but that he
also appointed him with the title of king; and the Greek verb
(3a<ft\svsi, which the evangelist uses to denote the government
and rank of Archelaus, is used likewise by Josephus. 8

The cruelty of Archelaus's character, which is not obscurely
intimated by the evangelist, agrees with divers particulars in
his history, preserved by Josephus. ' In the tenth year of his
government, the chief of the Jews and Samaritans, not being
able to endure his cruelty and tyranny, presented complaints
against him to Caesar.' 9

II. (p. 19.) Luke iii. 1. 'In the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar — Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his
brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Tracho-
nitis — the word of God came unto John.'

1 Ant. lib. xvii. c. 8, sec. 1. 2 De Bell. lib. i. c. 33, sec. 7.

3 Aht. lib. xvii. o. 13. sect. 1.

272 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

By the will of Herod the Great, and the decree of Augustus
thereupon, his two sons were appointed, one (Herod Antipas)
tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, and the other (Philip) tetrarch
of Trachonitis and the neighboring countries. 1 We have there-
fore these two persons in the situations in which St. Luke
places them ; and also, that they were in these situations in the
fifteenth year of Tiberius : in other words, that they continued
in possession of their territories and titles until that time, and
afterwards, appears from a passage of Josephus, which relates
of Herod, ' that he was removed by Caligula, the successor of
Tiberius ; 2 and of Philip, that he died in the twentieth year of
Tiberius, when he had governed Trachonitis and Batanea and
Gaulanitis thirty-seven years.' 3

III. (p. 20.) Mark v. 17. 4 ' Herod had sent forth, and laid
upon John, and bound him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his
brother Philip's wife ; for he had married her.'

With this compare Jos. Ant. 1. xviii. c. 6, sect. 1. ' He
[Herod the tetrarch] made a visit to Herod his brother — Here,
falling in love with Herodias, the wife of the said Herod, he
ventured to make her proposals of marriage.' 5

Again, Mark vi. 22. ' And when the daughter of the said
Herodias came in and danced '

With this also compare Jos. Ant. 1. xviii. c. 6, sect. 4.
' Herodias was married to Herod, son of Herod the Great.
They had a daughter, whose name was Salome ; after whose
birth, Herodias, in utter violation of the rules of her country,
left her husband, then living, and married Herod the tetrarch
of Galilee, her husband's brother by the father's side.'

IV. (p. 29.) Acts xii. 1. 'Now, about that time, Herod the

1 Ant. lib. xvii. c. 8, sect. 1. 2 Ibid. lib. xviii. c. 8, sect. 2.

8 Ibid. lib. xviii. c. 5, sect. 6. ' See also Matt. xiv. 1-13. Luke iii. 19.

6 The affinity of the two accounts is unquestionable ; but there is a difference in
the name 1 4" Eerodias's firsl husband, which, in the evangelist, is Philip; in Jose-
phus. Eerod. The difficulty, however, will not appear considerable, when we
recollect how common it was, in those times, lor the same person to bear two
names; 'Simon, which is called Peter; Lebbeus, whose surname is Thaddeus;
Thomas, which is called Didymus; Simeon, who was called Niger; Saul, who was
also called Paul.' The solution is rendered likewise easier in the present case, by
the consideration, that Herod the Great had children by seven or eight wives; that
Josephus mentions three of his sons under the name of Herod; that it is neverthe-
less highly probable, that the brothers bore some additional name, by which they
were distinguished from one another.- Lard, vol ii. p. 8.»7.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 273

king stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the church.'
In the conclusion of the same chapter, Herod's death is repre-
sented to have taken place soon after this persecution. The
accuracy of our historian, or, rather, the unmeditated coin-
cidence, which truth of its own record produces, is in this
instance remarkable. There was no portion of time, for thirty
years before, nor ever afterwards, in which there was a king at
Jerusalem, a person exercising that authority in Judea, or to
whom that title could be applied, except the three last years of
this Herod's life, within which period the transaction recorded
in the Acts is stated to have taken place. This prince was the
grandson of Herod the Great. In the Acts he appears under
his family name of Herod ; by Josephus he is called Agrippa.
For proof that he was a king, properly so called, we have the
testimony of Josephus in full and direct terms : — ' Sending for
him to his palace, Caligula put a crown upon his head, and
appointed him king of the tetrarchy of Philip, intending also to
give him the tetrarchy of Lysanias.' 1 And that Judea was at
last, but not until the last, included in his dominions, appears
by a subsequent passage of the same Josephus, wherein he tells
us, that Claudius, by a decree, confirmed to Agrippa the domi-
nion which Caligula had given him, adding also Judea and
Samaria, in the utmost extent, as possessed by his grandfather
Herod?

V. (p. 32.) Acts xii. 19, 23. < And he [Herod] went down
from Judea to Cesarea, and there abode. — And upon a set day,
Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made
an oration unto them ; and the people gave a shout, saying, It
is the voice of a god, and not of a man ; and immediately the
angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the
glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xix. c. 8, sect. 2. ' He went to the city
Cesarea. Here he celebrated shows in honor of Caesar. On
the second day of the shows, early in the morning, he came into
the theatre, dressed in a robe of silver of most curious work-
manship. The rays of the rising sun, reflected from such a
splendid garb, gave him a majestic and awful appearance.
They called him a god, and entreated him to be propitious to

1 Ant. xviii. o. 7, sect. 10. a Ibid. xix. c. 5, sect. 1.

2 74 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

them, saying, Hitherto we have respected you as a man, but
now we acknowledge you to be more than mortal. The king
neither reproved these persons, nor rejected the impious
flattery. — Immediately after this he was seized with pains in
his bowels, extremely violent at the very first. — He was carried
therefore with all haste to his palace. These pains continually
tormenting him, he expired in five days' time.'

The reader will perceive the accordancy of these accounts in
various particulars. The place (Cesarea), the set day, the
gorgeous dress, the acclamations of the assembly, the peculiar
turn of the flattery, the reception of it, the sudden and critical
incursion of the disease, are circumstances noticed in both nar-
ratives. The worms mentioned by St. Luke are not remarked
by Josephus, but the appearance of these is a symptom, not un-
usually, I believe, attending the disease which Josephus de-
scribes, viz., violent affections of the bowels.

VI. (p. 41.) Acts xxiv. 24. ' And after certain days, when
Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent
for Paul.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 6, sect. 1, 2. ' Agrippa gave his sister
Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, wh^n he
had consented to be circumcised. — But this marriage of Drusilla
with Azizus was dissolved in a short time after, in this man-
ner : — When Felix was procurator of Judea, having had a sight
of her, he was mightily taken with her. — She was induced to
transgress the laws of her country, and marry Felix.'

Here the public station of Felix, the name of his wife, and
the singular circumstance of her religion, all appear in perfect
conformity with the evangelist.

VII. (p. 46.) ' And after certain days, King Agrippa and
Bernice came to Cesarea to salute Festus.' By this passage
we are in effect told, that Agrippa was a king, but not of
Judea ; for he came to salute Festus, who at this time
administered the government of that country at Cesarea.

Now how does the history of the age correspond with this
account ? The Agrippa here spoken of, was the son of Herod
Agrippa mentioned in the last article ; but that he did not
succeed to his father's kingdom, nor ever recovered Judea,
which had been a part of it, we learn by the information of
Josephus, who relates of him, that, when his father was dead,

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 275

Claudius intended, at first, to have put him immediately in
possession of his father's dominions ; but that, Agrippa being
then but seventeen years of age, the emperor was persuaded to
alter his mind, and appointed Cuspius Fadus prefect of Judea
and the whole kingdom ; l which Fadus was succeeded by
Tiberius Alexander, Cnmanus, Felix, Festus." But that, though
disappointed of his father's kingdom, in which was included
Judea, he was nevertheless rightly styled King Agrippa ; and
that he was in possession of considerable territories bordering
upon Judea, we gather from the same authority ; for, after
several successive donations of country, ' Claudius, at the same
time that he sent Felix to be procurator of Judea, promoted
Agrippa from Chalcis to a greater kingdom, giving to him the
tetrarchy which had been Philip's ; and he added moreover the
kingdom of Lysanias, and the province that had belonged to
Yarus.' 3

St. Paul addresses this person as a Jew : ' King Agrippa,
believest thou the prophets ? I know that thou believest.' As
the son of Herod Agrippa, who is described by Josephus to
have been a zealous Jew, it is reasonable to suppose that he
maintained the same profession. But what is more material
to remark, because it is more close and circumstantial, is, that
St. Luke, speaking of the father, (xii. 1. 3,) calls him Herod the
king, and gives an example of the exercise of his authority at
Jerusalem : speaking of the son, (xxv. 13,) he calls him king, but
not of Judea; which distinction agrees correctly with the history.

VIII. (p. 51.) Acts xiii. 7. ' And when they had gone
through the isle [Cyprus] to Paphos, they found a certain
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus,
which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a
prudent man.'

The word which is here translated deputy, signifies Proconsul,
and upon this word our observation is founded. The provinces
of the Roman empire were of two kinds ; those belonging to the
emperor, in which the governor was called Propretor ; and those
belonging to the senate, in which the governor was called
Proconsul. And this was a regular distinction. Now it

1 Ant. xix. c. 9, ad fin. 2 Ibid. xx. Be Bell. lib. iL

3 Be Bell. lib. ii. c. 12. ad fin.

276 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

appears from Dio Cassins, 1 that the province of Cyprus, which
in the original distribution was assigned to the emperor, had
been transferred to the senate, in exchange for some others ;
and that, after this exchange, the appropriate title of the
Roman governor was Proconsul.

Acts xviii. 12. (p. 55.) ' And when Gallio was deputy [Pro-
consul] of Achaia.'

The propriety of the title ' Proconsul' is in this passage still
more critical. For the province of Achaia, after passing from
the senate to the emperor, had been restored again by the
emperor Claudius to the senate (and consequently its govern-
ment had become proconsular) only six or seven years before
the time in which this transaction is said to have taken place.*
And what confines with strictness the appellation to the time
is, that Achaia under the following reign ceased to be a Roman
province at all.

IX. (p. 152.) It appears, as well from the general constitu-
tion of a Roman province, as from what Josephus delivers con-
cerning the state of Judea in particular, 3 that the power of life
and death resided exclusively in the Roman governor; but that
the Jews, nevertheless, had magistrates and a council, invested
with a subordinate and municipal authority. This economy is
discerned in every part of the gospel narrative of our Saviour's
crucifixion.

X. (p. 203.) Acts ix. 31. ' Then had the churches rest
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria.'

This rest synchronises with the attempt of Caligula to place
his statue in the Temple of Jerusalem ; the threat of which
outrage produced amongst the Jews a consternation, that, for a
season, diverted their attention from every other object. 4

XI. (p. 218.) Acts xxi. 31. ' And they took Paul, and drew
him out of the temple ; and forthwith the doors were shut.
And as they went about to kill him, tidings came to the chief
captain of the hand, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Then
the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him
to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was, and
what he had done ; and some cried one thing, and some an-

1 Lib. liv. ad a. u. 732. 9 Suet, in Claud, c. xxv. Dio, lib. lxi.

3 Ant. lib. xx. c. 8, sect. 5, c. 1, sect. 2.

4 Jos. de Bell. lib. xi. c. 10. sect. 1, 3, 4.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 277

other, among the multitude : and, when he could not know the
certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into
the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was,
that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the
people.'

In this quotation, we have the band of Roman soldiers at
Jerusalem, their office (to suppress tumults), the castle, the
stairs, both, as it should seem, adjoining to the temple. Let
us inquire whether we can find these particulars in any other
record of that age and place.

Jos. de Bell. lib. v. c. 5, sect. 8. ' Antonia was situated at
the angle of the western and northern porticoes of the outer
temple. It was built upon a rock fifty cubits high, steep on
all sides. On that side where it joined to the porticoes of the
temple, there were stairs reaching to each portico, by which the
guard descended ; for there was always lodged here a Roman
legion, and, posting themselves in their armor in several places
in the porticoes, they kept a watch on the people on the feast
days to prevent all disorders ; for, as the temple was a guard to
the city, so was Antonia to the temple.'

XII. (p. 224.) Acts iv. 1. 'And as they spake unto the
people, the priests, and the captain of the temple and the Sad-
ducees came upon them.' Here we have a public officer, under
the title of captain of the temple, and he probably a Jew, as
he accompanied the priests and Sadducees in apprehending the
apostles.

Jos. de Bell. lib. ii. c. 17, sect. 2. 'And at the temple
Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high priest, a young man of a
bold and resolute disposition, then captain, persuaded those who
performed the sacred ministrations, not to receive the gift or
sacrifice of any stranger.'

XIII. (p. 225.) Acts xxv. 12. ' Then Festus, when he had
conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto
Csesar ? unto Csesar shalt thou go. That it was usual for the
Roman presidents to have a council, consisting of their friends,
and other chief Romans in the province, appears expressly in
the following passage of Cicero's oration against Verres : —
' Illud negare posses, aut nunc negabis, te, concilio tuo dimisso,
viris primariis, qui in consilio C. Sacerdotis fuerant, tibique
esse volebant, remotis, de re judicata judicasse?'

278 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

XIY. (p. 235.) Acts xvi. 13. 'And [at Philippi] on the
sabbath, we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer
was wont to be made,' or where a proseucha, oratory, or place
of prayer, was allowed. The particularity to be remarked, is
the situation of the place where prayer was wont to be made?
viz. by a river side.

Philo, describing the conduct of the Jews of Alexandria,
upon a certain public occasion, relates of them, that, ' early in
the morning, flocking out of the gates of the city, they go to
the neighboring shores [for the proseuchce were destroyed],
and, standing in a most pure place, they lift up their voices
with one accord.' 1

Josephus gives us a decree of the city of ITalicarnassus, per-
mitting the Jews to build oratories, a part of which decree runs
thus: — 'We ordain that the Jews, who are willing, men and
women, do observe the sabbaths, and perforin sacred rites ac-
cording to the Jewish laws, and build oratories by the sea-
side.^

Tertullian, among other Jewish rites and customs, such as
feasts, sabbaths, fasts, and unleavened bread, mentions, ' ora-
tiones litorales] that is, prayers by the river side. 3 *

XV. (p. 255.) Acts xxvi. 5. 'After the most straitest sect
of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.'

Jos. de Bell. lib. i. c. 5, sect. 2. 'The Pharisees were
reckoned the most religious of any of the Jews, and to be the
most exact and skilful in explaining the laws.'

In the original there is an agreement not only in the sense
but in the expression, it being the same Greek adjective,
which is rendered 'strait' in the Acts, and 'exact' in Josephus.

XVI. (p. 255.) Mark viii. 3, 4. 'The Pharisees and all
the Jews, except they wash, eat not, holding the tradition of
the elders ; and many other things there be which they have
received to hold.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6. 'The Pharisees have de-
livered to the people many institutions, as received from the
fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses.'

XVII. (p. 259.) Acts xxiii. 8. ' For the Sadducees say, that

1 Philo in Flacc. p. 382. 2 Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 10, sect. 2-1.

3 Tertul. ad Not. lib. i. c. 13.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 279

there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit ; but the Pha-
risees confess both.'

Jos. de Bell. lib. ii. c. 8, sect. 14. ' They [the Pharisees]
believe every soul to be immortal, but that the soul of the
good only passes into another body, and the soul of the wicked
is punished with eternal punishment.' On the other hand,
Ant. lib. xviii. c. 1, sect. 4. 'It is the opinion of the Sad-
ducees that sonls perish with the bodies.'

XVIII. (p. 268.) Acts. v. 17. < Then the High Priest rose
up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the
Sadducees, and were filled with indignation.' St. Luke here
intimates that the High Priest was a Sadducee, which is a
character one would not have expected to meet with in that
station. This circumstance, remarkable as it is, was not how-
ever without examples.

Jos. Ant. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6, 7. ' John Hyrcanus, High
Priest of the Jews, forsook the Pharisees upon a disgust, and
joined himself to the party of the Sadducees.' This High
Priest died one hundred and seven years before the christian
era.

Again. (Ant. lib. xx. c. 8, sect. 1.) 'This Ananus the younger,
who, as we have said just now, had received the high priest-
hood, was fierce and haughty in his behavior, and above all
men bold and daring ; and, moreover, was of the sect of the
Sadducees.'' This High Priest lived little more than twenty
years after the transaction in the Acts.

XIX. (p. 282.) Luke ix. 51. ' And it came to pass, when
the time was come that he should be received up, he stead-
fastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers
before his face. And they went, and entered into a village of
the Samaritans to make ready for him, and they did not re-
ceive him, because his face was as though he would go to
Jerusalem.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xx. c. 5, sect. 1. ' It was the custom of the
Galileans, who went up to the holy city at the feasts, to travel
through the country of Samaria. As they were in their jour-
ney, some inhabitants of the village called Gingea, which lies
on the borders of Samaria and the great plain, falling upon
them, killed a great many of them.'

XX. (p. 278.) John iv. 20. ' Our fathers,' said the Sama-

280 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

ritan woman, ' worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xviii. c. 5, sect. 1. ' Commanding them to
meet him at Mount Gerizim, which is by them [the Sama-
ritans] esteemed the most sacred of all mountains.'

XXL (p. 312.) Matt. xxvi. 3. ' Then assembled together
the chief priests, and the elders of the people, unto the palace
of the High Priest, who was called Caiaphas.' That Caiaphas
was High Priest, and High Priest throughout the president-
ship of Pontius Pilate, and consequently at this time, appears
from the following account : — He was made High Priest by
Valerius Gratus, predecessor of Pontius Pilate,, and was re-
moved from his office by Yitellius, president of Syria, after
Pilate was sent away out of the province of Judea. Josephus
relates the advancement of Caiaphas to the high priesthood in
this manner : ' Gratus gave the high priesthood to Simon, the
son of Camithus. He, having enjoyed this honor not above
a year, was succeeded by Joseph, who is also called Caiaphas. 1
After this Gratus went away for Pome, having been eleven
years in Judea ; and Pontius Pilate came thither as his suc-
cessor.'' Of the removal of Caiaphas from his office, Josephus
likewise afterwards informs us ; and connects it with a circum-
stance which fixes the time to a date subsequent to the deter-
mination of Pilate's government. ' Yitellius [he tells us]
ordered Pilate to repair to Rome • and after that went up
himself to Jerusalem, and then gave directions concerning
several matters. And, having done these things, he took away
the priesthood from the High Priest Joseph, who is called
Caiaphas."

XXII. (Michaelis, c. xi. sect. 11.) Acts xxiii. 4. 'And they
that stood by said, Revilest thou God's High Priest ? Then
said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the High Priest.'
Now, uj)on inquiry into the history of the age, it turns out,
that Ananias, of whom this is spoken, was, in truth, not the
High Priest, though he was sitting in judgment in that
assumed capacity. The case was, that he had formerly held
the office, and had been deposed ; that the person who suc-
ceeded him had been murdered ; that another was not yet

1 Ant. lib. xviiL c. 2, sect. 2. 2 Ibid. c. 5, seel. 3.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 281

appointed to the station ; and that, during the vacancy, he
had, of his own authority, taken upon himself the discharge oi
the office. 1 This singular situation of the high priesthood took
place during the interval between the death of Jonathan, who
was murdered by order of Felix, and the accession of Ismael,
who was invested with the high priesthood by Agrippa ; and
precisely in this interval it happened that St. Paul was appre-
hended, and brought before the Jewish council.

XXIII. (p. 323.) Matt. xxvi. 59. l Now the chief priests
and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against
him.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xviii. c. 15, sect. 3, 4. ' Then might be seen
the High Priests themselves, with ashes on their heads, and
their breasts naked.'

The agreement here consists in speaking of the high priests,
or chief priests (for the name in the original is the same), in
the plural number, when in strictness there was only one High
Priest : which may be considered as a proof, that the evan-
gelists were habituated to the manner of speaking then in use,
because they retain it when it is neither accurate nor just.
For the sake of brevity I have put down from Josephus, only
a single example of the application of this title in the plural
number ; but it is his usual style.

Ibid. (p. 871.) Luke iii. 1. 'Now in the fifteenth year of the
reign of Tiberius Csesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,
and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, Annas and Caiaphas
being the High Priests, the word of God came unto John.'
There is a passage in Josephus very nearly parallel to this, and
which may at least serve to vindicate the evangelist from objec-
tion, with respect to his giving the title of High Priest speci-
fically to two persons at the same time : ' Quadratus sent two
others of the most powerful men of the Jews, as also the High
Priests Jonat/tan and Ananias." That Annas was a person in
an eminent station, and possessed an authority co-ordinate with,
or next to that of the High Priest properly so-called, may be
inferred from St. John's gospel, which, in the history of Christ's
crucifixion, relates that ' the soldiers led him away to Annas

Jos. Ant. 1. xx. c. 5, sect. 2 ; c. 6, sect. 2 ; c. 9, sect. 2.
2 De Bell. lib. xL c. 12, sect. 6.

282 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

first.' 1 And this might be noticed as an example of undesigned
coincidence in the two evangelists.

Again, (p. 870.) Acts iv. 6. Annas is called the High Priest,
though Caiaphas was in the office of the high priesthood. In
like manner in Josephus, 3 ' Joseph, the son of Gorion, and the
High Priest Ananus, were chosen to be supreme governors of
all things in the city.' Yet Ananus, though here called the
High Priest Ananus, was not then in the office of the high
priesthood. The truth is, there is an indeterminateness in the
use of this title in the gospel ; sometimes it is applied exclu-
sively to the person who held the office at the time ; sometimes
to one or two more, who probably shared with him some of the
powers or functions of the office ; and, sometimes, to such of
the priests as were eminent by their station or character : 3 and
there is the very same indeterminateness in Josephus.

XXIV. (p. 347.) John xix. 19, 20. ' And Pilate wrote a
title, and put it on the cross.' That such was the custom of
the Romans upon these occasions, appears from passages of
Suetonius and Dio Cassius : ' Patrem familias — eanibus objecit,
cum hoc titulo, Impie locutus parmularius.' — (Suet. Domit.
cap. x.) And in Dio Cassius we have the following : ' Having
led him through the midst of the court or assembly, with a
writing signifying the cause of his death, and afterwards cru-
cifying him.' — Book liv.

Ibid. ' And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.'
That it was also usual, about this time, in Jerusalem, to set up
advertisements in different languages, is gathered from the
account which Josephus gives of an expostulatory message
from Titus to the Jews, when the city was almost in his hands ;
in which he says, Did ye not erect pillars with inscriptions on
them, in the Greek and in our language, ' Let no one pass
beyond these bounds V

XXV. (p. 352.) Matt, xxvii. 26. ' When he had scourged
Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.'

The following passages occur in Josephus :

' Being beaten, they were crucified opposite to the citadel.'"

' Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified.' 5

1 Ch. xviii. 13. * DeBtll ii. c. 20, sect 3. s Mark xiv. 53.

4 P. 1217, 24 edit. Iluds. * P. 1080, 45 edit

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 283

' lie was burnt alive, having been first beaten."
To which may be added one from Livy, lib. xi. c. 5. ' Pro-
ductique omnes, virgisque ccesi, ac securi percussi.'

A modern example may illustrate the use we make of this
instance. The preceding of a capital execution by the corporal
punishment of the sufferer, is a practice unknown in England,
but retained, in some instances at least, as appears by the late
execution of a regicide, in Sweden. This circumstance, there-
fore, in the account of an English execution purporting to
come from an English writer, would not only bring a sus-
picion upon the truth of the account, but would, in a con-
siderable degree, impeach its pretensions of having been written
by the author whose name it bore. Whereas the same cir-
cumstance, in the account of a Swedish execution, would verify
the account, and support the authenticity of the book in which it
was found ; or, at least, would prove that the author, whoever
he was, possessed the information and the knowledge which he
ought to possess.

XXVI. (p. 353.) John xix. 16. ' And they took Jesus, and
led him away, and he, bearing his cross, went forth.'

Plutarch. De lis qui sero puniuntur, p. 554. A Paris, 1624.
' Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular tor-
ment, just as every malefactor, when he is brought forth to
execution, carries his own cross.''

XXVII. John xix. 32. ' Then came the soldiers, and brake
the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with
him.'

Constantine abolished the punishment of the cross ; in com-
mending which edict a heathen writer notices this very circum-
stance of breaking the legs : ' Eo pius, ut etiam vetns veterri-
mumque supplicium, patibulum, et cruribus suffringendis,
primus removerit.' — Aur. Vict. Ces. cap. xli.

XXVIII. (p. 457.) Acts iii. 1. ' Now Peter and John went
up together, into the temple, at the hour of prayer, being the
ninth hour.'

Jos. Ant. lib. xv. c. 7, sect. 8. ' Twice every day, in the
morning, and at the ninth hour, the priests perform their duty
at the altar.'

1 P. 1327, 43 edit.

2S4 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

XXIX. (p. 462.) Acts xv. 21. ' For Moses, of old time, hath,
in every city, them that preach him, being read in the synagogues
every sabbath day.''

Jos. contra Ap. 1. ii. ' He [Moses] gave us the law, the
most excellent of all institutions ; nor did he appoint that it
should he heard, once only, or twice, or often, but that, laying
aside all other works, we should meet together every week to
hear it read, and gain a perfect understanding of it.'

XXX. (p. 465.) Acts xxi. 23. ' We have four men, which
have a vow on them ; them take, and purify thyself with them,
that they may shave their heads.''

Jos. de Bell. 1. xi. c. 15. ' It is customary for those who
have been afflicted with some distemper, or have labored under
any other difficulties, to make a vow thirty days before they
offer sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and shave the hair of their
heads?

Ibid. v. 24. ' Them take, and purify thyself with them, and
be at charges with them that they may shave their heads?

Jos. Ant. 1. xix. c. 6. ' He [Herod Agrippa] coming to
Jerusalem, offered up sacrifices of thanksgiving, and omitted
nothing that was prescribed by the law. For which reasoji lie
also ordered a good number of Nazarites to be shaved? We
here find that it was an act of piety amongst the Jews, to
defray for those who were under the Nazaritic vow the ex-
penses which attended its completion ; and that the phrase
was, ' that they might be shaved.' The custom and the ex-
pression are both remarkable, and both in close conformity
with the scripture account.

XXXI. (p. 474.) 2 Cor. xi. 24. < Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes save one?

Jos. Ant. iv. c. 8, sect. 21. ' He that acts contrary hereto,
let him receive forty stripes, wanting one, from the public officer.'

The coincidence here is singular, because the law allowed
forty stripes : — ' Forty stripes he may give him, and not ex-
ceed.' — Dent, xxv. 3. It proves that the author of the epistle
to the Corinthians was guided not by books, but by facts ;
because his statement agrees with the actual custom, even when
that custom deviated from the written law, and from what he
must have learnt by consulting the Jewish code, as set forth in
the Old Testament.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 285

XXXII. (p. 490.) Luke iii. 12. 'Then came also publicans
to be baptised.' From this quotation, as well as from the
history of Levi or Matthew (Luke v. 29), and of Zaccheus
(Luke xix. 2), it appears, that the publicans or tax-gatherers
were, frequently at least, if not always, Jews : which, as the
country was then under a Roman government, and the taxes
were paid to the Romans, was a circumstance not to be ex-
pected. That it was the truth however of the case, appears
from a short passage of Josephus.

De Bell. lib. ii. c. 14, sect. 45. ' But Floras not restraining
these practices by his authority, the chief men of the Jews,
among whom was John the publican, not knowing well what
course to take, wait upon Floras, and give him eight talents of
silver to stop the building.'

XXXIII. (p. 496.) Acts xxii. 25. 'And as they bound
him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by,
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and un-
condemned ? '

' Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum: scelus verberari.' —
Cic. in Verr.

' Csedebatur virgis, in medio foro Messanse, civis Romanus,
Judices : cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia, istius
miseri, inter dolorem crepitumque plagarum, audiebatur, nisi
hasc, Civis Romanus sum.''

XXXIV. (p. 513.) Acts xxii. 27. ' Then the chief captain
came, and said unto him [Paul], Tell me, Art thou a Roman ?
He said, Yea.' The circumstance here to be noticed is, that a
Jew w T as a Roman citizen.

Jos. Ant. lib. xiv. c. 10, sect. 13. ' Lucius Lentulus, the
consul, declared, I have dismissed from the service the Jewish
Roman citizens, who observe the rites of the Jewish religion at
Ephesus.'

Ibid. v. 27. ' And the chief captain answered, "With a great
sum obtained I this freedom.''

Dio Cassius, lib. Ix. ' This privilege, which had been bought
formerly at a great price, became so cheap, that it was com-
monly said, a man might be made a Roman citizen for a few
pieces of broken glass.'

XXXY. (p. 521.) Acts, xxviii. 16. ' And when we came to
Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain oi

286 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

the guard ; but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself, with a
soldier that kept him.''

With which join v. 20. ' For the hope of Israel I am bound
with this cha'tii.'

' Quemadinodum eadem catena et custodiam et militem
copulat, sic ista, quae tam dissimilia sunt, pariter incedunt.'
— Seneca, ep. v.

' Proconsul sestimare solet, ntrum in carcerem recipienda sit
persona, an militi tradenda? — Ulpian. 1. i. sec. De Custod. et
Exhib. reor.

In the confinement of Agrippa by the order of Tiberius,
Antonia managed, that the centurion who presided over the
guards, and the soldier to whom Agrippa was to be bound,
might be men of mild character. — Jos. Ant. lib. xvii. c. 7,
sect. 5. After the accession of Caligula, Agrippa also, like
Paul, was suffered to dwell, yet as a prisoner, in his own
house.

XXXVI. (p. 531.) Acts xxvii. 1 ' And when it was
determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul,
and certain other prisoners, unto one named Julius.' Sincenot
only Paul, but certain other prisoners, were sent by the same
ship into Italy, the text must be considered as carrying with
it an intimation, that the sending of persons from Judea to
be tried at Rome, was an ordinary practice. That in truth it
was so, is made out by a variety of examples which the writings
of Josephus furnish : and, amongst others, by the following,
which comes near both to the time and the subject of the
instance in the Acts. ' Felix, for some slight offence, bound
and sent to Borne several priests of his acquaintance, and very
good and honest men, to answer for themselves to Ceesar.' — Jos.
in Vit. sect. 3.

XXXVII. (p. 539.) Acts xi. 27. ' And in these days came
prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch ; and there stood up
one of them, named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that
there should be a great dearth throughout all the world [or
all the country], tohich came to pass in the days of Claudius
Ccesar?

Jos. Ant. 1. xx. c. 4, sect. 2. ' In their time [i.e., about
the fifth or sixth year of Claudius] a great dearth happened in
Judea.'

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 287

XXXVIII. (p. 555.) Acts xviii. 1,2. ' Because that Clau-
dius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome.'

Suet. Claud, c. xxv. ' Judaeos, impulsore Chresto assidue
tumultuantes, Roma expulit.'

XXXIX. (p. 664.) Acts v. 37. ' After this man rose up
Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew away
much people after him.'

Jos. de Bell. 1. vii. ' He [viz., the person, who in another
place is called, by Josephus, Judas the Galilean, or Judas of
Galilee] persuaded not a few not to enrol themselves, when
Cyrenius the censor was sent into Judea.'

XL. (p. 942.) Acts xxi. 38. ' Art not thou that Egyptian
which, before these days, madest an uproar, and leddest
out into the wilderness four thousand men that were mur-
derers V

Jos. de Bell. 1. ii. c. 13, sect. 5. ' But the Egyptian false
prophet brought a yet heavier disaster upon the Jews ; for this
impostor, coming into the country, and gaining the reputation
of a prophet, gathered together thirty thousand men, who were
deceived by him. Having brought them round out of the
wilderness, up to the Mount of Olives, he intended from
thence to make his attack upon Jerusalem ; but Felix, coming
suddenly upon him with the Roman soldiers, prevented the
attack. — A great number, or [as it should rather be rendered]
the greatest part of those that were with him, were either slain
or taken prisoners.'

In these two passages, the designation of the impostor, an
' Egyptian,' without his proper name ; ' the wilderness ;' his
escape, though his followers were destroyed ; the time of the
transaction, in the presidentship of Felix, which could not be
any long time before the words in Luke are supposed to have
been spoken ; are circumstances of close correspondency. There
is one, and only one, point of disagreement, and that is, in the
number of his followers, which in the Acts are called four
thousand, and by Josephus thirty thousand : but, beside that
the names of numbers, more than any other words, are liable
to the errors of transcribers, we are, in the present instance,
under the less concern to reconcile the evangelist with Josephus,
as Josephus is not, in this point, consistent with himself. For
whereas, in the passage here quoted, he calls the number thirty

288 Evidences of Christianit//. [Part II.

thousand, and tells us that the greatest part, or a great number
(according as his words are rendered) of those that were with
him, were destroyed, in his Antiquities, he represents four hun-
dred to have been killed upon this occasion, and two hundred
taken prisoners : l which certainly was not the ' greatest part,'
nor ' a great part,' nor ' a great number,' out of thirty thou-
sand. It is probable also, that Lysias and Josephus spoke of
the expedition in its different stages ; Lysias, of those who
followed the Egyptian out of Jerusalem ; Josephus, of all
who were collected about him afterwards, from different
quarters.

XLI. (Lardner's Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iii.
p. 21.) Acts xvii. 22. 'Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-
hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
ye are too superstitious ; for, as I passed by and beheld your
devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly wor-
ship, him declare I unto you.'

Diogenes Laertius, who wrote about the year 2KX, in his
history of Epimenides, who is supj)osed to have flourished
nearly six hundred years before Christ, relates of him thevfol-
lowing story : that being invited to Athens for the purpose, he
delivered the city from a pestilence in this manner — ' Taking
several sheep, some black, others white, he had them up to the
Areopagus, and then let them go where they would, and gave
orders to those who followed them, wherever any of them should
lie down, to sacrifice it to the god to whom it belonged ; and so
the plague ceased. Hence,' says the historian, ' it has come to
pass, ///"/, t<> t hi x present time, may he f mind in the boroughs of
the Athenians anonymous altars: a memorial of the expiation
then made.' 2 These altars, it maybe presumed, were called
anonymous, because there was not the name of any particular
deity inscribed upon them.

I'auwniiax, who wrote before the end of the second century,
in his description of Athens, having mentioned an altar of
Jupiter Olympus, adds, ' And nigh unto it is an altar of tin-
Inown gods?* And, in another place, he speaks ' of altars of
gods called unknown. 1 *

1 Lib. xx. c. 7, sect, 6. 2 In Epimenide, 1 i. segm. 110.

3 Pons. 1. v. p. 412. 1 Ibid l. i p 4.

Chap, vi.] Scrip'ure confirmed hy independent Accounts. 289

Philostratus, who wrote in the beginning of the third cen-
tury, records it as an observation of Apollonins Tyauseus,
' That it was wise to speak well of all the gods, especially at
Athens, where altars of unknown demons were erected.'' 1

The author of the dialogue Philopatris, by many supposed
to have been Lucian, who wrote about the year 170, by others
some anonymous heathen writer of the fourth century, makes
Critias swear by the unknown God of Athens ; and, near the
end of the dialogue, has these words, ' but let us find out the
unknown God at Athens, and stretching our hands to heaven,
offer to him our praises and thanksgivings.' 2

This is a very curious and a very important coincidence. It
appears beyond controversy, that altars with this inscription
were existing at Athens, at the time when St. Paul is alleged
to have been there. It seems also, which is very worthy of
observation, that this inscription was, peculiar to the Athenians.
There is no evidence that there were altars inscribed ' to the
unknown God' in any other country. Supposing the history
of St. Paul to have been a fable, how is it possible that such a
writer as the author of the Acts of the Apostles was, should
hit upon a circumstance so extraordinary, and introduce it by
an allusion so suitable to St. Paul's office and character?

The examples here collected will be sufficient, I hope, to
satisfy us, that the writers of the christian history knew some-
thing of what they were writing about. The argument is also
strengthened by the following considerations :

I. That these arguments appear, not only in articles of
public history, but, sometimes, in minute, recondite, and very
peculiar circumstances, in which, of all others, a forger is most
likely to have been found tripping.

II. That the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place
forty years after the commencement of the christian institu-
tion, produced such a change in the state of the country, and
the condition of the Jews, that a writer who was unacquainted
with the circumstances of the nation before that event, would
find it difficult to avoid mistakes, in endeavoring to give

1 Philos. Apoll. Tyan. 1. vi. c. 3.
2 Lucian in Philnp. torn, ii ; Graev. pp. 7C>7, 780.

290 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II

detai id accounts of transactions connected with those circum-
stanr 28, forasmuch as he could no longer have a living exemplar
to c py from.

Jill. That there appears, in the writers of the New Testament,
a knowledge of the affairs of those times, which we do not
find in authors of liter ages. In particular, many of the
christian writers of the second and third centuries, and of the
following ages, had false notions concerning the state of Judea,
between the nativity of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusa-
lem.' 1 Therefore they could not have composed our histories.

Amidst so many conformities, we are not to wonder that we
meet with some difficulties. The principal of these I will put
down, together with the solutions which they have received.
But in doing this I must be contented with a brevity better
suited to the limits of my volume than to the nature of a con-
troversial argument. For the historical proofs of my assertions,
and for the Greek criticisms upon which some of them are
founded, I refer the reader to the second volume of the first
part of Dr. Lardner's large work.

I. The taxing during which Jesus was born, was ' first
made,' as we read, according to our translation, in St. Luke,
'whilst Cyrenius was governor of Syria.' 2 Now it turns out
that Cyrenius was not governor of Syria until twelve, or, at the
soonest, ten years after the birth of Christ ; and that a taxing,
census, or assessment, was made in Judea in the beginnine of
his government. The charge, therefore, brought against the
evangelist is, that, intending to refer to this taxing, he has
misplaced the date of it by an error of ten or twelve years.

The answer to the accusation is found in his using the word
'first' — 'and this taxing was first made;' for, according to the
mistake imputed to the evangelist, this word could have no
signification whatever: it could have noplace in his narrative;
because, let it relate to what it will, taxing, census, enrolment,
or assessment, it imports that the writer had more than one of
these in contemplation. It acquits him therefore of the charge,
it is inconsistent with the supposition of his knowing only of
the taxing in the beginning of Cyrenius's government. And if
the evangelist knew, which this word proves that he did, of

1 Lard, part i vol. ii p 9fi0 " Chap ii. ver.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed oy independent Accounts. 291

some other taxing beside that, it is too much, for the sake of
convicting him of a mistake, to lay it down as certain that he
intended to refer to that.

The sentence in St. Luke may be construed thus: 'This
was the first assessment [or enrolment] of Cyrenius, governor
of Syria ;' l the words ' governor of Syria' being used after the
name of Cvrenius as his addition or title. And this title,
belonging to him at the time of writing the account, was natu-
rally enough subjoined to his name, though acquired after the
transaction which the account describes. A modern writer,
who was not very exact in the choice of his expressions, in re-
lating the affairs of the East Indies, might easily say, that such
a thing was done by Governor Hastings, though, in truth, the
thing had been done by him before his advancement to the
station from which he received the name of governor. And
this, as we contend, is precisely the inaccuracy which has pro-
duced the difficulty in St. Luke.

At any rate, it appears from the form of the expression
that he had two taxings or enrolments in contemplation. And
if Cyrenius had been sent upon this business into Judea,
before he became governor of Syria (against which supposition
there is no proof, but rather external evidence of an enrolment
going on about this time under some person or other), 2 then
the census on all hands acknowledged to have been made by
him in the beginning of his government, w T ould form a second,
so as to occasion the other to be called the^r^.

II. Another chronological objection arises upon a date as-
signed in the beginning of the third chapter of St. Luke. 3
' Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Csesar —

1 If the word which we render ' first' he rendered 'before,' which it has been
strongly contended that the Greek idiom allows of. the whole difficulty vanishes ;
for then the passage would be — ' Now this taxing was made before Cyrenius was
governor of Syria ;' which corresponds with the chronology. But I rather choose
to argue, that, however the word ' first' be rendered, to give it a meaning at all,
it militates with the objection. In this I think there can be no mistake.

3 Josephus (Ant. xvii. c. 2, sect. 6) has this remarkable passage — ' When there-
fore the whole Jewish nation took an oath to be faithful to Caasar, and the interests
of the king.' This transaction corresponds in the course of the history with the
time of Christ's birth. What is called a census, and which we render taxing, was
delivering upon oath an account of their property. This might be accompanied
with an oath of fidelity, or might be mistaken by Josephus for it.

8 Lard, part i. vol. ii. p. 768.

292 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

lesus began to be about thirty years, of age ;' for supposing Jesus
r o have been born, as St. Matthew, and St. Luke also himself,
•elate, in the time of Herod, he must, according to the dates
riven in Josephus and by the Roman historians, have been at
east thirty-one years of age in the fifteenth year of Tiberius.
if he was born, as St. Matthew's narrative intimates, one or
wo years before Herod's death, he would have been thirty-two
>r thirty-three years old at that time.

This is the difficulty : the solution turns upon an alteration
in the construction of the Greek. St. Luke's words in the
original are allowed, by the general opinion of learned men, to
signify, not ' that Jesus began to be about thirty years of age,'
but 'that he was about thirty years of age when he began his
ministry.' This construction being admitted, the adverb
' about' gives us all the latitude we want, and more, especially
when applied, as it is in the present instance, to a decimal
number; for such numbers, even without this qualifying addi-
i ion, are often used in a laxer sense than is here contended
>v. 1

III. Acts v. 3G. ' For before these days rose up Theudas,

masting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men,

ibout four hundred, joined themselves; who was slain; and

ill, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to

nought.'

Josephus has preserved the account of an impostor of the
name of Theudas, who created some disturbances, and was
slain ; but, according to the date assigned to this man's ap-
pearance (in which, however, it is very possible that Josephus
may have been mistaken), 2 it must have been, at the least,
■\tii years after Gamaliel's speech, of which this text is a
part, was delivered. It has been replied to the objection," 1 that

1 Livy, speaking of the peace which the conduct of Romulus bad procured to
tin- state during tin- whole reign of his successor i Numa), has these words — ' Ab
illo cnim profectia viribus datis tan turn valuit, ut, in quadraginta deinde annos,
(ntaiii paeem haheret :' jet afterwards in the same chapter, ' Romulus [he says]
;eptem ei trigiuta regnavit annus. Numa tres ei quadraginta.'

3 Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament I Marsh's translation), vol. i. p. 61.
3 Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 922.

Liv Hitsl. c. i sect, 16.

Chap, vi.] Scripture confirmed by independent Accounts. 293

there might he two impostors of this name: and it has been
observed, in order to give a general probability to the solution,
that the same tiling appears to have happened in other instances
of the same kind. It is proved from Josephus, that there were
not fewer than four persons of the name of Simon within forty
years, and not fewer than three of the name of Judas within ten
years, who were all leaders of insurrections: and it is likewise
recorded by this historian, that upon the death of Herod the
Great (which agrees very well with the time of the commotion
referred to by Gamaliel, and with his manner of stating that
time ' before these days') there were innumerable disturbances
in Judea. 1 Archbishop Usher was of opinion, that one of the
three Judases above mentioned was Gamaliel's Theudas; 2 and
that with a less variation of the name than we actually find in
the gospels, where one of the twelve apostles is called by Luke,
Judas; and by Mark, Thaddeus. 3 Origen, however he came at
his information, appears to have believed that there was an
impostor of the name of Theudas before the nativity of Christ. 4

IV. Matt, xxiii. 3-t. 'Wherefore, behold, I send unto you
prophets, and wise men, and scribes : and some of them ye
shall kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in
your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city : that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of
Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between, the temple
and the altar.''

There is a Zacharias, whose death is related in the second
book of Chronicles, in a manner which perfectly supports our
Saviour's allusion. 5 But this Zacharias was the son of Je-

hoiada.

There is also Zacharias the prophet ; who was the son of
Barachiah, and is so described in the superscription of his pro-
phecy, but of whose death we have no account.

1 Ant. 1. xvii. c. 12, sect 4. 2 Annals, p. 797.

3 Luke vi. 16 ; Mark iii. 18. * Orig. con. Cels. p. 44.

B 'And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest,
which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why trans-
gress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper ? Because ye have
forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him,
and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the
Lord.'— 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21.

294 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

I have little doubt but that the first Zacharias was the person
spoken of by our Saviour ; and that the name of the father has
been since added, or changed, by some one, who took it from
the title of the prophecy, which happened to be better known
to him than the history in the Chronicles.

There is likewise a Zacharias, the son of Baruch, related by
Josephus to have been slain in the temple a few years before
the destruction of Jerusalem. It has been insinuated, that the
words put into our Saviour's mouth contain a reference to this
transaction, and were composed by some writer, who either
confounded the time of the transaction with our Saviour's aere,
or inadvertently overlooked the anachronism.

Now suppose it to have been so ; suppose these words to
have been suggested by the transaction related in Josephus, and
to have been falsely ascribed to Christ ; and observe what ex-
traordinary coincidences (accidentally, as it must in that case
have been) attend the forger's mistake.

First. That we have a Zacharias in the book of Chronicles,
whose death, and the manner of it, corresponds with jthe
allusion.

Secondly. That although the name of this person's father be
erroneously put down in the Gospel, yet we have a way of ac-
counting for the error, by showing another Zacharias in the
Jewish Scriptures, much better known than the former, whose
patronymic was actually that which appears in the text.

Every one who thinks upon the subject, will find these to be
circumstances which could not have met together in a mistake,
which did not proceed from the circumstances themselves.

I have noticed, I think, all the difficulties of this kind.
They are few ; some of them admit of a clear, others of a pro-
bable solution. The reader will compare them with the num-
ber, the variety, the closeness, and the satisfactoriness, of the
instances which are to be set against them ; and he will re-
member the scantiness, in many cases, of our intelligence, and
that difficulties always attend imperfect information.

Chap, vii.] Undesigned Coincidences. 295

CHAPTER YII.

Undesigned Coincidences.

BETWEEN the letters which bear the name of St. Paul in
our collection, and his history in the Acts of the Apostles,
there exist many notes of correspondency. The simple perusal
of the writings is sufficient to prove, that neither the history
was taken from the letters, nor the letters from the history,
and the undesignedness of the agreements (which undesigned-
ness is gathered from their latency, their minuteness, their obli-
quity, the suitableness of the circumstances in which they con-
sist, to the places in which those circumstances occur, and the
circuitous references by which they are traced out) demonstrates
that they have not been produced by meditation, or by any
fraudulent contrivance. But coincidences, from which these
causes are excluded, and which are too close and numerous to
be accounted for by accidental concurrences of fiction, must
necessarily have truth for their foundation.

This argument appeared to my mind of so much value (es-
pecially for its assuming nothing beside the existence of the
books), that I have pursued it through St. Paul's thirteen
epistles, in a work published by me four years ago under the
title of /force Paulino?,. I am sensible how feebly any argu-
ment, which depends upon an induction of particulars, is repre-
sented without examples. On which account I wished to have
abridged my own volume, in the manner in which I have
treated Dr. Lardner's in the preceding chapter. But, upon
making the attempt, I did not find it in my power to render
the articles intelligible by fewer words than I have there used.
I must be content, therefore, to refer the reader to the work
itself. And I would particularly invite his attention to the
observations which are made in it upon the three first epis-
tles. I persuade myself that he will find the proofs, both of
agreement and undesignedness, supplied by these epistles, suffi-
cient to support the conclusion which is there maintained, in
favor both of the genuineness of the writings, and the truth of
the narrative.

296 Evidences of Christianity. [Part. II.

It remains only, in this place, to point out how the argument
hears upon the general question of the christian history.

First, St. Paul in these letters affirms, in unequivocal terms,
his own performance of miracles, and, what ought particularly
to be remembered, ' That miracles were the signs of an apostle. ,"
If this testimony come from St. Paul's own hand, it is invalu-
able. And that it does so, the argument before us fixes in my
mind a firm assurance.

Secondly, it shows that the series of action, represented in
the epistles of St. Paul, was real ; which alone lays a founda-
tion for the proposition which forms the subject of the first
part of our present work, viz., that the original witnesses of the
christian history devoted themselves to lives of toil, suffering,
and danger, in consequence of their belief of the truth of that
history, and for the sake of communicating the knowledge of it
to others.

Thirdly, it proves that Luke, or whoever was the author of
the Acts of the Apostles (for the argument does not depend
upon the name of the author, though I know no reasom for
questioning it), was well acquainted with St. Paul's history ;
and that he probably was, what he professes himself to be, a
companion of St. Paul's travels : which, if true, establishes in
a considerable degree, the credit even of his gospel, because it
shows that the writer, from his time, situation, and connexions,
possessed opportunities of informing himself truly concerning
the transactions which he relates. I have little difficulty in
applying to the Gospel of St. Luke what is proved concerning
the Acts of the Apostles, considering them as two parts of the
same history; tor, though there are instances of second paris
being forgeries, I know none where the second part is genuine,
and the first not so.

I will only observe, as a sequel of the argument, though not
noticed in my work, the remarkable similitude between the
style of St. John's gospel, and of St. John's first epistle. The
style of St. John's is not at all the style of St. Paul's epistles,
though both are very singular ; nor is it the style of St. James s
or of St. Peter's epistle: but it bears a resemblance to the
style of the gospel inscribed with St. John's name, so far as

1 Rom. xv. 18. 19. 2 Cor. xii. 12.

Chap, vii.] Annotation. 297

that resemblance can be expected to appear which is not in
simple narrative, so much as in reflections, and in the represen-
tation of discourses. Writings so circumstanced, prove them-
selves, and one another, to be genuine. This correspondency
is the more valuable, as the epistle itself asserts, in St. John's
manner indeed, but in terms sufficiently explicit, the writer's
personal knowledge of Christ's history : ' That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the word of life ; that which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you.' 1 Who would not desire, who perceives
not the value of an account, delivered by a writer so well in-
formed as this?

ANNOTATION".

' I have, pursued this argument [from undesigned coincidences]
in a Work under the title of Horse Paulinse.'

That work is an examination of the Apostle Paul's Epistles
along with the Acts of the Apostles, in order to show, by in-
ternal evidence alone, that they must both be genuine works.
He discovers a vast number of points of coincidence between
them, so minute, and evidently undesigned, that it is totally
impossible they could ever have found their way either into a
forgery, or a compilation made up in after-ages from floating
traditions. And this is done so ably and so satisfactorily, that I
have often recommended the study of this work to legal stu-
dents; not merely on account of its intrinsic value, with a view
to its own immediate object, but also as an admirable exercise
in the art of sifting evidence.

That minuteness in the points of coincidence which I have
alluded to, and which Paley so earnestly dwells on, is just the
circumstance which, in a question of evidence, makes their
importance the greater. The unthinking are apt to overlook
this, and to conclude that what is itself a very small and
trifling circumstance, is small and unimportant as a proof \ But
the most important evidence is often furnished by things the

1 Oh. i. ver. 1, 3.

298 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

most insignificant in themselves. The impression of the sole
of a Man's Shoe, or a scrap of paper used as Wadding for a
gun, have led to the detection of crimes. And in reality it is
altogether in minute points that the difference is to be per-
ceived between truth and fabrication. A false story may easily
be made plausible in its general outline ; in the great features
of the transactions related. But in some very minute parti-
culars, which would escape notice except on a very close ex-
amination, there will almost always be found some inconsisten-
cies, such as, of course, could not exist in a true narrative.

The difference in this respect, between truth and fabrication,
answers to that between the productions of Nature and the
works of Art. Both may appear equally perfect at a slight
glance, or even on close inspection by the naked eye. But
apply a microscope to each, and you will see the difference. A
piece of delicate cambric, under the Solar Microscope, looks
like a coarse sail-cloth ; and an artificial flower, which might
deceive the naked eye even of a florist, will appear rugged and
uneven ; while the petals of a real flower, or the wing of a .fly,
when thus examined, exhibit such delicate and perfect and
beautiful regularity, that, ' even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.' And so it is when we apply the
Microscope of close and minute investigation to genuine com-
positions and true history.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the History of the Resurrection.

Tl 1 E history of the resurrection of Christ is a part of the
evidence of Christianity ; but I do not know whether the
proper strength of this passage of the christian history, or
wherein its peculiar value, as a head of evidence, consists, be
generally understood. It is not that, as a miracle, the resur-
rection ought to be accounted a more decisive proof of super-
natural agency than other miracles are; it is not that, as it
stands in the Gospel, it is better attested than some others ; it
i-; not for cither of these reasons, that more weight belongs to

Chap, viii.] The History of 'the Resurrection. 299

ir than to other miracles, but for the following, viz. That it is com-
pletely certain that the apostles of Christ, and the first teachers
of Christianity, asserted the fact. And this would have been
certain, if the four Gospels had been lost, or never written.
Every piece of scripture recognizes the resurrection. Every
epistle of every apostle, every author contemporary with the
apostles, of the age immediately succeeding the apostles, every
writing from that age to the present, genuine or spurious, on
the side of Christianity or against it, concur in representing the
resurrection of Christ as an article of his history, received with-
out doubt or disagreement by all who call themselves Chris-
tians, as alleged from the beginning by the propagators of the
institution, and alleged as the centre of their testimony. No-
thing, I apprehend, which a man does not himself see or
hear, can be more certain to him than this point. I do not
mean that nothing can be more certain than that Christ rose
from the dead ; but that nothing can be more certain, than
that his apostles, and the first teachers of Christianity, gave out
that he did so. In the other parts of the gospel narrative, a
question may be made, whether the things related of Christ be
the very things which the apostles and first teachers of the re-
ligion delivered concerning him? And this question depends a
good deal upon the evidence we possess of the genuineness, or
rather, perhaps, of the antiquity, credit, and reception of the
books. Upon the subject of the resurrection, no such discussion
is necessary, because no such doubt can be entertained. The
only points, which can enter into our consideration, are, whether
the apostles knowingly published a falsehood, or whether they
were themselves deceived ; whether either of these suppositions
be possible. The first, I think, is pretty generally given up.
The nature of the undertaking, and of the men ; the extreme
unlikelihood that such men should engage in such a measure as
a scheme • their personal toils and dangers and sufferings in
the cause ; their appropriation of their whole time to the ob-
ject ; the warm and seemingly unaffected zeal and earnestness
with which they profess their sincerity, exempt their memory
from the suspicion of imposture. The solution more deserving
of notice, is that which would resolve the conduct of the
apostles into enthusiasm • which would class the evidence of
Christ's resurrection with the numerous stories that are extant

300 Evidences of Christianity. [Part ] I.

of the apparitions of dead men. There are circumstances in
the narrative, as it is preserved in our histories, which destroy
this comparison entirely. It was not one person but many,
who saw him ; they saw him not only separately, but together,
not only by night but by day, not at a distance but near, not
once but several times ; they not only saw him, but touched
him, conversed with him, ate with him, examined his person
to satisfy their doubts. These particulars are decisive ; but
they stand, I do admit, upon the credit of our records. I
would answer, therefore, the insinuation of enthusiasm, by a
circumstance which arises out of the nature of the thing ; and
the reality of which must be confessed by all who allow, what
I believe is not denied, that the resurrection of Christ, whether
true or false, was asserted by his disciples from the beginning :
and that circumstance is, the non-production of the dead body.
It is related in the history, what indeed the story of the re-
surrection necessarily implies, that the corpse was missing out
of the sepulchre : it is related also in the history, that the
Jews reported that the followers of Christ had stolen it aw^ay. 1
And this account, though loaded with great improbabilities, such
as the situation of the disciples, their fears for their own saiety
at the time, the unlikelihood of their expecting to succeed, the
difficulty of actual success, 2 and the inevitable consequence of
detection and failure, was, nevertheless, the most credible
account that could be given of the matter. But it proceeds
entirely upon the supposition of fraud, as all the old objections
did. What account can be given of the body, upon the sup-
position of enthusiasm ? It is impossible our Lord's followers
could believe that he was risen from the dead, if his corpse

' ' And this saying,' St. Matthew writes. ' is commonly reported amongst the
Jews until this day.' (xxviii. 15.) The evangelist may be thought good authority
as to this point, even hy those who do not admit his evidence in every other point :
and this point is sufficient to prove that the body was missing.

It has also been rightly. I think, observed by Dr. Townsend (Dis. upon the Bes.
p. L26), thai the story of the guards carried collusion npon the face of it : — ' His
disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.' Men in their cir-
cumstances would not have made such an acknowledgment of their negligence,
without previous assurances of protection and impunity.

2 Especially at the full moon, the city full of people, many probably passing
the whole night, as Jesus and his disciples had done, in the open air, the sepulchre
so near the city as to be now inclosed within the walls.' — Priestley on the Resur.
p. 24.

Chap, viii.] The History of the Resurrection. 301

was lying before them. No enthusiasm ever reached to such
a pitch of extravagancy as that : a spirit may be an illusion ;
a body is a real thing, an object of sense, in which there can
be no mistake. All accounts of spectres leave the body in the
grave. And, although the body of Christ might be removed
by fraud, and for the purposes of fraud, yet, without any such
intention, and by sincere but deluded men, which is the repre-
sentation of the apostolic character we are now examining, no
such attempt could be made. The presence and the absence
of the dead body are alike inconsistent with the hypothesis of
enthusiasm : for, if present, it must have cured their enthu-
siasm at once ; if absent, fraud, not enthusiasm, must have
carried it away.

But further, if we admit, upon the concurrent testimony of
all the histories, so much of the account as states that the
religion of Jesus was set up at Jerusalem, and set up with
asserting, in the very place in which he had been buried, and
a few days after he had been buried, his resurrection out of
the grave, it is evident that, if his body could have been found,
the Jews would have produced it, as the shortest and complet-
est answer possible to the whole story. The attempt of the
apostles could not have survived this refutation a moment. If
we also admit, upon the authority of St. Matthew, that the
Jews were advertised of the expectation of Christ's followers,
and that they had taken due precaution in consecpience of
this notice, and that the body was in marked and public cus-
tody, the observation receives more force still. For, notwith-
standing their precaution, and although thus prepared and fore-
warned ; when the story of the resurrection of Christ came
forth, as it immediately did ; when it was publicly asserted by
his disciples, and made the ground and basis of their preaching
in his name, and collecting followers to his religion, the Jews
had not the body to produce : but were obliged to meet the
testimony of the apostles by an answer, not containing indeed
any impossibility in itself, but absolutely inconsistent with the
supposition of their integrity ; that is, in other words, incon-
sistent with the supposition which would resolve their conduct
into enthusiasm.

302 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

ANNOTATION.

i The Jews had not the body to produce.''

In that curious and valuable book, the Toldoth Jeschu, — the
Jewish account of our Lord, — it is stated that the body was
ignominiously dragged through the streets of Jerusalem : —
that a number of the Disciples dwelling at some distance, hav-
ing heard a report of their Master's death, and of his resurrec-
tion, sent some of their number, as a deputation, to Jerusalem,
to inquire into the facts : — that the Jewish Rulers showed them
their Master's corpse : — and that they thereupon returned home
and reported that He was risen from the dead !

Now this account, which, as it stands, is a glaring moral
impossibility, is not unlikely to be true excepting in one par-
ticular — the exhibition of the real body of Jesus. It seems
highly probable that the Rulers showed them a corpse, assur-
ing them that it was their Master's. And if so, they, on per-
ceiving that it was not, would be convinced by this (in con-
. junction with the testimonies they would meet with at Jeru-
salem) that Jesus was risen : and they would bring back this
assurance to their friends who had sent them.

CHAPTER IX.

The Projxtgation of Christianity.

IN this argument, the first consideration is the fact ; in what
degree, within what time, and to what extent, Christianity
actually was propagated.

The accounts of the matter, which can be collected from
our books, are as follows : A few days after Christ's disap-
pearance out of the world, we find an assembly of disciples at
Jerusalem, to the number of 'about one hundred and twenty;' 1
which hundred and twenty were, probably, a little association
of believers, met together, not merely as believers in Christ,

1 Acts i. 5.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 303

but as personally connected with the apostles, and with one
another. Whatever was the number of believers then in Jeru-
salem, we have no reason to be surprised that so small a
company should assemble ; for there is no proof that the fol-
lowers of Christ were yet formed into a society, that the society
was reduced into any order, that it was at this time even under-
stood that a new religion (in the sense which that term conveys
to us) was to be set up in the world, or how the professors of
that religion were to be distinguished from the rest of mankind.
The death of Christ had left, we may suppose, the generality
of his disciples in great doubt, both as to what they were to
do, and concerning what was to follow.

This meeting was held, as we have already said, a few days
after Christ's ascension ; for, ten days after that event was the
day of Pentecost, when, as our history relates, 1 upon a signal
display of divine agency attending the persons of the apostles,
there were added to the society ' about three thousand souls.' 2
But here, it is not, I think, to be taken, that these three
thousand were all converted by this single miracle ; but rather
that many, who were before believers in Christ, became now
professors of Christianity : that is to say, when they found that
a religion was to be established, a society formed and set up
in the name of Christ, governed by his laws, avowing their
belief in his mission, united amongst themselves, and separated
from the rest of the world, by visible distinctions ; in pursuance
of their former conviction, and by virtue of what they had
heard and seen and known of Christ's history, they publicly
became members of it.

"We read in the fourth 3 chapter of the Acts, that, soon after
this, ' the number of the men,' i. e. of the society openly pro-
fessing their belief in Christ, 'was about five thousand.' So
that here is an increase of two thousand within a very short
time. And it is probable that there were many, both now and
afterwards, who, although they believed in Christ, did not
think it necessary to join themselves to this society; or who
waited to see what was likely to become of it. Gamaliel,
whose advice to the Jewish council is recorded Acts iv. 34, ap-
pears to have been of this description ; perhaps Nicodemus,

1 Acts ii. 1. "Acts ii. 41. 3 Verse4.

304 Evidences of Christianity. Part II.

and perhaps also Joseph of Arimathea. This class of men,
their character and their rank, are likewise pointed out by St.
John, in the twelfth chapter of his gospel: 'Nevertheless
among the chief rulers also many believed on him ; but be-
cause of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they
should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise
of men more than the praise of God.' Persons such as these,
might admit the miracles of Christ, without being immediately
convinced that they were under obligation to make a public
profession of Christianity, at the risk of all that was dear to
them in life, and even of life itself. 1

Christianity, however, proceeded to increase in Jerusalem
by a progress equally rapid with its first success ; for, in the
next 2 chapter of our history, we read that ' believers were the
mure added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.'
And this enlargement of the new society appears in the first
verse of the succeeding chapter, wherein we are told, that,
'when the number of the disciples was multiplied^ there arose
a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because
their widows were neglected;' 3 and, afterwards in tlie^same
chapter, it is declared expressly, that ' the number of ths dis-
ciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and that a great com-
pany of the priests were obedient to the faith.'

This I call the first period in the propagation of Christianity.
It commences with the ascension of Christ; and extends, as
may be collected from incidental notes of time, 4 to something

1 ' Beside those who professed, and those who rejected and opposed Christianity,
there were, in all probability, multitudes between both, neither perfect Christians,
nor yet unbelievers. They had a favorable opinion of the gospel, but worldly
considerations made them unwilling to own it There were many circumstances
which inclined them to think that Christianity was a divine revelation, but there
were many inconveniences which attended the open profession of it ; and thev
could not find in themselves courage enough to bear them, to disoblige their
fiiends and family, to ruin their fortunes, to lose their reputation, their liberty
and their Life, fur the sake of the new religion. Therefore they were willing to
hope, that if they endeavored to observe the great principles of morality, which
Christ had represented as the principal part, the sum and substance of religion;
if they thought honorably of the gospel, if they offered no injury to the Christians,
if they did them all the services that they could safely perform, they were willing
t<> hope that C4od would accept this, and that he would excuse and forgive the
rest.' — Jortin's Dis. on the Christ. Rel. p. 91, ed. 4.

2 Acts v. 14 a Acts vi. 1.

* Vide Pearson's Aniiq. I. xviii. c. 7. Benson's Hist, of Christ, bk. i. p. 148.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 305

more than one year after that event ; during which term the
preaching of Christianity, so far as our documents inform us,
was confined to the single city of Jerusalem. And how did it
succeed there? The first assembly which we meet with of
Christ's disciples, and that a few days after his removal from
the world, consisted of ' one hundred and twenty.' About a
week after this ' three thousand' were added in one clay ; and
the number of Christians, publicly baptized, and publicly asso-
ciating together, was very soon increased to ' five thousand.'
' Multitudes both of men and women continued to be added :'
' disciples multiplied greatly,' and ' many of the Jewish priest-
hood, as well as others, became obedient to the faith ;' and
this within a space of less than two years from the commence-
ment of the institution.

By reason of a persecution raised against the church at
Jerusalem, the converts were driven from that city, and dis-
persed throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. 1 Wherever
they came they brought their religion with them ; for our
historian informs us, 2 that ' they, that were scattered abroad,
went everywhere preaching the word.' The effect of this
preaching comes afterwards to be noticed, where the historian
is led, in the course of his narrative, to observe, that then
[i. e. about three years 3 posterior to this] ' the churches had
rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee and Samaria, and were
edified, and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the com-
fort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.' This was the work
of the second period, which comprises about four years.

Hitherto the preaching of the gospel had been confined to
Jews, to Jewish proselytes, and to Samaritans. And I cannot
forbear from setting down, in this place, an observation of
Mr. Bryant's, which appears to me to be perfectly well
founded : — 'The Jews still remain, but how seldom is it that
we can make a single proselyte ! There is reason to think
that there were more converted by the apostles in one day,
than have since been won over in the last thousand years.' 4

It was not yet known to the apostles, that they were at
liberty to propose the religion to mankind at large. That

1 Acts viii. 1. s Verse 4. s Benson, bk. i. p. 207.

4 Bryant on tlie Truth of the Christian Religion, p. 112.
20

306 Evidences of Christianity. [Part I.

1 mystery,' as St. Paul calls it, 1 and as it then was, was revealed
to Peter by an especial miracle. It appears to have been 2
about seven years after Christ's ascension, that the gospel was
preached to the Gentiles of Cesarea. A year after this, a great
multitude of Gentiles were converted at Antioch in Syria. The
expressions employed by the historian are these — ' A great
number believed, and turned to the Lord ;' ' much people was
added unto the Lord ;' the apostles Barnabas and Paul taught
much people. 3 Upon Herod's death, which happened in the
next year, 4 it is observed that ' the word of God grew and mul-
tiplied.' 5 Three years from this time, upon the preaching of
Paul at Iconium, the metropolis of Lycaonia, ' a great multi-
tude both of Jews and Greeks believed; 6 and afterwards, in
the course of this very progress, he is represented as ' making
many disciples' at Derbe, a principal city in the same district.
Three years 7 after this, which brings us to sixteen after the
ascension, the apostles wrote a public letter from Jerusalem to
the Gentile converts in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, with which
letter Paul travelled through these countries, and found the
churches established in the faith, and increasing incumber
daily.' 8 From Asia the apostles proceeded into Greece, where
soon after his arrival in Macedonia, we find him atThessalonica ;
in which city ' some of the Jews believed, and of the devout
Greeks a great multitude.' 9 We meet also here with an acci-
dental hint of the general progress of the christian mission, in
the exclamation of the tumultuous Jews of Thessalonica, ' that
they, who had turned the world upside down, were come
thither also.' 10 At Berea, the next city at which St. Paul
arrives, the historian, who was present, informs us that many
of the Jews believed.' u The next year and a half of St. Paul's
ministry was spent at Corinth. Of his success in that city we
receive the following intimations: 'that many of the Corin-
thians believed and were baptized,' and ' that it was revealed to
the apostle by Christ, that he had much people in that city.' 12
^Vithin less than a year after his departure from Corinth, and

1 Eph. iii. 3-6. » Benson, bk. ii. p. 236. » Acts xi. 21,24, 26.

* Benson, bk. ii. p. 289. 5 Acts xii. 24. « Ibid. xiv. 1.

7 Benson's Hist. Christ, bk. iii. p. 50. 8 Acts xvi. 5. 8 Ibid. xvii. 4.

10 Acts v. G. ll Ibid. xvii. 12. " Ibid, xviii. 8-10.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 307

twenty-five 1 years after the ascension, St. Paul fixed his station
at Ephesus, for the space of two years 2 and something more.
The effect of his ministry in that city and neighborhood drew
from the historian a reflection, how ' mightily grew the word of
God and prevailed.' 3 And at the conclusion of this period, we
find Demetrius at the head of a party, who were alarmed by the
progress of the religion, complaining, that ' not only at Ephesus,
but also throughout all Asia \i. e. the province of Lydia, and
the country adjoining to Ephesus], this Paul has persuaded and
turned away much people.' 4 Beside these accounts, there
occurs, incidentally, mention of converts at Rome, Alexandria,
Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Macedonia, Philippi.

This is the third period in the propagation of Christianity,
setting off in the seventh year after the acension, and ending
at the twenty-eighth. Now, lay these three periods together,
and observe how the progress of the religion by these accounts
is represented. The institution, which properly began only
after its author's removal from the world, before the end of
thirty years had spread itself through Judea, Galilee, and
Samaria, almost all the numerous districts of the Lesser Asia,
through Greece, and the islands of the iEgean Sea, the sea-
coast of Africa, and had extended itself to Home, and into Italy.
At Antioch in Syria, at Joppa, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica,
Berea, Iconium, Derbe, Antioch in Pisidia, at Lydda, Saron,
the number of converts is intimated by the expressions ' a
great number,' ' great multitudes,' ' much people.' Converts
are mentioned, without any designation of their number, 5 at
Tyre, Cesarea, Troas, Athens, Philippi, Lystra, Damascus.
During all this time, Jerusalem continued not only the centre
of the mission, but a principal seat of the religion ; for, when
St. Paul returned thither at the conclusion of the period of

1 Benson, bk. iii. p. 160. 2 Acts xix. 10. 3 Ibid. xix. 20.

4 Ibid. ver. 26.
6 Considering the extreme conciseness of many parts of the history, the silence
about the numbers of converts is no proof of their paucity ; for at Philippi no men-
tion whatever is made of the number, yet St. Paul addressed an epistle to that
church. The churches of Galatia, and the affairs of those churches, were consider-
able enough to be the subject of another letter, and of much of St. Paul's solicitude :
yet no account is preserved in the history of his success, or even of his preaching
in that country, except the slight notice which these words convey : — ' When
they had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, they essayed to go
into Bithynia.' — Acts xvi. 6.

308 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

which we are now considering the accounts, the other apostles
pointed out to him, as a reason for his compliance with their
advice, ' how many thousands [myriads, ten thousands] there
were in that city who believed.' l

Upon this abstract, and the writing from which it is drawn,
the following observations seem material to be made :

I. That the account comes from a person, who was himself
concerned in a portion of what he relates, and was contemporary
with the whole of it ; who visited Jerusalem, and frequented
the society of those who had acted, and were acting, the chief
parts in the transaction. I lay down this point positively ; for
had the ancient attestations to this valuable record been less
satisfactory than they are, the unaffectedness and simplicity
with which the author notices his presence upon certain occa-
sions, and the entire absence of art and design from these
notices, would have been sufficient to persuade my mind, that,
whoever he was, he actually lived in the times, and occupied
the situation, in which he represents himself to be. When I
say ' whoever he was,' I do not mean to cast a doubt upon the
name to which antiquity hath ascribed the Acts of the Apostles
(for there is no cause, that I am acquainted with, for question-
ing it), but to observe, that, in such a case as this, the time
and situation of the author is of more importance than his
name ; and that these appear from the work itself, and in the
most unsuspicious form.

II. That tliis account is a very incomplete account of the preach-
ing and propagation of Christianity : I mean, that, if what we
read in the history be true, much more than what the history
contains must be true also. For, although the narrative from
which our information is derived has been entitled the Acts of
the Apostles, it is in fact a history of the twelve apostles only
during a short time of their continuing together at Jerusalem ;
and even of this period the account is very concise. The work
afterwards consists of a few important passages of Peter's
ministry, of the speech and death of Stephen, of the preaching
of Philip the Deacon ; and the sequel of the volume, that is,
two-thirds of the whole, is taken up with the conversion, the
travels, the discourses and history of the new apostle Paul, in

1 Acts xxi. 20.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 309

which history also large portions of time are often passed over
with very scanty notice.

III. That the account, so far as it goes, is for this very
reason more credible. Had it been the author's design to have
displayed the early progress of Christianity, he would un-
doubtedly have collected, or, at least, have set forth, accounts of
the preaching of the rest of the apostles, who cannot, without
extreme improbability, be supposed to have remained silent and
inactive, or not to have met with a share of that success which
attended their colleagues. To which may be added, as an ob-
servation of the same kind,

IV. That the intimations of the number of converts, and of
the success of the preaching of the apostles, come out for the
most part incidentally; are drawn from the historian by the
occasion ; such as the murmuring of the Grecian converts, the
rest from persecution, JTerod's death, the sending of Barnabas
to Antioch, and Barnabas calling Paul to his assistance, Paul
coming to a place and iinding there disciples, the clamor of
the Jews, the complaint of artificers interested in the support
of the popular religion, the reason assigned to induce Paul to
give satisfaction to the Christians of Jerusalem. Had it not
been for these occasions, it is probable that no notice whatever
would have been taken of the number of converts, in several of
the passages in which that notice now appears. All this tends
to remove the suspicion of a design to exaggerate or de-
ceive.

Parallel testimonies with the history, are the letters
which have come down to us of St. Paul, and of the other
apostles. Those of St. Paul are addressed to the churches of
Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, the church of Galatia, and, if
the inscription be right, of Ephesus, his ministry at all which
places is recorded in the history ; to the church of Colosse, or
rather to the churches of Colosse and LaodiCea jointly, which
he had not then visited. They recognize by reference the
churches of Judea, the churches of Asia, and ' all the churches
of the Gentiles.' 1 In the epistle 2 to the Romans, the author
is led to deliver a remarkable declaration concerning the extent
of his preaching, its efficacy, and the cause to which he ascribes

1 1 Thess. ii. 14. ' Rom. xv. 18, 19.

310 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

it, ' to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through
mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of
God ; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum,
I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.' In the epistle to
the Colossians, 1 we find an oblique but very strong signification
of the then general state of the christian mission, at least as it
appeared to St. Paul : ' If ye continue in the faith, grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every
creature which is under heaven;'' which gospel, he had re-
minded them near the beginning 2 of his letter, ' was present
with them as it was in all the world? The expressions are
hyperbolical ; but they are hyperboles which could only be used
by a writer who entertained a strong sense of the subject. The
first epistle of Peter accosts the Christians dispersed throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

It comes next to be considered, how far these accounts are
confirmed, or followed up, hy other evidence.

Tacitus, in delivering a relation, which has already been ^aid
before the reader, of the fire which happened at Rome in the
tenth year of Nero, which coincides with the thirtieth year
after Christ's ascension, asserts, that the emperor, in order to
suppress the rumors of having been himself the author of the
mischief, procured the Christians to be accused. Of which
Christians, thus brought into his narrative, the following is so
much of the historian's account as belongs to our present pur-
pose : ' They had their denomination from Christus, who, in
the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the
procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, though
checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only
over Judea, but reached the city also. At first they only were
apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterwards
a vast multitude were discovered by them.' This testimony to
the early propagation of Christianity is extremely material.
It is from an historian of great reputation, living near the
time ; from a stranger and an enemy to the religion : and it

1 Col. i. 23. a Ibid. i. 6.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 311

joins immediately with the period through which the scripture
accounts extend. It establishes these points, that the religion
began at Jerusalem, that it spread throughout Judea, that it
had reached Rome, and not only so, but that it had there ob-
tained a great number of converts. This was about six years
after the time that St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans,
and something more than two years after he arrived there him-
self. The converts to the religion were then so numerous at
Rome, that of those who were betrayed by the information of
the persons first persecuted, a great multitude {inultitudo ingens)
were discovered and seized.

It seems probable, that the temporary check which Tacitus
represents Christianity to have received (repressa in prcesens)
referred to the persecution at Jerusalem, which followed the
death of Stephen (Acts viii.) ; and which, by dispersing the con-
verts, caused the institution, in some measure, to disappear.
Its second eruption at the same place, and within a short time,
has much in it of the character of truth. It was the firm-
ness and perseverance of men who knew what they relied
upon.

Next in order of time, and perhaps superior in importance,
is the testimony of Pliny the younger. Pliny was the Roman
governor of Pontus and Bithynia, two considerable districts in
the northern part of Asia Minor. The situation in which he
found his province led him to apply to the emperor (Trajan)
for his direction as to the conduct he was to hold towards the
Christians. The letter in which this application is contained
was written not quite eighty years after Christ's ascension. The
president, in this letter, states the measures he had already
pursued, and then adds, as his reason for resorting to the em-
peror's counsel and authority, the following words : — ' Sus-
pending all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for
advice ; for it has appeared to me a matter highly deserving
consideration, especially upon account of the great number of
persons who are in clanger of suffering ; for many of all ages,
and of every rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will
be accused. Nor has the contagion of this superstition seized
cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country.
Nevertheless it seemed to me that it may be restrained and
corrected. It is certain, that the temples, which were almost

312 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

forsaken, begin to be more frequented ; and the sacred solemni-
ties, after a long intermission, are revived. Yictims, likewise,
are everywhere (passim) bought up ; whereas, for some time,
there were few to purchase them. Whence it is easy to imagine,
what numbers of men might be reclaimed, if pardon were grant-
ed to those that shall repent.' x

It is obvious to observe, that the passage of Pliny's letter,
here quoted, proves, not only that the Christians in Pontus and
Bithynia were now numerous, but that they had subsisted
there for some considerable time. ' It is certain [he says]
that the temples, which were almost forsaken [plainly ascribing
this desertion of the popular worship to the prevalency of
Christianity], begin to be more frequented; and the sacred
solemnities, after a long intermission, are revived.' There are
also two clauses in the former part of the letter which indicate
the same thing ; one, in which he declares that he had ' never
been present at any trials of Christians, and therefore knew not
what was the usual subject of inquiry and punishment, or how
far either was wont to be urged : the second clause isv the fol-
lowing : ' Others were named by an informer, who, at first', x , con-
fessed themselves Christians, and afterwards denied it ; thai rest
said, they had been Christians, some three years ago, some
longer, and some above twenty years.' It is also apparent
that Pliny speaks of the Christians as a description of men well
known to the person to whom he writes. His first sentence
concerning them is, ' I have never been present at the trials of
Christians.' This mention of the name of Christians, without
any preparatory explanation, shows that it was a term familiar
both to the writer of the letter, and the person to whom it
was addressed. Had it not been so, Pliny would naturally
have begun his letter by informing the emperor, that he
had met with a certain set of men in the province called
Christians.

Here then is a very signal evidence of the progress of the
christian religion in a short space. It was not fourscore years
after the crucifixion of Jesus when Pliny wrote this letter ; nor
seventy years since the apostles of Jesus began to mention his
name to the Gentile world. Bithynia and Pontus were at a

i C. Plin. Trajano Imp. lib. x. ep. xcvii.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 313

great distance from Judea, the centre from which the religion
spread ; yet in these provinces Christianity had long subsisted,
and Christians were now in such numbers as to lead the Roman
governor to report to the emperor, that they were found, not
only in cities, but in villages and in open countries ; of all ages,
of every rank and condition ; that they abounded so much as
to have produced a visible desertion of the temples ; that beasts
brought to market for victims had few purchasers; that the
sacred solemnities were much neglected : circumstances noted
by Pliny, for the express purpose of showing to the emperor
the effect and prevalency of the new institution.

No evidence remains, by which it can be proved that the
Christians were more numerous in Pontus and Bithynia than in
other parts of the Roman empire ; nor has any reason been
offered to show why they should be so. Christianity did not
begin in these countries, nor near them. I do not know,
therefore, that we ought to confine the description in Pliny's
letter to the state of Christianity in those provinces, even if
no other account of the same subject had come down to us ;
but, certainly, this letter may fairly be applied in aid and con-
firmation of the representations given of the general state of
Christianity in the world, by christian writers of that and the
next succeeding age.

Justin Martyr, who wrote about thirty years after Pliny,
and one hundred and six after the ascension, has these remark-
able words : ' There is not a nation, either of Greek or Bar-
barian, or of any other name, even of those who wander in
tribes, and live in tents, amongst whom prayers and thanks-
givings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the uni-
verse by the name of the crucified Jesus.' l Tertullian, who
comes about fifty years after Justin, appeals to the governors of
the Roman empire in these terms: ' We were but of yesterday,
and we have filled your cities, islands, towns and boroughs, the
camp, the senate, and the forum. They [the heathen adversa-
ries of Christianity] lament, that every sex, age and condition,
and persons of every rank also, are converts to that name.' 2 I
do allow that these expressions are loose, and may be called
declamatory. But even declamation hath its bounds : this

1 Dial, cum Tryph. a Tertull. Apol. c 3".

314 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

public boasting upon a subject which must be known to every
reader was not only useless but unnatural, unless the truth of
the case, in a considerable degree, corresponded with the de-
scription ; at least, unless it had been both true and notorious,
that great multitudes of Christians, of all ranks and orders,
were to be found in most parts of the Roman empire. The
same Tertullian, in another passage, by way of setting forth the
extensive diffusion of Christianity, enumerates as belonging to
Christ, beside many other countries, the ' Moors and Gaetulians
of Africa, the borders of Spain, several nations of France, and
parts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans, the Sarmatians,
Daci, Germans, and Scythians;' 1 and, which is more material
than the extent of the institution, the number of Christians in
the several countries in which it prevailed, is thus expressed by
him : 'Although so great a multitude that in almost every city
we form the greater part, we pass our time modestly and in
silence.' 2 Clement Alexandrinus, who preceded Tertullian by
a few years, introduces a comparison between the success of
Christianity, and that of the most celebrated philosophical in-
stitutions. ' The philosophers were confined to Greece, and to
their particular retainers ; but the doctrine of the Masted" of
Christianity did not remain in Judea, as philosophy dicl in
Greece, but is spread throughout the whole world, in every
nation and village and city, both of Greeks and Barbarians,
converting both whole houses and separate individuals, having
already brought over to the truth not a few of the philosophers
themselves. If the Greek philosophy be prohibited, it imme-
diately vanishes ; whereas, from the first preaching of our doc-
trine, kings and tyrants, governors and presidents, with their
whole train, and with the populace on their side, have endea-
vored with their whole might to exterminate it, yet doth it
flourish more and more.' 3 Origen, who follows Tertullian at
the distance of only thirty years, delivers nearly the same ac-
count: 'In every part of the world [says he], throughout all
Greece, and in all other nations, there are innumerable and
immense multitudes, who, having loft the laws of their country,
and those whom they esteemed gods, have given themselves up
to the law of Moses, and the religion of Christ ; and this, not

' AdJud c. 7. * Ad Scap. c. Ill » Clem. Al. Strom, lib. vi. ad fin.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 315

without the bitterest resentment from the idolaters, by whom
they were frequently put to torture, and sometimes to death ;
and it is wonderful to observe, how, in so short a time, the
religion has increased, amidst punishment and death, and every
kind of torture.' l In another passage, Origen draws the fol-
lowing candid comparison between the state of Christianity in
his time, and the condition of its more primitive ages : — ' By
the good providence of God the christian religion has so
flourished and increased continually, that it is now preached
freely without molestation, although there were a thousand
obstacles to the spreading of the doctrine of Jesus in the
world. But as it was the will of God that the Gentiles should
have the benefit of it, all the councils of men against the
Christians were defeated ; and by how much the more emperors
and governors of provinces, and the people everywhere, strove
to depress them, so much the more have they increased and
prevailed exceedingly.' 2

It is well known, that within less than eighty years after this,
the Roman empire became christian under Constantine ; and
it is probable that Constantine declared himself on the side of
the Christians, because they were the powerful party : for Ar-
nobius, who wrote immediately before Constantine's accession,
speaks of the whole world as filled with Christ's doctrine, of its
diffusion throughout all countries, of an innumerable body of
Christians in distant provinces, of the strange revolution of
opinion of men of the greatest genius, orators, grammarians,
rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, having come over to the insti-
tution, and that also in the face of threats, executions, and
tortures. 3 And not more than twenty years after Constan-
tine's entire possession of the empire, Julius Fermicus Maternus
calls upon the emperors Constantius and Constans to extirpate
the relics of the ancient religion; the reduced and fallen con-
dition of which is described by our author in the following
words : — ' Licet adhuc in quibusdam regionibus idololatriae
morientia palpitent membra, tamen in eo res est, ut a Christi-
anis omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum funclitus amputetur;'
and in another place, ' Modicum tan turn superest, ut legibus

1 Or. in Celt, lib. i. 2 Or. con. Cels. lib. vii.

3 Arnob. in Gentes, 1. i. pp. 27, 9, 24, 42. 44, edit. Lug. Bat. 1650.

316 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

vestris — extincta idololatrise pereat funesta contagio.' 1 It will
not be thought that we quote this writer in order to recom-
mend his temper or his judgment, but to show the comparative
state of Christianity and of Heathenism at this period. Fifty
years afterwards, Jerome represents the decline of Paganism in
language which conveys the same idea of its approaching ex-
tinction : ' Solitudinem patitur et in urbe gentilitas. Dii
quondam nationum, cum bubonibus et noctuis, in solis culmi-
nibus remanserunt.' 2 Jerome here indulges a triumph, natural
and allowable in a zealous friend of the cause, but which could
only be suggested to his mind by the consent and universality
with which he saw the religion received. ' But now [says he]
the passion and resurrection of Christ are celebrated in the
discourses and writings of all nations. I need .not mention
Jews, Greeks, and Latins. The Indians, Persians, Goths, and
Egyptians, philosophize, and firmly believe the immortality of
the soul, and future recompenses, which, before, the greatest
philosophers had denied, or doubted of, or perplexed with their
disputes. The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians is now
softened by the gentle sound of the Gospel ; and everywhere
Christ is all in all.' 3 "Were, therefore, the motives of £on-
stantine's conversion ever so problematical, the easy establish-
ment of Christianity, and the ruin of Heathenism under him
and his immediate successors, is of itself a proof of the progress
which Christianity had made in the preceding period. It may
be added, also, 'that Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, had
shown himself friendly to the Christians. Therefore, of those
who were contending for worldly power and empire, one actu-
ally favored and flattered them, and another may be suspected
to have joined himself to them, partly from consideration of
interest: so considerable were they become, under external
disadvantages of all sorts.' 1 This at least is certain, that,
throughout the whole transaction hitherto, the great seemed to
follow, not to lead, the public opinion.

It may help to convey to us some notion of the extent and
progress of Christianity, or rather of the character and quality

1 De Error. Pro/an. Iidig. c. xxi. p. 17-, quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 262.

a Jer. ad Lec.t. ep. -u . 3 Jor. ep. 8, ad Hcliod.

* Lardner, vol. vii. p. 380.

Chap, ix.] The Propagation of Christianity. 317

of many early Christians, of their learning and their labors, to
notice the number of christian writers who flourished in these
ages. St. Jerome's catalogue contains sixty-six writers within
the three first centuries, and the six first years of the fourth ;
and fifty-four between that time and his own, viz. a. d. 392.
Jerome introduces his catalogue with the following just remon-
strance : — ' Let those who say the church has had no philo-
sophers, nor eloquent and learned men, observe who and what
they were who founded, established, and adorned it ; let them
cease to accuse our faith of rusticity, and confess their mistake.' 1
Of these writers, several, as Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alex-
andria, Tertullian, Origen, Bardesanes, Hippolitus, Eusebius,
were voluminous writers. Christian writers abounded particu-
larly about the year 178. Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem,
founded a library in that city a. d. 212. Pamphilus, the friend
of Origen, founded a library at Cesarea a. d. 294. Public de-
fences were also set forth, by various advocates of the religion,
in the course of its three first centuries. Within one hundred
years after Christ's ascension, Quadratus and Aristides, whose
works, except some few fragments of the first, are lost ; and
about twenty years afterwards, Justin Martyr, whose works re-
main, presented apologies for the christian religion to the
Roman emperors ; Quadratus and Aristides to Adrian, Justin
to Antoninus Pius, and a second to Marcus Antoninus. Melito
bishop of Sardis, and Apollinaris bishop of Hierapolis, and Mil-
tiades, men of great reputation, did the same to Marcus Anto-
ninus twenty years afterwards: 2 and ten years after this, Apol-
lonias, who suffered martyrdom under the emperor Commodus,
composed an apology for his faith, which he read in the senate,
and which was afterwards published. 3 Fourteen years after the
apology of Apollonius, Tertullian addressed the work which now
remains under that name, to the governors of provinces in the
Roman empire ; and, about the same time, Minucius Felix com-
posed a defence of the christian religion, which is still extant ;
and shortly after the conclusion of this century, copious defences
of Christianity were published by Arnobius and Lactantius.

1 Jer. Prol. in Lib. de Ser. Ecc.

s Euseb. Hist. lib. iv. c. 26. See also Lardner, vol. ii. p. 666.

3 Lard, vol ii. p. 687.

318 Evidences of Christianity. jTP ar t II

Section II.

Reflections upon the preceding Account.

In viewing the progress of Christianity, our first attention is
due to the number of converts at Jerusalem, immediately after
its founder's death ; because this success was a success at the
time, and upon the spot, when and where the chief part of the
history had been transacted.

"We are, in the next place, called upon to attend to the early
establishment of numerous christian societies in Judea and
Galilee, which countries had been the scene of Christ's miracles
and ministry, and where the memory of what had passed, and
the knowledge of what was alleged, must have yet been fresh
and certain.

We are, thirdly, invited to recollect the success of the apostles
and of their companions, at the several places to which they
came, both within and without Judea ; because it was the credit
given to original witnesses, appealing for the truth of their ac-
counts to what themselves had seen and heard. The effect
also of their preaching strongly confirms the truth of whatSmr
history positively and circumstantially relates, that they were
able to exhibit to their hearers supernatural attestations of their
mission.

"We are, lastly, to consider the subsequent growth and spread
of the religion, of which we receive successive intimations, and
satisfactory, though general and occasional, accounts until its
full and final establishment.

In all these several stages, the history is without a parallel ;
for it must be observed, that we have not now been tracing the
progress, and describing the prevalency, of an opinion, founded
upon philosophical or critical arguments, upon mere deductions
of reason, or the construction of ancient writings (of which
kind are the several theories which have, at different times,
gained possession of the public mind in various departments of
science and literature ; and of one or other of which kind are
the tenets also which divide the various sects of Christianity) ;
but that we speak of a system, the very basis and postulatnm
of which was a supernatural character ascribed to a particular

Ch. ix. § 2.] Reflections on the preceding Account. 319

person ; of a doctrine, the truth whereof depended entirely
upon the truth of a matter of fact then recent. ' To establish
a new religion even amongst a few people, or in one single
nation, is a thing in itself exceedingly difficult. To reform some
corruptions which may have spread in a religion, or to make
new regulations in it, is not perhaps so hard, when the main
and principal part of that religion is preserved entire and un-
shaken ; and yet this very often cannot be accomplished, with-
out an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, and may be
attempted a thousand times without success. But to introduce
a new faith, a new way of thinking and acting, and to per-
suade many nations to quit the religion in which their ances-
tors had lived and died, which had been delivered down to
them from time immemorial, to make them forsake and despise
the deities which they had been accustomed to reverence and
worship ; this is a work of still greater difficulty. 1 The resist-
ance of education, worldly policy, and superstition, is almost
invincible.'

If men, in these days, be Christians in consequence of their
education, in submission to authority, or in compliance with
fashion, let us recollect that the very contrary of this, at the
beginning, was the case. The first race of Christians, as well
as millions who succeeded them, became such in formal oppo-
sition to all these motives ; to the whole power and strength of
this influence. Every argument therefore, and every instance,
which sets forth the prejudice of education, and the almost
irresistible effects of that prejudice (and no persons are more
fond of expatiating upon this subject than deistical writers), in
fact confirms the evidence of Christianity.

But, in order to judge of the argument which is drawn from
the early propagation of Christianity, I know no fairer way of
proceeding, than to compare what we have seen of the subject,
with the success of christian missions in modern ages. In the
East India mission, supported by the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, we hear sometimes of thirty, sometimes
of forty, being baptized in the course of a year, and these
principally children. Of converts properly so called, that is,
of adults voluntarily embracing Christianity, the number is

1 Jortin's Dis. cm the Christ. Rel. p. 107, ed. iv.

320 Evidences of Christianity. [Part 2.

extremely small. ' Notwithstanding the labor of missionaries
for upwards of two hundred years, and the establishments of
different christian nations who support them, there are not
twelve thousand Indian Christians, and those almost entirely
outcasts.' l

I lament, as much as any man, the little progress which
Christianity has made in these countries, and the inconsiderable
effect that has followed the labors of its missionaries ; but I
see in it a strong proof of the divine origin of the religion.
What had the apostles to assist them in propagating Christianity,
which the missionaries have not? If piety and zeal had been
sufficient, I doubt not but that our missionaries possess these
qualities in a high degree ; for nothing except piety and zeal
could engage them in the undertaking. If sanctity of life and
manners was the allurement, the conduct of these men is un-
blamable. If the advantage of education and learning be
looked to, there is not one of the modern missionaries, who is
not, in this respect, superior to all the apostles ; and that not
only absolutely, but what is of more importance, relatively, in
comparison, that is, with those amongst whom they- exercise
their office. If the intrinsic excellency of the religiom the
perfection of its morality, the purity of its precepts, the^ elo-
quence or tenderness or sublimity of various parts of its writings,
were the recommendations by which it made its way, these
remain the same. If the character and circumstances, under
which the preachers were introduced to the countries in which
they taught, be accounted of importance, this advantage is all
on the side of the modern missionaries. They come from a
country and a people, to which the Indian would look up with
sentiments of deference. The apostles came forth amongst the
Gentiles under no other name than that of Jews, which was pre-
cisely the character they despised and derided. If it be dis-
graceful in India to become a Christian, it could not be much
less so to be enrolled amongst those ' quos per flagitia invisios,
vulgus Christianos appellabat.' If the religion which they had
to encounter be considered, the difference, I apprehend, will not
be great. The theology of both was nearly the same : ' what

1 Sketches relating to the History, Learning, and Manners of the Hindoos, p. 48, quoted
by Dr. Robertson, Hist. Dis. concerning Ancient India, p. 236.

Cb. ix. § 2.] Reflections on the preceding Account. 321

is supposed to be performed by the power of Jupiter, of Nep-
tune, of .ZEolus, of Mars, of Yenus, according to the mythology
of the West, is ascribed in the East, to the agency of Agrio
the god of fire, Yaroon the god of oceans, Yayoo the god of
wind, Cama the god of love.' 1 The sacred rites of the Western
Polytheism were gay, festive, and licentious ; the rites of the
public religion in the East partake of the same character, with
a more avowed indecency. ' In every function performed in
the pagodas, as well as in every public procession, it is the
office of these women [*. e. of women prepared by the Brahmins
for the purpose] to dance before the idol, and to sing hymns
in his praise ; and it is difficult to say whether they trespass
most against decency by the gestures they exhibit, or by the
verses which they recite. The walls of the pagodas were cov-
ered with paintings in a style no less indelicate.' 2

On both sides of the comparison the popular religion had a
strong establishment. In ancient Greece and Rome it was
strictly incorporated with the state. The magistrate was the
priest. The highest officers of government bore the most dis-
tinguished part in the celebration of the public rites. In India,
a powerful and numerous caste possess exclusively the adminis-
tration of the established worship ; and are, of consequence,
devoted to its service, and attached to its interest. In both,
the prevailing mythology was destitute of any proper evidence ;
or rather, in both, the origin of the tradition is run up into
ages long anterior to the existence of credible history, or of
written language. The Indian chronology computes eras by
millions of years, and the life of man by thousands; 3 and in
these, or prior to these, is placed the history of their divinities.
In both, the established superstition held the same place in the
public opinion ; that is to say, in both it was credited by the
bulk of the people, 4 but by the learned and philosophic part of

1 Baghvat Geeta, p. 94, quoted by Dr. Robertson, Ind. Dis. p. 306.

2 Otbers of the deities of the East are of an austere and gloomy character, to be
propitiated by victims, sometimes by human sacrifices, and by voluntary torments
of the most excruciating kind. — Voyage de Gentil., vol. i. pp. 244-260. Preface
to Code of Gentoo Lmvs, p. 57, quoted by Dr. Robertson, p. 320.

a ' The Suffec Jogue, or Age of Purity, is said to have lasted three million two
hundred thousand years, and they hold that the life of man was extended in that
age to one hundred thousand years ; but there is a difference amongst the Indian
writers of six millions of years in the computation of this era.' — Ind. Dis. p. 320.

4 How absurd soever the articles of faith may be which superstition has adopted,

322 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

the community, either derided, or regarded by them as only fit
to be upholden for the sake of its political uses. 1

Or if it should be allowed, that the ancient heathens believed
in their religion less generally than the present Indians do, I
am far from thinking that this circumstance would afford any
facility to the work of the apostles, above that of the modern
missionaries. To me it appears, and I think it material to be
remarked, that a disbelief of the established religion of their
country has no tendency to dispose men for the reception of
another ; but that, on the contrary, it generates a settled con-
tempt of all religious pretensions whatever. General infidelity
is the hardest soil which the propagators of a new religion can
have to work upon. Could a Methodist or Moravian promise
himself a better chance of success with a French esprit fort,
who had been accustomed to laugh at the Popery of his country,
than with a believing Mahometan or Hindoo ? Or are our
modern unbelievers in Christianity, for that reason, in danger
of becoming Mahometans or Hindoos? It does not appear
that the Jews, who had a body of historical evidence to offer
for their religion, and who at that time undoubtedly entertained
and held forth the expectation of a future state, derived any
great advantage, as to the extension of their system, from the

or how unhallowed the rites which it prescribes, the former are received, in every
age and country, with unhesitating assent, by the great body of the people, and
the latter observed with scrupulous exactness. In our reasonings concerning
opinions and practices which differ widely from our own, we are extremely apt to
err. Having been instructed ourselves in the principles of a religion worthy in
every respect of that divine wisdom by which they were dictated, we frequently
express wonder at the credulity of nations, in embracing systems of belief which
appear to us so directly repugnant to right reason ; and sometimes suspect, that
tenets so wild and extravagant do not really gain credit with them. But expe-
rience may satisfy us that neither our wonder nor suspicions are well founded. No
article of the public religion was called in question by those people of ancient
Europe with whose history we are best acquainted ; and no practice, which it en-
joined, appeared improper to them. On the other hand, every opinion that tended
to diminish the reverence of men for the gods of their country, or to alienate them
from their worship, excited, among the Greeks and Romans, that indignant zeal
which is natural to every people attached to their religion by a firm persuasion
of its truth.*— Tnd. Dis. p. 321

i That the learned Brahmins of the East are rational theists, and secretly reject
the established theory, and contemn the rites that were founded upon them, or
rather consider them as contrivances to be supported for their political uses, see
Dr. Robertson's Tnd. Die. pp. 824-834

Ch. ix. §2.] M ^flections on the preceding Account. 323

discredit into which the popular religion had fallen with many
of their heathen neighbors.

We have particularly directed our observations to the state
and progress of Christianity amongst the inhabitants of India,
but the history of the christian mission in other countries,
where the efficacy of the mission is left solely to the conviction
wrought by the preaching of strangers, presents the same idea,
as the Indian mission does, of the feebleness and inadequacy of
human means. About twenty-five years ago, was published in
England, a translation from the Dutch of a history of Green-
land, and a relation of the mission, for above thirty years carried
on in that country by the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravians.
Every part of that relation confirms the opinion we have stated.
Nothing could surpass, or hardly equal, the zeal and patience
of the missionaries. Yet their historian, in the conclusion of
his narrative, could find place for no reflections more encourag-
ing than the following : — ' A person that had known the heathen,
that had seen the little benefit from the great pains hitherto
taken with them, and considered that one after another had
abandoned all hopes of the conversion of those infidels (and
some thought they would never be converted, till they saw
miracles wrought as in the apostles' days, and this the Green-
landers expected and demanded of their instructors) : one that
considered this, I say, would not so much wonder at the past
unfruitfulness of these young beginners, as at their steadfast
perseverance in the midst of nothing but distress, difficulties,
and impediments, internally and externally ; and that they never
desponded of the conversion of those poor creatures amidst all
seeming impossibilities.' *

From the widely disproportionate effects which attend the
preaching of modern missionaries of Christianity, compared
with what followed the ministry of Christ and his apostles,
under circumstances either alike, or not so unlike as to account
for the difference, a conclusion is fairly drawn, in support of
what our histories deliver concerning them, viz., that they pos-
sessed means of conviction, which we have not ; that they had
proofs to appeal to, which we want.

Hist, of Greenland, vol. ii. p. 376.

324 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

Section III.

Of the Religion of Mahomet.

The only event in the history of the human species, which ad-
mits of comparison with the propagation of Christianity, is the
success of Mahometanism. The Mahometan institution was
rapid in its progress, was recent in its history, and was founded
upon a supernatural or prophetic character assumed by its
author. In these articles the resemblance with Christianity is
confessed. But there are points of difference, which separate,
we apprehend, the two cases entirely.

I. Mahomet did not found his pretensions upon miracles,
properly so called ; that is, upon proofs of supernatural agency,
capable of being known and attested by others. Christians are
warranted in this assertion by the evidence of the Koran, in
which Mahomet not only does not affect the power of working
miracles, but expressly disclaims it. The following passages of
that book furnish direct proofs of the truth of what ^e allege :
' The infidels say, Unless a sign be sent down unto him from
his lord, we will not believe ; thou art a preacher fltnly.' x
Again, ' Nothing hindered us from sending thee with miracles,
except that the former nations have charged them with impos-
ture.' 2 And lastly, 'They say, Unless a sign be sent down
unto him from his lord, we will not believe ; answer, Signs are
in the power of God alone, and I am no more than a public
preacher. Is it not sufficient for them, that we have sent down
unto them the book of the Koran to be read unto them V 3
Beside these acknowledgments, I have observed thirteen dis-
tinct places, in which Mahomet puts the objection (unless a
sign, &c), into the mouth of the unbeliever, in not one of
which does he allege a miracle in reply. His answer is, ' that
God giveth the power of working miracles, when and to whom he
pleaseth ;' 4 ' that if he should work miracles, they would not
believe ;' 5 ' that they had before rejected Moses, and Jesus, and
the Prophets, who wrought miracles ;' 6 ' that the Koran itself
was a miracle.' 7

i Sale's Koran, ch. xiii. p. 201, ed. quarto. a Cb. xvii. p. 232.

» Ch. xxix. p. 328. 4 Ch. v. x. xiii. twice. 3 Ch. vi.

• Ch. iii. xxi. xxviii. 7 Ch. xvi.

Ch. ix. § 3.] Success of Mahometanism. 325

The only place in the Koran in which it can be pretended
that a sensible miracle is referred to (for I do not allow the
secret visitations of Gabriel, the night journey of Mahomet to
heaven, or the presence in battle of invisible hosts of angels, to
deserve the name of sensible miracles) is the beginning of the fifty-
fourth chapter. The words are these — 'The hour of judgment
approacheth and the moon hath been split in sunder ; but if the
unbelievers see a sign, they turn aside, saying, This is a power-
ful charm.' The Mahometan expositors disagree in their inter-
pretation of this passage ; some explaining it be a mention of
the splitting of the moon, as one of the future signs of the ap-
proach of the day of judgment ; others referring it to a mirac-
ulous appearance which had then taken place. 1 It seems to me
not improbable, that Mahomet may have taken advantage of
some extraordinary halo, or other unusual appearance of the
moon, which had happened about this time ; and which supplied
a foundation both for this passage, and for the story which
in after times had been raised out of it.

After this more than silence ; after these authentic confes-
sions of the Koran, we are not to be moved with miraculous
stories related of Mahomet by Abulfeda, who wrote his life
about six hundred years after his death ; or which are found in
the legend of Al Jannabi, who came two hundred years later. 2
On the contrary, from comparing what Mahomet himself wrote
and said, with what was afterwards reported of him by his fol-
lowers, the plain and fair conclusion is, that, when the religion
was established by conquest, then, and not till then, came out
the stories of his miracles.

Now this difference alone constitutes, in my opinion, a bar
to all reasoning from one case to the other. The success of a
religion founded upon a miraculous history, shows the credit
which was given to the history ; and this credit, under the cir-
cumstances in which it was given, i.e. by persons capable of know-
ing the truth, and interested to inquire after it, is evidence of the

> Vide Sale in loc.
2 It does not, I think, appear that these historians had any written accounts to
appeal to more ancient than the Sonnah, which was a collection of traditions made
by order of the Caliphs two hundred years after Mahomet's death. Mahomet
died a. d. 632 ; Al-Bochari, one of the six doctors who compiled the Sonnah, was
born a. d. 809, died 869. — Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 192, ed. 7th.

326 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

reality of the history, and, by consequence, of the truth of the
religion. Where a miraculous history is not alleged, no part
of this argument can be applied. We admit that multitudes
acknowledged the pretensions of Mahomet ; but these preten-
sions being destitute of miraculous evidence, we know that the
grounds upon which they were acknowledged, could not be
secure grounds of persuasion to his followers, nor their example
any authority to us. Admit the whole of Mahomet's authentic
history, so far as it was of a nature capable of being known or
witnessed by others, to be true (which is certainly to admit all
that the reception of the religion can be brought to prove), and
Mahomet might still be an impostor, or enthusiast, or a union
of both. Admit to be true almost any part of Christ's history,
of that, I mean, which was public, and within the cognizance
of his followers, and he must have come from God. Where
matter of fact is not in question, where miracles are not
alleged, I do not see that the progress of a religion is a better
argument of its truth, than the prevalency of any system of
opinions in natural religion, morality, or physics, is a proof of
the truth of those opinions. And we know that this s.ort of
argument is inadmissible in any branch of philosophy what-
ever.

But it will be said, If one religion could make its way with-
out miracles, why might not another? To which I reply first,
that this is not the question : the proper question is not, whe-
ther a religious institution could be set up without miracles, but
whether a religion or a change of religion, founding itself in
miracles, could succeed without any reality to rest upon? 1 I
apprehend these two cases to be very different ; and I appre-
hend Mahomet's not taking this course to be one proof, amongst
others, that the thing is difficult, if not impossible, to be ac-
complished : certainly it was not from an unconsciousness of

1 The just remark of Origen. that the establishment of Christianity without
miracles would have been more wonderful than all the miracles recorded, has been
strangely misrepresented as implying that the alternative is, the occurrence of the
miracles, or, the establishment of a religion without any. The real alternative is
(as Paley has rightly observed^, the occurrence of the miracles, or the establish-
ment, without any, of a religion based on miraculous evidence ; and whose first
preachers, supposing they had not witnessed, and exercised, and conferred on others,
miraculous powers, must have been men who braved martyrdom in support of
the most palpable and impudent falsehoods that ever were framed — Ed.

Ch. ix. §3.] Success of Mahometanism. 327

the value and importance of miraculous evidence ; for it is very
observable, that in the same volume, and sometimes in the same
chapters, in which Mahomet so repeatedly disclaims the power
of working miracles himself, he is incessantly referring to the
miracles of preceding prophets. One would imagine, to hear
some men talk, or to read some books, that the setting up of a
religion by dint of miraculous pretences was a thing of every
day's experience : whereas I believe, that except the Jewish
and christian religion, there is no tolerably well authenticated
account of any such thing having been accomplished.

EC. Secondly, the establishment of Mahomet's religion was
effected by causes which in no degree appertained to the
origin of Christianity.

During the first twelve years of his mission, Mahomet had
recourse only to persuasion. This is allowed. And there is
sufficient reason from the effect to believe, that if he had con-
fined himself to this mode of propagating his religion, we of
the present day should never have heard either of him or it.
' Three years were silently employed in the conversion of four-
teen proselytes. For ten years the religion advanced with a
slow and painful progress within the walls of Mecca. The
number of proselytes in the seventh year of his mission, may
be estimated by the absence of eighty-three men and eighteen
women, who retired to ./Ethiopia.' l Yet this progress, such as
it was, appears to have been aided by some very important
advantages which Mahomet found in his situation, in his mode
of conducting his design, and in his doctrine.

1. Mahomet was the grandson of the most powerful and
honorable family in Mecca ; and although the early death of
his father had not left him a patrimony suitable to his birth,
he had, long before the commencement of his mission, repaired
this deficiency by an opulent marriage. A person considerable
by his wealth, of high descent, and nearly allied to the chiefs
of his country, taking upon himself the character of a religious
teacher, would not fail of attracting attention and followers.

2. Mahomet conducted his design, in the outset especially,
with great art and prudence. He conducted it as a politician
would conduct a plot. His first application was to his own

1 Gibbon's Hid. vol. ix. p. 244 et seq. ed. Dub.

328 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

family. This gained him his wife's uncle, a considerable person
in Mecca, together with his cousin Ali, afterwards the cele-
brated Caliph, then a youth of great expectation, and even
already distinguished by his attachment, impetuosity, and
courage. 1 He next addressed himself to Abu Beer, a man
amongst the first of the Koreish in wealth and influence. The
interest and example of Abu Beer drew in five other prin-
cipal persons in Mecca, whose solicitations prevailed upon five
more of the same rank. This was the work of three years ;
during which time every thing was transacted in secret. Upon
the strength of these allies, and under the powerful protection
of his family, who, however some of them might disapprove his
enterprise, or deride his pretensions, would not suffer the
orphan of their house, the relict of their favorite brother, to
be insulted, Mahomet now commenced his public preaching.
And the advance which he made, during the nine or ten re-
maining years of his peaceable ministry, was by no means
greater than what, with these advantages, and with the addi-
tional and singular circumstance of there being no , established
religion at Mecca at that time to contend with, might reason-
ably have been expected. How soon his primitive adherents
were let into the secret of his views of empire, or in whax stage
of his undertaking these views first opened themselves to his
own mind, it is not now easy to determine. The event how-
ever was, that these his first proselytes all ultimately attained
to riches and honors, to the command of armies, and the gov-
ernment of kingdoms. 2

3. The Arabs deduced their descent from Abraham through
the line of Ishmael. The inhabitants of Mecca, in common pro-
bably with the other Arabian tribes, acknowledged, as, I think,
may clearly be collected from the Koran, one supreme deity,
but had associated with him many objects of idolatrous worship.
The great doctrine, with which Mahomet set out, was the strict
and exclusive unity of God. Abraham, he told them, their il-

i Of which Mr. Gihhon has preserved the following specimen: — 'When Ma-
homet called out in an assembly of his family, Who among you will be my com-
panion, and my vizir ? Ali, then only in the fourteenth year of his age, suddenly
replied, prophet, I am the man ; whosoever rises apainst thee, I will dash out
his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly. prophet, I will be
thy vizir over them.' — Vol. ix. p. 245.

3 Gibb. vol ix. p. 244.

Ch. ix. § 3.] Success of Makometanisin. 329

lnstrious ancestor; Ishmael, the father of their nation; Moses,
the lawgiver of the Jews ; and Jesus, the author of Christianity,
had all asserted the same thing; that their followers had uni-
versally corrupted the truth, and that he was now commissioned
to restore it to the world. Was it to be wondered at, that a
doctrine so specious, and authorized by names, some or other
of which were holden in the highest veneration by every de-
scription of his hearers, should, in the hands of a popular mis-
sionary, prevail to the extent in which Mahomet succeeded
by his pacific ministry ?

4. Of the institution which Mahomet joined with this funda-
mental doctrine, and of the Koran, in which that institution is
delivered, we discover, I think, two purposes that pervade the
whole, viz., to make converts, and to make his converts soldiers.
The following particulars, amongst others, may be considered
as pretty evident indications of these designs :

1. When Mahomet began to preach, his address to the Jews,
the Christians, and to the Pagan Arabs, was, that the religion
which he taught was no other than what had been originally
their own. ' We believe in God, and that which hath been sent
down unto us, and that which hath been sent clown unto Abra-
ham, and Ismael, and Isaac, and Jacob and the Tribes, and that
which was delivered unto Moses and Jesus, and that which
was delivered unto the Prophets from their Lord ; we make no
distinction between any of them.' l ' He hath ordained you the
religion which he commanded Noah, and which we have revealed
unto thee, O Mohammed, and which we commanded Abraham
and Moses and Jesus, saying, Observe this religion, and be not
divided therein.' 2 ' He hath chosen you, and hath not imposed
on you any difficulty in the religion which he hath given you,
the religion of your father Abraham.' 3

2. The author of the Koran never ceases from describing the
future anguish of unbelievers, their despair, regret, penitence,
and torment. It is the point which he labors above all others.
And these descriptions are conceived in terms which will appear
in no small degree impressive, even to the modern reader of an
English translation. Doubtless they would operate with much

1 Sale's Koran, ch. ii. p. 17. 2 Ibid. ch. xlii. p. 393.

3 Ibid. ch. xxii. p. 281.

330 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

greater force upon the minds of those to whom they were im-
mediately directed. The terror which they seem well calcu-
lated to inspire, would be to many tempers a powerful appli-
cation.

3. On the other hand, his voluptuous paradise ; his robes of
silk, his palaces of marble, his rivers and shades, his groves and
couches, his wines, his dainties ; and above all, his seventy-two
virgins assigned to each of the faithful, of resplendent beauty
and eternal youth ; intoxicated the imaginations, and seized the
passions, of his Eastern followers.

4. But Mahomet's highest heaven was reserved for those who
fought his battles, or expended their fortunes in his cause.
k Those believers who sit still at home, not having any hurt, and
those who employ their fortunes and their persons for the reli-
gion of God, shall not be held equal. God hath preferred those
who employ their fortunes and their persons in that cause, to a
degree above those who sit at home. God hath indeed promised
every one Paradise, but God hath preferred those who fight for
the faith, before those who sit still, by adding unto them a
great reward ; by degrees of honor conferred upon them from
him, and by granting them forgiveness and mercy.' 1 ^A.gain,
' Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visit-
ing of the holy temple, to be actions as meritorious as those
performed by him who believeth in God and the last day, and
fightethfor the religion of God ? They shall not be held equal
with God. — They who have believed, and fled their country, and
employed their substance and their persons in the defence of
God's true religion, shall be in the highest degree of honor
with God ; and these are they who shall be happy. The Lord
sendeth them good tidings of mercy from him, and good
will, and of gardens wherein they shall enjoy lasting plea-
sures. They shall continue therein forever, for with God is a
great reward.' 2 And, once more, ' Verily God hath purchased
of the true believers their souls and their substance, promising
them the enjoyment of Paradise, on condition that they fight
for the cause of God: whether they slay or be slain, the promise
for the same is assuredly due by the Law and the Gospel and
the Koran? 4

1 Sale's Koran, ch. iv. p. 73. [bid. ch. ix. p. 151. 3 Ibid. p. 104.

* ' The sword [saith Mahomet] is the key of heaven and of hell ; a drop of blood

Ch. ix. § 3.] Success of Mahometanism. 331

5. His doctrine of predestination was applicable, and was
applied by him, to the same purpose of fortifying and of exalt-
ing the courage of his adherents. ' If any thing of the matter
had happened unto us, we had not been slain here. Answer :
If ye had been in your houses, verily they would have gone
forth to light, whose slaughter was decreed, to the places where
they died.' l

6. In warm regions, the appetite of the sexes is ardent, the
passion for inebriating liquors moderate. In compliance with
this distinction, although Mahomet laid a restraint upon the
drinking of wine, in the use of women he allowed an almost
unbounded indulgence. Four wives, with the liberty of chang-
ing them at pleasure, 2 together with the persons of all his cap-
tives, 3 was an irresistible bribe to an Arabian warrior. ' God
is minded [says he, speaking of this very subject] to make
his religion light unto you, for man was created weak.' How
different this from the unaccommodating purity of the Gospel !
How would Mahomet have succeeded with the Christian lesson
in his mouth, ' Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after
her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart V
It must be added, that Mahomet did not venture upon the
prohibition of wine till the fourth year of the Hegira, or the
seventeenth of his mission, 4 when his military successes had
completely established his authority. The same observation
holds of the fast of the Ramadan, 5 and of the most laborious
part of his institution, the pilgrimage to Mecca. 6

What has hitherto been collected from the records of the
Mussulman history relates to the twelve or thirteen years of
Mahomet's peaceable preaching, which part alone of his life
and enterprise admits of the smallest comparison with the

shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months
of fasting or prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day
of judgment ; his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as
musk, and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and
cherubim.' — Gibb. ix. p. 256.

1 Ch. iii. p. 54. 2 Ch. iv. p. 63. 3 Gibb. p. 255.

* Mod. Un. Hist. vol. i. p. 126. « Ibid. p. 112.

6 This latter, however, already prevailed amongst the Arabs, and had grown
out of their excessive veneration for the Caaba. Mahomet's law, in this respect,
was rather a compliance than an innovation.*

' Sale's Prelim. Disc. p. 122.

332 Evidences of Christianity. [Part II.

origin of Christianity. A new scene is now unfolded. The
city of Medina, distant about ten days' journey from Mecca,
was at that time distracted by the hereditary contentions of
two hostile tribes. These feuds were exasperated by the mutual
persecutions of the Jews and Christians, and of the different
Christian sects by which the city was inhabited. 1 The religion
of Mahomet presented, in some measure, a point of union or
compromise to these divided opinions. It embraced the prin-
ciples which were common to them all. Each party saw in it
an honorable acknowledgment of the fundamental truth of
their own system. To the Pagan Arab, somewhat imbued
with the sentiments and knowledge of his Jewish or Christian
fellow-citizen, it offered no offensive, or very improbable the-
ology. This recommendation procured to Mahometanism a
more favorable reception at Medina than its author had been
able, by twelve years' painful endeavors, to obtain for it at
Mecca. Yet, after all, the progress of the religion was incon-
siderable. His missionary could only collect a congregation
of forty persons. 2 It was not a religious, but a political asso-
ciation which ultimately introduced Mahomet into Medina.
Harassed, as it should seem, and disgusted by the loi% con-
tinuance of factions and disputes, the inhabitants of that city
saw in the admission of the Prophet's authority a rest from
the miseries which they had suffered, and a suppression of the
violence and fury which they had learned to condemn. After
an embassy, therefore, composed of believers and unbelievers, 3
and of persons of both tribes, with whom a treaty was con-
cluded of strict alliance and support, Mahomet made his public
entry, and was received as the Sovereign of Medina.

From this time, or soon after this time, the impostor changed
his language and his conduct. Having now a town at his
command where to arm his party, and to head them with
security, he enters upon new counsels. He now pretends that
a divine commission is given to him to attack the infidels, to
destroy idolatry, and to set up the true faith by the sword. 4
An early victory over a very superior force, achieved by con-
duct and bravery, established the renown of his arms, and of his

1 Mod. Un. Hist. vol. i. p. 100. a Ibid. p. 85.

» Ibid. p. 85. « Ibid. p. 88.

Ch. ix. § 3.J Success of Ma/wmetanism. 333

personal character. 1 Every year after this was marked by
battles or assassinations. The nature and activity of Maho-
met's future exertions may be estimated from the computation
that, in the nine following years of his life, he commanded his
army in person in eight general engagements, 2 and undertook,
by himself or his lieutenants, fifty military enterprises.

From this time we have nothing left to account for, but
that Mahomet should collect an army, that his army should
conquer, and that his religion should proceed together with
his conquests. The ordinary experience of human affairs leaves
us little to wonder at, in any of these effects : and they were
likewise each assisted by peculiar facilities. From all sides,
the roving Arabs crowded round the standard of religion and
plunder, of freedom and victory, of arms and rapine. Beside
the highly painted joys of a carnal paradise, Mahomet re-
warded his followers in this world with a liberal division of
the spoils, and with the persons of their female captives. 3
The condition of Arabia, occupied by small independent tribes,
exposed it to the impression, and yielded to the progress of a
firm and resolute army. After the reduction of his native
peninsula, the weakness also of the Roman provinces on the
North and the West, as well as the distracted state of the
Persian Empire on the East, facilitated the successful invasion
of neighboring countries. That Mahomet's conquests should
carry his religion along with them, will excite little surprise
when we know the conditions which he proposed to the van-
quished. Death or conversion was the only choice offered to
idolaters. ' Strike off their heads ; strike off all the ends of
their fingers: 4 kill the idolaters, wheresoever ye shall find
them.' 5 To the Jews and Christians was left the somewhat
milder alternative, of subjection and tribute, if they persisted
in their own religion, or of an equal participation in the rights
and liberties, the honors and privileges, of the faithful, if
they embraced the religion of their conquerors. 'Ye chris-
tian clogs, you know your option ; the JToran, the tribute, or
the sword.' 6 The corrupt state of Christianity in the seventh

1 Victory of Bedr, ibid. p. 106. » Un. Hist. vol. i. p. 255.

» Gibb. vol. ix. p. 255. * Sale's Koran, ch. viii. p. 140.

6 Ibid. ch. ix. p 149. « Gibb. ibid. p. 337.

334 Evidences o* Christianity. [Part II.

century, and the contentions of its sects, unhappily so fell in
with men's care of their safety, or their fortunes, as to induce
many to forsake its profession. Add to all which, that Maho-
met's victories not only operated by the natural effect of con-
quest, but that they were constantly represented, both to his
friends and enemies, as divine declarations in his favor.
Success was evidence. Prosperity carried with it, not only
influence, but proof. 'Ye have already,' says he, after the
battle of Bedr, ' had a miracle shown you, in two armies
which attacked each other ; one army fought for God's true
religion, but the other were infidels.' l Again, ' Ye slew not
those who were slain at Bedr, but God slew them. — If ye de-
sire a decision of the matter between us, now hath a decision
come unto you.' 2

Many more passages might be collected out of the Koran
to the same effect. But they are unnecessary. The success
of Mahometanism during this, and indeed every future period
of its history, bears so little resemblance to the early propa-
gation of Christianity, that no inference whatever Can justly
be drawn from it to the prejudice of the christian argument.
For what are we comparing? A Galilean peasant accompanied
by a few fishermen, with a conqueror at the head of his army.
We compare Jesus without force, without power, without sup-
port, without one external circumstance of attraction or in-
fluence, prevailing against the prejudices, the learning, the
hierarchy of his country, against the ancient religious opinions,
the pompous religious rites, the philosophy, the wisdom, the
authority of the Roman empire, in the most polished and en-
lightened period of its existence, with Mahomet making his
way amongst Arabs ; collecting followers in the midst of con-
quests and triumphs, in the darkest ages and countries of the
world, and when success in arms not only operated by that
command of men's wills and persons which attends prosperous
undertakings, but was considered as a sure testimony of divine
approbation. That multitudes, persuaded by this argument,
should join the train of a victorious chief; that still greater
multitudes should, without any argument, bow down before
irresistible power, is a conduct in which we cannot see much

1 Sale's Koran, ch. iii. p. 36. 2 Ch viii. p. 141.

Ch. ix. § 3.] Success of Mahometanism. 335

to surprise ns : in which we can see nothing that resembles
the causes by which the establishment of Christianity was
effected.

The success therefore of Mahometanism stands not in the
way of this important conclusion, that the propagation of Chris-
tianity, in the manner and under the circumstances in which
it was propagated, is an unique in the history of the species.
A Jewish peasant overthrew the religion of the world.

I have, nevertheless, placed the prevalency of the religion
amongst the auxiliary arguments of its truth ; because, whether
it had prevailed or not, or whether its prevalency can or cannot
be accounted for, the direct argument remains still. It is still
true, that a great number of men upon the spot, personally con-
nected with the history and with the author of the religion,
were induced by what they heard and saw and knew, not only
to change their former opinions, but to give up their time, and
sacrifice their ease, to traverse seas and kingdoms without
rest and without weariness, to commit themselves to extreme
dangers, to undertake incessant toils, to undergo grievous suf-
ferings, and all this, solely in consequence, and in support, of
their belief of facts, which, if true, establish the truth of the
religion, which, if false, they must have known to be so.

PART III.

A BKIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

CHAPTER I.

TJie Discrepancies between the sm^eral Gospels.

I KNOW not a more rash or unphilosophical conduct of
the understanding, than to reject the substance of a story,
by reason of some diversity in the circumstances with which it
is related. The usual character of human testimony is sub-
stantial truth under circumstantial variety. This is what the
daily experience of courts of justice teaches. When accounts
of a transaction come from the mouths of different witnesses,
it is seldom that it is not possible to pick out apparent or real
inconsistencies between them. These inconsistencies- are studi-
ously displayed by an adverse pleader, but oftentimes with
little impression upon the minds of the judges. On th$ con-
trary, a close and minute agreement induces the suspicion of
confederacy and fraud. When written histories touch upon the
same scenes of action, the comparison almost always affords
ground for a like reflection. Numerous, and sometimes impor-
tant, variations present themselves ; not seldom also, absolute
and final contradictions ; yet neither one nor the other are
deemed sufficient to shake the credibility of the main fact. The
embassy of the Jews to deprecate the execution of Claudian's
order to place his statue in their temple, Philo places in har-
vest, Josephus in seed-time; both contemporary writers. No
reader is led by this inconsistency to doubt, whether such an
embassy was sent, or whether such an order was given. Our
own history supplies examples of the same kind. In the account
of the Marquis of Argyle's death in the reign of Charles the
Second, we have a very remarkable contradiction. Lord
Clarendon relates that he was condemned to be hanged,
which was performed the same day: on the contrary, Burnet,
Woodrow, Heath, Echard, concur in stating that he was be-
headed; and that he was condemned upon the Saturday, and

Chap, i.] Discrepancies between the Gospels. 337

executed upon the Monday. 1 "Was any reader of English his-
tory ever sceptic enough to raise from hence a question, whether
the Marquis of Argyle was executed or not ? Yet this ought
to be left in uncertainty, according to the principles upon which
the christian history has sometimes been attacked. Dr. Mid-
dleton contended, that the different hours of the day assigned
to the crucifixion of Christ, by John and by the other evan-
gelists, did not admit of the reconcilement which learned men
had proposed ; and then concludes the discussion with this hard
remark : ' We must be forced, with several of the critics, to
leave the difficulty just as we found it, chargeable with all the
consequences of manifest inconsistency.' 2 But what are these
consequences ? By no means the discrediting of the history as
to the principal fact, by a repugnancy (even supposing that re-
pugnancy not to be resolvable into different modes of com-
putation) in the time of the day in which it is said to have
taken place.

A great deal of the discrepancy, observable in the Gospels,
arises from omission / from a fact or a passage of Christ's life
being noticed by one writer, which is unnoticed by another.
Now, omission is at all times a very uncertain ground of ob-
jection. We perceive it, not only in the comparison of different
writers, but even in the same writer, when compared with him-
self. There are a great many particulars, and some of them
of importance, mentioned by Josephus in his Antiquities, which,
as we should have supposed, ought to have been put down by
him in their place in the Jewish Wars. 3 Suetonius, Tacitus,
Dio Cassius, have, all three, written of the reign of Tiberius.
Each has mentioned many things omitted by the rest, 4 yet no
objection is from thence taken to the respective credit of their
histories. We have in our own times, if there were not
something indecorous in the comparison, the life of an eminent
person, written by three of his friends, in which there is very
great variety in the incidents selected by them ; some appa-
rent, and perhaps some real contradictions; yet without any
impeachment of the substantial truth of their accounts of the

1 See Biog. Brilan.

1 Middleton's Reflections answered by Benson, But. Chris, vol. iii. p. 50.

3 Lard, part i. vol. ii. p. 735 et seq. i Ibid. p. 743.

338 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

authenticity of the books, of the competent information or
general fidelity of the writers.

But these discrepancies will be still more numerous, when
men do not write histories but memoirs ; which is perhaps the
true name and proper description of our Gospels : that is, wdien
they do not undertake, or ever meant to deliver, in order of
time, a regular and complete account of all the things of im-
portance, which the person, who is the subject of their history,
did or said ; but only, out of many similar ones, to give such
passages, or such actions and discourses as offered themselves
more immediately to their attention, came in the way of their
inquiries, occurred to their recollection, or were suggested by
their particular design at the time of writing.

This particular design may appear sometimes, but not
always, nor often. Thus I think that the particular design
which St. Matthew had in view whilst he was writing the
history of the resurrection, was to attest the faithful performance
of Christ's promise to his disciples to go before them into
Galilee ; because he alone, except Mark, who seems" tq.have
taken it from him, has recorded this promise, and he alone has
confined his narrative to that single appearance to the disciples
which fulfilled it. It was the preconcerted, the great and most
public manifestation of our Lord's person. It was the thing
which dwelt upon St. Matthew's mind, and he adapted his
narrative to it. But, that there is nothing in St, Matthew's
language which negatives other appearances, or which imports
that this his appearance to his disciples in Galilee, in pursuance
of his promise, was his first or only appearance, is made pretty
evident by St. Mark's Gospel, which uses the same terms
concerning the appearance in Galilee as St. Matthew uses,
yet itself records two other appearances prior to this: 'Go
your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before
you into Galilee, then shall ye see him as he said unto you.'
(xvi. 7.) We might be apt to infer from these words, that this
was the first time they were to see him: at least, we might
infer it, with as much reason as we draw the inference from the
same words in Matthew: yet the historian himself did not per-
ceive that he was leading his readers to any such conclusion ;
for, in the twelfth and two following verses of this chapter, he
informs us of two appearances, which, by comparing the order

Chap, ii.] Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles. 339

of events, are shown to have been prior to the appearance in
Galilee. ' He appeared in another form unto two of them, as
they walked, and went into the country ; and they went and
told it unto the residue, neither believed they them : afterwards,
he appeared unto the eleven, as they sat at meat, and upbraided
them with their unbelief, because they believed not them that
had seen him after he was risen.'

Probably the same observations, concerning the particular
design which guided the historian, may be of use in comparing
many other passages of the Gospels.

CHAPTER H.

Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles.

A SPECIES of candor which is shown towards every other
book, is sometimes refused to the Scriptures ; and that
is, the placing of a distinction between judgment and testimony.
We do not usually question the credit of a writer, by reason of
any opinion he may have delivered upon subjects unconnected
with his evidence ; and even upon subjects connected with his
account, or mixed with it in the same discourse or writing, we
naturally separate facts from opinions, testimony from observa-
tion, narrative from argument.

To apply this equitable consideration to the christian records,
much controversy and much objection has been raised concern-
ing the quotations of the Old Testament found in the New ;
some of which quotations, it is said, are applied in a sense,
and to events, apparently different from that which they bear,
and from those to which they belong, in the original. It is pro-
bable to my apprehension, that many of those quotations were
intended by the writers of the New Testament as nothing more
than accommodations. They quoted passages of their scripture,
which suited, and fell in with, the occasion before them,
without always undertaking to assert, that the occasion was in
the view of the author of the words. Such accommodations of
passages from old authors, from books especially which are in
every one's hands are common with writers of all countries;

3-iO Evidences of Christian ity. [Part III.

but in none, perhaps, were more to be expected, than in the
writings of the Jews, whose literature was almost entirely con-
fined to their scriptures. Those prophecies which are alleged
with more solemnity, and which are accompanied with a precise
declaration, that they originally respected the event then re-
lated, are, I think, truly alleged. But were it otherwise ; is the
judgment of the writers of the New Testament, in interpreting
passages of the Old, or sometimes, perhaps, in receiving estab-
lished interpretations, so connected either with their veracity,
or with their means of information concerning what was passing
in their own times, as that a critical mistake, even were it
clearly made out, should overthrow their historical credit ?
— Does it diminish it? Has it any thing to do with it?

Another error imputed to the first Christians, was the ex-
pected approach of the day of judgment. I would introduce
this objection by a remark upon what appears to me a some-
what similar example. Our Saviour, speaking to Peter of
John, said, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what .is that to
thee?' 1 These words, we find, had been so misconstrued, as
that ' a report' from thence ' went abroad among the brethren,
that that disciple should not die.' Suppose that this had come
down to us amongst the prevailing opinions of the early
I liristians, and that the particular circumstance, from which
the mistake sprung, had been lost (which humanly speaking
was most likely to have been the case), some, at this day,
would have been ready to regard and quote the error, as an
impeachment of the whole christian system. Yet with how
little justice such a conclusion would have been drawn, or rather
such a presumption taken up, the information which we happen
to possess enables us now to perceive. To those who think
that the scriptures lead us to believe, that the early Christians,
and even the Apostles, expected the approach of the day of
judgment in their own times, the same reflection will occur, as
that which we have made with respect to the more partial
perhaps and temporary, but still no less ancient, error concern-
ing the duration of St. John's life, it was an error, it may be
likewise said, which would effectually hinder those who enter-
tained it from acting the part of impostors.

1 John xxi. '23.

Cb. ii.] Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles. 341

The difficulty which attends the subject of the present
chapter, is contained in this question : If we once admit the
fallibility of the apostolic judgment, where are we to stop, or
in what can we rely upon it ? To which question, as arguing
with unbelievers, and as arguing for the substantial truth of
the christian history, and for that alone, it is competent to
the advocate of Christianity to reply, Give me the apostle's
testimony, and I do not stand in need of their judgment ; give
me the facts, and I have complete security for every conclu-
sion I want.

But, although I think that it is competent to the christian
apologist to return this answer ; I do not think that it is the
only answer which the objection is capable of receiving. The
two following cautions, founded, I apprehend, in the most rea-
sonable distinctions, will exclude all uncertainty upon this head
which can be attended with danger.

First, to separate what was the object of the apostolic mis-
sion, and declared by them to be so, from what was extraneous
to it, or only incidentally connected with it. Of points clearly
extraneous to the religion, nothing need be said. Of points
incidentally connected with it, something may be added.
Demoniacal possession is one of these points : concerning the
reality of which, as this place will not admit the examination,
or even the production of the arguments on either side of the
question, it would be arrogance in me to deliver any judgment.
And it is unnecessary. For what I am concerned to observe
is, that even they who think that it was a general, but erro-
neous opinion of those times ; and that the writers of the jSTew
Testament, in common with other Jewish writers of that age,
fell into the manner of speaking and of thinking upon the
subject which then universally prevailed ; need not be alarmed
by the concession, as though they had any thing to fear from
it, for the truth of Christianity. The doctrine was not what
Christ brought into the world. It appears in the christian
records, incidentally and accidentally, as being the subsisting
opinion of the age and country in which his ministry was exer-
cised. It was no part of the object of his revelation, to regulate
men's opinions concerning the action of spiritual substances
upon animal bodies. At any rate it is unconnected with tes-
timony. If a dumb person was by a word restored to the use

34:2 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

of his speech, it signifies little to what cause the dumbness
was ascribed ; and the like of every other cure wrought upon
those who are said to have been possessed. The malady
was real, the cure was real, whether the popular explication of
the cause was well founded, or not. The matter of fact, the
change, so far as it was an object of sense, or of testimony, was
in either case the same.

Secondly, that, in reading the apostolic writings, we distin-
guish between their doctrines and their arguments. Their
doctrines came to them by revelation properly so called ; yet
in propounding these doctrines in their writings or discourses,
they were wont to illustrate, support, and enforce them, by
such analogies, arguments, and considerations as their own
thoughts suggested. Thus the call of the Gentiles, that is, the
admission of the Gentiles to the christian profession without a
previous subjection to the law of Moses, was imparted to the
apostles by revelation, and was attested by the miracles which
attended the christian ministry amongst them. The. apostle's
own assurance of the matter rested upon this foundation.
Nevertheless, St. Paul, when treating of the subject, offers a
great variety of topics in its proof and vindication. The doc-
trine itself must be received ; but is it necessary, in order to
defend Christianity, to defend the propriety of every com-
parison, or the validity of every argument, which the apostle
has brought into the discussion ? The same observation
applies to some other instances ; and is, in my opinion, very
well founded. ' When divine writers argue upon any point, we
are always bound to believe the conclusions that their reason-
ings end in, as parts of divine revelation ; but we are not bound
to be able to make out, or even to assent to, all the premises
made use of by them, in their whole extent, unless it appear
plainly, that they affirm the premises as expressly as they do
the conclusions proved by them.' 1

1 Burnet's Expos, ait. G.

Cli. iii.] Connection of Christianity with Jewish History. 343

ANNOTATION.

'Demoniacal possession is one of these points.''

Paley's reasoning on this point does not appear to me satis-
factory. The whole question is fully treated in the Lectures
on Good and Evil Angels.

CHAPTER III.

The Connection of Christianity with the Jewish History.

UNDOUBTEDLY, our Saviour assumes the divine origin of
the Mosaic institution : and, independently of his author-
ity, I conceive it to be very difficult to assign any other cause for
the commencement or existence of that institution ; especially
for the singular circumstance of the Jews adhering to the unity,
when every other people slid into polytheism ; for their being
men in religion, children in every thing else ; behind other
nations in the arts of peace and war, superior to the most im-
proved in their sentiments and doctrines relating to the deity. 1
Undoubtedly also, our Saviour recognizes the prophetic char-
acter of many of their ancient writers. So far, therefore, we
are bound as Christians to go. But to make Christianity
answerable with its life, for the circumstantial truth of each
separate passage of the Old Testament, the genuineness of
every book, the information, fidelity, and judgment of every

1 ' In the doctrine, for example, of the unity, the eternity, the omnipotence,
the omniscience, the omnipresence, the wisdom, and the goodness of God ; in
their opinions concerning providence, and the creation, preservation, and gov-
ernment of the world.' — Campbell on Mir. p. 207. To which we may add, in the
acts of their religion not being accompanied either with cruelties or impurities ;
in the religion itself being free from a species of superstition which prevailed
universally in the popular religions of the ancient world, and which is to be
found perhaps in all religions that have their origin in human artifice and cre-
dulity, viz. fanciful connections between certain appearances, and actions, and
the destiny of nations or individuals. Upon these conceits rested the whole train
of auguries and auspices, which formed so much even of the serious part of the
religions of Greece and Rome, and of the charms and incantations which were
practised in those countries by the common people. From every thing of this
sort the religion of the Jews, and of the Jews alone, was free. — Vide Priestley's
Lectures on (he Truth of the Jewish and Cliristian Revelation, 1794.

3-1:4 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

writer in it, is to bring, I will not say great, but unnecessary
difficulties, into the whole system. These books were univer-
sally read and received by the Jews of our Saviour's time. He
and his apostles, in common with all other Jews, referred to
them, alluded to them, used them. Yet, except where he ex-
pressly ascribes a divine authority to particular predictions, I
do not know that we can strictly draw any conclusion from the
books being so used and applied, beside the proof, which it un-
questionably is, of their notoriety and reception at that time.
In this view our scriptures afford a valuable testimony to those
of the Jews. But the nature of this testimony ought to be
understood. It is surely very different from, what it is some-
times represented to be, a specific ratification of each particu-
lar fact and opinion ; and not only of each particular fact,
but of the motives assigned for every action, together with the
judgment of praise or dispraise bestowed upon them. St.
James, in his epistle, 1 says, 'Ye have heard of the patience of
Job, and have seen the end of the Lord.' Notwithstanding
this text, the reality of Job's history, and even the existence of
such a person, has been always deemed a fair subject «f in-
quiry and discussion amongst christian divines. St. James's
authority is considered as good evidence of the existence of
the book of Job at that time, and of its reception by the Jews,
and of nothing more. St. Paul, in his second epistle to Timo-
thy j 2 has this similitude: 'Now, as Jannes and Jambres with-
stood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.' These names
are not found in the Old Testament. And it is uncertain,
whether St. Paul took them from some apocryphal writing
then extant, or from tradition. But no one ever imagined,
that St. Paul is here asserting the authority of the writing,
if it was a written account which he quoted, or making him-
self answerable for the authenticity of the tradition ; much
less, that he so involves himself with either of these questions
as that the credit of his own history and mission should de-
pend upon the fact, whether 'Jannes and Jambres withstood
Moses, or not.' For what reason a more rigorous interpretation
should be put upon other references, it is difficult to know. I
do not mean, that other passages of the Jewish history stand

' V. 11. - Ch. iii 8.

Chap. iii.J Annotation. 345

upon no better evidence than the history of Job, or of Jannes
and Jambres (I think much otherwise); but 1 mean, that a
reference in the New Testament, to a passage in the Old, does
not so fix its authority, as to exclude all inquiry into its credi-
bility, or into the separate reasons upon which that credibility
is founded ; and that it is an unwarrantable, as well as unsafe
rule to lay down concerning the Jewish history, what was
never laid down concerning any other, that either every par-
ticular of it must be true, or the whole false.

I have thought it necessary to state this point explicitly, be-
cause a fashion revived by Voltaire, and pursued by the dis-
ciples of his school, seems to have much prevailed of late, of
attacking Christianity through the sides of Judaism. Some
objections of this class are founded in misconstruction, some in
exaggeration ; but all proceed upon a supposition, which has
not been made out by argument, viz., that the attestation,
which the author and first teachers of Christianity gave to the
divine mission of Moses and the prophets, extends to every
point and portion of the Jewish history ; and so extends, as to
make Christianity responsible in its own credibility, for the
circumstantial truth, I had almost said for the critical exact-
ness, of every narrative contained in the Old Testament

ANNOTATION.

' Our Saviour assumes the Divine Origin of the Mosaic

Institution.''

There are some men so impatient of some evil, — real or
imaginary, — that, in their eagerness to escape from it, they heed-
lessly rush into another, that is perhaps worse : and when they
meet with a difficulty in some system or statement, they at once
reject the whole ; and have perhaps to encounter some much
greater difficulty which attends that rejection. They often re-
semble the deer described by Yirgil (in his allusion to a mode of
hunting practised in his time), which were driven within reach of
the hunter, by their dread of fluttering feathers hung on a string.

Difficulties there certainly are, in several parts of the Old
Testament. Then let us get rid of them all, by at once reject-

3-16 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

ing it all, and admitting only the New Testament. Thus we
have to receive as a divine revelation what is in great measure
based on the Old Testament, and a sequel to it; — a sequel,
that is, to a string of childish and worthless legends. This is
a greater difficulty. To escape this, let us explain away the
New Testament also, and speak of the whole Bible as 'one
great Parable.' ' That is, we are to receive as a divine revela-
tion, what, in fact, reveals nothing; and indeed, less than
nothing; since it was understood — and was sure to be under-
stood — for many ages, in a sense quite remote from the truth.
It does not merely leave us in the dark, but misleads us by a false
light. This is a still greater difficulty. Let us then adopt the
hypothesis that Jesus was merely a wise philosopher, like Socrates
and Confucius, and was no otherwise sent from Heaven than
they were. Thousands, we are to suppose, eagerly listened to,
and admired, the moral discourses of the reputed ' carpenter's
Son ;' though the tone of his morality was quite opposite to
what they had been trained from their youth to adopt and
reverence. Their admiration was so great that they attributed
to Him miracles, though He wrought none, and judged Him
to be their long-expected Messiah, though his whole character
and that of his kingdom were far remote from all their expec-
tations and wishes. And so it came to pass that a Galilean
peasant overthrew the religions of the world, and established
his own, throughout all the most civilized nations !

As was justly remarked many ages ago, the establishing of
Christianity without miracles — of a religion based on an appeal
to miracles, which were never wrought — would be a, far greater
wonder than all the Scripture-miracles put together.

At every escape from one difficulty, there is a plunge into
another.

Such theorists remind one of the story that is told, of a gen-
tleman who was about to pull down an old family mansion,
and build a new one, and was at a loss how to get rid of the
rubbish, — the cast-off materials of the old house. His bailiff
suggested to him to dig a pit and bury them. 'But what shall
1 then do with the earth that comes out of the pit?' ' Oh,' said
the other, 'make the pit big enough to hold all!'

1 As 6ome of the Tract-school have done.

Chap, vi.] Rejection of Christian it ij. 347

Tain are the endeavors to make a pit that will hold not only-
all the difficulties of the Bible, but also all the difficulties of
every hypothesis on which it is rejected.

CHAPTER IV.

Rejection of Christianity.

WE acknowledge that the christian religion, although it con-
verted great numbers, did not produce an universal or
even a general conviction in the minds of men, of the age and
countries in which it appeared. And this want of a more
complete and extensive success, is called the rejection of the
christian history and miracles ; and has been thought, by some,
to form a strong objection to the reality of the facts which the
history contains.

The matter of the objection divides itself into two parts, as
it relates to the Jews, and as it relates to Heathen nations ;
because the minds of these two descriptions of men may have
been, with respect to Christianity, under the influence of very
different causes. The case of the Jews, inasmuch as our Sa-
vior's ministry was originally adressed to them, offers itself first
to our consideration.

!STow, upon the subject of the truth of the christian religion,
with us there is but one question, viz., whether the miracles
were actually wrought ? From acknowledging the miracles we
pass instantaneously to the acknowledgment of the whole. No
doubt lies between the premises and the conclusion. If we be-
lieve the works, or any one of them, we believe in Jesus. And
this order of reasoning is become so universal and familiar,
that we do not readily apprehend how it could ever have been
otherwise. Yet it appears to me perfectly certain, that the
state of thought, in the mind of a Jew of our Saviour's age,
was totally different from this. After allowing the reality of
the miracle, he had a great deal to do to persuade himself that
Jesus was the Messiah. This is clearly intimated by various
passages of the gospel history. It appears that, in the appre-
hension of the writers of the New Testament, the miracles did

348 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

not irresistibly cany, even those who saw them, to the conclu-
sion intended to be drawn from them ; or so compel assent
as to leave no room for suspense, for the exercise of candor,
or the effects of prejudice. And to this point, at least, the
evangelists may be allowed to be good witnesses ; because it is
a point, in which exaggeration or disguise would have been the
other way. Their accounts, if they could be suspected of false-
hood, would rather have magnified, than diminished, the effects
of the miracles.

John vii. 21-31: 'Jesus answered, and said unto them, I
have done one work, and ye all marvel — If a man on the Sab-
bath-day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should
not be broken, are ye angry at me, because I have made a
man every whit whole on the Sabbath-day ? Judge not ac-
cording to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Then
said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they seek
to kill ? but lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing to
him; do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Howbeit we know this man, whence he is j hut when Christ
cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. Then cried Jesus in the
temple as he taught saying, Ye both know me, and ye\know
whence I am ; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent
me is true, whom ye know not ; but I know him, for I am
from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take
him, but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not
yet come ; and many of the people believed on him, and said,
When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than those
vjhich this man hath done V

This passage is very observable. It exhibits the reasoning
of different sorts of persons upon the occasion of a miracle,
which persons of all sorts are represented to have acknowledged
as real. One sort of men thought, that there was something
very extraordinary in all this ; but that still Jesus could not
be the Christ, because there was a circumstance in his appear-
ance, which militated with an opinion concerning Christ, in
which they had been brought up, and of the truth of which,
it is probable, they had never entertained a particle of doubt,
viz. that 'when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he
is.' Another sort w T ere inclined to believe him to be the
Messiah. But even these did not argue as we should ; did not

Chap. iv.J Rejection of Christianity. 349

consider the miracle as of itself decisive of the question, as
what, if once allowed, excluded all further debate upon the
subject, but founded their opinion upon a kind of comparative
reasoning, ' When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than
those which this man hath done V

Another passage in the same evangelist, and observable for
the same purpose, is that in which he relates the resurrection
of Lazarus: 'Jesus,' he tells us [xi. 43, 44], 'when he had
thus spoken, cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth ; and
he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with, grave
clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus
saith unto them, Loose him and let him go.' One might have
expected, that at least all those who stood by the sepulchre,
when Lazarus was raised, would have believed in Jesus. Yet
the evangelist does not so represent it. 'Then many of the
Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which
Jesus did, believed on him ; but some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.'
We cannot suppose that the evangelist meant, by this account,
to leave his readers to imagine that any of the spectators
doubted about the truth of the miracle. Far from it. Un-
questionably, he states the miracle to have been fully allowed :
yet the persons who allowed it were, according to his repre-
sentation, capable of retaining hostile sentiments towards
Jesus. ' Believing in Jesus' was not only to believe that he
wrought miracles, but that he was the Messiah. With us there
is no difference between these two things ; with them there was
the greatest. And the difference is apparent in this transac-
tion. If St. John has represented the conduct of the Jews
upon this occasion truly (and why he should not I cannot tell,
for it rather makes against him than for him), it shows clearly
the principles upon which their judgment proceeded. Whether
he has related the matter truly or not, the relation itself dis-
covers the writer's own opinion of those principles, and that
alone possesses considerable authority. In the next chapter,
we have a reflection of the evangelist, entirely suited to this
state of the case ; ' but though he had done so many miracles
before them, yet believed they not on him.' l The evangelist

1 Ch. xii. 37.

350 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

does not mean to impute the defect of their belief to any
doubt about the miracles, but to their not perceiving, what
all now sufficiently perceive, and what they would have per-
ceived had not their understandings been governed by strong
prejudices, the infallible attestation which the works of Jesus
bore to the truth of his pretensions.

The ninth chapter of St. John's gospel contains a very cir-
cumstantial account of the cure of a blind man ; a miracle sub-
mitted to all the scrutiny and examination which a skeptic
could propose. If a modern unbeliever had drawn up the in-
terrogatories, they could hardly have been more critical or
searching. The account contains also a very curious confer-
ence between the Jewish rulers and the patient, in which the
point for our present notice, is their resistance of the force of
the miracle, and of the conclusion to which it led, after they
had failed in discrediting its evidence. ' We know that God
spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow, we know not whence
he is.' That was the answer which set their minds at rest.
And by the help of much prejudice, and great unwillingness to
yield, it might do so. In the mind of the poor man" restored
to sight, which was under no such bias, felt no such reluctance,
the miracle had its natural operation. ' Herein [says hej is a
marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, yet he
hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not
sinners : but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his
will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard,
that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If
this man were not of God, he could do nothing.' We do not
find that the Jewish rulers had any other reply to make to this
defence, than that which authority is sometimes apt to make
to argument, ' Dost thou teach us?'

If it shall be inquired how a turn of thought, so different
from what prevails at present, should obtain currency with the
ancient Jews, the answer is found in two opinions, which are
proved to have subsisted in that age and country. The one
was, their expectation of a Messiah of a kind totally contrary
to what the appearance of Jesus bespoke him to be ; the other,
their persuasion of the agency of demons in the production of
supernatural effects. These opinions are not m apposed by us
for the purpose of argument, but are evidently recognized in

Chap, iv.] Rejection of Christianity. 351

the Jewish writings, as well as in ours. And it ought, more-
over, to be considered, that in these opinions the Jews of that
age had been from their infancy brought up ; that they were
opinions, the grounds of which they had probably few of them
inquired into, and of the truth of which they entertained no
doubt. And I think that these two opinions conjointly afford
an explanation of their conduct. The first put them upon
seeking out some excuse to themselves for not receiving Jesus
in the character in which he claimed to be received ; and the
second supplied them with just such an excuse as they wanted.
Let Jesus work what miracles he would, still the answer was in
readiness, ' that he wrought them by the assistance of Beelze-
bub.' And to this answer no reply could be made, but that
which our Saviour did make, by showing that the tendency of
his mission was so adverse to the views with which this Being
was, by the objectors themselves, supposed to act, that it could
not reasonably be supposed that he would assist in carrying it
on. The power displayed in the miracles did not alone refute
the Jewish solution, because the interposition of invisible agents
being once admitted, it is impossible to ascertain the limits by
which their efficiency is circumscribed. We of this day may
be disposed, possibly, to think such opinions too absurd to have
been ever seriously entertained. I am not bound to contend
for the credibility of the opinions. They w T ere at least as rea-
sonable as the belief in witchcraft. They were opinions in
which the Jews of that age had from their infancy been in-
structed ; and those who cannot see enough in the force of
this reason, to account for their conduct towards our Saviour,
do not sufficiently consider how such opinions may sometimes
become very general in a country, and with what pertinacity,
when once become so, they are, for that reason alone, adhered
to. In the suspense which these notions, and the prejudices
resulting from them, might occasion, the candid and docile and
humble-minded would probably decide in Christ's favor ; the
proud and obstinate, together with the giddy and the thought-
less, almost universally against him.

This state of opinion discovers to us also the reason of what
some choose to wonder at, why the Jews should reject miracles
when they saw them, yet rely so much upon the tradition of
them in their own history. It does not appear that it had

352 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

ever entered into the minds of those who lived in the time of
Moses and the Prophets, to ascribe their miracles to the super-
natural agency of evil Beings. The solution was not then in-
vented. And the authority of Moses and the Prophets being
established, and become the foundation of the national policy
and religion, it was not probable that the later Jews, brought
up in a reverence for that religion, and the subjects of that
policy, should apply to their history a reasoning which tended
to overthrow the foundation of both.

II. The infidelity of the Gentile world, and that more espe-
cially of men of rank and learning in it, is resolvable into a
principle which, in my judgment, will account for the inefficacy
of any argument or any evidence whatever, viz. contempt prior
to examination. The state of religion amongst the Greeks and
Romans had a natural tendency to induce this disposition.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis remarks, that there were six hun-
dred different kinds of religions or sacred rites exercised at
Rome. 1 The superior classes of the community treated them
all as fables. Can we wonder, then, that Christianity was in-
cluded in the number, without inquiry into its separate merits,
or the particular grounds of its pretensions ? It might be either
true or false for any thing they knew about it. The religion
had nothing in its character which immediately engaged their
notice. It mixed with no politics. It produced no tine writers.
It contained no curious speculations. When it did reach their
knowledge, I doubt not but that it appeared to them a very
strange system — so unphilosophical — dealing so little in argu-
ment and discussion, in such arguments, however, and discus-
sions as they were accustomed to entertain. What is said of
Jesus Christ, of his nature, office, and ministry, would be, in
the highest degree, alien from the conceptions of their theology.
The Redeemer, and the destined judge, of the human race, a
poor young man executed at Jerusalem with two thieves upon a
cross ! Still more would the language, in which the christian
doctrine was delivered, be dissonant and barbarous to their
ears. What knew they of grace, of redemption, of justification,
of the blood of Christ shed for the sons of men, of recoucile-

» Joi tin's Remarks on Eccl. Hist vol. i. p. 371.

Chap, iv.] Rejection of Christianity. 353

ment, of mediation ? Christianity was made up of points they
had never thought of ; of terms which they had never heard.

It was presented also to the imagination of the learned
heathen, under additional disadvantage, by reason of its real,
and still more of its nominal, connection with Judaism. It
shared in the obloquy and ridicule, with which that people and
their religion were treated by the Greeks and Romans. They
regarded Jehovah himself only as the idol of the Jewish nation,
and what was related of him, as of a piece with what was told
of the tutelar deities of other countries ; nay, the Jews were in
a particular manner ridiculed for being a credulous race ; so
that whatever reports of a miraculous nature came out of that
country, were looked upon by the heathen world as false and
frivolous. "When they heard of Christianity, they heard of it
as a quarrel amongst this people, about some articles of their
own superstition. Despising, therefore, as they did, the whole
system, it was not probable that they would enter, with any
degree of seriousness or attention, into the detail of its disputes,
or the merits of either side. How little they knew, and with
what carelessness they judged, of these matters, appears, I
think, pretty plainly from an example of no less weight than
that of Tacitus, who, in a grave and professed discourse upon
the history of the Jews, states, that they worshipped the effigy
of an ass. 1 The passage is a proof how prone the learned men
of these times were, and upon how little evidence, to heap
together stories which might increase the contempt and odium
in which that people was held. The same foolish charge is also
confidently repeated by Plutarch. 2

It is observable, that all these considerations are of a nature
to operate with the greatest force upon the highest ranks ; upon
men of education, and that order of the public from which
writers are principally taken : I may add also, upon the philo-
sophical as well as the libertine character : upon the Antonines
or Julian, not less than upon Nero or Domitian ; and more
particularly, upon that large and polished class of men, who
acquiesced in the general persuasion, that all they had to do was
to practise the duties of morality, and to worship the deity
more patrio / a habit of thinking, liberal as it may appear,

' Tac. Hist. lib. v. ch. ii. 2 Sympos. lib. iv. ques. 5.

354 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

which shuts the door against every argument for a new religion.
The considerations above mentioned would acquire also strength
from the prejudice which men of rank and learning universally
entertain against any thing that originates with the vulgar and
illiterate ; which prejudice is known to be as obstinate as any
prejudice whatever.

Yet Christianity was still making its way ; and, amidst so
many impediments to its progress, so much difficulty in pro-
curing audience and attention, its actual success is more to be
wondered at, than that it should not have universally con-
quered scorn and indifference, fixed the levity of a voluptuous
age, or through a cloud of adverse prejudications, opened for
itself a passage to the hearts and understandings of the scholars
of the age.

And the cause which is here assigned for the rejection of
Christianity by men of rank and learning among the heathens,
namely, a strong antecedent contempt, accounts also for their
silence concerning it. If they had rejected it upon examination,
they would have written about it. They would have given
their reasons. Whereas what men repudiate upon the strength
of some prefixed persuasion, or from a settled contempt^of the
subject, of the persons who propose it, or of the manner in
which it is proposed, they do not naturally write books about,
or notice much in what they write upon other subjects.

The letters of the younger Pliny furnish an example of this
silence, and let us, in some measure, into the cause of it. From
his celebrated correspondence with Trajan, we know that the
christian religion prevailed in a very considerable degree in the
province over which he presided ; that it had excited his atten-
tion ; that he had inquired into the matter, just so much as a
Roman magistrate might be expected to inquire, viz., whether
the religion contained any opinions dangerous to government;
but that of its doctrines, its evidences, or its books, he had not
taken the trouble to inform himself with any degree of care or
correctness. But although Pliny had viewed Christianity in a
nearer position, than most of his learned countrymen saw it in ;
yet he had regarded the whole with such negligence and disdain
(farther than as it seemed to concern his administration), that,
in more than two hundred and forty letters of his which have
come down to us, the subject is never once again mentioned.

Chap, iv.] Rejection of Christianity. 355

If out of this number the two letters between him and Trajan
had been lost, with what confidence would the obscurity of the
christian religion have been argued from Pliny's silence about
it, and with how little truth !

The name and character which Tacitus has given to Chris-
tianity, ' exitiabilis superstitio' (a pernicious superstition), and
by which two words he disposes of the whole question of the
merits or demerits of the religion, afford a strong proof how
little he knew, or concerned himself to know, about the matter.
I apprehend that I shall not be contradicted, when I take upon
me to assert, that no unbeliever of the present age would apply
this epithet to the Christianity of the. New Testament, or not
allow that it was entirely unmerited. Read the instructions
given, by a great teacher of the religion, to those very Roman
converts, of whom Tacitus speaks ; and given also a very few
years before the time of which he is speaking ; and which are
not, let it be observed, a collection of fine sayings brought
together from different parts of a large work, but stand in one
entire passage of a public letter, without the intermixture of a
single thought which is frivolous or exceptionable. 'Abhor
that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly
affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in honor pre-
ferring one another. ISTot slothful in business, fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, con-
tinuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints,
given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you ; bless
and curse not : rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep
with them that weep. Be of the same mind one towards
another; mind not high things, but condescend to men of low
estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no
man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all
men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men. Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place
unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance is mine ! I will re^ay,
saith the Lord : therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ;
if he thirst, give him drink ; for in so doing, thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but over-
come evil with good.'

' Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God : the powers that be, are ordained of

356 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

God : whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God ; and they that resist, shall receive to them-
selves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same,
for he is the minister of God to thee for good : but if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in
vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil. "Wherefore ye must needs be
subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake : for,
for this cause, pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing. Render, therefore,
to all their clues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom, to
whom custom ; fear, to whom fear ; honor, to whom hoaor.

' Owe no man any thing, but to love one another ; for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law ; for this, thou shalt not
commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou
shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet ; and if there
be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love work-
eth no ill to his neighbor ; therefore love is the fulfilling of
the law.

' And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to
awake out of sleep : for now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand ; let
us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying.' 1

Read this, and then think of exitiabilis superstitio ! — Or it
we be not allowed, in contending with heathen authorities, to
produce our books against theirs, we may at least be permitted
to confront theirs with one another. Of this ' pernicious super-
stition,' what could Pliny find to blame, when he was led, by
his office, to institute something like an examination into the
conduct and principles of the sect? He discovered nothing,
but that they were wont to meet together on a stated day
before it was light, and sing among themselves a hymn to

1 Rom. xii. 9 ; xiii. 13.

Chap, iv.] Rejection of Christianity. 357

Christ as a God, and to bind themselves by an oath, not to the
commission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft,
robbery, or adultery ; never to falsify their word, nor to deny
a pledge committed to them, when called upon to return it.

Upon these words of Tacitus we may build the following
observations :

First, That we are well warranted in calling the view under
which the learned men of that age beheld Christianity, an ob-
scure and distant view. Had Tacitus known more of Chris-
tianity, of its precepts, duties, constitution, or design, however
he had discredited the story, he would have respected the prin-
ciple. He would have described the religion differently, though
he had rejected it. It has been very satisfactorily shown, that
the 'superstition' of the Christians consisted in worshipping a
person unknown to the Roman calendar ; and that the ' perni-
ciousness' with which they were reproached, was nothing else
but their opposition to the established polytheism : and this
view of the matter was just such a one as might be expected
to occur to a mind, which held the sect in too much contempt
to concern itself about the grounds and reasons of their
conduct.

Secondly, We may from hence remark, how little reliance
can be placed upon the most acute judgments, in subjects which
they are pleased to despise ; and which, of course, they from the
first consider as unworthy to be inquired into. Had not Chris-
tianity survived to tell its own story, it must have gone down
to posterity as a ' pernicious superstition ;' and that upon the
credit of Tacitus's account, much, I doubt not, strengthened by
the name of the writer, and the reputation of his sagacity.

Thirdly, That this contempt prior to examination, is an intel-
lectual vice, from which the greatest faculties of mind are not
free. I know not, indeed, whether men of the greatest facul-
ties of mind are not the most subject to it. Such men feel
themselves seated upon an eminence. Looking clown from their
height upon the follies of mankind, they behold contending
tenets wasting their idle strength upon one another, with a
common disdain of the absurdity of them all. This habit of
thought, however comfortable to the mind which entertains it,
or however natural to great parts, is extremely dangerous ; and
more apt, than almost any other disposition, to produce hasty

358 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

and contemptuous, and, by consequence, erroneous judgments,
both of persons and opinions.

Fourthly, We need not be surprised at many writers of that
age not mentioning Christianity at all, when they who did
mention it appear to have entirely misconceived its nature and
character ; and, in consequence of this misconception, to have
regarded it with negligence and contempt.

To the knowledge of the greatest part of the learned hea-
thens, the facts of the christian history could only come by
report. The books, probably, they had never looked into.
The settled habit of their minds was, and long had been, an
indiscriminate rejection of all reports of the kind. With these
sweeping conclusions truth had no chance. It depends upon
distinction. If they would not inquire, how should they be
convinced ? It might be founded in truth, though they, who
made no search, might not discover it.

' Men of rank and fortune, of wit and abilities, are often
found, even in christian countries, to be surprisingly ignorant
of religion, and of every thing that relates to it. Such were
many of the heathens. Their thoughts were all fixed upon
other things, upon reputation and glory, upon wealth and
power, upon luxury and pleasure, upon business or learning.
They thought, and they had reason to think, that the religion
of their country was fable and forgery, an heap of incon-
sistent lies, which inclined them to suppose that other religions
were no better. Hence it came to pass, that when the Apos-
tles preached the gospel, and wrought miracles in confirmation
of a doctrine every way worthy of God, many Gentiles knew
little or nothing of it, and would not take the least pains to
inform themselves about it. This appears plainly from ancient
history.' 1

I think it by no means unreasonable to suppose, that the
heathen public, especially that part which is made up of men
of rank and education, were divided into two classes ; those
who despised Christianity beforehand, and those who received
it. In correspondency with which division of character, the
writers of that age would also be of two classes ; those who
were silent about Christianity, and those who were Christians.

1 Jortin's Dis. on the Chris. Rrt p. 66, ed. 4th.

Chap, v.] Miracles not recited by early christian Writers. 359

'A good man, who attended sufficiently to the christian affairs,
would become a Christian ; after which his testimony ceased to
be Pagan, and became Christian.' 1

I must also add, that I think it sufficiently proved, that the
notion of magic was resorted to by the heathen adversaries of
Christianity, in like manner as that of diabolical agency had
before been by the Jews. Justin Martyr alleges this as his
reason for arguing from prophecy, rather than from miracles.
Origen imputes this evasion to Celsus ; Jerome to Porphyry ;
and Lactantius to the heathen in general. The several pas-
sages, which contain these testimonies, will be produced in the
next chapter. It being difficult, however, to ascertain in what
degree this notion prevailed, especially amongst the superior
ranks of the heathen communities, another, and I think an
adequate, cause has been assigned for their infidelity. It is
probable that in many cases the two causes would operate
together.

CHAPTER Y.

That the christian miracles are not recited, or appealed to,
by early christian writers themselves, so fully or frequently
as might have been expected.

I SHALL consider this objection, first, as it applies to the
letters of the apostles, preserved in the New Testament ;
and secondly, as it applies to the remaining writings of other
early Christians.

The epistles of the apostles are either hortatory or argumen-
tative. So far as they were occupied in delivering lessons of
duty, rules of public order, admonitions against certain prevail-
ing corruptions, against vice, or any particular species of it, or
in fortifying and encouraging the constancy of the disciples
under the trials to which they were exposed, there appears to
be no place or occasion for more of these references than we
actually find.

1 Hartley, Obs. p. 119.

360 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

So far as the epistles are argumentative, the nature of the
argument which they handle, accounts for the infrequency of
these allusions. These epistles were not written to prove the
truth of Christianity. The subject under consideration was not
that which the miracles decided, the reality of our Lord's mis-
sion ; but it was that which the miracles did not decide, the
nature of his person or power, the design of his advent, its effects,
and of those effects the value, kind, and extent. Still I main-
tain, that miraculous evidence lies at the bottom of the argu-
ment. For nothing could be so preposterous as for the
disciples of Jesus to dispute amongst themselves, or with others,
concerning his office or character, unless they believed that he
had shown, by supernatural proofs, that there was something
extraordinary in both. Miraculous evidence, therefore, forming
not the texture of these arguments, but the ground and sub-
stratum, if it be occasionally discerned, if it be incidentally
appealed to, it is exactly so much as ought to take place, sup-
posing the history to be true.

As a further answer to the objection, that the apostolic
epistles do not contain so frequent, or such direct and. circum-
stantial recitals of miracles as might be expected, I would add,
that the apostolic epistles resemble in this respect the apSktolic
speeches, which speeches are given by a writer who distinctly
records numerous miracles wrought by these apostles them-
selves, and by the founder of the institution in their presence :
that it is unwarrantable to contend, that the omission, or infre-
quency, of such recitals in the speeches of the apostles, negatives
the existence of the miracles, when the speeches are given in
immediate conjunction with the history of those miracles; and
that a conclusion which cannot be inferred from the speeches,
without contradicting the whole tenor of the book which con-
tains them, cannot be inferred from letters, which, in this re-
spect, are similar only to the speeches.

To prove the similitude which we allege, it may be remarked,
that although in St. Luke's gospel, the apostle Peter is re-
presented to have been present at many decisive miracles
wrought by Christ ; and although the second part of the same
history ascribes other decisive miracles to Peter himself, par-
ticularly the cure of the lame man at the gate of the temple
(Acts iii. 1), the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts v. 1),

Chap, v.] Miracles not recited hy early christian Writers. 361

the cure of iEneas (Acts ix. 40), the resurrection of Dorcas
(Acts ix. 34) ; yet out of six speeches of Peter, preserved in the
Acts, I know but two in which reference is made to the miracles
wrought by Christ, and only one in which he refers to mira-
culous powers possessed by himself. In his speech upon the
day of Pentecost, Peter addresses his audience with great
solemnity thus : ' Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and
wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you,
as ye yourselves also know,' &C. 1 In his speech upon the con-
version of Cornelius, he delivers his testimony to the miracles
performed by Christ in these words : ' We are witnesses of all
things which he did, both in the land of the Jews, and in
Jerusalem.' 2 But in this latter speech no allusion appears to
the miracles wrought by himself, notwithstanding that the
miracles above enumerated all preceded the time in which it
was delivered. In his speecli upon the election of Matthias, 3
no distinct reference is made to any of the miracles of Christ's
history, except his resurrection. The same also may be ob-
served of his speech upon the cure of the lame man at the gate
of the temple; 4 the same in his speech before the Sanhedrim; 5
the same in his second apology in the presence of that assembly.
Stephen's long speech contains no reference whatever to
miracles, though it be expressly related of him, in the book
which preserves the speech, and almost immediately before the
speech, ' that he did great wonders and miracles among the
people.' 6 Again, although miracles be expressly attributed to
St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, first generally, as at
Iconium (Acts xiv. 3), during the whole tour through the Upper
Asia (xiv. 27; xv. 12), at Ephesus (xix. 11, 12); secondly, in
specific instances, as the blindness of Elymas at Paphos, 7 the
cure of the cripple at Lystra, 8 of the Pythoness at Philippi, 9
the miraculous liberation from prison in the same city, 10 the
restoration of Eutychus, 11 the predictions of his shipwreck, 12 the
viper at Melita, 13 the cure of Publius's father; 14 at all which
miracles, except the two first, the historian himself was present :

i Acts ii. 22. 2 Ibid. x. 39. * ibid. i. 15. « Ibid. iii. 12.

5 Ibid. iv. 9. « Ibid. vi. 8. 7 Ibid. xiii. 7. 8 Ibid. xiv. 8.

9 Ibid. xvi. 6. 10 Ibid. xvi. 26. " Ibid. xx. 10. 1S Ibid, xxvii. 10.

13 Ibid, xxviii. 6. 14 Ibid, xxviii. 8.

362 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

notwithstanding, I sa) r , this positive ascription of miracles to
St. Paul, jet in the speeches delivered by him, and given as
delivered by him, in the same book in which the miracles are
related, and the miraculous powers asserted, the appeals to his
own miracles, or indeed to any miracles at all, are rare and
incidental. In his speech at Antioch in Pisidia, 1 there is no
allusion but to the resurrection. In his discourse at Miletus, 2
none to any miracle ; none in his speech before Felix ; 3 none in
his speech before Festus; 4 except to Christ's resurrection, and
his own conversion.

Agreeably hereunto, in thirteen letters ascribed to St. Paul,
we have incessant references to Christ's resurrection, frequent
references to his own conversion, three indubitable references
to the miracles which he wrought, 5 four other references to the
same, less direct yet highly probable ; 6 but more copious or
circumstantial recitals we have not. The consent, therefore,
between St. Paul's speeches and letters, is in this respect suffi-
ciently exact : and the reason in both is the same ; namely,
that the miraculous history was all along presupposed, and that
the question, which occupied the speaker's and the writer's
thoughts, was this : whether, allowing the history of J^sus to
be true, he was, upon the strength of it, to be received as the
promised Messiah ; and, if he was, what were the consequences,
what was the object and benefit of his mission ?

The general observation which has been made upon the
apostolic writings, namely, that the subject of which they treated,
did not lead them to any direct recital of the christian history,
belongs also to the writings of the apostolic fathers. The
Epistle of Barncibus is, in its subject and general composition,
much like the epistle to the Hebrews ; an allegorical applica-
tion of divers passages of the Jewish history, of their law and
ritual, to those parts of the christian dispensation in which the
author perceived a resemblance. The Epistle of Clement was
written for the sole purpose of quieting certain dissensions that
had arisen amongst the members of the church of Corinth, and
of reviving in their minds that temper and spirit of which their

1 Acts xiii. 16. * Ibid. xx. 17. 3 Ibid xxiv. 10. « Ibid. xxv. 8.

6 Gal. iii. 5. Rom. xv. 18, 19. 2 Cor. xii. 12.
1 Cm. ii. 4, ."). Eph. iii. 7. Gal. ii. 8. 1 These, i. 5.

Ch. v.] Miracles not recited by early christian Writers. 363

predecessors in the gospel had left them an example. The
work of Hernias is a vision ; quotes neither the Old Testament
nor the New ; and merely falls now and then into the language,
and the mode of speech, which the author had read in our
gospels. The Epistles of Polycarp and Ignatius had for their
principal object the order and discipline of the churches which
they addressed. Yet, under all these circumstances of dis-
advantage, the great points of the christian history are fully
recognized. This hath been shown in its proper place. 1

There is, however, another class of writers, to whom the
answer above given, viz., the unsuitableness of any such ap-
peals or references as the objection demands, to the subjects of
which the writings treated, does not apply ; and that is, the
class of ancient apologists, whose declared design it was, to
defend Christianity, and to give the reasons of their adherence
to it. It is necessary, therefore, to inquire how the matter of
the objection stands in these.

The most ancient apologist, of whose works we have the
smallest knowledge, is Quadratus. Quadratus lived about
seventy years after the ascension, and presented his apology to
the emperor Adrian. From a passage of this work, preserved
in Eusebius, it appears that the author did directly and formally
appeal to the miracles of Christ, and in terms as express and
confident as we could desire. The passage (which has been
once already stated) is as follows : ' The works of our Saviour
were always conspicuous, for they were real ; both they that
were healed, and they that were raised from the dead, were
seen, not only when they were healed or raised, but for a long
time afterwards ; not only whilst he dwelled on this earth, but
also after his departure, and for a good while after it ; insomuch
as that some of them have reached to our times.' 2 Nothing
can be more rational or satisfactory than this.

Justin Martyr, the next of the christian apologists whose
work is not lost, and who followed Quadratus at the distance
of about thirty years, has touched upon passages of Christ's
history in so many places, that a tolerably complete account of
Christ's life might be collected out of his works. In the fol-
lowing quotation he asserts the performance of miracles by

1 Vide ante, pp. 90, 91. 5 Ens. Hist, 1. iv. c. 3.

364 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

Christ, in "words as strong and positive as the language pos-
sesses : ' Christ healed those who from their birth were blind,
and deaf, and lame ; causing, by his word, one to leap, another
to hear, and a third to see ; and having raised the dead, and
caused them to live, he by his works excited attention, and
induced the men of that age to know him. "Who, however,
seeing these things done, said that it was a magical appear-
ance, and dared to call him a magician, and a deceiver of the
people.' 1

In his first apology, 2 Justin expressly assigns the reason for
his having recourse to the argument from prophecy, rather than
alleging the miracles of the christian history : which reason
was, that the persons with whom he contended would ascribe
these miracles to magic ; ' lest any of our opponents should
say, What hinders, but that he who is called Christ by us,
being a man sprung from men, performed the miracles which
we attributed to him by magical art V The suggestion of this
reason meets, as I apprehend, the very point of the present
objection ; more especially when we find Justin followed in it,
by other writers of that age. Irenseus, who came about. forty
years after him, notices the same evasion in the adversaries of
Christianity, and replies to it by the same argument : ' But, if
they shall say, that the Lord performed these things by an
illusory appearance (QavTaoiudug), leading these objectors to
the prophecies, we will show from them, that all things were
thus predicted concerning him, and strictly came to pass.' 3
Lactantius, who lived a century lower, delivers the same sen-
timent, upon the same occasion. 'He performed miracles — we
might have supposed him to have been a magician, as ye say,
and as the Jews then supposed, if all the prophets had not
villi one spirit foretold that Christ should perform these very
things.' 4

But to return to the Christian apologists in their order:
Tertullian — 'That person whom the Jews had vainly imagined,
from Ihe meanness of his appearance, to be a mere man, they
afterwards, in consequence of the power he exerted, con-
sidered as a magician, when he, with one word, ejected devils

1 Just. Dial. p. 258. ed. Thirlby. * Ap. prim. p. 48, ibid.

3 Tr. 1. ii. c. 57. ' Lact. v. 3.

Ch. v.] If trades not recited by early christian Writers. 365

out of the bodies of men, gave sight to the blind, cleansed the
leprous, strengthened the nerves of those that had the palsy,
and lastly, with one command, restored the dead to life ; when
he, I say, made the very elements obey him, assuaged the
storms, walked upon the seas, demonstrating himself to be the
word of God.' 1

Next in the catalogue of professed apologists we may place
Origen, who, it is well known, published a formal defence of
Christianity, in answer to Celsus, a heathen, who had written a
discourse against it. I know no expressions by which a plainei
or more positive appeal to the christian miracles can be made,
than the expressions used by Origen : ' Undoubtedly we do
think him to be the Christ, and the son of God, because he
healed the lame and the blind ; and we are the more confirmed
in this persuasion, by what is written in the prophecies, Then
shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf
shall hear, and the lame men shall leap as an hart. But that
he also raised the dead, and that it is not a fiction of those
who wrote the Gospels, is evident from hence, that if it had
been a fiction, there would have been many recorded to be
raised up, and such as had been a long time in their graves.
But, it not being a fiction, few have been recorded : for in-
stance, the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue, of whom I do
not know why he said, She is not dead but sleepeth, express-
ing something peculiar to her, not common to all dead persons ;
and the only son of a widow, on whom he had compassion,
and raised him to life after he had bid the bearers of the
corpse to stop ; and the third Lazarus, who had been buried
four days.' This is positively to assert the miracles of Christ,
and it is also to comment upon them, and that with a con-
siderable degree of accuracy and candor.

In another passage of the same author, 2 we meet with the
old solution of magic applied to the miracles of Christ by the
adversaries of the religion. ' Celsus,' saith Origen, ' well know-
ing what great works may be alleged to have been done by Jesus,
pretends to grant that the things related of him are true : such
as healing diseases, raising the dead, feeding multitudes with a

1 Tertull. Apolog. p. 20, ed. Priorii, Par. 1675.
a Or. eon. CeU. lil>. ii. sect. 48.

366 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

few loaves, of which large fragments were left.' And then Cel-
sus gives, it seems, an answer to these proofs of our Lord's
mission, which, as Origen understood it, resolved the phenom-
ena into magic ; for Origen begins his reply, by observing,
' You see that Celsus in a manner allows that there is such a
thing as magic.' 1

It appears also from the testimony of St. Jerome, that Por-
phyry, the most learned and able of the heathen writers against
Christianity, resorted to the same solution : ' Unless,' says he,
speaking to Yigilantius, ' according to the manner of the Gen-
tiles, and the profane, of Porphyry and Eunomius, you pretend
that these are the tricks of demons.' 2

This magic, these demons, this illusory appearance, this com-
parison with the tricks of jugglers, by which many of that
age accounted so easily for the christian miracles, and which
answers the advocates of Christianity often thought it neces-
sary to refute, by arguments drawn from other topics, and par-
ticularly from prophecy (to which, it seems, these solutions did
not apply), we now perceive to be gross subterfuges. That
such reasons were ever seriously urged, and seriously received,
is only a proof, what a gloss and varnish fashion can giv£ to
any opinion.

It appears, therefore, that the miracles of Christ, understood
as we understand them, in their literal and historical sense,
were positively and precisely asserted and appealed to by the
apologists for Christianity ; which answers the allegation of
the objection.

I am ready, however, to admit, that the ancient christian
advocates did not insist upon the miracles in argument, so fre-
quently as I should have done. It was their lot to contend
with notions of magical agency, against which the mere pro-
duction of the facts was not sufficient for the convincing of
their adversaries; I do not know whether they themselves
thought it quite decisive of the controversy. But since it is
proved, I conceive with certainty, that the sparingness with
which they appealed to miracles, was owing neither to their
ignorance, nor their doubt of the facts, it is, at any rate, an

1 Lard. Jewish and Heath. Test. vol. ii. p. 294, od. quarto.
'' Jerome con. VigU.

Ch. vi.] Want of Universality in christian Knowledge. 307

objection, not to the truth of the history, but to the judgment
of its defenders.

ANNOTATION.

' The Epistle of Barnabas is, in its subject, and general compo-
sition, much like the Epistle to the Hebrews.''

On the contrary, this epistle — which doubtless was not the
work of the Apostle Barnabas (else, it would surely have been
admitted into the Canon of Scripture), but of some person who
bore, or who assumed, the name, above a century later — pre-
sents a strong contrast to all our Scriptures. For, it teaches,
not merely that the Mosaic Law had a typical reference to the
Gospel, but that its precepts were never designed to be obeyed
at all, in their literal sense, but only in a figurative one. The
flesh of swine, for instance, was not, it seems, designed to be
forbidden, but only, impure company ! with much more of
such rationalistic fancies, quite unlike any thing in the apos-
tolic writings.

CHAPTER YI.

Want of Universality in the Knowledge and Reception oj
Christianity, and of greater Clearness in the Evidence.

OF a revelation which really came from God, the proof, it
has been said, would in all ages be so public and mani-
fest, that no part of the human species would remain ignorant
of it, no understanding could fail of being convinced by it.

The advocates of Christianity do not pretend that the evi-
dence of their religion possesses these qualities. They do not
deny that we can conceive it to be within the compass of
divine power, to have communicated to the world a higher
degree of assurance, and to have given to his communication a
stronger and more extensive influence. For any thing we are
able to discern, God could have so formed men, as to have per-
ceived the truths of religion intuitively ; or to have carried on
a communication with the other world, whilst they lived in this;

368 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

or to have seen the individuals of the species, instead of dying,
pass to heaven by a sensible translation. He could have pre-
sented a separate miracle to each man's senses. He could have
established a standing miracle. He could have caused miracles
to be wrought in every different age and country. These, and
many more methods, which we may imagine, if we once give
loose to our imaginations, are, so far as we can judge, all prac-
ticable.

The question, therefore, is not, whether Christianity pos-
sesses the highest possible degree of evidence, but whether the
not having more evidence be a sufficient reason for rejecting
that which we have.

Now, there appears to be no fairer method of judging, con-
cerning any dispensation which is alleged to come from God,
when a question is made whether such a dispensation could
come from God or not, than by comparing it with other things
which are acknowledged to proceed from the same counsel,
and to be produced by the same agency. If the dispensation
in question labor under no defects but what apparently belong
to other dispensations, these seeming defects do not justify'ois,
in setting aside the proofs which are offered of its authenticity,
if they be otherwise entitled to credit.

Throughout that order then of nature, of which God is the
author, what we find is a system of benejicence, we are seldom
or ever able to make out a system of optimism. I mean, that
there are few cases in which, if we permit ourselves to range
iu possibilities, we cannot suppose something more perfect, and
more unobjectionable, than what we see. The rain which
descends from heaven is confessedly amongst the contrivances
of the Creator, for the sustentation of the animals and vege-
tables which subsist upon the surface of the earth. Yet how
partially and irregularly is it supplied! How much of it falls
upon the sea, where it can be of no use; how often is it wanted
where it would be of the greatest! What tracts of continent
are rendered deserts by the scarcity of it ! Or, not to speak
of extreme cases, how much, sometimes, do inhabited countries
suffer by its deficiency or delay ! — We could imagine, if to ima-
gine were our business, the matter to be otherwise regulated.
We could imagine showers to fall, just where and when they
would do good ; always seasonable, everywhere sufficient ; so

Chap, vi.] Want of Universality in christian Knowledge. 309

distributed as not to leave a field upon the face of the globe
scorched by drought, or even a plant withering for the lack of
moisture. Yet does the difference between the real case and
the imagined case, or the seeming inferiority of the one to the
other, authorize us to say, that the present disposition of the
atmosphere is not amongst the productions or the designs of
the Deity ? Does it it check the inference which we draw from
the confessed beneficence of the provision? or does it make us
cease to admire the contrivance ? — The observation, which we
have exemplified in the single instance of the rain of heaven,
may be repeated concerning most of the phenomena of nature :
and the true conclusion to which it leads is this, that to inquire
what the Deity might have done, could have done, or, as we
even sometimes presume to speak, ought to have done, or, in
hypothetical cases, would have done, and to build any propo-
sitions upon such inquiries against evidence of facts, is wholly
unwarrantable. It is a mode of reasoning which will not do
in natural religion, which cannot therefore be applied with
safety to revelation. It may have some foundation, in certain
speculative a priori ideas of the divine attributes ; but it has
none in experience, or in analogy. The general character of
the works of nature is, on the one hand, goodness both in
design and effect ; and, on the other hand, a liability to diffi-
culty, and to objections, if such objections be allowed, by reason
of seeming incompleteness or uncertainty in attaining their
end. Christianity participates of this character. The true
similitude between nature and revelation consists in this ; that
they each bear strong marks of their original ; that they each
also bear appearances of irregularity and defect. A system of
strict optimism may nevertheless be the real system in both
cases. But what I contend is, that the proof is hidden from
us / that we ought not to expect to perceive that in revelation,
which we hardly perceive in any thing ; that beneficence, of
which we can judge, ought to satisfy us, that optimism, of
which we cannot judge, ought not to be sought after. We
can judge of beneficence, because it depends upon effects which
we experience, and upon the relation between the means which
we see acting, and the ends which we see produced. We
cannot judge of optimism, because it necessarily implies a com-
parison of that which is tried, with that which is not tried ; of

370 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

consequences which we see, with others which we imagine,
and concerning many of which, it is more than probable
we know nothing ; concerning some, that we have no
notion.

If Christianity be compared with the state and progress of
natural religion, the argument of the objector will gain nothing
by the comparison. I remember hearing an unbeliever say,
that, if God had given a revelation, he would have written it
in the skies. Are the truths of natural religion written in the
skies, or in a language which every one reads ? or is this the
case with the most useful arts, or the most necessary sciences
of human life ? An Otaheitean or an Esquimaux knows
nothing of Christianity ; does he know more of the principles
of deism or morality ? which, notwithstanding his ignorance,
are neither untrue, nor unimportant, nor uncertain. The exist-
ence of the Deity is left to be collected from observations,
which every man does not make, which every man, perhaps, is
not capable of making. Can it be argued, that God does not
exist, because, if he did, he would let us see him ; or discover
himself to mankind by proofs (such as, we may think, the
nature of the subject merited), which no inadvertency could
miss, no prejudice withstand ? *

If Christianity be regarded as a providential instrument for
the melioration of mankind, its progress and diffusion resem-
bles that of other causes by which human life is improved. The
diversity is not greater, nor the advance more slow in religion,
than we find it to be in learning, liberty, government, laws.
The Deity hath not touched the order of nature in vain. The
Jewish religion produced great and permanent effects: the
christian religion hath done the same. It hath disposed the
world to amendment. It hath put things in a train. It is
by no means improbable, that it may become universal ; and
that the world may continue in that state so long as that the
duration of its reign may bear a vast proportion to the time of
its partial influence.

When we argue concerning Christianity, that it must neces-
sarily be true, because it is beneficial, we go perhaps too far on
one side : and we certainly go too far on the other, when we
conclude that it must be false, because it is not so efficacious as
we could have supposed. The question of its truth is to be

Chap, vi.] Want of Universality in christian Knowledge. 371

tried upon its proper evidence, without deferring much to this
sort of argument, on either side. ' The evidence,' as Bishop
Butler hath rightly observed, 'depends upon the judgment we
form of human conduct, under given circumstances, of which
it may be presumed that we know something; the objection
stands upon the supposed conduct of the Deity, under rela-
tions with which we are not acquainted.'

What would be the real effect of that overpowering evidence
which our adversaries require in a revelation, it is difficult to
foretell ; at least, we must speak of it as of a dispensation of
which we have no experience. Some consequences however
would, it is probable, attend this economy, which do not seem
to befit a revelation that proceeded from God. One is, that
irresistible proof would restrain the voluntary powers too much ;
would not answer the purpose of trial and probation ; would
call for no exercise of candor, seriousness, humility, inquiry ;
no submission of passions, interests, and prejudices, to moral
evidence and to probable truth; no habits of reflection; none
of that previous desire to learn, and to obey the will of God,
which forms perhaps the test of the virtuous principle, and
which induces men to attend, with care and reverence, to every
credible intimation of that will, and to resign present advan-
tages and present pleasures to every reasonable expectation of
propitiating his favor. ' Men's moral probation may be,
whether they will take due care to inform themselves by im-
partial consideration ; and, afterwards, whether they will act as
the case requires, upon the evidence which they have. And
this, we find by experience, is often our probation in our tem-
poral capacity.' 1

II. These modes of communication would leave no place
for the admission of internal evidence y which ought, perhaps,
to bear a considerable part in the proof of every revelation,
because it is a species of evidence, which applies itself to the
knowledge, love, and practice of virtue, and which operates in
proportion to the degree of those qualities which it finds in the
person whom it addresses. Men of good dispositions, amongst
Christians, are greatly affected by the impression which the
scriptures themselves make upon their minds. Their convic-

1 Butler's Ana'ogy, part ii. c. vi.

372 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

tion is much strengthened by these impressions. And this
perhaps was intended to be one effect to be produced by the
religion. It is likewise true, to whatever cause we ascribe it
(for I am not in this work at liberty to introduce the christian
doctrine of grace or assistance, or the christian promise, 'that,
if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, 1 ) — it is true, I say, that they who sin-
cerely act, or sincerely endeavor to act, according to what they
believe, that is, according to the just result of the probabilities,
or, if you please, the possibilities in natural and revealed reli-
gion, which they themselves perceive, and according to a rational
estimate of consequences, and, above all, according to the just
effect of those principles of gratitude and devotion, wmicli even
the view of nature generates in a well-ordered mind, seldom
fail of proceeding farther. This also may have been exactly
what was designed.

Whereas may it not be said, that irresistible evidence would
confound all characters, and all dispositions? would subvert,
rather than promote, the true purpose of the divine, councils,
which is not to produce obedience by a force little '"short of
mechanical constraint (which obedience would be regularity,
not virtue, and would hardly perhaps differ from that which
inanimate bodies pay to the laws impressed upon their nature),
but to treat moral agents agreeably to what they are ; which is
done, when light and motives are of such kinds, and are im-
parted in such measures, that the influence of them depends
upon the recipients themselves? 'It is not meet to govern
rational free agents in via by sight and sense. It would be
no trial or thanks to the most sensual wretch to forbear sin-
ning if heaven and hell were open to his sight. That spiritual
vision and fruition is our state in patrit? — (Baxter's Reasons,
p. 357.) There may be truth in this thought, though roughly
expressed. Few things are more improbable than that we
(the human species) should be the highest order of beings in
the universe; that animated nature should ascend from the
lowest reptile to us, and all at once stop there. If there be
classes above us of rational intelligences, clearer manifestations
may belong to them. This may be one of the distinctions.

1 John vii. 17.

Chap. vi.J Want of Universality in christian Knowledge. 373

And it may be one, to which we ourselves hereafter shall
attain.

III. But thirdly ; may it not also be asked, whether the
perfect display of a future state of existence would be com-
patible with the activity of civil life, and with the success of
human affairs ? I can easily conceive that this impression may
be overdone ; that it may so seize and fill the thoughts, as to
leave no place for the cares and offices of men's several sta-
tions, no anxiety for worldly prosperity, or even for a worldly
provision, and, by consequence, no sufficient stimulus to secular
industry. Of the first Christians we read, ' that all that be-
lieved were together, and had all things common ; and sold
their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
every man had need ; and, continuing daily with one accord
in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did
eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.' ' This
was extremely natural, and just what might be expected from
miraculous evidence coming with full force upon the senses
of mankind : but I much doubt, whether, if this state of mind
had been universal, or long continued, the business of the
world could have gone on. The necessary arts of social life
would have been little cultivated. The plough and the loom
would have stood still. Agriculture, manufactures, trade, and
navigation, would not, I think, have flourished, if they could
have been exercised at all. Men would have addicted them-
selves to contemplative and ascetic lives, instead of lives of
business and of useful industry. We observe that St. Paul
found it necessary, frequently to recall his converts to the
ordinary labors and domestic duties of their condition ; and to
give them, in his own example, a lesson of contented applica-
tion to their worldly employments.

By the manner in which the religion is now proposed, a
great portion of the human species is enabled, and of these,
multitudes of every generation are induced to seek and to
effectuate their salvation through the medium of Christianity,
without interruption of the prosperity or of the regular course
of human affairs.

1 Acts ii. 44-46.

374 Evidences of Christianity. [Part HE.

ANNOTATION.

' A system of strict optimism may he the real system.''

The one great difficulty, which is continually meeting us in
various shapes, and of which the one now before us is a por-
tion, — the existence of evil, — is one of which no satisfactory
explanation has ever been offered, or, we may be assured, ever
will be, to Man in his present state. Many well-meaning but
not clear-headed persons, zealous to ' vindicate the ways of God
to Man,' have written on the subject, weakly indeed and in-
effectually, but in a pious and reverent tone. But some, while
pretending to pre-eminent piety and humility, and denouncing
as ungodly, or deriding as childish, all who differ from them,
have used language which is in fact profanely presumptuous.
It is to be hoped that some of them have spoken as they do,
through mere confusion of thought, not perceiving what their
doctrine really amounts to. A right-minded Christian, how-
ever, will say, ' I am sure so and so is right, though I do not
understand why or how it is ; but such is the command of my
heavenly Father ; and I do understand that I have good v grounds
for trusting in Him.' And such a man will keep clear o£ the
presumption, calling itself humility, of those who insist on it
that in such and such instances the Almighty had no reason
at all for what He has done, except (as they express it) to
' declare his sovereignty ;' and that He acted only ' for his own
glory ;' as if He could literally seek glory ! Whenever the Most
High has merely revealed to us his will, we must not dare to
pronounce that He had no reason for it except his will, because
He has not thought tit to make those reasons known to us. To
say (as some have presumed to say) that He does 1 so and so for

1 ' Multi quidem, ac si invidiam a Deo repellere vellent, electionem ita fatentur
ut negent quenquam reprobari. Sed inscite nimis et pueriliter, quando ipsa elec-
tio nisi reprobationi opposite non staret. Dicitur segregare Deus qnos adoptat
in sal utem . . . Quos ergo Deus preterit, reprobat : neque alid de causd nisi quod
ab hereditate quaxn tiliis suis praedestinat, illos vult excludcre.' — Inst. lib. iii. cap.

xxiii. § 1 ' Unde factum est, ut tot gentes, una cum liberis eorum infanti-

bus, ajternae morti involveret lapsus Adffl absque remedio, nisi quia Deo ita visum
est? Hie obmutescere oportet tam dicaces alioqui linguas. Decretum quidem
horribile fateor : inticiari tamen oemo poterit quin prsesciverit Deus quern exitum
esset habitants homo, antequam ipsum conderet, et idea prsesciverit, quia decreto
sun sic ordinarat.' — Calvin Instil, lib. iii. cap. xxiii. § 7. How far from having
attained to this doctrine, <>r forming any notion nf it. must have been those dis-
ciples who were present when our Lord ' beheld the City and WEPT oveu it !'

Chap, vii.] Supposed Effects of Christianity. 375

no cause whatever except that He chooses it, seems little, if at
all, short of blasphemy. Even an earthly king, being not
responsible to any of his subjects for the reasons of his com-
mands, may sometimes think fit to issue commands without
explaining his reasons. And it would be insolent rashness for
any one thence to conclude that he had no reasons, but acted
from mere caprice.

So also, a dutiful child will often have to say, 'I do so and
so because my kind and wise parents have commanded me :
that is reason enough for me.' But though this is — to the
child — a very good reason for obeying the command, it would be
a very bad reason, with the parents, for giving that command.
And he would show his filial veneration, and trust, not by
taking for granted that his parents had no reason for their com-
mands, but, on the contrary, by taking for granted that there
was a good reason both for their acting as they did, and for
their withholding from him any explanation.

Most wise is Scaliger's precept : —

Nescire velle qua Magister optimus
Docere non vult, eruditu inscitia est.

CHAPTER VII.
The supposed Effects of Christianity.

THAT a religion, which, under every form in which it is
taught, holds forth the final reward of virtue, and punish-
ment of vice, and proposes those distinctions of virtue and vice,
which the wisest and most cultivated part of mankind confess
to be just, should not be believed, is very possible ; but that,
so far as it is believed, it should not produce any good, but
rather a bad effect upon public happiness, is a proposition,
which it requires very strong evidence to render credible. Yet
many have been found to contend for this paradox, and very
confident appeals have been made to history, and to observa-
tion, for the truth of it.

In the conclusions, however, which these writers draw, from
what they call experience, two sources, I think, of mistake,
may be perceived.

376 Evidences of Christianity. Part III.

One is, that they look for the influence of religion in the
wrong place.

The other, that they charge Christianity with many con-
sequences, for which it is not responsible.

I. The influence of religion is not to be sought for in the coun-
cils of princes, in the debates or resolutions of popular assemblies,
in the conduct of governments towards their subjects, or of states
and sovereigns towards one another ; of conquerors at the head of
their armies, or of parties intriguing for power at home (topics
which alone almost occupy the attention, and fill the pages of his-
tory) ; but must be perceived, if perceived at all, in the silent
course of private and domestic life. Nay more ; even there its
influence may not be very obvious to observation. If it check, in
some degree, personal dissoluteness, if it beget a general probity
in the transaction of business, if it produce soft and humane
manners in the mass of the community, and occasional exer-
tions of laborious or expensive benevolence in a few individuals,
it is all the effect which can offer itself to external notice. The
kingdom of heaven is within us. That which is the -substance
of the religion, its hopes and consolations, its intermixture with
the thoughts by day and by night, the devotion of the jheart,
the control of appetite, the steady direction of the will to the
commands of God, is necessarily invisible. Yet upon these
depend the virtue and the happiness of millions. This cause
renders the representations of history, with respect to religion,
defective and fallacious, in a greater degree than they are upon
any other subj ect. Religion operates most upon those of whom
history knows the least ; upon fathers and mothers in their
families, upon men-servants and maid-servants, upon the orderly
tradesman, the quiet villager, the manufacturer at his loom,
the husbandman in his fields. Amongst such its influence col-
lectively may be of inestimable value, yet its effects in the mean
time little, upon those who figure upon the stage of the world.
They may know nothing of it ; they may believe nothing of
it : they may be actuated by motives more impetuous than
those which religion is able to excite. It cannot, therefore, be
thought strange, that this influence should elude the grasp and
touch of public history; for what is public history, but a re-
gister of the successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies,
and the quarrels, of those who engage in contentions for power ?

Chap, vii.] Supposed Effects of Christianity. 377

I will add, that much of this influence may be felt in times oi
public distress, and little of it in times of public wealth and
security. This also increases the uncertainty of any opinions
that we draw from historical representations. The influence of
Christianity is commensurate with no effects which history
states. We do not pretend that it has any such necessary and
irresistible power over the affairs of nations, as to surmount the
force of other causes.

The christian religion also acts upon public usages and in-
stitutions, by an operation which is only secondary and indirect.
Christianity is not a code of civil law. It can only reach public
institutions through private character. Now its influence upon
private character may be considerable, yet many public usages
and institutions, repugnant to its principles, may remain. To
get rid of these, the reigning part of the community must act,
and act together. But it may be long before the persons who
compose this body, be sufficiently touched with the christian
character, to join in the suppression of practices, to which they
and the public have been reconciled, by causes which will re-
concile the human mind to any thing, by habit and interest.
Nevertheless, the effects of Christianity, even in this view, have
been important. It has mitigated the conduct of war, and the
treatment of captives. It has softened the administration of
despotic, or of nominally despotic governments. It has abolished
polygamy. It has restrained the licentiousness of divorces. It
has put an end to the exposure of children, and the immolation
of slaves. It has suppressed the combats of gladiators, 1 and the
impurities of religious rites. It has banished, if not unnatural
vices, at least the toleration of them. It has greatly meliorated
the condition of the laborious part, that is to say, of the mass
of every community, by procuring for them a day of weekly
rest. In all countries, in which it is professed, it has produced
numerous establishments for the relief of sickness and poverty ;
and, in some, a regular and general provision by law. It has
triumphed over the slavery established in the Roman empire :

1 Lipsius affirms, (Sat. bk. i. c. 12) that the gladiatorial shows sometimes cost
Europe twenty or thirty thousand lives in a month ; and that not only the men
but even the women of all ranks were passionately fond of these shows. See
Bishop Porteus's Sermon XIII.

oTS Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

it is contending, and, I trust, will one day prevail, against the
worse slavery of the West Indies.

A christian writer, 1 so early as in the second century, has
testified the resistance which Christianity made to wicked and
licentious practices, though established by law and by public
usage. '^Neither in Parthia, do the Christians, though Par-
tisans, use polygamy ; nor in Persia, though Persians, do they
marry their own daughters ; nor, among the Bactri, or Galli,
do they violate the sanctity of marriage; nor, wherever they
are, do they suffer themselves to be overcome by ill-constituted
laws and manners.'

Socrates did not destroy the idolatry of Athens, or produce
the slightest revolution in the manners of his country.

But the argument to which I recur, is, that the benefit of
religion being felt chiefly in the obscurity of private stations,
necessarily escapes the observation of history. From the first
general notification of Christianity to the present day, there
have been in every age many millions, whose names were
never heard of, made better by it, not only in their' ^conduct,
but in their disposition ; and happier, not so much in their
external circumstances, as in that which is inter prcec&rdifi, in
that which alone deserves the name of happiness, the tranquil-
lity and consolation of their thoughts. It has been, since its
commencement, the author of happiness and virtue to millions
and millions of the human race. Who is there that would not
wish his son to be a Christian?

Christianity also, in every country in which it is professed,
hath obtained a sensible, although not a complete influence,
upon the public judgment of morals. And this is very im-
portant. For without the occasional correction which public
opinion receives, by referring to some fixed standard of morality,
no man can foretell into what extravagances it might wander.
Assassination might become as honorable as duelling ; un-
natural crimes be accounted as venial, as fornication is wont to
be accounted. In this way it is possible, that many may be
kept in order by Christianity, who are not themselves Chris-
tians. They may be guided by the rectitude which it com-
municates to public opinion. Their consciences may suggest

1 Bardesanes ap. Eoseb. Prccp. Evang. vi. 10.

Chap, vii.] Supposed Effects of Christianity. 379

their duty truly, and they may ascribe these suggestions to a
moral sense, or to the native capacity of the human intellect,
when in fact they are nothing more than the public opinion,
reflected from their own minds ; an opinion, in a considerable
degree, modified by the lessons of Christianity. ' Certain it is,
and this is a great deal to say, that the generality, even of the
meanest and most vulgar and ignorant people, have truer and
worthier notions of God, more just and right apprehensions
concerning his attributes and perfections, a deeper sense of the
difference of good and evil, a greater regard to moral obligations
and to the plain and most necessary duties of life, and a more
firm and universal expectation of a future state of rewards and
punishments, than, in any heathen country, any considerable
number of men were found to have had.' l

After all, the value of Christianity is not to be appreciated
by its temporal effects. The object of revelation is to influence
human conduct in this life ; but what is gained to happiness by
that influence, can only be estimated by taking in the whole of
human existence. Then, as hath already been observed, there
may be also great consequences of Christianity, which do not
belong to it as a revelation. The effects upon human salva-
tion, of the mission, of the death, of the present, of the future
agency of Christ, may be universal, though the religion be not
universally known.

Secondly, I assert that Christianity is charged with many
consequences for which it is not responsible. I believe that
religious motives have had no more to do in the formation of
nine-tenths of the intolerant and persecuting laws, which in
different countries have been established upon the subject of
religion, than they have had to do in England with the making
of the game-laws. These measures, although they have the
christian religion for their support, are resolvable into a prin-
ciple which Christianity certainly did not plant (and which
Christianity could not universally condemn, because it is not
universally wrong), which principle is no other than this, that
they who are in possession of power do what they can to keep
it. Christianity is answerable for no part of the mischief
which has been brought upon the world by persecution, except

' Clark, Ed. Nat. Rev. p. 208, ed. v.

380 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

that which has arisen from conscientious persecutors. Now
these, perhaps, have never been either numerous or powerful.
Nor is it to Christianity that even their mistake can fairly be
imputed. They have been misled by an error not properly
christian or religious, but by an error in their moral philo-
sophy. They pursued the particular, without adverting to the
general consequence. Believing certain articles of faith, or a
certain mode of worship, to be highly conducive, or perhaps
essential to salvation, they thought themselves bound to bring
all they could, by every means, into them. And this they
thought, without considering what would be the effect of such
a conclusion, when adopted amongst mankind as a general rule
of conduct. Had there been in the New Testament, what
there are in the Koran, precepts authorizing coercion in the
propagation of the religion, and the use of violence towards
unbelievers, the case would have been different. This distinc-
tion could not have been taken, or this defence made.

I apologize for no species nor degree of persecution, but I
think that even the fact has been exaggerated. The slave
trade destroys more in a year, than the inquisition does in a
hundred, or perhaps hath done since its foundation. ^

If it be objected, as I apprehend it will be, that Chris-
tianity is chargeable with every mischief, of which it has been
the occasion, though not the motive ; I answer, that if the
malevolent passions be there, the world will never want occa-
sions. The noxious element will always find a conductor.
Any point will produce an explosion. Did the applauded inter-
community of the Pagan theology preserve the peace of the
Roman world ? Did it prevent oppressions, proscriptions,
massacres, devastations ? "Was it bigotry that carried Alex-
ander into the East, or brought Caesar into Gaul ? Are the
nations of the world, into which Christianity hath not found
its way, or from which it hath been banished, free from con-
tentions ? Are their contentions less ruinous and sanguinary ?
Is it owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that the finest
regions of the East, the countries inter quatuor maria, the
peninsula of Greece, together with a great part of the Medi-
terranean coast, are at this day a desert ? or that the banks of
the Nile, whose constantly renewed fertility is not to be im-
paired by neglect, or destroyed by the ravages of war, serve

Chap, vii.] Supposed Effects of Christianity. 381

only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, or the supply of un-
ceasing hostilities? Europe itself has known no religious wars
for some centuries, yet has hardly ever been without war. Are
the calamities, which at this day inflict it, to be imputed to
Christianity? Hath Poland fallen by a christian crusade?
Hath the overthrow in France, of civil order and security,
been effected by the votaries of our religion, or by the foes ?
Amongst the awful lessons, which the crimes and the miseries
of that country aiford to mankind, this is one : that, in order to
be a persecutor, it is not necessary to be a bigot: that in rage
and cruelty, in mischief and destruction, fanaticism itself can
be outdone by infidelity.

Finally, If war, as it is now carried on between nations,
produce less misery and ruin than formerly, we are indebted
perhaps to Christianity for the change, more than to any other
cause. Viewed therefore even in its relation to this subject,
it appears to have been of advantage to the world. It hath
humanized the conduct of wars ; it hath ceased to excite them.

The differences of opinion, that have in all ages prevailed
amongst Christians, fall very much within the alternative
which has been stated. If we possessed the disposition which
Christianity labors, above all other qualities, to inculcate, these
differences would do little harm. If that disposition be want-
ing, other causes, even were these absent, would continually
rise up, to call forth the malevolent passions into action. Dif-
ferences of opinion, when accompanied with mutual charity,
which Christianity forbids them to violate, are for the most
part innocent, and for some purposes useful. They promote
inquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help to keep up an
attention to religious subjects, and a concern about them,
which might be apt to die away in the calm and silence of
universal agreement. I do not know that it is in any degree
true, that the influence of religion is the greatest, where there
are the fewest dissenters.

382 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

ANNOTATIONS.

' Christianity, in every country in which it is professed, hath
obtained a sensible, thotigh not a complete influence on the
public judgment of morals?

A very intelligent traveller who has resided in various parts
of Europe, Asia, and Africa, told me that one of the circum-
stances that most struck him in all the regions he had visited,
was, the effects of the religion professed by each class of men,
in reference to their state of civilization, and the superiority
obtained — peaceably and silently — by one class over another.
He found the Mahometans thus gaining ground everywhere on
Pagans ; the Jews, on Mahometans ; the Christians, on Jews ;
and the Christians of reformed Churches, on those of the un-
reformed.

It is from a general and wide view like this, that we can
most fairly estimate the true tendency of any cause that is in
operation.

' The slave-trade destroys more in a year, than the Ingydsition

does in a hundred! 1

It would be a great mistake, however, to measure the evil of
persecution by the amount of destruction of human life which
it has occasioned. The chief part of that evil consists in the
terror, — the suspicions — the mutual distrust — the debasing
mental slavery — the insincere profession, and covert infidelity,
which spring from it. But as for the destruction of life, we
should remember that that will always be the least, wherever
the system of persecution has been the most fully and effi-
ciently carried out. No tree is withered by the piercing frosts
of the Polar regions, or by the scorching drought of the African
deserts ; because no tree exists there. And whenever all — so-
called — heretics have been either exterminated, or forced into
outward conformity, the fires of an Inquisition go out for lack
of fuel.

I have mentioned among the evils of persecution the secret
infidelity caused by it. When any one is haunted with doubts
concerning a religion which he is compelled to profess, he
cannot discuss such doubts with persons who might perhaps
help to clear them up, because he /lares not acknowledge them

Chap, viii.] The Conclusion. 383

at all. And he has always reason to suspect that his neighbors
may be secret unbelievers ; since he knows, that, if they are
so, they dare not avow it.

It is pretty well known accordingly that in those European
States where the utmost intolerance prevails, utter disbelief of
Christianity among the educated classes, is rather the rule than
the exception.

And the like takes place, though in a minor degree, wher-
ever the intolerant principle is less fully carried out : that is,
where Christians, or those of a particular Church, claim, as
such, a monopoly of political power, and exclude others, merely
on the ground of religious error, from civil rights and privileges.

Considering how utterly foreign from the whole character of
the Gospel is all intolerance, and how much the Gospel itself
was for a long time the subject of persecution, there is no need
for any attempt to palliate it by an advocate of Christianity.

But it is important to observe that a strong evidence of the
truth of our Religion is afforded by the deplorable spectacle of
persecution practised by its votaries. For when we see how
strong is the proneness to persecution, in Man in his unregene-
rate state, — so strong, that it is practised, and even vindicated,
by the professors of a Religion most emphatically opposed to it,
this affords a very strong presumption that such a religion
could not have proceeded from Man}

A religion of human devising, would, we may be sure, have
been as intolerant in its principles as the Mahometan. Perse-
cution, therefore, as well as other corruptions which have crept
into Christianity in manifest opposition to the spirit of it, while
they prove a stumbling-block to the perverse and the thought-
less, furnish to the candid and diligent a confirmation of faith.

CHAPTER VIII.

Tlic Conclusion.

I~N religion, as in every other subject of human reasoning,
much depends upon the order in which we dispose our in-
quiries. A man who takes up a system of divinity with a

1 See Essays, 4th Series, ' On the Dangers to the Christian Faith.'

384 Evidences of Christianity. [Fart III.

previous opinion that either every part must be true, or the
whole false, approaches the discussion with great disadvantage.
No other system, which is founded upon moral evidence,
would bear to be treated in the same manner. Nevertheless,
in a certain degree, we are all introduced to our religious stu-
dies under this prejudication. And it cannot be avoided. The
weakness of the human judgment in the early part of youth,
yet its extreme susceptibility of impression, renders it necessary
to furnish it with some opinions, and with some principles, or
other. Or indeed, without much express care, or much endea-
vor for this purpose, the tendency of the mind of man to assi-
milate itself to the habits of thinking and speaking which pre-
vail around him, produces the same effect. That indifferency
and suspense, that waiting and equilibrium of the judgment,
which some require in religious matters, and which some
would wish to be aimed at in the conduct of education, are
impossible to be preserved. They are not given to the condi-
tion of human life.

It is a consequence of this situation that the doctrines of
religion come to us before the proofs; and come to"us with
that mixture of explications and inferences from which nonpub-
lic creed is, or can be, free. And the effect which too fre
quently follows, from Christianity being presented to the un-
derstanding in this form, is, that when any articles, which ap-
pear as parts of it, contradict the apprehension of the persons
to whom it is proposed, men of rash and confident tempers
hastily and indiscriminately reject the whole. But is this to do
justice, either to themselves, or to the religion? The rational
way of treating a subject of such acknowledged importance is
to attend, in the first place, to the general and substantial truth
of its principles, and to that alone. When we once feel a foun-
dation ; when we once perceive a ground of credibility in its
history, we shall proceed with safety to inquire into the inter-
pretation of its records, and into the doctrines which have been
deduced from them. Nor will it either endanger our faith, or
diminish or alter our motives for obedience, if we should dis-
cover that these conclusions are formed with very different
degrees of probability, and possess very different degrees of
importance.

This conduct of the understanding, dictated by every rule

Chap, viii.] Conclusion. 385

of right reasoning, will uphold personal Christianity, even in
those countries in which it is established under forms the most
liable to difficulty and objection. It will also have the further
effect of guarding us against the prejudices which are wont to
arise in our minds to the disadvantage of religion, from ob-
serving the numerous controversies which are carried on amongst
its professors ; and likewise of inducing a spirit of lenity and
moderation in our judgment, as well as in our treatment of
those who stand, in such controversies, upon sides opposite to
ours. What is clear in Christianity we shall find to be suffi-
cient, and to be infinitely valuable ; what is dubious, unnecessary
to be decided, or of very subordinate importance ; and what is
most obscure, will teach us to bear with the opinions which
others may have formed upon the same subject. We shall
say to those who the most widely dissent from us, what Au-
gustine said to the worst heretics of his age : ' Illi in vos
sseviant, qui nesciunt, cum quo labore verum inveniatur, et
quam difficile caveantur errores . . . qui nesciunt, cum quanta
difficultate sanetur oculus interioris hominis . . . qui nesciunt,
quibus suspiriis et gemitibus fiat, ut ex quantulacunque parte
possit intelligi Dens.' 1

A judgment, moreover, which is once pretty well satisfied of
the general truth of the religion, will not only thus discrimi-
nate in its doctrines, but will possess sufficient strength to
overcome the reluctance of the imagination to admit articles of
faith which are attended with difficulty of apprehension, if such
articles of faith appear to be truly parts of the revelation. It
was to be expected beforehand, that what related to the eco-
nomy, and to the persons, of the invisible world, which revela-
tion professes to do, and which, if true, it actually does, should
contain some points remote from our analogies, and from the
comprehension of a mind which hath acquired all its ideas
from sense and from experience.

It hath been my care, in the preceding work, to preserve the
separation between evidences and doctrines as inviolable as I
could ; to remove from the primary question all considerations
which have been unnecessarily joined with it ; and to offer a
defence to Christianity, which every Christian might read, with-

Aug. contr. Ep. Fund. cap. ii. n. 2, 3.
25

386 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

out seeing the tenets in which he had been brought up attacked
or decried : and it always afforded a satisfaction to my mind to
observe that this was practicable ; that few or none of our
many controversies with one another affect or relate to the proofs
of our religion ; that the rent never descends to the foundation.
The truth of Christianity depends upon its leading facts,
and upon them alone. Now of these we have evidence which
ought to satisfy us, at least until it appear that mankind have
ever been deceived by the same. We have some uncontested
and incontestable points, to which the history of the human
species has nothing similar to offer. A Jewish peasant changed
the religion of the world : and that, without force, without
power, without support ; without one natural source or circum-
stance of attraction, influence, or success. Such a thing hath
not happened in any other instance. The companions of this
person, after he himself had been put to death for his attempt,
asserted his supernatural character, founded upon his super-
natural operations; and, in testimony of the truth of their
assertions, i. e. in consequence of their own belief of that truth,
and in order to communicate the knowledge of it to others,
voluntarily entered upon lives of toil and hardship, andiwith
a full experience of their danger, committed themselves to the
last extremities of persecution. This hath not a parallel.
More particularly, a very few days after this person had been
publicly executed, and in the very city in which he was buried,
these his companions declared with one voice that his body
was restored to life ; that they had seen him, handled him,
eat with him, conversed with him ; and, in pursuance of their
persuasion of the truth of what they told, preached his religion,
with this strange fact as the foundation of it, in the face of
those who had killed him, who were armed with the power of
the country, and necessarily and naturally disposed to treat his
followers as they had treated himself; and having done this
upon the spot where the event took place, carried the intelli-
gence of it abroad, in despite of difficulties and opposition, and
where the nature of their errand gave them nothing to expect
but derision, insult, and outrage. This is without example.
These three facts, I think, are certain, and would have been
nearly so, if the gospels had never been written. The ehris-
tian story, as to these points, hath never varied. No other

Chap, viii.] Conclusion. 387

hath been set up against it. Every letter, every discourse,
every controversy, amongst the followers of the religion : every
book written by them, from the age of its commencement to
the present time, in every part of the world in which it hath
been professed, and with every sect into which it hath been
divided (and we have letters and discourses written by contem-
poraries, by witnesses of the transaction, by persons themselves
bearing a share in it, and other writings following that age in
regular succession), concur in representing these facts in this
manner. A religion, which now possesses the greatest part of
the civilized world, unquestionably sprang up at Jerusalem at
this time. Some account must be given of its origin ; some
cause assigned for its rise. All the accounts of this origin, all
the explications of this cause, whether taken from the writings
of the early followers of the religion (in which, and in which
perhaps alone, it could be expected that they should be dis-
tinctly unfolded) or from occasional notices in other writings
of that or the adjoining age, either expressly allege the facts
above stated as the means by which the religion was set up, or
advert to its commencement in a manner which agrees with
the supposition of these facts being true, and which testifies
their operation and effects.

These propositions alone lay a foundation for our faith ; for
they prove the existence of a transaction, which cannot even in
its most general parts be accounted for, upon any reasonable
supposition, except that of the truth of the mission. But the
particulars, the detail of the miracles or miraculous pretences
(for such there necessarily must have been) upon which this
unexampled transaction rested, andfor which these men acted
and suffered as they did act and suffer, it is undoubtedly of
great importance to us to know. We have this detail from
the fountain head, from the persons themselves ; in accounts
written by eye-witnesses of the scene, by contemporaries and
companions of those who were so ; not in one book, but four,
each containing enough for the verification of the religion, all
agreeing in the fundamental parts of the history. We have
the authenticity of these books established, by more and stronger
proofs than belong to almost any other ancient book whatever,
and by proofs which widely distinguish them from any others
claiming a similar authority to theirs. If there were any good

388 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

reason for doubt concerning the names to which these books
are ascribed (which there is not, for they were never ascribed
to any other, and we have evidence not long after their publi-
cation of their bearing the names which they now bear), their
antiquity, of which there is no question, their reputation and
authority amongst the early disciples of the religion, of which
there is as little, form a valid proof that they must, in the main
at least, have agreed with what the first teachers of the reli-
gion delivered.

When we open these ancient volumes, we discover in them
marks of truth, whether we consider each in itself, or collate
them with one another. The writers certainly knew something
of what they were writing about, for they manifest an acquaint-
ance with local circumstances, with the history and usages of
the times, which could only belong to an inhabitant of that
country, living in that age. In every narrative we perceive
simplicity and undesignedness ; the air and the language of
reality. When we compare the different narratives together,
we find them so varying as to repel all suspicion of confeder-
acy; so agreeing under this variety, as to show that" the ac-
counts had one real transaction for their common foundation ;
often attributing different actions and discourses, to the person
whose history, or rather memoirs of whose history, they profess
to relate, yet actions and discourses so similar, as very much
to bespeak the same character; which is a coincidence, that, in
such writers as they were, could only be the consequence of
their writing from fact, and not from imagination.

These four narratives are confined to the history of the
founder of the religion, and end with his ministry. Since, how-
ever, it is certain that the affair went on, we cannot help being
anxious to know hoio it proceeded. This intelligence hath
come down to us in a work purporting to be written by a
person, himself connected with the business during the first
Mages of its progress, taking up the story where the former his-
tories had left it, carrying on the narrative, oftentimes with
great particularity, and throughout with the appearance of good
sense, 1 information, and candor: stating all along the origin,

' See Peter's speech upon curing the cripple (Acts iii. 18). the council of the
apostles (xv.), Paul's discourse at Athens i xvii. •-! . before A^rippa ixxvi.V I
notice these passages, both as fraught with good sense, and as free from the
smallest tincture of enthusiasm.

Chap, viii.] Conclusion. 389

and the only probable origin, of effects which unquestionably
were produced, together with the natural consequences of
situations which unquestionably did exist ; and confirmed, in
the substance at least of the account, by the strongest pos-
sible accession of testimony which a history can receive, ori-
ginal letters, written by the person who is the principal sub-
ject of the history, written upon the business to which the
history relates, and during the period, or soon after the period,
which the history comprises. No man can say that this alto-
gether is not a body of strong historical evidence.

When we reflect that some of those from whom the books
proceeded, are related to have themselves wrought miracles, to
have been the subject of miracles, or of supernatural assistance
in propagating the religion, we may perhaps be led to think,
that more credit, or a different kind of credit, is due to these
accounts, than what can be claimed by merely human testi-
mony. But this is an argument which cannot be addressed to
skeptics or unbelievers. A man must be a Christian before he
can receive it. The inspiration of the historical scriptures, the
nature, degree, and extent of that inspiration, are questions
undoubtedly of serious discussion, but they are questions
amongst Christians themselves, and not between them and
others. The doctrine itself is by no means necessary to the be-
lief of Christianity, which must, in the first instance at least,
depend upon the ordinary maxims of historical credibility. 1

In viewing the detail of miracles recorded in these books,
we find every supposition negatived, by which they can be re-
solved into fraud or delusion. They were not secret, nor
momentary, nor tentative, nor ambiguous ; nor performed under
the sanction of authority, with the spectators on their side, or
in affirmance of tenets and practices already established. We
find also the evidence alleged for them, and which evidence was
by great numbers received, different from that upon which
other miraculous accounts rest. It was contemporary, it was
published upon the spot, it continued ; it involved interests and
questions of the greatest magnitude ; it contradicted the most
fixed persuasions and prejudices of the persons to whom it was
addressed ; it required from those who accepted it, not a simple

1 See Powell's Discourses, dis. xv. p. 2-45.

390 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

indolent assent, but a change, from thenceforward, of principles
and conduct, a submission to consequences the most serious
and the most deterring, to loss and danger, to insult, outrage,
and persecution. How such a story should be false, or, if
false, how under such circumstances it should make its way, I
think impossible to be explained : yet such the christian story
was, such were the circumstances under which it came forth,
and in opposition to such difficulties did it prevail.

An event so connected with the religion, and with the for-
tunes, of the Jewish people, as one of their race, one born
amongst them, establishing his authority and his law through-
out a great portion of the civilized world, it was perhaps to be
expected, should be noticed in the prophetic writings of that
nation ; especially when this person, together with his own
mission, caused also to be acknowledged the divine original of
their institution, and by those who before had altogether re-
jected it. Accordingly we perceive in these writings, various
intimations concurring in the person and history of Jesus, in a
manner, and in a degree, in which passages taken from these
books could not be made to concur in any person arbitrarily
assumed, or in any person, except him, who has been the author
of great changes in the affairs and opinions of mankinds Of
some of these predictions the weight depends a good deal upon
the concurrence. Others possess great separate strength ; one
in particular does this in an eminent degree. It is an entire
description, manifestly directed to one character and to one
scene of things : it is extant in a writing, or collection of
writings, declaredly prophetic ; and it applies to Christ's cha-
racter, and to the circumstances of his life and death, with con-
siderable precision, and in a way which no diversity of inter-
pretation hath, in my opinion, been able to confound. That
the advent of Christ, and the consequences of it, should not
have been more distinctly revealed in the Jewish sacred books,
is, I think, in some measure accounted for by the consideration,
that for the Jews to have foreseen the tall of their institution,
and that it was to merge at length into a more perfect and
comprehensive dispensation, would have cooled too much, and
relaxed, their zeal for it, and their adherence to it, upon which
zeal and adherence the preservation in the world of any remains,
lor many ages, of religions truth might in a great measure depend.

Chap, viii.] Conclusion. 391

Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and only
one, question can properly be asked, ' Was it of importance to
mankind to know, or to be better assured of?' In this question,
when we turn our thoughts to the great christian doctrine of
the resurrection of the dead, and of a future judgment, no
doubt can possibly be entertained. He who gives me riches or
honors does nothing ; he who even gives me health does
little, in comparison with that which lays before me just
grounds for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of
account and retribution : which thing Christianity hath done
for millions.

Other articles of the christian faith, although of infinite
importance when placed beside any other topic of human
inquiry, are only the adjuncts and circumstances of this. They
are however such as appear worthy of the original to which
we ascribe them. The morality of the religion, whether taken
from the precepts or the example of its founder, or from the
lessons of its primitive teachers, derived, as it should seem,
from what had been inculcated by their master, is, in all its
parts, wise and pure ; neither adapted to vulgar prejudices, nor
flattering popular notions, nor excusing established practices,
but calculated, in the matter of its instruction, truly to promote
human happiness, and, in the form in which it was conveyed,
to produce impression and effect ; a morality, which, let it have
proceeded from any person whatever, would have been satis-
factory evidence of his good sense and integrity, of the sound-
ness of his understanding and the probity of his designs ; a
morality, in every view of it, much more perfect than could have
been expected from the natural circumstances and character of
the person who delivered it ; a morality, in a word, which is,
and hath been, most beneficial to mankind.

Upon the greatest therefore of all possible occasions, and for
a purpose of inestimable value, it pleased the Deity to vouch-
safe a miraculous attestation. Having done this for the insti-
tution, when this alone could fix its authority, or give to it a
beginning, he committed its future progress to the natural
means of human communication, and to the influence of those
causes bv which human conduct and human affairs are governed.
The seed being sown, was left to vegetate ; the leaven being
inserted, was left to ferment; and both according to the laws

392 Evidences of Christianity. [Part. III.

of nature : laws, nevertheless, disposed and controlled by that
Providence which conducts the affairs of the universe, though
by an influence inscrutable, and generally undistingnishable by
us. And in this, Christianity is analogous to most other pro-
visions for happiness. The provision is made ; and being made,
is left to act according to laws, which, forming part of a more
general system, regulate this particular subject in common
with many others.

Let the constant recurrence to our observation of contrivance,
design, and wisdom in the works of nature, once fix upon our
minds the belief of a God, and after that all is easy. In the
counsels of a being possessed of the power and disposition
which the Creator of the universe must possess, it is not im-
probable that there should be a future state ; it is not impro-
bable that we should be accpiaintcd with it. A future state
rectifies every thing ; because if moral agents be made, in the
last event, happy or miserable, according to their conduct in
the station and under the circumstances in which they are
placed, it seems not very material- by the operation of what
causes, according to what rules, or even, if you please to call it
so, by what chance or caprice, these stations are assigned, or
these circumstances determined. This hypothesis, therefore,
solves all that objection to the divine care and goodness, which
the promiscuous distribution of good and evil (I do not mean
in the doubtful advantages of riches and grandeur, but in the
unquestionably important difficulties of health and sickness,
strength and infirmity, bodily ease and pain, mental alacrity
and depression) is apt on so many occasions to create. This
one truth changes the nature of things: gives order to confu-
sion : makes the moral world of a piece with the natural.

Nevertheless, a higher degree of assurance than that to which
it is possible to advance this, or any argument drawn from the
light of nature, was necessary, especially to overcome the shock
which the imagination and the senses receive from the effects
and the appearances of death ; and the obstruction which from
thence arises to the expectation of either a continued or a fu-
ture existence. This difficulty, although of a nature, no doubt,
to act very forcibly, will be found, I think, upon reflection, to re-
side more in our habits of apprehension, than in the subject; and
that the giving way to it, when we have any reasonable grounds

Chap, viii.] Conclusion. 393

for the contrary, is rather an indulging of the imagination,
than any thing else. Abstractedly considered, that is, con-
sidered without relation to the difference which habit, and
merely habit, produces in our faculties and modes of apprehen-
sion, I do not see any thing more in the resurrection of a dead
man, than in the conception of a child ; except it be this, that
the one comes into his world with a system of prior conscious-
ness about him, which the other does not ; and no person will
say, that he knows enough of either subject to perceive, that
this circumstance makes such a difference in the two cases,
that the one should be easy, and the other impossible ; the one
natural, the other not so. To the first man the succession of
the species would be as incomprehensible, as the resurrection
of the dead is to us.

Thought is different from motion, perception from impact :
the individuality of a mind is hardly consistent with the divi-
sibility of an extended substance ; or its volition, that is, its
power of originating motion, with the inertness which cleaves
to every portion of matter which our observation or our expe-
riments can reach. These distinctions lead us to an immaterial
principle : at least, they do this ; they so negative the mechani-
cal properties of matter, in the constitution of a sentient, still
more of a rational being, that no argument, drawn from these
properties, can be of any great weight in opposition to other
reasons, when the question respects the changes of which such
a nature is capable, or the manner in which these changes are
effected. Whatever thought be, or whatever it depend upon,
the regular experience of sleep makes one thing concerning it
certain, that it can be completely suspended, and completely
restored.

If any one find it too great a strain upon his thoughts, to
admit the notion of a substance strictly immaterial, that is,
from which extension and solidity are excluded, he can find no
difficulty in allowing, that a particle as small as a particle of
light, minuter than all conceivable dimensions, may just as
easily be the depository, the organ, and the vehicle of con-
sciousness, as the congeries of animal substance which forms a
human body, or the human brain ; that, being so, it may
transfer a proper identity to whatever shall hereafter be united
to it; may be safe amidst the destruction of its integuments;

394 Evidences of Christianity. [Part ITT.

may connect the natural with the spiritual, the corruptible with
the glorified body. If it be said, that the mode and means of
all this is imperceptible by our senses, it is only what is true
of the most important agencies and operations. The great
powers of nature are all invisible. Gravitation, electricity,
magnetism, though constantly present, and constantly exerting
their influence ; though within us, near us, and about us ;
though diffused throughout all space, overspreading the surface,
or penetrating the contexture of all bodies with which we are
acquainted, depend upon substances and actions which are
totally concealed from our senses. The Supreme Intelligence
is so himself.

But whether these or any other attempts to satisfy the ima-
gination, bear any resemblance to the truth, or whether the
imagination, which, as I have said before, is the mere slave of
habit, can be satisfied, or not; when a future state, and the
revelation of a future state, is not only perfectly consistent
with the attributes of the Being who governs the universe ;
but when it is more ; when it alone removes the appearances
of contrariety which attend the operations of his will towards
creatures capable of comparative merit and demerit, of reward
and punishment ; when a strong body of historical evidence,
confirmed by many internal tokens of truth and authenticity,
gives us just reason to believe that such a revelation hath actu-
ally been made ; we ought to set our minds at rest with the
assurance, that, in the resources of creative wisdom, expedients
cannot be wanted to carry into effect what the Deity hath pur-
posed: that either a new and mighty influence will descend
upon the human world, to resuscitate extinguished conscious-
ness; or that, amidst the other wonderful contrivances witli
which the universe abounds, and by some of which we see
animal life, in many instances, assuming improved forms of ex-
istence, acquiring new organs, new perceptions, and new sources
of enjoyment, provision is also made, though by methods secret
to us (as all the great processes of nature are), for conducting
the objects of God's moral government, through the necessary
changes of their frame, to those filial distinctions of happiness
and misery, which he hath declared to be reserved for obedience
and transgression, for virtue and vice, for the use and the neg-
lect, the right and the wrong employment of the faculties and

Cheap, viii. Annotations. 395

opportunities with which he hath been pleased, severally, to
intrust, and to try us.

ANNOTATIONS.

' Whatever thought be, the experience of sleep makes it certain
that it can be completely suspended?

It would have been better if Paley had taken the case of a
fainting-fit, or some other such. Whether, in sleep, thought
is ever completely suspended, is a disputed point : but that it is
not always, is certain. Some have doubted whether in sleep
we ever cease to dream ; but that we do dream, every one
knows. [See Lessons on Mind.]

i A strong body of historical evidence, confirmed by many
internal tokens of truth. 1

It is important to remember that the evidence which has
been adduced in the foregoing pages, is cumulative; i. e., con-
sisting of several distinct arguments to which several others
might be added) each, separately, leading to the same conclu-
sion ; and that their combined force in establishing that conclu-
sion is not only much beyond that of each one of them by it-
self, but beyond that of all of them merely added together.
And this is a circumstance which thoughtless persons are apt
to overlook ; though it may easily be made clear to any one of
ordinary intelligence. 1

When there are two or more indications of truth in some
statement, and we have formed some estimate of the degree of
weight of each, — i. e. the degree of -improbability of its being
found in a false statement — these distinct improbabilities are,
then, to be — not added, but — multiplied together, in order to
estimate their combined force.

Thus, if it be — suppose — five to one against the existence, in

1 See Elements of Logic, bk. iii. §§11 and 14.

396 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

a false history, of some mark of truth that we find in the New
Testament, and ten to one against some other such mark, then,
it is not ten, or fifteen, but fifty to one, against both these
marks being found in any thing false. So also, when any one
attempts (as some Geologists have done) to explain as natural
occurrences, the Scripture narratives of miracles, saying that a
sick man happened luckily to recover just at the critical moment
when Jesus spoke to him, &c, he should be told to estimate
the chances against such an accidental coincidence in each sepa-
rate instance, and then to multiply together these chances, and
take the product as the amount of improbability of all the in-
stances beino; the result of chance: and he would find them to
amount to so many millions to one, that every man in his
senses would pronounce that the whole is a moral impossibil-
ity.

Cumulative proofs occur continually in Natural Theology:
as when, for instance, we find several distinct indications of de-
sign, all tending to one common end. Take as an example, the
case of lactation in all animals of the Class ' Mammalia :'

1. Milk is a suitable aliment for the young offspring :,

2. It is secreted not by both sexes (though this would have
been compatible with the preservation of the Species) but by
the one which bears the young:

3. It is not, in most animals, constant, but is produced just
when it is wanted :

4. The secretion is accelerated by the presence of the young;
and is (in most animals) suppressed if the young be altogether
withdrawn :

5. The milk is obtained by suction ; to which the young is
directed by instinct :

6. The pressure of the atmosphere (of which the young
animal can know nothing) is accomodated to the act of suc-
tion :

7. It is a relief and gratification to the mother to be milked ;
and she is directed by the instinct of parental affection — the
Storge — to protect and cherish the young.

Now here are seven distinct provisions, all tending to one
object; and after judging what are the chances against each
one of these being a mere accident, and expressing this as a
Fraction, we should then multiply these together ; and the pro-

Chap, viii.] Annotations. 397

duct will denote the amount of improbability of all of them
together being accidental. 1

This is a rule which every one is, to a certain extent, familiar
with. If, for instance, you saw a stone thrown, and striking a
certain object, you would not thence conclude at once that this
object was aimed at. The stone might have been thrown at
random. But if you saw a second, and a third, and a fourth,
all strike the same object, this would cause a continually in-
creasing belief that they were so aimed. And if you saw a
hundred all strike the same object, this would afford a moral
certainty that such was the aim. For though a stone thrown
at random must hit some spot, there are many chances against
any one spot rather than some other.

In like manner, if there be ten witnesses, — every one of
them — suppose — wholly unworthy of credit, — all giving the
same, detailed account of some occurrence, then (if it be quite
certain that they could have had no concert) we should believe
them. The rational procedure would be, to consider, in respect
of each of them, not what are the chances of his speaking
truth, or falsehood, but what are the chances against his fabri-
cating that particular story ; and then, by multiplying all these
together, to compute the chances against all these witnesses
happening to hit on the same fictitious story. 2

Each witness's testimony is, in this case, supposed to go for
nothing, as long as he stands alone : for though the probability
of his having fabricated that particular tale be — suppose j^,
there is just an equal probability of any other tale. But when
two such witnesses concur, the probability of a cA#nc<?-concur-
rence is only r ^„ ; and if there are three agreeing, j-^o o? & c -

There is, however, much confusion of thought in some minds
on this subject. In particular, it is not uncommon to find

1 See Lessons on Mind, L. xviii.

2 To invalidate the credibility of each single witness, or the force of each argu-
ment — taken separately, and then to infer the same respecting all of them collec-
tively — is what logicians call The ' fallacy of Composition.' — (See Elements of Logic.)

' This, and that, the other proof, is insufficient :

All the proofs are this, that, and the other : therefore

All are insufficient.'
' Man can subsist without animal-food : and
Man can subsist without vegetable food :

All food is animal and vegetable : therefore

Man can subsist without food.'

398 Evidences of Christianity. [Part III.

men confounding together the two questions,— whether a cer-
tain proposition is true — and whether it is proved by the par-
ticular argument before us. This blunder I have known to
occur in a published work ; in which it was assumed, that if
there be some indication in the style of a certain book that it
was written by such and such an author, and this probability
be estimated at f, this implies that there is a probability
amounting to f that it was written by some other person :
though, of this, there is not a tittle of evidence. It did not
occur to the Writer, that if the probability had amounted, not
to f but to — i. e., if the reason had been utterly worthless —
this would, by his rule, establish the opposite conclusion !

It would be a very easy process, certainly, though not very
satisfactory, to prove in this way, any thing whatever; by
merely advancing a worthless argument on the other side !

In reality, an argument that is altogether worthless, proves
nothing at all either way. And one that goes to establish but
a small degree of probability, is, of course, not, of itself, con-
vincing : though an accumulation of slight probabilities may
even amount to a moral certainty. In such a Galaxy of
evidence, however, we cannot distinguish the lustre <$ each
particular star. And the combined effect is, by some minds,
hardly perceived.

But what tends to confuse some men's thoughts on this
point is, that in some cases we do — reasonably — infer some-
thing from the bringing forward of weak arguments, omd no
others, and the producing exclusively of worthless testimony.
But the inference is drawn not from the arguments and the
witnesses themselves, but from the absence of others, when
there is good reason to suppose that better evidence would
have been produced, had any existed.

If, e. g., a number of learned and ingenious scholars set
themselves to find objections to some version of Scripture, and,
after much time and labor, bring forward merely the feeblest
cavils, this affords a strong presumption that the version is a
good one. But this inference is drawn, not from the objections
themselves, but from the probability that such men would
have found valid objections had it been open to any.

So, also, when a man of so much acuteness and research
as Hume sets himself to find, in all history, parallels to the

Chap, viii.] Annotations. 399

Scripture-miracles, and produced (as Paley has pointed out)
such only as are quite different in all the essential points, it is
justly inferred that no parallels do exist; but this is inferred
not from the instances Hume does adduce, but from our know-
ledge of his ability and learning, and anti-christian zeal ; which
render it morally certain that if there had been any cases that
were really to his purpose, he would have found them.

Now let any one, not deficient in good sense, or in candor,
compare the Gospel history with such tales as Hume, or any
others, have sought out as parallels to it. The first Christians
were very unlike enthusiasts, and still less were the men with
whom they had to deal such as could be won by mere enthu-
siam. And if we will only allow the Christians to speak for
themselves, the Gospel, and Acts, of Luke alone, will show us
that they had very sound notions of the sort of proof which
can establish facts, and of the necessity of such proof. Twelve
men were the prime witnesses of the Resurrection ; their qual-
ifications, that they had known Jesus during his whole public
life, and had eaten and drunk, and familiarly conversed with
Him for forty days after his rising again. Christianity, from
the first, at least pretended, and believed itself, to stand upon
the evidence of testimony, not on preconceived fancies.

With these pretensions then, it arose in an enlightened and
skeptical age, but among a despised and narrow-minded people.
It earned hatred and persecution at home by its liberal genius
and opposition to the national prejudices. It earned contempt
abroad by its connection with the country where it was born,
but which sought to strangle it in its birth. Emerging from
Judsea, it made its way outward through the most polished re-
gions of the world — Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, Rome ; and in
all it attracted notice, and provoked hostility. Successive mas-
sacres, and attempts at extermination, prosecuted for ages by
the whole force of the Roman empire, it bore without resist-
ance, and seemed to draw fresh vigor from the axe ; but as-
saults, in the way of argument, from whatever quarter, it was
never ashamed or unable to repel ; and, whether attacked or
not, it was resolutely aggressive. In four centuries it had per-
vaded the civilized world, it had mounted the throne of the
Caesars, it had spread beyond the limits of their sway, and had
made inroads upon barbarian nations whom their eagles hadnev-

400 Evidences of Christianity. [Pt. III. Ch. viii.

er visited. It had gathered all genius and all learning into itself,
and made the literature of the world its own. It survived the
inundation of the barbarian tribes, and conquered the world
once more, by converting its conquerors to the faith. It sur-
vived an age of barbarism. It survived the restoration of let-
ters. It survived an age of free inquiry and skepticism, and
has long stood its ground in the field of argument, and com-
manded the intelligent assent of the greatest minds that ever
were. It has been the parent of civilization, and the nurse of
learning ; and if light and humanity and freedom be the boast
of modern Europe, it is to Christianity that she owes them.
Exhibiting in the life of Jesus a picture, varied and minute, of
the perfect human united with the divine, in which the mind
of man has not been able to find a deficiency or detect a blem-
ish — a picture copied from no model, and rivalled by no copy
— it has satisfied the moral wants of mankind; it has accomo-
dated itself to every period and every clime ; — and it has re-
tained, through every change, a salient spring of life, which
enables it to throw off corruption and repair decay, and renew
its youth, amid outward hostilities and inward divisions. Yet
this religion, and all its moral miracles, — this mighty rmpulse
which, no time or space can check or exhaust — proceeds, if we
believe Strauss and his admirers, from a Myth casually pro-
duced in the fancies of some Galilean peasants. The moral
world of modern civilization has sprung from the fortuitous
concourse of some atoms of Mythology in the brains of unknown
Somebodies !

INDEX.

Accounts, distinction between two kinds of, 184.

Analogy, illustration of the argument from, 35.

Anti-Christians, change which has taken place among, 29.

Apostles, difficulties encountered by the, 48; writings of the, 61;
free from pecuniary views (see note), 65 ; evidence to the suffer-
ings of, 76 ; incidental evidence drawn from the letters of, 89 ;
erroneous opinions imputed to, 339 ; silence of, respecting chris-
tian miracles, 359.

Apostolic history, general reality of the, 77.

Austerities, not enjoined by Christ, 236.

Barnabas, Epistle of, contrast to our own Scriptures, 367.
Beattie, testimony of, to the fairness of the Evangelists, 254.

Catalogues, formal, of the Scriptures, 171.

Celsus, attacks made by, on the Scriptures, 166.

Character, heroic and christian, differences between the, 223.

Christ, histories of, 57 ; his pretensions, by what maintained, 81 ; use
of the word in the Gospels, 110; spirit actuating, 237 ; character
of, 242; originality of the character of, 266.

Christian, use of the word in the Gospels, 110.

Christians, early, conclusions respecting the, 46 ; evidence for the vol-
untary sufferings of the, 51 ; account of the exertions of the, 63 ;
religious rites of the, identical with ours, 93 ; concurrence of the,
in the canon of Scripture, 118 ; Scriptures appealed to by the, 156 ;
observation by the, of the gospel rule of life, 229 ; error imputed
to by the, 340.

Christianity, position assumed by the opponents of, 2 ; profession of, in
a non-natural sense, 3 ; propagation of, difficulties likely to attend
the, 39 ; teachers of, difference between them and philosophers,

402 INDEX.

42 ; primitive condition of, 57 ; inference that the original story
of, was miraculous, 83 ; aggregate authority of the written eviden-
ces of, 105; recapitulation of arguments for the truth of, 177;
direct historical evidence of, 181 ; auxiliary evidences of, 208 ;
qualities in, 241 ; propagation of, considered, 302 ; propagation of,
compared with modern missions, 319 ; resemblances and differen-
ces between, and Mahometanism, 324 ; connexion of, with the
Jewish history, 343 ; rejection of, by the Jews and heathen, 347 ;
evidence to the truth of, on what dependent, 370 ; supposed effects
of, 375 ; foundation of, upon testimony, 399.

Civilization, introduction of, how to be accounted for, 20.

Clement, epistle of, examined, 122.

Coincidences, undesigned, 295.

Commentaries, ancient, 152.

Controversy, ancient, topics of, 156.

Credulity and incredulity the same mental quality, 34.

Cumulative proofs, nature of, 395 ; confusion respecting, exemplified,
397.

Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, his testimony examined, 138.

Death and the Resurrection, how to be considered, 392.

Dionysius, reference by him to Clement's epistle, 123 ; testimony o£

examined, 138.
Discourses, our Lord's, considered, 231.

Dispensation, the christian, compared with the order of nature, 368.
Doctors, Jewish, expositions of, 238.

Enthusiasts, religious and anti-religious, curious anomalies exhibited

by, 31.
Epistles, purpose of the, 107.

Eucharist, the, account of the institution of the, 253.
Eusebius, testimony of, examined, 139.
Evangelists, the honesty of the, 248 ; testimonies to the fairness of the,

254 ; particular design of the, 338.
Evidence, miraculous, illustration of, 19 ; the direct historical, of

Christianity, 37 ; direct, of sufferings undergone by the early

Christians, 63 ; miraculous, the foundation of the argument for

Christianity, 83.
Evidences, christian, desirability of the study of, 4.
Evil, existence of, difficulty respecting the, 374.
Experience, force of, as an objection to miracles, 14.

INDEX. 403

Fathers, the apostolic, silence of the, about christian miracles, 362.
Formularies, none drawn up by the Apostles, 96.
Frauds, pious, 190.

Gospels, title of the, to credit, 99 ; genuineness of any one of the, a
guarantee for the truth of the religion, 103 ; parallelisms in the,
conclusion to be drawn from, 104; genuineness of the, a point
of importance, 109; considered as compositions, 112; ancient
MS. versions of the, 115; ascription of the, to their authors, 118 ;
distinguished by appropriate names, 147 ; when first publicly
read, 149; argument in favor of the, from opponents, 170; selec-
tion of our present, not arbitrary, 173; reception of the, by the
early Christians, 179; morality of the, considered, 220; politics,
absent from the, 239 ; omission in, of particulars relating to
the invisible world, 246 ; candor of the writers of the, 248 ;
discrepancies between the, 336 ; in what the characteristics of
the, consist, 388.

Gregory, Bishop of Neocsesarea, and others, testimony of, examined,
138.

Heathens, testimony of, 51.

Hegesippus, testimony of, examined, 131.

Heretics, ancient, appeals by, to the Scriptures, 156.

Hermas, quotation from, 74 ; antiquity of, 125 ; read in the early

churches, 151.
Histories, distinction between two kinds of, 182.
History, distinction between naked, and books, combined with an

institution, 185 ; the gospel, its contrast to all so-called parallels,

399.
Hume, his view of miracles, 15; his alleged parallels considered, 201;

reference to his parallels, 398.

Identification of our Scriptures with the original story, 85.

Ignatius, epistles of, 126.

Impossibility, a physical, meaning attached to the term, 27.

Improbability arising from want of experience, 14.

Irenseus, evidence of, 131.

Isaiah, chap, liii., considered, 208.

Jerusalem, prophecy respecting, 217, 219.
Jesus, life assumed by the followers of, 78.

404 INDKX.

Jewish books, references to, (see note) 88.

Jews, the treatment of their religion by Christ, 237 ; their national
temper, 238 ; absurd charges brought against, 353.

John, St., differences and agreements between him and the other Evan-
gelists, 257.

Josephus, silence of, and omissions in, how to be accounted for, 86.

Judea, feeling of the Roman government in, towards Christianity, 40.

Julian, the Emperor, his attacks on the Scriptures, 169.

Justin Martyr, examination into his writings, 129.

Knowledge, christian, want of universality in, 367.
Koran, argument for the genuineness of the, 250 ; sole reference in the,
to a miracle, 325.

Lardxer, Dr., his argument for the honesty of the Evangelists, 254.

Luke, St., chap, xxi., considered, 213.

Lyons and Vienne, epistle to the churches of, 131.

Magnetism, animal, 207.

Mahomet, religion of, 324.

Man, every civilized, a monument of a revelation, 17.

Martial, testimony of, 55 ; conjectural emendation of a passage in, 56.

Milman, Dean, quotation from, 48.

Miracles, argument for, probability of, 12; a modern objection to,
considered, 13 ; as viewed by Hume, 15 ; annotation on his
statement with regard to, 32 ; sufferings voluntarily undergone
by the witnesses of the, 37 ; tone in which they are spoken of 1>\
the apostles, 61 ; proof that they were at the outset admitted by
the Jews, 84; distinguished from false perceptions, 190; tenta-
tive, 193; doubtful, 195; alleged, performed by Vespasian, 201 ;
not appealed to by early christian writers, 359 ; references to, by
ancient christian apologists, 363.

Morality, not a subject of discovery, 221.

Mortality, man's, grounds for inferring, 28.

Mosaic institution, assumption by Christ of its divine origin, 345.

Narrative, the christian, material parts of, preserved, 92
Nature and revelation, reasons for the study of, 9.
Nature, the course of, in what it consists, 18.
Neologists, German, hypothesis of some, refuted, 110.

INDEX. 405

New Testament, omissions in the, 96; its style and language, 116;
apocryphal books of the, 173; naturalness of some of the things
related in the, 254; mixed nature of the allusions in the, 270;
writers of the, their knowledge of public affairs, 290.

Objection, a modern, to miracles, considered, 13; against St. Luke,

considered, 290.
Old Testament, authority of, considered, 343.
Origen, testimony of, examined, 137.

Paine, Tom, remarks of, confuted, 113.

Paley, fundamental error of, 245 ; observation of, concerning sleep,

considered, 395 ; evidence adduced by, cumulative, 395.
Parables, the, considered, 234.
Paris, Abbe, miracles alleged to have been wrought at the tomb of,

205.
Particularity a mark of truth in history, 185.
Paul, St., history of, 69.

Perceptions, false, distinguished from miracles, 190.
Persecution, evil of, in what it chiefly consists, 382 ; as practised by

votaries of Christianity, 383.
Persecutors, conscientious, 379.
Pliny, the younger, epistle of, 54.
Polycarp, epistle of, 127.

Porphyry, attacks made by, on the Scriptures, 168.
Positivists, doctrine held by, 30; specimen of the style assumed by,

30.
Possession, demoniacal, Paley's reasoning respecting, 343.
Prayer, the Lord's, 235.

Preachers, early, of Christianity, difficulties of, 41.
Predictions, miraculous, 199.
Principle, an immaterial, notion of, 393.
Prophecy, 208 ; points requisite to establish the claims of, 217.

Rationalists, language used by, 200.

Religion, the Jewish, character of the, 39 ; changes in, not patronized
by infidels, 43 ; considered an affair of state by the ancient
heathen, 44 ; the christian influence of, considered, 376 ; order
to be observed in inquiries into, 383.

Resurrection, the, effects of spreading the story of the, 47 ; the evan-
gelists' account of the, 249 ; history of the, 298.

406 INDEX.

Retz, Cardinal de, alleged rniracle related by, 204.

Revelation, in what manner it must be made, 12 ; the christian, alleged
want of clearness in, 367 ; probable consequences of overpowering
evidence in, 3*71 ; the only question to be asked respecting, 391.

Romans, feelings entertained by the, on the overthrow of their reli-
gious system, 47.

Scripture history, testimony of the, 76.

Scripture, confirmed by independent accounts, 269.

Scriptures, identification of our, with the original story, 84 ; authenti-
city of the, 115 ; acknowledged by all parties in the early churches,
159 ; an early subject of inquiry, 162 ; the historical, attacked by
the early adversaries of Christianity, 166.

Sects, the mythic and naturalistic, 3.

Son of Man, application of the term, 262.

Southcote, Joanna, case of, 198.

Stand-point, the, of the early Christians, 81.

Stories, distinction between two kinds of, 187 ; exaggerated, trans-
formed into miracles, 196.

Story, the christian, principal part of, fixed from the beginning, 93 ;
arguments for the truth of, 388. ^

Strauss, passage in his Leben Jesu, referred to, 268.

Symbol, the, of our religion, how regarded by the ancient heathens,
50.

Teaching, Christ's manner of, 231.

Tertullian, testimony of, examined, 135.

Testimonies, early, to the titles given to the Gospels, 147 ; ancient, to
the public reading of the Gospels, 149; heathen, to Christ's char-
acter, 242.

Testimony, points to be attended to in examining, 57 ; specific, of vari-
ous writers, examined, 141.

Theology, natural, cumulative proofs in, 396.

Theudas, reference to, 292.

Thoughts, control of the, as laid down in the Gospel, 226.

Toldoth Jesrhn, reference to the, 84 ; passage in, considered, 302.

Toleration, true principles of, little understood by Pliny and others, 43.

Tradition, oral and written, correspondency of, in the time of Irenseus,
133.

Tree of life, in what its virtue may have consisted, 28.

Truth, historical, particularity a mark of, 1 85.

INDEX. 407

Victorin, testimony of, examined, 139.

Writers, anti-christian, their starting point, 26 ; heathen, testimony
of, 51 ; Jewish, testimony borne by, to the scriptural accounts, 80 ;
early christian, the Gospels and Acts alluded to by, 121 ; heathen,
their silence respecting Christianity, 354.

Writings, forged christian, 117 ; early apocryphal, 173 ; prophetic, 390.

THE END.

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