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Title: Evidences of Christianity

Author: William Paley

Release Date: January 24, 2005  [eBook #14780]
[Date last updated: February 9, 2006]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)


***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY***


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EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY

by

WILLIAM PALEY, D.D.

A New Edition

London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street

1851







THE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND

JAMES YORK, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF ELY

My LORD,

When, five years ago, an important station in the University of
Cambridge awaited your Lordship's disposal, you were pleased to offer it
to me. The circumstances under which this offer was made demand a public
acknowledgment. I had never seen your Lordship; I possessed no
connection which could possibly recommend me to your favour; I was known
to you only by my endeavour, in common with many others, to discharge my
duty as a tutor in the University; and by some very imperfect, but
certainly well-intended, and, as you thought, useful publications since.
In an age by no means wanting in examples of honourable patronage,
although this deserve not to be mentioned in respect of the object of
your Lordship's choice, it is inferior to none in the purity and
disinterestedness of the motives which suggested it.

How the following work may be received, I pretend not to foretell. My
first prayer concerning it is, that it may do good to any: my second
hope, that it may assist, what it hath always been my earnest wish to
promote, the religious part of an academical education. If in this
latter view it might seem, in any degree, to excuse your Lordship's
judgment of its author, I shall be gratified by the reflection that, to
a kindness flowing from public principles, I have made the best public
return in my power.

In the mean time, and in every event, I rejoice in the opportunity here
afforded me of testifying the sense I entertain of your Lordship's
conduct, and of a notice which I regard as the most flattering
distinction of my life.

                I am, MY LORD,
        With sentiments of gratitude and respect,
            Your Lordship's faithful
                And most obliged servant,

WILLIAM PALEY.





CONTENTS

Preparatory Considerations--Of the antecedent Credibility of Miracles.

PART 1.

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

Proposition stated

PROPOSITION I.

That there is satisfactory Evidence, that many professing to be original
Witnesses of the Christian Miracles passed their Lives in Labours,
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 submitted, from the same Motives, to
new Rules of Conduct.

CHAPTER I

Evidence of the Suffering of the first Propagators of Christianity, from
the Nature of the Case.

CHAPTER II

Evidence of the Sufferings of the first Propagators of Christianity,
from Profane Testimony.

CHAPTER III

Indirect Evidence of the Sufferings of the first Propagators of
Christianity, from the Scriptures and other ancient Christian Writings.

CHAPTER IV

Direct Evidence of the same.

CHAPTER V

Observations upon the preceding Evidence.

CHAPTER VI

That the Story for which the first Propagators of Christianity suffered
was miraculous.

CHAPTER VII

That it was, in the main, the Story which we have now proved by indirect
Considerations.

CHAPTER VIII

The same proved from the Authority of our Historical Scriptures.

CHAPTER IX

Of the Authenticity of the historical Scriptures, in eleven Sections


SECT. 1 Quotations of the historical Scriptures by ancient Christian
        Writers.
SECT. 2 Of the peculiar Respect with which they were quoted.
SECT. 3 The Scriptures were in very early Times collected into a
        distinct Volume.
SECT. 4 And distinguished by appropriate Names and Titles of Respect.
SECT. 5 Were publicly read and expounded in the religious Assemblies of
        the early Christians.
SECT. 6 Commentaries, &c., were anciently written upon the Scriptures.
SECT. 7 They were received by ancient Christians of different Sects and
        persuasions.
SECT. 8 The four Gospels, 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 of our present Canon.
SECT. 9 Our present Gospels were considered by the adversaries of
        Christianity as containing the Accounts upon which the Religion
        was founded.
SECT. 10 Formal Catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published, in
         all which our present Gospels were included.
SECT. 11 The above Propositions cannot be predicated of those Books
         which are commonly called Apocryphal Books of the New
         Testament.

Recapitulation.

CHAPTER X.

OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS
DISTINGUISHED 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.

CHAPTER II

Consideration of some specific Instances


PART II.

OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY,

CHAPTER I

Prophecy

CHAPTER II

The Morality of the Gospel

CHAPTER III

The Candour of the Writers of the New Testament

CHAPTER IV

Identity of Christ's Character

CHAPTER V

Originality of our Saviour's Character

CHAPTER VI

Conformity of the Facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in
Scripture with the State of things in these Times, as represented by
foreign and independent Accounts.

CHAPTER VII

Undesigned Coincidences.

CHAPTER VIII

Of the History of the Resurrection.

CHAPTER IX

Of the Propagation of Christianity.
SECT. 2 Reflections upon the preceding Account.
SECT. 3 Of the Religion of Mahomet.


PART III

A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

CHAPTER I

The Discrepancies between the several Gospels.

CHAPTER II

Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles.

CHAPTER III

The Connection of Christianity with the Jewish History.

CHAPTER IV

Rejection of Christianity.

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.

CHAPTER VI

Want of Universality in the Knowledge and Reception of Christianity, and
of greater Clearness in the Evidence.

CHAPTER VII

Supposed effects of Christianity.

CHAPTER VIII

Conclusion.





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, 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 counsel 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 by their
behaviour in the first state, by which suppose (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 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 him with it?

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

I wish it, however, to be correctly understood, in what manner, and to
what extent, this argument is alleged. We do not assume the attributes
of the Deity, or the existence of a future state, 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 surmount. And
for the purpose of maintaining this assertion, we contend, that the
incredibility of miracles related to have been wrought in attestation of
a message from God, conveying intelligence of a future state of rewards
and punishments, and teaching mankind how to prepare themselves for that
state, is not in itself greater than the event, call it either probable
or improbable, of the two following propositions being true: namely,
first, that a future state of existence should be destined by God for
his human creation; and, secondly, that, being so destined, he should
acquaint them with it. It is not necessary for our 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 further
improbable than they are improbable), ought to be rejected at first
sight, and to be rejected by whatever strength or complication of
evidence they be attested.

This is the prejudication 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 to any great degree, to be a fair answer to the
whole objection.

But since it is an objection which stands in the very threshold our
argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to every proof, and to all future
reasoning upon the subject, it may be necessary, before we proceed
further, 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 "experience," and in the
phrases, "contrary to experience," or "contradicting 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
asserted, 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 assertion is contrary to experience
properly so called; and this is a contrariety which no evidence can
surmount. It matters nothing, whether the fact be of a miraculous
nature, or not. But although this be the experience, and the
contrariety, which Archbishop 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 anything similar to the thing related, or such
things not being generally experienced by others. I say "not generally"
for to state concerning the fact in question, that no such thing was
ever experienced, 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 on
the first promulgation of Christianity, when nothing but miracles could
decide its authority, is it certain that such miracles would be repeated
so often, and in so many places, as to become objects of general
experience? 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? And yet this probability is the exact converse, and
therefore the exact measure, of the improbability which arises from the
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 experiment in
natural philosophy; because, when these are related, it is expected
that, under the same circumstances, the same effect will follow
universally; and in proportion as this expectation is justly
entertained, the want of a corresponding experience negatives the
history. But to expect concerning a miracle, that it should succeed upon
a repetition, is to expect that which would make it cease to be a
miracle, which is contrary to its nature as such, and would totally
destroy the use and purpose for which it was wrought.

The force of experience as an objection to miracles is founded in the
presumption, either that the course of nature is invariable, or that, if
it be ever varied, variations will be frequent and general. Has the
necessity of this alternative been demonstrated? Permit us to call the
course of nature the agency of an intelligent Being, and is there any
good reason for judging this state of the case to be probable? Ought we
not rather to expect that such a Being, on occasions of peculiar
importance, may interrupt the order which he had appointed, yet, that
such occasions should return seldom; that these interruptions
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 inadequate 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 Deity; of whose existence and power,
not to say of whose Presence and agency, we have previous and
independent 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 ease 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 testimony 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 importance of that end, and its subserviency to the plan pursued in
the work of nature. As Mr. Hume has represented the question, 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 occasion 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 admired, which is not
inconsistent with the principles that regulate 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 proposed 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 sure 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 rumour 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
with one voice to acknowledge that there existed any falsehood or
imposture in the case: if this threat were communicated to them
separately, yet with no different effect; if it was at last executed; if
I myself saw them, one after another, consenting to be racked, burnt, or
strangled, rather than live 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 sceptic 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 endeavoured 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.





PART I.

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

The two propositions which I shall endeavour to establish are these:

I. That there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be
original witnesses of the Christian miracles passed their lives in
labours, 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.

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

The first of these prepositions, 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
witness of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their of
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 associates and immediate
followers, acted the part which the proposition imputes to them:
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 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. Now 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 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 say that this mode of
life is without enjoyment, but I say that the enjoyment springs from
sincerity. With a consciousness at the bottom of hollowness 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 most
tempers of cheerful society and cheerful scenes, or the desire, which is
common to all, of personal ease and freedom, but conviction.

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 effected in
the condition of their country, by the agency of a long-promised
messenger from heaven.* 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 and
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 pleasing
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.

_________

* "Pererebuerat oriento toto vetus et contans opinio, esse in fatis, ut
eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum potirsatur." Sueton. Vespasian. cap.
4--8.

"Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo
ipso tempore fore, ut valesecret oriens, profectique Judaea rerum
potirentur." Tacit. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9--13.
_________


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 law, saw in them a great deal of
virtue and efficacy; the gross and vulgar had scarcely anything else;
and the hypocritical and ostentatious magnified them above measure, as
being the instruments of their own reputation and influence. The
Christian 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 prescribed, 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
characters 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 of ritual 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 will not be disputed. 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, or 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 severity, upon the schisms and controversies
which arose within it. Yet there was that in Christianity which might
easily afford a handle of accusation with a jealous government. The
Christians avowed an unqualified obedience to a new master. They avowed
also that he was the person who had been foretold to the Jews under the
suspected title of King. The spiritual nature of this kingdom, the
consistency of this obedience with civil subjection, were distinctions
too refined to be entertained by a Roman president, who viewed the
business at a great distance, or through the medium of very hostile
representations. Our histories accordingly inform us, that this was the
turn which the enemies of Jesus gave to his character and pretensions 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 distinguishing that we mean a human kingdom, when in truth we
speak of that which is with God."* And it was undoubtedly a natural
source of calumny and misconstruction.

_________

* Ap. Ima p. 16. Ed. Thirl.
_________


The preachers of Christianity had, therefore, 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 whose favour they made no
pretensions, and which was constantly surrounded by their enemies. The
well-known, because the experienced, fate of reformers, whenever the
reformation subverts some reigning opinion, and does not proceed upon a
change that has already taken place in the sentiments of a country, will
not allow, much less lead us to suppose that the first propagators of
Christianity at Jerusalem and in Judea, under the difficulties and the
enemies they had to contend with, and entirely destitute as they were of
force, authority, or protection, could execute their mission with
personal ease and safety.

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 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 competitor for a place
in the Pantheon, whose pretensions might he discussed or asserted
without questioning the reality of any others: it was pronouncing all
other gods to be false, and all other worship vain. From 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 publishers
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 societies professing their tenets; to provide for
the order, instruction 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.*
These things are what the Christians did, and what the philosophers did
not; and in these consisted the activity and danger of the enterprise.

_________

* The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus,
allowed, or rather enjoined, men to worship the gods of the country, and
in the established form. See passages to this purpose collected from
their works by Dr. Clarke, Nat. and Rev. Rel. p. 180. ed. v--Except
Socrates, they all thought it wiser to comply with the laws than to
contend.
_________


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 licence of the
populace, the rashness of some magistrates and 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 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 magistrate, 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
foremost 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, not withstanding the reigning
scepticism, 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 further in his sentiments of moderation and
equity than what appears in the following rescript:--"The 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 these
persons, but "a bad and excessive superstition," accompanied, it seems,
with an oath or 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 country has always many votaries, and sometimes not the fewer,
because its origin is hidden in remoteness and obscurity. Men have a
natural veneration for antiquity, 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 was also a splendid and sumptuous worship. It had its priesthood, its
endowments, its temples. Statuary, painting, architecture, 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 anything 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 drew 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." On 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 philosopher as
equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful:" and I would ask
from which of 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 philosopher, who, "considering
all religious 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
proselytism 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 institutions
from our infancy, it is what we neither experience 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 the 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!

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 are 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 behaviour 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 anything almost sooner than to change
their habit of life, especially when the change is either inconvenient,
or made against the force of natural inclination, or with the loss of
accustomed indulgences. It is the most difficult of all things to
convert men from 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.*
It is almost like making men over again.

_________

* Hartley's Essays on Man, p. 190.
_________


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, and authority was concerned in
its first success, I should conclude, from the very nature and exigency
of the case, that the Author of the religion, during his life, and his
immediate disciples after his death, exerted themselves in spreading and
publishing the institution throughout the country in which it began, and
into which it was first carried; that, in the prosecution of this
purpose, they underwent the labours 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, compared 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 licence of the
people, they would oftentimes experience injurious and cruel treatment;
that, at any rate, they must have always had so much to fear for their
personal 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.





CHAPTER II.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

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 on 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 passage 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 particular attention. The
reader will bear in mind that this passage was written about seventy
years 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 himself was concerned in causing it,
the historian proceeds in his narrative and observations thus:--

"But neither these exertions, nor his largesses to the people, nor 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, and inflicted the most
cruel punishments, upon a set of people, who were holden in abhorrence
for their crimes, and called by the vulgar, Christians. The founder of
that name was Christ, who suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, under
his procurator, Pontius Pilate--This pernicious superstition, thus
checked for a while, broke out again; and spread not only over Judea,
where the evil originated, but through Rome also, whither everything bad
upon the 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; for some were disguised
in the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs; some were
crucified; and others were wrapped in pitched shirts,* and set on fire
when the day closed, that they might serve as lights to illuminate the
night. Nero 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 punishments, yet they were considered as sacrificed, not so
much out of a regard to the public good, as to gratify the cruelty of
one man."

_________

* This is rather a paraphrase, but is justified by what the Scholiast
upon Juvenal says; "Nero maleficos homines taeda et papyro et cera
supervestiebat, et sic ad ignem admoveri jubebat." Lard. Jewish and
Heath. Test. vol. i. p. 359.
_________


Our concern with this passage at present is only so far as it affords a
presumption in support of the proposition which we 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 multitudo) were found at Rome. From which fact, the two following
inferences may be fairly drawn: first, that if, in the space of
thirty-four years from its commencement, 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 institution could not have been idle; secondly, that when the Author
of the undertaking was put to death as a malefactor for his attempt, the
endeavours 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 novae et maleficae." (Suet.
Nero. Cap. 16)  "The Christians, a set of men of a new and mischievous
(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 probable 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 exercised under Nero's
government, has the following lines: (Sat. i. ver. 155)

"Pone Tigellinum, taeda lucebis in illa,
Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant,
Et latum media sulcum deducit arena" (Forsan "deducis.")

"Describe Tigellinus (a creature of Nero), 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."

If this passage were considered by itself, the subject of allusion might
be doubtful; but, when connected with the testimony 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 has already been observed, took place within thirty-one
years after Christ's death, that is, according to the course of nature,
in the life-time, probably, of some of the apostles, and certainly in
the life-time 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 to
the religion, many of them, suffered the greatest extremities for their
profession; it is hardly credible, that those who came 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 enim
civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam 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 has been already
noticed, and, which I think of importance to be observed, namely, the
sufferings to which Christians were exposed, without 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 on the subject, his requesting the emperor's rescript,
and the emperor, agreeably 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 in force against the
Christians. Yet from this same epistle of Pliny it appears "that
accusations, 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 favouring 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 danger: and yet
this took place without any edict from the Roman sovereign, commanding
or authorizing the persecution of Christians. This observation is
further confirmed by a rescript of Adrian to Minucius Fundanus, the
proconsul of Asia (Lard. Heath. Test. vol. ii. p. 110): 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 recognised in the edict, because 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 clamour.

Martial wrote a few years before the younger Pliny: and, as his manner
was, made the suffering of the Christians the subject of his ridicule.

In matutina nuper spectatus arena
Mucius, imposuit qui sua membra focis,
Si patiens fortisque tibi durusque videtur,
Abderitanae pectora plebis habes;
Nam cum dicatur, tunica praesente molesta,
Ure* manum: plus est dicere, Non facio.

*Forsan "thure manum."

Nothing, however, could show the 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 martyrdom in the strictest sense, that is to say, were so
voluntary, that it was in their power, at the time of pronouncing the
sentence, 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 Galileans?"  "Let this preparation of the mind (to die)
arise from its own judgment, and not from obstinacy like the
Christians." (Epict. I. iv. C. 7.) (Marc. Aur. Med. 1. xi. c. 3.)





CHAPTER III.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed there lives in labours,
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.

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 transaction 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, labours, 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; forasmuch 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 preparatory 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, notwithstanding, set forth at this same city of Jerusalem,
propagated 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 took 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 perished? If they had 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." (Matt. xxiv. 9.)

"When affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately
they are offended." (Mark iv. 17. See also chap. x. 30.)

"They shall lay 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 betrayed both by parents and
brethren, and kinsfolks and friends, and some of you shall they cause to
be put to death." (Luke xxi. 12--16. See also chap. xi. 49.)

"The time cometh, that he that killed you will think that he doeth God
service. And these things will they do unto you, 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." (John
xvi. 4. See also chap. xv. 20; xvi. 33.)

I am not entitled to argue from these passages, that Christ actually did
foretell 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 filled 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." (Rom. viii. 35-37.)

"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 faint 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, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, 10, 14, 16,
17.)

"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." (James v. 10, 11.)

"Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were
illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilst ye
were 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 yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an
enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which
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." (Heb.
x. 32-36.)

"So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye
endure. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that
ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom for which ye also suffer." (2
Thess. i. 4, 5.)

"We rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and
patience experience, and experience hope." (Rom. v. 3, 4.)

"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 sufferings.--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." (1 Pet. iv. 12,
13, 19.)

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 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 Christians were exposed to dangers which they were not exposed to,
or underwent 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.





CHAPTER IV.

There is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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 manner in which I am about
to recite it, but dispersedly 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 institution in
Judea and Galilee; that, in order to assist him in this purpose, he made
choice, out of the number of his followers, 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 steadily and constantly attending upon him; that they
were with him at Jerusalem when he was apprehended and put to death; and
that they were commissioned by him, when his own ministry was concluded,
to publish his Gospel, and collect disciples to it from all countries 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 preaching 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; ( Acts i. 12, 22.) 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 baptised in his name." (Acts xi.)

The history goes on to relate, "that considerable numbers accepted this
proposal, and that they who did so formed amongst themselves a strict
union and society; (Acts iv. 32.) 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; 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 undertaking, 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." ( Acts iv.) A very short time after
this, we read "that all the twelve apostles were seized and cast into
prison; ( Acts v. 18.) 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 (Acts v.
42.) 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."*

_________

* 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 whatever. The most
tempting opportunity which occurred of making gain of their converts,
was by the custody and management of the public funds, when some of the
richer members, intending to contribute their fortunes to the common
support of the society, sold their possessions, and laid down the prices
at the apostles' feet. Yet, so insensible or undesirous were they of the
advantage which that 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 elected for the purpose 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 behaviour, 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?"
_________


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, degrade their lawgiver, and dishonour their
temple. (Acts vi. 12.) 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 persecution, the
activity of which may be judged of from one anecdote of the time:--"As
for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
taking men and women committed them to prison." (Acts viii. 3.) This
persecution raged at Jerusalem with so much fury as to drive most of the
new converts out of the place,* except the twelve apostles. The converts
thus "scattered abroad," preached the religion wherever they came; and
their preaching was, 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.

_________

*Acts viii. I. "And they were all scattered abroad;" but the term "all"
is not, I think, to be taken strictly as denoting more than the
generality; in like manner as in Acts ix. 35: "And all that dwelt at
Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord."
_________


An event now took place, of great importance in the future history of
the religion. The persecution which had begun at Jerusalem followed the
Christians to other cities, ( Acts ix.) 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, on 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, on 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 himself 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* which engrossed
the public attention, an intermission 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." (Acts
ix 31.) The original preachers of the religion did not remit their
labours or activity during this season of quietness; for we find one,
and he a very principal person among 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 Poenice,
Cyprus, and Antioch; (Acts xi. 19.) and lastly, we find Jerusalem again
in 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, whence directions were sought, and teachers sent
forth.

_________

* Dr. Lardner (in which he is followed also by Dr. Benson) ascribes the
cessation 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 superseded every other contest.
_________


The time of this tranquillity did not, however, continue long. Herod
Agrippa, who had lately acceded to the government of Judea, "stretched
forth his hand to vex certain of the church." (Acts xii. 1.) 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 miraculously, (Acts xii. 3--17.) 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 mentioned 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, he is careful to
observe that they were brought without violence. When milder counsels
were suggested, he gives us the author of the advice and the speech
which contained it. When, 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
further, the historian candidly and distinctly records their
forbearance. 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 them.

Our history now pursues a narrower path. Leaving the rest of the
apostles, and the original associates of Christ, engaged 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 among the earlier members of
the society at Jerusalem, and amongst the immediate adherents of the
twelve apostles, (Acts iv. 36.) set out from Antioch upon the express
business of carrying the new religion through the various provinces of
the Lesser Asia. (Acts xiii. 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 Iconium. (Acts xiii. 51.) 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. (Acts xiv.
19.) These two men, though not themselves original apostles, were acting
in connection and conjunction with the original apostles; for, after the
completion of their journey, being sent on a particular commission to
Jerusalem, they there related to the apostles (Acts xv. 12--26.) and
elders the events and success of their ministry, and were in return
recommended 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 connected with the common subject of their
labours, they acted as wise and sincere men would act; they did not
retire in disgust from the service in which they were engaged, but, each
devoting his endeavours to the advancement of the religion, they parted
from one another, and set forward upon separate routes. The history goes
along with one of them; and the second enterprise to him was attended
with the same dangers and persecutions 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 Aegean sea, and carries with him, amongst
others, the person whose accounts supply the information we are
stating. (Acts xvi. 11.) 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 the inner dungeon, and their feet made fast in the
stocks. (Acts xvi. 23, 24, 33.) Notwithstanding 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 magistrate for admitting them within his doors. (Acts
xvii. 1--5.) Their reception at the next city was something better: but
neither had they continued long before their turbulent adversaries the
Jews, excited against them such commotions amongst the inhabitants as
obliged the apostle to make his escape by a private journey to
Athens. (Acts xvii. 13.) 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 stir up an
insurrection against him, and to bring him before the tribunal of the
Roman president. (Acts xviii. 12.) It was to the contempt which that
magistrate entertained for the Jews and their controversies, of which he
accounted Christianity to be one, that our apostle owed his
deliverance. (Acts xviii. 15.)

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. (Acts xviii. 22.) It suited not, however, with
the activity of his zeal to remain long at Jerusalem. We find him going
thence to Antioch, and, after some stay there, traversing once more the
northern provinces of Asia Minor. (Acts xviii. 23.) 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 clamour produced a tumult, in which he had
nearly lost his life. (Acts xix. 1, 9, 10.) Undismayed, however, by the
dangers to which he saw himself exposed, he was driven from Ephesus only
to renew his labours in Greece. After passing over Macedonia, he thence
proceeded to his former station at Corinth. (Acts xx. 1, 2.) When he had
formed his design of returning by a direct course from Corinth into
Syria, he was compelled 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 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. (Acts xx. 16.)
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 Roman guard rescued him out of their hands. (Acts
xxi. 27--33.) 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 favour 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. (Acts xxii 24.)

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, (Acts xxv. 9, 11.) he was sent, but not until he had suffered
two years' imprisonment, to Rome. (Acts xxiv. 27.) He reached Italy after
a tedious voyage, and after encountering in his passage the perils of a
desperate shipwreck. (Acts xxvii.) 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 dwell with a soldier that guarded him, "preaching the
kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ, with all confidence."

Now the historian, from whom we have drawn this account, in the part of
his narrative which relates to Saint Paul, is supported by the strongest
corroborating testimony that a history can receive. We are in possession
of letters written by Saint 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 that 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 exhibited of the
apostle's sufferings: and the representation, given in our history, of
the dangers and distresses which he underwent 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 put
down in his narrative, that at Philippi the apostle "was beaten with
many stripes, cast into prison, and there treated with rigour and
indignity;" (Acts xvi. 23, 24.) we find him, in a letter to a
neighbouring church, (I Thess. ii. 2.) 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 relates that, (Acts xvii. 5.)
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 letter to the Christians of Thessalonica,
calls to their remembrance "how they had received the Gospel in much
affliction." (1 Thess. i. 6.) 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, describing his despair, and returning thanks
for his deliverance. (Acts xix. 2 Cor. i. 8--10.) If the history inform
us, that the apostle was expelled from Antioch in Pisidia, attempted to
be stoned at Iconium, and actually stoned at Lystra; there is preserved
a letter from him to a favourite 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." (Acts xiii. 50; xiv. 5, 19. 2 Tim. 10,
11.) 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 labour; (Acts xx. 34.) we find the same
apostle, in a letter written during his residence at Ephesus, asserting
of himself, "that even to that hour he laboured, working with his own
hands." (1 Cor. iv 11, 12.)

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 particular 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 narrative, a companion.

What the epistles of the apostles declare of the suffering state of
Christianity the writings which remain of their companions and immediate
followers expressly confirm.

Clement, who is honourably mentioned by Saint Paul in his epistle to the
Philippians, (Philipp. iv. 3.) hath 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 having 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 course of their faith with firmness." (Clem. ad Cor. c. v. vi. Abp.
Wake's Trans.)

Hermas, saluted by Saint Paul in his epistle to the Romans, in a piece
very little connected with historical recitals, thus speaks: "Such as
have believed and suffered death for the name of Christ, and have
endured with a ready mind, and have given up their lives with all their
hearts." (Shepherd of Hermas, c. xxviii.)

Polycarp, the disciple of John (though all that remains of his works be
a very short epistle), has not left this subject unnoticed. "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, 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."
(Pol. ad Phil c. ix.)

Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, recognises the same topic,
briefly indeed, but positively and precisely. "For this cause, (i. e.
having felt and handled Christ's body at his resurrection, and being
convinced, as Ignatius expresses it, both by his flesh and spirit,) they
(i. e. Peter, and those who were present with Peter at Christ's
appearance) despised death, and were found to be above it." (19. Ep.
Smyr. c. iii.)

Would the reader know what a persecution in those 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
Saint John; and which letter is entitled a relation of that bishop's
martyrdom. "The sufferings (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." (Rel. Mor. Pol. c. ii.)





CHAPTER V.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

On 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 particular 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 suffering persecution in the discharge
of this 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 passages, 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 the
apostles last, as it were, appointed 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 labour, working with
our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;
being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and as
the offscouring of all things unto this day." (I Cor. iv. 9, et seq.)
Add to which, that in the short account that is given of the other
apostles in the former part of the history, and within the short period
which that account comprises, we find, first, two of them seized,
imprisoned, brought before the Sanhedrim, and threatened with further
punishment; (Acts iv. 3, 21.) then, the whole number imprisoned and
beaten; (Acts v. 18, 40.) 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 Founder's death, and the commencement of the institution.

II. We take no credit at present for the miraculous part of the
narrative, nor do we insist upon the correctness 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 we contend for (and which, I repeat
again, is, in itself, highly probable), that the original followers of
Jesus Christ exerted great endeavours to propagate his religion, and
underwent great labours, 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 this 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 themselves, that the religion began to prevail at that time,
and in that country.  It is very difficult to conceive how it could
begin without the exertions of the Founder and his followers, in
propagating the new persuasion. The history now in our hands describes
these exertions, the persons employed, the means and endeavours made use
of, and the labours 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 confessedly placed. It is
admitted that the religion was adverse, in 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. 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. Immediately
after their Master was withdrawn from them, we hear of their "continuing
with one accord in prayer and supplication;" (Acts i. 14.) of their
"continuing daily with one accord in the temple" (Acts ii. 46.) Of "many
being gathered together praying." (Acts xii. 12.) We know that strict
instructions 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 species 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 degree
regarded, they could produce a system of conduct, and, what is more
difficult to preserve, a disposition of mind, and a regulation of
affections, different from anything 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 character, 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 all 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." (Eph. ii 1-3. See also Tit. iii. 3.)--"For the time past of
our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, 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." (1 Pet. iv. 3,
4.) Saint 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." (1
Cor. vi. 11.) In like manner, and alluding to the same change of
practices and sentiments, he asked the Roman Christians, "what fruit
they had in those things, whereof they are now ashamed?" (Rom. vi. 21.)
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 conversion.

The testimony which Pliny bears to the behaviour 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 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 he 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 day, before it was light, and sang 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 are authorised to carry his 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 be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

When we consider, first, the prevalency of the religion at this hour;
secondly, the only credible account which can be given of its origin,
viz. the activity of the Founder and his associates; thirdly, the
opposition which that activity must naturally have excited; fourthly,
the fate of the Founder of the religion, attested by heathen writers,
as well as our own; fifthly, 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 suffering of his followers ascribed to the Founder
of the religion, which ascription alone proves, either that such
predictions 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 labours, dangers, and sufferings, sustained by themselves
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 person still extant,
proving itself to be written by some one well acquainted with the
subject of the narrative, which history contains accounts of travels,
persecutions, and martyrdoms, answering to what the former reasons lead
us to expect: when we lay together these considerations, which taken
separately 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 in 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 persons, in consequence of their persuasion, or pretended
persuasion, 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 themselves to the fatigues and hardships
which they endured was a miraculous story; I mean, that they pretended
to miraculous evidence of some kind or other. They had nothing else to
stand upon. The designation of the person, that is to say, that Jesus of
Nazareth, 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 elevation of fortune, no achievements of
valour, 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 declared to be 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 Nazareth the
person whom we are to receive and obey?" there was nothing but the
miracles attributed to him by which his pretensions 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 interpreted 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 without recurring at every
turn to his miracles, because it set out with supposing these; inasmuch
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, I do not see how the question could ever have been
entertained. Apollos, we read, "mightily convinced the Jews, showing by
the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ;" (Acts xviii. 28.) but unless
Jesus had exhibited some distinction of his person, some proof of
supernatural power, the argument from the old 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 morality, could not have excited so much as a doubt among 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 expectations 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 officiousness,
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 consideration 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 should be grafted upon truth; that, if miracles
were performed at first, miracles should be pretended afterwards; agrees
so well with the ordinary course of human affairs, that we can have no
great difficulty in believing it. The contrary 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.





CHAPTER VII.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

It being then once proved, that the first propagators of the Christian
institution did exert activity, and subject themselves to great dangers
and sufferings, in consequence and for the sake of an extraordinary and,
I think, we may say, of a miraculous story 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? 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 Christianity, or extant within many ages afar 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 thence to distant countries; that the converts were numerous;
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 describe 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 sang
hymns to Christ as to a God; that they bound themselves by an oath not
to commit any crime, but to abstain from theft and adultery, to adhere
strictly to their promises, and not to deny money deposited in their
hands;* that they worshipped him who was crucified 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 common; that they flew to one another's relief; that they
cherished strong hopes of immortality; that they despised death, and
surrendered themselves to sufferings.+

_________

* See Pliny's Letter--Bonnet, in his lively way of expressing himself,
says,--"Comparing Pliny's Letter with the account of 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;
but there is undoubtedly an affinity, and all the affinity that could be
expected.

+ "It is incredible, what expedition they use when any of their friends
are known to be in trouble. In a word, they spare nothing upon such an
occasion;--for these miserable men have no doubt they shall be immortal
and live for ever; therefore they contemn death, and many surrender
themselves to sufferings. Moreover, their first lawgiver has taught them
that they are all brethren, when once they have turned and renounced the
gods of the Greeks, and worship this Master of theirs who was crucified,
and 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 Morte Peregrini, t. i. p. 565, ed. Graev.
_________


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 descending, 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 on
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 he 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. (Antiq. I.
xviii. cap. v. sect. 1, 2.) In another passage allowed by many, although
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." (Antiq. I. xx. cap. ix. sect. 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." (Antiq. I.
xviii. cap. iii. sect 3.) 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 very 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, perhaps not ten, years after Josephus, in
his account of a period in which Josephus was nearly thirty years of
age, tells us, that a vast multitude of Christians were condemned at
Rome; 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 it had reached Rome also:--when Suetonius, an
historian contemporary with Tacitus, relates that, in the time of
Claudius, the Jews were making disturbances at Rome, Christus being
their leader: and that, during the reign of Nero, the Christians were
punished; under both which emperors Josephus lived: when Pliny, who
wrote his celebrated epistle not more than thirty years after the
publication 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 has
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 religion, 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 represent the business, and
disposed of his difficulties by passing it over in silence. Eusebius
wrote the life of Constantine, 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.* Be, however, the fact, or the cause of the
omission in Josephus,+ what it may, no other or different history on the
subject has been given by him, or is pretended to have been given.

_________

* Michaelis has computed, and, as it should seem, fairly enough; that
probably not more than twenty children perished by this cruel
precaution. Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, translated by
Marsh; vol. i. c. ii. sect. 11.

+ There is no notice taken of Christianity in the Mishna, a collection
of Jewish traditions compiled about the year 180; although it contains a
Tract "De cultu peregrino," of strange or idolatrous worship; yet it
cannot be disputed but that Christianity was perfectly well known in the
world at this time. There is extremely little notice of the subject in
the Jerusalem Talmud, compiled about the year 300, and not much more in
the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 500; although both these works are of
a religions nature, and although, when the first was compiled,
Christianity was on the point of becoming the religion of the state,
and, when the latter was published, had been so for 200 years.
_________


But further; the whole series of Christian writers, from the first age
of the institution down to the present, in their discussions, apologies,
arguments, and controversies, proceed upon the general story which our
Scriptures contain, and upon no 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 circumcision; his 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, and burial; his resurrection;
his appearance 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;* 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.+

_________

* 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 be bearing them witness, both
with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy
Ghost?" I allege this epistle without hesitation; 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."

+ Truly the signs of as apostle were wraught among you in all patience,
in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.' 2 Cor. xii. 12.
_________


In an epistle bearing the name of Barnabas, the companion of Paul,
probably genuine, 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, (Ep. Bar. c. vii.) his
resurrection on the eighth, (i. e. the first day of the week,[Ep. Bar.
c. vi.]) 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." (Ep. Bar. c. v.)

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 terms: "The apostles have preached to us
from our Lord Jesus Christ from God:--For, having received their
command, and being thoroughly assured by the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, they went abroad, publishing that the kingdom of God was
at hand." (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xlii.) We find noticed, also, the humility,
yet the power of Christ, (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xvi.) 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
extensive and unwearied travels.

In an epistle of Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, though only a brief
hortatory letter, we have the humility, patience, sufferings,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ, together with the apostolic
character of St. Paul, distinctly recognised. (Pol. Ep. Ad Phil. C. v.
viii. ii. iii.) Of this same father we are also assured, by Irenaeus,
that he (Irenaeus) had heard him relate, "what he had received from
eye-witnesses concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his
doctrine." (Ir. ad Flor. 1 ap. Euseb. l. v. c. 20.)

In the remaining works of Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, larger
than those of Polycarp, (yet, like those of Polycarp, treating of
subjects in nowise leading to any recital of the Christian history,) the
occasional allusions are proportionably 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 circumstantial. He mentions the apostles' eating and
drinking with Christ after he had 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." (Ad Smyr. c. iii.)

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 those that were healed, and those 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." (Ap. Euseb. H. E.
l. iv. c. 3.)

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 recognised 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." (Just. Dial.
cum Tryph. p. 288, ed. Thirl.)

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 these points were fixed, were
received and acknowledged by all Christians 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 reliques 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 improbability, 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 aera. 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 different degrees of credit;
many doctrinal errors also were from time to time grafted into the
public creed; but still the original story remained, and 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 of
the week: we find, and that from information 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 succession: 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
different nations and languages, removed from one another by a 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.*

_________

* The reader who is conversant in these researches, by 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.
_________


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, one arises from observing,
that it appears by the Gospels themselves 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
original cause of the Christian history being believed, but were
themselves among the consequences of that belief. This is expressly
affirmed by Saint Luke, in his brief, but, as I think, very important
and instructive preface:--"Forasmuch (says 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 delivered them 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
wherein 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 Saint John's Gospel the same point
appears 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; "What and if ye shall
see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" (Also John iii. 31;
and xvi. 28.) 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 your God." (John xx. 17.) This can only be accounted for
by the supposition that St. John wrote under a sense of the notoriety of
Christ's ascension, among those by whom his book was likely to be read.
The same account must also be given of Saint 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 necessary 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 introducing 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," (John iii, 24.) 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," (John i. 40.) takes it for granted, that Simon Peter
was well known. His name had not been mentioned before. The evangelist's
noticing the prevailing misconstruction of a discourse, (John xxi. 24.)
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 account 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 resulted from our account; fourthly, our
account bearing in its construction 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. I 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 Christian story. Nor can a doubt of this remain
upon the mind of any one who reflects that the resurrection is, in some
form or other, asserted, referred to, or assumed, in every Christian
writing, 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 labours,
sustained great sufferings, 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 constant
part of this story. I know nothing in the above statement which can,
with any appearance of reason, be disputed; and I know nothing, in the
history of the human species, similar to it.





CHAPTER VIII.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

That the story which we have now is, in the main, the story which the
apostles published, is, I think, nearly certain, from the considerations
which have been proposed. But whether, when we come to the particulars,
and the detail of the narrative, the historical books of the New
Testament be deserving 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 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 the time, to whose house the apostles were wont to resort,
and himself an attendant upon one of the most eminent of that number.
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
scenes 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 subject 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 for this particular purpose) will
find in them not merely a general affirmation of miraculous powers, but
detailed circumstantial accounts of miracles, with specifications of
time, place, and persons; and these accounts many and various. In the
Gospels, therefore, which bear the names of Matthew and John, these
narratives, if they really proceeded 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 mediated falsehoods. Yet the writers who
fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if they be such, are of the
number of those who, unless the whole contexture 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 honour or advantage.

The Gospels which bear the names of Mark and Luke, although not the
narratives of eye-witnesses, are, if genuine, removed from that only by
one degree. They are the narratives of contemporary writers, or 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 amount
Christians came from those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the word; that he had traced accounts up to their source;
and that he was prepared to instruct his reader in the certainty of the
things which he related.* 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.

_________

* Why should not the candid and modest preface of this historian be
believed, as well as that which Dion Cassius prefixes to his Life of
Commodus? "These things and the following I write, not from the report
of others, but from my own knowledge and observation." I see no reason
to doubt but that both passages describe truly enough the situation of
the authors.
_________


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 of facts which the original
preachers of the religion allege. 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,
thenceforth, a new system of opinions, and new rules of action. What is
more in attestation of these accounts, that is, in support of an
institution of which these accounts were the foundation, is, that the
same men voluntarily exposed themselves to harassing and perpetual
labours, 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 facts. I do not
know what information can be more satisfactory 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 sufficiently proved, that the religion now professed among 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 extraordinary 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 at
least that no histories but what had been composed some ages afterwards
had reached our hands; we should have said, and with reason, that we
were willing to believe these under the circumstances in which they
delivered their testimony, but that we did not, at this day, know with
sufficient evidence what their testimony was. Had we received the
particulars 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 Saint Luke were
truly the composition 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 bear 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 sufficient.

If, therefore, we must be considered as encountering the risk of error
in assigning the authors of our books, we are 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, whist it subtracts indeed from their characters 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
disadvantageous supposition possible be made concerning them; let it be
allowed, what I should have no great difficulty in admitting, that Mark
compiled his history almost entirely from those of Matthew and Luke; and
let it also for a moment be supposed that were not, in fact, written by
Matthew and Luke; yet, if it be true that Mark, a contemporary of the
apostles, living, in habits of society with the apostles, a
fellow-traveller and fellow-labourer with some of them; if, I say, it be
true, that this person made the compilation, 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
situation 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 word, 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 nowise incredible, that minutes of some of Christ's
discourses, as well as brief memoirs 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 supposition is perfectly consistent with the acknowledged
formation of St. Luke's narrative, who professes not to write as an
eye-witness, but to have investigated the original of every account
which he delivers: in other words, to have collected them from such
documents and testimonies as he, who had the best opportunities of
making inquiries, judged to be authentic. Therefore, allowing that this
writer also, in some instances, borrowed from the Gospel which we call
Matthew's and once more allowing for the sake of stating the argument,
that that Gospel was not the production 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 source of intelligence; in
other words, whatever supposition be made concerning any or all the
other Gospels, if Saint Luke's Gospel be genuine, we have in it a
credible evidence of the point which we maintain. The Gospel according
to Saint John appears to be, and is on all hands allowed to be, an
independent testimony, strictly and properly so called. Notwithstanding
therefore, any connexion or supposed connexion, between one of the
Gospels, I again repeat what I before said, that if any one of the four
be genuine, 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.

Secondly: 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 Polycap, 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 witness. 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 the same sentiment in first reading the
Gospel of Saint John. That of Saint 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 different 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 these 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 recognising the original story,
agitating the questions that arose out of it, pressing the obligations
which resulted from it, giving advice and directions to these 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 regard the New Testament as one book, we see in it
only one testimony. The whole occurs to us as a single evidence; and its
different parts not as distinct attestations, but as different portions
only of the same. Yet in this conception of the subject we are certainly
mistaken; for the very discrepancies among the several documents which
form our volume prove, if all other proof were wanting, that in their
original composition they were separate, and most of them independent
productions.

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 persecutions, 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
information of the public or of posterity.* 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 proportioned
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 information 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 authorised by the name, and
credit, and situation of the writers, recommended or recognised 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 expected to make
their way into the hands of Christians of all countries of the world.

________

* 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. Hist. 1.
iii. c. 24.--The same consideration accounts also for the paucity of
Christian writings in the first century of its aera.
_________


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 first 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 anything more than incidental allusions to the 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 more
circumstantial information, we have, in the next place, five direct
histories, bearing the names of persons acquainted, by their situation,
with the truth of what they relate, and three of them purporting, 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 are 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 concerning
any other.

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 connection 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 subject, 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 endeavouring to
maintain, this point is not essential; I mean, so essential as 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 possess 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
transactions 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 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),
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 testifieth 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 companion of one, of the original preachers of the religion.





CHAPTER IX.

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
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.

OF THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Not forgetting, therefore, what credit is due to the evangelical
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 forgetting what credit is due to the New Testament in its
capacity of cumulative evidence; we now proceed to state the proper and
distinct 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 manuscripts, 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.* 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 of the world. The existence of
these manuscripts and versions proves that the Scriptures were not the
production of any modern contrivance. It does away also the uncertainty
which hangs over such publications 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. Bentley'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; that is, there never was any
writing, in the preservation and purity of which the world was so
interested or so careful.

_________

* The Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was written
probably in the fourth or fifth century.
_________


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

_________

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


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 concerning
the acknowledged works of Josephus or Philo; that is, there would have
been no 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 Tyanaeus, purporting to be written by Philostratus, was
really written by Philostratus.

IV. If it had been an easy thing in the early times of the institution
to have forged Christian writings, and to have obtained 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 and respect as these: consequently none afforded so great a
temptation 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 an reputation in anywise similar to that
which can be proved to have attended the books of the New Testament,
that it is not so much as mentioned by any writer of the first three
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 Eusebius,* as a piece acknowledged by him, though not without
considerable doubt whether the whole passage be not an interpolation, as
it is most certain, that, after the publication of Eusebius's work, this
epistle was universally rejected.+

_________

* Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 15.
+ Augustin, A.D. 895 (De Consens. Evan. c. 34), had heard that the
Pagans pretended to be possessed of an epistle of 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 Manichees, A.D. 270, and a short
hymn attributed to him by the Priscillianists, A.D. 378 (cont. Faust. Man.
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 on of consideration.
_________


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 first three 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
extraordinary 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; and 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,* 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 the canon of Scripture is remarkable,
and of great weight, especially as it seems to have been the result of
private and free inquiry. We have no knowledge of any interference of
authority in the question before the council of Laodicea in the year
363.  Probably the decree of this council rather declared than regulated
the public judgment, or, more properly speaking, the judgment of some
neighbouring churches; the council itself consisting of no more than
thirty or forty bishops of Lydia and the adjoining countries.+ Nor does
its authority seem to have extended further; 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.

_________

* Col. iv. 14. 2Tim. iv. 11. Philem. 24.
+ Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. P.291, et seq.
_________


These considerations are not to be neglected: but of an argument
concerning the genuineness of ancient writings, the substance,
undoubtedly, and strength, is ancient testimony.

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 names they
bear as we have for believing the Commentaries to be Caesar's, the
Aeneid 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 details of proof
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 the same propositions in so
many distinct sections, with the necessary authorities subjoined to
each.*

_________

* The reader, when he has the propositions before him, will observe that
the argument, if he should omit the sections, proceeds connectedly from
this point.
_________


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 'sui generis'; 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.

VI. 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, thirteen Epistles
of Saint Paul, the first epistle of John, and the first of-Peter, were
received without doubt by those who doubted concerning the other books
which are included in our present canon.

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

X. That formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published; in all
which our present sacred histories were included.

XI. That these propositions cannot be affirmed of any other books
claiming to be books of Scripture; by which are meant those books which
are commonly called apocryphal books of the New Testament.





SECTION I.

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.

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, 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, (Quint, lib. xl. c. l.) that well known trait of
dissembled vanity:--"Si quid est in me ingenii, Judices, quod sentio
quam 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,* the companion of
Paul. It is quoted as the epistle of Barnabas, by Clement of Alexandria,
A.D. CXCIV; by Origen, A.D. CCXXX. It is mentioned by Eusebius, A.D.
CCCXV, and by Jerome, A.D.  CCCXCII, as 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.

_________

* Lardner, Cred. edit. 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; my office consisted
in arrangement and selection.
_________


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, containing these words:--"Many are called, few chosen."
Such a book is our present Gospel of Saint Matthew, in which this text
is twice found, (Matt xx. 16; xxii. 14.) 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 book but what had acquired a kind of
Scriptural authority. If the passage remarked in this ancient writing
had been found in one of Saint Paul's Epistles, it would have been
esteemed by every one a high testimony to Saint Matthew's Gospel. It
ought, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it is
found was probably by very few years posterior to those of Saint Paul.

Beside 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
Saint 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;" (Matt. v. 42.) 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." (Matt. Ix. 13.)

II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement, bishop of
Rome, (Lardner, Cred. vol. p. 62, et seq.) whom ancient writers, without
any doubt or scruple, assert to have been the Clement whom Saint Paul
mentions, Phil. iv. 3; "with Clement also, and other my
fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." This epistle is
spoken of by the ancients as an epistle acknowledged by all; and, as
Irenaeus 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:* Be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it my 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 shall it 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."

_________

* "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matt. v.
7.--"Forgive, 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. 1, 2.
_________


Again; "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for he said, Woe 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."*

_________

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


In both these passages we perceive the high respect paid to the words of
Christ as recorded by the evangelists; "Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus;--by this command, and by these rules, let us establish ourselves,
that we may always walk obediently 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 anything 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 to.

It may be said that, as Clement has 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
has been said: but that no such inference can be drawn from the absence
of words of quotation, is proved by the three following
considerations:--First, that Clement, in the very same manner, namely,
without any mark of reference, uses a passage now found in the epistle
to the Romans; (Rom. i. 29.) which passage, from the peculiarity of the
words which compose it, and from their order, it is manifest that he
must have taken from the book. The same remark may be repeated of some
very singular sentiments in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Secondly, that
there are many sentences of Saint 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 Clement had
Saint 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
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 Scripture 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 Christianity; with respect
to the precise point of our argument, viz. that the Scriptures contain
what the apostles taught, this supposition may serve almost as well.

III. Near the conclusion of the epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul,
amongst others, sends the following salutation: "Salute Asyncritus,
Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with
them." Of Hermas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Christians as
contemporary with Saint Paul, a book bearing the name, and it is most
probably rightly, is still remaining. It is called the Shepherd,
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 111.) or pastor of Hermas. Its antiquity is
incontestable, from the quotations of it in Irenaeus, 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 life-time of Clement.

In this place are tacit allusions to Saint Matthew's, Saint Luke's, and
Saint 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 Hermas the
confessing and denying of Christ; (Matt. x. :i2, 33, or, Luke xli. 8,
9.) the parable of the seed sown (Matt. xiii. 3, or, Luke viii. 5); the
comparison of Christ's disciples to little children; the saying "he that
putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery" (Luke
xvi. 18.); 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 probable allusion to Acts v. 32.

This 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.

IV. 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 Irenaeus, 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 (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147.).

In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of
Saint Matthew and Saint 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:

Matt.*: "Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be
fulfilled by him." "Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless
as a dove."

John+: "Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God: for it knows
whence it comes and whither it goes."  "He (Christ) is the door of the
Father, by which enter in Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the
apostles, and the church."

_________

* Chap. iii. 15. "For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
Chap. x. 16. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

+ Chap. iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." Chap. x. 9. "I am the
door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved."
_________


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 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.

V. Polycarp (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. 192.) 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 Irenaeus, who in his youth had seen him:--"I can tell the
place," saith Irenaeus, "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 discourses he made to the people, and how he
related his conversation 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 eyewitnesses 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 any 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 us, 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 doubt about their being really his 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." (Matt. vii. 1, 2; v. 7; Luke vi. 37, 38.)

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, us authentic accounts of
Christ's discourses; and that that point was incontestible [sic].

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 pains of death." (Acts ii. 24.)

VI. Papias, (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 239.) a hearer of John, and
companion of Polycarp, as Irenaeus 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 Matthew, 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, and
in what language Matthew wrote, viz. in Hebrew. Whether Papias was well
informed in this statement, or not; to the point for 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 of theirs which remain are 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.*

_________

* That the quotations are more thinly strewn in these than in the
writings of the next and of succeeding ages, is in a good measure
accounted for by the observation, that 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 the Old Testament was by
Jews and Christians from their childhood, and thereby intimately mixing,
as that had long done, with all their religious ideas, and with their
language upon religious 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.--Mich. Introd. c. ii. sect. vi.
_________


VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more than twenty years
after the last, follows Justin Martyr (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 258.).
His remaining 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 conference with a Jew, did
not lead him to such frequent appeals to Christian books as would have
appeared in a discourse intended 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.*

_________

* "He cites our present canon, and particularly our four Gospels,
continually, I dare say, above two hundred times." Jones's New and Full
Method. Append. vol. i. p. 589, ed. 1726.
_________


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 Matthew 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 written the
history of all things concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ; and we
believe them." Quotations are also found from the Gospel of Saint John.
What moreover seems extremely material to be observed is, that in all
Justin's works, from which might be extracted almost a complete life of
Christ, there are but two instances in which he refers to anything as
said or done by 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 instances is of a
saying of Christ, not met with in any book now extant.+

_________

+ "Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ has said, In whatsoever I shall
find you, in the same I will also judge you." Possibly Justin designed
not to quote any text, but to represent the sense of many of our Lord's
sayings. Fabrieius has observed, that this saying has 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 according to their
ways;" (chap. vii. 3; xxxiii. 20.) It is remarkable that Justin had just
before expressly quoted Ezekiel. Mr. Jones upon this circumstance founded
a conjecture, that Justin wrote only "the 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 be the words of Christ,
inserted in his copy the addition "Jesus Christ." Vol. 1. p. 539.
_________


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 Hebrews: 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 Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was 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 our Christ have
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 notorious, and that there
were no other accounts of Christ then extant, or, at least, no other so
received and credited as to make it necessary to distinguish these from
the rest.

But although Justin mentions not the author's name, he calls the books,
"Memoirs composed by the Apostles;" "Memoirs composed by the Apostles
and their Companions;" which descriptions, the latter especially,
exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
now bear.

VIII. Hegesippus (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 314.) 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, on 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 term "Law and Prophets," which denote
writings; and together with them admit of the verb "teacheth" 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 thing 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
Vienne, in France, sent a relation of the sufferings of their martyrs to
the churches of Asia and Phrygia. (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 332.) 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 immediately 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
the same as in all the preceding articles. That from Saint 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." (John xvi.
2.)

X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. Irenaeus (Lardner,
vol. i. p. 344.) succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he
had 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. He 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. (Adv.
Haeres. 1. iii. c. 3.) I remark these particulars concerning Irenaeus
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 arose 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
Message of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one, alike the
Gospel of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, wrote 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 down in a
book the Gospel preached by him (Paul). Afterwards John, the disciple of
the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise published a
Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia." If any modern divine should
write a book upon the genuineness of the Gospels, he could not assert it
more expressly, or state their original more distinctly, than Irenaeus
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 passed,
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." (Iren.
in Haer. I. iii. c. 3.) The reader will observe upon this, that the same
Irenaeus, 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 conformable to each other.

I have said that the testimony of Irenaeus in favour 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 endeavours to show
that there could he 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 beside that which we have
already alleged. He mentions how Matthew begins his Gospel, bow 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 Saint John composed his Gospel, and
accounts for the doctrinal declarations which precede the narrative.

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
Saint 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, who 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 Saint 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 have 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.

XI. Omitting Athenagoras and Theophilus, who lived about this
time; (Lardner, vol. i. p. 400 &  422.) 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 compositions,
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, Miltiades and Pantaenus, (Lardner, vol. i. p.413,
450.) are now lost: of which Miltiades Eusebius records, that his
writings "were monuments of zeal for the Divine Oracles;" and which
Pantaenus, as Jerome testifies, was a man of prudence 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 (Lardner, vol. ii. p. 469.).
Clement followed Irenaeus at the distance of only sixteen years, and
therefore may be said to maintain the series of testimony in an
uninterrupted 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
testimony proves the following points; that these Gospels were the
histories of Christ then publicly received and relied upon; and that the
dates, occasions, and circumstances, of their publication were at that
time subjects of attention and inquiry amongst 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 Saint 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 quotation of a
passage in Saint Matthew's Gospel.*

_________

* "Ask great things and the small shall be added unto you." Clement
rather chose to expound the words of Matthew (chap. 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 am 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.
_________


XII. In the age in which they lived, (Lardner, vol. ii. p. 561.)
Tertullian joins on with Clement. The number of the Gospels then
received, the names of the evangelists, and their proper descriptions,
are exhibited by this writer in one short sentence:--"Among the apostles
John and Matthew teach us the faith; among apostolical 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 Saint Luke, he only means maintaining or
defending the integrity of the copies of Luke received by Christian
churches, in opposition 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 Saint Paul's epistles
confirm it.

After this general evidence, it is unnecessary to add particular
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 the works of Cicero in writers of all characters for
several ages." (Lardner, vol ii. p. 647.)

Tertullian quotes no Christian writing as of equal authority with the
Scriptures, and no spurious books 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, Irenaeus in France, Clement at
Alexandria, Tertullian at Carthage, quoting the same books of historical
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, (Minucius Felix, Apollonius, Caius, Asterius
Urbanus Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, Hippolytus, Ammonius Julius
Africanus) whose works only remain 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 (Lardner, vol. iii. p. 234.) of Alexandria,
who in the quantity 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 declaration 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, throughout
the works of Origen which remain, entirely corresponds with the
testimony here cited. His attestation to the Acts of 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 invisible 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." (Mill, Proleg. esp. vi. p. 66.)

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

XIV. Gregory, bishop of Neocaesaea, and Dionysius of Alexandria, were
scholars of Origen. Their testimony, therefore, 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," said 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 controversy. 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* of writers following Cyprian at different
distances, but all within forty years of his time; and who all, in the
perfect 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 remoteness 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 (Lardner, vol. v. p. 214.) lived about the
year 290: and in a commentary upon this text of the Revelation, "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.

_________

* Novatus, Rome, A.D. 251; Dionysius, Rome, A.D. 259; Commodian, A.D.
270; Anatolius, Laodicea, A.D. 270; Theognostus A.D. 282; Methodius
Lycia, A.D. 290; Phileas, Egypt, A.D. 296.
_________


XVI. Arnobius and Lactantius (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 43, 201.), about
the year 300, composed 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 came 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 statements exhibit a summary of almost
everything which is related of Christ's actions and miracles by the four
evangelists. Arnobius 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 Eusebius, (Lardner,
vol. viii. p. 33.) bishop of Caesarea who flourished in the year 315,
contemporary with, or posterior only by fifteen years to, the 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 first three centuries
of its era, and who had read many which are now lost. In a passage 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 themselves; 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 us observe the writings of this
apostle John, which are not contradicted 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 apostle, or their companions. 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 Scripture, 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, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 429.) 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: "Concerning 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." (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 448.) 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, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. iii. p. 40.)
who may be supposed to come about one hundred and fifty-eight years
after the publication of the Scripture, 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, Irenaeus, 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 esteemed of higher authority than the writings of
the most early and celebrated Christians.

III. In a piece ascribed to Hippolytus, (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p.
112.) 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.

IV. "Our assertions and discourses," saith Origen, (Lardner, Cred. vol.
iii. pp. 287-289.) "are unworthy of credit; we must receive the
Scriptures as witnesses." After treating of the duty of prayer, he
proceeds with his argument 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.

V. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, (Lardner, Cred. vol. vi. p. 840.) 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
writings."--"The precepts of the Gospel," says he in another place, "are
nothing less than authoritative divine lessons, the foundations of our
hope, the supports of our faith, the guides of our way, the safeguards
of our course to heaven."

VI. Novatus, (Lardner, Cred. vol. v. p. 102.) 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 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 (Lardner, Cred. vol. v. p. 146.), a learned Alexandrian, and
bishop of Laedicea, 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 consubstantial, and essence,
and like phrases; "because they were not in Scripture." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. vii. pp. 283-284.) And in the same strain one of their advocates
opens a conference with Augustine, after the following manner: "If you
say what is reasonable, I must submit. If you allege anything from the
Divine Scriptures which are common to both, I must hear. But
unscriptural expressions (quae 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 fountain
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 anything from them."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. xii. p. 182.)

IX. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 276.), 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
Scriptures." 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, (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 314.) twenty years after
Cyril, challenges the Arians, and the followers of Origen, "to produce
any passage of the Old and New Testament favouring their sentiments."

XI. 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." (Lardner,
Cred. vol. ix. p. 52.)

XII. Basil, bishop of Caesarea, 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 otherwise." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. ix. p. 124.)

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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 202.)

XIV. 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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. x. pp. 123-124.)

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, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 180.) "Fleeing to the
Gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to the apostles as the presbytery of
the church;" that is, as Le Clere interprets 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 Christian church." It must be observed, that about eighty years
after this we have direct proof, in the writings of Clement of
Alexandria, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. ii. p. 516.) 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." (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. ii. p.
182.)

And a third: "Ye ought to hearken to the Prophets, but especially to the
gospel, in which the passion has been manifested to us, and the
resurrection perfected." In this last passage, 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 according to the Gospel, for he expected to be
delivered up as the Lord also did." (Ignat. Ep. c.i.) And in another
place, "We do not commend those who offer themselves, forasmuch as the
Gospel, teaches us no such thing." (Ignat. Ep. c. iv.) 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, by 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 Gospels." (Lardner, Cred. part ii.
vol. i. p. 236.) Eusebius had before him the writings both of Quadratus
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 Gospels 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. Irenaeus, in the year 178, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 383.)
puts the evangelic and apostolic writings in connexion with the Law and
the Prophets, manifestly intending by the one a code or collection of
Christian sacred writings, as the other expressed the code or collection
of Jewish sacred writings. And,

IV. Melito, at this time bishop of Sardis, writing to one Onesimus,
tells his correspondent, (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 331.) that he had
procured an accurate account of the books of the Old Testament. The
occurrence in this message 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 Christian 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 expressions of Clement, alluding to this distribution,
is the following: "There is a consent and harmony between the Law and
the Prophets, the Apostles and the Gospel." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p.
516.)

VI. The same division, "Prophets, Gospels, and Apostles," appears in
Tertullian, the contemporary of Clement. The collection of the Gospels
is likewise called by this writer the "Evangelic Instrument;" the whole
volume the "New Testament;" and the two parts, the "Gospels and
Apostles." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. pp. 631,574 & 632.)

VII. From many writers also of the third century, and especially from
Cyprian, who lived in the middle of it, it is collected that the
Christian Scriptures were divided into two cedes or volumes, one called
the "Gospels or Scriptures of the Lord," the other the "Apostles, or
Epistles of the Apostles" (Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 846.)

VIII. Eusebius, as we have already seen, takes some pains to show that
the Gospel of Saint John had been justly placed by the ancients, "the
fourth in order, and after the other three." (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii.
p. 90.) These are the terms of his proposition: and the very
introduction 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:(Lardner, Cred. vol. vii. pp. 214 et seq.) many
suffered death rather than deliver them up; and those who betrayed them
to the persecutors 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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. vii. p. 432.) What
the Christians of that age so richly embellished in their prosperity,
and, which is more, so tenaciously preserved under persecution, was the
very volume of the New Testament which we now read.


SECTION IV.

Our present Sacred Writings were soon distinguished by appropriate names
and titles of respect.

Polycarp. "I trust that 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 wrath." (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p.
203.) 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 Saint Matthew's and,
probably, Saint Luke's Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, ten epistles of
Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, and the First of John. (Lardner, Cred.
vol. i. p. 223.) In another place, Polycarp has these words: "Whoever
perverts the Oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says there is
neither resurrection nor judgment, he is the first born of Satan."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 223.)--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 present 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 these:--"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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 271.)
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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 298.)

IV. And at the same time, or very nearly so, by Irenaeus, bishop of
Lyons in France, (The reader will observe the remoteness of these two
writers in country and situation) they are called "Divine
Scriptures,"--"Divine Oracles,"--"Scriptures of the Lord,"--"Evangelic
and Apostolic writings." (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 343, et seq.) The
quotations of Irenaeus prove decidedly, that our present Gospels, and
these alone, together with the Acts of the Apostles, were the historical
books comprehended by him under these appellations.

V. Saint Matthew's Gospel is quoted by Theophilus, bishop of Antioch,
contemporary with Irenaeus, under the title of the "Evangelic voice;"
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 427.) 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 Scriptures,"--
"Scriptures of the Lord,"--"the true Evangelical Canon."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 515.)

VI. Tertullian, who joins on with Clement, beside 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 then
extant. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 630.)

VII. 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 230.)

VIII. In Cyprian, who was not twenty years later, they are "Books of the
Spirit,"--"Divine Fountains,"--"Fountains of the Divine Fulness."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 844.)

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 were publicly 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 Gospels were published, giving, in his first apology
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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 273.)

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 Christians 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 628.)

III. Eusebius records of Origen, and cites for his authority the letters
of bishops contemporary with Origen, that when he 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 Scriptures publicly in the church, though he
was not yet ordained a presbyter. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 68.) This
anecdote recognises the usage, not only of reading, but of expounding
the Scriptures; and both as subsisting 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p.
302.) 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 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 842.)

V. 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 I will only use one, as being, of itself, express
and full. Augustine, who appeared near the conclusion of the century,
displays the benefit of the Christian religion on this very account, the
public reading of the Scriptures in the churches, "where," says he, "is
a consequence of all sorts of people of both sexes; and where they hear
how they ought to live well in this world, that they may deserve to live
happily and eternally in another." And this custom he declares to be
universal: "The canonical books of Scripture being read every where, the
miracles therein recorded are well known to all people." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. x. p. 276, et seq.)

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 Hennas 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.

SECTION VI.

Commentaries were anciently written upon the Scriptures; harmonies
formed out of them; different copies carefully collated; and versions
made of them into different languages.

No greater proof can be given of the esteem in which these books were
holden 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 evidence which carries up the evangelic 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 flourished about the
year 170, composed a harmony, or collation of the Gospels, which he
called Diatessaron, of the four. 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.
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 307.)

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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 455.)

III. Clement of Alexandria wrote short explications of many books of the
Old and New Testament. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 462.)

IV. Tertullian appeals from the authority of a later version, then in
use, to the authentic Greek. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 638.)

V. An anonymous author, quoted by Eusebius, and who appears to have
written about the year 212, appeals to the ancient copies of the
Scriptures, in refutation of some corrupt readings alleged by the
followers of Artemon. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 46.)

VI. The same Eusebius, mentioning by name several writers 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 551.)

VII. The last five 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 endeavours to reconcile by the
distinction of natural and legal descent, and conducts his hypothesis
with great industry through the whole series of generations. (Lardner,
Cred. vol. iii. p. 170.)

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 on instance of the zeal of Christians for those
writings, and of their solicitude about them. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii.
p. 122.)

And, above both these, Origen, who wrote commentaries, or homilies, upon
most of the books included in the New Testament, and upon no other books
but these. In particular, he wrote upon Saint John's Gospel, very
largely upon Saint Matthew's, and commentaries, or homilies, upon the
Acts of the Apostles. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. pp. 352, 192, 202 & 245.)

VIII. In addition to these, the third century likewise
contains--Dionysius of Alexandria, a very learned man, who compared,
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 the evangelists disagree or
contradict each other, although there be some small difference; but let
us honestly and faithfully endeavour to reconcile what we read."
(Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 166.)

Victorin, bishop of Pettaw, in Germany, who wrote comments upon Saint
Matthew's Gospel. (Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 195.)

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* of fourteen writers, who
expended their labours 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 ......         A.D. 315
Juvencus, Spain .....          330
Theodore, Thrace ....          334
Hilary, Poletiers ....         340
Fortunatus .....               354
Apollinarius of Loadicea       362
Damasus, Rome .....            366
Gregory, Nyssen ....           371
Didimus of Alex,  . . . .      370
Ambrose of Milan .....         374
Diodore of Tarsus .....        378
Gaudent of Brescia ....        387
Theodore of Cilicia ....       395
Jerome ........                392
Chrysostom ......              398
_________


Eusebius, in the very beginning of the century, wrote expressly 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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p.
46.) 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. viii.
p. 201.) 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 Saint Jerome upon the
exposition of difficult texts of Scripture; and, in a letter still
remaining, desires Jerome to give him a clear explanation 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. P. 108)
This last clause shows the number and variety of commentaries then
extant.

Gregory of Nyssen, at one time, appeals to the most exact copies of
Saint Mark's Gospel; at another time, compares together, 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
disposition 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." (Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 163.)

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 first three
centuries composing comments upon any other books than those which are
found in the New Testament, except 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 Palestine 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, bearing
many internal marks of high antiquity, supported in its pretensions by
the uniform tradition of the East, and confirmed by the discovery of
many very ancient manuscripts in the libraries of Europe, It is about
200 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 manuscripts of Europe. But in this collection,
no other book, besides 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  (Jones
on the Canon, vol. i. e. 14.).


SECTION VII.

Our Scriptures were received by ancient Christians of different sects
and persuasions, but many Heretics as well as Catholics, and were
usually appealed to by both sides in the controversies which arose in
those days.

The three most ancient topics of controversy amongst Christians 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 rejecting 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 carried men much into
bold hypotheses and conjectural solutions, 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 perceive, all
sides recurring to the same Scriptures.

*I. Basilides lived near the age of the apostles, about the year 120, or,
perhaps, sooner. (Lardner, vol. ix. p. 271.) He rejected the Jewish
institution, 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 Christian 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 sufficient 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. (Lardner, vol. ix. ed.
1788, p. 305, 306.)

_________

* The materials of the former part of this section are taken from Dr.
Lardner's History of the Heretics of the first two centuries, published
since his death, with additions, by the Rev. Mr. Hogg, of Exeter, and
inserted into the ninth volume of his works, of the edition of 1778.
_________


II. The Valentinians appeared about the same time. 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, Irenaeus, who wrote A.D. 172, expressly records
that they endeavoured to fetch arguments for their opinions from the
evangelic and apostolic writings. 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. Some observations also of his upon
Matthew are preserved by Origen.  Nor is there any reason to doubt that
he received the whole New Testament. (Lardner, vol. ix. ed. 1788, pp.
350-351; vol. i. p. 383; vol. ix. ed. 1788, p. 352-353.)

III. The Carpocratians were also an early heresy, little, if at all,
later than the two preceding. Some of their opinions resembled what we
at this day mean by Socinianism. With respect to the Scriptures, they
are specifically charged, by Irenaeus and by Epiphanius, with
endeavouring to pervert a passage in Matthew, which amounts to a
positive proof that they received that Gospel. Negatively, they are not
accused, by their adversaries, of rejecting any part of the New
Testament. (Lardner, vol. ix. ed. 1788, pp. 309 & 318.)

IV. The Sethians, A.D. 150; the Montanists, A.D. 156; the Marcosigns,
A.D. 160; Hermogenes, A.D. 180; Praxias, A.D. 196; Artemon, A.D. 200;
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. (Lardner, vol. ix. ed. 1788, pp. 455,
482, 348, 473, 433, 466.)

V. Tatian, who lived in the year 172, went into many extravagant
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.

VI. 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; for they are accused by this writer
of making alterations in their copies in order to favour their
opinions. (Lardner, vol. iii. P. 46.)

VII. Origen's sentiments excited great controversies,--the bishops of
Rome and Alexandria, and many others, condemning, the bishops of the
east espousing them; yet there is not the smallest question but that
both the advocates and adversaries 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 amongst 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. (Lardner, vol. iv. ed. 1788, p. 642.)

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, assembled at Antioch,
upon his opinions. Yet he is not charged by his adversaries with
rejecting any book of the New Testament. On the contrary, Epiphanius,
who wrote a history of heretics a hundred years afterwards, says, that
Paul endeavoured to support his doctrine by texts of Scripture. And
Vincentius 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 Scripture. They urge it, indeed,
explicitly and vehemently; for you may see them flying through every
book of the sacred law." (Lardner, vol. ix. p. 158.)

IX. A controversy at the same time existed with the Noetians 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
Scripture, should be execrated." Undoubtedly, what they perverted they
received. (Lardner, vol. ix. p. 839.)

XI. 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 public disputation, with the Millennarians of Egypt,
confesses of them, though their adversary, "that they embrace whatever
could be made out by good arguments, from the Holy Scriptures."
(Lardner, vol. iv. p. 666.) Novatus, A.D. 251, distinguished by some
rigid sentiments 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 endeavoured to support itself by the authority of the Divine
Scriptures" (Lardner, vol. v. p. 105.)

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" (Lardner, vol. vii. p.
243.)

XIII. It is perfectly notorious, that in the Arian controversy, 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 doctrine of the Scriptures, say, that the Son
is a creature, as one of the creatures, let him be an anathema."
(Lardner, vol. vii. p. 277.) They and the Athanasians mutually accuse
each other of using unscriptural phrases; which was a mutual
acknowledgment of the conclusive authority of Scripture.

XIV. The Priscillianists, A.D. 378, the Pelagians, A.D. 405 received the
same Scriptures as we do. (Lardner, vol. ix. p. 325; vol. xi p. 52.)

XV. 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." (Lardner, vol. x. p. 316.) I am not
moved by what may seem a deduction from Chrysostom's testimony, the
words, "entire or 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 first two chapters, seems to have been a
mistake. (Lardner, vol. ix. ed. 1788, p. 322.) It is agreed, however, by
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 baptism; 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.
(Lardner, vol. ix. sect. ii. c. x. Also Michael vol. i. c. i. sect.
xviii.) One of his tenets was the rejection of the Old Testament, as
proceeding from an inferior and imperfect Deity; and in pursuance of
this hypothesis, he erased from the New, and that, as it should seem,
without entering into any critical reasons, every passage which
recognised the Jewish Scriptures. He spared not a text which
contradicted his opinion. 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 Saint
Luke's Gospel, containing the leading facts, and all which is necessary
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
Saint Matthew, the Epistle to the Hebrews, with those of Saint Peter and
Saint James, as well as the Old Testament in general" he said, "were
writings not for Christians but for Jews." This declaration shows the
ground upon which Marcion proceeded in his mutilation of the Scriptures,
viz., his dislike of the passages or the books. Marcion flourished about
the year 130.*

_________

* I have transcribed this sentence from Michaelis (p. 38), who has not,
however, referred to the authority upon which he attributes these words
to Marcion.
_________


Dr. Lardner, in his General Review, sums up this head of evidence in the
following  words:--"Noitus, Paul of Samosata, Sabellius, Marcelins,
Photinus, the Novatiana, Donatists, Manicheans (This must be with an
exception, however, of Faustus, who lived so late us the year 354),
Priscillianists, beside Artemon, the Audians, the Arians, and divers
others, all received most of all the same books of the New Testament
which the Catholics received; and agreed in a like respect for them as
written by apostles, or their disciples and companions." (Lardner, vol.
iii. p. 12.--Dr. Lardner's future inquiries supplied him with many other
instances.)

SECTION VIII.

The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of Saint
Paul the First Epistle of John, and the First of Peter, were received
without doubt by those who doubted concerning the other books which are
included in our present Canon.

I state this proposition, because, if made out, it shows that 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 Eusebius of the same
ancient author and his work; except that Eusebius delivers his own
remark in more guarded terms: "And indeed to this very time, by some of
the Romans, this epistle is not thought to be the apostle's." (Lardner,
vol. iii. p. 240.)

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 Saint Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, and
Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians. (Lardner, vol. iii. p. 246.)
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 wrote 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." 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 them 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."
(Lardner, vol. iii. p. 234.)

III. Dionysius of Alexandria, in the year 247, doubts concerning the
Book of Revelation, whether it was written by Saint John; states the
grounds of his doubt, represents the diversity of opinion concerning it,
in his own time, and before his time. (Lardner, vol. iv. p. 670.) Yet
the same Dionysius uses and collates the four Gospels in a manner which
shows that he entertained not the smallest suspicion of their authority,
and in a manner also which shows that they, and they alone, were
received as authentic histories of Christ. (Lardner, vol. iv. p. 661.)

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, 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 Saint John's the last, manifestly speaking of
all the four as parallel in their authority, and in the certainty of
their original. (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 90.) 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
enumeration 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." (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 39.) 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.*


_________

* 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
Thomas and Matthias, and some others, he says, "They the are not so much
as to be reckoned among the spurious, but are altogether absurd and
impious." (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 99.)
_________


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
published 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 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 presbyters
of ancient times have quoted in their writings as undoubtedly genuine;"
(Lardner, vol. viii. p. 99.) and then, speaking of some other writings
bearing 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." (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 111)

After this it is reasonable to believe that when Eusebius states the
four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, as uncontradicted,
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
well 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 used and quoted in time 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 attacked by the early adversaries of
Christianity, as containing the accounts upon which the Religion was
founded.

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, very
faithfully; and amongst other reasons for thinking so, this is one, that
the objection, as stated by him from Celsus, is sometimes 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 everything proposed by him, not so much
observing the natural order of things, as the order which he has taken
himself." (Orig. cont. Cels. I. i. sect. 41.)

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 centuries
afterwards, observed, that "the Gospels, when written, were not hidden
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 are now." (In
Matt. Hom. I. 7.)

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." (Lardner, Jewish and Heathen Test. vol. ii. p. 274.) 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 disciples,
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. (Lardner, Jewish and Heathen Test. Vol. ii. p. 275.) 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 corruptions do not take place in recent
productions.

The former quotation, the reader will remember, proves 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 shuts up an
argument in this manner:--"these things then we have alleged to you out
of your own writings, not needing any other weapons." (Lardner, vol. ii.
p. 276.) 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 the one cheek, offer to him the other also; of
the woes denounced by Christ; of his predictions; of his saying, That it
is impossible to serve two masters; ( Lardner, vol. ii. pp. 276-277.) Of
the purple robe, the crown of thorns, and the reed in his hand; of the
blood that flowed from the body of Jesus upon the cross, 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, ethers only one. (Lardner, vol. ii. pp. 280, 281, &
283.)

It is extremely material to remark, that Celsus not only perpetually
referred to the accounts of Christ contained in the four Gospels, but
that he referred to no other accounts; that he founded none of his
objections to Christianity upon any thing delivered in spurious Gospels.
(The particulars, of which the above are only a few, are well collected
by Mr. Bryant, p. 140.)

II. What Celsus was in the second century, Porphyry became 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;
Porphyry considering that to overthrow them was to overthrow the
religion. Thus he objects to the repetition of a generation in Saint
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 Tiberius a sea; to the expression of Saint Matthew, "the
abomination of desolation;" to the variation 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 Saint Peter upon
Ananias and Sapphira, which he calls an "imprecation of death." (Jewish
and Heathen Test. Vol. iii. p. 166, et seq.)

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 depositaries of the religion 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 Saint
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 considered 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, (Jewish and Heathen Test. vol. iv. p. 77, et seq.)
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. 23); 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 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
evangelists, 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 represent 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 favour of the books of the New 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, Porphyry in the third, nor Julian in the fourth century,
suspected the authenticity of these books, or ever insinuated that
Christians were mistaken in the authors to whom they ascribed them. Not
one of them expressed an opinion upon this subject different from that
which was holden by Christians. And when we consider how much it would
have availed them to have cast a doubt upon this 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 he
saw any room for it, or when his acuteness could supply any pretence for
alleging it. The prophecy 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.
(Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 43. Marsh's
Translation.)





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 Scriptures, in which the Four Gospels and
the Acts of the Apostles are distinctly and honourably specified, and in
which no books appear beside what are now received. The reader, by this
time, will easily recollect that the date of Origen's works is A.D. 230.
(Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 234, et seq.; vol. viii. p. 196.)

II. Athanasias, about a century afterwards, delivered a catalogue of the
books of the New Testament in form, containing 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 anything from them." (Lardner,
Cred. vol. ii. p. 223.)

III. About 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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 270.)

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 "Revelation."

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, (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p.
368.) by Gregory Nazianzen, by Philaster, bishop of Breseia in Italy,
(Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 132 & 373.) 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. (Epiphanius omits the Acts of the Apostles. This must have been an
accidental mistake, either in him or in some copyist of his work; for
he elsewhere expressly refers to this book, and ascribes it to Luke.)

VI. Within the same period Jerome, the most learned Christian writer of
his age, delivered a catalogue of the hooks of the New Testament,
recognising 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. (Lardner, Cred. vol. x. p.
77.)

VII. Contemporary with Jerome, who lived in Palestine, was St.
Augustine, in Africa, who published likewise a catalogue, without
joining to the Scriptures, as books of authority, any other
ecclesiastical writing whatever, and without omitting one which we at
this day acknowledge. (Lardner, Cred. vol. x. p. 213.)

VIII. And with these concurs another contemporary writer, Rufen,
presbyter of Aquileia, whose catalogue, like theirs, is perfect and
unmixed, and concludes with these 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." (Lardner, Cred.
vol. x. p. 187.)





SECTION XI.

These propositions cannot be predicated of any of those books 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, therefore:--

I. That, beside our Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, no Christian
history, claiming to be written by an apostle or apostolical 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 but with 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 Rev. J. Atkinson, will make out the
truth of the proposition to the satisfaction of every fair and competent
judgment. If there be any book which may seem to form an exception 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, sometimes called of the Twelve, by some
ascribed to St Matthew. This Gospel is once, and only once, cited by
Clemeus Alexandrinus, 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 Saint Matthew. (In applying to
this Gospel what Jerome in the latter end of the fourth century has
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.)

Now 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 Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, and Tertullian, who all lived in the first two centuries,
there are more and larger quotations of the small volume of the New
Testament than of all the works of Cicero, by writers of all characters,
for several ages;" (Lardner, Cred. vol. xii. p. 53.) 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 beside 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 denominated 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 first three centuries without express terms
of condemnation: and these are, the one a book entitled the Preaching of
Peter, quoted repeatedly by Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 196; the other a
book entitled the Revelation of Peter, upon which the above-mentioned
Clemens Alexandrinus is said by Eusebius 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 interval, 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, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, whose
writings reach from about the year of our Lord 70 to the year 108 (and
some of whom have quoted each and every one of our historical
Scriptures): I say this," adds Dr. Lardner, "because I think it has been
proved." (Lardner, Cred. vol. xii. p. 158.)

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,
collections, 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 Scriptures; yet it appears from the writings of
the fourth century, that many such existed in that century, and in the
century preceding it. It may be difficult at this distance of time to
account for their origin.

Perhaps the most probable explication 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, there were many of them adapted to the particular opinions of
particular sects, which would naturally promote their circulation
amongst the favourers 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. (Jones, vol. i. p. 243.) A Gospel according
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 Cillcia;
and speaks of obtaining a sight of this Gospel from some sectaries who
used it. (Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 557.) 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
favour 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 writings, 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 these
books give are not contradictions, but unauthorised 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 have imposed
upon some considerable number of learned Christians, it is the Sibylline
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 existed. 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, favourable to the already established
persuasion of Christians, and which writing, by the aid and
recommendation of these circumstances, would in some degree, it is
probable, 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 labours, 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 themselves to lives of
fatigue, danger, and suffering, in the prosecution 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 condemnation of the religion of all other countries; their
total want of power, authority, or force--render it in the highest
degree probable that this must have been the case. The probability is
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 institution, 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
advanced, 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
exhortations to fortitude and patience, and by an earnestness,
repetition, and urgency upon the subject, which were unlikely to have
appeared if there had not been, at the time, some extraordinary 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 behaviour.

The next great question is, what they did this FOR. That it was for a
miraculous story of some kind or other, is to my 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 messenger from God, they neither had,
nor could have, anything 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 their situation they
had full opportunity of acquiring such information, that they certainly,
at least, knew what their colleagues, their companions, their masters
taught; that each of these books contains enough to prove the truth of
the religion; that if any one of them therefore be genuine, it is
sufficient; that the genuineness, 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 and specific
proofs, viz. by citations from them in writings belonging to a period
immediately 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 religion not disputing their
genuineness, but, on the contrary, treating them as the depositaries 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 genuineness of the books is perhaps more than is
necessary to the support 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 had founded; this fact, I say, connected
with the consideration that they are corroborative of each other's
testimony, and that they are further corroborated by another
contemporary history taking up the story where they had left it, and, in
a narrative built upon that story, accounting for the rise and
production 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 delivered 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 like-wise recognised 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 exhibit the story which the apostles told, and for
which, consequently, 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
these 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?


=========================================

OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

PROPOSITION II.

CHAPTER I.

Our first proposition was, That there is satisfactory evidence that many
pretending to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed
their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undertaken
and 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.

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 reformers in the time of Wickliffe, 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 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 labours and
journeys in attestation, and in consequence of a 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, Phaedo, Cebes,
Crito, and Simmias, together with Plato, and many of his followers,
relying upon the attestations 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 of his companions and disciples,
that is, by writings received without doubt as theirs, from the age in
which they were published 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 anything which it behoved
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 end worthy of the means. In the last ease, my
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 foundation 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 which 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 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 difference alone removes out of our way the
miraculous history of Pythagoras, who lived five hundred years before
the Christian era, written by Porphyry and Jamblicus, who lived three
hundred years after that era; the prodigies of Livy's history; the
fables of the heroic ages; the whole of the Greek and Roman, 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
Apollonius Tyaneus, 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 Neocesarea, 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, founder of the order of
Jesuits. (Douglas's Criterion of Miracles, p. 74.) His life, written by a
companion 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 nearly 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 attribute to him a catalogue of miracles
which could not then be distinctly disproved; and which there was, in
those who governed the church, a strong disposition to admit upon the
slenderest 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, subsisted from the beginning, and for many ages;
received also the same books and the same accounts as other churches
did. (The succession of many eminent bishops of Jerusalem in the first
three centuries is distinctly preserved; as Alexander, A.D. 212, who
succeeded Narcissus, then 116 years old.)

This distinction disposes, amongst others, of the above-mentioned
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 history 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 objection, viz. that the
accounts of them were published at a vast distance from the supposed
scene of the wonders. (Douglas's Crit. p. 84.)

III. We lay out of the case transient rumours. 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 independent
accounts--that solid truth is distinguished from fugitive lies. This
distinction is altogether on the side of Christianity. 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 followed by a
train of writings upon the subject. The historical testimonies of the
transaction were many and various, and connected with letters,
discourses, controversies, apologies, successively produced by the same
transaction.

IV. 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 connected 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; with 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
consideration 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 substantially the same. Whether this proof be
satisfactory or not, it is properly a cumulation of evidence, by no
means a naked or solitary record.

V. A mark of historical truth, although only a certain way, and to a
certain degree, is particularity in names, dates, 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 shipwreck, 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. (Both these chapters
ought to be read for the sake of this very observation.) I do not deny
that fiction has often the particularity 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 confined 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 relater? 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 his 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.*

_________

* "There is always some truth where there are considerable
particularities related, 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 Manetho'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, the accounts have much fiction and falsehood, with
some truth: whereas Thucydides's 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." Hartley, vol. ii. p. 109.
_________


It is to be remarked, however, that this particularity is only to be
looked for in direct history. It is not natural in references or
allusions, which yet, in other respects, often afford, as far as they
go, the most unsuspicious evidence.

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 consequence 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 superstition: most, for instance, of the current
reports of apparitions. 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 credibility
of the narrative 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 gratifications, and begin a new set of rules and
system of behaviour. The apostles, at least, were interested not to
sacrifice their ease, their fortunes, and their lives for an idle tale;
multitudes beside them were induced, by the same tale, to encounter
opposition, 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 vastness 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 require 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 importance to notice well. It has long
been observed, that Popish miracles happen in Popish countries; that
they make no converts; 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 produced in the face of
enemies, in opposition to reigning tenets or favourite 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 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 favourite 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 constitutes indeed a line of partition between the
origin and the progress of Christianity. Frauds and fallacies might mix
themselves 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
attempt 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 a religion by
miracles to be a thing of every day's experience: 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 Wickliffe in England
pretend to it? Did Huss or Jerome in Bohemia? Did Luther in Germany,
Zuinglius in Switzerland, Calvin in France, or any of the reformers
advance this plea?" (Campbell on Miracles, p. 120, ed. 1766.) The French
prophets, in the beginning of the present century, (the eighteenth)
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." (Adams on Mir. p. 75.)

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 of a persuasion already established.
At least it does not hold of the apostolical history. 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
anything which could bear the name or colour of piety, in publishing and
attesting miracles in its behalf? If it be said that many promote the
belief of revelation, and of any accounts which favour that 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 a
false perception. Of this nature was the demon of Socrates; the visions
of Saint Anthony, 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. (Batty on Lunacy.) 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 derangement, I mean, so much the same, as to represent to
their imagination 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 contradistinction to miracles
which are attended with permanent effects. The appearance of a spectre,
the hearing of a supernatural sound, is a momentary miracle. The
sensible proof is gone when 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 family, and
there continued; for we find him some time afterwards in the same town,
sitting 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. (John xii. 1, 2, 9, 10.) 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
Saint John's Gospel 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 browbeating of Christ's angry
and powerful enemies. When the cripple at the gate of the temple was
suddenly cured by Peter, (Acts iii. 2.) he did not immediately 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. (Acts iv. 14.) 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 any 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 cases 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 Saint
Paul's conversion. (Acts ix.) The sudden light and sound, the vision and
the voice upon the road to Damascus, were momentary: but Paul's
blindness for three days in consequence of what had happened; the
communication made to Ananias in another place, and by a vision
independent of the former; Ananias finding out Paul in consequence of
intelligence so received, and finding him in the condition 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 be accounted for by false perceptions. Exactly the same
thing may be observed of Peter's vision preparatory to the call of
Cornelius, and of its connexion with what was imparted in a distant
place to Cornelius himself, and with the message despatched by Cornelius
to Peter. The vision might be a dream; the message could not. Either
communication taken separately, 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
appearance of Castor and Pollux in the battle fought by Posthumius with
the Latins at the lake Regillus. There is no doubt but that Posthumius,
after the battle, spread the report of such an appearance. No person
could deny it whilst it was said to last. No person, perhaps, had any
inclination to dispute it afterwards; 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
consciousnesses of being acted upon by spiritual influences, good or
bad, because these, appealing to no external proof, however convincing
they may be to the persons themselves, form no part of what can be
accounted miraculous 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 prediction
is talked of and magnified, whilst failures are forgotten, 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 nothing
in the narrative which can induce, or even allow, us to believe, that
Christ attempted cures in many instances, and succeeded 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." (Luke iv. 25.) 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.*

_________

*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 three of the
evangelists. (Matt. xvii. 14. Mark ix. 14. Luke ix. 33.) 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.
_________


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 surrounding multitude; Jesus bid him walk, and
he did so. (Mark ii. 3.) A man with a withered hand is in the synagogue;
Jesus bid him stretch forth his hand in the presence of the assembly,
and it was "restored whole like the other." (Matt. xii. 10.) 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 besides
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 anywise admit of the supposition 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 thundering legion, of the
extraordinary circumstances which obstructed 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
persecution; 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 Saint Januarius at Naples. It is a doubt, likewise, which ought to be
excluded by very special circumstances from those narratives which
relate to the supernatural 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. (Jortin's Remarks, vol. ii. p. 51.) There are also instances in
Christian 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.

IV. To the same head of objection, nearly, may also be referred 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 anything; but no stretch of
exaggeration 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 compass of misrepresentation. I mean that it is impossible to
assign any position of circumstances however peculiar, any accidental
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 Testament, 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 Saint Paul
asserts to have been imparted to him may not, in their separate
evidence, be distinguishable from the visions and revelations which many
others have alleged. But here is the difference. Saint Paul's
pretensions were attested by external miracles wrought by himself, and
by miracles wrought in the cause to which these visions relate; or, to
speak more properly, the same historical 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
transfiguration, the appearance and voice from Heaven at his baptism, a
voice from the clouds on one occasion afterwards (John xii. 28), 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 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 those 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 strengthen the
credibility of Christianity. For it precludes any solution, or
conjecture about a solution, which imagination, or even which experience
might suggest, concerning some particular miracles, if considered
independently of others. The miracles of Christ were of various kinds,*
and performed in great varieties of situation, 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.

_________

* Not only healing every species of disease, but turning water into wine
(John ii.); feeding multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (Matt. xiv.
15; Mark vi. 35; Luke ix. 12; John vi. 5); walking on the sea (Matt.
xiv. 25); calming a storm (Matt. viii. 26; Luke viii. 24); a celestial
voice at his baptism, and miraculous appearance (Matt. iii. 16;
afterwards John xii. 28); his transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 18; Mark ix.
2; Luke ix. 28; 2 Peter i. 16, 17); raising the dead in three distinct
instances (Matt. ix. 18; Mark v. 22; Luke vii. 14; viii. 41; John xi.).
_________


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 satisfactory evidence that persons
pretending to be original witnesses of the miracles passed their lives
in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and
undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and
properly in consequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts."

CHAPTER II.

But they with whom we argue have undoubtedly a right to select their own
examples. The instances with which Mr. Hume has chosen to confront the
miracles of the New Testament, 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:

I. The cure of a blind and of a lame man of Alexandria, by the emperor
Vespasian, as related by Tacitus;

II. The restoration of the limb of an attendant in a Spanish church, as
told by Cardinal de Retz; and,

III. The cures said to be performed at the tomb of the abbe Paris in the
early part of the eighteenth century.

I. The narrative of Tacitus is delivered in these terms: "One of the
common people of Alexandria, known to be diseased in his eyes, by the
admonition of the god Serapis, whom that superstitious nation worship
above all other gods, prostrated himself before the emperor, earnestly
imploring from him a remedy for his blindness, and entreating that he
would deign to anoint with his spittle his cheeks and the balls of his
eyes. Another, diseased in his hand, requested, by the admonition 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 petitions, 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 success. At length he commanded an inquiry to be made by the
physicians, whether such a blindness and debility were vincible 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 everything was in the power of his
fortune, and that nothing was any longer incredible, whilst the
multitude which stood by eagerly expected the 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." (Tacit. Hist. lib. iv.)

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 labours under a strong and just suspicion,
that the whole of it was a concerted imposture brought about by
collusion between the patients, the physician, and the emperor. This
solution is probable, because there was everything to suggest, and
everything to facilitate such a scheme. The miracle was calculated to
confer honour 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 before-hand 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 account 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 persisted 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 on 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 attributed, 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
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 beginnings a change was
produced in the world, the effects of which remain to this day: a case,
both in its circumstances and consequences, very unlike anything we find
in Tacitus's relation.

II. 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." (Liv. iv. A.D. 1654.)

It is stated by Mr. Hume, that the cardinal who relates this story did
not believe it; and it nowhere appears that he either 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 contrivance had ever before been heard of, to give
origin and currency to the report. The ecclesiastics of the place would,
it is probable, favour the story, inasmuch as it advanced the honour 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 prejudice 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 expose its fallacy.

III. 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 disorder,
depending upon obstruction. We shall, at this day, have the less
difficulty 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 physicians 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 frequently able to produce convulsions; that convulsions
so produced 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 tumours.

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. (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.)

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 proportion 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 have recourse to
this solution. The first case in the catalogue is scarcely
distinguishable from the progress of a natural recovery. It was that of
a young man who laboured 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
medicine; 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 humour 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 humour 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 the 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
miracles, 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 unequivocal; 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
contradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortification, danger, and
sufferings; none were called upon to attest them at the expense of their
fortunes and safety.*

_________

* 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 shortly afterwards committed to prison; from
which he never came out. Had the miracles 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 ardour and
transport as he observed amongst the supplicants 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. O thou,
by whose 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, have pity on the darkness of my
understanding, and through his mercy obtain the removal of it." Having
prayed thus, "many thoughts," as he sayeth, "began to open themselves 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
ever heard or read in favour of Christianity occurred to him with so
much force, and seemed 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's Crit of
Mir. p. 214.)

_________





PART II.

OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY

CHAPTER I.

PROPHECY.

Isaiah iii. 13; liii. "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; 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 consider. Who hath
believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he
shall grow up before him 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
chastisement 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 no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief. When thou shalt make his soul 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 soul, and shall
be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities. 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 intercession
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, incontestable. 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 composition, 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 understood 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 excellent spirit what should come to pass
at the last, and he comforted them that mourned in Sion. He showed what
should come to pass for ever, 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 expressions that require a knowledge of
local diction, and of local allusion) are few, and not of great
importance. Nor 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 renders "stricken" he translates "judicially stricken:" and in
the eighth verse, the clause "he was taken from prison and from
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?" 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 servant justify many," are, in the bishop's
version, "by the knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justify
many."

It is natural to inquire what turn the Jews themselves give to this
prophecy.* There is good proof that the ancient Rabbins explained it of
their expected Messiah:+ but their modern expositors concur, I think, in
representing it as a description of the calamitous state, and intended
restoration, of the Jewish people, who are here, as they say, exhibited
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 in a very minute degree.

_________

* "Vaticinium hoc Esaiae est carnificina Rabbinorum, de quo aliqui
Judaei mihi confessi sunt, Rabbinos suos ex propheticis scripturis
facile se extricare potuisse, modo; Esaias tacuisset." Hulse, Theol.
Jud. P. 318, quoted by Poole, in loc.

+ Hulse, Theol. Jud. p. 430.
_________


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 them." 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.* And this is all the variation 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 reader. The application which the Jews contend for
appears to me to labour under insuperable difficulties; in particular,
it may be demanded of them to explain in whose name or person, if the
Jewish people he 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 is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened 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
expressly 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 transgressors, and he bare the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

_________

* Bishop Lowth 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 substance 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 amongst the
Jews, one of them replied 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 interpretation, 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 immediately, 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 adversaries, that the Hebrew text
at that time actually had the word agreeably to the version of the
seventy. Lowth's Isaiah, p. 242.
_________


There are other prophecies of the Old Testament, interpreted by
Christians to relate to the Gospel history, which are deserving both of
great regard and of a very attentive consideration: 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
might be represented with any tolerable degree of fidelity, require a
discussion 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 on 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 eminent person to the history of whose life so
many circumstances can be made to apply. They who object that much has
been done by the power of chance, the ingenuity of accommodation, and
the industry of research, ought to try whether the same, or anything
like it, could be done, if Mahomet, or any other person, were proposed
as the subject of Jewish prophecy.


II. A second head of argument from prophecy is founded upon our Lord's
predictions concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, 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 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 will 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 earth-quakes 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, delivering 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 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 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 away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be
trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled."

In terms nearly similar, this discourse is related in the twenty-fourth
chapter of Matthew and the thirteenth of Mark. The prospect of the same
evils drew from our Saviour, on another occasion, the following
affecting expressions of concern, which are preserved by St. Luke (xix.
41--44): "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 day 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 knowest 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. (Matt. xxi. 33-46; xxii. 1-7. Mark xii. 1-12.
Luke xiii. 1-9; xx. 9-20; xxi. 5-13.)

The general agreement of the description with the event, viz. with the
ruin of the Jewish nation, and the capture of Jerusalem under Vespasian,
thirty-six years after Christ's death, is most evident; and the
accordancy in various articles of detail and circumstances 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 contemporary
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 before the event?  I shall
apply, therefore, my observations to this point solely.

1. The judgment of antiquity, though varying in the precise year of the
publication of the three Gospels, concurs in assigning them a date prior
to the destruction of Jerusalem. (Lardner, vol. xiii.)

2. This judgment is confirmed by a strong probability 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 he was. They
must, consequently, have been far advanced in life when Jerusalem was
taken; and no reason has been given why they should defer writing their
histories so long.

3. (Le Clerc, Diss. III. de Quat. Evang. num. vii. p. 541.) If the
evangelists, 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
Caesar;" (Acts xi. 28.) whereas the prophecies are given distinctly in
one chapter of each of the first three Gospels, and referred to in
several different passages of each, and in none of all these places does
there appear the smallest intimation that the things spoken of had come
to pass. I do admit that it would have been the part of an impostor, who
wished his readers to believe that this 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 their
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, which an
undesigning writer, writing after the event, could hardly, on some or
other of the many occasions that presented themselves, have missed of
doing.

4. The admonitions* which Christ is represented to have given to his
followers to save themselves by flight are not easily accounted for on
the supposition of the prophecy being fabricated 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, on 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 followers of Christ had received admonition 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 any 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.

_________

* "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; then let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and
let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto."--Luke xxi. 20,
21.
"When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then let them which
be in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him which is on the house-top
not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which
is in the field return back to take his clothes."--Matt. xiv. 18.
_________


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 inclined
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 Jerusalem 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 we should allow that the narration of the
prophecy had combined what had been said by him on kindred subjects,
without accurately preserving the order, or always noticing the
transition of the discourse.





CHAPTER II.

THE MORALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

Is 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 Christianity 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 supply motives, and not rules;
sanctions, and not precepts. And these were what mankind stood most in
need of. The members of civilised 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 authority. The most important
service that can be rendered to human life, and that consequently which
one might expect beforehand would be the great end and office of a
revelation from God, is to convey to the world authorised assurances of
the reality of a future existence. And although in doing this, or by the
ministry of the same person by whom 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.

_________

* 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 terms of acceptance extended to all, might
depend upon it or be procured by it. Now these effects, whatever they
be, do not belong to Christianity as a revelation; because they exist
with respect to those to whom it is not revealed.
_________


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 anything 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 manner 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 concerning 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, properly so
called, but there is ample room for the exercise of wisdom, 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 observations. And
after all, I think it such a morality as, considering 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 subject may be most conveniently treated is
that of the things taught, and the manner 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 Gospel 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 qualifies 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 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 possesses rigour,
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 intractability of those with whom it has to deal.

The former of these characters is, and ever hath been, the favourite 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 remarkable 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 commonplace 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 characters.

Now the author to whom I refer has not only marked this difference more
strongly 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 suffrages of historians and moralists, that the
latter character 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 disposition 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 whatever 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 intercourse, of the parties.

I would only add to these observations, that although the former of the
two characters above described may be occasionally 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. Envy 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 defending, 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 persons amongst his countrymen were wont, on all occasions,
great and little, to betray. "They (the Scribes and Pharisees) love the
uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 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 master, 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." (Matt. xxiii. 6. See also Mark
xii. 39; Luke xx. 46; xiv. 7.) I make no further 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 iv. 7.) seem to extend the rule to
what we call manners; which was both regular in point of consistency,
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 tired, 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
exclusively 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 time intercourse of private life men act with public
views. The personal motives from which they do act the rule regulates.

The preference of time patient to the heroic cheer, 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 peculiarity in the Christian
institution, which I propose as an argument 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 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 related to the malicious passions; this to the
voluptuous. Together, they comprehend the whole character.

"Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications," &c. "These are the things which defile a man." (Matt. xv.
19.)

"Wo 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)

And more particularly that strong expression, (Matt. v. 28.) "Whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed 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 subject to regulation; but the question is, where
the check ought to be placed, upon the thought, or only upon the action?
In this question our Saviour, in the texts here quoted, has pronounced a
decisive judgment. He makes the control of thought essential. Internal
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 liberty, 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 constitution, 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." Hailer, who has recorded this saying of Boerhaave, adds
to it the following remarks of his own:--(Letters to his Daughter.) "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
debauched 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 internally 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 concerning 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 what 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 instance, 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 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 question, 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 (xix. 16), on another occasion
similar to this; and both of them, on 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?"

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 precepts are extant in the Mosaic code:
for his laying his finger, if I may so say, upon these precepts; his
drawing them out from the rest of that voluminous institution; his
stating 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.

Saint Paul has it expressly, "If there be any other commandment, it is
briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself;" (Rom. xiii. 9.) and again, "For all the law is fulfilled in
one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Gal.
v. 14.)

Saint John, in like manner, "This commandment have we from him, that he
who loveth God love his brother also." (1 John iv. 21.)

Saint Peter, not very differently: "Seeing that ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of
the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."
(I Peter i, 22.)

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 preceptive 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
compose the dissensions of the church of Corinth. And the venerable 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 subject 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." His
prayer for them was for the "return of peace, long-suffering, and
patience." (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. 2 & 53; Abp. Wake's Translation.) 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 generous? 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 whithersoever 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 honour in the Lord; and there is no place but what will he
ready to receive him; for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness
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." (Ep.
Clem. Rom. c. 54; Abp. Wake's Translation.)

This sacred principle, this earnest recommendation of forbearance,
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 Polycarp, the disciple of John, "evil for evil, or
railing for railing, or striking for striking, or cursing for cursing."
Again, speaking of some whose behaviour had given great offence, "Be ye
moderate," says he, "on this occasion, and look not upon such as
enemies, but call them back as suffering and erring members, that ye
save your whole body." (Pol. Ep. ad Phil. c. 2 & 11.)

"Be ye mild at their anger," saith Ignatius, the companion of Polycarp,
"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?"

IV. 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." "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." (Matt. vi. 1 & 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 independent of it. I would also
observe that it is not publicity, but ostentation, which is prohibited;
not the mode, but the motive 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
instruction; 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 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 anything 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 more seldom that he accompanied it with what
all precepts require, limitations and distinctions. His instructions
were conceived in short, emphatic, sententious rules, in occasional
reflections, 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 character 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
authority. (I say unto you, Swear not at all; I say auto you, Resist not
evil; I say unto you, Love your enemies.--Matt. v. 34, 39, 44.) In the
choice, therefore, of his mode of teaching, the purpose by him to be
consulted was impression: because conviction, 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 purpose of impression singly and exclusively, (I repeat again,
that we are not here to consider the convincing of the understanding,) 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 as ye would that others should do unto you:" "The first and
great commandment 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 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 been so practicable, or likely to be so efficacious, as
leaving, wherever he came, concise 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 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 morals 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 has always appeared to me to be
admirable. Dr. Lardner thought that this discourse was made up of what
Christ had said at different times, and on different occasions, 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
Saint 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, and were repeated to different audiences, and in
various conversations.

It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, which proceeds 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 the 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 descriptive 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 himself 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 disposition before him as the
model to which he should bring his own, takes, perhaps, the best
possible method of improving the benevolence, and of calming and
rectifying the vices of his temper.

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 mistaken 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.
Notwithstanding that our Lord bade 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 placability 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
disquisitions 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.*

_________

* Some appear to require in a religious system, or in the books which
profess to deliver that system, minute directions for every case and
occurrence that may arise. This, say they, is necessary to render a
revelation perfect, especially one which has for its object the
regulation of human conduct. Now, how prolix, and yet how incomplete and
unavailing, such an attempt must have been, is proved by one notable
example: "The Indoo and Mussulman religions are institutes of civil law,
regulating the minutest 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 necessarily carried when once begun, may be
understood from an anecdote of the Mussulman code, which we have
received from the most respectable authority, that not less than
seventy-five thousand traditional precepts have been promulgated."
(Hamilton's translation of Hedays, or Guide.)
_________


The parables of the New Testament are, many of them, such as would have
done honour to any book in the world: I 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 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 Lord's 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 obscurity, 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 his wisdom? Was our
Saviour, in fact, a well instructed philosopher, whilst he is
represented to us as an illiterate peasant? Or shall we say that some
early Christians of taste and education composed these pieces and
ascribed them to Christ? Beside all other incredibilities in this
account, I answer, with Dr. Jortin, that they could not do it. No
specimens of composition 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 discourses deserve
to be considered; and that is, in their negative 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 directly and positively affirmed, and is
represented by metaphors and comparisons, which were plainly intended as
metaphors and comparisons, 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?" was
of a nature calculated to have drawn from Christ a more circumstantial
account of the state of the human species in their future existence. He
cuts short, however, the inquiry by an answer, which at once rebuked
intruding curiosity, 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 listened to with greediness. The teacher,
therefore, whose principal 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 celibacy, 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 expressed 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 reflection, how different what I heard was from
what I read! I 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." (Matt. vii. 21, 22.) 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 technical, 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 displayed the soundness and moderation of
his judgment. He censured an overstrained scrupulousness, or perhaps an
affectation of scrupulousness, about the Sabbath: but how did he censure
it? not by contemning or decrying the institution itself, 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,
nor 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 impetuous enthusiast.

VI. Nothing could be more quibbling than were the comments and
expositions of the Jewish doctors at that time; nothing 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
apophthegms, 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." (Matt. viii. 11.) 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: and his opinion of the manner in which
the most unreasonable 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." (Luke ix. 55.)

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 either of priests or statesmen. Christ's declaration, that "his
kingdom was not of this world," recorded by Saint John; his evasion of
the question, whether it was lawful or not to give tribute unto Caesar,
mentioned by the three other evangelists; his reply to an application
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 intelligible 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,
Christianity 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, 1stly, 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 favourable 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 whatever 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 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 the
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 thereby 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 instructions 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 enthusiasm, heat and
vehemence in devotion, austerity in institutions, and a wild
particularity in the description 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 calling 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 uncharitableness, partiality, and restriction;--when
we find in his religion no scheme of building up a hierarchy, or of
ministering 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 reluctant
understanding will be induced to acknowledge the 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 proceeded 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 Roman 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 unpromising as himself. Suppose the mission to be
real, all this is accounted for; the unsuitableness of the authors to
the production, of the characters to the undertaking, no longer
surprises 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 argument has been stated, and, I
trust, truly. There are, however, some topics of a more diffuse nature,
which yet deserve to be proposed to the reader's attention.

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 Origen: "Though innumerable lies
and calumnies had been forged against the venerable Jesus, none had
dared to charge him with an intemperance." (Or. Ep. Cels. 1. 3, num. 36,
ed. Bened.) 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 faultlessness 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 suspected.
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 remarkable 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 in the writings of
Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus; and that is, the allowing,
and even the recommending to their disciples, a compliance with the
religion, and with the religious rites, of every country 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 privileged 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.

_________

* See many instances collected by Grotius, de Veritate Christianae
Religionis, in the notes to his second book, p. 116. Pocock's edition.
_________


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, benignity, mildness, patience, prudence. I
speak of traces of these qualities, because the qualities themselves are
to be collected 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; (Matt. xiv. 23. Luke ix. 28. Matt. xxvi. 36.) in his
habitual giving of thanks; (Matt. xi. 25. Mark viii. 6. John vi. 23. Luke
xxii. 17.) in his reference of the beauties and operations of nature to
the bounty of Providence; (Matt. vi, 26--28.) in his earnest addresses to
his Father, more particularly that short but solemn one before the
raising of Lazarus from the dead; (John xi. 41.) and in the deep piety of
his behaviour in the garden on the last evening of his life:(Matt. xxvi.
86--47.) his humility in his constant reproof of contentions for
superiority:(Mark ix. 33.) the benignity and affectionateness of his
temper in his kindness to children; (Mark x. 16.) in the tears which he
shed over his falling country, (Luke xix. 41.) and upon the death of his
friend; (John xi. 35.) in his noticing of the widow's mite; (Mark xii.
42.) 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 Samaritan village; (Luke ix. 55.) in his expostulation
with Pilate; (John xix. 11.) in his prayer for his enemies at the moment
of his suffering, (Luke xxiii. 34.) 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 on
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, (Matt. xiv. 22. Luke v. 15, 16. John v. 13; vi.
15.) and with the express care, as appears from Saint Matthew, (Chap.
xii. 19.) of carrying on his ministry in quietness; his declining of
every species of interference with the civil affairs of the country,
which disposition is manifested by his behaviour in the case of the
woman caught in adultery, (John viii. 1.) and in his repulse of the
application which was made to him to interpose his decision about a
disputed inheritance:(Luke xii. 14.) his judicious, yet, as it should
seem, unprepared answers, will be confessed in the case of the Roman
tribute (Matt. xxii. 19.) in the difficulty concerning the interfering
relations of a future state, as proposed to him in the instance of a
woman who had married seven brethren; (Matt. xxii. 28.) 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 endeavouring to draw him. (Matt. xxi. 23, et seq.)

Our Saviour's lessons, beside what has already been remarked 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; (Matt. xxv. 31, et seq.) upon the superior, or rather the
supreme importance of religion; ( Mark viii. 35. Matt. vi. 31--33. Luke
xii. 4, 5, 16--21.) upon penitence, by the most pressing calls, and the
most encouraging invitations; (Luke xv.) upon self-denial, (Matt. v. 29.)
watchfulhess, (Mark xiii. 37. Matt. xxiv. 42; xxv. 13.) placability, (Luke
xvii. 4. Matt. xviii. 33, et seq.) confidence in God, (Matt. vi. 25--30.)
the value of spiritual, that is, of mental worship, (John iv. 23, 24.)
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. (Matt. v. 21.)

If we extend our argument to other parts of the New Testament, 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 to keep himself
unspotted from the world." (James i. 27.)

"Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart and a
good conscience, and faith unfeigned." (I Tim. i. 5.)

"For the grace of God that 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." (Tit. ii. 11,
12.)

Enumerations of virtues and vices, and those sufficiently accurate and
unquestionably just, are given by St. Paul to his converts in three
several epistles. (Gal. v. 19. Col. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii.)

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, (Eph. v.
33; vi. 1--5. 2 Cor. vi. 6, 7. Rom. xiii.) not indeed with the
copiousness, the detail, or the distinctness of a moralist who should in
these days sit down 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 moralists, 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.





CHAPTER III.

THE CANDOUR OF THE WRITERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

I make this candour 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 had thought himself at liberty to carve and mould the particulars
of that story according to his choice, or according to his 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." (Acts x. 40, 41.) The most common
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 disciples on 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 in one way as well as the other. And if their
point had been to have their religion believed, whether true or false;
if they had fabricated the story ab 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' candour is of more advantage to
their testimony than the difference in the circumstances of the account
would have been to the nature of the evidence. But this 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 disadvantage of the
Mahometan cause. (Vol. ix. c. 50, note 96.) The same defence vindicates
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 Saint Matthew
(xi. 2) and Saint Luke (vii. 18): "Now when John had heard in the prison
the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him,
Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?" 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
observation, perhaps, holds concerning the apostacy of Judas.*

_________

* I had once placed amongst these examples of fair concession the
remarkable words of Saint Matthew in his account of Christ's appearance
upon the Galilean mountain: "And when they saw him they worshipped him;
but some doubted." (Chap. xxviii. 17.)  I have since, however, been
convinced, by what is observed concerning this passage in Dr.
Townshend's Discourse (Page 177.) upon the Resurrection, that the
transaction, as related by Saint Matthew, 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 first
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 moment, and upon his being seen at a distance, and was
afterwards dispelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into
conversation with them.

+ Saint Matthew's words are: kai proselthon o Iesous elalesen autois
[and having come toward them, Jesus spoke]. This intimates that when he
first appeared it was at a distance, at least from many of the
spectators. Ib. p. 197.
_________


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 (xii. 58)? "He did not many mighty works there,
because of their unbelief."

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 considered by the Jews themselves. It is very improbable,
therefore, that, without the constraint of truth, Matthew should have
ascribed a saying to Christ, which, primo 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. (Lardner, Cred., vol. xv. p. 422.)

Once more (Acts xxv. 18): "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 disparaging, and
bespeaking, on his part, much unconcern and indifference about the
matter. The same observation may be repeated of the speech which is
ascribed to Gallio (Acts xviii. 15): "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 candour, or less
disposition to extol and magnify, than in the conclusion of the same
history? in which the evangelist, after relating that Paul, on 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 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 this mountain, Be
thou removed, and be thou east into the sea, it shall be done; all
things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done."
(See also chap. xvii. 20. Luke xvii. 6.) 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 confidence in that internal notice by
which 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." (See
also Matt. viii. 21.) This answer, though very expressive of the
transcendent importance of religious concerns, was apparently harsh and
repulsive; and such as would not have been made for Christ if he had not
really used it. At least some other instance would bare been chosen.

The following passage, I, for the same reason, think impossible to have
been the production of artifice, or of a cold forgery:--"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 (Gehennae)." 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 resurrection
(John xx. 16, 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. 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 sentence: "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 expositions that
have been given of this passage, we may be permitted to say, that it
labours 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 had preserved it, when he tells us,
at the conclusion, that many of our Lord's disciples, when they had
heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can hear 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 with 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 the 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 Saint 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 words
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 unnecessarily 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 improbable that the forger of a
history in the name of another should have inserted such passages into
it: and it is improbable, also, that the persons whose names the books
hear 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," as Dr. Beattie hath properly said, "are thrown in
to anticipate objections; nothing of that caution which never fails to
distinguish the testimony of those who are conscious of imposture; no
endeavour to reconcile the reader's mind to what may be extraordinary in
the narrative."

I beg leave to cite also another author, (Duchal, pp. 97, 98.) who has
well expressed 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 sincerity,
and that they published nothing to the world but that they believed
themselves."

As no improper supplement to this chapter, I crave a place here for
observing the extreme naturalness of some 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." This 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 afterwards, of his
crucifixion, when he did not turn out what they expected him to be, so
far from affording matter of objection, represents popular favour in
exact agreement with nature and with experience, as the flux and reflux
of a wave.

The rulers and Pharisees rejecting Christ, whilst many of the common
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 arguments of those who favoured 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 husbands; 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 neighbours, "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 subtilty in running a distinction upon the word neighbour,
in the precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," was no less
natural than our Saviour's answer was decisive and satisfactory. (Luke
x. 20.) The lawyer of the New Testament, it must be observed, was a
Jewish divine.

The behaviour of Gallio (Acts xviii. 12-17), and of Festus (xxv. 18,
19), have been observed upon already.

The consistency of Saint 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 of the appearance of
truth.

There are also some properties, as they may be called, observable in the
Gospels; that is, circumstances separately suiting with the situation,
character, and intention of their respective authors.

Saint 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.
Saint 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.
(Hartley's Observations, vol. ii. p. 103.)

Saint Matthew (xv. 1) has recorded the cavil of the Pharisees against
the disciples of Jesus, for eating "with unclean hands." Saint Mark has
also (vii. 1) recorded the same transaction (taken probably from Saint
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 Saint 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 readers whom he addressed. But in Mark, who,
whatever use he might make of Matthew's Gospel, intended his own
narrative for a general circulation, and who himself travelled to
distant countries in the service of the religion, it was properly added.





CHAPTER IV.

IDENTITY OF CHRIST'S CHARACTER.

THE argument expressed by this title I apply principally to the
comparison of the first three Gospels with that of Saint John. It is
known to every reader of Scripture that the passages of Christ's history
preserved by Saint John are, except his passion and resurrection, for
the most part different from those which are delivered by the other
evangelists. And I think the ancient account of this difference to be
the true one, viz., that Saint John wrote after the rest, and to supply
what he thought omissions in their narratives, of which the principal
were our Saviour's conferences with the Jews of 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 Saint 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 proceeded from the same person. I should have
laid little stress upon the repetition of actions substantially 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 imitate 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 histories. 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.

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 occasion; or, which is
nearly the same thing, raising reflections from the objects and
incidents before him, or turning a particular discourse then passing
into an opportunity of general instruction.

It will be my business to point out this manner in the first three
evangelists; and then to inquire whether it do not appear also in several
examples of Christ's discourses preserved by Saint John.

The reader will observe in the following quotations that the Italic
letter contains the reflection; the common letter the incident or
occasion from which it springs.

Matt. xii. 47--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 hand 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 sister, 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 speak it not to you
concerning bread, that ye shall 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; 15--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 defileth a man,
but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth the man.--Then
answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And
Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do ye not 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 UNWASHEN HANDS DEFILETH NOT A MAN." Our Saviour, on 
this occasion, expatiates rather more at large than usual, and his 
discourse also is more divided; but the concluding 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 sprang 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 displeased, 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 lifted 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--3. "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 Galileans, because they suffered such things?
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 great
supper, and bade many," &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
entertainment and the behaviour of the guests.

We will now see how this manner discovers itself in Saint John's history
of Christ.

John vi. 25. "And when they had found him on the other side of the sea,
they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them
and said, Verily I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the
miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which 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 children, 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 I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting
life."

John iv. 31. "In the mean while, 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, saying, 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 I 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 him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast
both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I
believe; 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 be made blind."

All that the reader has now to do, is to compare the series of examples
taken from Saint 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, (Newton on Daniel, p. 148,
note a. Jottin, Dis., p. 218. Bishop Law's Life of Christ.) 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 Saint 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 execute, 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 (See Bishop Law's
Life of Christ).

II. There appears to me to exist an affinity between the history of
Christ's placing a little child in the midst of his disciples, as
related by the first three evangelists, (Matt. xviii. 1. Mark ix. 33.
Luke ix. 46.) and the history of Christ's washing his disciples' feet,
as given by Saint John. (Chap. xiii. 3.) In 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 first three evangelists, and by
Saint 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 Saint 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, twenty 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 withdrawing himself out of the way
whenever the behaviour of the multitude indicated a disposition to
tumult.

Matt. xiv. 22. "And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples 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 himself into the wilderness and
prayed." With these quotations compare the following from Saint 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
himself alone."

In this last instance, Saint 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. (See Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity.)
But it is not what one would have expected. We meet with it in Saint
Matthew's Gospel (chap. 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 Saint Mark's (chap. iii. 11): "And unclean
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 similar to this last is recorded
by Saint Luke (chap. iv. 41). What we thus find in the three
evangelists, appears also in a passage of Saint John (chap. x. 24, 25):
"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 different from any of the rest; and it was indirect.
We only discover Christ's conduct through the upbraidings of his
adversaries. But all this strengthens the argument. I had rather at any
time surprise a coincidence in some oblique allusion than read it in
broad assertions.

VI. In our Lord's commerce with his disciples, one very observable
particular is the difficulty which they found in understanding 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; Mark ix. 32. In Saint John's Gospel we
have, on a different occasion, and in a different instance, the same
difficulty of apprehension, 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.

VII. The meekness of Christ during his last sufferings, which is
conspicuous in the narratives of the first three evangelists, is
preserved in that of Saint John under separate examples. The answer
given by him, in Saint John, (Chap. xviii. 20, 21.) 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 to the armed party which seized him, as we read
it in Saint Mark's Gospel, and in Saint Luke's:(Mark xiv. 48. Luke xxii.
52.) "Are you come out as against a thief, with swords and with staves
to take me? I was daily with you in the temple 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, on
two several occasions, as related by Saint John, (Chap. xviii. 34; xix.
11.) 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 Saint 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?" (Chap. xviii.
23.) 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 Saint Luke; Chap. xxiii. 28.) weep not for him, but for
themselves, their posterity, and their country; and who, whilst he was
suspended 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 Saint John's account, as well as in that of the other
evangelists. (See John xix. 9. Matt. xxvii. 14. Luke xxiii. 9.)

There are, moreover, two other correspondencies between Saint John's
history of the transaction and theirs, of a kind somewhat different from
those which we have been now mentioning.

The first three 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.
Saint Matthew adds, "O, my Father, if this cup may not pass away from
me, except I drink it, thy will be done." (Chap, xxvi. 42.) Now Saint
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 thy sword
into the sheath; the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not
drink it?" (Chap. xviii. 11.) 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 retraction 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 condemned to be a threat of
destroying the temple; "We heard him say, I will destroy this temple
made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without
hands:" (Mark xiv. 58.) but they neither of them inform us upon what
circumstance this calumny was founded. Saint John, in the early part of
the history, (Chap. ii. 19.) supplies us with this information; for he
relates, that on 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 anything but the truth of
the case. From any care or design in Saint John to make his narrative
tally with the narratives of other evangelists, it 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
first three evangelists have related the appointment of the twelve
apostles; (Matt. x. 1. Mark iii. 14. Luke vi. 12.) 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; (Chap. vi. 70.) and whenever he happens to
notice any one as of that number, (Chap. xx, 24; vi. 71.) it is one
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.

The Jews, whether right or wrong, had understood their prophecies to
foretell the advent of a person who by some supernatural assistance
should advance their nation to independence, and to a supreme degree of
splendour and prosperity. 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,
while 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 flattered 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 particular 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 enthusiast or
impostor, did not pursue the same conduct as they did, in framing his
character and pretensions, it will be found difficult 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 absolutely
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 to have done the same, yet
that nothing of this sort was thought of by any.





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 belong only 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 absolute 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 any 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
displayed in the greatest cities of the Roman empire. Allusions 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 posterior 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 Rome. (Michaelis's Introduction
to the New Testament [Marsh's translation], c. ii. sect. xi.)

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 collecting these examples I have done no more
than epitomise the first volume of the first part of Dr. Lardner's
Credibility of the Gospel 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 subjects
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.

The writer principally made use of in the inquiry is Josephus.  Josephus
was born at Jerusalem four years after Christ's ascension. He wrote his
history of the Jewish war some time after the destruction of Jerusalem,
which happened in the year of our Lord LXX, that is, thirty-seven years
after the ascension; and his history of the Jews he finished in the year
xciii, that is, sixty years after the ascension. At the head of each
article I have referred, by figures included in brackets, 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. ii. 22. "When he (Joseph) heard that Archclaus 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."

II. In this passage it is asserted that Archclaus 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 (Ant. lib. xvi. c. 8, sect. 1.).

Saint Matthew says that Archclaus reigned, was king, in Judea. Agreeably
to this, we are informed by Josephus, not only that Herod appointed
Archclaus his successor in Judea, but that he also appointed him with
the title of King; and the Greek verb basileuei, which the evangelist
uses to denote the government and rank of Archclaus, is used likewise by
Josephus (De Bell. lib. i. c. 3,3, sect. 7.).

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." (Ant, lib. xii.
13, sect. 1.)

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 Trachonitis--the word of God
came unto John."

By the will of Herod the Great, and the decree of Augustus thereupon,
his two sons were appointed, one (Herod Antipus) tetrarch of Galilee and
Peraea, and the other (Philip) tetrarch of Trachonitis and the
neighbouring countries. (Ant. lib. xvii. c. 8, sect. 1.) We have,
therefore, these two persons in the situations in which Saint 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;" (Ant. lib.
xviii. c. 8, sect. 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. (Ant. lib. xviii. c. 5, sect. 6.)

III. [p. 20.] Mark vi. 17. "Herod had sent forth, and laid hold upon
John, and bound him in prison, for Heredias' sake, his brother Philip's
wife: for he had married her." (See also Matt. xiv. 1--13; Luke iii.
19.)

With this compare Joseph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 6, sect. 1:--"He (Herod
the tetrareh) made a visit to Herod his brother.--Here, failing in love
with Herodias, the wife of the said Herod, he ventured to make her
proposals of marriage."*

_________

* The affinity of the two accounts is unquestionable; but there is a
difference in the name of Herodias's first husband, which in the
evangelist is Philip; in Josephus, Herod. The difficulty, however, will
not appear considerable when we recollect how common it was in those
times for the same persons 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 nevertheless highly probable that the brothers bore some
additional name by which they were distinguished from one another.
Lardner, vol. ii. p. 897.
_________


Again, Mark vi. 22. "And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in
and danced."

With this also compare Joseph. Antiq. 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
laws 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 king
stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the church."

In the conclusion of the same chapter, Herod's death is represented to
have taken place soon after this persecution. The accuracy of our
historian, or, rather, the unmeditated coincidence which truth of its
own accord 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 last three
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 was 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 tetrarchie of Philip, intending
also to give him the tetrarchie of Lysanias." (Antiq. xviii. c. 7, sect.
10.) 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
dominion which Caligula had given him; adding also Judea and Samaria, in
the utmost extent, as possessed by his grandfather Herod (Antiq. xix. c.
5, sect. 1.).

V. [p. 32.] Acts xii. 19--23. "And he (Herod) went down from Judea to
Cesarea, and there abode. And on 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."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. c. 8, sect. 2. "He went to the city of Cesarea.
Here he celebrated shows in honour 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 workmanship. 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 intreated him to be propitious to
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 narratives. The worms mentioned by Saint
Luke are not remarked by Josephus; but the appearance of these is a
symptom not unusually, I believe, attending the disease which Josephus
describes, 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."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. c. 6, sect. 1, 2. "Agrippa gave his sister
Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, when he had
consented to be circumcised.--But this marriage of Drusilla with Azizus
was dissolved in a short time after, in this manner:--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.] Acts xxv. 13. "And after certain days king Agrippa and
Berenice 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 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; (Antiq.
xi. c. 9 ad fin.) which Fadus was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander,
Cumanus, Felix, Festus. (Antiq. xx. de Bell. lib. ii.) 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 tetrarchie which had been Philip's; and he added, moreover, the
kingdom of Lysanias, and the province that had belonged to Varus." (De
Bell. lib. li. c. 12 ad fin.)

Saint 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 Saint Luke, speaking of the father (Acts 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. 6. "And when they had gone through the isle
(Cyprus) to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a
Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus, which was with the deputy of the country,
Sergius Paulus, a prudent man."

The word which is here translated deputy, signifies and upon this word
our observation is founded. The provinces of the Roman empire were of 
two kinds; those belonging the emperor, in which the governor was called
proprietor; those belonging to the senate, in which the governor was
proconsul. And this was a regular distinction. Now it appears from Dio
Cassius, (Lib. liv. ad A. U. 732.) that the province of Cyprus, which, in
original distribution, was assigned to the emperor, had transferred to
the senate, in exchange for some others; and after this exchange, the
appropriate title of the Roman was proconsul.

Ib. xviii. 12. [p. 55.] "And when Gallio was deputy (proconsul) of
Achaia."

The propriety of the title "proconsul" is in this 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 government had become proconsular) only six or
seven years before the time in which this transaction is said to have
taken place. (Suet. in Claud. c. xxv. Dio, lib. lxi.) 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 constitution of a
Roman province, as from what Josephus delivers concerning the state of
Judea in particular, (Antiq. lib. xx. c. 8, sect. 5; c. 1, sect. 2.) 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. (Joseph. de Bell lib. Xi. c. 13, sect. 1, 3, 4.)

XI. [p. 218.] Acts xxi. 30. "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 band 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 another,
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.

Joseph. de. Ball. lib. v. e. 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
armour 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 Sadducees, 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.

Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. c. 17, sect. 2. "And at the temple, Eleazer,
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 Caesar? unto Caesar 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?"

XIV. [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 proseuche,  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, on a certain
public occasion, relates of them, that, "early in the morning, flocking
out of the gates of the city, they go to the neighbouring shores, (for
the proseuchai were destroyed,) and, standing in a most pure place, they
lift up their voices with one accord." (Philo in Flacc. p. 382.)

Josephus gives us a decree of the city of Halicarnassus, permitting 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 perform sacred rites, according to the Jewish laws, and build
oratories by the sea-side." (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 10, sect, 24.)

Tertullian, among other Jewish rites and customs, such as feasts,
sabbaths, fasts, and unleavened bread, mentions "orationes literales,"
that is, prayers by the river-side. (Tertull. ad Nat, lib. i. c. 13.)

XV. [p. 255.] Acts xxvi. 5. "After the most straitest sect of our
religion, I lived a Pharisee."

Joseph. 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 vii. 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."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6. "The Pharisees have delivered
up 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 there is no
resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess
both."

Joseph. 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 that the soul of the wicked is punished with
eternal punishment." On the other hand (Antiq. lib. xviii. e. 1, sect.
4), "It is the opinion of the Sadducees that souls 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." Saint 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
however without examples.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6, 7. "John Hyreanus, 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 (Antiq. lib. xx. e. 8, sect. 1), "This Ananus the younger, who, as
we have said just now, had received the high priesthood, was fierce and
haughty in his behaviour, and, above all men, hold 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 steadfastly 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 receive him, because his face was as though he would go to
Jerusalem."

Joseph. Antiq. 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 journey, some inhabitants
of the village called Ginaea, 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 Samaritan woman,
"worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 5, sect. 1. "Commanding them to meet him
at mount Gerizzim, which is by them (the Samaritans) esteemed the most
sacred of all mountains."

XXI. [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 presidentship 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 removed from his office by Vitellius, 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 honour not above a year, was succeeded by Joseph, who is
also called Caiaphas." (Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 2, sect. 2.) After this,
Gratus went away for Rome, having been eleven years in Judea; and
Pontius Pilate came thither as his successor. Of the removal of Caiaphas
from his office, Josephus likewise afterwards informs us: and connects
it with a circumstance which fixes the time to a date subsequent to the
determination of Pilate's government--"Vitellius," 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." (Antiq. lib. xvii. c. 5, sect 3.)

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, upon 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 holden the
office, and had been deposed; that the person who succeeded him had been
murdered; that another was not yet appointed to the station; and that
during the vacancy, he had, of his own authority, taken upon himself the
discharge of the office. (Joseph. Antiq. 1. xx. c. 5, sect. 2; c. 6,
sect. 2; c. 9, sect. 2.) 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 Saint Paul was apprehended, and brought before
the Jewish council.

XXIII. [p. 323.] Matt. xxvi. 59. "Now the chief priests and elders, and
all the council, sought false witness against him."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. e. 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 evangelists 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.

Ib. [p. 871.] Luke ill. 1. "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Juries, 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 objection, with respect to his giving the title of high
priest specifically to two persons at the same time: "Quadratus sent two
others of the most powerful men of the Jews, as also the high priests
Jonathan and Ananias." (De Bell. lib. ix. c. 12, sect. 6.) That Annas
was a person in an eminent station, and possessed an authority
coordinate with, or next to, that of the high print properly so called,
may he inferred from Saint John's Gospel, which in the history of
Christ's crucifixion relates that "the soldiers led him away to Annas
first." (xviii.13.) 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, (Lib. ii. c. 20, sect. 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:(Mark xiv. 53.)
sometimes it is applied exclusively 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; 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 on these occasions
appears from passages of Suetonius and Dio Cassius: "Pattrem
familias--canibus objecit, cure 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 crucifying him." Book
liv.

Ib. "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"?

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." (P. 1247,
edit. 24 Huds.)

"Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified." (P. 1080, edit.
45.)

"He was burnt alive, having been first beaten." (P. 1327, edit. 43.)

To which may he added one from Livy, lib. xi. c. 5. "Pro ductique omnes,
virgisqus caesi, 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, therefore, in the account of an English
execution, purporting to come from an English writer, would not only
bring a suspicion upon the truth of the account, but would in a
considerable degree impeach its pretensions of having been written by
the author whose name it bore. Whereas, the same circumstance 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 iis qui sero puniuntur, p. 554; a Paris, 1624. "Every kind
of wickedness produces its own particular torment; 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 commending which
edict, a heathen writer notices this very circumstance of breaking the
legs: "Eo pius, ut etiam vetus veterrimumque 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."

Joseph. Antiq. lib xv. e. 7, sect. 8. "Twice every day, in the morning
and at the ninth hour, the priests perform their, duty at the altar."

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."

Joseph. contra Ap. 1. ii. "He (Moses) gave us the law, the most
excellent of all institutions; nor did he appoint that it should be
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."

Joseph. de Bell. 1. xi. c. 15. "It is customary for those who have been
afflicted with some distemper, or have laboured 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."

Ib. v. 24. "Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges
with them, that they may shave their heads."

Joseph. Antiq. 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 reason he 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 expenses which attended its completion; and that the phrase was,
"that they might be saved." The custom and the expression 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."

Joseph. Antiq. iv. c. 8, sect. 21. "He that acts contrary hereto let him
receive forty stripes, wanting one, from the officer."

The coincidence here is singular, because the law allowed forty
stripes:--"Forty stripes he may give him and not exceed." Deut. 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.

XXXII. [p. 490.] Luke iii. 12. "Then came also publicans to be
baptized." 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 expected.
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 Florus 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
Florus 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 uncondemned?"

"Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum; scelus verberari." Cic. in Verr.

"Caedebatur virgis, in medio foro Messanae, civis Romanus, Judices: cum
interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia, istius miseri inter dolorem
crepitumque plagarum audiebatur, nisi haec, 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 to be here noticed is, that a Jew was a Roman citizen.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 10, sect. 13. "Lucius Lentulna, the consul,
declared, I have dismissed from the service the Jewish Roman citizens,
who observe the rites of the Jewish religion at Ephesus."

Ib. ver. 28. "And the chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained
I this freedom."

Dio Cassius, lib. lx. "This privilege, which had been bought formerly at
a great price, became so cheap, that it was commonly said a man might be
made a Roman citizen for a few pieces of broken glass."

XXXV. [p. 521.] Acts xxviii. 16. "And when we came to Rome the centurion
delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but Paul was
suffered to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him."

With which join vet. 20. "For the hope of Israel, I am bound with this
chain."

"Quemadmedum cadem catean et custodiam et militem copulat; sic ista,
quae tam dissimilia sunt, pariter incedunt." Seneca, Ep. v.

"Proconsul estimare solet, utrum in carcerera recipienda sit persona, an
militi tradenda." Ulpian. l. i. sect. 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. (Joseph. Antiq.
lib. xviii. 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." Since not 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 Rome several priests
of his acquaintance, and very good and honest men, to answer for
themselves to Caesar." Joseph. 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); which came to pass in the
days of Claudius Caesar."

Joseph. Antiq. 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."

XXXVIII. [p. 555.] Acts xviii. 1, 2. "Because that Claudius had
commanded all Jews to depart from Rome."

Suet. Gland. c. xxv. "Judeos, impulsero 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."

Joseph. 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 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 murderers?"

Joseph. 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 this impostor, an "Egyptian,"
without the 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 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 hundred to have been killed upon this occasion, and two
hundred taken prisoners:(Lib. xx. c. 7, sect. 6.) which certainly was
not the "greatest part," nor "a great part," nor "a great number," out
of thirty thousand. 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 Marshill, 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 worship,
him declare I unto you."

Diogenes Laertius, who wrote about the year 210, in his history of
Epimenides, who is supposed to have flourished nearly six hundred years
before Christ, relates of him the following 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, that to this
present time may be found in the boroughs of the Athenians ANONYMOUS
altars: a memorial of the expiation then made." (In Epimenide, l. i.
segm. 110.) These altars, it may be presumed, were called anonymous
because there was not the name of any particular deity inscribed upon
them.

Pausanias, who wrote before the end of the second century, in his
description of Athens, having mentioned an altar of Jupiter Olympius,
adds, "And nigh unto it is an altar of unknown gods." (Paus. l. v. p.
412.) And in another place, he speaks "of altars of gods called
unknown." (Paus. l. i. p. 4.)

Philostratus, who wrote in the beginning of the third century; records
it as an observation of Apollonius Tyanseus, "That it was wise to speak
well of all the gods, especially at Athens, where altars of unknown
demons were erected." (Philos. Apoll. Tyan. l. vi. c. 3.)

The author of the dialogue Philoparis 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 time 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." (Lucian. in Philop. tom.
ii. Graev. pp. 767, 780.)

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 Saint 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 Saint 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 Saint 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 something of what they
were writing about. The argument is also strengthened by the following
considerations:

I. That these agreements 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 institution, 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
endeavouring to give detailed accounts of transactions connected with
those circumstances, forasmuch as he could no longer have a living
exemplar to copy from.

III. 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 later 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 Jerusalem." (Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 960.) 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 controversial 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 Saint Luke, "whilst Cyrenius was
governor of Syria." (Chap. ii. ver. 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 beginning 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 founded 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 had no place 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 those 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 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 Saint Luke may be construed thus: "This was the first
assessment (or enrolment) of Cyrenius, governor of Syria;"* the words
"governor of Syria" being used after the name of Cyrenius as his
addition or title. And this title, belonging to him at the time of
writing the account, was naturally 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
relating 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 produced the difficulty in Saint Luke.

_________

* If the word which we render "first" be rendered "before," which it
has been strongly contended that the Greek idiom shows of, the whole
difficulty vanishes: for then the passage would be,--"Now this taxing
was made before Cyreulus 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.
_________


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 +), then the census on all hands acknowledged to have been made by
him in the beginning of his government would form a second, so as to
occasion the other to be called the first.

_________

+ Josephus (Antiq. xvii. c. 2, sect. 6.) has this remarkable message:
"When therefore the whole Jewish nation took an oath to be faithful to
Caesar, 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.
_________


II. Another chronological objection arises upon a date assigned in the
beginning of the third chapter of Saint Luke. (Lardner, part i. vol. ii.
p. 768.) "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar,--Jesus began to be about thirty years of age:" for, supposing
Jesus to have been born as Saint Matthew and Saint Luke also himself
relate, in the time of Herod, he must, according to the dates given in
Josephus and by the Roman historians, have been at least thirty-one
years of age in the fifteenth year of Tiberius. If he was born, as Saint
Matthew's narrative intimates, one or two years before Herod's death, he
would have been thirty-two or thirty-three years old at that time.

This is the difficulty: the solution turns upon an alteration in the
construction of the Greek. Saint 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 addition, are
often used in a laxer sense than is here contended for.*

_________

* Livy, speaking of the peace which the conduct of Romulus had procured to
the state, during the whole reign of his successor (Numa), has these
words: "Ab illo enim profectis viribus datis tautum valuit, ut, in
quaaraginta deiade annos, tutam proem haberet:" yet afterwards in the
same chapter, "Romulus," he says, "septera et triginta regnavit annos.
Numa tres et quadraginta." (Liv. Hist. c. i. sect. 16.)
_________


III. Acts v. 36. "For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting
himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred,
joined themselves: who were slain; and all, 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 appearance (in which, however, it is
very possible that Josephus may have been mistaken), (Michaelis's
Introduction to the New Testament [Marsh's translation], vol. i. p. 61.)
it must have been, at the least, seven years after Gamaliel's speech, of
which this text is a part, was delivered. It has been replied to the
objection, (Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 92.) that there might be two
impostors of this name: and it has been observed, in order to give a
general probability to the solution, that the same thing 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. (Antiq. 1. 17, c.
12. sect. 4.) Archbishop Usher was of opinion, that one of the three
Judases above mentioned was Gamaliel's Theudas; (Annals, p. 797.) and
that with a less variation of the name than we actually find in the
Gospel, where one of the twelve apostles is called, by Luke, Judas; and
by Mark, Thaddeus. (Luke vi. 16. Mark iii. 18.) 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. (Orig. cont Cels.
p. 44.)

IV. Matt. xxiii. 34. "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. But this Zacharias was the son of Jehoiada.

_________

* "And the Spirit of God came upon Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada the
priest, which stood above the people, and mid unto them, Thus saith God,
Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord that ye cannot prosper?
Because ye hive 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.
_________


There is also Zacharias the prophet; who was the son of Barachiah, and
is so described in the superscription of his prophecy, but of whose
death we have no account.

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 age, 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 extraordinary 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 the allusion.

Secondly, that although the name of this person's father be erroneously
put down in the Gospel, yet we have a way of accounting 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 probable solution. The
reader will compare them with the number, the variety, the closeness,
and the satisfactoriness, of the instances which are to be set against
them; and he will remember the scantiness, in many cases, of our
intelligence, and that difficulties always attend imperfect information.





CHAPTER VII.

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES.

Between the letters which bear the name of Saint 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 undesignedness is gathered from their latency, their minuteness,
their obliquity, the suitableness of the circumstances in which they
consist 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
(especially for its assuming nothing beside the existence of the books),
that I have pursued it through Saint Paul's thirteen epistles, in a work
published by me four years ago, under the title of Horae Paulinae. I am
sensible how feebly any argument which depends upon an induction of
particulars is represented 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 first three epistles.
I persuade myself that he will find the proofs, both of agreement, and
undesignedness, supplied by these epistles, sufficient to support the
conclusion which is there maintained, in favour both of the genuineness
of the writings and the truth of the narrative.

It remains only, in this place, to point out how the argument bears upon
the general question of the Christian history.

First, Saint 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." (Rom. xv. 18,
19. 2 Cor. xii. 12.) If this testimony come from Saint Paul's own hand,
it is invaluable. 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 Saint Paul was real; which alone lays a foundation 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 reason for questioning it), was well acquainted
with Saint Paul's history; and that he probably was, what he professes
himself to be, a companion of Saint 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 Saint Luke what is proved concerning the
Acts of the Apostles, considering them as two parts of the same history;
for though there are instances of second parts 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 Saint John's
Gospel and of Saint John's Epistle. The style of Saint John's is not at
all the style of Saint Paul's Epistles, though both are very singular;
nor is it the style of Saint James's or of Saint Peter's Epistles: but
it bears a resemblance to the style of the Gospel inscribed with Saint
John's name, so far as that resemblance can be expected to appear, which
is not in simple narrative, so much as in reflections, and in the
representation of discourses. Writings so circumstanced prove
themselves, and one another, to be genuine. This correspondency is the
more valuable, as the epistle itself asserts, in Saint 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." (Ch. i. ver. 1--3.)Who would
not desire, who perceives not the value of an account delivered by a
writer so well informed as this?





CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE HISTORY OF THE RESURRECTION.

The 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 resurrection ought to be accounted a more decisive
proof of supernatural agency than other miracles are; it is not that, as
it stands in the Gospels, it is better attested than some others; it is
not, for either of these reasons, that more weight belongs to it than to
other miracles, but for the following, viz., That it is completely
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 without doubt or disagreement by all who called themselves
Christians, as alleged from the beginning by the propagators of the
institution, and alleged as the centre of their testimony. Nothing, 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 religion 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. On 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 object; 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 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
resurrection 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 away.* And this account,
though loaded with great improbabilities, such as the situation of the
disciples, their fears for their own safety at the time, the
unlikelihood of their expecting to succeed, the difficulty of actual
success,+ 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
supposition of enthusiasm? It is impossible our Lord's followers could
believe that he was risen from the dead, if his corpse 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 representation 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 enthusiasm at once; if absent, fraud, not enthusiasm,
must have carried it away.

_________

* "And this saying," Saint Matthew writes, "is commonly reported amongst
the Jews until this day" (chap. xxviii. 15). The evangelist may be
thought good authority as to this point, even by 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 been rightly, I think, observed by Dr.
Townshend (Dis. upon the Res. p. 126), that the story of the guards
carried collusion upon the face of it:--"His disciples came by night,
and stole him away while we slept." Men in their circumstances would not
have made such an acknowledgment of their negligence without previous
assurances of protection and impunity.

+ "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 enclosed within
the walls." Priestley on the Resurr. p. 24.
_________


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
completest 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 Saint Matthew, that the Jews were
advertised of the expectation of Christ's followers, and that they had
taken due precaution in consequence of this notice, and that the body
was in marked and public custody, the observation receives more force
still. For notwithstanding their precaution and although thus prepared
and forewarned; 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, inconsistent with the supposition which would resolve their
conduct into enthusiasm.





CHAPTER IX.

THE PROPAGATION 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
follow: A few days after Christ's disappearance out of the world, we
find an assembly of disciples at Jerusalem, to the number of "about one
hundred and twenty;" (Acts i. 15.) which hundred and twenty were
probably a little association of believers, met together not merely as
believers in Christ, but as personally connected with the apostles, and
with one another. Whatever was the number of believers then in
Jerusalem, we have no reason to be surprised that so small a company
should assemble: for there is no proof that the followers of Christ were
yet formed into a society; that the society was reduced into any order;
that it was at this time even understood 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 holden, 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, (Acts ii. 1.) upon a signal
display of divine agency attending the persons of the apostles, there
were added to the society "about three thousand souls." (Acts ii. 41.)
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
before were 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 chapter (verse 4) of the Acts, that soon after
this, "the number of the men," i. e. the society openly professing 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 v. 34, appears to have
been of this description; perhaps Nicodemus, and perhaps also Joseph of
Arimathea. This class of men, their character and their rank, are
likewise pointed out by Saint John, in the twelfth chapter of his
Gospel: "Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him,
but because 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.*

_________

* "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 favourable
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 they could not find in
themselves courage enough to bear them to disoblige their friends and
family, to ruin their fortunes, to lose their reputation, their liberty,
and their life, for the sake of the new religion. Therefore they were
willing to hope, that if they endeavoured to observe the great
principles of morality which Christ had represented as the principal
part, the sum and substance of religion; if they thought honourably 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
to hope that God would accept this, and that He would excuse and forgive
the rest." Jortin's Dis. on the Christ. Rel. p. 91, ed. 4.
_________


Christianity, however, proceeded to increase in Jerusalem by a progress
equally rapid with its first success; for in the next chapter of our
history, we read that "believers were the more 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;" (Acts v. 14; vi. 1) and afterwards, in the same
chapter, it is declared expressly, that "the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and that a great company 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, (Vide Pearson's Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 7.
Benson's History of Christ, b. i. p. 148.) to something 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 day;" and the number of
Christians publicly baptized, and publicly associating 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 priesthood as well as others, became obedient to the
faith;" and this within a space of less than two years from the
commencement of the institution.

By reason of a persecution raised against the church at Jerusalem, the
converts were driven from that city, and dispersed throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria. (Acts viii. l.) Wherever they came, they
brought their religion with them: for our historian informs us, (Acts
viii. 4.) 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 posterior to this, [Benson,
b. i. p. 207.]) 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 comfort 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, 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." (Bryant on the Truth of the
Christian Religion, p. 112.) It was not yet known to the apostles that
they were at liberty to propose the religion to mankind at large. That
"mystery," as Saint Paul calls it, (Eph. iii. 3--6.) and as it then was,
was revealed to Peter by an especial miracle. It appears to have been
(Benson, book ii. p. 236.) 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." (Acts xi.
21, 24, 26.) Upon Herod's death, which happened in the next
year, (Benson, book ii, p. 289.) it is observed, that "the word of God
grew and multiplied." (Acts xii. 24.) Three years from this time, upon
the preaching of Paul at Iconium, the metropolis of Lycaonia, "a great
multitude both of Jews and Greeks believed:" (Acts xiv. 1.) 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 (Benson's History of Christ, book iii. p. 50.) 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 in
number daily." (Acts xvi. 5.) From Asia the apostle proceeded into
Greece, where, soon after his arrival in Macedonia, we find him at
Thessalonica: in which city, "some of the Jews believed, and of the
devout Greeks a great multitude." (Acts xvii. 4.) We meet also here with
an accidental 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." (Acts xvii.
6.) At Berea, the next city at which Saint Paul arrives, the historian,
who was present, inform us that "many of the Jews believed." (Acts xvii.
12.) The next year and a half of Saint Paul's ministry was spent at
Corinth. Of his success in that city we receive the following
intimations; "that many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized;"
and "that it was revealed to the Apostle by Christ, that be had much
people in that city." (Acts xviii, 8--10.) Within less than a year after
his departure from Corinth, and twenty-five (Benson, book iii. p, 160.)
years after the ascension, Saint Paul fixed his station at Ephesus for
the space of two years (Acts xix. 10.) and something more. The effect of
his ministry in that city and neighbourhood drew from the historian a
reflection how "mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." (Acts xix.
20.) 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 hath persuaded and turned away much people." (Acts xix. 26.) 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 ascension, 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 Aegean Sea, the
seacoast of Africa, and had extended itself to Rome, 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,* 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
Saint Paul returned thither at the conclusion of the period of 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."+

_________

* Considering the extreme conciseness of many parts of the history, the
silence about the number of converts is no proof of their paucity; for
at Philippi, no mention whatever is made of the number, yet Saint Paul
addressed an epistle to that church. The churches of Galatia, and the
affairs of those churches, were considerable enough to be the subject of
another letter, and of much of Saint 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
assayed to go into Bithynia." Acts xvi. 6.

+ Acts xxi. 20.
_________


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 notes his presence upon certain
occasions, 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
questioning it), but to observe that, in such a case as this, the time
and situation of the author are of more importance than his name; and
that these appear from the work itself, and in the most unsuspicious
form.

II. That this account is a very incomplete account of the preaching 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 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 undoubtedly 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 observation 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; Herod's
death; the sending of Barnabas to Antioch, and Barnabas calling Paul to
his assistance; Paul coming to a place and finding there disciples; the
clamour 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 deceive.

PARALLEL TESTIMONIES with the history are the letters of Saint Paul, and
of the other apostles, which have come down to us. Those of Saint 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 recognise by reference the churches
of Judea, the churches of Asia, and "all the churches of the Gentiles."
(Thess ii. 14.) In the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. xv. 18, 19.) the
author is led to deliver a remarkable declaration concerning the extent
of his preaching, its efficacy, and the cause to which he ascribes
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, (Col. i. 23.) we
find an oblique but very strong signification of the then general state
of the Christian mission, at least as it appeared to Saint 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 reminded
them near the beginning of his letter (Col. i. 6.), "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 by other evidence.

Tacitus, in delivering a relation, which has already been laid 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 rumours 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 purpose: "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 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 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 obtained a great number of converts. This was
about six years after the time that Saint Paul wrote his Epistle to the
Romans, and something more than two years after he arrived there
himself. 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 (multitudo ingens) were discovered and
seized.

It seems probable, that the temporary check which Tacitus represents
Christianity to have received (repressa in praesens) referred to the
persecution of Jerusalem which followed the death of Stephen (Acts
viii.); and which, by dispersing the converts, 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 firmness 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 emperor's
counsel and authority, the following words:--"Suspending all judicial
proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice; for it has appeared to
me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially on account of the
great number of persons who are in danger 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 forsaken, begin to be more frequented;
and the sacred solemnities, after a long intermission, are revived.
Victims, likewise, are everywhere (passim) bought up; whereas, for some
time, there were few to purchase them. Whence it is easy to imagine that
numbers of men might be reclaimed if pardon were granted to those that
shall repent." (C. Plin. Trajano Imp. lib. x. ep. xcvii.)

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 is the following: "Others were named by an informer, who,
at first, confessed themselves Christians, and afterwards denied it; the
rest said they had been Christians some three years ago, some longer,
and some about 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 singular 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 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 these 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 confirmation 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 remarkable words: "There is not a
nation, either of Greek or barbarian, or of any other name, even of
those who wander in tribes, and live in tents, amongst whom prayers and
thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the universe
by the name of the crucified Jesus." (Dial cum Tryph.) 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 adversaries of Christianity) lament
that every sex, age, and condition, and persons of every rank also, are
converts to that name." (Tertull. Apol. c. 37.) I do allow that these
expressions are loose, and may be called declamatory. But even
declamation hath its bounds; this 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
description; 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;" (Ad Jud. c. 7.)
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." (Ad Scap. c. iii.) A Clemens Alexandrinus, who preceded
Tertullian by a few years, introduced a comparison between the success
of Christianity and that of the most celebrated philosophical
institutions: "The philosophers were confined to Greece, and to their
particular retainers; but the doctrine of the Master of Christianity not
remain in Judea, as philosophy did in Greece, but is 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 he prohibited, it immediately
vanishes; whereas, from the first preaching of our doctrine, kings and
tyrants, governors and presidents, with their whole train, and with the
populace on their side, have endeavoured with their whole might to
exterminate it, yet doth it flourish more and more." (Clem. AI. Strora.
lib. vi. ad fin.) Origen, who follows Tertullian at the distance of only
thirty years, delivers nearly the same account: "In every part of the
world," says he, "throughout all Greece, and in all other nations, there
are innumerable and immense multitudes, who, having left 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 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."
(Orig. in Cels. lib. i.) In another passage, Origen draws the following
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 counsels 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." (Orig. cont. Cels. lib vii.)

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 Arnobius, 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
institution, and that also in the face of threats, executions and
tortures." (Arnob. in Genres, 1. i. pp. 27, 9, 24, 42, 41. edit. Lug.
Bat. 1650.)

And not more than twenty years after Constantine's entire possession of
the empire, Julius Firmiens Maternus calls upon the emperors Constantius
and Constans to extirpate the relics of the ancient religion; the
reduced and fallen condition of which is described by our author in the
following words: "Licet adhue in quibusdam regionibus idololatriae
morientia palpitont membra; tamen in eo res est, ut a Christianis
omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum funditus amputetur:" and in another
place, "Modicum tautum superest, ut legibus vestris--extincta
idololatriae pereat funesta contagio." (De Error. Profan. Relig. c. xxi.
p. 172, quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 262.) It will not be thought
that we quote this writer in order to recommend 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 extinction: "Solitudinem patitur et in urbe gentilitas. Dii
quondam nationum, cum bubonibus et noctuis, in solis culminibus
remanserunt." (Jer. ad Lect. ep. 5, 7.) 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 philosophise, 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."
(Jer. ad Lect. ep. 8, ad Heliod.) Were, therefore, the motives of
Constantine's conversion ever so problematical, the easy establishment
of Christianity, and the ruin of Heathenism, under him and his immediate
successors, is of itself a proof of the progress which 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 actually 
favoured 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." (Lardner, 
vol. vii. p. 380.) 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 of many early
Christians, of their learning and their labours, to notice the number of
Christian writers who flourished in these ages. Saint Jerome's catalogue
contains sixty-six writers within the first three centuries, and the
first six 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 remonstrance:--"Let those who say the church has had no
philosophers, 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." (Jer. Prol. in Lib.
de Ser. Eccl.) Of these writers, several, as Justin, Irenaeus, Clement
of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Bardesanes, Hippolitus, Eusebius,
were voluminous writers. Christian writers abounded particularly 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 defences were also set forth, by various
advocates of the religion, in the course of its first three 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
remain, presented apologies for the Christian religion to the Roman
emperors; Quadratus and Aristides to Adrian, Justin to Antoninus Pins,
and a second to Marcus Antoninus. Melito, bishop of Sardis, and
Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, and Miltiades, men of great
reputation, did the same to Marcus Antoninus, twenty years
afterwards; (Euseb. Hist. lib. iv. c. 26. See also Lardner, vol. ii. p.
666.) and ten years after this, Apollonius, who suffered martyrdom under
the emperor Commodus, composed an apology for his faith which he read in
the senate, and which was afterwards published. (Lardner, vol. ii. p.
687.) 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
composed 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.





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 accounts to what themselves
had seen and heard. The effect also of their preaching strongly confirms
the truth of what our 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 of reason, or the construction of ancient
writing; (of which are the several theories which have, at different
times, 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 postulatum of which was a supernatural
character ascribed to a particular person; of a doctrine, the truth
whereof depends 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 unshaken; and yet this
very often cannot be accomplished without 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
persuade many nations to quit the religion in which their ancestors have
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." (Jortin's Dis. on the Christ. Rel. p. 107, 4th
edit.) The resistance 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 wall as millions who succeeded
them, became such in formal opposition 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 on 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 extremely small.
"Notwithstanding the labour 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." (Sketches relating to the history, learning, and
manners of the Hindoos, p. 48; quoted by Dr. Robertson, Hist. Dis.
concerning Ancient India, p. 236.)

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 labours 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 unblameable. 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 religion, the
perfection of its morality, the purity of its precepts, the eloquence,
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 world look up with sentiments
of deference. The apostles came forth amongst the Gentiles under no
other name than that of Jews, which was precisely the character they
despised and derided. If it be disgraceful in India to become a
Christian, it could not be much less so to be enrolled amongst those
"quos, per flagitia invisos, 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 is supposed to be performed by the power of Jupiter, Neptune, of
Aeolus, of Mars, of Venus, according to the mythology of the West, is
ascribed, in the East, to the agency Agrio the god of fire, Varoon the
god of oceans, Vayoo god of wind, Cama the god of love." (Baghvat Gets,
p. 94, quoted by Dr. Robertson, Ind. Dis. p. 306.) 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
(i. 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
covered with paintings in a style no less indelicate." (Others 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. p.
244--260. Preface to the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 57; quoted by Dr.
Robertson, p. 320.)

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 distinguished part in the celebration of the
public rites. In India, a powerful and numerous caste possesses
exclusively the administration 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 "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." (Voyage de Gentil. vol. i. p.
244--260. Preface to the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 57; quoted by Dr.
Robertson, p. 320.) 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, but by the learned and philosophical
part of the community either derided, or regarded by them as only fit to
be upholden for the sake of its political uses.*

_________

* "How absurd soever the articles of faith may be which superstition has
adopted, 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 experience 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 enjoined 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." Ind. Dis. p. 321. 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 Ind. Dis. p. 324-334.
_________


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 contempt 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 discredit into which the
popular religion had fallen with many of their heathen neighbours.

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 Greenland 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 encouraging 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 these infidels (and some thought they would
never be converted, till they saw miracles wrought as in the apostles'
days, and this the Greenlanders 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." (History of Greenland, vol. ii. p. 376.)

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 possessed means of conviction which we have not; that they had
proofs to appeal to which we want.





SECTION III.

OF THE RELIGION OF MAHOMET.

The only event in the history of the human species which admits 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 we allege:--"The infidels say, Unless a sign be sent down unto
him from his lord, we will not believe; thou art a preacher only."
(Sale's Koran, c. xiii. p. 201, ed. quarto.) Again; "Nothing hindered us
from sending thee with miracles, except that the former nations have
charged them with imposture." (C. xvii. p. 232.) 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?" (C. xxix. p.
328.) Beside these acknowledgments, I have observed thirteen distinct
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;" (C. v. x. xiii. twice.) "that if he
should work miracles, they would not believe;" (C. vi.) "that they had
before rejected Moses, and Jesus and the Prophets, who wrought
miracles;" (C. iii. xxi. xxviii.) "that the Koran itself was a miracle."
(C. xvi.)

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 powerful charm." The Mahometan expositors disagree in their
interpretation of this passage; some explaining it to be mention of the
splitting of the moon as one of the future signs of the approach of the
day of judgment: others referring it to a miraculous appearance which
had then taken place. (Vide Sale, in loc.) It seems to me not improbable,
that Mahomet might 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 confessions 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.* On the contrary, from comparing what Mahomet himself wrote
and said with what was afterwards reported of him by his followers, 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.

_________

* 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.
_________


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 circumstances in which it was given,
i. e. by persons capable of knowing the truth, and interested to inquire
after it, is evidence of the 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
pretensions 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 sort of argument is inadmissible in any branch of
philosophy what ever.

But it will be said, if one religion could make its way without
miracles, why might not another? To which I reply, first, that this is
not the question; the proper question is not, whether 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? I apprehend these two cases to be very
different: and I apprehend Mahomet's not taking this course, to be one
proof, amongst others, that the thing is difficult, if not impossible, to
be accomplished: certainly it was not from an unconsciousness of 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.

II. The establishment of Mahomet's religion was affected 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 confined 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 fourteen 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
Aethiopia." (Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 244, et seq. ed. Dub.) 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 honourable 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 family. This gained him his wife's
uncle, a considerable person in Mecca, together with his cousin Ali,
afterwards the celebrated Caliph, then a youth of great expectation, and
even already distinguished by his attachment, impetuosity, and courage.*
He next expressed 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 principal persons in Mecca, whose solicitations
prevailed upon five more of the same rank. This was the work of three
years; during which time everything 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 favourite brother, to be insulted, Mahomet now commenced
his public preaching. And the advance which he made during the nine or
ten remaining years of his peaceable ministry was by no means greater
than what, with these advantages, and with the additional and singular
circumstance of there being no established religion at Mecca at that
time to contend with, might reasonably have been expected. How soon his
primitive adherents were let into the secret of his views of empire, or
in what stage of his undertaking these views first opened themselves to
his own mind, it is not now easy to determine. The event however was,
that these, his first proselytes, all ultimately attained to riches and
honours, to the command of armies, and the government of kingdoms.
(Gibbon, vol. ix. p 244.)

_________

* Of which Mr. Gibbon has preserved the following specimen: "When
Mahomet called out in an assembly of his family, Who among you will be
my companion, and my vizir? Ali, then only in the fourteenth year of his
age, suddenly replied, O prophet I am the man;--whosoever rises against
thee, I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip
up his belly. O prophet! I will be thy vizir over them." Vol. ix. p.
215.
_________


3. The Arabs deduced their descent from Abraham through the line of
Ishmael. The inhabitants of Mecca, in common probably 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
illustrous 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 universally 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 description of his hearers, should, in the hands of a popular
missionary, prevail to the extent in which Mahomet succeeded by his
pacific ministry?

4. Of the institution which Mahomet joined with this fundamental
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, to 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 down unto Abraham, and Ishmael, 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." (Sale's Koran, c. ii. p.
17.) "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." (Sale's Koran, c. xlii. p. 393.) "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." (Sale's Koran, c. xxii.
p. 281.)

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 labours 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 greater force upon the minds of
those to whom they were immediately directed. The terror which they seem
well calculated to inspire would be to many tempers a powerful
application.

3. On the other hand: his voluptuous paradise; his robes of silk, his
palaces of marble, his riven, 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: "Those believers who
sit still at home, not having any hurt, and those who employ their
fortunes and their persons for the religion 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 had
indeed promised every one Paradise; but God had preferred those who
fight for the faith before those who sit still, by adding unto them a
great reward; by degrees of honour conferred upon them from him, and by
granting them forgiveness and mercy." (Sale's Koran, c. iv. p. 73.)
Again; "Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visiting
of the holy temple, to be actions as meritorious as those performed by
him who believeth in God and the last day, and fighteth for 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
honour 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 pleasures. They shall continue therein
for ever; for with God is a great reward." (Sale's Koran, c. ix. p.
151.) 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." (Sale's Koran, c. ix. p. 164.)*

_________

* "The sword," saith Mahomet, "is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop
of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more
avail than two months' 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." Gibbon,
vol. ix. p. 256.
_________


5. His doctrine of predestination was applicable, and was applied by
him, to the same purpose of fortifying and of exalting the courage of
his adherents.--"If anything 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 fight, whose slaughter was decreed, to the
places where they died." (Sale's Koran, c. iii. p. 54.)

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 changing them at pleasure, (Sale's Koran, c. iv. p. 63.)
together with the persons of all his captives, (Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 225.)
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"? 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, when his military successes had completely
established his authority. The same observation holds of the fast of the
Ramadan, (Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. i. pp. 126 & 112.) and of the most
laborious part of his institution, the pilgrimage to Mecca. (This
latter, however, already prevailed amongst the Arabs, and had grown out
of their excessive veneration for the Caaba. Mahomot's law, in this
respect, was rather a compliance than an innovation. Sale's Prelim.
Disc. p. 122.)

What has hitherto been collected from the records of the Musselman
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 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. (Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. i. p. 100.) The
religion of Mahomet presented, in some measure, a point of union or
compromise to these divided opinions. It embraced the principles which
were common to them all. Each party saw in it an honourable
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 defensive or very
improbable theology. This recommendation procured to Mahometanism a more
favourable reception at Medina than its author had been able, by twelve
years' painful endeavours, to obtain for it at Mecca. Yet, after all,
the progress of the religion was inconsiderable. His missionary could
only collect a congregation of forty persons. It was not a religious,
but a political association, which ultimately introduced Mahomet into
Medina. Harassed, as it should seem, and disgusted by the long
continuance 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, (Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. i. p. 85.) and of
persons of both tribes, with whom a treaty was concluded 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 him to attack the
infidels, to destroy idolatry, and to set up the true faith by the
sword. (Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. i. p. 88.) An early victory over a very
superior force, achieved by conduct and bravery, established the renown
of his arms, and of his personal character. (Victory of Bedr, Mod. Univ.
Hist. Vol. i. p. 106.) Every year after this was marked by battles or
assassinations. The nature and activity of Mahomet'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, (Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 255.) 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 rewarded
his followers in this world with a liberal division of the spoils, and
with the persons of their female captives. (Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 255.) 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 neighbouring 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 vanquished. Death or
conversion was the only choice offered to idolaters. "Strike off their
heads! strike off all the ends of their fingers!(Sale's Koran, c. viii.
p. 140.) kill the idolaters, wheresoever ye shall find them!" (Sale's
Koran, c. ix. p. 149.) 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 honours and privileges, of the faithful, if they embraced the
religion of their conquerors. "Ye Christian dogs, you know your option;
the Koran, the tribute, or the sword." (Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 337.) The
corrupted state of Christianity in the seventh 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 Mahomet's victories not only operated by the
natural effect of conquest, but that they were constantly represented,
both to his friends and enemies, as divine declarations in his favour.
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." (Sale's
Koran, c. iii. p. 36.) Again; "Ye slew not those who were slain at Bedr,
but God slew them.--If ye desire a decision of the matter between us,
now hath a decision come unto you." (Sale's Koran, c. viii. p. 141.)

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 propagation 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 support, without One
external circumstance of attraction or influence, 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
enlightened period of its existence,--with Mahomet making his way
amongst Arabs; collecting followers in the midst of conquests 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 attend 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 to surprise
us; 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 Christianity, 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 connected 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 sufferings, 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 BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

CHAPTER I.

THE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL 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 substantial 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 studiously displayed by an
adverse pleader, but oftentimes with little impression upon the minds of
the judges. On the contrary, 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 important, 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 statute, in their temple,
Philo places in harvest, 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,
Woodrew, Heath, Echard, concur in stating that he was beheaded; and that
he was condemned upon the Saturday, and executed upon the Monday. (See
Biog. Britann.) Was any reader of English history 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. Middleton contended, that the different hours of the day assigned to
the crucifixion of Christ, by John and by the other Evangelists, 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."
(Middleton's Reflections answered by Benson, Hist. Christ. vol. iii. p.
50.) But what are these consequences? By no means the discrediting of
the history as to the principal fact, by a repugnancy (even supposing
that repugnancy not to be resolvable into different modes of
computation) 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 objection. We perceive it, not only in the
comparison of different writers, but even in the same writer when
compared with himself. 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. (Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 735, et seq.)
Suetonius, Tacitus, Dio Cassius, have, all three, written of the reign
of Tiberius. Each has mentioned many things omitted by the
rest, (Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 743.) 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
apparent, and perhaps some real contradictions; yet without any
impeachment of the substantial truth of their accounts, of the
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, when they do not undertake,
nor ever meant to deliver, in order of time, a regular and complete
account of all the things of importance 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 Saint 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 to 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 Saint Matthew's
mind, and he adapted his narrative to it. But, that there is nothing in
Saint 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 Saint Mark's Gospel, which uses the same terms
concerning the appearance in Galilee as Saint 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: there 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: the historian himself did not perceive
that he was leading his readers to any such conclusion; for, in the
twelfth and following verses of this chapter, he informs us of two
appearances, which, by comparing the order 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 observation, concerning the particular design which
guided the historian, may be of use in comparing many other passages of
the Gospels.





CHAPTER II.

ERRONEOUS OPINIONS IMPUTED TO THE APOSTLES.

A species of candour 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 an 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
observation, narrative from argument.

To apply this equitable consideration to the Christian records, much
controversy and much objection has been raised concerning 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 probable, 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; but in none, perhaps, were more to be expected than in
the writings of the Jews, whose literature was almost entirely confined
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 related, 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 established 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 anything to do with it?

Another error imputed to the first Christians was the expected approach
of the day of judgment. I would introduce this objection by a remark
upon what appears to me a somewhat similar example. Our Saviour,
speaking to Peter of John, said, "If I will that he tarry till I come,
what is that to thee?"' (John xxi. 22.) 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 Christians, and
that the particular circumstance from which the mistake sprang 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 concerning the
duration of Saint John's life. It was an error, it may be likewise said,
which would effectually hinder those who entertained it from acting the
part of impostors.

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
apostles' testimony, and I do not stand in need of their judgment; give
me the facts, and I have complete security for every conclusion 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 reasonable distinctions, will exclude all
uncertainty upon this head which can be attended with danger.

First, to separate what was the object of the apostolic mission, 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, nor even the production of the argument 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 it was a general, but erroneous opinion of those times; and
that the writers of the New 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 anything 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 exercised. 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 testimony. If a dumb person was by a word restored to the use of
his speech, it signifies little to what cause the dumbness was ascribed;
and the like of every other cure wrought upon these 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 distinguish
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
imported to the apostles by revelation, and was attested by the miracles
which attended the Christian ministry among them. The apostles' own
assurance of the matter rested upon this foundation. Nevertheless, Saint
Paul, when treating of the subject, often a great variety of topics in
its proof and vindication. The doctrine itself must be received: but it
is not necessary, in order to defend Christianity, to defend the
propriety of every comparison, 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 reasonings 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." (Burnets Expos.
art. 6.)





CHAPTER III.

THE CONNEXION OF CHRISTIANITY WITH THE JEWISH HISTORY.

Undoubtedly our Saviour assumes the divine origin of the Mosaic
institution: and, independently of his authority, 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 everything
else; behind other nations in the arts of peace and war, superior to the
most improved in their sentiments and doctrines relating to the Deity.*

_________

* "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 government 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
credulity, viz. fanciful connexions 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 everything of this sort the religion of the Jews,
and of the Jews alone, was free. Vide. Priestley's Lectures on the Truth
of the Jewish and Christian Revelation; 1794.
_________


Undoubtedly, also, our Saviour recognises the prophetic character 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 writer in it, is to bring, I will not say great, but
unnecessary difficulties into the whole system. These books were
universally 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 expressly 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 unquestionably 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 sometimes
represented to be, a specific ratification of each particular 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. Saint James, in his Epistle, 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, have been always deemed a fair subject of
inquiry and discussion amongst Christian divines. Saint 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.
Saint Paul, in his Second Epistle to Timothy, has this similitude: "Now,
as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the
truth." These names are not found in the Old Testament. And it is
uncertain whether Saint Paul took them from some apocryphal writing then
extant, or from tradition. But no one ever imagined that Saint Paul is
here asserting the authority of the writing, if it was a written account
which he quoted, or making himself 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
depend 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 upon no better evidence than the history of
Job, or of Jannes and Jambres (I think much otherwise); but I 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 credibility, 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 particular of it must be true, or the whole false.

I have thought it necessary to state this point explicitly, because a
fashion, revived by Voltaire, and pursued by the disciples 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 exactness) of every narrative contained in
the Old Testament.





CHAPTER IV.

REJECTION OF CHRISTIANITY.

We acknowledge that the Christian religion, although it converted 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 Saviour's ministry was originally addressed to
them, offers itself first to our consideration.

Now 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 believe the works of any one of them, we believe in
Jesus. And this order of reasoning has 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
apprehension of the writers of the New Testament, the miracles did not
irresistibly carry even those who saw them to the conclusion intended to
be drawn from them; or so compel assent, as to leave no room for
suspense, for the exercise of candour, or the effects of prejudice. And
to this point, at least, the evangelists may he 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 he suspected of
falsehood, 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 Sabbath-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 according 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: but 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
which this man hath done?"

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 appearance 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 were inclined to believe him to be the Messiah. But even these did
not argue as we should; did not 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?"

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 graveclothes, and his face was bound about with
a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." One might
have suspected, 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. Unquestionably, he states
the miracle to have been fully allowed; yet the persons who allowed it
were, according to his representation, 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 transaction. If Saint
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 discovers 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." (Chap. xii. 37.) The evangelist 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
perceived 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 Saint John's Gospel contains a very circumstantial
account of the cure of a blind man; a miracle submitted to all the
scrutiny and examination which a sceptic could propose. If a modern
unbeliever had drawn up the interrogatories, they could hardly have been
more critical or searching. The account contains also a very curious
conference 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, and felt no such
reluctance, the miracle had its natural operation. "Herein," says he,
"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 supposed by us for the
purpose of argument, but are evidently recognised in the Jewish writings
as well as in ours. And it ought moreover 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
Beelzebub." 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 were at least as reasonable as the
belief in witchcraft. They were opinions in which the Jews of that age
had from their infancy been instructed; 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 favour; the proud and obstinate, together with the giddy and
the thoughtless, 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 ever entered into the minds of those who
lived in the time of Moses and the prophets to ascribe their miracles to
the supernatural agency of evil being. The solution was not then
invented. The authority of Moses and the prophets being established, and
become the foundation of the national polity and religion, it was not
probable that the later Jews, brought up in a reverence for that
religion, and the subjects of that polity, 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 especially 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 hundred different kinds of religions or sacred rites exercised at
Rome. (Jortin's Remarks on Eccl. Hist. Vol. i. p. 371.) The superior
classes of the community treated them all as fables. Can we wonder,
then, that Christianity was included in the number, without inquiry into
its separate merits, or the particular grounds of its pretensions? It
might be either true or false for anything they knew about it. The
religion had nothing in its character which immediately engaged their
notice. It mixed with no politics. It produced no fine 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 argument and discussion, in such
arguments however and discussions 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 sins of men, of
reconcilement, 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, connexion 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. (Tacit. Hist. lib. v. c. 2.)
The passage is a proof how prone the learned men of those times were,
and upon how little evidence, to heap together stories which might
increase the contempt and odium in which that people was holden. The
same foolish charge is also confidently repeated by Plutarch. (Sympos.
lib. iv. quaest. 5.)

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 philosophical 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, which shuts
the door against every argument for a new religion. The considerations
above mentioned would acquire also strength from the prejudices which
men of rank and learning universally entertain against anything 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 procuring audience
and attention, its actual success is more to be wondered at, than that
it should not have universally conquered 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 attention; 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 (further 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. 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 Christianity,
"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 honour preferring one another; not
slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in
hope; patient in tribulation; continuing 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 repay,
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 overcome 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 God. Whosoever,
therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they
that resist shall receive to themselves 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 dues; tribute to whom tribute is due;
custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

"Owe no man anything, 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 neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour;
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 armour 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." (Romans, xii. 9--xiii. 13.)

Read this, and then think of "exitiabilis superstitio!" Or, if 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 superstition" 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 went to meet together on a stated day before
it was light, and sing among themselves a hymn to 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 the 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 obscure and distant view.
Had Tacitus known more of Christianity, of its precepts, duties,
constitution, or design, however he had discredited the story, he would
have respected the principle. 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
"perniciousness" with which they were reproached was nothing else but
their opposition to the established polytheism; and this view of the
matter was just such an 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 Christianity 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 intellectual
vice, from which the greatest faculties of mind are not free. I know
not, indeed, whether men of the greatest faculties of mind are not the
most subject to it. Such men feel themselves seated upon an eminence.
Looking down from their height upon the follies of mankind, they behold
contending tenets wasting their idle strength upon one another with the
common disdain of the absurdity of them all. This habit of thought,
however comfortable to the mind which entertain it, or however natural
to great parts, is extremely dangerous; and more apt than almost any
other disposition to produce hasty 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 heathens, 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 hath 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
everything 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, a heap of inconsistent lies;
which inclined them to suppose that other religions were no better.
Hence it came to pass, that when the apostles 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." (Jortin's Disc. on the Christ. Rel. p. 66, ed. 4th.)

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; these 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. "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." (Hartley, Obs. p. 119.)

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
passages which contain these testimonies will be produced in the next
chapter. It being difficult, however, to ascertain in what degree this
notion prevailed, especially the superior ranks of the heathen
communities, another, and think an adequate, cause has been assigned for
their infidelity. It is probable that in many cases the two causes would
together.





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.

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 argumentative. So
far as they were occupied in delivering lessons of duty, rules of public
order, admonitions against certain prevailing 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.

So far as these 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 mission; 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
maintain that miraculous evidence lies at the bottom of the argument. 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 substratum, if it be occasionally discerned, if it be
incidentally appealed to, it is exactly so much as ought take place,
supposing 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 circumstantial recitals of
miracles as might be expected, I would add, that the apostolic epistles
resemble in this respect the apostolic speeches, which speeches are
given by a writer who distinctly records numerous miracles wrought by
these apostles themselves, and by the Founder of the institution in
their presence; that it is unwarrantable to contend that the omission,
or infrequency, 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 tenour of the book which contains them cannot be
inferred from letters, which in this respect are similar only to the
speeches.

To prove the similitude which we allege, it may be remarked, that
although in Saint Luke's Gospel the apostle Peter is represented 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, particularly the cure of the lame man at the gate of the
temple (Acts iii. 1), the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts v. 1), the
cure of Aeneas (Acts ix. 34), the resurrection of Dorcas (Acts ix. 40);
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 miraculous 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:" (Acts ii. 22.) &c. In his speech upon the conversion 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." (Acts x. 39.) 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 speech upon the election of
Matthias, (Acts i. 15.) no distinct reference is made to any of the
miracles of Christ's history except his resurrection. The same also may
be observed of his speech upon the cure of the lame man at the of the
temple; (Acts iii. 12.) the same in his speech before the Sanhedrim;
(Acts iv. 8.) 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." (Acts vi. 8.) Again,
although miracles be expressly attributed to Saint 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, (Acts xiii. 11.) the cure of the cripple at Lystra, (Acts xiv. 8.)
of the pythoness at Philippi, (Acts xvi. 16.) the miraculous liberation
from prison in the same city, (Acts xvi. 26.) the restoration of
Eutychus, (Acts xx. 10.) the predictions of his shipwreck, (Acts xxvii.
1.) the viper at Melita, the cure of Publius's father; (Acts xxvii. 8.)
at all which miracles, except the first two, the historian himself was
present: notwithstanding, I say, this positive ascription of miracles to
St. Paul, yet 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, (Acts xiii. 16.) there is no allusion but to the
resurrection. In his discourse at Miletus, (Acts xx. 17.) none to any
miracle: none in his speech before Felix; (Acts xxiv. 10.) none in his
speech before Festus; (Acts xxv. 8.) except to Christ's resurrection and
his own conversion.

Agreeably hereunto, in thirteen letters ascribed to Saint Paul, we have
incessant references to Christ's resurrection, frequent references to
his own conversion, three indubitable references to the miracles which
he wrought; (Gal. iii. 5; Rom. xv. 18, 19; 2 Cor. xii. 12.) four other
references to the same, less direct, yet highly probable; (1 Cor. ii. 4,5;
Eph. iii. 7; Gal. ii. 8; 1 Thess. i. 8.) but more copious or
circumstantial recitals we have not. The consent, therefore, between
Saint Paul's speeches and letters is in this respect sufficiently 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 Jesus 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 to the writings of the
apostolic fathers. The epistle of Barnabas is, in its subject and
general composition, much like the epistle to the Hebrews; an
allegorical application 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 predecessors in the
Gospel had left them an example. The work of Hermas 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 disadvantage, the great
points of the Christian history are fully recognised. This hath been
shown in its proper place. (Vide supra, pp. 48-51. [Part 1, Chapter 8])

There is, however, another class of writers to whom the answer above
given, viz. the unsuitableness of any such appeals 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," (Euseb. Hist. I. iv. c. 3.) 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 following quotation he asserts the performance of
miracles by Christ, in words as strong and positive as the language
possesses: "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
appearance, and dared to call him a magician, and a deceiver of the
people." (Just. Dial. p. 258, ed. Thirlby.)

In his first apology, (Apolog. prim. p. 48, ib.) 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 attribute to him by magical art?"
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. Irenaeus, 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 (phantasiodos),
leading these objectors to the prophecies, we will show from them, that
all things were thus predicted concerning him, and Strictly came to
pass." (Iren. I. ii. c. 57.) Lactantius, who lived a century lower,
delivers the same sentiment 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 with one
spirit foretold that Christ should perform these very things." (Lactant.
v. 3.)

But to return to the Christian apologists in their order.
Tertullian:--"That person whom the Jews had vainly imagined, from the
meanness of his appearance, to be a mere man, they afterwards, in
consequence of the power he exerted, considered as a magician, when he,
with one word, ejected devils 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."
(Tertul. Apolos. p. 20; ed. Priorii, Par. 1675.)

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 plainer 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 man shall
leap as a 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 instance, the daughter of the
ruler of a synagogue, of whom I do not know why he said, She is not
dead, but sleepeth, expressing 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 considerable degree of accuracy and
candour.

In another passage of the same author, we meet with the old solution of
magic applied to the miracles of Christ by the adversaries of the
religion. "Celsus," saith Origen, "well knowing 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 few leaves, of which large fragments were
left." (Orig. cont. Cels. lib. ii. sect. 48.) And then Celsus gives, it
seems, an answer to these proofs of our Lord's mission, which, as Origen
understood it, resolved the phenomena 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." (Lardner's Jewish and Heath. Test, vol. ii.
p. 294, ed. 4to.)

It appears also from the testimony of St. Jerome, that Porphyry, the
most learned and able of the heathen writers against Christianity,
resorted to the same solution: "Unless," says he, speaking to
Vigilantius, "according to the manner of the Gentiles and the profane,
of Porphyry and Eunomius, you pretend that these are the tricks of
demons." (Jerome cont. Vigil.)

This magic, these demons, this illusory appearance, this comparison 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 necessary to refute by arguments drawn
from other topics, and particularly 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 give 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 frequently as I should have
done. It was their lot to contend with notions of magical agency,
against which the mere production 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 objection not to the truth of
the history, but to the judgment of its defenders.





CHAPTER VI.

WANT OF UNIVERSALITY IN THE KNOWLEDGE AND RECEPTION OF CHRISTIANITY, AND
OF GREATER CLEARNESS IN THE EVIDENCE.

Or, a Revelation which really came from God, the proof, it has been
said, would in all ages be so public and manifest, 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 evidence 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
anything we are able to discern, God could have so formed men, as to
have perceived the truths of religion intuitively; or to have carried on
a communication with the other world whilst they lived in this; or to
have seen the individuals of the species, instead of dying, pass to
heaven by a sensible translation. He could have presented 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
practicable.

The question therefore is, not whether Christianity possesses 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 concerning any
dispensation which is alleged to come from God, when 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 labour under no defects but what apparently
belong to other dispensations, these seeming defects do not justify us
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 beneficence: we are seldom or never able to make
out a system of optimism. I mean, that there are few cases in which, if
we permit ourselves to range in 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 vegetables which
subsist upon the surface of the earth. Yet how partially: and
irregularly is it supplied! How much of it falls upon 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 imagine 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 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, authorise us to say, that the present disposition of the
atmosphere is not amongst the productions or the designs of the Deity?
Does 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 propositions upon such
inquiries against evidence of facts, is wholly unwarrantable. It is a
mode of reasoning which will not do in natural history, which will not
do in natural religion, which cannot therefore be applied with safety to
revelation. It may have same 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 difficulty 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 anything; 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 comparison of that which is tried with that which
is not tried; of 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 existence of 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 man kind 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 the melioration
of mankind, its progress and diffusion that of other causes by which
human life is improved diversity is not greater, nor the advance more
slow, in 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 stage 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 necessarily 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 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 relations 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 foretell; at least
we must speak of it as of a dispensation 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 candour, seriousness, humility, inquiry, no submission of
passion, 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 advantages and present pleasures to every reasonable expectation
of propitiating his favour. "Men's moral probation may be, whether they
will take due care to inform themselves by impartial 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 temporal capacity." (Butler's Analogy, part ii. c. 6.)

II. These modes of communication would leave no place for the admission
of internal evidence; 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 conviction 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" John vii. 17.),--it is true, I say,
that they who sincerely act, or sincerely endeavour 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 religion, 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 which 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 counsels; 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
imparted 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 sinning, if heaven and hell were open to his
sight. That spiritual vision and fruition is our state in patria."
(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. And it may be one to which we ourselves
hereafter shall attain.


III. But may it not also be asked, whether the perfect display of a
future state of existence would be compatible 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
stations, 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 believed 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" (Acts
ii. 44-46.) 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 art 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 themselves 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 labours and
domestic duties of their condition; and to give them, in his own
example, a lesson of contented application 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 effectuate their salvation through the medium
of Christianity, without interruption of the prosperity or of the
regular course of human affairs.





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 punishment 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 observation 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.

One is, that they look for the influence of religion in the wrong place.

The other, that they charge Christianity with many consequences for
which it is not responsible.

I. The influence of religion is not to be sought for in the councils of
princes, in the debates or resolutions of popular assemblies, in the
conduct of governments towards their subjects, 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 history); but must be perceived, if
perceived at all, in the silent course of private and domestic life.
Nay, even there its influence may not be very obvious to observation. If
it check, in some degree, personal dissoluteness, if it beget general
probity in the transaction of business, if it produce soft and humane
manners in the mass of the community, and occasional exertions of
laborious or expensive benevolence in a individuals, it is all the
effect which can offer itself to external notice. The kingdom of heaven
is within us. That which the substance of the religion, its hopes and
consolation, its intermixture with the thoughts by day and by night, the
devotion of the heart, the control of appetite, the steady direction of
will to the commands of God, is necessarily invisible. Yet these depend
the virtue and the happiness of millions. This cause renders the
representations of history, with respect to religion, defect and
fallacious in a greater degree than they are upon any other subject.
Religion operates most upon those of whom history knows the least; upon
fathers and mothers their families, upon men-servants and maid-servants,
upon orderly tradesman, the quiet villager, the manufacturer at his
loom, the husbandman in his fields. Amongst such, its collectively may
be of inestimable value, yet its effects, in mean time, little upon
those who figure upon the stage of 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, be
thought strange that this influence should elude the grasp and touch of
public history; for what is public history but register of the successes
and disappointments, the vices, the follies, and the quarrels, of those
who engage in contentions power?

I will add, that much of this influence may be felt in times of 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 institutions, 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 reconcile the human mind to anything, 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,* and the impurities of religions
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: it is contending, and
I trust will one day prevail, against the worse slavery of the West
Indies.

_________

* Lipsius affirms (Sat. b. 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, Sermon XIII.
_________


A Christian writer, (Bardesanes, ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. vi. 10.) 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 Parthians, 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 slighter
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 praecordia, in
that which alone deserves the name of happiness, the tranquillity 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 important. For without the
occasional correction which public opinion receives, by referring to
some fixed standard of morality, no man can foretel into what
extravagances it might wander. Assassination might become as honourable
as duelling: unnatural crimes be accounted as venal 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 Christians. They may be
guided by the rectitude which it communicates to public opinion. Their
consciences may suggest 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; and 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." (Clarke, Ev. Nat. Rel. p. 208. ed. v.)

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 salvation 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 subject, are resolvable into a principle
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 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 philosophy. 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 authorising coercion in the propagation of the religion, and
the use of violence towards unbelievers, the case would have been
different. This distinction could not have been taken, nor this defence
made.

I apologise 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 Christianity 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 occasions. The noxious element will always find a
conductor. Any point will produce an explosion. Did the applauded
intercommunity of the pagan theology preserve the peace of the Roman
world? did it prevent oppressions,  proscriptions, massacres,
devastation? Was it bigotry that carried Alexander 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 contentions? Are their contentions less ruinous and
sanguinary? Is it owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that the
regions of the East, the countries inter quatuor maria, peninsula of
Greece, together with a great part of the Mediterranean coast, are at
this day a desert? or that the banks of the Nile, whose constantly
renewed fertility is not to be impaired by neglect, or destroyed by the
ravages of war, serve only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, or the
supply of unceasing 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 afflict 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 afford 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 humanised 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 labours, above all
other qualities, to inculcate, these differences would do little harm.
If that disposition be wanting, other causes, even were these absent,
would continually rise up to call forth the malevolent passions into
action. Differences 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.





CHAPTER VIII.

THE CONCLUSION,

In religion, as in every other subject of human reasoning, much depends
upon the order in which we dispose our inquiries. A man who takes up a
system of divinity with a 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 studies 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 endeavour for this purpose, the tendency of the mind of man to
assimilate itself to the habits of thinking and speaking which prevail
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 condition of human life.

It is a consequence of this institution that the doctrines of religion
come to us before the proofs; and come to us with that mixture of
explications and inferences from which no public creed is, or can be,
free. And the effect which too frequently follows, from Christianity
being presented to the understanding in this form, is, that when any
articles, which appear 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 foundation; when we once perceive a
ground of credibility in its history; we shall proceed with safety to
inquire into the interpretation 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
discover 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 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 observing 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 sufficient, 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 Augustine
said to the worst heretics of his age; "Illi in vos saeviant, qui
nasciunt, cum quo labore verum inveniatur, et quam difficile caveantur
errores;---qui nesciunt, cure quanta difficultate sanetur oculus
interioris hominis;--qui nesciunt, quibus suspiriis et gemitibus fiat ut
ex quantulacumque parte possit intelligi Deus.". (Aug. contra. Ep. Fund.
Cap. ii. n. 2,3.)

A judgment, moreover, which is once pretty well satisfied of the general
truth of the religion will not only thus discriminate 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 economy and to the persons of the invisible world, which
revelation profess 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 without 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 hath 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 circumstance 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 supernatural 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, and, with 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,
ate 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 intelligence 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 Christian story, as to these
points, hath never varied. No other 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 contemporaries, by witnesses of
the transaction, by persons themselves bearing a share in it, and other
writings following that again regular succession), concur in
representing these facts in this manner. A religion which now possesses
the greatest part of the civilised 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 he expected that they should he distinctly 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 prepositions 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, and for 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 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 publication 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 religion 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 acquaintance with local circumstances, with the
history and usages of the times, which could belong only 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 confederacy; so agreeing under
this variety as to show that the accounts 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, however, it is certain that
the affair went on, we cannot help being anxious to know how 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 stages of its progress, taking up the story where the former
histories had left it, carrying on the narrative, oftentimes with great
particularity, and throughout with the appearance of good sense,*
information and candour; stating all along the origin, 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 possible accession of testimony which a history can receive,
original letters, written by the person who is the principal subject 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 all together is not a body of strong
historical evidence.

_________

* See Peter's speech upon curing the cripple (Acts iii. 18), the council
of the apostles (xv.), Paul's discourse at Athens (xvii. 22), before
Agrippa (xxvi.). I notice these passages, both as fraught with good
sense and as free from the smallest tincture of enthusiasm.
_________


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 testimony. But this is an argument which cannot be addressed to
sceptics 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 belief of Christianity, which must, in the first
instance at least, depend upon the ordinary maxim of historical
credibility. (See Powell's Discourse, disc. xv. P. 245.)

In viewing the detail of miracles recorded in these books, we find every
supposition negatived by which they can be resolved 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, 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 fortunes, of the
Jewish people, as one of their race, one born amongst them, establishing
his authority and his law throughout a great portion of the civilised
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 rejected 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
mankind. 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 character, and to the circumstances of his
life and death, with considerable precision, and in a way which no
diversity of interpretation 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 fall 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, for many ages, of religious truth might in a great measure
depend.

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 honours, 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 satisfactory evidence of his good sense
and integrity, of the soundness 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 vouchsafe a
miraculous attestation. Having done this for the institution, 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 by 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 of
nature: laws, nevertheless, disposed and controlled by that Providence
which conducts the affairs of the universe, though by an influence
inscrutable, and generally undistinguishable by us. And in this,
Christianity is analogous to most other provisions for happiness. The
provision is made; and; being made, is left to act according to laws
which, forming a 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 improbable that there should be a future state;
it is not improbable that we should be acquainted with it. A future
state rectifies everything; 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 distinctions 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 confusion; 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 received from the effects and the appearances
of death, and the obstruction which thence arises to the expectation of
either a continued or a future existence. This difficulty, although of a
nature no doubt to act very forcibly, will be found, I think, upon
reflection to reside more in our habits of apprehension than in the
subject: and that the giving way to it, when we have any reasonable
grounds or the contrary, is rather an indulging of the imagination than
anything else. Abstractedly considered, that is, considered without
relation to the difference which habit, and merely habit, produces in
our faculties and modes of apprehension, I do not see anything 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
consciousness 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 divisibility 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 experiments can reach. These distinctions
lead us to an immaterial principle: at least, they do this: they so
negative the mechanical properties of matter, in the constitution of a
sentient, still more of a rational, being, that no argument drawn from
the 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 am 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 depositary, the organ, and the
vehicle of consciousness 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; 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 imagination 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 appearance of
contrariety which attends 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 actually 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
purposed: that either a new and mighty influence will descend upon the
human world to resuscitate extinguished consciousness; or that, amidst
the other wonderful contrivances with which the universe abounds, and by
some of which we see animal life, in many instances, assuming improved
forms of existence, 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 final 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 neglect, the right and the wrong
employment of the faculties and opportunities with which he hath been
pleased, severally, to intrust and to try us.



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