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Ghis book belongs to 
 
LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 bia tT ) oy Tz = tf 5 * 
 lr, Hoel Lawrence McQueen 
 
 Br e2101L. YP33 2854 
 
 Paley, William, 1743-1805. 
 
 Paley's view of the 
 evidences of Chrisitanity 
 
V 
 
 PA Pale y 
 PALEY’S VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 The Tert of Paley, Werbatimn; 
 
 WITH 
 
 EXAMINATION QUESTIONS, 
 
 si 
 ARRANGED AT THE FOOT OF EACH PAGE OF THE TEXT. 
 
 AND A 
 
 FULL ANALYSIS PREFIXED TO EACH CHAPTER. 
 
 BY THE REV. GEORGE FISK, LL.B. 
 
 LATE PREBENDARY OF LITCHFIELD, 
 
 Eighth Edition. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE :—J. HALL & SON; 
 LONDON :—SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO.; | WHITTAKER & CO.; 
 
 ANDsG. BELL & SONS. 
 1884. 
 
Sen nnn nn edd 
 
 J. Hatt & Son, PRINTERS, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
EDTEOR Se beh h AG. Be 
 
 Tue Editor is not aware that he ought to apologize for 
 offering a New Edition of Paley’s Evidences of Christianity, 
 although he feels that an apology may be due for the mode in 
 which he has performed the task of adapting that work more 
 directly to the purposes for which it is used in the University 
 of Cambridge. 
 
 There is no doubt that the study of Paley’s Evidences, 
 as well as every other subject, is rendered doubly difficult by 
 the method, or rather the want of method, with which it is 
 usually pursued; and it is a common failing in the human 
 mind, to rest contented under a mere apprehension of the 
 general aspect of truth, rather than undergo that laborious 
 process, which vigorously presses onwards, with insatiable ardour, 
 till it arrives at a full perception, and enjoys an unobscured and 
 perfect mental vision. The want of that energetic and uncom- 
 promising spirit of investigation, necessarily surrounds truth with 
 a misty and uncongenial atmosphere ; and the fatigued, yet only 
 half exerted mind, recoils from the pursuit, baffled by what it 
 conceives to be the intricacy of the subject. 
 
 This is a grevious state of things, when considered with 
 reference to the general objects of human investigation :—it 
 becomes awfully so, when viewed in reference to the subject 
 matter of Paley’s Evidences; for there—not truth in the 
 abstract, but truth of the highest kind, and in its highest 
 connection, is the object of investigation and the sad conse- 
 quence is, that by reason of the infirmity. of purpose with 
 which it is too generally pursued, many men go down to their 
 
lv PREFACE. 
 
 graves with a mere apprehension of the general form and 
 character of that high truth, upon which so much depends, 
 but with no clear perfection of the delicacy of its texture, 
 the beauty of its lineaments, or the overwhelming worth of it asa 
 possession. 
 
 This defective or deficient action of the mind, if encouraged, 
 (and who is not disposed in some degree, to encourage it!) 
 necessarily leads to a cold indifference—a kind of indolent 
 infidelity ; not the infidelity of the will, but of irresolution. 
 And can a state of mind more lamentable than this be well 
 imagined. ; 
 
 When the great importance of a knowledge of the Christian 
 Evidences is considered, and when that consideration is coupled 
 with a reflection upon the period of life at which the subject 
 is presented to the minds of students as an item of academical 
 pursuit—a period when the mind has usually acquired but 
 little bias towards objects of such moment, it seems most desirable 
 that every facility should be thrown in the way, that may tend to 
 lead the mind onwards to a steady and careful pursuit of the great 
 truths to be offered to its notice. 
 
 In preparing the present Edition, the object has been 
 to furnish the student with facilities, which, if properly 
 used, will enable him, with moderate attention, to proceed 
 effectually through the nicely drawn argument before him. 
 The text of Paley is given verbatim. To each chapter is 
 prefixed a short statement of the branch of the subject intended 
 to be discussed ; which is followed by a careful and concisely 
 drawn Synopsis, embracing, as far as is practicable, all the main 
 features and essential parts of the argument. At the foot 
 of each page, Examination Questions are introduced, with 
 references to the paragraphs in which the Answers are to be 
 found. 
 
 The student will observe, that with respect to the Exam- 
 ination Questions, the plan has been, first, to propose a general 
 question, embracing either the whole, or the most important 
 features of an argument, referring to it by single capitals, (A. 
 
PREFACE. Vv 
 
 B. C. &c.)—and then are subjoined questions upon the several 
 component parts of the main argument; referring to the parts 
 of the text on which they arise, by double reference (A.a. B.d. 
 ic C.) 
 
 In the use of this Edition, the student is recommended, 
 first,—carefully to consider the part of the subject intended to 
 be discussed in each chapter ;—to consider its relation—its 
 bearings—its probable effects, if it should be fully made out, 
 and the consequence if it should fail :—next to imbue his mind 
 with the Synopsis prefixed to each chapter, in order that his 
 apprehensions may fully embrace the scope of the argument which 
 the author has adopted. After this preparatory process he may 
 proceed to steady perusal of the text. 
 
 Adopting this course, with a mind determined to perceive 
 and grasp the truth, it is to be hoped that the most satisfactory 
 result will ensue; the extent of which, the student will feel and 
 appreciate, when he has availed himself of the assistance of the 
 Examination Questions. 
 
 As a parting word of advice to the student let him earnestly 
 seek to have his mind impressed with a sense of the vital 
 importance of the subject before him ;—and that, once attained, 
 will shew him that this branch of College study, is really also a 
 great branch of moral and religious duty. 
 
 Cambridge, 1836. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preparatory considerations. —Of the antecedent credibility of miracles. 
 
 PATOL. 
 
 OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND 
 WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED 
 FOR OTHER MIRACLES, 
 
 Reo DOSIUIOISIAte i srons  aosea tat ats dies seen cencai ws vc qidan seul de eeaet ahs + 44s mlbaed 
 
 Cuap. I. 
 Cuap. II. 
 Cuap. III. 
 CuHap. IV. 
 CHAP.» VY. 
 Cuap. VI. 
 Cuap. VII. 
 Cuap, VIII. 
 Cuap. IX. 
 SECTION I. 
 
 SECTION 2. 
 SECTION 3. 
 
 SECTION 4. 
 SECTION 5. 
 SECTION 6, 
 SECTION 7. 
 
 SECTION 8. 
 
 SECTION 9. 
 
 Evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators of 
 Christianity from the nature of the casé..:..0 bias icc sseaes 
 Evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators of 
 Christianity from’ profane. testimony... .......0.2.....000s cones 
 Indirect evidence of the sufferings of the first propagators 
 of Christianity from the Scriptures and other ancient 
 Chyistian wating! iiss re gee teas cs achaais secs doe cta tens ob toy 
 Direct evidence ofthe same. iki. 0. barb oet dads dacaswtegets 
 Observations upon the preceding evidence............... 0... 
 That the story for which the first propagators of Christi- 
 anity suffered. ;was | miraculous... 0522, cocslies otrdes seus vances 
 That it was, in the main, the story which we have now 
 proved. by "indirect .considerationss foils.) sce etaesencceres 
 The same proved from the authority of our historical 
 SHOXIDEUTES Has fadated daceee eed cascks ant aude dueeatersps aged PGs ts 
 Of the authenticity of the historical Scriptures, 27 elevex 
 DECOM ASE, deen even Pore Meat L Chota bee RanK ENE cadens Lai tay tate hae 
 Quotations of the historical Scriptures by ancient Chris- 
 Petre WPITOL sie dak yaoe calpains aks eae roan cape sheds «pate saeenaee cere <3 
 Of the peculiar respect with which they were quoted...... 
 The Scriptures were in very early times collected into a 
 GIStINER, VOU Ge ries foot e meee es ears tenes Lee ee Sec 
 And distinguished by appropriate names and titles of re- 
 
 BSCE tetenier’ Centar er ireks cer vente ore sare neon nate tenance mr een 
 ee publicly read and expounded in the religious as- 
 sembiies Of tna early. CHrstians crc. ern. cee fuerte pe acaaeten es: 
 Commentaries &c. were anciently written upon the 
 SPCTIMEUTES Eas cade et cent gorasaue cars tec nitnd ects tan eth tat i ewtade 
 They were received by ancient Christians of different sects 
 BYE PRC BURSIONS cave as cs coo Wales sestotn cing tan ced Moos came vate ames 
 
 The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen 
 Epistles of S. Paul, the first Epistle of John, and the first 
 of Peter, were received without doubt by those who 
 doubted concerning the other books of our present Canon 
 Our present Gospels were considered by the adversaries 
 of Christianity as containing the accounts upon which the 
 TEHelOn Wass (OND Ed Wied, Amite tage sek took comarca alt eared ates 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
Vill CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION 10. Formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published, 
 in all which our present Gospels were included............ 
 SECTION II. The above propositions cannot be predicted of those 
 books which are commonly called apocryphal books of 
 the New Testament £7: -1., crs ee ee 
 CHAP. X. Recapitulationy, ....ss7qsueres eee eee Pee Ses Nc he pee cone teen 
 
 OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND 
 WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED 
 FOR OTHER MIRACLES. 
 
 iar, I: That there is NOT satisfactory evidence that persons, 
 pretending to be original witnesses of any other similar 
 miracles, have acted in the same manner in attestation of 
 the accounts which they delivered, and solely in conse- 
 quence of their belief in the truth of these accounts 
 (HAP. SLL! Consequences of some specific instances 
 
 eee eee 
 
 ee ed 
 
 PARIMELT, 
 OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Cuap. I. HLOPNECY ag, «25 <ce 3 35081 0E Ba By hangs MENT EEL toe ee 
 Cuap. IT. ine morality of the Gospel... ..-cestspeeveas act eee 
 CuaAp. III. The candour of the writers of the New Testament 
 PAP LV...) Identity of, Christ’s: characters. Ssx.t: avert eet ketal ee 
 CHAP. .V. Originality of Christ's ¢haractetse x vpk. pase. Ponce. aoe 
 Cuap. VI. Conformity of the facts occasionally mentioned or re- 
 
 ferred to in Scripture, with the state of things in those 
 
 times as represented by foreign and independent accounts 
 eriAr. iV 11... U ndesigned | coincidences grat Amst: se oeeseeoen eee 
 HAP. Vill. Of the history of the. Resurrection........:o .uk.¢seeesclonne 
 CHAP. [X;), .Of the.propapatidn : of-Christianity::.04;.4..0tclkt doses ante 
 SECTION 2. Reflections upon the preceding account 
 SECTION 3. Of the success of Mahometanism 
 
 eee ews ene 
 
 Cer ere sree rss eresecses 
 
 i i ee ee i a i i a 
 
 RAR clit; 
 A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS. 
 
 Cuap. I. The discrepancies between the several Gospels 
 Cuap. IT. Erroneous opinions imputed to the Apostles ............... 
 CHAP. III. The connexion of Christianity with the Jewish History... 
 eee ee Hejection of Christianity,...a0--ts.nts-aacenses eee et eae ek ee 
 HAP. *V. That the Christian miracles are not recited or appealed 
 to by early Christian writers themselves so fully or fre- 
 i quently as might have been expected .......ssscncasnecsessee 
 CuaAp. VI. Want of universality in the knowledge and reception of 
 Christianity, and of greater clearness in the evidence 
 Cuap. VII. The supposed effects of Christianity 
 Cuap. VIII. Conclusion 
 
 ee 
 
 sees 
 
 ee ay 
 
 ee ee ears 
 
 PAaGe 
 
 176 
 198 
 
 207 
 218 
 250 
 260 
 273 
 
 275 
 306 
 310 
 314 
 333 
 341 
 
 355 
 359 
 364 
 367 
 
 384 
 394 
 
 403 
 412 
 
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 ihe object of this Chapter is to shew that there ts not such an 
 
 antecedent improbability in the Christian miracles as no human 
 testimony can surmount, in opposition to Hume's objection, “ that 
 at ts contrary to experience that miracles should be true, but not 
 
 contrary to experience that testimony should be false.” 
 
 The actual condition of man is re- 
 presented under a series of supposi- 
 tions, from which it is concluded, 
 that it is not improbable a revelation 
 should be made [p. 1]; and it is 
 argued [p. 2] that a revelation could 
 not be made but by miracles ; and 
 that, therefore, the probability of 
 miracles stands on the same footing 
 as the revelation. 
 
 Hume’s objection—‘‘ that no hu- 
 man testimony can render miracles 
 credible,” is answered by reference to 
 the foregoing reflections, [p. 4] and 
 an ambiguity in the term ‘‘experi- 
 ence,” and in the phrases ‘‘ contrary 
 to experience,” or ‘‘ contradicting 
 experience,” is removed. [p. 4] 
 
 The true measure of the impro- 
 bability which arises from the want of 
 
 experience, and which Hume repre- 
 sents as invincible by human testi- 
 mony, is shewn—by its equality to 
 the slender probability, (or rather no 
 probability at all) that if the thing 
 were true, such things would be 
 generally experienced. [p. 5] 
 
 It is then shewn, that in advan- 
 cing accounts of miracles we do not 
 assign effects without causes, or at- 
 tribute effects to causes inadequate 
 to the purpose; or to causes, of the 
 operation of which we have no ex- 
 perience, as has been charged. [p. 6] 
 
 Hume’s statement —‘‘ that the 
 case of miracles is a contest of oppo- 
 site improbabilities,” is then exam- 
 ined, and his want of argumentative 
 justice exposed. [p. 7, 8] 
 
 I DEEM it unecessary to prove that mankind stood in 
 
 need of a revelation, because I have met with no serious 
 person who thinks, that, even under the Christian reve- 
 lation, we have too much light, or any degree of as- 
 surance which is superfluous. I desire, moreover, that 
 in judging of Christianity, it may be remembered, that 
 the question lies between this religion and none: for, if 
 the Christian religion be not credible, no one, with whom 
 we have to do, will support the pretensions of any other 
 
 A. Why is it deemed unneces- does the question lie between the 
 sary to prove that mankind stood Christian religion and none? 
 in need of a revelation; and why 
 
 B 
 
Bb. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 Suppose, then, the world we live in to have had a 
 Creator; suppose it to appear, from the predominant aim 
 and tendency of the provisions and contrivances observ- 
 able in the universe, that the Deity, when he formed it 
 consulted for the happiness of his sensitive creation ; 
 suppose the disposition which dictated this counsel to 
 continue; supposea 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 ; sup- 
 pose the Creator to intend for these, his rational and un- 
 accountable agents, a second state of existence, in which 
 their situation will be regulated by their behaviour in the 
 first state, by which supposition (and by no other) the 
 objection to the divine government in not putting a diff- 
 erence between the good and the bad, and the incon- 
 sistency of this confusion with the care and benevolence 
 discoverable in the works of the Deity is done away ; 
 suppose it to be of the utmost importance to the subjects 
 of this dispensation to know what is intended for them, 
 that is, suppose the knowledge of it to be highly con- 
 ducive to the happiness of the species, a purpose which 
 so many provisions of nature are calculated to promote: 
 Suppose, nevertheress, almost the whole race, either by 
 the imperfection of their faculties, the misfortune of their 
 situation, or by the loss of some prior revelation, to want 
 this knowledge, and not to be likely, without the aid ofa 
 new revelation, to attain it: Under these circumstances, 
 is it improbable that a revelation should be made? Is it 
 incredible that God should interpose for such a purpose? 
 Suppose him to design for mankind a future state; is it 
 unlikely that he should acquaint them with it ? 
 
 Now in what way can a revelation be made but by 
 miracles ? In none which we are able to conceive. Con- 
 sequently, in whatever degree it is probable, or not very 
 improbable, that a revelation should be communicated to 
 mankind at all ; in the same degree is it probable or not 
 
 B. Under what supposition does which a revelation can be made; 
 it appear probable that a revelation and state the consequent degree of 
 should be made? probability that miracles should be 
 
 Mention the only way in wrought. 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY 3 
 
 very improbable that miracles should be wrought. 
 Ca Therefore, when miracles are related to have been 
 wrought in the promulgating of a revelation manifestly 
 wanted, and, if true, of inestimable value, the improba- 
 bility which arises from the miraculous nature of the 
 things related, is not greater than the original improba- 
 bility that such a revelation should be imparted by God. 
 D. I wish it, however, to be correctly understood, in what 
 manner, and to what extent, this argument is alleged. 
 We do not assume the attributes of the Deity, or the 
 existence of a future state, in order to prove the reality 
 of miracles. That reality always must be proved by 
 D.aevidence. 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 intelli- 
 gence of a future state of rewards and punishments, and 
 teaching mankind how to prepare themselves for that 
 state, is not in itself greater than the event, call it either 
 probable or improbable, of the two following proposi- 
 tions 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 
 D.dshould acquaint them with it. It is not necessary for 
 our purpose, that these propositions be capable of proof 
 or even that, by arguments drawn from the light of 
 nature, they can be made out to be probable; it is 
 enough that we are able to say concerning them, that 
 they are not so violently improbable, so contradictory 
 to what we already believe of the divine power and 
 character, that either the propositions themselves, or 
 
 C.a Shew the extent ofthe im- butes of the Deity, or the existence 
 probability which arises from the ofa future state, for the purpose ? 
 miraculous nature of the things re- D.a. What, only is asserted with 
 lated. respect to the miracles advanced in 
 
 support of revelation; and how is 
 
 D. By what means must the the assertion maintained ? 
 reality of the miracles be proved, D.é6 What is the prejudication 
 since we do not assume the attri- tobe resisted ? 
 
 B2 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 facts strictly connected with the propositions (and there- 
 fore no further improbable than they are improbable), 
 ought to be rejected at first sight, and to be rejected by 
 whatever strength or complication of evidence they may 
 be attested. 
 : This is the prejudication we would resist. For to 
 this length does a modern objection to miracles go, viz. 
 that no human testimony can in any case render them 
 credibile. I think the reflection above stated, that if 
 there be a revelation, there must be miracles ; and that, 
 under the circumstances in which the human species are 
 placed, a revelation is not improbable, or not improbable 
 in any great degree, to be a fair answer to the whole 
 objection. 
 ! But since it is an objection which stands in the very 
 threshold cf our argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to 
 every proof, and toall future reasoning upon the subject, 
 it may be necessary, before we proceed further, to ex- 
 amine the principle upon which it professes to be 
 founded ; which principle is concisely this,—That it is 
 contrary to experience that a miracle should be true, 
 but not contrary to experience that testimony should be 
 false. 
 
 Now there appears a small ambiguity in the term 
 “experience,” and in the phrases “contrary to expe- 
 rience,” or “contradicting experience,” which it may be 
 necessary to remove in the first place. Strictly speaking, 
 the narrative of a fact is the only contrary to experience, 
 when the fact is related to have existed at a time and 
 place, at which time and place we, being present, did 
 not perceive it to exist ; as if it should be asserted, that 
 in a particular room, and at a particular hour of a certain 
 day, a man was raised from the dead, in which room, 
 and at the time specified, we, being present and looking 
 on, perceived no such event to have taken place. Here 
 
 E. State the length to which a G. Shew the fallacy of the 
 modern objection to miracles goes, principle ‘‘that it is contrary to 
 and the reflection by which it is experience that a miracle should 
 answered. be true, and not contrary to ex- 
 
 F. Upon what principle does perience that testimony should be 
 the modern objection to miracles false,” 
 profess to be founded ? 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 5 
 
 the assertion is contrary to experience, properly so 
 called ; and this is a contrariety which no evidence can 
 surmount. It matters nothing, whether the fact be of a 
 miraculous nature, or not. But although this be the ex- 
 perience, and the contrariety, which Archbishop Tillot- 
 son alleged in the quotation with which Hume opens 
 his Essay, it is certainly not that experience, nor that 
 contrariety, which Mr. Hume himself intended to object. 
 And, short of this, I know no intelligible signification 
 which can be affixed to the term “contrary to experi- 
 ence,” but one, viz. that of not having ourselves experi- 
 enced any thing similar to the thing related, or such 
 things not being generally experienced by others. I 
 say “not generally :” for to state, concerning the fact in 
 question, that no such thing was ever experienced, or 
 that wntversal experience is against it, is to assume 
 the subject of the controversy. 
 
 Now the improbability which arises from the want 
 (for this properly is a want, not a contradiction) of 
 experience, is only equal to the probability there is, 
 that, if the thing were true, we should experience things 
 similar to it, or that such things would be generally 
 experienced. Suppose it then to be true that miracles 
 were wrought on the first promulgation of. Christianity, 
 when nothing but miracles could decide its authority, is 
 it certain that such miracles would be repeated so often, 
 and in so many places, as to become objects of general 
 experiences Is it a probability approaching to cer- 
 tainty? Is it a probability of any great strength or 
 force? Is it such as no evidence can encounter? And 
 yet this probability is the exact converse, and therefore 
 .the exact measure of the improbability which arises from 
 the want of experience, and which Mr. Hume represents 
 as invincible by human testimony. 
 
 It is not like alleging a new law of nature, or a new 
 experiment in natural philosophy ; because, when these 
 are related, it is expected that, under the same circum- 
 stances, the same effect will follow universally : and, in 
 
 H. What probability is theexact our statement not like alleging a 
 measure of the improbability which new law of nature, or a new experi- 
 
 arises from the want (not the coz- ment in natural philosophy ? 
 trartety) of experience; and why is 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 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 suc- 
 ceed upon a repetition is to expect that which would 
 make it cease to bea 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, varia- 
 tions will be frequent and general. Has the necessity of 
 this alternative been demonstrated ? Permit us to call 
 the course of nature the agency of an intelligent Being ; 
 and is there any good reason for judging this state of 
 the case to be probable? Ought we not rather to ex- 
 pect, that such a Being, on occasions of peculiar import- 
 ance, may interrupt the order which he had appointed, 
 yet, that such occasions should return seldom; that 
 these interruptions, consequently, should be confined 
 to the experience of a few; that the want of it, therefore, 
 in many, should be matter neither of surprise nor ob- 
 jection ? 
 
 But as a continuation of the argument from ex- 
 perience, it is said, that, when we advance accounts of 
 miracles, we assign effects without causes, or we attribute 
 effects to causes inadequate to the purpose, or to causes, 
 of the operation of which we have no experience. Of 
 what causes, we may ask, and of what effects does this 
 objection speak? If it be answered, that, when we 
 ascribe the cure of the palsy to a touch, of blindness 
 to the anointing of the eyes with clay, or the raising 
 of the dead to a word, we lay ourselves open to this 
 imputation ; we reply, that we ascribe no such effects 
 to such causes. We perceive no virtue or energy in 
 these things more than in other things of the same kind. 
 They are merely signs to connect the miracle with its 
 
 I. In what presumption is the 
 force of experience, as an objection 
 to miracles, founded; and how is 
 that presumption met by Paley ? 
 
 K. How does Paley meet the 
 charge — that when we advance 
 
 accounts of miracles, we assign 
 effects without causes, or we attri- 
 bute effects to causes inadequate 
 to the purpose: or to causes, of 
 the operation of which we have 
 no experience ? 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. a 
 
 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 independent 
 proof. We have, therefore, all we seek for in the works 
 of rational agents,—a sufficient power and an adequate 
 motive. Ina 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 miracles 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 improb- 
 ability of miracles, he suppresses all those circumstances 
 of extenuation, which result from our knowledge of the 
 existence, power, and disposition of the Deity; his 
 concern in the creation; the end answered by the 
 miracle, the importance of that end, and its subserviency 
 to the plan pursued in the work of nature. As Mr. Hume 
 has represented the question, miracles are alike incredible 
 to him who is previously assured of the constant agency 
 of a Divine Being, and to him who believes that no such 
 Being exists in the universe. They are equally 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 confess- 
 edly trifling or pernicious. This surely cannot be a 
 . correct statement. In adjusting also the other side of 
 the balance, the strength and weight of testimony, this 
 author has provided an answer to every possible 
 accumulation of historical proof, by telllng us, that we 
 are not obliged to explain how the story or the evidence 
 arose. Now I think that we ave obliged: not, perhaps, 
 to shew 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 
 
 L. What does the case of mi- the full consequence of his repre- 
 racles appear to be, as stated by sentation. 
 Hume? 
 
 M. Shew the want of argu- N. What is observable in ad- 
 mentative justice observable in justing the other side of the ba- 
 Hume’s view of the matter, and lance? 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 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 inconsistent 
 with the principles that regulate human affairs and human 
 conduct at present, or which makes men Zhen to have 
 been a different kind of beings from what they are now. 
 
 But the short consideration which, independently of 
 every other, convinces me that there is nosolid foundation 
 in Mr. Hume’s conclusion, is the following: When a 
 theorem is proposed to a mathematician, the first thing 
 he does with it is to try it upon a simple case: and if it 
 produce a false result, he is sure that there must be some 
 mistake in the demonstration. Now, to proceed in this 
 way with what may be called Mr. Hume's theorem. If 
 twelve men, whose probity and good sense I had long 
 known, should seriously and circumstantially relate to 
 mean account of a miracle wrought before their eyes, 
 and in which it was impossible that they should be 
 deceived : if the governor of the country, hearing a rumour 
 of this account, should call these men into his presence, 
 and offer them a short proposal, either to confess the 
 imposture, or submit to be tied up to a gibbet ; if they 
 should refuse with one voice to acknowledge that there 
 existed any falsehood or imposture in the case ; if this 
 threat were communicated to them separately, yet with 
 no different effect; if it was at last executed; if I myself 
 saw them, one after another, consenting to be racked, 
 burnt, or strangled, rather than 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 fortify his argument by 
 some examples of this kind. [I hope, in a proper place, 
 to shew that none of them reach the strength or circum- 
 stances of the Christian evidence. In these, however, 
 consists the weight of his objection ; in the principle 
 itself, I am persuaded, there is none. 
 
 O. Demonstrate that there is no solid foundation in Hume’s con- 
 clusion as to the incredibility of miracles. 
 
A VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 PAR peal, 
 
 OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND 
 WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE AL- 
 LEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES. 
 
 THE two propositions which I shall endeavour to 
 establish are these : 
 
 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. 
 
 PROPOSITION II. 
 
 That there is zo¢ 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 argu- 
 ment, will stand at the head of the following zzze chapters. 
 
 A. What are the two proposi- historical evidence of the Christian 
 tions which Paley proposes to estab- miracles? 
 lish on the subject of the direct 
 
48) 
 
 A. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 CHAP THK ae 
 
 Lhe object of this Chapter ts to shew the probability which Faley’s 
 first proposition derives from the nature of the case; that ts, by 
 inferences from those parts of the case which are on all hands 
 
 acknowledged, 
 
 It is first shewn that the Christian 
 religion owes its establishment to the 
 activity of the Founder and _ his 
 associates : and that those associates 
 laboured and suffered upon convic- 
 tion. [p. 11] That the propagation 
 of the religion was attended with 
 difficulty and danger as addressed 
 to the Yews, on three accounts. Ist. 
 As it was adverse to those opinions 
 upon which their national hopes 
 were founded. 2nd. As, without 
 repealing the Levitical code, it low- 
 ered its estimation extremely, and 
 decried the long-esteemed merit of 
 ritual zeal. 3rd. As it must have 
 represented the crucifixion of the 
 Founder as an unjust and cruel 
 murder. [p. 11—13] 
 
 That it was difficult and dan- 
 gerous as addressed to the heathen 
 public, for it was exclusive, and de- 
 nied every point of their mytho- 
 logy. [p. 14, 15] 
 
 That the teachers could not find 
 
 protection in the general disbelief 
 of the popular theology then exist- 
 ing, because unbelievers are not 
 usually tolerant, and the principles 
 of toleration were then but little un- 
 derstood, as shewn by the letters of 
 Pliny and Trajan. [p. 15, 16] 
 
 That from the antiquity and 
 splendid externals of the popular 
 worship, and the hold it had on 
 the public mind, the teachers of 
 Christianity could not but expect 
 opposition and danger. [p. 17] 
 
 It is then shewn, that the ori- 
 ginal teachers, in consequence of 
 their new profession, must have 
 entered on a new and singular course 
 of life; z. e. they must, in a degree, 
 haveconferred to what they preached, 
 as every teacher must, in order to 
 obtain converts ; all which involved 
 a change of manners to a great 
 extent, and conviction must have 
 been the basis of the change. [p. 18 
 to the end. ] 
 
 To support this proposition, two points are necessary 
 to be made out; first, that the Founder of the institution, 
 his associates and immediate followers, acted the part 
 which the proposition imputes to them: secondly, that 
 they did so in attestation of the miraculous history re- 
 corded in our Scriptures, and solely in consequence of 
 their belief of the truth of this history. 
 
 Before we produce any particular testimony to the 
 activity and sufferings which compose the subject of our 
 
 A. Which of his two propositions 
 does Paley place at the head of the 
 first nine Chapters: and what two 
 points are necessary to be made out 
 in support of it ? 
 
 B. What does Paley mean by the 
 probability which arises from the 
 nature of the case ? 
 
CHAP. T.] OF CHRISTIANITY. II 
 
 first assertion, it will be proper to consider the decree of 
 probability which the assertion derives from the xature 
 of the case, that is, by inferences from those parts of the 
 case which, in point of fact, are on all hands acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 c. First then, the Christian Religion exists, and therefore 
 by some means or other was established. Now, it either 
 owes the principle of its establishment, 2. e its first 
 publication, to the activity of the Person who was the 
 founder of the institution, and of those who were joined 
 with him in the undertaking, or we are driven upon the 
 strange supposition, that, although they might lie by, 
 others would take it up; although they were quiet and 
 silent, other persons busied themselves in the success and 
 propagation of their story. This is perfectly incredible. 
 To me it appears little less than certain, that, if the first 
 announcing of the religion by the Founder had not been 
 followed up by the zeal and industry of his immediate 
 disciples, the attempt must have expired in its birth. 
 Then, as to the kind and degree of exertion which was 
 employed, and the mode of life to which these persons 
 submitted, we reasonably suppose it to be like that 
 which we observe in all others who voluntarily become 
 missionaries of a new faith. Frequent, earnest, and 
 laborious preaching, constantly conversing with religious 
 persons upon religion, a sequestration from the common 
 pleasures, engagements, and varieties of life, and an 
 addiction to one serious object, compose the habits of 
 such men. I do not say that this mode of life is without 
 enjoyment, but I say that the enjoyment springs from 
 sincerity. With a consciousness at the bottom, of hollow- 
 ness and falsehood, the fatigue and restraint would 
 become insupportable. I am apt to believe that very 
 few hypocrites engage in these undertakings; or, how- 
 ever, persist in them long. Ordinarily speaking, nothing 
 can overcome the indolence of mankind, the love which 
 is natural to most tempers of cheerful society and cheer- 
 
 C. Shew fully that the ature vity and sufferings of the Founder 
 of the case, with regard to the of the Christian religion, and of 
 present existence of Christianity, those who were joined with him 
 affords strong evidence of the acti- in the undertaking. 
 
I2 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP, I 
 
 ful scenes, or the desire, which is common to all, of 
 personal ease and freedom, but conviction. 
 
 Secondly, it is also highly probable, from the nature 
 of the case, that the propagation of the new religion was 
 attended with difficulty and danger. As addressed to 
 the Jews, it was a system adverse not only to their 
 habitual opinions, but to those opinions upon which their 
 hopes, their partialities, their pride, their consolation was 
 founded. This people, with or without reason, had worked 
 themselves into a persuasion, that some signal and greatly 
 
 advantageous change was to be effected in the condition 
 
 of their country, by the agency of a long-promised 
 messenger from heaven.’ The rulers of the Jews, their 
 leading sect, their priesthood, had been the authors of 
 this persuasion to the common people. So that it was 
 not merely the conjecture of theoretical divines, or the 
 secret expectation of a few recluse devotees, but it was 
 become the popular hope and passion, and, like all 
 popular opinions, undoubting and impatient of contradic- 
 tion. They clung to this hope under every misfortune of 
 their country, and with more tenacity as their dangers or 
 calamities increased. To find, therefore, that expectations 
 so gratifying were to be worse than disappointed ; that 
 they were to end in the diffusion of a mild unambitious 
 religion, which, instead of victories and triumphs, instead 
 of exalting their nation and institution above the rest 
 of the world, was to advance those whom they despised 
 to an equality with themselves, in those very points of 
 comparison in which they most valued their own distinc- 
 tion, could be no very pleasing discovery to a Jewish 
 mind; nor could the messengers of such intelligence 
 expect to be well received or easily credited, The doctrine 
 
 1, Percrebuerat oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore Juda pro- 
 fecti rerum potirentur.—Sueton, Vespasian, cap, 4—8 
 
 Pluribus persuasio, inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut vales- 
 ceret oriens, profectique Judea rerum potirentur.—Tacit, Hist. lib, vy. cap. 9—13, 
 
 D. On what three distinct D.a. What is the testimony of 
 grounds does it appear highly Tacitus and Suetonius, as to the 
 probable, from the nature of the persuasion entertained by the 
 case, that the propagation of Jews, that some advantageous 
 Christianity was attended with diffi- change was to be effected in the 
 culty and danger, as addressed to condition of their country, by the 
 the Jews. agency of a long-promised messenger 
 
 from heaven ? 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 13 
 
 was equally harsh and novel. The extending of the 
 kingdom of God to those who did not conform to the 
 law of Moses, was a notion that had never before entered 
 into the thoughts of a Jew. 
 
 The character of the new institution was, in other 
 respects also, ungrateful to Jewish habits and principles. 
 Their own religion was in a high degree technical. Even 
 
 D.éthe enlightened Jew placed a great deal of stress upon 
 the ceremonies of his law, saw in them a great deal of 
 virtue and efficacy ; the gross and vulgar had scarcely any 
 thing else ; and the hypocritical and ostentatious magni- 
 fied them above measure, as being the instruments of their 
 own reputation and influence. The Christian scheme, 
 without formally repealing the Levitical code, lowered 
 its estimation extremely. In the place of strictness and 
 zeal in performing the observances which that code 
 prescribed, or which tradition had added to it, the new 
 sect preached up faith, well-regulated affections, inward 
 purity, and moral rectitude of disposition, as the true 
 ground, on the part of the worshipper, of merit and 
 acceptance with God. This, however rational it may 
 appear, or recommending to us at present, did not by 
 any means facilitate the plan then. On the contrary, to 
 disparage those qualities which the highest characters in 
 the country valued themselves most upon, was a sure 
 way of making powerful enemies: As if the frustration 
 of the national hope was not enough, the long-esteemed 
 merit or ritual zeal and punctuality was to be decried, 
 and that by Jews preaching to Jews. 
 
 The ruling party at Jerusalem had just before crucified 
 the Founder of the religion. That is a fact which will 
 not be disputed. They, therefore, who stood forth to 
 preach the religion must necessarily reproach these rulers 
 with an execution, which they could not but represent 
 as an unjust and cruel murder. This would not render 
 their office more easy or their situation more safe. 
 
 D.é. How were the ceremonies and the hypocritical and ostenta- 
 of the law viewed by the enlight- tious? 
 ened Jew—the gross and vulgar— 
 
14 
 
 E. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 With regard to the interference of the Roman govern- 
 ment, which was then established in Judea, I should not 
 expect, that, despising as it did the religion of the 
 country, it would, if left to itself, animadvert, either with 
 much vigilance or much severity, upon the schisms and 
 controversies which arose within it. Yet there was that 
 in Christianity which might easily afford a handle of 
 accusation with a jealous government. The Christians 
 avowed an unqualified obedience to a new master. 
 They avowed also that he was the person who had been 
 foretold to the Jews under the suspected title of king. 
 The spiritual nature of this kingdom, the consistency of 
 this obedience with civil subjection, were distinctions too 
 refined to be entertained by a Roman president, who 
 viewed the business at a great distance, or through the 
 medium of very hostile representations. Our histories 
 accordingly inform us, that this was the turn which the 
 enemies of Jesus gave to his character and pretensions in 
 their remonstrances with Pontius Pilate. And Justin 
 Martyr, about a hundred years afterwards, complains 
 that the same mistake prevailed in his time: “Ye, having 
 heard that we are waiting for a kingdom, suppose, with- 
 out distinguishing, that we mean a human kingdom, 
 when in truth we speak of that which is with God.” 
 And it was undoubtedly a natural source of calumny 
 and misconstruction. 
 
 The preachers of Christianity had therefore to contend 
 with prejudice backed by power. They had to come for- 
 ward to a disappointed people, to a priesthood possessing 
 a considerable share of municipal authority, and actuated 
 by strong motives of opposition and resentment; and 
 they had to do this under a foreign government, to whose 
 favour they made no pretensions, and which was con- 
 stantly surrounded by their enemies. The well known, 
 because the experienced fate of reformers, whenever the 
 
 1, Ap. Prima, p. 16. Ed. Thirl. 
 
 E. State the peculiar feature of F. Shew the difficulty and dan- 
 Christianity, which renders it pro- ger of the position in which the 
 bable that the Roman government, preachers of Christianity were 
 established in Judea, would have placed at the time under consider- 
 interfered with it. ation. 
 
CHAP. 1] OF CHRISTIANITY. 15 
 
 reformation subverts some reigning opinion, and does not 
 proceed upon a change that has already taken place in 
 the sentiments of a country, will not allow, much less lead 
 us to suppose, that the first propagators of Christianity 
 at Jerusalem and in Judea, under the difficulties and the 
 enemies they had to contend with, and entirely destitute 
 as they were of force, authority, or protection, could 
 execute their mission with personal ease and safety. 
 
 G. Let us next enquire, 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 erclusive. It denied without reserve the 
 truth of every article of heathen mythology, the existence 
 of every object of their worship. It accepted no com- 
 promise: it admitted no comprehension. It must pre- 
 vail, if it prevailed at all, by the overthrow of every statute, 
 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 pre- 
 tensions might be discussed or asserted without question- 
 ing the reality of any others ; it was pronouncing all 
 other gods to be false, and all other worship vain. From 
 the facility with which the polytheism of ancient nations 
 admitted new objects of worship into the number of 
 the acknowledged divinities, or the patience with which 
 they might entertain proposals of this kind, we can argue 
 nothing as to their toleration of a system, or of the 
 publishers and active propagators of a system, which 
 swept away the very foundation of the existing estab- 
 lishment. 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. 
 
 G. State, fully, the ¢4vee con- tended with danger, as addressed to 
 siderations which indicate that the the heathen public. 
 preaching of Christianity was at- 
 
16 / EVIDENCES [Cnap. 1. 
 
 G.a. Secondly, it ought also to be considered, that this was 
 not the case of philosophers propounding in their books, 
 or in‘their schools, doubts concerning the truth of the 
 popular creed, or even avowing their disbelief of it. 
 These philosophers did not go about from place to place 
 to collect proselytes from amongst the common people ; 
 to form in the heart of the country societies professing 
 their tenets; to provide for the order, instruction, and 
 permanency of these societies ; nor did they enjoin their 
 followers to withdraw themselves from the public worship 
 of the temples, or refuse a compliance with rites insti- 
 tuted by the laws.' These things are what the Christians 
 did, and what the philosophers did not; and in these 
 consisted the activity and danger of the enterprise. 
 
 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 influence and instigation of interested 
 adversaries, and, in general, from the variety and warmth 
 of opinion which an errand so novel and extraordinary 
 could not fail of exciting. I can conceive that the 
 teachers of Christianity might both fear and suffer much 
 from these causes, without any general persecution being 
 denounced against them by imperial authority. Some 
 length of time, I should suppose, might pass, before the 
 vast machine of the Roman empire would be put in 
 motion, or its attention be obtained to religious con- 
 troversy ; but, during that time, a great deal of ill usage 
 might be endured, by a set of friendless, unprotected 
 travellers, telling men, wherever they came, that the 
 religion of their ancestors, the religion in which they had 
 
 1 The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus, allowed, or rather enjoined 
 men to worship the gods of the country, and in the established form. See passages to this purpose, 
 collected from their works, by Dr. Clarke, Nat. and Rev, Rel. p. 180, ed. 5—Except Socrates they 
 all thought it wiser to comply with the laws than to contend. 
 
 G.a. Shew in what respect the concerning the truth of the popular 
 conduct of the first teachers of creed: and shew also, the neces- 
 Christianity differed from that of sary result of the conduct of the 
 philosophers propounding in their Christians. 
 books, or in their schools, doubts 
 
Cwar.t] OF CHRISTIANITY. — 17 
 
 been brought up, the religion of the state, and of the 
 magistrate, the rights which they frequented, the pomp 
 which they admired, was throughout a system ‘of folly 
 and delusion. 
 
 H, Nor do I think that the teachers of Christianity 
 would find protection in that general disbelief of the 
 popular theology, which is supposed to have prevailed 
 amongst the intelligent part of the heathen public. It 
 is by no means true that unbelievers are usually tolerant. 
 They are not disposed (and why should they?) to en- 
 danger the present state of things, by suffering a religion, 
 of which they believe nothing, to be disturbed by an- 
 other, of which they believe as little. They are ready 
 themselves to conform to anything; and are, often- 
 times, amongst the foremost to procure conformity from 
 others, by any method which they think likely to be 
 efficacious. When was ever a change of religion patron- 
 ized by infidels? How little, notwithstanding the reign- 
 ing scepticism, and the magnified liberality of that age, 
 the true principles of toleration were understood by the 
 wisest men amongst them, may be gathered from two 
 eminent and uncontested examples. The younger Pliny, 
 polished as he was by all the literature of that soft and 
 elegant period, could gravely pronounce this monstrous 
 judgment :—“ Those who persisted in declaring them- 
 selves Christians, I ordered to be led away to punish- 
 ment (2.2. to execution), for I DID NOT DOUBT, whatever 
 wt was that they confessed, that contumacy and inflexible | 
 obstinacy ought to be punished.” His master, Trajan, a 
 mild and accomplished prince, went, nevertheless, no 
 further in his sentiments of moderation and equity than 
 what appears in the following rescript :— 
 
 “The Christians are not to be sought for ; but if any 
 are brought before you, and convicted, they are to be 
 punished.” And this direction he gives, after it had 
 been reported to him by his own president, that, by the 
 most strict examination, nothing could be discovered in 
 
 H. What are Paley’s reasons the popular theology, which is sup- 
 for concluding that the teachers of posed to have prevailed amongst 
 Christianity would not find pro- the intelligent part of the heathen 
 tection in that general disbelief of public? 
 
 ¢ 
 
18 EVIDENCES [CHAP. I. 
 
 the principles of these persons, but “a bad and excessive 
 superstition,” accompanied, it seems, with an oath or 
 mutual federation, “to allow themselves in no crime or 
 IL@immoral conduct whatever.” The truth is, the ancient 
 heathens considered religion entirely as an affair of 
 state, as much under the tuition of the magistrate, as 
 any other part of the police. The religion of that age 
 was not merely allied to the state ; it was incorporated 
 into it. Many of its offices were administered by the 
 magistrate. Its titles of pontiffs, augurs, and flamens, 
 were borne by senators, consuls, and generals. Without 
 discussing, therefore, the truth of the theology, they 
 resented every affront put upon the established worship, 
 as a direct opposition of the authority of government. 
 H.d Add to which, that the religious systems of those 
 times, however ill supported by evidence, had been long 
 established. The auczent religion of a country has 
 always many votaries, and sometimes not the fewer, 
 because its origin is hidden in remoteness and obscurity. 
 Men have a natural veneration for antiquity, especially 
 in matters of religion. What Tacitus says of the Jewish, 
 was more applicable to the heathen establishment :—“Hi 
 ritus, quoquo modo inducti, antiquitate defenduntur.” 
 It was also a splendid and sumptuous worship. It had 
 its priesthood, its,endowments, its temples. Statuary, 
 painting, architecture, and music, contributed their effect 
 to its ornament and magnificence. It abounded in 
 festival shows and solemnities, to which the common 
 people are greatly addicted, and which were of a nature 
 to engage them much more than anything of that sort 
 among us. ‘These things would retain great numbers 
 on its side by the fascination of spectacle and pomp, as 
 well as interest many in its preservation by the ad- 
 vantage which they drew from it. “It was moreover 
 interwoven,’ as Mr. Gibbon rightly represents it, ‘“ with 
 
 H.a. In what light did the an- from the antiquity and _ general 
 cient heathens consider religion: character of the heathen worship) 
 and in what way did they treat was it likely that the heathens would 
 every affront put upon the estab- be strongly attached to their estab- 
 lished worship ? lished religion ? 
 
 H.4. On what accounts, (arising 
 
CHAP. I] OFT CHRIS ALA LY. 1Q 
 
 every circumstance of business or pleasure, of public or 
 private life, with all the offices and amusements of 
 society.” On the due celebration also of its rites, the 
 people were taught to believe, and did believe, that the 
 prosperity of their country in a great measure depended. 
 
 H.c 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 philo- 
 sopher as equally false, and by the magistrate as equally 
 useful ;’ and I would ask from which of these three 
 classes of men were the Christian missionaries too look 
 for protection or impunity ? Could they expect it from 
 the people, “whose acknowledged confidence in the 
 public religion” they subverted from its foundation? 
 From the philosopher, who, “considering all religions as 
 equally false,’ would, of course, rank theirs among the 
 number, with the addition of regarding them as busy 
 and troublesome zealots ? Or from the magistrate, who, 
 satisfied with the “utility” of the subsisting religion, 
 would not be likely to countenance a spirit of 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 com- 
 pany of superstitious and despicable Jews. 
 
 I. 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 
 
 H.c. What is Gibbon’s account I, How does the nature of the 
 of religion, as viewed by the people, case afford a strong proof that the 
 the philosopher, and the magis- original teachers of Christianity, 
 trate: and why is it probable that in consequence of their new pro- 
 the Christian missionaries could fession, entered upon a new and 
 not look for protection or impu- singular course of life ? 
 nity from either of these classes ? 
 
 ey 
 
20 
 
 EVIDENCES — (CHAP. 1. 
 
 to in their own persons; because this is no more than 
 what every teacher of a new religion both does, and must 
 do, in order to obtain either proselytes or hearers. The 
 
 1.a 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 
 religious meetings, in celebrating the eucharist, in con- 
 ferences, in exhortations, in preaching, in an affectionate 
 intercourse with one another, and correspondence with 
 other societies. Perhaps their mode of life, in its form 
 and habit, was not very unlike the Unitas Fratrum, or 
 the modern Methodists. Think then what it was to 
 become such at Corinth, at Ephesus, at Antioch, or 
 even at Jerusalem. How new! how alien from all their 
 former habits and ideas, and from those of 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 benevolence are 
 extended to the very thoughts and affections. We arenot, 
 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 observ- 
 able part of their behaviour must have agreed in a great 
 measure with the duties which they taught. There was, 
 therefore, (which is all that we assert) a course of life 
 pursued by them, different from that which they before 
 led. And this is of great importance. Men are brought 
 to any thing almost sooner than to change their habit of 
 life, especially when the change is either inconvenient, or 
 made against the force of natural inclination, or with the 
 loss of accustomed indulgences. “It is the most difficult 
 of all things to convert men from vicious habits to 
 
 I.a. Why do we not easily esti- course of life, among the first 
 mate the change, which must have teachers of Christianity ? 
 been wrought in the _ previous 
 
CHAP, I] OF CHRISTIANITY | 21 
 
 virtuous ones, as every one may judge from what he feels 
 in himself, as well as from what he sees in others,”2 It 
 is almost like making men over again. | 
 
 K. Left then to myself, and without any more information 
 than a knowledge of the existence of the religion, of the 
 general story upon which it is founded, and that no act 
 of power, force, and authority, was concerned in its first 
 success I should conclude, from the very nature and 
 exigency of the case, that the Author of the religion 
 during his life, and his immediate disciples after his 
 death, everted themselves in spreading and publishing 
 the institution throughout the country in which it 
 began, and into which it was first carried; that, in 
 the prosecution of this purpose, they underwent the 
 labours and troubles which we observe the propagators 
 of new sects to undergo; that the attempt must 
 necessarily have also been in a high degree dangerous ; 
 that, from the subject of the mission, compared with 
 the fixed opinions and prejudices of those to whom 
 the missionaries were to address themselves, they 
 could hardly fail of encountering strong and frequent 
 opposition; that, by the hand of government, as well 
 as from the sudden fury and unbridled licence of the 
 people, they would oftentimes experience injurious and 
 cruel treatment; that, at any rate, they must have 
 always had so much to fear for their personal safety, 
 as to have passed their lives in a state of constant peril 
 and anxiety; and lastly, that their mode of life and 
 conduct, visibly at least, corresponded with the institu- 
 tion which they delivered, and, so far, was both new, 
 and required continual self denial. 
 
 1 Hartley’s Essays on Man, p. 190, 
 
 K. Possessing only a knowledge force and authority was concerned 
 of the existence of the Christian in its first success, what may be 
 religion, and of the general story concluded, from the very nature 
 upon which it is founded, and and exigency of the case? 
 knowing that no act of power, 
 
22 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The object of this Chapter ts to shew how far the testimony of 
 heathen writers, viz. TACITUS, SUETONIUS, JUVENAL, PLINY, 
 MartTIAL, Epicretus amd Marcus AvuRELIus, ¢ends to 
 support Paley’s first proposition. 
 
 Tacitus relates the punishments 
 inflicted on the Christians, in the 
 time of Nero, on a charge of setting 
 fire to Rome ; describes the death of 
 the Founder of Christianity, and the 
 progress of the ‘‘ Zernzcious supersti- 
 tion,” as it was termed ; and states 
 how these proceedings were viewed 
 by the people.—This testimony 
 proves,— 
 
 1. That the Founder was put to 
 death. 
 
 2. That in the same country in 
 which he was put to death, the 
 religion, after a short check, broke 
 out again, and spread. 
 
 3. That it so spread, as that 
 within thirty-four years after his 
 death, a great number of Christians 
 were found at Rome. 
 
 From which it is inferred that 
 the original teachers could not have 
 been idle, nor could their exertions 
 eye been without danger. [p. 28 
 
 SUETONIUS’S testimony is ‘‘ Af- 
 fecti suppliciis Christiani, genus 
 hominum superstitionis nove et 
 malefice.” [p. 25] 
 
 JUVENAL alludes to these exe- 
 cutions in Sat. i. v. 155. [p. 25] 
 
 These things, it is probable, took 
 place in the lifetime of some of the 
 
 apostles, certainly in the lifetime of 
 some of their converts. —It is argued, 
 therefore, that if the Founder, and 
 the first race of converts, were put to 
 death, it is not credible that his com- 
 panions could remain in safety. 
 
 PLINY’s testimony relates to two 
 points.—1st to the zwmdber of Chris- 
 tians in Bithynia and Pontus—for he 
 says, ‘‘Multi, omnis eetatis, utriusque 
 sextis etiam ;—neque enim civitates 
 tanttim, sed vicos etiam et agros, 
 superstitionis istius contagio per- 
 vagata est.”—2nd. to their suffer- 
 ings in consequence of anonymous 
 informations without sovereign au- 
 thority : 
 
 These two points shew— 
 
 Ist. That great exertions must 
 have been made by the Christians. 
 
 2nd. That the profession of 
 Christianity was attended with 
 danger. [p. 25—27] 
 
 MaRTIAL makes the sufferings 
 of the Christians a subject of ridi- 
 cule; and his testimony, as well as 
 Pliny’s, prove that those sufferings 
 were voluntary. [p. 27] 
 
 EPICTETUS imputes their firm- 
 ness in suffering, to madness, or 
 fashion. [p. 28] 
 
 Marcus AURELIUS attributes it 
 to obstinacy. 
 
 AFTER thus considering what was /zkely to happen, we 
 are next to inquire how the transaction is represented 
 in the several accounts that have come down to us. 
 And this inquiry is properly preceded by the other, 
 forasmuch as the reception of these accounts may de- 
 pend in part on the credibility of what they contain. 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 23 
 
 AG 
 
 The obscure and distant view of Christianity, which 
 some of the heathen writers of that age had gained, and 
 which a few passages in their remaining works inci- 
 dentally discover to us, offers itself to our notice in the 
 first place: because, so far as this evidence goes, it is 
 the concession of adversaries ; the source from which it 
 is drawn is unsuspected. Under this head, a quotation 
 
 . from Tacitus, well known to every scholar, must be 
 
 inserted, as deserving particular attention. The reader 
 will bear in mind that this passage was written about 
 seventy years after Christ’s death, and that it relates to 
 transactions which took place about thirty years after 
 that event.—Speaking of the fire which happened at 
 Rome in the time of Nero, and of the suspicions which 
 were entertained that the emperor himself was concerned 
 in causing it, the historian proceeds in his narrative and 
 observations thus :— 
 
 “But neither these exertions, nor his largesses to the 
 people, nor his offerings to the gods, did away the in- 
 famous imputation under which Nero lay, of having 
 ordered the city to be set on fire. To put an end, there- 
 fore, to this report, he laid the guilt, and inflicted the 
 most cruel punishments, upon a set of people, who were 
 holden in abhorrence for their crimes, and called by the 
 vulgar, Christians. The founder of that name was Christ, 
 who suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, under his 
 procurator, Pontius Pilate——This pernicious superstition, 
 thus checked for a while, broke out again; and spread 
 not only over Judea, where the evil originated, but 
 through Rome also, whither every thing bad upon the 
 earth finds its way and is practised. Some who con- 
 fessed their sect were first seized, and afterwards, by 
 their information, a vast multitude were apprehended, 
 who were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning 
 Rome, as of hatred to mankind. Their sufferings at 
 their execution were aggravated by insult and mockery; 
 for some were disguised in the skins of wild beasts, and 
 
 A. Why is the evidence of hea- of the well-known passage from 
 then writers, bearing on the history Tacitus, relating to the sufferings of 
 of Christianity, particularly valuable? the early Christians: and mention 
 
 Quote, or give the substance the date of the composition. 
 
24 MRE VIDENCLS. (CHAP. II. 
 
 eo 
 
 worried to death by dogs; some were crucified; and others 
 were wrapped in pitched shirts,! and set on fire when the 
 day closed, that they might serve as lights to illuminate 
 the night. Nero lent his own gardens for these executions, 
 and exhibited at the same time a mock Circensian en- 
 tertainment; being a spectator of the whole, in the dress 
 of a charioteer; sometimes mingling with the crowd on 
 foot, and sometimes viewing the spectacle from his car. 
 This conduct made the sufferers pitied; and though 
 they were criminals, and deserving the severest punish- 
 ments, 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 proposi- 
 tion which we maintain, concerning the activity and 
 sufferings of the first teachers of Christianity. Now, 
 considered in this view, it proves three things: Ist, that 
 the Founder of the institution was put to death; 2ndly, 
 that in the same country in which he was put to death, 
 the religion, after a short check, broke out again and 
 spread; 3rdly, that it so spread, as that, within thirty- 
 four years from the Author’s death, a very great number 
 of Christians (zzgens eorum multitudo) were found at 
 Rome. From which fact, the two following inferences 
 may be fairly drawn: first, that if,in the space of thirty- 
 four years from its commencement, the religion had 
 spread throughout Judea, had extended itself to Rome, 
 and there had numbered a great multitude of converts, 
 the original teachers and missionaries of the institution 
 could not have been zd/e: secondly, that when the 
 author of the undertaking was put to death asa male- 
 factor for his attempt, the endeavours of his followers to 
 establish his religion in the same country, amongst the 
 same people, and in the same age, could not but be 
 attended with danger. 
 
 1 This is rather a Crgiamsian but is justified by what the Scholiast upon Juvenal says : Nero 
 
 pe re ee oe ae apy Ai epee recy. et sic ad ignem admoveri judehbat.— 
 
 C. Considering the passage cited does it prove; and what are the 
 from Tacitus only so far as it affords inferences that may be fairly drawn 
 a presumption in support of Paley’s therefrom? 
 first proposition, what three things 
 
CHAP.-I1.] 
 
 D. 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 25 
 
 Suetonius, a writer contemporary with Tacitus, de- 
 scribing the transactions of the same reign, uses these 
 words: “Affecti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum 
 superstitionis nove et malefice.”* “The Christians, a 
 set of men of a new and mischievous (or magical) super- 
 stition, were punished.” 
 
 Since it is not mentioned “ere that the burning of the 
 city was the pretence of the punishment of the Christians, 
 or that they were the Christians of Rome who alone 
 suffered, it is probable that Suetonius refers to some 
 more general persecution than the short and occasional 
 one which Tacitus describes. 
 
 Juvenal, a writer of the same age with the two 
 former, and intending, it should seem, to commemorate 
 the cruelties exercised under Nero’s government, has the 
 following lines :’— | 
 
 Pone Tigellinum, tzeda lucebis in illa, 
 Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant, 
 Et latum media sulcum 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 speczes of punishment which they were 
 made to undergo, I think it sufficiently probable that 
 these were the executions to which the poet refers. 
 
 These things, as has already been observed, took 
 place within thirty-one years after Christ’s death, that 
 
 1 Suet. Nero, cap. 16. 2 Sat. i. ver, 155. 8 Forsan “ dedueis,” 
 
 D. Quote the evidence of Suet- 
 onius, and mention the period at 
 which he wrote.—State, also, the 
 probability that arises from his 
 silence upon certain points. 
 
 E. Give the testimony of Juve- 
 nal, and mention the age in which 
 he wrote. 
 
 F. If, in considering the above 
 passage quoted from Juvenal, by 
 
 itself, the subject of allusion ap- 
 pears doubtful, how may the doubt 
 be cleared up? 
 
 G. State how the testimony 
 gathered from Tacitus, Suetonius 
 and Juvenal, bears upon the truth 
 of the alleged sufferings of the 
 original witnesses of the Christian 
 miracles. 
 
EVIDENCES [CHAP. II. 
 
 is, according to the course of nature, in the lifetime, 
 probably, of some of the apostles, and certainly in the 
 lifetime of those who were converted by the Apostles, 
 or who were converted in their time. If, then, the 
 Founder of the religion was put to death in the execution 
 of his design ; if the first race of converts 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 toa later 
 period ; for although he was contemporary with Tacitus 
 and Suetonius, yet his account does not, like theirs, go 
 back to the transactions of Nero’s reign, but is confined 
 to the affairs of his own time. His celebrated letter to 
 Trajan was written about seventy years after Christ’s 
 death ; and the information to be drawn from it, so far 
 as it is connected with our argument, relates principally 
 to two points; first, to the xuwmber of Christians in 
 Bithynia and Pontus, which was so considerable as to 
 induce the governor of these provinces to speak of them 
 in the following terms: “Multi, omnis etatis, utriusque 
 sexts etiam ;—neque enim civitates tanttim, sed vicos 
 etiam et agros, superstitionis istius contagio pervagata 
 est.” “There are many of every age and both sexes; 
 —nor has the contagion of this superitition seized cities 
 only, but smaller towns also, and the open country.” 
 Great exertions must have been used by the preachers 
 of Christianity to produce this state of things within this 
 time. Secondly, to a point which has been already 
 noticed, and which I think of importance to be observed, 
 namely, the sufferings to which Christians were exposed, 
 without any public persecution being denounced against 
 
 H. What was about the date I. ‘To what two points does the 
 (A.D.) of the celebrated letter of information drawn from  Pliny’s 
 Pliny the younger to Trajan; with letter, principally refer; and how 
 what other writers of note was Pliny does that information bear upon 
 the younger contemporary; and to the subject of Paley’s first propo- 
 what age does his account refer ? sition ? 
 
CHAP. II.] OF “CHRIS LY. 27 
 
 them by sovereign authority. For, from Pliny’s doubt 
 how he was to act, his silence concerning any subsisting 
 law on the subject, his requesting the emperor’s rescript, 
 and the emperor, agreeably to his request, propounding 
 a rule for his direction, without reference to any prior 
 rule, it may be inferred, that there was, at that time, no 
 public edict in force against the Christians. Yet from 
 this same epistle of Pliny it appears, “that accusations, 
 trials, and examinations, were, and had been, going on 
 against them in the provinces over which he presided : 
 that schedules were delivered by anonymous informers, 
 containing the names of persons who were suspected of 
 holding or of favouring the religion; that in consequence 
 of these informations, many had been apprehended, of 
 whom some boldly avowed their profession, and died in 
 the cause; others denied that they were Christians ; 
 others acknowledging that they had once been Christians, 
 declared that they had long ceased to be such.” All 
 which demonstrates, that the profession of Christianity 
 was at that time (in that country at least) attended with 
 fear and danger: and yet this took place without any 
 edict from the Roman sovereign, commanding or 
 authorizing the persecution of Christians. This observa- 
 tion is further confirmed by a rescript of Adrian to 
 Minucius Fundanus, the proconsul of Asia :’ from which 
 rescript it appears that the custom of the people of Asia 
 was to proceed against the Christians with tumult and 
 uproar. This disorderly practice, I say, is recognised in 
 the edict, because the emperor enjoins, that, for the 
 future, if the Christians were guilty, they should be 
 legally brought to trial, and not be pursued by impor- 
 tunity and clamour. 
 
 K. Martial wrote a few years before the younger Pliny : 
 and, as his manner was, made the suffering of the 
 Christians the subject of his ridicule? Nothing, however, 
 
 1 Lard. Heath, Test. vol, ii. p. 110. 
 2 In matutina nuper spectatus arena 
 Eiyatiene fintiegas Sibh durusaue riderar 
 rami cum diester, tunica praeante molest, 
 Ure* manum plus est dicere, Non facio, 
 * Forsan “thure manum,” 
 
 K. At about what time did Martial write; and what is the testimony 
 derived from him ? 
 
28 EVIDENCES [CHAP III. 
 L. could shew 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 sufferings of 
 the Christians of this period, is also referred to by 
 Epictetus, who imputes their intrepidity to madness, or 
 to a kind of fashion or habit; and about fifty years 
 afterwards, by Marcus Aurelius, who ascribes it to 
 obstinacy. “Is it possible (Epictetus asks) that a man 
 may arrive at his temper, and become indifferent to 
 those things, from madness or from habit, as the 
 Galileans ?”" “Let this preparation of the mind (to die) 
 arise from its own judgment, and not from obstinacy, 
 like the Christians,’? 
 
 CHAP TE Raatr Ts 
 
 The object of this Chapter is to support Paley’s first proposition, 
 éy indirect evidence, of the sufferings of the propagators of 
 Christianity, from the Scriptures and other ancient Christian 
 writings. 
 
 Our Scriptures contain four histories 
 of Christ ; a subsequent history of 
 his religion for nearly thirty years 
 after his death, and a collection of 
 letters, written by principal agents in 
 the business, which, in every way, 
 attest the truth of Paley’s first pro- 
 position ; and the main features of 
 these accounts are attested by 
 Tacitus. [p. 29, 30] 
 
 The histories represent Christ as 
 foretelling the persecution of his 
 followers ; (see passages cited) we 
 must therefore conclude, either that 
 
 1 Epict. 1. iv. c. 7. 
 L. To what other point does 
 
 the testimony, both of Pliny and 
 Martial, go? 
 
 the evangelists delivered the words 
 of Christ and the event corresponded 
 with the prediction; or that they 
 put the prediction in his mouth, 
 because, when they wrote their 
 histories, the event had actually 
 happened. [p. 31] 
 
 The Scriptures abound with ex- 
 hortations to patience, and topics of 
 comfort under distress : (see passages 
 cited)—all which would have been 
 void of meaning, unless the ‘times 
 called for the exercise of such quali- 
 ties. [p. 31, 32] 
 
 2 Mare, Aur, Med. 1. xi. c. 3. 
 M. What is the evidence de- 
 
 rived from Epictetus and Marcus 
 Aurelius ? 
 
CHAP. III. ] OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 29 
 
 A. 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- 
 
 B, nexion with it. And we have these writings severally 
 attesting the point which we contend for, viz. the 
 sufferings of the witnesses of the history, and attesting it 
 in every variety of form in which it can be conceived to 
 appear: directly and indirectly, expressly and incident- 
 ally, by assertion, recital, and allusion, by narratives of 
 facts, and by arguments and discourses built upon these 
 facts, either referring to them, or necessarily presup- 
 posing them. 
 
 C: I remark this variety, because, in examining ancient 
 records, or indeed any species of testimony, it is, in my 
 opinion, of the greatest importance to attend to the 
 information or grounds of argument which are casually 
 and undesignedly disclosed ; forasmuch as this species of 
 proof is, of all others, the least liable to be corrupted by 
 fraud or misrepresentation. | 
 
 I may be allowed therefore, in the inquiry which is 
 
 A. What books have we, which C. Why does Paley remark the 
 set forth the history of the originand variety of form in which the suffer- 
 progress of Christianity ? ings of the witnesses of the history 
 
 B. To what extent do these are attested in our books ? 
 writings severally attest the suffer- 
 ings of the witnesses of the history ? 
 
30 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. III. 
 
 now before us, to suggest some conclusions of this sort, 
 as preparatory to more direct testimony. 
 
 1. Our books relate that Jesus Christ, the founder of 
 the religion, was, in consequence of his undertaking, put 
 to death, as a malefactor, at Jerusalem. This point at 
 least will be granted, because it is no more than what 
 Tacitus has recorded. They then proceed to tell us, 
 that the religion was, xotwithstanding, set forth at this 
 same city of Jerusalem, propagated thence throughout 
 Judea, and afterwards preached in other parts of the 
 Roman empire. These points also are fully confirmed 
 by Tacitus, who informs us, that the religion, after a 
 short check, broke out again in the country, where it 
 took its rise; that it not only spread throughout Judea, 
 but had reached Rome, and that it had there great 
 multitudes of converts: and all this within thirty years 
 after its commencement. Now these facts afford a 
 strong inference in behalf of the proposition which we 
 maintain. What could the disciples of Christ expect for 
 themselves, when they saw their master put to death ? 
 Could they hope to escape the dangers in which he had 
 perished? If they had persecuted me, they will also 
 persecute you, was the warning of common sense. With 
 this example before their eyes, they could not be without 
 a full sense of the peril of their future enterprise. 
 
 2. Secondly, all the histories agree in representing 
 Christ as foretelling the persecutinn of his followers :— 
 
 “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and 
 shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my 
 name’s sake.” 
 
 “When affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s 
 sake, immediately they are offended.” 
 
 “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 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 2 Mark iv.17. See also chap. x, 30. 
 
 D. What facts are recorded in ence in support of Paley’s first 
 our books, and by what writer con- proposition? 
 firmed, which afford a strong infer- E. Quote the several passages 
 
CHAP. III] 
 
 cc, 
 
 ii, 
 
 OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 31 
 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 doeth God service. And these things will they 
 do unto you, because they have not known the Father, 
 nor me. But these things have I told you, that when 
 the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you 
 of them.’” 
 
 I am not entitled to argue from these passages, that 
 Christ actually did foretell these events, and that they did 
 accordingly come to pass; because that would be at once 
 to assume the truth of the religion: but I am entitled to 
 contend, that one side or other of the following disjunc- 
 tion is true; either that the Evangelists have delivered 
 what Christ really spoke, and that the event corresponded 
 with the prediction ; or that they put the prediction into 
 Christ’s mouth, because, at the time of writing the 
 history, the event had turned out so to be: for, the only 
 two remaining suppositions appear in the highest degree 
 incredible ; which are, either that Christ filled the minds 
 of his followers with fears and apprehensions, without 
 any reason or authority for what he said, and contrary 
 to the truth of the case; or that, although Christ had 
 never foretold any such thing, and the event would have 
 contradicted him if he had, yet historians who lived in 
 the age when the event was known, falsely, as well as 
 officiously, ascribed these words to him. 
 
 3. Thirdly, these books abound with exhortations to 
 patience, and with topics of comfort under distress. 
 
 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall 
 tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or 
 
 1 Luke xxi, 12—16, See also chap, xi, 49, 2 John xiv. 4, See also chap, xv. 20: xvi. 33, 
 
 in our histories, which agree in 
 
 they accordingly did come to pass? 
 representing Christ as _foretelling 
 
 But what are we entitled to 
 
 the persecution of his followers. 
 
 F. Why are we not entitled to 
 argue, from the above passages, that 
 Christ actually did foretell the 
 events to which they refer, and that 
 
 contend on the subject, and why? 
 
 H. Quote some of the exhorta- 
 tions to patience, and topics of 
 comfort under distress, with which 
 our books abound. 
 
32 
 
 EVIDENCES _ (CHAP. III. 
 
 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 distressed ; 
 we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but 
 not forsaken: cast down, but not destroyed ; always 
 bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our 
 body ;—knowing that he which raised up the Lord 
 Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present 
 us with you.—For which cause we faint not ; but, though 
 our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed 
 day by day. For our light affliction, which is but fora 
 moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 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.” 
 
 “Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after 
 ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflic- 
 tions, partly whilst ye were made a gazing-stock both by 
 reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became 
 companions of them that were so used: for ye had 
 compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the 
 spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye 
 have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. 
 Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath 
 great recompense of reward; for ye have need of 
 patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye 
 might receive the promise.” 
 
 “So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of 
 God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions 
 and tribulations that ye endure. Which is a manifest 
 token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may 
 be counted worthy of the kingdom for which ye also 
 suffer.” 
 
 1 Rom. viii. 35—87. 
 2 2 Cor. iv. 8—10. 14. 16, 17. 3 James v. 10, 11. 4 Heb, x. 32—36. 5 2 Thess, i. 4, 5. 
 
CHAP eI] OF CHRISTIANITY. 33 
 
 “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.” 
 
 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the flery 
 trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing 
 happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are 
 partakers of Christ’s sufferings. Wherefore, let them 
 that suffer according to the will of God, commit the 
 keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto 
 a faithful Creator.’ 
 
 ie What could all these texts mean, if there was nothing 
 in the circumstances of the times which required 
 patience,—which called for the exercise of constancy and 
 
 K. resolution? Or will it be pretended, that these exhor- 
 tations (which, let it be observed, come not from one 
 author, but from many) were put in, merely to induce a 
 belief in after ages, that the Christians were exposed to 
 dangers which they were not exposed to, or underwent 
 sufferings which they did not undergo? If these books 
 belonged to the age to which they lay claim, and in 
 which age, whether genuine or spurious, they certainly 
 did appear, this supposition cannot be maintained for a 
 moment ; because I think it impossible to believe, that 
 passages, which must be deemed not only unintelligible, 
 but false, by the persons into whose hands the books 
 upon their publication were to come, should nevertheless 
 be inserted, for the purpose of producing an effect upon 
 remote generations. In forgeries which do not appear 
 till many ages after that to which they pretend to belong, 
 it is possible that some contrivance of that sort may take 
 place ; but in no others can it be attempted. 
 
 i Rom. v. 3, 4. 2 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, 19. 
 
 I. What is the real meaning of merely to induce a belief, in after 
 the exhortations to patience, found ages, that the Christians were ex- 
 in our histories ? posed to dangers which they were 
 
 K. Shew the fallacy of any sup- not exposed to, or underwent suffer- 
 position or pretence, that these ings which they did not undergo. 
 exhortations to patience were put in, 
 
 b 
 
34 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 CHAPTER. GLY. 
 
 The object of this Chapter is to support Paley’s first proposition, 
 by proof, in direct evidence, of the sufferings of the first propagators 
 of Christianity, from the Scriptures and other ancient Christian 
 
 writings. 
 
 To this end, a connected account 
 is gathered from materials dis- 
 persed over the mixed history of 
 our Scriptures—to the following 
 effect, viz. That the Founder, 
 during his life, employed himself 
 wholly in Judea and Galilee. 
 That he was assisted by twelve 
 persons, chosen from among his 
 followers, who attended upon him 
 until his death, and who were 
 commissioned by him, after his 
 own ministry should be concluded, 
 to publish his gospel to all coun- 
 tries. —That, immediately on his 
 death, (at which they were pre- 
 sent) these persons assembled at 
 Jerusalem, chose an apostle in the 
 room of one who had betrayed 
 his Master, and declared to the 
 Jews that Jesus, whom they had 
 crucified, was the Messiah, and 
 that future happiness was only to 
 be attained by believing in him. 
 That they met with some success ; 
 in consequence of which, two of 
 the twelve were imprisoned, who, 
 having been examined and dis- 
 missed, reported to their com- 
 panions what had passed, and 
 apprised them of the danger of 
 their undertaking. That they, 
 notwithstanding, persevered; and 
 that shortly after, the twelve were 
 imprisoned; and having been 
 punished, were suffered to depart : 
 but they neither quitted Jerusa- 
 lem, nor ceased preaching. That 
 the people then joined with their 
 superiors and a _ general perse- 
 cution commenced with stoning 
 one of the Christian community. 
 That such persecution drove most 
 of the new converts from Jeru- 
 
 salem—but the twelve remained.— 
 That precepts were then issued 
 by the Jews to persecute the 
 Christians in every place where 
 they had authority: and that one 
 of the most zealous of the persons 
 employed in this business (Saul), 
 became a proselyte, and so brought 
 on himself the enmity of his 
 party, and narrowly escaped with 
 life.——That, subsequently, a tem- 
 porary cessation took place—but 
 was interrupted by Herod Agrippa, 
 who beheaded one of the original 
 apostles, and attempted to put 
 another to death, who was miracu- 
 lously delivered. All which facts 
 are recorded with great particu- 
 larity, and without any attempt 
 at exaggeration. [p. 34—39.] 
 
 Our history, leaving the other 
 apostles, relates the memoirs of 
 St. Paul, who, with a companion, 
 set off from Antioch, in Syria, to 
 preach the gospel in the Lesser 
 Asia. That, after suffering various 
 persecutions on his way, at An- 
 tioch, in Pisidia, Iconium and 
 Lystra, he returned to Antioch 
 and thence to Jerusalem. [p. 41] 
 
 That, shortly after, he proceeded 
 on a second journey through Asia 
 Minor, to Ephesus, and crossing 
 the Atgean Sea, visited Philippi, 
 where he was whipped and im- 
 prisoned: then Thessalonica, where 
 the people were excited against 
 him: then Berea, where the Jews 
 raised such commotions, as obliged 
 him to escape to Athens: then 
 Corinth, where he was_ brought 
 before the Roman tribunal, but 
 dismissed, from the contempt the 
 magistrate entertained for the 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 Jewish controversies’ of which he 
 accounted Christianity to be one: 
 then to Ephesus, and so through 
 Asia Minor to Jerusalem. [p. 42— 
 
 That after this, be again visi- 
 ted Antioch, and then Ephesus, 
 passing through Asia Minor; at 
 Ephesus he nearly lost his life. 
 That he revisited Corinth; and, 
 in consequence of a conspiracy of 
 the Jews, traced his steps back 
 through Macedonia to Philippi, 
 whence he directed his course 
 to Jerusalem. That having been 
 there but a few days, he was 
 seized and threatened with tor- 
 ture, claimed his privilege as a 
 Roman citizen, and was, in con- 
 sequence, sent to Czeesarea, and 
 afterwards to Rome. That in his 
 way thither, he suffered shipwreck, 
 and on his artival continued to 
 preach the gospel, living in his 
 own hired house with a soldier to 
 guard him. [p. 44, 45.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 35 
 
 The historian is supported, in 
 these facts, by St. Paul’s own 
 letters, which correspond with the 
 history in many circumstances, 
 both with regard to his own suf- 
 ferings, and those of his fellow 
 labourers. [p. 44, 45.] 
 
 The testimony of the following 
 early converts is brought forward 
 by Paley, to support the state- 
 ments contained in our history, 
 viz.—CLEMENT mentions the suf- 
 ferings and martyrdom of Peter 
 and Paul. HErRmMAs—the general 
 sufferings of the Christians. PoLy- 
 CARP—those of the fathers, and 
 of Paul and the apostles; and 
 IGNATIUS—the contempt of death 
 which the Christians entertained. 
 [p. 46, 47] 
 
 A circular letter from the 
 Church of Smyrna is then quoted, 
 which describes the nature of a 
 persecution in those days. [p. 47, 
 48] 
 
 A. THE account of the treatment of the religion, and of the 
 
 exertions of its first preachers, as stated in our Scriptures 
 (not in a professed history of persecutions, or in the 
 connected manner in which I am about to recite it, but 
 dispersedly and occasionally, in the course of a mixed 
 general history, which circumstance alone negatives the 
 supposition of any fraudulent design), is the following :— 
 
 A.a“ That the Founder of Christianity, from the commence- 
 
 ment of his ministry to the time of his violent death, 
 employed himself wholly in publishing the institution in 
 Judea and Galilee; that, in order to assist him in this 
 purpose, he made choice out of the number of his 
 followers, of twelve persons, who might accompany him 
 as he travelled from place to place ; that, except a short 
 
 A. Give the substance of Paley’s 
 connected account of the treatment 
 of the religion, and of the exertions 
 of its first preachers, gathered from 
 the mixed general history contained 
 in our Scriptures ? 
 
 A.a. What is the substance of 
 that connected account, so far as 
 the Founder of Christianity was 
 personally engaged in it? 
 
 iS ay. 
 
36 EVIDENCES (CHAP. Iv. 
 
 absence upon a journey in which he sent them, two by 
 two, to announce his mission, and one, of a few days, 
 when they went before him to Jerusalem, these persons 
 were statedly and constantly attending upon him; that 
 they were with him at Jerusalem when he was appre- 
 hended and put to death; and that they were commis- 
 sioned by him, when his own ministry was concluded, to 
 publish his Gospel, and collect disciples to it from all 
 A.écountries of the world.” The account then proceeds to 
 state, “that, a few days after his departure, these persons, 
 with some of his relations, and some who had regularly 
 frequented their society, assembled at Jerusalem : that, 
 considering the office of preaching the religion as now 
 devolved upon them, and one of their number having 
 deserted the cause, and, repenting of his perfidy, having 
 destroyed himself, they proceeded to elect another into 
 his place, and that they were careful to make their 
 election out of the number of those who had accom- 
 panied their Master from the first to the last, in order, 
 as they alleged, that he might be a witness, together 
 with themselves, of the principal facts which they were 
 about to produce and relate concerning him ;’ that they 
 began their work at Jerusalem by publicly asserting that 
 this Jesus, whom the rulers and inhabitants of that place 
 had so lately crucified, was, in truth, the person in whom 
 all their prophecies and long expectations terminated ; 
 that he had been sent amongst them by God, and that 
 he was appointed by God, the future Judge of the human 
 species ; that all who were solicitous to secure to them- 
 selves happiness after death, ought to receive him as 
 such, and to make profession of their belief, by being 
 baptized in his name.”2 The history goes on to relate, 
 “that considerable numbers accepted this proposal, and 
 that they who did so, formed amongst themselves a 
 A.cstrict union and society ;3 that the attention of the 
 
 1 Acts i. 21, 22. 2 Acts xi. 3 Acts iv. 32. 
 
 A.d. Give an account of the A.c. State the circumstance 
 conduct of the immediate disciples which this conduct gave rise to, 
 of the Founder of the religion, and describe the behaviour of the 
 after his departure, and shew the first teachers under those circum- 
 effect of that conduct. stances. 
 
CHAP. IV.]. OF CHRISTIANITY. 37 
 
 Jewish government being soon drawn upon them, two of 
 the principal persons of the twelve, and who also had 
 lived most intimately and constantly with the Founder 
 of the religion, were seized as they were discoursing to 
 the people in the temple: that, after being kept all night 
 in prison, they were bought the next day before an 
 assembly composed of the chief persons of the Jewish 
 magistracy and priesthood; that this assembly, after 
 some consultation, found nothing, at that time, better to 
 be done towards suppressing the growth of the sect, than 
 to threaten their prisoners with punishment, if they per- 
 sisted; that these men, after expressing, in decent but 
 firm language, the obligation under which they considered 
 themselves to be, to declare what they knew, ‘to speak the 
 things which they had seen and heard,’ returned from 
 the council, and reported what had passed to their com- 
 panions ; that this report, whilst it apprised them of the 
 danger of their situation and undertaking, had no other 
 effect upon their conduct, than to produce in them a gene- 
 ral resolution to persevere, and an earnest prayer to God 
 to furnish them with assistance, and to inspire them with 
 fortitude proportioned to the increasing exigency of the 
 service.”’ Avery short time after this, we read “ that all 
 the twelve apostles were seized and cast into prison ;2 
 that being brought a second time before the Jewish Sanhe- 
 drim, they were upbraided with their disobedience to the 
 injunction which had been laid upon them, and beaten 
 for their contumacy ; that, being charged once more to 
 desist, they were suffered to depart ; that, however, they 
 neither quitted Jerusalem, nor ceased from preaching, 
 both daily in the temple, and from house to house ;? and 
 that the twelve considered themselves as so entirely and 
 exclusively devoted to this office, that they now trans- 
 ferred what may be called the temporal affairs of the 
 society to other hands.’”* 
 
 1 Acts iv, 2 Acts v. 18. 3 Acts v. 42. 
 
 4 I do not know that it has ever been insinuated, that the Christian mission in the hands of the 
 Apostles, was a scheme for making a fortune, or for getting money. But it may nevertheless be fit 
 to remark upon this passage of their history, how perfectly free they appear to have been from any 
 pecuniary or interested views whatever. The most tempting opportunity which occurred, of making 
 a gain of their converts, was by the custody and management of the public funds, when some of the 
 richer members, intending to cuntribute their fortunes to the common support of the society, sold 
 their possessions, and laid down the prices at the apostles’ feet. Yet, so insensible, or undesirous, 
 were they of the advantage which that confidence afforded, that we find they very soon disposed of 
 
38 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 A.d Hitherto the preachers of the new religion seem to have 
 had the common people on their side ; which is assigned 
 as the reason why the Jewish rulers did not, at this time, 
 
 A.ethink it prudent to proceed to greater, extremities. It 
 was not long, however, before the enemies of the insti- 
 
 ‘tution found means to represent it to the people as 
 tending to subvert their law, degrade their lawgiver, and 
 dishonour their temple.!. And these insinuations were 
 dispersed with so much success, as to induce the people 
 to join with their superiors in the stoning of a very active 
 member of the new community. 
 
 The death of this man was the signal of a general 
 persecution, the activity of which may be judged of from 
 one anecdote of the time: “As for Saul, he made havoc 
 of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men 
 and women, committed them to prison.”* This persecu- 
 tion raged at Jerusalem with so much fury, as to drive 
 most of the new converts out of the place, except the 
 twelve apostles.” The converts, thus “scattered abroad,” 
 preached the religion wherever they came; and their 
 preaching was, in effect, the preaching of the ¢ie/ve ; for 
 it was so far carried on in concert and correspondence 
 with them, that when they heard of the success of their 
 emissaries in a particular country, they sent two of their 
 number to the place, to complete and confirm the 
 mission. 
 
 Af An event now took place, of great importance in the 
 future history of the religion. The persecution* which 
 had begun at Jerusalem followed the Christians to other 
 
 the trust, by putting it into the hands, not of nominees of their own, but of stewards formerly elected 
 for the purpose by the society at large. 
 
 We may add also, that this excess of generosity, which cast private property into the public 
 stock, was so far from being required by the apostles, or imposed as a law of Christianity, that Peter 
 reminds Ananias that he had been guilty, in his behaviour, of an officious and voluntary prevarication ; 
 “for whilst,” says he, ‘‘thy estate remained unsold, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it 
 not in thine own power?” 
 
 1 Acts vi. 12. 2 Acts viii. 3. 
 3 Acts viii.1. ‘‘ And they were alt scattered abroad ;” but the term ‘‘all” is not, I think, to be 
 taken strictly as denoting more than the generality ; in like manner as in Acts ix. 35. “‘ And all that 
 
 dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.” 
 4 Acts ix. 
 
 A.d. What is the reason, which people at length induced to join in 
 has been assigned, why the Jewish the persecution, and what was the 
 rulers did not, at this time, think consequence of this? 
 it prudent to proceed to greater A.f. Describe, fully, the event 
 extremities ? of so great importance in the future 
 
 A.e. How were the common history of the religion, which took 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF. CHRISTLANIT Y, 39 
 
 cities, in which the authority of the Jewish Sanhedrim 
 over those of their own nation was allowed to be exer- 
 cised. A young man, who had signalized himself by his 
 hostility to the profession, and had procured a com- 
 mission from the council at Jerusalem to seize any con- 
 verted Jews whom he might find at Damascus, suddenly 
 became a proselyte to the religion which he was going 
 about to extirpate. The new convert not only shared, 
 on this extraordinary change, the fate of his companions, 
 but brought upon himself a double measure of enmity 
 from the party which he had left. The Jews at Damas- 
 cus, on his return to that city, watched the gates night » 
 and day, with so much diligence, that he escaped from 
 their hands only by being let down in a basket by the 
 wall. Nor did he find himself in greater safety at Jeru- 
 salem, whither he immediately repaired. Attempts 
 were there also soon set on foot to destroy him: from 
 the danger of which he was preserved by being sent 
 away to Cilicia, his native country. 
 
 A.g For some reason, not mentioned, perhaps not known, 
 but probably connected with the civil history of the 
 Jews, or with some danger’ which engrossed the public 
 attention, an intermission about this time took place in 
 the sufferings of the Christians. This happened, at the 
 most, only seven or eight, perhaps only three or four 
 years after Christ’s death. Within which period, and 
 notwithstanding that the late persecution occupied part 
 of it, churches or societies of believers, had been formed 
 in all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria; for we read that the 
 churches in these countries “had now rest, and were 
 edified, and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the 
 comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied,”’2 The 
 original preachers of the religion did not remit their la- 
 bours or activity during this season of quietness ; for we 
 find one, and he a very principal person among them, 
 of the Christians to the wttempt of Caligula to set up bis own statute in the temple of, Jertealom, and 
 
 to the consternation thereby excited in the minds of the Jewish people; which consternation for a 
 Season suspended every other contest. 
 2 Acts ix. 31. 
 
 place in the midst of the persecu- mission in the sufferings of the 
 
 tions now on foot against the Christians take place, and how was 
 
 Christians. the interval of repose employed by 
 A.g. When did the first inter- the disciples? 
 
40 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 passing throughout all quarters. We find also those who 
 had been before expelled from Jerusalem by the persecu- 
 tion which raged there, travelling as far as Phcenice, . 
 Cyprus, and Antioch ;' and, lastly, we find Jerusalem 
 again the centre of the mission, the place whither the 
 preachers returned from their several excursions, where 
 they reported the conduct and effects of their ministry, 
 where questions of public concern were canvassed and 
 
 settled, whence directions were sought, and teachers sent 
 forth. 
 
 AA ©The time of this tranquillity did not, however, con- 
 
 tinue long. Herod Agrippa, who had lately acceeded to 
 the government of Judea, “stretched forth his hand to 
 vex certain of the church.” He began his cruelty by 
 beheading one of the twelve original apostles, a kinsman 
 and constant companion of the Founder of the religion. 
 Perceiving that this execution gratified the Jews, he 
 proceeded to seize, in order to put to death, another 
 of the number,—and him, like the former, associated 
 with Christ during his life and eminently active in 
 the service since his death. This man was, however 
 delivered from prison, as the account states,? miracu- 
 lously, and made his escape from Jerusalem. 
 
 These things are related, not in the general terms 
 under which, in giving the outlines of the history, we 
 have here mentioned them, but with the utmost parti- 
 cularity of names, persons, places, and circumstances ; 
 and, what is deserving of notice, without the smallest 
 discoverable propensity in the historian to magnify the 
 fortitude, or exaggerate the sufferings of his party. 
 When they fled for their lives, he tells us. When the 
 churches had rest, he remarks it. When the people 
 took their part, he does not leave it without notice. 
 When the apostles were carried a second time before 
 the Sanhedrim, he is careful to observe that they were 
 brought without violence. When milder counsels were 
 suggested, he gives us the author of the advice, and the 
 
 1 Acts xi, 19. 2 Acts xii. 1. 3 Acts xii. 3—17. 
 
 A.h. By whom, and how, was tures of these transactions, as re- 
 this tranquility disturbed ? lated in our scriptures ? 
 B. What are the peculiar fea- 
 
Cuap. IVv.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 41 
 
 speech which contained it. When, in consequence of 
 this advice, the rulers contented themselves with threat- 
 ening the apostles, and commanding them to be beaten 
 with stripes, without urging at that time the persecution 
 further, the historian candidly and distinctly records 
 their forbearance. When, therefore, in other instances, 
 he states heavier persecutions, or actual martyrdoms, 
 it is reasonable to believe that he states them because 
 they were true, and not from any wish to aggravate, in 
 his account, the sufferings which Christians sustained, 
 or to extol, more than it deserved, their patience under 
 them. 
 
 CG: Our history now pursues a narrower path. Leaving 
 the rest of the apostles, and the original associates of 
 Christ, engaged in the propagation of the new faith, 
 (and who there is not the least reason to believe abated 
 in their diligence or courage), the narrative proceeds 
 with the separate memoirs of that eminent teacher, whose 
 extraordinary and sudden conversion to the religion, 
 and corresponding change of conduct, had before been 
 circumstantially described. This person, in conjunction 
 with another, who appeared among the earlier members 
 of the society at Jerusalem, and amongst the immediate 
 adherents! of the twelve apostles, set out from Antioch 
 upon the express business of carrying the new religion 
 through the various provinces of the lesser Asia.2, During 
 this expedition, we find that, in almost every place to 
 which they came, their persons were insulted, and their 
 lives endangered. After being expelled from Antioch 
 in Pisidia, they repaired to Iconium.2 At Iconium, an 
 attempt was made to stone them; at Lystra, whither 
 they fled from Iconium, one of them actually was 
 stoned, and drawn out of the city for dead.t These two 
 men, though not themselves original apostles, were acting 
 in connexion and conjunction with the original apostles; 
 for, after the completion of their journey, being sent on 
 a particular commission to Jerusalem, they there related 
 
 1 Acts iv. 36. 2 Acts xiii, 2. 3 Acts xiii. 51. 4 Acts xiv. 19. 
 C. Leaving the rest of the tion of the new faith, give an ac- 
 
 apostles, and the original associates count of St Paul’s first expedition. 
 of Christ, engaged in the propaga- 
 
EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 to the apostlest and elders the events and success of 
 their ministry, and were, in return, recommended by 
 them to the churches, “as men who had hazarded their 
 “lives in the cause.” 
 
 The treatment which they had experienced in the 
 first progress did not deter them from preparing for a 
 second. Upon a dispute, however, arising between 
 them, but not connected with the common subject of 
 their labours, they acted as wise and sincere men would 
 act: they did not retire in disgust from the service 
 in which they were engaged, but, each devoting his 
 endeavours to the advancement of the religion, they 
 parted from one another, and set forward upon separate 
 routes. The history goes along with one of them; and 
 the second enterprise to him was attended with the same 
 dangers and persecutions as both had met with in the 
 first. The apostle’s travels hitherto had been confined 
 
 D.ato Asia. He now crosses, for the first time, the AZgean 
 
 Sea, and carries with him, amongst others, the person 
 whose accounts supply the information we are stating 
 The first place in Greece at which he appears to have 
 stopped was Philippi in Macedonia. Here himself and 
 one of his companions was cruelly whipped, cast into 
 prison, and kept there under the most rigorous custody, 
 being thrust, whilst yet smarting with their wounds, 
 into the inner dungeon, and their feet made fast in the 
 stocks.* Notwithstanding this unequivocal specimen of 
 the usage which they had to look for in that country, 
 they went forward in the execution of their errand. 
 After passing through Amphipolis and Appollonia, they 
 came to Thessalonica; in which city, the house in which 
 they lodged was assailed by a party of their enemies, in 
 order to bring them out to the populace. And when, 
 fortunately for their preservation, they were not found 
 at home, the master of the house was dragged before 
 the magistrate for admitting them within his doors.t 
 
 1 Acts xv. 12—26, 2 Acts xvi. 11 3 Acts xvi, 33, 34, 3S. 4 Acts xvii. 1—5. 
 
 D. Describe St Paul’s second D.a. What eminent person, 
 expedition, specifying the places amongst others, did St Paul take 
 visited, and the treatment which he with him in his second expedition ? 
 met with at each. 
 
 IE EE EE EEED Ee 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 43 
 
 Their reception at the next city was something better: 
 but neither had they continued long before their turbu- 
 lent adversaries, the Jews, excited against them such 
 commotions amongst the inhabitants, as obliged the 
 apostle to make his escape by a private journey to 
 
 D.bAthens.1 The extremity of the progress was Corinth. 
 His abode in this city, for some time, seems to have 
 been without molestation. At length, however, the Jews 
 found means to stir up an insurrection against him, and 
 to bring him before the tribunal of the Roman president.? 
 
 D.cIt was to the contempt which that magistrate entertained 
 for the Jews and their controversies, of which he ac- 
 counted Christianity to be one, that our apostle owed 
 his deliverance.? 
 
 E. This indefatigable teacher, after leaving Corinth, 
 returned by Ephesus into Syria; and again visited 
 Jerusalem, and the society of Christians in that city, 
 which, as hath been repeatedly observed, still continued 
 the centre of the mission. It suited not, however, with 
 the activity of his zeal to remain long at Jerusalem. 
 We find him going thence to Antioch, and, after some 
 stay there, traversing once more the northern provinces 
 
 E.aof Asia Minor.? This progress ended at Ephesus; in 
 which city, the apostle continued in the daily exercise 
 of his ministry two years, and until his success, at 
 length, excited the apprehensions of those who were 
 interested in the support of the national worship. Their 
 clamour produced a tumult, in which he had nearly lost 
 his life.6 Undismayed, however, by the dangers to 
 which he saw himself exposed, he was driven from 
 Ephesus only to renew his labours in Greece. After 
 passing over Macedonia, he thence proceeded to his 
 former station at Corinth.? When he had formed his 
 design of returning by a direct course from Corinth into 
 
 1 Acts xvii. 13. 2 Acts xviii. 12. 3 Acts xviii. 15. 4 Acta xviii. 22. 5 Acts xviii. 23.. 
 6 Acts xix. 1, 9. 10. 7 Acts xx. 1, 2. 
 
 D.4. What was the extremity E. Describe, fully, St Paul’s 
 of St Paul’s second expedition ? third expedition. 
 
 D.c. To what did St Paul owe E.a. Where did this progress 
 his deliverance, when brought by end: and how long did Paul minis- 
 the Jews before the tribunal of the ter there? 
 
 Roman president at Corinth? 
 
EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Syria, he was compelled by a conspiracy of the Jews, 
 who were prepared to intercept him on his way, to trace 
 back his steps through Macedonia to Philippi, and 
 thence to take shipping into Asia. Along the coast of 
 Asia, he pursued his voyage with all the expedition he 
 could command, in order to reach Jerusalem against the 
 feast of Pentecost.1 His reception at Jerusalem was of 
 a piece with the usage he had experienced from the 
 Jews in other places. He had been only a few days in 
 that city, when the populace, instigated by some of his 
 old opponents in Asia, who attended this feast, seized 
 him in the temple, forced him out of it, and were ready 
 immediately to have destroyed him, had not the sudden 
 presence of the Roman guard rescued him out of their 
 
 E.dhands.? The officer, however, who had thus seasonably 
 
 interposed, acted from his care of the public peace, with 
 the preservation of which he was charged, and not from 
 any favour to the apostle, or indeed any disposition. to 
 exercise either justice or humanity towards him ; for he 
 had no sooner secured his person in the fortress, than he 
 was proceeding to examine him by torture.® 
 
 From this time to the conclusion of the history, the 
 apostle remains in public custody of the Roman govern- 
 ment. After escaping assassination by a fortunate 
 discovery of the plot, and delivering himself from the 
 influence of his enemies by an appeal to the audience 
 of the emperor,’ he was sent, but not until he had 
 suffered two years imprisonment, to Rome.® He reached 
 Italy, after a tedious voyage, and after encountering in 
 his passage the perils of a desperate shipwreck.® But 
 although still a prisoner, and his fate still depending, 
 neither the various and long continued sufferings which 
 he had undergone, nor the danger of his present 
 situation, deterred him from persisting in preaching the 
 
 1 Acts xx. 16, 2 Acta xxi. 27—33. 3 Acts xxii. 24, 4 Acts xxv. 9.11, 
 5 Acts xxiv. 27, 6 Acts xxvii. 
 
 E.d. From what motive did the after circumstance evinces that 
 officer of the Roman guard at motive? 
 Jerusalem interpose, when St Paul’s F. Give the concluding history 
 life was in danger from the vio- of St Paul, subsequent to his second 
 lence of the Jews: and what return to Jerusalem. 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 45 
 
 religion ; for the historian closes the account by telling 
 us, that, for two years, he received all that came unto 
 him in his own hired house, where he was permitted to 
 dwell with a soldier that guarded him, “ preaching the 
 kingdom of God, and teaching those things which con- 
 cern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence.” 
 
 G. Now the historian, from whom we have drawn this 
 account, in the part of his narrative which relates to St 
 Paul, is supported by the strongest corroborating testi- 
 mony that a history can receive. We are in possession 
 of letters written by St Paul himself upon the subject of 
 his ministry, and either written during the period which 
 the history comprises, or, if written afterwards, reciting, 
 and referring to the transactions of that period. These 
 letters, without borrowing from the history, or the 
 history from them, unintentionally confirm the account 
 which the history delivers, in a great variety of particu- 
 lars. What belongs to our present purpose is, the 
 description exhibited of the apostles sufferings: and the 
 representation, given in the history, of the dangers and 
 distresses which he underwent, not only agrees, in 
 general, with the language which he himself uses when 
 ever he speaks of his life or ministry, but is also, in many 
 instances, attested by a specific correspondency of time, 
 place, and order of events. If the historian put down 
 in his narrarive, that at Philippi the apostle, “was 
 beaten with many stripes, cast into prison, and there 
 treated with rigour and indignity ;”! we find him, in a 
 letter to a neighbouring church,” reminding his converts, 
 that “after he had suffered before, and was shamefully 
 entreated at Philippi, he was bold, nevertheless, to speak 
 unto them (to whose city he next came) the Gospel of 
 God.” If the history relate,* that, at Thessalonica, the 
 house in which the apostle was lodged, when he first 
 came to that place, was assaulted by the populace, and 
 the master of it dragged before the magistrate for ad- 
 
 1 Acts xvi, 23, 24, 2 I Thess, ii, 2. 3 Acts xvii. 5. 
 
 G. State, fully, the nature and foregoing accounts is supported, in 
 extent of the corroborating testi- that part of his narrative which 
 mony, by which the historians of the relates to St Paul. 
 
46 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 mitting such a guest within his doors ; the apostle, in 
 his letter to the Christians of Thessalonica, calls to their 
 remembrance “how they had received the Gospel in 
 much affliction.” If the history deliver an account of 
 an insurrection at Ephesus, which had nearly cost the 
 apostle his life; we have the apostle himself, in a letter 
 written a short time after his departure from that city, 
 describing his despair, and returning thanks for his 
 deliverance. If the history inform us, that the apostle 
 was expelled from Antioch in Pisidia, attempted to be 
 stoned at Iconium, and actually stoned at Lystra; there 
 is preserved a letter from him toa favourite convert, 
 whom, as the same history tells us, he first met with in 
 these parts ; in which letter he appeals to that disciple’s 
 knowledge “of the persecutions which befell him at 
 Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.? Ifthe history make 
 the apostle, in his speech to the Ephesian elders, remind 
 them, as one proof of the disinterestedness of his views, 
 that, to their knowledge, he had supplied his own and the 
 necessities of his companions by personal labour ;* we 
 find the same apostle, in a letter written during his 
 residence at Ephesus, asserting of himself, “that even 
 to that hour he laboured, working with his own hands.” 
 
 These coincidences, together with many relative to 
 other parts of the apostle’s history, and a// drawn from 
 independent sources, not only confirm the truth of the 
 account, in the particular points as to which they are 
 observed, but add much to the credit of the narrative 
 in all its parts; and support the author’s profession of 
 being a contemporary of the person whose history he 
 writes, and, throughout a material portion of his narra- 
 tive, a companion. 
 
 What the epistles of the apostles declare of the 
 suffering state of Christianity, the writings which remain 
 of their companions and immediate followers expressly 
 confirm. 
 
 I1 Thess, i. 6. 2 Acts xix. II Cor, i. 8—10. 3 Acts xiii. 50: xiv, 5.19, II Tim. iii. 10,11. 
 4 Acts xx. 34. BE Coraiy.:11, 12. 
 
 H. What important point, also, history and the letters of St Paul 
 do the coincidences between the support? 
 
CHAP. IV.] OLMOMRISTLANLT. Y, 47 
 
 I. Clement, who is honourably mentioned by St Paul 
 in his epistle to the Philippians,! hath left us his attes- 
 tation to this point, in the following words: “Let us 
 
 Iatake (says he) the examples of our own age. Through 
 zeal and envy, the most faithful and righteous pillars of 
 the Church have been persecuted, even to the most 
 grievous deaths. Let us set before our eyes che holy 
 apostles. Peter, by unjust envy, underwent, not one or 
 two, but many sufferings ; till, at last, being martyred, 
 he went to the place of glory that was due unto him. 
 For the same cause did Paul, in like manner, receive 
 the reward of his patience. Seven times he was in 
 bonds ; he was whipped, was stoned ; he preached both 
 in the East, and in the West, leaving behind him the 
 glorious report of his faith ; and so having taught the 
 whole world righteousness, and for that end travelled 
 even unto the utmost bounds of the West, he at last 
 suffered martyrdom by the command of the governors, 
 and departed out of the world, and went unto his holy 
 place, being become a most eminent pattern of patience 
 unto all ages. To these holy apostles were joined a 
 very great number of others, who, having through envy 
 undergone, in like manner, many pains and torments, 
 have left a glorious example to us. For this, not only 
 men, but women, have been persecuted; and having 
 suffered very grievous and cruel punishments, have 
 finished the course of their faith with firmness.”2 
 
 1.6 Hermas, saluted by St Paul in his epistle to the 
 Romans, in a piece very little connected with historical 
 recitals, thus speaks: “Such as have believed and 
 suffered death for the name of Christ, and have endured 
 with a ready mind, and have given up their lives with 
 all their hearts.’ 
 
 I.c Polycarp, the disciple of John (though all that 
 remains of his works bea very short epistle), has not 
 
 I Phil. iv. 3 2 Clem, ad Cor. c. v. vi. Abp, Wake’s Transl. 3 Shepherd of Hermas, c. xxviii. 
 
 I. Name the fathers of the I.a. Quote the testimony of 
 Church, whose writings confirm Clement. 
 what the epistles of the apostles I.d. Quote the remark of Her- 
 declare of the suffering state of mas. 
 Christianity ; and mention the period I.c. Give the testimony of Poly- 
 
 at which they lived. carp. 
 
48 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IV. 
 
 left this subject unnoticed. ‘I exhort (says he) all of 
 you, that ye obey the word of righteousness, and exercise 
 all patience, which ye have seen set forth before your 
 eyes, not only in the blessed Ignatius, and Lorimus, and 
 Rufus, but in others among yourselves, and in Paul 
 himself and the rest of the apostles ; being confident in 
 this, that all these have not run in vain, but in faith and 
 righteousness ; and are gone to the place that was due 
 to them from the Lord, with whom also they suffered. 
 For they loved not this present world, but Him who 
 died, and was raised again by God for us.”? 
 
 td Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, recognizes 
 
 the same topic, briefly indeed, but positively and pre- 
 cisely. “For this cause (ze. having felt and handled 
 Christ’s body after his resurrection, and being convinced, 
 as Ignatius expresses it both by his flesh and spirit), 
 they (ze. Peter, and those who were present with Peter 
 at Christ’s appearance), despised death, and were found 
 to be above it.” 
 
 Would the reader know what a persecution in these 
 days was, I would refer him toa circular letter, written 
 by the Church of Smyrna soon after the death of Poly- 
 carp, who, it will be rembered, had lived with St 
 John; and which letter is entitled a relation of that 
 Bishop’s martyrdom. “The sufferings (say they) of all 
 the other martyrs were blessed and generous, which 
 they underwent according to the will of God. For so 
 it becomes us, who are more religious than others, to 
 ascribe the power and ordering of all things unto him. 
 And indeed who can choose but admire the greatness 
 of their minds, and that admirable patience and love 
 of their Master, which then appeared in them? who, 
 when they were so flayed with whipping, that the frame 
 and structure of their bodies were laid open to their very 
 inward veins and arteries, nevertheless endured it. In 
 
 1 Pol. ad Phil. c. ix. 2 19 Ep. Smyr. ec. iii. 
 
 I.d. In what language does cution in the days of the apostles, 
 Ignatius briefly recognize the same as gathered from a circular letter 
 topic? written by the Church of Smyrna, 
 
 K. State the nature of a perse- soon after the death of Polycarp. 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 49 
 
 like manner, those who were condemned to the beasts, 
 and kept a long time in prison, underwent many cruel 
 torments, being forced to lie upon sharp spikes laid 
 under their bodies, and tormented with divers other sorts 
 of punishments ; that so, if it were possible, the tyrant, 
 by the length of their sufferings, might have brought 
 
 them to deny Christ.”? 
 
 CHAPTER . V. 
 
 This Chapter contains an application of the scriptural evidence, 
 detailed in the last chapter, to the proof of Faley’s first propo- 
 
 sition. 
 
 It is first noticed that the Scripture 
 history, though mainly treating of 
 the proceedings of ome principal 
 apostle, yet shews the nature of the 
 service, and the great probability of 
 general danger: besides—the prin- 
 cipal apostle, in his letters, refers 
 to the sufferings of others, as well as 
 his own ; and the former part of the 
 history gives a short sketch of the 
 seizure and imprisonment of two 
 others : afterwards, of the stoning of 
 Stephen, and the beheading of John. 
 [peje fe 
 
 No credit is taken, at present, 
 for the #zzxaculous part of the history, 
 nor for the ccrrectness of single 
 passages ; but only for the general 
 facts of the case. [p. 50, 51] 
 
 The author then argues, that the 
 reality of the history is considerably 
 confirmed by the consideration, that 
 
 it does no more than assign adequate 
 causes for effects really produced ; 
 and shews that the details agree with 
 what might be expected, from the 
 nature of the undertaking, viewed in 
 comparison with the character of the 
 age and country in which it was 
 carried on. [p. 51, 52] 
 
 He then shews, by quotations 
 from the records before us, that they 
 afford evidence that, together with 
 activity and courage in propagating 
 the religion, the primitive followers 
 of Jesus assumed, upon their con- 
 version, a new and peculiar course 
 of private life. [p. 53] 
 
 It is also further shewn, by the 
 testimony of Pliny, that a morality, 
 more pure and strict than was 
 ordinary, prevailed at that time in 
 Christian societies. {p. 54] 
 
 ON the history, of which the last chapter contains an 
 abstract, there are a few observations which it may be 
 proper to make, by way of applying its testimony to the 
 particular propositions for which we contend. 
 
 I. Although our Scripture history leaves the general 
 account of the apostles in an early part of the narrative, 
 
 1 Rel. Mor, Pol. c, ii 
 
 _ A. Show how the Scripture 
 history manifests, ixdirectly, by its 
 separate account of one particular 
 
 apostle, and directly, by other evi- 
 dence, the mature of the service, 
 with respect to the other apostles. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP.Y. 
 
 and proceeds with the separate account of one particular 
 apostle, yet the information which it delivers so far 
 extends to the rest, as it shews the nature of the service. 
 When we see one apostle suffering persecution in the 
 discharge of his commission, we shall not believe, with- 
 out evidence, that the same office could, at the same time, 
 be attended with ease and safety to others. And this 
 fair and reasonable inference is confirmed by the direct 
 attestation of the letters, to which we have so often 
 referred. The writer of these letters not only alludes, in 
 numerous passages, to his own sufferings, but speaks of 
 the rest of the apostles as enduring like sufferings with 
 himself. “I think that God hath set forth ws, the apostles, 
 last, as it were, appointed to death; for we are made a 
 spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men :— 
 even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, 
 and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain 
 dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: 
 being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer it ; 
 being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of 
 the world, and as the offscouring of all things unto this 
 day.”! Add to which, that in the short account that is 
 given of the other apostles in the former part of the 
 history, and within the short period which that account 
 comprises, we find, first, two of them seized, imprisoned, 
 brought before the Sanhedrim, and threatened with further 
 punishment:? then, the whole number imprisoned and 
 beaten :3 soon afterwards, one of their adherents stoned 
 to death, and so hot a persecution raised against the sect, 
 as to drive most of them out of the place; a short time 
 only succeeding, before one of the twelve was beheaded, 
 and another sentenced to the same fate; and all this 
 passing in the single city of Jerusalem, and within ten 
 years after the Founder’s death, and the commencement 
 of the institution. 
 
 II. We take no credit, at present, for the miraculous 
 part of the narrative, nor do we insist upon the correct- 
 
 1 1 Cor. iv. 9. et seg. 2 Acts iv. 3. 21. 3 Acts v. 18. 40. 
 B. Takiug no credit for the correctness of single passages of 
 
 miraculous part of the Christian it,—upon what supposition, from 
 narrative, and not insisting on the the evidence in our hands, may we 
 
CHAP. V.] OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 51 
 ness of single passages of it. Ifthe whole story be not 
 a novel, a romance; the whole action a dream; if Peter, 
 and James, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles 
 mentioned in the account, be not all imaginary persons; 
 if their letters be not all forgeries, and, what is more, 
 forgeries of names and characters which never existed ; 
 then is there evidence in our hands sufficient to support 
 the only fact we contend for (and which, I repeat again, 
 is, in itself, highly probable), that the original followers of 
 Jesus Christ exerted great endeavours to propagate his 
 religion, and underwent great labours, dangers, and 
 sufferings, in consequence of their undertaking. 
 
 G. III. The general reality of the apostolic history is 
 strongly confirmed by the consideration, that it, in truth, 
 does no more than assign adequate causes for effects 
 which certainly were produced, and describeconsequences 
 naturally resulting from situations which certainly 
 existed. The effects were certainly those of which this 
 history sets forth the cause, and origin, and progress. 
 It is acknowledged on all hands, because it is recorded 
 by other testimony than that of the Christians themselves, 
 that the religion began to prevail at that time, and in 
 that country. It is very difficult to conceive how it could 
 begin, or prevail at all, without the exertions of the 
 Founder and his followers, in propagating the new 
 persuasion. The history now in our hands describes 
 these exertions, the persons employed, the means and 
 endeavours made use of, and the labours undertaken in 
 the prosecution of this purpose. Again, the treatment 
 which the history represents the first propagators of the 
 religion to have experienced, was no other than what 
 naturally resulted from the situation in which they were 
 confessedly placed. It is admitted that the religion was 
 adverse, in a great degree, to the reigning opinions, and 
 
 Support the fact, that the original 
 followers of Jesus Christ exerted 
 great endeavours to propagate his 
 religion, and underwent great 
 labours, dangers, and sufferings, in 
 consequence of their undertaking ? 
 C. Illustrate Paley’s observa- 
 tion, that *‘the general reality of the 
 
 apostolic history is strongly confirmed 
 by the consideration, that it, in 
 troth, does no more than assign 
 adequate causes for effects which 
 certainly were produced, and describe 
 consequences naturally resulting from 
 situations which certainly existed.” 
 
 E,2 
 
52 EVIDENCES [CHAP. V. 
 
 to the hopes and wishes of the nation to which it was 
 first introduced ; and that it overthrew, so far as it was 
 received, the established theology and worship of every 
 other country. We cannot feel much reluctance in 
 believing, that, when the messengers of such a system 
 went about not only publishing their opinions, but 
 collecting proselytes, and forming regular societies of 
 proselytes, they should meet with opposition in their 
 attempts, or that this opposition should sometimes 
 proceed to fatal extremities. Our history details 
 examples of this opposition, and of the sufferings and 
 dangers which the emissaries of the religion underwent, 
 perfectly agreeableto what might reasonably be expected, 
 from the nature of their undertaking, compared with the 
 character of the age and country in which it was carried 
 on. 
 IV. The records before us supply evidence of what 
 formed another member of our general proposition, and 
 what, as hath already been observed, is highly probable, 
 and almost a necessary consequence of their new pro- 
 fession, viz. that, together with activity and courage in 
 propagating the religion, the primitive followers of Jesus 
 assumed, upon their conversion, a new and _ peculiar 
 course of private life. Immediately after their Master 
 was withdrawn from them, we hear of their “continuing 
 with one accord in prayer and supplication” of their 
 “continuing daily with one accord in the temple,” of 
 “many being gathered together praying.”? We know 
 what strict injunctions were laid upon the converts by 
 their teachers. Wherever they came, the first word of 
 their preaching was, “Repent!” We know that these 
 injunctions obliged them to refrain from many species of 
 licentiousness, which were not, at that time, reputed 
 criminal. We know the rules of purity, and the maxims 
 of benevolence, which Christians read in their books ; 
 concerning which rules, it is enough to observe, that, if 
 
 1 Acts i. 14. 2 Acts ii, 46. 3 Acts xii. 12. 
 
 D. State the evidence supplied the primitive followers of Jesus 
 by the records before us, shewing, assumed, upon their conversion, a 
 that together with activity and new and peculiar course of life. 
 courage, in propagating the religion, 
 
CHAP. V.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 53 
 
 they were, I will not say completely obeyed, but in any 
 degree regarded, they would produce a system of con- 
 duct, and, what is more difficult to preserve, a disposi- 
 tion of mind, and a regulation of affections, different from 
 any thing to which they had hitherto been accustomed, 
 and different from what they would see in others. The 
 D.achange and distinctions of manners, which resulted from 
 their new character, is perpetually referred to in the 
 letters of their teachers. “ And you hath he quickened, 
 who were dead in tresspasses and sins, wherein in z2mes 
 past ye walked, according to the course of this world, 
 according to the prince of the power of the air, the 
 spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ; 
 among whom also we all had our conversation in times 
 past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the 
 flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children 
 of wrath, even as others.”! “For the time past of our 
 “ife may suffice us to have wrought the will of the 
 Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess 
 of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idol- 
 atries ; wherein they think tt strange that ye run not with 
 them to the same excess of riot?’ St Paul, in his first 
 letter to the Corinthians, after enumerating, as his 
 manner was, a catalogue of vicious characters, adds, 
 “Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but yeare 
 sanctified.”* In like manner, and alluding to the same 
 change of practices and sentiments, he asks the Roman 
 Christians, “ what fruit they had in those things, whereof 
 they are zow ashamed?” The phrases which the same 
 writer employs to describe the moral condition of Christ- 
 ians, “compared with their condition before they became 
 Christians, such as “newness of life,” being “freed from 
 sin,” being “dead to sin;”’ “the destruction of the body 
 of sin, that, for the future, they should not serve sin ’” 
 “children of light and of the day,” as opposed to 
 
 1 Eph, ii. 1—3. See also Tit. iii, 3. 2 1 Pet. iv. 3, 4. 3 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
 4 Rom. vi. 21 
 
 D.a. Quote some of the phrases, followers of Jesus, is perpetually 
 in which the change and distinction referred to in the letters of their 
 of manners, which resulted from the _ teachers. 
 new character of the original 
 
54 
 
 EVIDENCES — [CHAP. V. 
 
 «children of darkness and of the night ;’ “not sleeping 
 as others ;” imply at least, a new system of obligation, 
 and, probably, a new series of conduct, commencing 
 with their conversion. 
 
 The testimony which Pliny bears to the behaviour of 
 the new sect in his time, and which testimony comes not 
 more than fifty years after that of St Paul, is very 
 applicable to the subject under consideration. The 
 character which this writer gives of the Christians of 
 that age, and which was drawn from a pretty accurate 
 inquiry, because he considered their moral principles as 
 the point in which the magistrate was interested, is as 
 follows :—He tells the emperor, “that some of those 
 who had relinquished the society, or who, to save them- 
 selves, pretended that they had relinquished it, affirmed 
 that they were wont to meet together, on a stated day, 
 before it was light, and sang among themselves alter- 
 nately a hymn to Christ as a god ; and to bind them- 
 selves by an oath, not to the commission of any wicked- 
 ness, but that they would not be guilty of theft, or 
 robbery, or adultery; that they would never falsify their 
 word, or deny a pledge committed to them, when called — 
 upon to return it.” This proves that a morality, more 
 pure and strict than was ordinary, prevailed at that time 
 
 _ in Christian societies. And to me it appears, that we 
 
 are authorized to carry this testimony back to the age 
 of the Apostles; because it is not probable that the 
 immediate hearers and disciples of Christ were more 
 relaxed than their successors in Pliny’s time, or the 
 missionaries of the religion, than those whom they taught. 
 
 E. What is the nature and era F. Why does Paley consider 
 of Pliny’s testimony, with regard to that we are authorized to carry back 
 the conduct of the first Christians, Pliny’s testimony to the age of the 
 and what does that testimony prove? apostles? 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 OF COARISTIANIT Y. 
 
 55 
 
 CHAPTER VA. 
 
 The object of this Chapter is to shew that the story for which 
 the first propagators of Christianity suffered, was a mira- 
 
 culous one. 
 
 The author begins by briefly re- 
 capitulating, under eight heads, the 
 inferences drawn in the preceding 
 chapters; from all which he con- 
 cludes, that, at the time in question, 
 a number of persons publicly ad- 
 vanced (at the least) an extraordinary 
 story, and exerted themselves greatly, 
 and voluntarily suffered much for the 
 sake of propagating a belief of that 
 story ; and from a persuasion of its 
 truth, entered upon a new course of 
 life. [p. 55, 56] 
 
 It is then shewn, from the clear 
 and acknowledged parts of the case, 
 that the story was not only extra- 
 ordinary, but #zraculous ; for, these 
 persons had nothing but miraculous 
 
 evidence to stand on in supporting 
 the claim of Jesus of Nazareth to the 
 Messiahship ; inasmuch as the hum- 
 ble externals of his birth and condi- 
 tion seemed directly opposed to such 
 a claim. And further, all debates 
 and arguments which arose on the 
 subject must have had miraculous 
 pretensions at the bottom of them ; 
 for, without such being recognised, 
 no debate or argument could have 
 
 arisen. [p. 56, 57] 
 
 It is also inferred, that the ori- 
 ginal story was miraculous, from the 
 miraculous powers which were laid 
 claim to by Christians of succeeding 
 
 ages. [p. 58, 59] 
 
 A. WHEN we consider, first, the prevalency of the reli- 
 gion at this hour; secondly, the only credible account 
 which can be given of its origin, viz. the activity of the 
 Founder and his associates; thirdly, the opposition which 
 that activity must naturally have excited; fourthly, the 
 fate of the Founder of the religion, attested by heathen 
 writers, as well as our own; fifthly, the testimony of 
 the same writers to the sufferings of Christians, either 
 contemporary with, or immediately succeeding, the 
 original settlers of the institution ; sixthly, predictions 
 of the sufferings of his followers ascribed to the Founder 
 
 _ of the religion, which ascription alone proves, either that 
 such predictions were delivered and fulfilled, or that the 
 writers of Christ’s life were induced by the event to 
 attribute such predictions to him; seventhly, letters now 
 
 A. What are the ezght consider- vancing an extraordinary story ; and 
 ations, which shew that a number of propagating a belief of it, by en- 
 persons, at the time in question, during labours and persecution ? 
 appeared in the world, publicly ad- 
 
EVIDENCES [CHAP. VI. 
 
 in our possession, written by some of the principal agents 
 in the transaction, referring expressly to extreme labours, 
 dangers, and sufferings, sustained by themselves and 
 their companions; lastly, a history purporting to be 
 written by a fellow-traveller of one of the new teachers, 
 and, by its unsophisticated correspondency with letters 
 of that person still extant, proving itself to be written 
 by some one well acquainted with the subject of the 
 narrative, which history contains accounts of travels, 
 persecutions and martyrdoms, answering to what the 
 former reasons lead us to expect: when we lay together 
 these considerations, which, taken separately, are, I think, 
 correctly such as I have stated them in the preceding 
 chapters, there cannot much doubt remain upon our 
 minds, but that a number of persons at that time ap- 
 peared in the world, publicly advancing an extraordinary 
 story, and, for the sake of propagating the belief of that 
 story, voluntarily incurring great personal dangers, traver- 
 sing seas and kingdoms exerting great industry, and sus- 
 taining great extremities of ill usage and persecution. 
 It is also proved, that the same persons, in consequence 
 of their persuasion, or pretended persuasion, of the truth 
 of what they asserted, entered upon a course of life 
 in many respects néw and singular. 
 
 From the clear and acknowledged part of the case, I 
 think it to be likewise in the highest degree probable, 
 that the story, for which these persons voluntarily ex- 
 posed themselves to the fatigues and hardships which 
 they endured, was a miraculous story; I mean, that they 
 pretended to miraculous evidence of some kind or other. 
 They had nothing else to stand upon. The designation 
 of the person, that is to say, that Jesus of Nazareth, 
 rather than any other person, was the Messiah, and as 
 such the subject of their ministry, could only be founded 
 upon supernatural tokens attributed to him. Here were 
 no victories, no conquests, no revolutions, no surprising 
 
 B. Shew the probability, from the primary question, miraculous 
 the clear and acknowledged parts of pretensions, and miraculous preten- 
 the case, that the story of the first sions alone, were what they had to 
 propagators of Christianity must rely on? 
 have been mzraculous; and that, in 
 
 ls 
 
CHAP. VI.] OM CHRISILAN ITY: oy 
 
 elevation of fortune, no achievements of valour, of 
 strength, or of policy, to appeal to; no discoveries in 
 any art or science, no great efforts of genius or learning 
 to produce. A Galilean peasant was announced to the 
 world as a divine lawgiver. A young man of mean 
 condition, of a private and simple life, and who had 
 wrought no deliverence for the Jewish nation, was de- 
 clared to be their Messiah. This, without ascribing to 
 him at the same time some proofs of his mission, (and 
 what other but supernatural proofs could there be ?) was 
 too absurd a claim to be either imagined, or attempted, 
 or credited. In whatever degree, or in whatever part, 
 the religion was argumentative, when it came to the 
 question, “Is the carpenter’s son of Nazareth the person 
 whom we are to receive and obey?” there was nothing 
 but the miracles attributed to him, by which his pre- 
 tensions could be maintained for a moment. Every 
 controversy and every question must presuppose these: 
 B.afor however such controversies, when they did arise, 
 might, and naturally would, be discussed upon their own 
 grounds of argumentation, without citing the miraculous 
 evidence which had been asserted to attend the Founder 
 of the religion (which would have been to enter upon 
 another, and a more general question), yet we are to 
 _ bear in mind, that without previously supposing the ex- 
 istence, or the pretence of such evidence, there could 
 have been no place for the discussion of the argument at 
 all. Thus, for example, whether the prophecies, which 
 the Jews interpreted to belong to the Messiah, were, or 
 were not, applicable to the history of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 was a natural subject of debate in those times; and the 
 debate would proceed, without recurring at every turn 
 to his miracles, becauses it set out with supposing these ; 
 inasmuch as without miraculous marks and tokens (real 
 or pretended), or without some such great change 
 effected by his means in the public condition of the 
 country, as might have satisfied the then received inter- 
 
 B.a. Why must every contro- have presupposed the existence of 
 versy and every question which miraculous evidence ? 
 arose upon the pretensions of Jesus, 
 
58 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VL 
 
 pretation of these prophecies, I do not see how the 
 question could ever have been entertained. Apollos, 
 we read, “mightily convinced the Jews, shewing by the 
 Scriptures that Jesus was Christ ;”’ but unless Jesus had 
 exhibited some distinction of his person, some proof of 
 supernatural power, the argument from the old Scriptures 
 could have had no place. It had nothing to attach upon. 
 A young man calling himself the Son of God, gathering 
 a crowd about him, and delivering to them lectures of 
 morality, could not have excited so much as a doubt 
 among the Jews, whether he was the object in whom a 
 long series of ancient prophecies terminated, from the 
 completion of which they had formed such magnificent 
 expectations, and expectations of a nature so opposite 
 to what appeared ;—I mean, no such doubt could exist 
 when they had the whole case before them, when they 
 saw him put to death for his officiousness, and when, by 
 his death, the evidence concerning him was closed. 
 Again, the effect of the Messiah’s coming, supposing 
 Jesus to have been he, upon Jews, upon Gentiles, upon 
 their relation to each other, upon their acceptance with 
 God, upon their duties and their expectations ; his 
 nature, authority, office, and agency; were likely to 
 become subjects of much consideration with the early 
 votaries of the religion, and to occupy their attention 
 and writings. I should not however expect, that in 
 these disquisitions, whether preserved in the form of 
 letters, speeches, or set treatises, frequent or very direct 
 mention of his miracles would occur. Still, miraculous 
 evidence lay at the bottom of the argument. In the 
 primary question, miraculous pretensions, and miracu- 
 lous pretensions alone, were what they had to rely 
 upon. 
 
 That the original story was miraculous, is very fairly 
 also inferred from the miraculous powers which were 
 laid claim to by the Christians of succeeding ages. If 
 the accounts of these miracles be true, it was a con- 
 
 1 Acts xviii. 28, 
 
 C. What may be fairly inferred tians of succeeding ages; and how 
 from the miraculous powers which is that inference supported ? 
 were laid claim to by the Chris- 
 
CHAP. VII.] OF CHRISTIANIL Y. 
 
 59 
 tinuation of the same powers; if they be false, it was 
 an zmitation, I will not say, of what had been wrought, 
 but of what had been reported to have been wrought, by 
 those who preceded them. That imitation should follow 
 reality, fiction should be grafted upon truth; that, if 
 miracles were performed at first, miracles should be 
 pretended afterwards: agrees so well with the ordinary 
 course of human affairs, that we can have no great 
 difficulty in believing it. The contrary supposition is 
 very improbable, namely, that miracles should be 
 pretended to by the followers of the Apostles and first 
 emissaries of the religion, when none were pretended to, 
 either in their own persons or that of their Master, by 
 
 these Apostles and emissaries themselves. 
 
 CHAPTER Vit 
 
 The object of this Chapter is to exhibit proofs, from indirect con- 
 siderations, that the miraculous story, for which the first 
 propagators of Christianity suffered, ts, in the main, the same 
 
 story which we now have. 
 
 And these considerations are prior 
 
 to any inquiry into the particular reasons and testimony, by 
 which the authenticity of our histories 1s supported. 
 
 The author first remarks, that there 
 exists no vestige of any other story ; 
 and that the incidental notices found 
 in the heathen writers, so far as they 
 do go, go with us, both in regard to 
 the general facts of the case, and 
 the manners assumed by the early 
 Christians. [p. 61, 62] 
 
 That the Jewish writers, what- 
 ever they omit, or whatever difficul- 
 ties we may find in explaining the 
 omission, advance no other history 
 of the transaction than that which 
 we acknowledge. 
 
 The author then proceeds to 
 examine three passages from Jose- 
 phus, directly bearing on the Chris- 
 tian story, two of which have been 
 long contended against as spurious : 
 and he concludes, that as the main 
 features of Christianity must (on the 
 evidence stated) have been gene- 
 rally notorious, at the time when 
 
 Josephus wrote, either the passages 
 are genuine, or that the silence of 
 Josephus was designed; and that, 
 too, because he was at a loss how to 
 treat the affair.. This kind of re- 
 serve in Josephus is shewn in other 
 particulars. But, be this as it may, 
 he sets up no other story. [p. 62, 
 63] 
 
 The author then remarks, that 
 the whole series of Christian writers, 
 from the first age of the institution 
 down to the present, proceed upon 
 the general story that our Scriptures 
 contain, and no other, viz.— 
 
 Ist. The Zetters of the apostles 
 incidentally disclose all the princi- 
 pal circumstances of the history. 
 
 2nd. An epistle of Barnabas, 
 (the companion of Paul) relates the 
 sufferings of Christ, the choice of 
 his apostles, and refers to the mir- 
 acles. 
 
60 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 3rd. An epistle of Clement, (a 
 hearer of Paul) records the resur- 
 rection of Christ, and the mission 
 of the apostles. 
 
 4th, An epistle of Polycarp (a 
 disciple of St John) records the 
 virtues and sufferings of Christ ; 
 and Polycarp is said to have received 
 accounts of his miracies from eye 
 witnesses, 
 
 5th. Ignatius (the contempo- 
 rary of Polycarp) has frequent allu- 
 sions to the history of Christ. 
 
 6th. Quadratus (of the same 
 age with Ignatius) refers to the 
 wonderful works of Christ. 
 
 7th. From the works of Justin 
 Martyr (who came little more than 
 thirty years after Quadratus) a life 
 of Christ might be collected, in 
 perfect accordance with our Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 8th. From this time, the his- 
 tory, as given by the evangelists 
 occurs, in ancient Christian wri- 
 
 [CHAP. VII. 
 
 tings, as familiarly as in modern 
 sermons. [p. 64—68] 
 
 The author next shews, that the 
 religious rites and usages that pre- 
 vailed amongst the early disciples of 
 Christianity, such as baptism, hold- 
 ing religious assemblies, and the 
 celebration of the Lord’s Supper, 
 were those that belonged to, and 
 sprung out of, the narrative now in 
 our hands; which accordancy proves, 
 that it was the narrative upon which 
 these persons acted, and which they 
 had received from their teachers. 
 [p. 68, 69] 
 
 It is lastly shewn, by an induc- 
 tion of particulars, that our account 
 bears proof of being an account of 
 facts known and believed at the 
 time; for the Gospels were not the 
 original cause of the Christian his- 
 tory being believed, but were them- 
 selves among the consequences of 
 that belief. [p. 69 to the end.] 
 
 IT being then once proved, that the first propagators of 
 the Christian institution did exert activity, and subject 
 themselves to great dangers and sufferings, in conse- 
 quence and for the sake of an extraordinary, and, I 
 think, we may say, of a miraculous story of some kind 
 or other: the next great question is, Whether the 
 account, which our Scriptures contain, be that story: 
 that which these men delivered, and for which they 
 acted and suffered as they did? This question is, in 
 effect, no other than whether the story which Christians 
 have zow, be the story which Christians had then ? And 
 of this the following proofs may be deduced from 
 general considerations, and from considerations prior to 
 any inquiry into the particular reasons and testimonies 
 by which the authority of our histories is supported. 
 
 In the first place, there exists no trace or vestige of 
 any other story. It is not, like the death of Cyrus the 
 
 A. Shew that there exists no 
 trace or vestige of any other story 
 than that which we now have: and 
 
 state clearly how Paley deals with 
 the actual testimony, or designed 
 silence of Josephus. 
 
CHAP. VII.] OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 61 
 
 Great, a competition between opposite accounts, or 
 between the credit of different historians. There is not a 
 document, or scrap of account, either contemporary with 
 the commencement of Christianity, or extant within many 
 ages after that commencement, which assigns a history 
 A.asubstantially different from ours. The remote, brief, 
 and incidental notices of the affair, which are found in 
 heathen writers, so far as they do go, go along with us. 
 They bear testimony to these facts ;—That the institu- 
 tion originated from Jesus; that the Founder was put 
 to death, as a malefactor, at Jerusalem, by the authority 
 of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate; that the religion 
 nevertheless spread in that city, and throughout Judea ; 
 and that it was propagated thence to distant countries ; 
 that the converts were numerous; that they suffered 
 great hardships and injuries for their profession; and 
 that all this took place in the age of the world which 
 our books have assigned. They go on, further, to de- 
 scribe the sanners of Christians, in terms perfectly con- 
 formable to the accounts extant in our books ; that they 
 were wont to assemble on a certain day ; that they sang 
 hymns to Christ as toa god; that they bound them- 
 selves by an oath not to commit any crime, but to 
 abstain from theft and adultery, to adhere strictly to 
 their promises, and not to deny money deposited in 
 their hands ;' that they worshipped Him who was cruci- 
 fied in Palestine; that this their first lawgiver had 
 taught them that they were all brethren ; that they had 
 a great contempt for the things of this world, and looked 
 upon them as common ; that they flew to one another’s 
 relief ; that they cherished strong hopes of immortality ; 
 that they despised death, and surrendered themselves to 
 suferings.” This is the account of writers who viewed 
 ra nate eh ee Ate Ue eoeata Co oe ha Thad tok akan Up aturiingg eating Po atnd 
 
 I was still reading the historian of that extraordinary society.” This is strong; but there is un- 
 doubtedly an affinity, and all the affinity that could be expected. 
 
 2 It is incredible what expedition they use when any of their friends are known to be in trouble. 
 In a word, they spare nothing upon such an occasion ;—for these miserable men have no doubt they 
 shal) be immortal, and live for ever; therefore they contemn death, and many surrender themselves 
 to sufferings. Moreover, their first lawgiver has taught them that they are all brethren, when once 
 they have turned and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship this Master of theirs, who was 
 crucified, and engaged to live according to his laws. They have also a sovereign contempt for all the 
 things of this world, and look upon them as common.—Lucian. de Morte Peregrini. t.i, p. 565. ed, Grev. 
 
 A.a. To what facts do the re- found in heathen writers, bear tes- 
 
 mote, brief, and incidental notices timony, and how do they describe 
 of the Christian story, which are the manners of the Christians. 
 
62 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VII. 
 
 the subject at a great distance; who were uninformed 
 and uninterested about it. It bears the characters of 
 such an account upon the face of it, because it describes 
 effects, namely, the appearance in the world of a new 
 religion, and the conversion of great multitudes to it, 
 without descending, in the smallest degree, to the detail 
 of the transaction upon which it was founded, the interior 
 of the institution, the evidence or arguments offered by 
 those who drew over others to it. Yet, still, here is no 
 contradiction of our story; no other or different story 
 set up against it: but so far a confirmation of it, as that, 
 in the general points on which the heathen account 
 touches, it agrees with that which we find in our own 
 books. 
 
 The same may be observed of the very few Jewish 
 writers of that and the adjoining period which have come 
 down to us. Whatever they omit, or whatever difficulties 
 we may find in explaining the omission, they advance 
 no other history of the transaction than that which we 
 
 A.backnowledge. Josephus, who wrote his Antiquities, or 
 
 History of ‘the Jews, about sixty years after the com- 
 mencement of Christianity, in a passage generally ad- 
 mitted as genuine, makes mention of John under the 
 name of John the’ Baptist; that he was a preacher of 
 virtue; that he baptized his proselytes; that he was 
 well received by the people; that he was imprisoned 
 and put to death by Herod; and that Herod lived ina 
 criminal cohabitation with Herodias, his brother’s wife.’ 
 In another passage allowed by many, although not 
 without considerable question being moved about it, we 
 hear of “James, the brother of him who was called 
 Jesus, and of his being put to death.”? In a third 
 passage, extant in every copy that remains of Josephus’s 
 History, but the authenticity of which has nevertheless 
 been long disputed, we have an explicit testimony to 
 
 1 Antigq. 1, xviii. cap. v. sect. 1, 2. 2 Antiq. 1. xx. cap. ix. sect. 1. 
 
 A.d. Mention the period when tinguishing that which is generally 
 Josephus wrote his Antiquities, or admitted as genuine, from those 
 History of the Jews, and quote the which have been disputed. 
 thvee passages cited by Paley: dis- 
 
CHAP. VII] OF CHRISFIANIT Y. 63 
 
 the substance of our history in these words :—“ At that 
 time lived Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a man, 
 for he performed many wonderful works. He was a 
 teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. 
 He drew over to him many Jews and Gentiles. This 
 was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the instigation of 
 the chief men among us, had condemned him to the 
 cross, they who before had conceived an affection for 
 him, did not cease to adhere to him: for, on the third 
 day, he appeared to them alive again, the divine prophets 
 having foretold these and many wonderful things con- 
 cerning him. And the sect of the Christians, so called 
 from him, subsists to this time,”! Whatever become of 
 the controversy concerning the genuineness of this pass- 
 age; whether Josephus go the whole length of our 
 history, which, if the passage be sincere, he does; or 
 whether he proceed only a very little way with us, 
 which, if the passage be rejected, we confess to be the 
 case; still what we asserted is true, that he gives no 
 other or different history of the subject from ours, no 
 other or different account of the origin of the institution. 
 A.cAnd I think also, that it may with great reason be con- 
 tended, either that the passage is genuine, or that the 
 silence of Josephus was designed. For, although we 
 should lay aside the authority of our own books entirely, 
 yet when Tacitus, who wrote not twenty, perhaps not 
 ten years after Josephus, in his account of a period in 
 which Josephus was nearly thirty years of age, tells us, 
 that a vast multitude of Christians were condemned at 
 Rome; that they derived their denomination from Christ, 
 who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death, asa 
 criminal, by the procurator, Pontius Pilate; that the 
 superstition had spread not only over Judea, the source of 
 the evil, but had reached Rome also: when Suetonius, 
 an historian contemporary with Tacitus, relates that, in 
 the time of Claudius, the Jews were making disturb- 
 
 1 Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. iii. 3. sect. 3. 
 
 A.c Upon what ground may _ silence was designed; and by what 
 it be reasonably contended, either circumstances is his reserve on the 
 that the last cited passage from subject of Christianity shewn ? 
 Josephus is genuine, or that his 
 
EVIDENCES: [CHAP. VII. 
 
 ances at Rome, Christus being their leader; and that, 
 during the reign of Nero, the Christians were punished ; 
 under both which emperors Josephus lived: when Pliny, 
 who wrote his celebrated epistle not more than thirty 
 years after the publication of Josephus’s history, found 
 the Christians in such numbers in the province of 
 Bithynia, as to draw from him a complaint, that the 
 contagion had seized cities, towns, and villages, and had 
 so seized them as to produce a general desertion of the 
 public rites; and when, as had already been observed, 
 there is no reason for imagining that the Christians were 
 more numerous in Bithynia than in many other parts of 
 the Roman empire; it cannot, I should suppose, after 
 this, be believed, that the religion, and the transaction 
 upon which it was founded, were too obscure to engage 
 the attention of Josephus, or to obtain a place in his 
 history. Perhaps he did not know how to represent the 
 business, and disposed of his difficulties by passing it 
 over in silence. Eusebius wrote the life of Constantine, 
 yet omits entirely the most remarkable circumstance in 
 that life, the death of his son Crispus; undoubtedly for 
 the reason here given. The reserve of Josephus upon 
 the subject of Christianity appears also in his passing 
 over the banishment of the Jews by Claudius, which 
 Suetonius, we have seen, has recorded with an express 
 reference to Christ. This is at least as remarkable as 
 his silence about the infants of Bethlehem.! Be, how- 
 ever, the fact, or the cause of the omission, in Josephus. 
 what it may, no other or different history on the subject 
 has been given by him, or is pretended to have been 
 given. 
 
 But, further, the whole series of Christian writers, 
 from the first age of the institution down to the present, 
 
 1 Michaelis has computed, and, as it should seem fairly enough, that probably not more than 
 twenty children perished by this cruel persecution. Michaelis’s Introduction to the New Testament, 
 translated by Marsh, vol.i. c, ii. sect. 11. 
 
 2 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 idol- 
 atrous worship: yet it cannot be disputed but that Christianity was perfectly well known in the 
 world at this time. There is extremely little notice of the subject in the Jerusalem Talmud, com- 
 piled about the year 300, and not much more in the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 500; although 
 poth these works are of a religious nature, and although, when the first was compiled, Christianity 
 
 was on the point of becoming the religion of the state, and, when the latter was published, had been 
 so for two hundred years. 
 
 B. Name the series of Chris- Christianity down to the present 
 tian writers, from the first age of (referred to by Paley), and shew 
 
CHAP. VII.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 65 
 
 in their discussions, apologies, arguments, and contro- 
 versies, proceed upon the general story which our Scrip- 
 tures 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. 
 
 B.@ The remaining letters of the apostles, (and what more 
 original than ¢hezr letters can we have?) though written 
 without the remotest design of transmitting the history 
 of Christ, or of Christianity, to future ages, or even of 
 making it known to their contemporaries, incidentally 
 disclose to us the following circumstances :—Christ’s 
 descent and family ; his innocence; the meekness and 
 gentleness of his character (a recognition which goes to 
 the whole gospel history); his exalted nature; his 
 circumcision ; his transfiguration ; his life of opposition 
 and suffering ; his patience and resignation ; the appoint- 
 ment of the eucharist, and the manner of it ; his agony ; 
 his confession before Pontius Pilate; his stripes, 
 crucifixion, and burial; his resurrection ; his appearance 
 after it, first to Peter, then to the rest of the apostles ; 
 his ascension into heaven; and his designation to be the 
 future judge of mankind ;—the stated residence of the 
 apostles at Jerusalem; the working of miracles by the 
 first preachers of the gospel, who were also the hearers 
 of Christ ;' the successful propagation of the religion ; 
 the persecution of its followers; the miraculous con- 
 version of Paul; miracles wrought by himself, and 
 
 1 Heb. ii. 3. ‘‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation, which, at the first began to 
 be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them 
 witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost?” I allege 
 this epistle without hesitation ; for, whatever doubts may have been raised about its author, there 
 can be none concerning the age in which it was written. No epistle in the collection carries about it 
 more indubitable marks of antiquity than this does, It speaks, for instance, throughout, of the 
 temple as then standing, and of the worship of the temple as then subsisting—Heb. viii. 4: ‘‘ For, if 
 he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer according to the law.”— 
 Again, Heb. xiii. 10; ‘‘ We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.” 
 
 by examples from their writings, B.a. What do the remaining 
 that they proceed upon the general letters of the apostles incidentally 
 story which our Scriptures contain, disclose? 
 
 and no other. 
 
 F 
 
66 EVIDENCES (CHAP. VII. 
 
 alleged in his controversies with his adversaries, and in 
 letters to the persons amongst whom they were wrought ; 
 finally, that MIRACLES were the signs of an apostle.’ 
 
 B42 Inan epistle, bearing the name of Barnabas, the com- 
 panion 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,” his resurrection on the eighth 
 (z. é. the first day of the week), and the commemorative 
 distinction of that day, his manifestation after his resur- 
 rection, 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.”* 
 
 B.¢ In an epistle of Clement, a hearer of St Paul, although 
 written for a purpose remotely connected with the 
 Christian history, we have the resurrection of Christ, and 
 the subsequent mission of the apostles, recorded in these 
 satisfactory terms: “The apostles have preached to us 
 from our Lord Jesus Christ from God :—For, having 
 received their command, and being thoroughly assured of 
 the resurrection of our Lord Fesus Christ, they went 
 abroad, publishing that the kingdom of God was at 
 hand.”® We find noticed also, the humility, yet the 
 power of Christ,® his descent from Abraham, his cruci- 
 fixion. We have Peter and Paul represented as faithful 
 and righteous pillars of the church; the numerous 
 sufferings of Peter; the bonds, stripes, and stoning of 
 Paul, and, more particularly, his extensive and unwearied 
 travels. 
 
 “Truly the signs of ge anes were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders 
 and ees Naha’ 2 Cor, xii. 12, 
 
 2 Eph. Bar, c. vii. 8 Ep. Bar. 
 4 Ep. Bar. c. v. 5 Ep. Clem, Rom, ¢, xlii, 6 Tp. Seen Rom, ¢, xvi. 
 
 B.4. State the particulars dis- B.c. Mention the particulars 
 closed by an epistle bearing the found in an epistle of Clement, who 
 name of Barnabas, the companion was a hearer of St Paul. 
 of St Paul. 
 
CHAP. VII.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 67 
 
 Bad In an epistle of Polycarp, a disciple of St John, 
 though only a brief hortatory letter, we have the humility, 
 patience, sufferings, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, 
 together with the apostolic character of St Paul, 
 distinctly recognised. Qf this same father we are also 
 assured by Irenzus, that he (Irenzus) had heard him 
 relate, “what he had received from eye-witnesses con- 
 cerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his 
 doctrine.” : 
 
 B.é In the remaining works of Ignatius, the contemporary 
 of Polycarp, larger than those of Polycarp (yet, like 
 those of Polycarp, treating of subjects in nowise leading 
 
 to any recital of the Christian history), the occasional 
 
 allusions are proportionably more numerous. The 
 descent of Christ from David, his mother Mary, his 
 miraculous conception, the star at his birth, his baptism 
 by John, the reason assigned for it, his appeal to the 
 prophets, the ointment poured on his head, his sufferings 
 under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, his resur- 
 rection, the Lord’s Day called and kept in commemora- 
 tion of it, and the eucharist, in both its parts,—are 
 unequivocally referred to. Upon the resurrection, this 
 writer is even circumstantial. He mentions the apostle’s 
 eating and drinking with Christ after he had risen, their 
 feeling and their handling him ; from which last circum- 
 stance Ignatius raises this just reflection ;—*“ They 
 believed, being convinced both by his flesh and spirit ; 
 for this cause, they despised death, and were found to be 
 above it.’ 
 
 Bf 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 
 
 1 Pol. Ep. ad Phil. ¢. v. viii. ii. iii. 
 
 2 Ir.ad Flor. ap. Euseb. lib. v. c. 20. 
 
 3 Ad, Smyr. c. iif. 
 
 B.d. What matters relating to 
 Christ and St Paul, are distinctly 
 recognised in a brief hortatory letter 
 of Polycarp, who was a disciple of 
 John; and what fact is mentioned 
 by Irenzeus concerning this father ? 
 
 B.e. What are the occasional 
 
 allusions to the Christian history 
 found in the remaining works of 
 Ignatius, the contemporary of Poly- 
 carp ? 
 
 B.fé Quote the testimony of 
 Quadratus, the contemporary of 
 Ignatius. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VII. 
 
 from the dead ; who were seen not only when they were 
 healed or raised, but for a long time afterwards; not 
 only whilst he dwelled on this earth, but also after his 
 departure, and for a good while after it, insomuch that 
 some of them have reached to our times.”? 
 
 Bg 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 thatage. The miracles in particular, which form 
 the part of Christ’s history most material to be traced, 
 stand fully and distinctly recognised in the following 
 passage :—“ He healed those who had been blind, and 
 deaf, and lame from their birth; causing, by his word, one 
 to leap, another to hear, and a third to see: and, by 
 raising the dead, and making them to live, he induced, 
 by his works, the men of that age to know him.” 
 
 B.A It is unnecessary to carry these citations lower, because 
 
 the history, after this time, occurs in ancient Christian 
 writings as familiarly as it is wont to do in modern 
 sermons ;—occurs always the same in substance, and 
 always that which our evangelists represent. 
 
 This is not only true of those writings of Christians 
 which are genuine, and of acknowledged authority ; but 
 it is, in a great measure, true of a// their ancient writings 
 which remain ; although some of these may have been 
 erroneously ascribed to authors to whom they did not 
 belong, or may contain false accounts, or may appear to 
 be undeserving of credit, or never indeed to have 
 obtained any. Whatever fables they have mixed with 
 the narrative, they preserve the material parts, the 
 leading facts, as we have them; and, so far as they do 
 this, although they be evidence of nothing else, they are 
 
 1 Ap. Euseb. H. E, lib. iv. ¢. 3. 2 Just. Dial. cum Tyrph. p, 288. ed Thirl. 
 
 B.g. What testimony may be unnecessary to carry his citations 
 gathered from the works of Fustim from the ancient Fathers, any lower 
 Martyr, and at what period did he than Justin Martyr; and to what 
 write? writings, generally, does his remark 
 
 B.iZ. Why does Paley deem it apply? 
 
CHAP. VII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 69 
 
 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 relics 
 appear of any story substantially different from the 
 present, as the cause, or as the pretence, of the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 Now, that the original story, the story delivered by 
 the first preachers of the institution, should have died 
 away so entirely as to have left no record or memorial 
 of its existence, although so many records and me- 
 morials of the time and transaction remain; and that 
 another story should have stepped into its place, and 
 gained exclusive possession of the belief of all who 
 professed themselves disciples of the institution, is 
 beyond any example of the corruption of even oral 
 tradition, and still less consistent with the experience of 
 written history: and this improbability, which is very 
 great, is rendered still greater by the reflection, that no 
 such change as the oblivion of one story, and the 
 substitution of another, took place in any future period 
 of the Christian era. Christianity had travelled through 
 dark and turbulent ages; nevertheless it came out of 
 the cloud and the storm, such, in substance, as it entered 
 in. Many additions were made to the primitive history, 
 and these entitled to different degrees of credit; many 
 doctrinal errors also were from time to time grafted into 
 the public creed ; but still the original story remained, 
 and remained the same. In all its principal parts it 
 has been fixed from the beginning. 
 
 Thirdly: The religious rites and usages that 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 shews that it was the 
 Narrative upon which these persons acted, and which 
 they had received from their teachers. Our account 
 
 C. Shew that the religious rites sprung out of, the narrative now 
 and usages that prevailed amongst in our hands; and point out the 
 the early disciples of Christianity, effect of such accordancy. 
 were such as belonged to, and 
 
7O 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VII. 
 
 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 
 account makes the apostles assemble upon a stated day 
 of the week: we find, and that from information per- 
 fectly independent of our accounts, that the Christians 
 of the first century did observe stated days of assembling. 
 Our histories record the institution of the rite which we 
 call the Lord’s Supper, and a command to repeat it in 
 perpetual succession: we find, amongst the early 
 Christians, the celebration of this rite universal. And, 
 indeed, we find concurring in all the above-mentioned 
 observances, Christian societies of many different na- 
 tions and languages, removed from one another by a 
 great distance of place and dissimilitude of situation. 
 
 c.alt is also extremely material to remark, that there is no 
 
 room for insinuating that our books were fabricated 
 with a studious accommodation to the usages which 
 obtained at the time they were written; that the 
 authors of the books found the usages established, and 
 framed the story to account. for their original. The 
 Scripture accounts, especially of the Lord’s Supper, are 
 too short and cursory, not to say too obscure, and, in 
 this view, deficient, to allow a place for any such 
 suspicion.’ 
 Amongst the proofs of the truth of our proposition, 
 viz. that the story which we have xow, is, in substance, 
 the story which the Christians had ¢hen, or, in other 
 words, that the accounts in our Gospels are, as to their 
 principal parts at least, the accounts which the apostles 
 
 1 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. 
 
 C.a. Why is there no room the story to account for their origi- 
 for insinuating that our books were nal? 
 fabricated with a studious accommo- D. Our account bears, in its 
 dation to the usages which obtained construction, proof that it it an 
 at the time they were written: or account of facts which were known 
 that the authors of the books found and believed at the time: explain 
 the usages established, and framed and illustrate this remark. 
 
CHAP, VII.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 71 
 
 and original teachers of the religion delivered, one 
 arises from observing, that it appears by the Gospels 
 themselves, that the story was public at the time; that 
 the Christian community was already in possession of 
 the substance and principal parts of the narrative. The 
 Gospels were not the original cause of the Christian 
 history being believed, but were themselves among the 
 D.aconsequences of that belief. This is expressly affirmed 
 by St Luke, in his brief, but, as I think, very important 
 and instructive preface :—“ Forasmuch (says the evan- 
 gelist) 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 minis- 
 ters of the word ; it seemed good to me also, having had 
 perfect understanding of all things from the very first, 
 to write unto thee, in order, most excellent Theophilus, 
 that thou mightest know the certainty of those things 
 wherein thou hast been instructed.”—This short intro- 
 duction testifies, that the substance of the history which 
 the evangelist was about to write was already believed 
 by Christians ; that it was believed upon the declara- 
 tions of eye-witnesses and ministers of the word ; that it 
 formed the account of the 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 
 D.dthe reader had before heard of. In St John’s Gospel, 
 the same point appears hence, that there are some 
 principal facts, to which the historian refers, but which 
 he does not relate. A remarkable instance of this kind 
 is the ascension, which is not mentioned by St John in 
 its place, at the conclusion of his history, but which is 
 plainly referred to in the following words of the sixth 
 chapter :* “ What and if ye shall see the Son of man 
 1 Also, John iii. 31, and xvi. 28. 
 
 D.a. Quote the passage from the consequences of that belief: 
 St Luke, in which Paley considers and shew the effect of this testi- 
 it expressly affirmed that the Gos- mony. 
 pels were not the original cause D.d. Shew that the same thing 
 
 of the Christian history being be- is apparent from the Gospel by 
 lieved, but were themselves among St John. 
 
72 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VII. 
 
 ascend up where he was before?’ And still more 
 positively in the words which Christ, according to our 
 evangelist, spoke to Mary after his resurrection :— 
 “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my 
 Father: but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, 
 I ascend unto my Father and your Father, unto my 
 God and your God.” This can only be accounted for 
 by the supposition that St John wrote under a sense of 
 the notoriety of Christ’s ascension, amongst those by 
 
 D.cwhom his book was likely to be read. The same 
 account must also be given of St Matthew’s omission 
 of the same important fact. The thing was very well 
 known, and it did not occur to the historian that it was 
 necessary to add any particulars concerning it. It 
 agrees also with this solution, and with no other, that 
 neither Matthew, nor John, disposes of the person of 
 
 pD.dour Lord in any manner whatever. Other intimations 
 in St John’s Gospel of the then general notoriety of the 
 story are the following: His manner of introducing his 
 narrative (ch. i. ver. 15.),—‘“ John bare witness of him, 
 and cried, saying,”’—evidently presupposes that his 
 readers knew who John was. His rapid parenthetical 
 reference to John’s imprisonment, “for John was not 
 yet cast into prison,’ 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,” 
 takes it for granted, that Simon Peter was well known. 
 His name had not been mentioned before. The evan- 
 gelist’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. 
 
 1 John xx. 17, 2 John fii. 24, 3 John i, 40. 4 John xxi. 24. 
 
 D.¢c. How does Paley deal with mations found in St John’s Gospel 
 the omission of the fact of the as- of the then general notoriety of the 
 cension in St Matthew’s Gospel? story? 
 
 D.d. What are the other inti- 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 E. 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 73 
 
 These four circumstances :—first, the recognition of the 
 account in its principal parts, by a series of succeeding 
 writers; secondly, the total absence of any account of 
 the origin of the religion substantially different from 
 ours; thirdly, the early and extensive prevalence of 
 rites and institutions, which result from our account; 
 fourthly, our account bearing, in its construction, proof 
 that it is an account of facts, which were known and be- 
 lieved at the time; are sufficient, I conceive, to support 
 an assurance, that the story which we have now, is, in 
 general, the story which Christians had at the beginning. 
 
 E.aI say, 7x general; by which term I mean, that it is the 
 
 same in its texture and in its principal facts. For in- 
 stance, 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 re- 
 flects that the resurrection is, in some form or other, 
 asserted, referred to, or assumed, in every Christian writ- 
 ing, of every description, which hath come down to us. 
 
 And if our evidence stopped here, we should have a 
 strong case to offer, for we should have to allege, that in 
 the reign of Tiberius Cesar, a certain number of persons 
 set about an attempt of establishing a new religion in 
 the world: in the prosecution of which purpose, they 
 voluntarily encountered great dangers, undertook great 
 labours, sustained great sufferings, all for a miraculous 
 story, which they published wherever they came; and 
 that the resurrection of a dead man, whom during his 
 life they had followed and accompanied, was a constant 
 part of this story. I know nothing in the above state- 
 ment which can, with any appearance of reason, be 
 disputed ; and I know nothing, in the history of the 
 human species, similar to it. 
 
 E. In concluding this chapter, Paley’s meaning, when he concludes, 
 
 recapitulate the four circumstances, 
 which Paley conceives sufficient to 
 support an assurance, that the story 
 which we now have, is, iz general, 
 the story which Christians had at the 
 beginning. 
 
 E.a. illustrate 
 
 Explain and 
 
 that the story which we have.now, 
 is, ‘in general,” the story which 
 Christians had at the beginning. 
 
 F. If our evidence were to stop 
 here, mention the strong case we 
 should have to offer. 
 
EVIDENCES 
 
 [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 This chapter follows up the indirect considerations brought 
 forward in the preceding one, by proving, from the particulars 
 and detail of the Gospel, that the miraculous story for which 
 the first propagators of Christianity suffered, ts the story we 
 
 now have. 
 
 The author begins by asserting, 
 that such was the situation of the 
 authors to whom the Gospels are 
 ascribed, that if any one of the four 
 be genuine, it is sufficient for our 
 purpose.—The author of the first, 
 was an original emissary of the 
 religion: the second, an inhabitant 
 of Jerusalem at the time, a host of 
 the apostles, and an attendant upon 
 one of the most eminent :—the third, 
 a stated companion of the most 
 active of the teachers of Christianity, 
 and frequently in the society of the 
 apostles: the fourth, one of the 
 apostles. [p. 76, 77] 
 
 He then argues, that as Matthew 
 and John were eye and ear witnesses, 
 the narratives under their names 
 must be true, as far as human 
 recollection can be depended on, or 
 wilful falsehoods. If the latter, those 
 men sacrificed their ease and safety, 
 for a purpose most inconsistent with 
 dishonest intentions, since they were 
 villains for the purpose of teaching 
 honesty, and martyrs without honour 
 or advantage. [p. 77—79] 
 
 That the credit due to the 
 Gospels, under the names of Mark 
 and Luke is removed but one degree 
 from the above: as they are the 
 narratives of contemporary writers, 
 mixing with the business, and with 
 those who had been present at the 
 transactions. [p. 77] 
 
 The author then remarks, that 
 the situation of these writers applies 
 to the ¢ruth of the facts they record ; 
 but that at present their testimony is 
 used only to shew that the facts in 
 the Gospels, are the same that were 
 alledged by the original preachers : 
 
 the proof of which stands thus, viz. 
 —a set of men went about the world 
 publishing a miraculous story, and, 
 upon the strength of it, calling upon 
 men to embrace new religious views 
 —and incurring labours and dangers 
 in attestation of it : accounts of this 
 story are furnished by two of their 
 own number, by one residing then 
 most probably at Jerusalem, and by 
 another who accompanied the most 
 laborious of the missionaries. —Now 
 this is the very kind of proof we 
 should have required for the story, 
 if we were not in possessson of it : 
 and, therefore, if our books be 
 genuine, we have the very species of 
 information our imagination would 
 have carved out for us, if it had 
 been wanting. [p. 77—8o] 
 
 It is then shewn, that if any one 
 Gospel be genuine, its direct histori- 
 cal testimony cannot be rejected :— 
 thus, if Matthew’s be genuine, we 
 have a narrative of one of the 
 number from which to judge of the 
 miracles attributed by the apostles 
 to Jesus. If not, and John’s be 
 genuine, the observation is equally 
 strong.—If neither be genuine, yet 
 if Luke’s were written by any person 
 in the situation in which he professes 
 to have been, or if that of Mark was 
 really his, we have the accounts of 
 one writer at least, who was not 
 only contemporary with the apostles, 
 but a companion of their ministry ; 
 and if there be a risk of error in 
 assigning the authors of our books, 
 yet we are entitled to the advantage 
 of so many probabilities. [p. 80] 
 
 It is next argued, that although 
 some of the evangelists might have 
 
CHAP. VIII.] 
 
 seen, and used each other’s works, 
 yet this, though it might subtract 
 from their characters, as testimonies 
 strictly independent, would diminish 
 but little their separate authority, or 
 mutual confirmation. [p. 81] 
 
 The parallelisms traced between 
 Matthew .and Luke are then ex- 
 plained, by supposing either that 
 Luke consulted Matthew’s history, 
 or that brief memoirs of Christ had 
 been written at the time, which both 
 admitted into their histories: and 
 either supposition is consistent 
 with the professed formation of 
 Luke’s narrative, who professes not 
 to have been an eye-witness, but to 
 have investigated the original of 
 every account.—Whatever supposi- 
 tion, therefore, may be made con- 
 cerning the other Gospels, if Luke’s 
 be genuine, we have in it credible 
 evidence of the point which we 
 maintain. Moreover, John’s Gos- 
 pel is allowed, on all hands, to be 
 an independent testimony. [p. 81, 
 $2] 
 
 The author next considers the 
 ageregate authortiy of the written 
 evidences of Christianity, and re- 
 marks, that our habitual mode of 
 reading the Scriptures sometimes 
 causes us to overlook their peculiar 
 cumulation of testimony :—but if we 
 had been accustomed to read either 
 of the Gospels alone, and found, for 
 the first time, in any of the others, 
 the same facts recorded, our minds 
 would be strongly impressed with 
 this fresh evidence. The very exis- 
 tence of four separate histories would 
 confirm our belief, that those facts 
 were fixed in credit and publicity ; 
 and upon our first discovery of a 
 continuation of the history, and of a 
 number of letters written by principal 
 
 gents in the business, always recog- 
 mising the original story, each of 
 these would add to the firmness of 
 our convictions. The weight of this 
 successive confirmation is in a great 
 measure unperceived, because from 
 our infancy we have regarded the 
 New Testament as one book. But, 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 75 
 
 further, the very discrepancies in the 
 volume would prove, even if all 
 other proof were wanting, that the 
 documents were originally separate, 
 and, mostly, independent produc- 
 tions. [p. 83—85.] 
 
 Disposing our ideas in a different 
 order, the author thus further views 
 the matter. It is not probable, that 
 in the harassed and unsettled life of 
 the apostles, and while the transac- 
 tions were recent, they would im- 
 mediately write histories for posterity, 
 but emergencies might draw from 
 some of them occasional letters to 
 converts, upon the subject of the 
 mission, and they would svon be 
 taught the expediency of sending 
 forth authentic accounts, from the 
 possible circulation of imperfect 
 ones, when the extension of the 
 Christian society forbade the personal 
 intercourse of the apostles with its 
 members. The appearance of au- 
 thentic accounts from the apostles, 
 would naturally cause spurious ones 
 to fall into disuse. This seems the 
 natural progress of the business ; 
 and the author shews, that with 
 this, the records in our possession, 
 and the evidence concerning them, 
 correspond. [p. 85, 86. ] 
 
 The question of genuineness is 
 next considered.—It is an important 
 point, because the evidence of these 
 writings is strengthened by our 
 knowledge of the authors, , their 
 situations, and parts in the transac- 
 tions ; and we are able to produce 
 testimonies which afford full persua- 
 sion, that the Gospels were written 
 by the persons whose names they 
 bear. But this is not so essential, 
 as that the fate of the argument 
 depends on it. For if we possessed 
 no other accounts of these books, 
 than that they were written by early 
 Christians, and received as authentic 
 by Christians whom the apostles 
 instructed, such reception would be 
 a valid proof that these books, who- 
 ever were their authors, must have 
 agreed with what the apostles taught. 
 The fact of their early existence and 
 
76 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 reputation, is made out by ancient 
 testimonies which do not happen to 
 specify the names of the writers : 
 
 (CHAP. VIII. 
 
 of the authors, viz. that one (viz. St 
 John’s) was written by an eye-wit- 
 ness of Christ’s sufferings, and the 
 
 other, (see St Luke in the Acts) by 
 a contemporary of the apostles. 
 [p. 87 to the end. ] 
 
 and two of the Gospels contain 
 averments in the body of the history, 
 which, though they do not disclose 
 the names, fix the time and situation 
 
 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 pro- 
 posed. But whether, when we come to the particulars, 
 and the detail of the narrative, the historical books of 
 the New Testament be deserving of credit as histories, 
 so that a fact ought to be accounted true, because it is 
 found in them ; or whether they are entitled to be con- 
 sidered as representing the accounts which, true or false, 
 the apostles published;—whether their authority, in 
 either of these views, can be trusted to, is a point which 
 necessarily depends upon what we know of the books, 
 and of their authors. 
 
 Now, in treating of this part of our argument, the first 
 and most material observation upon the subject is, that 
 such was the situation of the authors to whom the four 
 Gospels are ascribed, that, if any one of the four be 
 genuine, it is sufficient for our purpose. The received 
 author of the first was an original apostle and emissary 
 of the religion. The received author of the second was 
 an inhabitant of Jerusalem at the time, to whose house 
 the apostles were wont to resort, and himself an attend- 
 ant upon one of the most eminent of that number. The 
 received author of the third was a stated companion and 
 fellow-traveller of the most active of all the teachers of 
 the religion, and in the course of his travels frequently in 
 the society of the original apostles. The received author 
 of the fourth, as well as of the first, was one of these 
 apostles. No stronger evidence of the truth of a history 
 can arise from the situation of the historian, than what 
 
 A. What observation arises from B. What was the situation of 
 considering the situation of the each of these received authors: and 
 authors to whom the four Gospels how does it affect the estimation in 
 are ascribed ? which their writings should be held? 
 
 OO Oe 
 
CHAP. VIII. ] OF CHRISTIANITY. ae 
 
 is here offered. The authors of all the histories lived 
 at the time and upon the spot. The authors of two 
 of the histories were present at many of the scenes 
 which they describe; eye-witnesses of the facts, ear- 
 witnesses of the discourses; writing from personal 
 knowledge and recollection; and, what strengthens 
 their testimony, writing upon a subject in which their 
 minds were deeply engaged, and in which, as they must 
 have been very frequently repeating the accounts to 
 others, the passages of the history would be kept con- 
 tinually alive in their memory. Whoever reads the 
 Gospels (and they ought to be read for this particular 
 purpose), will find in them not merely a general affir- 
 mation of miraculous powers, but detailed circumstantial 
 accounts of miracles, with specifications of time, place, 
 and persons; and these accounts many and various. 
 In the Gospels, therefore, which bear the names of 
 Matthew and John, these narratives, if they really 
 proceeded from these men, must either be true, asi far 
 as the fidelity of human recollection is usually to be 
 depended upon, that is, must be true in substance, and 
 in their principal parts (which is sufficient for the 
 purpose of proving a supernatural agency), or they 
 must be wilful and meditated falsehoods. Yet the 
 writers who fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if 
 they be such, are of the number of those who, unless 
 the whole 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-witnesses, are, if 
 genuine, removed from that only by one degree. They 
 are the narratives of contemporary writers—or writers 
 themselves mixing with the business; one of the two 
 probably living in the place which was the principal 
 scene of action; both living in habits of society and 
 correspondence with those who had been present at the 
 transactions which they relate. The latter of them 
 
78 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 accordingly tells us (and with apparent sincerity, because 
 he tells it without pretending to personal knowledge, 
 and without claiming for his work greater authority 
 than belonged to it), that the things which were believed 
 amongst Christians, came from those who from the 
 beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the 
 word; that he had traced accounts up to their source ; 
 and that he was prepared to instruct his reader in the 
 certainty of the things which he related! Very few 
 histories lie so close to their facts; very few historians 
 are so nearly connected with the subject of their narra- 
 tive, or possess such means of authentic information, as 
 these. 
 
 The situation of the writers applies to the zruth of 
 the facts which they record. But at present we use 
 their testimony to a point somewhat short of this, 
 namely, that the facts recorded in the Gospels, whether 
 true or false are the facts, and the sort of facts, which 
 the original preachers of the religion alleged. Strictly 
 speaking, I am concerned only to shew, that what the 
 Gospels contain is the same as what the apostles 
 preached. Now, how stands the proof of this point? 
 A set of men went about the world, publishing a story 
 composed of miraculous accounts (for miraculous from 
 the very nature and exigency of the case they must 
 have been), and, upon the strength of these accounts, 
 called upon mankind to quit the religions in which they 
 had been educated, and to take up, thenceforth, a new 
 system of opinions, and new rules of action. What is 
 more in attestation of these accounts, that is, in support 
 of an institution of which these accounts were the 
 foundation, is, that the same men voluntarily exposed 
 themselves to harassing and perpetual labours, dangers, 
 and sufferings. We want to know what these accounts 
 
 1 Why should not the candid and modest preface of this historian be believed, as well as that 
 which Dion Cassius prefixes to his Life of Commodus? ‘‘ These things and the following I write not 
 from the report of others, but from my own knowledge and observation.” I see no reason to doubt 
 but that both passages describe truly enough the situation of the authors, 
 
 C. Without applying the situ- what the Gospels contain, is the 
 ation of the writers to prove the same as what the apostles preached ; 
 truth of the facts which they re- which, strictly speaking, is the only 
 cord, how stands the proof, that thing, we are concerned to shew ? 
 
CHAP. VIII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 79 
 
 were. We have the particulars, ze. 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 accom- 
 panied the most laborious missionary of the institution 
 in his travels ; who, in the course of these travels, was 
 frequently brought into the society of the rest; and 
 who, let it be observed, begins his narrative by telling 
 us that he is about to relate the things which had been 
 delivered by those who were ministers of the word, and 
 eye-witnesses of the facts. Ido not know what inform- 
 C.aation can be more satisfactory than this. We may, 
 perhaps, perceive the force and value of it more sensibly, 
 if we reflect how requiring we should have been if we 
 had wanted it. Supposing it to be sufficiently proved, 
 that the religion now professed among us owed its 
 original to the preaching and ministry of a number of 
 men, who, about eighteen centuries ago, set forth in the 
 world a new system of religious opinions, founded upon 
 certain extraordinary things which they related of a 
 wonderful person who had appeared in Judea; suppose 
 it to be also sufficiently proved, that, in the course and 
 Prosecution of their ministry, these men had subjected 
 themselves te 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 delivered their testimony, but that we did 
 not, at this day, know with sufficient evidence what 
 their testimony was. Had we received the particulars 
 of it from any of their own number, from any of those 
 who lived and conversed with them, from any of their 
 
 C.a. By what means may we, that the kind of proof we have, 
 perhaps, perceive the force and is precisely that which we should 
 value of Scriptural information more have required for the story, if we 
 sensibly? And how do you shew. were not in possession of it ? 
 
80 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 hearers, or even from any of their contemporaries, we 
 should have had something to rely ‘upon. Now, if our 
 books be genuine, we have all these. We have the very 
 species of information which, as it appears to me, our 
 imagination would have carved out for us, if it had been 
 wanting. 
 
 But I have said, that, if any one of the four Gospels 
 be genuine, we have not only direct historical testimony 
 to the point we contend for, but testimony which, so far 
 as that point is concerned, cannot reasonably be rejected. 
 If the first Gospel was really written by Matthew, we 
 have the narrative of one of the number, from which to 
 judge what were the miracles, and the kind of miracles, 
 which the apostles attributed to Jesus. Although, for 
 argument’s sake, and only for argument’s sake, we 
 should allow that this Gospel has been erroneously 
 ascribed to Matthew ; yet, if the Gospel of St John be 
 genuine, the observation holds with no less strength. 
 Again, although the Gospels both of Matthew and John 
 could be supposed to be spurious, yet, if the Gospel of 
 St Luke were truly the composition of that person, or 
 of any person, be his name what it might, who was 
 actually in the situation in which the author of that 
 Gospel professes himself to have been, or if the Gospel 
 which bears the name of Mark really proceeded from 
 him ; we still, even upon the lowest supposition, possess 
 the accounts of one writer at least, who was not only 
 contemporary with the apostles, but associated with 
 them in their ministry ; which authority seems sufficient, 
 when the question is simply what it was which these 
 apostles advanced. 
 
 I think it material to have this well noticed. The 
 New Testament contains a great number of distinct 
 writings, the genuineness of any one of which is almost 
 sufficient to prove the truth of the religion: it contains, 
 however, four distinct histories, the genuineness of any 
 
 D. Shew, that if any one of point is concerned, cannot reason- 
 the four Gospels be genuine, we ably be rejected. 
 have not only direct historical testi- E. State (giving Paley’s rea- 
 mony to the point we contend for, sons) what we are entitled to, if 
 but testimony which, so far as that .we must be considered as encoun- 
 
CHAP. VIII.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 81 
 of which is perfectly sufficient. If, therefore, we must 
 be considered as encountering the risk of error in as- 
 signing the authors of our books, we are entitled to the 
 advantage of so many separate probabilities. And al- 
 though it should appear that some of the evangelists 
 had seen and used each other’s works, this discovery, 
 whilst it subtracts indeed from their characters as testi- 
 monies strictly independent, diminishes, I conceive, little, 
 either their separate authority (by which I mean the 
 authority of any one that is genuine), or their mutual 
 confirmation. For, let the most disadvantageous suppo- 
 sition possible be made concerning them; let it be 
 allowed, what I should have no great difficulty in ad- 
 mitting, that Mark compiled his history almost entirely 
 from those of Matthew and Luke; and let it also fora 
 moment be supposed that these histories were not, in 
 fact, written by Matthew and Luke; yet, if it be true 
 that Mark, a contemporary of the apostles, living in 
 habits of society with the apostles, a fellow-traveller and 
 fellow-labourer with some of them; if, I say, it be true 
 that this person made the compilation, it follows, that 
 the writings from which he made it existed in the time 
 of the apostles, and not only so, but that they were then 
 in such esteem and credit, that a companion of the 
 apostles formed a history out of them. Let the Gospel 
 of Mark be called an epitome of that of Matthew Pit | bars 
 person in the situation in which Mark is described to 
 have been, actually made the epitome, it affords the 
 strongest possible attestation to the character of the 
 original. 
 
 Again, parallelisms in sentences, in words, and in the 
 order of words, have been traced out between the Gospel 
 of Matthew and that of Luke; which concurrence can- 
 not easily be explained otherwise than by supposing, 
 either that Luke had consulted Matthew’s history, or, 
 
 tering the risk of error in assigning 
 the authors of our books. 
 
 F. Shew, clearly, that if it 
 Should appear that some of the 
 evangelists had seen and used each 
 other’s works, the discovery would 
 diminish but little, either their sepa- 
 
 rate authority, 7. ¢. the authority of 
 any one that is genuine, or their 
 mutual confirmation. 
 
 G. State the two suppositions 
 by which the parallelisms between 
 the Gospel of St Matthew, and that 
 of St Luke, may be explained, and 
 
 G 
 
EVIDENCES [CHAP. VIIL 
 what appears to me in nowise incredible, that minutes 
 of some of Christ’s discourses, as well as brief memoirs 
 of some passages of his life, had been committed to 
 writing at the time; and that such written accounts had 
 by both authors been occasionally admitted into their 
 histories. Either supposition is perfectly consistent with 
 the acknowledged formation of St Luke’s narrative, who 
 professes not to write as an eye-witness, but to have 
 investigated the original of every account which he 
 delivers; in other words, to have collected them from 
 such documents and testimonies as he, who had the best 
 opportunities of making inquiries, judged to be au- 
 -thentic. Therefore allowing that this writer also, in 
 some instances, borrowed from the Gospel which we call 
 Matthew’s, and once more allowing, for the sake of 
 stating the argument, that that Gospel was not the pro- 
 duction of the author to whom we ascribe it; yet still 
 we have, in St Luke’s Gospel, a history given by a 
 writer immediately connected with the transaction, with 
 the witnesses of it, with the persons engaged in it, and 
 composed from materials which that person, thus situ- 
 ated, deemed to be safe sources of intelligence : in other 
 words, whatever supposition be made concerning any or 
 all the other Gospels, if St Luke’s Gospel be genuine, 
 we have iz it a credible evidence of the point which we 
 maintain. 
 
 The Gospel according to St John appears to be, and 
 is on all hands allowed to be, an independent testimony, 
 strictly and properly so called. Notwithstanding, there- 
 fore, any connexion, or supposed connexion, between 
 some of the Gospels, I again repeat what I before said, 
 that if any one of the four be genuine, we have, in that 
 one, strong reason, from the character and situation of 
 the writer, to believe that we possess the accounts which 
 the original emissaries of the religion delivered. 
 
 shew that either supposition is con- 
 sistent with the professed formation 
 of St Luke’s narrative. 
 
 H. Allowing that St Luke bor- 
 rowed from the Gospel called St 
 Matthew’s and allowing, for the 
 sake of the argument, that that 
 Gospel was not the production of 
 
 the author to whom we ascribe it, 
 yet why have we reason to believe 
 that we have credible evidence of 
 the point in question ? 
 
 I. What is the acknowledged 
 nature of St John’s Gospel, and 
 what conclusion does Paley draw 
 from it ? 
 
 es 
 
CHAP. VIII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 83 
 
 K. _ Secondly: In treating of the written evidences of 
 Christianity, next to their separate, we are to consider 
 K.atheir 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. 
 K.6When a passage, in any wise relating to the history of 
 Christ, is read to us out of the epistle of Clemens Ro- 
 manus, the epistles of Ignatius, of Polycarp, or from any 
 other writing of that age, we are immediately sensible of 
 the confirmation which it affords to the Scripture account. 
 Here is a new 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 con- 
 tained, and found many of the facts which Matthew 
 recorded, recorded also there, many other facts of a 
 similar nature added, and throughout the whole work 
 the same general series of transactions stated, and the 
 same general character of the person who was the subject 
 of the history preserved, I apprehend that we should 
 feel our minds strongly impressed by this discovery of 
 fresh evidence. We should feel a renewal of the same 
 sentiment in first reading the Gospel of St John. That 
 of St Mark perhaps would strike us as an abridgment 
 of the history with which we were already acquainted ; 
 but we should naturally reflect, that if that history was 
 abridged by such a person as Mark, or by any person of 
 so early an age, it afforded one of the highest possible 
 attestations to the value of the work. This successive 
 disclosure of proof would leave us assured, that there 
 must have been at least some reality in a story which 
 not one, but many, had taken in hand to commit to 
 
 K. State, fully, the nature and K.d. Shew how our minds 
 force of the aggregate authority ofthe would probably have been affected, 
 written evidences of Christianity. if the cumulation of testimony, 
 
 K.@. What causes us sometimes which we find in the four Gospels, 
 to overlook the aggregate authority had been first presented to us in 
 of our Scriptures ? a separate form. 
 
 G2 
 
84 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 writing. The very existence of four separate histories 
 would satisfy us that the subject had a foundation ; and 
 when, amidst the variety which the different information 
 of the different writers had supplied to their accounts, 
 or which their different choice and judgment in selecting 
 their materials had produced, we observed many facts 
 to stand the same in all; of these facts, at least, we 
 should conclude, that they were fixed in their credit and 
 
 K.cpublicity. If, after this, we should come to the know- 
 
 ledge of a distinct history, and that also of the same 
 age with the rest, taking up the subject where the others 
 had left it, and carrying on a narrative of the effects 
 produced in the world by the extraordinary causes of 
 which we had already been informed, and which effects 
 subsist at this day, we should think the reality of the 
 original story in no little degree established by this 
 supplement. If subsequent inquiries should bring to 
 our knowledge, one after another, letters written by 
 some of the principal agents in the business, upon the 
 business, and during the time of their activity and con- 
 cern in it, assuming all along and recognizing the original 
 story, agitating the questions that arose out of it, press- 
 ing 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 
 
 K.dsupport to the conclusion we had formed. At present, 
 
 the weight of this successive confirmation is, in a great 
 measure, unperceived by us. The evidence does not 
 appear to us what it is; for, being from our infancy 
 accustomed to regard the New Testament as one book, 
 we see in it only one testimony. The whole occurs to 
 us asa single evidence; and its different parts, not as 
 distinct attestations, but as different portions only of the 
 
 K.esame. Yet in this conception of the subject we are 
 
 certainly mistaken; for the very discrepancies among 
 
 K.c. Shew how our minds weight of the successive confirma- 
 would have been affected by the tion of the books of Scripture, in 
 further cumulation of testimony, a great measure unperceived by us? 
 contained in the Christian records, K.e. What is proved by the 
 if it had been presented to us in very discrepancies among the sev-\ 
 a separate form. eral documents which form our 
 
 K.d. Why, at present, is the volume? 
 
CHAP. VIII.] 
 
 L.afor the information 
 
 the several documents whic 
 if all other proof were wa 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 nting, 
 
 85 
 
 h form our volume, prove, 
 that in their original 
 
 composition they were separate, and most of them inde- 
 
 pendent productions. 
 
 If we dispose our ideas 
 matter stands thus :—Whilst 
 
 in a different order, the 
 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 regu- 
 
 lating societies of converts 
 
 against opposition ; 
 
 , in supporting themselves 
 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 
 
 of the public or of posterity.! But it 
 
 is very probable that emergencies might draw from some - 
 of them occasional letters upon the subject of their 
 mission, to converts, or to societies of converts, with which 
 they were connected; or that they might address written 
 discourses and exhortations to the disciples of the insti- 
 tution at large, which would be received and read with 
 
 a respect 
 
 proportioned to the character of the writer. 
 
 Accounts in the mean time would get abroad, of the 
 extraordinary things that had been passing, written with 
 
 different degrees of information and correctness, 
 extension of the Christian society, 
 
 The 
 
 which could no 
 
 longer be instructed by a personal intercourse with the 
 apostles, and the possible circulation of imperfect or 
 
 €rroneous narratives, would 
 
 soon teach some amongst 
 
 them the expediency of sending forth authentic memoirs 
 
 of the life and doctrine of their Master. 
 
 When accounts 
 
 1 This thought occurred to Eusebius: ‘Nor were the Apostles of Christ greatly concerned about 
 the writing of books, being engaged in a more excellent ministry which is above all human power,” 
 Eccles. Hist. I. iii, ¢, 24—The same consideration accounts also for the paucity of Christian writings 
 
 in the first century of its era. 
 
 L. State the natural progress 
 of the composition of the Christian 
 writings, and shew that the records 
 in our possession, and the evidence 
 concerning them, correspond with 
 this. 
 
 L.a. After shewing the impro- 
 
 bability that the apostles should 
 think immediately of writing his- 
 tories for the information of the 
 public, or of posterity, point out 
 what seems to have been the pro- 
 bable and natural course of the 
 business ? 
 
86 
 
 EVIDENCES _ (CHAP. VIII. 
 
 appeared authorized by the name, and credit, and situa- 
 tion 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 in 
 disuse and neglect ; whilst these, maintaining their re- 
 putation (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. 
 
 Lb. This seems the natural progress of the business ; and 
 
 with this the records in our possession, and the evidence 
 concerning them, correspond. We have remaining, in 
 the first place, many letters of the kind above described, 
 which have been preserved with a care and fidelity 
 answering to the respect with which we may suppose 
 that such letters would be received. But as these letters 
 were not written to prove the truth of the Christian 
 religion, in the sense in which we regard that question ; 
 nor to convey the information of facts, of which those to 
 whom the letters were written had been previously in- 
 formed ; we are not to look in them for anything more 
 
 L.cthan incidental allusions to the Christian history. We 
 
 are able, however, to gather from these documents 
 various particular attestations, which have been already 
 enumerated ; and this is a species of written evidence, 
 as far as it goes, in the highest degree satisfactory, 
 and in point of time perhaps the first. But for our 
 more circumstantial information, we have, in the next 
 place, five direct Aistories, bearing the names of per- 
 sons acquainted, by their situation, with the truth 
 of what they relate, and three of them purporting, in 
 the very body of the narrative, to be written by such 
 persons; of which books we know that some were in 
 the hands of those who were contemporaries of the 
 apostles, and that, in the age immediately posterior to 
 that, they were in the hands, we may say, of every one 
 
 L.d. Though we have many for any thing more than incidental 
 occasional letters from the apostles allusions to the Christian history ? 
 upon the subject of their mission, L.c. In what way may we ac- 
 yet, why are we not to look in them count for the probable loss, or dying 
 
CHAP. VIII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 87 
 
 and received by Christians with so much respect and 
 deference, as to be constantly quoted and referred to by 
 them, without any doubt of the truth of their accounts. 
 They were treated as such histories, proceeding from 
 such authorities, might expect to be treated. In the 
 preface to one of our histories, we have intimations left 
 us of the existence of some ancient accounts which are 
 now lost. There is nothing in this circumstance that 
 can surprise us. It was to be expected, from the magni- 
 tude 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 repu- 
 tation 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 reflec- 
 tions. By considering our records in either of the two 
 views in which we have represented them, we shall 
 perceive that we possess a collection of proofs, and not a 
 naked or solitary testimony ; and that the written evi- 
 dence is of such a kind, and comes to us in such a state, 
 as the natural order and progress of things, in the in- 
 fancy of the institution, might be expected to produce. 
 
 M. Thirdly: The genuineness of the historical books of 
 the New Testament is undoubtedly a point of import- 
 ance, because the strength of their evidence is augmented 
 by our knowledge of the situation of their authors, their 
 relation to the subject, and the part which they sustained 
 in the transaction; and the testimonies which we are 
 able to produce, compose a firm ground of persuasion 
 that the Gospels were written by the persons whose 
 names they bear. Nevertheless, I must be allowed to 
 state, that to the argument which I am endeavouring to 
 maintain, this point is not essential ; I mean, so essential 
 
 away, of some ancient histories con- tians published, and for which they 
 
 nected with Christianity ? acted and suffered in the manner 
 M. Shew that the genuineness in which (for some miraculous story 
 
 of the historical books of the New or other) they did act and suffer, as 
 
 Testament is not so essential to the that the fate of the argument de- 
 
 question, whether the Gospels ex- pends on it. 
 
 hibit the story which the first Chris- 
 
88 
 
 M.aother, they did act and suffer. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 as that the fate of the argument depends upon it. The 
 question before us is, whether the Gospels exhibit the 
 story which the apostles and first emissaries of the 
 religion published, and for which they acted and suffered 
 in the manner in which, for some miraculous story or 
 Now let us suppose 
 that we possessed no other information concerning these 
 books than that they were written by early disciples of 
 Christianity ; that they were known and read during 
 the time, or near the time, of the original apostles of the 
 religion; that by Christians whom the apostles in- 
 structed, by societies of Christians which the apostles 
 founded, these books were received (by which term 
 “recieved,” I mean that they were believed to contain 
 authentic accounts of the transactions upon which the 
 religion rested, and accounts which were accordingly 
 used, repeated, and relied upon), this reception would 
 be a valid proof that these books, whoever were the 
 authors of them, must have accorded with what the 
 apostles taught. A reception by the first race of 
 Christians is evidence that they agreed with what the 
 first teachers of the religion delivered. In particular, 
 if they had not agreed with what the apostles them- 
 selves preached, how could they have gained credit in 
 churches and societies which the apostles eatablished ? 
 
 M.6 Now the fact of their early existence, and not only 
 
 of their existence but their reputation, is made out by 
 some ancient testimonies which do not happen to specify 
 the names of the writers ; add to which, what hath been 
 already hinted, that two out of the four Gospels contain 
 averments in the body of the history, which, though 
 they do not disclose the names, fix the time and situa- 
 
 tion af the authors, viz. that one was written by an eye- 
 
 M.a. Ifwe possessed no other the fact of the early existence and 
 
 fCHAP. VIII. . 
 
 information concerning these books, 
 than that they were written by early 
 disciples of Christianity, and known 
 and received as authentic histories of 
 the religion by Christians whom the 
 apostles instructed, and by societies 
 which they founded, what would 
 such knowledge and reception have 
 proved ? 
 
 M.%. Shew by what ¢wo means 
 
 reputation of these books is made, 
 
 out: stating, distinctly, the several 
 averments found in two of the four 
 Gospels, which without disclosing 
 the names fix the time and situation 
 of the authors—viz. that one was 
 written by an eye-witness of the 
 sufferings of Christ, and the other by 
 a contemporary of the apostles. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 89 
 
 witness of the sufferings of Christ, the other by a con- 
 temporary of the apostles. In the Gospel of St John 
 (xix. 35), after describing the crucifixion, with the par- 
 ticular 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 know- 
 eth that he saith true, that ye might believe.” Again, 
 (xxi. 24), after relating a conversation which passed 
 between Peter and “the disciple,” as it is there ex- 
 pressed, “whom Jesus loved,” it is added, “this is the 
 disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these 
 things.” This testimony, let it be remarked, is not the 
 less worthy of regard, because it is, in one view, imperfect. 
 The name is not mentioned; which, if a fraudulent 
 purpose had been intended, would have been done. 
 The third of our present Gospels purports to have been 
 written by the person who wrote the Acts of the 
 Apostles ; in which latter history, or rather latter part 
 of the same history, the author, by using in various 
 places the first person plural, declares himself to have 
 been a contemporary of all, and a companion of one 
 of the original preachers of the religion. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 This Chapter is the last of the series, by which Paley supports his 
 jirst proposition. The present state of the argument ts this :-— 
 1st. Evidence of the. sufferings of the first propagators of 
 Christianity has been adduced from the nature of the case, that 
 is, from such parts of it as are admitted on all hands. 
 2nd. rom profane testimony. 3rd. In an tndtrect manner 
 Jrom the Scriptures, and other ancient Christian writings 
 4th. In a direct manner from the same source. 5th. Evidence, 
 Jrom the clear and acknowledged parts of the case, has been 
 adduced to shew, that the story for which the first propagators 
 so suffered, was miraculous; and, 7th and 8th. By indirect 
 consideration, and from the particulars and detail of the 
 Gospels, it has been shewn that such miraculous story, ts the 
 story which we now have. This chapter therefore closes the 
 evidence in support of the first paoposition, by establishing 
 
 THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
90 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 The author exhibits the authenticity 
 of the Scriptures by eleven distinct 
 propositions, which stand severally 
 at the heads of the eleven sections, 
 immediately following this chapter ; 
 and he proceeds here to state pre- 
 liminaries, by which to draw up 
 with more regularity to those propo- 
 sitions. 
 
 He states, that we are capable 
 of producing a great number of 
 ancient MSS. all anterior to the art 
 of printing; some certainly 700 or 
 800 years old, and some probably 
 more than 1000; also ancient ver- 
 sions, by which it appears, that the 
 Scriptures were not the production 
 of any modern contrivance, and that 
 they were more universally sought 
 after than any other books. [p. 91] 
 
 He then shews, from the style 
 and language of the New Testament 
 (which is such a language as might 
 be expected from persons of the age 
 and situation of the apostles, and 
 no other—being neither that of clas- 
 sic authors, or of ancient Christian 
 fathers, but Greek, from men of 
 Hebrew origin ; abounding in He- 
 braic and Syriac idioms), that these 
 books could not be composed in any 
 other age but that of the, apostles. 
 [p- 92] 
 
 After accounting for the real 
 cause of doubt as to the genuine- 
 ness of the Scriptures, and neutral- 
 izing it, the author rebuts any idea 
 
 NoT forgetting, therefore, 
 
 [CHAP. IX. 
 
 of forgery, by contending, that if 
 forgeries were easy among early 
 Christians, we should doubtless have 
 had many purporting to have come 
 from Christ himself: but that only 
 one attempt of that sort is extant, 
 which has been long rejected. [p. 
 93, 94] 
 
 It is then argued, that the as- 
 cription of the Gospels to their 
 respective authors was not arbitrary 
 or conjectural, for then they would 
 have been ascribed to more eminent 
 men. [p. 94] 
 
 It is next shewn that the agree- 
 ment of Christian writers, and 
 churches, upon the subject, did not 
 arise from any act of authority, but 
 appears to have resulted from pri- 
 vate and free enquiry. The first 
 interference of authority, seems to 
 have been at the council of Laodicea, 
 in 368, the probable purpose of 
 which was rather to declare, than 
 regulate the public judgment, or the 
 judgment of some neighbouring 
 churches :—for we find numerous 
 Christian writers discussing the ques- 
 tion as to what books should be 
 received as Scriptures, without re- 
 ference to the decision at Laodicea. 
 [p. 94, 95] 
 
 The author then sets out the nine 
 propositions, under which he pro- 
 poses to establish the authenticity of 
 the Scriptures, by the force of an- 
 cient testimony. [p. 96, 97] 
 
 what credit is due to the 
 
 evangelical history, supposing even any one of the four 
 Gospels to be genuine; what credit is due to the Gospels, 
 even supposing nothing to be known concerning them, 
 but that they were written by early disciples of the 
 religion, and received with deference by early Christian 
 churches ; more especially not forgetting what credit is 
 due to the New Testament in its capacity of cumulative 
 evidence ; we now proceed to state the proper and 
 distinct proofs, which shew not only the general value 
 of these records, but their specific authority, and the 
 high probability there is that they actually came from 
 the persons whose names they bear. 
 
 oO 
 
CHAP. IX.] ORMCH RTS UANT IAG QI 
 
 There are, however, a few preliminary reflections, by 
 which we may draw up with more regularity to the 
 propositions upon which the close and particular dis- 
 cussion of the subject depends. Of which nature are 
 the following :— 
 
 A. I. Weare able to produce a great number of ancient 
 manuscripts, found in many different countries, and in 
 countries widely distant from each other, all of them 
 anterior to the art of printing, some certainly seven 
 or eight hundred years old, and some which had been 
 preserved probably above a thousand years." We have 
 also many ancient versions of these books, and some of 
 them into languages which are not at present, nor for 
 many ages have been, spoken in any part of the world. 
 The existence of these manuscripts and versions proves 
 that the Scriptures were not the production of any 
 modern contrivance. It does away also the uncertainty 
 which hangs over such publications as the works, real 
 or pretended, of Ossian and Rowley, in which the 
 editors are challenged to produce their manuscripts, 
 and to shew where they obtained their copies. The 
 number of manuscripts, far exceeding those of any 
 other book, and their wide dispersion, afford an argu- 
 ment, 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 Testa- 
 ment has suffered less injury by the errors of transcribers 
 than the works of any profane author of the same size 
 and antiquity ; that is, there never was any writing in 
 the preservation and purity of which the world was so 
 interested or so careful, 
 
 1 The Alexandrian manuscript, new in the British Museum, was written probably in the fourth 
 or fifth century. 
 
 A. Shew that the Scriptures than any other books; and quote 
 were not the production of any Bentley’s observation referring to 
 modern contrivance, and that they this subject. 
 were more universally sought after 
 
Q2 
 
 B. 
 
 B.aand language of the New Testament. 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAPAIS 
 
 II. An argument of great weight with those who 
 are judges of the proofs upon which it is founded, and 
 capable, through their testimony, of being addressed to 
 every understanding, is that which arises from the style 
 It is just such a 
 language as might be expected from the apostles, from 
 persons of their age and in their situation, and from no 
 other persons. It is the style neither of classic authors, 
 nor of the ancient Christian fathers, but Greek, coming 
 from men of Hebrew origin; abounding, that is, with He- 
 braic and Syriac idioms, such as would naturally be 
 found in the writings of men who used a language spo- 
 ken indeed where they lived, but not the common dialect 
 of the country. This happy peculiarity is a strong 
 proof of the genuineness of these writings: for who 
 
 B.dshould forge them? The Christian fathers were for 
 
 the most part totally ignorant of Hebrew, and therefore 
 were not likely to insert Hebraisms and Syriasms into 
 their writings. The few who had a knowledge of the 
 Hebrew, as Justin Martyr, Origen, and Epiphanius, 
 wrote in a language which bears no resemblance to that 
 of the New Testament. The Nazarenes, who under- 
 stood Hebrew, used chiefly, perhaps almost entirely, the 
 Gospel of St Matthew, and therefore cannot be suspected 
 of forging the rest of the sacred writings. The 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.! 
 
 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 
 
 1 See this argument stated more at large in Michaelis’s Introduction (Marsh’s translation) 
 
 vol. J. c¢ ii. sect. 10, from which these observrtions are taken. 
 
 B. Shew, from the language 
 and style of the New Testament, 
 that the books of which it is com- 
 posed, belong to the age of the apos- 
 tles, and that they could not have 
 been composed in any other. 
 
 B.a. Upon what ground -may 
 we conclude that the language of 
 the New Testament is just such as 
 might be expected from the apostles, 
 
 from persons of their age, and in 
 their situation, and from no other 
 persons ? 
 
 B.é. Shew. the improbability 
 there is of the books of the New 
 Testament having been forged. 
 
 C. What appears to be the real 
 cause of our hesitating about the 
 genuineness of the books of the 
 New Testament? 
 
CHAP. IX.] OLE ORES TIAN [Ta¥, 93 
 
 about them ; for, had the writings inscribed with the 
 names of Matthew and John related nothing but ordinary 
 history, there would have been no more doubt whether 
 these writings were theirs, than there is concerning the 
 acknowledged works of Josephus or Philo; that is, 
 
 D. there would have been no doubt at all. Now it ought 
 to be considered that this reason, however it may apply 
 to the credit which is given to a writer’s judgment or 
 veracity, affects the question of genuineness very indi- 
 rectly. The works of Bede exhibit many wonderful 
 relations : but who, for that reason, doubts that they 
 were written by Bede? The same ofa multitude of 
 other authors. To which may be added, that we ask no 
 more for our books than what we allow to other books 
 in some sort similar to ours ; we do not deny the genu- 
 ineness of the Koran; we admit that the history of 
 Apollonius Tyanzus, purporting to be written by 
 Philostratus, was really written by Philostratus. 
 
 E. IV. If it had been an easy thing in the early times 
 of the institution to have forged Christian writings, and 
 to have obtained currency and reception to the forgeries, 
 we should have had many appearing in the name of 
 Christ himself. No writings would have been received 
 with so much avidity and respect as these; consequently, 
 none afforded so great temptation to forgery. Yet have 
 we heard but of one attempt of this sort, deserving of 
 the smallest notice, ¢ha¢ in a piece of a very few lines, 
 and so far from succeeding, I mean from obtaining 
 acceptance and reputation, or an acceptance and repu- 
 tation in any wise similar to that which can be proved 
 to have attended the books of the New Testament, that 
 it is not so much as 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 Euse- 
 
 D. Shew that this reason, how- probable effect if it had been an 
 ever it may apply to the credit easy thing, in the early times of the 
 which is given to a writer’s judg- institution, to have forged Christian 
 ment, or veracity, yet that it affects writings? If any such effect exists, 
 the question of genuineness very mention its nature, and state the 
 indirectly. estimation in which it is held. 
 
 EK, What would have been the 
 
94 
 
 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IX. 
 
 bius,! as a piece acknowledged by him, though not 
 without considerable doubt whether the whole passage 
 be not an interpolation, as it is most certain, that, 
 after the publication of Eusebius’s work, this epistle was 
 universally rejected.? 
 
 V. Ifthe ascription of the Gospels to their respective 
 authors have been arbitrary or conjectural, they would 
 have been ascribed to more eminent men. This obser- 
 vation holds concerning the first three Gospels, the 
 reputed authors of which were enabled by their situation, 
 to obtain true intelligence, and were likely to deliver an 
 honest account of what they knew, but were persons 
 not distinguished in the history by extraordinary marks 
 of notice or commendation. Of the apostles, I hardly 
 know any one of whom less is said than of Matthew, or 
 of whom the little that is said is less calculated to 
 magnify his character. Of Mark, nothing is said in the 
 Gospels ; and what is said of any person of that name 
 in the Acts, and in the Epistles, in no part bestows 
 praise or eminence upon him. The name of Luke is 
 mentioned only in St Paul’s Epistles? and that very 
 transiently. The judgment, therefore, which assigned 
 these writings to these authors, proceeded, it may be 
 presumed, upon proper knowledge and evidence, and 
 not upon a voluntary choice of names. 
 
 VI. Christian writers and Christian churches appear 
 to have soon arrived at a very general agreement upon 
 the subject, and that without the interposition of any 
 public authority. When the diversity of opinion which 
 prevailed, and prevails among Christians in other points, 
 
 1 Hist. Eccles, lib. i. c. 15. 
 
 2 Augustin, a,p. 895. (De Consens. Evang. c. 34.) had heard that the Pagans pretended to be 
 possessed of an epistle from Christ to Peter and Paul: but he had never seen it, and appears to 
 doubt of the existence of any such piece, eitber genuine or spurious. No other ancient writer 
 mentions it. He also, and he alone notices, and that in order to condemn it, an epistle ascribed to 
 Christ by the Manichees, a.p. 270, and a short hymn attributed to him by the Priscillianists, a.p. 378. 
 (cont. Faust. Man. lib. xxviii.c. 4.). The lateness of the writer who notices these things, the 
 manner in which he notices them, and, above all, the silence of every preceding writer, render them 
 unworthy of consideration. 
 
 8 Col. iv. 14 2. Tim. iv. 1]. Philem. 24. 
 
 F. From what considerations the early general agreement of Chris- 
 may we negative the idea, that the tian writers, and Christian churches, 
 ascription of the Gospels to their upon the authenticity of the Scrip- 
 respective authors was arbitrary or tures; and mention the first known 
 conjectural ? interference of authority with the 
 
 G. State what is remarkable in subject. 
 
SAP OIX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 95 
 
 is considered, their concurrence in the canon of Scripture 
 is remarkable, and of great weight, especially as it seems 
 
 G.ato have been the result of private and free inquiry. We 
 have no knowledge of any interference of authority in the 
 question before the council of Laodicea in the VeatN36 3. 
 Probably the decree of this council rather declared than 
 regulated the public judgment, or, more properly speak- 
 ing, the judgment of some neighbouring churches ; the 
 council itself consisting of no more than thirty or forty 
 bishops of Lydia, and the adjoining countries! Nor 
 does its authority seem to have extended further ; for 
 we find numerous Christian writers, after this time, dis- 
 cussing the question, “ What books were entitled to be 
 received as Scripture,” with great freedom upon proper 
 grounds of evidence, and without any reference to the 
 decision at Laodicea. 
 
 i These considerations are not to be neglected: but 
 of an argument concerning the genuineness of ancient 
 writings, the substance, undoubtedly, and strength, is 
 ancient testimony. 
 
 This testimony it is necessary to exhibit somewhat 
 in detail: for when Christian advocates merely tell us 
 that we have the same reason for believing the Gospels 
 to be written by the evangelists whose names they bear, 
 as we have for believing the Commentaries to be Ceesar’s, 
 the Afneid Virgil’s, or the Orations Cicero’s, they con- 
 tent themselves with an imperfect representation. They 
 state nothing more than what is true, but they do not 
 state the truth correctly. In the number, variety, and 
 early date of our testimonies, we far exceed all other 
 ancient books. For one, which the most celebrated 
 work of the most celebrated Greek or Roman writer can 
 allege, we produce many. But then it is more requisite 
 in our books, than in theirs, to separate and distinguish 
 them from spurious competitors. The result, I am con- 
 
 I Lardner, Cred. vol. viii, p. 291. et seq. 
 
 G.a. Give the date of the council the genuineness of ancient writings : 
 of Laodicea, and mention the prob- and why is it necessary to exhibit 
 able effect of its decree. this testimony somewhat in de- 
 
 H. What is the substance and tail? 
 strength of an argument concerning 
 
96 
 
 EVIDENCES | CHAP. IX. 
 
 vinced, will be satisfactory to every fair inquirer: but 
 this circumstance renders an inquiry necessary. 
 
 In a work, however, like the present, there is a diff- 
 culty in finding a place for evidence of this kind. To 
 pursue the details of proofs throughout would be to 
 transcribe a great part of Dr. Lardner’s eleven octavo 
 volumes: to leave the argument without proofs is to 
 leave it without effect; for the persuasion produced by 
 this species of evidence depends upon a view and induc- 
 tion of the particulars which compose it. 
 
 The method which I propose to myself is, first, to 
 place before the reader, in one view, the propositions 
 which comprise the several heads of our testimony, and 
 afterwards to repeat the same propositions in so many 
 distinct sections, with the necessary authorities subjoined 
 to each.! 
 
 The following, then, are the allegations upon the sub- 
 ject, which are capable of being established by proof :— 
 
 I. That the historical books of the New Testament, 
 meaning thereby the four Gospels and the Acts of the 
 Apostles, are quoted, or alluded to, by a series of 
 Christian writers, beginning with those who were con- 
 temporary with the, apostles, or who immediately fol- 
 lowed them, and proceeding in close and regular suc- 
 cession from their time to the present. 
 
 II. That when they are quoted, or alluded to, they 
 are quoted or alluded to with peculiar respect, as books 
 sui generis, as possessing an authority which belonged 
 to no other books, and as conclusive in all questions and 
 controversies amongst Christians. 
 
 III. That they were, in very early times, collected. 
 
 into a distinct volume. 
 
 IV. That they were distinguished by appropriate 
 names and titles of respect. 
 
 V. That they were publicly read and expounded in 
 religious assemblies of the early Christians. 
 
 VI. That commentaries were written upon them, 
 
 1 The reader, when he has the propositions before him, will observe that the argument, if he 
 should omit the sections, proceeds connectedly from this point. 
 
 I. State Paley’s eleven allega- Scriptures, which are capable of 
 tions upon the authenticity of the being established by proof, 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. Q7 
 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 dif- 
 ferent sects, by many heretics as well as catholics, and 
 usually appealed to by both sides in the controversies 
 which arose in those days. 
 
 VIII. That the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, thirteen Epistles of St Paul, the first Epistle of 
 John, and the first of Peter, were received, without 
 doubt, by those who doubted concerning the other 
 books which are included in our present canon. 
 
 IX. That the Gospels were attacked by the early 
 adversaries of Christianity, as books containing the 
 accounts upon which the religion was founded. 
 
 X. That formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures 
 were published ; in all which our present sacred histories 
 were included. 
 
 XI, That these propositions cannot be affirmed of 
 any other books claiming to be books of Scripture ; by 
 which are meant those books which are commonly called 
 apocryphal books of the New Testament. 
 
A, 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 SECTION 11 
 
 The historical books of the New Testament, meaning thereby the 
 jour Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are quoted, or alluded 
 to, by a sertes of Christian writers, beginning with those who 
 were contemporary with the Apostles, or who immediately 
 
 Jollowed them, and proceeding 
 
 Jrom their time to the present. 
 
 THIs proposition is borne out by an 
 appeal to the works of the following 
 Christian writers, taken in direct 
 chronological order :— 
 
 BARNABAS, the companion of 
 Paul. 
 
 CLEMENT, Bishop of Rome: 
 mentioned by Paul, in Phil. iv. 3. 
 
 HERMAS, mentioned by Paul, 
 Rom. xvi. I4. 
 
 IGNATIUS, Bishop of Antioch, 
 thirty seven years after the ascension, 
 who had probably conversed with 
 the apostles. 
 
 PoLycaRP, Bishop of Smyrna, 
 and a disciple of the apostles. 
 
 PAPIAS, a hearer of John and 
 a companion of Polycarp. 
 
 JuUsTIN Martyr, about twenty 
 years after Papias. 
 
 HEGESIPPUS, about thirty years 
 after Justin. 
 
 LYONS and VIENNE, in France, 
 epistle from the churches of, about 
 AED aL 7O, 
 
 IREN&US, formerly a disciple 
 of Polycarp, (end of the 2nd cen- 
 tury. ) 
 
 {omitting Athenagoras, Theophilus, Miltia- 
 des, and Pantzenus, who lived at this time. ] 
 
 in close and regular succession 
 
 CLEMENT, of Alexandria, six- 
 
 teen years after Irenzeus. 
 
 TERTULLIAN, about the same 
 
 period. 
 
 [omitting Minutius Felix, Apollonius, Caius, 
 Asterius, Urbanus, Alexander, Bishop of 
 Jerusalem, MHippolytus, Ammonius, and 
 Julius Africanus, who occupied a space of 
 thirty years from Tertullian] 
 
 ORIGEN of Alexandria, in the 
 3rd century. 
 
 GREGORY, Bishop of Neoce- 
 sarea, scholar of Origen, in the 3rd 
 century. 
 
 Dionysius, of Alexandria, scho- 
 lar of Origen—same period. 
 
 CyYPRIAN, Bishop of Carthage, 
 
 about twenty years after Origen. 
 [omitting Novatus, Rome, A. D. 251; Diony- 
 sius, Rome, A. D. 259; Commodian, A. D. 
 270; Anatolius, Laodicea, A. D. 270; Theog- 
 nostus, A.D. 282; Methodius, Lycia, A. D. 
 290; Phileas, Egypt, A. D. 296: who all 
 followed Cyprian, within forty years.] 
 VICTORIN, Bishop of Pettaw in 
 
 Germany, about A. D. 290. 
 
 ARNOBIUS, 
 LACTANTIUS, 
 
 EusEBIus, Bishop of Cesarea, 
 about A. D. 315. 
 
 about A. D. 300, 
 
 The medium of proof stated in this proposition is, of 
 all others, the most unquestionable, the least liable to 
 any practices of fraud, and is not diminished by the 
 
 lapse of ages. 
 Own Times, inserts various 
 
 A. What is peculiar to the 
 proof of the authenticity of the 
 Scriptures, derived from their being 
 quoted or alluded to bya series of 
 
 Bishop Burnet, in the History of his 
 
 extracts from Lord Claren- 
 
 Christian writers: and by what in- 
 stances does Paley illustrate the 
 nature and value of this medium of 
 proof? 
 
SECT. I.] OFRCARISTIEAN LT. Y, 99 
 
 don’s History. | Oze such insertion is a proof, that Lord 
 Clarendon’s History was extant at the time when Bishop 
 Burnet wrote, that it had been read by Bishop Burnet, 
 that it was received by Bishop Burnet as a work of 
 Lord Clarendon, and also regarded by him as an au- 
 thentic account of the transactions which it relates; and 
 it will be a proof of these points a thousand years hence, 
 or as long as the books exist. Quinctilian 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 pen. ‘These instances, how- 
 ever simple, may serve to point out to a reader, who is 
 little accustomed to such researches, the nature and 
 value of the argument. 
 
 The testimonies which we have to bring forward 
 under this proposition are the following :— 
 
 B. I. There is extant an epistle ascribed to Barnabas,? 
 the companion of Paul. It is quoted as the epistle of 
 Barnabas, by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. CXCIV; by 
 Origen, A.D. €CXXxX. It is mentioned by Eusebius, 
 A. D. CCCXV., and by Jerome, A. D. CCCXCII, as an ancient 
 work in their time, bearing the name of Barnabas, and 
 as well known and read amongst Christians, though not 
 accounted a part of Scripture. It purports to have been 
 written soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, during 
 the calamities which followed that disater ; and it bears 
 the character of the age to which it professes to belong. 
 
 C. In this epistle appears the following remarkable 
 passage :—“ Let us, therefore, beware lest it come upon 
 us, as it ts written, There are many called, few chosen.” 
 
 1 Quinct. lib. xi, ¢. 1. 
 
 2 Lardner, Cred. edit. 1755, vol. i. p. 23, et seg. The reader will observe from the references, that 
 the materials of these sections are almust entirely extracted from Dr, Lardner’s work ;—my office 
 consisted in arrangement and selection. 
 
 B. With regard to the epistle C. Mention the quotations from 
 brought forward by Paley, which our Scriptures found in the epistle 
 has been ascribed to Barnabas, the of Barnabas, and shew the force of 
 companion of Paul, mention the the evidence they afford by being 
 authorities for such ascription, and_ there found. 
 the period at which it was probably 
 written. 
 
 2 
 
100 ETI DEBNCIS a [SECT AL 
 
 From the expression, “as it is written,’ we infer with 
 certainty, that at the time when the author of this 
 epistle lived, there was a book extant, well known to 
 Christians, and of authority amongst them, containing 
 these words—“ Many are called, few chosen.” Sucha 
 book is our present Gospel of St Matthew, in which this 
 text is twice found,’ and is found in no other book now 
 known. There is a further observation to be made upon 
 the terms of the quotation. The writer of the epistle 
 was a Jew. The phrase, “it is written, was the very 
 form in which the Jews quoted their Scriptures. It is 
 not probable, therefore, that he would have used this 
 phrase, and without qualification, of any books but 
 what had acquired a kind of scriptural authority. If the 
 passage remarked in this ancient writing had been found 
 in one of St Paul’s Epistles, it would have been esteemed 
 by every one a high testimony to St Matthew’s Gospel. 
 It ought, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing 
 in which it zs found was probably by very few years 
 posterior to those of St 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 St Matthew's Gospel, 
 and two or three in which we recognise the same words. 
 In particular, the author of the epistle repeats the pre- 
 cept, “ 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 
 shew that he came “not to call the righteous, but 
 sinners to repentance.’ 
 
 D. II. We are in possession of an epistle written by 
 Clement, bishop of Rome,* whom ancient writers, with- 
 out any doubt orscruple, assert to have been the Clement 
 whom St Paul mentions, Phil. iv. 3 ; “with Clement also, 
 and other my fellow labourers whose names are in the 
 book of life.” This epistle is spoken of by the ancients 
 
 1 Matt. xx. 16; xxii. 14. 2 Matt. v. 42. 3 Matt. ix. 18. 
 4 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 62. et seg. 
 
 D. Mention the particulars tending to establish its genuineness 
 given by Paley, respecting the epis- and authenticity. 
 tle of Clement, Bishop of Rome, 
 
DEG (etl. OTACHRISHANLTE ¥: IOI 
 
 as an epistle acknowledged by all; and, as Irenzeus well 
 represents its value, “ written by Clement, who had seen 
 the blessed apostles, and conversed with them; who 
 had the preaching of the apostles still sounding in his 
 ears, and their traditions before his eyes.” It is ad- 
 dressed to the Church of Corinth; and what alone may 
 seem almost decisive of its authenticity, Dionysius, 
 bishop of Corinth, about the year 170, z. e. about eighty 
 or ninety years after the epistle was written, bears 
 witness, “that it had been wont to be read in that church 
 from ancient times.” 
 
 This epistle affords, amongst others, the following 
 valuable passages :—“ Especially remembering the words 
 of the Lord Jesus which he spake, teaching gentleness 
 and long suffering ; for thus he said :’ ‘Be ye merciful, 
 that ye may obtain mercy ; forgive, that it may be for- 
 given 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 kindness, 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 our- 
 selves, that we may always walk obediently to his holy 
 words.” | 
 
 Again: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for 
 he said, ‘Woe to that man by whom offences come; it 
 were better for him that he had not been born, than 
 that he should offend one of my elect ; it were better 
 for him that a millstone should be tied about his neck, 
 and that he should be drowned in the sea, than that he 
 should offend one of my little ones.’”? 
 
 In both these passages, we perceive the high respect 
 
 1 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Matt. v.7.——‘‘ Forgive, and ye shall 
 be forgiven ; give, and it shall be given unto you.” Luke vi. 37, 38——‘‘Judge not, that ye be not 
 judged ; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it 
 shall be measured to you again.” Matt, vii. 1, 2. 
 
 2 Matt. xviii.6; ‘But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were 
 better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were cast into the sea.” 
 The latter part of the passage in Clement agrees more exactly with Luke, xvii. 2: ‘‘It were better 
 for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than he should 
 offend one of these little ones.” 
 
 E. Mention the quotations of, to Scripture, in Clement, and in- 
 and allusions to, the Scriptures deed all the early Christian writers. 
 
 found in the Epistle of Clement; State also the value of this piece of 
 and state what marks the allusions evidence. 
 
102 EVIDENCES | SECT. 
 
 paid to the words of Christ as recorded by the evan- 
 gelists: “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus ;—by 
 this command, and by these rules, let us establish our- 
 selves, that we may always walk obediently to his holy. 
 words.” We pecceive also in Clement a total uncon- 
 sciousness 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 testi- 
 mony, and especially to the most ancient part of it. 
 Whenever anything now read in the Gospels is met 
 with in an early Christian writing, it is always observed 
 to stand there as acknowledged truth, z. ¢. to be intro- 
 duced 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 judg- 
 ment 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. 
 
 F. 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 tra- 
 dition. This has been said: but that no such inference 
 can be drawn from the absence of words of quotation, 
 
 is proved by the three following considerations :—First, 
 that Clement, in the very same manner, namely, with- 
 out any mark of reference, 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 Hebrews. 
 
 1 Rom. i, 29. 
 
 F. It may be said, that as apostles, or might have received 
 Clement has not used words of through the ordinary medium of 
 quotation, it is not certain that he oral tradition: state the ¢hvee con- 
 refers to any book whatever. And_ siderations on which Paley contends 
 it has been said, that the words of that no such inference can be drawn 
 Christ, which he has put down, he from the absence of words of quo- 
 might himself have heard from the tation. 
 
SECTS L] OFRCARISTAANT LY. 103 
 
 Secondly, that there are many sentences of St Paul’s 
 first epistle to the Corinthians standing in Clement’s 
 epistle without any sign of quotation, which yet certainly 
 are quotations ; because it appears that Clement had 
 St Paul’s epistle before him, inasmuch as in one place 
 he mentions it in terms too express to leave us in any 
 doubt : “Take into your hands the epistle of the blessed 
 apostle Paul.” Thirdly, that this method of adopting 
 words of Scripture without reference or acknowledgment, 
 was, as 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 pre- 
 sumption 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. 
 
 G. But take it if you will the other way, that Clement 
 had heard these words from the apostles or first teachers 
 of Christianity ; with respect to the precise point of our 
 argument, viz. that the Scriptures contain what the 
 apostles taught, this supposition may serve almost as 
 well. 
 
 H. III. Near the conclusion of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, St Paul, amongst others, sends the following 
 salutation: “Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Pa- 
 trobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.” 
 
 Of Hermas, who appeared in this catalogue of Roman 
 Christians as contemporary with St Paul, a book bearing 
 the name, and it is most probable rightly, is still re- 
 maining. It is called the Shepherd,! or Pastor of Hermas. 
 Its antiquity is incontestable, from the quotations of it 
 in Irenzeus, A.D. 178 ; Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 194 ; 
 Tertullian, A.D. 200; Origen, A.D. 230. The notes of 
 time extant in the epistle itself agree with its title, and 
 with the testimonies concerning it, for it purports to 
 have been written during the lifetime of Clement. 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol.i. p. 111. 
 
 G. Suppose the objcction made H. State, at length, the allu- 
 against the epistle of Clement were sions to the Gospels in a piece 
 to be conceded, what would be the attributed to Hermas, called the 
 effect of the concession. Shepherd, or Pastor of Hermas ; 
 
104 EVIDENCES [SECT.k 
 
 In this piece are tacit allusions to St Matthew’s, 
 St Luke’s, and St John’s Gospels ; that is to say, there 
 are applications of thoughts and expressions found in 
 these Gospels, withont citing the place or writer from 
 which they were taken. In this form appear in Hermas 
 the confessing and denying of Christ;! the parable of the 
 seed sown ;? the comparison of Christ’s disciples to little 
 children; the saying, “he that putteth away his wife, 
 and marrieth another, committeth adultery ;”° the sin- 
 gular 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 perform- 
 ance. I, therefore, observe, that the character of the 
 writing has little to do with the purpose for which we 
 adduce it. It is the age in which it was composed, that 
 gives the value to its testimony. 
 
 I. IV. Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient Christian 
 writers, became bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven 
 years after Christ’s ascension; and therefore, from his 
 time, and place, and station, it is probable that he had 
 known and conversed with many of the apostles.— 
 Epistles of Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his 
 contemporary. Passages found in the epistles now ex- 
 tant under his name, are quoted by Irenzus. 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 
 Irenzus, Origen, and Eusebius.4 
 
 In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to 
 the Gospels of St Matthew and St John; yet so far of 
 
 1 Matt. x. 32, 83; or Luke xii. 8, 9. 2 Matt. xiii. 3; or Luke viii. 5, 
 3 Luke xvi. 16. 4 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147. 
 and mention the established an- I. State who Ignatius was, and 
 
 tiquity and internal date of the mention the circumstances of | his 
 work, and the sole reason of its life, together with some specimens 
 value. of his allusions to the Scriptures. 
 
SECT. L] OF CHRISTIANITY. 105 
 
 K. 
 
 the same form with those in the preceding articles, that, 
 like them, they are not accompanied with marks of 
 quotation. 
 Of these allusions the following are clear specimens : 
 ( “Christ was baptized of John, that all right- 
 Matt! y eousness might be fulfilled by him.” 
 " \ “Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and 
 | harmless as a dove.” 
 “Vet the Spirit is not deceived, being from 
 | God: for it knows whence tt comes, and whither 
 
 Sohn? 3 at goes.” bear 
 “He (Christ) is the door of the Father, by 
 which exter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
 (and the apostles, and the church.” 
 
 As to the manner of quotation, this is observable :— 
 Ignatius, in one place, speaks of St Paul in terms of 
 high respect, and quotes his epistle to the Ephesians by 
 name, yet, in several other places, he borrows words 
 and sentiments from the same epistle without mention- 
 ing it; which shews, 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 testi- 
 mony concerning Polycarp is given by Irenzus, who in 
 his youth had seen him:—“I can tell the place,” saith 
 Irenzeus, “in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, 
 and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his 
 life, and the form of his person, and the discourses he 
 made to the people: and how he related his conversa- 
 tion with John, and others who had seen the Lord, and 
 how he related their sayings, and what he had heard 
 concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and 
 
 1 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,” 
 2 Chap. iii. 8, ‘‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
 not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is 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.” 
 3 Lardner, Cred. vol.i. p. 192. 
 
 K. What is observable in the L. Give an account of Poly- 
 manner of quotation, used by Ig- carp; and particularly state the 
 natius; and what does it tend to testimony of Irenzeus concerning 
 shew ? him 
 
106 EVIDENCES {SECT,+& 
 
 his doctrine, as he had received them from the eye- 
 witnesses of the Word of Life; all which Polycarp 
 related agreeably to the Scriptures.” 
 
 M. Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country 
 and persons of the apostles is thus attested, we have one 
 undoubted epistle remaining. And this, though a short 
 letter, contains nearly forty clear allusions to the books 
 of the New Testament ; which is strong evidence of the 
 respect which Christians of that age bore for these books. 
 
 N. Amongst these, although the writings of St Paul are 
 more frequently used by Polycarp than any other parts 
 of Scripture, there are copious allusions to the Gospel 
 of St Matthew, some to passages found in the Gospels 
 both of Matthew and Luke, and some which more 
 nearly resemble the words in Luke. 
 
 I select the following, as fixing the authority of the 
 Lord’s Prayer, and the use of it amongst the primitive 
 Christians: “If therefore we gray the Lord, that he wll 
 forgive us, we ought also to forgive.” 
 
 With supplication deseeching the all-seeing God xot to 
 lead us into temptation.” 
 
 And the following, for the sake of repeating an ob- 
 servation already made, that words of our Lord, found 
 in our Gospels, were at this early date quoted as spoken 
 by him; and not only so, but quoted with so little 
 question or consciousness of doubt about their really 
 being his words, as not even to mention, much less to 
 canvass, the authority from which they were taken :— 
 
 But remembering what the Lord said, teaching, Judge 
 not, that ye be not judged ; forgive, and ye shall be 
 forgiven; be ye merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ; 
 with what Teasnren 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 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 1, 2: v.7. Luke vi. 37, 38. 
 
 M. State what undoubted testi- N. Mention some remarkable 
 mony of Polycarp remains; mention instances of these allusions, and 
 the number of its allusions to books the observations which arise from 
 of the New Testament, and the them. 
 evidence which this affords. 
 
SECT. I.] OF CHRISGIAWL EY. 107 
 
 these books were considered by him, and, as he thought, 
 considered by his readers, as authentic accounts of 
 Christ’s discourses; and that that point was incontest- 
 able. 
 
 The following is a decisive, though what we call a 
 tacit, reference to St Peter’s speech in the Acts of the 
 Apostles:—“ whom God hath raised, having loosed the 
 pains of death.”* | 
 
 VI. Papias,2a hearer of John, and companion of 
 Polycarp, as Irenzus attests, and of that age, as all 
 agree, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, from a work 
 now lost, expressly ascribes the respective Gospels to 
 Matthew and Mark; and in a manner which proves that 
 these Gospels must have publicly borne the names of 
 these authors at that time, and probably long before ; 
 for Papias does not say that one Gospel was written by 
 Matthew, and another by Mark; but, assuming this as 
 perfectly well known, he tells us from what materials 
 Mark collected his account, vzz. from Peter’s preaching ; 
 and in what language Matthew wrote, vzz. 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 con- 
 versed with some of the apostles. The works of theirs 
 which remain are, in general, very short pieces, yet 
 rendered extremely valuable by their antiquity; and 
 none, short as they are, but what contain some important 
 testimony to our historical Scriptures.’ 
 
 3 That the diakaticai bre siore thinly dain panther tains Mrvitings of the next and of 
 encoending ages Js, a good meneure, neoomn int / hardly could have techno, a general par, of Chris 
 Be a ae ne ie ce eer ticee With. all tacts religious ideas) and with thee 
 language upon religious subjects. In process of time, and as soon perhaps as could be expected, this 
 
 came to be the case. And then we perceive the effect, in a proportionably greater frequency, as well 
 as copiousness of allusion.* 
 * Mich, Introd. c. ii. sect. 6. 
 
 O. State what is known con- merated, highly valuable; and ac- 
 cerning Papias; and explain the count for the Scriptures being more 
 manner in which he bears testimony rarely quoted by them, than by the 
 to the genuineness of the Gospels. writers of the next and of succeeding 
 
 P. Point out what renders the ages. (See note 21.) 
 works of the authors already enu- 
 
108 EVIDENCES [SECT. I. 
 
 Q. 
 
 VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more 
 than twenty years after the last, follows Justin Martyr. 
 His remaining works are much larger than any that 
 have yet been noticed. Although the nature of his 
 two principal writings, one of which was addressed to 
 heathens, and the other was a conference with a Jew, 
 did not lead him to such frequent appeals to Christian 
 books as would have appeared in a discourse intended 
 for Christian readers ; we, nevertheless, reckon up in 
 them between twenty and thirty quotations of the Gos- 
 pels and Acts of the Apostles, certain, distinct, and 
 copious: if each verse be counted separately, a much 
 greater number; if each expression, a very great one. 
 
 We meet with quotations of three of the Gospels 
 within the compass of half a page: “And, in other 
 words, he says, Depart from me into outer darkness, 
 which the Father hath prepared for Satan and _ his 
 angels,’ (which is from Matthew, xxv. 41.) “And 
 again he said, in other words, I give unto you power 
 to tread upon serpents, and scorpions, and venomous 
 beasts, and upon all the power of the enemy.” (This 
 from Luke x. 19.) “And before he was crucified, he 
 said, The Son of man must suffer many things, and 
 be rejected of the Scribes and Pharisees, and be cru- 
 cified, and rise again the third day.” (This from Mark 
 Vili. 31.) 
 
 In another place, Justin quotes a passage in the his- 
 tory of Christ’s birth, as delivered by Matthew and 
 John, and fortifies his quotation by this remarkable 
 testimony: “As they have taught, who have written 
 the history of all things concerning our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ ; and we believe them.” 
 
 Quotations are also found from the Gospel of St John. 
 
 What, moreover, seems extremely material to be 
 observed is, that in all Justin’s works, from which might 
 
 1 Lard. Cred. vol. i. p. 258. 
 
 2 “He cities our present canon, and particularly our four Gospels, continually, I dare say, above 
 two hundred times.” Jones's New and Full Method, Append. vol. i, p. 589. ed, 1726. 
 
 Q. Mention about what interval latter, and the number of his quo- 
 there was between the age of Papias tations from the Scriptures, together 
 and of Justin Martyr—the nature of with some examples. 
 the two principal writings of the R. State the material observa- 
 
SECT. L] OF CHRISTIANITY. 109 
 
 be extracted almost a complete life of Christ, there are 
 but two instances in which he refers to anything as said 
 or done by Christ, which is not related concerning him 
 in our present Gospels: which shews, 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 appearance upon the water, which, 
 according to Epiphanius, is noticed in the Gospel of the 
 Hebrews; and which might be true; but which, 
 whether true, or false, is mentioned by Justin with a 
 plain mark of diminution when compared with what he 
 quotes as resting upon Scripture authority. The reader 
 will advert to this distinction: “ And then, when Jesus 
 came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, as 
 Jesus descended into the water, a fire also was kindled 
 in Jordan: and when he came up out of the water, she 
 apostles of this our Christ have written, that the Holy 
 Ghost lighted upon him asa dove.” 
 
 All the references in Justin are made without men- 
 tioning the author ; which proves that these books were 
 perfectly notorious, and that there were no other ac- 
 counts of Christ then extant, or, at least, no others so 
 received and credited, as to make it necessary to dis- 
 tinguish these from the rest. 
 
 But although Justin mentions not the author’s name, 
 he calls the books, “ Memoirs composed by the Apos- 
 tles ;” “ Memoirs composed by the Apostles and their 
 Companions;” which descriptions, the latter especially, 
 exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts 
 of the Apostles now bear. 
 
 1 “ 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, put to represent the sense of 
 many of our Lord’s sayings. Fabricius has observed, that this saying has been quoted by many 
 aa and that Justin is the only one who ascribes it to our Lord, and that perhaps by a slip of 
 
 is memory. 
 
 Words resembling these are read repeatedly in Ezekiel: “I will judge them according to their 
 Ways; (chap. vii. 3; xxxiii. 20). It is remarkable that Justin had just before expressly quoted 
 Ezekiel. Mr. Jones upon this circumstance founded a conjecture, that Justin wrote only, ‘“‘the Lord 
 hath said,” intending to quote the words of God, or rather the sense of those words, in Ezekiel : and 
 that some transcriber, imagining these to be the words of Christ, inserted in his copy the addition 
 “Jesus Christ.” Vol. i. p. 539. 
 
 / 
 tion which Paley makes from a_ the peculiarity of their references to 
 survey of the works of Justin, and Scripture. 
 
IO EVIDENCES [SECT. 1. 
 <) VIII. Hegesippus! came about thirty years after 
 Justin. His testimony is remarkable only for this par- 
 
 ticular; 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 im- 
 portant attestation, from good authority, and of high 
 antiquity. It is generally understood that by the word 
 “Lord,” Hegesippus intended some writing or writings, 
 containing the teaching of Christ, in which sense alone 
 the term combines with the other terms “ Law and 
 Prophets,” which denote writings; and together with 
 them admit ofthe 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 shew, that Hegesippus ex- 
 pressed 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.2 The epistle is preserved entire by Eusebius. 
 And what carries, in some measure, the testimony of 
 these churches to a higher age, is, that they had now for 
 their bishop, Pothinus, who was ninety years old, and 
 whose early life consequently must have immediately 
 joined on with the times of the apostles. In this epistle 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred, vol. i. p. 314. 
 
 S. What interval was there be- 
 tween Justin and Hegesippus ; and 
 for what one particular is his testi- 
 mony remarkable ? 
 
 T. What renders it probable 
 that the writings, zwplied by the 
 terms used by NHegesippus, were 
 some or all of the books of the 
 New Testament ? 
 
 2 Ib, i. p. 332. 
 
 U. Mention the date and cir- 
 cumstances of an epistle from the 
 churches of Lyons and Vienne, in 
 France, to the churches of Asia and 
 Phrygia ;—shew what testimony it 
 bears to the Scriptures, and what 
 fact carries this testimony to a higher 
 age. 
 
SECT eri OF CHRISTIANITY. III 
 are exact references to the Gospels of Luke and John, 
 and to the Acts of the Apostles; the form of reference 
 the same as in all the preceding articles. That from 
 St John is in these words: “Then was fulfilled that 
 which was spoken by the Lord, that whosoever killeth 
 you, will think that he doeth God service.” 
 
 X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. 
 Irenzeus? succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In 
 his youth he had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a 
 disciple of John. In the time in which he lived, he was 
 distant not much more than a century from the publica- | 
 tion of the Gospels; in his instruction, only by one step 
 separated from the persons of the apostles. He asserts 
 of himself and his contemporaries, that they were able 
 to reckon up, in all the principal churches, the succession 
 of bishops from the first.2 I remark these particulars 
 concerning Irenzeus with more formality than usual, be- 
 cause the testimony which this writer affords to the 
 historical books of the New Testament, to their authority, 
 and to the titles which they bear, is express, positive, 
 W.aand 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 Irenzeus, “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 founda- 
 tion 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 
 
 1 John xvi. 2, 2 Lardner, vol. i. p. 344. 3 Adv. Heres, L. iii. ¢,3. 
 
 W. Mention what is known W.a. Quote a passage from 
 
 concerning Irenzeus, and exhibit his 
 very particular dzrect, as well as in- 
 direct, testimony to the genuineness 
 of the Gospels. Shew the extent of 
 his testimony, and explain why 
 Paley calls some of it exclusive. 
 
 Irenzeus which opens with a precise 
 assertion of the point laid down as 
 the foundation of the argument, viz. 
 that the story which the Gospels 
 exhibit is the story which the apos- 
 tles told. 
 
112 EVIDENCES [SECT&I: 
 upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all 
 things. They then went forth to all the ends of the 
 earth, declaring to men the blessing of heavenly peace, 
 having all of them, and every one, alike, the gospel 
 of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, wrote a Gospel 
 in their own language, while Peter and Paul were 
 preaching the Gospel at Rome, and founding a Church 
 there: and after their exit, Mark also, the disciple and 
 interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writing the things 
 that had been preached by Peter; and Luke, the com- 
 panion of Paul, put down in a book the Gospel preached 
 by him (Paul). Afterwards, John, the disciple of the 
 Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise 
 published a Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia.” 
 If any modern divine should write a book upon the 
 genuineness of the Gospels, he could not assert it more 
 expressly, or state their original more distinctly, than 
 Irenzeus hath done within little more than a hundred 
 years after they were published. 
 
 w.d The correspondency in the days of Irenzus, of the 
 oral and written tradition, and the deduction of the oral 
 tradition through various channels from the age of the 
 apostles, which was then lately passed, and by conse-. 
 quence, the probability that the books truly delivered 
 what the apostles taught, is inferred also with strict 
 regularity from another passage of his works. “The 
 tradition of the apostles,” this father saith, “hath spread 
 itself over the whole universe ; and all they who search 
 after the sources of truth will find this tradition to be 
 held sacred in every church. We might enumerate all 
 those who had been appointed bishops to these churches 
 by the apostles, and all their successors up to our days. 
 It is by this uninterrupted succession, that we have 
 received the tradition which actually exists in the church, 
 as also the doctrines of truth, as it was preached by the 
 
 W.o. Quote a passage from channels from the age of the apos- 
 
 Irenzeus, by which the correspond- 
 ency, in his days, of the oral and 
 written tradition, and the deduction 
 of the oral tradition through various 
 
 tles, which, was then lately passed, 
 and, by consequence, the proba- 
 bility that the book truly delivered 
 what the apostles taught, is inferred. 
 
SECTAL] OF, GOARISTIANIT Y. 113 
 
 apostles.” The reader will observe upon this, that the 
 same Ireneus, who is now stating the strength and uni- 
 formity of the tradition, we have before seen recognising, 
 in. the fullest manner, the authority of the written 
 records; from which we are entitled to conclude that 
 they were then conformable to each other. 
 
 w.c I have said, that the testimony of Irenzus in favour 
 of our Gospels is erclusive of all others. I allude toa 
 remarkable passage in his works, in which, for some 
 reasons sufficiently fanciful, he endeavours to shew, that 
 there could be neither more nor fewer Gospels than 
 four. With his argument we have no concern. The 
 position itself proves that four, and only four Gospels 
 were at that time publicly read and acknowledged. 
 That these were our Gospels, and in the state in which 
 we now have them, is shewn from many other places of 
 this writer beside that which we have already alleged. 
 He mentions how Matthew begins his Gospel, how 
 Mark begins and ends his, and their supposed reasons 
 for so doing. He enumerates at length the several 
 passages of Christ’s history in Luke, which are not 
 found in any of the other evangelists. He states the 
 particular design with which St John composed his 
 Gospel, and accounts for the doctrinal declarations 
 which precede the narrative. 
 
 x. To the book of the Acts of the Apostles, its author 
 and credit, the testimony of Irenzus is no less explicit. 
 Referring to the account of St Paul’s conversion and 
 vocation, in the ninth chapter of that book, “ Nor can 
 they,” says he, meaning the parties with whom he 
 argues, “shew 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 
 
 1 Iren. in Her, 1. iii. c. 3. 
 
 W.c. Irenzeus endeavours to that the Gospels, to which he refers, 
 shew, that there could neither be were those we now have ? 
 more nor fewer Gospels than four. X. What testimony does Ire- 
 Without concerning ourselves with nzeus bear to the book*of the Acts 
 his argument, what does the position of the Apostles, its author, and 
 itself prove ; and how does it appear credit ? 
 I 
 
114 : EVIDENCES [SECT at 
 
 accompanying St Paul; which leads him to deliver a 
 summary of almost the whole of the last twelve chapters 
 of the book. | 
 
 In an author thus abounding with references and 
 allusions to the Scriptures, there is not one to any 
 apocryphal Christian writing whatever. This is a broad 
 line of distinction between our sacred books, and the 
 pretensions of all others. 
 
 The force of the testimony ofthe period which we 
 have considered is greatly strengthened by the obser- 
 vation, that it is the testimony and the concurring 
 testimony of writers who lived in countries remote from 
 one another. Clement flourished at Rome, Ignatius at 
 Antioch, Polycarp at Smyrna, Justin Martyr in Syria, 
 and Irenzeus in France. 
 
 XI. Omitting Athenagoras and Theophilus, who 
 lived about this time ;' in the remaining works of the 
 former of whom are clear references to Mark and Luke; 
 and in the works of the latter, who was bishop of 
 Antioch, the sixth in succession from the Apostles, 
 evident allusions to Matthew and John, and probable 
 allusions to Luke (which, considering the nature of the 
 compositions, that they were addressed to heathen 
 readers, is as much as could be expected) ; observing 
 also, that the works of two learned Christian writers 
 of the same age, Miltiades and Panteenus,? are now 
 lost ; of which Miltiades, Eusebius records, that his 
 writings “were monuments of zeal for the Divine 
 Oracles ;” and which, Patzenus, as Jerome testifies, 
 was a man of prudence and learning, both in the Divine 
 Scriptures and secular literature, and had left many 
 commentaries upon the Holy Scriptures then extant ; 
 passing by these, without further remark, we come to 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. i. p, 400.—Ib, 422 2 Ib. vol. i. 413. 450, 
 
 Y. What is the broad line of which we have considered, greatly 
 distinction between our sacred books strengthened ? 
 
 and the pretensions of all others, A. Mention the nature of the 
 arising from the writings of Iren- testimonies to which Paley alludes, 
 aeus? between the time of Irenzeus and 
 
 Clement of Alexandria ; and state 
 Z.. By what observation is the what interval] elapsed between the 
 force of the testimony of the period two. 
 
SECT. 1] OF CHRISTIANITY. 115 
 
 one of the most voluminous of ancient Christian writers, 
 Clement of Alexandria Clement followed Irenzus at 
 the distance of only sixteen years, and therefore may be 
 said to maintain the series of testimony in an uninter- 
 rupted continuation. 
 
 p.  Incertain 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 atten- 
 tion and inquiry amongst Christians. In the works of 
 Clement which remain, the four Gospels are repeatedly 
 quoted by the names of their authors, and the Acts of 
 the Apostles is expressly ascribed to Luke. In one 
 place, after mentioning a particular circumstance, he 
 adds these remarkable words: “We have not this 
 passage in the four Gospels delivercd to us, but in that 
 according to the Egyptians ;”’ which puts a marked 
 distinction between the four Gospels and all other 
 histories, or pretended histories of Christ. In another 
 part of his works, the perfect confidence with which he 
 received the Gospels, is signified by him in these words: 
 “That this is true appears from hence, that it is written 
 in the Gospel according to St Luke ;’ and again, “I 
 need not use many words, but only to allege the evan- 
 gelic voice of the Lord.” His quotations are numerous. 
 The sayings of Christ, of which he alleges many, are all 
 taken from our Gospels; the single exception to this 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 469. 
 
 B. Point out the nature of distinction he makes between the 
 Clement’s testimony, the proofs four Gospels and all other his- 
 drawn from it, and the marked tories. 
 
 2 
 
116 EVIDENCES [SECT. I. 
 
 observation appearing to be a loose! quotation of a 
 passage in St Matthew’s Gospel. 
 
 Cc. XII. In the age in which they lived,? Tertullian joins 
 on with Clement. The number of the Gospels then 
 received, the names of the evangelists, and their proper 
 descriptions, are exhibited by this writer, in one short 
 sentence :—“ Among the apostles, John and Matthew 
 teach us the faith; among apostolical men, Luke and 
 Mark refresh it.” The next passage to be taken from 
 Tertullian, affords as complete an attestation to the 
 authenticity of our books, as can be well imagined, 
 After enumerating the churches which had been founded 
 by Paul, at Corinth, in Galatia, at Philippi, Thessalonica, 
 and Ephesus ; the Church of Rome established by Peter 
 and Paul, and other churches derived from John; he 
 proceeds thus :—“TI say then, that with them, but not 
 with them only which are apostolical, but with all who 
 have fellowship with them in the same faith, is that 
 Gospel of Luke received from its first publication, which 
 we so zealously maintain:” and presently afterwards 
 adds, “The same authority of the apostolical churches 
 will support the other Gospels which we have from them, 
 and according to them, I mean John’s and Matthew’s ; 
 although that likewise which Mark published may be 
 said to be Peter’s, whose interpreter Mark was.” In 
 another place Tertullian affirms, that the three other 
 Gospels were in the hands of the churches from the 
 beginning, as well as Luke’s. This noble testimony 
 fixes the universality with which the Gospels were 
 received, and their antiquity ; that they were in the 
 hands of all, and had been so from the first. And this 
 evidence appears not more than one hundred and fifty 
 
 C.ayears after the publication of the books. The reader 
 the words of Matthew (chap. v1 35) ten ee eee ou.” Clem is most uadenlanty Poon 
 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, fur 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. 
 
 2 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 561. 
 
 C. Specify the points which C.a. When Tertullian speaks 
 are determined by the testimony of of maintaining or defending the 
 Tertullian, and mention the date Gospel of St Luke, what must we 
 of it. understand him to mean ? 
 
SECT. L] OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 117 
 must be given to understand, that when Tertullian 
 speaks of maintaining or defending (twendi) the Gospel 
 of St Luke, he only means maintaining or defending the 
 integrity of the copies of Luke received by Christian 
 churches, in opposition to certain curtailed copies 
 used by Marcion, against whom he writes. 
 
 D. This author frequently cites the Acts of the Apostles 
 under that title, once calls it Luke’s Commentary, and 
 observes how St Paul’s epistles confirm it. 
 
 E. 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.” 
 
 F. Tertullian quotes no Christian writing as of equal 
 authority with the Scriptures, and no spurious books at 
 all; a broad line of distinction, we may once more 
 observe, between our sacred books, and all others. 
 
 G. We may again likewise remark the wide extent 
 through which the reputation of the Gospels, and of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, had spread, and the perfect 
 consent, in this point, of distant and independent 
 societies. It is now only about one hundred and fifty 
 years since Christ was crucified ; and within this period, 
 to say nothing of the apostolical fathers who have been 
 noticed already, we have Justin Martyr at Neapolis, 
 Theophilus at Antioch, Irenzeus in France, Clement at 
 Alexandria, Tertullian at Carthage, quoting the same 
 books of historical Scriptures, and, I may say, quoting 
 these alone. 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 467. 
 
 D. What is Tertullian’s obser- omitting to quote any Christian 
 
 vation on the Acts, and under what 
 title does he make it ? 
 
 E. Quote the observation of Dr. 
 Lardner, with regard to the num- 
 ber of quotations from the New 
 Testament found in Tertullian. 
 
 F. What broad line of distinc- 
 tion is established by Tertullian’s 
 
 writing, as of equal authority with 
 the Scriptures, and no spurious books 
 at all? 
 
 G. What proof have we of the 
 extensive reputation of the Gospels 
 and the Acts, within about 150 
 years from the crucifixion ? 
 
118 
 
 H. 
 
 EVIDENCES fSECTSE 
 
 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 pre- 
 served in Theodoret, is an abstract of the whole Gospel 
 history), brings us to a name of great celebrity in 
 Christian antiquity, Origen? of Alexandria, who, in the 
 quantity of his writings, exceeded the most laborious of 
 the Greek and Latin authors. Nothing can be more 
 peremptory upon the subject now under consideration, 
 and, from a writer of his learning and information, more 
 satisfactory, than the declaration of Origen, preserved, in 
 
 H.a“an extract from his works, by Eusebius: That the 
 
 H.dtrumpet, relating the Acts of the Apostles.” 
 
 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, 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 
 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 
 
 1 Minucius Felix, Apollonius, Caius, Asterius, Urbanus, Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, 
 
 Hippolytus, Ammonius, Julius Africanus, 
 2 Lardner, vol. iii. p. 234, 
 
 H. What interval brings us to 
 Origen of Alexandria, and by what 
 Christian writers was that interval 
 occupied: what is the nature of 
 Origen’s testimony, and the number 
 of his quotations ; and how does he 
 treat certain apocryphal Gospels? 
 
 H.a. Quote Origen’s declara- 
 
 tion as to the reception of the Gos- 
 pels by the Church, and his attes- 
 tation to the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 H.2. Quote a passage from 
 Origen, shewing the universality 
 with which the Scriptures, were 
 then read. 
 
Sect.1] | OF CHRISTIANITY. 119 
 
 purpose to single out quotations of Scripture from such 
 a writer as this. We might as well make a selection of 
 the quotations of Scripture in Dr. Clarke’s Sermons. 
 They are so thickly sown in the works of Origen, that 
 Dr. Mill says, “If we had all his works remaining, we 
 should have before us almost the whole text of the 
 Bible.” 
 
 Origen notices, in order to censure, certain apocryphal 
 Gospels. He also uses four writings of this sort, that is, 
 throughout his large works, he once or twice, at the 
 most, quotes each of the four; but always with some 
 mark, either of direct reprobation or of caution to his 
 readers, manifestly esteeming them of little or no 
 authority. 
 
 XIV. Gregory bishop of Neoceesarea, and Dionysius 
 
 of Alexandria, were scholars of Origen. Their testi- 
 
 mony, therefore, though full and particular, may be 
 reckoned a repetition only of his. The series, however, 
 of evidence, is continued by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, 
 who flourished within twenty years after Origen. “The 
 
 . church,” says this father, “is watered, like Paradise, by 
 
 four rivers, that is, by four Gospels.” The Acts of the 
 Apostles is also frequently quoted by Cyprian under 
 that name, and under the name of the “Divine Scrip- 
 tures.” In his various writings are such constant and 
 copious citations of Scripture, as to place this part of 
 the testimony beyond controversy. Nor is there, in 
 the works of this eminent African bishop, one quotation: 
 of a spurious or apocryphal Christian writing. 
 
 XV. Passing over a crowd? of writers following 
 Cyprian at different distances, but all within forty years 
 of his time; and who all, in the imperfect remains of 
 their works, either cite the historical Scriptures of the 
 
 New Testament, or speak of them in terms of profound 
 
 1 Mill Proleg. cap. vi. p. 66. 
 _ 2 Novatus, Rome, A.p. 251: Dionysius, Rome, a.p. 259; Commodian, a.p. 270; Anatolius, Lao- 
 dicea, A.p. 270; Theognostus, a, D. 282; Methodius, Lycia, a.p. 290; Phileas, Egypt, A.D. 296. 
 I. Within what interval after K. State the testimony which 
 Origen did Cyprian, bishop of Car- Cyprian bears to the Scriptures. » 
 
 thage, appear; and what testimony L. Who was Victorin, and 
 
 does Paley refer to as comingin that about what time did he live: from 
 interval? what crowd of writers does Paley 
 single him out, and why ? 
 
120 EVIDENCES (SECTHi: 
 
 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 thesame histories, were known and received 
 from one side of the Christian world to the other. This 
 bishop’ lived about the year 290: and in a commentary 
 
 M. upon this text of the Revelation, “ The first was like a 
 lion, the second was like a calf, the third like a man, 
 and the fourth like a flying eagle,” he makes out that by 
 the four creatures are intended the four Gospels ; and, 
 to shew the propriety of the symbols, he recites the 
 subject with which each evangelist opens his history. 
 The explication is fanciful, but the testimony positive. 
 He also expressly cites the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 N. XVI. Arnobius and Lactantius,? about the year 300, 
 composed formal arguments upon the credibility of the 
 Christian religion. As these arguments were addressed 
 to Gentiles, the authors abstain from quoting Christian 
 books dy name, one of them giving this very reason 
 for his reserve: but when they come to state, for the 
 information of their readers, the outlines of Christ’s 
 history, it is apparent that they draw their accounts 
 from our Gospels, and from no other sources ; for these 
 statements exhibit a summary of almost every thing 
 which is related of Christ’s actions and miracles by the 
 
 O. four evangelists. Arnobius vindicates, without men- 
 tioning their names, the credit of these historians ; 
 observing, that they were eye-witnesses of the facts 
 which they relate, and that their ignorance of the arts of 
 composition was rather a confirmation of their testimony 
 than an objection to it. Lactantius also argues in 
 defence of the religion, from the consistency, simplicity, 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. v, p. 214. 2 Ib. vol. vii. p. 43. 201. 
 
 M. State the nature of Vic- and how do they seem to have 
 torin’s testimony. quoted Christian books ? 
 By what observations does 
 N. In what year did Arnobius Arnobius Vindicate the credit of our 
 and Lactantius live, and to what historians, and Lactantius the truth 
 object did they turn their labours; of our religion? 
 
SECT. L] OF CHRISTIANITY. 121 
 
 disinterestedness, and sufferings of the Christian his- 
 torians, meaning by that term our evangelists. 
 
 P: XVII. We close the series of testimonies with that 
 of Eusebius,! bishop of Caesarea, who flourished in the 
 year 315, contemporary with, or posterior only by fif- 
 teen years to, the two authors last cited. This voluminous 
 writer, and most diligent collector of the writings of 
 others, beside a variety of large works, composed a 
 history of the affairs of Christianity from its origin to 
 his own time. His testimony to the Scriptures is the 
 testimony of a man much conversant in the works of 
 Christian authors, written during the 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 circum- 
 stance which regarded themselves; and of Mark, as 
 writing under Peter's direction, in the circumstances 
 which regarded him. The illustration of this remark 
 leads him to bring together long quotations from each 
 of the evangelists; and the whole passage is a proof 
 that Eusebius, and the Christians of those days, not 
 only- read the Gospels, but studied them with attention 
 and exactness. In a passage of his Ecclesiastical 
 History, he treats, in form, and at large, of the occasions 
 of writing the four Gospels, and, of the order in which 
 they were written. The title of the chapter is, “ of the 
 order of the Gospels;’ and it begins thus: “Let us 
 observe the writings of this apostle John, which are not 
 contradicted by any: and, first of all must be mentioned, 
 as acknowledged by all, the Gospel according to him, 
 well known to all the churches under heaven ; and that 
 it has been justly placed by the ancients the fourth in 
 order, and after the other three, may be made evident 
 in this manner.”—Eusebius then proceeds to shew that 
 John wrote the last of the four, and that his Gospel was 
 
 1 Lardner, vol, viii. p, 33. 
 
 P. At what time did Eusebius, State, fully, the effect of his testi- 
 bishop of Ceesarea, flourish; and mony. 
 what was the nature of his works? 
 
122 EVIDENCES [SECA 
 intended to supply the omissions of the others; es- 
 pecially in the part of our Lord’s ministry which took 
 place before the imprisonment of John the Baptist. He 
 observes, “that the apostles of Christ were not studious 
 of the ornaments of composition, nor indeed forward to 
 write at all, being wholly occupied with their ministry.” 
 
 This learned author makes no use at all of Christian 
 writings, forged with the names of Christ’s apostles, or 
 their companions. 
 
 We close this branch of our evidence here, because, 
 after Eusebius, there is no room for any question upon 
 the subject ; the works of Christian writers being as full 
 of texts of Scripture, and of references to Scripture, as 
 the discourses of modern divines. Future testimonies 
 to the books of Scripture could only prove that they 
 
 never lost their character or authority. 
 
 SET ONT 
 
 When the Scriptures are quoted or alluded to, they are quoted with 
 peculiar respect, as books sui generis ; as possessing an authority 
 
 which belonged to no other 
 
 books, and as conclusive in all 
 
 questions and controversies amongst Christians. 
 
 This proposition is borne out by 
 an appeal to the works of the follow- 
 ing early writers, in which the Scrip- 
 tures are spoken of as “‘ divine”—a 
 “sacred fountain” —“ fountains of 
 Salvation,” &c. :— 
 
 THEOPHILUS, bishop of Antioch, 
 sixth in succession from the apostles. 
 
 A WRITER against Artemon, 
 (anon.) about 158 years after the 
 publication of the Scriptures. 
 
 HIPPOLYTUS, about the same 
 period. 
 
 ORIGEN, in the 3rd century. 
 
 CYPRIAN, bishop of Carthage, 
 near the age of Origen. 
 
 NovaTus, a Roman, contempo- 
 rary with Origen. 
 
 ANATOLIUS, bishop of Laodicea, 
 about twenty years after Novatus. 
 
 The ARIANS, about fifty years 
 after Anatolius. 
 
 ATHANASIUS, same period. 
 
 CyRIL, bishop of Jerusalem, 
 about twenty years after the rise of 
 Arianism. 
 
 EPIPHANIUS, twenty years after 
 Cyril. 
 
 P@BADIUS, aGallic bishop, about 
 thirty years after the Council of 
 Nice. 
 
 BASIL, bishop of C-ESAREA, con- 
 temporary with Epiphanius. 
 
 EPHRAIM, a Syrian, and con- 
 temporary with Basil. 
 
 JEROME, 3rd and 4th centuries. 
 
 Q. Why does Paley close this branch of evidence with Eusebius? 
 
SECT. IL] OF CHRISTA! TY. 123 
 BESIDE the general strain of reference and quotation, 
 which uniformly and strongly indicates this distinction, 
 the following may be regarded as specific testimonies:— 
 
 A. I. Theophilus,! bishop of Antioch, the sixth in suc- 
 cession 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, 
 
 B. 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 Gosfe/s, because that 
 all, being inspired, spoke by one and the same Spirit of 
 God.”2 No words can testify more strongly than these 
 do, the high and peculiar respect in which these books 
 were holden. 
 
 c. II. A writer against Artemon,? who may be supposed 
 to come about one hundred and fifty-eight years after 
 the publication of the Scriptures, in a passage quoted by 
 Eusebius, uses these expressions: “ Possibly what they 
 (our adversaries) say, might have been credited, zf first 
 of all the Divine Scriptures did not contradict them ; 
 and then, the writings of certain brethren more ancient 
 than the times of Victor.” The brethren mentioned by 
 name, are Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, Clement, Irenzus, 
 Melito, with a general appeal to many more not named. 
 This passage proves, first, that there was at that time a 
 collection called Divine Scriptures ; secondly, that these 
 Scriptures were esteemed of higher authority than the 
 writings of the most early and celebrated Christians. 
 
 D. III. In a piece ascribed to Hippolytus,* who lived 
 
 2 Tb. vol.i. p. 448. 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. part. ii. vol. i. p. 429. 
 4 Ib. vol, iii. p, 112. 
 
 3 Ib. vol. iii. p. 40. 
 
 A. Who was Theophilus, and 
 at what period did he flourish ? 
 
 B. Shew, by quotations from 
 the writings of Theophilus, the high 
 and peculiar respect in which our 
 Gospels were held. 
 
 C. Quote a passage from a writer 
 against Artemon (as quoted by 
 
 Eusebius) ; mention the age in which 
 he is supposed to have lived, and the 
 effect of his testimony. 
 
 D. In about what age did Hip- 
 polytus live; and how, in a piece 
 ascribed to him, does he shew a 
 marked distinction between the Scrip- 
 tures and other books? 
 
124 EVIDENCES [SECT. “IL: 
 
 near the same time, the author professes, in giving his 
 correspondent instruction in the things about which he 
 inquires, “to draw out af the sacred fountain, and to set 
 before him from the sacred Scriptures what may afford 
 him satisfaction.” He then quotes immediately Paul’s 
 Epistles to Timothy, and afterwards many books of the 
 New Testament. This preface to the quotations carries 
 in it a marked distinction between the Scriptures and 
 other books. 
 
 E. IV. “Our assertions and discourses,” saith Origen}, 
 “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 shewn, 
 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. 
 
 F, 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 
 Gospel,” says he, in another place, “are nothing less 
 than authoritative divine lessons, the foundations of our 
 hope, the supports of our faith, the guides of our way, 
 the safeguards of our course to heaven.” 
 
 G. VI. Novatus,? a Roman, contemporary with Cyprian, 
 appeals to the Scriptures, as the authority by which all 
 errors were to be repelled, and disputes decided. “That 
 Christ is not only man, but God also, is proved by the 
 sacred authority of the Divine Writings.”—“The Divine 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. p, 287, 288, 289. 2 Ib. vol. iv. p. 840. 3 Ib. vol. v. p. 102, 
 
 E. Shew, by quotations from Cyprian asserts the authority of the 
 Origen, a recognition of the peculiar Scriptures. 
 and exclusive authority which the G. With what view, and in 
 Scriptures possed. what language, does Novatus appeal 
 F. Quote the terms in which to the Scriptures ? 
 
SECT: II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 125 
 Scripture easily detects and confutes the frauds of 
 heretics."—“It is not by the fault of the heavenly 
 Scriptures, which never deceive.” Stronger assertions 
 than these could not be used. 
 
 H. VII. At the distance of twenty years from the writer 
 last cited, Anatolius,! a learned Alexandrian, and bishop 
 of Laodicea, speaking of the rule for keeping Easter, a 
 question at that day agitated with much earnestness, 
 says of those whom he opposed, “They can by no means 
 prove their point by the authority of the Divine 
 Scripture.” 
 
 I, VIII. The Arians, who sprung up about fifty years 
 after this, argued strenuously against the use of the 
 words consubstantial, and essence, and like phrases ; 
 “because they were not in Scripture”? And, in the same 
 strain, one of their advocates opens a conference with 
 Augustine, after the following manner: “If you say 
 what is reasonable, I must submit. If you allege any 
 thing from the Divine Scriptures, which are common to 
 both, I must hear. But unscriptural expressions (que 
 extra Scripturam sunt) deserve no regard.” 
 
 Athanasius, the great antagonist of Arianism, after 
 having enumerated the books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment, adds, “ These are the fountain of salvation, that he 
 who thirsts may be satisfied with the oracles contained 
 in them. In these alone the doctrine of salvation is 
 proclaimed. Let no man add to them, or take any thing 
 from them.”8 
 
 K. IX. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem,! who wrote about 
 twenty years after the appearance of Arianism, uses 
 these remarkable words: “ Concerning the divine and 
 holy mysteries of faith, not the least article ought to be 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. v. p. 146. 
 3 Ib. vol. xii, p. 182. 
 
 H. Who was Anatolius; at 
 what period did he flourish ; and on 
 what occasion does he allude to the 
 authority of Scripture? 
 
 I. At what period did the Arians 
 Spring up ; what opinion have they 
 and their antagonist Athanasius, 
 
 2 Ib. vol. vii. p. 283, 284, 
 4 Ib, vol. viii. p. 276. 
 
 expressed as to the authority of 
 Scripture ? 
 
 K. Mention the period when 
 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote ; 
 and the terms in which he asserts the 
 authority of the Scriptures. —How 
 are we assured that he refers to the 
 Scriptures which we possess. 
 
126 EVIDENCES [SECT. II. 
 
 M. 
 
 delivered without the Divine Scriptures.” We are 
 assured that Cyril’s Scriptures were the same as ours, 
 for he has left us a catalague of the books included under 
 that name. 
 
 X. Epiphanius,! twenty years after Cyril, challenges 
 the Arians, and the followers of Origen, “to produce 
 any passages of the Old and New Testament, favouring 
 their sentiments.” 
 
 XI. Pcebadius, a Gallic bishop, who lived about thirty 
 years after the Council of Nice, testifies, that “the 
 bishops of that council first consulted the sacred volumes, 
 and then declared their faith.’ 
 
 XII. Basil, bishop of Czesarea, in Cappadocia, con- 
 temporary with Epiphanius, says, “that hearers instruct- 
 ed 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 chap- 
 ter: “The truth written in the sacred volume of the 
 Gospel, is a perfect rule. Nothing can be taken from it, 
 nor added to it, without great guilt.”* 
 
 XIV. If we,add Jerome to these, it is only for the 
 evidence which he affords of the judgment of preceding 
 ages. Jerome observes, concerning the quotations of 
 ancient Christian writers, that is, of writers who were 
 ancient in the year 400, that they made a distinction 
 between books; some they quoted as of authority, and 
 others not: which observation relates to the books of 
 Scripture, compared with other writings, apocryphal or 
 heathen.° 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. vii. p. 314. 2 Ib. vol. ix. p. 52. 
 3 Ib. vol. ix. p. 124. 4 Ib. vol. ix. p. 202. 5 Ib. vol. x. p..123, 124, 
 
 L. Who were Epiphanius, Pee- M. What evidence do we ob- 
 badius, Basil, and Ephraim; and tain from Jerome, and by what ob- 
 in what periods did they live? Shew servation is it shewn ? 
 how they severally assert the impor- 
 tance of the Scriptures. 
 
SECT. -IIT. | OF CHRISTIANITY 127 
 
 SEE TIONG LIT 
 
 The Scriptures were in very early times collected into a 
 distinct volume. 
 
 THIS proposition is borne out by an_ eighty years after Ignatius. 
 
 appeal to the works of the following EUsEBIUs, bishop of Czsarea, 
 early Christian writers, in which about A.D. 315, (writing from the 
 the Scriptures are spoken of as works of Quadratus). 
 
 age Gostes To eta ee IREN£US, about A.D. 178. 
 
 the Lrophets°—*‘a collection,’ and, . : 
 
 in other general terms, clearly MELITO, bishop of Sardis. 
 
 recognising a collective form :— TERTULLIAN, contemporary of 
 IGNATIUS, bishop of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria. 
 
 within forty years after the ascension. CYPRIAN, bishop of Carthage, 
 
 CLEMENT, of Alexandria, about middle of the 3rd century. 
 
 A. 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 Gospels, which he believed no less than if Christ in 
 the flesh had been speaking to him; and to the writings 
 of the apostles, whom he esteemed as the presbytery of 
 the whole Christian church.” It must he observed, that 
 about eighty years after this, we have direct proof, in 
 the writings of Clement of Alexandria,? that these two 
 names, “Gospel,” and “ Apostles,” were the names by 
 which the writings of the New Testament, and the 
 division of these writings, were usually expressed. 
 
 Another passage from Ignatius is the following: “But 
 the Gospel has somewhat in it more excellent, the 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. part. ii. vol. i. p. 180. 2 Ib. vol. ii. p. 516, 
 
 A. At what period, and under passages in which he and Clement of 
 what circumstances, did Ignatius, Alexandria allude to the Scriptures 
 bishop of Antioch, live? Quote the as collected together ? 
 
128 
 
 B. 
 
 EVIDENCES [ SECT. Ii 
 appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, his passion and 
 Resurrection. *) 0)" 
 
 And a third: “Ye ought to hearken to the Prophets, 
 but especially to the Gospel, in which the passion has 
 been manifested to us, and the resurrection perfected.” 
 In this last passage, the Prophets and the Gospel are 
 put in conjunction; and as Ignatius undoubtedly meant 
 by the Prophets a collection of writings, it is probable 
 that he meant the same by the Gospel, the two terms 
 standing in evident parallelism with each other. 
 
 This interpretation of the word “Gospel,” in the 
 passages above quoted from Ignatius, is confirmed by a 
 piece of nearly equal antiquity, the relation of the 
 martyrdom of Polycarp by the church of Smyrna. “All 
 things,” say they, “that went before, were done, that the 
 Lord might shew 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.’”? In both these places, what 
 is called the Gosfel, seems to be the history of Jesus 
 Christ and of his doctrine. 
 
 If this be the true sense of the passages, they are not 
 only evidences of, our proposition, but strong and very 
 ancient proofs of the high esteem in which the books of 
 the New Testament were holden. 
 
 II. Eusebius relates, that Quadratus and some others, 
 who were the immediate successors of the apostles, 
 travelling abroad to preach Christ, carried the Gospels 
 with them, and delivered them to their converts. The 
 words of Eusebius are: “ Then travelling abroad, they 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. part. ii. p, 182. 2, Ignat. Ep. c. i. 3 Ib. c. iv. 
 
 confirmed; and what conclusion does 
 
 B. How does Paley interpret 
 the word ‘‘Gospel,”’ in the follow- 
 ing passage from Ignatius ?—‘‘ Ye 
 ought to hearken to the Prophets, 
 but especially to the Gospel, in 
 which the passion has been mani- 
 fested to us, and the resurrection 
 perfected.” 
 
 C. By what testimony is Paley’s 
 interpretation of the word ‘‘Gospel” 
 
 he draw from it? 
 
 D, What information do we get 
 from Eusebius concerning Quadratus 
 and some others, who were the im- 
 mediate successors of the apostles ; 
 and how does it appear reasonable 
 to believe that he had good grounds 
 for what he asserted ? 
 
SECT. iil: | OPEC RISLIANIT Y. 129 
 
 performed the work of evangelists, being ambitious to 
 preach Christ, and deliver the Scripture of the Divine 
 Gospels.’* Eusebius had before him the writings both of 
 Quadratus himself, and of many others of that age, which 
 are now lost. It is reasonable, therefore, to believe, that 
 
 E. 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. 
 
 F. III. Irenzus, in the year 178,? puts the evangelic and 
 apostolic writings in connexion with the Law and the 
 Prophets, manifestly intending by the one a code or 
 collection of Christian sacred writings, as the other 
 expressed the code or collection of Jewish sacred 
 writings. And, 
 
 IV. Melito, at this time bishop of Sardis, writing to 
 one Onesimus, tells his correspondent,’ that he had pro- 
 cured 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 Vezw Testament. 
 
 V. In the time of Clement of Alexandria, about 
 fifteen years after the last quoted testimony, it is 
 apparent that the Christian Scriptures were divided into 
 two parts, under the general titles of the Gospels and 
 Apostles ; and that both these were regarded as of the 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. part ii. vol. i, p. 236. 2 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 383. 3 Ib. p. 331. 
 
 E. Within what time, after the F. What is the relative date of 
 Gospels were published, did that the ages of Irenzeus, Melito,.Clement 
 which is there recorded concerning of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, 
 them, take place; and what fact and Eusebius; and what are their 
 seems to be evident ? several testimonies, to the collective 
 
 form of Scripture? 
 
 K 
 
130 EVIDENCES [SECT. III. 
 
 highest authority. One, out of many expressions of 
 Clement, alluding to this distribution, is the following :— 
 “There is a consent and harmony between the Law 
 and the Prophets, the Apostles and the Gospel.”? 
 
 VI. The same division, “ Prophets, Gospels, and 
 Apostles,” appears in Tertullian,? the contemporary of 
 Clement. The collection of the Gospels is likewise called 
 by this writer the “ Evangelic Instrument;’* the whole 
 volume, the ‘“ New Testament ;’ and the two parts, the 
 “ Gospels and Apostles.” 
 
 VII. From many writers also of the third century, 
 and especially from Cyprian, who lived in the middle of 
 it, it is collected that the Christian Scriptures were 
 divided into two 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 S. John had been 
 justly placed by the ancients “the fourth in order, and 
 after the other three.’ These are the terms of his pro- 
 position: and the very introduction of such an argument 
 proves incontestably, that the four Gospels had been 
 collected into a volume, to the exclusion of every other; 
 that their order in the volume had been adjusted with 
 much consideration; and that this had been done by 
 those who were called ancients in the time of Eusebius. 
 
 G. In the Diocletian persecution, in the year 303, the 
 Scriptures were sought out and burnt :? many suffered 
 death rather than deliver them up; and those who be- 
 trayed 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 Chris- 
 tians of that age so richly embellished in their prosperity, 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 516, 2 Ib. p. 68L 3 Tb. p. 574, 
 4 Ib. p. 682. 5 Ib. vol. iv. p. 846. 6 Ib. vol. viii. p. 90, 
 7 Ib, vol. vii. p. 214, et. seg. 8 Ib, p. 432. 
 
 G. Mention the date of the Scriptures; and the conduct of Con- 
 Diocletian persecution ; the events  stantine after his conversion. 
 which happened with regard to the 
 
EGIL. | OF CEHRISTIANTL Y. 
 
 131 
 
 and, which is more, so tenaciously preserved under per- 
 secution, was the very volume of the New Testament 
 
 which we now read. 
 
 SECTION » IV. 
 
 Our present Sacred Writings were soon distinguished by appro- 
 priate names and titles of respect. 
 
 This proposition is borne out by 
 an appeal to the works of the follow- 
 ing early Christian writers, in which 
 the Scriptures are spoken of as ‘‘ the 
 holy Scriptures” —‘‘the Scriptures of 
 the Lord”—‘‘the divine oracles” — 
 ““the evangelic voice” —‘‘the divinely 
 inspired Scriptures” —‘‘books of the 
 Spirit” —“‘ divine fountains,” &c. :— 
 
 POLYcARP, bishop of Smyrna, 
 and a disciple of the apostles. 
 
 JusTIn Martyr, whose apology 
 
 DIoNysIus, Bishop of Corinth, 
 about thirty years after Justin. 
 
 IkEN#uS, bishop of Lyons, in 
 France, about the same period. 
 
 THEOPHILUS, bishop of Antioch, 
 contemporary with Irenzus. 
 
 CLEMENT, of Alexandria, pub- 
 lished within fifteen years after. 
 
 TERTULLIAN, joins on with 
 Clement. 
 
 ORIGEN, about thirty years after 
 Tertullian. 
 
 was written about thirty years after 
 
 CYPRIAN, within twenty years 
 Polycarp’s epistles. 
 
 after. 
 
 . POLYCARP. “I trust that ye are well exercised in the 
 Floly 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 
 distinguished by the name of “Holy Scriptures,” or 
 Sacred Writings. Moreover, the text quoted by Polycarp 
 is a text found in the collection at this day. What also 
 the same Polycarp hath elsewhere quoted in the same 
 manner, may be considered as proved to belong to the 
 collection ; and this comprehends S. Matthew’s, and, 
 probably, S. Luke’s Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, 
 ten epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, and the 
 First of John.2. In another place, Polycarp has these 
 words: “ Whoever perverts the Oracles of the Lord to 
 his own lusts, and says there is neither resurrection nor 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 203. 
 
 A. Cite a passage from Polycarp 
 bearing upon the subject of this sec- 
 
 2 Ib. p. 223. 
 
 tion, and state why that passage is 
 extremely important. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 EVIDENCES [SECT. IV. 
 judgment, he is the firstborn of Satan.”’—It does not 
 appear what else Polycarp could mean by the “ Oracles 
 of the Lord,” but those same “ Holy Scriptures,’ or 
 Sacred Writings, of which he had spoken before. 
 
 B. II. Justin Martyr, whose apology was written about 
 thirty years after Polycarp’s epistle, expressly cites some 
 of our present histories under the title of GOSPEL, and 
 that not as a name by him first ascribed to them, but as 
 the name by which they were generally known in his 
 time. His words are these: “For the apostles in the 
 memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, 
 have thus delivered it, that Jesus commanded them to 
 take bread, and give thanks.’”? 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. 
 
 i 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 
 ord 
 
 D. IV. And at the same time, or very nearly so, by 
 Irenzeus, bishop of Lyons in France,‘ they are called 
 “Divine Scriptures,’—“ Divine Oracles,’—“ Scriptures of 
 the Lord,”—“ Evangelic and Apostolic Writings.”> The 
 quotations of Irenzeus prove decidedly, that our present 
 Gospels, and these alone, together with the Acts of the 
 Apostles, were the historical books comprehended by 
 him under these appellations. 
 
 E, V. S. Matthew's Gospel is quoted by Theophilus, 
 bishop of Antioch, contemporary with Irenzeus, under 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. p 222. 2 Ib. vol.i. p. 271. 3 Ib. vol. i. p. 298 
 4 The reader will observe the remoteness of these two writers in country and situation. 
 5 Lardner, Cred. vol. i, p, 843, et seg. 
 
 B. State when Justin Martyr’s 
 apology was written, and the manner 
 in which he cites some of our present 
 histories. Quote his words. 
 
 C. Who was Dionysius; when 
 did he live; how does he speak of 
 the Scriptures; and how is this 
 passage of his writings preserved ? 
 
 D. Who was Irenzus; when 
 did he write; how does he speak of 
 the Scriptures; and what do the 
 quotations of Irenzeus prove ? 
 
 E. Under what title is S. Mat- 
 thew’s Gospel quoted by Theophilus, 
 and with whom was he contem- 
 porary ? 
 
SECT. IV.] 
 
 F. 
 
 OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 133 
 the title of the “Evangelic Voice;”! and the copious 
 works of Clement of Alexandria, published within fifteen 
 years of the same time, ascribe to the books of the New 
 Testament the various titles of ‘Sacred Books,’”— 
 “Divine Scriptures,”—“ Divinely inspired Scriptures,”— 
 “Scriptures of the Lord,’—“the true Evangelical 
 Canon.”? 
 
 VI. Tertullian, who joins on with Clement, beside 
 adopting most of the names and epithets above noticed, 
 calls the Gospels “our Digesta,” in allusion, as it should 
 seem, to some collection of Roman laws then extant.? 
 
 VII. By Origen, who came thirty years after Ter- 
 tullian, the same, and other no less strong titles, are 
 applied to the Christian Scriptures: and, in addition 
 thereunto, this writer frequently speaks of the “Old and 
 New Testament,’—“the Ancient and New Scriptures,’— 
 “the Ancient and New Oracles.”4 
 
 VIII. In Cyprian, who was not twenty years later, 
 they are “ Books of the Spirit,’—“Divine Fountains,”— 
 “ Fountains of the Divine Fulness.’”® 
 
 The expressions we have thus quoted, are evidences 
 of high and peculiar respect. They all occur within 
 two centuries from the publication of the books. Some 
 of them commence with the companions of the apostles; 
 and they increase in number and variety, through a 
 series of writers touching upon one another, and de- 
 duced from the first age of the religion. 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred, vol. i. p. 427. 
 3 Ib, vol. ii. p. 680. 
 
 F. Within what period, after 
 Theophilus, were the works of 
 Clement of Alexandria published ; 
 and what various titles do they 
 ascribe to the books of the New 
 Testament ? 
 
 G. Mention the age of Tertul- 
 lian, and the epithet he applies to 
 the Gospels, beside adopting most 
 of those used by the preceding 
 Fathers. 
 
 4 Ib. vol. iii, p. 230. 
 
 2 Ib, vol. ii. p. 515. 
 5 Ib, vol. iv. p. 844. 
 
 H. At what period did Origen 
 write ; how does he mention the 
 Christian Scriptures; what does he 
 speak of in addition, and in what 
 terms ? 
 
 I. How does Cyprian speak of 
 the Christian Scriptures ; and about 
 what period did he write? 
 
 K. Give Paley’s view of the 
 character of the expressions of the 
 fathers quoted in this section ? 
 
134 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [SECT. V. 
 
 SECTION | V. 
 
 Our Scriptures were publicly read and expounded in the religious 
 
 assemblies of the early Christians. 
 
 In support of this proposition, 
 the author shews, from Justin 
 Martyr, (who wrote A.D. 140.) that 
 ‘the Memoirs of the Apostles, or 
 the Writings of the Prophets,” were 
 read in Christian worship; and that 
 the ‘‘Memoirs of the Apostles” are 
 what are called ‘‘Gospels.” We 
 may infer, therefore, that he de- 
 scribes, in the passages alluded to, 
 the general and established usages of 
 the church. [p. 134] 
 
 He then shews, that Tertullian, 
 records the use of the ‘‘Sacred 
 Word” in Christian assemblies ; that 
 Eusebius cites bishops contemporary 
 with Origen, and Origen himself, to 
 the same effect. That Cyprian states, 
 
 that he who has shewn himself 
 willing to die a martyr, should read 
 the Gospel of Christ—that is, zd- 
 ficly. And that Augustine (near the 
 close of the fifth century) exhibits the 
 benefit of the custom, which he de- 
 clares to be universal. [p. 135.] 
 
 It appears, that the epistle of 
 Clement also was read in the 
 Corinthian church, and the Shepherd 
 of Hermas in some others; but it is 
 contended, that it does not subtract 
 much from the argument, that they 
 partly come within it, since they 
 are the genuine writings of apostolic 
 men. Lastly, there is no evidence 
 than any other Gospel, than the four 
 which we receive, was ever admitted 
 to this distinction. [136 to the end.] 
 
 . JUSTIN MARTYR, who wrote in the year 140, which was 
 seventy or eighty years after some, and less, probably, 
 after others of the Gospels were published, giving, in his 
 first apology, an account, to the emperor, of the 
 Christian worship, has this remarkable passage : 
 
 “The Memoirs of the Apostles, or the Writings of the 
 Prophets, are vead according as the time allows; and 
 when the reader has ended, the president makes a 
 discourse, exhorting to the imitation of so excellent 
 things.”? 
 
 A few short observations will shew the value of this 
 testimony. 
 
 I. The “Memoirs of the Apostles,” Justin in another 
 place expressly tells us, are what are called “Gospels ;” 
 and that they were the Gospels which we now use, is 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 273. 
 
 A. Quote a passage from the wrote) relative to the public reading 
 
 first Apology of Justin Martyr, and 
 one from Tertullian, (mentioning the 
 periods at which they respectively 
 
 of the Scriptures; and shew the 
 value of Justin’s testimony. 
 
SECT, V.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 135 
 
 made certain by Justin’s numerous quotations of chem, 
 and his silence about any others. 
 
 2. Justin describes the general usage of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 3. Justin does not speak of it as recent or newly 
 instituted, but in the terms in which men speak of 
 established customs. 
 
 II. Tertullian, who followed Justin at the distance of 
 about fifty years, in his account of the religious 
 assemblies of Christians as they were conducted in his 
 time, says, “We come together to recollect the Divine 
 Scriptures; we nourish our faith, raise our hope, confirm 
 our trust, by the Sacred Word.”? 
 
 B. III. Eusebius records of Origen, and cites for his 
 authority the letters of bishops contemporary with 
 Origen, that, when he went into Palestine about the 
 year 216, which was only sixteen years after the date of 
 Tertullian’s testimony, he was desired by the bishops of 
 that country to discourse and expound the Scriptures 
 publicly in the church, though he was not yet ordained 
 a presbyter.2. This anecdote recognises the usage, not 
 only of reading, but of expounding the Scriptures; and 
 both as subsisting in full force. Origen also himself 
 bears witness to the same practice: ‘‘This,” says he, “we 
 do, when the Scriptures are read in the church, and 
 when the discourse for explication is delivered to the 
 people.” And, what isa still more ample testimony, 
 many homilies of his upon the Scriptures of the 
 New Testament, delivered by him in the assemblies of 
 the church, are still extant. 
 
 c. IV. Cyprian, whose age was not twenty years lower 
 than that of Origen, gives his people an account of having 
 ordained two persons, who were before confessors, to be 
 readers ; and what they were to read appears by the 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 628. 2 Ib. vol. iii. p. 68. 3 Ib, p. 302, 
 
 B. What is recorded by Euse- C. Mention the time when 
 bius, of Origen, with regard to Cyprian flourished ; and specify the 
 discoursing and expounding the evidence we derive from him, as to 
 Scriptures publicly? Mention the the public reading of the Scriptures. 
 authority cited by Eusebius, and 
 also Origen’s own testimony to the 
 same practice. 
 
136 EVIDENCES [SECT AY. 
 
 reason which he gives for his choice: “Nothing,” says 
 Cyprian, “can be more fit than that he, who has madea 
 glorious confession of the Lord, should read publicly in 
 the church; that he who has shewn himself willing to 
 die a martyr, should read the Gospel of Christ, by which 
 martyrs are made.”! 
 
 D. V. Intimations of the same custom may be traced in 
 a great number of writers in the beginning and through- 
 out the whole of the fourth century. Of these testi- 
 monies I will only use one, as being, of itself, express 
 and full. Augustine, who appeared near the conclusion 
 of the century, displays the benefit of the Christian 
 religion on this very account, the public reading of the 
 Scriptures in the churches, “where,” says he, “is a 
 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 canonical books of Scripture being 
 read every where, the miracles therein recorded are well 
 known to all people.’”? 
 
 E. It does not appear that any books, other than our 
 present Scriptures, were thus publicly read, except that 
 the epistle of Clement was read in the church of Corinth, 
 to which it had been addressed, and in some others; and 
 that the Shepherd of Hermas was read in many churches. 
 Nor does it subtract much from the value of the argu- 
 ment, that these two writings partly come within it, 
 because we allow them to be the genuine writings of 
 apostolical men. There is not the least evidence, that 
 any other Gospel, than the four which we receive, was 
 ever admitted to this distinction. 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. iv. p. 842. 2 Ib. vol. x. p. 276, et seg. 
 
 D. When did Augustine ap- E. Does it appear that any 
 pear ; and what evidence, as to the books, besides, the Scriptures, were 
 public reading of the Scriptures, is thus read?—If so, how does that cir- 
 derived from him ? cumstance affect the argument ? 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 ORGCA RIS ALAN T TAY, 
 
 137 
 
 SECTIONW VI 
 
 Commentaries were anciently 
 
 written upon the Scriptures ; 
 
 harmonies formed out of them, different copies carefully 
 collated ; and versions made of them into different languages. 
 
 The author first remarks, that 
 the industry bestowed upon our 
 
 books is the greatest proof of the. 
 
 esteem in which they were held : and 
 that this esteem arose from their 
 genuineness and truth; since there 
 was nothing in them, as compositions, 
 
 to induce any one to have written a 
 note on them. This shews that they 
 were ‘then considered as ancient 
 books :—for men do not write com- 
 mentaries upon publications of their 
 own times. He then appeals to th 
 following writers :— 
 
 SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 TATIAN, a follower of Justin 
 Martyr (A. D. 170), who composed 
 a harmony of the Gospels, called 
 Diatessaron. 
 
 PANTAENUS, (of the Alexandrian 
 school) twenty years after Tatian, 
 who composed many commentaries, 
 extant in the time of Jerome. 
 
 CLEMENT, of Alexandria, who 
 composed short explications of many 
 
 books of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 TERTULLIAN, who appeals from 
 the authority of a later version, then 
 in use, to the authentic Greek. 
 
 An Anonymous author (quoted 
 by Eusebius) who appeals to the 
 ancient copies in refutation of alleged 
 corrupt readings. 
 
 THIRD CENTURY. 
 
 JuLius AFRICANUS, who com- 
 posed an epistle on the genealogies 
 in Matthew and Luke. 
 
 AMMONIUS, an _ Alexandrian, 
 who composed a Diatessaron. 
 
 ORIGEN, who composed homi- 
 lies on most of the books of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Dionysius, of Alexandria, who 
 
 composed a comparison of the ac- 
 counts of the Resurrection. 
 
 VICTORIN, bishop of Pettaw, in 
 Germany, who composed comments 
 on Matthew’s Gospel. 
 
 Lucian, of Antioch, and HEsy- 
 CHIUS, an Egyptian bishop, who 
 composed editions of the New Tes- 
 tament. 
 
 FOURTH CENTURY. 
 
 Besides mentioning fourteen other 
 expository writers of this century, 
 Paley refers particularly to EUSEBIUS, 
 who wrote upon the discrepancies of 
 the Gospels. 
 
 Damasus, bishop of Rome, who 
 refers to the different interpretations 
 of the word ‘hosanna,’ by Greek 
 and Latin commentators. 
 
 GREGORY, of Nyssen, who com- 
 
 pares the accounts of the Resur- 
 rection. 
 
 AMBROSE, bishop of Milan, who 
 remarks various readings of the 
 Latin Testament, and appeals to the 
 Greek. 
 
 JEROME, who put forth a Latin 
 Testament, corrected by Greek copies. 
 
 CHRYSOSTOM, who _ published 
 homilies on the Gospels and Acts. 
 
B. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [SECT. VI. 
 
 VERSIONS. 
 
 The most valuable ancient ver- 
 ston, is the Syriac, which bears in- 
 ternal marks of high antiquity; a 
 copy of which, about 200 years 
 since, was sent by a bishop of An- 
 tioch to Europe to be printed. It 
 contains all our books, except the 
 Second Epistle of Peter, and the 
 
 No greater proof can 
 
 Second and Third of John, and the 
 Revelation ; which books have, how- 
 ever, been since discovered, in that 
 language, in some ancient MSS. in 
 Europe. It contains no other books 
 than ours; and the text does not 
 differ in any very important point. 
 
 be given of the esteem in 
 
 which these books were holden by the ancient Chris- 
 tians, or of the sense then entertained of their value 
 and importance, than the industry bestowed upon them. 
 And it ought to be observed, that the value and im- 
 portance of these books consisted entirely in their 
 genuineness and truth. There was nothing in them, 
 as works of taste, or as compositions, which could 
 have induced any one to have written a note upon 
 them. Moreover, it shews, that they were even chen 
 considered as ancient books. Men do not write com- 
 ments upon publications of their own times: therefore 
 the testimonies cited under this head afford an evi- 
 dence 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 
 
 B.aor collation of the Gospels, which he called Diatessaron, 
 
 Of the Four.’ The title, as well as the work, is re- 
 markable ; because it shews that then, as now, there 
 were four, and only four, Gospels in general use with 
 Christians. And this was little more than a hundred 
 years after the publication of some of them. 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol, i. 307. 
 
 A. What argument, for the 
 genuineness and antiquity of the 
 Scriptures, can you shew from the 
 fact that commentaries were written 
 on them? 
 
 B. Give an account of the 
 four commentators on the Scrip- 
 
 tures, and of those mentioned by 
 Eusebius, all which are referred by 
 Paley to the year 200. 
 
 B.a. Why is the work of Ta- 
 tian, as well as the title of it, re- 
 markable? 
 
SECT. VI] OFC CHRISTIANITY. 139 
 
 II. Pantznus, of the Alexandrian school, a man 
 of great reputation and learning, who came twenty 
 years after Tatian, wrote many commentaries upon 
 the Holy Scriptures, which, as Jerome testifies, were 
 extant in his time.! 
 
 III. Clement of Alexandria wrote short explications 
 of many books of the Old and New Testament.” 
 
 IV. Tertullian appeals from the authority of a 
 later version, then in use, to the authentic Greek.’ 
 
 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 refuta- 
 tion of some corrupt readings alleged by the followers 
 of Artemon.* 3 
 
 VI. The same Eusebius, mentioning by name 
 several writers of the church who lived at this time, 
 and concerning whom he says, “There still remain 
 divers monuments of the laudable industry of those 
 ancient and ecclesiastical men” (z. e. of Christian wri- 
 ters who were considered as ancient in the year 300), 
 adds, “There are, besides, treatises of many others, 
 whose names we have not been able to learn, orthodox 
 and ecclesiastical men, as the interpretations of the 
 Divine Scriptures given by each of them shew.’ 
 
 CG. VII. The last five testimonies may be referred to 
 the year 200: immediately after which, a period of 
 thirty years gives us. 
 
 Julius Africanus, who wrote an epistle upon the 
 apparent difference in the genealogies in Matthew and 
 Luke, which he endeavours to reconcile by the dis- 
 tinction of natural and legal descent, and conducts 
 his hypothesis with great industry through the whole 
 series of generations.® 
 
 c.a Ammonius, a learned Alexandrian, who composed, 
 as Tatian had done, a harmony of the four Gospels, 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 455. 2 Ib. vol. ii. p. 462. 3 Ib. vol. ii, p. 638. 
 4 Ib, vol, iii, p. 46. 5 Ib. vol. ii. p. 551. 6 Ib, vol. ii. p. 170. 
 
 C. What particulars, in support C.a. What does the nature of 
 of the proposition of this section, the composition of Ammonius tend 
 do we obtain from writers of the to prove? 
 third century ? 
 
140 
 
 c.b 
 
 D.a@ 
 
 EVIDENCES [SECT. -VI- 
 which proves, as Tatian’s work did, that there were 
 four Gospels, and no more, at this time in use in the 
 church. It affords also an instance of the zeal of 
 Christians for those writings, and of their solicitude 
 about them. 
 
 And, above both these, Origen, who wrote com- 
 mentaries, or homilies, upon most of the books in- 
 cluded in the New Testament, and upon no other 
 books but these. In particular, he wrote upon S. John’s 
 Gospel, very largely upon S. Matthew's and commen- 
 taries, or homilies, upon the Acts of the Apostles.” 
 
 VIII. In addition to these, the third century like- 
 wise contains 
 
 Dionysius of Alexandria, a very learned man, who 
 compared, with great accuracy, the accounts in the 
 four Gospels of the time of Christ’s resurrection, adding 
 a reflection which shewed his opinion of their au- 
 thority: “Let us not think that the evangelists 
 disagree, or contradict each other, although there be 
 some small difference; but let us honestly and faith- 
 fully endeavour to reconcile what we read.”? 
 
 Victorin, bishop of Pettaw, in Germany, who wrote 
 comments upon S. Matthew’s Gospel." 
 
 Lucian, a presbyter’ of Antioch: and Hesychius, an 
 Egyptian bishop, who put forth editions of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 IX. The fourth century supplies a catalogue’ of 
 fourteen writers, who expended their labours upon 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p, 122. 
 
 3 Ib. vol. iv. p. 166. 
 
 DeUEMODITIAS UA: TDoae's es aieneecinnisinisie's 315 
 
 Juvencus, Spain......ceccecccee 330 
 Theodore, Thrace,.............. 334 
 Mllary, Powotiers, 0 oi os sic ceece ce 354 
 OP GUNATUR isle ole s'v,cleis s pips valelelpioie 340 
 Apollinarius of Laodicea,........ 362 
 Damasus. Rome ,.........sccccccseeees 800 
 Gregory, NySSeD, ..........0sescerees 371 
 C.4. Quote a reflection of Dio- 
 
 nysius of Alexandria, shewing his 
 opinion of the authority of the four 
 Gospels. 
 
 D. Give an account of the 
 writers on the New ‘Testament, 
 of the fourth century; and state, 
 fully, the information obtained 
 
 2 Ib. p. 352, 192, 202, 246. 
 5 
 
 4 Ib, p. 195. 
 Didymus of AJexandria,............ 370 
 ‘Ambrose Of Milan, <s.6'c's css secs 0%! 874 
 Miodere Of LU Srsus. wet cise esa keke 378 
 Gaudentius of Brescia, ..........++6- 887 
 Theodore of Cilicia, .. 0.5 cccesscncces 394 
 a} OPOMG® 55 sia are tale es 0d Win pv ehlga's a's ab os 392 
 ObrySOStOM, Seccecasescckarsccatacncnsoasenssass« 398 
 
 from them in support of the pro- 
 position. 
 
 D.a. Give a catalogue of wri- 
 ters of the fourth century, who 
 laboured on the New Testament, 
 and whose works or names have 
 come down to our times :—specify- 
 ing the periods (A.D.) in which 
 they severally lived. 
 
SECT. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 141 
 
 the books of the New Testament, and whose works 
 or names are come down to our times ; amongst which 
 number it may be sufficient, for the purpose of shew- 
 ing 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 observable in 
 the Gospels, and likewise a treatise, in which he 
 pointed out what things are related by four, what by 
 three, what by two, and what by one evangelist.” 
 
 D.oThis author also testifies, what is certainly a material 
 piece of evidence, “that the writings of the apos- 
 tles had obtained such an esteem, as to be translated 
 into every language both of Greeks and Barbarians, 
 and to be diligently studied by all nations.”2 This tes- 
 timony was given about the year 300; how long defore 
 that date these translations were made, does not appear. 
 
 Damasus, bishop of Rome, corresponded with 
 S. Jerome upon the exposition of difficult texts of 
 Scripture; and, in a letter still remaining, desires 
 Jerome to give him a clear explanation of the word 
 ‘Hosanna,’ found in the New Testament ; “he (Dama- 
 sus) having met with very different interpretations of it 
 in the Greek and Latin commentaries of Catholic 
 writers which he had read.’? This last clause shews 
 the number and variety of commentaries then extant. 
 
 D.c Gregory of Nyssen, at one time, appeals to the 
 most exact copies of S. Mark’s Gospel; at another 
 time, compares together, and proposes to reconcile, 
 the several accounts of the Resurrection, given by the 
 four evangelists; which limitation proves, that there 
 were no other histories of Christ deemed authentic 
 beside these, or included in the same character with 
 these. This writer observes, acutely enough, that the 
 
 I Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. p. 46. 2 Ib. p. 201. 8 Ib. vol. ix. p. 108. 
 
 D.d. Besides writing expressly D.c. Gregory, of Nyssen, pro- 
 on the discrepancies observable in poses to reconcile the several ac- 
 the Gospels, &c., what testimony counts of the Resurrection, given 
 did Eusebius bear to the esteem in dy the four evangelists. What does 
 which the writings of the apostles this limitation prove? 
 were held ? 
 
142 EVIDENCES [SECT a 
 
 Bs 
 
 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.’ 
 
 Ambrose, bishop of Milan, remarked various readings 
 in the Latin copies of the New Testament, and appeals 
 to the original Greek : 
 
 And Jerome, towards the conclusion of this century 
 put forth an edition of the New Testament in Latin, 
 corrected, at least as to the Gospels, by Greek copies, 
 “and those (he says) ancient.” 
 
 Lastly, Chrysostom, it is well known, delivered 
 and published a great many homilies, or sermons, 
 upon the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 It is needless to bring down this article lower; but 
 it is of importance to add, that there is no example 
 of Christian writers of the first three centuries com- 
 posing 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 than they would soon be 
 translated into the vulgar language of the country 
 where the religion first prevailed. Accordingly, a 
 Syriac translation is now extant, all along, so far 
 as it appears, used by the inhabitants of Syria, bear- 
 ing many internal marks of high antiquity, supported 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. ix. p. 163. 
 
 D.é. Besides writing expressly D.c. Gregory, of Nyssen, pro- 
 on the discrepancies observable in poses to reconcile the several ac- 
 the Gospels, &c., what testimony counts of the Resurrection, givex 
 did Eusebius bear to the esteem in dy the four evangelists. What does 
 
 which the writings of the apostles this limitation prove? 
 were held? 
 
SECT. VI.] ORTORRIS LIANITY: 143 
 in its pretensions by the uniform tradition of the East, 
 and confirmed by the discovery of many very ancient 
 manuscripts in the libraries of Europe. It is about two 
 hundred years since a bishop of Antioch sent a copy of 
 this translation into Enrope, to be printed; and this 
 seems to be the first time that the translation became 
 generally known to these parts of the world. The bishop 
 of Antioch’s Testament was found to contain all our 
 books, except the Second Epistle of Peter, the Second 
 and Third of John, and the Revelation ; which books, 
 however, have since been discovered in that language in 
 some ancient manuscripts of Europe. But in this 
 collection, no other book, beside what is in ours, appears 
 ever to have had a place. And, which is very worthy of 
 observation, the text, though preserved in a remote 
 country, and without communication with ours, differs 
 from ours very little, and in nothing that is important.' 
 
 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 most ancient topics of con- 
 troversy among the Christians, were 
 the authority of the Jewish constitu- 
 tion, the origin of evil, and the 
 nature of Christ; in which, in a 
 plurality of instances, all sides re- 
 curred to the same _ Scriptures. 
 [p- 144] 
 
 BASILIDES, who lived about 120, 
 rejected the Jewish institution, and 
 advanced a scheme opposed to the 
 Christian Church ; but he admitted 
 the Gospel of S. Matthew. [p. 145] 
 
 THE VALENTINIANS, about the 
 same time, are stated, by Irenzus, 
 to have argued from the evangelic 
 
 and apostolic writings concerning 
 angelic natures. [Ib.] 
 
 THE CARPOCRATIANS, little, if 
 at all, later, resembled the Socinians 
 of the present day ; and are charged 
 with perverting a passage in S. Mat- 
 thew, which negatively proves they 
 received it. [p. 145, 146] 
 
 _ THE SETHIANS, MONTANISTS, 
 MARCOSIANS, PRAXIAS, HERMO- 
 GENES, ARTEMON, and THEODO- 
 TUS, (in the second century) all 
 denominated heretics, received the 
 New Testament. [p. 146] 
 
 TATIAN, though the founder of 
 a new sect, called Encratites, com- 
 
 » 
 1 Jones on the Canon, vol. ic. 14, 
 
144 
 
 posed a harmony of the Gospels. 
 Lp. 146] 
 
 THE HERETICS, who (A. D. 200) 
 contended for the mere humanity 
 of Christ, argued from the Scriptures. 
 Ib. | 
 The advocates and adversaries 
 of ORIGEN’S opinions acknowledged 
 the authority of the Scriptures. 
 [p. 146, 147] 
 
 PAUL, of Samosata, (about 30 
 years after Origen disputed con- 
 cerning the nature of Christ, and 
 appealed to the Scriptures; and is 
 not charged by his adversaries with 
 rejecting any one book. [p. 147] 
 
 THE SABELLIANS, in an opposite 
 extreme to Paul, of Samosata, re- 
 ceived all the Scriptures. [Ib.] 
 
 The testimony of a bishop of 
 Carthage is, that the heretics who 
 pervert the Scriptures ought to be 
 execrated. [p. 148] 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [SECT. VII. 
 
 The Millennium, &c. divided 
 the opinions of Christians, yet every 
 one appealed to the Scriptures. [Ib. ] 
 
 The DONATISTS received the 
 same Scriptures as we do. [p. 149] 
 
 In an Arian controversy, soon 
 after A. D. 300. both sides appealed 
 to the same Scriptures. [Ib.] 
 
 THE PRISCILLIANISTS A. D. 378, 
 and the PELAGIANS, A. D. 405, 
 received the same Scriptures as we 
 do. [Ib.] 
 
 The general testimony of Chry- 
 sostom, is, that though many heresies 
 have arisen, yet all have received the 
 Gospels, either entire, or in part. 
 [p. 149, 150] 
 
 MARCION (about A. D. 130) re- 
 rejected the Old Testament, and every 
 passagein the New, which recognised 
 the Jewish Scriptures ; but he pub- 
 lished a chastised edition of S. Luke’s 
 Gospel. [p. 150] 
 
 . THE three most ancient topics of controversy amongst 
 Christians were, the authority of the Jewish constitution, 
 the origin of evil, and the nature of Christ. Upon the 
 first of these we find, in very early times, one class of 
 heretics rejecting the Old Testament entirely ; another 
 contending for the obligation of its law, in all its 
 parts, throughout its whole extent, and over every 
 one who sought acceptance with God. Upon the two 
 latter subjects, a natural, perhaps, and venial, but a 
 fruitless, eager, and impatient curiosity, prompted by 
 the philosophy and by the scholastic habits of the age, 
 which carried men much into bold hypotheses and 
 conjectural solutions, raised, amongst some who professed 
 Christianity, very wild and unfounded opinions. I think 
 there is no reason to believe that the number of these 
 bore any considerable proportion to the body of the 
 Christian church; and amidst the disputes which such 
 opinions necessarily occasioned, it is a great satisfaction 
 
 A. What were the most ancient 
 topics of controversy amongst Chris- 
 tians? Mention the modes in which 
 
 they were carried on with regard to 
 the Scriptures. 
 
SECT. VIL] OF CHRISTIANITY. 145 
 
 to perceive what, in a vast plurality of instances, we do 
 perceive, all sides recurring to the same Scriptures. 
 
 I. Basilides lived near the age of the apostles, about 
 the year 120, or perhaps sooner.” He rejected the Jewish 
 institution, not as spurious, but as proceeding from a 
 being inferior to the true God; and in other respects 
 advanced a scheme of theology widely different from the 
 general doctrine of the Christian church, and which, as 
 it gained over some disciples, was warmly opposed by 
 Christian writers of the second and third century. In 
 these writings, there is positive evidence that Basilides 
 received the Gospel of Matthew; and there is no sufficient 
 proof that he rejected any of the other three: on the 
 contrary, it appears that he wrote a commentary upon 
 the Gospel, so copious as to be divided into twenty-four 
 books.? 
 
 II. The Valentinians appeared about the same time.* 
 Their heresy consisted in certain notions concerning 
 angelic natures, which can hardly be rendered intelligible 
 to a modern reader. They seem, however, to have 
 acquired as much importance as any of the separatists 
 of that early age. Of this sect, Irenzeus, who wrote, 
 A.D. 172, expressly records, that they endeavoured to 
 fetch arguments for their opinions from the evangelic and 
 apostolic writings.’ Heracleon, one of the most ce- 
 lebrated of the sect, and who lived probably so early 
 as the year 125, wrote commentaries upon Luke and 
 John. Some observations also of his upon Matthew are 
 preserved by Origen.’ Nor is there any reason to doubt 
 that he received the whole New Testament. 
 
 III. The Carpocratians were also an early heresy, 
 
 1 The materials of the former part of this section are taken from Dr. Lardner’s History of the 
 Heretics of the first two Centuries, published since his death, with additions, by the Rev. Mr. Hogg, 
 of Exeter, and inserted into the ninth volume of his works, of the edition of 1788. 
 
 2 Lardner, vol. ix. ed, 1788, p. 271. 3 Ib. p. 305, 306. 4 Ib. p. 350, 351. 
 5 Ih, vol. i. p. 383, 6 Ib. vol. ix. ed. 1788, p. 352, 7 Ib, p. 353, 
 
 B. Mention what is known of of their heresy; and what is ex- 
 theage of Basilides, and his opinions; pressly recorded of them by Irenzeus. 
 and of what fact there is positive State, also, what is known of 
 evidence in his writings. Heracleon, and his works. 
 
 C. Mention at what time the * D. What was the age of the 
 Valentinians appeared; the nature Carpocratian heresy ; and what did 
 
146 
 
 EVIDENCES [SECT. VII. 
 little, if at all, later than the two preceding.! Some of 
 their opinions resembled what we at this day mean by 
 Socinianism. With respect to the Scriptures, they are 
 specifically charged, by Irenzus, and by Epiphanius, 
 with endeavouring to pervert a passage in Matthew, 
 which amounts to a positive proof that they received that 
 Gospel.2. Negatively, they are not accused, by their 
 adversaries, of rejecting any part of the New Testament. 
 
 IV. The Sethians, A. D. 150 ;? the Montanists, A. D. 
 156 ;* the Marcosians, A.D. 160 ;°> Hermogenes, A.D. 180 ;§ 
 Praxias, A.D. 196;’ Artemon, A.D. 200;8 Theodotus, 
 A.D. 200; all included under the denomination of 
 heretics, and all engaged in controversies with Catholic 
 Christians, received the Scriptures of the New Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 V. Tatian, who lived in the year 172, went into many 
 extravagant opinions, was the founder of a sect called 
 Encratites, and was deeply involved in disputes with the 
 Christians of that age; yet Tatian so received the four 
 Gospels, as to compose a harmony from them. 
 
 VI. From a writer, quoted by Eusebius, of about the 
 year 200, it is apparent that they who at that time 
 contended for the mere humanity of Christ, argued from 
 the Scriptures; for they are accused by the writer of. 
 making alterations in their copies in order to favour 
 their opinions.® 
 
 VII. Origen’s sentiments excited great controversies, 
 —the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, and many 
 others, condemning, the bishops of the East espousing 
 them ; yet there is not the smallest question but that 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. ix. p. 809. 2 Ib. p. 318. 3 Ib. p. 455. 
 4 Ib. p. 482. 5 Ib. p. 348. 6 Ib. p. 473. 
 7 Ib. p. 433 8 Ib. p. 466. 9 Ib. vol. iii, p, 46. 
 
 some of their opinions resemble? 
 Mention the charge made against 
 the party by Irenzeus and Epipha- 
 nius, and point out the effect of that 
 charge. 
 
 EK. Enumerate the several heretics 
 that sprung up between the years 150 
 and 200, and who received the Scrip- 
 tures of the New Testament. 
 
 F. When did Tatian live; of 
 
 what sect was he the founder; and 
 in what manner did he receive the 
 Scriptures ? 
 
 G. Shew that the writers, who 
 (about the year 200) contended for 
 the mere humanity of Christ, argued 
 from the Scriptures. 
 
 H. By what several parties were 
 the sentiments of Origen condemned 
 and espoused ; and how were the 
 
SECT. VII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 147 
 
 both the advocates and adversaries of these opinions 
 acknowledged the same authority of Scripture. In his 
 time, which the reader will remember was about one 
 hundred and fifty years after the Scriptures were pub- 
 lished, 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 wzthont dispute, by the whole church of God 
 under heaven. 
 
 I. VIII. Paul of Samosata, about thirty years after 
 Origen, so distinguished himself in the controversy con- 
 cerning the nature of Christ, as to be the subject of two 
 councils or synods, assembled at Antioch, upon his 
 opinions. Yet he is not charged by his adversaries with 
 rejecting any book of the New Testament. On the 
 contrary, Epiphanius, who wrote a history of heretics 
 a hundred years afterwards, says, that Paul endeavoured 
 to support his doctrine by texts of Scripture. And 
 Vincentius Lirinensis, A.D. 434, speaking of Paul, and 
 other heretics of the same age, has these words: “ Here, 
 perhaps, some one may ask, whether heretics also urge 
 the testimony of Scripture. They urge it, indeed, 
 explicitly and vehemently ; for you may see them flying 
 through every book of the sacred law.”? 
 
 IX. A controversy at the same time existed with the 
 Noétians, 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 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. iv. ed. 1788. p. 642, 2 Ib, vol, ix. p. 158, 
 
 Scriptures looked on by both I. State what is known of Paul 
 
 parties?—Mention Origen’s testi- of Samosata, and the Noétians, or 
 
 mony as to the reception of the Sabellians; and shew how they ad- 
 
 Gospels. mitted the authority of Scripture. 
 E2 
 
148 EVIDENCES (SECT. VII. 
 were the most opposite and irreconcilable to one 
 another, acknowledged the authority of Scripture with 
 equal deference. 
 
 K. X. Andasa general testimony to the same point, 
 may be produced what was said by one of the bishops 
 of the council of Carthage, which was holden a little 
 before this time :—“I am of opinion that blasphemous 
 and wicked heretics, who pervert the sacred and ador- 
 able words of Scripture, should be execrated.” Un- 
 doubtedly what they perverted, they received. 
 
 L. XI. The Millennium, Novatianism, the baptism of 
 heretics, the keeping of Easter, engaged also the at- 
 tention and divided the opinions of Christians, at 
 and before that time (and, by the way, it may be 
 observed, that such disputes, though on some accounts 
 to be blamed, shewed how much men were in earnest 
 upon the subject); yet every one appealed for the 
 grounds of his opinion to Scripture authority. Diony- 
 
 L.asius of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 247, describing 
 a conference or public disputation, with the Millen- 
 narians of Egypt, confesses of them, through their 
 adversary, “that they embrace whatever could be 
 made out by good arguments from the Holy Scrip- 
 tures.” Novatus, A.D. 251, distinguished by some 
 rigid sentiments concerning the reception of those who 
 had lapsed, and the founder of a numerous sect, in 
 his few remaining works quotes the Gospel with the 
 same respect as otiier Christians did ; and, concerning 
 his followers, the testimony of Socrates, who wrote 
 about the year 440, is positive, viz. “That in the 
 disputes between the Catholics and them, each side 
 
 1 Lardner, vol, xi. p, 839. 
 
 K. Quote the general testi- 
 mony of one of the bishops of 
 the council of Carthage, to the 
 admission of Scriptural authority 
 by the heretics. 
 
 L. What did the divided opin- 
 ions upon the Millennium, Nova- 
 tianism, the baptism of heretics, 
 and the keeping of Easter, tend to 
 
 2 Ib, vol, iv. p. 666. 
 
 shew; and to what authority did 
 every one appeal for the grounds of 
 his opinion? 
 
 L.a. State what evidence for 
 the reception of Scripture is ob- 
 tained from an adversary of the 
 Millennarians of Egypt; and men- 
 tion what is known of Novatus. 
 
SECT. VII] 
 
 ‘OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 149 
 
 endeavoured to support itself by the authority of the 
 
 Divine Scriptures,”! 
 
 XII. The Donatists, who sprung up in the year 
 
 328, used the same Scriptures as we do. 
 “some proof from the Scriptures, 
 common to us,’”2 
 
 It is perfectly notorious, that in the Arian 
 
 saith Augustine, 
 whose authority is 
 XITI. 
 
 “ Produce,” 
 
 controversy, which arose soon after the year 300, both 
 sides appealed to the same Scriptures, and with equal 
 professions of deference and regard. The Arians, in 
 
 their council of Antioch, a.p. 
 “if any one, contrary to the sound 
 
 341, pronounce, that, 
 doctrine of the 
 
 Scriptures say, that the Son is a creature, as one of 
 the creatures, let him be an anathema.”3 They and 
 the Athanasians mutually accuse each other of using 
 unscriptural phrases, which was a mutual acknowledg- 
 ment of the conclusive authority of Scripture. 
 
 XIV. The Priscillianists, 
 
 A.D. 378,* the Pelagians, 
 
 A.D. 405,’ received the same Scriptures as we do. 
 XV. The testimony of Chrysostom, who lived neat 
 the year 400, is so positive in affirmation of the pro- 
 
 position which we maintain, that it 
 conclusion of the argument. 
 
 may form a proper 
 “The general reception 
 
 of the Gospels is a proof that their history is true 
 
 and consistent ; 
 
 for, since the writings of the Gospels, 
 
 many heresies have arisen, holding opinions contrary 
 
 to what is contained in them, 
 N.aGospels either entire or in part. 
 by what may seem a deduction from 
 
 who yet received the 
 ”* I am not moved 
 Chrysostom’s 
 
 testimony, the words “entire or in part 9 for sifeall 
 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: 4 g. 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. v. p. 105. 
 3 Ib. vol. vii. p..277. 
 5 Ib. vol, ix. p,52, 
 
 M. Mention the periods in 
 which the Donatists, the Arians, the 
 Priscillianists, and the Pelagians 
 sprung up; and shew their admis- 
 sion of Scripture authority. 
 
 N. Quote the testimony of 
 
 2 Ib. vol. vii. p, 243, 
 4 Ib. vol. ix. p, 325. 
 6 Ib. vol, x. p. 316, 
 
 Chrysostom to the reception of 
 the Gospels. 
 
 N.a. Mention what may seem to 
 be a deduction from Chrysostom’s 
 testimony. Give Paley’s reason for 
 saying he is not moved by it, and 
 his illustration of the reason: 
 
150 EVIDENCES [SECT. VII. 
 
 _ Cerinthus is said by Epiphanius to have received the 
 Gospel of Matthew, but not entire. What the omissions 
 were, does not appear. The common opinion, that he 
 rejected the first two chapters seems to have been a 
 mistake. It is agreed, however, by all who have given 
 any account of Cerinthus, that he taught that the Holy 
 Ghost, (whether he meant by that name a person or a 
 power) descended upon Jesus at his baptism ; that Jesus 
 from this time performed many miracles, and that he 
 appeared after his death. He must have retained there- 
 fore the essential parts of the history. 
 
 Oo. Ofall the ancient heretics, the most extraordinary was 
 Marcion.2? One of his tenets was the rejection of the 
 Old Testament, as proceeding from an inferior and 
 imperfect deity: and, in pursuance of this hypothesis, he 
 erased from the New, and that, as it should seem, with- 
 out entering into any critical reasons, every passage 
 which recognised the Jewish Scriptures. He spared not 
 a text which contradicted his opinion. It is reasonable 
 to believe that Marcion treated books as he treated 
 texts; yet this rash and wild controversialist published 
 a recension or chastised edition of S. Luke’s Gospel, 
 containing the leading facts, and all which is necessary 
 to authenticate the religion. This example affords proof, 
 that there were always some points, and those the main 
 points, which neither wildness nor rashness, neither the 
 fury of opposition, nor the intemperance of controversy, 
 would venture to call in question. There is no reason 
 to believe that Marcion, though full of resentment 
 against the Catholic Christians, ever charged them with 
 forging their books. ‘‘The Gospel of S. Matthew, the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, with those of S. Peter and 
 S. James, as well as the Old Testament in general,” he 
 said, “were writings not for Christians, but for Jews.” 
 This declaration shews the ground upon which Marcion 
 
 r aay nel vol, ix. ed. 1788. p. 3' 2 Ib. sect. ii. ec. x. Also Michael. vol.i.c. i. sect. xviii, 
 e transcribed this maple from Michaelis (p. 38), who has not, however, referred to the 
 cranes: at which he attributes these words to Marcion. 
 
 O. State what is known respecting Marcion, his opinions, and his 
 mode of treating the Scriptures. 
 
SECT. VII. ] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY ISI 
 proceeded 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: “Noétus, Paul of 
 Samosata, Sabellius, Marcellus, Photinus, the Novatians, 
 Donatists, Manicheans,’ 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.” 
 
 SEGHION @ViIEE. 
 
 The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of 
 S. Paul, the First Epistle of John, and the First of Peter, 
 were received, without doubt, by those who doubted concerning 
 the other Books which are included in our present canon. 
 
 This proposition is supported by 
 an appeal to the works of the 
 following writers :— 
 
 JEROME (after Caius) states, that 
 the epistle to the Hebrews was not 
 
 received as S. Paul’s by the 
 Romans, with the other thirteen. 
 [p- 152] 
 
 ORIGEN, while speaking doubt- 
 fully of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 the Second of Peter, and the Second 
 and Third of John, quotes those 
 parts of the New Testament which 
 were undoubted. [p. 152] 
 
 Dionysius, of Alexandria, avows 
 doubts concerning the book of the 
 Revelation, but uses and collates the 
 four Gospels as authentic. [p. 153] 
 
 EUSEBIUS enumerates the Scrip- 
 tures universally acknowledged ; 
 amongst which are the four Gospels, 
 the Acts, the Epistles of Paul, the 
 First of John, and the First of 
 Peter. And his opinion seems to 
 have been founded on the testimony 
 of writers whom he and his con- 
 temporaries, called ancient. [p. 153, 
 to the end] 
 
 I STATE this proposition, because, if made out, it shews 
 
 1 This must be with an exception, however, of Faustus, who lived so lateas the year 384. 
 
 2 Lardner, vol. xii. p. 
 instances, 
 
 P. How does Dr. Lardner, in 
 his general Review, sum up this 
 head of evidence ? 
 
 12.—Dr. Lardner’s future enquiries supplied him with many other 
 
 % 
 
 A. What does the proposition 
 of this section, if made out, tend to 
 shew ? ; 
 
152 EVIDENCES [SECT. VIII. 
 
 that the authenticity of their books was a subject 
 amongst the early Christians of consideration and 
 inquiry ; and that, where there was cause of doubt, they 
 did doubt ; a circumstance which strengthens very much 
 their testimony to such books as were received by them 
 with full acquiescence. 
 
 B. I. Jerome, in his account of Caius, who was probably 
 a presbyter of Rome, and who flourished near the year 
 200, records of him, that, reckoning up only thirteen 
 epistles of Paul, he says, the fourteenth, which is in- 
 scribed to the Hebrews, is not his; and then Jerome 
 adds, “ With the Romans, to this day, it is not looked 
 upon as Paul’s.” This agrees, in the main, with the 
 account given by Eusebius of the same ancient author 
 and his work; except that Eusebius delivers his own 
 remark in more guarded terms: “ And, indeed, to this 
 very time, by some of the Romans, this epistle is not 
 thought to be the apostle’s.1 
 
 c. Il. Origen, about twenty years after Caius, quoting 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, observes that some might 
 dispute the authority of that epistle, and therefore pro- 
 ceeds to quote to the same point, as. wuzdoubted books of 
 Scripture, the Gospel of S. 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 Hebrew’s thus :—-“ The account come down to us 
 is various ; some saying that Clement, who was bishop 
 of Rome, wrote this epistle ; others, that it was Luke, 
 the same who wrote the Gospel and the Acts.” Speaking 
 also, in the same paragraph, of “Peter,” 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 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. iii. p, 240. 2 Ib, vol. iii. p. 246. 
 
 B. What are the remarks of C. How does Origen treat the 
 Caius, Jerome and Eusebius on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those 
 Epistle to the Hebrews? Who was of S. Peter and S. John? Mention 
 Caius, and at what period did he his testimony concerning the four 
 flourish ? Gospels, 
 
SECT. VIII] OF GHRISLTITANIT Y: 
 
 153 
 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.”? 
 
 III. Dionysius, of Alexandria, in the year 247, doubts 
 concerning the Book of Revelation, whether it was 
 written by S. John; states the grounds of his doubt, 
 represents the diversity of opinion concerning it, in his 
 own time, and before his time.2 Yet the same Dionysius 
 uses and collates the four Gospels, in a manner which 
 shews that he entertained not the smallest suspicion of 
 their authority, and in a manner which also shews that 
 they, and they alone, were received 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 Ecclesiastical History. 
 The first passage opens with these words :—“ Let us 
 observe the writings of the apostle John which are 
 uncontradicted, and, first of all, must be mentioned, as 
 acknowledged of all, the Gospel according to him, well 
 known to all the churches under heaven.” The author 
 then proceeds to relate the occasions of writing the 
 Gospels, and the reasons for placing S. 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 enumera- 
 tion in the following manner :—“ Jn the first place are to 
 
 1 Lardner, vol, iii. p. 234 2 Ib. vol. iv. p. 670. 3 Ib. p. 661, 4 Ib. p. 90. 
 
 D. Mention the age in which 
 Dionysius, of Alexandria, lived ; 
 and distinguish the parts of Scrip- 
 ture, the genuineness of which is 
 doubted, from those which are’ 
 deemed authentic by him. 
 
 E. Quote the two remarkable 
 
 passages which are extant in Eu- 
 sebius’s Ecclesiastical History con- 
 cerning the Gospels ; and, from the 
 chapter relating to the acknow- 
 ledgment of the Scriptures, shew 
 in what sense he uses the word 
 “* spurious.” 
 
154 EVIDENCES [SECT. VIII. 
 
 be ranked the sacred four Gospels; then the book of 
 the Acts of the Apostles; after that are to be reckoned 
 the Epistles of Paul. In the next place, that called the 
 First Epistle of John, and the Epistle of Peter, are to 
 be esteemed authentic. After this is to be placed, if it 
 be thought fit, the Revelation of John, about which we 
 shall observe the different opinions at proper seasons. 
 Of the controverted, but yet well known, or approved 
 by the most, are, that called the Epistle of James, and 
 that of Jude, and the Second of Peter, and the Second 
 and Third of John, whether they are written by the 
 evangelist, or another of the same name.”! He then 
 proceeds to reckon up five others, not in our canon, 
 which he calls in one place spurious, in another contro- 
 verted, meaning, as appears to mé, nearly the same 
 thing by these two words.? 
 
 F, 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 acknow- 
 ledged without dispute, even by those who raised objec- 
 tions, or entertained doubts, about some other parts of 
 the same collection. But the passage proves something 
 more than this. The author was extremely conversant 
 in the writings of Christians, which had been published 
 from the commencement of the institution to his own 
 time ; and it was from these writings that he drew his 
 knowledge of the character and reception of the books 
 
 F.ain question. That Eusebius recurred to this medium of 
 information, and that he had examined with attention 
 this species of proof, is shewn, first, by a passage in the 
 very chapter we are quoting, in which, speaking of the 
 books which he calls spurious, “ None,” he says, “of the 
 ecclesiastical writers, in the succession of the apostles, 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. viii. p. 39. 
 
 2 That Eusebius could not intend, by the word rendered ‘ spurious,” what we at present mean by 
 it, is evident from a clause in this very chapter, where, speaking of the Gospels of Peter, and Thomas 
 and Matthias, and some others, he says, ‘‘They are not so much as to be reckoned among the spurious, 
 but are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious, Vol. viii. p. 98, 
 
 F, State, fully, what is proved Eusebius recurred to the writings of 
 by the latter passage from Eusebius. the earliest Christians ; and that he 
 had examined, with attention this 
 
 F.a. How does it appear that species of proof? 
 
SECT. VIII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 15s 
 
 have vouchsafed to make any mention of them in their 
 writings ;’ and, secondly, by another passage of the 
 same work, wherein, speaking of the First Epistle of 
 Peter, “ This,” he says, “the presbyters of ancient times 
 have quoted in their writings as undoubtedly genuine ;”? 
 and then, speaking of some other writings bearing the 
 name of Peter, “We know,” he says, “that they have 
 not been delivered down to us in the number of Catholic 
 writings, for as much 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, azd acknowledged by all, and with 
 regard to those which are not such.” 
 
 G. After this it is reasonable to believe, that when 
 Eusebius states the four Gospels and the Acts of the 
 Apostles, as uncontradicted, uncontested, and acknow- 
 ledged by all: and when he places them in opposition, 
 not only to those which were spurious, in our sense of 
 that term, but to those which were controverted, and 
 even to those which were well known and approved by 
 many, yet doubted of by some; he represents, not only 
 the sense of his own age, but the result of the evidence 
 which the writings of prior ages, from the apostles’ time 
 
 H. to his own, had furnished to his inquiries. The opinion 
 of Eusebius and his contemporaries appears to have been 
 founded upon the testimony of writers whom they ¢hen 
 called ancient : and we may observe, that such of the 
 works of these writers as have come down to our times, 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. viii. p. 99. 2 Ibt p, 11 
 
 G. Under what circumstances is H. Upon what does the opinion 
 it reasonable to believe that Eusebius of Eusebius and his contemporaries 
 represented, not only the sense of his appear to have been founded ; and 
 own age, but the result of the evi-, what is Paley’s final remark in this 
 dence whichthewritingsof priorages, point of evidence? 
 from the apostles’ time to his own, 
 had furnished to his inquiries ? 
 
156 EVIDENCES [SECT. 1X: 
 entirely confirm the judgment and support the distinc- 
 tion which Eusebius proposes. The books which he 
 calls “books universally acknowledged,” are, in fact, 
 used and quoted in the remaining works of Christian 
 writers, during the 250 years between the apostles’ time 
 and that of Eusebius, much more frequently than, and 
 in a different manner from those, the authority of which, 
 
 he tells us, was disputed. 
 
 SECTION 
 
 IX. 
 
 Our historical Scriptures were attacked by the early adversaries 
 of Christianity, as containing the accounts upon which the 
 
 Leeligion was founded, 
 
 The early adversaries of Chris- 
 tianity, referred to in this section, 
 are CELSUS in the middle of the 
 second century; PORPHRY in the 
 third; and the Emperor JULIAN 
 about a century after. 
 
 The arguments of Celsus were 
 opposed by Origen, from whom we 
 gain the opinion of Celsus, whose 
 works are lost. From the expressions 
 used by Celsus, it appears that there 
 were books, containing a history of 
 Jesus, allowed to be written ,by his 
 disciples; and, as he accuses the 
 Christians of having recourse to 
 various readings, the Christian his- 
 tories were of some standing. Celsus 
 quotes against Christians, their own 
 writings; which shews that the Chris- 
 tians confessed themselves bound by 
 their authority. It appears plain that 
 the books referred to by Celsus, were 
 our present Gospels; from allusions 
 to various passages in them, viz. to 
 the genealogies, to the precepts, 
 predictions, sayings, sufferings, and 
 death of Christ: the Resurrection, 
 and other events, some of which are 
 mentioned by John alone. Celsus 
 refers to no other, or spurious 
 writings. [p. 157—160. ] 
 
 The objections of Porphry 
 (gathered from Christian writers who 
 have noticed in order to answer 
 them) were directed against our 
 Gospels and the Acts ; considering, 
 that to overthrow them, was to 
 overthrow the religion. And the 
 specific nature of his objections to 
 facts and expressions, shew that he 
 had read the Gospels with the 
 attention of one, who thought them 
 to be the depositaries of the religion 
 he attacked. Porphyry uses the 
 term ‘evangelist’ in the plural num- 
 ber; and applies it, in the singular 
 number, particularly to S. Matthew. 
 He referred to no other histories but 
 ours. [p. 160.] 
 
 The various extracts made from 
 Julian’s work, by Cyril and Jerome, 
 shew that he noticed Matthew and 
 Luke by name; recited sayings of 
 Christ, and various parts of his his- 
 tory, in the very words of the evan- 
 gelists ; specified many particulars, 
 as recorded by some, and not by 
 others; the period of John’s Gospel; 
 the conversion of Cornelius and 
 Sergius Paulus, and other events in 
 the Acts; which tends to prove that 
 the Gospels and Acts were the books 
 
SECT. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY: 157 
 
 of authority among Christians. More- name they bear, end never attempts 
 over, Julian states the early date of to question their genuineness, [p. 
 these records, and calls them by the 161, to the end] 
 
 A. NEAR the middle of the second century, Celsus, a heathen 
 philosopher, wrote a professed treatise against Chris- 
 tianity. To this treatise, Origen, who came about fifty 
 years after him, published an answer, in which he fre- 
 quently recites his adversary’s words and arguments. 
 The work of Celsus is lost; but that of Origen remains. 
 Origen appears to have given us the words of Celsus, 
 where he professes to give them, very faithfully ; and, 
 amongst other reasons for thinking so, this is one, that 
 the objection as stated by him from Celsus, is sometimes 
 stronger than his own answer. I think it also probable, 
 that Origen, in his answer, has retailed a large portion 
 of the work of Celsus: “ That it may not be suspected,” 
 he says, “that we pass by any chapters, because we have 
 no answers at hand, I have thought it best, according to 
 my ability, to confute every thing proposed by him, not 
 so much observing the natural order of things, as the 
 order which he has taken himself.’ 
 
 B. Celsus. wrote about one hundred years after the 
 Gospels were published; and therefore any notices of 
 these books from him are extremely important for their 
 antiquity. They are, however, rendered more so by 
 the character of the author ; for the reception, credit, and 
 notoriety of these books must have been well established 
 amongst Christians, to have made them subjects of 
 animadversion and opposition by strangers and by 
 enemies, It evinces the truth of what Chrysostom, two 
 centuries afterwards, observed that “the Gospels, when 
 written, were not hidden in a corner or buried in 
 obscurity, but they were made known to all the world, 
 before enemies as well as others, even as they are 
 now.” 
 
 1 Orig. cont, Cels. 1, i. sect. 41, 2 In Matt. Hom. 1. 7, 
 
 A. Who was Celsus; at what * B. What renders any notice of 
 period did he write against Chris- the Gospels by Celsus, particularly 
 tianity ; and how are weassured that important? 
 we possess the substance of his 
 objections? 
 
158 Tt VALDI EAN Gres [SECTHIe 
 
 c. 1. Celsus, or the Jew whom he personates, uses these 
 words :—“I could say many things concerning the 
 affairs of Jesus, and those, too, different from those 
 written by the disciples of Jesus; but I purposely omit 
 them.”! 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 flourish. 
 
 It is sufficient, however, to prove that, in the time of 
 Celsus, there were books well known, and allowed to be 
 written by the disciples of Jesus, which books, contained 
 a history of him. By the term disciples, Celsus does 
 not mean the followers of Jesus in general; for them he 
 calls Christians, or believers, or the like ; but those who 
 had been taught by Jesus himself, ze. his apostles and 
 companions. 
 
 D. 2. In another passage, Celsus accuses the Christians 
 of altering the Gospel. The accusation refers to some 
 variations in the readings of particular passages; for 
 Celsus goes on to object, that when they are pressed 
 hard, and one reading has been confuted, they disown 
 that, and fly to another. We cannot perceive from 
 Origen, that Celsus specified any particular instances, 
 and without such specifications the charge is of no value. 
 But the true conclusion to be drawn from it is, that there 
 were, in the hands of the Christians, histories, which were 
 even then of some standing; for, various readings and 
 corruptions do not take place in recent productions. 
 
 The former quotation, the reader will remember, proves 
 that these books were composed by the disciples of 
 Jesus, strictly so called; the present quotation shews, 
 
 1 Lardner, Jewish and Heathen Test, vol, ii. p, 274. 2 Ib, p. 275. 
 
 C. Quote the passage from D. Shew, from Celsus, that 
 Celsus, which proves that the Gos- though objections were taken to the 
 pels were composed by the disciples integrity of the Christian Scriptures, 
 of Jesus; and mention the limited yet that there was none to their 
 signification of the term ‘dzscif/e,’ as genuineness. 
 here used. 
 
SECT. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 159 
 
 that, though objections were taken by the adversaries of 
 the religion to the integrity of these books, none were 
 made to their genuineness. 
 
 3. Ina third passage, the Jew, whom Celsus intro- 
 duces, shuts up an argument in this manner :—“ These 
 things then we have alleged to you out of your own 
 writings, not needing any other weapons.”! It is manifest 
 that this boast proceeds upon the supposition, that the 
 books, over which the writer affects to triumph, possess- 
 ed 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 out by his 
 allusions to various passages still found in these Gospels. 
 Celsus takes notice of the genealogies, which fixes two of 
 these Gospels; of the precepts, Resist not him that 
 injures you, and, If a man strike thee on the one cheek, 
 offer to him the other also;? of the woes denounced by 
 Christ; of his predictions; of his saying, that it is 
 impossible to serve two masters;? of the purple robe, the 
 crown of thorns, and the reed in his hand; of the blood 
 that flowed from the body of Jesus upon the cross,* 
 which circumstance is recorded by John alone; and 
 (what is zzstar omnium for the purpose for which we 
 produce it) of the difference in the accounts given of the 
 Resurrection by the evangelists, some mentioning two 
 angels at the sepulchre, others only one.5 
 
 It is extremely material to remark, that Celsus not 
 only perpetually referred to the accounts of Christ con- 
 tained inthe 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. 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. ii. p. 276. 2 Ib. p. 276. 3 Ib, p. 277. 4 Ib. p. 280, 281. 5 Ib. p. 283. 
 6 The particulars, of which the above are only a few, are well collected by Mr, Bryant, p. 140. 
 E. How does Celsus directly were no other than our present 
 evidence the authority of the Scrip- Gospels ? 
 tures among Christians ? G. What material remark may 
 F. How do you make out that be made on the Scripture references 
 the books to which Celsus refers, of Celsus ? 
 
160 EVIDENCES [ SECT. IX. 
 
 H. 
 
 II. What Celsus was in the second century, Porphyry 
 became in the third. His work, which was a large and 
 formal treatise against the Christian religion, is not 
 extant. We must be content therefore to gather his 
 objections from Christian writers, who have noticed, in 
 order to answer them; and enough remains of this 
 species of information, to prove completely, that Por- 
 phyry’s animadversions were directed against the con- 
 tents 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 5S. 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 S. Matthew, “the abomination of desola- 
 tion ;’ 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 S. Peter upon Ananias and Sapphira, which he 
 calls an imprecation of death.? 
 
 The instances here alleged, serve, in some measure, to 
 shew 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. Beside 
 these specifications, there exists, in the writings of 
 ancient Christians, general evidence, that the places of 
 Scripture upon which Porphyry had remarked were 
 very numerous. 
 
 In some of the above-cited examples, Porphyry, 
 
 1 Jewish and Heathen Test, vol. iii. p. 166, e¢ seq. 
 
 H. At what period did Por- R. To whom does Porphyry 
 phyry write; and what was his apply the epithet ‘your evangelist » 
 work? Mention some of his objec- and does he ever use the term in 
 tions, and state whence they are the plural number? Mention Por- 
 gathered. phyry’s opinion as to the exclusive 
 
 I, What is proved by the in- authority of our history among the 
 stances of Porphyry’s objections, Christians. 
 alleged by Paley? 
 
SECT. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 161 
 
 speaking of S. Matthew, calls him your evangelist; he 
 also uses the term evangelists in the plural number. 
 What was said of Celsus is true likewise of Porphyry, 
 that it does not appear that he considered any history 
 of Christ, except these, as having authority with Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 is III. A third great writer against the Christian 
 religion was the emperor Julian, whose work was com- 
 posed about a century after that of Porphyry. 
 
 In various long extracts, transcribed from this work 
 by Cyril and Jerome, it appears! that Julian noticed dy 
 name Matthew and Luke, in the difference between their 
 genealogies of Christ; that he objected to Matthew’s 
 application of the prophecy, “Out of Egypt have I 
 called my son,” (ii. 15.), and to that of “A virgin shall 
 conceive,” (i. 23.) ; that he recited sayings of Christ, and 
 various passages of his history, in the very words of the 
 evangelists ; in particular, that Jesus healed lame and 
 blind people, and exorcised demoniacs, in the villages of 
 Bethsaida and Bethany ; that he alleged, that none of 
 Christ’s disciples ascribed to him the creation of the 
 world, except John ; that neither Paul, nor Matthew, nor 
 Luke, nor Mark, have dared to call Jesus, God; that 
 John wrote later than the other evangelists, and at a 
 time when a great number of men in the cities of Greece 
 and Italy were converted ; that he alludes to the con- 
 version of Cornelius and of Sergius Paulus, to Peter’s 
 vision, to the circular letter sent by the apostles: and 
 elders at Jerusalem, which are all recorded in the Acts 
 of the Apostles ; by which quoting of the four Gospels 
 and the Acts of the Apostles, and by guoting no other, 
 Julian shews 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. 
 
 1 Jewish and Heathen Test. vol. iv. p. 77. et. seg. 
 
 L. Who was the great writer by Cyril and Jerome ; and what two 
 against the Christian religion in the judgments are shewn by his testi- 
 fourth century; what appears by mony? 
 various extracts made from his work 
 
 M 
 
162 EVIDENCES [SECT he 
 
 But Julian’s testimony does something more that repre- 
 sent the judgment of the Christian church in his time. 
 It discovers also his own. He himself expressly states 
 the early date of these records; he calls them by the 
 names which they now bear. He all along supposes, he 
 nowhere attempts to question, their genuineness. 
 
 M. The argument in favour of the books of the New 
 Testament, drawn from the notice taken of their contents 
 by the early writers against the religion, is very con- 
 siderable. It proves that the accounts, which Christians 
 had then, were the accounts which we have now; that 
 our present Scriptures were theirs. It proves, moreover, 
 that neither Celsus in the second, Porphyry in the third, 
 nor Julian in the fourth century, suspected the authen- 
 ticity of these books, or ever insinuated that Christians 
 were mistaken in the authors to whom they ascribed 
 them. Not one of them expressed an opinion upon this 
 subject different from that which was holden by Chris- 
 tians. 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 con- 
 cession, or rather their suffrage, upon the subject, is 
 extremely valuable. 
 
 In the case of Porphyry, it is made still stronger, by 
 the consideration, that he did in fact support himself by 
 this species of objection, when he saw any room for it, 
 or when his acuteness could supply any pretence for 
 alleging it. The prophecy of Daniel he attacked upon 
 this very ground of spuriousness, insisting that it was 
 written after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, and 
 maintains his charge of forgery by some far-fetched 
 indeed, but very subtle criticisms. Concerning the 
 writings of the New Testament, no trace of this suspicion 
 is anywhere to be found in him.”* 
 
 1 Michaelis’s Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. p. 43. Marsh’s Translation. 
 M. On what grounds do we New Testament drawn from the 
 
 view, as very considerable, the ar- notice taken of their contents by the 
 gument in favour of the books of the early writers against the religion ¢ 
 
SEGTOX. | 
 
 OF GHIRISIELTAIVAL Ve 
 
 SCT LON eS 
 
 Formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published, in all 
 which our present sacred histories were included. 
 
 To support this proposition, the 
 author proceeds to shew— 
 
 That in the works of ORIGEN 
 (A. D. 230) the four Gospels and the 
 Acts are distinctly enumerated ; and 
 no other books beside those which 
 are now received. [p. 163] 
 
 That ATHANASIUS, about a cen- 
 tury afterwards, delivered a catalogue 
 of the books of the New Testament, 
 unmixed with any others. [p. 164] 
 
 That CyRIL, about twenty years 
 afterwards, puplished a catalogue, 
 containing all our books, except the 
 Revelation; and that about fifteen 
 years after this, the council of 
 Laodicea did the same. [p. 164] 
 
 That after this period, catalogues, 
 
 became more frequent; and we 
 have them (within thirty years) from 
 EPIPHANIUS, GREGORY NAZIAN- 
 ZEN, PHILASTER, bishop of Brescia, 
 and AMPHILOCHIUS, bishop of 
 Iconium, containing no books differ- 
 ing from ours. [p. 164] 
 
 That after these, we have JE- 
 ROME’S which is the same as ours, 
 but has a doubt concerning the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews; next, his 
 contemporary S. AUGUSTINE’S, which 
 omits no book that we acknow- 
 ledge ; and, lastly, RUFEN’s, (pres- 
 byter of Aquileia) whose list, like 
 theirs, is perfect and unmixed. [p. 
 
 165] 
 
 . 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 them- 
 selves, claiming titles which did not belong to them, and 
 thereby rendering it necessary to separate books of 
 authority from others. But, when it does appear, it is 
 extremely satisfactory; thecatalogues, though numerous, 
 and made in countries at a wide distance from one 
 another, differing very little, differing in nothing which 
 is material, and all containing the four Gospels. To 
 this last article there is no exception. 
 
 I. In the writings of Origen which remain, and in 
 some extracts preserved by Eusebius, from works of his 
 which are now lost, there are enumerations of the books 
 
 A. Why does the evidence, 
 derived from the catlogues of Scrip- 
 ture, come later than the rest ; and 
 what makes it extremly satisfactory ? 
 
 B. What notices of books of 
 Scripture are found in the writings 
 of Origen ; and what is the date of 
 his works? 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 EVIDENCES PpECT EX. 
 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, delivered 
 a catalogue of the books of the new Testament in form, 
 containing our Scriptures and no others; of which he 
 says, “In these alone the doctrine of Religion is taught ; 
 let no man add to them, or take 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 omitted.? 
 
 IV. And, fifteen years after Cyril, the council of 
 Laodicea delivered an authoritative catalogue of cano- 
 nical 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 cata- 
 logues by Epiphanius,t 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.’ 
 
 VI. Within the same period, Jerome, the most 
 learned Christian writer of his age, delivered a catalogue 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. iii. p. 234, et. seg. vol. viii. p. 196. 
 
 2 Ib. vol. viii. p, 223. 
 3 Ib. p. 270. 4 Ib. vol. viii. p. 368. 5 Ib. vol. ix. p. 132. 374. 
 
 ibs pis 
 7 Epiphanius omits the Acts of the Apostles. This must have been an accidental mistake, either in 
 
 Kya or is some copyist of his work ; for he elsewhere expressly refers to this book, and ascribes it to 
 uke, 
 
 C. How do you support the 
 proposition of this section from 
 Athanasius ? Mention the period in 
 which he wrote. 
 
 D. Withinabout thirty-five years 
 after Athanasius, what further evi- 
 
 dence have we in support of the 
 proposition before us ? 
 
 E. Mention the catalogues of 
 Scripture which were written from 
 the year 363, to near the conclusion 
 of the fourth century; and by whom? 
 
 F.. Specify the contents of the 
 
SECT. XI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 165 
 of the books of the New Testament, recognising every 
 book now received, with the intimation of a doubt con- 
 cerning the Epistle to the Hebrews alone, and taking 
 not theleast notice of any book which is not now received. 
 
 VII. Contemporary with Jerome, who lived in Pales- 
 tine was S. Augustine, in Africa, who published like- 
 wise a catalogue, without joining to the Scriptures, as 
 books of authority, any other ecclesiastical writing 
 whatever, and without omitting one which we at this 
 day acknowledge.” 
 
 VIII. And with these concurs another contemporary 
 writer, Rufen, presbyter of Aquileia, whose catalogue, 
 like theirs, is perfect and unmixed, and concludes with 
 these remarkable words: “ These are the volumes which 
 the fathers have included in the canon, and out of which 
 they would have us prove the doctrine of our faith.”8 
 
 SECTION — XI. 
 
 Lhese propositions cannot be predicated of any of those books, 
 which are commonly called Apocryphal Books of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 To support this proposition, 
 Paley first observes, that no Christ- 
 tian history, claiming to be written 
 by an apostle, or apostolical man, is 
 quoted within 300 years after the 
 birth of Christ. A Hebrew Gospel 
 may seem to form one exception ; it 
 is once mentioned by Clement, and 
 twice by Origen, with marks of 
 discredit: yet, in the main, the 
 Gospel agrees with ours by S. Mat- 
 thew. [p. 166] 
 
 That, of apocryphal writings, 
 only two are noticed in the first 
 three centuries, without express con- 
 demnation, viz. ‘‘ The Preaching of 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol. x. p. 77. 
 
 2 Ib. vol. x. p, 213. 
 
 Peter,” and ‘The Revelation of 
 Péter: ar [ps 107] 
 
 That there is no evidence that 
 any apocryphal books existed in the 
 first century, in which century ai 
 our historical books are proved to 
 have been extant. 2nd. That these 
 apocryphal writings were not read 
 in Christian Churches. 3rd. Were 
 not admitted into their volume. 4th. 
 Do not appear in their catalogues. 
 Sth. Were not noticed by their 
 adversaries. 6th. Were not alleged 
 by different parties, as of authority 
 in their controversies. 7th. Were 
 ‘not the subjects of commentaries, 
 
 3 Ib, vol. x. p. 187, 
 
 catalogue of Jerome, and those of and Rufen; and give some account 
 
 his contemporaries, S. Augustine 
 
 of each writer. 
 
166 EVIDENCE Ses (SECT, XI. 
 
 versions, &c. 8th. Were rejected same fundamental history as our 
 by Christian writers in succeeding Scriptures; they are not contra- 
 ages. [p. 168] dictions, but unauthorized addi- 
 
 That, with regard to apocryphal tions to our Scriptures. [p. 169] 
 books, they all proceed upon the 
 
 A. I pO not know that the objection taken from apoc- 
 ryphal writings is at present much relied upon by 
 scholars. But there are many, who, hearing that various 
 Gospels existed in ancient times under the names of the 
 apostles, may have taken up a notion, that the selection 
 of our present Gospels from the rest, was rather an 
 arbitary or accidental choice, than founded in any clear 
 and certain cause of preference. To these it may be 
 very useful to know the truth of the case. I observe, 
 therefore. 
 
 B. I. That besides our Gospels and the Acts of the 
 Apostles, no Christian history, claiming to be written by 
 an apostle or apostolical man, is quoted within three 
 hundred years after the birth of Christ, by any writer 
 now extant, or known; or, if quoted, is not quoted with 
 marks of censure and rejection. 
 
 I have not advanced this assertion without inquiry ; 
 and I doubt not, but that the passages cited by 
 Mr. Jones and Dr. Lardner, under the several titles 
 which the apocryphal books bear; or a reference to 
 the places where they are mentioned, as collected in a 
 very accurate table, published in the year 1773, by 
 the Rev. J. Atkinson, will make out the truth of the 
 proposition to the satisfaction of every fair and competent 
 judgment. If there be any book which may seem to 
 form an exception to the observation, it is a Hebrew 
 Gospel, which was circulated under the various titles of 
 the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel of the 
 Nazarenes, of the Ebionites, sometimes called of the 
 Twelve, by some ascribed to S. Matthew. This Gospel 
 is once, and only once, cited by Clemens Alexandrinus, 
 
 A. With what view does Paley what apparent exception is there to 
 refer to the apocryphal writings ? his assertion ; and how is it treated 
 B. What does Paley assert with by Paleye 
 reference to apocryphal writings : 
 
SECT:OXI.] OF GHRISTIANIDY. 167 
 
 who lived, the reader will remember, in the latter part of 
 the second century, and which same Clement quotes one 
 or other of our four Gospels in almost every page of his 
 work. It is also twice mentioned by Origen, A. D. 230; 
 and both times with marks of diminution and discredit. 
 And this is the ground upon which the exception stands. 
 But what is still more material to observe is, that this 
 Gospel, in the main, agreed with our present Gospel of 
 S. Matthew.! 
 
 c. Now if, with this account of the aprocryphal Gospels, 
 we compare what we have read concerning the canonical 
 Scriptures in the proceeding sections ; or even recollect 
 that general, but well founded, assertion of Dr. Lardner, 
 “That in the remaining works of Irenzus, Clement of 
 Alexandria, and Tertullian, who all lived in the first two 
 centuries there are more and larger quotations of the 
 small volume of the New Testament, than of all the 
 works of Cicero, by writers of all characters, for several 
 ages ;”2 and if to this we add, that notwithstanding the 
 loss of many works of the primitive times of Christianity, 
 we have, within the above mentioned period, the remains 
 of Christian writers, who lived in Palestine, Syria, Asia 
 Minor, Egypt, the part of Africa that used the Latin 
 tongue, in Crete, Greece, Italy, and Gaul, in all which 
 remains, references are found to our evangelists; I 
 apprehend that we shall perceive a clear and broad line 
 of division between those writings and all others pre- 
 tending to similar authority. 
 
 p. II. But beside certain Azstories which assumed the 
 names of apostles, and which were forgeries properly so 
 called, there were some other Christian writings, in the 
 whole or in part of an historical nature, which, though 
 not forgeries, are denominated apocryphal, as being of 
 uncertain, or of no authority. ; 
 Rea arte in provable thatiee ane nae tostrend teeth a detcew coped 
 
 S. Matthews Gospel, whether an original or version, which was then extant. 
 2 Lardner Cred. vol. xii, p. 53. 
 
 C. By what means do we make D. Besidescertain histories, which 
 out a clear and broad line of division assumed the names of apostles, and 
 between our Scriptures and all others which were forgeries, properly so 
 pretending to a similiar authority ? called, what other Christian writings 
 
168 EVIDENCES [SECT. XI. 
 
 Of this second class of writings, I have found only two 
 which are noticed by any author of the first three 
 centuries, without express terms of condemnation; and 
 these are the one, a book entitled the Preaching of Peter, 
 quoted repeatedly by Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 196 ; 
 the other, a book entitled the Revelation of Peter, upon 
 which the above mentioned Clemens Alexandrinus is 
 said, by Eusebius, to have written notes ; and which is 
 twice cited in a work still extant, ascribed to the same 
 author. 
 
 I conceive therefore, that the proposition we have 
 before advanced, even after it hath been subjected to 
 every exception, of every kind, that can be alleged, 
 separates, by a wide interval, our historical Scriptures 
 from all other writings which profess to give an account 
 of the same subject. 
 
 E. We may be permitted, however, to add, 
 
 I. That there is no evidence that any spurious or 
 aprocryphal books whatever existed in the first century 
 of the Christian era, in which century all our historical 
 books are proved to have been extant. “There are no 
 quotations of any such books in the apostolical fathers, 
 by whom I mean Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hermas, 
 Ignatius, and Polycarp, whose writings reach from about 
 the year of our Lord 70, to the year 108” (and some of 
 whom have quoted each and every one of our historical 
 Scriptures) ; “I say this,” adds Dr. Lardner, “because I 
 think it has been proved.”? 
 
 2. These apocryhal 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 ; 
 
 1 Lardner, Cred. vol, xii. p, 158. 
 
 were there ; and how, and by whom, going part of this section, to shew 
 have they been noticed ? the wide separation between our 
 
 E., What are the eight consider- historical Scriptures, and all other 
 ations which Paley adds to the two writings, which profess to give an 
 former ones, advanced in the fore- account of the same subject ? 
 
SECT. XI] OL CHRIS EIAN FEY. 169 
 
 7. Were not the subjects, amongst them, of commen- 
 taries, versions, collations, expositions. 
 
 Finally ; beside the silence of three centuries, or 
 evidence, within that time, of their rejection, they were, 
 with a consent nearly universal, reprobated by Christian 
 writers of succeeding ages. 
 
 Although it be made out by these observations, that 
 the books in question never obtained any degree of 
 credit and notoriety which can place them in competition 
 with our Scriptures ; yet it appears, from the writings of 
 the fourth century, that many such existed in that 
 century, and in the century preceding it. It may be 
 difficult at this distance of time to account for their 
 origin. Perhaps the most probable explication is, that 
 they were in general composed with a design of making 
 a profit by the sale. Whatever treated of the subject, 
 would find purchasers. It was an advantage taken of 
 the pious curiosity of unlearned Christians. With a view 
 to the same purpose, there were many of them adapted 
 to the particular opinions of particular sects, which would 
 naturally promote their circulation amongst the favourers 
 of those opinions. After all, they were probably much 
 more obscure than we imagine. 
 
 Except the Gospel according to the Hebrews, there is 
 none of which we hear more than the Gospel of the 
 Egyptians; yet there is good reason to believe that 
 Clement, a presbyter of Alexandria, in Egypt, A.D. 184, 
 and a man of almost universal reading, had never seen 
 it 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 
 Khossus, in Cilicia; and speaks of obtaining a sight of 
 this Gospel from some sectaries who used it.2 Even of 
 
 I Jones, vol. i, p. 243. _ 2 Lardner, Cred. vol. ii. p. 557. 
 
 F. Although the books in ques- G. State what is known con- 
 tion do not appear to have been of cerning the notoriety of the apocry- 
 any credit and notoriety, how do we phal writings of the third and fourth 
 account for the appearance of many centuries. 
 in the third and fourth centuries ? 
 
170 EVIDENCES [SECT ca. 
 
 the Gospel of the Hebrews, which confessedly stands at 
 the head of the catalogue, Jerome, at the end of the 
 fourth century, was glad to procure a copy by the favour 
 of the Nazarenes of Berea. Nothing of this sort ever 
 happened, or could have happened, concerning our 
 Gospels. 
 
 H. ne thing is observable of all the apocryphal Christian 
 writings, viz. that they proceed upon the same funda- 
 mental history of Christ and his apostles as that which 
 is disclosed in our Scriptures. The mission of Christ, 
 his power of working miracles, his communication of 
 that power to the apostles, his passion, death, and resur- 
 rection, are assumed or asserted by every one of them. 
 The names under which some of them came forth are 
 the names of men of eminence in our histories. What 
 these books give, are not contradictions, but unauthorized 
 additions. The principal facts are supposed, the principal 
 agents the same ; which shews, that these points were too 
 much fixed to be altered or disputed. 
 
 I. Ifthere be any book of this description, which appears 
 to have imposed upon some considerable number of 
 learned Christians, it is the Sibylline oracles ; but, when 
 we reflect upon the circumstances which facilitated that 
 imposture, we shall cease to wonder either at the 
 attempt orits success. It was at that time universally 
 understood, that such a prophetic writing existed. Its 
 contents were kept secret. The situation afforded to 
 some one a hint, as well as an opportunity, to give out 
 a writing under this name, favourable to the already 
 established persuasion of Christians ; and which writing, 
 by the aid and recommendation of these circumstances, 
 would, in some degree, it is probable, be received. Of 
 the ancient forgery we know but little: what is now 
 produced, could not, in my opinion, have imposed upon 
 any one. It is nothing else than the Gospel history, 
 
 H. Mention what is observable upon some considerable number of 
 of all the apocryphal Christian learned Christians; and what were 
 writings. the circumstances that facilitated the 
 
 I, Which of the apocryphal imposture? 
 writings seems to have imposed 
 
CHAP. X. | OF CARTS TIAN Y- 171 
 woven into verse; perhaps was at first rather a fiction than 
 a forgery; an exercise of ingenuity, more than an 
 
 attempt to deceive. 
 
 CPP raters 0 
 
 Lecapitulation. 
 
 THE reader will now be pleased to recollect, that the two 
 points which form the subject of our present discussion 
 are, first, that the Founder of Christianity, his associates, 
 and immediate followers, passed their lives in labours, 
 dangers, and sufferings ; secondly, that they did so, in 
 attestation of the miraculous history recorded in our 
 Scriptures, and solely in consequence of their belief of 
 the truth of that history. 
 
 The argument, by which these two propositions have 
 been maintained by us, stands thus :— | 
 
 No historical fact, I apprehend, is more certain, than 
 that the original propagators of Christianity voluntarily 
 subjected themselves to lives of fatigue, danger, and 
 suffering, in the prosecution of their undertaking. The 
 nature of the undertaking ; the character of the persons 
 employed in it; the opposition of their tenets to the 
 fixed opinions and expectations of the country in which 
 they first advanced them ; their undissembled condem- 
 nation of the religion of all other countries ; their total 
 want of power, authority, or force ; render it in the 
 highest degree probable that this must have been the 
 case. The probability is increased, by what we know of 
 the Fate of the Founder of the institution, who was put 
 to death for his attempt; and by what we also know of 
 
 A. How stands the argument 
 in favour of the two propositions, 
 viz. first, that the Founder of 
 Christianity, his associates, and im- 
 mediate followers, passed their lives 
 in labours, dangers, and sufferings ; 
 
 secondly, that they did so, in attes- 
 tation of the miraculous history 
 recorded in our Scriptures, and 
 solely in consequence of their belief 
 of the truth of that history? 
 
yf: EVIDENCES [CHAP. X. 
 
 the cruel treatment of the converts to the institution, 
 within thirty years after its commencement; both which 
 points are attested by heathen writers, and, being once 
 admitted, leave it very incredible that the primitive 
 emissaries of the religion, who exercised their ministry, 
 first, amongst the people who had destroyed their 
 Master, and afterwards, amongst those who persecuted 
 their converts, should themselves escape with impunity, 
 or pursue their purpose in ease and safety. This 
 probability, thus sustained by foreign testimony, is 
 advanced, I think, to historical certainty, by the evidence 
 of our own books ; by the accounts of a writer who was 
 the companion of the persons whose sufferings he relates ; 
 by the letters of the persons themselves ; by predictions 
 of persecutions ascribed to the Founder of the religion, 
 which predictions would not have been inserted in his 
 history, much less have been studiously dwelt upon, if 
 they had not accorded with the event, and which, even 
 if falsely ascribed to him, could only have been so 
 ascribed, because the event suggested them ; lastly, by 
 incessant exhortations to fortitude and patience, and by 
 an earnestness, repetition, and urgency upon the subject, 
 which were unlikely to have appeared, if there had not 
 been, at the time, some extraordinary call for the 
 exercise of these virtues. 
 
 It is made out also, I think, with sufficient evidence, 
 that both the teachers and converts of the religion, in 
 consequence of their new profession, took up a new 
 course of life and behaviour. 
 
 B. The next great question is, what they did this FoR. 
 That it was fora miraculous story of some kind or other, 
 is to my apprehension extremely manifest ; because, as 
 to the fundamental article, the designation of the person, 
 viz. that this particular person, Jesus of Nazareth, ought 
 to be received as the Messiah, or as a messenger from 
 God, they neither had, nor could have, any thing but 
 
 B. Give a summary of the ar- consequence solely of their belief 
 guments by which Paley has shewn of the truth of a miraculous story ; 
 that the Founder of Christianity, which story is, in the main, the 
 and his immediate associates, acted, same which is recorded in our 
 as they did, in attestation, and in Scriptures. 
 
CHAT: X.] OFF CARISLLIANT TY: 173 
 
 B.amiracles to stand upon. That the exertions and sufferings 
 of the apostles were for the story which we have now, is 
 proved by the consideration that this story is transmitted 
 to us by two of their own number, and by two others 
 personally connected with them; that the particularity 
 of the narrative proves that the writers claimed to 
 possess circumstantial information; that from their 
 situation they had full opportunity of acquiring such 
 information; that they certainly, at least, knew what 
 their colleagues, their companions, their masters, taught ; 
 that each of these books contains enough to prove the 
 truth of the religion; that if any one of them there- 
 fore be genuine, it is sufficient; that the genuineness, 
 however, of all of them is made out as well by the 
 general arguments, which evince the genuineness of the 
 most undisputed remains of antiquity, as also by peculiar 
 
 B.2and specific proofs, viz. by citations from them in 
 writings belonging to a period immediately contiguous 
 to that in which they were published ; by the distin- 
 guished regard paid by early Christians to the authority 
 of these books (which regard was manifested by their 
 collecting of them into a volume, appropriating to that 
 volume titles of peculiar respect, translating them into 
 various languages, digesting them into harmonies, writing 
 commentaries upon them, and still more conspicuously, 
 by the reading of them in their public assemblies in all 
 parts of the world); by an universal agreement with 
 respect to ‘these books, whilst doubts were entertained 
 concerning some others ; by contending sects appealing 
 to them; by the early adversaries of the religion not 
 disputing their genuineness, but, on the contrary, treating 
 them as the depositaries of the history upon which the 
 religion was founded; by many formal catalogues of 
 these, as of certain and authoritative writings, published 
 in different and distant parts of the Christian world ; 
 lastly, by the absence or defect of the above-cited topics 
 
 B.a. How has it been proved B.d. By what peculiar and 
 that the exertions and sufferings of specific proofs have the genuineness 
 the apostles were for the story we of our books of Scripture, been 
 have read ? made out? ; 
 
174 EVIDENCES [CHAP. X. 
 
 of evidence, when applied to any other histories of the 
 same subject. 
 
 &: These are strong arguments to prove, that the books 
 actually proceeded from the authors whose names they 
 bear (and have always borne, for there is not a particle 
 of evidence to shew that they ever went under any 
 other); but the strict genuineness of the books is 
 perhaps more than is necessary to the support of our 
 proposition. For even supposing that, by reason of the 
 silence of antiquity, or the loss of records, we knew not 
 who were the writers of the four Gospels, yet the fact, 
 that they were received as authentic accounts of the 
 transaction upon which the religion rested, and were 
 received as such by Christians, at or near the age of the 
 apostles, by those whom the apostles had taught, and by 
 societies which the apostles had founded; this fact, I say, 
 connected with the consideration that they are corrobo- 
 rative of each other’s testimony, and that they are further 
 corroborated by another contemporary history, taking 
 up the story where they had left it, and, in a narra- 
 tive 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 occasions lead them to do so, 
 allude to particular parts of it ; and connected also with 
 the reflection, that if the apostles delivered any different 
 story, it is lost (the present and no other being referred 
 to by a series of Christian writers, down from their age 
 to our own; being likewise recognised in a variety of 
 institutions, which prevailed early and _ universally, 
 amongst the disciples of the religion) ; and that so great 
 a change, as the oblivion of one story and the substi- 
 tution of another, under such circumstances, could not 
 have taken place ;—this evidence would be deemed, 
 
 C. Recapitulate the arguments of our proposition; and that they 
 by which it appears, that the strict exhibit the story which was told by 
 genuineness of our books is more the apostles. 
 than is necessary to the support 
 
CHAP. X.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 175 
 
 I apprehend, sufficient to prove, concerning these books, 
 that, whoever were the authors of them, they exhibit the 
 story which the apostles told, and for which, consequently 
 they acted, and they suffered. 
 
 D. If it be so, the religion must be true. These men could 
 not be deceivers. By only not bearing testimony, they 
 might have avoided all these sufferings, and have lived 
 quietly. Would men in such circumstances pretend to 
 have seen what they never saw; assert facts which they 
 had no knowledge of ; go about lying, to teach virtue ; 
 and, though not only convinced of Christ’s being an 
 impostor ; but having seen the success of his imposture 
 in his crucifixion, yet. persist in carrying it on; and so 
 persist, as to bring upon themselves, for nothing, and 
 with a full knowledge of the consequence, enmity and 
 hatred, danger and death ? 
 
 D. Viewing the foregoing points deduced therefrom, as to the truth 
 as proved, state the inference to be of the religion. 
 
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL 
 
 EVIDENCE OF, CHRIST LAIN Tiiaye 
 
 PROPOSITION wali, 
 
 Our first proposition was, “ Zhat there is satisfactory evidence 
 that many, pretending to be original witnesses of the Christian 
 miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, 
 voluntarily undertaken and undergone in attestation of the 
 accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of 
 their belief of the truth of those accounts: and that they also 
 submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct.” 
 
 Our second proposition, and which now remains to be treated of, 
 is, “ Zhat there is Nov satisfactory evidence, that persons 
 pretending to be original witnesses of any other similar 
 miracles, have acted in the same manner, in attestation of the 
 accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of 
 their beltef of the truth of those accounts.” 
 
 Gaebaeedogs if, 
 
 The object of this chapter ts to support the proposition which stands 
 at the head of the second part of the argument, by stating the 
 comparison between our evidence, and what our adversaries 
 may bring into competition with it; and for this purpose the 
 distinctions are divided into two kinds, viz. those which relate 
 to the proof, and those which relate to the miracles. 
 
 After stating distinctly the ex- as mentioned above, the author, 
 tent of his belief in miraculous ac- under the frst head, lays out of the 
 counts, and distributing the subject case the following particulars : 
 
ELA 1?) 
 
 1. Accounts of supernatural 
 events, found only in histories by 
 many ages posterior to the transac- 
 tion. Ours is contemporary history. 
 This difference removes out of the 
 way of the miraculous history of 
 Pythagoras, who lived 500 years 
 B.C. written 300 years A.C. the 
 prodigies of Livy: the whole of the 
 Greek, Roman and Gothic mytho- 
 logy : and a great part of the legen- 
 dary history of Popish saints. [p. 180, 
 181] 
 
 2. Accounts published in one 
 country, of what passed in a distant 
 country. In the case of Christ- 
 tianity, the scene of the transaction 
 was the place where the story was 
 first published. This distinction 
 disposes of the miracles of Apollo- 
 nius Tyanzeus, said to have been 
 done in India: those also of Francis 
 Xavier, and many others. [p. 181]. 
 
 3. Transient rumours. Because 
 future confirmation, permanency, 
 increasing notoriety, and subsequent 
 independent accounts, must distin- 
 guish solid truth from fugitive lies. 
 This distinction is on the side of 
 Christianity. [p. 182, 183] 
 
 4. Naked history. Because if 
 the prodigies of the Jewish history 
 had been found only in the frag- 
 ments of Manetho and Berosus, we 
 should not have regarded them. 
 But, in appreciating the evidence of 
 Christianity, the books are combined 
 with the institution; with the pre- 
 sent prevalency of the religion ; its 
 rise and progress ; and the reception 
 of our books from the beginning, 
 &e. [p. 183—185] 
 
 5. A mark of historical truth, 
 is particularity in names, dates, 
 places; such as the account of Paul’s 
 voyage and shipwreck; of the exam- 
 ination and cure of the blind man in 
 S. John; and many others in the 
 four Gospels. [p. 186] 
 
 6. The author next lays out of 
 the case, stories of supernatural 
 events requiring only an ofzose assent ; 
 in which no interest is involved ; 
 and nothing is to be done or changed 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 177 
 
 in consequence of believing them. 
 Nothing depends upon the truth or 
 falsehood of most vulgar errors and 
 popular superstitions. But the Chris- 
 tian miracles claimed to regulate the 
 opinions of mankind, and to decide 
 the most important of all questions. 
 The belief in Christianity involved a 
 change of life: it did not stop at 
 opinions; for those who believed, 
 acted upon it. [p. 186, 187] 
 
 7. Accounts which merely come 
 in affirmance of opinions already 
 formed. Popish miracles happen in 
 popish countries: they make no 
 converts: they fall in with principles 
 already fixed, and with the senti- 
 ments of the party which the miracle 
 supports. Men are easily fortified 
 in their old opinions, and driven 
 from them with difficulty. The 
 Christian miracles were wrought 
 amidst enemies. Those who suffered 
 in the cause, suffered for the mira- 
 cles ; for there was no anterior per- 
 suasion to induce them. The mira- 
 cles of Jesus gave birth to the sect. 
 Frauds might mix themselves with 
 the progress, but could not take 
 place in the commencement of the 
 religion. [p. 186—189] 
 
 In treating of the second head, 
 the author exhibits the distinctions 
 which relate to the miracles them- 
 selves, by remarking— 
 
 I. It is not necessary to admit, 
 as a miracle, what can be resolved 
 into a false perception ; such as the 
 Demon of Socrates, the visions of 
 S. Anthony, of Lord Herbert, and 
 of Colonel Gardiner: all which may 
 be accounted for by a momentary 
 insanity; and such as these are 
 generally cases of solitary witness, 
 momentary, and without permanent 
 effect. But the restoration of sight 
 to the blind, or of life to the dead, 
 leaves an abiding effect ; the’ miracle 
 may be sudden, but the proof re- 
 mains. This cannot be resolved 
 into a false perception ; and of this 
 kind are the greater part of the 
 miracles of the New ‘Testament. 
 There are some cases of a mixed 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 nature, in which, although the prin- 
 cipal miracle be momentary, some 
 circumstance combined with it is 
 permanent: as, the conversion of 
 Paul: the vision was momentary, 
 but Paul’s subsequent blindness re- 
 mained. Peter’s vision, preparatory 
 to the call of Cornelius, and its con- 
 nection with what was imparted, in 
 a distant place, to Cornelius himself. 
 The vision might be a dream, but 
 the message sent by Cornelius could 
 not. The concurrence of the two 
 was impossible, without a super- 
 natural cause. [p. 189—192] 
 
 2. It is not necessary to bring 
 into comparison, ¢entative miracles ; 
 i.e. where, out of a great many 
 trials, some succeed. This obser- 
 vation bears upon ancient auguries 
 and oracles, cures wrought by relics, 
 and the efficacy of the king’s touch : 
 but no solution of this sort applies 
 to the miracles of the Gospel. This 
 is shewn by numerous examples. 
 [p. 193, 194] 
 
 3. We may dismiss all accounts 
 in which, allowing the accounts to 
 be true, it remains doubtful, whether 
 a miracle were wrought: such as 
 the thundering legion; the circum- 
 stances which obstructed the re- 
 building of the temple at Jerusalem ; 
 Constantine’s dream, &c. and the 
 modern exhibition of the liquefaction 
 of the blood of S. Januarius at 
 
 A. I ENTER upon this part of 
 how far my belief in miraculous accounts goes. 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [CHAP. I. 
 
 Naples. This distinction applies to 
 all narratives of cures in nervous 
 complaints, and of all diseases affec- 
 ted by the imagination. [p. 194, 195] 
 
 4. To the same head of objec- 
 tion, nearly, may be referred ac- 
 counts, which may be resolved into 
 exaggeration. The miracles of the 
 Gospel cannot be thus explained 
 away. The feeding of 5000 with a 
 few loaves and fishes surpasses all 
 bounds of exaggeration :—so also the 
 raising of Lazarus and the widow’s 
 son at Nain, and many others. 
 [p. 125, 196] 
 
 The author then remarks, that 
 although there be miracles recorded 
 in the New Testament which fall 
 within some or other of the above 
 mentioned exceptions ; yet they are 
 united with others, to which those 
 exceptions do not extend; and that 
 their credibility stands upon this 
 union. ‘That whatever force there 
 may be in the objection, we have 
 numerous miracles free from it; and 
 few, admitting these, will reject the 
 others. Removing, therefore, from 
 the comparison, the cases fairly dis- 
 posed of by the observations in this 
 chapter, many will not remain: to 
 all such as do remain, the author 
 applies the distinction contained in 
 the words of his second proposition. 
 [p. 196 to the end] 
 
 my argument, by declaring 
 If the 
 
 reformers in the time of Wickliffe, or of Luther; or 
 those in England, in the time of Henry the Eighth, or of 
 Queen Mary ; or the founders of our religious sects since, 
 
 such as were Mr. Whitfield 
 
 and Mr. Wesley in our own 
 
 times, had undergone the life of toil and exertion, of 
 danger and sufferings, which we know that many of them 
 did undergo, for a miraculous story ; that is to say, if 
 
 A. How does Paley illustrate 
 the extent of his belief in mira- 
 culous accounts ; and how does he 
 
 defend such belief from a charge of 
 incredulity ? 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. | 179 
 
 they had founded their public ministry upon the 
 allegation of miracles wrought within their own know- 
 ledge, and upon narratives which could not be resolved 
 into delusion or mistake; and if it had appeared that 
 their conduct really had its origin in these accounts, I 
 should have believed them. Or, to borrow an instance 
 which will be familiar to every one of my readers, if the 
 late Mr. Howard had undertaken his labours and journies 
 in attestation, and in consequence of a clear and sensible 
 miracle, I should have believed him also. Or, to repre- 
 sent the same thing under a third supposition; if 
 Socrates had professed to perform public miracles at 
 Athens; if the friends of Socrates, Phedo, Cebes, Crito, 
 and Simmias, together with Plato, and many of his 
 followers, relying upon the attestations which these 
 miracles afforded to his pretensions, had, at the hazard 
 of their lives, and the certain expense of their ease and 
 tranquility, gone about Greece, after his death, to 
 publish and propagate his doctrines ; and if these things 
 had come to our knowledge, in the same way as that in 
 which the life of Socrates is now transmitted to us, 
 through the hands of his companions and disciples, that 
 is, by writings received without doubt as theirs, from 
 the age in which they were published to the present, I 
 should have believed this likewise. And my belief would, 
 in each case be much strengthened, if the subject of the 
 mission were of importance to the conduct and happiness 
 of human life; if it testified anything which it behoved 
 mankind to know from such authority ; if the nature of 
 what it delivered, required the sort of proof which it 
 alleged; if the occasion was adequate to the inter- 
 position, 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 asystem of doctrines, which had since overspread 
 the greatest part of the civilized world. I should have 
 believed, I say, the testimony, in these cases ; yet none 
 of them do more than come up to the apostolic history. 
 If any one choose to call assent to its evidence 
 N 2 
 
180 EVIDENCES [CHAP. I. 
 
 credulity, it is at least incumbent upon him to produce 
 examples in which the same evidence hath turned out 
 to be fallacious. And this contains the precise question 
 which we are now to agitate. 
 
 B. In stating the comparison between our evidence, and 
 what our adversaries may bring into competition with 
 ours, we will divide the distinctions which we wish to 
 propose into two kinds,—those which relate to the proof, 
 and those which relate to the miracles. Under the 
 former head we may lay out of the case,— 
 
 I. Such accounts of supernatural events as are found 
 only in histories by some ages posterior to the trans- 
 action, and of which it is evident that the historian could 
 
 B.aknow little more than his reader. Ours is contem- 
 parary history. This difference alone removes out of our 
 way the miraculous history of Pythagoras, who lived 
 five hundred years before the Christian era, written by 
 Porphyry and Jamblicus, who lived three hundred years 
 after that era: the prodigies of Livy’s history; the fables 
 of the heroic ages; the whole of the Greek and Roman, 
 as well as of the Gothic mythology; a great part of the 
 legendary history of Popish saints, the very best 
 attested of which is extracted from the certificates that 
 are exhibited during the process of their canonization, a 
 ceremony which seldom takes place till a century after 
 their deaths. It applies also with considerable force to 
 the miracles of Apollonius Tyanzus, which are contained 
 in asolitary history of his life, published by Philostratus, 
 above a hundred years after his death; and in which, 
 whether Philostratus had any prior account to guide 
 him, depends upon his single unsupported assertion. 
 Also to some of the miracles of the third century, 
 especially to one extraordinary instance, the account of 
 Gregory, bishop of Neocesarea, called Thaumaturgus, 
 delivered in the writings of Gregory of Nyssen, who 
 
 B. In stating the comparison B.a, Mention the grand dis- 
 between our evidence, and what our tinction between our history and 
 adversaries may bring into compe- that laid out of the case in the 
 tition with it, give the heads of the first head; and show what cases will 
 seven distinctions which relate to the be affected by the difference pointed 
 proof. out in that head. 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 181 
 
 lived one hnndred and thirty years after the subject of 
 his panegyric. 
 
 The value of this circumstance is shewn to have been 
 accurately exemplified in the history of Ignatius Loyola, 
 founder of the order of Jesuits.’ His life, written by a 
 companion of his, and by one of the order, was published 
 about fifteen years after his death. In which life, the 
 author, so far from ascribing any miracles to Ignatius, 
 industriously states the reasons why he was not invested 
 with any such power. The life was republished fifteen 
 years afterwards, with the addition of many circum- 
 stances, which were the fruit, the author says, of further 
 inquiry, and of diligent examination; but still with a 
 total silence about miracles. When Ignatius had been 
 dead nearly sixty years, the Jesuits, conceiving a wish to 
 have the founder of their order placed in the Roman 
 calendar, began, as it should seem, for the first time, to 
 attribute to him a catalogue of miracles, which could not 
 then be distinctly disproved, and which there was, in 
 those who governed the church, a strong disposition to 
 admit upon the slenderest proofs. ~ 
 
 If. We may lay out of the case accounts published 
 in one country, of what passed in a distant country, 
 without any proof that such accounts were known or 
 
 B.dreceived at home. In the case of Christianity, Judea, 
 which was the scene of the transaction, was the centre of 
 the mission. -The story was published in the place in 
 which it was acted. The church of Christ was first 
 planted at Jerusalem itself. With that church others 
 corresponded. From thence the primitive teachers of 
 the institution went forth; thither they assembled. The 
 church of Jerusalem, and the several churches of Judea, 
 subsisted from the beginning, and for many ages ;? 
 
 1 Douglas’s Criterion of Miracles, p. 74, 
 
 2 The succession of many eminent bishops of Jerusalem in the first three centuries is distinctly 
 preserved ; as Alexander, a.p, 212, who succeeded Narcissus, then 116 years old, 
 
 B.d. As, under the distinctions any proof that such accounts were 
 relating to the evidence of miracles, known and received at home ; shew 
 we may lay out of the case accounts that Christianity is not affected by 
 published in one country, of what this distinction. 
 passed in a distant country, without 
 
182 EVIDENCES [CHAP, I. 
 
 received also the same books and the same accounts as 
 other churches did. 
 
 B.c_ This distinction disposes, amongst others, of the above 
 mentioned miracles of Apollonius Tyanzus, most of 
 which are related to have been performed in India ; no 
 evidence remaining that either the miracles, ascribed 
 to him, or the history of those miracles, were ever heard 
 of in India. Those of Francis Xavier, the . Indian‘ 
 missionary, with many others of the Romish breviary, 
 are liable to the same objection, viz. that the accounts of 
 them were published at a vast distance from the supposed 
 scene of the wonders.’ 
 
 B.@ III. We lay out of the case ¢vansient rumours. Upon 
 the first publication of an extraordinary account, or even 
 of an article of ordinary intelligence, no one, who is not 
 personally acquainted with the transaction, can know 
 whether it be true or false, because any man may 
 publish any story. It isin the future confirmation, or 
 contradiction of the account; in its permanency, or its 
 disappearance ; its dying away into silence, or its in- 
 creasing in notoriety ; its being followed up by subse- 
 quent accounts, and being repeated in different and 
 independent accounts; that solid truth is distinguishable 
 from fugitive lies. This distinction is altogether on the 
 side of Christianity. The story did not drop. On 
 the contrary, it was succeeded by a train of action 
 and events dependent upon it. The accounts which we 
 have in our hands, were composed after the first reports 
 must have subsided. They were followed by a train of 
 writings upon the subject. The historical testimonies of 
 the transaction were many and various, and connected 
 with letters, discourses, controversies, apologies, suc- 
 cessively produced by the same transaction. 
 
 B.e IV. We may lay out of the case what I call naked 
 history. It has been said, that if the prodigies of the 
 
 1 Douglas’s Crit. p. 84. 
 
 B.c. What cases are disposed such distinction is altogether on the 
 of by the second head of distinctions, side of Christianity. 
 as to evidence ? B.e. Illustrate the distinction, 
 B.d. Explain the distinction relative to evidence, contained in the 
 relative to evidence, made by Paley third head; and prove that such dis- 
 in the third head; and shew that tinction does not affect Christianity. 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 183 
 
 CHAP. L] 
 Jewish history had been found only in fragments of 
 Manetho, or Berosus, we should have paid no regard to 
 them: and I am willing to admit this. If we knew 
 nothing of the fact, but from the fragment; if we 
 possessed no proof that these accounts had been credited 
 and acted upon, from times, probably, as ancient as the 
 accounts themselves ; if we had no visible effects con- 
 nected with the history, no subsequent or collateral 
 testimony to confirm it; under these circumstances, I 
 think that it would be undeserving of credit. But this 
 certainly is not our case. In appreciating the evidence 
 of Christianity, the books are to be combined with the 
 institution ; with the prevalency of the religion at this 
 day; with the time and place of its origin, which are 
 acknowledged points; with the circumstances of its rise 
 and progress, as collected from external history ; 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 cansideration of the number and variety of the 
 books themselves, the different writers from which they 
 proceed, the different views with which they were 
 written, so disagreeing as to repel the suspicion of con- 
 fedracy, so agreeing as to shew that they were founded 
 in a common original, Zé. 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. 
 
 Bf V. A mark of historical truth, although only in a 
 certain way, and to a certain degree, is particularity in 
 names, dates, places, circumstances, and in the order of 
 events preceding or following the transaction: of which 
 kind, for instance, is the particularity in the description 
 of S. Paul’s voyage and shipwreck, in the 27th chapter of 
 
 Bf Itis asserted, thata mark lowing the transaction: give some 
 
 of historical truth, although only ina 
 certain way, and to a certain degree, 
 exists in the particularity in names, 
 dates, places, circumstances, and in 
 the order of events preceding or fol- 
 
 instances of scriptural particularity : 
 shew to what extent it is a proof of 
 truth: and state where, only, this 
 particularity is to be looked for. 
 
184 EVIDENCES [CHAP. I. 
 
 the Acts, which no man, I think, can read without being 
 convinced that the writer was there; and also in the 
 account of the cure and examination of the blind man, 
 in the ninth chapter of S. 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 
 particularity of truth; but then it is of studied and | 
 elaborate fiction, or of a formal attempt to deceive, that 
 we observe this. Since, however, experience proves 
 that particularity is not confined to truth, I have stated 
 that it is a proof of truth only to a certain extent; z.. it 
 reduces the question to this, whether we can depend 
 or not upon the probity of the relator ? which is a con- 
 siderable 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. Ifthe historian acknowledge him- 
 self to have received his intelligence from others, the 
 particularity of the narrative shews prvzmd facie, the 
 accuracy of his inquiries, and the fulness of his infor- 
 mation. This remark belongs to S. Luke’s history. Of 
 the particularity which we allege, many examples may 
 be found in all the Gospels. And it is very difficult to 
 conceive, that such numerous particularities as are 
 almost everywhere to be met with in the Scriptures, 
 should be raised out of nothing, or be spun out of the 
 imagination without any fact to go upon.” 
 
 It is to be remarked, however, that this particularity is 
 only to be looked for in direct history. It is not natural 
 in references or allusions, which yet, in other respects, 
 often afford, as far as they go, the most unsuspicious 
 evidence. 
 
 Bg VI. We lay out of the case such stories of super- 
 
 1 Both these chapters ought to be read for the sake of this very observation. 
 
 2 “There is always some truth where there are considerable particularities related: and they 
 always seem to bear some proportion to one another. Thus there isa great want of the particulars of 
 time, place, and persons, in Manetho’s account of the Egyptian Dynasties, Etesias’s of the Assyrian 
 Kings, and those which the technical chronologers have given of the ancient kingdoms of Greece ; 
 and, agreeably thereto, the accounts have much fiction and falsehood, with some truth: whereas 
 Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and Cexsar’s of the Warin Gaul, in both which the 
 particulars of time, place, and persons are mentioned, are universally esteemed true toa great degree 
 of exactness-—Hartley, vol. ii. p. 109, 
 
 B.g. State, fully, what Paley oftose assent; and shew that the 
 means by stories of supernatural miracles of Christ and his apostles 
 events, which require, on the part were not of this description. 
 of the hearer, nothing more than an 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 185 
 
 natural events, as require, on the part of the hearer, 
 nothing more than an ofiose 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 judgement; or, 
 though not much credited, are passed from one to 
 another without inquiry or resistence. 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 super- 
 stitions ; most, for instance, of the current reports of 
 apparitions. Nothing depends upon their being true or 
 false. But not, surely, of this kind were the alleged 
 miracles of Christ and his apostles. They decided, if 
 true, the most important question upon which the human 
 mind can fix its anxiety. They claimed to regulate the 
 opinions of mankind, upon subjects in which they are not 
 only deeply concerned, butusually refactory 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, whether 
 Jew or Gentile, could not avoid the following reflection : 
 —“ If these things be true, I must give up the opinions 
 and principles in which I have been brought up, the 
 religion in which my fathers lived and died.” It is not 
 conceivable that a man should do this upon any idle 
 report or frivolous account, or, indeed, without being fully 
 satisfied and convinced of the truth and credibility of the 
 narrative to which he trusted. But it did not stop at 
 opinions. They who believed Christianity, acted upon it. 
 Many made it the express business of their lives to 
 publish the intelligence. It was required of those who 
 admitted that intelligence, to change forthwith their 
 conduct and their principles, to take up a different course 
 of life, to part with their habits and gratifications, and 
 
186 EVIDENCES [CHAP=L. 
 begin a new set of rules, and system of behaviour. The 
 apostles, at least, were interested not to sacrifice their 
 ease, their fortunes, and their lives, for an idle tale; 
 multitudes besides them were induced, by the same tale 
 to encounter opposition, danger, and sufferings, 
 
 If it be said, that the mere promise of a future state 
 would do all this; I answer, that the mere promise of a 
 future state, without any evidence to give credit or assur- ‘ 
 ance to it, would do nothing. A few wandering fishermen, 
 talking of a resurrection of the dead, could produce no 
 effect. If it be further said, that men easily believe 
 what they anxiously desire; I again answer, that in my 
 opinion, the very contrary of this is nearer to the truth. 
 Anxiety of desire, earnestness of expectation, the vastness 
 of an event, rather causes men to disbelieve, to doubt, to 
 dread a fallacy, to distrust, and to examine. When our 
 Lord’s resurrection was first reported to the apostles, 
 they did not believe, we are told, for joy. This was 
 natural, and is agreeable to experience. 
 
 VII. We have laid out of the case those accounts 
 which require no more than a simple assent; and we 
 now also lay out of the case those which come merely zz 
 affirmance of opinions already formed. This last circum- 
 stance is of the utmost importance to notice well. It has 
 long been observed, that Popish miracles happen in 
 _ Popish countries; that they make no converts: which 
 \ proves that stories are accepted, when they fall in with 
 - principles already fixed, with the public sentiments, or 
 
 with the sentiments of a party already engaged on the 
 
 side the miracle supports, which would not be attempted 
 to be produced in the face of enemies, in opposition to 
 reigning tenets or favourite prejudices, or when, if they 
 
 B.2 
 
 B.z 
 
 B.%. If it be said, that the mere 
 promise of a future state, would 
 induce the believers in Christianity 
 to act upon it ; to make it the whole 
 business of their lives to punish the 
 intelligence ; to change forthwith 
 their conduct and principles; to 
 part with their habits and gratifica- 
 tions, and begin a new set of rules, 
 
 and system of behaviour; how do 
 you answer such an objection ? 
 
 B.z. In the seventh head of 
 distinctions relating to evidence, 
 we lay out of the case those ac- 
 counts which come merely zz affr- 
 mance of opinions already formed : 
 —explain fully and illustrate this 
 distinction. 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 187 
 
 be believed, the belief must draw men away from their 
 pre-conceived and habitual opinions, from their modes 
 of life and rules of action. In the former case, men may 
 not only receive a miraculous account, but may both 
 act and suffer on the side, and in the cause, which the 
 miracle supports, yet not act or suffer for the miracle, 
 but in pursuance of a prior persuasion. The miracle, 
 like any other argument which only confirms what was 
 before believed, is admitted with little examination. In 
 the moral, as in the natural world, it is change which 
 requires a cause. Men are easily fortified in their old 
 opinions, driven from them with great difficulty. Now, 
 B.how does this apply to the Christian history? The 
 miracles, there recorded, were wrought in the midst of 
 enemies, under a government, a priesthood, and a 
 magistracy, decidedly and vehemently adverse to them, 
 and to the pretentions which they supported. They 
 were Protestant miracles ina Popish country; they were 
 Popish miracles in the midst of Protestants. They pro-. 
 duced a change; they establish a society upon the 
 spot, adhering to the belief of them; they made converts; 
 and those who were converted gave up to the testimony 
 their most fixed opinions and most favourite prejudices. 
 They who acted and suffered in the cause, acted and 
 suffered for the miracles; for there was no anterior 
 persuasion to induce them, no prior reverence, prejudice, 
 or partiality to take hold of. Jesus had not one follower 
 when he set up his claim. His miracles gave birth to 
 his sect. No part of this description belongs to the 
 ordinary evidence of Heathen or Popish miracles. Even 
 most of the miracles alleged to have been performed by 
 Christians, in the second and third century of its era, 
 want this confirmation. It constitutes indeed a line of 
 partition between the orzgen and the progress of Chris- 
 tianity. Frauds and fallacies might mix themselves with 
 the progress, which could not possibly take place in the 
 commencement of the religion; at least, according to 
 any laws of human conduct that we are acqainted with. 
 
 B.2. Shew, fully, how the dis- head, applies to the Christian his- 
 tinction pointed out in the seventh tory. 
 
188 EVIDENCES [CHAP. I. 
 
 What should suggest to the first propagators of Chris- 
 tianity, especially to fisherman, tax-gatherers, and 
 husbandmen, such a thought as that of changing the 
 religion of the world ; what could bear them through the 
 difficulties in which the attempt engaged them ; what 
 could procure any degree of success to the attempt ; are 
 questions which apply, with great force, to the setting 
 out of the institution ; with less, to every future stage of 
 it. 
 
 \ 
 
 To hear some men talk, one would suppose the setting 
 up 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 pretended to miraculous powers, and succeeded 
 by his pretensions? “ Were these powers claimed or 
 exercised by the founders of the sects of the Waldenses 
 and Abigenses? Did Wickliffe in England pretend to 
 it? Did Huss or Jerome in Bohemia? Did Luther in 
 Germany, Zuinglius in Switzerland, Calvin in France, 
 or any of the reformers advance this plea?! The 
 French prophets, in the beginning of the present century,” 
 ventured to allege miraculous evidence, and immediately 
 ruined their cause by their temerity. “Concerning the 
 religion of ancient Rome, of Tukey, of Siam, of China, 
 a single miracle cannot be named, that was ever offered 
 as a test of any of those religions before their establish- 
 ment.’ 
 
 B.2_ We may add to what has been observed of the distinc- 
 tion which we are considering, that, where miracles are 
 alleged merely in affirmance ofa prior opinion, they who 
 believe the doctrine may sometimes propagate a belief — 
 of the miracles, which they do not themselves entertain. 
 This is the case of what are called pious frauds ; but it is 
 a case, I apprehend, which takes place solely in support 
 
 1 Campbell on Miracles, p. 120, ed. 1766 2 The eighteenth. 
 3 Adams on Miracles, p. 75. 
 
 B./. How (with regard to the believe the doctrine may sometimes 
 apostolic history) does Paley treat propagate a belief of the miracles, 
 the probable case, ‘‘that where which they do not themselves enter- 
 miracles are alleged merely in affir- tain?” 
 mance of a prior opinion, they who 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 G 
 C.abe resolved into a false perception. 
 
 OF -CARTISUTANTTY. 189 
 of a persuasion already established. At least, it does 
 not hold of the apostolical history. Ifthe apostles did 
 not believe the miracles, they did not believe the religion; 
 and, without this belief, where was the fzety, 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, whether well or ill-founded, of 
 public and political utility ; I answer, that if a character 
 exist, which can with less justice than another be ascribed 
 to the founders of the Christian religion, it is that of 
 politicians, or of men capable of entertaining political 
 views. The truth is, that there is no assignable character 
 which will account for the conduct of the apostles, 
 supposing their story to be false. If bad men, what 
 could have induced them to take such pains to promote 
 virtue? If good men, they would not have gone about 
 the country with a string of lies in their mouths. — 
 
 In APPRECIATING the credit of any miraculous story, 
 these are distinctions which relate to the evidence. 
 There are other distinctions, of great moment in the 
 question, which relate to the miracles themselves. Of 
 which latter kind the following ought carefully to be 
 retained. 
 
 I. It is not necessary to admit as a miracle, what can 
 Of this nature was 
 the Demon of Socrates ; the visions of S. Anthony, and 
 of many others; the vision which Lord Herbert of 
 Cherbury describes himself to have seen; Colonel 
 Gardiner’s vision, as related in his life, written by 
 Dr. Doddridge. All these may be accounted for by a 
 momentary insanity ; for the characteristic symptom of 
 human madness is the rising up in the mind of images 
 not distinguishable by the patient from impressions upon 
 
 C.a. Mention some instances of 
 cases having a miraculous character, 
 
 C. In stating the comparison 
 between our evidence, and what 
 
 our adversaries may bring in com- 
 petition with it, give the four heads 
 of distinction which relate to the 
 miracles themselves. 
 
 but which may be resolved into false 
 perception : state how all such may 
 be accounted for ; and what pecu- 
 liarities they have. 
 
190 EVIDENCES (CHAP. 1. 
 
 the senses.1 The cases, however, in which the possibility 
 of this delusion exists, are divided from the cases in 
 which it does not exist, by many, and those not obscure 
 marks. ‘They are, for the most part, cases of visions or 
 voices. The object is hardly ever touched. The vision 
 submits not to be handled. One sense does not confirm 
 another. They are likewise almost always cases of a 
 solitary witness. It is in the highest degree improbable, 
 and I know not, indeed, whether it hath ever been the 
 fact, that the same derangement of the mental organs 
 should seize different persons at the same time; a 
 derangement, I mean, so much the same, as to represent 
 to their imagination the same objects. Lastly, these are 
 always cases of momentary miracles: by which term I 
 mean to denote miracles, of which the whole existence 
 is of short duration, in contradistinction to miracles 
 which are attended with permanent effects. The ap- 
 pearance of a spectre, the hearing of a supernatural sound, 
 is a momentary miracle. The sensible proof is gone, 
 c.owhen 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 per- 
 manent effect produced by supernatural means. The 
 change indeed was instantaneous, but the proof, con- 
 tinues. The subject of the miracle remains. The man 
 cured or restored is there: his former condition was 
 known, and his present condition may be examined. 
 This can by no possibility be resolved into false percep- 
 tion: and of this kind are by far the greater part of the 
 miracles recorded in the New ‘Testament. When 
 Lazarus was raised from the dead, he did not merely 
 move, and speak, and die again; or come out of the 
 grave and vanish away. He returned to his home and 
 family, and there continued ; for we find him some time 
 afterwards, in the same town, sitting at table with Jesus 
 and his sisters ; visited by great multitudes of the Jews, 
 
 1 Batty on Lunacy. 
 C.6. Contrast the Christian illustrate the contrast by examples, 
 
 miracles with those which may be shewing that none of the peculiarities 
 resolved into a false perception ; and_ of the former attach.to them. 
 
CHAP. I1.] OF CHRISTIANITY. SOE 
 
 as a subject of curiosity; giving by his presence so much 
 uneasiness to the Jewish rulers, as to beget in them a 
 design of destroying him.! No delusion can account for 
 this. The French prophets in England, some time since, 
 gave out that one of their teachers would come to life 
 again; but their enthusiasm never made them believe 
 that they actually saw him alive. The blind man, whose 
 restoration to sight at Jerusalem is recorded in the ninth 
 chapter of S. John’s Gospel, did not quit the place, or 
 conceal himself from inquiry. On the contrary, he was 
 forthcoming, to answer the call to satisfy the scrutiny, 
 and to sustain the browbeating of Christ’s angry and 
 powerful enemies. When the cripple at the gate of the 
 temple was suddenly cured by Peter,? he did not 
 immediately relapse into his former lameness, or dis- 
 appear out of the city ; but boldly and honestly produced 
 himself along with the apostles, when they were brought 
 the next day before the Jewish council. Here, though ~ 
 the miracle was sudden, the proof was permanent. The 
 lameness had been notorious ; the cure continued. This, 
 therefore, could not be the effect of any momentary 
 delirium, either in the subject or in the witnessess of the 
 transaction. It is the same with the greatest number of 
 C.cthe Scripture miracles. There are other cases of a mired 
 nature, in which, although the principal miracle be 
 momentary, some circumstance combined with it is 
 permanent. Of this kind is the history of S. Paul’s con- 
 version.* The sudden light and sound, the vision and 
 the voice upon the road to Damascus, were momentary ; 
 but Paul’s blindness for three days in consequence of 
 what had happened; the communication made to Ananias 
 in another place, and by a vision independent of the 
 former; Ananias finding out Paul in consequence of 
 intelligence so received, and finding him in the condition 
 described, and Paul’s recovery of his sight upon Ananias’s 
 laying his hands upon him; are circumstances, which 
 
 1 John xii. 1, 2, 9, 10. 2 Acts iii. 2. 3 Ib. iv. 14, 4 Ib. ix. 
 
 C.c. Mention and explain some momentary, some circumstance com- 
 cases of a mixed nature, in which, bined with it is permanent. 
 although the principal miracle be 
 
192 EVIDENCES [CHAP. I. 
 
 take the transaction, and the principle miracles, as 
 included in it, entirely out of the case of momentary 
 miracles, or of such as may be accounted for by false 
 perceptions. Exactly the same thing may be observed 
 of Peter’s vision preparatory to the call of Cornelius, and 
 of its connection 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 communication, 
 taken separately, might be a delusion ; the concurrence 
 of the two was impossible to happen without a super- 
 natural cause. 
 
 cd Besides the risk of delusion which attaches upon 
 momentary miracles, there is also much more room for 
 imposture. The account cannot be examined -at the 
 moment; and, when that is also a moment of hurry and 
 confusion, it may not be difficult for men of influence to 
 gain credit to any story which they may wish to have 
 believed. This is precisely the case of one of the best 
 attested of the miracles of Old Rome, the appearance of 
 Castor and Pollux in the battle fought by Posthumius 
 with the Latins at the Lake Regillus. There is no doubt 
 but that Posthumius, after the battle, spread the report of 
 such an appearance. No person could deny it, whilst it 
 was said to last. No person, perhaps, had any inclination 
 to dispute it afterwards: or, if they had, could say with 
 positiveness, what was or what was not seen, by some or 
 other of the army in the dismay and amidst the tumult 
 of a battle. 
 
 Ce In assigning false perceptions as the origin to which 
 some miraculous accounts may be referred, I have not 
 mentioned claims to inspiration, illuminations, secret 
 notices or directions, internal sensations, or consciousness 
 of being acted upon by spiritual influences, good or bad ; 
 because, these appealing to no external proof, however 
 convincing they may be to the persons themselves, form 
 
 C.d. Besides the risk of delusion C.e. Mention Paley’s reason for 
 which attaches upon momentary omitting the discussion of claims to 
 miracles, why is there also much inspiration, illuminations, _ secret 
 more room for z#zposture ? notices, internal sensations, &c. 
 
 ~~ 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 193 
 
 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. 
 
 cf II. It is not necessary to bring into the comparison 
 what may be called ‘tentative miracles ; that is, where, 
 out of a great number of trials, some succeed; and in 
 the accounts of which, although the narrative of the 
 successful cases be alone preserved, and that of the 
 unsuccessful cases sunk, yet enough is stated to shew 
 that the cases produced are only a few out of many in 
 which the same means have been employed. This 
 observation bears, with considerable force, upon the 
 ancient oracles and auguries, in which a single coincidence 
 of the event with the prediction is talked of and 
 magnified, whilst failures are forgotten, or suppressed, or 
 accounted for. It is also applicable to the cures wrought 
 by relics, and at the tombs of saints. The boasted 
 efficacy of the king’s touch, upon which Mr. Hume lays 
 some stress, falls under the same description. Nothing 
 is alleged concerning it which is not alleged of various 
 nostrums, namely, out of many thousands who have used 
 them, certified proofs of a few who have recovered after 
 
 ‘Cgthem. No solution of this sort is applicable to the 
 miracles of the Gospel. There is nothing in the narra- 
 tive, 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 Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a 
 woman that was a widow:” and that “ many lepers were 
 
 C.f Explain, and _ illustrate, C.g. Shew, fully, that no such 
 what is meant by /en¢ative miracles; solution as Paley has averted to, on 
 and mention upon what cases Paley’s the subject of ¢entative miracles, is 
 observation bears. applicable to the miracles of the 
 
 Gospel. 
 O 
 
194 EVIDENCES [CHAP E 
 
 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 interposition, or necessary to 
 its purpose, to be general; still less to answer every 
 challenge that might be made, which would teach men 
 to put their faith upon these experiments. Christ never 
 pronounced the word, but the effect followed.2 It was 
 not a thousand sick that received his benediction, and a 
 few that were benefited; a single paralytic is let down 
 in his bed at Jesus’s feet in the midst of a surrounding 
 multitude ; Jesus bid him walk, and he did so.2 A man 
 with a withered hand is in the synagogue; Jesus bid him 
 stretch forth his hand, in the presence of the assembly, 
 and it was restored whole like the other.’* There was 
 nothing tentative in these cures; nothing that can be 
 explained by the power of accident. 
 
 We may observe also, that many of the cures which 
 Christ wrought, such as that of a person blind from his 
 birth, also many miracles besides cures, as raising the 
 dead, walking upon the sea, feeding a great multitude 
 with a few loaves and fishes, are of a nature which does 
 not in any wise admit of the supposition of a fortunate 
 experiment. 
 
 C4 III. We may dismiss from the question all accounts, 
 ~ in which, allowing the phenomenon to be real, the fact 
 to be true, it stilit'remains doubtful whether a miracle 
 were wrought. This is the case with the ancient history 
 of what is called the thundering legion ; of the extra- 
 ordinary circumstances which obstructed the rebuilding 
 of the temple at Jerusalem by Julian; the circling of 
 
 1 Luke iv. 25. 
 
 2 One, and only one instance may be produced in which the disciples of Christ do seem to have 
 attempted a cure, and not to have been able to perform it. The story is very ingenuously related by 
 three of the evangelists.* The patient was afterwards healed by Christ himself; and the whole 
 transaction seems to have been intended, and it was well suited, to display the superiority of Christ 
 above all who performed miracles in his name,—a distinction, which, during his presence in the world, 
 it might be necessary to inculcate by some such proof as this. 
 
 3 Mark ii. 3. 4 Matt. xii. 10. 
 * Mattt. xvii.14. Markix.14. Luke ix. 33. 
 
 C.4. As we dismiss from the doubtful whether a miracle were 
 question all accounts, in which, wrought; mention such cases as are 
 allowing the phenomenon to be real, affected by this distinction; and shew 
 the fact to be true, it still remains their contrast with Scripture miracles. 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 195, 
 
 the flames and fragrant smell at the martrydom of 
 Polycarp ; the sudden shower that extinguished the fire 
 into which the Scriptures were thrown in the Diocletian 
 persecution; Constantines dream; his inscribing in 
 consequence of it the cross upon his standard and the 
 shields of his soldiers ; his victory, and the escape of the 
 standard bearer; perhaps also the imagined appearance 
 of the cross in the heavens, though this last circumstance 
 is very deficient in historical evidence. It is also the 
 case with the modern annual exhibition of the lique- 
 facation of the blood of S. Januarius at Naples. It isa 
 doubt likewise, which’ ought to be excluded by very 
 special circumstances, from those narratives which relate 
 to the supernatural cure of hypochondriacal and nervous 
 complaints, and of all diseases which are much affected 
 by the imagination. The miracles of the second and 
 third century are, usually, healing the sick, and casting 
 out evil spirits ; miracles in which there is room for some 
 error and deception. We hear nothing of causing the 
 blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the 
 lepers to be cleansed.1 There are also instances in 
 Christian writers, of reputed miracles, which were natural 
 operations, though not known to be such at the time; 
 as that of articulate speech after the loss of a great part 
 of the tongue. 
 
 Cz IV. To the same head of objection nearly, may also 
 be referred accounts in which the variation of a small 
 circumstance may have transformed some extraordinary 
 appearance, or some critical coincidence of events, into a 
 miracle ; stories, in a word, which may be resolved into 
 exaggeration. ‘The miracles of the Gospel can by no 
 possibility be explained away in this manner. Total 
 fiction will accout for anything; but no stretch of 
 exaggeration that has any parallel in other histories, no 
 force of fancy upon real circumstances, could produce 
 
 1 Jortin’s Remarks, vol. ii. p. 51. 
 
 C.z. Explain the objection con- selves; and shew that it does not 
 tained in the fourth head of dis- affect the miracles of the Gospel. 
 tinctions, as to the miracles them- 
 
 O2 
 
196 EVIDENCES | CHAP 
 
 the narratives which we now have. The feeding of the 
 five thousand with a few loaves and fishes surpasses all 
 bounds of exaggeration. The raising of Lazarus, of the 
 widow’s son at Nain, as well as many of the cures which 
 Christ wrought, come not within ~the compass of 
 misrepresentation. I mean that it is impossible to assign 
 any position of circumstances however peculiar, any 
 accidental effects however extraordinary, any natural 
 singularity, which could supply an origen or foundation 
 to these accounts. 
 
 Dp. Having thus enumerated several exceptions, which may 
 justly be taken to relations of miracles, it is necessary, 
 when we read the Scriptures, to bear in our minds this 
 general remark; that, although there be miracles 
 recorded in the New Testament, which fall within some 
 or other of the exceptions here assigned, yet that they 
 are united with others, to which none of the same excep- 
 tions extend, and that their credibility stands upon this 
 union. Thus the visions and revelations which S. Paul 
 asserts to have been imparted to him, may not, in their 
 separate evidence, be distinguishable from the visions 
 and revelations which many others have alleged. But 
 here is the difference. S. Paul’s pretensions were attested 
 by external miracles wrought by himself, and by 
 miracles wrought in the cause to which these visions 
 relate ; or, tospeak more properly, the same historical 
 authority which informs us of one, informs us of the 
 other. This is not ordinarily true of the visions of 
 enthusiasts, or even of the accounts in which they are 
 contained. Again, some of Christ’s own miracles were 
 momentary ; as the transfiguration, the appearance and 
 voice from heaven at his baptism, a voice from the clouds 
 on one occasion afterwards (John xii. 28), and some 
 others. It is not denied, that the distinction which we 
 have proposed concerning miracles of this species, applies, 
 in diminution of the force of the evidence, as much to 
 these instances as to others. But this is the case, not 
 
 D. State, fully, how Paley or other of the exceptions by which 
 treats such miracles, recorded in the other supernatural accounts are ex- 
 New Testament, as fall in with one cluded. 
 
* °CHAr't] OF CHRISTIANITY. 197 
 
 with all the miracles ascribed to Christ, nor with the 
 greatest part, nor with many. Whatever force therefore 
 there may be in the objection, we have numerous miracles 
 which are free from it; and even these to which it is 
 applicable, are little effected by it in their credit, because 
 there are few who, admitting the rest, will reject chem. 
 If there be miracles of the New Testament, which come 
 within any of the other heads into which we have 
 distributed the objections, the same remark must be 
 repeated. And this is one way in which the unexampled 
 number and variety of the miracles ascribed to Christ, 
 strengthens the credibility of Christianity. For it pre- 
 cludes any solution, or conjecture about a solution, which 
 imagination, or even which experience might suggest, 
 concerning some particular miracles, if considered inde- 
 
 D.apendently of others. The miracles of Christ were of 
 
 various kinds,' and performed in great varieties of situa- 
 tion, form, and manner; at Jerusalem, the metropolis of 
 the Jewish nation and religion; in different parts of 
 Judea and Galilee ; in cities and villages ; in synagogues, 
 in private houses; in the street, in highways; with 
 preparation, as in the case of Lazarus; by accident, as 
 in the case of the widow’s son of Nain; when attended 
 by multitudes, and when alone with the patient ; in the 
 midst of his disciples, and in the presence of his enemies; 
 with the common people around him, and before Scribes 
 and Pharisees, and rulers of the synagogues. 
 
 I apprehend that, when we remove from the com- 
 parison 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, 
 
 1 Not only healing every species of disease, but turning water into wine (John ii.) ; feeding 
 multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (Matt. xiv. 15.: Mark vi. 35; Luke ix. 12; John vi.,5.;) 
 walking on the sea (Matt. xiv. 25.) ; calming a storm (Matt. viii. 26; Luke viii. 24.) ; a celestial voice 
 at his baptism, and miraculous appearance (Matt. iii. 16, ; afterwards, John xii. 28.) ; his trans- 
 figuration (Matt. xvii. 1—8; Mark ix. 2; Luke ix. 28; 2 Peter i, 16, 17.) ; raising the dead in three 
 distinct instances, (Matt, ix. 18 ; Mark v. 22; Luke viii. 41 ; Luke vii. 14; John xi.) : 
 
 D.a. Mention the various kinds E. What final distinction does 
 of miracles performed by Christ (see Paley apply to such cases, as may, 
 note 19); and the varities of situa- possibly, escape his exceptions ? 
 tion, form, and manner, attending 
 the performance of them. 
 
198 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 that persons, pretending to be original witnesses of the 
 miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and 
 sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone in 
 attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and 
 properly in consequence of their belief of the truth of 
 
 those accounts.” 
 
 Cle Gee 1 Reh UL. 
 
 The object of this chapter ts to exhibit the weakness of those 
 instances which have been brought forward by Mr. Hume; 
 and to shew, that they do not admit of comparison with the 
 miracles recorded in the New Testament. 
 
 The instances brought forward by 
 Hume are 
 
 1. The cure of a blind and of a 
 lame man of Alexandria, by the 
 emperor Vespasian, as related by 
 Tacitus. 
 
 Il. 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 per- 
 formed at the tomb of the abbé 
 Paris, in the early part of the 18th 
 century. , 
 
 The first case was, shortly, this, 
 One of the common people, known 
 to be diseased in his eyes, and 
 another diseased in his hand, being 
 advised by the god Serapis, pros- 
 trated themselves before Vespasian, 
 and requested to be touched by 
 him ; and the emperor having con- 
 sented, the hand was restored to its 
 use ; and sight returned to the blind 
 man. 
 
 Upon this case Paley remarks, 
 that Tacitus wrote his account 
 twenty-seven years after the miracle 
 is said to have been performed. He 
 wrote at Rome, of what had passed 
 at Alexandria; and he does not 
 appear to have examined, or to have 
 believed it. There is great suspicion 
 of its having been concerted between 
 
 the patients, the physicians, and the 
 emperor. It was calculated to confer 
 honour upon the emperor, and the 
 god Serapis; it was performed in 
 the midst of the emperor’s flatterers. 
 Paley then shews, that this case 
 cannot be brought within the limits 
 of comparison, with the miracles of 
 Christ. [p. 199—203] 
 
 The account given by Cardinal 
 de Retz of the second case, was this. 
 **In the church of Saragossa, in 
 Spain, the canons shewed 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.” 
 
 Hume admits, that Cardinal de 
 Retz did not believe this story ; 
 and he does not seem to have ex- 
 amined into the fact. The limb 
 might have been artificial; and, in 
 a place where no such contrivance 
 had been heard of, it would be 
 sufficient to give currency to a report, 
 which would be patronized by the 
 Clergy, as doing honour to their 
 image and church : and if they patro- 
 nised it, others would not, at that 
 time, be likely to dispute it. [p. 202, 
 203] 
 
 Paley meets the alleged cases at 
 the tomb of the abbé Paris, by 
 
CHAP. I1.] 
 
 a 
 
 remarking, that the patients were 
 so affected by devotion, expectation, 
 andsolemnity, that many were thrown 
 into convulsions ; which, in certain 
 instances, produced a removal of 
 disorders, dependent on obstruction. 
 The circumstances which indicate 
 this explication, in the case of the 
 Parisian miracles, are, 
 
 I. ‘The miracles were zextative. 
 2. The convulsions at the tomb are 
 admitted. 3. The diseases chiefly 
 depended upon inaction and obstruc- 
 tion. 4. The cures were gradual. 
 5. Some were incomplete. 6. Others 
 were temporary. 
 
 The author then remarks, that all 
 the wonder we are called upon to 
 account for, is, that out of a multi- 
 
 . BuT they, with whom we 
 right to select their own examples. 
 
 OFLCHRISTIANITY: 
 
 199 
 
 tude, so few experienced a beneficial 
 change in their constitution. And 
 that some cases do not require this 
 solution; being scarcely distinguish- 
 able from the progress of natural 
 recovery. [p. 204, 205] 
 
 The Parisian miracles differed 
 from that related by Tacitus, and 
 that by Cardinal de Retz; for they 
 had not, like them, all the power 
 and prejudice of the country on their 
 side, but almost the contrary. The 
 cause for which these miracles were 
 wrought, did not rise, but sunk. 
 [p. 205] 
 
 The results of all the cases re- 
 ferred to by Hume, are the direct 
 opposites of those that attended the 
 Christian miracles. [p. 205, 206] 
 
 argue, have undoubtedly a 
 The instances with 
 
 which Mr. Hume has chosen to confront the miracles of 
 the New Testament, and which, therefore, we are entitled 
 to regard as the strongest which the history of the world 
 could supply to the inquiries of a very acute and learned 
 adversary, are the three following :— 
 I. The cure of a blind and of a lame man of Alexandria, 
 
 by the emperor Vespasian, as related by Tacitus ; 
 
 II. The restoration of the limb of an attendant ina 
 Spanish Church, as told by Cardinal de Retz ; and, 
 
 III. The cures said to be performed at the tomb of 
 the abbé Paris, in the early part of the present 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 
 
 confront the miracles of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 A. In what light are we en- 
 titled to regard the instances with 
 which Mr. Hume has chosen to 
 confront the miracles of the New 
 Testament ? 
 
 B. Mention the three instances 
 which Mr. Hume brings forward to 
 
 C. Give a narrative of the 
 cures said to have been performed 
 by Vespasian, as delivered by 
 Tacitus. 
 
200 EVIDENCES CCHAP, Ii 
 
 D. 
 
 blindness, and entreating that he would deign to anoint 
 with his spittle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes. 
 Another, diseased in his hand, requested, by the admo- 
 nition of the same god, that he might be touched by the 
 foot of the emperor. Vespasian at first derided and 
 despised their application ; afterwards, when they con- 
 tinued to urge their petitions, he sometimes appeared to 
 dread the imputation of vanity ; at other times, by the 
 earnest supplication of the patients, and the persuasion 
 of his flatterers, to be induced to hope for success. At 
 length he commanded an inquiry to be made by the 
 physicians, whether such a blindness and debility were 
 vincible by human aid. The report of the physicians 
 contained various points; that in the one, the power of 
 vision was not destroyed, but would return if the obstacles 
 were removed ; that in the other, the diseased joints 
 might be restored, if a healing power were applied ; that 
 it was perhaps, agreeable to the gods to do this; that 
 the emperor was elected by divine assistance; lastly, 
 that the credit of the success would be the emperor's, 
 the ridicule of the disappointment would fall upon the 
 patients. Vespasian believing that everything was in 
 the power of his fortune, and that nothing was any longer 
 incredible, whilst the multitude, which stood by, eagerly 
 expected the event, with a countenance expressive of 
 joy, executed what he was desired to do. Immediately 
 the hand was restored to its use, and light returned to the 
 blind man. They who were present relate both these 
 cures, even at this time, when there is nothing to be 
 gained by lying.”? 
 
 Now, though Tacitus wrote this account twenty-seven 
 years after the miracle is said to have been performed, 
 and wrote at Rome of what passed at Alexandria, and 
 wrote also from report ; and although it does not appear 
 that he had examined the story, or that he believed it (but 
 rather the contrary), yet I think his testimony sufficient 
 
 1 Tacit. Hist. lib. iv. 
 
 D. State Paley’s views respect- them; and his remarks on Hume's 
 
 ‘ing the authenticity of the cases eulogium on the narrator. 
 
 related by Tacitus: his solution of 
 
CHAP. 1B OPFCHRISTIAN ITY: 201 
 
 to prove that such a transaction took place: by which I 
 mean, that the two men in question did apply to 
 Vespasian ; that Vespasian did touch the diseased in 
 the manner related ; and that a cure was reported to 
 have followed the operation. But the affair labours under 
 a strong and just suspicion, that the whole of it was a 
 concerted imposture, brought about by collusion between 
 the patients, the physicians, and the emperor. This 
 solution is probable, because there was everything to 
 suggest, and everything to facilitate such a scheme. 
 The miracle was calculated to confer honour upon the 
 emperor, and upon the god Serapis. It was achieved in 
 the midst of the emperor’s flatterers and followers; in a 
 city, and amongst a populace, beforehand devoted to his 
 interest, and to the worship of the god ; where it would 
 have been treason and blasphemy together, to have 
 contradicted the fame of the cure or even to have 
 questioned it. And what is very observable in the 
 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, conse- 
 quently, was capable of being easily counterfeited ; viz. 
 that in the first of the patients the organs of vision were 
 not destroyed, that the weakness of the second was in 
 his joints. The strongest circumstances in Tacitus’s 
 narration is, that the first patient was “wotus tabe 
 oculorum,” remarked or notorious for the disease in his 
 eyes. But this was a circumstance which might have 
 found its way into the story in its progress from a 
 distant country, and during an interval of thirty years; 
 or it might be true that the malady of the eyes was 
 notorious, yet that the nature and degree of the disease 
 had never been ascertained; a case by no means 
 uncommon. ‘The emperor's reserve was easily affected ; 
 or it is possible he might not be in the secret. There 
 does not seem to be much weight in the observation of 
 Tacitus, that they who were present continued even then 
 to relate the story when there was nothing to be gained 
 by the lie. It only proves, that those who had told the 
 story for many years persisted in it. The state of mind 
 of the witnesses and spectators at the time, is the point to 
 
202 EVIDENCES [CHAP. IL 
 be attended to. Still less is there of pertinency in 
 Mr. Hume’s eulogium on the cautious and penetrating 
 genius of the historian; for it does not appear that the 
 historian believed it. The terms in which he speaks of 
 Serapis, the deity to whose interposition the miracle was 
 attributed, scarcely suffer us to suppose that Tacitus 
 thought the miracle to be real: “ By the admonition of 
 the god Serapis, whom that superstitious nation (dedita 
 superstitionibus gens) worship above all other gods.” 
 
 E. 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 oppposing 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 zm 
 through a life of trial and danger ; that many were so 
 moved, as to obey his call, at the expense both of every 
 notion in which they had been brought up, and of their 
 ease, safety, and reputation ; and that by these begin- 
 nings, a change was produced in the world, the effects of 
 which remain to this day; a case, both in its circum- 
 stances and consequences, very unlike any thing we find 
 in Tacitus’s relation. 
 
 F. II. The story taken from the memoirs of Cardinal de 
 Retz, which is the second example alleged by Mr. Hume, 
 is this: “In the church of Saragossa, in Spain, the 
 canons shewed 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.”! 
 
 G. It is stated by Mr. Hume, that the Cardinal, who 
 relates this story, did not believe it; and it no where 
 
 1 Liv, a.p. 1654. 
 
 E. Shew that the case recorded 
 by Tacitus, was deficient in all the 
 requisites for bringing it within the 
 limits of comparison with the miracles 
 of Christ. 
 
 F. Quote the story from the 
 
 memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, alleged 
 as a second example, by Mr. Hume. 
 
 G. What is Mr. Hume’s state- 
 ment, touching the credibility of the 
 story related by Cardinal de Retz ; 
 and what is Paley’s solution of the 
 case ? 
 
CHAP. II.] OF SGCARISTIANI LY. 203 
 
 appears that he either examined the limb, or asked the 
 patient, or indeed any one, a single question about the 
 matter. An artificial leg, wrought with art, would be 
 sufficient, in a place where no such contrivance had ever 
 before been heard of, to give origin and currency to the 
 report. The ecclesiastics of the place would, it is pro- 
 bable, favour the story, inasmuch as it advanced the 
 honour of their image and church. And if ¢hey patron- 
 ized it, no other person at Saragossa, in the middle of 
 the last century, would care to dispute it. The story 
 ‘ likewise coincided, not less with the wishes and pre- 
 conceptions of the people, than with the interests of 
 their ecclesiastical rulers; so that there was prejudice 
 backed by authority, and both operating upon extreme 
 ignorance, to account for the success of the imposture. 
 If, as I have suggested, the contrivance of an artificial 
 limb was then new, it would not occur to the Cardinal 
 himself to suspect it; especially under the carelessness 
 of mind with which he heard the tale, and the little in- 
 clination he felt to scrutinize or expose its fallacy. 
 
 III. The miracles related to have been wrought at 
 the tomb of the abbé Paris admit in general of this solu- 
 tion. The patients who frequented the tomb were so 
 affected by their devotion, their expectation, the place, 
 the solemnity, and, above all, by the sympathy of the 
 surrounding multitude, that many of them were thrown 
 into violent convulsions ; which convulsions, in certain 
 instances, produced a removal of disorders depending 
 upon obstruction. We shall, at this day, have the less 
 difficulty in admitting the above account, because it is 
 the very same thing as hath lately been experienced in 
 the operations of animal magnetism; and the report of 
 the French physicians upon that mysterious remedy is 
 very applicable to the present consideration, viz. that the 
 pretenders to the art, by working upon the imaginations 
 of their patients, were frequently able to produce con- 
 vulsions; that convulsions so produced are amongst the 
 most powerful, but, at the same time, most uncertain and 
 
 H. State, and illustrate, the to have been wrought at the tomb of 
 solution which the miracles, related the abbé Paris, in general admit of. 
 
 a 
 
204 EVIDENCES [CHAP. II. 
 
 unmanageable applications to the human frame which 
 can be employed. 
 
 Circumstances, which indicate this explication in the 
 case of the Parisian miracles, are the following : 
 
 1. They were ¢entative. Out of many thousand sick, 
 infirm, and diseased persons, who resorted to the tomb, 
 the professed history of the miracles contains only nine 
 cures. 
 
 2. The convulsions at the tomb are admitted, 
 
 3. The diseases were, for the most part, of that sort 
 which depends upon inaction and obstruction, as 
 dropsies, palsies, and some tumours. 
 
 4. The cures were gradual; some patients attending 
 many days, some several weeks, and some _ several 
 months. : 
 
 5. The cures were many of them incomplete. 
 
 6. Others were temporary.} 
 
 So that all the wonder we are called upon to account 
 for is, that, out of an almost innumerable multitude 
 which restored to the tomb for the cure of their com- 
 plaints, and many of whom were there agitated by 
 strong convulsions, a very small proportion experienced 
 a beneficial change in their constitution, especially in 
 the action of the nerves and glands. 
 
 Some of the cases alleged do not require that we 
 should have recourse to this solution. The first case in 
 the catalogue is scarcely distinguishable from the pro- 
 gress of a natural recovery. It was that of a young man, 
 who laboured under an inflammation of one eye, and had 
 lost the sight of the other. The inflamed eye was 
 relieved, but the blindness of the other remained. The 
 inflammation had before been abated by medicine ; and 
 the young man, at the time of his attendance at the 
 tomb, was using a lotion of laudanum. And, what is a 
 
 1 The reader will find these particulars verified in the detail, by the accurate inquiries of the 
 present bishop of Sarum, in his Criterion of Miracles, p. 132, st seg. 
 
 I. State the circumstances which K. Describe those cases of the 
 indicate, and confirm the foregoing Parisian miracles, which do not 
 solution of the Parisian miracles; require that we should have recourse 
 and point out the only wonder we to the foregoing solution. 
 are called upon to account for. 
 
CHAP. I1.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 205 
 still more material part of the case, the inflammation 
 after some interval returned.—Another case was that of 
 a young man who had lost his sight by the puncture of 
 an awl, and the discharge of the aqueous humour through 
 the wound. The sight which had been gradually 
 returning, was much improved during his visit to the 
 tomb, that is, probably, in the same degree in which the 
 discharged humour was replaced by fresh secretions, 
 And it is observable, that these two are the only cases 
 which, from their nature, should seem unlikely to be 
 affected by convulsions. 
 
 L. In one material respect I allow that the Parisian 
 miracles were different from those related by Tacitus, 
 and from the Spanish miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. 
 They had not, like them, all the power and all the 
 prejudice of the country on their side to begin with. 
 They were alleged by one party against another, by the 
 Jansenists against the Jesuits. These were of course 
 
 . opposed and examined by their adversaries. The conse- 
 quence of which examination was, that many falsehoods 
 were detected, that with something really extraordinary 
 much fraud appeared to be mixed. And if some of the 
 cases upon which designed misrepresentation could not 
 be charged, were not at the time satisfactorily accounted 
 for, it was because the efficacy of strong spasmotic 
 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. 
 
 N. These, let us remember, are the strongest examples 
 
 _ which the history of ages supplies. In none of them, 
 was the miracle wxeguivocal; by none of them, were 
 
 of the examination of the Parisian 
 
 L. Shew in what material 
 
 respect the Parisian miracles were miracles, by the Jesuits; and 
 different from those related by how was the cause of Jansenism 
 Tacitus, and from the Spanish affected ? 
 
 miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. 
 State by whom they were alleged, 
 and against whom; and the effect of 
 this. 
 
 M. What was the consequence 
 
 N. What should be considered, 
 in remembering, that the examples, 
 brought forward by Mr. Hume, are 
 the strongest, which the history of 
 ages supplies? 
 
206 EVIDENCES [CHAP. II. 
 
 established prejudices and persuasions overthrown ; 
 of none of them, did the credit make its way, in 
 opposition to authority and power; by none of them, 
 were many induced to commit themselves, and that in 
 contradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortification, 
 danger, and sufferings ; none were called upon to attest 
 them at the expense of their fortunes and safety.! 
 
 1 It may be thought, that the historian of the Parisian miracles, M. Montgeron, forms an exception 
 to this last assertion. He presented his book (with a suspicion, as it should seem, of the danger of 
 what he was doing) tothe king; and was shortly afterwards committed to prison; from which he 
 never came out. Had the miracles been unequivocal, and had M. Montgeron been originally con- 
 vinced by them, I should have allowed, this exception. It would have stood, I think, alone, in the 
 argument of our adversaries. But, besides what has been observed of the dubious nature of the 
 miracles, the account which M, Montgeron has himself left of his conversion, shews both the state of 
 his mind, and that his perswasion was not built upon external miracles.——‘Scarcely had he entered the 
 churchyard, when he was struck,’ he tells us, ‘‘ with awe and reverence, having never before heard 
 prayers pronounced with so much ardour and transport as he observed amougst the supplicants 
 at the tomb. Upou this, throwing himself upon his knees, resting his elbows on the tombstone, and 
 covering his face with his hands, he spake the following prayer: O thow by whose intercession so many 
 miracles are said to be performed, tf it be true that a part of thee swrviveth the grave, and that thou hast 
 influence with the Almighty, have pity on the darkness of my understanding, and through his mercy 
 obtain the removal of it.” Having prayed thus, ‘many thoughts,’ as he sayeth, ‘began to open themselves 
 to his mind; and so profound was his attention, that he continued on his knees four hours, not in the 
 least disturbed by the vast crowd of surrounding supplicants. During this time, all the arguments 
 which he ever heard or readin 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, 
 
 O. How does Paley treat an  geron, the historian of the Parisian 
 apparent exception to his final miracles? 
 observation, in the case of M. Mont- 
 
Thee Reacts 
 
 ele 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 _ 
 
 GHAr TE R YT. 
 
 —E 
 
 EROPHECY, 
 
 Lhe object of this chapter is, briefly to exhibit that branch of 
 auxiliary evidence, which is found in prophecy: for which 
 purpose, two prominent instances are selected, the one from the 
 Old, and the other from the New Testament. 
 
 . «As an instance from the Old 
 Testament, the author selects Isaiah 
 lii. 13, 14, 15, and liii.; and remarks 
 that these passages are extant in a 
 book purporting to contain the pre- 
 dictions of a writer 700 years B.C.; 
 and that they were actually written 
 before the facts, to which they 
 applied, took place. That they are 
 from a writing declaredly prophetic ; 
 and are unmixed with any other 
 subject. [p. 208, 209] 
 
 The application of this prophecy 
 ' to the evangelic history, is plain and 
 appropriate. The azczent Rabbins 
 explained it of their expected Mes- 
 siah; but the modern expositors 
 refer it to the calamitous state of the 
 Jewish nation. Paley then shews 
 the weakness of both interpretations, 
 [pa 2icpaary 
 
 As an instance from the New 
 Testament, the author selects our 
 Lord’s predictions concerning the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, recorded 
 by three of the evangelists, viz 
 
 ~ 
 
 Luke xxi. 5—25. Matthew xxiv. 
 Mark xiii. These passages are clear 
 and explicit predictions. The agree- 
 ment of the description with the 
 event, has been shewn by many 
 writers [p. 211] 
 
 The only question is, whether 
 the prophecy was delivered before 
 the event: and to establish the truth 
 of this, the author rests upon the 
 following considerations, which are 
 fully supported : 
 
 1. The judgment of antiquity 
 concurs in assigning the three Gos- 
 pels a date prior to the destruction 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 2. The evangelists who wrote 
 them, must have been far advanced 
 in life when Jerusalem was taken ; 
 and no reason has been given, why 
 they should defer writing the history 
 so long. 
 
 3. If the event had been ac- 
 complished when the predictions 
 were recorded, some hints about the 
 
208 
 
 completion, would, probably, have 
 been dropped. 
 
 4. The admonition which our 
 Lord is said to have given to his 
 followers, to save themselves by 
 flight, is not easily accounted for, 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [CHAP. II. 
 
 if the prophecy had been fabricated 
 after the event. 
 
 5. If the prophecies had been 
 composed after the event, there 
 would have been more _ specifica- 
 tion of names, times, places, &c. 
 
 [p- 217] 
 
 ISAIAH, lii. 13. liii. “ Behold, my servant shall deal pru- 
 dently ; he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very 
 high. As many were astonished at thee (his visage was 
 so marred more than any man, and his form more than 
 the sons of men); so shall he sprinkle many nations ; 
 the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which 
 had not been told them, shall they see; and that which 
 they had not heard shall they consider.—Who hath 
 believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the. 
 Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him asa 
 tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he 
 hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see 
 him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He 
 is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and 
 acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces 
 from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: 
 yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and 
 afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he 
 was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our 
 peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 
 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned 
 every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on 
 him the iniquity of usall. He was oppressed, and he 
 was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought 
 as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her 
 shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was 
 taken from prison and from judgment ; and who shall 
 declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the 
 land of the living: for the transgression of my people 
 
 A. Quote the passages of pro- 
 phecy, respecting our Saviour, se- 
 lected by Paley from the Old Tes- 
 
 tament ; and state at what period 
 they were written. 
 
CHAP. 1] “QR CHRISTIANITY. Gog. 
 
 was he stricken. And he made his grave with the 
 wicked, and with the rich in his death ; because he had 
 done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 
 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him 
 to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for 
 sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and 
 the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He 
 shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied - 
 by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify 
 many ; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will 
 I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide 
 the spoil with the strong ; because he hath poured out 
 his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the 
 transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made 
 intercession for the transgressors.” 
 
 These words are extant in a book, purporting to con- 
 tain the predictions of a writer who lived seven centuries 
 before the Christian era. 
 
 B. That material part of every argument from prophecy, 
 namely, that the words alleged were actually spoken or 
 written before the fact to which they are applied took 
 place, or could by any natural means be foreseen, is, in 
 the present instance, incontestable. The record comes 
 out of the custody of adversaries. The Jews, as an 
 ancient father well observed, are our librarians. The 
 passage is in their copies, as well as in ours. With many 
 attempts to explain it away, none has ever been made by 
 them to discredit its authenticity. 
 
 c. And, what adds to the force of the quotation is, that it 
 is taken from a writing declaredly prophetic; a writing, 
 professing to describe such future transactions and 
 changes in the world, as were connected with the fate 
 and interest of the Jewish nation. It is not a passage in 
 an historical or devotional composition, which, because 
 it turns out to be applicable to some future events, or-to 
 some future situation of affairs, is presumed to have been 
 
 B. State what is the material C. What are the two circum- 
 part of every argument from pro- stances, which add to the force 
 phecy; and shew, that the passages of the quotations selected from 
 selected by Paley from Isaiah pos- Isaiah ? 
 sess this. 
 
EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 210 
 oracular. The words of Isaiah were delivered by him ina 
 prophetic character, with the solemnity belonging to that 
 character: and what he so delivered, was all along 
 understood by the Jewish reader to refer to something 
 that was to take place after the time of the author. 
 
 c.aThe public sentiments of the Jews concerning the design 
 of Isaiah’s writings, are set forth in the book of Eccle- 
 siasticus :} ‘He saw by an excellent spirit what should 
 come to pass at the last, and he comforted them that 
 mourned in Sion. Heshewed 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 subject. It is entire, 
 separate, and uninterruptedly directed to one scene of 
 things. 
 
 D. The application of the prophecy to the evangelic history 
 is plain and appropriate. Here is no double sense; no 
 figurative language, but what is sufficiently intelligible 
 to every reader of every country. The obscurities (by 
 which I mean the expressions that require a knowledge 
 of local diction, and of local allusion) are few, and not of 
 great importance. Nor have I found that varieties of 
 reading, or a different construing of the original, produce 
 any material alteration in the sense of the prophecy. 
 Compare the common translation with that of Bishop 
 
 D.aLowth, and the difference is not considerable. So far as 
 they do differ, Bishop Lowth’s corrections, which are the 
 faithful result of an accurate examination, bring the 
 description nearer to the New Testament history than it 
 was before. In the fourth verse of the fifty-third chapter, 
 what our Bible renders “stricken,” he translates “ judi- 
 cially stricken :” and in the eighth verse, the clause, “he 
 
 1 Chap. xlviii. ver, 24, 
 
 C.a. What were the public sen- D.a, Specify the differences be- 
 
 timents of the Jews, as set forth in 
 Ecclesiasticus, concerning the design 
 of Isaiah’s writings ? 
 
 D. Shew, clearly, that the ap- 
 plication of the prophecy of Isaiah to 
 the evangelic history, is plain and 
 appropriate. 
 
 tween the common translation of 
 the prophecy of Isaiah, and that 
 by bishop Lowth; and mention 
 the effect of the bishop’s correc- 
 tions. 
 
CHAP. I.] Of CHRIS TFIANIT Y 211 
 
 “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 gene- 
 ration ?” are much cleared up in their meaning, by the 
 bishop’s version ; “his manner of life who would declare?” 
 z. €. who would stand forth in his defence ; Lhe 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's/ifana 
 his grave was appointed with the wicked, but with the 
 rich man was his tomb.” The words in the eleventh 
 verse, “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant 
 justify many,” are, in the bishop’s version, “by the 
 knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justify 
 many.” 
 
 E. It is natural to enquire what turn the Jews themselves 
 give to this prophecy.! There is good proof that the 
 ancient Rabbins explained it of their expected Messiah ;? 
 but their modern expositors concur, I think, in repre- 
 senting 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 degree. The clause in the ninth 
 verse, which we render “for the transgression of my 
 people was he stricken,” and in the margin, “was the 
 stroke upon him,” the Jews read, “for the transgression 
 
 F. of my people was the stroke upon ¢hem.” And what 
 they allege in support of the alteration amounts only to 
 this, that the Hebrew pronoun is capable of a plural as 
 well as of a singular signification; that is to Say, is 
 
 ~ 
 
 1 “Vaticinium hoc Esaiz est carnificina Rabbinorum, de quo aliqui Judi mihi confessi sunt 
 Rabbinos suos ex propheticis scripturis facile se extricare potuisse, modo Esaias lacuisset, Hulse, 
 Theol, Jud, p. 318. quoted by Poole, in loc. 
 
 2 Hulse, Theol. Jud, p. 430, 
 
 E. What turn was given to F. Point out the insuperable 
 Isaiah’s prophecy, 1. by the ancient difficulties under which the Jewish 
 Rabbins ; 2. by the modern Jewish application of Isaiah’s prophecy 
 expositors ; and on what arguments seems to labour. 
 do the latter seek to rest their 
 exposition ? 
 
212 EVIDENCES [PART IIL. 
 
 capable of their construction as well as ours.+ And this 
 is all the variation contended for; the rest of the pro- 
 phecy they read as we do. The probability, therefore, 
 of their exposition, is a subject of which we are as 
 capable of judging as themselves. This judgment is 
 open indeed to the good sense of every attentive reader. 
 The application which the Jews contend for appears to 
 me to labour under insuperable difficulties ; in particular, 
 ‘it may be demanded of them to explain, in wose name 
 or person, if the Jewish people be the sufferer, does the 
 prophet speak, when he says, “He hath borne our griefs, 
 and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, 
 smitten of God, and afflicted; but he was wounded for 
 our transgressions, he was bruised for owr iniquities, the 
 chastisement of ovr peace was upon him, and with his 
 stripes we are healed.” Again, the description in the 
 seventh verse, “he was oppressed and he was afflicted, 
 yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to 
 the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 
 so he opened not his mouth,” quadrates with no part of 
 the Jewish history with which we are acquainted. ‘The 
 mention of the “grave,” and “the tomb,” in the ninth 
 verse, is not very applicable to the fortunes of a nation ; 
 and still less so is the conclusion of the prophecy in the 
 twelfth verse, which expressly represents the sufferings 
 as voluntary, and the ‘sufferer as interceding for the of- 
 fenders; “because he hath poured out his soul unto 
 death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and 
 
 J. Bishop Lowth adopts in this place the reading of the Seventy, which gives smitten to death, ‘‘ for 
 the transgression of my people was he smitten to death.” The addition of the words, “to death,” 
 makes an end of the Jewish interpretation of the clause. And the authority upon which this reading 
 (though not given by the present Hebrew text) is adopted. Dr. Kennicott has set forth by an 
 argument not only so cogent, but so clear and popular, that I beg leave to transcribe the substance 
 of it into this note :——“ Origen, after having quoted at large this prophecy concerning the Messiah, 
 tells us, that having once made use of this passage, in a dispute against some that were accounted 
 wise ainong the Jews, one of them replied, that the words did not mean one man but one people, the 
 Jews, who were smitten of God, and dispersed among the Gentiles for their conversion; that he then 
 urged many parts of this prophecy, to shew the absurdity of this interpretation, and that he seemed 
 to press them the hardest by this sentence,——‘ for the transgression of my people was he smitten to 
 death.” Now as Origen, the author of the Hexapla, must have understood Hebrew, we cannot 
 suppose that he would have urged this last text as so decisive, if the Greek version had not agreed 
 here with the Hebrew text; nor that these wise Jews would have been at all distressed by this 
 quotation, unless the Hebrew text had read agreeably to these words “to death,’ on which the argument 
 principally depended: for by quoting it immediately, they would have triumphed over him, and 
 reprobated his Greek version. This, whenever they could do it, was their constant practice in their 
 disputes with the Christians. Origen himself, who laboriously compared the Hebrew text with the 
 Septuagint, has recorded the necessity of arguing with the Jews from such passages only as were in 
 the Septuagint agreeable to the Hebrew. Wherefore, as Origen had carefully compared the Greek 
 version of the Septuagint with the Hebrew text; and as he puzzled and confounded the learned Jews, 
 by urging upon them the reading ‘to death,’ in this place; it seems almost impossible not to 
 conclude, both from Origen’s argument, and the silence of his Jewish adversaries, that the Hebrew 
 pai at that time actually had the word agreeably to the version of the Seventy,” Lowth’s Isaiah, 
 p. 242. 
 
CHAP. 1.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 213 
 
 he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the 
 transgressors.” 
 
 There are other prophecies of the Old Testament, in- 
 terpreted by Christians to relate to the Gospel history, 
 which are deserving both of great regard, and of a very 
 attentive consideration: but I content myself with 
 stating the above, as well because I think it the clearest 
 and the strongest of all, as because most of the rest, in 
 order that their value might be represented with any 
 tolerable degree of fidelity, require a discussion unsuitable 
 to the limits and nature of this work. The reader will 
 find them disposed in order, and distinctly explained, in 
 Bishop Chandler’s treatise on the subject: and he will 
 bear in mind, what has been often, and, I think, truly, 
 urged by the advocates of Christianity, that there is no 
 other eminent person, to the history of whose life so 
 many circumstances can be made to apply. They who 
 object that much has been done by the power of chance, 
 the ingenuity of accommodation, and the industry of 
 research, ought to try whether the same, or anything 
 like it, could be done if Mahomet, or any other person, 
 were proposed as the subject of Jewish prophecy. 
 
 G. If A second head of argument from prophecy is 
 founded upon our Lord’s predictions concerning the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, recorded by three out of the 
 four evangelists. 
 
 Luke xxi. 5—25: “And as some spake of the temple, 
 how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 
 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, 
 in which there shall not be left one stone upon another, 
 that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, 
 saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and 
 what sign will there be when these things shall come to 
 pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived ; 
 for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ! 
 and the time draweth near; go ye therefore after 
 them, But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, 
 be not terrified; for these things must first come to pass; 
 
 G. Quote the specimen of prophecy, selected by Paley, from the New 
 Testament. 
 
214 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 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 perse- 
 cute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and 
 into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers 
 for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you fora 
 testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to 
 meditate before, what ye shall answer; for I will give 
 you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries 
 shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall 
 be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kins- 
 folk, and friends ; and some of you shall they cause to 
 be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for 
 my name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your 
 head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls. 
 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with 
 armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 
 Then let them which are in Judea flee to the moun- 
 tains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart 
 out: and let not them that are in the countries enter 
 thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all 
 things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe 
 unto them that are,with child, and to them that give 
 suck in those days ; for there shall be great distress in 
 the land, and wrath upon this people. And they 
 shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led 
 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 thir- 
 teenth 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 S. 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 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 215 
 
 are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come 
 upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about 
 thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on 
 every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, 
 and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave 
 in thee one stone upon another ; because thou knewest 
 not the time of thy visitation."—These passages are 
 direct and explicit predictions. References to the 
 same event, some plain, some parabolical, or otherwise 
 figurative, are found in divers other discourses of our 
 ord | 
 
 H. The general agreeement of the description with the 
 event, viz. with the ruin of the Jewish nation, and the 
 capture of Jerusalem under Vespasian, thirty-six years 
 after Christ’s death, is most evident; and the accord- 
 ancy in various articles of detail and circumstances has 
 been shewn by many learned writers. It is also an 
 advantage to the inquiry, and to the argument built 
 upon it, that we have received a copious account of the 
 transaction from Josephus, a Jewish and contemporary 
 historian. This part of the case is perfectly free from 
 doubt. The only question which, in my opinion, can 
 be raised upon the subject, is, whether the prophecy 
 was really delivered defore the event? I shall apply, 
 therefore, my observations to this point solely. 
 
 I. 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 destruc- 
 ton of Jerusalem.? 
 
 2. This judgment is confirmed by a strong proba- 
 bility arising from the course of human life. The des- 
 truction of Jerusalem took place in the seventieth year 
 
 4 
 fl Matt, xxi, 33—46 ; xxii, 1—7. Mark xii, 1—12. Luke xiii. 1—9; xx. 9—20; xxi. 5—13. 
 2 Lardner, vol, xiii, 
 
 H. State how the general agree- vations, by which Paley meets the 
 ment of the prophecy, from the only question which can be raised 
 New Testament, with its fulfilment, upon the subject of the prophecy 
 is made evident ; and mention the from the New Testament, viz. 
 only question that can be raised on whether the prophecy was really 
 the subject. delivered before the event. 
 
 I. State, fully, the five obser- 
 
216 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 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 conse- 
 quently, 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. Ift the evangelists, at the time of writing the Gos- 
 pels, had known of the destruction of Jerusalem, by 
 which catastrophe the prophecies were plainly fulfilled, 
 it is most probable, that, in recording the predictions, 
 they would have dropped some word or other about 
 the completion ; in like manner as Luke, after relating 
 the denunciation of a dearth by Agabus, adds, “which 
 came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar ;”? where- 
 as 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 intimation care- 
 fully. But this was not the character of the authors of 
 the Gospel. Cunning was no quality of theirs. Of 
 all writers in the world, they thought the least of 
 providing against objections. Moreover, there is no 
 clause in any one of them, that makes a profession of 
 their having written prior to the Jewish wars, which a 
 fraudulent purpose would have led them to pretend. 
 They have done neither one thing nor the other: they 
 have neither inserted any words which might signify to 
 the reader that their accounts were written defore the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, which a sophist would have 
 done; nor have they dropped a hint of the completion 
 of the prophecies recorded by them, which an wnde- 
 signing writer, writing after the event, could hardly, on 
 some or other of the many occasions that presented 
 themselves, have missed of doing. 
 
 1 Le Clerc, Diss. III. de Quat. Evang. num, vii. p. 541. 2 Acts xi. 28. 
 
CHAP. I.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 217 
 
 4. The admonitions! which Christ is represented to 
 have given to his followers to save themselves by flight, 
 are not easily accounted for, on the supposition of the 
 prophecy being fabricated after the event. Either the 
 Christians, when the seige 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 pub- 
 lishing his work near to that time (which, on any, even 
 the lowest and most disadvantageous supposition, was 
 the case with the Gospels now in our hands), and ad- 
 dressing 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 evan- 
 gelists 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 im- 
 pute to them a degree of fraud and imposture, from 
 every appearance of which, their compositions are as far 
 removed as possible. 
 
 5. I think that, if the prophecies had been composed 
 after the event, there would have been more specifica- 
 tion. The names or descriptions of the enemy, the 
 general, the emperor, would have been found in them. 
 The designation of the time would have been more 
 determinate. And I am fortified in this opinion by 
 observing, that the counterfeited prophecies of the 
 Sibylline oracles, of the twelve patriarchs, and I am 
 inclined to believe, most others of the kind, are mere 
 
 1 “‘When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof 
 is nigh: then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; then let them which are in the 
 midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.” Luke xxi. 20. 21, 
 
 “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then let them which be in Judea flee unto 
 the mountains ; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house: 
 neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” Matt. xiv. 18. 
 
218 
 
 K. 
 
 EVIDENCES [PART. IL. 
 transcripts of the history, moulded into a prophetic 
 form. 
 
 It is objected, that the prophecy of the destruction 
 of Jerusalem is mixed, or connected, with expressions 
 which relate to the final judgment of the world; and 
 so connected, as to lead an ordinary reader to expect 
 that these two events would not be far distant from each 
 other. To which I answer that the objection does not 
 concern our present argument. If our Saviour actually 
 foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, it is sufficient ; 
 even although we should allow, that the narration of 
 the prophecy had combined what had been said by him 
 on kindred subjects, without accurately preserving the 
 order, or always noticing the transition of the discourse. 
 
 OS PA OTN DIS WB 
 
 The Morality of the Gospel. 
 
 In viewing the morality of the 
 Gospel, as an auxiliary evidence, 
 the author admits, first, that the 
 teaching of morality was not the 
 primary design of the Christian mis- 
 sion; secondly, that morality, can- 
 not be a subject of discovery. Still 
 he observes, that the morality of the 
 Gospel is extraordinary, considering 
 from whence it came. [p. 219— 
 a2i i. 
 
 He then divides the subject into 
 two heads, viz. the things taught, 
 and the manner of teaching. Under 
 the first head, he brings four argu- 
 ments to the excellence of the Gos- 
 pel morality, viz.— 
 
 I. That the Gospel omits some 
 qualities, which have usually en- 
 
 K. How do you answer the 
 objection, that the prophecy of the 
 destruction of Jerusalem is mixed, 
 or connected with expressions, 
 which relate to the final judgment 
 
 gaged the admiration of mankind ; 
 such as friendship, patriotism, and 
 active courage. And it has brought 
 forward some virtues, commonly 
 overlooked and contemned ; as pas- 
 sive courage, patience under injuries, 
 &c. By which it appears, that the 
 preference of the patient to the heroic 
 character, is peculiar to the Chris- 
 tian institution. 
 
 II. The stress laid by our Sa- 
 viour upon the regulation of the 
 thoughts. The author places this 
 consideration next to the other, be- 
 cause they are connected. The other 
 related to the malicious passions: 
 this to the voluptuous. Together 
 they comprehend the whole charac- 
 ter. And he argues, that a moral 
 
 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? 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 system, which prohibits actions, but 
 not thoughts, must be ineffectual. 
 
 III. That, by the Christian 
 system, we are taught to refer our 
 actions to the will of the Creator ; 
 and constantly to have in view the 
 happiness of those about us. The 
 first direction suggests a motive that 
 acts steadily and uniformly. By the 
 second, the selfishness of the human 
 character is corrected. 
 
 IV. That the morality of the 
 Gospel, is distinguished by an ex- 
 clusion of regard to fame and repu- 
 tation. Ostentation, not publicity, 
 is prohibited. The motive of the 
 action is regulated, ond not the 
 mode. [p. 222, e¢ seg.] 
 
 Under the second general head, 
 the author considers, 
 
 I. The impressive manner, and 
 fitness of our Lord’s discourses. His 
 precepts were sententious, and suited 
 to the character he assumed. His 
 teaching aimed at impression. Con- 
 viction was to arise from a respect 
 to his authority. His mode of in- 
 struction was the most proper, con- 
 sidering the shortness of his minis- 
 try, and the difficulty attending it. 
 By this mode of instruction, rules 
 are conceived in general terms: the 
 application is left to the reason of 
 the reader. The parables would do 
 
 Of “GHRISTIANET Y. 
 
 219 
 
 honour to any book. The Lord’s 
 Prayer is without equal or rival. 
 The author emphatically asks, 
 whence had this man this wisdom ? 
 [p. 233-237] 
 
 II. The negative character of 
 our Lord’s discourses. 1. They ex- 
 hibit no particular description of the 
 visible world; thus repelling the 
 suspicion of enthusiasm. 2. Our 
 Lord required no austerity. 3. He 
 uttered no impassionate devotion. 
 4. He did not substitute particular 
 fervency in the place of regular mo- 
 rality. 5. He did not fallin with 
 the fashions of his country, or the 
 natural bias of his Jewish education. 
 6. In his apophthegms, there is no 
 example of sophistry and false sub- 
 tility. 7. The natural temper of 
 the Jews was intolerant, narrow- 
 minded, and excluding: the lessons 
 of Jesus enforce the most enlarged 
 benevolence. 8. His religion was 
 abstracted from all views of eccle- 
 siastical or civil polity. [p. 237— 
 241] 
 
 These arguments, coupled with 
 the character of Christ, as exhibited 
 in the Scriptures, prove the peculiar 
 excellence of the morality of the 
 Gospel ; and, therefore, establish it 
 as an auxiliary evidence of Chris- 
 tianity. [p. 241. to the end] 
 
 A. IN stating the morality of the Gospel as an argument 
 
 of its truth, I am willing to admit two points; first, 
 that the teaching of morality was not the primary 
 design of the mission; secondly, that morality, neither 
 in the Gospel nor in any other book, can be a subject, 
 properly speaking, of discovery. 
 
 If I were to describe in very few words the scope 
 of Christianity, as a revealation' I should say, that it 
 
 ] 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 ; thatis, they might have existed, 
 
 A. Mention the two points B. Explain, fully, these two 
 which may be admitted, in stating points; and shew the effects which 
 the morality of the Gospel, as an may belong to Christianity, not 
 argument of its truth. considered as a revelation. 
 
220 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 was to influence the conduct of human life, by estab- 
 lishing the proof of a future state of reward and pun- 
 ishment,—“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 ordi- 
 nary cases, judge tolerably well how they ought to act: 
 but without a future state, or, which is the same thing, 
 without credited evidence of that state, they want a 
 motive to their duty; they want at least streneth of 
 motive, sufficient to bear up against the force of pas- 
 sion, and the temptation of present advantage. Their 
 
 B.arules want authority. The most important service that 
 can be rendered to human life, and _ that, consequently, 
 which, one might expect beforehand, would be the 
 great end and office of a revelation from God, is to 
 convey to the world 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. 
 
 B.6 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 can- 
 not, in morality, be any thing similar to what are called 
 discoveries in natural philosophy, in the arts of life, and 
 in some sciences ; as the system of the universe, the cir- 
 culation of the blood, the polarity of the magnet, the 
 
 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 tu other orders of in- 
 telligent beings. J think it is a general opinion, and one to which I have long come, that the benefi- 
 cial 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 3” 1 Johnie: 
 Probably the future happiness, perhaps the future existence of the species, and more gracious terms 
 of acceptance extended to all, might depend upon it, or be procurred by it. Now these effects what- 
 ever they be, do not belong to Christianity as a revelation ; because they exist, with respect to those 
 to whom it is not revealed, 
 
 B.a. Point out what Paley con- assertion, that morality, neither in 
 siders to have been the great end the Gospel, nor in any other book, 
 and office of a revelation from God. can bea subject of discovery, pro- 
 
 B.6. What is meant by the perly so called ? 
 
GHAP; JT. ] ORG OCTIN LS 2 LAI 143 221 
 laws of gravitation, alphabetical writing, decimal arith- 
 metic, and some other things of the same sort; facts, 
 or proofs, or contrivances, before totally unknown and 
 
 B.cunthought of. Whoever, therefore, expects, in reading 
 the New Testament, to be struck with discoveries in 
 morals, in the manner in which his mind was affected 
 when he first came to the knowledge of the discoveries 
 above mentioned ; or rather in the manner in which 
 the world was affected by them, when they were first 
 published ; expects what, as I apprehend, the nature 
 of the subject renders it impossible that he should meet 
 with. And the foundation of my opinion is this, that 
 the qualities of actions depend entirely upon their effects, 
 which effects must all along have been the subject of 
 human experience. 
 
 When it is once settled, no matter upon what prin- 
 ciple, that to do good is virtue, the rest is calculation. 
 But since the calculation cannot be instituted concern- 
 ing each particular action, we establish intermediate 
 rules ; by which proceeding, the business of morality is 
 much facilitated ; for then it is concerning our rules 
 alone that we need inquire, whether in their tendency 
 they be beneficial ; concerning our actions, we have only 
 to ask, whether they be agreeable to the rules. We refer 
 actions to rules, and rules to public happiness. Now, in 
 the formation of these rules, there is no place for dis- 
 covery, properly so called, but there is ample room for 
 the exercise of wisdom, judgment, and prudence. 
 
 As I wish to deliver argument rather than panegyric, 
 I shall treat of the morality of the Gospel, in subjec- 
 tion to these observations. And after all, I think it 
 such a morality, as, considering from whom it came, is 
 most extraordinary; and such as, without allowing 
 some degree of reality to the character and pretensions 
 
 B.c. Paley remarks, that who- 
 ever expects, in reading the New 
 Testament, to be struck with dis- 
 coveries in morals, in the manner 
 which his mind was affected when 
 he first came to the knowledge of 
 what are called discoveries in 
 
 natural philosophy, and in the arts 
 of life, expects what the nature 
 of the subject renders it impossible 
 that he should meet with. State 
 the foundation of this opinion; 
 and give Paley’s illustration of its 
 principle. 
 
222 LVIDEN CES [PART IL. 
 of the religion, it is difficult to account for: or, to 
 place the argument a little lower in the scale, it is 
 such a morality as completely repels the supposition of 
 its being the tradition of a barbarous age or of a bar- 
 barous people, of the religion being founded in folly, or 
 of its being the production of craft; and it repels also, 
 in a great degree, the supposition of its having been the 
 effusion of an enthusiastic mind. 
 
 C. The division under which the subject may be most 
 conveniently treated is, that of the things taught, and 
 the manner of teaching. 
 
 Under the first head, I should willingly, if the limits 
 and nature of my work admitted of it, transcribe into 
 this chapter the whole of what has been said upon the 
 morality of the Gospel, by the author of Zhe Internal 
 Lividence of Christianity ; because it perfectly agrees 
 with my own opinion, and because it is impossible to say 
 the same thing 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. 
 
 Ca@ 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. 
 
 If. That the Gospel has brought forward some vir- 
 tues, which possess the highest intrinsic value, but which 
 have commonly been overlooked and contemned. 
 
 C.6 The first of these propositions he exemplifies in the 
 instances of friendship, patriotism, active courage; in 
 the sense in which these qualities are usually understood, 
 and in the conduct which they often produce. 
 
 The second, in the instances of passive courage or 
 endurance of sufferings, patience under affronts and 
 injuries, humility, irresistance, placability. 
 
 C. Mention the general division 
 of the subject of this chapter, which 
 the author has adopted; and, under 
 the first head, state the four argu- 
 ments, which are advanced to shew 
 the peculiar excellence of the moral- 
 ity of the Gospel. 
 
 C.a, What are the two positions 
 
 which have been made out by the 
 author of Zhe Internal Evidence 
 of Christianity, with respect to the 
 morality of the Gospel ? 
 
 C.d. By what instances are 
 the two foregoing positions illus- 
 trated ? 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 223 
 
 Cc The truth is, there are two opposite descriptions of 
 character, under which mankind may generally be 
 classed. The one possesses vigour, firmness, resolution ; 
 is daring and active, quick in its sensibilities, jealous 
 of its fame, eager in its attachments, inflexible in its 
 purpose, violent in its resentments. 
 
 The other, meek, yielding, complying, forgiving; not 
 prompt to act, but willing to suffer; silent and gentle 
 under rudeness and insult, suing for reconciliation, 
 where others would demand satisfaction, giving way to 
 the pushes of impudence, conceding and indulgent to 
 the prejudices, the wrongheadedness, 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 univer- 
 sally commands respect. 
 
 The latter is poor-spirited, tame and abject. Yet so 
 it hath happened, that, with the Founder of -Ghris- 
 tianity, this latter is the subject of his commendation, 
 his precepts, his example; and that the former js SO, 
 in no part of its composition. This, and nothing else, 
 is the character designed in the following remarkable 
 passages: “ Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite 
 thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also: 
 and if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away 
 thy coat, let him have thy cloak also: and whosoever 
 shall compel the 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 de- 
 spitefully use you and persecute you.’ This certainly 
 is not common-place morality. It is very original. It 
 shews 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. 
 
 C.@ Now the author, to whom I refer, has not only 
 
 C.c. Mention the two opposite held, and by whom. Illustrate the 
 descriptions of character under latter by passages from the New 
 which mankind may generally be Testament. 
 classed ; and state in what estima- C.d. Exhibit fully the state 
 tion they have been respectively of the argument of the author of 
 
224 EVIDENCES (CHAP. Il. 
 marked this difference more stongly than any preced- 
 ing writer, but has proved, in contradiction to first 
 impressions, to popular opinion, to the encomiums of 
 orators and poets, and even to the suffrages of his- 
 torians 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 tranquility of social life. The 
 state of his argument is as follows :— 
 
 I. If this disposition were universal, the case is clear ; 
 the world would be a society of friends. Whereas, if 
 the other disposition were universal, it would produce a 
 scene of universal contention. The world could not 
 hold a generation of such men. 
 
 II. If, what is the fact, the disposition be partial ; 
 if a few be actuated by it, amongst a multitude who are 
 not; in whatever degree it does prevail, in the same 
 proportion it prevents, allays, and terminates quarrels ; 
 the great disturbers of human happiness, and the great 
 sources of human misery, so far as man’s happiness and 
 misery depend upon man. Without this disposition, en- 
 mities must not only be frequent, but, once begun, must 
 be eternal: for, each retaliation being a fresh injury, 
 and, consequently, requiring a fresh satisfaction, no 
 period can be assigned to the reciprocation of affronts, 
 and to the progress of hatred, but that which closes the 
 lives, or at least the intercourse of the parties. 
 
 I would only add to these observations, that although 
 the former of the two characters, above described, may 
 be occasionally useful; although, perhaps, a great gene- 
 ral, or a great statesman, may be formed by it, and 
 C.e. Paley remarks, that “ al- 
 
 though the former of the two 
 _characters, above described, may be 
 
 Cie 
 
 The internal Evidence of  Chris- 
 tianity, by which he has _ proved, 
 in contradiction to first impres- 
 sions, to popular opinion, to the 
 
 encomiums of orators and_ poets, 
 and even to the suffrages of his- 
 torians and moralists, that the 
 latter description of character pos- 
 sesses the most true worth; both as 
 being the most difficult either to be 
 acquired or sustained, and as con- 
 tributing most to the happiness 
 and tranquility of social life. 
 
 occasionally useful; although, per- 
 haps, a great general, or a great 
 statesman may be formed by it, 
 and these may be instruments of 
 important benefits to mankind, yet 
 is this nothing more than what 
 is true of many qualities which are 
 acknowledged to be vicious.” Il- 
 lustrate this remark, 
 
Cr Pert | OF CHRISTIANITY. 225 
 
 these may be instruments of important benefits to man- 
 kind, yet is this nothing more than what is true of 
 many qualities which are acknowledged to be vicious. 
 Envy is a quality of this sort; I know not a stronger 
 stimulus to exertion; many a scholar, many an artist, 
 many a soldier, has been produced by it; nevertheless, 
 since in its general effects it is noxious, it is properly 
 condemned, certainly is not praised by sober moralists. 
 
 Cf It was a portion of the same character as that we 
 are defending, or rather of his love of the same char- 
 acter, which our Saviour displayed, in his repeated 
 correction of the ambition of his disciples ; his frequent 
 admonitions, that greatness with them was to consist 
 in humility ; his censure of that love of distinction, 
 and greediness of superiority, which the chief persons 
 amongst his countrymen were wont, on all occasions, 
 great and little, to betray. “They (the Scribes and 
 Pharisees) love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the 
 chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the 
 markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But 
 be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even 
 Christ, and all ye are brethren: and call no man your 
 father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is 
 in heaven; neither be ye called masters, for one is your 
 Master, even Christ ; but he that is greatest among you 
 shall be your servant: and whosoever shall exalt him- 
 self shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himself 
 shall be exalted.” I make no further remark upon 
 these passages (because they are, in truth, only a repe- 
 tition of the doctrine, different expressions of the 
 principle, which we have already stated), except that 
 some of the passages, especially our Lord’s advice to 
 the guests at an entertainment,? seem to extend the rule 
 to what we call manners; which was both regular in 
 point of consistency, and not so much beneath the dig- 
 nity of our Lord’s mission as may at first sight be 
 supposed, for bad manners are bad morals. 
 
 I Matt. xxiii. 6: See also Mark xii, 39: Luke xx. 46; xiv. 7. 2 Luke xiv, 7. 
 
 C.f. How did our Saviour display his love of the character which the 
 author is here defending ? 
 Q 
 
226 EVIDENCES OF [PART. 
 
 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 ; to cases in which men act from impulse, for 
 themselves, and from themselves. When it comes to be 
 considered, what is necessary to be done for the sake of 
 the public, and out of a regard to the general welfare 
 (which consideration, for the most part, ought exclusive- 
 ly to govern the duties of men in public stations), it 
 comes to a case to which the rules do not belong. This 
 distinction is plain; and if it were less so, the conse- 
 quence would not be much felt: forit 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. 
 
 Cg II. A second argument, drawn from the morality of 
 the New Testament, is the stress which is laid by our 
 Saviour upon the regulation of the thoughts. And I 
 place this consideration next to the other, because they 
 are connected. The other related to the malicious 
 passions ; this, to the voluptuous. Together, they com- 
 prehend the whole character. 
 
 Ch “Out of the eart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
 adulteries, fornications,” &c.—“These are the things 
 which defile a man.’”! 
 
 ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for 
 ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, 
 but wethin they are full of extortion and excess.—Ye are 
 
 1 Matt. xv. 19. 
 
 C.g. What is Paley’s second C.4. Quote our Lord’s obser- 
 argument, drawn from the morality vations upon the subject of the 
 of the Gospel; and why does it second argument. 
 properly follow the consideration of 
 Christian meekness. 
 
CHAP. II] OF CA TLS FLA INEL ¥- 227 
 
 C.2 
 
 like unto whited sepulchres, which, indeed appear 
 beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s 
 bones, and of all uncleanness ; even so ye also outwardly 
 appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of 
 hypocrisy and iniquity.” 
 
 And more particularly that strong expression.2A— 
 “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, 
 hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” 
 
 There can be no doubt with any reflecting mind, but 
 that the propensities of our nature must be subject to 
 regulation ; but the question is, where the check ought 
 to be placed, upon the thought, or only upon the action? 
 In this question, our Saviour, in the texts here quoted, 
 has pronounced a decisive judgment. He makes the 
 control of thought essential. Internal purity with him 
 is every thing. Now I contend that this is the only 
 discipline which can succeed ; in other words, that a 
 moral system which prohibits actions, but leaves the 
 thoughts at liberty, will be ineffectual, and is therefore 
 unwise. I know not how to go about the proof ofa 
 point, which depends upon experience, and upon a 
 knowledge of the human constitution, better than by 
 citing the judgment of persons, who appear to have given 
 great attention tothe subject, and to be well qualified to 
 form a true opinion about it. Boerhaave, speaking of 
 this very declaration of our Saviour, “ Whosoever looketh 
 on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed 
 adultery with her in his heart,” and understanding it, as 
 we do, to contain an injunction to lay the check upon 
 the thoughts, was wont to say, that “our Saviour knew 
 mankind better than Socrates.’ Haller, who has re- 
 corded 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 debauched 
 
 1 Matt. xxiii. 25, 27, 2 Ib. v. 28, 
 
 C.z. Inthe texts above quoted, Paley goes about the proof of the 
 our Saviour has pronounced a de- point, that the discipline laid down 
 cisive judgment, as to where the by our Saviour, is the only one that 
 check upon the propensities of our can succeed. 
 nature should be placed ; shew how 
 
 2 
 
228 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 person fills his imagination with impure pictures, the 
 licentious ideas which he recalls, fail not to stimulate his 
 desires with a degree of violence which he cannot resist. 
 This will be followed by gratification, unless some exter- 
 nal obstacle should prevent him from the commission of 
 a sin which he had internally resolved on.” “Every 
 moment of time,” says our author, “that is spent in 
 meditations upon sin, increases the power of the danger- 
 ous object which has possessed our imagination.”! I 
 suppose these reflections will be generally assented to. 
 CA III. Thirdly: had a teacher of morality been asked 
 concerning a general principle of conduct, and for a 
 short rule of life; and had he instructed the person who 
 consulted him, “constantly to refer his actions to what 
 he believed to be the will of his Creator, and constantly 
 to have in view not his own interest and gratification 
 alone, but the happiness and comfort of those about 
 him,” he would have been thought, I doubt not, in any 
 age of the world, and in any, even the most improved, 
 state of morals, to have delivered a judicious answer ; 
 because, by the first direction, he suggested the only 
 motive which acts steadily and uniformly, in sight and’ 
 out of sight, in familiar occurrences and under pressing 
 temptations ; and in the second, he corrected, what, of 
 all tendencies in the human character, stands most in 
 need of correction, selfishness, or a contempt of other 
 men’s conveniency ,and satisfaction. In estimating the 
 value of a moral rule, we are to have regard not only to 
 the particular duty, but the general spirit ; not only to 
 what it directs us to do, but to the character which a 
 compliance with its direction is likely to form in us. So, 
 in the present instance, the rule here recited will never 
 fail to make him who obeys it considerate, not only of the 
 rights, but of the feelings of other men, bodily and 
 mental, in great matters and in small; of the ease, the 
 accommodation, the self-complacency, of all with whom 
 he has any concern, especially of all who are in his 
 power, or dependent upon his will. 
 1 Letters to his Daughter, 
 
 C.%. State, and fully exhibit, illustrate it by passages selected from 
 Paley’s third argument, drawn from the New Testament. 
 the morality of the Gospel; and 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 229 
 
 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 occa- 
 sion as that which we have feigned. 
 
 “Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a 
 question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the 
 great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 
 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first 
 and great commandment; and the second is like unto it, 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: on these two 
 commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 
 
 The second precept occurs in S. Matthew (KIXSEO.): 
 on another occasion, similar to this ; and both of them, 
 on a third similar occasion, in Luke (x. 27.) In these 
 two latter instances, the question proposed was,—“ What 
 shall I do to inherit eternal life 2” 
 
 Upon all these occasions, I consider the words of our 
 Saviour as expressing precisely the same thing as what 
 I have put into the mouth of the moral philosopher. 
 Nor do I think that it detracts much from the merit of 
 the answer, that these precepts are extant in the Mosaic 
 code; for his laying his finger, if I may so say, upon 
 these precepts; his drawing them out from the rest of 
 that voluminous. institution ; his stating of them, not 
 simply amongst the number, but as the greatest, and the 
 sum of all the others; in a word, his proposing of them 
 to his hearers for their rule and principle, was our 
 Saviour’s own. 
 
 And what our Saviour had said upon the subject, 
 appears to me to have fired the sentiment amongst his 
 followers. 
 
 S. Paul has it expressly, “If there be any other com-'’ 
 mandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ;? and again, 
 “for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”3 
 
 S. John, in like manner, This commandment have we 
 
 1 Matt. xxii. 85—40, 2 Rom. xiii. 9, 3 Gal. v. 14. 
 
230 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother 
 also.” 
 
 S. Peter, not very differently : “Seeing that ye have 
 purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the 
 Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye 
 love one another with a pure heart fervently.” 
 
 And it is so well known, as to require no citations to 
 verify it, that this love, or charity, or, in other words, 
 regard to the welfare of others, runs in various forms 
 through all the preceptive parts of the apostolic writings. 
 It is the theme of all their exhortations, that with which 
 their morality begins and ends, from which all their 
 details and enumerations set out, and into which they 
 return. 
 
 c.J And that this temper, for some time at least, descended 
 in its purity to succeeding Christians, is attested by one 
 of the earliest and best of the remaining writings of the 
 apostolical fathers, the epistle of the Roman Clement. 
 The meekness of the Christian character reigns through- 
 out the whole of that excellent piece. The occasion 
 called for it. It was to compose the dissensions of the 
 church of Corinth. And the venerable hearer of the 
 apostles does not fall short, in the display of this principle, 
 of the finest passages of their writings. He calls to the 
 remembrance of the Corinthian church its former 
 character, in which, “ye were all of you,” he tells them, 
 ‘“humble-minded, not boasting of anything, desiring 
 rather to be subject than to govern, to give than to 
 receive, being content with the portion God had dispensed 
 to you, and hearkening diligently to his word; ye were 
 enlarged in your bowels, having his sufferings always 
 before your eyes. Ye contended day and night for the 
 whole brotherhood, that with compassion anda good 
 conscience the number of his elect might be saved. Ye 
 were sincere, and without offence, towards each other. 
 Ye bewailed every one his neighbour's sins, esteeming 
 
 1 1 John iv. 21. 21 Pot. i. 22. 
 
 C.2.. Shew that the temper of in its purity, to the Christians who 
 love, or charity, or, in other words, succeeded the age of the apostolic 
 regard to the welfare of others, writings. 
 descended for some time, at least, 
 
CHAP. II] OM CIES RAG (Ve 231 
 
 their defects your own.”! His prayer for them was for 
 the “return of peace, long-suffering, and patience.”? And 
 his advice to those who might have been the occasion of 
 difference in the society, is conceived in the true spirit, 
 and with a perfect knowledge of the Christian character : 
 “Who is there among you that is generous? who that is © 
 compassionate? who that has any charity? Let him 
 say, If this sedition, this contention, and these schisms, 
 be upon my account, I am ready to depart, to go away 
 whithersoever ye please, and do whatsoever ye shall 
 command me; only let.the flock of Christ be in peace 
 with the elders who are set over it. He that shall do 
 this shall get to himself a very great honour in the Lord; 
 and there is no place but what will be ready to receive 
 him; for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. 
 These things they, who have their conversation towards 
 God, not to be repented of, both have done, and will 
 always be ready to do.”8 
 Cm This sacred principle, this earnest recommendation 
 of forbearance, lenity, and forgiveness, mixes with all 
 the writings of that age. There are more quotations in 
 the apostolical fathers, of texts which relate to these 
 points, than of any other. Christ’s sayings had struck 
 them. “Not rendering,” said Polycarp, the disciple of 
 John, “ evil for evil, or railing for railing, or striking for 
 striking, or cursing for cursing.”* Again, speaking of 
 some, whose behaviour had given great offence, “ Be ye 
 moderate,” says he, “on this occasion, and look not upon 
 such as enemies, but call them back as suffering and 
 erring members, that ye save your whole body.’”® 
 “Be ye mild at their anger,” said Ignatius, the com- 
 panion of Polycarp, “ humble at their boastings, to their 
 blasphemies return your prayers, to their error your 
 firmness in the faith; when they are cruel, be ye gentle; 
 not endeavouring to imitate their ways, let us be their 
 brethren in all kindness and moderation: but let us be 
 
 1 Ep. Clem. Rom. c. 2: Abp. Wake’s Translation. 3 Ibre. Soa 
 3 Ep. Clem. Rom, c, 54; Abp, Wake’s Translation, 4 Pol. Ep. ad Phil. c, 2, 5 Ib. c¢, 11, 
 
 C.m. Shew that the earnest all the writings of the age of the 
 
 recommendation of forbearance, apostolic fathers. 
 lenity, and forgiveness, mixes with 
 
232 EVIDENCES [PART Il. 
 
 followers of the Lord; for who was ever more unjustly 
 used, more destitute, more despised ?” 
 
 ca IV. A fourth quality, by which the morality of the 
 Gospel is distinguished, is the exclusion of regard to fame 
 and reputation. 
 
 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to 
 be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your 
 Father which is in heaven.’ 
 
 “When thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when 
 thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in 
 secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall 
 reward thee openly.’” 
 
 And the rule, by parity of reason, is extended to all 
 other virtues. 
 
 I do not think, that either in these, or in any other 
 passage of the New Testament, the pursuit of fame is 
 stated as a vice; it is only said that an action, to be 
 virtuous, must be independent of it. I would also 
 observe, that it is not publicity, but ostentation, which 
 is prohibited; not the mode, but the motive of the 
 action, which is regulated. A good man will prefer that 
 mode, as well as. those objects of his beneficence, by 
 which he can produce the greatest effect ; and the view 
 of this purpose may dictate sometimes publication, and 
 sometimes concealment. Either the one or the other 
 may be the mode of the action, according as the end to 
 be promoted by it appears to require. But from the 
 motive, the reputation of the deed, and the fruits and 
 advantage of that reputation to ourselves, must be shut 
 out, or, in whatever proportion they are not so, the action 
 in that proportion fails of being virtuous. 
 
 This exclusion of regard to human opinion is a differ- 
 ence, not so much in the duties to which the teachers. of 
 virtue would persuade mankind, as in the manner and 
 topics of persuasion. And in this view the difference is 
 great. When weset about to give advice, our lectures 
 are full of the advantages of character, of the regard that 
 
 1 Matt. vi. 1, 2 Matt. vi. 6. 
 
 C.z. Mention the fourth quality, by quotations selected from the New 
 by which the morality of the Gos- Testament, and by Paley’s general 
 pel is distinguished ; and illustrate it remarks. 
 
CHAP. II.] OFS GHRASETANT T ¥. 233 
 
 is due to appearances and to opinion; of what the world, 
 especially of what the good or great, will think and say; 
 of the value of public esteem, and of the qualities by 
 which men acquire it. Widely different from this was 
 our Saviour’s instruction; and the difference was founded 
 upon the best reasons. For, however the care of repu- 
 tation, the authority of public opinion, or even of the 
 opinion of good men, the satisfaction of being well 
 received and well thought of, the benefit of being known 
 and distinguished, are topics to which we are fain to 
 have recourse in our exhortations; the true virtue is 
 that which discards these considerations absolutely, and 
 which retires from them all to the single internal purpose 
 of pleasing God. This at least was the virtue which our 
 Saviour taught. And in teaching this, he not only con- 
 fined the views of his followers to the proper measure 
 and principle of human duty, but acted in consistency 
 with his office as a monitor from heaven. 
 
 p. NEXT to what our Saviour taught, may be considered 
 the manner of his teaching; which was extremely 
 peculiar, yet, I think, precisely adapted to the peculiarity 
 of his character and situation. His lessons did not con- 
 sist of disquisitions ; of any thing like moral essays, or 
 like sermons, or like set treatises upon the several points 
 which he mentioned. When he delivered a precept, it 
 was seldom that he added any proof or argument ;_ still 
 more seldom, that he accompanied it with, what all 
 precepts require, limitations and distinctions. His 
 instructions were conceived in short, emphatic, senten- 
 tious rules, in occasional reflections, or in round maxims. 
 I do not think that this was a natural, or would have 
 been a proper method for a philosopher or a moralist ; 
 or that it is a method which can be successfully imitated 
 by us. But I contend that it was suitable to the 
 
 D. Shew, fully, that our Sa- against the absoluteness of this 
 viour’s manner of teaching was pre- instruction; and the points which 
 cisely adapted to the peculiarity of especially deserve notice in con- 
 his character and situation: mention sidering our Saviour’s conduct, as a 
 the objection which may be urged moral teacher. 
 
234 EVIDENCES [PART. IL 
 
 character which Christ assumed, and to the situation in 
 which, as a teacher, he was placed. He produced him- 
 self as a messenger from God. He put the truth of 
 what he taught upon authority.!_ In the choice, there- 
 fore, of his mode of teaching, the purpose by him to be 
 consulted was zmpression: because conviction, which 
 forms the principal end of our discourses, was to arise 
 in the minds of his followers from a different source— 
 from their respect to his person and authority. Now, for 
 the purpose of impression, singly and exclusively 
 (I repeat again, that we are not here to consider the 
 convincing of the understanding), I know nothing which 
 _ would have so great force as strong ponderous maxims, 
 frequently urged, and frequently brought back to 
 the thoughts of the hearers. I know nothing that 
 could in this view be said better, than “Do unto others 
 as ye would that others should do unto you:” “The 
 first and great commandment is, Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God; and the second is like unto it, Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” It must also be 
 remembered, that our Lord’s ministry, upon the sup- 
 position either of one year or three, compared with his 
 work, was of short duration; that, within this time, he 
 had many places to visit, various audiences to address ; 
 that his person was generally beseiged by crowds of 
 followers ; that he was, sometimes, driven away from 
 the place where he was teaching by persecution, and, 
 at other times, thought fit to withdraw himself from the 
 commotions of the populace. Under these circum- 
 stances, nothing appears to have been so particable, or 
 likely to be so efficacious, as leaving, wherever he came, 
 concise lessons of duty. These circumstances, at least, 
 shew the necessity he was under of comprising what he 
 delivered within a small compass. In particular, his 
 sermon upon the mount ought always to be considered 
 with a view to these observations. The question is not, 
 whether a fuller, a more accurate, a more systematic, or 
 a more argumentative discourse upon morals might not 
 have been pronounced ; but whether more could have 
 
 1/7 say unto you, Swear not at all: 7 say unto you, Resist not evil: J say unto you, love your 
 enemies, * 
 * Matt. v. 34, 39, 44, 
 
CHap. IL] OF CHRISTIANITY. 235 
 
 been said in the same room, better adapted to the 
 exigencies of the hearers, or better calculated for the 
 purpose of impression? Seen in this light, it has always 
 appeared to me to be admirable. Dr. Lardner thought 
 that this discourse was made up of what Christ had said 
 at different times, and on different occasions, several of 
 which occasions are noticed in S. Luke’s narrative. I 
 can perceive no reason for this opinion. I believe that 
 our Lord delivered this discourse at one time and place, 
 in the manner related by S. Matthew, and that he 
 repeated the same rules and maxims at different times, 
 as opportunity or occasion suggested; that they were 
 often in his mouth, and were repeated to different 
 audiences and in various conversations. 
 
 It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, 
 which proceeds not by proof but upon authority, not by 
 disquisition but by precept, that the rules will be con- 
 ceived in absolute terms, leaving the application, and the 
 distinctions that attend it, to the reason of the hearer. 
 It is likewise to be expected that they will be delivered 
 in terms by so much the more forcible and energetic, as 
 they have to encounter natural or general propensities. 
 It is further also to be remarked, that many of those 
 strong instances, which appear in our Lord’s sermon, 
 such as, “If any man will smite thee on the right cheek, 
 turn to him the other also :” “If any man will sue thee 
 at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy 
 cloak also :” “Whoever shall compel thee to goa mile, 
 go with him twain:” though they appear in the form of 
 specefic precepts, are intended as descriptive of dis- 
 position and character. A specific compliance with the 
 precepts would be of little value, but the disposition 
 which they inculcate is of the highest. He who should 
 content himself with waiting for the occasion, and with 
 literally observing the rule when the occasion offered, 
 would do nothing, or worse than nothing: but he who 
 considers the character and disposition which is hereby 
 inculcated, and places that disposition before him as the 
 model to which he should bring his own, takes, perhaps, 
 the best possible method of improving the benevolence, 
 and of calming and rectifying the vices of his temper. 
 
236 EVIDENCES [PART. IL 
 
 If it be said that this disposition is unatainable, I 
 answer, so is all perfection: ought therefore a moralist 
 to recommend imperfection? Qne excellency, how- 
 ever, of our Saviour’s rules, is, that they are either 
 never mistaken, or never so mistaken as to do harm. 
 I could feign a hundred cases, in which the literal appli- 
 cation of the rule, “of doing to others as we would that 
 others should do unto us,” might mislead us: but I 
 never yet met with the man who was actually misled by 
 it. Notwithstanding that our Lord bade his followers, 
 “not to resist evil,” and “to forgive the enemy who 
 should trespass against them, not till seven times, but 
 till seventy times seven,” the Christian world has hither- 
 to suffered little by to much placability or forbear- 
 ance. I would repeat once more, what has already 
 been twice remarked, that these rules were designed to 
 regulate personal conduct from personal motives, and for 
 this purpose alone. 
 
 I think that these observations will assist us greatly 
 in placing our Saviour’s conduct, as a moral teacher, in 
 a proper point of view: especially when it is considered, 
 that to deliver moral disquisition was no part of his 
 design,—to teach morality at all was only a subordinate 
 part of it; his great business being to supply, what 
 was much more wanting than lessons of morality, 
 stronger moral sanctions, and clearer assurances of a 
 future judgment.! 
 
 E. The parables of the New Testament are, many of 
 them, such as would have done honour to any book in 
 the world : I do not mean in style and diction, but in 
 the choice of the subjects, in the structure of the nar- 
 ratives, in the aptness, propriety, and force of the cir- 
 cumstances woven into them; and in some, as that of 
 
 1 Some appear to require in a religious system, or, in the books which profess to deliver that 
 system, minute directions for every case and occurence that may arise. This, say they, is necessary, 
 to render a revelation perfect, especially one which has for its object the regulation of human con- 
 duct. Now, how prolix, and yet how incomplete and unavailing, such an attempt must have been, 
 is proved by one notable example: ‘‘The Hindoo and Mussulman religions are institutes of civil law, 
 regulating the minutest questions both of property, and of all questions which come under the cog- 
 nizance of the magistrate. And to what length details of this kind are necessarily carried, when 
 once begun, may be understood from an anecdote of the Mussulman code, which we have received 
 from the most respectable authority, that not less than seventy-five thousand traditional precepts have 
 been promulgated,”—Hamilton’s Translation of Hedaya, or Guide, 
 
 E. State the characteristic quality of the parables of the New 
 Testament. 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 207 
 
 the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Pharisee, 
 and the Publican, in an union of pathos and simpli- 
 city, which, in the best productions of human genius, 
 is the fruit only of a much exercised and well culti- 
 vated judgment. 
 
 F. Lhe Lord’s Prayer, for a succession of solemn 
 thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a few great 
 points, for suitableness to every condition, for suffi- 
 ciency, for conciseness without obscurity, for the weight 
 and real importance of its petitions, is without an equal 
 or a rival. 
 
 From whence did these come? Whence had this man 
 his wisdom? Was our Saviour, in fact, a well-instruct- 
 ed philosopher, whilst he is represented to us as an 
 illiterate peasant? Or shall we say that some early 
 Christians of taste and education composed these pieces 
 and ascribed them to Christ? Beside all other incredi- 
 bilities in this account, I answer, with Dr. Jortin, that 
 they could not do it. No specimens of composition, 
 which the Christians of the first century have left us, 
 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 under- 
 taking, may be judged of from the traditions and 
 writings of theirs which were the nearest to that age. 
 The whole collection of the Talmud is one continued 
 proof, into what follies they fell whenever they left 
 their Bible; and how little capable they were of fur- 
 nishing out such lessons as Christ delivered, 
 
 G. BUT there is still another view in which our Lord’s dis- 
 courses deserve to be considered ; and that is, in their 
 negative character,—not in what they did, but in what 
 they did not, contain. Under this head the following 
 reflections appear to me to posses some weight. 
 
 F. Quote Paley’s opinion of G. Mention, and illustrate, the 
 the Lord’s Prayer; and state his first of the eight negative character- 
 argument founded on that, and on _ istics of our Lord’s discourses. 
 the parables as specimens of compo- 
 sition. 
 
238 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 I. They exhibit no particular description of the 
 invisible world. The future happiness of the good, and 
 the misery of the bad, which is all we want to be 
 assured of, is directly and positively affirmed, and is 
 represented by metaphors and comparisons, which were 
 plainly intended as metaphors and comparisons, and 
 as nothing more. As to the rest, a solemn reserve is 
 maintained. The question concerning the woman who 
 had been married to seven brothers, ‘“‘ Whose shall she 
 be on the resurrection?” was of a nature calculated to 
 have drawn from Christ a more circumstantial account 
 of the state of the human species in their future exis- 
 tence. He cut short, however, the enquiry by an answer 
 which at once rebuked intruding curiosity, and was 
 agreeable to the best apprehensions we are able to form 
 upon the subject, viz. “That they who are accounted 
 worthy of that resurection shall be as the angels of 
 
 c.aGod in heaven.” I lay a stress upon this reserve, 
 because it repels the suspicion of enthusiasm: for en- 
 thusiasm is wont to expatiate upon the condition of the 
 departed, above all other subjects; and with a wild par- 
 ticularity. It is moreover a topic which is always lis- 
 tened to with greediness. The teacher, therefore, whose 
 principal purpose is to draw upon himself attention, is 
 sure to be full of it. The Koran of Mahomet is half 
 made up of it. ' 
 
 rH II. Our Lord enjoined no austerities. He not only 
 enjoined none as absolute duties, but he recommeded 
 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 
 
 G.a. Why does Paley lay a H. State, and illustrate, the 
 stress upon the reserve shewn by our second of the eight negative charac- 
 Lord, when speaking of the invisible teristics of our Lord’s discourses. 
 world ? 
 
CHAP. II.| OF CHRISTIANITY. 239 
 
 the rigours of an ascetic, and the vows of a monastic 
 life ; the hair shirt, the watchings, the midnight prayers, 
 the obmutescence, the gloom and mortification of teli- 
 gious orders, and of those who aspired to religious 
 perfection. 
 
 I. III. Our Saviour uttered no impassioned devotion. 
 There was no heat in his piety, or in the language in 
 which he expressed it; no vehement or rapturous 
 ejaculations, no violent urgency, in his prayers. The 
 Lord’s Prayer is a model of calm devotion. “His words 
 in the garden are unaffected expressions of a deep, 
 indeed, but sober piety. He never appears to have been 
 worked up into any thing like that elation, or that 
 emotion of spirits, which is occasionally observed in 
 most, of those to whom the name of enthusiast can in 
 any degree be applied. I feel a respect for Methodists, 
 because I believe that there is to be found amongst 
 them much sincere piety, and availing, though not 
 always well-informed, Christianity ; yet I never at- 
 tended a meeting of theirs, but I came away with the 
 reflection, how different what I heard was from what I 
 read! I do not mean in doctrine, with which at pre- 
 sent 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 ! 
 
 K, IV. Itis very usual with the human mind to sub- 
 stitute forwardness and fervency in a particular cause, 
 for the merit of general and regular morality ; and it is 
 natural, and politic also, in the leader of a sect or 
 party, to encourage such a disposition in his followers. 
 Christ did not overlook this turn of thought: yet, 
 though avowedly placing himself at the head of a new 
 institution, he notices it only to condemn it. “Not. 
 every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will 
 of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto 
 
 I. Mention, and illustrate, the K. Explain, and illustrate, the 
 third of the eight negative charac- fourth of the eight negative charac- 
 teristics of our Lord’s discourses. teristics of our Lord’s discourses. 
 
240 EVIDENCES [PART Il. 
 
 me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
 in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? 
 and in thy name done many wonderful works? And 
 then will I profess unto you, I never knew you: depart 
 from me, ve that work iniquity. So far was the Author 
 of Christianity from courting the attachment of his 
 followers by any sacrifice of principle, or by a con- 
 descension to the errors which even zeal in his service 
 might have inspired! This was a proof both of sin- 
 cerity and judgment. 
 
 Ii, V. Nor, fifthly, did he fall in with any of the de- 
 praved fashions of his country, or with the natural bias 
 of his own education. Bred up a Jew, under a religion 
 extremely technical, in an age and amongst a people 
 more tenacious of the ceremonies than of any other 
 part of that religion, he delivered an institution, con- 
 taining 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 enthusiam 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 
 
 L.ahis own institution. In both, he displayed the sound- 
 ness and moderation of his judgement. He censured an 
 overstrained scrupulousness, or, perhaps, an affectation 
 of scrupulousness, about the Sabbath: but how did he 
 censure it? not by contemning or decrying the insti- 
 tution itself, but by declaring that “the Sabbath was 
 made for man, not man for Sabbath;’ that is to 
 say, that the Sabbath was to be subordinate to its 
 purpose, and that that purpose was the real good of 
 those who were the subjects of the law. The same 
 concerning the nicety of some of the Pharisees, in 
 
 1 Matt. vii. 21, 22. 
 
 L. State, and illustrate, the fifth tion of scrupulousness about the 
 of the eight negative characteristics Sabbath; and also the nicety of 
 of our Lord’s discourses. some of the Pharisees, in paying. 
 
 L.a. In what manner did our tithes of the most trifling articles, 
 Saviour censure an overstrained scru- accompanied with a neglect of jus- 
 pulousness, or, perhaps, an affecta- tice, fideltty, and mercy? 
 
‘Cuap. 11] OF CHRISTIANITY. 2At 
 
 M. 
 
 paying tithes of the most trifling articles, accompanied 
 with a neglect of justice, fidelity, and mercy. He finds 
 fault with them for misplacing their anxiety. He does 
 not speak disrespectfully of the law of tithes, nor of 
 their observance of it; but he assigns to each class of 
 duties its proper station in the scale of moral importance. 
 All this might be expected perhaps from a well-in- 
 structed, cool, and judicious philosopher, but was not to 
 be looked for from an illiterate Jew ; certainly not from 
 an impetuous enthusiast. 
 
 VI. Nothing could be more quibbling, than were 
 the comments and expositions of the Jewish doctors at 
 that time; nothing so puerile as their distinctions. 
 Their evasion of the fifth commandment, their ex posi- 
 tion of the law of oaths, are specimens of the bad taste 
 in morals which then prevailed. Whereas, in a nume- 
 rous collection of our Saviour’s apophthegms, many of 
 them referring to sundry precepts of the Jewish law, 
 there is not to be found one example. of sophistry, 
 or of false subtilty, or of any thing approaching there- 
 unto. 
 
 VII. The national temper of the Jews was intole- 
 rant, narrow-minded, and excluding. In Jesus, on the 
 contrary, whether we regard his lessons or his example, 
 we see not only benevolence, but benevolence the most 
 enlarged and comprehensive. In the parable of the 
 Good Samaritan, the very point of the story is, that 
 the person relieved by him, was the national and 
 religious enemy of his benefactor. Our Lord declared 
 the equity of the divine administration, when he told 
 the Jews (what, probably, they were surprised to hear), 
 “That many shall come from the east and west, and 
 shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the 
 kingdom of heaven; but the children of the king- 
 dom shall be cast into outer darkness.”! His reproof 
 of the hasty zeal of his disciples, who would needs call 
 
 1 Matt. viii, 11. 
 
 M. State the sixth of the eight N. Mention, and illustrate, the 
 negative characteristics of our Lord’s seventh of the eight negative cha- 
 discourses. racteristics, of our Lord’s discourses. 
 
 R 
 
242 BVIGENCES [PART It. 
 
 down fire from heaven to revenge an affront put upon 
 their Master, shews 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.” 
 
 Oo. VIII. Lastly: amongst the negative qualities of our 
 religion, as it came out of the hands of its Founder 
 and his apostles, we may reckon its complete abstrac- 
 tion from all views either of ecclesiastical or civil 
 policy; or, to meet a language much in fashion with 
 some men, from the politics either of priests or states- 
 men. Christ’s declaration, that “his kingdom was not 
 of this world,” recorded by S. John; his evasion of 
 the question, whether it was lawful or not to give tri- 
 bute unto Cesar, 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 judge or a divider over you ?” 
 ascribed to him by S. Luke; his declining to exercise 
 the office of a criminal judge in the case of the woman 
 taken in adultery, as related by John, are all intelligible 
 significations of our Saviour’s sentiments upon this head. 
 And with respect to folztics, in the usual sense of that 
 word, or discussions concerning different forms of gov- 
 ernment, Christianity declines every question upon the 
 subject. Whilst politicians are disputing about monar- 
 chies, aristocracies, and republics, the Gospel is alike 
 applicable, useful, and friendly to them all; inasmuch 
 as,—lIst, it tends to make men virtuous, and as it is 
 easier to govern good men than bad men under any 
 constitution ;—as, 2ndly, it states obedience to govern- 
 ment, in ordinary cases, to be not merely a submission 
 to force, but a duty of conscience ;—as, 3rdly, it induces 
 
 1 Luke ix, 55, 
 
 O. Explain, and illustrate, the and shew the excellent fitness of 
 last of the eight negative charac- Christianity, for all forms of go- 
 teristics of our Lord’s discourses: vernment. 
 
CHAP. I1.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY, 243 
 dispositions favourable to public tranquillity, a Chris- 
 tian’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 des- 
 cription or denomination they be, with a solicitude and 
 fervency proportioned to the influence which they pos- 
 sess upon human happiness. All which, in my opinion, 
 is just as it should be. Had there been more to be 
 found in Scripture of a political nature, or convertible 
 to political purposes, the worse use would have been 
 made of it, on whichever side it seemed to lie. 
 
 When, therefore, we consider Christ as a moral 
 teacher (remembering that this was only a secondary 
 part of his office; and that morality, by the nature of 
 the subject, does not admit of discovery, properly so 
 called) ;—when we consider either what he taught, or 
 what he did not teach, either the substance or the man- 
 ner of his instruction ; his preference of solid to popular 
 virtues, of a character which is commonly despised to a 
 character which is universally extolled ; his placing, in 
 our licentious vices, the check in the right place, viz. 
 upon the thoughts ; his collecting of human duty into 
 two well-divised rules, his repetition of these rules, the 
 stress he laid upon them, especially in comparison with 
 positive duties, and his fixing thereby the sentiments of 
 his followers; his exclusion of all regard to reputa- 
 tion in our devotion and alms, and, by parity of reason, 
 in our other virtues ;—when we consider that his in- 
 structions were delivered in a form calculated for im- 
 pression, 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 ob- 
 serve him free from the usual symptoms of enthusiasm, 
 
 P. Recapitulate the considera- 
 tions upon the morality of the 
 Gospel, which Paley imagines 
 would induce the most reluctant 
 understanding to acknowledge the 
 probity and good sense of those to 
 whom it owes its origin ; and that 
 
 some regard is due to the testimony 
 of such men, when they declare 
 their knowledge that the religion 
 proceeded from God; and when 
 they appeal, for the truth of their 
 assertion, to miracles which they 
 wrought, or which they saw. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 heat and vehemence in devotion, austerity in institu- 
 tions, and a wild particularity in the description of a 
 future state ; free also from the depravities of his age 
 and country ; without superstition amongst the most 
 superstitious of men, yet not decrying positive distinc- 
 tions or external observances, but soberly calling them 
 to the principle of their establishment, and to their 
 place in the scale of human duties ; without sophistry 
 or trifling, amidst teachers remarkable for nothing so 
 much as frivolous subtleties and quibbling expositions ; 
 candid and liberal in his judgment of the rest of man- 
 kind, although belonging to a people who affected a 
 separate claim to Divine favour, and in consequence of 
 that opinion, prone to uncharitableness, partiality, and 
 restriction ; when we find, in his religion, no scheme of 
 building up a hierarchy, or of ministering to the views 
 of human governments ;—in a word, when we 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 ac- 
 knowledge the probity, I think also, the good sense, of 
 those to whom it owes its origin: and that some regard 
 is due to the testimony of such men, when they declare 
 their knowledge that the religion proceeded from God ; 
 and when they appeal, for the truth of their assertion, 
 to miracles which they wrought, or which they saw. 
 
 Q. Perhaps the qualities which we observe in the 
 religion, may be thought to prove something more. 
 They would have been extraordinary, had the religion 
 come from any person; from the person from whom 
 it did come, they are exceedingly so. What was Jesus 
 in external appearance? A Jewish peasant, the son of 
 a carpenter, living with his father and mother in a re- 
 mote 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 
 
 Illustrate Paley’s remark, we observe in the religion may be 
 that ‘perhaps the qualities which thought to prove something more.” 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 245 
 
 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 the persons of the same rank of life 
 with himself. Supposing it to be true, which it is not, that 
 all his points of morality might be picked out of Greek 
 and Roman writings, they were writings which he had 
 never seen. Supposing them to be no more than what 
 some or other had taught in various times and places, he 
 could not collect them together. 
 
 Who were his coadjutors in the undertaking,—the 
 persons into whose hands the religion came after his 
 death? A few fishermen upon the lake of Tiberias, 
 persons just as uneducated, and, for the purpose of 
 framing rules of morality, as unpromising as himself. 
 Suppose the mission to be real, all this is accounted for ; 
 the unsuitableness of the authors to the production, of 
 the characters to the undertaking, no longer surprises 
 us, but, without reality, it is very difficult to explain, 
 how such a system should proceed from such persons. 
 Christ was not like any other carpenter; the apostles 
 were not like any other fishermen. 
 
 But the subject is not exhausted by these observa- 
 tions. That portion of it which is most reducible to 
 portions of argument, has been stated, and, I trust, truly. 
 There are, however, some topics of a more diffuse nature, 
 which yet deserve to be proposed to the reader’s 
 attention. 
 
 R, — The character of Christ is a part of the morality of the 
 Gospel; one strong observation upon which is, that, 
 neither as represented by his followers, nor as attacked 
 by his enemies, is he charged with any personal vice. 
 This remark is as old as Origen: “ Though innumerable 
 lies and calumnies had been forged against the venerable 
 Jesus, none had dared to charge him with an intempe- ° 
 rance.”* Nota reflection upon his moral character, not 
 an imputation or suspicion of any offence against purity 
 and chastity, appears for five hundred years after his 
 
 1 Or. Ep. Cels, I. 3, num. 36, ed. Bened, 
 
 R. Shew, fully, the excellence of the morality of the Goepel, as evinced 
 in the character of Christ. 
 
246 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 Rabirth. 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 law-giver.”! Zeno the Stoic, and Diogenes the 
 Cynic, fell into the foulest impurities ; of which also 
 Socrates himself was more than suspected. Solon for- 
 bade unnatural crimes to slaves. Lycurgus tolerated 
 theft as a part of education. Plato recommended a 
 community of women. Aristotle maintained the general 
 right of making war upon barbarians. The elder Cato 
 was remarkable for the ill usage of his slaves; the 
 younger gave up the person of his wife. One loose 
 principle is found in almost all the pagan moralists ; is 
 distinctly, however, perceived in the writings of Plato, 
 Xenophon, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus ; and that is, the 
 allowing, and even the recommending to their disciples, 
 a compliance with the religion, and with the religious 
 rites, of every country into which they came. In 
 speaking of the founders of new institutions, we cannot 
 forget Mahomet. His licentious transgressions of his 
 own licentious rules; his abuse of the character which 
 he assumed, and of the power which he had acquired, 
 for the purposes of personal and privileged indulgence ; 
 his avowed claim of a special permission from Heaven of 
 unlimited sensuality, is known to every reader, as it is 
 confessed by every'writer, of the Moslem story. 
 
 R.6 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 per- 
 ceive, besides the absence of every appearance of vice, 
 traces of devotion, humility, benignity, mildness, patience, 
 prudence. I speak of traces of these qualities, because 
 
 1 See many instances, collected by Grotius de Veritate Christiane Religionis, in the Notes to 
 his Second Book, p. 116. Pocock’s edition. 
 
 R.a. Illustrate Paley’s remark, Christ, we perceive, beside the 
 
 that the utter faultlessness of the 
 character of Christ is more peculiar 
 than we are apt to imagine. 
 
 R.J. Paley remarks, that in the 
 histories which are left us of Jesus 
 
 absence of every appearance of vice, 
 traces of devotion, humility, 
 benignity, mildness, patience, and 
 prudence. Mention why Paley 
 speaks of traces of these qualities ; 
 and give instances of each. 
 
CHAP. II] OF CHRISTIANITY. 247 
 
 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 character of him drawn 
 in any part of the New Testament. 
 
 Thus we see the devoutness of his mind, in his frequent 
 retirement to solitary prayer ;! in his habitual giving of 
 thanks ;? in his reference of the beauties and operations 
 of nature to the bounty of Providence ;3 in his earnest 
 addresses to his Father, more particularly that short but 
 solemn one before the raising of Lazarus from the 
 dead ;* and in the deep piety of his behaviour in the 
 garden, on the last evening of his life ;> his Aum7lity, in 
 his constant reproof of contentions for superiority ;° the 
 benignity and affectionateness of his temper, in his kind- 
 ness to children ;’ in the tears which he shed over his 
 falling country,’ and upon the death of his friend ;? in 
 his noticing of the widow’s mite ;!° in his parables of the 
 good Samaritan, of the ungrateful servant, and of the 
 Pharisee and Publican, of which parables no one but a 
 man of humanity could have been the author; the 
 mildness and lenity of his character is discovered, in his 
 rebuke of the forward zeal of his disciples at the 
 Samaritan village ;" in his expostulation with Pilate ;12 
 in his prayer for his enemies at the moment of his 
 suffering,** which, though it has been since very properly 
 and frequently imitated, was then, I apprehend, new. 
 His prudence is discerned, where prudence is most 
 wanted, in his conduct on trying occasions, and in 
 answers to artful questions. Of these the following are 
 examples :—His withdrawing, in various instances, from 
 the first symptoms of tumult,* and with the express 
 care, as appears from S. Matthew, 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, and in his repulse of 
 
 1 Matt. xiv. 23. Luke ix.28. Matt. xxvi. 36. 
 2 Matt. xi. 2%. Mark viii.6. John vi. 23. Luke xxii. 17, 
 
 3 Matt. vi. 26—28, 4 John xi. 41. 5 Matt. xxvi. 36—47. 
 6 Mark ix. 33, 7 Mark x. 16. 8 Luke xix. 4]. 
 
 9 John xi. 35. 10 Mark xii. 42. 11 Luke ix. 55. 
 
 12 John xix. 11. 18 Luke xxiii, 34. 
 
 14 Matt, xiv. 22. Luke v. 15,16. John v.13; vi. 15. 15 Chap. xii, 19. 
 16 John viii. 1. 
 
48 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 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 ;2 in the 
 difficulty concerning the interfering relations of a future 
 state, as proposed to him in the instance of a woman 
 who had married seven brethren ;3 and, more especially, 
 in his reply to those who demanded from him an ex- 
 planation of the authority by which he acted, which 
 reply consisted in propounding a question to them, sit- 
 uated between the very difficulties into which they 
 were insidiously endeavouring to draw him.4 
 
 R.¢, Our Saviour’s lessons, beside what has already been 
 
 Sh 
 
 remarked in them, touch, and that oftentimes by very 
 affecting representations, upon some of the most inter- 
 esting topics of human duty, and of human meditation; 
 upon the principles by which the decisions of the last 
 day will be regulated ;° upon the superior, or rather 
 the supreme importance of religion ;° upon penitence, 
 by the most pressing calls and most encouraging in- 
 vitations ;’ upon self-denial,® watchfulness,® placability,” 
 confidence in God," the value of spiritual, that is, of 
 mental worship,” the necessity of moral obedience, and 
 the directing of that obedience to the spirit and princi- 
 ple of the law, instead of seeking for evasions in a tech- 
 nical 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, des- 
 criptions of virtue, that have ever been delivered, the 
 following passages : 
 
 “Pure religion, and undefiled, before God and the 
 
 1 Luke xii. 14. 2 Matt, xxii. 19. 3 Matt. xxii, 28. 
 4 Matt, xxi. 23. e¢ seq. 5 Matt. xxv. 31, et seg. 
 6 Mark viii. 35. Matt. vi, 31—83. Luke xii. 4, 5, 16—21. 7 Luke xy. 
 8 Matt. v. 29. 9 Mark xiii. 37. Matt, xxiv. 42; xxv. 13, 
 10 Luke xvii. 4. Matt. xviii, 33, et seg. 11 Matt. vi. 25—30, 
 12 Jobn iv. 23, 24. 13 Matt. v. 21. 
 R.c. Mention, particularly, S. What passages may we offer 
 
 what is observable in our Saviour’s as descriptions of virtue, if we ex- 
 lessons, beside what has been al- tend our argument to other parts of 
 ready remarked in them. the New Testament. 
 
CHAP. II.] OF CHRISTIANITY 249 
 
 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 a good conscience, and faith 
 unfeigned.”” 
 
 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath 
 appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodli- 
 ness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteous- 
 ly, and godly, in this present world.”* 
 
 Enumerations of virtues and vices, and those suffi- 
 ciently accurate, and unquestionably just, are given by” 
 S. Paul to his converts in three several epistles.* 
 
 tT. 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 sub- 
 jects, are set forth by the same writer,’ not indeed with 
 the copiousness, the detail, or the distinctness of a 
 moralist, who should in those 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. 
 
 u. Lastly; the whole volume of the New Testament is 
 replete with pzety,; with, what were almost unknown to 
 heathen moralists, devotional virtues, the most profound 
 veneration of the Deity, an habitual sense of his bounty 
 and protection, a firm confidence in the final result of 
 his counsels and dispensations, a disposition to resort, 
 upon all occasions, to his mercy for the supply of human 
 wants, for assistance in danger, for relief from pain, for 
 the pardon of sin. 
 
 1 James i. 27. 21 Tim, i. 5. 3 Tit. ii. 11, 12. 
 4 Gal, v. 19. Col, iii. 12, 1 Cor, xiii, 5 Eph, v. 83; vi. 1.5, 2 Cor, vi. 6, 7. Rom. xiii. 
 T. In what manner are the U. Quote Paley’s concluding 
 
 relative duties of husbands and observation upon the character of 
 wives, parents and children, mas- the whole volume of the New Tes- 
 ters and servants, teachers and tament. 
 
 hearers, governors, and subjects, 
 
 set forth by S. Paul. 
 
250 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART. IL. 
 
 CHAPTERTILG 
 
 Lhe Candour of the Writers of the New Testament. 
 
 The author makes the candour 
 of the writers of the New Testa- 
 ment to consist in their noticing 
 many circumstances which no writ- 
 ter was likely to have forged, or 
 would have inserted, had he thought 
 himself at liberty to mould the 
 particulars of the story according to 
 his choice. For instance, they re- 
 lated, unanimously, that Christ’s 
 appearance after his resurrection, 
 was to his disciples alone: and they 
 do not attempt to conceal this, at 
 first sight, unfavourable circum- 
 stance. [p. 251, 252] 
 
 The author remarks, that Gib- 
 bon has argued for the genuineness 
 of the Koran, from the confession 
 which it contains to the apparent 
 disadvantage of the Mahometan 
 cause ; which same defence, vindi- 
 cates the genuinesss of our Gos- 
 pels, and without prejudice to the 
 cause at all. [p. 252] 
 
 He then proceeds to notice other 
 instances, in which the evangelists 
 honestly relate, what, they must 
 have perceived, would make against 
 them. For instance, John the 
 Baptist’s message (Matthew xi. 2, 
 and Luke vii. 18), which implies 
 doubts concerning Christ’s character. 
 The apostacy of Judas. The defal- 
 cation of some disciples (John vi. 66). 
 The slighting expressions of the Ro- 
 man governor (Acts xxv. 18, 19) and 
 of Gallio (Acts xviii. 15), and the 
 account of S. Paul’s preaching at 
 Rome, where ‘‘ some believed and 
 some believed not.” [p. 253, 254] 
 
 The author then refers to pas- 
 sages, as very unlikely to have pre- 
 sented themselves to the mind of a 
 forger, or a fabulist. For instance, 
 that referring to the power of faith 
 (Matt. xxi. 21). The rebuke to the 
 disciple who asked permission to go 
 and bury his father (Luke ix. 59) ; 
 
 on anger against a brother (Matt. v. 
 22); the conversation, in John vi. 
 especially ver. 50—58, and Christ’s 
 placing a young child in the midst 
 of his contentious disciples. (Matt. 
 xviii. 2) [p. 254—256] 
 
 Further: the account of the in- 
 stitution of the Eucharist, bears in- 
 ternal marks of genuiness; had it 
 been feigned, it would have been 
 more full and formal. The writers 
 of the Gospel discover no deceit or 
 cunning ; they use no precaution to 
 obviate objections ; they appear to 
 tell the truth, and attend to nothing 
 else. [p. 256, 257] 
 
 The author then points out the 
 extreme zaturalness of some things 
 related in the New Testament. For 
 instance (Mark ix. 23), the struggle 
 in the father’s heart, between solici- 
 tude for his child, and an involuntary 
 distrust in the power of Christ, is ex- 
 pressed with an air of reality which 
 could hardly be counterfeited. 
 
 Matt. xxi. 9. The earnestness of 
 the people to introduce Christ into 
 Jerusalem, and their demand, in a 
 short time after, to crucify him, re- 
 present popular favour, and agree 
 with nature and experience. The ru- 
 lers and Pharisees rejecting Christ, 
 while many of the common people 
 receive him, was the zatural effect 
 of prejudice (see John vii. 48). The 
 conduct of the Samaritan woman in 
 calling her neighbours from the city 
 (see John iv. 29). The subtility of 
 the lawyer in cavilling upon the 
 word neighbour. (Luke x. 29) 
 
 The author concludes, by ex- 
 hibiting some frogerties, as they 
 may be called, observable in the 
 Gospels; that is, circumstances 
 separately suiting with the situa- 
 tion, character, and intentions of 
 their respective authors. [p. 259, 
 to the end. ] 
 
CHAP. III.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 251 
 
 A. I MAKE this candour to consist, in their putting down 
 many passages, and noticing many circumstances, which 
 no writer whatever was likely to have forged ; and which 
 no writer would have chosen to appear in his book, who 
 had been careful to present the story in the most unex- 
 ceptionable form, or who had thought himself at liberty 
 to carve and mould the particulars of that story, accord- 
 ing to his choice, or according to his judgment of the 
 effect. 
 
 B. A strong and well known example of the fairness of 
 the evangelists, offers itself in their account of Christ’s 
 resurrection, namely, in their unanimously stating, that 
 after he was risen, he appeared to his disciples alone. 
 I do not mean that they have used the exclusive word 
 alone; but that all the instances which they have re- 
 corded of his appearance, are instances of appearance 
 to his disciples ; that their reasonings upon it, and al- 
 lusions to it, are confined to this supposition ; and that, 
 by one of them, Peter is made to say, “ Him God 
 raised up the third day, and shewed him openly, not to 
 all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, 
 even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose 
 from the dead.”! The most common understanding 
 must have perceived, that the history of the resurrec- 
 tion would have come with more advantage, if they had 
 related that Jesus appeared, after he was risen, to his 
 foes as well as his friends, to the Scribes and Pharisees, 
 the Jewish council and the Roman governor: or even if 
 they had asserted the public appearance of Christ in 
 general unqualified terms, without noticing, as they 
 have done, the presence of his disciples on each occa- 
 sion, 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 in one way as well as the 
 
 1 Acts x, 40. 41, 
 
 A. In what does Paley make B. Shew, particularly, how the 
 the candour of the writers of the account of Christ’s resurrection be- 
 New Testament consist ? comes a strong example of the fair- 
 
 ness of the evangelists. 
 
252 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 other. And if their point had been, to have the religion 
 believed, whether true or false ; if they had fabricated 
 the story ab initio; or if they had been disposed either 
 to have delivered there testimony as witnesses, or to 
 have worked up their materials and information as his- 
 torians, 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 accouut of Christ’s several appearances 
 after his resurrection, at least have omitted this re- 
 
 B.astriction. 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 
 historian’s candour is of more advantage to their testi- 
 mony, than the difference in the circumstances of the 
 account would have been to the nature of the evidence, 
 But this is an effect which the evangelists would not 
 foresee ; and I think that it was by no means the case 
 at the time when the books were composed. 
 
 Mr. Gibbon has argued for the genuineness of the 
 Koran, from the confessions which it contains, to the 
 apparent disadvantage of the Mahometan cause! The 
 same defence vindicates the genuineness of our Gospels, 
 and without prejudice to the cause at all. 
 
 There are some other instances in which the evange- 
 lists honestly relate what, they must have perceived, 
 would make against them. 
 
 C. Of this kind is John the Baptist’s message, preserved 
 by S. Matthew (xi. 2), and S. Luke (vii. 18): “Now 
 when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, 
 he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art 
 thou he that should come, or look we for another >” 
 To confess, still more to state, that John the Baptist 
 
 1 Vol. ix. ¢. 50, note 96, 
 
 B.a. Why at this distance of C. Mention, at length, the in- 
 time, may the account of the resur- stances brought forward by Paley, 
 rection, as we have it, be more cre- jn which the evangelists honestly 
 dible than it would have been the relate what, they must have per- 
 other way ? ceived, would make against them. 
 
CHAP. III. ] OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 253 
 
 had his doubts concerning the character of Jesus, could 
 not but afford a handle to cavil and objection. But 
 truth, like honesty, neglects appearances. The same 
 observation, perhaps, holds concerning the apostacy 
 of Judas.! | 
 
 John vi. 66, “ From that time, many of his disciples 
 went back, and walked no more with him,” Was it the 
 part of a writer, who dealt in suppression and disguise, 
 to put down ¢hzs anecdote ? 
 
 Or this, which Matthew has preserved (xiii. 58) ? 
 “He did not many mighty works there, because of 
 their unbelief.” | 
 
 Again, in the same evangelist, (v. 17, 18), “Think 
 not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : 
 I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil: for, verily, I 
 say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or 
 one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
 fulfilled.” At the time the Gospels were written, the 
 apparent tendency of Christ’s mission was to diminish 
 the authority of the Mosaic code, and it was so con- 
 sidered by the Jews themselves. It is very improbable, 
 therefore, that without the constraint of truth, Mat- 
 thew should have ascribed a saying to Christ, which, 
 primo intuitu, militated with the judgment of the age 
 in which his Gospel was written. Marcion thought this 
 text so objectionable, that he altered the words so as to 
 invert the sense.” 
 
 Once more (Acts xxv. 18, 19), “They brought none 
 accusation against him of such things as I supposed, 
 but had certain questions against him of their own su- 
 perstition, and of one Jesus, which was’dead, whom 
 Paul affirmed to be alive.” Nothing could be more in 
 
 1 I had once placed amongst these examples of fair concession, the remarkable words of S. Mat- 
 thew, in his account of Christ’s appearance upon the Galilean mountain : ‘‘ And when they saw him, 
 they worshipped him ; but some dowbted”* Ihave since, however, been convinced, by what is ob- 
 served concerning this passage in Dr, Townshend’st discourse upon the resurrection, that the trans- 
 action, as related by S. 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, é. e. upon this first distant 
 view of his person, doubted: whereupon Christ came upt to them, and spake to them,” &c.: that the 
 doubt, therefore, was a doubt only at first, for a moment, and upon his being seen at a distance, and 
 was afterwards dispelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into conversation with them. 
 
 2 Lardner Cred, vol. xv. p. 422. 
 “Chap. xxviii, 17. tPage 177. 
 
 t St Matthew's words are Kat arooceOwv 6 Inaois, éXadAnoev abtots. This intimates 
 that when he first appeared, it was at a distance at least, from many of the spectators. Ib. p. 197. 
 
254 EVIDENCES [PART. If. 
 
 the character of a Roman governor than these words. 
 But that is not precisely the point Iam concerned with 
 A mere panegyrist, or a dishonest narrator, would not 
 have represented his cause, or have made a great mag- 
 istrate represent it, in this manner, z.¢. in terms not a 
 little disparaging, and bespeaking, on his part, much un- 
 concern and indifference about the matter. The same 
 observation may be repeated of the speech which is 
 ascribed to Gallio (Acts xviii. 15), “If it be a question 
 of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; 
 for I will be no judge of such matters.” 
 
 Lastly : where do we discerne a stronger mark of can- 
 dour, or less disposition to extol and magnify, than in 
 the conclusion of the same history ? in which the evan- 
 gelist, 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. 
 
 Dp. Matt. xxi. 21, “ Jesus answered and said unto them, 
 Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, 
 ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, 
 but also, if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou re- 
 moved, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done ; 
 and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, 
 ye shall receive.” It appears to me very improbable 
 that these words should have been put into Christ’s 
 mouth, if he had not actually spoken them. The term 
 “faith,” as here used, is perhaps rightly interpreted of 
 confidence in that internal notice, by which the apostles 
 were admonished of their power to perform any parti- 
 cular miracle. And this exposition renders the sense of 
 the text more easy. But the words, undoubtedly, in 
 
 1 See also chap, xvii. 20, Luke xvii. 6. 
 
 D. Give the several passages selves to the mind of a forger or a 
 brought forward by Paley, as very fabulist: and state the observations 
 unlikely to have presented them- of Paley as they occur on each, 
 
CHAP. IIL] OF CHRISTIANITY. 256) 
 
 their obvious construction, carry with them a diff- 
 culty, which no writer would have brought upon him- 
 self officiously. 
 
 Luke ix. 59, “And he said unto another, Follow 
 me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury 
 my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury 
 their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of 
 God.”! This answer, though very expressive of the 
 transcendent importance of religious concerns, was ap- 
 parently harsh and repulsive; and such as would not 
 have been made for Christ, if he had not really 
 used it. At least some other instance would 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 judgement : and whosoever shall say to 
 his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; 
 but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of 
 hell-fire (Gehennz).” Matt. v. 22. It is emphatic, co- 
 gent, and well calculated for the purpose of impression ; 
 but is inconsistent with the supposition of art or wari- 
 ness on the part of the relater. 
 
 The short reply of our Lord to Mary Magdalen, after 
 his resurrection (John xx. 17) “Touch me not, for 
 I am not yet ascended to my Father,’ in my opinion, 
 must have been founded in a reference or allusion to 
 some prior conversation, for the want of knowing which, 
 his meaning is hidden from us. This very obscurity, 
 however, is a proof of genuineness. No one would have 
 forged such an answer. 
 
 John vi. The whole of the conversation recorded in 
 this chapter, is, in the highest degree, unlikely to be fa- 
 bricated, especially the part of our Saviour’s reply be- 
 tween the fiftieth and fifty-eighth verse. I need only 
 put down the first sentence: “ Iam 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 
 
 1 See also Matt. vili. 91. 
 
256 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the 
 world.” Without calling in question the expositions 
 that have been given of this passage, we may be per- 
 mitted to say, that it labours under an obscurity, in 
 which it is impossible to believe that any one, who made 
 speeches for the persons of his narrative, would have 
 voluntarily involved them. That this discourse was ob- 
 scure, even at the time, is confessed by the writer who 
 had preserved it, when he tells us, at the conclusion, 
 that many of our Lord’s disciples, when they had 
 heard this, said, “This is a hard saying ; who can 
 bear it ?” 
 
 Christ taking a young child, and placing it in the 
 midst of his contentious disciples (Matt. xviii. 2), though 
 as decisive a proof as any could be, of the benignity of 
 his temper, and very expressive of the character of the 
 religion which he wished to inculcate, was not by any 
 means an obvious thought. Nor am I acquainted with 
 any thing in any ancient writing which resembles it. 
 
 E. 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 that 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 rubic could have 
 done. Whereas, in the history of the Lord’s Supper, as 
 we read it in S. Matthew’s Gospel, there is not so much 
 as the command to repeat it. This, surely, looks like 
 undesignedness. I think also that the difficulty arising 
 from the conciseness of Christ’s expression, “This is my 
 body,” would have been avoided in a made-up story. 
 I allow that the explication of these words, given by 
 Protestants, is satisfactory: but it is deduced from a 
 diligent comparison of the words in question with forms 
 
 1p _Shew that the account of the institution of the eucharist, bears 
 strong internal marks of genuiness. 
 
CHAP. III. | OF CHRISTIANITY. 257 
 
 of expression used in Scripture, and especially by Christ, 
 upon other occasions. No writer would arbitrarily and 
 unnecessarily have thus cast in his reader’s way a 
 difficulty, which, to say the least, it required research 
 and erudition to clear up. 
 
 F. Now it ought to be observed, that the argument which 
 is built upon these examples, extends both to the 
 authenticity of the books and to the truth of the narra- 
 tive ; for it is improbable that the forger of a history in 
 the name of another should have inserted such passages 
 into it: and it is improbable also, that the persons whose 
 names the books bear should have fabricated such 
 passages ; or even have allowed them a place in their 
 work, if they had not believed them to express the truth. 
 
 G. The following observation, therefore, of Dr. Lardner, 
 the most candid of all advocates, and the most cautious 
 of all inquirers, seems to be well founded :—“ Christians 
 are induced to believe the writers of the Gospel, by 
 observing the evidences of piety and probity that appear 
 in their writings, in which there is no deceit, or artifice, 
 or cunning, or design.” “No remarks,” as Dr. Beattie 
 hath properly said, “are thrown in, to anticipate objec- 
 tions; nothing of that caution, which never fails to 
 distinguish the testimony of those who are conscious of 
 imposture ; no endeavour to reconcile the reader’s mind 
 to what may be extraordinary in the narrative.” 
 
 H. I beg leave to cite also another author, who has well 
 expressed the reflection which the examples now 
 brought forward were intended to suggest. “It doth 
 not appear that ever it came into the mind of these 
 writers, to consider how this or the other action would 
 appear to mankind, or what objections might be raised 
 upon them. But without at all attending to this, they 
 
 1 Duehal, p. 97, 98. 
 
 F. Why does the argument, servations of Dr. Lardner, and Dr. 
 which is built upon the foregoing Beattie, upon the candour of the 
 examples, extend both to the au-~- writers of the New Testament. 
 thenticity of the books, and the H. Quote from Duchal, such a 
 truth of the narrative ? reflection as the examples brought 
 
 forward in this chapter were. in- 
 
 G. Quote the well founded ob- tended to suggest. 
 
 S 
 
258 EVIDENCES fPARTALR 
 
 I. 
 
 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 publish nothing to 
 the world but what they believe themselves.” 
 
 As no improper supplement to this chapter, I crave a 
 place here for observing the extreme vaturalness of some 
 of the things related in the New Testament. 
 
 Mark ix. 23, 24. “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst 
 believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 
 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and 
 said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine 
 unbelief.” This struggle in the father’s heart, between 
 solicitude for the preservation of his child, and a kind of 
 involuntary distrust of Christ’s power to heal him, is 
 here expressed with an air of reality, which could hardly 
 be counterfeited. 
 
 Again (Matt. xxi. 9), the eagerness of the people to 
 introduce Christ into Jerusalem, and their demand, a 
 short time afterwards, of his crucifixion, when he did not 
 turn out what they expected him to be, so far from 
 affording matter of objection, represent popular favour 
 in exact agreement with nature and with experience, as 
 the flux and reflux of a wave. 
 
 The rulers and Pharisees rejecting Christ, whilst many 
 of the common people received him, was the effect 
 which, in the then state of Jewish prejudices, I should 
 have expected. And the reason with which they who 
 rejected Christ’s mission kept themselves in countenance, 
 and with which also they answered the arguments of 
 those who favoured it, is precisely the reason which such 
 men usually give :—“ Have any of the rulers or of the 
 Pharisees believed on him ?” (John vii. 48.) 
 
 In our Lord’s conversation at the well (John iv. 18.), 
 Christ had surprised the Samaritan woman with an 
 allusion to a single particular in her domestic situation : 
 
 I. Quote some instances (giving of the things related in the New 
 also Paley’s remarks on them) of Testament. 
 the extreme #aturalness of some 
 
CHAP. III] OF CHRISTIANITY. 259 
 
 “Thou hast had five husbands ; and he whom thou now 
 hast is not thy husband.” The woman, soon after this, 
 ran back to the city, and called out to her neighbours, 
 “Come, see a man which told me a// things that ever I 
 did.” This exaggeration appears to me very natural ; 
 especially in the hurrid 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 Gallio (Acts xviii, 12—1 7), and of 
 Festus (xxv. 18, 19), have been observed upon already. 
 
 The consistency of S. Paul’s character throughout the 
 whole of his history (viz. the warmth and activity of his 
 zeal, first against, and then for, Christianity), carries 
 with it very much the appearance of truth. 
 
 K. There are some properties, as they may be called, 
 observable in the Gospels ; that is, circumstances sepa- 
 rately suiting with the situation, character, and intention 
 of their respective authors. 
 
 S. Matthew, who was an inhabitant of Galilee, and 
 did not join Christ’s society until some time after Christ 
 had come into Galilee to preach, has given us very little 
 of his history prior to that period. S. John, who had 
 been converted before, and who wrote to supply omis- 
 sions in the other Gospels, relates some remarkable 
 particulars, which had taken place before Christ left 
 Judea to go into Galilee,” 
 
 S. Matthew (xv. 1), has recorded the cavil of the 
 Pharisees against the disciples of Jesus, for eating “with 
 unclean hands.” S. Mark has also (vii. I.) recorded the 
 Same transaction (taken probably from S. Matthew), 
 but with this addition ; “For the Pharisees, and all the 
 Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, 
 
 1 Hartley’s Observations, vol. ii, p. 103. 
 K. What does Paley mean by and in what instances. do they 
 
 Properties observable in the Gospels ; appear ? 
 Sa 
 
EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 260 
 holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come 
 from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And 
 many other things there be, which they have received to 
 hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, 
 and of tables.’ Now S. 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 Qld 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. 
 
 CHAPTERA AV, 
 
 ldentity of Christ's Character. 
 
 The author applies the argument 
 expressed by the title of this chapter 
 principally, to the comparison of the 
 first three Gospels with) that of 
 S. John: John wrote after the other 
 apostles, and supplies omissions in 
 their narratives; but in relating 
 different actions and discourses, he 
 preserves a similarity of manner, 
 which indicates that the actions and 
 discourses proceed from the same 
 person. The inference then _ is, 
 that the evangelist wrote from 
 facts, and not from imagination. 
 [p. 261—2] 
 
 I. The argument referred to, 
 is most strong in our Saviour’s mode 
 of teaching ; and in that property of 
 it which consists in his drawing the 
 doctrine from the occasion, or 
 raising reflections from the objects 
 and incidents before him. The 
 author then points out this manner 
 in the first three evangelists, and 
 
 then compares it with what we find 
 recorded by S. John. Nore. This 
 branch of argument is supported by 
 instances which must be examined 
 at length, and that will not bear to 
 
 be viewed through a synopsis. 
 [p. 262] 
 II. There appears an affinity 
 
 between the history of Christ’s 
 placing the little child in the midst 
 of his disciples, as related by the 
 first three evangelists, (Matt. xviii. 
 1; Mark ix. 33; Luke ix. 46), and 
 the history of Christ’s washing the 
 feet of his disciples, reccorded by 
 S. John, (chap. xiii. 5.). [p. 267] 
 III. A singularity in Christ’s 
 language. The phrase, ‘‘the Son 
 of Man,” is found, as applied by 
 Christ to himself, in all the Gospels ; 
 but it is never used of or towards 
 him by any other person. [p. 267] 
 IV. A point of agreement in 
 the conduct of Christ, as represented 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 _ by his different historians, is that of 
 his withdrawing himself out of the 
 way, whenever the multitude indi- 
 cated a dispusition to tumult. See 
 Matt. xiv. 22; Lukev. 15, 16; with 
 which compare John vy. 13, and vi. 
 15. In this last instance, S. John 
 gives the nature of Christ’s conduct, 
 which is left unexplained by the 
 other Evangelists, who have related 
 the conduct itself. [p. 267] 
 
 V. The reserve, which, for 
 some time, Christ used in announ- 
 cing his own character, is recorded 
 by all the evangelists. Compare 
 Matt. xvie 20; Mark iii, 11, and 
 Luke iv. 41, with John x. 24, 25. 
 [p. 268.] 
 
 VI. The difficulty which the 
 disciples found in understanding 
 Christ, when he spake of his passion 
 and resurrection, which produced a 
 wish in them to ask for further ex- 
 planation. Compare Luke ix. 45, 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 261 
 
 and Mark ix. 32, with John xvi. 16, 
 et seg. [p. 269] 
 
 VII. Christ’s meekness, during 
 his last sufferings, which is con- 
 spicuous in the narratives of the first 
 three envangelists, is preserved in 
 that of S. John, under separate 
 examples. Compare John xviii. 20, 
 21; Mark xiv. 48; Luke xxii. 52; 
 John xviii. 34; xix. 115 xviii. 2378 
 Luke xxiii. 28; John xix. 9; Matt, 
 xxvil. 14; Luke xxiii. 9, &c. 
 [p. 270] 
 
 Lastly. The appointment of the 
 twelve apostles, is mentioned by the 
 first three evangelists, who ‘have 
 given their names. John through 
 his whole narrative, supposes Christ 
 to be accompanied by twelve dis- 
 ciples; and whenever he notices 
 any one of them, it is one included 
 in the catalogue of the other evan- 
 gelists ; all which bespeaks reality. 
 
 [p. 272] 
 
 . THE argument expressed by this title, I apply principally 
 to the comparison of the first three Gospels with that of 
 S. John. It is known to every reader of Scripture, that 
 the passages of Christ’s history, preserved by S. 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 S. John 
 wrote after the rest, and to supply what he thought 
 omissions in their narratives, of which the principal were 
 our Saviour’s conferences with the Jews of Jerusalem, 
 and his discourses to his apostles at his last supper. 
 
 But what I observe in the comparison of these several 
 accounts is, that, although actions and discourses are 
 ascribed to Christ by S. John, in general different from 
 
 A. To what does Paley princi- 
 pally apply the argument, expressed 
 by the title of this chapter ; and how 
 do you account for the difference 
 between S. John’s history, and that 
 of the other evangelists ? 
 
 B. What does Paley observe in 
 the comparison of S. John’s accounts, 
 with those of the other evangelists ; 
 and what makes the argument from 
 identity valuable ? | 
 
262 EVIDENCES [PART. Il. 
 
 what are given to him by the other evangelists, yet, 
 under this diversity, there is a similitude of manner, 
 which indicates that the actions and discourses proceeded 
 from the same person. I should have laid little stress 
 upon the repetition of actions substantially alike, or of 
 discourses containing many of the same expressions, 
 because that is a species of resemblance which would 
 either belong to a true history, or might easily be 
 imitated in a false one. Nor do I deny, that a dramatic 
 writer is able to sustain propriety and distinction of 
 character, through a great variety of separate incidents 
 and situations. But the evangelists were not dramatic 
 writers, nor possessed the talents of dramatic writers ; 
 nor will it, I believe, be suspected, that they studied 
 uniformity of character, or even thought of any such 
 thing, in the person who was the subject of their histories. 
 Such uniformity, if they exist, is on their part casual; and 
 if there be, as I contend there is, a perceptible resem- 
 blance of manner, in passages, and between discourses, 
 which are in themselves extremely distinct, and are 
 delivered by historians writing without any imitation of, 
 or reference to, one another, it affords a just presumption 
 that these are, what they profess to be, the actions and 
 the discourses of the same real person; that the 
 evangelists wrote from fact, and not from imagination. 
 
 The article in which I find this agreement most strong, 
 is in our Saviour’s mode of teaching, and in that par- 
 ticular property of it which consists in his drawing of 
 his doctrine from the occasion; or, which is nearly the 
 same thing, raising reflections from the objects and inci- 
 dents before him, or turning a particular discourse then 
 passing, into an opportunity of general instruction. 
 
 It will be my business to point out this anuner in the 
 first three evangelists ; and then to enquire whether it 
 do not appear also, in several examples of Christ’s 
 discourses preserved by S. John. 
 
 The reader will observe in the following quotations, 
 that the Italic letter contains the reflection; the common 
 letter, the incident or occasion from which it springs. 
 
 C. In what article does the ject of this chapter, appear most 
 agreement, which forms the sub- strong? 
 
CHAP. IV.] OPFCHRISTIANI TY: 263 
 
 Di 
 
 Matt. xii. 47—-50. “Then one said unto him, Behold, 
 thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to 
 speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him 
 that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my 
 brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his 
 disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! 
 Jor whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
 heaven, the same ts 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, Zake heed, and beware of the 
 leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees. And they 
 reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we 
 have taken no bread.—How is it that ye do not under- 
 stand, that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that 
 ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of 
 the Sadducees? Then understood they, how that he 
 bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the 
 DOCTRINE of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” 
 
 Matt. xv. I, 2, 10, If, 15-20. “Then came to Jesus, 
 Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 
 Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the 
 elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat 
 bread. And he called the multitude, and said unto 
 them, Hear, and understand: Voi that which goeth into 
 the mouth defiletha 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 understanding? Do not ye 
 yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the 
 mouth, goeth into the belly, and cast out into the 
 draught ? but. those things which proceed out of the 
 mouth, come forth from the heart, and they defile the 
 man: for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
 adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies ; 
 these are the things which defile a man: BUT TO EAT 
 
 D. Shew, from the accounts of ter, in his manner of turning a 
 S. John, when compared with the particular discourse, then passing, 
 accounts of the other evangelists, into an opportunity of general 
 the identity of our Saviour’s charac- instruction. 
 
264 LVIDENCE.S [PART Il. 
 
 WITH UNWASHEN HANDS, DEFILETH NOT A MAN.” 
 Our Saviour, on this occasion, expatiates rather more at 
 large than usual, and his discourse also is more divided : 
 but the concluding sentence brings back the whole train 
 of thought to the incident in the first verse, viz. the 
 objurgatory question of the Pharisees, and renders it 
 evident that the whole sprang from that circumstance. 
 
 Mark x. 13, 14, 15, “And they brought young children 
 to him, that he should touch them; and his disciples 
 rebuked those that brought them: but when Jesus saw 
 it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer 
 the little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not; for of such 1s the kingdom of God: verily I say 
 unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God 
 as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” 
 
 Mark 1. 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 to 
 become fishers of men.” 
 
 Luke xi, 27, “And it came to pass as he spake these 
 things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her 
 voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare 
 thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked: but he said, 
 Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God 
 and keep it.” 
 
 Luke xiii. 1—3, “ There were present at that season, 
 some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate 
 had mingled with their sacrifices ; and Jesus answering, 
 said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans, were 
 stnners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such 
 things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all 
 likewise perish.” 
 
 Luke xiv. 15, “And when one of them that sat at 
 meat with him, heard these things, he said unto him, 
 Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 
 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great 
 supper, and bade many,” &c. The parable is rather too 
 long for insertion, but affords a striking instance of 
 Christ’s manner of raising a discourse from the occasion. 
 
CHAP. IV] OF CHRISTIANITY. 265 
 
 Observe also, in the same chapter two other examples 
 of advice, drawn from the circumstances of the entertain- 
 ment and the behaviour of the guests. 
 
 We will now see how this manner discovers itself in 
 S. Fohn’s history of Christ. 
 
 John vi. 25, ‘““And when they had found him on the 
 other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when 
 camest thou hither? Jesus answered them, and said, 
 Verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw 
 the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and 
 were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but 
 Sor that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which 
 the Son of man shall give unto you.” 
 
 John iv. 12, “ Art thou greater than our father Abra- 
 ham, 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 givehim shall be in him 
 a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 
 
 John iv. 31, “In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed 
 him, saying, Master, eat; but he said unto them, I have 
 meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the 
 disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him 
 ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, A/y meat is, to do 
 the will of fim 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. J must work the 
 works of him that sent me, while tt 1s day ; the night 
 cometh, when no man can work. As long as lam in the 
 world, Lam 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, 
 
266 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said 
 unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that 
 talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe; and 
 he worshipped him. And Jesus said, For judgment 
 Lam come into this world, that they which see not might, 
 see; and they which see, might be made blind.” 
 
 All that the reader has now to do, is to compare the 
 series of examples taken from S. 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 argu- 
 ment. A large, however, and curious collection has been 
 made by different writers! of instances, in which it is 
 extremely probable that Christ spoke in allusion to some 
 object, or some occasion, then before him though the 
 mention of the occasion, or of the object, he omitted in 
 the history. I only observe, that these instances are 
 common to S. John’s Gospel with the other three. 
 
 I conclude this article by remarking, that nothing of 
 this zanner 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, aad other little circumstances, as 
 occur, for instance, in the sermon on the Mount, and 
 which nothing but the actual presence of the objects 
 could have suggested.? 
 
 E. II. There appears to me to exist an affinity between 
 
 1 Newton on Daniel, p. 148, note a. Jortin, Dis. p. 213, Bishop Law’s Life of Christ. 
 2 See Bishop Law’s Life of Christ. 
 
 E. In what two articles does history of Christ’s placing a child in 
 an affinity appear, between the the midst of his disciples, as related 
 
CHAP. IV.] ORF CHRISTIAN LY: 267 
 
 the history of Christ’s placing a little child in the midst 
 of his disciples, as related by the first three evangelists,* 
 and the history of Christ’s washing his disciples’ feet as 
 given by S. John.2 In the stories themselves, there is 
 no resemblance. But the affinity which I would point 
 out, consists in these two articles; First, that both 
 stories denote the emulation which prevailed amongst 
 Christ’s disciples, and his own care and desire to correct 
 it; the moral of both is the same. Secondly, that both 
 stories are specimens of the same manner of teaching, 
 viz. by action; a mode of emblematic instruction, 
 extremely peculiar, and, in these passages, ascribed, we 
 see, to our Saviour, by the first three evangelists, and by 
 S. John, in instances totally unlike, and without the 
 smallest suspicion of their borrowing from each other. 
 
 F. III. A singularity in Christ’s language, which runs 
 through all the evangelists, and which is found in those 
 discourses of S. John, that have nothing similar to 
 them in the other Gospels, is the appellation of “the 
 Son of man;” and it is in all the evangelists found under 
 the peculiar circumstance of being applied by Christ to 
 himself, but of never being used of him, or towards him, 
 by any other person. It occurs seventeen times in 
 Matthew’s Gospel, twenty times in Mark’s, twenty one 
 times in Luke’s and eleven times in John’s, and always 
 with this restriction. 
 
 c. IV. A point of agreement in the conduct of Christ, 
 as represented by his different historians, is that of his 
 withdrawing himself out of the way, whenever the 
 behaviour of the multitude indicated a disposition to 
 tumult. 
 
 Matt. xiv. 22, “ And straightway Jesus constrained his 
 disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto 
 
 1 Matt. xviii. 1, Mark ix.33. Luke ix. 46. 2 Chap, xiii. 3. 
 
 by the first three evangelists, and G. Mention a point of agree- 
 
 that of Christ’s washing his disciples’ ment in the conduct of Christ, as 
 
 feet, as given by S. John? represented by his different _his- 
 
 torians: illustrate it by quotations, 
 
 F. Shew the identity of our and mention the instance in which 
 
 Saviour’s character from the appel- a motive to his conduct is shewn, 
 lation of ‘the Son of man.” and by whom, alone. 
 
268 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 the other side, while he sent the multitude away. And 
 when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into 
 a mountain apart to pray.” 
 
 Luke v. 15, 16. “ But so much the more went there a 
 fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came to- 
 gether to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirm- 
 ities: and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and 
 prayed.” 
 
 With these quotations, compare the following from 
 S. John: 
 
 Chap. v. 13, “And he that was healed, wist not who 
 it was ; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multi- 
 tude being in that place.” 
 
 Chap. vi. 15, “When Jesus therefore perceived that 
 they would come and take him by force, to make him 
 a king, he departed again into a mountain himself 
 alone.” 
 
 In this last instance, S. John gives the motive of 
 Christ’s conduct, which is left unexplained by the other 
 evangelists, who have related the conduct itself. 
 
 H. _V. Another and a more singular circumstance in 
 Christ’s ministry, was the reserve, which, for some time, 
 and upon some occasions at least, he used in declaring 
 his own character, and his leaving it to be collected from 
 his works, rather than his professions. Just reasons for 
 this reserve have been assigned.! But it is not what one 
 would have expected. ' We meet with it in S. Matthew’s 
 Gospel (chap. xvi. 20), “Then charged he his disciples, 
 that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the 
 Christ.” Again and upon a different occasion, in 
 S. 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 in- 
 stance, similar to this last, is recorded by S. Luke (chap. 
 iv. 41). What we thus find in the three evangelists, ap- 
 
 1 See Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity. 
 
 H. Give Paley’s argument upon Christ’s reserve in declaring his 
 own character. 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 269 
 
 pears also”in a passage of S. John (chap. x. 24, 25), 
 “ Then came the Jews around about him, and said unto 
 him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be 
 the Christ, tell us plainly.” The occasion here was 
 different from any of the rest ; and it was indirect. We 
 only discover Christ’s conduct through the upbraidings 
 of his adversaries. But all this strengthens the argu- 
 ment. I had rather at any time surprise a coinci- 
 dence in some oblique allusion, than read it in broad 
 assertions. 
 
 L VI. In our Lord’s commerce with his disciples, one 
 very observable particular is, the difficulty which they 
 found in understanding him, when he spoke to them of 
 the future part of his history, especially of what related 
 to his passion or resurrection. This difficulty produced, 
 as was natural, a wish in them to ask for further expla- 
 nation; from which, however, they appear to have been 
 sometimes kept back by the fear of giving offence. All 
 these circumstances are distinctly noticed by Mark and 
 Luke, upon the occasion of his informing them (proba- 
 bly for the first time) that the Son of man should be 
 delivered into the hands of men. ‘They understood 
 not,” the evangelists tell us, “this saying, and it was 
 hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they 
 feared to ask him of that saying.” Luke ix. 45; Mark 
 ix. 32. In S. John’s Gospel we have, on a different oc- 
 casion, and in a different instance, the same difficulty 
 of apprehension, the same curiosity, and the same re- 
 straint :—“ A little while and ye shall not see me: and 
 again, a little while and ye shall see me, because I go to 
 the Father. Then said some of his disciples among 
 themselves, What is this that he saith unto us? A 
 little while and ye shall not see me: and again a little 
 while and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the 
 Father. They said, therefore, What is this that he 
 saith, A little while? We cannot tell what he saith. 
 
 I. Shew the identity of Christ’s. to them of the future part of his 
 character, as disclosed by the diffi- history; especially of what related 
 culty which his disciples found in to his passion or resurrection, 
 understanding him, when he spoke 
 
270 EVIDENCES [PART 11. 
 
 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and 
 said unto them,”—&c. John xvi. 16, e¢ seg. 
 
 K. VII. The meekness of Christ during his last suffer- 
 ings, which is conspicuous in the narratives of the first 
 three evangelists, is preserved in that of S. John under 
 separate examples. The answer given by him, in S. 
 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 which heard me, what 
 I have said unto them ;” is very much of a piece with 
 his reply to the armed party which seized him, as we 
 read in S. Mark’s Gospel, and in S. Luke’s:? “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 tranquility, the same reference to his 
 public teaching. His mind expostulation with Pilate, 
 on two several occasions, as related by S. John,? is de- 
 livered with the same unruffled temper as that which 
 conducted him through the last scene of his life, as de- 
 scribed by the other evangelists. His answer, in S. 
 John’s Gospel, to the officer who struck him with the 
 palm of his hand, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness 
 of the evil ; but if well, why smitest thou me?’ was 
 such an answer as might have been looked for from 
 the person, who, as he proceeded to the place of exe- 
 cution, bid his companions (as we are told by S. Luke,® 
 weep not for him, but for themselves, their posterity, 
 and their country ; and who, whilst he was suspended 
 upon the cross, prayed for his murderers, “for they know 
 not,” said he, “what they do.” The urgency also of his 
 judges and his prosecutors to extort from him a defence 
 
 1 Chap, xviii. 20, 21. 2 Mark xiy, 48, Luke xxii. 52, 3 Chap. xviii, 34; xix. 11, 
 4 Chap. xviii. 23, § Chap, xxiii, 28, 
 
 K. Shew the identity of Christ’s spicuous in the narratives of the 
 character, as developed by the con- first three evangelists, and preserved 
 sideration of his meekness, during in that of St John, under separate 
 his last sufferings, which is con- examples, 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 271 
 
 L. 
 
 to the accusation, and his unwillingnesss to make any 
 (which was a peculiar circumstance), appears in 
 S. John’s account, as well as in that of the other evan- 
 gelists.? 
 
 There are moreover two other correspondencies be- 
 tween S. John’s history of the transaction and theirs, of 
 a kind somewhat different from those which we have been 
 now mentioning. 
 
 The first three evangelists record what is called our 
 Saviour’s agony, z.¢. his devotion in the garden imme- 
 diately before he was apprehended ; in which narrative 
 they all make him pray, “that the cup might pass from 
 him.” This is the particular metaphor which they all 
 ascribe to him. S. Matthew adds, “O my Father, if 
 this cup may not pass away from me except I drink 
 it, thy will be done.”? Now S. John does not give the 
 scene in the garden: but when Jesus was seized, and 
 some resistance was attempted to be made by Peter, 
 Jesus, according to his account, checked the attempt 
 with this reply: “Put up thy sword into the sheath ; 
 the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not 
 drink it ?”® This is something more than consistency ; 
 it is coincidence: because it is extremely natural that 
 Jesus, who, before he was apprehended, had been pray- 
 ing 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 per- 
 son, when he actually was apprehended, to express the 
 resignation to which he had already made up his 
 thoughts, and to express it in the form of speech which 
 he had before used, “The cup which my Father hath 
 given me, shall I not drink it?” This is a coincidence 
 between writers, in whose narratives there is no imita- 
 tion, but great diversity. 
 
 1 See John xix. 9. Matt. xxvii.14. Luke xxiii. 9. 2 Chap, xxvi. 42. 
 8 Chap. xviii, 11. 
 
 L. State, fully, and illustrate, that of the other evangelists, of a 
 the two other correspondencies kind different from those just men- 
 between S. John’s history of the tioned by the author. 
 transactions before referred to, and 
 
272 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 A second similar correspondency is the following :— 
 Matthew and Mark make the charge, upon which our 
 Lord was condemned, to be a threat of destroying the 
 temple ; “We heard him say, I will destroy this temple, 
 made with hands, and, within three days I will build 
 another made without hands ;! but they neither of them 
 inform us upon what circumstance this calumny was 
 founded. 5S. John, in the early part of the history,? 
 supplies us with this information; for he relates, that 
 on our Lord’s first journey to Jerusalem, when the Jews 
 asked him, “ What sign sheweth thou unto us, seeing 
 that thou doest these things? he answered, Destroy 
 this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” This 
 agreement could hardly arise from any thing but the 
 truth of the case. From any care or design in S. John, 
 to make his narrative tally with the narratives of other 
 evangelists, it certainly did not arise, for no such design 
 appears, but the absence of it. 
 
 M. <A strong and more general instance of agreement, is 
 the following :—The first three evangelists have related 
 the appointment of the twelve apostles ;3 and have given 
 a catalogue of their names in form. John, without ever 
 mentioning the appointment, or giving the catalogue, 
 supposes, throughout his whole narrative, Christ to be 
 accompanied by a select party of disciples ; the number 
 of these to be twelve :* and whenever he happened to 
 notice any one as of that number, it is one included in 
 the catalogue of the other evangelists ; and the names 
 principally occurring in the course of zs 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. 
 
 1 Mark xiv. 58, 2 Chap. ii. 19, 3 Matt. x.1. Mark iii. 14, Luke vi. 19, 
 4 Chap. vi. 70. 5 Chap. xx. 24; vi. 71, 
 
 M. State the strong, and more chapter: and mention the result 
 general, instance of agreement, with which all this bespeaks. 
 which the author concludes this 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 AC. 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 273 
 
 CHAPTER 3V: 
 
 Originality of our Saviour’s Character. 
 
 The subject of this chapter is 
 made out by considering that the 
 reigning opinion and expectation of 
 the times amongst the Jews, was 
 that the prophecies foretold the ad- 
 vent of a person, who by superna- 
 tural assistance, should advance 
 their nation to independence and 
 prosperity: and by arguing, that 
 had Jesus been an enthusiast, he 
 would have fallen in with the popu- 
 lar delusion. That had he been an 
 
 impostor, he would have flattered 
 the prevailing hopes. All the pre- 
 tended messiahs did so, of whom 
 Josephus mentions many. That a 
 mission, the operation of which was 
 to take place in another life, was a 
 thing unthought of, as a subject 
 of these prophecies. Thus Jesus 
 came in a character inconsistent, 
 with enthusiasm and _ imposture ; 
 both of which have always followed 
 prevailing opinions. 
 
 A. THE Jews, whether right or wrong, had understood their 
 A.aprophecies 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 ex- 
 
 pectation of the times. 
 
 A.b Now, had Jesus been an enthusiast, it is probable 
 
 that his enthusiasm would. have fallen in with the 
 _ popular delusion, and that whilst he gave himself out 
 to be the person intended by these predictions, ‘he 
 would have assumed the character to which they were 
 universally supposed to relate. 
 
 Had he been an impostor, it was his business to have 
 
 flattered the prevailing hopes, because these hopes were 
 to be the instruments of his attraction and success. 
 
 A. . State, fully, the particulars 
 by which the originality of our 
 Saviour’s character is shewn; and 
 what improbable objection alone can 
 be made to the evidence derived 
 from it. 
 
 A.a. What was the reigning 
 opinion, and expectation amongst 
 the Jews, at the times in which 
 Christ lived ? 
 
 A.d. If Jesus had been an 
 enthusiast, what course is it pro- 
 bable he would have adopted ? 
 
 A.c. What would have been his 
 course had he been an impostor ; 
 and what course was pursued. by 
 the pretended messiahs, of whom, 
 according to Josephus, there were 
 many ? 
 
 4} 
 
274 EVIDENCES — [PART. IL. 
 
 But what is better than conjectures, is the fact, that 
 all the pretended messiahs actually did so. We learn 
 from Josephus, that there were many of these. Some 
 of them it is probable, might be impostors, who 
 thought that an advantage was to be taken of the state 
 of public opinion. Others, perhaps, were enthusiasts, 
 whose imagination had been drawn to this particular ob- 
 ject, by the language and sentiments which prevailed 
 around them. But, whether impostors or enthusiasts, 
 they concurred in producing themselves in the character 
 which their countrymen looked for, that is to say, 
 as the restorers and deliverers of the nation, in that 
 sense in which restoration and deliverance were expected 
 by the Jews. 
 
 A.@ Why therefore Jesus, if he was, like them, either an 
 enthusiast or impostor, did not pursue the same conduct 
 as they did, in framing his character and pretensions, 
 it will be found difficult to explain. A mission, the 
 operation and benefit of which was to take place in 
 another life, was a thing unthought of as the subject of 
 these prophecies. That Jesus, coming to them as their 
 Messiah, should come under a character totally different 
 from that in which they expected him; should deviate 
 from the general persuasion, and deviate into pretensions 
 absolutely singular and original, appears to be inconsis- 
 tent with the imputation of enthusiasm or imposture, 
 both which, by their nature, I should expect, would, 
 and both which, throughout the experience which this 
 very subject furnishes, in fact Zave, followed the opinions 
 that obtained at the time. 
 
 Ae 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 com- 
 petent to the rest to have done the same, yet that 
 nothing of this sort was thought of by any. 
 
 A.d. State Paley’s argument A.e. If it be said that Jesus 
 for the originality of our Saviour’s having tried the other plan, turned 
 character, founded upon the fore- at length to this, how do you answer 
 going considerations. the objection ? 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 275 
 
 CHART E Rat LE 
 
 Of the conformity of facts mentioned or referred to in Scripture, 
 with the state of things in those times, as represented by foreign 
 
 and independent accounts. 
 
 The author commences by obser- 
 ving, that this conformity, if well 
 made out by examples, proves the 
 genuineness of the Christian wri- 
 tings ; and that the writers of them 
 possessed a species of local know- 
 ledge, which could only belong to 
 persons of that age and country: 
 and that the argument is stronger 
 when applied to the case of the New 
 Testament, that it is in the case of 
 almost any other writings, from the 
 mixed nature of the allusions it con- 
 tains ; viz. to the manners and prin- 
 ciples of the Greeks, the Romans, 
 and the Jews; which variety renders 
 a forgery proportionably more diffi- 
 cult, especiaily to a posterior writer. 
 A Greek or Roman, in the second 
 or third century, would have been 
 wanting in Jewish literature; a 
 Jewish convert would have been 
 deficient in the knowledge of Greece 
 and Rome. 
 
 This argument depends upon an 
 induction of particulars, which Paley 
 proceeds to give, at considerable 
 length though in an abridged shape, 
 from Dr. Lardner’s credibility of the 
 Gospel history. A further abridge- 
 ment of these particulars cannot be 
 successfully made. The writer prin- 
 cipally made use of, in the inquiry, is 
 
 Josephus, who was born at Jerusa- 
 lem four years after the ascension. 
 He wrote his history of the Jewish 
 war some time after the fall of Jeru- 
 salem, in A.D. 70, and his history of 
 the Jews, A.D. 93. [p. 276—288] 
 
 After pursuing the details, the 
 author remarks, that the argument 
 of this chapter is strengthened by the 
 following considerations: I. That 
 the agreements stated in the particu- 
 lars introduced, appear not only in 
 articles of public history, but some- 
 times in minute, recondite, and very 
 peculiar circumstances, in which, of 
 all others, a forger is most likely to 
 have been found tripping. II. The 
 destruction of Jerusalem, forty years 
 after the commencement of Christi- 
 anity, produced such a change, that 
 a writer unacquainted with the Jew- 
 ish nation before that event, could 
 scarcely have avoided mistakes. 
 III. There appears in the New 
 Testament writers, a knowledge of 
 the affairs of those times, not found 
 in later authors. [p. 300, 301] 
 
 The author concludes the chap- 
 ter, by stating and solving four diff- 
 culties, which have arisen amidst 
 so many conformities. [p. 302, to 
 the end] 
 
 . ONE argument, which has been much relied upon (but 
 not more than its just weight deserves), is the conform- 
 ity of the facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in 
 Scripture, with the state of things in those times, as 
 
 A. What is proved by the con- 
 formity 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 ? 
 
 Len 
 
276 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 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 argument, if 
 well made out by examples, is very little short of 
 proving the absolute genuineness of the writings. It 
 carries them up to the age of the reputed authors, to an 
 age in which it must have been difficult to impose upon 
 the Christian public forgeries in the names of those 
 authors, and in which there is no evidence that any 
 forgeries were attempted. It proves, at least, that the 
 books, whoever were the authors of them, were com- 
 posed 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 
 
 A.athe 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 con- 
 tains. The scene of action is not confined to a single 
 country, but displayed in the greatest cities of the 
 Roman empire. Allusions are made to the manners 
 and principles of the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews. 
 This variety renders a forgery proportionably more 
 difficult, especially to writers of a posterior age. A 
 Greek or Roman’ Christian, who lived in the second 
 or third century, would have been wanting in Jewish 
 literature ; a Jewish convert in those ages would have 
 been equally deficient in the knowledge of Greece 
 and Rome.! 
 
 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 in- 
 stances upon which it is built, I have to request the 
 reader’s attention to a detail of examples, distinctly and 
 
 1 Michaelis’s Introduction to the New Testament (Marsh’s translation), c. ii, sect. 11. 
 
 A.a. Why is the argument to the New Testament, than it is 
 arising from the conformity before in the case of almost any other 
 alluded to, stronger, when applied writings ? 
 
CHAP. VI] OF CHRISTIANITY. 277 
 
 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 argument within its 
 present compass, first, by passing over some of his 
 sections in which the accordancy appeared to me less 
 certain, or upon subjects not sufficiently appropriate or 
 circumstantial ; secondly, by contracting every section 
 into the fewest words possible, contenting myself for 
 the most part with a mere apposition of passages ; and, 
 thirdly, by omitting many disquisitions, which, though 
 learned and accurate, are not absolutely necessary to 
 the understanding or verification of the argument. 
 
 B. The writer principally made use of in the inquiry is 
 Josephus. Josephus was born at Jerusalem four years 
 after Christ’s ascension. He wrote his History of the 
 Jewish War some time after the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 which happened in the year of our Lord Lxx, that is, 
 thirty seven years after the ascension ; and his History 
 of the Jews he finished in the year XCIIl, that is, sixty 
 years after the ascension. 
 
 At the head of each article I have referred, by figures 
 included in brackets, to the page of Dr. Lardner’s volume, 
 where the section, from which the abridgment is made 
 begins. The edition used is that of 1741. 
 
 c. 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 ; notwithstand- 
 ing, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside 
 into the parts of Galilee.” 
 
 In this passage it is asserted, that Archelaus succeeded 
 Herod in Judea; and it is implied that his power did 
 not extend to Galilee. Now we learn from Josephus, 
 that Herod the Great, whose dominion included all the 
 land of Israel, appointed Archelaus his successor in 
 
 B. Mention the writer princi- C. Quote the allusion to Ar- 
 pally made use of in the inquiries chelaus, in Matt. ii. 22, and shew 
 which form the subject of this chap- that it is conformable with the 
 ter ; and give some account of that history. 
 writer, and his works, 
 
78 EVIDENCES [PART Il. 
 
 Fudea, 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.t 
 
 S. Matthew says, that Archelaus vezgned, was king, in 
 Judea. Agreeably to this we are informed by Josephus, 
 not only that Herod appointed Archelaus his successor 
 in Judea, but that he also appointed him with the title 
 of King: and the Greek verb Baovndevet, which the 
 evangelist uses to denote the government and rank of 
 Archelaus, is used likewise by Josephus.? 
 
 The cruelty of Archelaus’s character, which is not 
 
 obscurely intimated by the evangelist, agrees with divers 
 particulars in his history, preserved by Josephus :—“ In 
 the tenth year of his government, the chief of the Jews 
 and Samaritans, not being able to endure his cruelty 
 and tyranny, presented complaints against him to 
 Cesar.” 
 D. II. [p. 19] Luke iii. 1, “In the fifteenth year of the 
 reign of Tiberius Czsar,—Herod being tetrarch of 
 Galilee, and his brother Philip, tetrarch of Iturea and of 
 the region of Trachonitis,—the word of God came unto 
 John.” 
 
 By the will of Herod the Great, and the decree of 
 Augustus thereupon, his two sons were appointed, one 
 (Herod Antipas) tetrarch of Galilee and Perza, and the 
 other (Philip) tetrarch of Trachonitis and the neighbour- 
 ing countries.4 We,have therefore these two persons in 
 the situations in which S. Luke places them ; and also, 
 that they were in these situations in the fifteenth year of 
 Tiberius; in other words, that they continued in 
 possession of their territories and titles until that time, 
 and afterwards, appears from a passage of Josephus, 
 which relates of Herod, “that he was removed, by Caligula, 
 the successor of Tiberius ;> and of Philip, that he died in 
 
 1 Ant. lib. xvii. c, 8. sect. 1. 
 2 De Bell, Jib. i. c. 33. sect, 7. 3 Ant, lib. xvii. c. 13. sect. 1, 
 4 Ant, lib. xvii. c. 8. sect. 1. 5 Ant. lib. xviii. c. 8. seet. 2. 
 
 D. Shew that the historical the Great, is in full accordarnce with 
 notice in Luke ili, 1, of Herod the history of the times. 
 and Philip, the two sons of Herod , 
 
CHAP. V1] OF CHRISTIANITY. 279 
 
 the twentieth year of Tiberius, when he had governed 
 Trachonitis and Batanea, and Gaulanitis thirty-seven 
 years,” 
 
 III. [p. 20] Mark vi. 17,2 “Herod had sent forth, and 
 laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison, for 
 Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had 
 married her.” 
 
 With this compare Joseph. Antiq. 1. xvili. c. 6. sect. 
 1:—“ He (Herod the tetrarch) made a visit to Herod 
 his brother.—Here, falling in love with Herodias, the 
 wife of the said Herod, he ventured to make her pro- 
 posals of marriage.” 
 
 Again, Mark vi. 22. “And when the daughter of the 
 said Herodias came in and danced —.” 
 
 With this also compare Joseph. Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 6. 
 sect. 4, “ Herodias was married to Herod, son of Herod 
 the Great. They had a daughter, whose name was 
 Salome: after whose birth, Herodias, in utter violation 
 of the laws of her country, left her husband, then living, 
 and married Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, her husband’s 
 brother by the father’s side.” 
 
 IV. [p. 29] Acts xii. 1. “Now, about that time, Herod 
 the king stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the 
 church.” In the conclusion of the same chapter, Herod's 
 death is represented to have taken place soon after this 
 persecution. The accuracy of our historian, or rather, 
 the unmeditated coincidence, which truth of its own 
 accord produces, is in this instance remarkable. There 
 
 1 Ant. lib. xviii. c, 5. sect. 6. 2 See also Matt. xiv. 1—13. Luke iii. 19, 
 
 3 The affinity of the two accounts is unquestionable ; but there is a difference in the name of 
 Herodias’s first husband, which, in the evangelist, is Philip; in Josephus, Herod, The difficulty, 
 however, will not appear considerable, when we recollect how common it was, in those times, for the 
 same persons to bear two names, ‘“‘Simon, which is called Peter; Lebbeus, whose surname is 
 Thaddeus : Thomas, which is called Didymus ; Simeon, who is called Niger; Saul, who was also called 
 Paul.” The solution is rendered likewise easier in the present case, by the consideration, that Herod 
 the Great had children by seven or eight wives; that Josephus mentions three of his sons under the 
 name of Herod ; that it is nevertheless, highly probable, that the brothers bore some additional name, 
 
 by which they were distinguished from one another,—Lardner, vol, ii. p. 987. 
 
 E. Shew that what is said by F. In Acts xii. 1, we read, 
 Mark (chap. vi.) of Herodias and ‘* Now, about that time, Herod the 
 her daughter, is in conformity with zg stretched forth his hands to 
 the history ; and state Dr. Lardner’s vex certain of the church.”” Shew 
 mode of accouting for the differ- how this is confirmed by the Jewish 
 ence in the name of her first husband. _ historian. 
 
 (Vide Note 9.) 
 
280 , EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 was no portion of time, for thirty years before, nor ever 
 afterwards, in which there was a king at Jerusalem, a 
 person exercising that authority in Judea, or to whom 
 that title could be applied, except the three last years of 
 this Herod’s life, within which period the transaction 
 recorded in the Acts is stated to have taken place. This 
 prince was the grandson of Herod the great. In the 
 Acts, he appears under his family name of Herod; b 
 Josephus he was called Agrippa. For proof that he was 
 a king, properly so called, we have the testimony of 
 Josephus in full and direct terms :—“ Sending for him to 
 his palace, Caligula put a crown upon his head, and 
 appointed him king of the tetrarchy of Philip, intending 
 also to give him the tetrarchy of Lysanias.”! And 
 that Judea was at last, but not until the last, included 
 in his dominions, appears by a subsequent passage of 
 the same Josephus, wherein he tells us, that Claudius, 
 by a decree, confirmed to Agrippa the dominion 
 which Caligula had given him; adding also Sudea 
 and Samaria, in the utmost extent, as possessed by his 
 Grandfather Herod. 
 
 G. V. [p.'32] Acts xii: 19g—23, “And he (Herod) went 
 down from Judea to Cesarea, and there abode. And 
 ona set day, Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon 
 his throne, and made an oration unto them: and the 
 people gave a shout, saying, It is a voice as a god, and 
 not of a man: and immediately the angel of the Lord 
 smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he 
 was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. c. 8. sect 2, “He went to the 
 city of Cesarea. Here he celebrated shows in honour 
 of Cesar. On the second day of the shows, early in the 
 morning, he came into the theatre, dressed in a robe of 
 silver, of most curious workmanship. The rays of the 
 rising sun, reflected from such a splendid garb, gave him 
 a majestic and awful appearance. They called him a 
 god ; and entreated him to be propitious to them saying, 
 
 1 Antiq. xviii. ¢, 7. sect. 10. 2 Antiq. xix. c. 5. sect. 1. 
 
 G. Shew how the account of pendent historical account of that 
 Herod’s death, found in Acts xii. event, 
 19—23, corresponds with the inde- 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY 281 
 Hitherto we have respected you as a man; but now we 
 acknowledge you to be more than mortal. The king 
 neither reproved these persons, nor rejected the impious 
 flattery—Immediately after this, he was seized with 
 pains in his bowels, extremely violent at the very first— 
 He was carried therefore with all haste to his palace. 
 These pains continually tormenting him, he expired in 
 five days’ time.” 
 
 The reader will perceive the accordancy of these 
 accounts in various particulars. The place (Cesarea), 
 the set day, the gorgeous dress, the acclamations of the 
 assembly, the peculiar turn of the flattery, the reception 
 of it, the sudden and critical incursion of the disease, are 
 circumstances noticed in both narratives. The worms 
 mentioned by S. Luke, are not remarked by Josephus ; 
 but the appearance of these is a symptom, not unusually 
 I believe, attending the disease which Josephus describes, 
 viz. violent affections of the bowels. 
 
 H. VI. [p. 41] Acts xxiv. 24. “And after certain days, 
 when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a 
 Jewess, he sent for Paul.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. c. 6. sect. 1, 2, “ Agrippa gave 
 his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus, king of the 
 Emesenes, when he had consented to be circumcised.— 
 But this marriage of Drusilla with Azizus was dissolved 
 in a short time after, in this manner :—When Felix was 
 procurator of Fudea, having had a sight of her, he was 
 mightily taken with her.—She was induced to transgress 
 the laws of her country, and marry Felix.” 
 
 Here the public station of Felix, the name of his wife, 
 and the singular circumstance of her religion, all appear 
 in perfect conformity with the evangelist. 
 
 1. VII. [p. 46] Acts xxv. 13, “And after certain 
 days, king Agrippa and Bernice came to Cesarea to 
 
 H. We read in Acts xxiv. 24, I. Quote the short mention of 
 “‘And after certain days, when the visit of Agrippa and Bernice 
 
 Felix came with his wife Drusilla, 
 which was a Jewess, he sent for 
 Paul.” Shew the agreement of this 
 statement with the independent 
 history. 
 
 to Festus, in Acts xxv. 13; men- 
 tion Paley’s view of it ; and shew its 
 full and particular conformity with 
 what we find in the historian of the 
 age. 
 
282 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 salute Festus.” By this passage we are in effect told, 
 that Agrippa was a king, but not of Judea ; for he came 
 to salute Festus, who at this time administered the go- 
 vernment of that country at Cesarea. 
 
 Now, how does the history of the age correspond with 
 this account? The Agrippa here spoken of, was the 
 son of Herod Agrippa, mentioned in the last article; 
 but that he did not succeed to his father’s kingdom, nor 
 ever recovered Judea, which had been a part of it, we 
 learn by the information of Josephus, who relates of him, 
 that, when his father was dead, Claudius intended, at 
 first, to have put him immediately in possession of his 
 father’s dominions ; but that, Agrippa, being then but 
 seventeen years of age, the emperor was persuaded to 
 alter his mind, and appointed Cuspius Fadus prefect of 
 Judea and the whole kingdom ;! which Fadus was suc- 
 ceeded by Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, Festus.? 
 But that, though disappointed of his father’s kingdom, 
 in which was included Judea, he was nevertheless rightly 
 styled Kzmg Agrippa, and that he was in possession of 
 considerable territories bordering upon Judea, we gather 
 from the same authority: for, after several successive 
 donations of country, “ Claudius, at the same time that 
 he sent Felix to be procurator of Judea, promoted 
 Agrippa from Chalcis to a greater kingdom, giving to 
 him the tetrarchy which had been Philip’s; and he 
 added moreover the £izgdom of Lysanias, and the pro- 
 vince that had belonged to Varus.”® 
 
 S. Paul addresses this person as a Jew: “King 
 Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? I know that thou 
 believest.” As the son of Herod Agrippa, who is des- 
 cribed by Josephus to have been a zealous Jew, it is 
 reasonable to suppose that he maintained the same pro- 
 fession. But what is more material to remark, because 
 it is more close and circumstantial, is, that S. Luke, 
 speaking of the father (Acts xii. 1—3), calls him Herod 
 the king, and gives an example of the exercise of his 
 
 1 Antig. xix. c, 9. ad fin, © Ib, xx. De Bell. lib. ii, 
 3 Ib. lib ii.c, 12, ad fin. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 283 
 
 authority at Jerusalem: speaking of the son (xxv. 13), 
 he calls him king, but not of Judea; which distinction 
 agrees correctly with the history. 
 
 K. VIII. [p. 51] Acts xiii. 6, “And when they had gone 
 through the isle (Cyprus) to Paphos, they found a cer- 
 tain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was 
 Barjesus, which was with the deputy of the country, 
 Sergius Paulus, a prudent man.” 
 
 The word, which is here translated deputy, signifies 
 proconsul, and upon this word our observation is founded. 
 The provinces of the Roman empire were of two kinds ; 
 those belonging to the emperor, in which the governor 
 was called propreetor ; and those belonging to the senate, 
 in which the governor was called proconsul. And this 
 was a regular distinction. Now it appears from Dio 
 Cassius,’ that the province of Cyprus, which in the 
 original distribution was assigned to the emperor, had 
 been transferred to the senate, in exchange for some 
 others ; and that, after this exchange, the appropriate 
 title of the Roman governor was proconsul. 
 
 L. Ib. xviii. 12, [p. 55] “And when Gallio was deputy 
 (proconsul) of Achaia.” 
 
 The propriety of the title “proconsul” is in this pas- 
 sage still more critical. For the province of Achaia, 
 after passing from the senate to the emperor, had been 
 restored again by the Emperor Claudius to the senate 
 (and consequently its government had become frocon- 
 sular), only six or seven years before the time in which 
 this transaction is said to have taken place.” 
 
 And what confines with strictness the appellation to 
 the time is, that Achaia under the following reign ceased 
 to be a Roman province at all. 
 
 M. IX. [p. 152] It appears, as well from the general 
 
 1 Lib. liv. ad. A. U. 732, 2 Suet. in Claud. c, xxy. Dio. lib, lxi. 
 
 K. In Acts xiii. 6, we find Ser- the title ‘‘deputy,” as applied to 
 gius Paulus, called the ‘‘ deputy” Gallio, was still more critical. 
 
 ' of the country. Shew the full con- M. Shew how the allusion to the 
 formity evinced by the use of this power of the Romans over Judea, 
 epithet. made in the New Testament, con- 
 
 L. Shew that the propriety of forms to the history af the age. 
 
284 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 constitution of a Roman province, as from what Jose- 
 phus delivers concerning the state of Judea in particu- 
 lar} that the power of life and death resided exclu- 
 sively in the Roman governor; but that the Jews, 
 nevertheless, had magistrates and a council, invested 
 with a subordinate and municiple authority. This 
 economy is discerned in every part of the Gospel nar- 
 rative of our Saviour’s crucifixion. 
 
 N. X. [p. 203] Acts ix. 31, “Then had the churches 
 rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria.” 
 
 This vest synchronizes with the attempt of Caligula to 
 place his statue in the temple of Jerusalem; the threat 
 of which outrage produced amongst the Jews a conster- 
 nation, that, for a season, diverted their attention from 
 every other object.” 
 
 Oo. XI. [p. 218] Acts xxi. 30. “And they took Paul and 
 drew him out of the temple; and forthwith the doors 
 were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings 
 came to the chief captain of the dand, that all Jerusa- 
 lem was in an uproar. Then the chief captain came 
 near and took him, and commanded him to be bound 
 with two chains, and demanded who he was, and what 
 he had done; and some cried one thing, and some 
 another, among the multitude: and, when he could not 
 know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him 
 to be carried into the cast/e. And when he came upon 
 the stazrs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers 
 for the violence of the people.” 
 
 In this quotation, we have the band of Roman sol- 
 diers at Jerusalem, their office (to suppress tumult), the 
 castle, the stairs, both, as it should seem, adjoining 
 to the temple. Let us inquire whether we can 
 find these particulars in any other record of that age 
 and place. 
 
 1 Antigq. lib. xx. c. 8. sect. 5. c. 1. sect. 2. 2 Joseph. de Bell. lib, xi. c. 13, sect. 1, 3. 4, 
 
 N. With what historical fact Paul’s rescue from the tumult at Je- 
 does the ‘‘vest” of the churches rusalem, mentioned in Acts xxi. 30; 
 (Acts ix. 31) correspond, in point and shew the confirmation it receives, 
 of time? from particulars and localities men- 
 
 O. Quote the account of S. tioned in Josephus. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 285 
 
 Joseph. de Bell. lib. v. c. 5, sect. 8, “ Antonia was 
 situated at the angle of the western and northern porti- 
 coes of the outer temple. It was built upon a rock 
 fifty cubits high, steep on all sides.—On that side where 
 it joined to the porticoes of the temple, there were 
 stairs reaching to each portico, by which the guard de- 
 scended ; for there was always lodged here a. Roman 
 Legion; and posting themselves in their armour in 
 several places in the porticoes, they kept a watch on 
 the people on the feast-days, to prevent all disorders ; for, 
 as the temple was a guard to the city, so was Antonia to 
 the temple.” 
 
 Pp. XII. [p. 224] Acts iv. 1, “And as they spake unto 
 the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, 
 and the Sadducees, came upon them.” Here we have 
 a public officer, under the title of captain of the tem- 
 ple, and he probably a Jew, as he accompanied the 
 priests and Sadducees in apprehending the apostles. 
 
 Tosephadembell Slibmity cv 174 sect. 2; Andtaty the 
 temple, Eleazar, the son of Ananias, the high priest, a 
 young man of a bold and resolute disposition, then 
 captain, persuaded those who performed the sacred 
 ministration, not to receive the gift or sacrifice of any 
 stranger.” 
 
 Geet eli ls [pe 225 |eActeexxv.,.12,..sThen..Bestus, wher 
 he had conferred with the councz/, answered, Hast thou 
 appealed unto Cesar? unto Cesar shalt thou go.” That 
 it was usual for the Roman presidents to have a coun- 
 cil, consisting of their friends, and other chief Romans in 
 the province, appears expressly in the following passage 
 of Cicero’s oration against Verres :—“ Illud negare pos- 
 ses, aut nunc negabis, te, concilio tuo dimisso, viris 
 primariis, qui in consilio C. Sacerdotis fuerant, tibique 
 esse volebant, remotis, de re judicata judicasse ?” 
 
 R. XIV. [p. 235] Acts xvi. 13, “And (at Philippi) on the 
 
 P. In Acts iv. I, mention is Q. Shew that it was usual for 
 made of ‘‘the captain of the temple ;’ the Roman presidents to have a 
 what do you find, in Josephus, tend- council, according to the inference 
 ing to shew the accuracy of S, Luke we may draw from Acts xxv. 12? 
 in the use of this epithet. R. In Acts xvi. 13, we read, 
 
286 
 
 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 Sabbath we went out of the city by a river-side, where 
 prayer was wont to be made,” or where a mpocevy7), ora- 
 tory, or place of prayer, was allowed. The particularity 
 to be remarked, is the situation of the place where prayer 
 was wont to be made, viz. by a river-side. 
 
 Philo, describing the conduct of the Jews of Alex- 
 andria, on a certain public occasion, relates of them, 
 that, “early in the morning, flocking out of the gates of 
 the city, they go to the neighbouring shores, (for the 
 Tpocevyat were destroyed), and, standing in a most pure 
 place, they lift up their voices with one accord.” 
 
 Josephus gives us a decree of the city of Halicar- 
 nassus, permitting the Jews to build oratories; a part 
 of which decree runs thus :—We ordain that the Jews, 
 who are willing, men and women, do observe the sab- 
 baths, and perform sacred rites according to the Jewish 
 laws, and duzld oratories by the sea side,”? 
 
 Tertullian, among other Jewish rites and customs, 
 such as feasts, sabbaths, fasts and unleavened bread, 
 mentions “orationes /ztorales,” that is, prayers by the 
 river-side.? 
 
 XV. [p. 255] Acts xxvi. 5, “ After the most straztest 
 sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.” 
 
 Joseph. de Bell. lib. i. c. 5, sect. 2, “The Pharisees 
 were reckoned the most religious of any of the Jews, 
 and to be the most eract and skilful in explaining the 
 laws.” } 
 
 In the original, there is an agreement not only in the 
 sense, but in the expression, it being the same Greek 
 adjective which is rendered “straight” in the Acts, and 
 “exact” in Josephus. 
 
 XVI. [p. 255] Mark vii. 3, 4, “The Pharisees and all 
 
 1 Philo in Flace. p. 382. 
 
 2 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 10. sect, 24. 
 
 3 Tertull. ad, Nat. lib. i, c. 13. 
 
 ** And (at Philippi) on the Sabbath, 
 we went out of the city by a river- 
 side, where prayer was wont to be 
 made.” Shew, from ancient authors, 
 that praying by the side of rivers, 
 was an ancient Jewish custom. 
 
 S. In Acts xxvi. 5, the sect of 
 
 the Pharisees is spoken of as the 
 ** straitest:” shew the agreement 
 with Josephus, in this particular. 
 
 T. What historical confirma- 
 tion have we of the account of the 
 tradition of the Pharisees, mentioned 
 in Mark vii. 3, 4? 
 
CHAP. VI] OF CHRISTIANITY. 287 
 the Jews, except they wash, eat not, holding the tradition 
 of the elders ; and many other things there be which they 
 have received to hold.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6, “ The Pharisees 
 have delivered to the people many institutions, as re- 
 ceived from the fathers, which are not written in the law 
 of Moses.” 
 
 U. XVII. [p. 259] Acts xxiii. 8, “For the Sadducees 
 say, that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; 
 but the Pharisees confess both.” 
 
 Joseph. de Bell. lib. ii. c. 8. sect. 14, “ They (the Phari- 
 sees) believe every soul to be immortal, but that the soul 
 of the good only passes into another body, and that the 
 soul of the wicked is punished with eternal punishment.” 
 On the other hand (Antig. lib. xviii. c. 1. sect, 4), “It is 
 the opinion of the Sadducees, that souls perish with the 
 bodies.” 
 
 Vv. XVIII. [p. 268] Acts v. 17, “Then the high priest 
 rose up, and all they that were with him (which is the 
 sect of the Sadducees), and were filled with indignation.” 
 S. Luke here intimates, that the high priest was a Sad- 
 ducee ; which is a character one would not have ex- 
 pected to meet with in that station. This circum- 
 stance, remarkable as it is, was not however without 
 examples. 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10, sect. 6, 7, “John Hyrcanus, 
 high priest of the Jews, forsook the Pharisees upon a 
 disgust, and joined himself to the party of the Saddu- 
 cees.” This high priest died one hundred and seven years 
 before the Christian era. 
 
 Again (Antigq. lib. xx. c. 8. sect. 1), “This Ananus 
 the younger, who, as we have said just now, had received 
 the high priesthood, was fierce and haughty in his be- 
 haviour, and, above all men, bold and daring, and 
 
 U. Quote the statement found 
 in Acts xxiii. 8, as to some of the 
 tenets of the Pharisees and Saddu- 
 cees ; and shew how it is borne out 
 by the history of Josephus. 
 
 V. We read in Acts v. 17, 
 “Then the high priest rose up, 
 
 and all they that were with him 
 (which is of the sect of the Saddu- 
 cees), and were filled with indig- 
 nation.” It therefore, seems, that 
 the high priest was a Sadducee ; 
 shew that this circumstance was not 
 without examples. 
 
-[PART. IL. | 
 
 moreover, was of the sect of the Sadducees.’ This high 
 
 priest lived little more than twenty years after the trans- 
 
 action in the Acts. 
 
 XIX. [p. 282] Luke ix. 51, “And it came to pass, 
 when the time was come that he should be received up, 
 he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent 
 messengers before his face. And they went, and entered 
 into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 
 And they did not receive him, because his face was as 
 though he would go to Jerusalem.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. c. 5. sect. 1, “It was the custom 
 of the Galileans, who went up to the holy city at the 
 feasts, to travel through the country of Samaria. As 
 they were in their journey, some inhabitants of the 
 village called Ginza, which lies on the borders of Samaria 
 and the great plain, falling upon them, killed a great 
 many of them. 
 
 x. XX. [p. 278] John iv. 20, “Our fathers,” said the 
 Samaritan woman, “worshipped in ¢hzs mountain; and 
 ye say, that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to 
 worship.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. -c. 5. sect. 1, “ Commanding 
 them to meet him at mount Gerizim, which is by them 
 (the Samaritans) esteemed the most sacred of all 
 mountains.” 
 
 y. XXI. [p. 312] Matt. xxvi. 3, “Then assembled to- 
 gether the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders 
 of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, zo 
 was called Caiaphas.’ That Caiaphas was high priest, 
 and high priest throughout the presidentship of Pontius 
 Pilate, and consequently at this time, appears from the 
 following account:—He was made high priest by 
 Valerius Gratus, predecessor of Pontius Pilate, and was 
 removed from his office by Vitellius, president of Syria, 
 
 288 EVIDENCES 
 
 W. What confirmation is af- 
 forded by Josephus, to the account 
 of the rejection of our Saviour, by 
 the Samaritans, in his way to Je- 
 rusalem, as recorded by S, Luke 
 ix. 51? 
 
 X. What confirmation do we 
 
 find in Josephus, of the remark of 
 the woman of Samaria, as to the 
 place of their worship ? 
 
 In Matt. xxvi. 3, the high 
 priest is called Cataphas ; shew that 
 this is not at variance with the his- 
 tory of the time. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 289 
 
 after Pilate was sent away out of the province of Judea. 
 Josephus relates the advancement of Caiaphas to the 
 high priesthood in this manner: “Gratus gave the high 
 priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus. He, having 
 enjoyed this honour not above a year, was succeeded by 
 Joseph, who zs also called Caiaphas After this, Gratus 
 went away from Rome, having been eleven yearsin Judea; 
 and Pontius Pilate came thither as his successor.’ Of the 
 removal of Caiaphas from his office Josephus likewise 
 afterwards informs us; and connects it with a circum- 
 stance which fixes the time to a date subsequent to the 
 determination of Pilate’s government :—“ Vitellius,” he 
 tells us, ordered P2late to repair to Rome, and after that, 
 went up himself to Jerusalem, and then gave directions 
 concerning several matters. And having done these 
 things, he took away the priesthood from the high priest, 
 Joseph, who is called Cazaphas.’? 
 
 Z XXII. (Michaelis, c. xi. sect. 11), Acts xxiii. 4, “And 
 they that stood by, said, Revilest thou God’s high priest? 
 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the 
 high priest.” Now, upon inquiry into the history of the 
 age, it turns out, that Ananias, of whom this is spoken, 
 was, in truth, o¢ the high priest, though he was sitting 
 in judgment in that assumed capacity. The case was, 
 that he had formerly held the office, and had been 
 deposed ; that the person who succeeded him had been 
 murdered ; that another was not yet appointed to the 
 station; and that, during the vacancy, he had, of his 
 own authority, taken upon himself the discharge of the 
 office? This singular situation of the high priesthood 
 took place during the interval between the death of 
 Jonathan, who was murdered by order of Felix, and the 
 accession of Ismaél, who was invested with the high 
 priesthood by Agrippa; and precisely in this interval it 
 happened that S. Paul was apprehended, and brought 
 before the Jewish council. 
 
 1 Antiq. lib. xviii. c, 2. sect. 2. 2 Ib. lib. xvii. ¢. 5. sect. 3. 
 3 Joseph, Antiq. 1. xx, ¢. 5, sect. 2; ¢. 6. sect. 2; ¢. 9. sect. 2, 
 
 Z. What appears to have given xxiii. 4, that he knew not that 
 rise to S, Paul’s assertion, in Acts Ananias was the high priest ? 
 
290 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 A. 
 
 > 
 
 XXIII. [p. 323] Matt. xxvi. 59, “Now the chief 
 priests and elders, and all the council, sought false wit- 
 ness against him.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvili. c. 15. sect. 3, 4, “ Then might 
 be seen the high priests themselves, with ashes on their 
 heads, and their breasts naked.” 
 
 The agreement here consists in speaking of the high 
 priest, or chief priest (for the name in the original is 
 the same), in the plural number, when, in strictness, there 
 was only ove high priest : which may be considered as a 
 proof, that the evangelists were habituated to the man- 
 ner of speaking then in use, because they retain it when 
 it is neither accurate or just. For the sake of brevity, I 
 have put down, from Josephus, only a single example of 
 the application of this title in the plural number ; but it 
 is his usual style. 
 
 Ib. [p. 871] Luke iii. 1. “ Now in the fifteenth year 
 of the reign of Tiberius Czsar, Pontius Pilate being 
 governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, 
 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of 
 God came unto John.” There is a passage in Josephus 
 very nearly parallel to this, and which may at least 
 serve to vindicate the evangelist from objection, with 
 respect to his giving the title of high priest specifically 
 to two persons at the same time :—“Quadratus sent two 
 others of the most powerful men of the Jews, as also the 
 high priests, Fonathan and Annanias.’+ That Annas was 
 a person in an eminent station, and possessed an au- 
 thority co-ordinate with, or next to, that of the high 
 priest properly so called, may be inferred from S. John’s 
 Gospel, which, in the history of Christ’s crucifixion, 
 relates, that “the soldiers led him away to Annas first.” 
 
 1 De Bell. lib. ix. c. 19. sect. 6. 2 xviii, 13. 
 
 A. We read in Matt. xxvi. 59, B. Produce a passage from 
 ‘*Now the chief priests and elders, Josephus, which is very nearly 
 and all the council, sought false parallel to that in Luke iii. 1, 
 witness against him.” Shew an_ wherein we find the following phrase, 
 agreement with this mode of ex- ‘‘ Annas and Caiaphas being the 
 pression, in Josephus; and point igh priests.” 
 out in what the agreement consists. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 291 
 And this might be noticed as an example of undesigned 
 coincidence in the two evangelists. 
 
 C. Again, [p. 870] Acts iv. 6, Annas is called the high 
 priest, though Caiaphas was in the office of the high 
 priesthood. In like manner, in Josephus,! “ Joseph the 
 son of Gorion, and the high priest Ananus, were chosen 
 to be supreme governors of all things in the city.” Yet 
 Ananus, though here called the high priest Ananus, was 
 not then in the office of the high priesthood. The truth 
 is, there is an indeterminateness in the use of this title 
 in the Gospel: sometimes it is applied exclusively to 
 the person who held the office at the time; sometimes 
 to one or two more, who probably shared with him 
 some of the powers or functions of the office ; and, some- 
 times, to such of the priests as were eminent by their 
 station or character ;? and there is the very same inde- 
 terminateness in Josephus. 
 
 iB). XXIV. [p. 347] John xix. 19, “And Pilate wrote a 
 title, and put it on the cross.” That such was the cus- 
 tom of the Romans on these occasions, appears from 
 passages of Suetonius and Dio Cassius: “ Patrem 
 familias—canibus objecit, cum hoc titulo, Impié locutus 
 parmularius.” Suet. Domit. cap. x. And in Dio 
 Cassius we have the following: “ Having led him 
 through the midst of the court, or assembly, wth a 
 writing signifying the cause of his death, and afterwards 
 crucifying him.” Book liv. 
 
 E. Ib. “And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Latin.” That it was also usual about this time, in 
 Jerusalem, to setup advertisementsin diferentlanguagues, 
 is gathered from the account which Josephus gives of an 
 expostulatory message from Titus to the Jews, when the 
 city was almost in his hands; in which he says, “ Did 
 
 1 De Bell. lib. ii. c. 12, sect. 3. 
 
 C. How may we explain the 
 passage, in Acts iv. 6, where Annas 
 is called the high priest, though 
 Caiaphas held the office ? 
 
 D. We read, in John xix. 19, 
 20, ‘‘And Pilate wrote a title, and 
 
 2 Mark xiv. 53. 
 
 put it on the cross.” Shew that 
 such was the custom of the Romans 
 on these occasions. 
 
 E. Shew that it was usual 
 about this time, in Jerusalem, to set 
 up advertisements in different lan- 
 guages. 
 
 U2 
 
292 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 ye not erect pillars with inscriptions on them, 7 ‘the 
 Greek and in our language, Let no one pass beyond 
 these bounds ?” 
 F, XXV. [p. 352] Matt. xxvii. 26, “When he had 
 scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” 
 The following passages occur in Josephus : 
 “Being Jdeaten, they were crucified opposite to the 
 citadel.”? 
 “Whom, having first scourged with whips, he cruci- 
 fied.’”? 
 “He was burnt alive, having been first beaten.”? 
 To which may be added one from Livy, lib. xi. ¢. 5, 
 “ Productique omnes, virgisque c@st, ac securi percussi.” 
 A modern example may illustrate the use we make 
 of this instance. The preceding of a capital execution 
 by the corporal punishment of the sufferer, is a practice 
 unknown in England, but retained, in some instances at 
 least, as appears by the late execution of a regicide in 
 Sweden. This circumstance, therefore, in the account 
 of an English execution, purporting to come from an 
 English writer, would not only bring a suspicion upon 
 the truth of the account, but would, in a considerable 
 degree, impeach its pretensions of having been written 
 by the author whose name it bore. Whereas, the same 
 circumstance, in the account of a Swedish execution, 
 would verify the account, and support the authenticity of 
 the book in which it was found; or, at least, would 
 prove that the author, whoever he was, possessed the 
 information and the knowledge which he ought to 
 possess. 
 G. XXVI. [p. 353] John xix. 16, “ And they took Jesus 
 and led him away; and he, dearing his cross, went forth.” 
 Plutarch, De iis qui serd puniuntur, p. 554: a Paris, 
 1624. “Every kind of wickedness produces its own par- 
 
 1 P. 1247, edit, 24. Huds. 2 P. 1080, edit. 45, 3 FP. 1327, edit. 43. 
 
 F. We find, in Matt. xxvii. 26, G. In John xix. 16, it is men- 
 that Jesus was scourged before he tioned that Jesus bore his own 
 was crucified. Shew, from Jose- cross on his way to execution: shew 
 phus and Livy, that this was that this was the case with every 
 customary at the time. malefactor. 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 293 
 ticular torment ; just as every malefactor, when he is 
 brought forth to execution, carries his own cross.” 
 
 XXVII. John xix. 32, “Then came the soldiers, and 
 brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was 
 crucified with him.” 
 
 Constantine abolished the punishment of the cross sin 
 commending which edict, a heathen writer notices this 
 very circumstance of breaking the legs: “E6 pius, ut 
 etiam vetus veterrimumque supplicium, patibulum, et 
 
 cruribus suffringendis, primus removerit.” 
 
 Cespoapixii: 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 being the zzz hour.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. c. 7. sect. 8, 
 in the morning and at the ninth 
 
 their duty at the altar.” 
 
 Aur. Vict. 
 
 [p. 457] Acts iii. 1, “Now Peter and John 
 went up together into the temple, 
 
 at the hour of prayer, 
 
 “Twice every day, 
 hour, the priests perform 
 
 XXIX. [p. 462] Acts xv. 21, “For Moses, of old time, 
 
 hath, in every city, them that 
 the synagogues every Sabbath 
 
 preach him, being read in 
 -day.” 
 
 Joseph. contra. Ap. 1. ii, “He (Moses) gave us the law, 
 the most excellent of all institutions; nor did he appoint 
 that it should be heard once only, or twice, or often, but 
 that, laying aside all other works, we should meet to- 
 
 gether every week to hear it read, and 
 
 understanding of it.” 
 
 gain a _ perfect 
 
 XXX. [p. 465] Acts xxi. 23, “We have four men, 
 
 which have a vow on them : 
 self with them, that they ma 
 Joseph. de Bell. 1. xi. c. 15, 
 
 them take, and purify thy- 
 
 y shave their heads.” 
 
 “Tt is customary for those 
 
 who have been afflicted with some distemper, or have 
 
 laboured under any other 
 thirty days before they offe 
 
 difficulties, to make a VOW, 
 r sacrifices, to abstain from 
 
 wines, and shave the hair of their heads.” 
 
 H. Shew that what is related 
 in John xix. 32, respecting the 
 breaking of criminals’ legs, was con- 
 sistent with ancient custom. 
 
 {. Shew that the hour of prayer, 
 mentioned in Acts iii. 1, is rightly 
 stated to be the ninth. 
 
 How do you confirm the 
 
 remark, which we find in Acts xv. 
 21, that Moses was read every 
 Sabbath-day in the synagogues? 
 
 L. What confirmation do you 
 find, in Josephus, of the circum- 
 stances of the vow, and the shaving 
 of the head, mentioned in Acts xxi. 
 
 23, 24°? 
 
294. EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 Ib. ver. 24, “Them take, and purify thyself with 
 them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave 
 their heads.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. 1. xix. c. 6, “He (Herod Agrippa) 
 coming to Jerusalem, offered up sacrifices of thanks- 
 giving, and omitted nothing that was prescribed by the 
 law. For which reason he also ordered a good number 
 of the Nazarites to be shaved. We here find that it was an 
 act of piety amongst the Jews, to defray, for those who 
 were under the Nazaritic vow, the expenses which 
 attended its completion; and that the phrase was, “that 
 they might be shaved.” The custom and the expression 
 are both remarkable, and both in close conformity with 
 the Scripture account. 
 
 M. XXXI. [p. 474] 2 Cor. xi. 24, “Of the Jews, five 
 times received I forty stripes, save one.” 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. iv. c. 8. sect. 21, “He that acts 
 contrary hereto, let him receive forty stripes, wanting 
 one, from the public officer.” 
 
 The coincidence here is singular, because the law 
 allowed forty stripes :—“ Forty stripes he may give him, 
 and not exceed.” Deut. xxv. 3. It proves that the 
 author of the Epistle to the Corinthians was guided, not 
 by books, but by facts; because his statement agrees 
 with the actual custom, even when that custom deviated 
 from the written law, and from what he must have 
 learnt by consulting the Jewish code, as set forth in the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 N. XXXII. [p. 490] Luke iii. 12, “Then came also 
 publicans to be baptized.” From this quotation, as well 
 as from the history of Levi or Matthew (Luke v. 29), 
 and of Zaccheus (Luke xix. 2), it appears, that the pub- 
 licans or tax-gatherers were, frequently at least if not 
 always, Jews: which, as the country was then under a 
 Roman government, and the taxes were paid to the 
 
 M. Shew the coincidence be- N. What is to be remarked in 
 tween S. Paul’s account of his the statement we find in Luke iii. 
 punishment with forty stripes, save 12, that pudlicans also came to be 
 one, (2 Cor. xi. 24), and the law baptized? 
 mentioned by Josephus ; and men- 
 tion what this coincidence proves. 
 
CHAP. VI.| OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 295 
 - Romans, was a circumstance not to be expected. That 
 
 it was the truth however of the case, appears from a 
 short passage of Josephus. 
 
 De Bell. lib. ii. c. 14. sect. 45, “ But, Florus not restrain- 
 ing these practices by his authority, the chief men of the 
 Jews, among whom was Fohn the publican, not knowing 
 well what course to take, wait upon Florus, and give 
 him eight talents of silver to stop the building.” 
 
 XXXIII. [p. 496] Acts xxii. 25, “And as they bound 
 him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood 
 by, Isit lawful for you Zo scourge a man that is a Roman, 
 and uncondemned?” 
 
 “Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum; scelus verbe- 
 rari.” Cic in Verr. 
 
 “Cedebatur virgis, in medio foro Messanz, civis 
 
 Romanus, Judices: cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla 
 vox alia, istius miseri inter dolorem crepitumque 
 plagarum audiebatur, nisi hec, Czvis Romanus sum.” 
 P: AXAAXIV.~ [p..513] Acts xxii. 27, “ Then the chief 
 captain came, and said unto him (Paul), Tell me, Art 
 thou a Roman? he said, Yea.” The circumstance here 
 to be noticed is, that a Few was a Roman citizen. 
 
 Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 10. sect. 13. “ Lucius Lentu- 
 lus, the consul, declared, I have dismissed from the 
 service the Fewish Roman citizens, who observe therites of 
 the Jewish religion at Ephesus.” 
 
 Ib. ver. 28, “And the chief captain answered, With a 
 great sum obtained I this freedom.” 
 
 Dio Cassius, lib. 1x, “ This privilege, which had been 
 bought formerly ata great price, became so cheap, that 
 it was commonly said, a man might be made a Roman 
 citizen for a few pieces of broken glass.” 
 
 AASV etl Dray SD Ars 
 
 OnpIn vActsoxxit, 25,1;Sai Paul 
 asks, ‘* Is it lawful for you ¢o scourge 
 a man that is a Roman, and un- 
 condemned?” Shew that it was 
 unlawful, 
 
 P. Shew that S. Paul, as a 
 Jew, stated correctly, in Acts xxii. 
 27, that he was a Roman citizen? 
 
 Q. In Acts xxii. 28, we read 
 
 xxvii. 16, “And when we 
 
 ‘*And the chief captain answered, 
 With a great sum obtained I this 
 Jreedom.” Shew that this privilege 
 was formerly an expensive one. 
 
 R. Shew that the statement 
 respecting Paul’s imprisonment, 
 and his expression, ‘bound with 
 a chain,” were agreeable to the 
 Roman customs. 
 
296 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 S. 
 
 came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to 
 the captain of the guard; but Paul was suffered to 
 dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him.” 
 
 With which join ver. 20, “ For the hope of Israel, Iam 
 bound with ¢hzs chain.” 
 
 “Quemadmodtim eadem catena et custodiam et 
 militem copulat; sicista, que tam dissimilia sunt, pariter 
 incedunt.” Seneca, Ep. v. 
 
 “Proconsul sstimare solet, utrim in carcerem reci- 
 pienda sit persona, an m7liti tradenda.” Ulpian, 1. i. sect. 
 De Custod. et Exhib. Reor. 
 
 In the confinement of Agrippa by the order of 
 Tiberius, Antonio managed, that the centurion who 
 presided over the guards, and the soldier to whom 
 Agrippa was to be bound, might be men of mild charac- 
 ter. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 7. sect. 5.) After the 
 accession of Caligula, Agrippa also, like Paul, was 
 suffered to dwell, yet as a prisoner, in his own house. 
 
 XXXVI. [p. 531] Acts xxvii. 1, “And when it was 
 determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered 
 Paul, and certain other prisoners, unto one named Julius.” 
 Since not only Paul, but certain other prisoners, were 
 sent by the same ship into Italy, the text must be con- 
 sidered as carrying with it an intimation, that the sending 
 of persons from Judea to be tried at Rome was an 
 ordinary practice. That, in truth it was so, is made out 
 by a variety of examples which the writings of Josephus 
 furnish ; and, amongst others, by the following, which 
 comes near both to the time and the subject of the 
 instance in the Acts. “ Felix, for some slight offence, 
 bound and sent to Rome several priests of his acquain- 
 tance, and very good and honest men, to answer for 
 themselves to Cesar.” Joseph. in Vit, sect. 3. 
 
 XXXVIT. [p. 539] Acts xi. 27, “ And in these days 
 came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch ; and there 
 
 S. From what we find in Acts T. Shew the confirmation 
 XXvil. I, it would appear that the which history affords to the ac- 
 sending of prisoners from Judea for count of the derth foretold by 
 trial to Rome, was an ordinary Agabus, which came to pass in the 
 practice: shew the confirmation days of Claudius Cesar. 
 which this receives from Josephus. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 297 
 stood up one of them, named Agabus, and signified by 
 the Spirit that there should be a great dearth through- 
 out all the world (or all the country) ; which came to 
 pass iu the days of Claudius Cesar.” 
 
 Josephus Antiq. 1. xx. c. 4. sect. 2, “In their time 
 
 (z. e. about the fifth or sixth year of Claudius) a great 
 
 dearth happened in Judea.” 
 
 U: XAXXVIII. [p. 555] Acts xviii. 1, 2, “Because that 
 Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from 
 Rome.” 
 
 Suet. Claud. c. xxv, “Judzos impulsore Chresto 
 assidue tumultuantes, Roma expulit.” 
 
 Vv. XXXIX. [p. 664] Acts v. 37, “After this man, rose 
 
 up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing, and drew 
 
 away much people after him.” 
 
 Joseph. de Bell, |. vii, “He (vzz. the person who in 
 another placed is called, by Josephus, Judas the Galilean, 
 or Judas of Galilee) persuaded not a few not to enrol 
 themselves, when Cyrenius the censor was sent into 
 Judea.” 
 
 XL. [p. 942] Acts xxi. 38, “Art not thou that 
 Egyptian, which before these days, madest an uproar, 
 and leddest out into the wilderness, four thousand men 
 that were murderers ?” 
 
 Joseph. de Bell. 1 ii. c. 13. sect. 5, “But the Egyp- 
 tian false prophet brought a yet heavier disaster upon 
 the Jews; for this impostor, coming into the country, 
 and gaining the reputation of a prophet, gathered 
 together thirty thousand men, who were deceived by 
 him. Having brought them round out of the wilderness, 
 up to the mount of Olives, he intended from thence to 
 make his attack upon Jerusalem ; but Felix, coming 
 suddenly upon him with the Roman soldiers, prevented 
 the attack.”—“ A great number, or (as it should rather 
 
 U. Prove from history, the made to an Egyptian, who ‘before 
 
 expulsion of the Jews from Rome, 
 as mentioned in Acts xviii. I, 2. 
 
 V. Verify the account of Judas 
 of Galilee, which we find in Acts 
 
 v. 37. 3 aa 
 W. In Acts xxi. 38, allusion is 
 
 these days,” made an uproar and 
 led out into the wilderness four 
 thousand men who were murderers: 
 show that the allusion is correct, 
 and clear up any discrepancies you 
 may observe. 
 
298 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 be rendered), the greatest part of those that were with 
 him, were either slain or taken prisoners.” 
 
 In these two passages, the designation of this im- 
 postor, an “ Egyptian,” without the proper name; “the 
 wilderness ;” his escape, though his followers were 
 destroyed ; the time of the transaction, in the president- 
 ship of Felix, which could not be any long time before 
 the words in Luke are supposed to have been spoken ; 
 are circumstances of close correspondency. There is 
 one, and only one point of disagreement, and that is in 
 the number of his followers, which in the Acts are called 
 four thousand, and by Josephus thirty thousand : but, 
 beside that the names of numbers, more than any other 
 words, are liable to the errors of transcribers, we are, in 
 the present instance, under the less concern to reconcile 
 the evangelist with Josephus, as Josephus is not, in 
 this point, consistent with himself. For whereas, in 
 the passage here quoted, he calls the number thirty 
 thousand, and tells us that the greatest part, or a great 
 number (according as his words are rendered), of those 
 that were with him, were destroyed ; in his Antiquities, 
 he represents four hundred to have been killed upon 
 this occasion, and two hundred taken prisoners :' which 
 certainly was not the “greatest part,” nor “a great 
 part,” nor “a great number,” out of thirty thousand. 
 It is probable also, that Lysias and Josephus spoke of 
 the expedition in its different stages ; Lysias, of those 
 who followed the Egyptian out of Jerusalem ; Josephus, 
 of all who were collected about him afterwards, from 
 different quarters. 
 
 xX. XLI. (Lardner’s Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, 
 vol. iil. p. 21) Acts xvii. 22. “Then Paul stood in the 
 midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I 
 perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious: for, 
 as I passed by and beheld your devotions, 7 found an 
 altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN 
 
 1 Lib. 20. c, 7. sect. 6. 
 
 X. Shew how S. Paul’s ac- God in Acts xvii. 22, is established 
 count of the Altar to the unknown by history. 
 
CHAP. VI] OF CHRISTIANITY. 299 
 
 GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him 
 declare I unto you.” 
 
 Diogenes Laertius, who wrote about the year 210, in 
 his history of Epimenides, who is supposed to have 
 flourished nearly six hundred years before Christ, relates 
 of him the following story: That, being invited to 
 Athens, for the purpose, he delivered the city from a 
 pestilence, in this manner :—Taking several sheep, some 
 black, others white, he had them up to the Areopagus, 
 and then let them go where they would, and gave 
 orders to those that followed them, wherever any of 
 them should lie down, to sacrifice it to the god to whom 
 it belonged ; and so the plague ceased.—Hence,” says 
 the historian, “it has come to pass, that to this present 
 time may be found in the boroughs of the Athenians, 
 ANONYMOUS altars ; a memorial of the expiation then 
 made.”! These altars, it may be presumed, were called 
 anonymous, because there was not the name of any par- 
 ticular 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 unio tt 
 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 
 Tyaneus, “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 sup- 
 posed to have been Lucian, who wrote about the year 
 170, by others some anonymous Heathen writer of the 
 fourth century, makes Critias swear dy 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 coinci- 
 
 1 In Epimenide, 1. i. segm. 110. 2 Paus. 1. v. p. 412. 8 Ib. 1. i. p. 4. 
 4 Philos, Apoll, Tyan. 1. vi. c. 3. 5 Lucian, in Philop. tom. ii. Grev. 767. 780. 
 
300 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 dence. It appears, beyond controversy, that altars with 
 this inscription were existing at Athens, at the time 
 when S. Paul is alleged to have been there. It seems 
 also (which is very worthy of observation), that this in- 
 scription was peculiar to the Athenians. There is no 
 evidence that there were altars inscribed “to the un- 
 known god” in any other country. Supposing the 
 history of S. Paul to have been a fable, how is it pos- 
 sible that such a writer as the author of the Acts of the 
 Apostles was, should hit upon a circumstance so extra- 
 ordinary, and introduce it by an allusion so suitable to 
 S. Paul’s office and character? 
 
 y. THE examples here collected will be sufficient, I hope, 
 to satisfy us, that the writers of the Christian history 
 knew something of what they were writing about. The 
 argument is also strenthened by the following con- 
 siderations :— 
 
 I. That these agreements appear, not only in articles 
 of public history, but sometimes in minute, recondite, and 
 very peculiar circumstances, in which, of all others, a for- 
 ger is most likely to have been found tripping. 
 
 II. That the destruction of Jerusalem, which took 
 place forty years after the commencement of the Chris- 
 tian institution, produced such a change in the state of 
 the country, and the condition of the Jews, that a wri- 
 ter, who was unacquainted with the circumstances of 
 the nation defore that event, would find it difficult to 
 avoid mistakes, in endeavouring to give detailed accounts 
 of transactions connected with those circumstances, for- 
 asmuch as he could no longer have a living exemplar to 
 copy from. 
 
 III. That there appears in the writers of the New 
 Testament, a knowledge of the affairs of those times 
 
 Y. State the three considera- or referred to, in Scripture, with 
 tion, which strengthen the argu- the state of things in those times, 
 ment derived from the conformity as represented by foreign and inde- 
 of the facts occasionally mentioned, pendent accounts. 
 
CHAP. VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 301 
 which we do not find in authors of later ages. In par- 
 ticular, “many of the Christian writers of the second 
 and third centuries, and of the following ages, had 
 false notions concerning the state of Judea, between the 
 nativity of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem.”! 
 Therefore ¢hey 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 con- 
 tented 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. 
 
 Z. I. The taxing, during which Jesus was born, was 
 “first made,” as we read, according to our translation, 
 in S. Luke, “whilst Cyrenius was governor of Syria.”? 
 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 first made:” for, 
 according to the mistake imputed to the evangelist, this 
 word could have no signification whatever ; it could have 
 had no place in his narrative ; because, let it relate to 
 what it will, taxing, census, enrolment, or assessment, it 
 imports that the writer had more than one of those in 
 
 1 Lardner, part i. vol. ii, p, 960, 2 Chap. ii. ver. 2, 
 
 Z. Cyrenius was not governor 
 of Syria until ten or twelve years 
 after the birth of Christ; remove 
 the difficulty under which the 
 evangelist’s account seems to 
 
 labour, by shewing how the taxing 
 could be at the birth of Christ, 
 according to our translation of S, 
 Luke. 
 
302 EVIDENCES . [PART. II. 
 
 contemplation. It acquits him therefore of the charge ; 
 it is inconsistent with the supposition of his knowing only 
 of the taxing in the beginning of Cyrenius’s govern- 
 ment. 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 mis- 
 take, to lay it down as certain that he intended to refer 
 to chat. 
 
 The sentence in S. Luke may be construed thus: 
 “This was the first assessment (or enrolment) of Cyre- 
 nius, 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 trans- 
 action which the account describes. A modern writer 
 who was not very exact in the choice of his expressions 
 in relating the affairs of the East Indies, might easily 
 say that such a thing was done by Governor Hastings ; 
 though, in truth, the thing had been done by him before 
 his advancement to the station from which he received 
 the name of Governor. And this, as we contend, is pre- 
 cisely the inaccuracy which has produced the difficulty in 
 ileuket 
 
 At any rate, it appears from the form of the expression, 
 that he had two taxings or enrolments in contemplation. 
 And if Cyrenius had been sent upon this business into 
 Judea, before he became governor of Syria, (against 
 
 -which supposition there is no proof, but rather an ex- 
 ternal evidence of an enrolment going on about this 
 time under some person or other,” then the census, on 
 all hands acknowledged to have been made by him in 
 the beginning of his government, would form a second, 
 so as to occasion the other to be called the first. 
 
 1 If the word which we render “‘first” be rendered ‘‘ before,” which it has been strongly con- 
 tended that the Greek idiom allows of, the whole difficulty vanishes: for then the passage would be— 
 “Now this taxing was made before Cyrenius was governor of Syria ;’ which corresponds with 
 the chronology. But I rather choose to argue that, however the word “first” be rendered, to give it 
 a meaning at all, it militates with the objection. In this I think there can be no mistake, 
 
 2 Josephus (Antiq. xvii.c. 2. sect. 6.) has this remarkable passage : ‘‘ When, therefore, the whole 
 Jewish nation took an oath to be faithful to Cesar, 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. 
 
Cuap. vi] OF CHRISTIANITY. 303 
 
 A 
 
 II. Another chronological objection arises upon a date 
 assigned in the beginning of the the third chapter of S. 
 Luke.’ “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Ti- 
 berius Cesar,—Jesus began to be about thirty years of 
 age :” for, supposing Jesus to have been born, as S. Mat- 
 thew and S. Luke, also himself, relate, in the time of 
 Herod, he must, according to the dates given in Jose- 
 phus 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 S. Matthew’s narrative intimates, one 
 or two years before Herod’s death, he would have been 
 thirty-two or thirty-three years old at that time. 
 
 This is the difficulty : the solution turns upon an al- 
 teration in the construction of the Greek. S. Luke’s 
 words in the original are allowed, by the general opinion 
 of learned men, to signify, not “that Jesus began to be 
 about thirty years of age,” but “that he was about 
 thirty years of age when he began his ministry.” This 
 construction being admitted, the adverb “about” gives 
 us all the latitude we want, and more, especially when 
 applied, as it is in the present instance, to a decimal 
 number ; for such numbers, even without this qualifying 
 addition, are often used in a laxer sense than is here 
 contended for.? 
 
 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 impostor of 
 
 1 Lardner, part i, vol. ii. p. 768 
 
 2 Livy, speaking of the peace which the conduct of Romulus had procured to the state during 
 the whole reign of his successor (Numa), has these words:*— Ab illo enim profectis viribus datis 
 tantum yaluit, ut in quadraginta deinde annos, tutam pacem, haberet ;” yet afterwards, in the same 
 chapter, “‘ Romulus,” he says, “‘septem et triginta regnavit annos, Numa tres et quadraginta.”’ 
 
 * Liv. Hist. c. 1 sect. 16. 
 
 A. Supposing Jesus to have began to be about thirty years of 
 been born in the time of Herod, age? 
 he must have been thirty-one in B. State, fully, the difficulty 
 the fifteenth year of Tiberius: concerning Theudas, who is men- 
 how, then, does S. Luke, in chap. tioned in Acts v. 36; and explain the 
 iii. state then in this year Jesus solution it admits of. 
 
304 EVIDENCES A3 [PART. IL. 
 
 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 pos- 
 sible that Josephus may have been mistaken),’ 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 Jose- 
 phus, that there were not fewer than four persons of the 
 name of Simon within forty years, and not fewer than 
 three of the name of Judas within ten years, who were 
 all leaders of insurrections ; and it is likewise recorded 
 by this historian, that upon the death of Herod the 
 Great, (which agrees very well with the time of the com- 
 motion referred to by Gamaliel, and with his manner of 
 stating that time, “before these days”), there were in- 
 numerable disturbances in Judza.? Archbishop Usher 
 was of opinion, that one of the three Judases above 
 mentioned was Gamaliel’s Theudas ;* 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, how- 
 ever he came at his information, appears to have be- 
 lieved that there was an impostor of the name of Theu- 
 das before the nativity of Christ.® 
 
 c. 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 
 
 1 Michaelis’s Introduction to the New Testament (Marsh’s translation), vol. i. p. 61. 
 2 Lardner. part. 1. vol. ii. p. 922. 8 Antiq. 1. xvii. c. 12. sect. 4, 
 Annals, p. 797. 5 Luke vi. 16. Mark iii. 18. 
 6 Orig. Cont. Cels. p. 44. 
 
 C. Shew the difficulty which been slain between the temple and 
 arises upon the mention of Za- the altar; and exhibit Paley’s me- 
 charias, son of Barachias, as having thod of solving it. 
 
CHAP. VI.] (OF CHRISTIANITY. 305 
 
 righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of 
 righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Ba- 
 vachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the 
 altar.” 
 
 There is a Zacharias, whose death is related in the 
 second book of Chronicles,’ in a manner which perfectly 
 supports our Saviour’s allusion. But this Zacharias was 
 the son of Fehotada. 
 
 There is also Zacharias the prophet, who was the son 
 of Barachiah, and is so described in the superscrip- 
 tion of his prophecy, but of whose death we have no 
 account. 
 
 I have little doubt but that the first Zacharias was the 
 person spoken of by our Saviour; and that the name 
 of the father has been since added or changed by some 
 one, who took it from the title of the prophecy, which 
 happened to be better known to him than the history in 
 the Chronicles. 
 
 There is likewise a Zacharias the son of Baruch, related 
 by Josephus to have been slain in the temple a few years 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem. It has been insin- 
 uated that the words put into our Saviour’s mouth con- 
 tain a reference to this transaction, and were composed 
 by some writer, who either confounded the time of the 
 transaction with our Saviour’s age, or inadvertently over- 
 looked the anachronism. 
 
 Now suppose it to have been so; suppose these words 
 to have been suggested by the transaction related in 
 Josephus, and to have been falsely ascribed to Christ ; 
 and observe what extraordinary coincidences (accident- 
 ally as it must in that case have been) attend the for- 
 gers mistake. 
 
 First, that we have a Zacharias in the book of Chron- 
 icles, whose death and the manner of it corresponds with 
 the allusion. 
 
 Secondly: that although the name of this person’s 
 father be erroneously put down in the Gospel, yet we 
 
 1 *‘ 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 Lora, 
 that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they 
 conspired against him, and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king, in the court of 
 the howse of the Lord.” 2 Chron, xxiv. 20, 21. 
 
 x 
 
EVIDENCES [PART Il. 
 
 306 
 have a way of accounting for the error, by shewing 
 another Zacharias in the Jewish Scriptures, much 
 better known than the former, whose patronymic was 
 actually that which appears in the text. 
 
 Every one who thinks upon the subject, will find these 
 to be circumstances which could not have met to- 
 gether in a mistake which did not proceed from the cir- 
 cumstances themselves. 
 
 I have noticed, I think, all the difficulties of this kind. 
 They are few: some of them admit of a clear, others of 
 a probable solution. The reader will compare them with 
 the number, the variety, the closeness, and the satisfac- 
 toriness, 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. 
 
 SADT ERT 
 
 Undesigned Coincidences 
 
 The author remarks, that be- 
 tween the letters of S. )Paul, and 
 the history in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, there exist many notes of cor- 
 respondency. A perusal of these 
 writings proves that neither the his- 
 tory was taken from the letters, nor 
 the letters from the history. The 
 undesignedness of the agreements 
 shews, that they have not been pro- 
 duced by meditation, or fraudulent 
 contrivance; and they are too 
 close, and numerous, to be account- 
 ed for by the accidental occurrences 
 of fiction. [p. 307, 308] 
 
 In support of this argument, 
 Paley refers to his Hore Pauline, 
 in which these coincidences are mi- 
 nutely traced. 
 
 He then points out, in the fol- 
 lowing three particulars, how the 
 
 argument bears upon the general 
 question of the Christian history : 
 
 I. S. Paul, in his letters, affirms 
 his own performance of miracles : 
 and, ‘‘that miracles were the signs 
 of an apostle.” 
 
 II. It shews that the series of 
 action, represented by S. Paul, was 
 real: which alone lays a foundation 
 for the proposition, which forms the 
 subject of the first part of the pre- 
 
 sent work. (See the first nine chap- 
 ters. ) 
 III. It proves, that Luke, or 
 
 whoever was the author of the Acts, 
 was well acquainted with S. Paul’s 
 history, and was a companion of his 
 travels; which tends to establish 
 the credit of S. Luke’s Gospel. [p. 
 308, 309] 
 
 The author then notices a re- 
 
CHAP. VII.] 
 
 markable similitude between the 
 style of S. John’s Gospel, and that 
 of S. John’s Epistle. It is not the 
 style of S. Paul, S. Peter, or S. 
 James ; but bears a resemblance to 
 the Gospel, as far as that resem- 
 
 CRECRAT SELLE In vee 
 
 307 
 
 Such writings prove one another to 
 be genuine. What renders this cor- 
 respondency more valuable is, the 
 Epistle asserts, in terms sufficiently 
 explicit, the writer’s personal know- 
 ledge of Christ’s history. [p. 309] 
 
 blance can be expected to appear. 
 
 A. BETWEEN the letters which bear the name of S. Paul in 
 our collection, and his history in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, 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 uzdesignedness of the 
 agreements (which undesignedness is gathered from their 
 latency, their minuteness, their obliquity, the suitable- 
 ness of the circumstances in which they consist, to the 
 places in which those circumstances occur, and the 
 circuitous references by which they are traced out) 
 demonstrates that they have not been produced by 
 mediation, or by ony fraudulent contrivance. But coin- 
 cidences, from which these causes are excluded, and 
 which are too close and numerous to be accounted 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 pursued it through 
 S. Paul's thirteen epistles, in a work published by me 
 four years ago, under the title of Horz Pauline. I am 
 sensible how feebly any argument which depends upon 
 an induction of particulars, is represented without ex- 
 amples. On which account, I wished to have abridged 
 my own volume in the manner in which I have treated 
 Dr. Lardner’s in the preceding chapter. But, upon 
 making the attempt, I did not find it in my power to 
 render the articles intelligible by fewer words than I 
 have there used. I must be content therefore, to refer 
 the reader to the work itself. And I would particularly 
 
 A. What is the argument de- incidences; and how does that un- 
 rived by Paley, from undesigned co- designedness appear ? 
 
 XZ 
 
308 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 invite his attention to the observations which are made 
 in it upon the first three epistles. I persuade myself 
 that he will find the proofs, both of agreement and 
 undesignedness, supplied by these epistles, sufficient to 
 support the conclusion which is there maintained, in 
 favour both of the genuineness of the writings, and the 
 truth of the narrative. 
 
 It remains only, in this place, to point out how the 
 argument dears upon the general question of the Chris- 
 tian history. 
 
 B. First: S. Paul in these letters affirms, in unequivocal 
 terms, his own performance of miracles, and, what ought 
 particularly to be remembered, “ 7hat miracles were 
 the signs of an apostle” If this testimony come from 
 S. 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 shews that the series of action repre- 
 sented in the epistles of S. Paul was real; which alone 
 lays a foundation for the proposition which forms the 
 subject of the first part of our present work, viz. that 
 the original witnesses of the Christian history devoted 
 themselves to lives of toil, suffering, and danger, in 
 consequence of their belief of the truth of that history, 
 and for the sake of communicating the knowledge of it 
 to others. 
 
 Thirdly: it proves that Luke, or whoever was the 
 author of the Acts of the Apostles (for the argument 
 does not depend upon the name of the author, though 
 I know no reason for questioning it), was well ac- 
 quainted with S. Paul’s history: and that he probably 
 was, what he professes himself to be, a companion of 
 S. Paul’s travels; which, if true, establishes, in a con- 
 siderable degree, the credit even of his Gospel, because 
 it shews, that the writer, from his time, situation, and 
 
 1 Rom. xv. 18, 19. 2 Cor, xii. 12. 
 
 B. State the three considera- coincidences, bears upon the general 
 tions which point out how the question of the Christian history. 
 argument, arising from undesigned 
 
CHAP. VII.] OFS CHRISTIANILY: 309 
 
 connexions, possessed opportunities of informing him- 
 self truly concerning the transactions which he relates. 
 I have little dithculty in applying to the Gospel of S. 
 Luke what is proved concerning the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, considering them as two parts of the same history ; 
 for, though there are instances of second parts being for- 
 geries, 1 know none where the second part is genuine, 
 and the first not so. 
 
 c. I will only observe, as a sequel of the argument, 
 though not noticed in my work, the remarkable simili- 
 tude between the style of S. John’s Gospel and of 
 S. John’s Epistle. The style of S. John’s is not at all 
 the style of S. Paul’s Epistles, though both are very 
 singular; nor is it the style of S. James’s or of S, 
 Peter's Epistles: but it bears a resemblance to the 
 style of the Gospel inscribed with S. John’s name, so 
 far as that resemblance can be expected to appear 
 which is not in simple narrative, so much as in reflec- 
 tions, as in the representation of discourses. Writings 
 so circumstanced prove themselves, and one another to 
 be genuine. This correspondency is the more valuable, 
 as the epistle itself asserts, in S. John’s manner, in- 
 deed, but in terms sufficiently explicit, the writer’s per- 
 sonal 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 account delivered by a writer so well informed 
 as this? 
 
 1 Chap. i. ver. 1—3. 
 
 C. Pursue the argument deduced from a notice of undesigned coinci- 
 dences in the writings of S. John. 
 
310 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART IL. 
 
 CUA TDD Re Vrs 
 
 Of the History of the Resurrection. 
 
 The author begins by exhibiting 
 the peculiar value of the history of 
 the resurrection; which appears from 
 the certainty we have that the 
 apostles and first teachers asserted 
 the fact which would have been 
 known if the Gospels had never 
 been written. Every piece of Scrip- 
 ture recognises the resurrection; and 
 every writing from that time to the 
 present, for or against Christianity, 
 speaks of this article as_ received 
 without doubt, by all Christians. 
 peeehteeee red 
 
 Amidst the objections which 
 arise, the author remarks, that the 
 solution most deserving of notice is 
 that, which would resolve the con- 
 duct of the apostles into exthuszasm ; 
 and would class the resurrection 
 with stories of apparitions. This is 
 answered, Ist, by arguments from 
 the Scriptures: eg. Christ was seen 
 by many persons, both separately 
 and together—by day as well as by 
 
 night—by persons who conversed 
 and ate with him, and examined his 
 person: 2nd, from the nature of the 
 case: é.g. the non production of 
 the dead body by the enemy, which 
 was missing from the Sepulchre. 
 The impossibility of its having been 
 stolen by the disciples. If the body 
 had been present it must have cured 
 their enthusiasm; if absent, fraud, 
 not enthusiasm, must have carried it 
 away [p. 311—313] 
 
 Lastly: admitting so much of 
 the account as states that the re- 
 ligion of Jesus was set up at Jeru- 
 salem, 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 resurrec- 
 tion from the grave: it is evident 
 that, if his body could have been 
 found, the Jews would have pro- 
 duced it as the shortest and com- 
 pletest answer to the whole story. 
 
 Lp. 313] 
 
 . THE history of the resurrection of Christ is a part of 
 the evidence of Christianity; but I do not know whether 
 the proper strength of this passage of the Christian 
 history, or wherein its peculiar value, as a head of 
 evidence, consists, be generally understood. It is not 
 that, as a miracle, the resurrection ought to be account- 
 ed a more decisive proof of supernatural agency than 
 any other miracles are; it is not that, as it stands in the 
 Gospels, it is better attested than some others ; it is not 
 for either of these reasons, that more weight belongs to 
 it than to other miracles, but for the following, viz. That 
 it is completely certain that the apostles of Christ, and 
 
 A. State, fully wherein the resurrection; as a head of evidence, 
 peculiar value of the history of the consists. 
 
CHAP. VIII. ] OF CHRISTIANITY, 311 
 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 
 recognises the resurrection. Every epistle of every 
 apostle, every author contemporary with the apostles, of 
 the age immediately succeeding the apostles, every 
 writing from that age to the present, genuine or spurious, 
 on the side of Christianity or against it, concur in repre- 
 senting the resurrection of Christ as an article of his 
 history, received without doubt or disagreement by all 
 who called themselves Christians, as alleged from the 
 
 ' beginning by the propagators of the institution, and 
 alleged as the centre of their testimony. Nothing, I 
 apprehend, which a man does not himself see or hear, 
 can be more certain to him than this point. I do not 
 mean that nothing can be more certain than that Christ 
 rose from the dead; but that nothing can be more 
 certain than that his apostles and the first teachers of 
 Christianity gave out that he did so. In the other parts 
 of the Gospel narrative, a question may be made, 
 whether the things related of Christ be the very things 
 which the apostles and first teachers of the religion 
 delivered concerning him? And this question depends 
 a good deal upon the evidence we possess of the genuine- 
 ness, or rather, perhaps, of the antiquity, credit, and 
 reception of the books. On the subject of the resurrec- 
 tion no such discussion is necessary, because no such 
 
 B. doubt can be entertained. The only points which can 
 enter into our consideration, are, whether the apostles 
 knowingly published a falsehood, or whether they were 
 themselves deceived ; whether either of these supposi- 
 
 B.ations 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 asa scheme; their personal 
 
 B. Mention the only two points 
 which can enter into our considera- 
 tion: on the subject of the resur- 
 rection, and give the arguments from 
 Scripture, and from the nature 
 of the case, which disprove the only 
 
 one of these two points considered 
 tenable. 
 
 B.a. On what grounds do we 
 consider the first of these two points 
 as untenable. 
 
B12 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 toils, and dangers, and sufferings, in the cause; their 
 appropriation of their whole time to the object; the 
 warm and seemingly unaffected zeal and earnestness 
 with which they profess their sincerity ; exempt their 
 B.émemory from the suspicion of imposture. The solution 
 more deserving of notice, is that which would resolve the 
 conduct of the apostles into enthusiasm ; which would 
 class the evidence of Christ’s resurrection with the 
 numerous stories that are extant of the apparitions of 
 dead men. There are circumstances in the narrative, as 
 it is preserved in our histories, which destroy this com- 
 parison entirely. It was not one person, but many, who 
 saw him; they saw him not only separately but together, 
 not only by night but by day, not at a distance but 
 near, not once but several times; they not only saw him, 
 but touched him, conversed with him, ate with him, 
 B.cexamined his person to satisfy their doubts. These par- 
 ticulars are decisive: but they stand, I do admit, upon 
 the credit of our records. I would answer, therefore, 
 the insinuation of enthusiasm by a circumstance which 
 arises out of the nature of the thing ; and the reality of 
 which must be confessed by all who allow, what I 
 believe is not denied, that the resurrection of Christ, 
 whether true or false, was asserted by his disciples from 
 the beginning ; and that circumstance is, the nonpro- 
 duction of the dead body. It is related in the history, 
 what indeed the story of the resurrection necessarily 
 implies, that the corpse was missing out of the sepulchre: 
 it is related also in the history that the Jews reported 
 that the followers of Christ had stolen it away.| And 
 
 1 ‘And this saying,” S. Matthew writes, ‘‘is commonly reported amongst the Jews, until this 
 day,” (chap. xxviii. 15). The evangelist may be thought good authority as to this point, even by 
 those who do not admit his evidence in every other point: and this point is sufficient to prove that 
 the body was missing, 
 
 It has been rightly, I think, observed by Dr. Townsend (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 acknowledgement 
 of their negligence, without previous assurances of protection and impunity. 
 
 B.4. Mention the solution which B.c. As the above mentioned 
 Paley considers as more deserving particulars, which destroy the com- 
 of notice, and the comparison it parison of the resurrection with the 
 would give rise to; and state the extant stories of apparitions, stand 
 circumstances in the narrative, as upon the credit of our records, how 
 preserved in our histories, which does Paley answer the insinuation of 
 destroy the comparison. enthusiasm ? 
 
CHAP. VIIL] OF CHRISTIANITY 313 
 
 this account, though loaded with great improbabilities, 
 such as the situation of the disciples, their fears for their 
 own Safety at the time, the unlikelihood of their expect- 
 ing to succeed, the difficulty of actual success,! and the 
 inevitable consequence of detection and faliure, was, 
 nevertheless, the most credible account that could be 
 given of the matter. But it proceeds entirely upon the 
 
 -B.dsupposition of fraud, as all the old objections did. What 
 
 account can be given of the Jody, upon the supposition 
 of enthusiam? It is impossible our Lord’s followers 
 could believe that he was risen from the dead, if his 
 corpse was lying before them. No enthusiasm ever 
 reached to such a pitch of extravagancy as that: a spirit 
 may be an illusion ; a body is a real thing, an object of 
 sense, in which there can be no mistake. All accounts 
 of spectres leave the body in the grave. And, although 
 the body of Christ might be removed by /vaud, and for 
 the purposes of fraud, yet, without any such intention, 
 and by sincere but deluded men (which is the represent- 
 ation of the apostolic character we are now examining), 
 no such attempt could be made. The presence and the 
 absence of the dead body are alike inconsistent with the 
 hypothesis of enthusiasm: for, if present, it must have 
 cured their enthusiasm at once; if absent, fraud, not 
 enthusiasm, must have carried it away. 
 
 But further, if we admit, upon the concurrent testi- 
 mony of all the histories, so much of the account as 
 states that the religion of Jesus was set up at Jerusalem, 
 and set up with asserting, in the very place in which he 
 had been buried, and a “few days after he had been 
 buried, his resurrection out of the grave, it is evident 
 that, if this body could have been found, the Jews would 
 have produced it, as the shortest and completest answer 
 possible to the whole story. The attempt of the apostles 
 
 1 ‘Especially at the ful] moon, the city full of people, many probably passing the whole night, as 
 Jesus and his disciple had done, in ‘the open air, the sepulchre so near the city as to be now enclosed 
 within the walls.—Priestly on the Resurrection, p, 24, 
 
 B.d. What account can be given ment on the resurrection, which is 
 of the dody upon the supposition of founded on a partial admission of 
 enthusiam ? the testimony of Scripture. 
 
 C. State, fully, Paley’s argu- 
 
314 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 could not have survived this refutation a moment. If 
 we also admit, upon the authority of S. Matthew, that 
 the Jews were advertised of the expectation of Christ’s 
 followers, and that they had taken due precaution in 
 consequence of this notice, and that the body was in 
 marked and public custody, the observation receives 
 more force still. For, notwithstanding their precaution, 
 and although thus prepared and forewarned; when the 
 story of the resurrection of Christ came forth, as it im- 
 mediately did ; when it was publicly asserted by his dis- 
 ciples, and made the ground and basis of their preaching 
 in his name, and collecting followers to his religion, the 
 Jews had not the body to produce ; but were obliged to 
 meet the testimony of the apostles by an answer, not 
 containing indeed any impossibility in itself, but abso- 
 lutely inconsistent with the supposition of their in- 
 tegrity ; that is, in other words, inconsistent with the 
 supposition which would resolve their conduct into en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 ee er 
 CHAPTERS aL 
 
 Lhe Propagation of Christianity. 
 
 The author begins by remarking, 
 that in this argument the first con- 
 sideration is the fact; in what de- 
 gree, within what time, and to what 
 extent Christianity actually was pro- 
 pagated. 
 
 He then divides the propagation 
 into three periods, and notices the 
 degree and extent of it in each. 
 
 The FIRST PERIOD comprises 
 about two years from the ascension. 
 From our own books, we find, a few 
 days after Christ’s ascension, an as- 
 sembly of about one hundred and 
 twenty disciples at Jerusalem. Ten 
 days after the ascension, on the day 
 of Pentecost, there were added about 
 three thousand ; and soon after this, 
 “the number of men was _ about 
 five thousand ;” z. e. of the society 
 
 openly professing their belief in 
 Christ. It is probable that there 
 were many who might admit the 
 miracles of Christ, without being 
 convinced of the necessity of pub- 
 licly professing Christianity; e. g. 
 Gamaliel, whose advice is recorded 
 in Acts iv. 34: perhaps, also, Joseph 
 of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. This 
 class of men are pointed out by S. 
 John, chap. xii. Christianity ‘pro- 
 ceeded in Jerusalem with equal suc- 
 cess. ‘The history states that multi- 
 tudes, both of men and women, 
 were added to the Lord. That the 
 disciples were multiplied greatly, 
 and that a great company of priests 
 were obedient to the faith; and 
 this within two years from the ascen- 
 sion. [p. 316—318] 
 
Harel x. | 
 
 THE SECOND PERIOD comprises 
 about four years. We learn that a 
 persecution drove the converts from 
 Jerusalem, and dispersed them 
 throughout Judea and Samaria, 
 where they preached the word. 
 Three years after this, the history 
 relates, that the churches had rest 
 throughout all Judea, Galilee, and 
 Samaria, and were multiplied. [p. 
 319] 
 
 The THIRD PERIOD comprises 
 the space between the seventh year 
 after the ascension, and the twenty- 
 eighth ;—and embraced the propa- 
 gation of Christianity among the 
 Gentiles, it having been confined to 
 Palestine. A great multitude were 
 converted at Antioch, a year after 
 the first preaching at Czesarea. 
 Three years after, a great multitude 
 of Jews and Greeks believed at Ico- 
 nium, and many at Derbe. At 
 Thessalonica, some Jews and a great 
 multitude of devote Greeks: at Be- 
 rea, many Jews; at Corinth, much 
 people. At Ephesus, the word grew 
 mightily and prevailed ; where also 
 Paul was accused of having turned 
 away much people throughout all 
 Asia. We have also incidental men- 
 tion of converts at Rome, Alexan- 
 dria, Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Ma- 
 cedonia, and Philippi.—By laying 
 these three periods together, it ap- 
 pears, that the institution, which 
 properly began after the ascension, 
 had before the end of thirty years, 
 spread throughout Palestine, all 
 Asia Minor, Greece, the A®gean 
 islands, the coast of Africa, and had 
 reached Rome and Italy: during 
 all which time Jerusalem continued 
 the centre of the mission. [p. 319— 
 
 321] 
 
 OF GARTISITANTIL Y: 
 
 315 
 
 Upon the foregoing abstract, and 
 the writing from which it is drawn, 
 the author remarks ;—I. That the 
 account comes from a person con- 
 cerned in a portion of what he 
 relates ; who was contemporary with 
 the whole ; who frequented the so- 
 ciety of the chief actors in the trans- 
 action. II. That the account is a 
 very incomplete one of the propa- 
 gation of Christianity ; for if what 
 we read be true, much more mzst 
 be true. III, That, as far as it goes 
 for this reason, it is credible. IV. 
 That the intimations of the number 
 of converts, and success of the apos- 
 tles, for the most part, came out 
 incidentally, [p. 321—323] 
 
 The author then refers to the 
 parallel testimony found in the let- 
 ters of S. Paul, and other apostles, 
 which have come down to. us. 
 Those of S. Paul are addressed to 
 the churches of Corinth, Philippi, 
 Thessalonica, Galatia, Ephesus, Co- 
 losse, and Rome. They refer to the 
 churches of Judea, of Asia, and all 
 those of the Gentiles. The first 
 Epistle of Peter addresses the Chris- 
 tians dispersed throughout Pontus, 
 Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and 
 Bithynia. [p. 323, 324] 
 
 The author next proceeds to 
 shew how far these accounts are 
 confirmed by other evidence; and 
 for this purpose, he refers largely 
 to Tacitus, and Pliny the younger, 
 among heathen writers; and to 
 Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clemens 
 Alexandrinus, Origen, Arnobius, &c. 
 &c., among Christian writers; by 
 which the account found in our his- 
 tories is distinctly and fully borne 
 out. [p. 324, to the end] 
 
 IN this argument, the first consideration is the fact; in 
 what degree, within what time, and to what extent, 
 Christianity actually was propagated. 
 
 A. Mention the three periods into 
 
 the propagation of Christianity, and 
 
 which Paley divides his account of state its progress in each. 
 
316 PVADENCES ie % [PART II. 
 
 A.@ The accounts of the matter, which can be collected 
 from our books, are as follow :—A few days after Christ’s 
 disappearance out of the world, we find an assembly of 
 disciples at Jerusalem, to the number of “about one 
 hundred and twenty ;”' which hundred and twenty were, 
 probably, a little association of believers met together 
 not merely as believers in Christ, but as personally con- 
 nected with the apostles, and with one another. What- 
 ever 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 fol- 
 lowers of Christ were yet formed into a society ; that 
 the society was reduced into any order; that it was at 
 this time even understood that a new religion (in the 
 sense which that term conveys to us) was to be set up 
 in the world, or how the professors of that religion were 
 to be distinguished from the rest of mankind. The death 
 of Christ had left, we may suppose, the generality of 
 his disciples in great doubt, both as to what they were to 
 do, and concerning what was to follow. 
 
 This meeting was holden, as we have already said, a few 
 days after Christ’s ascension: for, ten days after that 
 event was the day of Pentecost, when, as our history 
 relates,? upon a signal display of Divine agency attend- 
 ing the persons of the apostles, there were added to the 
 society “about three thousand souls.” But here, it is 
 not, I think, to be taken, that these three thousand 
 were all converted by this single miracle; but rather 
 that many, who before were believers in Christ, became 
 now professors of Christianity; that is to say, when 
 they found that a religion was to be established, a so- 
 ciety formed and set up in the name of Christ, go- 
 verned by his laws, avowing their belief in his mission, 
 united amongst themselves, and separated from the rest 
 of the world by visible distinctions ; in pursuance of 
 their former conviction, and by virtue of what they had 
 heard and seen and known of Christ’s history, they pub- 
 licly became members of it. 
 
 1 Acts i. 15. 2 Ib. ii. 1, 3 Th. ii, 41. 
 
 A.a. What are the accounts of the propagation of Christianity, during 
 the first period, which can be collected from our books ? 
 
GHAP? IX. | OFSCH RISLTTIANITY: 
 
 317 
 We read in the fourth chapter! of the Acts, that, soon 
 after this, “the number of the men,’ z.é. the society 
 openly professing their belief in Christ, “was about 
 five thousand.” So that here is an increase of two thou- 
 A.d.sand within avery short time. And it is probable that 
 there were many, both now and afterwards, who, al- 
 though they believed in Christ, did not think it neces- 
 sary 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, ap- 
 pears to have been of this description ; perhaps Nico- 
 demus, and perhaps also Joseph of Arimathea. This 
 class of men, their character and their rank, are like- 
 wise pointed out by S. 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.? 
 Christianity, however, proceeded to increase in Jeru- 
 salem by a progress equally rapid with its first success ; 
 for, in the next® chapter of our history, we read that 
 
 Ae 
 
 1 Verse 4, 
 
 2 ‘Beside those who professed, and those who rejected and opposed, Christianity; there were 
 in all probability, multitudes between both, neither perfect Christians, mor 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 te think that Christianity was a Divine revela- 
 tion, but were many inconveniences which attended the open profession of it; and they could 
 not find in themselves courage enough to bear them, to disoblige their friends and family, to ruin their 
 fortunes, to lose their reputation, their liberty, and their life, for the sake of the new religion. 
 Therefore they were willing to hope, that if they endeavoured to observe the great principles of mo- 
 rality, which Christ had represented as the principal part, the sum and substance of religion ; if they 
 thought honourably of the Gospel : if they offered no injury to the Christians; if they did them all 
 the service that they could safely perform: they were willing to hope, that God would accept this, and 
 that he would excuse and forgive the rest.’’—Jortin’s Dis, on the Christ. Rel. p. 91. ed. 4. 
 
 3 Acts v. 14, 
 
 A.é. It is probable that there 
 were many, both at the period under 
 consideration and afterwards, who 
 although they believed in Christ, did 
 not think it necessary to join them- 
 selves to this society ; mention such 
 men as might be of this description, 
 and shew how their character and 
 
 rank are pointed out by S. John, in 
 the twelfth chapter of his Gospel. 
 
 A.c. Mention the progress which 
 Christianity made in Jerusalem 
 during the first period; and state 
 what space of time that period com- 
 prehended. 
 
318 EVIDENCES | [PART II. 
 
 “believers were the more added to the Lord, smzu/titudes 
 both of men and women,” And in this enlargement of 
 the new society appears in the first verse of the succeed- 
 ing chapter, whérein we are told, that, “when the num- 
 ber of the disciples was multiplied there arose a mur- 
 muring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because 
 their widows were neglected ;! and afterwards, in the 
 same chapter, it is declared expressly, that “the number 
 of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and that 
 a great company of the priests were obedient to the 
 faith.” 
 
 This I call the first period in the propagation of Chris- 
 tianity. It commences with the ascension 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 succeed there? 
 The first assembly which we meet with of Christ’s dis- 
 ciples, and that a few days after his removal from the 
 world, consisted of “one hundred and twenty.” About 
 a week after this, “three thousand were added in one 
 day ;” and the number of Christians, publicly baptized, 
 and publicly associating together, was very soon in- 
 creased to “five thousand.” “Multitudes both of men 
 and women continued to be added ;” “disciples multi- 
 plied 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 commence- 
 ment of the institution. 
 
 Ad By reason of a persecution raised against the church 
 at Jerusalem, the converts were driven from that city, and 
 dispersed throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.? 
 Wherever they came, they brought their religion with 
 them: for, our historian informs us,‘ that “they that 
 
 Fy f 1 Acts vi. 1. 
 2 Vide Pearson’s Antiq. 1. xvii.c.7. Bensons History of Christ, book i. p, 148. 
 3 Acts viii, 1. 4 Verse 4, 
 
 A.a. Describe the work of the of Christianity; and mention the 
 second period in the propagation space of time which it comprises. 
 
CHAP. IX. | QFMICHRISTIANTTLY, 319 
 
 were scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the 
 word.” The effect of this preaching comes afterwards 
 to be noticed, where the historian is led, in the course 
 of his narrative, to observe, that then (7. e. about three 
 years posterior to this) “the Churches had rest through- 
 out all Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and were edi- 
 fied, and walking in the fear. of the Lord, and in the 
 comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” This was 
 the work of the second period, which comprises about 
 four years. 
 
 Hitherto the preaching of the Gospel has been con- 
 fined to Jews, to Jewish proselytes, and to Samaritans. 
 And I cannot forbear from setting down in this place 
 an observation of Mr. Bryant, which appears to me 
 to be perfectly well founded :—“ The Jews still re- 
 main: but now seldom is it that we can make a single 
 proselyte! There is a 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.’ 
 
 A.é. It was not yet known to the apostles, that they were 
 at liberty to propose the religion to mankind at large. 
 That “ mystery,” as S. Paul calls it, and as it then was, 
 was revealed to Peter, by an especial miracle. It appears 
 to have been* about seven years after Christ’s ascension, 
 that the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles of Czsarea. 
 A year after this, a great multitude of Gentiles were 
 converted at Antioch in Syria. The expressions em- 
 ployed 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,® 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 
 
 1 Benson, boek i. p. 207. 2 Bryant on the Truth of the Christian Religion. p. 112. 
 3 Eph, iii. 3—6, 4 Benson, book ii. p, 236. 5 Acts xi, 21, 24, 26, 
 6 Benson, book ii. p, 289. 7 Acts xii. 24. 
 
 A.e. State what the third period embraced; and detail, fully the 
 history of that period. 
 
320 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 Jews and Greeks believed: 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? after this, which brings 
 us to sixteen after the ascension, the apostles wrote a 
 public letter from Jerusalem to the Gentile converts in 
 Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, with which letter Paul 
 travelled through these countries, and found the churches 
 “established in the faith, and increasing in number daily.’ 
 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 be- 
 lieved, 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 tumultuous Jews of Thessalonica, “that they, who 
 had turned the world upside down, were come thither 
 also.”°) At. Berea, the next city at which S) Panljar 
 rives, the historian, who was present, informs us that 
 “many of the Jews believed.”6 The next year and a 
 half of S. 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 bap- 
 tized;’ 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, S. 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 re- 
 flection, how “mightily grew the word of God and 
 prevailed.”?° And at the conclusion of this period, we 
 find Demetrius at the head of a party, who were 
 alarmed by the progress of the religion, complaining, 
 that “not only at Ephesus, but also throughout all Asia, 
 (z.e. the province of Lydia, and the country adjoining to 
 Ephesus), this Paul hath persuaded and turned away 
 
 1 Acts xiv. 1. 2 Benson‘s History of Christ, book iii. p, 50. 
 8 Acts xvi. 5. 4 Ib. xvii. 4. 5 Ib. xvii. 6. 
 ; Tb. xvii. 12. 7 Tb. xviii. 8—10. 8 Benson, book iii. p. 160. 
 
 Ib. xix. 10. 10 ib, xix, 20 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 321 
 
 much people.” Beside these accounts, there occurs, 
 incidentally, mention of converts at Rome, Alexandria, 
 Athens, Cyprus, Cyrene, Macedonia, Philippi. 
 
 B. This is the third period in the propagation of Chris- 
 tianity, setting off in the seventh year after the ascension, 
 and ending at the twenty-eighth. Now, lay these three 
 periods together, and observe how the progress of the 
 religion, by these accounts, is represented. The institu- 
 tion, which properly degax only after its author’s 
 removal from the world, before the end of thirty years 
 had spread itself through Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, 
 almost all the numerous districts of the Lesser Asia, 
 through Greece, and the islands of the A*gean Sea, the 
 sea-coast of Africa, and had extended itself to Rome, 
 and into Italy. At Antioch in Syria, at Joppa, Ephesus, 
 Corinth, Thessalonica, Berea, Iconium, Derbe, Antioch 
 in Pisidia, at Lydda, Saron, the number of converts is 
 intimated by the expressions, “a great number,” “ great 
 multitudes,” “much people.” ‘Converts are mentioned, 
 without any designation of their number,? at Tyre, 
 Cesarea, Troas, Athens, Philippi, Lystra, Damascus. 
 During all this time, Jerusalem continued not only the 
 centre of the mission, but a principal seat of the religion ; 
 for when S. Paul returned thither at the conclusion of 
 the period of which we are now considering the accounts, 
 the other apostles pointed out to him, as a reason for 
 his compliance with their advice, “how many thousands 
 (myriads, ten thousands) there were in that city who 
 believed.’ 
 
 Upon this abstract, and the writing from which it is 
 drawn, the following observations seem material to be 
 made :— 
 
 1 Acts xix. 26. 
 
 2 Considering the extreme conciseness of many parts of the history, the silence about the number 
 of converts is no proof of their paucity : for at Philippi, no mention whatever is made of the number, 
 yet S. Paul addressed an Epistle to that church. The churches of Galatia, and the affairs of those 
 churches, were considerable enough to be the subject of another letter, and of much of 8. 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 whieh these words convey :—“ When they had gouwe throughout 
 Phrygia, and the region of Galatia—they essayed to go into Bithynia.” Acts xvi. 6. 
 
 3 Acts xxi. 20. 
 
 B. By laying these three periods the religion, by these accounts, is 
 together, show how the progress of represented. 
 
 vi 
 
322 EVIDENCES [PART. IL. 
 
 GS 
 
 I. That the account comes from a person who was 
 himself concerned in a portion of what he relates, and 
 was contemporary with the whole of it; who visited 
 Jerusalem, and frequented the society of those who had 
 acted, and were acting the chief parts in the transaction. 
 I lay down this point positively; for had the ancient 
 attestations to this valuable record been less satisfactory 
 than they are, the unaffectedness and simplicity with 
 which the author notes his presence upon certain occa- 
 sions, and the entire absence of art and design from 
 these notices, would have been sufficient to persuade my 
 mind, that, whoever he was, he actually lived in the 
 times, and occupied the situation, in which he represents 
 himself to be. When I say “whoever he was,” I do not 
 mean to cast a doubt upon the name to which antiquity 
 hath ascribed the Acts of the Apostles (for there is no 
 cause that I am acquainted with for questioning it), but 
 to observe, that, in such a case as this, the time and 
 situation of the author is of more importance than his 
 name; and that ¢hese appear from the work itself, and 
 in the most unsuspicious form. 
 
 II. That this account is a very zucomplete account of 
 the preaching and propagation of Christianity ; I mean, 
 that if what we read in the history be true, much more 
 than what the history contains must be true also. For, 
 although the narrative from which our information is 
 derived has been entitled the Acts of the Apostles, it is 
 in fact a history of the twelve apostles only during a 
 short time of their continuing together at Jerusalem ; 
 and even of this period the account is very concise. The 
 work afterwards consists of a few important passages of 
 Peter’s ministry, of the speech and death of Stephen, of 
 the preaching of Philip the deacon ; and the sequel of 
 the volume, that is, two-thirds of the whole, is taken up 
 with the conversion, the travels, the discourses, and 
 history of the new apostle, Paul ; in which history also, 
 large portions of time are often passed over with very 
 scanty notice. 
 
 C. Give the four observations torical abstract, and the writing 
 which Paley makes upon his his- from which it is drawn. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 323 
 
 III. That the account so far as it goes, is for this very 
 reason, more credible. Had it been the author’s design 
 to have displayed the early progress of Christianity, he 
 would undoubtedly have collected, or, at least have set 
 forth accounts of the preaching of the rest of the apostles, 
 who cannot, without extreme improbabilty, be supposed 
 to have remained silent and inactive, or not to have met 
 with a share of that success which attended their 
 colleagues. To which may be added, as an observation 
 of the same kind,— 
 
 IV. That the intimations of the number of converts, 
 and of the success of the preaching of the apostles, come 
 out for the most part zuzcidentally ; 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 Barna- 
 bas 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 sup- 
 port 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. 
 
 D. PARALLEL TESTIMONIES, with the history, are the 
 letters of S. Paul, and of the other apostles, which have 
 come down to us. Those of S. Paul are addressed to 
 
 _the churches of Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, the’ 
 church of Galatia, and, if the inscription be right, of 
 Ephesus ; his ministry at all which places is recorded in 
 the history ; to the church of Colosse, or rather to the 
 churches of Colosse and Laodicea jointly, which he had 
 not then visited. They recognize by reference the 
 churches of Jndea, the churches of Asia, and “all the 
 churches of the Gentiles.”! In the epistle to the Romans,? 
 
 1 1 Thess, ii. 14. 2 Rom. xv. 18, 19. 
 D. Exhibit fully, the testimonies parallel with the history, which are 
 
 in our possession. 
 Vi 2 
 
324 PVIDLNCES [PART II. 
 
 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 Gen- 
 tiles 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 IIlyricum, I have 
 fully preached the Gospel of Christ.” In the Epistle to 
 the Colossians,’ we find an oblique but very strong signi- 
 fication of the then general state of the Christian 
 mission, at least as it appeared to S. Paul :—“If ye 
 continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not 
 moved away from the hope.of the Gospel, which ye have 
 heard, and which was preached to every creature which is 
 under heaven ;’ which gospel, he had reminded them, 
 near the beginning? of his letter, “was present with 
 them, as zt 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, Cappa- 
 docia, Asia, and Bithynia. 
 
 IT comes next to be considered, how far these ac- 
 counts are confirmed, or followed up by other evidence. 
 E. Tacitus, in delivering a relation, which has already 
 been laid before the reader, of the fire which happened 
 at Rome in the tenth year of Nero (which coincides 
 with the thirtieth year after Christ's ascension), asserts, 
 that the emperor in order to suppress the rumours of 
 having been himself the author of the mischief, 
 procured the Christians to be accused. Of which 
 Christians, thus brought into his narrative, the following 
 is so much of the historian’s account as belongs to our 
 present purpose: “They had their denomination from 
 Christus, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death 
 
 1 Col. i, 23. 2 Col. i. 6. 
 
 E, Shew the confirmation, which the foregoing accounts obtain from 
 the works of Tacitus. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRDSRIANGTY. 325 
 
 as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate. This 
 pernicious superstition, though checked fora 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 
 
 E.amultitude 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 estab- 
 lishes these points : that the religion began at Jerusalem; 
 that it spread throughout Judea; that it had reached 
 Rome, and not only so, but that it had there obtained 
 a great number of converts. This was about six years 
 after the time that S. Paul wrote his Epistle to the 
 Romans, and something more than two years after he 
 arrived there himself. The converts to the religion were 
 then so numerous at Rome, that, of those who were 
 betrayed by the information of the persons first perse- 
 cuted, a great multitude (multitudo ingens) were dis- 
 covered and seized. 
 
 It seems probable, that the temporary check which 
 Tacitus represents Christianity to have received (repressa 
 in presens) referred to the persecution at Jerusalem 
 which followed the death of Stephen (Acts viii.) ; and 
 which, by dispersing the converts, caused the institution, 
 in some measure to disappear. Its second eruption at 
 the same place, and within a short time, has much in it 
 of the character of truth. It was the firmness and per- 
 severence of men who knew what they relied upon. 
 
 F, Next, in order of time, and perhaps superior in import- 
 ance, is the testimony of Pliny the younger. Pliny was 
 the Roman governor of Pontus and Bithynia, two con- 
 siderable districts in the northern part of Asia Minor. 
 
 E.a. Why is the testimony of F. Describe the official situa- 
 Tacitus, to the early propagation tion of Pliny the younger, and give 
 of Christianity, extremely material? his testimony, in confirmation of 
 Mention the points which it estab- the accounts found in our Scrip- 
 lishes. tures, 
 
326 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 The situation in which he found his province, led him to 
 apply to the emperor (Trajan) for his direction as to the 
 conduct he was to hold towards the Christians. The 
 letter in which this application is contained, was written 
 not quite eighty years after Christ’s ascension. The 
 president, in this letter, states the measures he had al- 
 ready pursued, and then adds, as his reason for resort- 
 ing to the emperor’s counsel and authority, the following 
 words :—“ Suspending all judicial proceedings, I have 
 recourse to you for advice; for it has appeared to me 
 a matter highly deserving consideration, especially on 
 account of the great number of persons who are in 
 danger of suffering ; for, many of all ages, and of every 
 rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be 
 accused. Nor has the contagion of this superstition 
 seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the 
 open country. Nevertheless it seemed to me, that it 
 may be restrained and corrected. It is certain that the 
 temples, which were almost forsaken, begin to be more 
 frequented ; and the sacred solemnities, after a long in- 
 termission, are revived. Victims, likewise are every- 
 where (passim) bought up; whereas, for some time, 
 there were few to purchase them. Whence it is easy to 
 imagine that numbers of men might be reclaimed, if 
 pardon were granted to those that shall repent.”? 
 
 F.a 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. 
 “Tt is certain,” he says, “that the temples, which were 
 almost forsaken (plainly ascribing this desertion of the 
 popular worship to the prevalency of Christianity), 
 begin to be more frequented ; and the sacred solemni- 
 ties, after a Jong intermission, are revived.” There are 
 
 F.d also two clauses in the former part of the letter which 
 
 1 C, Plin, Trajano Imp, lib. x. Ep. xevii. 
 
 F.a. What is proved by the which indicate not only that the 
 passage of Pliny’s letter, quoted Christians in Pontus and Bithynia 
 above ? were then numerous, but that they 
 
 F.d. Quote two clauses from had subsisted there for some con- 
 the former part of Pliny’s letter, siderable time. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OPE OTHOLSIEY ALVEL 327 
 
 indicate the same thing ; one, in which he declares that 
 he had “ never been present at any trials of Christians, 
 and therefore knew not what was the usual subject of 
 inquiry and punishment, or how far either was wont to 
 be urged.” ‘The second clause is the following: “Others 
 were named by an informer, who, at first, confessed 
 themselves Christians, and afterwards denied it; the 
 rest said, they had been Christians, some three years 
 ago, some longer, and some about twenty years.” It is 
 also apparent, that Pliny speaks of the Christians as a 
 description of men well known to the person to whom 
 he writes. His first sentence concerning them is, “I 
 have never been present at the trials of Christians.” 
 This mention of the name of Christians, without any 
 preparatory explanation, shews 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. 
 
 G. Here then is a very singular evidence of the progress 
 of the Christian religion in a short space. It was not 
 fourscore years after the crucifixion of Jesus, when Pliny 
 wrote this letter; nor seventy years since the apostles 
 of Jesus began to mention his name to the Gentile 
 world. Bithynia and Pontus were at a great distance 
 from Judea, the centre from which the religion spread ; 
 yet in these provinces, Christianity had long subsisted, 
 and Christians were now in such numbers as to lead the 
 Roman governor to report to the emperor, that they 
 were found not only in cities, but in villages and in open 
 countries; of all ages, of every rank and condition ; 
 that they abounded so much, as to have produced a 
 visible desertion of the temples ; that beasts brought to 
 market for victims had few purchasers ; that the sacred 
 solemnities were much neglected :—circumstances noted 
 by Pliny, for the express purpose of shewing to the 
 emperor the effect and prevalency of the new insti- 
 tution. 
 
 G. Review, briefly, the force of the evidence of the progress of the 
 Christian religion already adduced. 
 
328 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 ras 
 
 No evidence remains, by which it can be proved that 
 the Christians were more numerous in Pontus and 
 Bithynia than in other parts of the Roman empire ; 
 nor has any reason been offered to shew 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, cer- 
 tainly, this letter may fairly be applied in aid and con- 
 firmation of the representations given of the general state 
 of Christianity in the world, by Christian writers of that 
 and the next succeeding age. 
 
 Justin Martyr, who wrote about thirty years after Pliny, 
 and one hundred and six after the ascension, has these 
 
 H.aremarkable 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 cruci- 
 fied 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 con- 
 verts to that name.”? I do allow that these expressions 
 are loose, and’ may be called declamatory. But even 
 declamation hath its bounds ; this public boasting, upon 
 a subject which must be known to every reader, was 
 not only useless, but unnatural, unless. the truth of the 
 case, in a considerable degree, correspond with the 
 description ; at least, unless it had been both true 
 
 1 Just. Dial. cum Tryp. e. 117. 2 Tertull. Apol. c, 37. 
 
 H. Mention the various Chris- H.a. Quote the testimony af- 
 tian writers, referred to by Paley, forded by Justin Martyr and Ter- 
 as affording corroborative testi-  tullian ; and state how Paley meets 
 mony ; and specify the periods at the objection, that their words may 
 which they wrote. be loose and declamatory. 
 
CHAP. IX. ] OFS CHRIS TIAUNET? Ye 329 
 
 and notorious, that great multitudes of Christians, of 
 all ranks and orders, were to be found in most parts of 
 H.dthe Roman empire. The same Tertullian, in another 
 passage, by way of setting forth the extensive diffusion 
 of Christianity, enumerates as belonging to Christ, be- 
 side many other countries, the “Moors and Getulians 
 of Africa, the borders of Spain, several nations of 
 France, and parts of Britain, inaccessible to the Romans, 
 H.cthe Sarmatians, Daci, Germans, and Scythians.”* And, 
 which is more material than the extent of the institution, 
 the xumber of Christians in the several countries in which 
 it prevailed, is thus expressed by him: “ Although so 
 great a multitude, that in almost every city we form the 
 greater part, we pass our time modestly and in silence.” 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, who preceded Turtullian by a 
 few years, introduces a comparison between the success 
 of Christianity, and that of the most celebrated philo- 
 sophical institutions: ‘The philosophers were confined 
 to Greece, and to their particular retainers ; but the doc- 
 trine of the Master of Christianity did not remain in 
 Judea, as philosophy did in Greece, but is spread 
 throughout the whole world, in every nation, and _ vil- 
 lage, and city, both of Greeks and Barbarians, converting 
 both whole houses and separate individuals, having al- 
 ready brought over to the truth not a few of the phi- 
 losophers themselves. If the Greek philosophy be pro- 
 hibited, it immediately vanishes ; whereas, from the first 
 preaching of owr doctrine, kings and tyrants, governors 
 and presidents, with their whole train, and with the pop- 
 ulace on their side, have endeavoured with their whole 
 might to exterminate it, yet doth it flourish more and 
 more.’? Origen, who follows Tertullian at the distance 
 of only thirty years, delivers nearly the same account: 
 “Tn every part of the world,” says he, “throughout all 
 Greece, and in all other nations, there are innumerable 
 
 1 Tertull. ad Jud. c. 7. 2  Tertull, ad Scap. c. 11T. 3 Clem, Al. Strom. lib, vi. ad fin, 
 
 H.2. Quote the further testi- H.c. State, fully, the testimony 
 mony, cited by Paley, from Ter- afforded by Clemens Alexandrinus 
 tullian, and Origen. 
 
EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 330 
 and immense multitudes, who, having left the laws of 
 their country, and those whom they esteem gods, have 
 given themselves up to the law of Moses, and the religion 
 of Christ: and this not without the bitterest resentment 
 from the idolaters, by whom they were frequently put 
 to torture, and sometimes to death: and it is wonderful 
 to observe how, in so short a time, the religion has in- 
 creased, amidst punishment and death, and every kind 
 of torture." In another passage, Origen draws the 
 
 H.@following candid comparison between the state of Chris- 
 
 tianity in his time, and the condition of its more primi- 
 
 tive ages: “By the good providence of God, the Chris- 
 tian religion has so flourished and increased continually, 
 that it is now preached freely without molestation, al- 
 though there were a thousand obstacles to the spreading 
 of the doctrine of Jesus in the world. But as it was the 
 will of God, that the Gentiles should have the benefit 
 of it, all the counsels of men against the Christians 
 were defeated: and by how much the more emperors 
 and governors of provinces, and the people everywhere, 
 strove to depress them ; so much the more have they in- 
 creased, and prevailed exceedingly.”2 
 
 It is well known, that within less than eighty years 
 after this, the Roman empire became Christian under 
 
 Constantine: and it is probable that Constantine declared 
 
 himself on the side of the Christians, because they were 
 
 the powerful party ; for Arnobius, who wrote immedi- 
 ately before Constantine’s accession, speaks of the 
 whole world as filled with Christ’s doctrine, of its diffu- 
 sion throughout all countries, of an innumerable body of 
 
 Christians in distant provinces, of the strange revolution 
 
 of opinion of men of the greatest genius—orators, gram- 
 
 marians, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, having come 
 
 ie 
 
 1 Orig. in Cels. lib, i, 
 
 H.d. State the candid compa- 
 rison, drawn by Origen, between 
 the state of Christianity, in his time, 
 and the condition of its more prim- 
 itive ages. 
 
 H.e. Give an account of the 
 age and conversion of Constantine ; 
 
 2 Orig. cont. Cels, lib. vii, 
 
 and shew, fully, by the testimony 
 of Arnobius, and the subsequent 
 evidence of Julius Firmicus Mater- 
 nus, and Jerome, that the Chris- 
 tians were a powerful party about 
 the time of Constantine. 
 
CHAP. IX.| OF CHRISTIANITY. fay: 
 
 over to the institution, and that also in the face of 
 threats, execution, and tortures.”4—And not more than 
 twenty years after Constantine’s entire possession of the 
 empire, Julius Firmicus Maternus calls upon the em- 
 perors 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: “Licét adhuc in quibusdam regionibus idolola- 
 triz morientia palpitent membra; tamen in eo res est, 
 ut a Christianis omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum 
 funditus amputetur :” and in another place, “ Modicum 
 tantum superest, ut legibus vestris—extincta idololatrize 
 pereat funesta contagio.”? It will not be thought that 
 we quote this writer in order to recommend his temper 
 or his judgment, but to shew the comparative state of 
 Christianity, and of heathenism at this period. Fifty 
 years afterwards, Jerome represents the decline of Pa- 
 ganism in language which conveys the same idea of its 
 approaching extinction: “ Solitudinem patitur et in urbe 
 gentilitas. Dii quondam nationum, cum bubonibus et 
 noctuis, in solis culminibus remanserunt.’? Jerome here 
 indulges a triumph, natural and allowable in a zealous 
 friend of the cause, but which could only be suggested 
 to his mind by the consent and universality with which 
 he saw the religion received. “But now,” says he, 
 “the passion and resurrection of Christ are celebrated 
 in the discourses and writings of all nations. I need not 
 mention Jews, Greeks, and Latins. The Indians, Per- 
 sians, Goths, and Egyptians, philosophize, and firmly 
 believe the immortality of the soul, and future recom- 
 penses, which, before, the greatest philosophers had 
 denied, or doubted of, or perplexed with their disputes. 
 The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians is now 
 softened by the gentle sound of the Gospel ; and every- 
 where Christ is all in all.” Were, therefore, the motives. 
 of Constantine’s conversion ever so problematical, the 
 easy establishment of Christianity, and the ruin of hea- 
 thenism under hiny and his immediate successors, is of 
 
 1 Arnob. in Gentes, 1. i. p. 27. ix. 24, 42. 44. edit, Lug. Bat. 1650. 
 2 De Error. Profan, Relig. c. xxi. p. 172, quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 262. 
 3 Jer. ad Lect. Ep. 5, 7. 4 Jer, Ep. 8, ad Heliod. 
 
332 EVIDENCES [PARTHE 
 
 itself a proof of the progress which Christianity had 
 made in the proceeding period. It may be added also, 
 “that Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, had shewn 
 himself friendly to the Christians. Therefore, of those 
 who were contending for worldly power and empire, one 
 actually favoured and flattered them, and another may 
 be suspected to have joined himself to them, partly from 
 consideration of interest: so considerable were they 
 become, under external disadvantages of all sorts.” 
 This at least is certain, that, throughout the whole 
 transaction hitherto, the great seemed to follow, not to 
 lead, the public opinion. 
 
 Hf It may help to convey to us some notion of the extent 
 and progress of Christianity, or rather of the character 
 and quality of many early Christians, of their learning 
 and their labours, to notice the number of Christian 
 wrtters who flourished in these ages. S. Jerome’s cata- 
 logue contains szrty-six writers within the first three 
 centuries, and the first six years of the fourth; and 
 jifty-four between that time and his own, viz. A. D. 392. 
 Jerome introduces his catalogue with the following just 
 remonstrance :—“ Let those who say the church has had 
 no philosophers, nor eloquent and learned men observe 
 who and what they were who founded, established, and 
 adorned it: let them cease to accuse our faith of rus- 
 ticity, and confess their mistake”? Of these writers, 
 several, as Justin, Irenzeus, Clement of Alexandria, 
 Tertullian, Origen, Bardesanes, Hippolitus, Eusebius, 
 were voluminous writers. Christian writers abounded 
 particularly about the year 178. Alexander, bp. of 
 Jerusalem, founded a library in that city, A.bD. 212. 
 Pamphilus, the friend of Origen, founded a library at 
 Caesarea, A.D. 294. Public defences were also. set 
 forth, by various advocates of the religion, in the course 
 of its first three centuries. Within one hundred years 
 after Christ’s ascension, Quadratus and Aristides, whose 
 
 1 Lardner, vol. viii. p. 380. 2 Jer. Prol. in Lib. de Scr. Eccl. 
 
 i Give an account of the describing the nature of their works: 
 Christian writers who  flourshed and state for what purpose they are 
 in the early ages of Christianity, here alluded to by Paley. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OFSGCHERIS LIAN FLY: 
 
 359 
 works, except some few fragments of the first, are lost ; 
 and, about twenty years afterwards, Justin Martyr, 
 whose works remain, presented apologies for the Chris- 
 tian religion to the Roman Emperors; Quadratus and 
 Aristides to Adrian, Justin to Antoninus Pius, and a 
 second to Marcus Antoninus. Melito, Bishop of Sardis, 
 and Apolinarus, bishop of Hierapolis, and Miltiades, 
 men of great reputation, did the same to Marcus 
 Antoninus, twenty years afterwards :' and ten years after 
 this, Apollonius, who suffered martyrdom under the 
 emperor Commodius, composed an apology for his faith, 
 which he read in the senate, and which was afterwards 
 published.?—Fourteen years after the apology of Apol- 
 lonius, Tertullian addressed the work, which now remains 
 under that name, to the governor of provinces in the 
 Roman empire; and, about the same time Minucius 
 Felix composed a defence of the Christian religion, 
 which is still extant ; and, shortly after the conclusion of 
 this century, copious defences of Christianity were pub- 
 lished by Arnobius and Lactantius. 
 
 SiG RON Ti 
 
 Leftection upon the proceeding Account. 
 
 The author remarks, that in depending on a matter of fact, in 
 
 viewing the progress of Christianity, 
 our attention is due :—1Ist. To the 
 number of converts immediately after 
 the founder’s death. 2nd. To the 
 early establishment of numerous 
 Christian societies in Judea and 
 Gaililee. 3rd. To the success of the 
 apostles both within and without 
 Judea. 4th. To the subsequent 
 growth and spread of the religion. 
 In all these stages, the history is 
 without a parallel; inasmuch as it 
 was the prevalency of a doctrine 
 
 1 Euseb. Hist, Lib. iv. c, 26. See also Lardner, vol, ii. p. 666. 
 
 opposition to the prejudices of edu- 
 cation, fashion, and worldly policy, 
 If men are influenced to embrace 
 Christianity, in these days, by the 
 effects of education and prejudice, 
 the very reverse was the case with 
 the first Christians, and with millions 
 who succeeded them. [p. 334, 335] 
 The fair way of judging of the 
 argument, drawn from the early 
 propagation of Christianity, is to 
 compare it with the success of 
 Christian missions, in modern ages 
 
 2 Lardner, vol, ii. p. 687. 
 
334 
 
 Notwithstanding the labour of mis- 
 sionaries in the East Indies for 
 upwards of two hundred years, there 
 are not twelve thousand Indian 
 Christians. This is a matter of great 
 regret, yet there is in it a strong 
 proof of the divine origin of the 
 religion ; for the apostles had nothing 
 to assist them, which the missionaries 
 have not equally. Nor is there any 
 great difference in the religion they 
 had to encounter. After fully illus- 
 trating these general remarks by 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART II. 
 
 particulars, the author concludes, 
 that from the widely disproportionate 
 effects which attend the preaching . 
 of modern missionaries of Chris- 
 tianity, compared with what followed 
 the ministry of Christ and his apos- 
 tles, under circumstances either alike- 
 or not so unlike as to account 
 for the difference, the apostles 
 possessed means of conviction, which 
 we have not; that they had proofs 
 to appeal to, which we _ want. 
 [p. 211, to the end] 
 
 A. IN viewing the progress of Christianity, our first atten- 
 tion is due to the number of converts at Jerusalem, 
 immediately after its Founder's death; because this suc- 
 cess was a success at the éz7me, and upon the sot, when 
 and where the chief part of the history had been 
 transacted. 
 
 We are, in the next place, called upon to attend to 
 the early establishment of numerous Christian societies 
 in Judea and Galilee; which countries had been the 
 scene of Christ’s miracles and ministry, and where the 
 memory of what had passed, and the knowledge of what 
 was alleged, must have yet been fresh and certain. 
 
 We are, thirdly, invited to recollect the success of the 
 apostles and of their companions, at the several places to 
 which they came, both within and without Judea ; 
 because it was the credit given to original witnesses, 
 appealing for the truth of their accounts to what them- 
 selves had seen and heard. The effect also of their 
 preaching strongly confirms the truth of what our history 
 positively and circumstantially relates, that they were 
 able to exhibit to their hearers supernatural attestations 
 of their mission. 
 
 We are, lastly, to consider the swbseguent growth and 
 spread of the religion, of which we receive successive 
 intimations, and satisfactory, though general and occa- 
 sional accounts, until its full and final establishment. 
 
 A. In viewing the progress of Christianity, to what four points is 
 our attention due ? 
 
CHAP. IX.] OPH RLS TANI TV; 335 
 
 B. 
 
 In all these several stages, the history is without a 
 parallel : for it must be observed, that we have not now 
 been tracing the progress, and describing the prevalency, 
 of an opinion, founded upon philosophical or critical argu- 
 ments, upon mere deductions of reason, or the construc- 
 tion of ancient writings (of which kind are the several 
 theories which have at different times, gained possession 
 of the public mind in various departments of science and 
 literature ; and of one or other of which kind are the 
 tenets also which divide the various sects of Christianity) ; 
 but that we speak of a system, the very basis and postu- 
 latum of which was a supernatural character ascribed toa 
 particular person; of a doctrine, the truth whereof 
 depends entirely upon the truth of 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 regula- 
 tions 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 accom- 
 plished, without an extraordinary concurrence of circum- 
 stances, and may be attempted a thousand times without 
 success. But to introduce a new faith, a new way of 
 thinking and acting, and to persuade many nations to quit 
 the religion in which their ancestors have lived and died, 
 which had been delivered down to them from time 
 immemorial, to make them forsake and despise the 
 deities which they had been accustomed to reverence and 
 worship ; this is a work of still greater difficulty. The 
 resistance of education, worldly policy, and superstition 
 is almost invincible.” 
 
 If men, in these days, be Christians in consequence of 
 their education, in submission to authority, or in com- 
 pliance with fashion, let us recollect that the very con- 
 
 1 Jortin’s Dis. on the Chris. Rel. p 137. ed, 4. 
 
 B. Shew that in all the several those who impute the prevalence of 
 stages above mentioned, the history Christianity to education and fashion, 
 is without parallel. in fact, confirms the evidence of its 
 
 C. Shew that the argument of truth. 
 
336 EVIDENCES [PART. II. 
 
 trary of this, at the beginning, was the case. The first 
 race of Christians, 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 education, and the almost 
 irresistible effects of that prejudice (and no persons are 
 more fond of expatiating upon this subject than deistical 
 writers), in fact, confirms the evidence of Christianity. 
 
 D. But, in order to judge of the argument which is drawn 
 from the early propagation of Christianity, 1 know no 
 fairer way of proceeding, than to compare what we have 
 seen on the subject, with the success of Christian 
 
 D.amissions in modern ages. In the East India mission, 
 supported by thc 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 voluntary embracing Christianity, the 
 number is extremely small. ‘Notwithstanding the 
 labour of missionaries for upwards of two hundred years, 
 and the establishments of different Christian nations who 
 support them, there are not twelve thousand Indian 
 Christians, and those almost entirely outcasts.”? 
 
 p.6 I lament, as much as any man, the little progress 
 which Christianity has made in these countries, and the 
 inconsiderable effect that has followed the labours of its 
 missionaries: but'I see in it a strong proof of the divine 
 origin of the religion. What had the apostles to assist 
 them in propagating Christianity which the missionaries 
 
 1 Sketches relating to the history, learning, and manners of the Hindoos, p. 48: quoted by 
 Dr. Robertson, Hist. Dis. concerning Ancient India, p. 236. 
 
 D. State, fully, the comparison D.6. Although the little pro- 
 drawn by Paley between the early gress which Christianity has made 
 and modern propagation of Chris- under the modern missions is a 
 tianity: and mention the conclusion matter of regret, yet shew the 
 at which, from the comparison, he strong proof of the divine origin of 
 eventually arrives. the religion which may be seen 
 
 D.a. State the’ extent of the in it. 
 success of the Christian missions in 
 modern ages. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 337 
 
 have not? If piety and zeal had been sufficient, I doubt 
 not but that our missionaries possess these qualities in a 
 high degree: for, nothing except piety and zeal, could 
 engage them in the undertaking. If sanctity of life and 
 manners was the allurement, the conduct of these men is 
 unblamable. If the advantage of education and learning 
 be looked to, there is not one of the modern missionaries, 
 who is not, in this respect, superior to all the apostles : 
 and that not only absolutely, but, what is of more im- 
 portance, relatively, in comparison, that is, with those 
 amongst whom they exercise their office. If the intrinsic 
 excellency of the religion, the perfection of its morality, 
 the purity of its precepts, the eloquence or tenderness or 
 sublimity of various parts of its writings, were the recom- 
 mendations by which it made its way, these remain the 
 same. If the character and circumstances, under which 
 the preachers were introduced to the countries in which 
 they taught, be accounted of importance, this advantage 
 is all on the side of the modern missionaries. They 
 come from a country and a people to which the Indian 
 world look up with sentiments of deference. The 
 apostles came forth amongst the Gentiles under no 
 other name than that of Jews, which was precisely the 
 character they despised and derided. If it be disgrace- 
 ful in India to become a Christian, it could not be much 
 less so to be enrolled amongst those, “ quos per flagitia 
 invisos, vulgos Christianos appellabat.” If the religion 
 which they had to encounter be considered, the differ- 
 ence, I apprehend, will not be great. The theology of 
 both was nearly the same: “What is supposed to be 
 performed by the power of Jupiter, of Neptune, of fEolus, 
 of Mars, of Venus, according to the mythology of the 
 West, is ascribed, 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 sacred rites 
 of the Western Polytheism were gay, festive, and 
 licentious ; the rites of the public religion in the East 
 partake of the same character, with a more avowed 
 indecency. “In every function performed in the pagodas, 
 
 1 Baghvat Geeta, p. 94, quoted by Dr, Robertson, Ind. Dis, p. 300. 
 
338 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 as well as in every public procession, it is the office of 
 these women (z. ¢. of women prepared by the Brahmins 
 for the purpose), to dance before the idol, and to sing 
 hymns in his praise ; and it is difficult to say whether 
 they trespass most against decency by the gestures 
 they exhibit or by the verses which they recite, @ine 
 walls of the pagodas were covered with paintings in a 
 style no less indelicate.”™ 
 
 On both sides of the comparison, the popular reli- 
 gion had a strong establishment. In ancient Greece 
 and Rome, it was strictly incorporated with the state. 
 The magistrate was the priest. The highest offices of 
 government bore the most distinguished part in the ce- 
 lebration of the public rites. In India, a powerful and 
 numerous caste possess exclusively the administration 
 of the established worship; and are, of consequence, 
 devoted to its service, and attached to its interest. In 
 both, the prevailing mythology was destitute of any 
 proper evidence; or rather, in both, the origin of the 
 tradition is run up into ages long anterior to the exis- 
 tence of credible history, or of written language. The 
 Indian chronology computes eras by millions of years, 
 and the life of man by thousands ;? and in these, or 
 prior to these, is placed the history of their divinities. 
 In both, the established superstition held the same place 
 in the public opinion; that is to say, in both it was 
 credited by the bulk of the people, but by the learned 
 
 1 Others of the deities of the East are of an austere and gloomy character, to be propitiated by 
 victims, sometimes by human sacrifices, and by voluntary torments of the most excruciating kind, 
 
 2 Voyage de Gentil. vol. i. p. 244260. Preface to Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 57, quoted by Dr. 
 Robertson, p. 320. 
 
 3 “The Suffee Jogue, or age of purity, is said to have lasted three million, two hundred thousand 
 years ; and they hold that the life of man was extended in that age to one hundred thousand years ; but 
 
 there is a difference, amongst the Indian writers, of six millions of years, in the computation of this 
 era.” Ib. 
 
 4 ‘How absurd soever the articles of faith may be, which superstition has adopted, or how un- 
 hallowed the rites which it prescribes, the former are received, in every age and country, with unhesi- 
 tating assent, by the great body of the people, and the latter observed with scrupulous exactness, In 
 our reasonings concerning opinions and practices which differ widely from our own, we are extremely 
 apt to err. Having been instructed ourselves in the principles of a religion, worthy im every respect of 
 that Divine wisdom by which they were dictated, we frequently express wonder at the credulity of 
 nations, in embracing systems of belief which appear to us so directly repugnant to right reason : and 
 sometimes suspect, that tenets so wild and extravagant do not really gain credit with them. But 
 experience may satisfy us, that neither our wonder nor suspicions are well founded. No article of the 
 public religion was called in question by those people of ancient Europe with whose history we are best 
 acquainted ; and no practice, which it enjoined, appeared improper to them. On the other hand, everv 
 opinion that tended to diminish the reverence of men for the gods of their country, or to aleniate 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,”—Jnd. Dis. p. 321. 
 
/ 
 
 CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 339 
 and philosophical part of the community, either derided 
 or regarded by them as only fit to be upholden for the 
 sake of its political uses.1 
 
 D.c Or if it should be allowed, that the ancient heathens 
 believed in their religion less generally than the present 
 Indians do, I am far from thinking that this circum- 
 stance would afford any facility to the work of the 
 apostles, above that of the modern missionaries. To me 
 it appears, and I think it material to be remarked, that 
 a disbelief of the established religion of their country 
 has no tendency to dispose men for the reception of 
 another; but that, on the contrary, it generates a 
 settled contempt of all religious pretensions whatever. 
 General infidelity is the hardest soil which the propa- 
 gators of a new religion can have to work upon. Could 
 a Methodist or Moravian promise himself a better 
 chance of success, with a French esprit fort, who had 
 been accustomed to laugh at the popery of his country, 
 than with a believing Mahometan or Hindoo? Or are 
 our modern unbelievers in Christianity, for that reason, 
 in danger of becoming Mahometans or Hindoos? It 
 does not appear that the Jews, who had a body of his- 
 torical evidence to offer for their religion, and who at 
 that time undoubtedly entertained and held forth the 
 expectation of a future state, derived any great advan- 
 tage, as to the extension of their system, from the 
 discredit into which the popular religion had fallen with 
 many of their heathen neighbours. 
 
 D.d We have particularly directed our observations to the 
 state and progress of Christianity amongst the inhabitants 
 of Jndia ; but the history of the Christian missions in 
 
 1 That the learned Brahmins of the East are rational Theists, and secretly reject the established 
 theory, and contemn the rites that were founded upon them, or rather consider them as contrivances 
 to be supported for their political uses, see Dr. Robertson’s Ind. Dis. p. 324—334. 
 
 D.c. If it should be allowed, D.d. Paley’s observations _hi- 
 
 that the ancient heathens believed 
 in their religion less generally than 
 the present Indians do, shew that 
 this circumstance would not afford 
 any facility to the work of the 
 apostles, above that of the modern 
 missionaries. 
 
 therto have been particularly di- 
 rected to the state and progress of 
 Christianity among the imhabitants 
 of India; shew that the history of 
 missionary efforts in other countries 
 presents the same idea as to the 
 feebleness of human means. 
 
 Z 2 
 
340 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 other countries, where the efficacy of the mission is left 
 solely to the conviction wrought by: the preaching of 
 strangers, presents the same idea as the Indian mission 
 does, of the feebleness and inadequacy of human means. 
 About twenty-five years ago, was published, in England, 
 a translation from the Dutch of a History of Greenland, 
 and a relation of the mission, for about thirty years 
 carried on in that country by the Unitas Fratrum, or 
 Moravians. Every part of that relation confirms the 
 opinion we have stated. Nothing could surpass, or hardly 
 equal, the zeal and patience of the missionaries. Yet 
 their historian, in the conclusion of his narrative, could 
 find place for no reflections more encouraging than the 
 following :—A person that had known the heathen, that 
 had seen the little benefit for 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 con- 
 verted, till they saw miracles wrought as in the apostles’ 
 days, and this the Greenlanders expected and demanded 
 of their instructors) ; one that considered this, I say, 
 would not so much wonder at the past unfruitfulness of 
 these young beginners, as at their steadfast perseverance 
 in the midst of nothing but distress, difficulties, and 
 impediments, internally und externally ; and that they 
 never desponded of the conversion of those poor crea- 
 tures amidst all seeming impossibilities.”* 
 
 pe From the widely disproportionate effects which attend 
 the preaching of modern missionaries of Christianity, 
 compared with what followed the ministry of Christ and 
 his apostles, under circumstances either alike, or not so 
 unlike as to account for the difference, a conclusion is 
 fairly drawn, in support of what our histories deliver 
 concerning them, viz. that they possessed means of 
 conviction, which we have not: that they had proofs to 
 appeal to, which we want. | 
 
 1 History of Greenland, vol. ii. p, 376. 
 
 D.e. What conclusion may we effects of Christianity in ancient 
 draw from the widely different and modern times? 
 
CHAP. IX.] 
 
 OP CHRISTIANTT ¥. 
 
 341 
 
 SG uLONe LET 
 
 Of the Religion 
 
 The author remarks, that Ma- 
 hometanism resembles Christianity 
 in the rapidity of its progress, the 
 recency of its history, and the pro- 
 phetic character assumed by its au- 
 thor. But there are points of differ- 
 ence which separate the two cases 
 entirely. [p. 342, 343] 
 
 I. Mahomet did not found his 
 
 pretensions upon miracles, properly 
 so called; that is, upon proofs of 
 supernatural agency capable. of 
 being known and attested by others. 
 [Ib.] 
 The establishment of Ma- 
 homet’s religion was effected by 
 causes which in no degree apper- 
 tained to the origin of Christianity. 
 
 During the first twelve years, 
 when Mahomet used only persua- 
 sion, and confined his exertions to 
 Mecca, his: progress was very little ; 
 and yet this progress was aided by 
 the four following advantages: 1. 
 He was the grandson of the most 
 honourable and powerful family in 
 Mecca. 2. He conducted the design 
 with great art and prudence. 3. 
 The Arabs probably acknowledged 
 one supreme deity, which at first 
 was the leading doctrine of Maho- 
 met. 4. Mahomet seems to have 
 had these two purposes in view, to 
 make converts, and to make those 
 converts soldiers. This last matter 
 
 of Mahomet. 
 
 will be apparent from the following 
 particulars: 1. He assures the Jews, 
 Christians, and Arabs, that his reli- 
 gion had been originally their own. 
 2. He never ceased from describing 
 the future anguish of unbelievers. 
 3. His voluptuous paradise. 4. The 
 highest heavens for those who fought 
 his battles, or expended their for- 
 tunes in his cause. 5. He applied 
 the doctrine of predestination to 
 fortify the courage of his adherents. 
 6. In compliance with the climate 
 of the country he allowed a plurality 
 of wives. [p. 345—349] 
 
 The author then proceeds to 
 shew, that when Mahomet was re- 
 ceived as the sovereign of Medina, 
 he changed his conduct ; pretend- 
 ing he had a commission to destroy 
 infidels, and to set up the true faith 
 by the sword. An early victory over 
 a superior force established his re- 
 nown. [351—352] 
 
 The success of Mahometanism 
 cannot be stated in prejudice of the 
 Christian argument: nor does it 
 stand in the way of the conclusion, 
 that the propagation of Christianity, 
 in the manner and under the circum- 
 stances in which it was propagated, 
 is wumnigue in the history of the 
 species. A Jewish peasant overthrew 
 the religion of the world. [p. 354] 
 
 . THE only event in the history of the human species, 
 which admits of comparison with the propagation of 
 Christianity, is the success of Mahometanism. The 
 
 A. Mention the only event in the 
 history of the human species, which 
 admits of comparison with the pro- 
 
 pagation of Christianity; and shew 
 in what articles the resemblance with 
 Christianity is confessed. 
 
342 EVIDENCES PARISI 
 
 Mahometan institution was rapid in its progress, was 
 recent in its history, and was founded upon a super- 
 natural or prophetic character assumed by its author. 
 In these articles, the resemblance with Christianity is 
 confessed. But there are points of difference, which 
 separate, we apprehend, the two cases entirely. 
 
 B. I. Mahomet did not found his pretensions upon mi- 
 Btacles, properly so called; that is, upon proofs of su- 
 
 pernatural agency, capable of being known and attested 
 by others. Christians are warranted in this assertion 
 by the evidence of the Koran, in which Mahomet not 
 only does not affect the power of working miracles, but 
 expressly disclaims it. The following passages of that 
 book furnish direct proofs of the truth of what we allege: 
 —‘ The infidels say, Unless a sign be sent down unto 
 him from his lord, we will not believe; thou art a 
 preacher only.” Again; “ Nothing hindered us from 
 sending thee with miracles, except that the former 
 nations have charged them with imposture.’* 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 ?’? Beside these acknowledgments, I 
 I have observed’ ¢iirteen distinct places, in which 
 Mahomet puts the objection (unless a sign, &c.) into the 
 mouth of the unbeliever, in not one of which does he 
 allege a miracle in reply. His answer is, “that God 
 giveth the power of working miracles, when and to whom 
 he pleaseth :’* “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.” 
 
 1 Sale’s Koran, ¢c. xiii. p. 201, ed. quarto, 2 C. xvii. p. 232. 3 C. xxix. p. 328. 
 4 Sale’s Koran, c. v. X. xviii, twice. 5 C. vi. 6 C. iii, xxi. xxviii. 
 7 C. xvi. 
 B. State briefly, the two gex- B.a. Shew, distinctly, that Ma- 
 
 eral points of difference which homet did not found his pretensions 
 separate the cases of Christianity on miracles, properly so called :— 
 and Mahometanism; omitting the that is upon proofs of supernatural 
 details and subdivisions. [For the agency, capable of being known and 
 second point see p. 345] attested by others. 
 
CHAP. Ix] OF CHRISTIANITY. 343 
 
 The only place in the Koran in which it can be pre- 
 tended that a sensible miracle is referred to (for I do 
 not allow the secret visitations of Gabriel, the night 
 journey of Mahomet to heaven, or the presence in 
 battle of invisible hosts of angels, to deserve the name 
 of sensible miracles), is the beginning of the fifty-fourth 
 chapter. The words are these ;—“ The hour of judg- 
 ment approacheth, and the moon hath been split m 
 sunder ; but if the unbelievers see a sign, they turn 
 aside saying, This is a powerful charm.” The Ma- 
 hometan expositors 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 happened about this time; and which supplied a 
 foundation both for this passage, and for the story 
 which in after times had been raised out of it. 
 
 B.6 After this more than silence, after these authentic con- 
 fessions of the Koran, we are not to be moved with 
 miraculous stories related of Mahomet by Abulfeda, 
 who wrote his life about six hundred years after his 
 death ; or which are found in the legend of Al-Jannabi, 
 who came two hundred years later.2. On the contrary, 
 from comparing what Mahomet himself wrote and said, 
 with what was afterwards reported of him by his fol- 
 lowers, the plain and fair conclusion is, that when the 
 religion was established by conquest, then, and not till 
 then, came out the stories of his miracles. 
 
 B.c Now this difference alone constitutes, in my opinion, 
 
 1 Vide Sale, in loc. 
 
 2 It does not, I think appear, that these historians had any written accounts to appeal to, more 
 ancient than the Sonnah; which was a collection of traditions made by order of the Caliphs, two 
 hundred years after Mahomet’s death. Mahomet died a. p. 632; Al-Bochari, one of the six doctors who 
 compiled the Sonnah, was born A. p. 809, died 869. ;—Prideaua's Life of Mahomet, p. 192, ed, 7th. 
 
 B.d. Of what dates are the B.c. Prove that the difference 
 miraculous stories related of Ma- between Christianity and Mahome- 
 homet, by Abulfeda, and in the tanism, in respect to miracles, con- 
 legend of Al-Jannabi? stitutes a bar to all reasoning from 
 
 , one case to the other. 
 
344 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 a bar to all reasoning from one case to the other. The 
 success of a religion founded upon a miraculous history 
 shews the credit which was given to the history: and 
 this credit, under the circumstances in which it was 
 given, z.e. by persons capable of knowing the truth, 
 and interested to inquire after it, is evidence of the 
 reality of the history, and, by consequence, of the truth 
 of the religion, Werea miraculous history is not 
 alleged, no part of this argument can be applied. We 
 admit, that multitudes acknowledged the pretensions of 
 Mahomet: but, these pretensions being destitute of 
 miraculous evidence, we know that the grounds upon 
 which they were acknowledged, could not be secure 
 grounds of persuasion to his followers, nor their example 
 any authority to us. Admit the whole of Mahomet’s 
 authentic history, so far as it was of a nature capable of 
 being known or witnessed by others, to be true (which is. 
 certainly to admit all that the reception of the religion 
 can be brought to prove), and Mahomet might still be 
 an impostor, or enthusiast, or a union of both. Admit 
 to be true almost any part of Christ’s history, of that, I 
 mean which was public, and within the cognizance of 
 his followers, and he must have come from God. Where 
 matter of fact is not in question, where miracles are not 
 alleged, I do no see that the progress of a religion is a 
 better argument of its truth, than the prevalency of any 
 system of opinions innatural religion, morality, or physics, 
 is a proof of the truth of those opinions. And we know 
 that this sort of argument is inadmissable in any branch 
 of philosophy whatever. 
 
 B.@ But it will be said, if one religion could make its way 
 without miracles, why might not another? to which I 
 reply, first, that this is not the question: the proper 
 question is not, whether a religious institution could be 
 set up without miracles, but whether a religion, or a 
 change of religion, founding itself in miracles, could 
 succeed without any reality to rest upon? I apprehend 
 
 B.d. It will be said, ‘‘if one other?” Give Paley’s answer to 
 religion could make its way with- this. 
 out miracles, why might not an- 
 
CHAP. 1x.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 345 
 
 these two cases to be very different ; and I apprehend 
 Mahomet’s not taking this course, to be one proof, 
 amongst others, that the thing is difficult, if not im- 
 possible, to be accomplished : certainly it was not from 
 an unconsiousness of the value and importance of 
 miraculous evidence ; for it is very observable, that: in 
 the same volume, and sometimes in the same chapters, 
 in which Mahomet so repeatedly disclaims the power of 
 working miracles himself, he is incessantly referring to 
 the miracles of preceding prophets. One would imagine, 
 to hear some men talk, or to read some books, that the 
 setting up ofa religion by dint of miraculous pretences 
 was a thing of every .day’s experience; whereas I 
 believe, that, except the Jewish and Christian religion, 
 there is no tolerably well authenticated account of any 
 such thing having been accomplished. 
 
 IJ. The establishment of Mahomet’s religion was 
 effected by causes, which, in no degree, appertained to 
 the origin of Christianity. 
 
 Be During the first twelve years of his mission, Mahomet 
 had recourse only to persuasion. This is allowed. And 
 there is sufficient reason from the effect to believe, that, 
 if he had confined himself to this mode of propagating 
 his religion, we of the present day should never have 
 heard either of him or it. “Three years were silently 
 employed in the conversion of fourteen proselytes. For 
 ten years, the religion advanced with a slow and painful 
 progress, within the walls of Mecca. The number of 
 proselytes, in the seventh year of his mission, may be 
 estimated by the absence of ezghty-three men and eighteen 
 women who retired to Ethiopia.”4 Yet this progress, 
 such as it was, appears to have been aided by some very 
 important advantages, which Mahomet found in his 
 situation, in his mode of conducting his design, and in 
 his doctrine. 
 
 1 Gibbon’s History, vol. ix. p. 244. et seg., ed. Dub. 
 
 B.e. Shew the effect of the state the four circumstances which 
 persuasive system, which Mahomet appear to have afforded him impor- 
 had recourse to, during the first tant advantages. 
 twelve years of his mission: and 
 
346 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 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, repaid this deficiency by an opulent mar- 
 riage. A person considerable by his wealth, of high 
 descent, and nearly allied to the chiefs of his country, 
 taking upon himself the character of a religious teacher, 
 would not fail of attracting attention and followers. 
 
 2. Mahomet conducted his design, in the outset 
 especially with great art and prudence. He conducted 
 it as a politician would conduct a plot. His first appli- 
 cation was to his own family. This gained him his wife’s 
 uncle, a considerable person in Mecca, together with his 
 cousin Ali, afterwards the celebrated Caliph, then a 
 youth of great expectation, and even already distin- 
 guished by his attachment, impetuosity, and courage.! 
 Fle next expressed himself to Abu Becr, a man amongst 
 the first of the Koreish in wealth and influence. The 
 interest and example of Abu Becr drew in five other 
 principal persons in Mecca, whose solicitations prevailed 
 upon five more of the same rank. This was the work of 
 three years ; during which time, every thing was trans- 
 acted in secret. Upon the strength of these allies, and 
 under the powerful protection of his family,—who, how- 
 ever some of them might disapprove his enterprise or 
 deride his pretensions, would not suffer the orphan of 
 their house, the relict of their favourite brother, to be 
 insulted,—Mahomet now commenced his public preach- 
 ing. 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 
 
 1 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 vizier? Ali, then only in the 
 fourteenth year of his age, suddenly replied. O prophet ! I am the man ;—whosoever rises against thee, 
 I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly, O prophet! I will be thy 
 vizier over them.” Vol. ix. p. 245, 
 
CHAP. IX.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 347 
 
 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 govermernment of kingdoms." 
 
 _ The Arabs deduced their descent from Abraham 
 through the line of Ishmael. The inhabitants of Mecca, 
 in common probably with the other Arabian tribes, 
 acknowledged, as I think may clearly be collected from 
 the Koran, one supreme deity, but had associated with 
 him many objects of idolatrous worship. The great 
 doctrine with which Mahomet set out was the strict and 
 exclusive unity of God. Abraham, he told them, their 
 illustrous ancestor; Ishmaél, the father of their nation ; 
 Moses, the law-giver 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 fe was now commissioned to restore it to the world. 
 Was it to be wondered at, that a doctrine so specious 
 and authorized by names, some or other of which were 
 holden in the highest veneration by every description of 
 his hearers, should, in the hands of a popular missionary, 
 prevail to the extent in which Mahomet succeeded by 
 his pacific ministry ? 
 
 4. Of the institution which Mahomet joined with this 
 fundamental doctrine, and of the Koran in which that 
 institution is delivered, we discover, I think, two pur- 
 poses that pervade the whole, viz. to make converts, and 
 to make his converts soldiers. The following particu- 
 lars, amongst others, may be considered as pretty evident 
 indications of these designs : 
 
 ¢. 1. When Mahomet began to preach, his address to 
 the Jews, to the Christian, and to the Pagan Arabs, 
 was, that the religion which he taught, was no other 
 than what had been originally their own.—‘ We believe in 
 God, and that which hath been sent down unto us, and 
 
 1 Gibbon, vol, ix. p. 244. 
 
 C. State, fully, the six parti- signs of Mahomet, to make con- 
 culars, which may be considered verts, and to make those converts 
 as evident indications of the de- soldiers. 
 
348 EVIDENCES [PART IL. 
 
 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 Mohammed, 
 and which we commanded Abraham, and Moses, and 
 Jesus, saying, Observe this religion, and be not divided 
 therein.”? “ He hath chosen you, and hath not imposed 
 on you any difficulty in the religion which he hath given 
 you, the religion of your father Abraham.”2 
 
 2. The author of the Koran never ceases from de- 
 scribing the future anguish of unbelievers, their despair, 
 regret, penitence, and torment. It is the point which 
 he labours above all others. | And these descriptions are 
 conceived in terms, which will appear in no small degree 
 impressive, even to the modern reader of an English 
 translation. Doubtless they would operate with much 
 greater force upon the minds of those to whom they 
 were immediately directed. The terror which they 
 seem well calculated to inspire, would be to many tem- 
 pers a powerful application. 
 
 3. On the other hand ; his voluptuous paradise; his 
 robes of silk, his palaces of marble, his rivers and shades, 
 his groves and couches, his wines his dainties; and 
 above all, his seventy-two virgins assigned to each of 
 the faithful, of resplendent beauty and eternal youth : 
 intoxicated the imaginations, and seized the passions of 
 his Eastern followers. 
 
 4. But Mahomet’s highest heaven was reserved for 
 those who fought his battles, or expended their fortunes 
 in his cause.—“ Those believers who sit still at home, 
 not having any hurt, and those who employ their for- 
 tunes and their persons for the religion of God, shall 
 not be held equal. God hath preferred those who em- 
 ploy their fortunes and their persons in that cause to 
 a degree above those who sit at home. God hath in- 
 deed promised every one paradise: but God hath pre- 
 
 1 Sale’s Koran, ec. ii, p. 17. 2 Ib. c. xlii. p. 393. 3 Ib. c, xxii. p, 281, 
 
GHAR. TX. | OR*CHRISTIANTITLY, 349 
 
 ferred those who fighi for the faith, before those who sit 
 still, by adding unto them a great reward; by degrees 
 of honour conferred upon them from him, and by grant- 
 ing 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 
 performed by him who believeth in God and the last 
 day, and fighteth for the religion of God? They shall 
 not be held equal with God.—They who have believed, 
 and fled their country, and employed their substance 
 and their persons in the defence of God’s true religion, 
 shall be in the highest degree of honour with God ; 
 and these are they who shall be happy. The Lord 
 sendeth them good tidings of mercy from him, and 
 good will, and of gardens wherein they shall enjoy 
 lasting pleasures. They shall continue therein for 
 ever ; for with God is a great reward.”2 And, once more; 
 “Verily God hath purchased of the true believers their 
 souls and their substance, promising them the enjoyment 
 of paradise on condition that they fight for the cause of 
 God. whether they slay or be slain, the promise for the 
 same is asuredly due by the Law and the Gospel and 
 theslsoran., >* 
 
 5. His doctrine of predestination was applicable, and 
 was applied by him, to the same purpose of fortifying 
 and of exalting the courage of his adherents.—‘“ If 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. Inwarm regions, the appetite of the sexes is ardent, 
 the passion for inebriating liquors moderate. In com- 
 pliance with this distinction, although Mahomet laid a 
 restraint upon the drinking of wine, in the use of 
 women he allowed an almost unbounded indulgence. 
 four wives with the liberty of changing them at plea- 
 
 1 Sale’s Koran, c. iv. p. 78. 2 Ib. c. ix. p, 151. 3 Ib. ix. p. 164. 
 
 4 “The sword,” saith Mahomet, “is the key of heaven and of hell: a drop of blood shed in the 
 eause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months’ fasting or prayer. Whosoever 
 falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of Judgment ; his wounds shall be resplendent as ver- 
 million, and odoriferous as musk ; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels 
 and cherubim.”—Gibbon, vol, ix, ¢. 256. 
 
 . 5 Ib. c, iii. p, 54. 
 
350 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 sure,’ together with the persons of all his captives,? was 
 an irresistible bride to an Arabian warrior. “God is 
 minded,” says he speaking of this very subject, “to 
 make his religion light unto you; for man was created 
 weak.” How different this from the unaccommodating 
 purity of the Gospel! How would Mahomet have suc- 
 ceeded with the Christian lesson in his mouth,—“ Who- 
 sover 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 He- 
 gira, or the seventeenth of his mission,? when his military 
 successes had completely established his authority. 
 The same observation holds of the fast of the Ra- 
 madam,* and of the most laborious part of his institu- 
 tion, the pilgrimage to Mecca.® 
 
 D. What has hitherto been collected from the records of 
 the Mussulman history, relates to the twelve or thirteen 
 years of Mahomet’s peaceable preaching ; which part 
 alone of his life and enterprise admits of the smallest 
 comparison with the origin of Christianity. A new scene 
 is now unfolded. The city of Medina, distant about 
 ten day’s journey from Mecca, was at that time dis- 
 tracted by the hereditary contentions of two hostile 
 tribes. These feuds were exasperated by the mutual 
 persecutions of the Jews and Christians, and of the 
 different Christian sects by which the city was in- 
 habited.© The religion of Mahomet presented, in some 
 measure, a point of union or compromise to these divided 
 opinions. It embraced the principles which were com- 
 mon to them all. Each party saw in it an honourable 
 acknowledgment of the fundamental truth of their 
 own system. To the Pagan Arab, somewhat imbued 
 with the sentiments and knowledge of his Jewish or 
 
 1 Sale’s Koran. ec. iv. p. 63 2 Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 225. 
 3 Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 126. 4 Ib, vol. i. p. 112, 
 
 5 This latter, however, already prevailed amongst the Arabs, and had grown out of their exces- 
 Sive beg for the Caabar. Mahomet’s law, in this respect, was rather a compliance than an in- 
 novation, 
 
 6 Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 100. 
 * Sale’s Prelim. Dis. p, 122. 
 
 D. Describe, fully, the circum- change his peaceable conduct in the 
 stances which caused Mahomet to dissemination of Mahometanism. 
 
CuAP SIX, | OPE CHRISTIAN LEY, 351 
 
 Christian fellow-citizen, it offered no offensive, or very 
 improbable theology. This recommendation procured 
 to Mahometanism a more favourable reception at 
 Medina, than its author had been able, by twelve 
 years’ painful endeavours, to obtain for it at Mecca. 
 Yet, after all, the progress of the religion was inconside- 
 rable. His missionary could only collect a congrega- 
 tion of forty persons. It was not a religious, but a 
 political association, which ultimately introduced Ma- 
 homet 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 ad- 
 mission of the prophet’s authority, a rest from the 
 miseries which they had suffered, and a suppression of 
 the violence and fury which they had learned to con- 
 demn. After an embassy, therefore, composed of be- 
 lievers and unbelievers,” and of persons of both tribes, 
 with whom a treaty was concluded of strict alliance and 
 support, Mahomet made his public entry, and was re- 
 ceived as the sovereign of Medina. 
 
 E. From this time, or soon after this time, the impostor 
 changed his language and his conduct. Having nowa 
 town at his command, where to arm his party, and to 
 head them with security, he enters upon new counsels. 
 He now pretends that a divine commission is given him 
 to attack the infidels, to destroy idolatry, and to set up 
 the true faith by the sword. An early victory over a 
 very superior force, achieved by conduct and bravery, 
 established the renown of his arms, and of his personal 
 character.* Every year after this was marked by battles 
 or assassinations. The nature and activity of Mahomet’s 
 future exertions may be estimated from the computa- 
 tion, that, in the nine following years of his life, he 
 commanded his army in person in eight general engage- 
 ments,® and undertook, by himself, or his lieutenants, 
 fifty military enterprises. 
 
 1 Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 85. 2 Ib. vol. i. p. 
 
 85. 3 Ib. vol. i. p. 88, 
 4 Victery of Bedr. ib. p. 106. 5 Ib. vol. i. p. 255. 
 
 E. Describe the conduct of the success of Mahometanism after 
 Mahomet after he was received as_ the change. 
 the sovereign of Medina; and shew 
 
352 EVIDENCES [PART. IL. 
 
 From this time we have nothing left to account for, 
 but that Mahomet should collect an army, that his army 
 should conquer, and that his religion should proceed 
 together with his conquests. The ordinary experience 
 of human affairs, leaves us little to wonder at in any 
 of these effects: and they were likewise each assisted 
 by peculiar facilities. From all sides, the roving Arabs 
 crowded round the standard of religion and plunder, of 
 freedom and victory, of arms and rapine. Beside the 
 highly painted joys of a carnal paradise, Mahomet re- 
 warded his followers in this world with a liberal division 
 of the spoils, and with the persons of their female cap- 
 tives The condition of Arabia, occupied by small and 
 independent tribes, exposed it to the impression, and 
 yielded to the progress of a firm and resulute army. 
 After the reduction of his native peninsula, the weak- 
 ness also of the Roman provinces on the north and the 
 west, as well as the distracted state of the Persian em- 
 pire on the east, facilitated the successful invasion of 
 the neighbouring countries. That Mahomet’s conquests 
 should carry his religion along with them will excite 
 little surprise, when we know the conditions which he 
 proposed to the vanquished. Death or conversion was 
 the only choice offered to idolators. “Strike off their 
 heads! strike of all the ends of their fingers !? kill the 
 idolators wheresoever ye shall find them !? To the Jews 
 and Christians was left the somewhat milder alternative, 
 of subjection and tribute, if they persisted in their own 
 religion, or of an equal participation in the rights and 
 liberties, the honours and privileges of the faithful, if 
 they embrace the religion of their conquerors. “Ye 
 Christian dogs! you know your option; the Koran, 
 the tribute, or sword.”* The corrupted state of Chris- 
 tianity in the seventh century, and the contentions of 
 its sects, unhappily so fell in with men’s cares of their 
 safety or their fortunes, as to induce many to forsake 
 its profession. Add to all which, that Mahomet’s vic- 
 tories not only operated by the natural effect of con- 
 quest, but that they were constantly represented, both 
 
 1 Gibbon, vol. ix. p, 255, 2 Sale’s Koran, c, viii. p. 140. 
 $ Ib... ix, p. 149, 4 Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 367. 
 
CHAP. IX.] OR “CHRISTIANIT Y. 353 
 
 to his friends and enemies, as divine declarations in his 
 favour.—Success was evident, Prosperity carried with 
 it not only influence, but proof. “Ye have already,” 
 says he, after the battle of Bedr, “had a miracle shewn 
 you, in two armies which attacked each other; one 
 army fought for God’s true religion, but the other were 
 infidels.” Again; “ Ye slew not those who were slain 
 at Bedr, but God slew them. If ye desire a decision of 
 the matter between us, now hath a decision come unto 
 ou.” 
 
 F. ‘ Many more passages might be collected out of the 
 Koran to the same effect. But they are unnecessary. 
 The success of Mahometanism, during this and indeed 
 every future period of its history, bears so little resem- 
 blance to the early propagation of Christianity, that no 
 inference whatever can justly be drawn from it to the 
 prejudice of the Christian argument. For, what are we 
 comparing? A Galilean peasant accompanied by a few 
 fishermen, with a conqueror at the head of his army. 
 We compare Jesus without force, without power, with- 
 out support, without one external circumstance of at- 
 traction or influence, prevailing against the prejudices, the 
 learning, the hierarchy, of his country ; against the an- 
 cient religious opinions, the pompous religious rites, the 
 philosophy, the wisdom, the authority, of the Roman 
 empire, in the most polished and enlightened period of 
 its existence ; with Mahomet making his way amongst 
 Arabs ; collecting followers in the midst of conquests 
 and triumphs, in the darkest ages and countries of the 
 world, and when success in arms not only operated by 
 that command of men’s wills and persons which attends 
 prosperous undertakings, but was considered as a sure 
 testimony of divine approbation. That multitudes, per- 
 suaded by this argument, should join the train of a vic- 
 torious chief; that still greater multitudes should, with- 
 out any argument bow down before irresistible power 
 
 1 Gibbon, ec. iii. p. 36. 2 Sale’s Koran, c. viii. p. 141. 
 
 F. Shew that in comparing the tanism, no inference can be justly 
 early prevalence of Christianity with drawn from the latter, to the preju- 
 the warlike propagation of Mahome- dice of the Christian argument. 
 
 AA 
 
354 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 is a conduct in which we cannot see much to surprise 
 us; in which we can see nothing that resembles the 
 causes by which the establishment of Christianity was 
 effected. 
 
 G. Thesuccess, therefore, of Mahometanism, stands not in 
 the way of this important conclusion ; that the propa- 
 gation of Christianity, in the manner and under the cir- 
 cumstances in which it was propagated, is an wzzque in 
 the history of the species. A Jewish peasant overthrew 
 the religion of the world. 
 
 H. Ihave, nevertheless, placed the prevalency of the re- 
 ligion amongst the auxiliary arguments of its truth ; 
 because, whether it had prevailed or not, or whether its 
 prevalency can or cannot be accounted for, the direct 
 argument remains still. It is still true, that a great 
 number of men upon the spot, personally connected 
 with the history and with the Author of the religion, 
 were induced by what they heard, and saw, and knew, 
 not only to change their former opinions, but to give up 
 their time, and sacrifice their ease, to traverse seas and 
 kingdoms, without rest, and without weariness, to com- 
 mit themselves to extreme dangers, to undertake inces- 
 sant toils, to undergo grievous sufferings, and all this 
 solely in consequence, and in support, of their belief of 
 facts, which, if true, establish the truth of the religion, 
 which, if false, they must have known to be so. 
 
 G. State the important con- H. Give Paley’s reason for 
 clusion which is not affected by the having placed the prevalency of the 
 success of Mahometanism. Christian. religion amongst the aux- 
 
 iliary arguments of its truth. 
 
jew eued hi B OE 
 
 A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME 
 
 POPULAR OBJECTIONS: 
 
 ————— 
 
 CPA BE Bo gals 
 
 The Descrepancies between the several Gospels. 
 
 The author remarks, that the 
 usual character of human testimony 
 is, substantial truth under circum- 
 stantial variety. This is what the 
 daily experience of courts of justice 
 teaches: a close and minute agree- 
 ment induces the suspicion of con- 
 federacy and fraud. Important 
 variations, and even contradictions, 
 are not always deemed sufficient to 
 shake the credibility of the fact. 
 The embassy of the Jews to Clau- 
 dian, Philo places in harvest ; Jose- 
 
 phus, in seed-time. Lord Clarendon 
 
 states, that the Marquis of Argyle 
 was condemned to be hanged, which 
 was performed on the same day. 
 Four other historians say he was be- 
 headed : that he was condemned on 
 the Saturday, and executed on the 
 Monday. ‘This has never led any 
 
 one to doubt whether the Marquis 
 was executed or not. [p. 356] 
 
 A great deal of discrepancy 
 arises from omission, which is always 
 an uncertain ground of objection. 
 Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio Cassius, 
 have all written of the reign of 
 Tiberius, and each has mentioned 
 ery things omitted by the rest. [p. 
 357 
 
 These descrepancies will be more 
 numerous, when men write memoirs 
 only, and not histories ; when they 
 do not undertake to deliver, in order 
 of time, a regular account of all 
 things of importance, but only such 
 passages as were saggested by their 
 particular design at the time of 
 writing. The true name and des- 
 cription of the Gospels may per- 
 haps be memoirs. [p. 358, to the end] 
 
 . I KNOW not a more rash or unphilosophical conduct of 
 the understanding, than to reject the substance of a 
 
 A. Mention the usual character 
 of human testimony ; and illustrate 
 it by a reference to the daily 
 
 experience in courts of justice, and 
 to passages of ancient and modern 
 history. 
 
 AA 2 
 
B56 EVIDENCES PRART SLE 
 
 story, by reason of some diversity in the circumstances 
 with which it is related. The usual character of human 
 testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial 
 variety. This is what the daily experience of courts of 
 justice teaches. When accounts of a transaction come 
 from the mouths of different witnesses, it is seldom that 
 it is not possible to pick out apparent or real inconsis- 
 tencies between them. These inconsistencies are studi- 
 ously displayed by an adverse pleader, but oftentimes 
 with little impression upon the minds of: the judges. 
 On the contrary, aclose and minute agreement induces 
 the suspicion of confederacy and fraud. When written 
 histories touch upon the same scenes of action, the com- 
 parison almost always affords ground for a like reflec- 
 tion. Numerous, and sometimes important, variations 
 present themselves ; not seldom also, absolute and final 
 contradictions; yet neither one nor the other are deemed 
 sufficient to shake the credibility of the main fact. The 
 embassy of the Jews to deprecate the execution of 
 Claudian’s order to place his statue in their temple, 
 Philo places in harvest, Josephus, in seed-time; both 
 contemporary writers. No reader is led by this incon- 
 sistency to donbt whether such an embassy was sent, 
 or whether such an order was given. Our own history 
 supplies examples of the same kind. In the account 
 of the Marquis of Argyle’s death, in the reign of 
 Charles the Second, we have a very remarkable contra- 
 diction. Lord Clarendon relates that he was condemned 
 to be hanged, which was performed the same day; on 
 the contrary, Burnet, Woodrow, Heath, Echard, concur 
 in stating that he was beheaded; and that he was 
 condemned upon the Saturday, and executed upon the 
 Monday.’ Was any reader of English history ever 
 sceptic enough to raise from hence a question, whether 
 the Marquis of Argyle was executed or not? Yet this 
 ought to be left in uncertainty, according to the princi- 
 ples upon which the Christian history has sometimes 
 been attacked. Dr. Middleton contended, that the dif- 
 ferent hours of the day assigned to the crucifixion of 
 
 1 See Biog. Britann. 
 
CHAP. I.| OF CHRISTIANITY. 357 
 
 Christ, by John and the other evengelists, did not 
 admit of the reconcilement which learned men had 
 proposed ; and then concludes the discussion with this 
 hard remark ; “ We must be forced, with several of the 
 critics, to leave the difficulty just as we found it, 
 chargeable with all the consequences of manifest 
 inconsistency.” But what are these consequences? By 
 no means the discrediting of the history as to the 
 principal fact, by a repugnancy (even supposing that 
 repugnacy not to be resolvable into different modes of 
 computation) in the time of the day in which it is said 
 to have taken place. 
 
 B. A great deal of the discrepancy observable in the Gos- 
 pels, arises from omission; from a fact ora passage of 
 Christ’s life being noticed by one writer, which is un- 
 noticed by another. Now, omission is, at all times, a 
 very uncertain ground of objection. We perceive it, 
 not only in the comparison of different writers, but even 
 in the same writer, when compared with himself. There 
 are a great many particulars, and some of them of im- 
 portance, mentioned by Josephus in his Antiquities, 
 which, as we should have supposed, ought to have been 
 put down by him in their place, in the Jewish Wars.2 
 Suetonius, Tacitus, Dio Cassius have all three, written 
 of the reign of. Tiberius. Each has mentioned many 
 things omitted by the rest,’ yet no objection is from 
 thence take to the respective credit of their histories. 
 We have in our own times, if there were not something 
 indecorous in the comparison, the life of an eminent 
 person, written by three of his friends, in which there 
 is very great variety in the incidents selected by them ; 
 some apparent, and perhaps some real contradictions ; 
 yet without any impeachment of the substantial truth 
 of their accounts of the authenticity of the books, 
 of the competent information or general fidelity of the 
 writers, 
 
 1 Middleton’s Reflections answered by Benson, Hist. Christ. vol. iii. p. 50. 
 2 Lardner, part. i. vol. ii. p. 735, et seq. 3 Ib. p. 743. 
 
 B, State the origin of a great of objection; and illustrate the 
 deal of the discrepancy observable remark by reference to ancient 
 in the Gospels; shew that it is, at historians, and a piece of modern 
 all times, a very uncertain ground biography. 
 
358 
 
 ©. 
 
 PVIDEN CAS [PART III. 
 
 But these discrepancies will be still more numerous, 
 when men do not write histories but semozrs ; which is 
 perhaps the true name and proper description of our 
 Gospels: that is, when they do not undertake, or ever 
 meant to deliver, in order of time, a regular and com- 
 plete account of a// the things of importance, which the 
 person, who is the subject of their history, did or said ; 
 but only, out of many similar ones, to give such pas- 
 sages, or such actions and discourses, as offered them- 
 selves more immediately to their attention, came in the 
 way of their enquiries, occurred to their recollection, or 
 were suggested by their particular design at the time of 
 writing. 
 
 This particular design may appear sometimes, but not 
 always, nor often. Thus I think that the particular 
 design which S. Matthew had in view, whilst he was 
 writing the history of the resurrection, was to attest the 
 faithful performance of Christ’s promise to his disciples 
 to go before them into Galilee ; because he alone, except 
 Mark, who seems to have taken it from him, has re- 
 corded this promise, and he alone has confined his narra- 
 tive to that single appearance to the disciples which 
 fulfilled it. It was the preconcerted, the great and most 
 public manifestation of our Lord’s person. It was the 
 thing which dwelt upon S. Matthew's mind, and he 
 adapted his narrative to it. But, that there is nothing in 
 S. Matthew’s language which negatives other appear- 
 ances, or which imports that this, his appearance to his 
 disciples in Galilee, in pursuance of his promise, was his 
 first or only appearance, is made pretty evident by 
 S. Mark’s Gospel, which uses the same terms concerning 
 the appearance in Galilee as S. Matthew uses, yet itself 
 records two other appearances prior to this: “Go your 
 way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before 
 
 C. Illustrate Paley’s remark, 
 
 that discrepancies will be still more 
 numerous, when men do not write 
 histories, but memotrs; which is 
 perhaps the true name and proper 
 description of our Gospels. 
 
 D. What appears to have been 
 
 S. Matthew’s particular design, in 
 his history of the resurrection; and 
 why does it appear that S. Mark, 
 who uses the same terms as S. Matt- 
 thew did, did not mean to be under- 
 stood, as saying, that this was 
 Christ’s first or only appearance ? 
 
@HAP, “IT. OM CHRIS LIANTE 359 
 
 you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him, as he said unto 
 you.” (xvi. 7). We might be apt to infer from these 
 words, that this was the first time they were to see him: 
 at least, we might infer it, with as much reason as we 
 draw the inference from the same words in Matthew: 
 yet the historian himself did not perceive that he was 
 leading his readers to any such conclusion; for, in the 
 twelfth and two following verses of this chapter, he 
 informs us of two appearances, which, by comparing the 
 order of events, are shewn, to have been prior to the 
 appearance in Galilee. ‘He appeared in another form 
 unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the 
 country : and they went and told it unto the residue, 
 neither believed they them: afterwards he appeared 
 unto the eleven, as they sat at meat, and upbraided them 
 with their unbelief, because they believed not them that 
 had seen him after he was risen.” 
 
 Probably the same observation, concerning the far- 
 ticular design which guided the historian, may be of use 
 in comparing many other passages of the Gospels. 
 
 CHAT VER sett: 
 
 Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles. 
 
 The author remarks, that objec- 
 tions have been raised concerning 
 the quotations of the Old Testa- 
 ment, found in the New. Some of 
 which are said to be applied con- 
 trary to the intent of the original. 
 These he considers as accomodations, 
 such as were common to writers of 
 all countries. [p. 360] 
 
 That another error imputed to 
 the first Christians, was the expect- 
 ed approach of the day of judgment. 
 A similar error was that which led 
 the disciples to conclude from an 
 expression of Christ’s, that John 
 should not die. The same reflec- 
 
 tion will occur on both errors: they 
 would effectually hinder those who 
 entertained them, from acting the 
 part of impostors. 
 
 The difficulty which attends the 
 subject of this chapter, is contained 
 in this question: If we once admit 
 the fallibility of the apostolic judg- 
 ment, where are we to stop, or 
 in what can we rely upon it? To 
 this, as arguing with unbelievers, 
 we may say, Give me the apostles’ 
 testimony, and I do not stand in 
 need of their judgment; give me 
 the facts, and I have all that I want. 
 
 [p. 362] 
 
300 
 
 The author concludes with the 
 two following cautions, to exclude 
 all uncertainty : 
 
 Ist. To separate what was the 
 object of the apostolic mission, and 
 declared by them to be so, from 
 what was extraneous to it, or only 
 incidentally connected with it. Of 
 points clearly extraneous, nothing 
 need be said. Of points incidentally 
 connected, demoniacal — possession 
 was one. Christ did not bring the 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART III. 
 
 doctrine into the world. ‘The mala- 
 dy was real,—the cure was real. 
 In either case, the matter of fact 
 was the same. 
 
 2nd. In reading the apostolic 
 writings, we are to distinguish 
 between their doctrines and their 
 arguments. Their doctrines came 
 to them by revelation, and they 
 were wont to support them by such 
 considerations as their own thoughts 
 suggested. [p. 363, to the end] 
 
 A. A SPECIES of candour, which is shewn towards every 
 other book, is sometimes refused to the Scriptures ; and 
 that is, the placing of a distinction between judgment 
 and testimony. We do not usually question the credit 
 of a writer, by reason of an opinion he may have 
 delivered upon subjects unconnected with his evidence: 
 and even upon subjects connected with his account, or 
 mixed with it in the same discourse or writing, we 
 naturally separate facts from opinions, testimony from 
 observation, narrative from argument. 
 
 B. To apply this equitable consideration to the Chris- 
 tian records, much controversy and much objection has 
 been raised concerning the quotations of the Old Testa- 
 ment found in the New; some of which quotations, it is 
 said, are applied in a sense, and to events, apparently 
 different from that which they bear, and from those to 
 which they belong in the original. It is probable, to my 
 apprehension, that many of those quotations were 
 intended by the writers of the New Testament as nothing 
 more than accommodations. They quoted passages of 
 their Scripture, which suited, and fell in with, the occa- 
 sion before them, without always undertaking to assert, 
 that the occasion was in the view of the author of the 
 words. Such accommodations of passages from old 
 
 A. Explain Paley’s assertion, 
 that a species of candour which is 
 shewn towards every other book is 
 sometimes refused to the Scrip- 
 tures; that is, the placing of a 
 distinction between judgment and 
 testimony. 
 
 B. State the objection which 
 has been raised against the New 
 Testament, on account of its quota- 
 tions from the Old; and _ shew, 
 fully the mode in which Paley 
 neutralizes it. 
 
CHAP. It.] OPC IGRSTITAN ST 7, Ye 361 
 authors, from books, especially which are in every one’s 
 hands, are common with writers of all countries ; but in 
 none, perhaps, were more to be expected than in the 
 writings of the Jews, whose literature was almost entirely 
 confined to their Scriptures. Those prophecies which 
 are alleged with more solemnity, and which are accom- 
 panied with a precise declaration, that they originally 
 respected the event then related, are, I think, truly 
 alleged. But were it otherwise ; is the judgment of the 
 writers of the New Testament, in interpreting passages 
 of the Old, or sometimes, perhaps, in receiving estab- 
 lished interpretations, so connected either with their 
 veracity, or with their means of information concerning 
 what was passing in their own times, as that a critical 
 mistake, even were it clearly made out, should overthrow 
 their historical credit >—Does it diminish it? Has it any 
 thing to do with it? 
 
 c. Another error imputed to the first Christians, was the 
 expected approach of the day of judgement. I would 
 introduce this objection by a remark upon what appears 
 to me a somewhat similar example. Our Saviour, 
 speaking to Peter of John, said, “If I will that he tarry 
 till I come, what is that to the?”! These words, we 
 find, had been so misconstrued, as that a report from 
 thence “went abroad among the brethren, that that 
 disciple should not die.” Suppose that this had come 
 down to us amongst the prevailing opinions of the early 
 Christians, and that the particular circumstance, from 
 which the mistake sprang, had been lost (which, humanly 
 speaking, was most likely, to have been the case) some, 
 at this day, would have been ready to regard and quote 
 the error, as an impeachment of the whole Christian 
 system. Yet with how little justice such a conclusion 
 would have been drawn, or rather such a presumption 
 taken up, the information which we happen to possess 
 enables us now to perceive. To those who think that 
 
 1 John xxi, 22. 
 
 C. Explain, and neuteralize, the anerror, the expected approach of 
 force of an objection founded on the day of judgment. 
 imputing to the first Christians, as 
 
362 EVIDENCES [PART. III. 
 
 the Scriptures lead us to believe that the early Chris- 
 tians, and even the apostles, expected the approach of 
 the day of judgment in their own times, the same reflec- 
 tion will occur, as that which we have made with respect 
 to the more partial perhaps, and temporary, but still no 
 less ancient error concerning the duration of S. John’s 
 life. It was an error, it may be likewise said, which 
 would effectually hinder those who entertained it from 
 acting the part of impostors. 
 
 pb. The difficulty which attends the subject of the present 
 chapter, is contained in this question ;—If we once admit 
 the fallibility of the apostolic judgement, where are we to 
 stop, or in what can we rely upon it? To which ques- 
 tion, as arguing with unbelievers, and as arguing for the 
 substantial truth of the Christian history, and for that 
 alone, it is competent to the advocate of Christianity to 
 reply, Give me the apostle’s testimony, and I do not 
 stand in need of their judgment ; give me the facts, and 
 I have complete security for every conclusion I want. 
 
 But, although I think that it is competent to the 
 Christian apologists to return this answer; I do not 
 think that it is the only answer which the objection is 
 capable of receiving. The two following cautions, 
 founded, I apprehend, in the most reasonable distinc- 
 tions, will exclude all uncertainty upon this head which 
 can be attended with danger. 
 
 E. First: To separate what was the object of the 
 apostolic mission, and declared by them to be so, from 
 what was extraneous to it, or only incidentally connected 
 with it. Of points clearly extraneous to the religion, 
 nothing need be said. Of points incidentally connected 
 with it, something may be added. Demonical posses- 
 sion is one of these points: concerning the reality of 
 which, as this place will not admit the examination, or 
 even the production of the argument on either side of the 
 question, it would be arrogance in me to deliver any 
 
 D. State the question in which E. State, fully, and explain the 
 the difficulty that attends the sub- two cautions which Paley gives, to 
 ject of the present chapter is con- exclude all uncertainly upon the 
 tained ; and shew in what way that subject in question, which can be 
 difficulty may be met. attended with danger. 
 
CHAP. IL] OPCCHRISITAN LEY. 363 
 
 judgment. And it is unnecesssary. For what I am con- 
 cerned to observe is, that even they who think it was a 
 general, but erroneous opinion, of those times ; and that 
 the writers of the New Testament, in common with 
 other Jewish writers of that age, fell into the manner of 
 speaking and of thinking upon the subject, which then 
 universally prevailed, need not be alarmed by the con- 
 cession, as though they had any thing to fear from it, for 
 the truth of Christianity. The doctrine was not what 
 Christ brought into the word. It appears in the Chris- 
 tian records, incidentally and accidentally, as being the 
 subsisting opinion of the age and country in which his 
 ministry was exercised. It was no part of the object of | 
 his revelation, to regulate men’s opinions concerning the 
 action of spiritual substances upon animal bodies. At 
 any rate it is unconnected with testimony. If a dumb 
 person was by a word restored to the use of his speech, 
 it signifies little to what cause the dumbness was ascribed ; 
 and the like of every other cure wrought upon those who 
 are said to have been possessed. The malady was real, 
 the cure was real, whether the popular explication of the 
 cause was well founded, or not. The matter of fact, the 
 change, so far as it was an object of sense or of testimony 
 was in either case the same. 
 
 Secondly : that, in reading the apostolic writings, we 
 distinguish between their doctrines and their arguments. 
 Their doctrines came to them by revelation, properly so 
 called ; yet in propounding these doctrines in their 
 writings or discourses, they were wont to illustrate, sup- 
 port, and enforce them, by such analogies, arguments, 
 and considerations, as their own thoughts suggested. 
 Thus the call of the Gentiles, that is, the admission of 
 the Gentiles to the Christian profession without a 
 previous objection to the law of Moses, was imparted to 
 the apostles by revelation, and was attested by the 
 miracles which attended the Christian ministry among 
 them. The apostles’ own assurance of the matter rested 
 upon this foundation. Nevertheless, 5. Paul, when 
 treating of the subject, offers a great variety of topics in 
 its proof and vindication. The doctrine itself must be 
 received: but it is not necessary, in order to defend 
 
364 EVIDENCES [ PART. III. 
 Christianity, to defend the propriety of every comparison, 
 or the validity of every argument, which the apostle has 
 brought into the discussion. The same. observation 
 applies to some other instances ; and is, in my opinion, 
 very well founded: ‘When divine writers argue upon 
 any point, we are always bound to believe the con- 
 clusions that their reasonings end in, as parts of divine 
 revelation: but we are not bound to be able to make 
 out, or even to assent to, all the premises made use of 
 by them, in their whole extent, unless it appear plainly, 
 that they affirm the premises as expressly as they do 
 the conclusion proved by them.”! 
 
 CHAPTER Tt 
 
 The Connexion of Christianity with the Jewish History. 
 
 The author observes that Christ 
 assumes the divine origin of the 
 Mosaic institution, and recognises 
 the prophetic character of many of 
 their ancient writers. 
 
 So far, therefore, we are bound 
 as Christians to go: but not to make 
 Christianity answerable for the 
 circumstantial truth of each sepa- 
 
 In our Saviour’s time, both he and 
 his apostles, in common with other 
 Jews, referred to, and used them: 
 yet, except where a divine authority 
 is expressly ascribed to particular 
 predictions, we can draw no other 
 conclusion, besides the proofs of 
 their reception, and notoriety at the 
 time. 
 
 rate passage in the Old Testament. 
 
 A. UNDOUBTEDLY our Saviour assumes the divine origin 
 of the Mosaic institution ; and, independantly of his 
 authority, I conceive it to be very difficult to assign any 
 other cause for the commencement or existence of that ° 
 institution ; especially for the singular circumstance of 
 the Jews adhering to the unity, when every other people 
 slid into polytheism ; for their being men in religion, 
 children in every thing else; behind other nations in 
 
 1 Burnett’s Expos, art. 6. 
 
 A. How far, as Christians, are we bound to go, in considering the 
 connexion of Christianity with the Jewish history? 
 
CHAP. III.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 365 
 
 the arts of peace and war, superior to the most improved 
 in their sentiments and doctrines relating to the Deity. 
 Undoubtedly, also, our Saviour recognizes the propetic 
 character of many of their ancient writers. So far, 
 therefore, we are bound, as Christians, to go. But to 
 make Christianity answerable with its life, for the circum- 
 stantial truth of each separate passage of the Old Testa- 
 ment, the genuineness of every book, the information, 
 fidelity and Judgement, of every writer in it, is to bring, 
 I. will not say great, but unnecessary difficulties, into the 
 whole system. These books were universally read and 
 received by the Jews of our Saviour’s time. “He and his 
 apostles, in common with all other Jews, referred to 
 them, alluded to them, used them. Yet, except where 
 he expressly ascribes a divine authority to particular 
 predictions, I do not know that we can strictly draw 
 any conclusion from the books being so used and applied, 
 beside the proof, which it unquestionably is, of their 
 B. notoriety and reception at that time. In this view, our 
 Scriptures afford a valuable testimony to those of the 
 Jews. But the nature of this testimony ought to be 
 understood. It is surely very different from, what it 
 is sometimes represented to be, a specific ratification of 
 each particular fact and opinion ; and not only of each 
 . particular fact, but of the motives assigned for every 
 action, together with the judgment of praise or dispraise 
 bestowed upon them. S. James, in his Epistle,? says, 
 “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen 
 the end of the Lord.” Notwithstanding this text, the 
 reality of Job’s history, and even the existence of such 
 a person, has been always deemed a fair subject of 
 
 1 “In the doctrine, for example, of the unity, the eternity, the omnipotence, the omniscience, the 
 omnipresence, the’wisdom, and the goodness of God; in their opinions concerning Providence, and 
 the creation, preservation, and government of the world.”—Campbell on Mir. p. 207. To which we 
 
 and the destiny of nations or individuals. Upon these conceits rested the whole train of auguries and 
 auspices, which formed so much even of the serious part of the religions of Greece and Rome, and of 
 the charms and incantations which were practised in those countries by the common people. From 
 every thing of this sort the religion of the Jews, and of the Jews alone, was free. Vide Priestley’s 
 Lectures on the truth of the Jewish and Christian hevelation, 1794. 
 
 2 Chap. v. 11. 
 
 B. State, fully, and illustrate by instances, the testimony afforded by 
 our Scriptures to those of the Jews. 
 
306 EVIDENCES [PART II. 
 
 inquiry and discussion amongst Christian divines. 
 S. James’s authority is considered as good evidence of 
 the existence of the book of Job, at that time, and of its 
 reception by the Jews ; and of nothing more. S. Paul, 
 in his Second Epistle to Timothy,’ has this similitude : 
 “ Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do 
 these also resist the truth.” These names are not found 
 in the Old Testament. And it is uncertain whether 
 S. Paul, took them from some apocryphal writing then 
 extant, or from tradition. But no one ever imagined 
 that S. Paul is here asserting the authority of the 
 writing, if it was a written account which he quoted, or 
 making himself answerable for the authenticity of the 
 tradition ; much less, that he so involves himself with 
 either of these questions, as that the credit of his own 
 history and mission should depend upon the fact, 
 whether Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses or not. 
 For what reason a more rigorous interpretation should be 
 put upon other references, it is difficult to know. I do 
 not mean, that other passages of the Jewish history stand 
 upon no better evidence than the history of Job, or of 
 Jannes and Jambres (1 think much otherwise); but I 
 mean, that a reference in the New Testament, to a 
 passages in the Old, does not so fix its authority, as to 
 exclude all inquiry into its credibility, or into the 
 separate reasons upon which that credibility is founded ; 
 and that it is an unwarrantable, as well as unsafe rule to 
 lay down concerning the Jewish history, what was never 
 laid down concerning any other, that either every par- 
 ticular of it must be true, or the whole false. 
 
 c. Ihave thought it necessary to state this point expli- 
 citly because a fashion, revived by Voltaire, and pursued 
 by the disciples of his school, seems to have much pre- 
 yailed of late, of attacking Christianity through the sides 
 of Judaism. Some objections of this class are founded in 
 misconstruction, some in exaggeration ; but all proceed 
 
 1 Chap. iii. 8. 
 
 C. Give Paley’s reason for chapter; and mention the sup- 
 thinking it necessary to state, ex- position upon, which the objections 
 plicitly, the point discussed in this alluded to, by him, proceed. 
 
CHAP. IV.] 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 367 
 
 upon a supposition, which has not been made out by 
 argument, viz. that the attestation, which the Author 
 and first teachers of Christianity gave to the divine mis- 
 sion of Moses and the Prophets, extends to every point 
 and portion of the Jewish history ; and so extends as 
 to make Christianity responsible in its own credibility, 
 for the circumstantial truth (I had almost said for the 
 critical exactness) of every narrative contained in the 
 
 Old Testament. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Rejection of Chrestianity. 
 
 Paley remarks, it is acknow- 
 ledged, that the Christian religion 
 did not produce an universal, or even 
 a general conviction in the minds of 
 men of the age and countries in 
 which it appeared; and this has 
 been called the veyectéon of the 
 Christian history and miracles. The 
 matter of the objection divides itself 
 into two parts, as it. relates : 
 
 Ist. To Jews. 
 
 2nd. Heathen nations. 
 
 I. The Jews. With ws, there 
 is but one question upon the truth 
 of Christianity, viz. whether the 
 miracles were actually wrought: 
 acknowledging this, we receive the 
 whole. This was not the case with 
 the Jews in Christ’s age. After al- 
 lowing the miracles, they had much 
 to do to persuade themselves that 
 Jesus was the Messiah. By a refer- 
 ence to John, vil. 2I—3I, we have 
 an insight into the reasoning of dif- 
 ferent sorts of persons upon the oc- 
 casion of a miracle, generally ac- 
 knowledged to be real. 
 
 The account of the resurrection 
 of Lazaras (John xi.) is observable 
 for the same purpose. In that case, 
 some believe, on Jesus, but others 
 
 remained hostile. The evangelist 
 does not impute the defect of their 
 belief to any doubt about the mira- 
 cles, but to their not preceiving the 
 infallible attestation, which the 
 works of Jesus bore to the truth of 
 his pretensions. In John ix. we 
 have a circumstantial account of the 
 cure of a blind man, submitted to 
 all the scrutiny which a sceptic could 
 propose. The rulers rejected its 
 force: but in the unprejudiced mind 
 of the man restored, it had its natu- 
 ral operation. 
 
 If it be enquired, how such a turn 
 of thought could obtain currency with 
 the ancient Jews, an answer is found 
 in two opinions, subsisting in that 
 age and country: I. The expecta- 
 tion of a Messiah, of a kind con- 
 trary to the appearance of Jesus. 
 2. Their persuasion of the agency 
 of demons in producing supernatu- 
 ral effects, The first of these put 
 the Jews upon seeking some excuse 
 for not receiving Jesus as the Mes- 
 siah ; the second supplied it. What- 
 ever miracles he performed, their 
 ready answer attributed them to the 
 assistance of Beelzebub. This state 
 of mind affords a reason why. the 
 
368 
 
 Jews should reject visible miracles, 
 and yet rely so much upon those of 
 their own history. [p. 369—375] 
 
 Il. Zhe Gentile world. 
 infidelity of the Gentile world is 
 resolvable into contempt prior to 
 examination ; which principle will 
 account for the inefficiency of any 
 argument or evidence. Christianity 
 mixed with no politics; produced 
 no fine writers ; contained no curious 
 speculations; it was made up of 
 points which the Gentile world had 
 never thought of; of terms which 
 they had never heard. 
 
 Its connexion with Judaism 
 would injure it with the learned 
 heathens, who regarded Jehovah as 
 the idol of the Jewish nation. These 
 considerations would operate alike 
 upon the philosopher, as upon the 
 libertine ; more particularly upon 
 that class of men who thought all 
 they had to do was to practice moral 
 duties, and worship the deity more 
 patrio; a habit of thinking which 
 shuts out every argument for a new 
 religion. Thus, all arguing would 
 be precluded among men of educa- 
 tion, which accounts also for their 
 silence upon the subject. In this 
 manner Christianity was treated by 
 Tacitus and Pliny the younger. 
 Tacitus disposes of the whole ques- 
 tion without inquiry, by calling it, 
 “ eyitiabilis  superstitio ;”? — which 
 proves how little he knew, or con- 
 cerned himself about the matter. 
 The injustice of this ignorantly ap- 
 plied epithet, may be seen, by refer- 
 ence to Rom. xii. 93 xiii. 13, and 
 to Pliny’s description of the princi- 
 ples and manners of the sect, viz. 
 that they assembled to sing hymns 
 to Christ, as a God, and bound them- 
 selves by an oath against the com- 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART III. 
 
 mission of wickedness, and to the 
 
 performance of righteousness.  [p- 
 375—300loe e 
 The following four observations 
 
 may be built upon the words of 
 Tacitus : 
 
 I. That the learned men of that 
 age beheld Christianity in a distant 
 and obscure view. 
 
 II. That but little reliance can 
 be placed upon the most acute 
 judgments, on subjects which they 
 despise. Had not Christianity sur- 
 vived to tell its own story, it would 
 have gone down to prosterity as “a 
 pernicious superstition.” 
 
 III. That this prior contempt is 
 an intellectual vice, from which the 
 greatest minds are not free. 
 
 IV. We need not be surprised 
 that many writers of that age did 
 not mention Christianity, when those 
 who did, appear to have miscon- 
 ceived its nature and character. 
 
 The greatest part of the learned 
 came to the knowledge of Christi- 
 anity, only by report. The settled 
 habit of their minds had long been 
 an indiscriminate rejection of all 
 reports of the kind. With these 
 sweeping conclusions, truth has no 
 chance. 
 
 ‘The heathens, especially those 
 of rank and education, may _ be 
 divided into two classes, viz. those 
 who despised Christianity before- 
 hand, and those who received it. 
 In conformity with this, the writers 
 of that age would also be of two 
 classes ; those who were silent about 
 Christianity, and those who were 
 Christians. 
 
 The notion of magic was resorted 
 to by the heathen adversaries, as that 
 of diabolical agency was by the 
 Jews. [p. 381, to the end] 
 
 We acknowledge that the Christian religion, although it 
 converted great numbers, did not produce an universal, 
 
 A. Asan objection to Christi- 
 anity, what is meant by the resection 
 
 of the Christian history and mira- 
 cles? 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 369 
 
 or even a general conviction, in the minds of men, of 
 the age and countries in which it appeared. And this 
 want of a more complete and extensive success, is called 
 the rejection of the Christian history and miracles ; and 
 has been thought by some to form a strong objection to 
 the reality of the facts which the history contains. 
 
 B. The matter of the objection divides itself into two 
 parts; as it relates to the Jews, and as it relates to 
 heathen nations: because the minds of these two des- 
 criptions of men may have been, with respect to Chris- 
 tianity, under the influence of very different causes. 
 The case of the Jews, inasmuch as our Saviour’s minis- 
 try was originally addressed to them, offers itself first to 
 our consideration. 
 
 Cc. Now, upon the subject of the truth of the Christian 
 religion ; with ws, there is but one question, viz. whether 
 the miracles were actually wrought? From acknow- 
 ledging the miracles, we pass instantaneously to the 
 acknowledgment of the whole. No doubt lies between 
 the premises and the conclusion. If we believe the 
 works, or any one of them, we believe in Jesus. And 
 this order of reasoning is become so universal and fa- 
 miliar, that we do not readily apprehend how it could 
 ever have been otherwise. Yet it appears to me per- 
 fectly certain, that the state of thought, in the mind of 
 a Jew of our Saviour’s age, was totally different from 
 this. After allowing the reality of the miracle, he had 
 a great deal to do to persuade himself that Jesus was 
 the Messiah. This is clearly intimated by various pas- 
 sages of the Gospel history. It appears that, in the 
 apprehension of the writers of the New Testament, the 
 miracles did not irresistibly carry, even those who saw 
 them, to the conclusion intended to be drawn from them; 
 or so compel assent, as to leave no room for suspense, 
 
 B. Mention the two parts into gion, there is but one question with 
 which the matter of this objection us, viz, whether the miracles were 
 divides itself. actually wrought: and, with this, 
 
 contrast the state of thought in 
 
 C. Shew, that upon the subject the mind of a Jew of our Saviour’s 
 of the truth of the Christian reli- age. 
 
 BB 
 
370 EVIDENCES PART 10 
 
 for the exercise of candour, or the effects of prejudice. 
 And to this point, at least, the evangelists may be al- 
 lowed to be good witnesses ; because it is a point, in 
 which exaggeration or disguise would have been the 
 other way. Their accounts, if they could be suspected 
 of falsehood, would rather have magnified than dimin- 
 ished the effects of the miracles. 
 
 Dee} Olin evils 21-315 “Jesus answered, and said unto 
 them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel—lIf a 
 man on the Sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the 
 law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at 
 me, because I have made a man every whit whole on 
 the Sabbath-day ? Judge not according to the appear- 
 ance, but judge righteous judgment. Then said some 
 of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they seek 
 to kill? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say no- 
 thing to him: do the rulers know indeed that this is 
 the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man, whence 
 he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence 
 he is. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, 
 saying, ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: 
 and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is 
 true, whom ye know not. But I know him, for lam 
 from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to 
 take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his 
 hour was not yet come. And many of the people be- 
 lieved on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he 
 do more miracles than those which this man hath 
 done ?” 
 
 This passage is very observable. It exhibits the rea- 
 soning of different sorts of persons upon the occasion 
 of a miracle, which persons of all sorts are represented 
 to have acknowledged as real. One sort of men 
 thought, that there was something very extraordinary 
 in all this; but that still Jesus could not be the Christ, 
 because there was a circumstance in his appearance 
 which militated with an opinion concerning Christ, in 
 
 D. Quote John vii. 2I—3I, on the Jews: and state, fully, the 
 which is advanced by Paley, to observations arising on it. 
 shew the effect of Christ’s miracles 
 
CHAP. IV.] OHICHRUSALANEL Y- 371 
 
 which they had been brought up, and of the truth of 
 which, it is probable, they had never entertained a_par- 
 ticle of doubt, viz. that ‘‘ When Christ cometh, no man 
 knoweth whence he is.’ Another sort were inclined to 
 believe him to be the Messiah. But even these did not 
 argue as we should ; did not consider the miracle as of 
 itself decisive of the question; as what, if once al- 
 lowed, excluded all further debate upon the subject ; 
 but founded their opinion upon a kind of comparative 
 reasoning, “When Christ cometh, will he do move mira- 
 cles than those which this man hath done ?” 
 
 E. Another passage in the same evangelist, and obser- 
 vable for the same purpose, is that in which he relates 
 the resurrection of Lazarus: “ Jesus,” he tells us (xi. 
 43, 44,), “when he had thus spoken, cried with a loud 
 voice, Lazarus, come forth: And he that was dead 
 came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, 
 and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus 
 saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” One 
 might have expected, that at least all those who stood 
 by the sepulchre, when Lazarus was raised, would have 
 believed in Jesus. Yet the evangelist does not so re- 
 present it:—“ Then many of the Jews which came to 
 Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, be- 
 lieved on him; but some of them went their ways to the 
 Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.” 
 We cannot suppose that the evangelist meant, by this 
 account, to leave his readers to imagine, that any of 
 the spectators doubted about the truth of the miracle. 
 Far from it. Unquestionably, he states the miracle to 
 have been fully allowed: yet the persons who allowed it 
 were, according to his representation, capable of re- 
 taining hostile sentiments towards Jesus. “ Believing in 
 Jesus” was not only to believe that he wrought mira- 
 cles, but that he was the Messiah, With us, there is 
 no difference between these two things : with them, there 
 
 E. Quote the passage from Jews: and shew, by Paley’s obser- 
 the eleventh chapter of S. John, vations, its suitableness for the 
 advanced by Paley, to shew the purpose. 
 effect of Christ’s miracles on the 
 
 BB 2 
 
Bye EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 was the greatest; and the difference is apparent in this 
 transaction. If S. John has represented the conduct of 
 the Jews upon this occasion truly (and why he should 
 not I cannot tell, for it rather makes against him than 
 for him,) it shews clearly the principles upon which 
 their judgment proceeded. Whether he has related the 
 matter truly or not, the relation itself discovers the 
 writer’s own opinion of those principles ; and that alone 
 possesses considerable authority. In the next chapter, 
 we have a reflection of the evangelist, entirely suited to 
 this state of the case: ‘‘ But though he had done so 
 many miracles before them, yet believed they not him.” 
 The evangelist does not mean to impute the defect of 
 their belief to any doubt about the miracles; but to 
 their not perceiving, what all now sufficiently per- 
 ceive, and what they would have perceived, had not 
 their understandings been governed by strong preju- 
 dices, the infallible attestation which the works of Jesus 
 bore to the truth of his pretensions. 
 
 F. The ninth chapter of S. John’s Gospel contains a very 
 circumstantial account of the cure of a blind man; a 
 miracle submitted to all the scrutiny and examination 
 which a sceptic could propose. Ifa modern unbeliever 
 had drawn up the interrogatories, they could hardly 
 have been more critical or searching. “The account con- 
 tains also a very curious conference between the Jewish 
 rulers and the patient, in which the point for our pre- 
 sent notice is, their resistance of the force of the mira- 
 cle, and of the conclusion to which it led, after they 
 had failed in discrediting its evidence, “ We know that 
 God spake unto Moses ; but as for this fellow, we know 
 not whence he is.” That was the answer which set 
 their minds at rest. And by the help of much preju- 
 dice, and great unwillingness to yield, it might do so. 
 In the mind of the poor man restored to sight, which 
 
 1 Chap. xii. 37. 
 
 F. State Paley’s arguments, count of the cure of a blind man, 
 upon the Jews, with reference to recorded in the ninth chapter of 
 the effect of the Christian miracles, S. John’s Gospel. 
 founded on the circumstantial ac- 
 
CHAP. IV.] CORP CERT STENT. Y. 373 
 was under no such bias, and felt no such reluctance, 
 the miracle had its natural operation. “Herein,” says 
 he, “is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from 
 whence he is, yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we 
 know thet God heareth not sinners.: but if any man bea 
 worshipper of God and doeth his will, him he heareth. 
 Since the world began, was it not heard that any man 
 opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this 
 man were not of God, he could do nothing.” We do 
 not find that the Jewish rulers had any other reply to 
 make to this defence, than that which authority is 
 sometimes apt to make to argument, “ Dost thou teach 
 us >” 
 
 G. If it shall be inquired, how a turn of thought, so dif- 
 ferent from what prevails at present, should obtain cur- 
 rency with the ancient Jews; the answer is found in 
 two opinions which are proved to have subsisted in that 
 age and country. The one was, their expectation of a 
 Messiah of a kind totally contrary to what the appear- 
 ance of Jesus bespoke him to be, the other, their per- 
 suasion of the agency of demons in the production of 
 supernatural effects. These opinions are not supposed 
 by us for the purpose of argument, but are evidently re- 
 cognised in the Jewish writings, as well asin ours. And 
 it ought moreover to be considered that in these 
 opinions the Jews of that age had been from their in- 
 fancy brought up ; that they were opinions, the grounds 
 of which they had probably few of them inquired into, 
 and of the truth of which they entertained no doubt. 
 
 GaAnd I think that these two opinions conjointly afford 
 an explanation of their conduct. The first put them 
 upon seeking out some excuse to themselves for not 
 
 G. Mention the two opinions, 
 the prevalency of which accounts 
 for the treatment of our Saviour’s 
 miracles by the Jews: state the 
 arguments in favour of the existence 
 of these opinions: and shew why 
 they never affected the miracles of 
 Moses, and the prophets. 
 
 Give Paley’s reasons for 
 
 G.a. 
 
 thinking that the two opinions of 
 the Jews, viz. the expectation of a 
 Messiah, of a kind totally contrary . 
 to what the appearance of Christ 
 bespoke him to be; and their per- 
 suasion of the agency of demons 
 in the production of supernatural 
 effects, conjointly afford an explana- 
 tion of their conduct, with regard to 
 the Christian miracles. 
 
374 EVIDENCES [PART. III. 
 
 receiving Jesus in the character in which he claimed to 
 be received; and the second supplied them with just 
 such an excuse as they wanted. Let Jesus work what 
 miracles he would, still the answer was in readiness, 
 “that he wrought them by the assistance of Beelzebub.” 
 And to this answer no reply could be made, but that 
 which our Saviour did make, by shewing that the ten- 
 dency of his mission was so adverse to the views with 
 which this being was, by the objectors themselves, sup- 
 posed to act, that it could not reasonably be supposed 
 that he would assist in carying it on. The power dis- 
 played in the miracles did not alone refute the Jewish 
 solution, because the interposition of invisible agents 
 being once admitted, it is impossible to ascertain the 
 limits by which their efficiency is circumscribed. We of 
 this day may be disposed, possibly, to think such opin- 
 ions too absurd to have been ever seriously entertained. 
 I am not bound to contend for the credibility of the 
 opinions. They were at least as reasonable as the belief 
 in witchcraft. They were opinions in which the Jews 
 of that age had from their infancy been instructed ; and 
 those who cannot see enough in the force of this reason, 
 to account for their conduct towards our Saviour, do 
 not sufficiently consider how such opinions may some- 
 times become very general in a country, and with what 
 pertinacity, when once become so, they are, for that rea- 
 son alone, adhered to. In the suspense which these no- 
 tions, and the prejudices resulting from them, might 
 occasion, the candid and docile and humble-minded 
 would probably decide in Christ’s favour ; the proud and’ 
 obstinate, together with the giddy and the thoughtless, 
 almost universally against him. 
 
 G.d. This state of opinion discovers to us also the reason 
 of what some choose to wonder at, why the Jews should 
 reject miracles when they saw them, yet rely so much 
 upon the tradition of them in their own history. It 
 does not appear, that it had ever entered into the minds 
 
 G.d. Exhibit the reason which they saw them, yet rely so much 
 some choose to wonder at, why the upon the tradition of them in their 
 Jews should reject miracles when own histories. 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 375 
 
 of thoge who lived in the time of Moses and the pro- 
 phets, to ascribe ¢re’r miracles to the supernatural 
 agency of evil beings. The solution was not then in- 
 vented. The authority of Moses and the prophets 
 being established, and become the foundation of the 
 national polity and religion, it was not probable that the 
 later Jews, brought up in a reverence for that religion, 
 and the subjects of that polity, should apply to their 
 history a reasoning which tended to overthrow the foun- 
 dation of both. 
 
 u. II. The infidelity of the Gentile world, and that more 
 especially of men of rank and learning in it, is resol- 
 vable into a principle which, in my judgment, will ac- 
 count for the inefficacy of any argument, or any evidence 
 whatever, viz. contempt prior to examination. The 
 state of religion amongst the Greeks and Romans had 
 a natural tendency to induce this disposition. Diony- 
 sius Halicarnassensis remarks, that there were six hun- 
 dred different kinds of religions or sacred rites exer- 
 cised at Rome. The superior classes of the community 
 treated them all as fables. Can we wonder, then, that 
 Christianity was included in the number, without in- 
 quiring into its separate merits, or the particular grounds 
 of its pretensions? It might be either true or false, for 
 anything they knew about it. The religion had nothing 
 in its character which immediately engaged their notice. 
 It mixed with no politics. It produced no fine writers. 
 It contained no curious speculations. When it did reach 
 their knowledge, I doubt not but that it appeared to 
 them a very strange system,—so unphilosophical— 
 dealing so little in argument and discussion, in such 
 arguments however and discussions as they were ac- 
 customed to entertain. What is said of Jesus Christ, 
 of his nature, office, and ministry, would be, in the 
 highest degree, alien from the conceptions of their 
 
 1 Jortin’s Remarks on Eccl, Hist. vol. i. p. 371. 
 
 H. Mention the principle into resolvable: and shew that the state 
 which the infidelity of the Gentile of religion, amongst the Greeks and 
 world, and that more especially of Romans, had a natural tendency to 
 men of rank and learning in it, is induce the disposition referred to. 
 
376 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 theology. The Redeemer and the destined Judge of 
 the human race, a poor young man, executed at Jeru- 
 salem with two thieves upon a cross! Still more would 
 the language in which the Christian doctrine was de- 
 livered, be dissonant and barbarous to their ears. What 
 knew they of grace, of redemption, of justification, of 
 the blood of Christ shed for the sins of men, of ‘recon- 
 cilement, of mediation? Christianity was made up of 
 points they had never thought of; of terms which they 
 had never heard. 
 
 I. It was presented also to the imagination of the - 
 learned Heathen under additional disadvantage, by rea- 
 son of its real, and still more of its nominal connexion 
 with Judaism. It shared in the obloquy and ridicule, 
 with which that people and their religion were treated 
 by the Greeks and Romans. They regarded Jehovah 
 himself only as the idol of the Jewish nation, and what 
 was related of him, as of a piece with what was told of 
 the tutelar deities of other countries; nay, the Jews 
 were in.a particular manner ridiculed for being a credu- 
 lous race; so that whatever reports of a miraculous 
 nature came out of that country, were looked upon by 
 the Heathen world as false and frivolous. When they 
 heard of Christianity, they heard of it as a quarrel 
 amongst this peeple, about some articles of their own 
 superstition. Despising, therefore, as they did, the 
 whole system, it was not probable that they would enter 
 with any degree of seriousness or attention, into the de- 
 tail of its disputes, or the merits of either side. How 
 little they knew, and with what carelessness they judged, 
 of these matters, appears, I think, pretty plainly from 
 an example of no less weight than that of Tacitus, who, 
 in a grave and professed discourse upon the history of 
 the Jews, states, that they worshipped the effigy of an 
 ass.| The passage is a proof how prone the learned 
 
 1 Tacit. Hist, lib, v. ¢.3, 4. 
 
 I. Paley remarks, that Chris- reason of its real, and still more, 
 tianity was presented to the ima- its nominal connexion with Juda- 
 gination of the learned Heathen ism ;—shew how this observation is 
 under additional disadvantage, by borne out by facts. 
 
CHAP. IV.| OF CHRISTIANITY. 377 
 
 men of those times were, and upon how little evidence, 
 to heap together stories which might increase the con- 
 tempt and odium in which that people was holden. The 
 same foolish charge is also confidently repeated by 
 Plutarch. 
 
 It is observable, that all these considerations are of a 
 nature to operate with the greatest force upon the 
 highest ranks ; upon men of education, and that order of 
 the public from which writers are principally taken: I 
 may add also, upon:the philosophical as well as the 
 libertine character; upon the Antonines or Julian, not 
 less than upon Nero or Domitian ; and, more particu- 
 larly, upon that large and polished class of men who 
 acquiesced in the general persuasion, that all they had 
 to do was to practice the duties of morality, and to 
 worship the deity more patrio; a habit of thinking, 
 liberal as it may appear, which shuts the door against 
 
 K.aevery argument for a new religion. The considerations 
 
 above mentioned would acquire also strength, from the 
 prejudice which men of rank and learning universally 
 entertain against anything that orvigzvates with the 
 vulgar and illiterate ; which prejudice is known to be as 
 obstinate as any prejudice whatever. 
 
 Yet Christianity was still making its way: and, amidst 
 so many impediments to its progress, so much difficulty 
 in procuring audience and attention, its actual success is 
 more to be wondered at, than that it should not have 
 universally conquered scorn and indifference, fixed the 
 levity of a voluptuous age, or, through a cloud of 
 adverse prejudications, open for itself a passage to the 
 hearts. and understandings of the scholars of the age. 
 
 And the cause which is here assigned for the rejection 
 
 Yt Sympos. lib. iv quest. 5. 
 
 K. Point out upon what por- L. Paley asserts, that a strong 
 tion of the Heathen public the antecedent contempt accounts also 
 foregoing considerations were of a for the sz/ewce of men of rank and 
 nature to operate with the greatest learning among the Heathens: 
 force. shew that this is the case ; and give 
 
 K.a. From what would the Paley’s remark on the letters of the 
 above mentioned considerations, as younger Pliny, which furnish an 
 to the infidelity of the Gentile world, example of this silence. 
 obtain additional strength ? 
 
378 
 
 M. 
 
 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 of Christianity by men of rank and learning among the 
 Heathens, namely, a strong antecedent contempt, ac- 
 counts also for their sz/ence concerning it. If they 
 had rejected it upon examination, they would have 
 written about it ; they would have given their reasons. 
 Whereas what men repudiate upon the strength of some 
 prefixed persuasion, or from a settled contempt of the — 
 subject, of the persons who propose it, or of the manner 
 in which it is proposed, they do not naturally write 
 books about, or notice much in what they write upon 
 other subjects. 
 
 The letters of the younger Pliny furnish an example 
 of this silence, and let us in some measure, into the cause 
 of it. From his celebrated correspondence with Trajan, 
 we know that the Christian religion prevailed in a very 
 considerable degree in the province over which he pre- 
 sided ; that it had excited his attention; that he had 
 inquired into the matter, just so much as a Roman 
 magistrate might be expected to inquire, viz. whether 
 the religion contained any opinions dangerous to govern- 
 ment; but that of its doctrines, its evidences, or its 
 books, he had not taken the trouble to inform himself 
 with any degree of care or correctness. But although 
 Pliny had viewed Christianity in a nearer position than 
 most of his learned countrymen saw it in; yet he had 
 regarded the whole with such negligence and disdain 
 (further than as it seemed to concern his administration), 
 that, in more than two hundred and forty letters of his 
 which have come down to us, the subject is never once 
 again mentioned. If, out of this number, the two letters 
 between him and Trajan had been lost ; with what con- 
 fidence would the obscurity of the Christian religion 
 have been argued from Pliny’s silence about it, and with 
 how little truth ! 
 
 The name and character which Tacitus has given to 
 Christianity, “ exzdzabilis superstitio” (a pernicious super- 
 
 M. Shew, by quotations from 
 S. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, 
 that the name and character which 
 Tacitus has given to Christianity, 
 (‘‘exitiabilis superstitio”) affords 
 
 a strong proof of how little he 
 knew, or concerned himself to 
 know, about the merits or demerits 
 of the religion. 
 
CHAP. IV.] ORICHRISLIANIT Y 379 
 
 stition), and by which two words he disposes of the 
 whole question of the merits or demerits of the religion, 
 afford a strong proof how little he knew, or concerned 
 himself to know, about the matter. I apprehend that I 
 shall not be contradicted, when I take upon me toassert, 
 that no unbeliever of the present age would apply this 
 epithet to the Christianity of the New Testament, or not 
 allow that it was entirely unmerited. Read the instruc- 
 tions given, by a great teacher of the religion, to those 
 very Roman converts, of whom Tacitus speaks; and 
 given also a very few years before the time of which he 
 is speaking ; and which are not, let it be observed, a 
 collection of fine sayings brought together from different 
 parts of a large work, but stand in one entire passage 
 of a public letter, without the intermixture of a single 
 thought which is frivolous or excéptionable :—“ Abhor 
 that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be 
 kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love ; 
 in honour preferring one another, not slothful in busi- 
 ness; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord: rejoicing in 
 hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in 
 prayer: distributing to the necessity of saints ; given to 
 hospitality. Bless them which persecute you ; bless, 
 and curse not. Rejoice withthem that do rejoice, and 
 weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one 
 toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend 
 to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 
 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things 
 honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much 
 as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Avenge 
 not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it 
 is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the 
 Lord: therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him: if he 
 thirst, give him drink: for, in so doing, thou shalt heap 
 coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but 
 overcome evil with good.” 
 
 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 
 For there is no power but of God: the powers that be 
 are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the 
 power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that 
 
380 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers 
 are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt 
 thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which 
 is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he 
 is the minister of God to thee for.good. But if thou do 
 that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the 
 sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger 
 to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore 
 ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also 
 for conscience sake. For, for this cause pay ye tribute 
 also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually 
 upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their 
 dues: tribute, to whom tribute is due; custom, to whom 
 custom ; fear, to whom fear ; honour, to whom honour. 
 
 “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for 
 he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, 
 Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, 
 Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 
 Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other com- 
 mandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, 
 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh 
 no ill to his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of 
 the law. 
 
 “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time 
 to awake out of sleep ; for now is our salvation nearer 
 than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day 
 is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of dark- 
 ness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us 
 walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunk- 
 enness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife 
 and envying.”! 
 
 N. ead this, and then think of “eritiabilis superstitio [” 
 — Or, if we be not allowed, in contending with Heathen 
 authorities, to produce our books against theirs, we may 
 at least be permitted to confront theirs with one another. 
 Of this “ pernicious superstition,” what could Pliny find 
 
 1 Rom, xii. 9—xiii. 13. 
 
 N. If we be not allowed, in to confront theirs with one another ; 
 contending with heathen authori- shew what we gain by a comparison 
 ties, to produce our books against of Pliny with Tacitus. 
 theirs, we may at least be permitted 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANIT Y. 381 
 
 ©. 
 
 to blame, when he was led by his office to institute 
 something like an examination into the conduct and 
 principles of the sect? He discovered nothing, but that 
 they were wont to meet together on a stated day before 
 it was light, and sing among themselves a hymn to Christ 
 as a God, and to bind themselves by an oath, not to the 
 commission of any wickedness, but, not to be guilty of 
 theft, robbery, or adultery; never to falsify their word, 
 nor to deny a pledge committed to them, when called 
 upon to return it. 
 Upon the words of Tacitus we may build the following 
 observations :— | 
 First : That we are well warranted in calling the view 
 under which the learned men of that age beheld Chris- 
 tianity, an obscure and distant view. Had Tacitus known 
 
 more of Christianity, of its precepts, duties, constitution, 
 
 or design, however he had discredited the story, he 
 would have respected the principle. He would have 
 described the religion differently, though he had rejected 
 it. It has been very satisfactorily shown, that the 
 “superstition” of the Christians consisted in worshipping 
 a person unknown to the Roman calendar; and that the 
 “ perniciousness” with which they were reproached, was 
 nothing else but their opposition to the established 
 polytheism: and this view of the matter was just such a 
 one as might be expected to occur to a mind, which held 
 the sect in too much contempt to concern itself about 
 the grounds and reasons of their conduct. 
 
 Secondly: We may from hence remark, how little 
 reliance can be placed upon the most acute judgments, 
 in subjects which they are pleased to despise; and which, 
 of course, they from the first considered as unworthy to 
 be inquired into. Had not Christianity survived to tell 
 its own story, it must have gone down to posterity as a _ 
 “pernicious superstition ;’ and that upon the credit of 
 Tacitus’s account, much, I doubt not, strengthened by 
 the name of the writer, and the reputation of his sagacity. 
 
 Thirdly: That this contempt prior to examination is 
 
 O. What are the four observations which we may build upon the 
 
 words of Tacitus ? 
 
382 PAV LD EY Gis S [PAR TMIUE 
 an intellectual vice, from which the greatest faculties of 
 O.amind are not free. I know not, indeed, whether men of 
 the greatest faculties of mind are not the most subject to 
 it. Such men feel themselves seated upon an eminence. 
 Looking down from their height upon the follies of man- 
 kind, they behold contending tenets wasting their idle 
 strength upon one another, with the common disdain of 
 the absurdity of them all. This habit of thought, how- 
 ever comfortable to the mind which entertains it, or 
 however natural to great parts, is extremely dangerous ; 
 and more apt than almost any other disposition, to 
 produce hasty and contemptuous, and, by consequence, 
 erroneous judgments, both of persons and opinions. 
 Fourthly: We need not be surprised at many writers 
 of that age not mentioning Christianity at all, when 
 they who did mention it, appear to have entirely mis- 
 conceived its nature and character; and, in consequence 
 of this misconception, to have regarded it with negli- 
 gence and contempt. 
 0.6 To the knowledge of the greatest part of the learned 
 Heathens, the facts of the Christian history could only 
 come by report. The books, probably, they had never 
 looked into. The settled habit of their minds was, and 
 long had been, an indiscriminate rejection of all reports 
 of the kind. With these sweeping conclusions, truth 
 hath no chance. It depends upon distinction. If they 
 would not inquire, how should they be convinced ? It 
 might be founded in truth, though they, who made no 
 search, might not discover it. 
 
 “Men of rank and fortune, of wit and abilities, are often 
 found, even in Christian countries, to be surprisingly 
 ignorant of religion, and of everything that relates to it. 
 Such were many of the Heathens, Their thoughts were 
 
 O.¢ 
 
 O.a. Why does it seem that O.c. What appears to have been 
 
 men of the greatest faculties of mind 
 may be most subject to the intel- 
 lectual vice of entertaining contempt 
 prior to examination ? 
 
 O.6. How, only, could the 
 greatest part of the learned Hea- 
 thens come to the knowledge of the 
 facts of Christian history ? 
 
 one reason why it came to pass, that 
 when the apostles preached the 
 Gospel, and wrought miracles in 
 confirmation of a doctrine every way 
 worthy of God, many Gentiles knew 
 little or nothing of it, and would 
 not take the least pains to inform 
 themselves about it ? 
 
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 383 
 
 all fixed upon other things ; upon reputation and glory, 
 upon wealth and power, upon luxury and pleasure, upon 
 business or learning. They thought, and they had 
 reason to think, that the religion of their country was 
 fable and forgery, a heap of inconsistent lies; which 
 inclined them to suppose that other religions were no 
 better. Hence it came to pass, that when the apostles 
 preached the Gospel, and wrought miracles in confirma- 
 tion of a doctrine every way worthy of God, many Gen- 
 tiles knew little or nothing of it, and would not take the 
 least pains to inform themselves about it. This appears 
 plainly from ancient history.”? 
 
 O.d I think it by no means unreasonable to suppose, that 
 the heathen public, especially that part which is made 
 up of men of rank and education, were divided into two 
 classes; those who despised Christianity beforehand, and 
 those who received it. In correspondency with which 
 division of character, the writers of that age would also 
 be of two classes; those who were silent about Chris- 
 tianity, and those who were Christians. “A good man, 
 who attended sufficiently to the Christian affairs, would 
 become a Christian ; after which his testimony ceased 
 to be Pagan, and became Christian.’ 
 
 I must also add, that I think it sufficiently proved, 
 that the notion of magic was resorted to by the Heathen 
 adversaries of Christianity, in like manner as that of 
 diabolical agency had before been by the Jews. Justin 
 Martyr alleges this as his reason for arguing from 
 prophecy, rather than from miracles. Origen imputes 
 this evasion to Celsus; Jerome to Porphyry; and 
 Lactantius to the heathen in general. The several 
 passages, which contain these testimonies, will be pro- 
 duced in the next chapter. It being-difficult however 
 to ascertain in what degree this notion prevailed, 
 
 1 Jortin’s Disc. on the Chris. Rel. p. 66, ed, 4th, 2 Hartly, Obs. p. 119. 
 
 O.d. Into what two classes cation, was divided; and what two 
 may we suppose that that part of classes would there be, of the writers 
 the Heathen public, which was of that age, in correspondency with 
 made up of men of rank and edu- the above division of character ? 
 
384 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART III. 
 
 especially amongst the superior ranks of the Heathen 
 communities, another, and I think an adequate cause, 
 
 has been assigned for their infidelity. 
 
 It is probable, 
 
 that in many cases the two causes would operate to- 
 
 gether. 
 
 CHAPTER: ¥ ¥. 
 
 That the Christian Miracles are not recited, or appealed to, by 
 early Christian Writers themselves, so fully or frequently as 
 
 might have been expected. 
 
 This objection is considered. Ist, 
 as it applies to the letters of the 
 apostles, preserved in the New Tes- 
 tament. 2nd, To the remaining wri- 
 tings of other early Christians. 
 
 I. The epistles of the apostles 
 are either hortatory or argumenta- 
 tive; and, from their nature, there 
 appears no place or occasion for 
 more references than we actually 
 find. They were not written to 
 prove the truth of Christianity, but 
 to shew its design and effects: still 
 miraculous evidence lies at the bot- 
 tom of the argument. 
 
 The apostolic epistles, resemble 
 in this respect, the apostolic, 
 speeches, which speeches are given 
 by a writer who records numerous 
 miracles wrought by these apostles 
 themselves, and by the Founder of 
 the institution in his presence : but 
 of six speeches of Peter, there are 
 only two in which reference is made 
 to the miracles of Christ, and one to 
 his own. No reference is made to 
 miracles in the long speech of Ste- 
 phen. Notwithstanding the miracles 
 ascribed to Paul, his appeals to any 
 miracles are rare and incidental. 
 
 Thus, it is unwarrantable to 
 contend that the unfrequency of such 
 recitals in these speeches, negatives 
 
 the existence of the miracles, when 
 the speeches are given in conjunc- 
 tion with the history of the miracles: 
 and that a conclusion, which can- 
 not be inferred from the speeches : 
 without contradicting the whole 
 tenor of the book that contains 
 them, cannot be inferred from let- 
 ters, in this respect similar only to 
 the speeches. 
 
 There is a consent, in this re- 
 spect, sufficiently exact, between 
 S. Paul’s speeches and letters ; 
 which implies that the mzracalous 
 history was presupposed, and the 
 question that occupied the speaker’s 
 and the writer’s thoughts, was, 
 whether, allowing the history to be 
 true, he was upon the strength of 
 it, to be received as the promised 
 Messiah ; and if he was, what were 
 the consequences, object, and bene- 
 fit of his mission. [p. 385—389] 
 
 II. The general observation 
 made upon the apostolic writings 
 will also apply to the apostolic fa- 
 thers, viz.—Barnabas, Clement, and 
 Hermas. But there is another class 
 of writers to which the above answer 
 does not apply, viz. the ancient apo- 
 logists for Christianity ; its avowed 
 defenders. 
 
 QuADRATUS (who lived seventy 
 
CHAP. V.] 
 
 years after the ascension, and pre- 
 sented his apology to Adrian) no- 
 tices Christ’s miracles in an express 
 and confident manner. 
 
 JusTIN Martyr, thirty years 
 after, asserts the performance of mi- 
 racles by Christ, in words as strong 
 and positive as language possesses : 
 and assigns, as a reason, why he had 
 recourse to the argument from pro- 
 phecy rather than from miracles, that 
 his opponents would ascribe the lat- 
 ter to magic. 
 
 IRENZUS, about forty years 
 after, notices the same evasion in 
 the adversaries of Christianity, and 
 replies to it by the same argument : 
 and LACTANTIUS, who lived a cen- 
 tury lower, delivers the same senti- 
 ment. 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 385 
 
 TERTULLIAN observes, that the 
 person whom the Jews first thought 
 to be a mere man, they afterwards, 
 on witnessing his works, considered 
 as a magician. 
 
 ORIGEN, against Celsus, appeals 
 to Christ’s miracles, in the plainest 
 and most positive manner. He also 
 notices the old solution of magic: 
 and, from JEROME, it appears, that 
 Porphery, the most learned of the 
 adversaries of Christianity, resorted 
 to the same solution. 
 
 Being now convinced of the fu- 
 tility of the supposition of magic ; it 
 appears, that the miracles in their 
 literal sense, were positively ap- 
 pealed to by the apologists for 
 Christianity, which answers the ob- 
 jection. [p. 390, to the end] 
 
 . I SHALL consider this objection, first, as it applies to the 
 letters of the apostles, preserved in the New Testament ; 
 and, secondly, as it applies to the remaining writings of 
 other early Christians. 
 
 The epistles of the apostles are either hortatory or 
 argumentative. So far as they were occupied in deli- 
 vering lessons of duty, rules of public order, admoni- 
 tions against certain prevailing corruptions, against vice, 
 or any particular species of it, or in fortifying and encour- 
 aging the constancy of the disciples under the trials to 
 which they were exposed, there appears to be no place 
 or occasion for more of these references that we ac- 
 tually find. 
 
 So far as the epistles are argumentative, the nature of 
 the argument which they handle accounts for the infre- 
 quency of these allusions. These epistles were not 
 written to prove the truth of Christianity. The subject 
 under consideration was not that which the miracles de- 
 
 A. Point out the mode in which 
 
 frequent appeals to the Christian 
 Paley proposes to consider the ob- mi 
 
 miracles, is without foundation, 
 
 jection stated at the head of this 
 
 chapter. 
 B. Shew, fully, that the ob- 
 jection, arising from the want of 
 
 when directed against the epistles 
 of the apostles, in consequence of 
 their hortatory and argumentative 
 character. 
 
 CC 
 
380 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 cided, the reality of our Lord’s mission ; but it was that 
 which the miracles did not decide, the nature of his per- 
 son or power, the design of his advent, its effects, and 
 of those effects the value, kind, and extent. Still I 
 maintain, that the miraculous evidence lies at the bot- 
 tom of the argument. For nothing could be so prepos- 
 terous as for the disciples of Jesus to dispute amongst 
 themselves, or with others, concerning his office or 
 character, unless they believed that he had shown, by 
 supernatural proofs, that there was something extraor- 
 dinary in both. Miraculous evidence, therefore, forming 
 not the texture of these arguments, but the ground and 
 substratum, if it be occasionally discerned, if it be inci- 
 dentally appealed to, it is exactly so much as ought to 
 take place, supposing the history to be true. 
 
 p.a Asa further answer to the objection, that the apos- 
 tolic epistles do not contain so frequent, or such direct 
 and circumstantial recitals of miracles .as might be ex- 
 pected, I would add, that the apostolic epistles resemble in 
 this respect the apostolic speeches, which speeches are given 
 by a writer who distinctly records numerous miracles 
 wrought by these apostles themselves, and by the 
 Founder of the institution in their presence; that it is 
 unwarrantable to contend, that the omission, or infre- 
 quency of such recitals in the speeches of the apostles, 
 negatives the existence of the miracles, when the 
 speeches are given in immediate conjunction with the 
 history of those miracles: and that a conclusion, which 
 cannot be inferred from the speeches, without contra- 
 dicting the whole tenor of the book which contains 
 them, cannot be inferred from letters, which, in this re- 
 spect, are similar only to the speeches. 
 
 B.2 To prove the similitude which we allege, it may be 
 remarked, that although in S. Luke’s Gospel the apostle 
 Peter is represented to have been present at many 
 
 B.a. Give the further answer B.d. Exhibit, fully, the resem- 
 Paley makes to the objection stated, blance (in respect to the unfrequent 
 before he proceeds to shew the allusions to miracles) between the 
 resemblance between the apostolic apostolic epistles, and the apostolic 
 epistles, and apostolic speeches. speeches, 
 
CHAP. V.] ORGCHRISTIANITY. 387 
 
 decisive miracles wrought by Christ ; and although the 
 second part of the same history ascribes other decisive 
 miracles to Peter himself, particularly the cure of the 
 lame man at the gate of the temple (Acts iii. 1), the 
 death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts v. 1), the cure of 
 fEneas (Acts ix. 34), the resurrection of Dorcas (Acts 
 ix. 40); yet out of six speeches of Peter, preserved in 
 the Acts, I know but two in which reference is made to 
 the miracles, wrought by Christ, and only one in which 
 he refers to miraculous powers possessed by himself. In 
 his speech upon the day of Pentecost, Peter addresses 
 his audience with great solemnity, thus: “Ye men of 
 Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man 
 approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, 
 and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, 
 as ye yourselves also know:” &c.1_ In his speech upon 
 the conversion of Cornelius, he delivers his testimony 
 to the miracles performed by Christ, in these words: 
 “We are witnesses of all things which he did, both in 
 the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem.”? But in this 
 latter speech, no allusion appears to the miracles wrought 
 by himself, notwithstanding that the miracles above 
 enumerated all preceeded the time in which it was de- 
 livered. In his speech upon the election of Matthias,* 
 no distinct reference is made to any of the miracles of 
 Christ’s history, except his resurrection. The same also 
 may be observed of his speech upon the cure of the 
 lame man at the gate of the temple ;* the same in his 
 speech before the Sanhedrim ;° the same in his second 
 apology in the presence of that assembly. Stephen’s 
 long speech contains no reference whatever to miracles, 
 though it be expressly related of him in the book which 
 preserves the speech, and almost immediately before 
 the speech, “that he did great wonders and miracles 
 among the people.”® Again, although miracles be ex- 
 pressly attributed to S. Paul in the Acts of the Apos-_ 
 tles, first, generally, as at Iconium (Acts xiv. 3), during 
 the whole tour through the Upper Asia (xiv. 27 ; xv. 
 
 1 Acts ii. 22. 2 Ib. x. 39. 3 Ib. i. 15. 4 Jb, ili. 12, 
 & Ib, iv. 8 6 Ib. vi. 8. 
 G-C2 
 
388 EVIDENCES [PART a1 
 
 12), at Ephesus (xix. II, 12): secondly, in specific in- 
 stances, as the blindness of Elymas at Paphos,! the 
 cure of the cripple at Lystra,? of the Pythoness at 
 Philippi,? the miraculous liberation from prison in 
 the same city, the restoration of Eutychus,°® the pre- 
 dictions of his shipwreck ;° the viper at Melita,’ the cure 
 of Publius’s father ;8 at all which miracles, except the 
 first two, the historian himself was present: notwith- 
 standing, I say, this positive ascription of miracles to 
 S. Paul, yet in the speeches delivered by him, and given 
 as delivered by him, in the same book in which the 
 miracles are related, and the miraculous powers as- 
 serted, the appeals to his own miracles, or indeed to 
 any miracles at all, are rare and incidential. In his 
 speech at Antioch in Pisidia,® there is no allusion but 
 to the resurrection. In his discourse at Miletus,’!® none 
 to any miracle ; none in his speech before Felix ;’" none 
 in his speech before Festus ;* except to Christ’s resur- 
 rection, and his own conversion. 
 
 Bc Agreeably hereunto, in thirteen letters ascribed to 
 S. Paul, we have incessant references to Christ’s resur- 
 rection, frequent references to his own conversion, three 
 indubitable references to the miracles which he wrought; 
 four other references to the same, less direct, yet highly 
 probable ;“ but more copious or circumstantial recitals 
 we have not. The consent, therefore, between S. Paul’s 
 speeches and letters is, in this respect, sufficiently exact ; 
 and the reason in both is the same; namely, that the 
 miraculous history was all along presupposed, and that 
 the question which occupied the speaker’s and the wri- 
 ter’s thoughts was this: whether, allowing the history of 
 Jesus to be true, he was, upon the strength of it, to 
 be received as the promised Messiah; and, if he was, 
 what were the consequences, what was the object and 
 benefit of his mission ? 
 
 1 Acts xiii, 11. 2 Ib. xiv. 8. 3 Ib. xvi. 16. 4 Ib. xvi. 26. 
 5 xx. 10. 6 xxvii. 1. 7 xxviii. 6. 8 xxviii. 8 
 9 xiii. 16. LO eee 7. Psxve0: 12 xxv. 8. 
 
 13 Gal. iii. 5 ; Rom. xv, 18, 19; 2 Cor. xii. 12. 
 14 1 Cor, ii, 4, 5; Eph. Til, a: Gal. ii, 8; 1 Thess. i. 5. 
 
 B.c. What is implied by the consent, observable between S. Paul’s 
 speeches and letters ? 
 
Cuap. V.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 389. 
 
 C. 
 
 The general observation which has been made upon 
 the apostolic writings, namely, that the subject of which 
 they treated did not lead them to any direct recital of 
 the Christian history, belongs also to the writings of the 
 apostolic fathers. The epistle of Barnabas is, in its sub- 
 ject and general composition, much like the epistle to 
 the Hebrews; an allegorical application of divers 
 passages of the Jewish history, of their law and ritual, 
 to those parts of the Christian dispensation in which the 
 author perceived a resemblance. The epistle of Clement 
 was written for the sole purpose of quieting certain dis- 
 sensions that had arisen amongst the members of the 
 church of Corinth, and of reviving in their minds that 
 temper and spirit of which their predecessors in the 
 Gospel had left them an example. The work of Hermas 
 is a vision: quotes neither the old Testament nor the 
 New ; and merely falls now and then into the language, 
 and the mode of speech, which the author had read in 
 our Gospels. The epistles of Polycarp and Ignatius had 
 for their principal object the order and discipline of the 
 churches which they addressed. Yet, under all these cir- 
 cumstances of disadvantage, the great points of the 
 Christian history are fully recognised. This has been 
 shewn in its proper place. 
 
 There is, however, another class of writers to whom 
 the answer above given, viz. the unsuitableness of any 
 such appeals or references as the objection demands, to 
 the subjects of which the writings treated, does not 
 apply ; and that is, the class of ancient apologists, whose 
 declared design it was to defend Christianity, and to 
 give the reasons of their adherence to it. It is necessary, 
 therefore, to enquire how the matter of the objection 
 stands in these. 
 
 C. Account for the absence of Paley (viz., the unsuitableness of any 
 any direct recital of the Christian such appeals or references as the 
 history, in the writings of the apo- objection demands, to the subject of 
 tolic fathers. which the writings treated) does not 
 
 D. Name the class of writers to apply. 
 whom the answer above given by 
 
EVIDENCES [ PART. III. 
 
 399 
 E. The most ancient apologist, of whose works we have 
 ana the smallest knowledge, is Quadratus. Quadratus lived 
 
 E.aabout seventy years after the ascension, and presented 
 his apology to the emperor Adrian. From a passage of 
 this work, preserved in Eusebius, it appears that the 
 author did directly and formally appeal to the miracles 
 of Christ, and in terms as express and confident as we 
 could desire. The passage (which has been once already 
 stated) is as follows :—‘ The works of our Saviour were 
 always conspicuous, for they were real: both they that 
 were healed and they that were raised from the dead, 
 were seen, not only when they were healed, or raised, 
 but for a long time afterwards: not only whilst he 
 dwelled on this earth, but also after his departure, and for 
 a good while after it; insomuch as that some of them 
 have reached to our times.”’ Nothing can be more 
 rational or satisfactory than this. 
 
 E.6 Justin Martyr, the next of the Christian apologists 
 whose work is not lost, and who followed Quadratus at 
 the distance of about thirty years, has touched upon 
 passages of Christ’s history in so many places, that a 
 tolerably complete account of Christ’s life might be col- 
 lected out of his works. In the following quotation, he 
 asserts the performance of miracles by Christ, in words 
 as strong and positive as the language possesses: “Christ 
 healed those who from their birth were blind, and deaf, 
 and lame; causing, by his word, one to leap, another to 
 hear, and a third to see: and having raised the dead, 
 and caused them to live, he, by his works, excited 
 attention, and induced the men of that age to know him; 
 who, however, seeing these things done, said that it was 
 a magical appearance, and dared to call him a magician, 
 
 and a deceiver of the people.” 
 1 Euseb. Hist. 1. iv. c, 3. 2 Just. Dial. p, 258. ed. Thirlby. 
 
 E. State, fully, what use the presented it: and shew, from a 
 
 Christian apologists made of the 
 miracles of Christ ; and give Paley’s 
 final observation on the fact, that the 
 Christian advocates insisted sparingly 
 on the miracles, in argument. 
 
 E.a. State when Quadratus 
 wrote his apology, and to whom he 
 
 passage of his work, how he appealed 
 to the miracles of Christ. 
 
 E.4. Mention the period when 
 Justin Martyr wrote: and shew, 
 from his works, how he asserts the 
 performing of miracles by Christ. 
 
CHAP. V.| OR TCHRIS FLAN [IY 391 
 Ec In his first apology,! Justin expressly assigns the 
 reason for his having recourse to the argument from 
 prophecy, rather than alleging the miracles of the 
 Christian history: which reason was, that the persons 
 with whom he contended would ascribe these miracles 
 to magic; “Lest any of our opponents should say, What 
 hinders but that he who is called Christ by us, being a 
 man sprung from men, performed the miracles which we 
 attribute to him by magical art?’ The suggestion of 
 this reason meets, as I apprehend, the very point of the 
 present objection; more especially when we find Justin 
 Edfollowed in it by other writers of that age. Irenzus, 
 who came about forty years after him, notices the same 
 evasion in the adversaries of Christianity, and replies to 
 it by the same argument: “But, if they shall say that 
 the Lord performed these things by an illusory appear- 
 ance (pavtaciwéas), leading these objectors to the pro- 
 phecies, we will shew from them, that all things were 
 thus predicted concerning him, and strictly came to 
 pass.’? Lactantius, who lived a century lower, delivers 
 the same sentiment, upon the same occasion: “‘ He per- 
 formed miracles ;—we might have supposed him to have 
 been a magician, as ye say, and as the Jews then sup- 
 posed, if all the prophets, had not with one spirit foretold 
 
 that Christ should perform these very things.”* 
 gc 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 bea 
 mere man, they afterwards, in consequence of the power 
 he exerted, considered as a magician, when he, with one 
 word, ejected devils out of the bodies of men, gave sight 
 to the blind, cleansed the leprous, strengthened the 
 nerves of those who had the palsy, and lastly, with one 
 
 8 Lactant. v. 3. 
 
 1 Apolog. prim. p. 48, Ib. 2 Iren, 1. ii. ¢. 57. 
 
 E.c. Give the reason assigned Irenzeus and Lactantius met the 
 
 by Justin, for his having recourse to 
 the argument from prophecy, rather 
 than alleging the miracles of the 
 Christian history. 
 
 E.d. State the manner in which 
 
 evasion, arising from the ascription 
 of the miracles to magic. 
 
 E.e. Shew, from Tertullian also, 
 in what light the opponents of Chris- 
 tianity viewed the miracles of Christ. 
 
392 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 command, restored the dead to life; when he, I say, 
 made the very elements obey him, assuaged the storms, 
 walked upon the seas, demonstrating himself to be the 
 Word of God.” 
 
 E.f Next in the catalogue of professed apologists, we may 
 place Origen, who, it is well known, published a formal 
 defence of Christianity, in answer to Celsus, a Heathen, 
 who had written a discourse against it. I know no 
 expressions by which a plainer or more positive appeal 
 to the Christian miracles can be made, than the 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 a hart. But that he also raised the dead, and that it 
 is not a fiction of those who wrote the Gospels, is evi- 
 dent from hence, that, if it had been a fiction, there 
 would have been many recorded to be raised up, and 
 such as had been a long time in their graves. But, it 
 not being a fiction, few have been recorded : for instance, 
 the daughter of the ruler of a synagogue, of whom I do 
 not know why he said, She is not dead but sleepeth, 
 
 -expressing something peculiar to her, not common to all 
 dead persons: and the only son of a widow, on whom he 
 had compassion, and raised him to life after he had bid 
 the bearers of the corpse to stop ; and the third, Lazarus, 
 who had been buried four days.” This is positively to 
 assert the miracles of Christ, and it is also to comment 
 upon them, and that with a considerable degree of 
 accuracy and candour. 
 
 In another passage of the same author, we meet with 
 the old solution of magic applied to the miracles of 
 Christ by the adversaries of the religion. ‘ Celsus,” 
 saith Origen, “well knowning what great works may be 
 alleged to have been done by Jesus, pretends to grant 
 
 1 Tertul. Apologet. Lib. ¢ 21. 
 
 Ef. Shew how Origen appealed to the Christian miracles, in his 
 defence of Christianity, in answer to Celsus. 
 
CHAP. V.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 393 
 
 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 Origen understood it resolved 
 the phenomena into magic ; for Origen begins his reply 
 by observing, “ You see that Celsus in a manner allows 
 that there is such a thing as magic.” 
 
 E,¢ It appears also from the testimony of S. Jerome, that 
 Porphyry, the most learned and able of the Heathen 
 writers against Christianity, resorted to the same solu- 
 tion: “Unless,” says he, speaking to Vigilantius, 
 “according to the manner of the Gentiles and the profane, 
 of Porphyry and Eunomias, you pretend that these are the 
 tricks of demons.”® 
 
 E. This magic, these demons, this illusory appearance, 
 this comparison with the tricks of jugglers, by which 
 many of that age accounted so easily for the Christian 
 miracles, and which answers the advocates of Christianity 
 often thought it necessary to refute by arguments drawn 
 from other topics, and particularly from prophecy (to 
 which, it seems, these solutions did not apply), we now 
 perceive to be gross subterfuges. That such reasons 
 were ever seriously urged, and seriously received, is only 
 a proof what a gloss and varnish fashion can give to any 
 opinion. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the miracles of Christ, 
 understood, as we understand them, in their literal and 
 historical sense, were positively and precisely asserted 
 and appealed to by the apologists for Christianity ; 
 which answers the allegation of the objection. 
 
 I am ready, however, to admit, that the ancient Chris- 
 tian advocates did not insist upon the miracles, in 
 
 1 Orig. Cont. Cels. lib. ii. sect. 48. 
 © Lardner’s Jewish and Heath. Test. vol.ii. p. 294, ed. 4to. 3 Jerome Cont. Vigil. 
 
 E.g. Shew, from Jerome, that E./. Being now convinced of 
 Porphyry, the most learned and able the futility of such a supposition, as 
 of the Heathen writers against Chris- that magic was the basis of the 
 tianity, resorted to the supposition Christian miracles, what appears 
 of magic, as a solution of the Chris- from the details of this argument ? 
 tian miracles. 
 
EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 394 
 argument, so frequently as I should have done. It was 
 their lot to contend with notions of magical agency, 
 against which the mere production of the facts was not 
 sufficient for the convincing of their adversaries: I do 
 not know whether they themselves thought it quite de- 
 cisive of the controversy. But since it is proved, I con- 
 ceive, with certainty, that the sparingness with which 
 they appealed to miracles was owing neither to their 
 ignorance, nor their doubt of the facts, it is, at any rate, 
 an objection, not to the truth of the history, but to the 
 
 judgment of its defenders. 
 
 CHAPTERS YT 
 
 Want of Universality in the Knowledge and Reception of 
 Christianity, and of greater clearness in the evidence. 
 
 The objection above referred to, 
 is thus stated; ‘‘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- 
 standings could fail of being con- 
 vinced by it.” 
 
 Paley admits, that the advocates 
 of Christianity do not pretend that 
 the evidence of their religion pos- 
 sesses these qualities; nor do they 
 deny it to have been within the 
 compass of divine power to have 
 communicated to the world a higher 
 degree of assurance, and stronger 
 and more extensive influence. 
 
 The question is not, whether 
 Christianity possesses the highest 
 degree of evidence, but whether the 
 not having more evidence be a suffi- 
 cient reason for rejecting that which 
 we have. [p. 395] 
 
 The author then proceeds to 
 argue that the only fair method ot 
 judging of the case, is to compare 
 it with other things which are ac- 
 
 knowledged to have come from God; 
 and that if this dispensation labours 
 under no defects, but what are com- 
 mon to others, we are not justified 
 in rejecting it. [p. 395] 
 
 That throughout the system of 
 nature, though we find a system 
 of beneficence, we are seldom or 
 ever able to make out a system of 
 optimism. The rain from heaven is 
 an instance, which, though confess- 
 edly designed to nourish the produc- 
 tions of the earth, is sometimes long 
 withheld from inhabited countries, 
 or never falls upon desert tracks, 
 while it descends in unnecessary 
 torrents upon the sea. To inquire 
 what the Deity might have done, is 
 a mode of reasoning that will not do 
 in natural history, nor in natural 
 religion, and therefore cannot safely 
 be applied to revelation. [p. 396] 
 
 That the general character of the 
 works of nature is on the one hand, 
 goodness in. design and effect, and 
 on. the other, a liability to difficulty 
 and objections, if such objections be 
 allowed by reason of seeming in- 
 
CHAP. VI.] 
 
 completeness, or uncertainty in ob- 
 taining their end. Christianity par- 
 ticipates in the same character: 
 but a system of strict optimism may, 
 nevertheless, be the real system in 
 both cases. [p. 397] 
 
 That if Christianity be compared 
 with the state and progress of natu- 
 ral religion, the objector will gain 
 nothing by the comparison. Natural 
 religion is not universal: the exist- 
 ence of the Deity is not known to 
 all; but it cannot be argued, that, 
 therefore, he does not exist. [p. 398] 
 
 That if Christianity be regarded 
 as an instrument for the melioration 
 of mankind, its progress resembles 
 that of other causes by which human 
 life is improved. It is not more 
 slow than we find it to be in learn- 
 ing, liberty, government, and laws. 
 It hath put things in a train. It 
 may become universal. [p- 399] 
 
 The author then exhibits the 
 probable effects of that overpower- 
 ing evidence which our adversaries 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 395 
 
 require in a revelation. Ist. It 
 would restrain the voluntary powers 
 too much, to answer the purpose of 
 trial or probation. 2nd. It would 
 leave no place for z7ernal evidence, 
 which ought, perhaps, to bear a 
 considerable part in the proof of 
 every revelation, because it applies 
 itself to the knowledge, love, and 
 practice of virtue, and operates in 
 proportion to the degree of those 
 qualities, which it finds in the per- 
 son whom it addresses. 3rd. It 
 may be questioned whether the 
 perfect display of a future state 
 would not operate on the mind in a 
 manner, and to an extent, incompa- 
 tible with the duties of life. 
 
 By the manner in which the 
 religion is now proposed, a_ great 
 portion of the human species, in 
 every generation, is led to seek sal- 
 vation through the medium of Chris- 
 tianity, without interrupting the 
 regular course of human affairs. [p. 
 402, to the end] 
 
 _ OF a revelation which really came from God, the proof, 
 ‘+t has been said, would in all ages be so public and 
 manifest that no part of the human species would remain 
 ignorant of it, no understanding could fail of being con- 
 vinced by it. 
 
 The advocates of Christianity do not pretend that the 
 evidence of their religion possesses these qualities. They 
 do not deny that we can conceive it to be within the 
 compass of divine power to have communicated to the 
 world a higher degree of assurance, and to have given 
 to his communication a stronger and more extensive 
 influence. For anything we are able to discern, God 
 could have so formed men, as to have perceived the 
 truths of religion intuitively ; or to have carried ona 
 
 A. Mention the objection which 
 has been made to the Christian 
 revelation, on the ground of want 
 of universality in the knowledge 
 and reception of it: state the ge- 
 
 neral feelings with which the advo- 
 cates of Christianity meet it; and 
 point out what the true question for 
 discussion is. 
 
396 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 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 transla- 
 tion. He could have presented a separate miracle to 
 each man’s senses. He could have established a standing 
 miracle. He could have caused miracles to be wrought 
 in every different age and country. These, and many 
 more methods which we may imagine, if we once give 
 loose to our imaginations, are, so far as we can judge, 
 all practicable. 
 
 The question, therefore, is, not whether Christianity 
 possesses the highest possible degree of evidence, but 
 whether the not having more evidence be a sufficient 
 reason for rejecting that which we have ? 
 
 B. 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 dis- 
 pensation could come from God or not, than by com- 
 paring it with other things which are acknowledged to 
 proceed from the same counsel, and to be produced by 
 the same agency. If the dispensation in question la- 
 bour under no defects but what apparently belong to 
 other dispensations, these seeming defects do no justify 
 us in setting aside the proofs which are offered of its 
 authenticity, if they be otherwise entitled to credit. 
 
 B.@ Throughout that order then of nature, of which God is 
 the author, what we find is a system of deneficence: we 
 are seldom or ever able to make out a system of optim- 
 zsm. I mean, that there are few cases in which, if we 
 permit ourselves to range in possibilities, we cannot sup- 
 pose something more perfect and more unobjectionable 
 than what we see. The rain which descends from 
 heaven, is confessedly amongst the contrivances of the 
 Creator, for the sustentation of the animals and vege- 
 tables which subsist upon the surface of the earth. Yet 
 
 B. Point out what appears to participates in the character of 
 be the fairest method of judging of nature; and shew that a system of 
 the case, and pursue Paley’s argu- apparent optimism neither exists in 
 ment founded on it. the latter, nor is it to be expected 
 
 B.a. Explain how Christianity in the former. 
 
CHAP. VI] ORR GIRS SOLAN Teas 397 
 
 how partially and irregularly is it supplied!) How much 
 of it falls upon the sea, where it can be of no use! how 
 often is it wanted where it would be of the greatest ! 
 What tracts of continent are rendered deserts by the 
 scarcity of it! Or, not to speak of extreme cases, how 
 much sometimes, do inhabited countries suffer by its 
 deficiency or delay !—We could imagine, if to imagine 
 were our business, the matter to be otherwise regulated. 
 We could imagine showers to fall just where and when 
 they would do good; always seasonable, everywhere 
 sufficient ; so distributed as not to leave a field upon the 
 face of the globe scorched by drought, or even a plant 
 withering for the lack of moisture. Yet does the dif- 
 ference between the real case and the imagined case, or 
 the seeming inferiority of the one to the other, authorize 
 us to say, that the present disposition of the atmosphere 
 is not amongst the productions or the designs of the 
 Deity ? Does it check the inference which we draw 
 from the confessed beneficence of the provision? or 
 does it make us cease to admire the contrivance ?—The 
 observation, which we have exemplified in the single in- 
 stance of the rain of heaven, may be repeated concern- 
 ing most of the phenomena of nature; and the true 
 conclusion to which it leads is this: that to inquire what 
 the Deity might have done, could have done, or, as we 
 even sometimes presume to speak, ought to have done, 
 or, in hypothetical cases, would have done, and to build 
 any propositions upon such inquiries against evidence 
 of facts, is wholly unwarrantable. It is a mode of rea- 
 soning which will not do in natural history, which will 
 no do in natural religion, which cannot therefore be 
 applied with safety to reveletion. It may have some 
 foundation in certain speculative @ priori ideas of the 
 divine attributes; but it has none in experience, or in 
 analogy. The general character of the works of nature 
 is, on the one hand, goodness both in design and effect : 
 and on the other hand, a liability to difficulty, and to 
 objections, if such objections be allowed, by reason of 
 seeming incompleteness or uncertainty in attaining their 
 end. Christianity participates of this character. The 
 
398 EVIDENCES [PART. III. 
 
 true similitude between nature and revelation consists 
 in this; that they each bear strong marks of their ori- 
 ginal ; that they each also bear appearances of irregu- 
 larity 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 ws ; 
 that we ought not to expect to perceive ¢hat in revela- 
 tion, which we hardly perceive in any thing; that be- 
 neficence, of which we caz 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 neccessarily implies a comparison 
 of that which is tried, with that which is not tried; of 
 consequences which we see, with others which we ima- 
 gine, and concerning many of which it is more than 
 probable we know nothing ; concerning some, that we 
 have no notion, 
 
 c. If Christianity be compared with the state and progress 
 of natural religion, the argument of the objector will 
 gain nothing by the comparison. I remember hearing 
 an unbeliever say, that, if God had given a revelation, 
 he would have written it in the skies. Are the truths 
 of natural religion written in the skies, or in a language 
 which every one,reads? or is this the case with the 
 most useful arts, or the most necessary sciences of 
 human life? An Otaheitean or an Esquimaux knows 
 nothing of Christianity ; does he know more of the 
 principles of deism or morality? which, notwithstanding 
 his ignorance, are neither untrue, nor unimportant, nor 
 uncertain. The existence of the Deity is left to be col- 
 lected from observations, which every man does not 
 make, which every man, perhaps, is not capable of 
 making :—Can it be argued, that God does not exist, 
 
 C. Shew, fully, that if Christi- want of clearness in the evidence 
 anity be compared with the state of revelation will gain nothing by 
 and progress of natural religion, the comparison. ; 
 the argument arising from the 
 
CHAP. VI.| 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 399 
 because, if he did, he would let us see him, or discover 
 himself to mankind by proofs (such as, we may think, 
 the nature of the subject merited), which no inadvertency 
 could miss, no prejudice withstand ? 
 
 If Christianity be regarded as a providential instru- 
 men 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 atrain. It is by 
 no means improbable that it may become universal ; and 
 that the world may continue in that stage so long, as 
 that the duration of its reign may bear a vast proportion 
 to the time of its partial influence. 
 
 When we argue concerning Christianity, that it must 
 necessarily be true, because it is beneficial, we go, per- 
 haps, too far on one side; and we certainly go too far 
 on the other, when we conclude that it must be false, 
 because it is not so efficacious as we could have supposed. 
 The question of its truth is to be tried upon its proper 
 evidence, without deferring much to this sort of argument, 
 on either side. “The evidence,” as Bishop Butler hath 
 rightly observed, “depends upon the judgment we form 
 of human conduct, under given circumstances, of which 
 it may be presumed that we know something ; the 
 objection stands upon the supposed conduct of the Deity, 
 under relations with which we are not acquainted.” 
 
 What would be the real effect of that overpowering 
 
 D. Illustrate Paley’s assertion, beneficial; and, on the other, that 
 
 that, ‘‘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.” 
 
 E. State the consequence of 
 arguing on the one hand, concern- 
 ing Christianity, that it must 
 necessarily be true because it is 
 
 it must be false because it is not so 
 efficacious as we could have sup- 
 posed : point out how the question 
 of its truth is to be tried ; and give 
 Butler’s remarks on the subject. 
 
 F. Describe, fully, what would 
 have been the probable effect of that 
 overpowering evidence which our 
 adversaries require in a revelation. 
 
400 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 evidence which our adversaries require in a revelation, it 
 is difficult to foretell; at least, we must speak of it as of 
 a dispensation of which we have no experience. Some 
 consequences, however, would, it is probable, attend this 
 economy, which do not seem to befit a revelation that 
 proceeded from God. One is, that irresistible proof 
 would restrain the voluntary powers too much ; would 
 not answer the purpose of trial and probation ; would 
 call for no exercise of candour, seriousness, humility, 
 inquiry ; no submission of passions, interests, and pre- 
 judices, to moral evidence and to probable truth ; no 
 habits of reflection ; none of that previous desire to learn 
 and to obey the will of God, which forms perhaps the 
 test of the virtuous principle, and which induces men to 
 attend, with care and reverence, to every credible inti- 
 mation of that will; and to resign present advantages 
 and present pleasures to every reasonable expectation of 
 propitiating his favour. “ Men’s moral probation may 
 be, whether they will take due care to inform themselves 
 by impartial consideration; and, afterwards, whether 
 they will act as the case requires, upon the evidence 
 which they have. And this we find by experience is 
 often our probation in our temporal capacity.” 
 
 F.a II. These modes of communication would leave no 
 place for the admission of zzternal evidence; which 
 ought, perhaps, to bear a considerable part in the proof 
 of every revelation, because it is a species of evidence 
 which applies itself to the knowledge, love, and practice 
 of virtue, and which operates in proportion to the degree 
 of those qualities which it finds in the person whom it 
 addresses. Men of good dispositions, amongst Chris- 
 tians, are greatly affected by the impression which the 
 Scriptures themselves make upon their minds. Their 
 conviction is much strengthened by these impressions. 
 And this perhaps was intended to be one effect to be 
 produced by the religion. It is likewise true, to what- 
 
 1 Butler’s Analogy, Part. II. c. vi. 
 
 F.a. Shew that those modes value of that species of evidence, 
 of communication which leave no as contrasted with the effects of 
 room for internal evidence, are un-_ irresistible evidence. 
 desirable ; and shew the effect and 
 
CHAP: VI.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 401 
 
 ever cause we ascribe it (for I am not in this work at 
 liberty to introduce the Christian doctrine of grace or 
 assistance, or the Christian promise, that, “if any man 
 will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
 be of God,”)!—it is true, I say, that they who sincerely 
 act, or sincerely endeavour to act, according to what 
 they believe, that is, according to the just result of the 
 probabilities, or, if you please, the possibilities, in natural 
 and revealed religion, which they themselves perceive, 
 and according to a rational estimate of consequences, 
 and, above all, according to the just effect of those prin- 
 ciples of gratitude and devotion, which even the view of 
 nature generates in a well ordered mind, se/dom fail of 
 proceeding farther. ‘This also may have been exactly 
 what was designed. 
 
 Whereas, may it not be said that irresistible evidence 
 would confound all characters and all dispositions ; would 
 subvert, rather than promote, the true purpose of the 
 divine counsels; which is, not to produce obedience by 
 force little short of mechanical constraint (which obe- 
 dience would be regularity, not virtue, and would hardly 
 perhaps differ from that which inanimate bodies pay to 
 the laws impressed upon their nature), but to treat moral 
 agents agreeably to what they are ; which is done, when 
 light and motives are of such kinds, and are imparted in 
 such measures, that the influence of them depends upon 
 the recipients themselves? “It is not meet to govern 
 rational free agents zz vd by sight and sense. It would 
 be no trial or thanks to the most sensual wretch 
 to forbear sinning if heaven and hell were open 
 to his sight. That spiritual vision and fruition is 
 our state iz patria.” (Baxter's Reasons, p. 357.) There 
 may be truth in this thought, though roughly expressed. 
 Few things are more improbable than that we (the 
 human species) should be the highest order of beings in 
 the universe ; that animated nature should ascend from 
 the lowest reptile to us, and all at once to 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. 
 J John vii. 17. 
 
 DD 
 
402 YEO Mie A OOS [PART. ITI. 
 
 F.6 III. But may it not also be asked, whether the per- 
 fect display of a future state of existence would be 
 compatible with the activity of civil life, and with the 
 success of human affairs? I can easily conceive that 
 this impression may be overdone; that it may so seize 
 and fill the thoughts, as to leave no place for the cares 
 and offices of men’s several stations, no anxiety for 
 worldly prosperity, or even for a worldly provision, and 
 by consequence, no sufficient stimulus to secular industry. 
 Of the first Christians we read, “that all that believed 
 were together, and had all things common; and sold 
 their possessions and goods, and parted them to all 
 men, as every man had need; and, continuing daily with 
 one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house 
 to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness 
 of heart.” This was extremely natural, and just what 
 might be expected from miraculous evidence coming 
 with full force upon the senses of mankind: but I much 
 doubt whether, if this state of mind had been universal, 
 or long continued, the business of the world could have 
 gone on. The necessary arts of social life would have 
 been little cultivated. The plough and the loom would 
 have stood still. Agriculture, manufactures, trade, and 
 navigation, would not, I think, have flourished, if they 
 could have been exercised at all. Men would have 
 addicted themselves to contemplative and ascetic lives, 
 instead of lives of business and of useful industry. We 
 observe that S. Paul found it necessary, frequently to 
 recall his converts to the ordinary labours and domestic 
 duties of their condition ; and to give them, in his own 
 example, a lesson of contented application to their 
 worldly employments. 
 
 By the manner in which the religion is now proposed 
 a great portion of the human species is enabled, and of 
 these multitudes of every generation are induced to seek 
 
 1 Acts ii, 44—46, 
 
 F.4, Shew the probability there of human affairs: and point out 
 is, that a perfect display of a future the advantage resulting from the 
 state of existence would not be manner in which the religion is now 
 compatible with the activity of proposed. 
 human life, and with the success 
 
a 
 
 CHAP. VII. | OR CAHRISERANI TY. 
 
 403 
 
 and to effectuate their salvation through the medium of 
 Christianity, without interruption of the prosperity or of 
 
 the regular course of human affairs. 
 
 CHARTER VIL 
 
 The supposed Effects of Christianity. 
 
 The objection intended to be 
 met in this chapter, is, that Chris- 
 tianity has had a bad effect upon 
 human happiness. 
 
 There are two sources of mis- 
 take, into which objectors have 
 fallen. 1st, They look for the in- 
 fluence of religion in the wrong 
 place. 2nd, They charge Christi- 
 anity with many consequences for 
 which it is not responsible. 
 
 I. The influence of religion is 
 not to be sought for in the councils 
 of princes; in the resolutions of 
 popular assemblies ; in the conduct 
 of governments towards subjects ; 
 of soverigns towards one another ; 
 of conquerors at the head of armies 
 (topics which fill the pages of his- 
 tory): but it must be seen in the 
 silent course of private life. The 
 kingdom of heaven is within us. 
 The substance of religion is invisi- 
 ble, upon which depends the virtue 
 and happiness of millions. 
 
 Christianity acts by a secondary 
 operation upon public usages and 
 institutions. It is not a code of 
 civil law. It can only reach public 
 institutions through private charac- 
 ter. Inthis view, its effect has been 
 important. It has mitigated the 
 conduct of wars, the treatment of 
 captives, the administrations of des- 
 potic governments, abolished poly- 
 gamy, restrained divorces; it has 
 put an end to the exposure of chil- 
 dren, the immolation of slaves, the 
 
 combats of gladiators, the impuri- 
 ties of religious rites, &c. 
 
 But the argument to which we 
 recur, is, that the benefit of religion 
 being felt chiefly in private stations, 
 escapes the observation of history. 
 
 Christianity, in every country in 
 which it is professed, has obtained 
 a sensible, although not a complete 
 influence upon the public judgment 
 of morals ; by means of which, the 
 conduct of many who are not Chris- 
 tians, may be externally regulated 
 or kept in check by Christianity. 
 But it 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 influ- 
 ence, can only be estimated by 
 taking in the whole of human exis- 
 tence. [p. 404— 408] 
 
 II. Christianity is not answer- 
 able for any part of the mischief of 
 persecution, except that which has 
 arisen from conscientious persecu- 
 tors, who cannot have been either 
 numerous or powerful; nor can 
 their mistake be imputed to Chris- 
 tianity. They have been misled by 
 an error, not properly Christian or 
 religious, but by an error in their 
 moral philosophy. Had there been 
 in the New Testament, as in the 
 Koran, precepts authorizing perse- 
 cution, this distinction could not 
 have been taken, nor the defence 
 made. 
 
 Di De 
 
404 
 
 If Christianity be charged with 
 every mischief of which it has been 
 the occasion, though not the motive, 
 the answer is this; if the malevolent 
 passions be there, the world will 
 never want occasions. Pagan Theo- 
 logy did not preserve the peace of 
 the Roman Empire. Bigotry did 
 not carry Alexander into the East. 
 or Cesar into Gaul; nor did Poland 
 
 EVIDENCES 
 
 [PART ITI. 
 
 fall by a Christian crusade, &c. 
 The overthrow in France, of civil 
 order and security, was effected, 
 not by the votaries, but the foes of 
 our religion. In order to be a per- 
 secutor, it is not necessary to bea 
 bigot. In rage and cruelty, in mis- 
 chief and destruction, fanaticism 
 itself can be outdone by infidelity. 
 [p. 409, to the end] 
 
 A. THAT a religion which, under every form in which it is 
 taught, holds forth the final reward of virtue and punish- 
 ment of vice, and proposes those distinctions of virtue 
 and vice, which the wisest and most cultivated part of 
 mankind confess to be just, should not be believed, is 
 very possible ; but that, so far as it is believed, it should 
 not produce any good, but rather a bad effect upon pub- 
 lic happiness, is a proposition which it requires very 
 strong evidence to render credible. Yet many have 
 been found to contend for this paradox, and very confi- 
 dent appeals have been made to history, and to obser- 
 vation, for the truth of it. 
 
 In the conclusions, however, which these writers draw 
 from what they call experience, two sources, I think, of 
 mistakes, may be perceived. 
 
 One is, that they look for the influence of religion 
 in the wrong place, 
 
 The other, that they charge Christianity with many 
 consequences for which it is not responsible. 
 
 B. I. The influence of religion is not to be sought for in 
 the councils of princes, in the debates or resolutions of 
 popular assemblies, in the conduct of governments to- 
 wards their subjects, or of states and sovereigns towards 
 one another ; of conquerors at the head of their armies, 
 or of parties intriguing for power at home (topics which 
 
 B. Shew where the influence of 
 the Christian religion is, and where 
 
 A. State the paradoxical objec- 
 tion, which this chapter is framed 
 
 to answer ; mention the authorities 
 to which objectors have appealed for 
 the truth of it; and point out the 
 two causes of mistake into which 
 they have fallen. 
 
 it is not to be sought for: exhibit 
 the mode in which it acts upon pub- 
 lic usages and institutions, and upon 
 the public judgment of morals. 
 
CHAP. VII.] OFSCHRASLIAN ETYV: 405 
 
 alone almost occupy the attention, and fill the pages of 
 history) ; but must be perceived, if perceived at all, in 
 the silent course of private and domestic life. Nay 
 more ; even dere its influence may not be very obvious 
 to observation. If it check, in some degree, personal 
 dissoluteness, if it beget a general probity in the 
 transaction of business, if it produce soft and humane 
 manners in the mass of the community, and occasional 
 exertions of laborious or expansive benevolence in a 
 few individuals, it is all the effect which can offer itself 
 to external notice. The kingdom of heaven is within 
 
 Baus. That which is the substance of the religion, its 
 hopes and consolations, its intermixture with the 
 thoughts by day and by night, the devotion of the heart, 
 the control of appetite, the steady direction of the 
 will to the commands of God, is necessarily invisible. 
 Yet upon these depend the virtue and the happiness of 
 
 B.omillions. This cause renders the representations of his- 
 tory, with respect to religion, defective and fallacious, in 
 a greater degree than they are upon any other subject. 
 Religion operates most upon those of whom history 
 knows the least; upon fathers and mothers in their 
 families, upon men servants and maid servants, upon the 
 orderly tradesman, the quiet villager, the manufacturer 
 at his loom, the husbandman in his fields. Amongst 
 such, its influence collectively may be of inestimable 
 value, yet its effects, in the mean time, little upon those 
 who figure upon the stage of the world. TZhey may 
 know nothing of it; they may believe nothing of 
 it; they may be actuated by motives more im- 
 petuous than those which religion is able to excite. 
 It cannot, therefore, be thought strange, that this 
 influence should elude the grasp and touch of public 
 history : for, what is public history, but a register of the 
 successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies, and 
 the quarrels, of those who engage in contentions for 
 power? 
 
 B.a. Describe that part of reli- as Paley says, renders the represen- 
 gion which is invisible, and upon tations of history, with respect to 
 which depends the virtue and hap- religion, defective and fallacious, in 
 piness of millions. a greater degree than they are upon 
 
 B.4. Illustrate the cause which, any other subject. 
 
406 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 I will add, that much of this influence may be felt 
 in times of public distress, and little of it in times of 
 public wealth and security. This also increases the 
 uncertainty of any opinions that we draw from historical 
 representations. The influence of Christianity is com- 
 mensurate with no effects which history states. We 
 do not pretend that it has any such necessary and irre- 
 sistible power over the affairs of nations, as to surmount 
 the force of other causes. 
 
 Bc The Christian religion also acts upon public usages and 
 institutions, by an operation which is only secondary and 
 indirect. Christianity is not a code of civil law. It can 
 only reach public institutions through private character. 
 Now its influence upon private character may be con- 
 siderable, yet many public usages and institutions repug- 
 nant to its principles may remain. To get rid of these, 
 the reigning part of the community must act, and act 
 together. But it may be long before the persons who 
 compose this body be sufficiently touched with the 
 Christian character, to join in the suppression of prac- 
 tices, to which they and the public have been recon- 
 ciled by causes which will reconcile the human mind to 
 any thing, by habit and interest. Nevertheless, the 
 effects of Christianity, even in this view, have been im- 
 portant. It has mitigated the conduct of war, and the 
 treatment of captives. It has softened the administra- 
 tion of despotic, or of nominally despotic, govern- 
 ments. It has abolished polygamy. It has restrained 
 the licentiousness of divorces. It has put an end to 
 the exposure of children, and the immolation of slaves. 
 It has suppressed the combats of gladiators,! and the 
 impurities of religious rites. It has banished, if not un- 
 natural vices, at least the toleration of them. It has 
 greatly meliorated the condition of the laborious part, 
 that is to say, of the mass of every community, by 
 
 1 Lipsius affirms (Sat. b.i. ec. 12) that the gladiatorial shows sometimes cost Europe twenty or 
 thirty thousand lives in a month ; and that not only the men, but even the women of all ranks were 
 passionately fond of these shows,—See Bishop Porteus’s Sermon XIII, 
 
 B.c. Shew, and illustrate, fully, usages and institutions: and the 
 by what mode of operation the effects of such operation. 
 Christian religion acts upon public 
 
CHAP. VII. ] OPC RIS TIAN £1 ¥. 407 
 
 procuring for them a day of weekly rest. In all coun- 
 tries, in which it is professed, it has produced numerous 
 establishments for the relief of sickness and poverty ; 
 and, in some, a regular and general provision by law. 
 It has triumphed over the slavery established in the 
 Roman empire: it is contending, and I trust, will 
 one day prevail, against the worse slavery of the West 
 Indies. 
 
 B.@ A Christian writer,! so early as in the second century, 
 has testified the resistance which Christianity made to 
 wicked and licentious practices though established by 
 law and by public usage: “ Neither in Parthia, do the 
 Christians, though Parthians, use polygamy; nor in 
 Persia, though Persians, do they marry their own daugh- 
 ters ; nor among the Bactri, or Galli, do they violate the 
 sanctity of marriage; nor wherever they are, do they 
 suffer themselves to be overcome by ill constituted laws 
 and manners.” 
 
 Socrates did not destroy the idolatry of Athens, or 
 produce the slightest revolution in the manners of his 
 country. 
 
 p.e But the argument to which I recur is, that the benefit 
 of religion, being felt chiefly in the obscurity of private 
 stations, necessarily escapes the observation of history. 
 From the first general notification of Christianity to the 
 present day, there have been in every age many millions, 
 whose names were never heard of, made better by it, 
 not only in their conduct, but in their disposition ; and 
 happier, not so much in their external circumstances, as 
 in that which is zz¢er precordia, in that which alone de- 
 serves the name of happiness, the tranquillity and con- 
 
 1 Bardesanes, ap Euseb. Preep, Evang. vi. 10. 
 
 B.d. Name, and quote a Chris- B.e. Recurring to the argu- 
 tian writer of the second century, ment, that the benefit of religion, 
 who has testified the resistance being felt chiefly in the obscurity 
 which Christianity made to wicked of private stations, necessarily es- 
 and licentious practices, though es- capes the observation of history, 
 tablished by law and by public give Paley’s concluding remark on 
 usage : and contrast the effects there the subject. 
 described, with the inefficiency of 
 the system of Socrates. 
 
408 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 solation of their thoughts. It has been, since its com- 
 mencement, the author of happiness and virtue to mil- 
 lions and millions of the human race. Who is there that 
 would not wish his son to be a Christian ? 
 
 Bf Christianity also, in every country in which it is pro- 
 fessed, hath obtained a sensible, although not a complete 
 influence, upon the public judgment of morals. And 
 this is very important. For without the _ occasional 
 correction which public opinion receives, by referring to 
 some fixed standard of morality, no man can foretell 
 into what extravagances it might wander. Assasination 
 might become as honorable as duelling: unnatural crimes 
 be accounted as venial as fornication is wont to be 
 accounted. In this way it is possible, that many may 
 be kept in order by Christianity, who are not themselves 
 Christians. They may be guided by the rectitude 
 which it communicates to public opinion. Their con- 
 sciences may suggest their duty truly, and they may 
 ascribe these suggestions to a moral sense, or to the 
 native capacity of the human intellect, when in fact, they 
 are nothing more than the public opinion reflected from 
 their own mind; an opinion, in a considerable degree, 
 modified by the lessons of Christianity. “Certain it is, 
 and this is a great deal to say, that the generality, even 
 of the meanest and most vulgar and ignorant people, 
 have truer and worthier notions of God, more just and 
 right apprehensions concerning his attributes and per- 
 fections, a deeper sense of the difference of good and 
 evil, a greater regard to moral obligations, and to the 
 plain and most necessary duties of life, and a more firm 
 and universal expectation of a future state of rewards 
 and punishments, than, in any heathen country, any 
 considerable number of men were found to have had.’ 
 
 c. After all, the value of Christianity is not to be appre- 
 ciated by its ¢emporad effects. The object of revelation 
 
 1 Clarke, Ev. Nat. Rel. p. 208, ed. 5, 
 
 Bf. Paley remarks, that Chris- illustrate this remark, and shew its 
 tianity, in every country in which it force. 
 is professed, has obtained a sensible, 
 although not a complete influence, C. In what way is the value of 
 upon the public judgment of morals; Christianity to be appreciated? 
 
CHAP. VII. | OF CHRISTIANITY. 409 
 
 is to influence human conduct in this life; but what is 
 gained to happiness by that influence, can only be 
 estimated by taking in the whole of human existence. 
 Then, as hath already been observed, there may be also 
 great consequences of Christianity, which do not belong 
 to it as a revelation. The effects, upon human salvation, 
 of the mission, of the death, of the present, of the future 
 agency of Christ, may be universal, though the religion 
 be not universally known. 
 
 p. Secondly, I assert that Christianity is charged with 
 many consequences for which it is not responsible. 
 I believe that religious motives have had no more to do 
 in the formation of nine-tenths of the intolerant and 
 persecuting laws, which in different countries have been 
 established upon the subject of religion, than they have 
 had to do in England, with the making of the game laws. 
 These measures, although they have the Christian 
 religion for their subject, are resolvable into a principle 
 which Christianity certainly did not plant (and which 
 Christianity could not universally condemn, because it is 
 not universally wrong), which principle is no other than 
 this, that they who are in possession of power do what 
 they can to keep it. Christianity is answerable for no 
 part of the mischief which has been brought upon the 
 world by persecution, except that which has arisen from 
 conscientious persecutors. Now these perhaps have never 
 been either numerous or powerful. Nor is it to Chris- 
 tianity that even ¢heir mistake can fairly be imputed. 
 They have been misled by an error not properly 
 Christian or religious, but by an error in their moral 
 philosophy. They pursued the particular, without 
 adverting to the general consequence. Believing certain 
 articles of faith, or a certain mode of worship, to be 
 highly conducive, or perhaps essential, to salvation, they 
 thought themselves bound to bring all they could, by 
 every means, into them. And this they thought, with- 
 out considering what would be the effect of such a con- 
 clusion, when adopted amongst mankind asa general 
 
 D. Illustrate Paley’s assertion, that ‘‘ Christianity is charged with 
 many consequences for which it is not responsible.” 
 
410 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 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 persecution, 
 but I think that even the fact has been exaggerated. 
 The slave trade destroys more in a year than the Inqui- 
 sition does in a hundred, or perhaps hath done since its 
 foundation. 
 
 E. If it be objected, as I apprehend it will be, that 
 Christianity is chargeable with every mischief, of which 
 it has been the occasion, though not the motive; I 
 answer, that, if the malevolent passions be there, the 
 world will never want occasions. The noxious element 
 will always find a conductor. Any point will produce 
 an explosion. Did the applauded intercommunity of 
 the Pagan theology preserve the peace of the Roman 
 world? Did it prevent oppressions, proscriptions, 
 massacres, devastations? Was it bigotry that carried 
 Alexander into the East, or brought Cesar 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 there 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, zz¢er 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 renewed fertility is not to be 
 impaired by neglect, or destroyed by the ravages of war, 
 serve only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, or the 
 supply of unceasing hostilities? Europe itself has 
 known no religious wars for some centuries, yet has 
 hardly ever been without war. Are the calamities which 
 
 E. State, fully, Paley’s answer though not the motive ; and mention 
 to the objection, that Christianity is the effect of our religion upon the 
 chargeable with every mischief of conduct of wars. 
 which it has been the occasion 
 
CHAP. VII.] OF GHRISTIANITY. All 
 
 at this.day afflict it, to be imputed to Christianity ? 
 Hath Poland fallen by a Christian crusade? Hath the 
 overthrow in France of civil order and security been 
 affected by the votaries of our religion, or by the foes ? 
 Amongst the awful lessons, which the crimes and the 
 miseries of that country afford to mankind, this is one ; 
 that in order to bea persecutor, it is not necessary to 
 be a bigot: that in rage and cruelty, in mischief and 
 destruction, fanaticism itself can be outdone by infidelity. 
 
 Finally, If war, as it is now carried on between nations, 
 produce less misery’ and ruin than formerly, we are 
 indebted perhaps to Christianity for the change, more 
 than to any other cause. Viewed therefore even in its 
 relation to this subject, it appears to have been of 
 advantage to the world. It hath humanized the conduct 
 of wars; it has ceased to excite them. 
 
 F. The differences of opinion that have in all ages pre- 
 vailed amongst Christians, fall very much within the 
 alternative which has been stated. If we possessed the 
 disposition which Christianity labours, above all other 
 qualities, to inculcate, these differences would do little 
 harm. If that disposition be wanting, other causes, even 
 were these absent, would continually rise up to call forth 
 the malevolent passions into action. Differences of 
 opinion, when accompanied with mutual charity, which 
 Christianity: forbids them to violate, are for the most 
 part innocent, and for some purposes useful. They pro- 
 mote enquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help to 
 keep up an attention to religious subjects, and a concern 
 about them, which might be apt to die away in the calm 
 and silence of universal agreement. I do not know that 
 it is in any degree true, that the influence of religion is 
 the greatest, where there are the fewest dissenters. 
 
 F. Shew how the differences very much within the alternative 
 of opinion, that have in all ages which has been stated. 
 prevailed amongst Christians, fall 
 
2 
 
 VID ENCED 
 
 [PART. III. 
 
 CHAPTER, VIII. 
 
 The Conclusion. 
 
 This chapter is a summary of the 
 course of argumentation which the 
 author has pursued throughout the 
 work. He proceeds, therefore, to 
 recapitulate, in order, the main con- 
 clusions drawn at the different stages 
 of his argument, and to shew their 
 sufficiency for their respective pur- 
 poses, in establishing the great point 
 of investigation. The attentive 
 student who has followed his author 
 to the end of the preceding chapter, 
 with that degree of earnestness 
 which the subject demands from 
 every man, viewed as an accountable 
 being, will now rather anticipate 
 
 the course and effect of the re- 
 capitulation, than require the aid of 
 a synopsis to lead him through it. 
 
 Having concluded the task of 
 recapitulation, the author shews 
 that the Deity afforded a miraculous 
 attestation to Revelation, in order to 
 give the highest degree of assurance 
 of the resurrection : and he concludes 
 by shewing the practicability of a 
 resurrection, to those minds that can 
 be satisfied on the point; and to 
 those that cannot, he advises a 
 confidence in the sources of creative 
 wisdom, for the accomplishment of 
 the great end. 
 
 IN religion, as in every other subject of human reasoning, 
 much depends upon the order in which we dispose our 
 inquiries. A man who takes up a system of divinity 
 with a previous opinion, that either every part must be 
 true, or the whole false, approaches the discussion with 
 great disadvantage.: No other system, which is founded 
 upon moral evidence, would bear to be treated in the 
 same manner. Nevertheless, ina certain degree, we are 
 all introduced to our religious studies under this preju- 
 dication. And it cannot be avoided. The weakness of 
 the human judgment in the early part of youth, yet its 
 extreme susceptibility of impressions, renders it necessay 
 to furnish it with some opinions, and with some prin- 
 ciples 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 
 
 A. Point out what is the unavoidable common order of our religious 
 studies, and its effects. 
 
CHAP. VIII] OPICHRISLTAN TIL Y. 413 
 
 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 impos- 
 sible to be preserved. They are not given to the con- 
 dition of human life. 
 
 It is a consequence of this institution that the doc- 
 trines of religion come to us before the proofs; and come 
 to us with that mixture of explications and inferences 
 from which no public creed is, or can be free. And the 
 effect which too frequently follows, from Christianity 
 being presented to the understanding in this form, is, 
 that when any articles, which appear as parts of it, con- 
 tradict the apprehension of the persons to whom it is 
 proposed, men of rash and confident tempers hastily 
 and indiscriminately reject the whole. But is this to do 
 justice, either to themselves, or to the religion? The 
 
 B. rational way of treating a subject of such acknowledged 
 importance is to attend, in the first place, to the general 
 and substantial truth of its principles, and to that alone. 
 When we once feel a foundation ; when we once perceive 
 a ground of credibility in its history, we shall proceed 
 with safety to enquire into the interpretation of its 
 records, and into the doctrines which have been deduced 
 from them. Nor will it either endanger our faith, or 
 diminish or alter our motives for obedience, if we should 
 discover that these conclusions are formed with very 
 different degrees of probability, and possess very 
 different degrees of importance. 
 
 This conduct of the understanding, dictated by every 
 rule of right reasoning, will uphold personal Christianity, 
 even in those countries in which it is established under 
 forms the most liable to difficulty and objection. It will 
 also have the further effect of guarding us against the 
 prejudices which are wont to arise in our minds to the 
 disadvantage of religion, from observing the numerous 
 controversies which are carried on amongst its pro- 
 fessors; and likewise of inducing a spirit of lenity 
 and moderation in our judgment, as well as in our 
 
 B. State what is the rational way of treating a subject of such ac- 
 knowledged importance ; and the effects of such a course. 
 
AI4 EVIDENCES [ PART. III. 
 
 treatment of those who stand, in such controversies, 
 upon sides opposite to ours. What is clear in Chris- 
 tianity, we shall find to be sufficient, and to be infinitely 
 valuable ; what is dubious, unnecessary to be decided, 
 or of very subordinate importance; and what is most 
 obscure, will teach us to bear with the opinion 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: 
 “ Jlli in vos sezeviant, qui nesciunt, cum quo labore verum 
 inveniatur, et quam difficile caveantur errores ;—qui nes- 
 ciunt, cum quanta difficultate sanetur oculus interioris 
 hominis ;—qui nesciunt, quibus suspiriis et gemitibus 
 flat ut ex quantulacunque 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 apprehension, if such articles of faith 
 appear to be truly parts of the revelation. It was to 
 be expected beforehand, that what related to the econ- 
 omy, 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 anal- 
 ogies, and from the comprehension of a mind which 
 hath acquired all its ideas from sense and from ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Cc. It hath been my care, in the preceding work, to pre- 
 serve 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 de- 
 cried : and it always afforded a satisfaction to my mind 
 to observe that this was practicable; that few or none 
 of our many controversies with one another affect or 
 
 1 Aug. contra Ep. Fund. cap, ii. n. 2, 3. 
 
 C. Mention the avowed object of care, with the author, in the pre- 
 ceding work. 
 
CHAP. VIII. ] Oe CHRIS LEAN LI. AIS 
 relate to the proofs of our religion ; that the rent never 
 descends to the foundation. 
 
 pD. 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 ap- 
 pear that mankind have ever been deceived by the same. 
 We have some uncontested and incontestable points, to 
 which the history of the human species hath nothing 
 similar to offer. A Jewish peasant changed the religion 
 of the world, and that without force, without power, 
 without support ; without one natural source or circum- 
 stance of attraction, influence, or success. Such a thing 
 hath not happened in any other instance. The com- 
 panions of this Person, after he himself had been put 
 to death for his attempt, asserted his supernatural cha- 
 racter, founded upon his supernatural operations: and, 
 in testimony of the truth of their assertions, ze. in 
 consequence of their own belief of that truth, and in 
 order to communicate the knowledge of it to others, 
 voluntarily entered upon lives of toil and hardship, and, 
 with a full experience of their danger, committed 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 de- 
 clared with one voice that his body was restored to life : 
 that they had seen him, handled him, ate with him, 
 conversed with him ; and, in pursuance of their persua- 
 sion of the truth of what they told, preached his reli- 
 gion, with this strange fact as the foundation of it, in 
 the face of those who had killed him, who were armed 
 with the power of the country, and necessarily and 
 naturally disposed to treat his followers as they had 
 treated himself; and having done this upon the spot 
 where the event took place, carried the intelligence of 
 
 D. Paley asserts, that the truth 
 of Christianity depends upon its 
 leading facts, and upon them alone ; 
 and of these we have evidence which 
 ought to satisfy us, at least, until it 
 
 appear that mankind have ever been 
 deceived by the same; shew how 
 this assertion is confirmed by a re- 
 view of the points proved in the 
 foregoing pages. 
 
416 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 it abroad, and despite of difficulties and opposition, and 
 where the nature of their errand gave them nothing to 
 expect but derision, insult, and outrage. This is with- 
 out example. These three facts, I think, are certain, 
 and would have been nearly so, if the Gospels had never — 
 been written. The Christian story, as to these points, 
 hath never varied. No other hath been set up against 
 it. Every letter, every discourse, every controversy, 
 amongst the followers of the religion ; every book writ- 
 ten 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 writ- 
 ten by contemporaries, by witnesses of the transaction, 
 by persons themselves bearing a share in it, and other 
 writings following that age in regular succession), concur 
 in representing these facts in this manner. A religion, 
 which now possesses the greatest part of the civilized 
 world, unquestionably sprang up at Jerusalem at this 
 time. Some account must be given of its origin ; some 
 cause assigned for its rise. All the accounts of this 
 origin, all the explications of this cause, whether taken 
 from the writings of the early followers of the religion 
 (in which, and in which perhaps alone, it could be ex- 
 pected that they should be distinctly unfolded), or from 
 occasional 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 there operation and effects. 
 
 E. These propositions alone lay a foundation for our faith ; 
 for they prove the existence of a transaction, which can- 
 not 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 
 
 FE. State the manner in which Christianity rested, and for which 
 the particulars and detail of the the first teachers acted and suffered 
 miracles, or miraculous pretences, as they did, have come down to us. 
 upon which the establishment of 
 
CHAP. VIII] OF CHRISTIANITY. 417 
 
 the miracles or miraculous pretences (for such there ne- 
 necessarily must have been), upon which this unexampled 
 transaction rested, and for which these men acted and 
 suffered as they did act and suffer, it is undoubtedly of 
 great importance to us to know. We ave this detail 
 from the fountain-head, frem 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 fun- 
 damental parts of the history. We have the authen- 
 ticity 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 now they bear), 
 their antiquity, of which there is no question, their 
 reputation and authority amongst the early disciples of 
 the religion, of which there is as little, form a valid 
 proof that they must, in the main at least, have agreed 
 with what the first teachers of the religion delivered. 
 
 Ea When we open these ancient volumes, we discover in 
 them marks of truth, whether we consider each in itself, 
 or collate them with one another. The writers cer- 
 tainly knew something of what they were writing about, 
 for they manifest an acquaintance with local circum- 
 stances, with the history and usages of the times, which 
 could only belong to an inhabitant of that country, 
 living in that age. In every narrative we perceive sim- 
 plicity and undesignedness ; the air and the language 
 of reality. When we compare the different narratives 
 together, we find them so varying as to repel all sus- 
 picion of confederacy ; so agreeing under this variety, 
 
 E.a. Shew, fully, what we dis- whether we consider each in itself, 
 cover when we open the ancient or collate them with one another. 
 volumes of the Christian record, 
 
 EE 
 
418 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 as to shew that the accounts had one real transaction for 
 their common foundation; often attributing different 
 actions and discourses, to the person whose history, or 
 rather memoirs of whose history, they profess to relate, 
 yet actions and discourses so similar, as very much to 
 bespeak the same character; which is a coincidence, 
 that, in such writers as they were, could only be the con- 
 sequence of their writing from fact, and not from ima- 
 gination. 
 
 E.6 These four narratives are confined to the history of 
 the Founder of the religion, and end with his ministry. 
 Since, however, it is certain that the affair went on, we 
 cannot help being anxious to know ow it proceeded. 
 This intelligence hath come down to us in a work pur- 
 porting to be written by a person, himself connected 
 with the business during the first stages of its progress, 
 taking up the story where the former histories had left 
 it, carrying on the narrative, oftentimes with great par- 
 ticularity, and throughout with the appearance of good 
 sense,’ information, and candour; stating all along the 
 origin, and the only probable origin, of effects, which 
 unquestionably were produced, together with the natural 
 consequences of situations which unquestionably did 
 exist ; and confirmed, in the substance at least of the 
 account, by the strongest possible accession of testimony 
 which a history can receive, original letters, written by 
 the person who is the principal subject of the history, 
 written upon the business to which the history relates, 
 and during the period, or soon after the period, which 
 the history comprises. No man can say that this alto- 
 gether is not a body of strong historical evidence. 
 
 E.c When we reflect that some of those from whom the 
 
 1 See Peter’s speech upon curing the cripple (Acts iii. 18.), the council of the Apostles (xv.). 
 Paul’s discourse at Athens (xvii. 22), before Agrippa (xxvi.) I notice these passages, both as 
 fraught with good sense, and as free from the smallest tincture of enthusiasm, 
 
 E.2. The four narratives (the and the confirmation that source 
 Gospels) are confined to the history has received. 
 of the Founder of the religion, and E.c. Give Paley’s remarks on 
 end with his ministry, Shew the the inspiration of the Scriptures 
 nature of the source from which as effecting the evidence afforded by 
 we learn how the affair went on, them. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] OR WAHRISTIANIT Y, 419 
 
 books proceeded are related to have themselves wrought 
 miracles, to have been the subject of miracles, or of 
 supernatural assistance in propagating the religion, we 
 may perhaps be led to think, that more credit, or a 
 different kind of credit, is due to these accounts, than 
 what can be claimed by merely human testimony. But 
 this is an argument which cannot be addressed to scep- 
 tics or unbelievers. A man must be a Christian before 
 he can receive it. The inspiration of the historical 
 Scriptures, the nature, degree and extent of that inspi- 
 ration, are questions undoubtedly of serious discussion ; 
 but they are questions amongst Christians themselves, 
 and not between them and others. The doctrine itself 
 is by no means necessary to the belief of Christianity, 
 which must, in the first instance at least, depend upon 
 the ordinary maxims of historical credibility." 
 
 E.@ In viewing the detail of miracles recorded in these 
 books, we find every supposition negatived, by which 
 they can be resolved into fraud or delusion. They were 
 not secret, nor momentary, nor tentative, nor ambigu- 
 ous; 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 contem- 
 porary, it was published upon the spot, it continued ; 
 it involved interests and questions of the greatest mag- 
 nitude ; it contradicted the most fixed persuasions and 
 prjudices of the persons to whom it was addressed ; 
 it required from those who accepted it, not a simple, 
 indolent assent, but a change from thenceforward, of 
 principles and conduct, a submission to consequences 
 the most serious and the most deterring, to loss and 
 danger, to insult, outrage, and persecution. How such 
 a story should be false, or, if false, how under such cir- 
 
 1 See Powell’s Discourses, disc. xv. p. 245. 
 
 E.d. Shew, fully, that in view- position negatived, by which they 
 ing the detail of miracles recorded can be resolved into fraud or de- 
 in our books, we find every sup-  lusion. 
 
420 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 cumstances it should make its way, I think impossible 
 to be explained; yet such the Christian story was, 
 such were the circumstances under which it came forth, 
 and in opposition to such difficulties did it prevail. 
 
 E.é An event so connected with the religion, and with the 
 fortunes of the Jewish people, as one of their race, one 
 born amongst them, establishing his authority and his 
 law throughout a great portion of the civilized world, 
 it was perhaps to be expected, should be noticed in the 
 prophetic writings of that nation; especially when this 
 Person, together with his own mission, caused also to 
 be acknowledged the divine original of their institution, 
 and by those who before had altogether rejected it. Ac- 
 cordingly, we perceive in these writings various intima- 
 tions concurring in the person and history of Jesus, in 
 a manner, and in a degree, in which passages taken from 
 these books could not be made to concur in any person 
 arbitrarily assumed, or in any person except him who 
 has been the author of great changes in the affairs and 
 opinions of mankind. Of some of these predictions 
 the weight depends a good deal upon the concurrence. 
 Others possess great separate strength: one in particu- 
 lar does this is an eminent degree. It is an entire de- 
 scription, manifestly directed to one character and to 
 one scene of things ; it is extant in a writing, or collec- 
 tion of writings, declaredly prophetic ; and it applies to 
 Christ’s character, and to the circumstances of his life 
 and death, with considerable precision, and in a way 
 which no diversity of interpretation hath, in my opinion, 
 been able to confound.’ That the advent of Christ, and 
 the consequences of it should not have been more dis- 
 tinctly 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 in- 
 stitution, and that it was to merge at length into a 
 more perfect and comprehensive dispensation, would have 
 cooled too much, and relaxed their zeal for it, and their 
 
 E.e. Exhibit, fully, the con- for this event not being more 
 nection between prophecy and the distinctly revealed in the Jewish 
 advent of our Saviour: and account Scriptures. 
 
OMAP: VITI.| ORSCHRISLLANT TY: 421 
 
 G. 
 
 adherence to it, upon which zeal and adherence the 
 preservation in the world of any remains, for many ages, 
 of religious truth might in a great measure depend. 
 
 Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and 
 only one, question can probably be asked, Was it of impor- 
 tance 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 enter- 
 tained. He who gives me riches or honours, does 
 nothing ; he who even gives me health, does hittlessin 
 comparison with that which lays before me just grounds 
 for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of account 
 and retribution : which thing Christianity hath done for 
 millions. 
 
 Other articles of the Christian faith, although of infinite 
 importance when placed beside any other topic of human 
 inquiry, are only the adjuncts and circumstances of this. 
 They, are, however, such as appear worthy of the original 
 to which we ascribe them. ‘The morality of the religion, 
 whether taken from the precepts or the example of its 
 Founder, or from the lessons of its primitive teachers, 
 derived, as it should seem, from what had been incul- 
 cated by their Master, is, in all its parts, wise and pure ; 
 neither adapted to vulgar prejudices, nor flattering 
 populaar notions, nor excusing established practices, but 
 calculated in the matter of its instruction, truly to pro- 
 mote human happiness, and in the form in which it was 
 conveyed, to produce impression and effect ; a morality, 
 which, let it have proceeded from any person whatever, 
 would have been satisfactory evidence of his good sense 
 and integrity, of the soundness of his understanding, and 
 the probity of his designs ; a morality, in every view of 
 it, much more perfect than could have been expected 
 from the natural circumstances and character of the 
 
 F. What is the only question G. Give Paley’s view of the 
 than can properly be asked, as to other Articles of the Christian faith, 
 what a revelation discloses to man- which he states to be of infinite 
 kind? Give, Paley’s resolution of importance when placed beside other 
 it. topics of human inquiry. 
 
422 
 
 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 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 fora purpose of inestimable value, it pleased the 
 Deity to vouchsafe a miraculous attestation. Having 
 done this for the institution, when this alone could fix its — 
 authority, or give to it a beginning, he committed its 
 future progress to the natural means of human communi- 
 cation, and to the influence of those causes by which 
 human conduct and human affairs are governed. The 
 seed, being sown, was left to vegetate ; the leaven, being 
 inserted, was left to ferment: and both according to 
 the laws of nature: laws, nevertheless, disposed and 
 controlled by that Providence which conducts the affairs 
 of the universe, though by an influence inscrutable, and 
 generally undistinguishable by us. And in this, Chris- 
 tianity is analogous to most other provisions for happi- 
 ness. 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 com- 
 mon with many others. 
 
 Let the constant recurrence to our observation of con- 
 trivance, design, and wisdom, in the works of nature, 
 once fix upon our minds the belief of a God, and after 
 that all is easy. Jn the counsels of a being possessed of 
 the power and disposition which the Creator of the 
 universe must possess, it is not improbable that there 
 should be a future state ; it is not improbable that we 
 should be acquainted with it. A future state rectifies 
 every thing ; because, if moral agents be made, in the 
 last event, happy or miserable, according to their conduct 
 in the station and under the circumstances in which they 
 are placed, it seems not very material by the operation 
 of what causes, according to what rules, or even, if you 
 
 H. WHaving, upon the greatest I. State, fully, the hypothesis 
 
 of all possible occasions, vouchsafed 
 a miraculous attestation, when this 
 alone could fix its authority, or give 
 it a beginning, how did the Deity 
 act ? 
 
 which solves all that objection to 
 the divine care and goodness which 
 the promiscuous distribution of good 
 and evil is apt, on so many occasions, 
 to create, . 
 
CHAP. VIII.] OPPCHRISTTANILY. 423 
 
 please to call it so, by what chance or caprice, these 
 stations are assigned, or these circumstances determined. 
 This hypothesis, therefore, solves all that objection to 
 the divine care and goodness, which the promiscuous 
 distribution of good and evil (I do not mean in the 
 doubtful advantages of riches and grandeur, but in the 
 unquestionably important distinctions of health and sick- 
 ness, strength and infirmity, bodily ease and pain, mental 
 alacrity and depression) is apt on so many occasions to 
 create. This one truth changes the nature of things ; 
 gives order to confusion; makes the moral world of a 
 piece with the natural. 
 
 Nevertheless, a higher degree of assurance than that 
 to which it is possible to advance this, or any argument 
 drawn from the light of nature, was necessary, especially 
 to overcome the shock which the imagination and the 
 senses receive from the effects and the appearances of 
 death, and the obstruction which thence arises to the 
 expectation of either a continued or a future existence. 
 This difficulty, although of a nature, no doubt, to act 
 very forcibly, will be found, I think, upon reflection, to 
 reside more in our habits of apprehension than in the 
 subject ; and that the giving way to it, when we have 
 any reasonable grounds for the contrary, is rather an 
 indulging of. the imagination, than any thing else. 
 Abstractedly considered, that is, considered without 
 relation to the difference which habit, and merely habit 
 produces in our faculties and modes of apprehension, I 
 do not see anything more in the resurrection of a dead 
 man, than in the conception of a child ; except it be this, 
 that the one comes into 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 sub- 
 ject 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 af the species would 
 
 K. Explain, clearly, Paley’s possible to advance this, or any 
 assertion, that ‘‘a higher degree of argument drawn from the light of 
 assurance than that to which it is mature, was necessary.” 
 
424 EVIDENCES [PART III. 
 
 be as incomprehensible, as the resurrection of the dead 
 is to us. | 
 Thought is different from motion, perception from 
 impact: the individually of a mind is hardly consistent 
 with the divisibility of an extended substance: or its 
 volition, that is, its power of originating motion, with the 
 inertness which cleaves to every portion of matter which 
 our observation or our experiments can reach. These 
 distinctions lead us to an zmaterial principle: at least, 
 they do this; they so negative the mechanical properties 
 of matter, in the constitution of a sentient, still more of 
 a rational being, that no argument drawn from these 
 properties can be of any great weight in opposition to 
 other reasons, when the question respects the changes of 
 which such a nature is capable, or the manner in which 
 these changes are effected. Whatever thought be, or 
 whatever it depend upon, the regular experience of sleep 
 makes one thing concerning it certain, that it can be 
 completely suspended, and completely restored. 
 
 L. If any one find it too great a strain upon his thoughts, 
 to admit the notion of a substance strictly immaterial, 
 that is, from which extension and solidity are excluded, 
 he can find no difficulty in allowing, that a particle as 
 small as a particle of light, minuter than all conceivable 
 dimensions, may just as easily be the depository, the 
 organ, and the vehicle of consciousness, as the congeries 
 of animal substance which forms a human body, or the 
 human brain; that, being so, it may transfer a proper 
 identity to whatever shall hereafter be united to it; may 
 be safe amidst the destruction of its integuments; may 
 connect the natural with the spiritual, the corruptible 
 with the glorifed 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 opera- 
 tions. The great powers of nature are all invisible. 
 Gravitation, electricity, magnetism, though constantly 
 
 L. State the supposition, re- admit the notice of a substance 
 sorted to by Paley, for assisting the strictly immaterial, and the means 
 imaginations of those who cannot by which he illustrates it. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] OF CHRISTIANITY. 425 
 
 M. 
 
 present, and constantly exerting their influence ; though 
 within us, near us, and about us; though diffused 
 throughout all space, overspreading the surface, or 
 penetrating the contexture, of all bodies with which we 
 are acquainted, depend upon substances and actions 
 which are totally concealed from our senses. The 
 Supreme Intelligence is so himself. 
 
 But whether these or any other attempts to satisfy the 
 imagination, bearany resemblance to the truth, or whether 
 the imagination, which, as I have said before, is the mere 
 slave of habit, cax be satisfied or not; when a future 
 state, and the revelation of a future state, is not only 
 perfectly consistent with the attributes of the Being who 
 coverns the universe ; but when it is more—when it alone 
 removes the appearances of contrarity which attend the 
 operations of his will towards creatures capable of com- 
 parative merit and demerit, of reward and punishment ; 
 when a strong body of historical evidence, confirmed by 
 many internal tokens of truth and authenticity, gives us 
 just reason to believe that such a revelation hath actually 
 been made ; we ought to set our minds at rest with the 
 assurance, that in the resources of Creative Wisdom, 
 expedients cannot be wanting to carry into effect what 
 the Deity hath purposed: that either a new and mighty 
 influence will descend upon the human world to resusci- 
 tate extinguished consciousness; or, that amidst the 
 other wonderful contrivancee with which the universe 
 abounds, and by some of which we see animal life, in 
 many instances, assuming improved forms of existence, 
 acquiring new organs, new perceptions, and new sources 
 of enjoyment, provision is also made, though by methods 
 
 M. Independant ofanyattempts operations of his will towards crea- 
 to satisfy the imagination, as to the tures capable of comparative merit 
 mode of enstring the immortality of and demerit, of reward and punish- 
 the soul, what should be the con- ment; and that a strong body of 
 clusions in our minds, seeing that a historical evidence, confirmed by 
 future state and the revelation of it, many internal tokens of truth and 
 consistent with the attributes of the authenticity, gives us reason to 
 government of the universe, and believe that such a revelation has 
 which alone removes the appearances been actually made? 
 of contrariety which attend the 
 
 FF 
 
426 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANIT Y. [PART Ill. 
 
 secret to us (as all the great processes of nature are), for 
 conducting the objects of God’s moral government, 
 through the necessary changes of their frame, to those 
 final distinctions of happiness and misery, which he hath 
 declared to be reserved for obedience and transgression, 
 for virtue and vice, for the use and the neglect, the right 
 and the wrong employment, of the faculties and oppor- 
 tunities with which he hath been pleased, Oe to 
 intrust, and to try us. 
 
 SR we eee 
 
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