^ ^R N -- J 1 \ T>i o i'L WILLIAM FALEY. B.D I :r, / ;, .' / 'I'ticrnas Tegg. /S. Cheaps-ide.t THE ff . WORKS WILLIAM PALEY, D. D ARCHDEACON OF CARLISLE. A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. IN FIVE VOLUMES. I. EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. LONDON : PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, CHEAPSIDE ; O. AND J. UOBINSON ; (}. OFFOR ; AND J. EVANS AND CO. : ALSO, R. GKIFF1N AND CO. GLASGOW; AND J. GUMMING, DUBLIN. 1823. TO 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 connexion which could possibly recommend me to your favour ; I was known to you only by my en- deavours, in common with many others, to dis- charge my duty as a tutor in the University ; and by some very imperfect, but certainly well-intend- ed, and, as you thought, useful publications since. In an age by no means wanting in examples of honourable patronage, although this deserves 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. 2067429 iv DEDICATION. How the following work may be received, I pretend not to foretell. My first prayer concern- ing 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 Lord- ship'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 flatter- ing distinction of my life. I am, MY LORD, With sentiments of gratitude and respect, Your Lordship's faithful And most obliged servant, W. PALEY. JMI-'J! CONTENTS. Preparatory Considerations. Of the Antecedent Credi- bility of Miracles Page 1 PART I. OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIA- NITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES. Propositions stated 10 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 also submitted, from the same motives, to new Rules of Conduct ib. CHAPTER I. Evidence of the Sufferings of the First Propagators of Christianity, from the Nature of the Case 11 CHAPTER II. Evidence of the Sufferings of the First Propagators of Christianity, from Profane Testimony 24 CHAPTER III. Indirect Evidence of the Sufferings of the First Propa- gators of Christianity, from the Scriptures, and other Ancient Christian Writings 31 CHAPTER IV. Direct Evidence of the same 37 CHAPTER V. Observations upon the preceding Evidence 54- vi CONTENTS* CHAPTER VI. That the Story, for which the First Propagators of Chris- tianity suffered, was miraculous Page 61 CHAPTER VII. That it was, in the main, the Story which we have now, proved by indirect Considerations 66 CHAPTER VIII. The same proved, from the Authority of our Historical Scriptures 82 CHAPTER IX. Of the Authenticity of the Historical Scriptures, in Eleven Sections 97 SECTION I Quotations of the Historical Scriptures, by Ancient Christian Writers 106 SECTION II Of the peculiar Respect with which they were quoted 134- SECTION III. The Scriptures were, in very early Times, collected into a distinct Volume 139 SECTION IV. And distinguished by appropriate Names and Titles of Respect 144> SECTION V. Were publicly read and expounded in the Religious Assemblies of the early Christians 147 SECTION VI Commentaries, &c. were anciently writ- ten upon the Scriptures 150 SECTION VII. They were received by ancient Chris- tians of different Sects and Persuasions 157 SECTION VIII -The Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Thirteen Epistles of St Paul, the First Epis- tle of John, and the First of Peter, were received with- out doubt by those who doubted concerning the other Books of our present Canon 166 SECTION IX. Our present Gospels were considered by the Adversaries of Christianity, as containing the Ac- counts upon which the religion was founded 172 SECTION X Formal Catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published, in all which our present Gospels were included 179 SECTION XI. The above Propositions cannot be predi- cated of those Books which are commonly called Apo- cryphal Books of the New Testament 182 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER X. Recapitulation Page 188 OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVI- DENCE 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 Attesta- tion of the Accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their Belief of the Truth of these Accounts Page 193 CHAPTER II. Considerations of some specific Instances 217 PART II. OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER I. Prophecy 226 CHAPTER II. The Morality of the Gospel 239 CHAPTER III. The Candour of the Writers of the New Testament 274 CHAPTER IV. Identity of Christ's Character 285 CHAPTER V. Originality of Christ's Character 298 CHAPTER VI. Conformity of the Facts occasionally mentianed or re- ferred to in Scripture, with the State of Things in those times, as represented by foreign and indepen- dent Accounts.... .. 300 Vlii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Undesigned Coincidences Page 334 CHAPTER VIII. Of the History of the Resurrection 337 CHAPTER IX. Of the Propagation of Christianity 341 SECTION II. Reflections upon the preceding Account 361 SECTION III. Of the Success of Mahometanism 369 PART III. A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS. CHAPTER I. The Discrepancies between the several Gospels 385 CHAPTER II. Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles 389 CHAPTER III. The Connexion of Christianity with the Jewish History 394 CHAPTER IV. Rejection of Christianity 397 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 413 CHAPTER VI. Want of universality in the Knowledge and Reception of Christianity, and of greater clearness in the Evidence 423 CHAPTER VII. The supposed Effects of Christianity 431 CHAPTER VIII. Conclusion 440 88 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 un- der the Christian revelation, we have too much light, or any degree of assurance which is super- fluous. I desire moreover, that, in judging of Christianity, it may be remembered, that the ques- tion 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 pre- dominant aim and tendency of the provisions and contrivances observable in the universe, that the Deity, when he formed it, consulted for the hap- piness of his sensitive creation ; suppose the disposition which dictated this counsel to con- tinue ; 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 Crea- tor to intend for these, his rational and account- THE EVIDENCES able agents, a second state of existence, in which their situation will be regulated by their beha- viour in the first state, by which supposition (and by no other) the objection to the divine govern- ment in not putting a difference between the good and the bad, and the inconsistency of this con- fusion with the care and benevolence discoverable in the works of the Deity is done away ; sup- pose 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 reve- lation, to want this knowledge, and not to be likely, without the aid of a new revelation, to at- tain it : Under these circumstances, is it improba- ble that a revelation should be made ? Is it incre- dible that God should interpose for such a pur- pose ? Suppose him to design for mankind a fu- ture state, is it unlikely that he should acquaint them with it ? Now, in what way can a revelation be made, but by miracles ? In none which we are able to conceive. Consequently, in whatever degree it is probable, or not very improbable, that a reve- lation should be communicated to mankind at all, in the same degree is it probable, or not very im- probable, that miracles should be wrought : therefore, when miracles are related to have been wrought in the promulgating of a revelation mani- festly wanted, and if true, of inestimable value, the improbability which arises from the miracu- lous nature of the things related, is not greater OF CHRISTIANITY. 3 than the original improbability that such a revela- tion should be imparted by God. I wish it, however, to be correctly understood, in what manner, and to what extent, this argu- ment 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 man- kind 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 pro- positions 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 con- tradictory 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 improba- ble than they are improbable), ought to be rejected at first sight, and to be rejected by whatever strength or complication of evidence they be at- tested. 4. THE EVIDENCES This is the prejudication we would resist ; for to this length does a modern objection to mi- racles go, viz. That no human testimony can, in any case, render them credible. I think the re- flection above stated, that if there be a revelation there must be miracles ; and that, under the cir- cumstances in which the human species are placed, a revelation is not improbable, or not improbable in any great degree, to be a fair answer to the whole objection. But since it is an objection which stands in the very threshold of our argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to every proof, and to all future reason- ing upon the subject, it may be necessary, before we proceed farther, to examine the principle upon which it professes to be founded ; which principle is concisely this : That it is contrary to expe- rience that a miracle should be true, but not con- trary 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 re- lated 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 asser- tion 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 5 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, to 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 expe- rienced any thing similar to the thing related ; or, Such things not being generally experienced by others. I say not generally ; for to state, con- cerning 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 con- troversy. Now the improbability which arises from the want (for this properly is a want, not a contra- diction) of experience, is only equal to the pro- bability 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 no- thing 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 ob- jects 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 evi- dence can encounter ? And yet this probability is the exact converse, and therefore the exact mea- sure, of the improbability which arises from the want of experience, and which Mr Hume repre- sents 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 6 THE EVIDENCES 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 nVcease 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 gene- ral. Has the necessity of this alternative been de- monstrated ? Permit us to call the course of na- ture 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 pe- culiar importance, may interrupt the order which he had appointed, yet that such occasions should return seldom, that these interruptions, conse- quently, 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 ac- counts of miracles, we assign effects without causes, or we attribute^|fects to causes inade- quate to the purpose, or r ^Q 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 7 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 con- nect the miracle with its end. The effect we ascribe simply to the volition of the Deity, of whose existence and power, not to say of whose presence and agency, we have previous and inde- pendent proof. We have, therefore, all we seek for in the works of rational agents, a sufficient power and an adequate motive. In a word, once believe that there is a God, and miracles are not incredible. Mr Hume states the case of miracles to be a contest of opposite improbabilities ; that is to say, a question whether it be more improbable that the miracle should be true, or the 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 extenua- tion which result from our knowledge of the ex- istence, power, and disposition of the Deity ; his -concern in the creation, the end answered by the miracle, the importance of that end, and its sub- serviency to the plan pursued in the works of na- ture. As Mr Hume has represented the question, miracles are alike incredible to him who is pre- viously 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 incredi- ble, whether related to have been .wrought upon occasions the most deserving, and for purposes the most beneficial, or for no assignable end whatever, or for an end confessedly trifling or pernicious. This, surely, cannot be a correct statement. In adjusting also the other side of the balance, the strength and weight of testimony, this author has 8 THE EVIDENCES provided an answer to every possible accumu- lation of historical proof, by telling us, that we are not obliged to explain how the story of the evidence arose. Now I think that we are obliged, not, perhaps, to show by positive accounts how it did, but by a probable hypothesis how it might so happen. The existence of the testimony is a phenomenon ; the truth of the fact solves the phenomenon. If we reject this solution, we ought to have some other to rest in ; and none, even by our adversaries, can be admitted, which is not in- consistent 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, independ- ently 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 pro- duce a false result, he is sure that there must be some mistake in the demonstration. Now, to pro- ceed 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 seri- ously and circumstantially relate to me an ac- count 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 false- hood or imposture in the case ; if this threat were communicated to them separately, yet with no dif- OF CHRISTIANITY. 9 ferent effect ; if it was at last executed ; if I my- self saw them, one after another, consenting to be racked, burnt, or strangled, rather than give up the truth of their account ; still, if Mr Hume's rule be my guide, I am not to believe them. Now, I undertake to say, that there exists not a 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 for- tify 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 it- self, I am persuaded, there is none. PART I. OF TrfE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRIS- TIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MI- RACLES. 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 consequ ence of their belief of those accounts ; and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct. II. That there is not satisfactory evidence, that persons 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 Propositions, as it forms the argument, will stand at the head of the following nine chapters. OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER I. There is satisfactory Evidence that many, professing to be origi- nal 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 neiv Rules of Con- duct. To support this Proposition, two points are ne- cessary to be made out ; First, That the Founder of the institution, his associates, and immediate followers, acted the part which the proposition im- putes 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 sub- ject of our first assertion, it will be proper to con- sider 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 establish- ment, f. 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 under- taking ; or we are driven upon the strange suppo- sition, that, although they might lie by, others 12 THE EVIDENCES would take it up ; although they were quiet and silent, other persons busied themselves in the suc- cess and propagation of their story. This is per- fectly 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 em- ployed, and the mode of life to which these per- sons 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 con- versing with religious persons upon religion ; a sequestration from the common pleasures, engage- ments, 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 bot- tom 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 over- come 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 convic- tion. Secondly, It is also highly probable, from the nature of the case, that the propagation of the new religion was attended with difficulty and dan- ger. 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 par- OF CHRISTIANITY. 13 tialities, 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 persua- sion 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 im- patient of contradiction. They clung to this hope under every misfortune of their country, and with more tenacity, as their dangers or calamities in- creased. To find, therefore, that expectations so gratifying were to be worse than disappointed; that they were to end in the diffusion of a mild, un- ambitious 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 intelli- gence 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. * " Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore Judaea profecti rerunj potirentur." Sueton. Vespasian, cap. 4 8. " Pluribus persuasio incrat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur." Tacit. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 9 13. 14 THE EVIDENCES 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 effi- cacy ; the gross and vulgar had scarcely any thing else ; and the hypocritical and ostentatious magnified them above measure, as being the in- struments of their own reputation and influence. The Christian scheme, without formally repealing the Levitical code, lowered its estimation ex- tremely. In the place of strictness and zeal in performing the observances which that code pre- scribed, or which tradition had added to it, the new sect preached up faith, well regulated affec- tions, inward purity, and moral rectitude of dispo- sition, as the true ground, on the part of the wor- shipper, 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 frus- tration 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, there- fore, who stood forth to preach the religion, must necessarily reproach these rulers with an execu- tion, 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 With regard to the interference of the Roman fovernment, which was then established in Judea, 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 hos- tile representations. Our histories accordingly in- form 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 mis- construction. 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 mu- nicipal authority, and actuated by strong motives of opposition and resentment ; and they had to * A p. Ima. p. 16. ed. Thirl. 16 THE EVIDENCES 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 re- formers, whenever the reformation subverts some reigning opinion, and does not proceed upon a change that has already taken place in the senti- ments of a country, will not allow, much less lead us to suppose, that the first propagators of Chris- tianity at Jerusalem and in Judea, under the diffi- culties and the enemies they had to contend with, and entirely destitute as they were offeree, autho- rity, 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 ob- ject 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 be dis- cussed 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. I 1 / number of their acknowledged divinities, or the patience with which they might entertain proposals of this kind, we can argue nothing as to their tole- ration 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 con- cerning 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 pro- fessing their tenets - y 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 enter- prise. Thirdly, It ought also to be considered, that this danger proceeded not merely from solemn acts and public resolutions of the state, but from sudden bursts of violence at particular places, from the license of the populace, the rashness of some magistrates, and negligence of others ; from the * The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Kpictetu.s allowed, or raiher 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. ISO. ed. 5. Except Socrates, they all thought it wiser to comply with the laws than to contend. C 18 THE influence and instigation of interested adversaries, and, in general, from the variety and warmth of opinion, which an errand so novel and extraordi- nary 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 friend- less 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 hea- then public. It is by no means true that unbe- lievers 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 to conform themselves to any thing ; and are, often- times, amongst the foremost to procure conformi- ty from others, by any method which they think likely to be efficacious. When was ever a change of religion patronized by infidels? How little, notwithstanding the reigning scepticism, and the magnified liberality of that age, the true principles OF CHRISTIANITY. 19 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 (/. 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 re- script : " 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 examina- tion, nothing could be discovered in the principles of these persons, but " a bad and excessive su- perstition," 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. With- out discussing, therefore, the truth of the theology, they resented every affront put upon the establish- ed worship, as a direct opposition to the authority of government. 20 THE EVIDENCES 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 some- times 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, quoquomodo inducti, antiquitate defen- duntur." 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 num- bers 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 busi- ness 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 pros- perity of their country in a great measure de- pended. 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 founda- tion ? From the philosopher, who, " considering all religions as equally false," would, of course, rank theirs among the number, with the addition of regarding them as busy and troublesome zea- lots ? 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 110 more than what every teacher of a new religion both does and must do, in order to obtain either proselytes or hearers. The change which this would produce was very considerable. It is a change which we do not easily estimate, because ourselves, and all about us, being habituated to the institution from our infancy, it is what we neither experience nor observe. After men became Christians, much of their time was spent in prayer and devotion, in 92 THE EVIDENCES 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 Me- thodists. Think then what it was to become such at Corinth, at Ephesus, at Antioch, or even at Jerusalem. How new ! how alien from all the former habits and ideas, and from those of every body 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 be- nevolence is extended to the very thoughts and af- fections. 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 as- sert), a course of life pursued by them different from that which they before led ; and this is of great importance. Men are brought to any thing almost sooner than to change their habit of life, especially when the change is either imconvenient, 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 Essay* on Man, p. 190. OF CHRISTIANITY. 2$ Left then to myself, and without any more in- formation 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 au- thority, was concerned in its first success, 1 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 at- tempt must necessarily have also been in a high degree dangerous ; that from the subject of the mission, compared with the fixed opinions and pre- judices of those to whom the missionaries were to address themselves, they could hardly fail of en- countering strong and frequent opposition ; that, by the hand of government, as well as from the sudden fury and unbridled license of the people, they would oftentimes 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. 24 THE EVIDENCES CHAPTER II. There is satisfactory Evidence, that many, professing to be ori- ginal Witnesses of the Christian Miracles, passed their Lives in Labours, Dangers, and Sitfferings, 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 hap- pen, 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 pre- ceded by the other, for as much 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 passages in their remain- ing 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 adversa- ries ; the source from which it is drawn is unsus- pected. Under this head, a quotation from Ta- citus, well known to every scholar, must be in- serted, 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 25 Nero, and of the suspicions which were entertain- ed 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 held 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 every thing bad upon earth finds its way, and is practised. Some who confessed their sect were first seized, and afterwards; -by their information, a vast multitude were apprehended, who were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning Rome, as of ha- tred to mankind. Their sufferings at their exe- cution 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 illumi- nate the night. Nero lent his own gardens for these executions, and exhibited at the same time * This is rather a paraphrase, but is justified by what the Scholiast upon Juvenal says ; " Nero rnaleficos homioes teeda et papyro et cera supenres- tiebat, et sic ad ignem adtnoveri jubebat." Lard. Jewish and Heath. Test, vol. i. p. 359. 26 THE EVIDENCES a mock Circensian entertainment j being a specta- tor 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." 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 ; Sdly, That it so spread, as that, within thirty-four years from the Author's death, a very great number of Christians (ingens eorum multi- tude} 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 con- verts, 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 en- deavours 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 27 Suetonius, a writer contemporary with Tacitus, describing the transactions of the same reign, uses these words : " Affecti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novas at nialeficse."* 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 Sueto- nius refers to some more general persecution than the short and occasional one which Tacitus de- scribes. Juvenal, a writer of the same age with the two former, and intending, it should seem, to com- memorate the cruelties exercised under Nero'* government, has the following lines :t " Pone Tigellinum, ta-clA lucebis in ilia, Qua stantes ardent, qui tixo gutture fumant, Et latum media sulcutn deducit,} arena." " 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. * Suet, Nero, tap. 16. f Sat. i. ver. 153. f Forsan l< deducis." 28 THE EVIDENCES 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 lifetime, probably, of some of the apostles, and certainly in the lifetime of those who were con- verted 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 princi- pally to two points: first, To the number of Chris- tians in Bithynia and Pontus, which was so consi- derable as to induce the governor of these pro- vinces 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 29 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, with- out any ipublic 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 resfjipt, and the emperor, agree- ably to his requesl, 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 de- livered 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 appre- hended, of whom some boldly avowed their pro- fession, 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 demon- strates, 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 farther confirmed by a rescript of Adrian to Minucius Fundanus, the proconsul of Asia:* from which rescript it appears, that the custom of the people of Asia was to proceed Lard. Heath. Test. vol. ii. p. 1IO. 30 THE EVIDENCES against the Christians with tumult and uproar. This disorderly practice, I say, is recognized 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 r years before the younger Pliny ; and, as his manner was, made the suffer- ings of the Christians the subject of his ridicule.* 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 martyrdoms 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 suffer- ings 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 <"'t " Let this preparation of the mind (to die) arise from its own judgment, and not from obstinacy, like the Christians."} * In matutina nuper spectatus arena Mucius, imposuit qui sua membra foci*, Si patiens fortisque tibi durusque videtur, Abderitana? pectora plebis babes ; Nam cum dicafur, tunica praesente molests, Ure* manum : plus est dicere, N'on facio. * Fornan " thure manum." f Epict. 1. iv. c. 7. t Marc. Aiir. Med. K xi. c. 3. OF CHRISTIANITY. 31 CHAPTER III. There is satisfactory Evidence, that many, professing to be ori- ginal 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 Con- duct. 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 con- nexion with it. And we have these writings seve- rally attesting the point which we contend for, viz. the sufferings of the witnesses of the history, and 32 THE EVIDENCES attesting it in every variety of form in which it can be conceived to appear : directly and indi- rectly, expressly and incidentally ; by assertion, re- cital, and allusion ; by narratives of facts, and by arguments and discourses built upon these facts, either referring to them, or necessarily presuppos- ing them. I remark this variety, because in examining an- cient 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 undesignedty disclosed ; forasmuch as v this species of proof is, of all others, the least liable to be corrupted by fraud or misre- presentation. I may be allowed, therefore, in the inquiry which is now before us, to suggest some conclu- sions of this sort, as preparatory to more direct testimony. First, Our books relate, that Jesus Christ, the founder of the religion, was, in consequence of his undertaking, put to death as a malefactor, at Je- rusalem, This point at least will be granted, be- cause 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 from thence throughout Judea, and afterwards preached in other parts of the Roman empire. These points also are fully confirmed by Tacitus, who informs us that the re- ligion, 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 thre great multitudes of converts: and all this within thirty years after its commence- ment* Now tjiese facts afford a strong inference in behalf of the proposition which we maintain. OF CHRISTIANITY. 33 What could the disciples of Christ expect for them- selves when they saw their Master put to death ? Could they hope to escape the dangers in which he had perished ? " If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you," was the warning of com- mon sense. With this example before their eyes, they could not be without a full sense of the peril of their future enterprise. Secondly, All the histories agree in represent- ing 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 na- tions for my name's sake."* " When affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. "t " 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."* " The time cometh, that he that killeth you, will think that he doth 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." 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 * Matt. xxiv. 9. } Mark iv. 17. See also x. 29. f Luke xxi. 1 2 1 6. See also xi. 49. John xvi. 4. See also xv. 2O. ; xvi. SS D 34 THE EVIDENCES side or other of the following disjunction is true ; either that the Evangelists have delivered what Christ really spoke, and that the event corres- ponded with the prediction ; or that they put the prediction into Christ's rnouth, because, at the time of writing the history, the event had turned out so to be : for the only two remaining supposi- tions appear in the highest degree incredible ; which are, either that Christ filled the minds of his followers with fears and apprehensions, with- out 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. Thirdly, These books abound with exhortations to patience, and with topics of comfort under dis- tress. " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fa- mine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."* " We are troubled on every side, yet not dis- tressed ; 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 shah 1 raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For which cause we faint not ; but though our out- ward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed RonvvSii. 3537. OF CHRISTIANITY. 35 day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceed- ing and eternal weight of glory." * " 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."t " 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 you 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." t " 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 en- dure ; 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." " 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." ^ * 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9 r 10. 14. 16, 17. f James v. 10, 11. f Heb. x. 3236. .2 Thess. L 4, 5-r Gresv. OF CHRISTIANITY. t>9 prisoned and put to death by Herod ; and that Herod lived in a criminal cohabitation with Hero- dias, his brother's wife.* In another passage, allowed by many, although not without considera- ble question being moved about it, we hear of " James, the brother of him who was called Jesus, and of his being put to death." t In a third pas- sage, extant in every copy that remains of Jose- phus's History, but the authenticity of which has nevertheless been long disputed, we have an ex- plicit 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 perform- ed 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 in- stigation of the chief men among us, had con- demned 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 con- cerning him : and the sect of the Christians, so called from him, subsists to this time."t What- ever 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 pro- ceed 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 * Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. v. sect. 1,2. f Antiq. 1. xx. cap. ix. sect. 1. i Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. iii. *ect. 3. 70 THE EVIDENCES institution. And I think also that it may with great reason be contended, either that the pas- sage 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 con- demned at Rome ; that they derived their denomi- nation from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death as a criminal by the procurator, Pontius Pilate ; that the superstition had spread not only over Judea, the source of the evil, but had reached Rome also : when Suetonius, an his- torian contemporary with Tacitus, relates, that in the time of Claudius the Jews were making dis- turbances at Rome, Christus being their leader ; and that, during the reign of Nero, the Christians were punished ; under both which emperors, Jo- sephus lived : when Pliny, who wrote his cele- brated epistle not more than thirty years after the publication of Josephus's history, found the Chris- tians 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 bu- siness, and disposed of his difficulties by passing it OF CHRISTIANITY. 71 over in silence. Eusebius wrote the life of Con- stantine, 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 Chris- tianity appears also in his passing over the banish- ment of the Jews by Claudius, which Suetonius, we have seen, .has recorded with an express refer- ence 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, t what it may, no other or different his- tory on the subject has been given by him, or is pretended to have been given. But farther : The whole series of Christian writ- ers, 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, * Michaelis has computed, and as it should seem fairly enough, that pro- bably not more than twenty children perished by this cruel precaution. Michaeliis Introd. to the Neiu Testament, translated by Marsh ; vol. i. c. ii. sect. 11. f 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 Tal- mud, compiled about the year 5OO, and not much more in the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 50O ; although both these works are of a religious na- ture, and although, when the first was compiled, Christianity was on the point of becoming the religion of the state, and, when the latter was pub- lished, bad been so for 200 years. 72 THE EVIDENCES The remaining letters of the apostles (and what more original than their letters can we have?) though written without the remotest design of trans- mitting the history of Christ, or of Christianity, to future ages, or even of making it known to their contemporaries, incidentally disclose to us the fol- lowing circumstances : Christ's descent and fa- mily ; his innocence ; the meekness and gentleness of his character (a recognition which goes to the whole Gospel history) ; his exalted nature, his cir- cumcision, his transfiguration, his life of opposition and suffering, his patience and resignation ; the ap- pointment of the eucharist, and the manner of it ; his agony, his confession before Pontius Pilate ; his stripes, crucifixion, andburial; 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 con- version of Paul ; miracles wrought by himself, and alleged in his controversies with his adversaries, and in letters to the persons amongst whom they * Heb. ii. 5. " How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed un- to us by them that heard him ; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wondert, 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 sub- sisting. 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. liii. 10. " We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," OF CHRISTIANITY. J3 were wrought ; finally* that MIRACLES were the signs of an apostle.* 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, t his resurrection on the eighth (?. e. the first day of the week), t and the commemorative dis- tinction of that day, his manifestation after his re- surrection, 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 shewed the exceeding great love which he bare towards them." In an epistle of Clement, a hearer of Saint 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." ** We find noticed also, the humi- lity, yet the power of Christ, ft 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 ; * 2 Cor. xii. 12. " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." f Ep. Bar. c. vii. f Ibid. c. vi. Ibid. c. V. ** Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xlii. f f Ibid. c. xvi. 74 THE EVIDENCES the bonds, stripes, and stoning of Paul ; and more particularly his extensive and unwearied travels. In an epistle of Polycarp, a disciple of Saint John, though only a brief hortatory letter, we have the humility, patience, sufferings, resurrec- tion, and ascension of Christ, together with the apostolic character of Saint Paul, distinctly recog- nized.* Of this same father we are also assured by Irenseus, that he (Irenaeus) had heard him re- late " what he had received from eye-witnesses concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine." t In the remaining works of Ignatius, the con- temporary of Polycarp, larger than those of Poly- carp (yet, like those of Polycarp, treating of sub- jects in nowise leading to any recital of the Chris- tian history), the occasional allusions are propor- tionably more numerous. The descent of Christ from David, his mother Mary, his miraculous con- ception, the star at his birth, his baptism by John, the reason assigned for it, his appeal to the pro- phets, the ointment poured on his head, his suffer- ings 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, rare 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 Ig- natius 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."t * Pol. Ep. ad Phil. c. v. viii, ii. iii. f Ir. ad Flor. ap. Eus. 1. y. c. 20. \ Ad Smyr. c.iii. OF CHRISTIANITY. J5 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 dwelt on this earth, but also after his departure, and for a good while after it, inso- much that some of them have reached to our times."* Justin Martyr came little more than thirty years after Quadratus. From Justin's works, which are still extant, might be collected a tolerably complete account of Christ's life, in all points agreeing with that which is delivered in our Scriptures ; taken, indeed, in a great measure, from those Scriptures, but still proving that this account, and no other, was the account known and extant in that age. The miracles in particular which form the part of Christ's history most material to be traced, stand fully and distinctly recognized in the following passage : " He healed those who had been blind, and deaf, and lame from their birth ; causing, by his word, one to leap, another to hear, and a third to see ; and by raising the dead, and making them to live, he induced, by his works, the men of that age to know him."t 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 evan- gelists represent. * Ap. Euseb. H. E. lib. iv. c. 3. f Just. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 286. ed. Thirl. 76 THE EVIDENCES This is not only true of those writings of Chris- tians 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 unde- serving 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 institu- tion. 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 re- cord 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 them- selves 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 reflec- tion, that no such change as the oblivion of one story, and the substitution of another, took place in any future period of the Christian era. Chris- OF CHRISTIANITY. 77 tianity 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 his- tory, 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 pre- vailed 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 ac- counts make the apostles assemble upon a stated day of the week : we find, and that from informa- tion perfectly independent of our accounts, that the Christians of the first century did observe stat- ed days of assembling. Our histories record the in- stitution of the rite which we call the Lord's Sup- per, and a command to repeat it in perpetual suc- cession : we find, amongst the early Christians, the celebration of this rite universal. And indeed we find concurring, in all the above-mentioned observances, Christian societies of many 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 accommoda- 78 THE EVIDENCES tioii 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 ac- counts, 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."* Amongst the proofs of the truth of our proposi- tion, '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 observ- ing, that it appears by the Gospels themselves that the story was public at the time ; that the Chris* tian 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 them- selves among the consequences of that belief. This is expressly affirmed by Saint Luke, in his brief, but, as I think, very important and instruc- tive 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 * 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 79 in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things cohere- in thou hast been instructed." This short intro- duction testifies, that the substance' of the history which the evangelist was about to write, was al- ready believed by Christians ; that it was believed upon the declarations of eye-witnesses and minis- ters of the word ; that it formed the account of their religion, in which Christians were instructed; that the office which the historian proposed to himself, was to trace each particular to its origin, and to fix the certainty of many things which the reader had before heard of. In St John's Gos- pel, the same point appears hence, that there are some principal facts to which the historian refers, but which he does not relate. A remarkable in- stance of this kind is the ascension, which is not mentioned by Saint John in its place, at the con- clusion 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 ?" And still more posi- tively 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." t This can only be accounted for by the supposition, that Saint John wrote under a sense of the notoriety of Christ's ascension, amongst 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 im- portant fact. The thing was very well known ; and it did not occur to the historian that it was neces- * Also John iii. 13. and xvi. 28. f John xx. 17. 80 THE EVIDENCES sary to add any particulars concerning it. It agrees also with this solution, and with no other, that neither Matthew nor John disposes of the per- son of our Lord in any manner whatever. Other intimations in Saint 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 re- ference to John's imprisonment, " for John was not yet cast into prison," * could only come from a writer whose mind was in the habit of considering John's imprisonment as perfectly notorious. The description of Andrew, by the addition " Simon Peter's brother," t 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 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 recogni- tion 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 reli- gion substantially different from ours ; thirdly, The early and extensive prevalence of rites and institutions which result from our account; fourthly, Our account bearing, in its construction, proof that it is an account of facts, which were known and believed at the time are sufficient, * John iii. 24. f Chap. i. 40. \ Chap. xxi. 24. OF CHRISTIANITY. 81 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 resurrec- tion 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 cer- tain 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 la- bours, sustained great sufferings, all for a miracu- lous story, which they published wherever they came ; and that the resurrection of a dead man, whom during his life they had followed and ac- companied, 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 82 THE EVIDENCES CHAPTER VIII. There is satisfactory Evidence that many, professing to be ori- ginal 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 nar- rative, 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 consi- dered 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 au- thors to whom the four Gospels are ascribed, that, if any one of the four be genuine, it is suffi- cient for our purpose. The received author of the first, was an original apostle and emissary of the religion. The received author of the second, OF CHRISTIANITY. 83 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 emi- nent of that number. The received author of the third, was a stated companion and fellow-travel- ler of the most active of all the teachers of the religion, and in the course of his travels frequent- ly in the society of the original apostles. The re- ceived 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 situa- tion 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 sub- ject in which their minds were deeply engaged, and in which, as they must have been very fre- quently repeating the accounts to others, the pas- sages of the history would be kept continually alive in their memory. Whoever reads the Gos- pels (and they ought to be read for this particu- lar purpose) will find in them not merely a gene- ral affirmation of miraculous powers, but detailed circumstantial accounts of miracles, with specifi- cations of time, place, and persons ; and these ac- counts many and various. In the Gospels, there- fore, 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 de- pended upon, that is, must be true in substance, and in their principal parts, (which is sufficient for the purpose of proving a supernatural agency), 84 THE EVIDENCES or they must be wilful and meditated falsehoods. Yet the writers who fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if they be such, are of the number of those who, unless the whole 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 name of Mark and Luke, although not the narratives of eye-wit- nesses, are, if genuine, removed from that only by one degree. They are the narratives of con- temporary writers, of writers themselves mixing with the business ; one of the two probably living in the place which was the principal scene of ac- tion ; both living in habits of society and corres- pondence with those who had been present at the transactions which they relate. The latter of them accordingly tells us, (and with apparent sincerity, because he tells it without pretending to personal knowledge, and without claiming for his work greater authority than belonged to it), that the things which were believed amongst Christians, came from those who from the be- ginning 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 connect- * Why should not the candid and modest Preface of this historian be be- lieved, as well as that which Dion Cassius prefixes to his Life of Commo- dus? " 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 85 ed with the subject of their narrative, or possess such means of authentic information, as these. The situation of the writers applies to the truth of the facts which they record ; but, at present, we use their testimony to a point somewhat short of this, namely, that the facts recorded in the Gos- pels, whether true or false, are the facts, and the sort of facts, which the original preachers of the religion alleged. Strictly speaking, I am con- cerned only to show, that what the Gospels con- tain is the same as what the apostles preached. Now, how stands the proof of this point ? A set of men went about the world, publishing a story composed of miraculous accounts (for miraculous, from the very nature and exigency of the case, they must have been) ; and, upon the strength of these accounts, called upon mankind to quit the religions in which they had been educated, and to take up, from thenceforth, a new system of opinions, and new rules of action. What is more in attestation of these accounts, that is, in support of an institution of which these accounts were the foundation, is, that the same men voluntarily ex- posed themselves to harassing and perpetual la- bours, dangers, and sufferings. We want to know what these accounts were. We have the particu- lars, 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 so- ciety 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 86 those who were ministers of the word, and eye- witnesses of the facts. I do not know what in- formation 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. Suppos- ing 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 ap- peared in Judea ; suppose it to be also sufficiently proved, that, in the course and prosecution of their ministry, these men had subjected them- selves 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 men under the circumstances in which they de- livered 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, \ve have all these. We have the very species of in- formation which, as it appears to me, our ima- gination would have carved out for us, if it had been wanting. OF CHRISTIANITY. 87 But I have said, that, if any one of the four Gospels be genuine, we have not only direct his- torical testimony to the point we contend for, but testimony which, so far as that point is con- cerned, 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 ar- gument's sake, we should allow that this Gospel had been erroneously ascribed to Matthew ; yet, if the Gospel of Saint John be genuine, the ob- servation holds with no less strength. Again, although the Gospels both of Matthew and John could be supposed to be spurious, yet, if the Gos- pel of Saint Luke was 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 bears the name of Mark really proceeded from him ; we still, even upon the lowest supposition, possess the accounts of one writer at least, who was not only contem- porary 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 thiswell noticed. The New Testament contains a great number of dis- tinct writings, the genuineness of any one of which is almost sufficient to prove the truth of the reli- gion : 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 au- thors of our books, we are entitled to the advan- 88 THE EVIDENCES tage of so many separate probabilities. And al- though it should appear that some of the evange- lists had seen and used each other's works, this discovery, while it subtracts indeed from their characters as testimonies strictly independent, di- minishes, I conceive, little, either their separate authority (by which I mean the authority of any one that is genuine), or their mutual confirma- tion : for, let the most disadvantageous supposi- tion 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 these histories were not, in fact, written by Matthew and Luke ; yet, if it be true that Mark, a contem- porary of the apostles, living in habits of society with the apostles, a fellow-traveller and fellow- 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 times 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 his- tory out of them. Let the Gospel of Mark be called an epitome of that of Matthew ; if a per- son, in the situation in which Mark is described to have been, actually made the epitome, it af- fords the strongest possible attestation to the character of the original. Again, parallelisms in sentences, in words, and in the order of words, have been traced out be- tween 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 89 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 perfect- ly consistent with the acknowledged formation of Saint 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 do- cuments 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 allow- ing, 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 Saint Luke's Gospel, a history given by a writer imme- diately connected with the transaction, with the witnesses of it, with the persons engaged in it, and composed from materials which that person, thus situated, deemed to be safe sources of intelligence ; in other words, whatever supposition be made con- cerning any or all the other Gospels, if Saint Luke's Gospel be genuine, we have in it a credi- ble 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 indepen- dent testimony, strictly and properly so called. Notwithstanding, therefore, any connexion, or supposed connexion, between some of the Gos- pels, 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 situa- tion of the writer, to believe that we possess the accounts which the original emissaries of the reli- gion delivered. 90 THE EVIDENCES 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 anywise relating to the history of Christ, is read to us out of the Epistle of Clemens Romanus, the Epistles of Ignatius, of Polycarp, or from any other writing of that age, we are immediately sen- sible 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 per- son 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 ac- quainted ; 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 af- forded one of the highest possible attestations to the value of the work. This successive disclosure of proof would leave us assured, that there must OF CHRISTIANITY. 91 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 his- tories would satisfy us that the subject had a foun- dation ; arid 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 extra- ordinary causes of which we had already been in- formed, 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 sub- sequent inquiries should bring to our knowledge, one after another, letters written by some of the principal agents in the business, upon the business, and during the time of their activity and concern in it, assuming all along and recognizing the origi- nal story, agitating the questions that arose out of it, pressing the obligations which resulted from it, giving advice and directions to those who acted upon it ; I conceive that we should find in every one of these a still further support to the conclu- sion 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 accus- tomed to regard the New Testament as one book, we see in it only one testimony. The whole oc- curs to us as a single evidence ; and its different parts, not as distinct attestations, but as different 92 portion^ 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 was wanting, that in their original composition they were separate, and most of them indepen- dent 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 persecution, and in a state of almost continual alarm, it is not probable that, in this engaged, anxious, and unsettled condition of life, they would think immediately of writing histories for the information of the public or of posterity.* But it is very probable, that emer- gencies might draw from some of them occa- sional 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 dis- ciples 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 diffe- rent degrees of information and correctness. The extension of the Christian society, which could no longer be instructed by a personal intercourse * This thought occurred to Eusebius : " Nor were the apostles of Christ greatly concerned about the writing of books, being engaged in a more ex- cellent ministry, which is above all human power." Ecdes. Hist. \. iii. c. 24. The same consideration accounts also for the paucity of Christian writings in the first century of its era. OF CHRISTIANITY. 93 with the apostles, and the possible circulation of imperfect or erroneous narratives, would soon teach some amongst them the expediency of send- ing forth authentic memoirs of the life and doc- trine of their Master. When accounts appeared, authorized by the name, and credit, and situation of the writers, recommended or recognized by the apostles and first preachers of the religion, or found to coincide with what the apostles and first preachers of the religion had taught, other accounts would fall into disuse and neglect ; whilst these, maintaining their reputation (as, if genuine and well-founded, they would do) under the test of time, inquiry, and contradiction, might be expected to make their way into the hands of Christians of all countries of the world. This seems the natural progress of the business ; and with this the records in our possession, and the evidence concerning them, correspond. We have remaining, in the first place, many letters of the kind above described, which have been pre- served 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 Chris- tian religion, in the sense in which we regard that question, nor to convey information of facts, of which those to whom the letters were written had been previously informed, we are not to look in them for any thing more than incidental allusions to the Christian history. We are able, however, to gather from these documents various particular attestations, which have been already enumerat- ed ; 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 94 THE EVIDENCES 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 pur- porting, 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 in- timations 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 collec- tion of proofs, and not a naked or solitary testi- mony ; and that the written evidence is of such a kind, and comes to us in such a state, as the natu- ral order and progress of things, in the infancy of the institution, might be expected to produce. OF CHRISTIANITY. 95 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 endeavour- ing 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, andjbr which they acted and suffered in the manner in which, for some miraculous story or other, they did act and suffer. Now, let us suppose that we possessed no other information concerning these books than that they were written by early dis- ciples 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 Chris- tians which the apostles founded, these books were received (by which term received, I mean that they were believed to contain authentic accounts of the transaction upon which the religion rested, and accounts which were accordingly used, re- peated, 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 EVIDENCES 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 dis- close 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 contem- porary of the apostles. In the Gospel of St John, (xix. 35.) after describing the crucifixion, with the particular circumstance of piercing Christ's side with a spear, the historian adds, as for himself, " And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." Again (xix. 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 per- son who wrote the Acts of the Apostles ; in which latter history, or rather latter part of the same his- tory, 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 97 CHAPTER IX. There is satisfactory Evidence that many, professing to be ori- ginal 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 neiu Rules. of Con- duct. 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 tobeknown concerning them but that they were written by early disciples of the religion, and received with deference by early Christian churches ; more espe- cially 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 th,> high probability there is that they actually came from the persons whose names they bear. There are, however, a few preliminary reflec- tions, by which we may draw up with more regu- larity to the propositions upon which the close and particular discussion of the subject depends. Of which nature are the following: H 98 THE EVIDENCES I. We are able to produce a great number of ancient manuscripts, found in many different coun- tries, 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 chal- lenged 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 j that is, there never was any writing, in the preser- vation and purity of which the world was so in- terested or so careful. * The Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was written probably in the fourth or fifth century. OF CHRISTIANITY. 99 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 ad- dressed 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 an- cient 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 lan- guage spoken indeed where they lived, but not the common dialect of the country. This happy pe- culiarity 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 writ- ings. The few who had a knowledge of the Hebrew, as Justin Martyr, Origen, and Epipha- nius, wrote in a language which bears no resem- blance to that of the New Testament. The Nazarenes, who understood Hebrew, used chiefly, perhaps almost entirely, the Gospel of Saint Mat- thew, and therefore cannot be suspected of forg- ing the rest of the sacred writings. The argu- ment, 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. 100 THE EVIDENCES 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 in- scribed with the names of Matthew and John re- lated nothing but ordinary history, there would have been no more doubt whether these writings were theirs, than there is concerning the acknow- ledged works of Josephus or Philo - r 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 ge- nuineness 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 au- thors. To which may be added, that we ask no more for our books than what we allow to other books in some sort similar to ours : we do not deny the genuineness of the Koran ; we admit that the history of Apollonius Tyanseus, purport- ing to be written by Philostratus, was really writ- ten 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 re- ception 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 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 101 mean from obtaining' acceptance and reputation, or an acceptance and reputation in anywise simi- lar 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 whe- ther the whole passage be not an interpolation, as it is most certain that, after the publication of Eusebius's work, this epistle was universally re- jected, t V. If the ascription of the Gospels to their re- spective authors had been arbitrary or conjectu- ral, they would have been ascribed to more emi- nent 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 extra- ordinary 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 * Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 15. f Augustin, A. D. 895, (De Consens. Evang. c. 54.) had heard that the 1'agans pretended to be possessed of an epistle from Christ to Peter and Paul ; but he had never seen it, and appears to doubt of the existence of any such piece, either genuine or spurious. No other ancient writer men- tions 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 man- ner in which he notices them, and, above all, the silence of every preceding writer, render them unworthy of consideration. 102 THE EVIDENCES 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, there- fore, which assigned these writings to these au- thors, proceeded, it may be presumed, upon pro- per 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 agree- ment upon the subject, and that without the in- terposition 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 inter- ference 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 ad- joining countries.! Nor does its authority seem to have extended farther ; for we find numerous Christian writers, after this time, discussing the question, " What books were entitled to be re- ceived as Scripture ?" with great freedom, upon proper grounds of evidence, and without any re- ference to the decision at Laodicea. Col. iv. 14. 2 Tina-iv. 11. Philera. 24. f Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 291. et seq. OF CHRISTIANITY. 103 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 some- what in detail ; for when Christian advocates merely tell us that we have the same reason for believing the Gospels to be writteei by the evan*. gelists whose names they bear, as we have for believing the Commentaries to be Caesar's, the ^Eneid Virgil's, or the Orations Cicero's, they content themselves with an imperfect representa^ tion. 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 testimo- nies, 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 requi- site in our books than in theirs, to separate and distinguish them from spurious competitors. The result, I am convinced, will be satisfactory to every fair inquirer ; but this circumstance renders an inquiry necessary. In a work, however, like the present, there is a difficulty in finding a place for evidence of this kind. To pursue the detail of proofs throughout, would be to transcribe a great part of Dr Lard- ner's eleven octavo volumes : to leave the argu- ment 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. 101 THE EVIDENCES The method which I propose to myself is, first, to place before the reader, in one view, the propo- sitions which comprise the several heads of our testimony, and afterwards to repeat the same pro- positions in so many distinct sections, with the necessary authorities subjoined to each. * 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 Testa- ment, 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 proceeded 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 conclu- sive in all questions and controversies amongst Christians. III. That they were, in very early times, col- lected into a distinct volume. IV. That they were distinguished by appro- priate names and titles of respect. V. That they were publicly read and expound- ed in the religious assemblies of the early Chris- tians. * The reader, when he has the propositions before him, will observe that the argument, if he should omit the sections, proceed;, connectedly from this point. OF CHRISTIANITY. 105 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 catho- lics, 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 receiv- ed without doubt, by those who doubted concern- ing the other books which are included in our present canon. IX. That the Gospels were attacked by the early adversaries of Christianity, as books contain- ing the accounts upon which the religion was founded. X. That formal catalogues of authentic Scrip- tures were published ; in all of which our present sacred histories were included. XL That these propositions cannot be affirmed of any other books claiming to be books of Scrip- ture ; by which are meant those books which are commonly called Apocryphal Books of the New Testament. 106 THE EVIDENCES 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 imme- diately followed them, and proceeding in close and regular sue- cession 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 dimi- nished by the lapse of ages. Bishop Burnet, in the History of his own Times, inserts various ex- tracts 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 ah au- thentic account of the transactions which it re- lates ; 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,* 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 * Quint lib. zi. c. i. OF CHRISTIANITY. 107 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 for- ward under this proposition are the following : I. There is extant an epistle ascribed to Bar- nabas,* the companion of Paul. It is quoted as the epistle of Barnabas, by Clement of Alexan- dria, A. D. 194* ; by Origen, A. D. 230. It is men- tioned by Eusebius, A. D. 315, and by Jerome, A. D. 392, 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 writ- ten soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, dur- ing the calamities which followed that disaster; and it bears the character of the age to which it professes to belong. In this epistle appears the following remarkable passage : " Let us, therefore, beware lest it come upon us, as it is written, There are many called, few chosen.'* From the expression " as it is writ- ten," 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, t and is found in no other book now known. There is a farther observation * Lardner's Cred. edit. 1755, vol. i. p. 23. et seq. The reader will ob- serve from the references, that the materials of these sections are almost en- tirely extracted from Dr Lardner's work ; my office consisted in arrangement and selection. f Matt xx. 16. xxii. 14. 108 THE EVIDENCES 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, there- fore, that he would" have used this phrase,, and without qualification, of any books but what had acquired a kind of scriptural authority. If the passage remarked in this ancient writing had been found in one of 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 Mat- thew's Gospel, and two or three in which we re- cognize the same words. In particular, the author of the epistle repeats the precept, " Give to every one that asketh thee ;"* 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 sin- ners to repentance."! II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement, Bishop of Rome,t 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-labour- ers, 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 repre- sents its value, " written by Clement, who nad * Matt. v. 42. f Chap. is. 13. | Lardner's Crcd. vol. i. p. 62. ct xy. OF CHRISTIANITY. 109 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 Co- rinth ; 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 follow- ing valuable passages : " Especially remember- ing the words of the Lord Jesus which he spake, teaching gentleness and long-suffering ; for this he said,* * Be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ; forgive, that it may be forgiven unto you ; as you do, so shall it be done unto you ; as you give, so shall it be given unto you ; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged ; as ye shew kind- ness, so shall kindness be shewn 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." Again : " Remember the words of the Lord Jesus ; for he said, ' Wo 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 mill-stone 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.' "t * " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy ;" Matt. T. 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 judg- ment ye judge, ye shall be judged ; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again;" Matt. vii. 1, 2. f 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 110 THE EVIDENCES 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 any thing now read in the Gospels is met with in an early Christian writing, it is always observed to stand there as acknowledged truth, i. e. to be introduced without hesitation, doubt, or apology. It is to be observed also, that as this epistle was written in the name of the church of Rome, and addressed to the church of Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhibiting the judgment not only of Clement, who drew up the letter, but of these churches themselves, at least as to the authority of the books referred 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 quota- tions, is proved by the three following considera- tions : First, That Clement, in the very same manner, namely, without any mark of reference, about his neck, and that he were cast into the sea." The latter part of the passage in Clement agrees more exactly with Luke xvii. 2. : " It were better for him that a mill- stone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." OF CHRISTIANITY. Ill uses a passage now found in the Epistle to the Romans ;* 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 He- brews. 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 ; be- cause 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 Cle- ment had heard these words from the apostles or first teachers of Christianity ; with respect to the precise point of our argument, viz. that the Scrip- tures contain what the apostles taught, this suppo- sition 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, Phle- gon, Hennas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them." * Rom. i.29. 56 112 THE EVIDENCES Of Hermas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Christians as contemporary with Saint Paul, a book bearing the name, and it is most pro- bable rightly, is still remaining. It is called the Shepherd* or Pastor of Hermas. Its antiquity is incontestable, from the quotations of it in Ire- naeus, 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 piece are tacit allusions to Saint Mat- thew'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 con- fessing and denying of Christ ;t the parable of the seed sown ;t the comparison of Christ's dis- ciples to little children ; the saying, " he that putteth away his wife and marrieth another, com- mitteth adultery ;" 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 cha- racter of the writing has little to do with the pur- pose for which we adduce it. It is the age in which it was composed, that gives the value to its testimony. * Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 111. f Matt.x. 32, 33. or, Luke xii. 8, 9. f Matt. xiii. 3. or, Luke viii. .5. Luke xvi. 1 8. 90 OF CHRISTIANITY. 113 IV. Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient Chris- tian 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 Irenseus, Origen, and Eusebius.* In these epistles are various undoubted allu- sions 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 speci- mens : MATTHEW.t " 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." J.OHN.t " Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God : for it knows whence if comes, and whither it goes" Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147. f 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." J Chap. iii. 8. " The wind blovveth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Chap.x. 9. " I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." I 114 THE EVIDENCES " He (Christ) is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the apostles, and the church." As to the manner of quotation, this is observ- able : Ignatius, in one place, speaks of Saint 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 * 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," said 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 dis- courses he made to the people, and how he re- lated his conversation with John, and others who had seen the Lord, and how hp related their say- ings, and what he had heard concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doc- trine, as he had received them from the eye-wit- nesses of the word of life ; all which Polycarp re- lated agreeable to the Scriptures." Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country and persons of the apostles is thus attest- ed, we have one undoubted epistle remaining. And this, though a short letter, contains nearly * Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 192. OF CHRISTIANITY. 115 forty clear allusions to books of the New Testa- ment ; which is strong evidence of the respect which Christians of that age bore for these books. Amongst these, although the writings of Saint Paul are more frequently used by Polycarp than any other parts of Scripture, there are copious al- lusions to the Gospel of Saint 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 lie will forgive us, we ought also to for- give." " 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 quot- ed as spoken by him ; and not only so, but quot- ed with so little question or consciousness of doubt about their being really his words, as not even to mention, much less to canvass, the autho- rity from which they were taken : r- " But remembering what the Lord said, teach- ing, Judge not, that ye be not judged ; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven ; be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy j with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." * Supposing Polycarp to have had these words from the books in which we now find them, it is manifest that these books were considered by him, and, as he thought, considered by his readers, as Matt. vii. 1, 2. v. 7. Luke vi. 37, 38. 116 THE EVIDENCES authentic accounts of Christ's discourses ; and that that point was incontestable. The following is a decisive, though what we call a tacit, reference to Saint Peter's speech in the Acts of the Apostles : " whom God hath raised, having loosed the pains of death." * . VI. Papias, t 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 res- pective 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 histori- cal Scriptures, t * Acts ii. 24. f Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 239. | That the quotations are more thinly strown in these, than in the writ- ings 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 117 VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more than twenty years after the last, follows Jus- tin Martyr.t His remaining works are much larger than any that have yet been noticed. Al- though 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 ex- pression, a very great one.t 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 dark- ness, 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 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 fre- quency, as well as copiousness, of allusion. * f Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 258. j " He cites our present canon, and particularly our four Gospels, con- tinually, I dare say, above two hundred times." Jones's New and Full Method. Append. voLi. p. 589. ed. J726. * Mich. Introd. c. ii. sect. vi. 118 THE EVIDENCES and John, and fortifies his quotation by this re- markable 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 any thing 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.* The other, of a circumstance in Christ's baptism, namely, a fiery or luminous ap- pearance upon the water, which, according to Epi- phanius, 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 distinctipn : " And then, when * " 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. Fabricius 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 per- haps by a slip of his memory. Words resembling these are read repeatedly in Ezekiel ; " I will judge them according to their way*;" (chap. vii. 3. xxxKi. 20.) It is remark- able 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. i. p. 539. OF CHRISTIANITY. 119 Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, as Jesus descended into the water, a fire also wes 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 others 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 descrip- tions, the latter especially, exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles now bear. VIII. Hegesippus* 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 attes- tation, from good authority, and of high antiquity. It is generally understood that by the word " Lord," Hegesippus intended some writing or writings, containing the teaching of Christ, in which sense alone the term combines with the other terms " Law and Prophets," which denote * Lardner, Cred. ol. i. p. jl4. 120 THE EVIDENCES writings ; and together with them admits 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 things in the style of the Gospels, and of the Acts of the Apostles ; that he referred to the history in the second chapter of Matthew, and recited a text of that Gospel as spoken by our Lord. IX. At this time, viz. about the year 170, the churches of Lyons and Vienne, in France, sent a relation of the sufferings of their martyrs to the churches of Asia and Phrygia.* The epistle is preserved entire by Eusebius. And what carries in some measure the testimony of these churches to a higher age, is, that they had now for their bishop, Pothinus, who was ninety years old, and whose early life consequently must have imme- diately joined on with the times of the apostles. In this epistle are exact references to the Gospels of Luke and John, and to the Acts of the Apos- tles ; 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."t X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. Irenaeust succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. In the * Lardner, Cred. voL i. p. 332. f John xvi. 3. | Lardner, vol. i. p. 344. OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 se- parated 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.* I remark these particulars concerning Irenseus with more formality than usual ; because the testi- mony which this w r riter affords to the historical books of the New Testament, to their authority, and to the titles which they bear, is express, posi- tive, and exclusive. One principal passage, in which this testimony is contained, opens with a precise assertion of the point which we have laid down as the foundation of our argument, viz. that the story which the Gospels exhibit, is the story which the apostles told. " We have not received," saith Irenaeus, "the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any others than those by whom the Gospel -has been brought to us. Which Gospel they first preached, and afterwards, by the will of God, committed to writing, that it might be for time to come the foundation and pillar of our faith. For after that our Lord rose from the dead, and they (the apostles) were endowed from above with the power of the Holy Ghost coming down upon them, they received a perfect know- ledge of all things. They then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the bless- ings 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 preach- ing the Gospel at Rome, and founding a church * Adv. Haeres. 1. iii. c. S. 122 THE EVIDENCES there : and after their exit, Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writ- ing 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). After- wards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise published a Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia." 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 dis- tinctly, than Irenaeus hath done within little more than a hundred years after they were published. The correspondency, in the days of Irenagus, of the oral and written tradition, and the deduc- tion of the oral tradition through various chan- nels from the age of the apostles, which was then lately passed, and, by consequence, the probabi- lity that the books truly delivered what the apos- tles taught, is inferred also with strict regularity from another passage of his works. " The tradi- tion 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 appoint- ed 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." * The reader will observe upon this, that the same Irenaaus, who is now stating the strength and uniformity of the tradition, we have before seen recognizing, in the fullest man- ner, the authority of the written records ; from * Iren. in Haer. 1. iii. c. 3. OF CHRISTIANITY. which we are entitled to conclude, that they were then conformable to each other. I have said, that the testimony of Irenseus 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 be neither more nor fewer Gospels than^/owr. With his ar- gument 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 be- gins his Gospel, how Mark begins and ends his, and their supposed reasons for so doing. He enumerates at length the several passages of Christ's history in Luke, which are not found in any of the other evangelists. He states the par- ticular design with which Saint John composed his Gospel, and accounts for the doctrinal decla- rations which precede the narrative. To the book of the Acts of the Apostles, its au- thor, and credit, the testimony of Irenaeus is no less explicit. Referring to the account of Saint Paul's conversion and vocation, in the ninth chap- ter of that book, " Nor can they," says he, mean- ing 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. THE EVIDENCES In an author thus abounding with references and allusions to the Scriptures, there is not one to any apocryphal Christian writing whatever. This is a broad line of distinction between our sacred books, and the pretensions of all others. The force of the testimony of the period which we h'ave 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 flou- rished at Rome, Ignatius at Antioch, Polycarp at Smyrna, Justin Martyr in Syria, and Irenseus in France. XL Omitting Athenagoras and Theophilus, who lived about this time ; * in the remaining works of the former of whom are clear references to Mark and Luke ; and in the works of the lat- ter, who was bishop of Antioch, the sixth in suc- cession from the apostles, evident allusions to Mat- thew and John, and probable allusions to Luke, (which, considering the nature of the composi- tions, that they were addressed to heathen read- ers, is as much as could be expected) ; observing also, that the works of two learned Christian wri- ters of the same age, Miltiades and Pantaenus,t are now lost ; of which Miltiades, Eusebius re- cords, that his writings " were monuments of zeal for the divine Oracles ;" and which Pantaenus, as Jerome testifies, was a man of prudence and learn- ing, 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, * Lardner, vol. i. p. 40O. Ih. 422. f Lardner, vol. i. p. 413. 450. OF CHRISTIANITY. Clement of Alexandria.* Clement followed Ire- naeus 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 re- main, 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 Gos- pels and all other histories, or pretended histories, of Christ. In another part of his works, the per- fect confidence with which he received the Gos- pels, 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, * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 469. 126 THE EVIDENCES of which he alleges many, are all taken from out Gospels ; the single exception to this observation appearing to be a loose* quotation of a passage in Saint Matthew's Gospel. XII. In the age in which they lived, t Tertul- lian joins on with Clement. The number of the Gospels then received, the names of the evange- lists, 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 Tertul- lian, affords as complete an attestation to the au- thenticity of our books, as can be well imagined. After enumerating the churches which had been founded by Paul, at Corinth, in Galatia, at Phi- lippi, 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 pub- lication, which we so zealously maintain :" and presently afterwards adds ; " The same autho- rity 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 * " 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 as an expo- sition: " 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. j- Lardner, vol. ii. p. 561. OF CHRISTIANITY. 127 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 anti- quity ; 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 de- fending the integrity of the copies of Luke receiv- ed 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."* Tertullian quotes no Christian writing as of equal authority with the Scriptures, and no spu- rious books at all ; a broad line of distinction, we may once more observe, between our sacred books and all others. * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 647. $6 128 THE EVIDENCES 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 inde- pendent societies. It is now only about one hun- dred and fifty years since Christ was crucified ; and within this period, to say nothing of the apos- tolical fathers who have been noticed already, we have Justin Martyr at Neapolis, Theophilus at Antioch, Irenaeus in Erance, Clement at Alexan- dria, 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,* 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 anti- quity, Origent of Alexandria, who, in the quan- tity of his writings, exceeded the most laborious of the Greek and Latin authors. Nothing can be more peremptory upon the subject now under consideration, and, from a writer of his learning and information, more satisfactory, than the de- claration 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 declara- tion is immediately subjoined, a brief history of the respective authors, to whom they were then, * Minucius Felix, Apollonius, Caius, Asterius, Urbanus, Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, Hippolytus, Ammonius, Julius Africanus. f Lardner, vol. iii. p. 234. OF CHRISTIANITY. 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, relat- ing 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 every body, 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 quota- tions 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 remain- ing, we should have before us almost the whole text of the Bible."* 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, manifest- ly esteeming them of little, or of no authority. XIV. Gregory bishop of Neocaesarea, and Dionysius of Alexandria, were scholars of Ori- gen. Their testimony, therefore, though full and particular, may be reckoned a repetition only of * Mill, Proleg. cap. vi. p. 66. K 130 THE EVIDENCES his. The series, however, of evidence, is conti- nued by Cyprian bishop of Carthage, who flourish- ed within twenty years after Origen. " The church," says this father, " is watered, like Para- dise, by four rivers, that is, by four Gospels." The Acts of the Apostles is also frequently quot- ed by Cyprian under , that name, and under the name of the " Divine Scriptures." In his va- rious writings are such constant and copious cita- tions of Scripture, as to place this part of the tes- timony beyond controversy. Nor is there, in the works of this eminent African bishop, one quota- tion of a spurious or apocryphal Christian writing. XV. Passing over a crowd* of writers follow- ing Cyprian at different distances, but all within forty years of his time ; and who all, in the imper- fect remains of their works, either cite the histori- cal 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 t 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 ; * Novatus, Rome, A. D. 251 ; Dionysius, Rome, A. D. 259 ; Commodian, A.n. 270; Anatolius, Laodicea, A.D. 270; Theognostus, A. D. 282; Methodius, Lycia, A.D. 290; Phileas, Egypt, A.D. 296. f Lardner, vol. v. p. 214. OF CHRISTIANITY. 131 and, to show the propriety of the symbols, he re- cites 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. XVI. Arnobius and Lactantius,* about the year 300, composed formal arguments upon the credibility of the Christian religion. As these ar- guments were addressed to Gentiles, the authors abstain from quoting Christian books by name ; one of them giving this very reason for his re- serve ; but when they come to state, for the in- formation of their readers, the outlines of Christ's history, it is apparent that they draw their ac- counts from our Gospels, and from no other sources ; for these statements exhibit a summary of almost every thing which is related of Christ's actions and miracles by the four evangelists. Ar- nobius 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 composi- tion 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,t bishop of Csesarea, who flou- rished in the year 315, contemporary with, or pos- terior only by fifteen years to, the two authors last cited. This voluminous writer, and most diligent * Lardner, vol. vii. p. 43. 201. f Ib. vol. viii. p. 33. THE EVIDENCES collector of the writings of others, beside a varie- ty of large works, composed a history of the af- fairs of Christianity from its origin to his own time. His testimony to the Scriptures is the tes- timony 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 re- mark leads him to bring together long quotations from each of the evangelists ; and the whole pas- sage 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 the 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 imprison- ment of John the Baptist. He observes, " that OF CHRISTIANITY. 138 the apostles of Christ were not studious of the or- naments of composition, nor indeed forward to write at all, being wholly occupied with their mi- nistry." This learned author makes no use at all of Christian writings, forged with the names of Christ's apostles, or their companions. We close this branch of our evidence here, be- cause, 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 mo- dern divines. Future testimonies to the books of Scripture could only prove, that they never lost their character or authority. 134 THE EVIDENCES SECTION II. When the Scriptures are quoted, or alluded to, they are quoted luith 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 quota^ tion, which uniformly and strongly indicates this distinction, the following may be regarded as spe- cific testimonies : I. Theophilus * 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."t 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, % who may be supposed to come about one hundred and fifty- * Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i. p. 429. fib. p. 448. \ Ib. vol. iii. p. 40. OF CHRISTIANITY. 135 eight years after the publication of the Scripture, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, uses these ex- pressions : " 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 men- tioned 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 writ- ings of the most early and celebrated Christians. III. In a piece ascribed to Hippolytus, * 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 sa- cred fountain, and to set before him from the Sa- cred Scriptures, what may afford him satisfaction." He then quotes immediately Paul's epistles to Ti- mothy, 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 Ori- gen, t " 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, * Lardner, Cred. yol.iii. p. 112. f Ib. p. 287, 288, 2S1). 136 THE EVIDENCES 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,* 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 Gos- pel," 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 hea- VI. Novatus,t a Roman, contemporary with Cyprian, appeals to the Scriptures, as the authority by which all errors were to be repelled, and dis- putes 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 Scrip- tures, which never deceive." Stronger assertions than these could not be used. VII. At the distance of twenty years from the writer last cited, Anatolius,t a learned Alexan- drian, and bishop of Laodicea, speaking of the rule for keeping Easter, a question at that day * Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 840. f Ib. vol. v. p. 102. f Ib. p. 146. OF CHRISTIANITY. 137 agitated with much earnestness, says of those whom he opposed, " They can by no means prove then: 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 Scrip- ture."* And in the same strain, one of their ad- vocates opens a conference with Augustine, after the following manner : " If you say what is rea- sonable, I must admit. If you allege any thing from the Divine Scriptures, which are common to both, I must hear. But unscriptural expres- sions (quae extra Scripturam sunt) deserve no re- gard." Athanasius, the great antagonist of Arianism, after having enumerated the books of the Old and New Testament, adds, " These are the foun- tain of salvation, that he who thirsts may be sa- tisfied with the oracles contained in them. In these alone the doctrine of salvation is proclaim- ed. Let no man add to them, or take any thing from them."t IX. Cyril bishop of Jerusalem,! who wrote about twenty years after the appearance of Arianism, uses these remarkable words : " Con- cerning the divine and holy mysteries of faith, not the least article ought to be delivered with- out 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. * Lardner, Cred. vol. vii. p. 383, 28-J. f Ib. vol.xii. p. 182. J Ib. vol. viii. p. 276. 138 THE EVIDENCES X. Epiphanius,* twenty years after Cyril, challenges the Arians, and the followers of Ori- gen, " to produce any passage of the Old or New Testament, favouring their sentiments." XL Prebadius, a Gallic bishop, who lived about thirty years after the council of Nice, testi- fies, that " the bishops of that council first con- sulted the sacred volumes, and then declared their faith."t XII. Basil bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, contemporary with Epiphanius, says, " that hear- ers 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."! 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 sa- cred volume of the Gospel, is a perfect rule. Nothing can be taken from it nor added to it, without great guilt." 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 Scrip- ture, compared with other writings, apocryphal or heathen. II * Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 314. f Ib. vol. ix. p. 52. \ Ib. p. 124. Ib. p. 202. y Ib. vol. x. p. 123, 124. OF CHRISTIANITY. 139 SECTION III. The Scriptures loere 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,* " Fleeing to the Gospel as the flesh of Jesus, and to the Apostles as the presbytery of the church ;" that is, as Le Clerc interprets them, " In order to understand the will of God, he fled to the Gos- pels, 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 Cle- ment of Alexandria,t that these two names, " Gospels," and " Apostles," were the names by which the writings of the New Testament, and the division of these writings, were usually ex- pressed. Another passage from Ignatius is the follow- ing : " But the Gospel has somewhat in it more excellent, the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, his passion and resurrection."^ * Lardner, Cred. partii. vol. i. p. 180. f Ib. vol. ii. p. 516. $ Ib. p. 182. 140 THE EVIDENCES 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 Pro- phets 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 con- firmed 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."* And in another place, " We do not commend those who offer themselves, forasmuch as the Gospel teaches us no such thing, "t In both these places, what is called the Gospel, seems to be the history of Jesus Christ, and of his doctrine. If this be the true sense of the passages, they are not only evidences of our proposition, but strong and very ancient proofs of the high esteem in which the books of the New Testament were holden. II. Eusebius relates, that Quadratus and some others, who were the immediate successors of the apostles, travelling abroad to preach Christ, car- ried the Gospels with them, and delivered them to their converts. The words of Eusebius are : " Then travelling abroad, they performed the * Ignat. Ep. c. i. f Ib. c. iv. OF CHRISTIANITY. 141 work of evangelists, being ambitious to preach Christ, and deliver the Scripture of the Divine Gospels. 1 ** Eusebius had before him the writ- ings 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, t puts the evan- gelic 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 col- lection of Jewish sacred writings. And, IV. Melito, at this time bishop of Sardis, writ- ing to one Onesimus, tells his correspondent, t that he had procured an accurate account of the books of the Old Testament. The occurrence in this passage of the term Old Testament, has been brought to prove, and it certainly does prove, that there was then a volume or collection of writings called the New Testament. * Lardner, Cred. partii. vol.i. p. 236. f Ib. p.'383. f Ib. p. 331. THE EVIDENCES V. In the time of Clement of Alexandria, about fifteen years after the last quoted testi- mony, 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, allud- ing to this distribution, is the following: " There is a consent and harmony between the Law and the Prophets, the Apostles and the Gospel." * VI. The same division, " Prophets, Gospels, and Apostles," appears in Tertullian,t the con- temporary of Clement. The collection of the Gospels is likewise called by this writer the "Evangelic Instrument ;"t the whole volume, the " New Testament ;" and the two parts, the " Gospels and Apostles." VII. From many writers also of the third cen- tury, and especially from Cyprian, who lived in the middle of it, it is collected, that the Christian Scriptures were divided into two codes or volumes, one called the " Gospels, or Scriptures of the Lord," the other, the " Apostles, or Epistles of the Apostles." || VIII. Eusebius, as we have already seen, takes some pains to shew, that the Gospel of Saint John had been justly placed by the ancients " the fourth in order, and after the other three." 5F These are the terms of his proposition : and the very intro- duction of such an argument proves incontestably, that the four Gospels had been collected into a * Lardner, Cred. vol.ii. p. 516. f Ib. p. 631. $ Ib. p. 574. Ib. p. 632. || Ib. vol. iv. p. 846. ^ Ib. vol. viii. p. 90. OF CHRISTIANITY. 14-3 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 Dioclesian persecution, in the year 303, the Scriptures were sought out and burnt : * 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.! What the Christians of that age so richly embellished in their prosperity, and, which is more, so tenaci- ously preserved under persecution, was the very volume of the New Testament which we now read. * Lardner, Cred. vol. vii. p. 214. et seq. f Ib. vol. vii. p. 432. 144 THE EVIDENCES SECTION IV. Our present Sacred Writings were soon distinguished by appropriate names and titles of respect. I. 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."* This passage is extremely important; because it proves that, in the time of Polycarp, who had lived with the apostles, there were Christian writings distinguish- ed by the name of " Holy Scriptures," or Sacred Writings. Moreover, the text quoted by Poly- carp 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, t In another place, Poly- carp 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." t 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 be- fore. * Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 203. f Ib. p. 233. J Ib. p. 222. OF CHRISTIANITY. 14,5 II. Justin Martyr, whose apology was writ- ten about thirty years after Polycarp's epistle, ex- pressly 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 Gos- pels, have thus delivered it, that Jesus command- ed them to take bread, and give thanks."* 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."t IV. And at the same time, or very nearly so, by Irenasus bishop of Lyons in France, t they are called " Divine Scriptures," " Divine Oracles," " Scriptures of the Lord," " Evangelic and Apostolic Writings." The quotations of Irenaeus prove decidedly, that our present Gospels, and these alone, together with the Acts of the Apos- tles, w r ere the historical books comprehended by him under these appellations. V. Saint Matthew's Gospel is quoted by Theo- philus bishop of Antioch, contemporary with Ire- naeus, under the title of the " Evangelic Voice ;"|j Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 271. t N>. P- 2 8 ' J The reader will observe the remoteness of these two writers in country and situation. Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 343. el teg. (| Ib. p. 427. L 14-6 THE EVIDENCES 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 Evangeli- cal Canon."* VI. Tertullian, who joins on with Clement, be- side 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, t 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." t VIII. In Cyprian, who was not twenty years later, they are " Books of the Spirit," " Divine Fountains," " Fountains of the Divine Ful- ness." The expressions we have thus quoted, are evi- dences 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. * Larclner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 515. f Ib. p. 630. } Ib. vol. iii. p. 23O. Ib. vol. iv. p. 844. OF CHRISTIANITY. SECTION V. Our Scriptures tvere 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 wor- ship, 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 pre- sident makes a discourse, exhorting to the imi- tation of so excellent things."* 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 call- ed " 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 dis- tance of about fifty years, in his account of the * Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 273. 148 THE EVIDENCES 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."* 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 dis- course and expound the Scriptures publicly in the church, though he was not yet ordained a presbyter.t This anecdote recognizes the usage, not only of reading, but of expounding the Scrip- tures ; and both as subsisting in full force. Ori- gen also himself bears witness to the same prac- tice : " This," says he, " we do, when the Scrip- tures are read in the church, and when the dis- course for explication is delivered to the peo- ple.'^ And, what is a still more ample testimo- ny, 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 ac- count 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 will- * Lardner, Cred. rol. ii. p. 628. f Ih. vol. iii. p. 68. { Ib. p. 302. OF CHRISTIANITY. 149 . ing to die a martyr, should read the Gospel of Christ, by which martyrs are made."* V. Intimations of the same custom may be traced in a great number of writers, in the be- ginning, and throughout the whole of the fourth century. Of these testimonies I will only use one, as being, of itself, express and full. Augus- tine, who appeared near the conclusion of the cen- tury, 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 confluence 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 cano- nical books of Scripture being read every-where, the miracles therein recorded are well known to all people." t 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 ad- dressed, 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 ge- nuine 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. ' Lardner, Crcd. vol. iv. p. 842. f lb. vol. x. p. 276. el seq* 150 THE EVIDENCES SECTION VI. Commentaries were anciently written upon the Scriptures ; Har- monies 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 be- stowed upon them. And it ought to be observ- ed, 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. More- over, it shows that they were even then consider- ed as ancient books. Men do not write com- ments 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 Diatessarovij 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, * Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 307. OF CHRISTIANITY. 151 Gospels in general use with Christians. And this was little more than a hundred years after the publication of some of them. II. Pantaenus, of the Alexandrian school, a man of great reputation and learning, who came twenty years after Tatian, wrote many commen- taries upon the Holy Scriptures, which, as Jerome testifies, were extant in his time.* III. Clement of Alexandria wrote short expli- cations of many books of the Old and New Tes- tament.t IV. Tertullian appeals from the authority of a later version, then in use, to the authentic Greek.t 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. 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 indus- try of those ancient and ecclesiastical men," (/. e. of Christian writers who were considered as an- cient 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 Scrip- tures given by each of them show."|| * Lardner, ('red. vol. i. p. 155. f Ib. vol. ii. p. 462. f Ib. p.638. Ib. voLiii. p. 46. \ Ib. vol. ii. p. 551. THE EVIDENCES VII. The last five testimonies may be referred to the year 200 ; immediately after which, a pe- riod of thirty years gives us Julius Africanus, who wrote an epistle upon the apparent difference in the genealogies in Mat- thew 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.* Ammonius, a learned Alexandrian, who com- posed, as Tatian had done, a harmony of the four Gospels; whicli proves, as Tatian's work did, that there were four Gospels, and no more, at this time in use in the church. It affords also an in- stance of the zeal of Christians for those writings, and of their solicitude about them.t 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.t 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 resur- rection, 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. iii. p. 1 70. f Ib. p. 1 22. | Ib. p. 352. 1 92. 202. 245. Ib. voL iv. p. 16. OF CHRISTIANITY. 153 Victorin, bishop of Pettaw, in Germany, who wrote comments upon Saint Matthew's Gospel.* Lucian, a presbyter of Antioch ; and Hesy- chius an Egyptian bishop, who put forth editions of the New Testament. IX. The fourth century supplies a catalogue t 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 suffi- cient, for the purpose of showing the sentiments and studies of learned Christians of that age, to notice the following : Eusebius, in the very beginning of the century, wrote expressly upon the discrepancies observ- able 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, t 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 dili- gently studied by all nations." This testimony was given about the year 300 ; how long before that date these translations were made, does not appear. * Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 1 95. f Eusebius, A. D 315 Ju venous, Spaiu, 330 Theodore, Thrace, 334 Hilary, Poictiers, 554 Fortunatus, 360 Apollinarius of Laodicea,... 362 Damasus, Rome,. 366 Gregory, Nyssen, 371-- Ambrose of Milan, 374 Diodore of Tarsus, 378 Gaudent. of Brescia, 387 Jerome, 392 Theodore of Cilicia, 394 Chrysostom, 398 Didimus of Alex 370 \ Lardner, Crcd. vol. viii. p. 46. Ib. p. 201. 154 THE EVIDENCES Damasus, bishop of Rome, corresponded with Saint Jerome upon the exposition of difficult texts of Scripture ; and, in a letter still remaining, de- sires 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 com- mentaries of Catholic writers which he had read."* 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 Resurrec- tion given by the four Evangelists ; which limita- tion proves, that there were no other histories of Christ deemed authentic beside these, or includ- ed 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, t Ambrose, bishop of Milan, remarked various readings in the Latin copies of the New Testa- ment, and appeals to the original Greek ; And Jerome, towards the conclusion of this century, put forth an edition of the New Testa- ment in Latin, corrected, at least as to the Gos- pels, by Greek copies, " and those (he says) an- cient." Lastly, Chrysostom, it is well known, deliver- ed and published a great many homilies, or ser- * Lardner, Crcd. vol. ix. p. 108. f Ib. p. 1CJ. OF CHRISTIANITY. 155 mons, 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 vul- gar 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 inter- nal marks of high antiquity, supported in its pre- tensions 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 print- ed ; 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 Testa- ment was found to contain all our books, except the second epistle of Peter, the second and third of John, and the Revelation j which books, how- ever, have since been discovered in that language in some ancient manuscripts of Europe. But in this collection, no other book, beside what is in 156 THE EVIDENCES / ours, appears ever to have had a place. And, which is very worthy of observation, the text, though preserved in a remote country, and with- out communication with ours, differs from ours very little, and in nothing that is important. * Jones on the Canon, vol. i. c. 1 4. OF CHRISTIANITY. 157 SECTION VII. Our Scriptures were received by ancient Christians of different sects and persuasions, by many Heretics as well as Catholics, and were usually appealed to by both sides in the controversies which arose in those days. THE three most ancient topics of controversy amongst Christians, were, the authority of the Jewish institution, the origin of evil, and the nature of Christ. Upon the first of these we find, in very early times, one class of heretics re- jecting the Old Testament entirely ; another con- tending 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 cu- riosity, prompted by the philosophy and by the scholastic habits of the age, which carried men much into bold hypotheses and conjectural solu- tions, raised, amongst some who professed Chris- tianity, very wild and unfounded opinions. I think there is no reason to believe that the num- ber of these bore any considerable proportion to the body of the Christian church ; and amidst the disputes which such opinions necessarily occa- sioned, it is a great satisfaction to perceive, what, in a vast plurality of instances, we do perceive, all sides recurring to the same Scriptures. 1.58 THE EVIDENCES * I. Basilides lived near the age of the apostles, about the year 120, or, perhaps, sooner.t 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 ge- neral doctrine of the Christian church, and which, as it gained over some disciples, was warmly op- posed 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.t 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 impor- tance as any of the separatists of that early age. Of this sect, Irenseus, who wrote A. D. 172, ex- pressly 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 pro- bably so early as the year 125, wrote commen- taries upon Luke and John.^f Some observations also of his upon Matthew are preserved by Ori- * 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, hy the Rev. Mr Hogg, of Exeter, and inserted into the ninth volume of his works, of the edition of 1778. f Lardner, vol.ix. ed. 1788, p. 271. J Ib. p. 305, 306. Ib. p. 350, 351. U Ib. vol. i. p. 383. f Ib. vol. ix. p. 352. OF CHRISTIANITY. 159 gen.* Nor is there any reason to doubt that he received the whole New Testament. III. The Carpocratians were also an early heresy, little, if at all, later than the two preced- ing.! 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 endeavour- ing to pervert a passage in Matthew, which amounts to a positive proof that they received that Gospel.t Negatively, they are not accused, by their adversaries, of rejecting any part of the New Testament. IV. The Sethians, A. D. 150 ; the Monta- nists, A. D. 156 ;|| the Marcosians, A. D. l60;^[ Hermogenes, A. D. 180 ;** Praxias, A. D. 196 ;tt Artemon, A. D. 200 ;tt Theodotus, A. D. 200; all included under the denomination of heretics, and all engaged in controversies with Catholic Christians, received the Scriptures of the New Testament. V. Tatian, who lived in the year 172, went into many extravagant opinions, was the founder of a sect called Encratites, and was deeply in- volved in disputes with the Christians of that age j 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 * Lardner, vol. ix. ed. 1738, p. 355. f Il) - S ^ t Ib - 318 - Ib. 455. || Ib.482. f Ib. 348. *Ib.473. ff Ib. 433. ft Ib.466. 90 160 THE EVIDENCES Christ, argued from the Scriptures ; for they are accused by this writer, of making alterations in their copies, in order to favour their opinions.* VII. Origen's sentiments excited great con- troversies, 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 adver- saries of these opinions acknowledged the same authority of Scripture. In his time, which the reader will remember was about one hundred and fifty years after the Scriptures were published, many dissensions subsisted 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.t VIII. Paul of Samosata, about thirty years after Origen, so distinguished himself in the con- troversy 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 endea- voured to support his doctrine by texts of Scrip- ture. 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 * Lardncr, vol. iii. p. 46. f Ib. vol. iv. p. 642. OF CHRISTIANITY* iCl and vehemently ; for you may see them flying through every book of the sacred law."* 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 irreconcileable 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 opi- nion that blasphemous and wicked heretics, who pervert the sacred and adorable words of the Scriptures, should be execrated." t Undoubtedly what they perverted, they received. XI. The Millennium, Novatianism, the baptism of heretics, the keeping of Easter, engaged also the attention and divided the opinions of Chris- tians, 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 * Lardner, voLxi. p. 158. f Ib. p. 839. M THE EVIDENCES Alexandria, who flourished A. D. 24>7, describing a conference or public disputation with the Mil- lennarians of Egypt, confesses of them, though their adversary, " that they embraced whatever could be made out by good arguments from the Holy Scriptures."* Novatus, A. D. 251, distin- guished 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 j and concerning his fol- lowers, 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." t 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."* XIII. It is perfectly notorious, that, in the Ardan controversy, which arose soon after the year 300, both sides appealed to the same Scrip- tures, and with equal professions of deference and regard. The Arians, in their council at 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 anathema." They and the Athana- sians mutually accuse each other of using unscrip- tural phrases ; which was a mutual acknowledg- ment of the conclusive authority of Scripture- * Lardner, vol. iv. p. 666. f Ib.-vok v. p. 105. $ Ib. vol. vii. p. 24H. Ib. vol. vii. p. 277. OF CHRISTIANITY. 163 XIV. The Priscillianists, A. D. 378,* the Pela- gians, A. D. 405, t received the same Scriptures as we do. 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 heretics have arisen, holding opinions contrary to what is contained in them, who yet receive the Gospels either entire or in part."t 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 2 e.g. Cerinthus is said by Epiphanius to have receiv- ed the Gospel of Matthew, but not entire. What the omissions were, does not appear. The com- mon opinion* that he rejected the first two chap- ters, seems to have been a mistake. 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 1 ; 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 nistory. * Lardner, vol. ix. p. 525. f Ib. vol. xi. p. 52. \ Ib. vol. x. p. 316. Ib. vol. ix.ed. 1788, p". S22. 164 THE EVIDENCES Of all the ancient heretics, the most extraordi- nary was Marcion.* One of his tenets was the rejection of the Old Testament, as proceeding from an inferior and imperfect deity : and in pur- suance of this hypothesis he erased from the New, and that, as it should seem, without entering into any critical reasons, every passage which recog- nized the Jewish Scriptures. He spared not a text which contradicted his opinion. It is rea- sonable to believe that Marcion treated books as he treated texts ; yet this rash and wild contro- versialist published a recension, or chastised edi- tion, of Saint Luke's Gospel, containing the lead- ing facts, and all which is necessary to authenti- cate 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 intempe- rance 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 forg- ing their books. " The Gospel of Saint Mat- thew, 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."t This declara- tion shows the ground upon which Marcion pro- ceeded in his mutilation of the Scriptures, viz. his dislike of the passages or the books. Marcion flourished about the year 130. Dr Lardner, in his general Review, sums up this head of evidence in the following words : * Lardner, sect. ii. c. x. Also Michael, vol. i. c. i. sect.xviii. f 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 16,5 " Noetus, Paul of Samosata, Sabellius, Marcellus, Photinus, the Novatians, Donatists, Manicheans,t Priscillianists, beside Artemon, the Audians, the Arians, and divers others, all received most or all the same books of the New Testament which the Catholics received ; and agreed in a like respect for them as written by apostles, or their disciples and companions. "t f This must be with an exception, however, of Faustus, who lived so late as the year 384. J Lardner, vol. xii. p. 12. Dr Lardner's future inquiries supplied him with many other instances. 166 THE EVIDENCES SECTION yiii, f he Jour Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of Saint Paul, the First Epistle of John, and the first of Peter t were received "without doubt by those ixho 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 conside- ration 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 flourish- ed near the year 200, records of him, that, rec- koning 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 ac- count given by Eusebius of the same ancient au- thor 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."* II. Origen, about twenty years after Caius, quoting the Epistle to the Hebrews, observes that * Lardner, vol. iii. p. 240. OF CHRISTIANITY. 167 some might dispute the authority of that epistle j 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.* 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 Cle- ment, who was bishop of Rome, wrote this epis- tle ; 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."t III. Dionysius of Alexandria, in the year doubts concerning the Book of Revelation, whe- ther it was written by Saint John ; states the grounds of his doubt, represents the diversity of opinion concerning it, in his own time, and be- fore his time.t Yet the same Dionysius uses and collates the four Gospels in a manner which shows that he entertained not the smallest suspi- cion of their authority, and in a manner also * Lardner, vol.iii. p. 246. f Ib. p. 234. f Ib. Tol. ir. p. 670. 168 THE EVIDENCES which shows that they, and they alone, were re- ceived as authentic histories of Christ.* 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 Ecclesi- astical 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.! 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 enume^ ration in the following manner :- " In the Jirst 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 pro^ per 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." He then pro- * Laidncr, vol. iv. p. 661. f Ib. vol. viii. p. 90. Ib. p. 39. OF CHRISTIANITY. 169 ceeds 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. * 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 col- lection. But the passage proves something more than this. The author was extremely conversant in the writings of Christians, which had been pub- lished from the commencement of the institution to his own time ; and it was from these writings that he drew his knowledge of the character and reception of the books in question. That Eu-, sebius 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, speak- ing 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 an- cient times have quoted in their writings as un- doubtedly genuine ;" t and then, speaking of some other writings bearing the name of Peter, " We * 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 chap- ter, where, speaking of the Gospels of Peter, and Thomas, and Matthias, and some pthers, he says, " They are not so much as to be reckoned amonj* the spurious, but are to bo rejected as altogether absurd and impious." Vol. viii. p. 98. f Lardner, vol. viii. p. 99 170 THE EVIDENCES know," he says, " that they have not been de- livered 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 shew, 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."* 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 lie 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 evi- dence which the writings of prior ages, from the apostles* time to his own, had furnished to his inquiries. The opinion of Eusebius and his con- temporaries 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 ac- knowledged," are in fact used and quoted in the remaining works of Christian writers, during the * Lardner, vol. viii. p. 111. OF CHHISTIANJTT, Q50 years between the apostles' time and that of Eusebius, much more frequently than, and in a different manner from, those, the authority pf which, he tells us, was disputed, 172 THE EVIDENCES SECTION IX. Our historical Scriptures ixere attacked by the early adversaries of Christianity, as containing the accounts upon ivhich the Religion was founded. I. NEAR the middle of the second century, Celsus, a heathen philosopher, wrote a professed treatise against Christianity. To this treatise, Origen, who came about fifty years after him, published an answer, in which he frequently recites his ad- versary's words and arguments. The work of Celsus is lost ; but that of Origen remains. Ori- gen 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 an- swer. I think it also probable, that Origen, in his answer, has retailed a large portion of the work of Celsus : " That it may not be suspected," he says, " that we pass by any chapters, because we have no answers at hand, I have thought it best, according to my ability, to confute every thing proposed by him, not so much observing the na- tural order of things, as the order which he has taken himself."* Celsus wrote about one hundred years after the Gospels were published ; and therefore any noti- ces of these books from him are extremely impor- tant for their antiquity. They are, however, ren- dered more so by the character of the author ; * Orig. cont Cels.-l. i. sect. 41. OF CHRISTIANITY. 173 for, the reception, credit, and notoriety of these books must have been well established amongst Christians, to have made them subjects of ani- madversion and opposition by strangers and by enemies. It evinces the truth of what Chrysos- tom, two centuries afterwards, observed, that " the Gospels, when written, were not hid in a corner or buried in obscurity, but they were made known to all the world, before 'enemies as well as others, even as they are now."* 1. Celsus, or the Jew whom he personates, uses these words : " I could say many things con- cerning the affairs of Jesus, and those, top, diffe- rent from those written by the disciples of Jesus ; but I purposely omit them."t 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 ora- torical nourish. 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 follow- ers of Jesus in general 5 for them he calls Chris- tians, or believers, or the like ; but those who had been taught by Jesus himself, L e. his apostles and companions. 2. In another passage, Celsus accuses the Chris- tians of altering the Gospel. J The accusation refers to some variations in the readings of parti- cular passages : for Celsus goes on to object, that * In Matt. Horn. 1. 7. f Lardner, Jewish and Heathen Test. vol. ii. p. 274. \ Lardner, vol. ri. p. 275. 174 THE EVIDENCES when they are pressed hard, and one reading has been confuted, they disown that, and fly to ano- ther. We cannot perceive from Origen, that Cel- sus 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, va- rious readings and corruptions do not take place in recent productions. The former quotation, the reader will remem- ber, proves that these books were composed by the disciples of Jesus, strictly so called ; the pre- sent 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 o*wn writings, not needing any other weapons."* It is manifest that this boast pro- ceeds upon the supposition, that the books over which the writer affects to triumph, possessed an authority by which Christians confessed them- selves to be bound. 4. That the books to which Celsus refers were no other than our present Gospels, is made ou by his allusions to various passages still found in these Gospels. Celsus takes notice 1 of the genea- logies, 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 alo ;t of the woes denounced by Christ; of his predictions ; of his saying, that it is impos- * Lardner, vol. ii. p. 276. ' f Ib. p. 276. OF CHRISTIANITY. 175 sible to serve two masters ;* 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,t which circumstance is recorded by John alone ; and (what is instar omnium for the purpose for which we produce it) of the dif- ference in the accounts given of the resurrection by the evangelists, some mentioning two angels at the sepulchre, others only one.t It is extremely material to remark, that Celsus not only perpetually referre4 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. II. What Celsus was in the second century, Porphyry became in the third. His work, which was a large and formal treatise against the Chris- tian 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 in- formation, 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 Tiberias a sea ; to the expression in Saint Ma>tthew, " the abomination of desolation ;" * Lardncr, vol. ii. p. 277. f Ib. p. 280, 281. \ I b. p. 283. The particulars, of which the above are only a few, are well collected by Mr Bryant, p. 140. 56 176 - THE EVIDENCES 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 impre- cation of death.* The instances here alleged, serve, in some mea- sure, 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 an- cient Christians, general evidence, that the places of Scripture upon which Porphyry had remarked were very numerous. In some of the above-cited examples, Por- phyry, 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 ap- pear that he considered any history of Christ, ex- cept 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,! that Julian noticed by name Matthew and Luke, in the difference between their genealogies of Christ ; * Jewish and Heatheil Test, vol.iii, p. 166. et seq. f Ib. vol. iv. p. 77. et seq. OF CHRISTIANITY. 177 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 heal- ed lame and blind people, and exorcised de- moniacs, in die villages of Bethsaida and Be- thany ; that he alleged, that none of Christ's dis- ciples 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 Patilus, 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 him- self expressly states the early date of these re- cords ; he calls them by the names which they now bear. He all along supposes, he no where 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 re- ligion, is very considerable. It proves that the N 178 THE EVIDENCES 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 ex- pressed 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 shewed 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 strong- er, by the consideration that he did in fact sup- port 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 pro- phecy of Daniel he attacked upon this very ground of spuriousness, insisting that it was writ- ten after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and maintains his charge of forgery by some far-fetch- ed indeed, but very subtle criticisms. Concern- ing the writings of the New Testament, no trace of this suspicion is any where to be found in him.* * Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 43. Marsh's Translation. OF CHRISTIANITY. 179 . SECTION X. Formal Catalogues of authentic Scriptures lucre published, in all oftvhich 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 shewed themselves, claiming titles which did not belong to them, and thereby ren- dering it necessary to separate books of authority from others. But, when it does appear, it is ex- tremely satisfactory ; the catalogues, though nu- merous, 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 ex- ception. 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 enu- merations of the books of Scripture, 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. II. Athanasius, about a century afterwards, de- livered a catalogue of the books of the New Tes- * Larducr, Cred. vol. iii. p. 234. et aey. vol. viii. p. 196. 180 THE EVIDENCES tament in form, containing our Scriptures and no others ; of which he says r " In these alone the doctrine of Religion is taught ; let no man add to them, or take any thing from them.' >* 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 omit- ted.t 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,^ by Gregory Nazianzen, by Philaster bishop of Brescia in Italy, || 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.^F VI. Within the same period, Jerome, the most learned Christian writer of his age, delivered a * Lardncr, vol. Tiii. p. 223. f Ib. p. 270. J Ib. p. 368. Ib. vol.ix. p. 132. || Tb. vol. ix. p. 373. *l Epiphanius omits the Acts of the Apostles. This must have bcun 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 181 catalogue of the books of the New Testament, recognizing every book now received, with the intimation of a doubt concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews alone, and taking not the least no- tice of any book which is not now received.* VII. Contemporary with Jerome, who lived in Palestine, was .Saint Augustine, in Africa, who published likewise a catalogue, without joining to the Scriptures, as books of authority, any other ecclesiastical writing whatever, and without omit- ting one which we at this day acknowledge.! VIII. And with these concurs another con- temporary writer, Rufen, presbyter of Aquileia, whose catalogue, like theirs, is perfect and un- mixed, and concludes with these remarkable words: "These are the volumes which the fa- thers have included in the canon, and out of which they would have us prove the doctrine of our faith."* Lardnor, Crcd. vol.*. p. 77. f Il>. p. '2IJJ. f Il. p. 187. 182 THE EVIDENCES SECTION XL These Propositions cannot be predicated of any of those books which are commonly called Aprocryphal Books of the New Testament. I DO not know that the objection taken from apo- cryphal writings is at present much relied upon by scholars. But there are many, who, hearing that various Gospels existed in ancient times un- der 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 ob- serve, 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 quot- ed within three hundred years after the birth of Christ, by any writer now extant, or known ; or, if quoted, is not quoted without marks of censure and rejection. I have not advanced this assertion without in- quiry; 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 men- tioned as collected in a very accurate table, pub- lished in the year 177$, by the Rev. J. Atkinson, will make out the truth of the proposition to the OF CHRISTIANITY. 183 satisfaction of every fair and competent judg- ment. 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 Saint Matthew. This Gospel is once, and only once, cited by Clemens Alexan- drinus, who lived, the reader will remember, in the latter part of the second century, and which same Clement quotes one or other of our four Gospels in almost every page of his work. It is also twice mentioned by Origen, A. D. 230; and both times with marks of diminution and dis- credit. And this is the grounjl upon which the exception stands. But what is still more mate- rial to observe is, that this Gospel, in the main, agreed with our present Gospel of Saint Mat- thew.* Now if, with this account of the apocryphal Gospels, we compare what we have read con- cerning 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 Alexan- dria, 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 charac- ters, for several ages ;"t and if to this we add, that, notwithstanding the loss of many works of the primitive times of Christianity, we have, * 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 Saint Matthew's Gospel, whether an original or version, which w then extant. f Lardner, Cred. vol. xii. p. 53. 184- THE EVIDENCES 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, be- tween 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 Chris- tian writings, in the whole or in part of an histo- rical nature, which, though not forgeries, are de- nominated 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 repeat- edly by Clemens Alexandrinus, A. D. 196 ; the other, a book entitled the Revelation of Peter, upon which the above-mentioned Clemens Alex- andrimis 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 had 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 urofess 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 185 century of the Christian era, in which century all our historical hooks are proved to have heen ex- tant. " There are no quotations of any such books in the apostolical fathers, by whom I mean Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hennas, 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 prov- ed."* 2. These apocryphal writings were not read in the churches of Christians ; 3. Were not admitted into their volume ; 4. Do not appear in their catalogues ; 5. Were not noticed by their adversaries ; 6. Were not alleged by different parties as of authority in their controversies ; 7. Were not the subjects, amongst them, of commentaries, versions, collations, expositions. Finally ; Beside the silence of three centuries, or evidence, within that time, of their rejection, they were, with a consent nearly universal, re- probated 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 tor 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 * Lardner, Cred. vol.xii. p. 158. 186 THE EVIDENCES this subject, would find purchasers. It was an advantage taken of the pious curiosity of un- learned Christians. With a view to the same purpose, they were many of them adapted to the particular opinions of particular sects, which would naturally promote their circulation amongst the favourers of those opinions. After all, they were probably much more obscure than we ima- gine. Except the Gospel according to the He- brews, 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 al- most universal reading, had never seen it.* 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 Cilicia ; and speaks of obtaining a sight of this Gospel from some sectaries who used it.t Even of the Gos- pel 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. No- thing 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 Scrip- tures. The mission of Christ, his power of work- ing miracles, his communication of that power to the apostles, his passion, death, and resurrection, are assumed or asserted by every one of them. * Jones, vol. i. p. 243. f Lardner, -Crttl. vol. ii. p. 557. OF CHRISTIANITY. 187 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 con- tradictions, but unauthorized additions. The principal facts are supposed, the principal agents the same ; which shows, that these points were too much fixed to be altered or disputed. If there be any book of this description, which appears to have imposed upon some considerable number of learned Christians, it is the Sibylline oracles ; but, when we reflect upon the circum- stances which facilitated that imposture, we shall cease to wonder either at the attempt or its suc- cess. It was at that time universally understood, that such a prophetic writing existed. Its con- tents 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 recommenda- tion of these circumstances, would in some degree, it is probable, be received. Of the ancient for- gery 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. 1&8 THE EVIDENCES CHAPTER X. Recapitulation. THE reader will now be pleased to recollect, that the two points which form the subject of our pre- sent discussion, are, first, that the Founder of Christianity, his associates, and immediate fol- lowers, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings ; secondly, that they did so, in attesta- tion 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 cer- tain, than that the original propagators of Chris- tianity voluntarily subjected themselves to lives of fatigue, danger, and suffering, in the prosecu- tion of their undertaking. The nature of the undertaking ; the character of the persons em- ployed in it ; the opposition of their tenets to the fixed opinions and expectations of the country in which they first advanced them ; their undissem- bled condemnation of the religion of all other countries ; their total want of power, authority, or force ; render it in the highest degree proba- ble that this must have been the case. The pro- bability 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 18Q 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 emis- saries of the religion, who exercised their minis- try, first, amongst the people who had destroy- ed 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 re- lates ; 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 evi- dence, 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 did they this FOR ? That it was^or 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 par- 190 THE EVIDENCES ticular person, Jesus of Nazareth, ought to be re- ceived as the Messiah, or as a messenger from God, they neither had, nor could have, any thing but miracles to stand upon. That the exertions and sufferings of the apostles were ./or the story which we have now, is proved by the considera- tion 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 pos- sess 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 reli- gion ; that, if any one of them therefore be ge- nuine, it is sufficient ; that the genuineness, how- ever, 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 cita- tions 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 vo- lume titles of peculiar respect, translating them in- to various languages, digesting them into harmo- nies, 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 vsome others ; by contending sects appealing to them ; by the early adversaries of the religion not 01 CHRISTIANITY. 191 disputing their genuineness, but, on the contrary, treating them as the depositaries of the history upon which the religion was founded j by many formal catalogues of these, as of certain and au- thoritative writings, published in different and dis- tant parts of the Christian world ; lastly, by the absence or defect of the above-cited topics of evi- dence, 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 ac- counts 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, con- nected with the consideration, that they are cor- roborative of each other's testimony, and that they are further corroborated by another contem- porary 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 con- firmation which they receive from letters written by the apostles themselves, which both assume the same general story, and, as often as occasion leads them to do so, allude to particular parts of 192 THE EVIDENCES it j 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 likewise recognized in a va- riety of institutions, which prevailed early and universally, amongst the disciples of the reli- gion) ; and that so great a change as the oblivion of one story and the substitution of another, un- der such circumstances, could not have taken place : this evidence would be deemed, I appre- hend, sufficient to prove concerning these books, that, whoever were the authors of them, they ex- hibit the story which the apostles told, and for which, consequently, they acted, and they suffer- ed. If it be so, the religion must be true. These men could not be deceivers. By only not bear- ing testimony, they might have avoided all their sufferings, and have lived quietly. Would men in such circumstances pretend to have seen what they never saw ; assert facts which they had no knowledge of ; go about lying, to teach virtue; and, though not only convinced of Christ's being an impostor, but having seen the success of his imposture in his crucifixion, yet persist in carry- ing it on ; and so persist, as to bring upon them- selves, for nothing, and with a full knowledge of the consequence, enmity and hatred, danger and death ? OF CHRISTIANITY* 193 OP THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. PROPOSITION it CHAPTER I. Our first Proposition was, " That there is satisfac^ tory evidence that many, pretending to be origi- nal witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone in attes- tation 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 satis- factory 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 de- claring how far niy belief in miraculous accounts 194 THE EVIDENCES goes. If the reformers in the time of Wicklifie, 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 Whitefield and Mr Wesley in our own times ; had undergone the life of toil and exer- tion, 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 delu- sion or mistake ; and if it had appeared, that their conduct really had its origin in these ac- counts, 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 at- testation, and in consequence of a clear and sen- sible 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 So- crates, Phaedo, Cebes, Crito, and Simmias, to- gether with Plato, and many of his followers, re- lying upon the attestation which these miracles afforded to his pretensions, had, at the hazard of their lives, and the certain expense of their ease and tranquillity, gone about Greece, after his death, to publish and propagate his doctrines ; and if these things had come to our knowledge, in the same way as that in which the life of So- crates 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 pre- sent, I should have believed this likewise. And OF CHRISTIANITY. 195 my belief' would, in each case, be much strength- ened, if the subject of the mission were of impor- tance to the conduct and happiness of human life ; if it testified any thing 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 ade- quate to the interposition, the end worthy of the means. In the last case, 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 this 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 con- tains the precise question which we are now to agitate. In stating the comparison between our evi- dence, and what our adversaries may bring into competition with ours, we will divide the distinc- tions which we wish to propose into two kinds, those which relate to the proof, and those which relate to the miracles, tinder 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 196 THE EVIDENCES difference alone removes out of our way tire miraculous history of Pythagoras, who lived five hundred years before the Christian era, written by Porphyry and Jamblicas, who lived three hun- dred years after that era ; the prodigies of Livy's history ; the fables of the heroic ages ; the whole of the Greek and 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 exhibit- ed during the process of their canonization, a ceremony which seldom takes place till a century after their death. It applies also with considera- ble 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 pritfr account to guide hinij depends upon his single unsupported assertion. Also to some of the miracles of the third century, especially to one extraordinary instance, the ac- count of Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea, called Thaumaturgus, delivered in the writings- of Gre- gory of Nyssen, who lived one hundred and thirty years- after the subject of his panegyric. The value of this circumstance is shown to have been accurately exemplified in the history .of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the order of Jesuits.* His, life written by a companion of his, and by one of the order, was published about fif- teen years after his death. In which life, the author, so far from ascribing any miracles to Ig- natius, industriously states the reasons- why he was not invested with any such power. The life was republished fifteen years afterwards, with * Douglas's Criterion of Miracles, p. 74, OF CHRISTIANITY. 197 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 ad- mit upon the slenderest proofs. II. We may lay out of the ease, accounts pub- lished 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 w r as 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 cor- responded. From thence the primitive teachers of the institution went forth ; thither they assem- bled. 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. This distinction disposes, amongst others, of the above-mentioned miracles of Apollonius Ty- aneus, most of which are related to have been performed in India ; no evidence remaining that either the miracles ascribed to him, or the history * The succession of many eminent bishops of Jerusalem in the first three centuries, is distinctly preserved ; as Alexander, A. n. 212, who succeeded Narcissus, then 116 years old. 198 THE EVIDENCES 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. * III. We lay out of the case transient rumours. Upon the first publication of an extraordinary account, or even of an article of ordinary intelli- gence, no one, who is not personally acquainted with the transaction, can know whetrier 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 disap- pearance ; its dying away into silence, or its in- creasing in notoriety ; its being followed up by subsequent accounts, and being repeated in dif- ferent and independent accounts that solid truth is distinguished from fugitive lies. This distinc- tion is altogether on the side of Christianity. The story did not drop. On the contrary, it was succeeded by a train of actions and events der pendent 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 histori- cal testimonies of the transaction were many and various, and connected with letters, discourses, controversies, and apologies, successively produc- ed by the same transaction. IV. We may lay out of the case what I call naked history. It has been said, that if the pro- digies of the Jewish history had been found only * Douglas's Crit. p. 84. OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 undeserv- ing 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, tfye different views with which they were written, so disagree- ing 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 in a certain way, and to a certain degree, is particu- 200 THE EVIDENCES lartty 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 Saint Paul's voyage and shipwreck, in the 27th chapter of the Acts, which no man, I think, can read with- out being convinced that the writer was there ; and also in the account of the cure and exami- nation of the blind man, in the 9th chapter of Saint John's Gospel, which bears every mark of personal knowledge on the part of the historian.? I do not deny that fiction has often the particu- larity of truth j but then it is of studied and ela- borate 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 particu- larity can appear without truth, is charged upon the evangelists by few. If the historian acknow- ledge himself to have received his intelligence from others, the particularity of the narrative shows, primdjacie, the accuracy of his inquiries, and the fulness of his information. This remark belongs to Saint Luke's history. Of the parti- cularity 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 every where to be met with in the Scriptures, should be raised out of nothing, or be Both these chapters ought to be read for the sake of this very observa- tion. . - OF CHRISTIANITY. 01 spun out of the imagination without any fact to go upon.* It is to be remarked, however, that this parti? cularity 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 su- pernatural 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 superstitions : most, for instance, of the current reports of ap- paritions. Nothing depends upon their being- true or false. But not, surely, of this kind were the alleged miracles of Christ and his apostles. * " There is always some truth where there are considerable particu- larities related; and they always seem to bear some proportion to one an- other. Thus there is a great want of the particulars of time, place, and persons, in Manetho's account of the Egyptian Dynasties, Etesins's of the. Assyrian Kings, and those which the technical chronologers have given of the ancient kingdoms of Greece ; and agreeably thereto, these accounts have much fiction and falsehood, with some truth : whereas Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, and Cfesnr'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. 02 THE EVIDENCES They decided, if true, the most important ques- tion upon which the human mind can fix its an- xiety. 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 con- demned. Whoever entertained the account, whe- ther Jew or Gentile, could not avoid the follow- ing 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 cre- dibility 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 in- telligence. It was required of those who ad- mitted 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 ; multi- tudes beside them were induced, by the same tale, to encounter opposition, danger, and suffer- ings. 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. give credit or assurance to it, would do nothing, A few wandering fishermen talking of a resur- rection 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 ex- pectation, the vastness of an -event, rather cause 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 ac- counts which require no more than a simple assent ; and we now also lay out of the case those which come merely in affirmance of opi- nions 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 senti- ments of a party already engaged on the side the miracle supports, which would not be at- tempted to be produced in the face of enemies, in opposition to reigning tenets or favourite pre- judices, 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 THE EVIDENCES 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, de- cidedly 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 Protes- tants. They produced a change ; they establish- ed 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 preju- dices. They who acted and suffered in the cause, acted and suffered Jor 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 pro^ gress, which could not possibly take place in the commencement of the religion ; at least, accord- ing to any laws of human conduct that we are acquainted with. What should suggest to the OP CHRISTIANITY. 203 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 diffi- culties in which the attempt engaged them ? what could procure any degree of success to the at- tempt? are questions which apply, with great force, to the setting out of the institution with less, to every future stage of it. To hear some men talk, one would suppose the setting up of a religion by miracles to be a thing of every day's experience ; whereas the whole current of history is against it. Hath any founder of a new sect amongst Christians pre- tended 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, Zuin- glius in Switzerland, Calvin in France, or any of the reformers advance this plea ?"* The French prophets, in the beginning of the pre- sent century, t 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." t 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 Campbell on Miracles, p. 1 20. ed. 1 766. f The eighteenth. \ Adams on Mir. p. 75. 206 THE EVIDENCES which they do not themselves entertain. This is the case of what are called pious frauds ; but it is a case, I apprehend, whicli 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 any thing 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, whe- ther 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 as- signable character which will account for the con- duct 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 mi- racles themselves. Of which latter kind the fol- lowing 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 vi- sions of Saint Anthony, and of many others ; the vision which Lord Herbert of Cherbury describes OF CHRISTIANITY. 207 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 impres- sions upon the senses.* 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 al- ways cases of a solitary witness. It is in the high- est degree improbable, and I know not, indeed, whether it hath ever been the fact, that the same derangement of the mental organs should seize different persons at the same time ; a derange- ment, I mean, so much the same, as to represent to their 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 contra- distinction to miracles which are attended with permanent effects. The appearance of a spectre, the hearing of a supernatural sound, is a momenta- ry 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 1 remains. The man cured or restored is there ^ * Batty on Lunacy. THE EVIDENCES his former condition was known, and his present condition may be examined. This can by no possibility be resolved into false perception:, and of this kind are by far the greater part of the miracles recorded in the New Testament. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, he did not merely move, and speak, and die again ; or come out of the grave, and vanish away. He returned to his home and his family, and there continued ; for we find him, some time afterwards, in the same town, sitting at table with Jesus and his sisters ; visited by great multitudes of the Jews, as a sub- ject of curiosity ; giving by his presence so much uneasiness . to the Jewish rulers as to beget in them a design of destroying him.* 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 record- ed in the ninth chapter of St John's Gospel, did not quit the place, or conceal himself from in- quiry. 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, t he did not immediately relapse into his former lame- ness, or disappear out of the city ; but boldly and honestly produced himself along with the apos- tles, when they were brought the next day before the Jewish council, i Here, though the miracle was sudden, the proof was permanent. The lameness had been notorious, the cure continued* * John xii. 1, 2. 9, 10. -J- Acts iii. 2. $ Ib. iv. 14. OF CHRISTIANITY. 209 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 mira- cles. There are other cases of a mixed nature, in which, although the principal miracle be mo- mentary, some circumstance combined with it is permanent. Of this kind is the history of Saint Paul's conversion. * The sudden light and sound, the vision and the voice, upon the road to Da- mascus, were momentary : but Paul's blindness for three days in consequence of what had hap- pened ; the communication made to Ananias in another place, and by a vision independent of the former ; Ananias finding out Paul in conse- quence of intelligence so received, and finding him in the condition described, and Paul's re- covery of his sight upon Ananias's laying his hands upon him ; are circumstances, which take the transaction, and the principal miracle as in- cluded in it, entirely out of the case of momen- tary 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 dispatched by Cornelius to Peter. The vision might be a dream ; the message could not. Either com- munication, taken separately, might be a delu- sion ; 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 exa- * Actsix. P THE EVIDENCES mined 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 Post- humius 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 dis- pute 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, illu- minations, secret notices or directions, internal sensations, or consciousness 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 them- selves, 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 com- parison what may be called tentative miracles ; that is, where, out of a great number of trials, some succeed ; and in the accounts of which, al- though the narrative of the successful cases be alone preserved, and that of the unsuccessful cases sunk, yet enough is stated to shew that the OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 predic- tion 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 al- leged of various nostrums, namely, out of many thousands who have used them, certified proofs of a few who have recovered after them. No so- lution 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 every- where 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 Sa- repta, 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."* By which examples he gave them to understand, that it was not the nature of a divine interposi- tion, or necessary to its purpose, to be general ; * Luke iv. 25. still less to answer every challenge that might be' made, which would teach men to put their faith upon these experiments. Christ never pronounc- ed the word, but the effect followed.* 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.t A man- with a withered hand is in the synagogue ; Jesus bid him stretch forth his hand, m the presence of the assembly, and it was " restored whole like the other."! There was nothing tentative in these cures ; nothing that can be explained by the power of accident. We may observe alsoy that many of the cures which Christ wrought, such as that of a person blind from his birth ; also many miracles beside cures, as raising the dead, walking upon the sea v feeding a great multitude with a few loaves and fishes, are of a nature which does not in any wise admit of the supposition of a fortunate experi- ment. III. We may dismiss from the question all ac- counts 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 * 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 per- form it. The story is very ingenuonsly related by three of the evangelists.^ The patient was afterwards healed by Christ himself; and the whole trans- action seems to have been intended, as its was well suited, to display the su- periority of Christ above all who performed miracles in his name, a distinc- tion which, during his presence in the world, it might be necessary ta incul- cate by some such proof as this*. f Markii. 3. f Matt.xii. 10. $ Matfcxvii. 14. Mark ix. 14. Lukeix..33.- OF CHRISTIANITY. the thundering legion, of the extraordinary cir- cumstances which obstructed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem by Julian, the circling of the flames and fragrant smell at the martyr- dom of Polycarp, the sudden shower that extin- guished the fire into which the Scriptures were thrown in the Dioclesian persecution ; Constan- tine'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 stan- dard-bearer ; perhaps also the imagined appear- ance of the cross in the heavens, though this last circumstance is very deficient in historical evi- dence. It is also the case with the modern an- nual exhibition of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Januarius at Naples. It is a doubt like- wise, 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, mi- racles 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.* There are also in- stances 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 va- riation of a small circumstance may have trans- * Jortin's Remarks, vol. ii. p. 51. THE EVIDENCES formed 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 man- ner. Total fiction will account for any thing; but no stretch of exaggeration that has any pa- rallel 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 La- zarus, 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 acciden- tal 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 mira- cles, it is necessary, when we read the Scriptures, to bear in our minds this general remark j 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 evi- dence, 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. which these visions relate ; or, to speak more properly, the same historical authority which in- forms us of the 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 con- tained. Again, some of Christ's own miracles were momentary ; as the transfiguration, the ap- pearance and voice from heaven at his baptism, a voice from the clouds on one occasion after- wards (John xii. 28.), and some others. It is not denied, that the distinction which we have pro- posed 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 not the case 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 appli- cable, are little affected by it in their credit, be- cause 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 objec- tions, the same remark must be repeated. And this is one way, in which the unexampled number and variety of the miracles ascribed to Christ strengthens the credibility of Christianity. For it precludes any solution, or conjecture about a solution, which imagination, or even which ex- perience, might suggest concerning some parti- cular miracles, if considered independently of others. The miracles of Christ were of various kinds,* and performed in great varieties of situa- * Not only healing every species of disease, but turning water into wine (John ii.) ; feeding multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (Mattxiv. 15. Mark vi. 35. Luke ix. 1 2. John vi. 5.) ; walking on the sea (Matt xiv. 25.) ; 21 6 THE EVIDENCES tion, form, and manner ; at Jerusalem, the metro- polis of the Jewish nation and religion ; in difr ferent 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 mul- titudes, and when alone with the patient ; in the midst of his disciples, and in the presence of his enemies ; with the common people around him, and before Scribes and Pharisees, and rulers of the synagogues. , I apprehend that, when we remove from the comparison the cases which are fairly disposed of by the observations that have been stated, many cases will not remain. To those which do remain, we apply this final distinction ; " that there is not satisfactory evidence, that persons, pretending to be original witnesses of the miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and suffer- ings, 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." 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. ] 8. Mark ix. 2. Luke ix. 28. 2 Peter i. }6, 17.); raising the dead in three distinct instances (Matt. ix. 18. Mark v. 22. Luke viii. 41. Luke vii. 14. John xi.) OF CHRISTIANITY. 217 CHAPTER II. BUT they, with whom we argue, have undoubt- edly 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 learn- ed adversary, are the three following : I. The cure of a blind and of a lame man at 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 checks and the balls of his eyes. 218 THE EVIDENCES Another, diseased in his hand, requested, by the admonition of the same god, that he might be touched by the foot of the emperon 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 ear- nest supplication of the patients, and the per- suasion 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 va- rious points ; that in the one the power of vision was not destroyed, but would return if the obsta- cles were removed ; that in the other, the diseas- ed joints might be restored, if a healing power were applied ; that it was, perhaps, agreeable to the gods to do this ; that the emperor was elected by divine assistance ; lastly, that the credit of the success would be the emperor's, the ridicule of the disappointment would fall upon the patients. Vespasian, believing that every thing was in the power of his fortune, and that nothing was any longer 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." * Now, though Tacitus wrote this account twenty-seven years after the miracle is said to have been performed, and wrote at Rome of what * Tacit Hist. lib. iv. OF CHRISTIANITY. 219 passed at Alexandria, and wrote also from report ; and although it does not appear that he had ex- amined 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 con- certed imposture, brought about by collusion be- tween the patients, the physician, and the em- peror. This solution is probable, because there was every thing to suggest, and every thing to facilitate, such a scheme. The miracle was cal- culated 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, beforehand devoted to his interest, and to the worship of the god ; where it would have been treason and blas- phemy 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 coun- terfeited, 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 THE EVIDENCES 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 de- gree of the disease had never been ascertained ; a case by no means uncommon. The emperor's reserve was easily affected - 9 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 eulogi- um on the cautious and penetrating genius of the historian ; for it does not appear that the histo- rian believed it. The terms in which he speaks of Serapis, the deity to whose interposition the miracle was attributed, scarcely suffer us to sup- pose 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. brought up, and of their ease, safety, and reputa- tion ; and that by these beginnings, a change was produced in the world, the effects of which- re- main to this day : a case, both in its circumstan- ces and consequences, very unlike any thing we find in Tacitus 's relation. II. The story taken from the Memoirs of Car- dinal de Retz, which is the second example al- leged 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."* It is stated by Mr Hume, that the cardinal, who relates this story, did not believe it: and it no where appears, that h'e 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 ad- vanced the honour of their image and church. And if they patronized it, no other person at Sar- agossa, 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 ccclesias- 1 tical rulers : so that there was prejudice backed by authority, and both operating upon extreme ignorance, to account for the success of the im- posture. If, as I have suggested, the contrivance of an artificial limb was then new, it would not * Liv. ir. A. D. 1654i THE EVIDENCES occur to the cardinal himself to suspect it ; espe- cially 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 multi- tude, that many of them were thrown into violent convulsions, which convulsions, in certain instan- ces, produced a removal of disorders 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 phy- sicians upon that mysterious remedy is very ap- plicable 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 fol- lowing : 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* 56 OF CHRISTIANITY. 223 3. The diseases were, for the most part, of that sort which depends upon inaction and obstruc- tion, as dropsies, palsies, and some tumours. 4>. The cures were gradual ; some patients at- tending many days, some several weeks, and some several months. 5. The cures were many of them incomplete. 6. Others were temporary.* So that all the wonder we are called upon to account for is, that, out of an almost innumerable multitude which resorted to the tomb for the cure of their complaints, and many of whom were there agitated by strong convulsions, a very small pro- portion experienced a beneficial change in their constitution, especially in the action of the nerves and glands. Some of the cases alleged, do not require that we should have recourse to this solution. The first case in the catalogue is scarcely distinguish- able 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 re- lieved, 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 punc- ture of an awl, and the discharge of the aqueous humour through the wound. The sight, which had been gradually returning, was much improv- * The reader will find these particulars verified in the detail, by the ac- curate inquiries of the present bishop of Sarum, in his Criterion of Miracles, p. 1 32. et sey. ed during his visit to the tomb, that is, prdbably, in the same degree in which the discharged hu- mour 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 Pari- sian 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 op- posed and examined by their adversaries. The consequence of which examination was, that many falsehoods were detected, that with some- thing 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 ac- counted 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 ex- amples 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 autho- rity and power ; by none of them, were many induced to commit themselves, and that in con- tradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortifica- tion, danger, and sufferings ; none were called OF CHRISTIANITY. upon to attest them, at the expense of their for- tunes and safety.* It may be thought that the historian of the Parisian miracles, M. Mont- geron, 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. Mont- geron been originally convinced by them, I should have allowed this excep- tion. 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 wat not built upon exter- nal miracles. " Scarcely had he entered the church-yard, 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 tomb-stone, and covering his face with his hands, he spake the following prayer. thou, by whose intercession so many miracles are said to be performed, if it be true that a part of thee sur- viveth the grave, and that thou hast influence with the Almighty, have pity on tlie darkness of my understanding, and through his mercy obtain the re- moval 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 had 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. THE EVIDENCES PART II. OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, CHAPTER I. Prophecy. ISAIAH lii. 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 acquaint- ed 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 bruis- ed for our iniquities : the chastisement of our OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 open- ed 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 transgres- sion 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 vio- lence, 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. There- fore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong ; be- cause 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 THE EVIDENCES 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 au- thenticity. And, what adds to the force of the quotation is, that it is taken from a writing declaredly pro- phetic ; a writing, professing to describe such fu- ture 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 histori- cal 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 under- stood by the Jewish reader to refer to something that was to take place after the time of the au- thor. The public sentiments of the Jews con- cerning 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." It is also an advantage which this prophecy possesses, that it is intermixed with no other sub- ject. It is entire, separate, and uninterruptedly directed to one scene of things. * Chap, xlviii. ver. 24. OF CHRISTIANITY. 229 The application of the prophecy to the evange- lic 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 dic- tion, and of local allusion) are few, and not of great importance. Nor have I found that varie- ties 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 his- tory 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 ver 230 THE EVIDENCES sion, " by the knowledge of him shall my right- eous 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 ;t 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 a very minute de- gree. 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 sig- nification ; that is to say, is capable of their con- struction as well as ours.t And this is all the * " Vaticinium hoc Esaiac est carnificina Rabbinorum, de quo ab'qui Ju- daei mihi confess? sunt, Rabbinos suos ex propheticis scripturis facile so cxtricare potuisse, modb Esaias tacuissct." Hulse, Theol. Jud. p. 318. quoted by Poole, in loc. f Hulse, Theol. Jud. p. 430. j Bishop Lowth adopts in this place the reading of the Seventy, which gives, smitten to death; " for the transgression of ray 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 Ken- nicot has set forth by an argument not only so cogent, but so clear and po- pular, that I beg leave to transcribe the substance of it into this note : " Origen, after having quoted at large this prophecy concerning the Mes- siah, tells us, that having once made use of this passage, in a dispute against some that were accounted wise among the Jews, one of them replied that the words did not mean one man, but one people, the Jews, who were smit- ten 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 inter- pretation, and that he seemed to press them the hardest by this sentence, OF CHRISTIANITY. 231 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 judg- ment is open indeed to the good sense of every attentive reader. The application which the Jews contend for, appears to me to labour under insu- perable difficulties ; in particular, it may be de- manded of them to explain, in 'whose name or person, if the Jewish people be the sufferer, does the prophet speak, when he says, " He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted ; but he was wounded for our transgres- sions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chas- tisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Again, the descrip- tion 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," ' for the transgression of ray people was he smitten to death.' Now as Ori- gen, 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 j 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 princi- pally 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 He- brew text ; and as he puzzled and confounded the learned Jews, by urging upon them the reading " to death," in this place; it seems almost impossi- ble 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. THE EVIDENCES in the ninth verse, is not very applicable to the fortunes of a nation ; and still less so is the con- clusion of the prophecy in the twelfth verse, which expressly represents the sufferings as vo- luntary, and the sufferer as interceding for the offenders ; " because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the trans- gressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." There are other prophecies of the Old Testa- ment, 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 discus- sion unsuitable to the limits and nature of this work. The reader will find them disposed in order, and distinctly explained, in bishop Chand- ler'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 any thing like it, could be done, if Mahomet, or any other per- son, were proposed as the subject of Jewish pro- phecy. II. A second head of argument from prophe- cy, is founded upon our Lord's predictions con- OF CHRISTIANITY. 233 cerning 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, say- ing, I am Christ ; and the time draweth near : go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified : for these things must first come to pass ; but the end is not by-and-by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines and pestilences ; and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, deliver- ing you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a tes- timony. 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 pa- rents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends ; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem com- 234 THE EVIDENCES passed 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 wo un- to them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days : for there shall be great dis- tress 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 of 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 Saint 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 days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." These passages are di- rect and explicit predictions. References to the same event, some plain, some parabolical, or other- wise figurative, are found in divers other dis- courses of our Lord.* * Matt xxi. 33 46. xxii. 17. Mark xii. 112. Luke xiii. 1 9- we. 9 20. xxi. 5 13. OF CHRISTIANITY. 235 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 evi- dent \ 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 tran- saction from Josephus, a Jewish and contempora- ry 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 observa- tions 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.* 2. This judgment is confirmed by a strong pro- bability, 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. t If the evangelists, at the time of writing the Gospels, had known of the destruction of Jerusalem, by which catastrophe the prophecies * Lardner, vol. xiii. f Le Clerc, Diss. III. de Quat. Evang. num. vii. p. 541. 236 THE EVIDENCES were plainly fulfilled, it is most probable, that, in recording the predictions, they would have drop- ped some word or other about the completion ; hi like manner as Luke, after relating the denun- ciation of a dearth by Agabus, adds, " which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar :"* 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 his book was written before the event, when in truth it was written after it, to have suppressed any such inti- mation carefully. But this was not the character of the authors of the Gospels. Cunning was no quality of theirs. Of all writers in the world, they thought the least of providing against ob- jections. 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 pre- tend. They have done neither one thing nor the other: they have neither inserted any words which might signify to the reader that their ac- counts were written before the destruction of Je- rusalem, which a sophist would have done ; nor have they dropped a hint of the completion of the prophecies recorded by them, which an un- designing writer, writing after the event, could hardly, on some or other of the many occasions that presented themselves, have missed of doing. * Acts xi. 28. OF CHRISTIANITY. 23J 4. The admonitions t which Christ is repre- sented to have given to his followers to save themselves by flight, are not easily accounted for, on the supposition of the prophecy being fa- bricated 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 disad- vantageous 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 admonitions, of which they made no use when the occasion arrived, and of which experience then recent proved, that those who were most concerned to know and regard them, were ignorant or negligent. Even if the prophecies came to the hands of the evangelists through no better vehicle than tradition, it must have been by a tradition which subsisted prior to the event. And to suppose that, without any authority whatever, without so much as even 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 j- " 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." Lukexxi. 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 any thing out of his house ; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes." Matt. xiv. 18. 238 THE EVIDENCES which their compositions are as far removed as possible. 5. I think, that if the prophecies had been composed after the event, there would have been more specification. The names or descriptions of the enemy, the general, the emperor, would have- been found in them. The designation of the time would have been more determinate. And I am fortified in this opinion by observing, that the counterfeited prophecies of the Sibylline oracles, of the twelve patriarchs, and I am in- clined to believe, most others of the kind, are mere transcripts of the history, moulded into a prophetic form. It is objected, that the prophecy of the de- struction of Jerusalem is mixed, or connected, with expressions which relate to the final judg- ment 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, with- out accurately preserving the order, or always noticing the transition of the discourse. OF CHRISTIANITY. 239 CHAPTER II. The Morality of the Gospel. IN stating the morality of the Gospel as an argu- ment 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 hu- man 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 civilized society can, in all or- dinary cases, judge tolerably well how they ought * 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 ex- tended In all, might depend upon it, or be procured by it. Now these effects, whatever they be, do not belong to Christianity as a revelation ; be- cause they exist with respect to those to whom it is not revealed. 240 THE EVIDENCES 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 before- hand, would be the great end and office of a re- velation from God, is to convey to the world authorized assurances of the reality of a future existence. And although in doing this, or by the ministry of the same person by 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. Secondly ; Morality, neither in the Gospel, nor in any other book, can be a subject of discovery, properly so called. By which proposition I mean, that there cannot, in morality, be any thing similar to what are called discoveries in natural philosophy, in the arts of life, and in some sci- ences ; as the system of the universe, the circula- tion 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 to- tally unknown and unthought of. Whoever, therefore, expects, in reading the New Testa- ment, 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 dis- coveries above mentioned ; or rather in the man- ner in which the world was affected by them, when they were first published ; expects what, as OF CHRISTIANITY. 241 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 sub- ject 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 proceed- ing, 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 wis- dom, judgment, and prudence. As I wish to deliver argument rather than panegyric, I shall treat of the morality of the Gospel, in subjection to these observations. And after all, I think it such a morality, as, consider- ing from whom it came, is most extraordinary ; and such as, without allowing some degree of reality to the character and pretensions of the re* ligion, 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 supposi- tion of its having been the effusion of an enthusi- astic mind. TflE EVIDENCES 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 or it, tran- scribe 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 qualities, which have usually engaged the praises and admiration of mankind, but which, in reality, and in their general effects, have been prejudicial to human happiness. II. That the Gospel has brought forward some virtues, which possess the highest intrinsic value, but which have commonly been overlooked and contemned. The first of these propositions he exemplifies in the instances of friendship, patriotism, active courage ; in the sense in which these qualities are usually understood, and in the conduct which they often produce. The second, in the instances of passive cou- rage or endurance of sufferings, patience under affronts and injuries, humility, irresistance, placa- bility. The truth is, there are two opposite descrip- tions of character, under which mankind may generally be classed. The one possesses vigour, OF CHRISTIANITY. 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, forgiv- ing ; 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 impu- dence, conceding and indulgent to the prejudices, the wrongheadednesSj 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 composi- tion. This and nothing else, is the character de- signed in the following remarkable passages : " Resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite thee; on the right cheek, turn to him the other also 4 : and if any man will sue thee at the law* and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also : and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain : love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." This certainly is not common- place morality. It is very original. It shows at least (and it is for this purpose we produce it) that no two things can be more different than the Heroic and the Christian character. 244 THE EVIDENCES Now the author to whom I refer, has not only marked this difference more strongly than any preceding writer, but has proved, in contradic- tion 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 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 par- tial ; if a few be actuated by it, amongst a multi- tude 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 de- pend upon man. Without this disposition, en- mities must not only be frequent, but, once be- gun, 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, OF CHRISTIANITY. 24-5 perhaps, a great general, or a great statesman, may be formed by it, and these may be instru- ments of important benefits to mankind, yet is this nothing more than what is true of many qua- lities, 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 produc- ed by it ; nevertheless, since in its general ef- fects it is noxious, it is properly condemned, cer- tainly 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 dis- ciples ; his frequent admonitions, that greatness with them was to consist in humility ; his cen- sure 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 greet- ings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren : and call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven ; neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master, even Christ ; but he that is greatest among you, shall be your servant : and whoso- ever shall exalt himself, shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himself, shall be exalted."* I make no further remark upon these passages (be- cause they are, in truth, only a repetition of the doctrine, different expressions of the principle, * Matt, xxiii. 6. See also Mark xii. 39. Luke xx. 46. xiv. 7. 246 THE EVIDENCES which we have already stated), except that some of the passages, especially our Lord's advice to the guests at an entertainment,* 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 man- ners are bad morals. It is sufficiently apparent, that the precepts we have cited, or rather the disposition which these precepts inculcate, relate to personal conduct from personal motives j to cases in which men act from impulse, for themselves, and from them- selves. When it comes to be considered, what is necessary to be done for the sake of the public, and out of a regard to the general welfare (which consideration, for the most part, ought exclu- sively to govern the duties of men in public star tions), it comes to a case to which the rules do not belong. This distinction is plain ; and if it were less so, the consequence would not be much felt : for it is very seldom that, in the intercourse of private life, men act with public views. The personal motives, from which they do act, the rule regulates. The preference of the patient to the heroic character, which we have here noticed, and which the reader will find explained at large in the work to which we have referred him, is a 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 mora- lity of the New Testament, is the stress which is \ * Luke xiv. 7. OF CHRISTIANITY. 247 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, mur- ders, adulteries, fornications," &c. " These are the things which defile a man."* " Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo- crites i for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of ex- tortion and excess. Ye are like unto whited se- pulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness ; even so ye also outwardly ap- pear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."! And more particularly that strong expression^ " 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 ques- tion, our Saviour, in the texts here quoted, has pronounced a decisive judgment. He makes the controul of thought essential. Internal purity with him is every thing. Now I contend that this is the only discipline which can succeed ; in other words, that a moral system, which pro- hibits actions, but leaves the thoughts at liberty, will be ineffectual, and is therefore unwise. I * Matt. xv. 1 9. f Matt, xxiti. 25. 'J7. \ Matt. v. 28. 248 THE EVIDENCES 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 ap- pear to have given great attention to the sub- ject, 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 con-> tain an injunction to lay the check upon the thoughts, was wont to say, that " our Saviour knew mankind better than Socrates." Haller, who has recorded this saying of Boerhaave, adds to it the following remarks of his own :* "It did not escape the observation of our Saviour, that the rejection of any evil thoughts was the best defence against vice : for when a debauch- ed person fills his imagination with impure pic- tures, the licentious ideas which he recalls, fail not to stimulate his desires with a degree of vio- lence which he cannot resist. This will be fol- lowed by gratification, unless some external ob- stacle 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 posr sessed our imagination." I suppose these reflec* tions 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 instruct ? Letters to his Daughter. OF CHRISTIANITY. ed 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 direc- tion, he suggested the only motive which acts steadily and uniformly, in sight and out of sight, in familiar occurrences and under pressing temp- tations ; and in the second, he corrected, what, of all tendencies in the human character, stands most in need of correction, selfishness, or a con- tempt of other men's conveniency and satisfac- tion. 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 feel- ings of other men, bodily and mental, in great matters and in small ; of the ease, the accommo- dation, 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, ask- ed him a question, tempting him, and saying, THE EVIDENCES 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."* The second precept occurs in Saint 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 in 7 herit eternal life ?" Upon all these occasions, I consider the words pf 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 de- tracts 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 sub- ject, 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 ;"t and again, " For all the law is fulfilled * Matt. xxii. 35 40. f Rom. xiii. 9. OF CHRISTIANITY. 51 in one word, even in this, Thou . shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."* Saint John, in like manner, ()0 THE EVIDENCES Christ? Beside all other incredibilities in this ac- count, 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, authorize 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 collec- tion of the Talmud is one continued proof, into what follies they fell whenever they left their Bible ; and how little capable they were of fur- nishing out such lessons as Christ delivered^ But there is still another view, irr 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. Un- der 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 alt we want to be assured of, is directly and positively affirmed, and is represented by metaphors and comparisons, which were plainly intended as me- taphors 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 cut short, OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 ac- counted 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 atten- tion, is sure to be full of it. The Koran of Ma- homet is half made up of it. II. Our Lord enjoined no austerities. He not only enjoined none as absolute duties, but he re- commended 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 watch- ings, the midnight prayers, the obmutescence, the gloom and mortirica f ion of religious orders, and of those who aspired to religious perfection. III. Our Saviour uttered no impassioned devo- tion. There was no heat in his piety, or hvtlu' 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 262 THE EVIDENCES calm devotion. His words in the garden are un- affected expressions, of a deep indeed, but sober piety. He never appears to have been worked up into any thing like that elation, or that emo- tion 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, Chris- tianity ; yet I never attended a meeting of theirs but I came away with the reflection, how diffe- rent 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 parti- cular 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 them I never knew you ; depart from me, ye that work iniquity"* * Matt. vii. 21, 22. OF CHRISTIANITY. So far was the author of Christianity from court- ing the attachment of his followers by any sacri- fice 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 na- tural 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 cere- monies 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 en- thusiasm, which has swept away all external ordi- nances 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 scru- pulousness, or perhaps an affectation of scrupu- lousness, about the Sabbath : but how did he censure it ? not by contemning or decrying the institution itself, but by declaring that " the Sab- bath was made for man, not man for the Sab- bath ;" 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 264 THE EVIDENCES 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 judi- cious philosopher, but was not to be looked for from an illiterate Jew ; certainly not from an im- petuous 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 com- mandment, their exposition of the law of oaths, are specimens of the bad taste in morals which then prevailed. Whereas, in a numerous collec- tion 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 sophis- try, or of false subtilty, or of any thing approach- ing 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 benevo- lence, but benevolence the most enlarged and comprehensive. In the parable of the Good Sa- maritan, the very point of the story is, that the person relieved by him was the national and re- ligious enemy of his benefactor. Our Lord de- clared 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."* v Matt. viii. 11. OF CHRISTIANITY. 265 His reproof of the hasty zeal of his disciples, who would needs call down fire from heaven to re- venge 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."* 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 com- plete abstraction from all views either of ecclesias- tical 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," re- corded by Saint John ; his evasion of the ques- tion, whether it was lawful or not to give tribute unto Caesar, mentioned by the three other evan- gelists ; 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 Saint Luke ; his declining to exercise the office of a criminal judge in the case of the woman taken in adul- tery, as related by John, are all intelligible sig- nifications of our Saviour's sentiments upon this head. And with respect to politics, in the usual sense of that word, or discussions concerning dif- ferent forms of government, Christianity declines every question upon the subject. Whilst politi- cians are disputing about monarchies, aristocra- cies, and republics, the Gospel is alike applica- ble, useful, and friendly to them all ; inasmuch * Luke ix. 55. 266 THE EVIDENCES as, 1st, it tends to make men virtuous, and as it is easier to govern good men than bad men un- der any constitution ; as, 2dly, it states obedi- ence to government in ordinary cases, to be not merely a submission to force, but a duty of con- science ; as, Sdly, it induces dispositions favour- able to public tranquillity, a Christian's chief care being to pass quietly through this world to a better ; as, 4thly, it prays for communities, and for the governors of communities, of whatever description or denomination they be, with a soli- citude 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 pur- poses, 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 secon- dary 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 cha- racter 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 well-devised rules, his repeti- tion 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 bis instructions were delivered in a form calculated OF CHRISTIANITY. 267 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 vehe- mence 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 posi- tive distinctions or external observances, but so- berly recalling them to the principle of their esta- blishment, and to their place in the scale of hu- man duties ; without sophistry or trifling, amidst teachers remarkable for nothing so much as fri- volous subtilties and quibbling expositions ; can- did and liberal in his judgment of the rest of mankind, although belonging to a people who affected a separate claim to divine favour, and, in consequence of that opinion, prone to uncha- ritableness, partiality, and restriction : when we find, in his religion, no scheme of building up a hierarchy, or of ministering to the views of hu- man governments : in a word, when we com- pare 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 ori- gin ; and that some regard is due to the testi- mony of such men, when they declare their knowledge that the religion proceeded from God ; and when they appeal, for the truth of their as- sertion, to miracles which they wrought, or which they saw. Perhaps the qualities which we observe in the religion, may be thought to prove something 268 THE EVIDENCES more. They would have been extraordinary, had the religion come from any person : from the person from whom it did come, they are exceed- ingly so. What was Jesus in external appear- ance ? 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 pro- duced 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 him- self. 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 un- promising as himself. Suppose the mission to be real, all this is accounted for ; the unsuitableness of the authors to the production, of the charac- ters 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 carpen- ter ; the apostles were not like any other fisher- men. But the subject is not exhausted by these ob- servations. That portion of it which is most OF CHRISTIANITY. 269 reducible to points of argument, has been' stated, and, I trust, truly. There are, however, some topics, of a more diffuse nature, which yet de- serve to be proposed to the reader's attention. The character of Christ is a part of the mora- lity of the Gospel : one strong observation upon which is, that, neither as represented by his fol- lowers, 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 vene- rable Jesus, none had dared to charge him with an intemperance."* Not a reflection upon his moral character, not an imputation or suspicion of any offence against purity and chastity, ap- pears 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 Dio- genes the cynic, fell into the foulest impurities ; of which also Socrates himself was more than sus- pected. Solon forbade unnatural crimes to slaves. Lycurgus tolerated theft as a part of education. Plato recommended a community of women. Aristotle maintained the general right of making war upon barbarians. The elder Cato was re- markable 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 * Or. Ep. Cels. 1. 3. num. 36. ed. Bened. f See many instances collected by Grotius, de Veritate Christiana Reli- gionis, in the notes to his second hook, p. 1 16. Pocock's edition. 270 THE EVIDENCES every country into which they came. In speak- ing of the founders of new institutions, we can- not forget Mahomet. His licentious transgres- sions 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 per- sonal and privileged indulgence ; his avowed claim of a special permission from Heaven of un- limited sensuality, is known to every reader, as it is confessed by every writer, of the Moslem story. Secondly, In the histories which are left us of Jesus Christ, although very short, and although dealing in narrative, and not in observation or panegyric, we perceive, beside the absence of every appearance of vice, traces of devotion, hu- mility, benignity, mildness, patience, prudence. I speak of traces of these qualities, because the qualities themselves are to be collected from inci- dents ; inasmuch as the terms are never used of Christ in the Gospels, nor is any formal charac- ter of him drawn in any part of the New Testa- ment. Thus we see the devoutness of his mind, in his frequent retirement to solitary prayer ;* in his habitual giving of thanks ;t in his reference of the beauties and operations of nature to the bounty of Providence ;t in his earnest addresses to his Father, more particularly that short but so- lemn one before the raising of Lazarus from the dead ; and in the deep piety of his behaviour in the garden, on the last evening of his life : || his humility, in his constant reproof of contentions for superiority :^f the benignity and affectionate- ness of his temper, in his kindness to children ;** Matt.xiv. 23. Luke ix. 28. Matt. xxvi. 36. f Matt.xi. 25. Mark viii. 6. John vi. 23. Luke xxii. 17. \ Matt.vi. 26 28. John xi. 41. || Matt xxvi. 3G 47. j Mark ix. 33. ** Mark x. 16. OF CHRISTIANITY. in the tears which he shed over his falling coun- try ;* and upon the death of his friend ;t in his noticing of the widow's mite ;t in his parables of the good Samaritan, of the ungrateful servant, and of the Pharisee and publican, of which para- bles 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 for- ward zeal of his disciples at the Samaritan vil- lage ; in his expostulation with Pilate ;|| in his prayer for his enemies at the moment of his suf- fering,^ which, though it has been since very pro- perly and frequently imitated, was then, I appre- hend, new. His prudence is discerned, where prudence is most wanted, in his conduct on try- ing occasions, and in answers to artful questions. Of these, the following are examples : His withdrawing, in various instances, from the first symptoms of tumult,** and with the express care, as appears from Saint Matthew, ft 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,tt and in his repulse of the application which was made to him, to interpose his decision about a disputed inheritance : his judicious, yet, as it should seem, unprepared answers, will be confessed in the case of the Roman tribute ;|||| in the difficulty concerning the interfering relations of a future state, as proposed to him in the in- stance of a woman who had married seven bre- thren ;^[^[ and, more especially, in his reply to those who demanded from him an explanation of * Lukexix. 41. ( John xi. 35. t Mark xii. 42. Luke ii. 55. || John xix. 11. ^ Luke xxiii. 54. ** Matt. xiv. 22. Luke v. 15, 16. John v. IS. vi. 15. ft Chap. xii. 19. ff John viii. 1. Luke xii. 14. |||| Matt. xxii. 19. ^ Matt. xxii. 28. THE EVIDENCES the authority by which he acted, which reply con- sisted in propounding a question to them, situat- ed between the very difficulties into which they were insidiously endeavouring to draw him."* Our Saviour's lessons, beside what has already been remarked in them, touch, and that often- times by very affecting representations, upon some of the most interesting topics of human duty, and of human meditation : upon the prin- ciples, by which the decisions of the last day will be regulated : t upon the superior, or rather the supreme importance of religion : j upon peni- tence, by the most pressing calls and the most en- couraging invitations : upon self-denial, || watch- fulness,*^ placability,** confidence in God, ft the value of spiritual, that is, of mental worship, tt the necessity of moral obedience, and the direct- ing of that obedience to the spirit and principle of the law, instead of seeking for evasions in a technical construction of its terms. 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." || || " Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good con- science, and of faith unfeigned. * Matt. xxi. 23. et seq. f Matt. xxv. Sl.et seq. $ Mark viii. 35. Matt. vi. 31 33. Luke xii. 4, 5. 16 21. Luke xv. || Matt. v. 29. ^ Mark xiii. 57. Matt. xxiv. 42. xxv. 13. ** Luke xvii. 4. Matt, xviii. 33. et seq. ff Matt. vi. 25 30, \\ John iv. 23, 24. Matt. v. 21. UK James i. 27. ^ 1 Tim. i. 5. 90 OF CHRISTIANITY. " For the grace of God that bringeth salva- tion, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this pre- sent world."* Enumerations of virtues and vices, and those sufficiently accurate, and unquestionably just, are given by Saint Paul to his converts in three several epistles.t 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, i 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 Testa- ment 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 pro- tection, a firm confidence in the final results 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. * Tit. ii. 11,12. f Gal. v. 19. Col. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. \ Eph. v. 53. vi. 1.5. 2 Cor. vi. 6, 7. Rom. xiii. T THE EVIDENCES 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 circum- stances, which no writer whatever was likely to have forged ; and which no writer would have chosen to appear in his book, who had been care- ful to present the story in the most unexception- able 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 judg- ment of the effect. A strong and well-known example of the fair- ness of the evangelists, offers itself in their ac- count 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 re- corded of his appearance, are instances of ap- pearance to his disciples ; that their reasonings upon it, and allusions to it, are confined to this supposition j 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."* The most com- mon understanding must have perceived, that * Acts x. 40, 41. OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 appear- ance of Christ in general unqualified terms, with- out 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 it one way as well as the other. And if their point had been, to have the religion believed, whether true or false ; if they had fabricated the story ab initto ; or if they had been disposed either to have delivered their tes- timony 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 any thing 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' can- dour 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 evan- gelists 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 con- tains to the apparent disadvantage of the Maho- 276 THE EVIDENCES metan cause.* The same defence vindicates the genuineness of our Gospels, and without preju- dice 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, pre- served 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 con- fess, 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 objec- tion. But truth, like honesty, neglects appearan- ces. The same observation, perhaps, holds con- cerning the apostasy of Judas, t 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 sup- pression 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." * Vol. ix. c. 50. note 96. f I had once placed amongst these examples of fair concession, the re- markable 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"\ I have since, however, been convinced by what is observed concerning this passage in Dr Townshend's discourse 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 after- wards dispelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into conversa- tion with them. \ Chap, xxviii. 17. Page 177. H Saint Matthew's words are, K< T^frfJuv J Imrtvs, sXaXwsv eturaif. This intimates, that, when he first appeared, it was at a distance, at least from many of the spectators. Ib. p. 1 97. OF CHRISTIANITY. 277 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 hea- ven 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 appa- rent 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 con- straint of truth, Matthew should have ascribed a saying to Christ, which, primo intuitu, militated with the judgment of the age in which his Gos- pel was written. Marcion thought this text so objectionable, that he altered the words, so as to invert the sense. * Once more (Acts xxv. 19.) * " They brought none accusation against him of such things as I supposed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." No- thing could be more in the character of a Roman governor than these words. But that is not pre- cisely 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 re- peated 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 mag- * Lardncr, Cred. vol. xv. p. 422. 278 THE EVIDENCES nify, 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 un- to 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 cast into the sea, it shall be done : all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done." * It appears to me very impro- bable 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 per- haps rightly interpreted of confidence in that in- ternal notice, by which the apostles were admo- nished of their power to perform any particular miracle. And this exposition renders the sense of the text more easy. But the words, undoubt- edly, 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, Fol- low 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."t This answer, though very expressive of the transcendent importance of religious concerns, was apparently harsh and * See also chap. xviL 2O. Luke xvii. 6. f See also Matt. viii. 21. OF CHRISTIANITY. 279 repulsive, and such as would not have been made for Christ, if he had not really used it. At least some other instance would have been chosen. The following passage, I, for the same reason, think 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 judg- ment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in dan- ger of hell-fire (Gehennas)." 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 relater. The short reply of our Lord to Mary Mag- dalen, after his resurrection (John xx. 16, 170, " 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 re- corded 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 pas- sage, we may be permitted to say, that it labours 280 THE EVIDENCES under an obscurity, in which it is impossible to believe that any one, who made speeches for the persons of his narrative, would have voluntarily involved them. That this discourse was obscure, even at the time, is confessed by the writer who has preserved it, when he tells us, at the conclu- sion, that many of our Lord's disciples, when they had heard this, said, " This is a hard say- ing ; who can bear it ?" Christ's taking of a young child, and placing it in the midst of his contentious disciples (Matt, xviii. 2.), though as decisive a proof as any could be, of the benignity of his temper, and very ex- pressive of the character of the religion which he wished to inculcate, was not by any means an obvious thought. Nor am I acquainted with any thing in any ancient writing which resembles it. The account of the institution of the eucharist bears strong internal marks of genuineness. If it had been feigned, it would have been more full ; it would have come nearer to the actual mode of celebrating the rite, as that mode obtained very early in Christian churches ; and it would have been more formal than it is. In the forged piece called the Apostolic Constitutions, the apostles are made to enjoin many parts of the ritual which was in use in the second and third centuries, with as much particularity as a modern rubric could have done. Whereas, in the history of the Lord's supper, as we read it in St Matthew's Gospel, there is not so much as the command to repeat it. This, surely, looks like undesigned- ness. 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 281 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 un- necessarily have thus cast in his reader's way a difficulty, which, to say the least, it required re- search and erudition to clear up. Now it ought to be observed, that the argu- ment which is built upon these examples, ex- tends 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 ano- ther should have inserted such passages into it-; and it is improbable also, that the persons whose names the books bear should have fabricated such passages, or even have allowed them a place in their work, if they had not believed them to ex- press, 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 be- lieve 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 ar- tifice, or cunning, or design." " No remarks," as Dr Beattie hath properly said, " are thrown in, to anticipate objections ; nothing of that cau- tion, which never fails to distinguish the testimo- ny 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,* who has well expressed the reflection which the ex- amples now brought forward were intended to suggest. " It doth not appear that ever it came * Duchal, p. 97, 98. 282 THE EVIDENCES into the mind of these writers, to consider how this or the other action would appear to man- kind, 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 what 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 be- lieve ; help thou mine unbelief." This struggle in the father's heart, between solicitude for the preservation of his child, and a kind of involun- tary 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 cru- cifixion, when he did not turn out what they ex- pected 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 283 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 wo- man with an allusion to a single particular in her domestic situation, " Thou hast had five hus- bands ; and he, whom thou now hast, is not thy husband." The woman, soon after this, ran back to the city, and called out to her 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. 29.) The lawyer of the New Testament, it must be observed, was a Jewish divine. The behaviour of Gallic (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, cir- cumstances separately suiting with the situation, character, and intention of their respective au- thors. 284 THE EVIDENCES Saint Matthew, who was an inhabitant of Ga- lilee, 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 be- fore, and who wrote to supply omissions in the other Gospels, relates some remarkable particu- lars, which had taken place before Christ left Judea, to go into Galilee.* 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 ad- dition ; " For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, ex- cept they wash their hands often, eat not, hold- ing 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. * Hartley's Observations, vol. ii. p. 103. OF CHRISTIANITY. 28.5 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 sup- ply what he thought omissions in their narratives, of which the principal were our Saviour's confer- ences with the Jews of Jerusalem, and his dis- courses 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 dis- courses containing many of the same expressions, because that is a species of resemblance, which would either belong to a true history, or might easily be Imitated in a false one. Nor do I deny, that a dramatic writer is able to sustain propriety and distinction of character, through a great va- riety of separate incidents and situations. But 286 THE EVIDENCES 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 pre- sumption, 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 reflec- tions 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 exam- ples of Christ's discourses, preserved by Saint John. The reader will observe in the following quota- tions, 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 with- out, desiring to speak with thee. But he answer- ed, and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother ? and who are my brethren ? And he OF CHRISTIANITY. 287 stretched forth his hand toward 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 them- selves, 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 should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees ? Then understood they, how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the DOCTRINE of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" Mat. xv. 1, 2. 10, 11. 1520. " Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jeru- salem, 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 un- derstand : Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without under- standing? Do ye not understand, that whatso- ever 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, blas- phemies ; these are the things which defile a man : BUT TO EAT WITH UNWASHEN HANDS, DEFILETH 28 288 THE EVIDENCES NOT A MAN." Our Saviour, on this occasion, ex- patiates rather more at large than usual, and his discourse also is more divided : but the conclud- ing sentence brings back the whole train of thought to the incident in the first verse, viz. the objurgatory question of the Pharisees, and ren- ders 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, who- soever 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 bless- ed 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 sacri- fices ; and Jesus answering, said unto them, Sup- pose 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." OF CHRISTIANITY. 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. Ob- serve also in the same chapter two other ex- amples of advice, drawn from the circumstances of the entertainment and the behaviour of the guests. We will now see how this manner discovers it- self 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 earnest 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 fa- ther 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 disciple* 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 u 290 THE EVIDENCES 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. / must 'work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day ; the night com- eth, 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 talk- eth 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 com- pare 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 col- lection has been made by different writers,* of instances, in which it is extremely probable that Christ spoke in allusion to some object, or some * Newton on Daniel, p. 148. note a. Jortin, Dis. p. 213. Bishop Law's Life of Christ. OF CHRISTIANITY. 291 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 circum- stances, as occur, for instance, in the sermon on the Mount, and which nothing but the actual presence of the objects could have suggested.* II. There appears to me to exist an affinity be- tween the history of Christ's placing a little child in the midst of his disciples, as related by the first three evangelists, t and the history of Christ's washing his disciples' feet, as given by Saint John.t 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 pre- vailed amongst Christ's disciples, and his own care and desire to correct it ; the moral of both is the * See Bishop Law's Life of Christ. f Matt, xviii. 1 . Mark ix. S3. Luke ix. 46. | Chap. xiii. 15. 292 THE EVIDENCES same. Secondly, that both stories are specimens of the same manner of teaching,, viz. by action ; a mode of emblematic instruction extremely pe- culiar, 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 him- self, 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 indi- cated a disposition to tumult. Matt. xiv. 22. " And straightway Jesus con- strained 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." Lukev. 15, 16. " But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great mul- titudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities : and he withdrew him- self into the wilderness, and prayed." OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 perceiv- ed 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 mo- tive 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 leav- ing it to be collected from his works rather than his professions. Just reasons for this reserve have been assigned.* 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 ther 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 ? * Sec Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity. , THE EVIDENCES If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." The oc- casion here was different from any of the rest ; and it was indirect. We only discover Christ's conduct through the upbraidings of his adver- saries. 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 disci- ples, one very observable particular is the diffi- culty 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 expla- nation ; from which, however, they appear to have been sometimes kept back, by the fear of giving offence. All these circumstances are dis- tinctly noticed by Mark and Luke upon the oc- casion of his informing them (probably for the first time), that the Son of man should be de- livered into the hands of men. " They under- stood 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 Gos- pel we have, on a different occasion, and in a different instance, the same difficulty of appre- hension, the same curiosity, and the same res- traint : " 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 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,* 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 whicli 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 :t " 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,t is delivered with the same unruffled temper, as that which conducted him through the last scene of his life, as described by the other evangelists. His answer in Saint John's Gos- pel, 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?" 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 II), weep not for him, but for themselves, their posterity, and their country ; Chap, xviii. 20, 21. f Mark xiv. 48. Luke xxii. 52. \ Ch. xviii. 34. xix. 11. Ch. xviii. 23. || Cb. xxiii. 28. <296 THE EVIDENCES 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. * There are moreover two other corresponden- cies between Saint John's history of the trans- action 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 gar- den immediately before he was apprehended ; in which narrative they all make him pray, " that the cup might pass from him." This is the par- ticular 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."t 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 ac- count, 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?"t This is something more than consis- tency ; it is coincidence : because it is extremely natural, that Jesus, who, before he was appre- hended, 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 re- * See John xix. 9. Matt, xxvii. 14. Luke xxiii. 9. Chap. xivi. 42. \ Chap, xviii. 11. OF CHRISTIANITY. 297 signation 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 diver- sity. A second similar correspondency is the follow- ing : 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 with- out hands:"* but they neither of them inform us, upon what circumstance this calumny was founded. Saint John, in the early part of the history, t supplies us with this information ; for he relates, that, in 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 agree- ment could hardly arise from any thing 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 ab- sence of it. A strong and more general instance of agree- ment, is the following. The first three evange- lists have related the appointment of the twelve apostles ; t and have given a catalogue of their names in form. John, without ever mentioning the appointment, or giving the catalogue, sup- poses, throughout his whole narrative, Christ to be accompanied by a select party of disciples ; * Mark xiv. 58. f Chap. ii. 1 9. J Matt. x. 1. Mark iii. 14. Luke vi. 12. THE EVIDENCES the number of these to be twelve ; * and when- ever he happens to notice any one as of that number, t 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 under- stood 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 pro- bable that his enthusiasm would have fallen in with the popular delusion, and that, whilst he gave himself out to be the person intended by these predictions, he would have assumed the character to which they were universally suppos- ed 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 at- traction and success. But, what is better than conjecture, is the fact, that all the pretended Messiahs actually did Chap. vi. 70. t Chap. xx. 24. vi. 71. OF CHRISTIANITY. 299 so. We learn from Josephus, that there were many of these. Some of them, it is probable, might be impostors, who thought that an advan- tage was to be taken of the state of public opi- nion. 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 them- selves in the character which their countrymen looked for, that is to say, as the restorers and de- liverers of the nation, in that sense in which re- storation 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 diffi- cult to explain. A mission, the operation and benefit of which was to take place in another life, was a thing unthought of as the subject of these prophecies. That Jesus, coming to them as their Messiah, should come under a character totally different from that in which they expected him ; should deviate from the general persuasion, and deviate into pretensions absolutely singular and original ; appears to be inconsistent with the im- putation 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 opi- nions 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. 300 THE EVIDENCES CHAPTER VI. ONE argument, which has been much relied up- on, (but not more than its just weight deserves), is the conformity of the facts occasionally men- tioned or referred to in Scripture, with the state of things in those times, as represented by foreign and independent accounts ; which conformity proves, that the writers of the New Testament possessed a species of local knowledge which could only belong to an inhabitant of that coun- try, and to one living in that age. This argu- ment, 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 re- puted 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, who- ever 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. Al- lusions are made to the manners and principles of the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews. This variety renders a forgery proportionably more OF CHRISTIANITY. 301 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.* 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 epitomize the first volume of the first part of Dr Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History. And I have brought the argu- ment within its present compass, first, by passing over some of his sections in which the accor- dancy appeared to me less certain, or upon sub- jects not sufficiently appropriate or circumstan- tial ; 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 veri- fication of the argument. The writer principally made use of in the in- quiry, is Josephus. Josephus was born at Jeru- salem four years after Christ's ascension. He wrote his history of the Jewish war some time after the destruction of Jerusalem, which hap- pened 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 xcin, that is, sixty years after the ascension. * Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament (Marsh's translation), c. ii. sect. xi. 302 THE EVIDENCES 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 Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither : notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee/' In this passage it is asserted, that Archelaus succeeded Herod in Judea ; and it is implied, that his power did not extend to Galilee. Now w r e 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.* Saint Matthew says, that Archelaus reigned, was king in Judea. Agreeably to this, we are in- formed by Josephus, not only that Herod appoint- ed Archelaus his successor in Judea, but that he also appointed him with the title of King ; and the Greek verb /3a6 THE EVIDENCES ner ; " 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 lime, may be found in the boroughs of the Athenians ANONYMOUS altars; a memorial of the expiation then made."* 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"\ And in another place, he speaks " of altars of gods called unknown"^ 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 "% The author of the dialogue Philopatris, by many s'upposed to have been Lucian, who wrote about the year 170, by others some anonymous Heathen writer of the fourth century, makes Critias swear by the unknown god of Athens; and, near the end of the dialogue has these words, " But let us find out the unknown god of Athens, and, stretching our hands to heaven, offer to him our praises and thanksgivings."|| This is a very curious and a very important coincidence. It appears beyond controversy, * In Epimenide, 1. i. segm. 1 10. f Paus. 1. v. p. 412. f Paus. 1. i. p. 4. Philos. Apoll. Tyan. I. vi. c. f.. I) Lucian. in Philop. torn. ii. Gr*r. p. 767. 780. OF CHRISTIANITY. 327 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 his- tory 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 cir- cumstance 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 Chris- tian history knew something of what they were writing about. The argument is also strengthen- ed by the following considerations : I. That these agreements appear, not only in articles of public history, but sometimes, in minute, recondite, and very peculiar circumstan- ces, 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 tran- sactions connected with those circumstances, for as much as he could no longer have a living ex- emplar to copy from. ,S_\S THE EVIDENCES 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 Chris- tian writers of the second and third centuries, and of the following ages, had false notions con- cerning the state of Judea, between the nativity of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem."* 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." t 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 found in his using the word " first :" " And this taxing was * Lnrdner, pnrt i. vol. ii. p. 960. f Chap. ii. rer. 2. OF CHRISTIANITY. first made :" for, according to the mistake im- puted 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 suppo- sition 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 enrol- ment) 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 ad- vancement 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 allows of, the whole dif- ficulty vanishes : for then the passage would be, " Now this taxing was made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria;" which corresponds with the chronology. But I rather choose to argue, that however the word " first" be rendered, to give it a meaning at all, it militates with the objection. In this I think there can be no mistake. 330 THE EVIDENCES 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 be- came governor of Syria, (against which supposi- tion there is no proof, but rather external evi- dence 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 thejirst. II, Another chronological objection arises up- on a date assigned in the beginning of the third chapter of Saint Luke.t " Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar," Jesus be- gan to be about thirty years of age : for, supposing Jesus to have been born, as Saint Matthew, and Saint Luke also himself, relates, 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 Mat- thew's narrative intimates, one or two years be- fore 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 * Josephus (Antiq. xvii. c. 2. sect. 6.) has this remarkable passage : " 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. f L;udner, part i. vol. ii. p. 7fi8. OF CHRISTIANITY. 331 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 deci- mal number: for such numbers, even without this qualifying addition, are often used in a laxer sense than is here contended for.* 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 was slain ; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to nought." Josephus has preserved the account of an im- postor 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 t), 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,:]: 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 * Livy, speaking of the peace which the conduct of Romulus had pro- cured to the state, during the whole reign of his successor (Nuraa), has these words: " Ab illo enim profectis viribus datis tantum valuit, ut, in quad- ra ginia deinde annos, tutam pacem haberet : " yet afterwards in the same chapter, " Romulus," he says, " septem et triginta regnavit annos. Nunia tres et quadraginta." Liv. Hist. c. i. sect. 16. f Michaelis's Introd. to the New Testament (Marsh's transl.) vol. i. p. 61. | Lardner, part i. vol. ii. p. 922. 332 THE EVIDENCES were all leaders of insurrections : and it is like- wise 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 innu- merable disturbances in Judea.* Archbishop Usher was of opinion, that one of the three Ju- dases above-mentioned was Gamaliel's Theudas ;t and that with a less variation of the name than we actually find in the Gospels, where one of the twelve apostles is called, by Luke, Judas, and by Mark, Thaddeus.\ Origen, however he came at his information, appeal's to have believed that there was an impostor of the name of Theudas before the nativity of Christ. 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 tJie 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. There is also Zacharias the prophet ; who was the son of Barachiah, and is so described in the * Antiq. 1. XTii. c. 12. sect 4. f Annals, p. 797. $ Luke vi. 16. Mark iii. 18. Orig. cont Cels. p. 44. [| " And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper ? Becau&e ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord." 2 Chron. xxiv. 2O, -21 . OF CHRISTIANITY. 333 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 Ba- ruch, 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 re- ference to this transaction, and were composed by some writer, who either confounded the time of the transaction with our Saviour's age, or in- advertently overlooked the anachronism. Now suppose it to have been so ; suppose these words to have been suggested by the tran- saction related in Josephus, and to have been falsely ascribed to Christ ; and observe what ex- traordinary coincidences (accidentally, as it must in that case have been) attend the forger's mis- take. 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 per- son's father be erroneously put down in the Gos- pel, yet we have a way of accounting for the error, by showing another Zacharias in the Jew- ish Scriptures, much better known than the for- mer, whose patronymic was actually that which appears in the text. Every one who thinks upon the subject, will iind these to be circumstances which could not have met together in a mistake, which did not proceed from the circumstances themselves. 354 THE EVIDENCES 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 obli- quity, the suitableness of the circumstances in which they consist, to the places in which those circumstances occur, and the circuitous referen- ces by which they are traced out) demonstrates that they have not been produced by meditation, or by any fraudulent contrivance. But coinci- dences, from which these causes are excluded, and which are too close and numerous to be ac- counted for by accidental occurrences 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 335 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 in- duction 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 in- telligible 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 per- suade myself that he will find the proofs, both of agreement and undesignedness, supplied by these epistles, sufficient to support the conclu- sion 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 un- equivocal terms, his own performance of mira- cles, and, what ought particularly to be remem- bered, " That miracles were the signs of an apos- tle" * 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 re- presented 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 * Rom. xv. 18, 19. '2 Cor. xii. 12. THE EVIDENCES 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 him- self to be, a companion of Saint Paul's travels ; which, if true, establishes, in a considerable de- gree, the credit even of his Gospel, because it shows, that the writer, from his time, situation, and connexions, possessed opportunities of in- forming himself truly concerning the transactions which he relates. I have little difficulty in ap- plying to the Gospel of Saint Luke what is prov- ed concerning the Acts of the Apostles, con- sidering 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 remarka- ble similitude between the style of Saint John's Gospel, and of Saint John's First 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 337 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."* Who would not desire, who perceives not the value of an ac- count, 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 general- ly understood. It is not that, as a miracle, the resurrection ought to be accounted a more de- cisive proof of supernatural agency than other mi- racles are ; it is not that, as it stands in the Gos- pels, 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 * Chap. i. ver. 1 3. Z 338 THE EVIDENCES 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 Chris- tianity 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 institu- tion, and alleged as the centre of their testimony. Nothing, I apprehend, which a man does not him- self 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 whe- ther 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 ap- propriation of their whole time to the object ; the warm and seemingly unaffected zeal and earnest- OF CHRISTIANITY. 339 ness with which they profess their sincerity ; ex- empt their memory from the suspicion of impos- ture. The solution more deserving of notice, is that which would resolve the conduct of the apos- tles into enthusiasm ; which would class the evi- dence 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 touch- ed him, conversed with him, ate with him, exa- mined his person to satisfy their doubts. These particulars are decisive : but they stand, I do ad- mit, 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 his- tory, that the Jews reported that the followers of Christ had stolen it away.* And this account, * " And this saying," Saint Matthew writes, " is commonly reported amongst the Jews until this day," (chap, xxviii. 15.) The evangelist my 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 arid impunity. 340 THE EVIDENCES 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 suc- cess,! and the inevitable consequence of detec- tion and failure, was, nevertheless, the most cre- dible account that could be given of the matter. But it proceeds entirely upon the supposition of fraud, as all the old objections did. What ac- count can be given of the body, upon the supposi- tion 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 ex- travagancy 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 en- thusiasm, must have carried it away. But further, if we admit, upon the concurrent testimony of all the histories, so much of the ac- count 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 f 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 en the Resurr. p. 24. OF CHRISTIANITY. 341 could have been found, the Jews would have pro- duced 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 mark- ed and public custody, the observation receives more force still. For, notwithstanding their pre- caution, and although thus prepared and fore- warned ; when the story of the resurrection of Christ came forth, as it immediately did ; wlien 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 impossibi- lity 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 col- lected from our books, are as follow : A. few days after Christ's disappearance out of the world, we 342 THE EVIDENCES find an assembly of disciples at Jerusalem, to the number of " about one hundred and twenty ;"* 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 ano- ther. 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 reli- gion 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 con- cerning 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,! upon a signal dis- play of Divine agency attending the persons of the apostles, there were added to the society " about three thousand souls. "t But here, it is not, I think, to be taken, that these three thou- sand 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 * Acts i. 15. f Actsii. I. J Acts ii. 41. OF CHRISTIANITY. 343 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 * 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 descrip- tion ; 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.t * Verse 4. f " 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 Christi- anity was a Divine revelation, but there were many inconveniencies 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 34>4f THE EVIDENCES Christianity, however, proceeded to increase in Jerusalem by a progress equally rapid with its first success ; for, in the nextt 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 so- ciety 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 :"t and afterwards, in the same chapter, it is declared expressly, that " the number of the disciples mul- tiplied 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 ascen- sion of Christ, and extends, as may be collected from incidental notes of time, 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 suc- ceed 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 sake of the new religion. Therefore they were willing to hope, that if they endeavoured to observe the great precepts 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 Chris- tians ; 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 ex- cuse and forgive the rest." Jortin's Dis. on the Christ. Rel. p. 91. ed. 4. f Actsv. 14. | Chap. vi. 1. Vide Pearson's Antiq. 1. xviii. c, 7. Benson's Hist of Christ, b. i. p. 148. OF CHRISTIANITY. 345 very soon increased to " five thousand." " Mul- titudes 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 re- gions of Judea and Samaria.t Wherever they came, they brought their religion with them : for our historian informs us,t that " they that were scattered abroad, went every-where preaching the word." The effect of this preaching comes after- wards 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,) " the churches had rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified, and walk- ing 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 found- ed : " 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."|| It was not yet known to the apostles, that they were at liberty to propose the religion to mankind f Acts viii. I . \ Verse 4. Benson, book i. p. 2O7. || Bryant on the Truth of the Christian Religion, p. 112. 346 THE EVIDENCES at large. The " mystery," as Saint Paul calls it,t and as it then was, was revealed to Peter by an especial miracle. It appears to have beent about seven years after Christ's ascension, that the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles of Ce- sarea. 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." Upon Herod's death, which happened in the next year,j| it is observed, that " the word of God grew and multiplied."^" Three years from this time, upon the preaching of Paul at Iconium, the metropolis of Lycaonia, " a great multitude both of Jews and Greeks be- lieved :"** 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 ft after this, which brings us to sixteen after the ascension, the apos- tles 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." tt 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." We meet also here with an accidental hint of the general progress of the Christian mission, in the exclamation of the tu- multuous Jews of Thessalonica, " that they, who t Eph. iii. 3 6. $ Benson, b. ii. p. 236. Acts xi. 21. 24. 26. U Benson, b. ii. p. 289. ^ Actsxii. 24. ** Acts xiv. I. f| Benson, b. iii. p. SO. Jj Acts xvi. 5. Acts xvii. 4. OF CHRISTIANITY. 347 had turned the world upside down, were come thither also."t At Berea, the next city at which Saint Paul arrives, the historian, who was present, informs us, that " many of the Jews belie ved."i 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 he had much people in that city." Within less than a year after his departure from Corinth, and twenty-five || years after the ascension, Saint Paul fixed his station at Ephesus, for the space of two years ^[ 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."** And at the conclusion of this period, we find Deme- trius 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 (j. e. the province of Lydia, and the country adjoining to Ephesus), this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people."tt 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 ob- serve 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 f Acts xvii. 6. f Acts XTH. 12. Acts xviii. 8 1O. || Benson, b.iii. p. 160. ^ Acts xix. 1O. ** Acts xix. 2O. ff Acts xix. 26. 348 THE EVIDENCES spread itself through Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, almost all the numerous districts of the Lesser Asia, through Greece, and the islands of the ^Egean Sea, the sea-coast of Africa, and had ex- tended itself to Rome, and into Italy. At An- tioch in Syria, at Joppa, Ephesus, Corinth, Thes- salonica, Berea, Iconium, Derbe, Antioch in Pi- sidia, 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, Phi- lippi, 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 conclu- sion of the period of which we are now consider- ing the account, the other apostles pointed out to him, as a reason for his compliance with their ad- vice, " how many thousands (myriads, ten thou- sands) there were in that city who believed."t Upon this abstract, and the writing from which it is drawn, the following observations seem mate- rial to be made : I. That the account comes from a person, who was himself concerned in a portion of what he re- lates, 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 * Considering the extreme conciseness of many parts of the history, the silence about the numbers of converts is no proof of their paucity ; for at Philippi, no mention whatever is made of the number, yet Saint Paul ad- dressed an epistle to that church. The churches of Galatia, and the affairs of those churches, were considerable enough to be the subject of another let- ter, 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 through- out Phrygia, and the region of Galatia they essayed to go into Bithynia." Acts xvi. 6. f Acts xxi. 20. OF CHRISTIANITY. 349 point positively ; for had the ancient attestations to this valuable record been less satisfactory than they are, the unaffectedness and simplicity with which the author notices his presence upon certain occasions, and the entire absence of art and de- sign from these notices, would have been sufficient to persuade my mind, that whoever he was, he ac- tually lived in the times, and occupied the situa- tion, 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 is of more impor- tance 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 ac- count of the preaching and propagation of Chris- tianity ; I mean, that, if what we read in the his- tory 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 Jeru- salem ; 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 his- tory also, large portions of time are often passed over with very scanty notice. 330 THE EVIDENCES 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 tke early pro- gress 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 sup- posed 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 con- verts, 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 apos- tles, which have come down to us. Those of Saint Paul are addressed to the churches of Co- rinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, the church of Gala- tia, and, if the inscription be right, of Ephesus ; his ministry at all which places is recorded in the OF CHRISTIANITY. 351 history ; to the church of Colosse, or rather to the churches of Colosse and Laodicea jointly, which he had not then visited. They recognize by reference the churches of Judea, the churches of Asia, and " all the churches of the Gentiles."* In the Epistle to the Romans, t 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 Colos- sians,t we find an oblique but very strong signi- fication 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 set- tled, 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 hea- ven ;" which Gospel, he had reminded them near the beginning of his letter, " was present with them, as it was in all the world." The expressions are hyperbolical ; but they are hyperboles which could only be used by a writer who entertained a strong sense of the subject. The first epistle of Peter accosts the Christians dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. IT comes next to be considered, how far these accounts are confirmed, or followed up by other evidence. Tacitus, in delivering a relation, which has al- ready been laid before the reader, of the fire which 1 Thess. ii. 14. t ^ m - * v - 18 19 - Col. i. 23. Col. i. 6. 352 THE EVIDENCES 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 denomi- nation from Christus, who, in the reign of Tibe- rius, was put to death as a criminal by the procu- rator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious supersti- tion, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only over Judea, but reached the city also. At first, they only were apprehended who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterwards a vast multitude were discovered by them." This testimony to the early propagation of Christianity is extremely material. It is from an historian of great reputation, living near the time ; from a stranger and an enemy to the religion ; and it joins immediately with the period through which the Scripture accounts extend. It establishes these points : that the religion began at Jeru- salem ; 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 some- what 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 re- ceived (repressa in praesens) referred to the per- OF CHRISTIANITY. 353 secution at Jerusalem, which followed the death of Stephen (Acts viii.) ; and which, by dispersing the converts, caused the institution, in some mea- sure, 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 Bi- thynia, two considerable districts in the northern part of Asia Minor. The situation in which he found his province, led him to apply to the em- peror (Trajan) for his direction as to the conduct he was to hold towards the Christians. The let- ter in which this application is contained, was written not quite eighty years after Christ's as- cension. The president, in this letter, states the measures he had already pursued, and then adds, as his reason for resorting to the emperor's coun- sel and authority, the following words : " Sus- pending all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice ; for it has appeared to me a matter highly deserving consideration, especially 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 ac- cused, and will be accused. Nor has the conta- gion of this superstition seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country. Never- theless 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 every-where (passim) bought up ; whereas, for some time, there were few to purchase them. Aa S54f THE EVIDENCES Whence it is easy to imagine what numbers of men might be reclaimed, if' pardon were granted to those that shall repent."* 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 freqented, 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 pre- sent 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 after- wards denied it ; the rest said, they had been Christians, some three years ago, some longer, and some about twenty years." It is also ap- parent, 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. * C. Plin. Trajano Imp. lib. x. ep. xcviu OF CHRISTIANITY. 855 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 empe- ror, 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 : circumstan- ces 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 prov- ed, that the Christians were more numerous in Pontus and Bithynia than in other parts of the Roman empire ; nor has any reason been offered to show why they should be so. Christianity did not begin in these countries, nor near them. I do not know, therefore, that we ought to confine the description in Pliny's letter to the state of Christianity in those provinces, even if no other account of the same subject had come down to us ; but, certainly, this letter may fairly be ap- plied in aid and confirmation of the representa- tions 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 356 THE EVIDENCES 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."* 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."t I do allow, that these expressions are loose, and may be called decla- matory. 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, correspond with the des- cription ; at least, unless it had been both true and notorious, that great multitudes of Chris- tians, 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, enu- merates 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 ;" 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 mul- titude that hi almost every city we form the * Dial, cum Tryph. f Tertuli. Apoh c. 37. | Ad Jud. c. 7. OF CHRISTIANITY. 357 greater part, we pass our time modestly and in silence."* Clemens Alexandrinus, who preced- ed Tertullian by a few years, introduces a com- parison between the success of Christianity, and that of the most celebrated philosophical insti- tutions : " The philosophers were confined to Greece, and to their particular retainers ; but the doctrine of the Master of Christianity did not re- main in Judea, as philosophy did in Greece, but is spread throughout the whole world, in every nation, and village, and city, both of Greeks and barbarians, converting both whole houses and se- parate individuals, having already brought over to the truth not a few of the philosophers them- selves. If the Greek philosophy be 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 endea- voured with their whole might to exterminate it, yet doth it flourish more and more/'t Origen, who follows Tertullian at the distance of only thirty years, delivers nearly the same account : " In every part of the world," says he, " through- out 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 fre- quently put to torture, and sometimes to death : and it is wonderful to observe, how, in so short a time, the religion has increased, amidst punish- ment and death, and every kind of torture."}: In another passage, Origen draws the following * Ad Scap. c. 1 1 1. f Clein. Al. Strom, lib. vi. ad tin. J Orig. in Cels. lib. i. 358 THE EVIDENCES candid comparison between the state of Chris- tianity 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 doc- trine 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 every-where, strove to depress them, so much the more have they increased, and pre- vailed exceedingly."* It is well known, that within less than eighty years after this, the Roman empire became Chris- tian 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 Con- stanttne'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 ge- nius, orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, having come over to the institution, and that also in the face of threats, executions, and tortures.t And not more than twenty years after Constantine's entire possession of the empire, Julius Firmicus 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 adhuc in * Orig. cont. Ccls. lib. vii. f Arnob. in Gentes, l.i. p. 27. 9. 24. 42. 44. edit. Lug. Bat. 1650. OJ? CHRISTIANITY. 359 quibusdam regionibus idololatriae morientia palpi- tent membra ; tamen in eo res est, ut a Christia- nis omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum funditus amputetur :" and in another place, " Modicum tantum superest, ut legibus vestris extincta ido- lolatrise pereat funesta contagio."* 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 after- wards, 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 reman- serunt."t Jerome here indulges a triumph, na- tural and allowable in a zealous friend of die cause, but which could only be suggested to his mind by the consent and universality with which he saw the religion received. " But now," says he, " the passion and resurrection of Christ are celebrated in the discourses and writings of all nations. I need not mention Jews, Greeks, and Latins. The Indians, Persians, Goths, and Egyptians, philosophize, and firmly believe the immortality of the soul, and future recompenses, which, before, the greatest philosophers had de- nied, or doubted of, or perplexed with their dis- putes. The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians is now softened by the gentle sound of the Gos- pel ; and every-where Christ is all in all."t 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 * De Error. Profan. Relig. c.xxi. p. 172. quoted by Lardner, voL viii. p. 262. f Jer. ad. Lect ep. 5. 7. t J er - e P- 8 - ad Heliod. 360 THE EVIDENCES proof of the progress which Christianity had made in the preceding period. It may be added also, " that Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, had shown himself friendly to the Christians. There- fore, 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 consi- deration of interest : so considerable were they become, under external disadvantages of all sorts."* 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 Chris- tians, of their learning and their labours, to no- tice the number of Christian writers who flourish- ed in these ages. Saint Jerome's catalogue con- tains sixty-six writers within the first three cen- turies, 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 elo- quent 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. "t Of these writers, several, as Justin, Irenseus, Clement of Alexan- dria, 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 * Lardner, vol. vii. p. y80. f Jcr. Prol. in lib. de Scr. Eccl. OF CHRISTIANITY. 36l advocates of the religion, in the course of its first three centuries. Within one hundred years after Christ's ascension, Qtiadratus 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 An- toninus Pius, and a second to Marcus Antoninus. Melito, bishop of Sardis, and Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, and Miltiades, men of great repu- tation, did the same to Marcus Antoninus, twenty years afterwards :* and ten years after this, Apol- lonius, who suffered martyrdom under the em- peror Commodus, composed an apology for his faith, which he read in the senate, and which was afterwards publish ed.t 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 compos- ed 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 Je- rusalem, immediately after its Founder's death ; * Euseb. Hist. lib. iv. c. 26. See also Lardner, vol. ii. p. 666. J- Lardner, vol. ii. p. 687. 362 THE EVIDENCES 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 at- tend 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 al- leged, 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 preach- ing strongly confirms the truth of what our his- tory positively and circumstantially relates, that they were able to exhibit to their hearers super- natural 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 with- out a parallel : for it must be observed, that we have not now been tracing the progress, and de- scribing the prevalency, of an opinion founded upon philosophical or critical arguments, upon mere deductions of reason, or the construction of ancient writings (of which kind are the several theories which have, at different times, gained possession of the public mind in various depart- ments of science and literature ; and of one or other of which kind are the tenets also which divide the various sects of Christianity); but OF CHRISTIANITY. 363 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 depended entirely upon the truth of a matter of fact then recent. " To establish a new religion, even amongst a few people, or in one single nation, is a thing in itself exceedingly difficult. To reform some corruptions which may have spread in a religion, or to make new regulations in it, is not perhaps so hard, when the main and principal part of that religion is preserved entire and unshaken ; and yet this very often cannot be accomplished without an extra- ordinary concurrence of circumstances, and may be attempted a thousand times without success. But to introduce a new faith, a new way of think- ing and acting, and to persuade many nations to quit the religion in which their ancestors had lived and died, which had been delivered down to them from time immemorial ; to make them forsake and despise the deities which they had been accustomed to reverence and worship ; this is a work of still greater difficulty.* The resist- ance of education, worldly policy, and supersti- tion, is almost invincible." If men, in these days, be Christians in conse- quence of their education, in submission to au- thority, or in compliance with fashion, let us re- collect that the very contrary of this, at the be- ginning, was the case. The first race of Chris- tians, as well 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 educa- tion, and the almost irresistible effects of that prejudice, (and no persons are more fond of ex- Jortin's Dis. on the Christ. Rel. p. 107. ed.4. 364f , THE EVIDENCES patiating upon this subject than deistical writers), in feet confirms the evidence of Christianity. But, in order to judge of the argument which is drawn from the early propagation of Christi- anity, 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 establish- ments of different Christian nations who support them, there are not twelve thousand Indian Chris- tians, and those almost entirely outcasts."* I lament, as much as any man, the little pro- gress which Christianity has made in these coun- tries, and the inconsiderable effect that has follow- ed 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 propagat- ing 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 sanc- tity of life and manners was the allurement, the conduct of these men is unblamable. If the ad- vantage 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 * Sketches relating to the history, learning, and manners of the Hindoos. p. 48. ; quotedby Dr Robertson, Hrst. Dis. concerning Ancient India, p. 236. OF CHRISTIANITY. 36$ is of more importance, relatively, in comparison, that is, with those amongst whom they exercise their office. If the intrinsic excellency of the re- ligion, the perfection of its morality, the purity of its precepts, the eloquence or tenderness or su- blimity of various parts of its writings, were the recommendations by which it made its way, these remain the same. If the character and circum- stances, under which the preachers were introduc- ed to the countries in which they taught, be ac- counted 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 pre- cisely the character they despised and derided. If it be disgraceful in India to become a Chris- tian, 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 diffe- rence, I apprehend, will not be great. The the- ology of both was nearly the same : " What is supposed to be performed by the power of Jupi- ter, of Neptune, of ^olus, of Mars, of Venus, according to the mythology of the West, is as- cribed, in the East, to the agency of Agrio the god of fire, Varoon the god of oceans, Vayoo the god of wind, Cama the god of love."* The sa- cred rites of the Western polytheism were gay, festive, and licentious ; the rites of the public re- ligion in the East partake of the same character, with a more avowed indecency. " In every func- tion performed in the pagodas, as well as in every public procession, it is the office of these women (f . e. of women prepared by the Brahmins for the * Baghvat Geeta, p. 94. quoted by Dr Robertson, Ind. Dis. p. 306. 366 THE EVIDENCES purpose), to dance before the idol, and to sing hymns in his praise ; and it is difficult to say whe- ther 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."*! 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 pub- lic rites. In India, a powerful arid numerous cast possess exclusively the administration of the es- tablished worship ; and are, of consequence, de- voted 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 com- putes eras by millions of years, and the life of man by thousands ;t 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, * 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 volunta- ry torments of the most excruciating kind. f Voyage de Gentil. vol. i. p. 244 260. Preface to Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 57. quoted by Dr Robertson, p. 320. f " The Sufiec Jogue, or age of purity, is said to have lasted three mil- lion 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 diffe- rence amongst the Indian writers, of six millions of years in the computation of this era." Ib. " 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 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 poli- tical uses.* 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 think- ing that this circumstance would afford any faci- lity 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 what- ever. General infidelity is the hardest soil which the propagators of a new religion can have to work upon. Could a Methodist or a 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 rea- son, in danger of becoming Mahometans or Hin- doos ? It does not appear that the Jews, who had 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 re- pugnant to right reason ; and sometimes suspect, that tenets so wild and ex- travagant 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 en- joined, appeared improper to them. On the other hand, every opinion that tended to diminish the reverence of men for the Gods of their country, or to alienate them from their worship, excited, among the^ Greeks and Romans, that indignant zeal which is natural to every people attached to their religion by a firm persuasion of its truth." 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 poli- tical uses, see Dr Robertson's Ind. Dis. p. 324 354. 368 THE EVIDENCES a body of historical evidence to offer for their re- ligion, and who at that time undoubtedly enter- tained and held forth the expectation of a future state, derived any great advantage, as to the ex- tension 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 missions in other countries, where the efficacy of the mission is left solely to the con- viction 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 pub- lished 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 hard- ly equal, the zeal and patience of the missionaries. Yet their historian, in the conclusion of his narra- tive, could find place for no reflections more en- couraging than the following : " A person that had known the heathen, that had seen the little benefit from the great pains hitherto taken with them, and considered that one after another had abandoned all hopes of the conversion of those infidels (and some thought they would never be converted, till they saw miracles wrought as in the apostles' days, and this the Greenlanders ex- pected and demanded of their instructors) ; one that considered this, I say, would not so much won- der at the past unfruitfulness of these young be- ginners, as at their steadfast perseverance in the midst of nothing but distress, difficulties, and im- 56 OF CHRISTIANITY. 369 pediments, internally and externally; and that they never desponded of the conversion of those poor creatures, amidst all seeming impossibilities." * From the widely disproportionate effects which attend the preaching of modern missionaries of Christianity, compared with what followed the ministry of Christ and his apostles under circum- stances 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 convic- tion 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 spe- cies, which admits of comparison with the propa- gation of Christianity, is the success of Mahome- tanism. The Mahometan institution was rapid in its progress, was recent in its history, and was founded upon a supernatural or prophetic charac- ter 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 up- on 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 * History of Greenland, vol. ii. p. 376. Bb 370 THE EVIDENCES Koran, in which Mahomet not only does not af- fect the power of working miracles, but expressly disclaims it. The following passages of that book furnish direct proofs of the truth of what we al- lege : " The infidels say, Unless a sign be sent down unto him from his lord, we will not believe ; thou art a preacher only." * Again ; " Nothing hindered us from sending thee with miracles, ex- cept that the former nations have charged them with imposture." t 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 ?" t Beside these acknowledgments, I have observed thirteen dis- tinct places, in which Mahomet puts the objection (unless a sign, &c.) into the mouth of the unbe- liever, in not one of which does he allege a mira- cle in reply. - His answer is, " that God giveth the power of working miracles, when and to w r hom he pleaseth ;" " that if he should work miracles, they would not believe ;" || " that they had before rejected Moses, and Jesus, and the Prophets, who wrought miracles;"^" "that the Koran itself was a miracle."** 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 Gab- riel, 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 approach- * Sale's Koran, c. xiii. p. 201. ed. quarto. f C. xvii. p. 2S2. \ C. xxix. p. 328. C. v. x. xiii. twice, U C. TI". J C. iii. xxi. xxviii. ** C. xvi. OF CHRISTIANITY. 371 eth, 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 ex- positors disagree in their interpretation of this passage ; some explaining it to be a 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.* 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 hap- pened 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 authen- tic confessions of the Koran, we are not to be moved with miraculous stories related of Maho- met 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 hun- dred years later, t On the contrary, from com- paring 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. 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 * Vide Sale, in loc. f It does not, I think, appear, that these historians had any written ac- counts to appeal to, more ancient than the Sonnah ; which was a collection of traditions made by order of the Caliphs two hundred years after Maho- met'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'a Life of Mahomet, p. 192. ed. 7th. 372 THE EVIDENCES given to the history ; and this credit, under the" circumstances in which it was given, i. e. by per- sons 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 al- leged, no part of this argument can be applied. We admit, that multitudes acknowledged the pre- tensions 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 cer- tainly to admit all that the reception of the reli- gion 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 mat- ter of fact is not in question, \vhere 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 whatever. 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 ques- tion ; the proper question is not, whether a reli- gious institution could be set up without miracles, but whether a religion, or a change of religion, founding itself in miracles, could succeed without OF CHRISTIANITY. 3JS any reality to rest upon ? I apprehend these two cases to be very different ; and I apprehend Ma- homet'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 im- portance of miraculous evidence j for it is very ob- servable, that in the same volume, and sometimes in the same chapters, in which Mahomet so re- peatedly 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 au- thenticated account of any such thing having been accomplished. II. The establishment of Mahomet's religion was effected by causes which in no degree apper- tained 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 him- self 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 em- ployed 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 re- tired to Ethiopia."* Yet this progress, such as * Gibbon's Hist. vol. ix. p. 244. et seq. ; cd. Dub. THE EVIDENCES it was, appears to have been aided by some very important advantages which Mahomet found in his situation, in his mode of conducting his de- sign, 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 con- ducted 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 ex- pectation, and even already distinguished by his attachment, impetuosity, and courage.* He next addressed himself to Abu Beer, a man amongst the first of the Koreish in wealth and influence. The interest and example of Abu Beer drew in five other principal persons in Mecca, whose soli- citations prevailed upon five more of the same rank. This was the work of three years ; during which time every thing was transacted in secret. Upon the strength of these allies, and under the powerful protection of his family, who, however some of them might disapprove his enterprise, or * 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 thce, I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly. Q prophet ! I will be thy vizir over them." Vol. ix. p. 245. OF CHRISTIANITY. 375 deride his pretensions, would not suffer the orphan of their house, the relic 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.* 3. The Arabs deduced their descent from Abra- ham through the line of Ishmael. The inhabi- tants of Mecca, in common probably with the other Arabian tribes, acknowledged, as I think may clearly be collected from the Koran, one su- preme 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 illustrious 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 spe- cious, and authorized by names, some or other of which were holden in the highest veneration by every description of his hearers, should, in the * Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 244. 376 THE EVIDENCES hands of a popular missionary, prevail to the ex- tent 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 these converts soldiers. The following particulars, amongst others, may be considered as pretty evident indi- cations of these designs : 1. When Mahomet began to preach, his ad* dress 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 origi- nally 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."* " He hath ordained you the religion which he commanded Noah, and which we have revealed unto thee, O Moham- med, and which we commanded Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, saying, Observe this religion, and be not divided therein."t " He hath chosen you, and hath not imposed on you any difficulty in the religion which he hath given you, the re- ligion of your father Abraham.*^ 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, * Sale's Koran, c. if. p. 17. f Ib. c. xlii. p. 39.3. J Ib. c. xxii. p. 281. OF CHRISTIANITY. 377 even to the modern reader of an English transla- tion. 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 para-, dise, his robes of silk, his palaces of marble, his rivers and shades, his groves and couches, his wines, his dainties ; and, above all, his seventy- two virgins assigned to each of the faithful, of resplendent beauty and eternal youth ; intoxicat- ed 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 for- tunes and their persons in that cause, to a degree above those who sit at home. God hath indeed promised every one Paradise ; but God hath pre- ferred those who Jight for the faith before those who sit still, by adding unto them a great re- ward ; by degrees of honour conferred upon them from him, and by granting them forgiveness and mercy."* Again ; " Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the visiting of the holy temple, to be actions as meritorious as those per- formed by him who believeth in God and the last day, and Jighteth 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 * Sale's Koran, c. iv. p. 73. 378 THE EVIDENCES 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 j for with God is a great reward."* 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 theyjight for the cause of God : whether they slay or be slain, the promise for the same is assuredly due by the Law and the Gos- pel and the Koran."tt 5. His doctrine of predestination \vas applica- ble, and was applied by him, to the same pur- pose of fortifying and of exalting the courage of his adherents. " If any thing of the matter had happened unto us, we had not been slain here. Answer ; If ye had been in your houses, verily they would have gone forth to fight, whose slaughter was decreed, to the places where they died." 6. In warm regions, the appetite of the sexes is ardent, the passion for inebriating liquors mo- derate. In compliance with this distinction, al- though Mahomet laid a restraint upon the drink- ing of wine, in the use of women he allowed an almost unbounded indulgence. Four wives, with the liberty of changing them at pleasure, || toge- ther with the persons of all his captives,^" was an irresistible bribe to an Arabian warrior. " God * Sale's Koran, c. ii. p. 151. f Ib. 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 of fasting or prayer. Whosoever falls in batjle, 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. 25G. Sale's Koran, c. iii. p. 54. || Sale's Koran, c. iv. p. 63. ^ Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 2:25. OF CHRISTIANITY. 379 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 Chris- tian 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,! and of the most labo- rious part of his institution, the pilgrimage to Mecca.t What has hitherto been collected from the re- cords of the Mussulman history, relates to the twelve or thirteen years of Mahomet's peaceable preaching ; which part alone of his life and enter- prise admits of the smallest comparison with the origin of Christianity. A new scene is now un- folded. The city of Medina, distant about ten days' journey from Mecca, was at that time dis- tracted by the hereditary contentions of two hos- tile 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. The religion of Mahomet presented, in some measure, a point of union or compromise to these divided opinions. It embrac- ed the principles which were common to them all. Each party saw in it an honourable acknowledg- * Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 12G. t Ib - P-U2- j: This latter, however, already prevailed amongst the Arabs, and had grown out of their excessive veneration for the Caaba. Mahomet's law, in this respect, was rather a compliance than an innovation, Sale's Prelim, Disc. p. 122. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 100. 380 THE EVIDENCES ment of the fundamental truth of their own sys- tem. To the Pagan Arab, somewhat imbued witli the sentiments and knowledge of his Jewish or Christian fellow-citizens, it offered no offensive, or very improbable theology. This recommen- dation procured to Mahometanism a more favou- rable reception at Medina, than its author had been able, by twelve years' painful endeavours, to obtain for it at Mecca. Yet, after all, the pro- gress of the religion was inconsiderable. His mis- sionary could only collect a congregation of forty persons.* It was not a religious, but a political association, which ultimately introduced Maho- met 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 sup- pression of the violence and fury whiclj, they had learned to condemn. After an embassy, there- fore, composed of believers and unbelievers,! and of persons of both tribes, with whom a treaty was concluded of strict alliance and support, Maho- met made his public entry, and was received as the sovereign of Medina. From this time, or soon after this time, the im- postor 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 in- fidels, to destroy idolatry, and to set up the true faith by the sword.t An early victory over a very superior force, achieved by conduct and bravery, established the renown of his arms and of his per- sonal character. Every year after this was mark- * Mod. Univ. Hist vol. i. p. 85. f Ibid - t Ib< P' 88< Victory of Bedr, ib. p. 1O6. OF CHRISTIANITY. 381 ed by battles or assassinations. The nature ami 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,* 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 reli- gion 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 faci- lities. From all sides, the roving Arabs crowded round the standard of religion and plunder, of freedom and victory, of arms and rapine. Be- side 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.t 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 inva- sion 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 vanquish- ed. Death or conversion was the only choice of- fered to idolaters. " Strike off theL heads ! strike off all the ends of their fingers !t kill the idolaters, wheresoever ye shall find them !" To the Jew* Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 255. t Gibbon, vol.ix. p. 255. | Sale's Koran, c.viii. p. 140. Sale's Koran, c., p. 149. 382 THE EVIDENCES and Christians was left the somewhat milder alter- native of subjection and tribute, if they persisted in their own religion, or of an equal participation in the rights and liberties, the honours and privi- leges, of the faithful, if they embraced the reli- gion of their conquerors. " Ye Christian dogs, you know your option ; the Koran, the tribute, or the sword."* The corrupted state of Christiani- ty 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 td induce many to forsake its profession. Add to all which, that Mahomet's victories not only operated by the na- tural effect of conquest, but that they were con- stantly represented, both to his friends and ene- mies, 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 whi^h attacked each other ; one army fought for God's true religion, but the other were infidels."t Again ; " Ye slew not those who were slain at Bedr, but God slew them. *If ye desire a decision of the matter be- tween us, now hath a decision come unto you/'t Many more passages might be collected out of the Koran to the same effect. But they are un- necessary. The success of Mahometanisin dur- ing 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 pre- judice of the Christian argument. For, what are we comparing? A Galilean peasant accompa- nied by a few fishermen, with a conqueror at the head of his army. We compare Jesus, without * Gibbon, vol. is. p. 337. f Sale's Koran, c. Iron. 1. ii. c. 57. THE EVIDENCES who lived a century lower, delivers the same sen- timent, upon the same occasion : " He performed miracles ; we might have supposed him to have been a magician, as ye say, and as the Jews then supposed, if all the prophets had not with one spirit foretold that Christ should perform these very things." * 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 after- wards, 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, de- monstrating himself to be the Word of God."t Next in the catalogue of professed apologists we may place Origen, who, it is well known, published a formal defence of Christianity, in an- swer to Celsus, a heathen, who had written a dis- course against it. I know no expressions, by which a plainer or more positive appeal to the Christian miracles can be made, than the expres- sions 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 an hart.' But that he also raised the dead ; and that it is not a fiction of those who wrote the Gospels, is evident from hence, that, if it had * Lactant. v. 3. f Tertull. Apolog. p. 20; ed. Priorii, Par. 1675. OF CHRISTIANITY. been a fiction, there would have been many re- corded to be raised up, and such as had been a 1 jng 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 bear- ers of the corpse to stop ; and the third, Lazarus, who had been buried four days.*' This is posi- tively to assert the miracles of Christ, and it is also to comment upon them, and that with a con- siderable degree of accuracy and candour. In another passage of the N 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 loaves, of which large fragments were left."* And then Celsus gives, it seems, an answer to these proofs of our Lord's mission, which, as Ori- gen 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."t It appears also from the testimony of Saint Je- rome, that Porphyry, the most learned and able of the Heathen writers against Christianity, re- sorted to the same solution : " Unless," says he, speaking to Vigilantius, " according to the man- ner of the Gentiles and the profane, of Porphyry * Orig. cont. Ccls. lib. ii. sect. 48. f Lardner's Jewish and Heath. Test, vol.ii. p. 294. ed. 4to. THE EVIDENCES and Eunomius, you pretend that these are the tricks of demons."* This magic, these demons, this illusory appears ance, 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 neces- sary 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 rea- sons were ever seriously urged, and seriously re- ceived, 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 mi- racles in argument, so frequently as I should have done. It was their lot to contend with notions of magical agency, against which the mere pro- duction of the facts was not sufficient for the con- vincing of their adversaries : I do not know whe- ther they themselves thought it quite decisive of the controversy. But since it is proved, I con- ceive with certainty, that the sparingness with which they appealed to miracles, was owing nei- ther 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. * Jerome cent. Vigil. OF CHRISTIANITY. CHAPTER VI. Want of Universality in the knowledge and reception of Chris- tianity, and of greater clearness in the Evidence. OF a revelation which really came from God, the proof, it has been said, would in all ages be so public and manifest, that no part of the human species would remain ignorant of it, no under- standing 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 communi- cation a stronger and more extensive influence. For any thing we are able to discern, God could have so formed men, as to have perceived the truths of religion intuitively j 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 dif- ferent 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 Chris- tianity possesses the highest possible degree of evidence, but whether the not having more evi- THE EVIDENCES dence 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 a question is made whether such a dispensation could come from God or not, than by comparing it with other things which are acknowledged to proceed from the same counsel, and to be produced by the same agency. If the dispensation in ques- tion labour under no defects but what apparently belong to other dispensations, these seeming de- fects 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 ever able to make out a system of optimism. I mean, that there are few cases in which, if we permit our- selves to range in possibilities, we cannot suppose something more perfect, and more unobjection- able, than what we see. The rain which des- cends 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 the sea, where it can be of no use ! how of- ten 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 coun- tries 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, every- OF CHRISTIANITY. where 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 seem- ing inferiority of the one to the other, authorize us to say, that the present disposition of the at- mosphere 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 ad- mire 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 in- quire 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 pro- positions 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 can- not therefore be applied with safety to revelation. It may have some foundation, in certain specu- lative d 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 uncer- tainty in attaining their end. Christianity parti- cipates of this character. The true similitude between nature and revelation consists in this : that they each bear strong marks of their origi- nal 5 that they each also bear appearances of irre- THE EVIDENCES gularity 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 per- ceive in any thing ; that beneficence, of which we can judge, ought to satisfy us, that optimism, of which we cannot judge, ought not to be sought after. We can judge of beneficence, because it depends upon effects which we experience, and upon the relation between the means which we see acting and the ends which we see produced. We cannot judge of optimism, because it neces- sarily 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 use- ful 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, not- withstanding his ignorance, are neither untrue, nor unimportant, nor uncertain. The existence of the Deity is left to be collected from observa- tions, which every man does not make, which every man, perhaps, is not capable of making. Can it be argued, that God does not exist, be- cause, if he did, he would let us see him, or dis- OF CHRISTIANITY. 427 cover himself to mankind by proofs (such as, we may think, the nature of the subject merited), which no inadvertency could miss, no prejudice withstand ? If Christianity be regarded as a providential instrument for the melioration of mankind, its progress and diffusion resembles that of other causes by which human life is improved. The diversity is not greater, nor the advance more slow, in religion, than we find it to be in learning, liberty, government, laws. The Deity hath not touched the order of nature in vain. The Jewish religion produced great and permanent effects ; the Christian religion hath done the same. It hath disposed the world to amendment. It hath put things in a train. It is by no means impro- bable, 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 propor- tion 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 de- ferring 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 circumstan- ces, of which it may be presumed that we know something ; the objection stands upon the suppos- ed conduct of the Deity, under relations with which we are not acquainted." What would be the real effect of that overpower- ing evidence which our adversaries require in a re- velation, it is difficult to foretell j at least, we must 428 THE EVIDENCES speak of it as of a dispensation of which we have no experience. Some consequences however would, it is probable, attend this economy, which do not seem to befit a revelation that proceeded from God. One is, that irresistible proof would restrain the voluntary powers too much; would not answer the purpose of trial and probation ; would call for no exercise of 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 in- duces 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 impar- tial 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."* 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 spe- cies of evidence, which applies itself to the know- ledge, love, and practice of virtue, and which operates in proportion to the degree of those quali- ties which it finds in the person whom it addresses. Men of good dispositions, amongst Christians, are greatly affected by the impression which the Scrip- tures themselves make upon their minds. Their conviction is much strengthened by these impres- sions. And this perhaps was intended to be one * Butler's Analogy, part, ii. c. vi. OF CHRISTIANITY. 429 effect to be produced by the religion. It is like- wise true, to whatever cause we ascribe it (for I am not in this work at liberty to introduce the Christian doctrine of grace or assurance, or the Christian promise, that, " if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God,"*) it is true, I say, that they who sin- cerely 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 ra- tional 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 Jail of proceeding farther. This also may have been exactly what was designed. Whereas, may it not be said that irresistible evi- dence would confound all characters and all dis- positions? 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 in- fluence of them depends upon the recipients them- selves. " 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 for- bear sinning, if heaven and hell were open to his sight. That spiritual vision and fruition is our state in patrid." (Baxter's Reasons, p. 3570 John vii. 17. 430 THE EVIDENCES There may be truth in this thought, though rough- ly expressed. Few things are more improbable than that we (the human species) should be the highest order of beings in the universe : that ani- mated nature should ascend from the lowest rep- tile 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 aflairs ? I can easily conceive that this impression may be over- done ; 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 single- ness of heart."* This was extremely natural, and just what might be expected from miraculous evidence coming with full force upon the senses of mankind : but I much doubt whether, if this state of mind had been universal, or long-conti- nued, the business of the world could have gone on. The necessary arts of social life would have been little cultivated. The plough and the loom would have stood still. Agriculture, manufac- * Acts ii. 4446. OF CHRISTIANITY. 431 tares, 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 Saint Paul found it necessary, frequently to recall his converts to the ordinary labours and do- mestic duties of their condition; and to give them, in his own example, a lesson of contented appli- cation 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 eveiy genera- tion are induced, to seek and to effectuate their salvation, through the medium of Christianity, without interruption of the prosperity, or of the regular course of human affairs. -; in any heathen country, any considerable number of men were found to have had."* 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 in- fluence, can only be estimated by taking in the whole of human existence. Then, as hath already been observed, there may be also great consequen- ces 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. II. I assert that Christianity is charged with many consequences for which it is not respon- sible. I believe that religious motives have had no more to do in the formation of nine-tenths * Clarke, Er. Nat. Rcl. p. 208. ed. 5. OF CHRISTIANITY. 437 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 reli- gion for their subject, are resolvable into a princi- ple which Christianity certainly did not plant (and which Christianity could not universally condemn, because it is not universally wrong), which prin- ciple 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 mis- chief 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 par- ticular, without adverting to the general conse- quence. 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, with- out considering what would be the effect of such a conclusion, when adopted amongst mankind as a general rule of conduct. Had there been in the New Testament, what there are in the Koran, precepts authorizing coercion in the propagation of the religion, and the use of violence towards unbelievers, the case would have been different. This distinction could not have been taken, nor this defence made. I apologize for no species nor degree of perse- cution, but I think that even the fact has been exaggerated. The slave-trade destroys more in 4-38 THE EVIDENCES 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 mis- chief 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 oc- casions. 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, devastations ? 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 finest regions of the East, the countries inter quatuor maria, the 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 re- newed 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 cala- mities which at this day afflict it, to be imputed to Christianity ? Hath Poland fallen by a Chris- tian crusade ? Hath the overthrow in France of civil order and security, been effected by the vo- taries of our religion, or by the foes ? Amongst the awful lessons which the crimes and the mise- ries of that country afford to mankind, this is one ; that, in order to be a persecutor, it is not OF CHRISTIANITY. 4-39 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 for- merly, we are indebted perhaps to Christianity for the change, more than to any other cause. Viewed therefore even in its relation to this sub- ject, it appears to have been of advantage to the world. It hath humanized the conduct of wars ; it hath ceased to excite them. The differences of opinion that have in all ages prevailed amongst Christians, fall very much within the alternative which has been stated. If we possessed the disposition which Christianity 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. Diffe- rences of opinion, when accompanied with mutual charity, which Christianity forbids them to violate, are for the most part innocent, and for some pur- poses useful. They promote inquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help to keep up an at- tention 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. 440 THE EVIDENCES 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 disadvan- tage. 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 irj the early part of youth, yet its extreme sus- ceptibility 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 441 and inferences from which no public creed is, or can be, free. And the effect which too frequent- ly 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 pro- posed, men of rash and confident tempers hastily and indiscriminately reject the whole. But is this to do justice, either to themselves, or to the reli- gion ? 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 pro- ceed with safety to inquire into the interpretation of its records, and into the doctrines which have been deduced from them. Nor will it either en- danger our faith, or diminish or alter our motives for obedience, if we should discover that these conclusions are formed with very different de- grees of probability, and possess very different de- grees 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 difficul- ty 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 contro- versies which are carried on amongst its proios- sors, 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 con- troversies, upon sides opposite to ours. What is clear in Christianity, we shall find to be sufficient, and to be infinitely valuable j what is dubious, 442 THE EVIDENCES 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 sseviant, qui nesciunt, cum quo labore verum inveniatur, et quam difficile cavean- tur errores ; qui nesciunt, cum quanta difficul- tate sanetur oculus interioris hominis ; qui ne- sciunt, quibus suspiriis et gemitibus fiat ut ex quantulacunqtie parte possit intelligi Deus."* 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 ap- prehension, if such articles of faith appear to be truly parts of the revelation. It was to be expect- ed beforehand, that what related to the economy, and to the persons, of the invisible world, which revelation professes to do, and which, if true, it actually does, should contain some points remote from our analogies, and from the comprehension of a mind which hath acquired all its ideas from sense and from experience. It hath been my care, in the preceding work, to preserve the separation between evidences and doctrines as inviolable as I could ; to remove from the primary question all considerations which have been unnecessarily joined with it ; and to offer a defence to Christianity, which every Christian might read, without seeing the tenets in which he had been brought up attacked or decried : and it always afforded a satisfaction to my mind to ob- serve that this was practicable ; that few or none * Aug. contra Ep. Fund. cap. ii. n, 2, S. OF CHRISTIANITY. 443 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 uncontest- ed 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 in- stance. The companions of this Person, after he himself had been put to death for his attempt, as- serted 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 com- municate the knowledge of it to others, voluntarily entered upon lives of toil and hardship, and, with a full experience of their danger, committed them- selves to the last extremities of persecution. This hath not a parallel. More particularly, a very few days after this Person had been publicly executed, and in the very city in which he was buried, these his companions declared with one voice that his body was restored to life ; that they had seen him, handled him, eat witli 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 na- turally disposed to treat his followers as they had 444* THE EVIDENCES treated himself: and having done this upon the spot where the event took place, carried the intelli- gence of it abroad, in despite of difficulties and opposition, and where the nature of their errand gave them nothing to expect but derision, insult, and outrage. This is without example. These three facts, I think, are certain, and would have been nearly so, if the Gospels had never been writ- ten. The Christian story, as to these points, hath never varied. No other hath been set up against it. Every letter, every discourse, every con- troversy, 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 con- temporaries, by witnesses of the transaction, by persons themselves bearing a share in it, and other writings following that age in regular succession), concur in representing these facts in this manner. A religion, which now possesses the greatest part of the civilized world, unquestionably sprang up at Jerusalem at tiiis time. Some account must be given of its origin ; some cause assigned for its rise. All the accounts of this origin, all the explications of this cause, whether taken from the writings of the early followers of the religion (in which, and in which perhaps alone, it could be expected that they should be distinctly unfolded), or from oc- casional notices in other writings of that or the ad- joining 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. OF CHRISTIANITY. 445 These propositions atone lay a foundation for our faith ; for they prove the existence of a tran- saction, 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 miracu- lous pretences (for such these necessarily must have been) upon which this unexampled transac- tion rested, saidfor which these men acted and suf- fered as they did act and suffer, it is undoubtedly of great importance for 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 reli- gion, 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 deliver- ed. When we open these ancient volumes, we dis- cover in them marks of truth, whether we consider each in itself, or collate them with one another. 446 THE EVIDENCES The writers certainly knew something of what they were writing about, for they manifest an ac- quaintance with local circumstances, with the his- tory and usages of the times, which could only be- long 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 narra- tives 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 founda- tion; often attributing different actions and dis- courses to the person whose history, ofr 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 his- tory 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 intel- ligence hath come down to us in a work purport- ing to be written by a person, himself connected witli 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 through- out with the appearance of good sense,* infor- mation, and candour ; stating all along the origin-, * See Peter's speech upon curing the cripple (Acts iii. 18.), the council of the apostles (xv.), Paul's discourse at Athens (xvii. 22.), before Agrippa (xxvi.) I uotice these passages, both as fraught with good sense, and a* free from the smallest tincture of enthusiasm. OF CHRISTIANITY. 44<7 and the only probable origin, of effects which un- questionably were produced, together with the natural consequences of situations which unques- tionably did exist ; and confirmed, in the substance at least of the account, by the strongest possible accession of testimony which a history can re- ceive, 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 his- torical evidence. When we reflect that some of those from whom the books proceeded, are related to have them- selves wrought miracles, to have been the subject of miracles, or of supernatural assistance in pro- pagating 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 Chris- tian before he can receive it. The inspiration of the historical Scriptures, the nature, degree, and extent of that inspiration, are questions undoubt- edly 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 maxims of historical credibi- lity.* In viewing the detail of miracles recorded in these books, we find every supposition negatived, * See Powell's Discourses, disc. xv. p. 245. 448 THE EVIDENCES by which they can be resolved into fraud or delu- sion. 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 per- sons to whom it was addressed ; it required from those who accepted it, not a simple, indolent as- sent, but a change, from thenceforward, of prin- ciples 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 circum- stances under which it came forth, and in opposi- tion 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 por- tion of the civilized world, it was perhaps to be expected, should be noticed in the prophetic w r ritings of that nation ; especially when this Per- son, together with his own mission, caused also to be acknowledged the divine original of their institution, and by those who before had altoge- ther rejected it. Accordingly, we perceive in these writings various intimations^ concurring in OF CHRISTIANITY. 449 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 per- son 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 descrip- tion, 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 circum- stances of his life and death, with considerable precision, and in a way which no diversity of in- terpretation 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 compre- hensive dispensation, would have cooled too much, and relaxed, their zeal for it, and their ad- herence 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. 450 THE EVIDENCES He who gives me riches or honours, does no- thing ; 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 ad- juncts and circumstances of this. They are, how- ever, such as appear worthy of the original to which we ascribe them. The morality of the re- ligion, 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 no- tions, nor excusing established practices, but cal- culated, 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 proceed- ed from any person whatever, would have been satisfactory evidence of his good sense and integ- rity, 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 451 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, never- theless, disposed and controlled by that Providence which conducts the affairs of the universe, though by an influence inscrutable, and generally undis- tinguishable 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 ac- quainted with it. A future state rectifies every thing ; because, if moral agents be made, in the last event, happy or miserable, according to their conduct in the station, and under the circum- stances 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 sta- tions are assigned, or these circumstances deter- mined. 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 impor- 4-52 THE EVIDENCES tant distinctions of health and sickness, strength and infirmity, bodily ease and pain, mental alac- rity and depression), is apt on so many occasions to create. This one truth changes the nature of things ; gives order to confusion ; makes the mo- ral world of a piece with the natural. Nevertheless, a higher degree of assurance than that to which it is possible to advance this, or any argument drawn from the light of nature, was necessary, especially to overcome the shock which the imagination and the senses receive from the effects and the appearances of death, and the ob- struction which thenoe 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 reflec- tion, 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 for the con- trary, is rather an indulging of the imagination, than any thing else. Abstractedly considered, that is, considered without relation to the diffe- rence which habit, and merely habit, produces in our faculties and modes of apprehension, I do not see any thing more in the resurrection of a dead man, than in the conception of a child ; except it be this, that the one comes into this 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 re- surrection of the dead is to us. Thought is different from motion, perception from impact : the individuality of a mind is hard- OF CHRISTIANITY. 453 ly consistent with the divisibility of an extended substance ; or its volition, that is, its power of ori- ginating motion, with the inertness which cleaves to every portion of matter which our observation or our experiments can reach. These distinc- tions lead us to an immaterial principle : at least, they do this ; they so negative the mechanical properties of matter, in the constitution of a sen- tient, still more of a rational being, that no argu- ment drawn from these properties, can be of any great weight in opposition to other reasons, when the question respects the changes of which such a nature is capable, or the manner in which these changes are effected. Whatever thought be, or whatever it depend upon, the regular experience of sleep makes one thing concerning it certain, that it can be completely suspended, and com- pletely restored. If any one find it too great a strain upon his thoughts, to admit the notion of a substance strict- ly 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 trans- fer a proper identity to whatever shall hereafter be united to it j may be safe amidst the destruc- tion of its integuments ; may connect the natural with the spiritual, the corruptible with the glori- fied 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 exert- 454 THE EVIDENCES ing 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 sa- tisfy 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 re- velation of a future state, is not only perfectly consistent with the attributes of the Being who governs the universe ; but when it is more ; when it alone removes the appearances of contrariety which attend the operations of his will towards creatures capable of comparative merit and deme- rit, 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 des- cend upon the human world to resuscitate extin- guished 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, requiring new organs, new percep- tions, 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 OF CHRISTIANITY. 455 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 employ- ment, of the faculties and opportunities with which he hath been pleased severally, to intrust, and to try us. THE END. Printed by Walker & Greig, Edinburgh. y A 000 048 076 4