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VIEW
OS THE
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
"^ ~^ -
VIEW
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
IN THREE PARTS.
PART r.
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AXD WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE AI» LEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES.
PART II.
OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCE OF CHJUSUANIl Y.
PART III.
A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTION 5*.
BY WILLIAM PALEY, M. A.
AneUDEACOM UF CAKLISLE.
PHILADELPHIAi PUBLISHED BY JAMKS WEBSTF.tf.
1814.
TO THE HONORABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND
JAMES YORK, d. d.
LORD BISHOP OF ELT.
MY LORD,
W HEN, five years ago, aa important ftation in the Uni- verfity of Cambridge, awaited your Lordfliip's difpofal, you were pleafed to offer it to me. The circumftances under which this offer was made, demand a pubhc acknowledgement. I had never
feen
( vi ) ieen your Lordlliip : I poffefled no connexion which could poffibly recommend me to your favour : I was known to you, only by my endeavours, m common with many others, to difcharge my duty as a tutor in the Univerfity ; and by fome very imperfeft, but certainly well intended, and, as you thought, ufeful publications fmce. In an age by no means wanting in examples of honorable patronage, although this deferve not to be mentioned, in refpect of the objeft of your Lordihip's choice, it is inferior to none, in the purity and difintereft- cdnefs of the motives which fug-
frefted it.
o
How
( vli )
How the following work may be received, I pretend not to fore- tell. My firft prayer concerning it is, that it may do good to any : my fecond hope, that it mc^y affift, what it hath always been my ear- neft wifh to promote, the religious part of an academical education. If in this latter view, it might feem, in any degree, to excufe your Lordfliip's judgment of its author, I fhall be gratified by the reflecElion, that, to a kindnefs flow- ing from public principles, I have made the beft public return in my power.
In the mean time, and in every event, I rejoice in the opportunity
here
( viii ) here afforded me, of teftifying the fenfe I entertain of your Lordfhip's conduft, and of a notice which I regard as the moft jBattering dif- tinftion of my Life,
I am.
My LORD, With femiments of gratitude and refpc^V, Your Lordfliip's faithful,
And mofl obliged fervant,
W. PALEY,
CONTENTS.
PREPARATORr CONSIDERATIONS P. i
PART I.
The diredt Hiftorical Evidence of Chriftlanity, and wherein it is diftinguiftied from the evidence alleged for other Miracles - - - 13
PROP. I.
Chap. I.
There is fatisfa»5lory evidence, that many, profefling to be original witnefles of Chriftian Miracles, paiTed their lives in labours, dangers and fuiferings, voluntarily undergone in atteftatlon of the accounts which they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of thofe accounts ; and that they alfo fub- mitted from tlie fame motives to new rules of condud i^
Chap. II. The fubjetfl continued - - 26
III. The fubjeft continued - - 33
IV. The fubjecT; continued " " 39 V. The fubjeifl continued - . ^j
VI. The fubjetft continued - - 61
VII. The fubjeift continued - - 66
VIII.- The fabjeft continued - - 82
IX. Of the authenticity of the Scriptures 96
Sect.
"X CONTENTS.
Sect. I The Hiftorical Books of the New Teuament,
meaning thereby the four Gofpels, and the Ads of
the Apoftles are quoted or alluded to, by a feries of
Chriftian writers, beginning with thofe who were
contemporary with the Apoftles, or who immediately
followed them, and proceeding in clofe and regular
fucceffion from their time to the prefent - 105
Sect. II. When the fcriptures are quoted or alluded
to, they are quoted with peculiar refpedl, as books
ful generis y as poffeffing an authority which belonged
to no other books, and as conclufive in all queftions
and controverfies amongft Chriftians - 132
Sect. III. The fcriptures were in very early times
colledted into a diftinft volume - - i?^
SiiCT. IV. Our prefent facred writings were foon dif-
tinguiftied by appropriate names and titles of refpedl 141 Sect. V. Our fcriptures were publicly read and ex- pounded in the religious- affemblies of the early Chrifti.ans - _ . . j^j
Sect. VI. Commentaries were anciently written upon the fcriptures ; harmonies formed out of them ; dif- ferent copies carefully collated ; and verfions made of them in different languages - - 146
Sect. VII. Our fcriptures were received by ancient Chriftians of different feds and perfuafions, by many heretics as well as catholics, and were ufually ap- pealed to by both fides in the controverfies which arofe in thofe days _ - _ jj2
Sect. VIII. The four gofpels, the Ads of die Apof- tles, thirteen epiftles of St. Paul, the firft epiftle of John, and the firft of Peter, were received without doubt by thofe who doubted concerning the other books, which are included in our prefent canon 160 '
Sect. IX. Our hiftorical fcriptures were attacked by the early adverfaries of Chriftianity, as containing the accounts upon which tlie religion was founded i(55'
Sect.
CONTENTS. xi
Sect. X. Formal catalogues of authentic fcrlpturcs were publUhed, in which our prefent facred hiftories were included - - - . ji^j
Sect. XI. Thefc propofitions cannot be predicated of any of thofe books, which are commonly called apo- cryphal books of the New Teftament - ija
Chap. XII. Recapitulation - - _ ijg
PROP. XL
There is not fatisfadlory evidence, that perfons pre- tending to be original witnefles of any other fimilar miracles, have pa/Ted their lives in labours, dangers and fufferings, voluntarily undertaken and under- gone, in atteftation of the accounts which they deli- vered, and properly in confequence of their belief of the truth of thofe accounts - - . i$a
Chap. I. Diftindions between the evidence for the mi- racles recorded In the New Teftament, and that al- ledged for other miracles ... i^id
Chap. II. Examination of the miracles mentioned by Mr. Hume - - - - 206
PART II.
0/the Auxiliary Evidences of Chnjllanily. Chap. I. Prophecy - - . 21c
II. Morality of the gofpel - . 228
III. The candour of the writers of the New
Teftament . . . 260
IV. Identy of Chrift's character - 271 V. Originality of his chara^er - 284
VI. Conformity of the fadls occafionally men- tioned in the New Teftament, witli the ftate of things in thofe times as reprefented by foreign and indepen- dent accounts .... 286
Chap.
xii CONTENTS.
Chap. VII. Undefigned coincidences - ^i^
VIII. Of the hiftory of the refurrefllon 322
IX. The propagation of Chriftianity - 327
Sect. I. Refleftions on the preceding account 348
II. Of the religion of Mahomet - 348
PART III. A Iriff con/ideration of Jome Popular Ohje£lions»
Chap. I. The difcrepancies between the feveral gof-
pels .... 371
II. Erroneous opinions imputed to the Apoftles 377
III. The connection of Chriftianity with the
Jewifti hiftory - - 382
IV. Rejedion of Chriftianity - - 385 V. That the Chriftian miracles are not recited,
or appealed to, by early Chriftian writers themfelves,
fo fully or frequently as might have been expeded 401
Chap. VI. Want of univerfality in the knowledge and reception of Chriftianity, and of greater clearnefs in the evidence - -• - - 411
Chap. VII. The fuppofed efFefts of Chriftianity 420
VIII. The conclufion - - 428
Preparatory
Preparatory Confiderations.
1 DEEM it unneceflary to prove tliat mankind flood in need of a revelation, becaufe I have met with no ferious perfon who thinks that even- under the Chridian revelation we have too much hght, or any affurance which is fuperfluous. I defire moreover, that in judging of Chridianity it may be remembered, that the queflion Hcs be- tween this reHgion and none : for if the ChriRiau rehgion be not credible, no one, with whom we have to do, will fupport the pTctenfion of any other,
Suppofe then the world we live in to have haJ a Creator : fuppofe it to appear from the predo- minant aim and tendency of the provifions and contrivances obfervable in the univerfe, that the Dciiy, when he farmed it, confulted for the hap-
2 PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
pinefs of his fenlitive creation ; fuppofe 'he difpo- fition which diclated this council to continue ; fuppofe a part of the creation to have received faculties from their Maker, by which they arc capable of rendering a moral obedience to his will, and of voluntarily purfuing any end for which he has defigned them ; fuppofe the Creator to intend for thefe his rational and accountable agents a fecond ftate of exiflence, in which their fituarion will be regulated by their behaviour in the firft flare, by which fuppofition (and by no other) the objeftion to the Divine government in not putting a difference between the good and the bad, and the inconfiHency of this confufion with the care and benevolence difcoverable in the works of the Deity is done away ; fuppofe it to be of the utmofl importance lo the fubjefts of this difpenfation to know what h intended for tliem, that is, fuppofe the knowledge of it to be highly conducive to the hnppinefs of the fpccies, a purpofe which fo many provifions of nature are calculated to proinote : Suppofe, neverthelefs, almoft the whole race, cither by the imperfection of their faculties, the misfortune of their fituation, or by the lofs of fome prior revelation, to want this knowledge, and not to be likely without the aid of a new re- velation to attain it ; under thefe circumflances is it improbable that a revelation flioiild be made ? Is it incredible that God Jliould interpofe for fuch
a pur-
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS. 3
a purpofe ? Suppcfc him to dcfign for mankind a future (late, is it unlikely that he flioulJ acquaint ihcm with it ?
Now in what way can a revelation be made but by miracles ? In none which we arc able to con- ceive. Confeqiiently in whatever degree it is probable or not very improbable that a revelation Ihould be communicated to mankind at all, in the fame degree is it probable or not very improbable that miracles fliould be wrought. Therefore when miracles are related to have been wrought in the promulgating of a revelation manifeftly wanted, and, if true, of ineflimable value, the improba- bility which arifes from the miraculous nature ot the things related, is not greater than the original improbability that fuch a revelation Ihould be imparted by God.
I wi(h it however to be corre£lly undtrilood, in what manner, and to what extent, this argu- ment is alleged. We do not alTume the attri- butes of the Deity, or the exiflence of a futurti ftate, in order to prove the realhy of miracles. That reality always muft be proved by evidence. We aflert only that in miracles adduced in fupport of revelation, there is not any fuch antecedent improbability as no tcftimony can furmount. And, B 2 for
4 PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
for the purpofc of maintaining this affertion, wc contend, that the incredibility of miracles related to have been wrought in atteftation of a melTage irom God, conveying intelligence of a future (late of rewards and punifliments, and teaching man- kind how to prepare themfelves for that ftate, is not in itfelf srcater than the event, call it either probable or improbable, of the two following propofr ions being true, namely, firft, that a future (late of exiflence ftiould be deftined by God for his human creation, and feccndly, that being fo deilined, he (hould acquaint them with it. It is not neceflary for our purpofe that thefe propofi- tions be capable of proof, or even that by argu- ments drawn from the light of nature, they can be made out to be probable. It is enough that we arc able to fay concerning them, that they are not fo violently improbable, fo contradiftory to wliat -^e already believe of the Divine power and character, that either the proportions themfelves, or fa6ts ftriftly connected with the propofitions (and therefore no farther Improbable than they are improbable) ought to be rejefled at firft fight, and to be rejefted by whatever ftrength or com- plication of evidence they be attefted.
This is the prejudication we would refift. For to this length does a modern objection to miracles
go,
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS. :;
go, viz. that no human teftimony can in any caf- render them credible. I think the reflection above dated, that, if there be a revelation, there rouft; be. miracles ; and that, under the circumftances ia which the human fpecies arc placed, a revelation is not improbable, or not improbable in any great degree, to be a fair anfwer to the whole objection.
But fmce it is an obje^Stion which {lands in the very threfliold of our argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to every proof, and to all future reafoning upon the fubjf^^l, it may be neccffary, before we proceed farther, to examine the principle upon which it profefTes to be founded : which principle is concifely this, that it is contrary to experience that a miracle fhould be true, but not contrary to experience that teftimony fliould be falfe.
Now there appears a finall ambiguity in the term " experience,'* and in the phrafes " contraw to experience," or " contradiding experience," which it may be neceflary to remove in the fuft place. Stri»51:iy fpeaking the narrative of a fac> is iben only contrary to experience, when the fa6l h related to have exifled at a lime and a place, at which time and phice we being prefent, did rot perceive ii to exiil ; ;^3 if it fliruld be averted, that V, ^ \n
6 PREPARATORY CONSIDER ATIOi^S.
m a parti ailar room, and at a particular hour of a certain day, a man was raifed from the dead, in ■which room, and at the time fpecified, we being prefent and looking on, perceived no fuch event to have taken place. Here the alTcrtion is con- trary to experience properly fo called ; and this is a contrariety which no evidence can furmount. It matters nothing, whether the fa£i: be of a mira- culous nature or not. But although this be the experience, and the contrariety, which Archbp. Tillotfon alleged in the quotation with which Mr. Hume opens his effay, it is certainly not that experience, nor that contrariety, which Mr. Hume himfelf intended to obje6^. And, fhort of this, I know no intelligible fignification which can be affixed to the term " contrary to experience," but one, viz. that of not having ourfelves experienced any thing limilar to the thing related, or fuch things not being generally experienced by others. 1 fay not " generally," for to (late concerning the fd^ in queflion, that no fuch thing was ever ex- perienced, or that univerfal experience is againfl it, is to affume the fubjeft of the controverfy.
Now the itnprobability which arifes from the want (for this property is a want, not a contradic- tion), of experience, is only equal to the proba- bility there is, that if the thing were true, wc
fliould
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS. 7
fliould experience things fin:iilar to ir, or that fucli things would be generally experienced. Suppofe it then to be true that miracles were wrought upon the firft promulgation of Chriftianity, when no- thing but miracles could decide its authority, is ic certain tl;at fuch miracles would be repeated (o often, and in (o many places, as to become objects of general experience ? Is it a probability ap- proaching to certainty ? Is it a probability of any irreat (trensfth or force ? Is it fuch as no evidence
o o
can encounter ? and yet this probability is the exaft converfe, and therefore the exaft meafur? of the improbability which arif;:fs from the want of experience, and which Mr. Plums reprefents as invincible by human te^:imon5^
It is not like alleging a new law of nature, or a new experiment in natural philofophy, becaufe, when thefe are related, it is expe6led that, under the fame circumftances, the fame effe£> will follow univerfaily ; and in proportion as this expe£tation is juftly entertained, the want of a correfponding experience negatives the hiftory. But to expefl concerning a miracle that it fliould fucceed upon repetition, is to expeft that which could make it ceafe to be a miracle, which is contrary to its na- ture as fuch, and would totally deflroy the ufe and purpofe for which it was wrought.
B 4 The
B PREPARATORY CONSIDERATION'S.
The force of experience as an obje£lIon to mi- racles is founded in the prefumption, either that the courfe of nature is invariable, or that, if it be ever varied, variations will be frequent and general. Has the necelTity of this alternative been deraonilrated ? Permit us to call the courfe of na- ture the agency of an intelligent being, and is there any good reafon forjudging this (late of the cafe to be probable ? Ought we not rather to ex- pe£}:, that fuch a Being, upon occaiions of peculiar importance, may interrupt the order which he had appointed, yet, that fuch occafions fhould return feldom : that thefe interruptions confcquently fliould be confined to the experience of a fev/ ; that the want of it, therefore, in many, (liould be matter neither of farprife nor objection ?
But as a continuation of the argument from experience it is faid, that, when we advance ac- counts of miracles, we affign cfFefts without caufes^ or we attribute effefts to caufes inadequate to the purpofe, or to caufes of the operation of which we have no experience. Of what caufes, we may afli, and of what effects does the objection fpeak ? If it be anfwered that, when we afcribe the cure cf the palfy to a touch, of blindnefs to the anoinr- ing of the eyes with clay, or the raifmg of the (lead to a word, we lay ourfelves open to this im- putation,
PRErARATOP.Y CONSIDERATIONS. 5)
putation, we reply that we afcrlbe no fuch elTecls to fuch caufes. We perceive uo virtus or energ)^ in thefe things mere than in other things of the fame kind. They are merely ilgns to conne£l the miracle with its end. 1 he cfFcil we afcribe fim- ply to the volition of the Deity ; of whofe exig- ence and power, not to fay of whofe prefence and agency, we have previous and independent proof. We have therefore all we feek for in the works of rational agents, a fufficient power and an ade- quate motive. In a word, once believe that there js a God, and miracles are not incredible.
Mr. Kume ftaics the cafe of miracles to be a contcft of oppofue improbabilities, that is to fiy, a queftion whether it be more improbable that the miracle (hould be true, or the tcftimony falfe ; and this I think a fair account of the controverfy. But herein I remark a want of argumentative juftice, that, in defcribing the improbability of miracles, he fuppreifes all thofc circumftances of extenuation which refult from our knowledge of the exiilcnce, power, and difpofition of the Deity, his concern in the creation, the end anfwered by the miracle, the importance of that end, and itj fubferviency to the plan purfued in the works of nature. As Mr. Hume has reprefentcd the qucf- tion, miracles are alike incredible to him who is proviouuy alTurcd of the condant agency of a
Divine
10 PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
pivine Being, aiid to him who believes that ne fuch being exids in the univerfe. They are equally incredible, whether related to have been wrought upon occafions the mofl: deferving, and for purpofes the mofl: beneficial, or for no afTign- able end whatever, or for an end confefTedly trifling or pernicious. This furely cannot be a corred ftatement. In adjufling alfo the other fide of the balance, the ftrength and weight of teftimony, this author has provided an anfwer t& every poiTible accumulation of hiftorical proof by telling us, that we are not obliged to explain how the flory or the evidence arofe. Now I think we are obliged ; not, perhaps, to fliow by poli- tive accounts how it did, but by a probable hy- pothefls how it might, fo happen. The exiflence c^ the teftimony is a phenomenon. The truth of the fac^-folves the phenomenon. If we reje^ this folution we ought to have fome other to reft in : and none even by our adverfaries can be ad- mitted, which is not confident with the princi- ples that regulate human affairs and human con- duit at prefent, or which makes men then to have been a different kind of beings from what they are now.
But the fiiort confideration which, independ- ently of every ether, convinces me that there is no folid foundation in Mr. Hume's conckificn i$
the
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS. ii
the . .lowing. When a theorem is propofcd to a mathematician, the firft thing he does with it is to try it upon a fimple cafe ;• and, if it produce a falfe refalt, he is fure that there mufl be fome miftake in the demonftratlon. Now to proceed in this way with what may be called Mr. Hiimc*s theorem. If twelve men, whofe probiry and good fenfc I had long known, fhould fcrioufly and circumftantially relate to me an account of a miracle wrought before their eyes, and in which it was impoflible that they fliould be deceived ; if the governor of the country, hearing a rumour of this account, (liould call thefe men into his prefcnce, and offer them a fhort propofal, either to confefs the impofture, or fubmit to be tied up to a gibbet ; if they (liould refufe with one voice to acknowledge that there exifted any falfehood or impoflure in the cafe ; if this threat were com- municated to them feparately, yet with no dif- ferent effec"! ; if it was at laft executed ; if I my- fdf faw them, one after another, confenting to be racked, burnt, or flrangled, rather than give up the truth of their account : ftill, if Mr. Hume's rule be my guide, I am not to believe them. Now I undertake to fay that there exifls not a fceptic in the world who would not believe them j or who would defend fach incredulity.
Indances
12 PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
Inftances of fpurious miracles fupported by ftrong apparent teftimony undoubtedly demand examination, Mr. Hume has endeavoured to fortify his argument by fome examples of this kind. I hope in a proper place to fliow that none of them reach the ftrength or circumdances of the chriftian evidence. In thefe however con- lifts the weight of his objection. In the prin- ciple itfelf I am perfuaded there is none.
VART
PART I.
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRIS- TIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MI. RAGLES.
X HE two propofitions which I Ihiill endeavour to elhiblifli are thefe :
I. That there is fatisfii(ftory evidence t-hat many, profefling to be original witnefTcs of the Chriftiau miracles, pafled their lives in labours, dangers and fuilerings, voluntarily undergone in aiteftation of the accounts which they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of thofe accounts •, and that they alfo fubmitted from the fame motive to new rules of conduft.
II. That there is not fatisfn^tory evidence that perfons profcfRng to be original witnelTcs of other miracles, in their nature as certain as thefe are, have ever a(5ted in the fame manner, in atteftation of the accounts which they delivered, and properly in confequence of their belief of rhofe accounts.
The firfl of thefe propofitions, as it forms the argument, will fland at the head of the following nine chapters.
CHAPTF.K
14 A VIEW OF THE
CHAPTER I.
There Is fathfad:ory evidence that many^ P^rf^JJ'i-f^S '^ be original witneffes of the Chrijlian Miracles^ pajfed their lives in labours, dangers and fufferings ^ vfiluntarily undergone in attejiation of the accounts which they delivered^ and folely in confequence of their belief of thofe accounts; and that they alfo fubmitted from the fame motives to new rules of condiid.
JL O fupport this propofitlon two points are neccffary to be made out ; firft, that the founder of the inftitution, his afTociates and immediate fol- lowers, a(^ed the part which the propofition im- putes to them : fecondly, that they did fo, in attefta- tion of the miraculous hiitory recorded in our fcrip- tures, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of this hiftory.
Before we produce any particular tcdiraony to the a6livity and fufierings which compofe the fubje<ft of our iirfl: affertion, it will be proper to confider the degree of probability which the aiTcrtion de- rives from the nature of the cafe, that is, by infer- ences from thofe parts of the cafe which, in point of fa^l, are on all hands acknowledged.
Firfl: then, the Chriftian religion exlfls, and there- fore by forae means or other was eflabliflied. Now it either owes the principle of its edablilhrnent, /. e* itsfirfl: publication, to the aftivity of the perfon who was the founder of the inftitution, and of thofe who were joined with him in the undertaking, or we are driven upon the Itrange fuppofition, that, although they might lie by, others would take it upj although
they
EVIDENCES OF CHRIS 11 ANIT^. 15
they were quiet and filent, other perfons bufitd themfelves in the fuccefs and propagarion of their ftory. This is perfeclly incredible. 'Jo me it ap- pears litile lefs than certain, that, if the tird announ- cing of the religion by the founder had not bc::n followed up by the zeal and induftry of his imme- diate difciples, the fchemc muft have expired in its birth. Then as to the kind and degree of exertion which was employed, and the mode of lite to which thefe perfons fubmitied, we reafonably fuppofe it to be like that, which we obferve in all orhers who voluntarily become miUlonarie^ of a new faiih. Frequent, earned: and laborious preaching, con- llantly converfmg with religious perfons upon reli- gion, a fcqueflration from the conimon pleafu"es» engagements and varieties of lite, and an addi<fliou to one ferious objcft, compofe the habits of fucli men. I do not fay that rhis mode of life is without enjoyment, but 1 fay that the enjoyment fprings from fmcerity. With a confcioufnefs at the bottom, of hollownefs and falfchood, the fatigue and reflrain: v/ould become iufupportable. I am apt to believe that very few hypocrites engage in thefe under- takings; or, however, perlift in them long. Ordi- narily fpeaking, nothing can overcome the indolence of mankind, the love which is natural to mod tem- pers of chearful focicty and chearful fcenes, or the defire, which is common to all, of perfonal eafe and freedom, but ccnvi6lion.
Secondly, it is alfo highly probable, from the na- ture of the cafe, tnat the propagarion of the nev,' religion was attended with difficulty and danger. As addreffcd to the Jews it was a fyftem, adverfe not only 10 their habitual opinions, but to thofe opinions upon which their hopes, their partialities, iheir pride, their confolation was founded. This people, v.'ith or without reafo!), had worked tliem-
f elves
i6 A VIEW OF THE
felves into a perfuafion, that fomefignal, and greatly advantageous change, was to be cfTcckd in the con- dition of their country, by the agency of a long-pro- raifed raeffenger from heaven. The rulers of the Jews, their leading (cS:, their pricfthood, had been the authors of this perfuafion to the common peo- ■ple. So that it was not merely the conjefture of theoretical divines, or the fecrct expe^ation of a few reclufe devotees^ but it was become the popu- lar hope and palTion, and, like all popular opinions, undoubring, and impatient of contradiftion. They clung to this hope under every misfortune of their country, and with more tenacity as their dangers or calamities i.icreafed. To lind therefore that ex- pe(51-Lttions fo gratifying were to be worfe than dif- appointed, that they were to end in the diffufion of a mild unambitious religion, which, inftead of vic- tories and triumphs, inftead of exalting their nation and inftirution above the reft of the w^ord, was to advance thofe whom they defpifed to an equality with tlicmfelves, in thofe very points of comparifon in which they raoft valued "their own diftinction, could be no very pleafmg difcovery to a Jewifli mind : nor could the melTengers of fach intellio-ence expeft to be well received or eafily credited. The dodfrine was equally han'h and novel. The extend- ing of the kingdom of God to thofe who did not conform to the law of Mofes, was a notion that had never before entered into the thoughts of a Jew.
The character of the nevv^ inftitution was, in other refpefts aTo, ungrateful to Jewilli habits and prin- ciples. Their own religion was in a high degree technical. Even the enlightened Jew placed a great deal of ftrcfs upon the ceremoHies of his law, faw in them a great deal of virtue and efficacy ; the grofs and vulgar had icarcely any tiling elfe ; and the hy- pocritical and oftentatiou:; magnified them above, 1 mcafiirc.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 17
meafure, as bein^ the inftruments of their own repu- tation and influence. The Chridian fchcme, with- out formally repealing the Leviticiil code, lowered ics eftimation extremely. In the place oi (liiftnefs and 2eal in performing tiie obfervances which that code prcfcribed, or which tr.idirion had adiled to it, the new fe<5t preached up faith, well regulated alTec- tions, inward purity, and moral rectitude of difpofi- tion, as the true ground, on the part of the worlhip- per, of merit and acceptance with God. This, however rational it may appeai-, or recon-.m'^nding to us at prefenr, did not by any means facilitate the plan then. On the contrary, to difpurage thofe qualities which the higheit charafters in the country valued themfelves moft upon, was a fure way of making powerful enemies. As if the fiuftration of the national hope was not enough, the long-eileemed merit of ritual zeal and punctuality was to be decried, and that by Jews preaching to Jews.
The ruling party at Jerufalem had juft before crucified the founder of the religion. That is a fa£t which will not be difputed. They therefore who flood forth to preach the religion, mufl neceffarily reproach thefe rulers with an execution, which they could not but reprcfent as an unjuft and cruel murder. This would not render their omce more eafy or their fituation more fafe.
With regard to the interference of the Roman government which was then cftabliilicd in Judca, I (hould not expeft, that, dcfpifing, as it dd, the reli- gion of the country, it would, if left to itfelf, animadvert, either with much vigilance, or much feverity, upon the fchifms and controverfies wl.ich arofe v/ithin it. Yet there was that in Chriftianity which might eafily aiford a handle of accufaiion to a jealous government. The Chrifliai'is avowed an un- qualified obedience, to a new mailer. They avowed
C alfo
3 3 A VIEW OF THE
'Ai'o that lie was the pcrfon wlio had been fcrefolcl TO the J-ews under the fufjoec^ed title of King. The fpiriiual nariire of this •kingdom, the confiftency of this obedience with civil fubjc^tion, were difbinclions iQo refined to be entertained by a Roman prefident, rvho viewed the bufmefs at a great diftance, or ilirougb the medium of very hoflile reprcfentations. Our hiilories accordingly inform us. that this was TJie turn which tiie enemies of Jefus gave to his cbarafter and pretenfions in their reraonftrances with Pontius Piiate. And Juliin Martyr, about a hund- red years aherwards, complains that the fame miflake prevailed in his time; ye "" having heard that we are " waiting for a kingdom, fuppofe, without diflin- *' guilliing, that we mean a human, when in truth " we fpeak of that which is with God *." And it was undoubtedly a natural fource of calumny and mifconllrucbon.
The preachers therefore of Chriftianity had to contend with prejud>ce, backed by power. They liad to come forv/ard to a difappointed people, to a ])rierthood poiTcffing a confiderable fliare of munici- pal authority, and a«Sluated by ftrong motives of op- poHtion and refentinent; and they had to do thij under a foreign government, to whofe favour they made, no prctenilons, and which was conffantly fiir- rounded by tlieir enemies. The v/ell known, becatife tiie experienced fate of reformers, whenever the re- j'ormation fubverts fome reigning opinion, and does not proceed upon a change already taken place in lite fentimenis of a country, will not allow, much Ivfs lead us to fuppofe, tliat the firft propagators of Chriflianiry at Jerufalem and in Judea, with the dif- ficulties Mnd the enemies which they had to contend with, and ci'tircly dellitute, as they v/ere, of force,
■■' Apnl. i, p, 1 6. cd. Thirl.
• authority.
EViDIiNCES OF CHRISTIANIl Y. t^
aiiihority, or protc«Slion, could execute their million ■ W'hh perfonal eafe and fafety.
Let us next enquire what miiiiit reafonahly be. expec*^ed by the preachers oF Chriftianity when they turned themftlves to the heathen pubhc. Now the firrt: thing that (Irikes us is, that the religion they carried with them was cxclu/ive. It denied withcjuc referve the truth of every article of heathen mytho- logy, the exigence of every obje<ft of their worfliip. It accepted no compromife : it admitted no comprc- henfion. It mud prevail, if it prevailed at all, by the overthrow of every ftatue, altir and temple in the. world. It will not even be credited that a defign, fo ' bold as this was, could in any age be attempted to be carried into execution with impunity.
For it ought to be confidercd, that this was not fetiing forth, or magnifying the charafler and wor- (liip of fome new competitor for a place. in the Pan- theon, whofe pretenfions might be difcuflVd or aiTerted without queflioning the reality of any others. It was pronouncing all other Gods to be falfe, and all other worfliip vain. From the facility with which the Polytlieifm of ancient u^uions admitted new ob- ]cS:s of worfliip into the number of their acknow- ledged divinities, or the patience with which they might entertain propof^ls of this kind, we can argue nothing as to their toleration of a fyflcm, or of the publifliers and aclivr? propagators of a fyftcm, which fwept away the very foundation of the exifling efl:ablifliment. The one was nothing more tlian ic w^ould be, in Popifli countries, to add a fiint to the calendar; the other w^as to abolifli and tread under foot the calendar iifclf.
Secondly, it ought alfo to be confidered, rhar this Avas not ihe cafe of philofophers propounding in their books or in their fchools, doubts concerning the truth of the popular creed, or even avowing
C 2 t'lcir
1* A VIEW OF THE
their diibelief of it. Thefe philofophers did not go about from place to place to colleift profelytes from amongft the common people; to form in the heart of the country focieties profefling their tenets; to provide for the order, inftruftion, and permanency, of thefe focieties; nor did they enjoin their followers to withdraw themfelves from the public worfliip of the temples, or refufe a compliance with the rites inftituted by the laws *. Thefe things are what the Chriftians did, and what the philofophers did not: and in thefe confulied the aftivity and danger of ths enterprife.
Thirdly, it ought alfo to be confidered, that this danger proceeded not merely from folemn afts and public refolutions of the flate, but from fudden burfls of violence at particular places, from the licence of the populace, the raflinefs of fome magif- trates, and the negligence of others, from the influ- ence and infligation of interefted advcrfaries, and, in general, from the variety and warmth of opinion which an errand fo novel and extraordinary could not fail of exciting. I can conceive that the teachers of Chridianity might both fear and fuffer much from thefe caufes, without any general perfccution being denounced againft them by imperial authority. Some length of time, 1 fhould fuppofe, might pafs before the va(t machine of the Roman empire would be put in motion, or its attention ht obtained to religious controverfy ; but, during that time, a great deal of ill ufage might be endured by a fet of friendlefs, uiv
* The beft of the ancient philofophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epidtetus, allowed, or rather enjoined, men to worftip the gods of the country, and in the eftablifhed form. See paflages to thi3 purpnfe, collciSed from their works by Dr. Clarke, Nat. and Rev. Rel. p. i8o, Ed. V. Except Socrates, they :)!! thought it wifer to comply with the law.:, than to con- tend.
proteftcti
EVIDENCES OF CHRJSTIANITY. 2X
protected travellers, telling men, wherever they came, that the religion of their anccflors, the reli.- gioa in which they liad been brought up, the reli- gion of the flate and of the magiftrate, the rites M'hich they frequented, the pomp which they admired, was throughout a fyflem of folly and dclufion.
Nor do I think that the teachers of Chrlftianity would find protection in that general diPoelicf of the popular theology, which is fuppofed to have pre- vailed among the intelligent part of the heathen public. It is by no means true, that unbelievers are ufually tolerant. They are not difpofed (and why fliould they?) to endanger the prefent (late of thing?, by fufFering a religion of which they believe nothing, to be diflurbed by another of which they believe as little. They are ready themfelvcs to conform to any thing ; and are, oftentimes, amongfl the foremoft to procure conformity from others, by, any method which they think likely to be ef^Rcacious. When was ever a change of religion patronifed by infidels? How little, notwithflanding the reigning fcepticifm, and the magnified liberality of that age, the true principles of toleration were underflcod by the wifeft men amongil: them, may be gathered from two eminent and uncontcfted examples. The younger Pliny, polifhed as he was, by all the literature of that foft and elegant period, could gravely pronounce this monflrous judgment: " Thcfe who perfifted in " declaring themfelves Chriftians, I ordered to be " led away to punifliment, (/. e. to execution) for I " DID NOT DOUBT, whatever it ivas that they con- ^^ fejfed^ that contumacy and injlexible objlinacy ought ** to be pu7:ijhcci,** His mailer IVajan, a mild and accompiiflied Prince, went, neverthelefs, no farther in his fentiments of moderation and equity, than wlia: appears in the following refcript: " The
C n^ *' Chrillian
22' A VIEW OF THE
" Chriillans^arc not to be fought for, but if any arc '' brought before you, and convi£led,' they are to " be puniflicd." And this direction he gives, after it had been reported to him by bis own prefident, that, by the mod llrift examinaiion, nothing could be difcovered in the principks of tliefc perfons, but '* a bad and exceilive fuperflition," accompanied, it feems, with an oath or mutual federation, " to allow " themfelves in no crime or immoral conduiTl: what- '• ever." The truth is, the ancient heathens confi- dered religion entirely as an affair of ftate, as much under the tuition of the magiftrate as any other part of the police. The religion of that age was rot merely allied to the flate: it was incorporated into it.. Many of its ofTices were adminiftered by the magif- trate. Its titles of pontiffs, augurs, and ficunens, •were boinc by fenatcrs, confuls, and generals. — Without difcuffing, therefore, the truth of the theo- losjy, they refented every affront put upon the eifab- liflied worihip, as a diredl oppofition to the authority of government.
Add to which that the religious fyftems of thofe limes, however ill fupported by evidence, had been long eftablifiied. The ancient religion of a country has always many votaries, and fometimes not the fewer, btcaufe its origin is hidden in remotenefs and obfcurlty. Men have a natural veneration for anti- quity, efpccialiy in matters of religion. What Ta- citus fays of the Jewifli, was more applicable to the lieathen eflabliihment, " hi rirus, quoquo modo in- " dtifti, antiquit«ue, defenduntur." It was alfo a fplendid and furaptuous vvorfiiip. It had its priefl- hood, its endowments, its temples. Statuary, paint- ing, archixcturc, and mufic, contributed their effeft to its ornament and magnificence. It abounded in feilival {hows, and folemnities, to which the common people are greatly addicted j and which were of a
nature
EVIDENCES OF CI IRISH ANI'lY. 23
JKitnre to engage tlicm mncii raore than :my thinn; of that fort among ns. Thcfe tliin-rs would retain gre;it numbers on its fide by the falcincuion of fpcr- tacle and pomp, as v.xll as interclt n^any in its pre-- fcrvation by the advantage which thty drew from it. *' It was moreover intcrwovei]," as Mr. Gibhoii rightly reprelents it, " with every circiiniflance d *•* bulincls or pieafnre, oF pubhc or private life, v/ith •" all the ofHces and amufements of" focicty.'* Upon the due celebration alfo of its rites, the people were taught to believe, and did believe, tiiat the profpe- rity of their country in a great n^x'ifure depended.
I am willing to accept the account of the niattvT which is given by Mr. Gibbon : " The various *■' modes of worfiiip which prevailed in the Roman " world,, were all confidered by tlie people as equally *' true, by the philofophers as equally falfe, and by " the magidrate as equally ufcful:'^ and I would r.fh from which of thefe three claffes of men, were the Chriftian milTionarics to look for protection or impu- nity? Could thty expeft it from tJie people, " v/hofe " acknowledged confidence in the public religion'* they fubvertcd from its foundation? from the philo- foplier, who, "• confidering all religions as equally " falfc," would of courfe rank theirs amongfl the number, with the addition of regarding them as bufy and troui.)lefomc zealots? or from the magillrare, who, fatisfied with the '• uiiiity" of the fubfilling re- ligion, would not be likely to countenance a fpirit of profelytifm and inndvation; a fyftem, which declared war againil every- other, and wliich, if it prevailed, rnuft end, in a total rupture oi .pnb'ic opinion; an uprtart religion, in a worJ, v.hich was not content with, its own authority, but- nuiftdifgrace all the fettled religions of. t-heworld? It was not to be ima- gined that he would enxkire wiflKpanencei" t'f:at tlie religion of the emperor and of the llaie Ihould be C 4 tLdumiiiaitJ
?4 A VIEW OF THE
calumniated and borne down, by a company of fuperftitious and defpicable Jews.
Ladly, the nature of ihe cafe affords a ftrong proof, that the original teachers of Chriilianity, in, confequence of their new profeffion, entered upon a new and fmgular courfe of life. We may be allowed to prefume, that the inflimtion which they preached to others, they conformed to in their own perfons ; bscaufe this is no more than what every teacher of a new religion borh does, and mufc do, in order to obtain either profelytes or hearers. The change which this would produce was vt-ry confiderable. Ic is a change which we do not eafily eftimate, becaufe ourfelves and all about us being habituated to the inflitution from our infancy, i: i^ what we neither experience nor obferve. Aft-er men became Chrif- tians, much of their time was fpent in prayer and devotion, in religious meetings, in celebrating the euchiirift, in conferences, in exhortations, in preach- ing^, in an affedionate intercourfc with one another, and eorrefpondence with other focieties. Perhaps their mode of life, in its form and habit, was not very unlike that of the Unitas fratrum, or of modern Methodifts. Think then what it was to becomeyz/(:>6 at Corinth, at Ephefus, at Antioch, or cv^n at Jeru- falem. How new? How alien from all their former habits and ideas, and from thofe of every body about them? What a revolution there muft 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 difintereited a con- duft they enjoin ; and that this purity and benevo- lence is extended to the very thoughts and afFedions, We are not perhaps at liberty to take for granted, that the lives oi the preachers of Chriflianity wcr€ as perfeft as their leffons: but we are entitled to f<?ntend, that the obfervable part of their behaviour
mufl
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 25
muft have agreed in a great mcafurc with the duties which they taught. There was", therefore, which is all that we afiert, a courfe of life piirfued by them, difFerent from that which they before led. And this is of great importance. Men are brought to any thing almofl fooner than to change their habit of life, efpecially, when the change is either incon- venient, or made againft: the force of natural incli- nation, or with the lofs of accuftomed indulgences. " It is the mod difficult of all things, to convert men *' from vicious habits to virtuous ones, as every one " may jud ^c from what he feels in himfclf, as well *' as from what he fees in others*.'* It is almofl like making men over again.
Leit then to myfelf, and without any more infor- mation than a knowledge of the exidence of the religion, of the general ftory upon which it is founded, and that no aft of power, force, or autho- rity, was concerned in its firlt fuccefs, 1 fhoilld con- clude, from the very nature and exigency of the cafe, that the author of the religion during his life, and h's immediate difciples after his death, exerted thcmfelves in fpreading and publifhing the inftitution throughout the country in which it began, and into which it was firil carried; that, in the profccntion of this purpofc, they underwent the labours and troubles, which we obferve the propagators of new fefts to undergo; that the attempt mufl: necclTarily have alfo been in a high degree dangerous; that, from the fubjeft of the miffion, compared with the fixed opinions and prejudices of thofe to whom the miffionaries were to addrcfs thcmfelves, they could hardly fail of encountering ftrong and frequent op- pofition; that, by the hand of government, as well as from the fudden fury and unbridled licence of the
• Hartley's E(i. on Man, p. 190.
people,
0.6 A 'VIEW OF THE
people, they would oftentimes exTperience injurious and cruel treatment ; that, at any rare, they mull have always had fo much to fear for their perfonal far'eiy, as to have paiTed their lives in a ftate of con- ilant peril and anxiety ; and lailly, that their mode of lilc and condnft, vifibiy at lead, correfpondcd with the inflitution which they delivered, and fo far, was both nev/, and required continual felf denial.
CHAP. II.
^hsrs n fatisfndory evidence, thn.i many pfofejjing to be. original 'UJitncffcs of the Chrijiian Miracles, fajfcd their lives in labours, dangers and fiiferings, 'oohintarily iindergcne in atfejlafion of toe accounts ivhich. they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of t-hefe accounts ; and that they afo fiibmitted from the fame motive to nciu rules of conduct,
i\FTER tiius confidering what was likely to happen, we are next to enquire how the tranla6lion is reprcfented in the fe.veral accounts that have comedown to us. And this enquiry is pro- perly preceded by the other, for.ifmuch as the re- ception of thefe accounts may depend in part upon the credibility of what they cofitain.
The obfcure and didant view of Chriftianity, which feme of the heathen writers of that age had gained, and v/hich a few paiTages in their remaining works incidentally difcover to us, offers itfelf to our notice in the firfl plac£ : becaufe, fo far as this evi- dence
EVIDENCES OF CIIRISriANITY. 27
dence goes, it is ihc concelTion of advcrfaries : the Iburce from which ic is drawn is imfufpcftctl. Un- der this head a qiiotiition from Tacitus, well known TO every fcholar, mull: be infcrted as dcfcrving of particular attention. The reader will bear in mind that this pafTage was written about feventy years afcer ChriiVs death, and that it relates to tranfac- tions which took place about thirty yearr, after tliai event. Speaking of the fire which happene{! at Rome in the time of Nero, and of the fufpicions which were entertained that the emperor himfcif was concerned in caufuig it, the hidorian proceeds in his narrative and obftrvations thus ;
" Bur neither thefe exertions, nor his hirgefles " to the people, nor his offerings to the gods, did " away the infamous imputation under which Nero " lay, of having; ordered the city to be fet on fire. '' To put an end therefore to this report, he hiid " the guilt, and infli<5ied the moll cruel puniflirnenfi '- upon a fct of people, who were held in abhor- " rence for their crimes, and called by the vulgar " Chriftians. The founder of that name was Chrifl, '" who fuffercd death in the rcii:^n of Tiberius, un- " der his procurator Pontius Pilate. — This pcrni- " cious fuperllition, thus checked for a while, ** broke out again ; and fprcad, not only over Ju- " da^a, where the evil originated, but through " Rome alio, whither every thing bad upon eartii " finds irs way, and is pra^ifed. Some who ton- " feffed their fe£l were firft feized, and afterwards '" by their information a valt multitude were appre- " hended, who were convi61edj not fo much of the " crime of burning Rome, as of hatred to mankind, " Their full^rings at their execution were aggra- " vated by infult and mockery, for fome were dif- " guifed in the f!<ins of wild beads, and worried to " death by dogs — fome were crucified — and othtr>
*■' were
28 A VIEW OF THE
" were wrapt In pitched fliirts*, and fet on fire " when the day clofed, that they mighr fervc as " lights to illuminate the night. Nero lent his own " gardens for thefe executions ; and exhibited at *' the fame time a mock Circenfian entertainment, *' being a fpeftator of the whole in the drefs of a. *' charioteer, fometimes mingling with the crowd on *' foot, and fometimes viewing the fpv 6iacles from *' his car. This condu6l made the fuiferers pitied j *' and though they were criminals, and deferving *' the fevered: punifliment, yet they were confidered ** as facrificed, not fo much out of a regard to the *' public good, as to gratify the cruelty of one man." Our concern with this pafTage at prefcnt is only .-To far, as it affords a prefumprion in fupport of the propofitlon which we maintain, concerning the afti- vity and fuferings of the firll: teachers of Chriftia- ■nity. Now, conlldered in this view, it proves three things, ift, that the founder of the inftitution was put to death ; 2dly, that, in the fame country in which he was put to death., the religion, after a Ihort check, broke out again and fpread ; 3dly, that it fo fpread, as that, within thirty-four years from the author's death, a very great number of Chrifti- ans (Ingens eorum raultitudo) were found at Roiue. From which h£t, the two following Inferences may be fairly drawn ; firft, that, if, in the fpace of thirty- four years from its commencement, the religion had fpread throughout Judaea, had extended itfelf to Rome, and there had numbered a great multitude of converts, the original teachers and miffionaries 6f the inflitutlon could not have been idle j fecondly,
* This is rather a paraphrafe, but is jnftificd by Avhat the Scholiafl: upon Juvenal fays — " Nero maleficos homines teda et " papyro et cera fuper veftiebat, et fic ad ignem ad mover! ju- " bebat, ut arderun:." Lard, Jewifii ai'id Heath. Teft. vol. I.
P- 359-
that
EVIDEN'CES OF CHRISTIANITY. 29
that when the author of the undertaking was put to death as a malefaf^or for his attempt, the endea- vours of his foUcwers to eftahlifli his religion, in the fame country, amongfl: the fame people, and in the feme age, could not but be attended with danger.
Suetonius, a writer contemporary with Tacitus, defcribin ', the trmfaftions of the fame reign, ufes thefe words, " Affi^fti fupliciis Chrilliani, genus ho- *' minim fuperftiiionis novje et maleficje *.** " The " Chrillians a fct of men, of a new and mifchievous ** (or magical) fuperftition, were puniflied.'*
Since it is not mentioned here that the burning of the city was the pretence of the punillimtnt of the Chrillians, or that they were the Chriftians of Rene who alone fuffered, it is probable that Sueto- nius refers to fome more general perfecution than the ihort and occafional one which Tacitus defcribes.
Juvenal, a writer of the fame age with the two former, and intending, as it fliould feem, to comme- morate the cruelties exercifed under Nero*s go- vernment, has the following lines | :
** Pone Tigellinum teua lucebcs in ilia
" Qua ftantes ardenr, qui fixo gutturc fiimant,
** Et latum media fulcum \ deducit arena."
'• Defcribc Tigellinum, (a creature of Nero's) and ** you iliall fuffcr the fame punifhment with thofe " who (land burning in their own flame and fmoke, " their head being held up by a Hake fixed to their ** chin, till they make a long ftream of blood and " melted fulphur on the ground."
If this palfage v/ere confidered by itfelf, the fub- Jeft of the allufion might be doubtful ; but whea eonnedted with the teliimony of Suetonius, as to the
* Suet. Nero. cap. 16. f Saf. i. ver. 15;.
X Forfan "deducis."
av>ual
30 A VIEW OF THE
aftual puniriiinciu of the ChriRians by Nero ; and W'ith the ?iCcount given by Tacicus of the /peeks of punifliment which they were 'made to undergo ; I think ic fufHciendy probable, that thefe were the executions to which the poet refers.
Thefc things, as has already been obferved, took place within thirty-one years a*ter Cnril't's death, that is, according to the courfe of nature, in the life-time, probably, of fome of the apoftlcs, and cer- tainly in the life-time of thofe'who were converted by the apoRles, or who were converted in their lime. If then the founder of the religion was put to de?uh. in the execution of his def]gn ; if the firfl race of converts to the religion, many of them fuf- fered the greateil extremities for iheir profcfTion ; it is hardly credible that thofe who came between the two, who v;ere companions of the author of the in- iliruiion during his life, and the teachers and propa- pators of the inftitution after his death, could "o about their undertaking with eafe and fafety-
The teftirnony of the younger Pliny belongs to a later period ; for although he Vi'a:-: contemporary with Tacitus and Suetonius, yet his account does nor, like theirs, go back to the tranfadions of Nero's reign, but is confmed to the auairs of his own time. His celebrated letter to Trajan was vv'ritten about feventy years after Chrifl's death ; and the informa- tion to be drawn from it, fo far as it is connefted ^vith our argument, relates principally to two points; ilril, to the number of Chriflians in Byihynia and Fontus, whkh was fo confiderable as to induce the governor of thefe provinces to fpeak of them in the following terms, " Multi, omnis £etatis, utriufque " fexiis etiiim- — neque cniii^ civitatcs tantum, fed vi- *' cos etiam ct agros, fuperftiiionis .ilfius contagio " pervagata eft." " There arc many of every age " and of both fexes — nor has the contagion of this
" fuper-
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. ji
" fuperftition feized cities only, but fmalltir towns *' alfo, :ind the open cnnntvy.'* Great exertions rnuft have been ufcd by the preachers of Chrillia- nity to produce this fiate of thin^^s within iliis time. Secondly, to a point which hath been already no- ticed, and which I think of importance to be ob- ferved, namely, the fuH'erings to which Chrifiians were expofed, ivilhout any public pcifecuiion bein^; denounced againlt them by fovercign authority. For, from Pliny's doubt how he was to aft, hij filence concerning any fubiiCtinglaw upon the fub- je6l, his requeuing the emperor's refcript, and the emperor, agreeably to hi:» rcqucft, propounding a rule for his dire^^tion, without reference to any prior rule, it may be inferred, that there was, at that lime, no public cdi(5l againft tlie Chriftians in force. Yet from this fame epillle of Pliny it appears " that ac- " cufations, trials and examinations were, and had " been, going on againH: them, in the provinces " over which he prefided ; that fchedules were de- " livered by anonymous informers, containing the " names of pnfons who were fufpefled of holding " or o'i favourmg the religion ; that, in coiifcquence " of thefe informations, many had been apprehend- " ed, of whiOm fome boldly avowed their profeiTion, " and died in the caufe ; others denied that they " were, Chridians ; otliers acknowledged that they " had once been Chrifdans, but declared that they " had long ceafed to be fuch." All which demon- ftrates, that the profefTion of ChriRianity was at that time (in that country at lead) atiei.d -d with fear and danger; and yet this took place without any edift from the Roman fovcreign, commanding or awiho- rifmg the perfecution of Chrillians. This obferva- tion is further confirmed by a refcript of Adrian to Miniuius Fundanus, the pro-conful of Afia * : from
* L?.rd. Ileiith, Tcfl. vol. II. a 1 1 o.
which
3Z A VIEW OF THE
which receipt it appears that the cuftom of the peo- ple of Afia was to proceed againfl the Chriftians with tumult and uproar. This diforderly praftice, I fay, is recognized in the edift, becaufe the emperor enjoins, that, for the future, if the Chriftians were guilty they ftiould be legally brought to trial, and not be purfued by importunity and clamour.
Martial \vrote a few years before the younger Pliny ; and, as his manner was, made the fufferings of the Chriftians the fubjeft of his ridicule*. No- thing however could (how the notoriety of the hO: with more certainty than this does. Martial's tefti- raony, as w^U indeed as Pliny's, goes alfo to another point, viz. that the deaths of thefe men were mar- tyrdoms in the flrifteft fenfe, that is to fay, were fo voluntary, that it was in their power, at the time of pronouncing the fentence, to have averted the exe- cution, by confenting to join in heathen facrifices.
The conftancy, and by confequence the fufferings, of the Chriftians of this period, is alfo referred to by Epiftetus, who imputes their intrepidity to mad- nefs, or to a kind of fafliion or habit; and about fifty years afterwards, by Marcus Aurelius, who afciibe^ it to obftinacy. " Is it polllble" (Epicletus afks) '* that a man may arrive at this temper, and " become indifferent to thofe things, from madnefs or " from habit, m the Oalileam\V^ " Let this prepa- " ration of the mind (to die) arife from its own judg- " meut, and not from obftinacy like the Chrijiians^.'^
* In rnatutina nuper fpecJlatus arena
Mucius, impofuit qui ina irembra foels j Si patiens, fortifque tibi, durufque videtur, Abderitanas pectora plebis habes. Nam cum dicatur tunica pr^fente molerta, Uref manum: plus eft dicsre, non facio.
± Epic. 1, iv. c. 7. § Marc. Aur. Med. 1. xi. c. 3.
I Forfan " thure rnanum.''
2 CHAP.
EVIDENCES or CHRISTIANITY. 33
CHAP. III.
There is falls fiiciory evidence^ thai many profcjfing to be original luitncffcs of the Cbrijiian Miracles^ pa [fed fJjeir lives in labours^ dangers^ and fuffcr- ings, voluntarily undergone in alteflation of the ac- counts which they delivered^ and folcly in confc-^ quence of their belief of thefe accounts ; and that they alfo fubmitted fro?n the fame motive to r.eis) ru 'cs of conduct.
vJf the primitive condition of Chrlfli- anity, a diilant only and general view can be ac- quired fro n lieaihen writers. It is in our own books that the detail asd interior of the tranfii^lion mult be fought for. And this is nothing different from what mii^ht be cxpefted. Who would write a hiflory ot Chri!Vi;iniry hut a Chrillian ? Who was likely to re- cord the travels, fulferings, labours, or fucceffes of the apoftles, hnx. one of their own ninnber, or of their followers .? Now thcfc books come up in their acconnrs to the full extent of the propofition which we maintain. We have four hiftories of Jefus Chriff. We have a hi (lory taking up the narrative from his death, and carrying on a;i account of the propagation of the religion, and of fome of the mod eminent perfons engaged in it, for a fpace of nearly thirty years. We have, what fome may think ftill more original, a c;)lic6tion of letter^, written by certain principal agents in the bufmefs, upon the bufincfs, and in the midfl of their concern and cannesflicn with it. And we have thcfc writings feverally at- teiling the point which we contend f^r, viz. the fut- ferings of the witiieffes of the hillory, and attefling
D it
;I4 A VIEW OF THE
it in every vririety of form in which it can be con-* ceived to appear ; directly and indire£lly, exprefsly and incidentally, by affertion, recital and allufion, by narratives of fa6fs, and by argurncnts and difcourfes built upon thcfe facls, either referring to them, or necelTarily prefupp' fmg them.
I remark this variety, bccaufe in examining an- cient records, or indeed any fpecies of teftimony, it is, in my opinion, of the greatcfl importance to at- tend to the information or grounds of argument which are cafually and undefignedly difclofed ; foraf- mu(h as this fpecies . f proof, is, of all others, the leafl liable to be corrupted by fraud or niifrepre- fentation.
I may be allov/ed therefore, in the enquiry Vv'hich is nov/ before us, to fuggell fome conclufions of this fort, as preparatory to more direft tedim.ony.
I. Our books relate, .that Jefus Chrifl, the founder of the religion, v^'as, in confequence of his undertak- ing, put to death, as a raalefacftor, at Jerufalera. This point at leaft will be granted, becaufe it is no more than what Tacitus has recorded. They then proceed to tell us, that the religion was, notzvith- Jiand'mgy fet forth at this fam.e city of Jerufalem, propagated from thence throughout Judasa, and af- terwards preached in other parts of the Roman em- pire. Thefe points alfo are fully confirmed by Ta- citus, Vv^ho informs us that the religion, after a fhorc check, broke out again in the country where it took its rife ; that it not only fpread throughout Judcea, but had reached Rome ; and iVix. it had there great multitudes of converts : and all this within thirty years after its commxencement. Now thefe facts af- ford a (frong inference in behalf of the propofition which we maintain. What could the difciples of Ghriff expecl for themfelves, when they faw their Waller put to death I Could they hope to efcape the
dangers.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 35
i3angers, in which he had periflied ? If tliey have perfccutcd me, they will alfo perfecute you, was the warning of common fenfe. With this example be- fore their eyes, they could not be without a fall fenfe of the peril of their future enterprife.
2. Secondly, all the hillories agree in reprefent- ing Chrili as foretelling the perfccution of his fol- lowers.
" Then fliall they deliver you up to be afllitfted, " and (hall kill you, and ye fliall be hated of all na- " tions for my name's fake*."
" When affliftion or perfccution arifcth for the *' word's fake, immediately they are oiFcnded|.'*
" They fliall lay hands on you, and perfecute you, " delivering you up to the fynagogues, and into pri- *' fons, being brought before kings and rulers for " my name's fake — and ye fliall be betrayed both " by parents and brethren, and kinsfolks and " friends, and fome of you fliall they caufe to be *' put to death J."
" l"ne time coraeih that he that killeth you will *' think that he doeth God fervice. And thefc things " will they do unto you, becaufe they have not " known the Father nor me. But thefe things have *' 1 told you, that when the time fliall come ye may " remember that 1 told you of them §."
I atn nor entitled to argue from ihcfe pafT.iges, that Chrill aftually did foretel thefe events, and that they did accordinidy come to pafs, becaufe that would be at once to affume the truth of the religion : but I am entitled to contend, that one fide or other of the following disjunction is true, either that the evange- lifts have delivered what Chrifl: really fpoke, and
* Matt. xxiv. 9. f Mark \v. 17, fee alf^J x. ;7o.
|, Luke xxi. 12 — 16. fee alfo xi. 49.
j John xvi. 4. fee alfo xv. 20, and xvi. 35.
D 2 that
Yy A VIEW OF THE
that the event correfponded with the prediction ; or that they put the prediction into Chrift's mouth, be- caufe at the time of writing the hiftory, the event had turned out fo to be : for the only two remaining fuppofitions appear in the highefl degree incredible, which are, either that Chrift filled the minds of his followers with fears and apprehenfions, without any j-eafon or authority for what he faid, and contrary to the truth of the cafe ; or that, although Chrift had never foretold any fuch thing, and the event would have contradi£led him if he had, yet hiflo- rians who lived in the r.ge when the event was known, falfely as well as officiouily, afcribed thefe words to him.
3. Thirdly, thefe books abound W'lth exhorta- tions to patience, and with topics of comfort under diflrefs.
" Who fliall feparatc us from the love of Chrifl: ? ** Shall tribulation, or diftrefs, or perfecution, or *' famine, or nakednefs, or peril, or fword ? Nay, " in all thefe things we are more than conquerors *' through him that loved us*."
" We are troubled on every fide, yet not dif- *' treffed ; we are perplexed, but not in defpair ; *' perfccuted, but not forfaken ; cad down, but not " deliroyed ; always bearing about in the body the *' dying of the Lord Jefus, that the life alfo of Jefus " might be made manifeO: in our body — knowing " that he which raifed up the Lord Jefus, fliall raife " us up alfo by Jefus, and fhall prefent us with you " — for which caufe v/e faint not, but, though our " outv/ard man periai, yet the inward man is re- " newed day by day ; for our light affliction, which " is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more *' exceeding and eternal weight of glory f.*'
* Rom. viii, 35, 37. f 2 Cor. Iv.S, 9, lo, 14, 16, 17.
" Tak5
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 37
" Take my brethren the prophets, who have *' fpoken in the name of the Lord, for an example ** of fufFcring affliction, and of patience. Bt'hcld we " count them happy which endure. Ye have heard " of the patience of Job, and have feen 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 afflictions, partly whilft ye were made a " gazing flock both by reproaches and afiliCtions, *' and partly, whilft ye became companions of them " that were fo ufed ; for ye had compafTion of me " in my bonds, and took joyfully the fpoiling of " your goods, knowing in yourfelves that ye have *' in heaven a better and an enduring fubftance. *' Caft not dway therefore your confidence, which " hath great recompence of reward ; for ye have " need of patience, that after yc have done the will ** of God, ye might receive the promife-j-."
" So that we ourfelvcs glory in you in the " churches of God, for your patience and faith in ** all your perfecutions and tribulations that ye en- " dure. Which is a mariifcft token of the righteous "judgment of God, that ye may be accounted " worthy of the kingdom tor which ve alfo fuf- « ferj."
" We rejoice in hope of the glory of Cod ; and " not only fo, but we glory in tribulations alfo ; " knowing that tribulaiion workcth patience, and " patience experience, and experience hope§.'*
" Beloved, think it not ftrange concerning the " fiery trial which is to try you, as though fome " ftrange thing happened unto you, but rejoice,
* James v. 10, 11. f Heb. x. 32 — 36.
I 2 Their, i. I — 5. § Rom. v. 3, 4.
D ^ " inafmuch
38 A VIEW OF THE
** inafmnch as ye are partakers of ChfiTl's fufFerings. *' Whrrefore let them that fufFer according to the " will of God, commit the keeping of their fouls to " him in well doing as unto a faitliful Creator*."
What could all thefe rexts mean, if there was nothing in the circuraftances of the limes which required patience, which called for the exercife of conftancy and refolution ? or will it be pretended that ihefe exhortations (which let it be obferved, come not from one author, but from many) were put in, merely to induce a belief in after-ages, that the firfl Chrillians were expofed to dangers which they were not expofed to, or underwent fufFerings which they did not undergo ? If thefe books belong to the age to which they lay claim, and in which age, whether genuine or fpurious, - they certainly did appear, this fuppofition cannot be maintained for a moment; becaufe I.think it impoffible to believe that palTages, which mufi: be deemed not only unin- telligible but falfe, by the perfons into whofe hand, the books upon their publication were to come, fliould neverthelefs be inferted, for the purpofe of producing an effeft upon remote generations. In forgeries which do not appear till many ages after that to which they pretend to belong, it is pofTible that fome contrivance of that fort may take place 5 but in no others can it be attempted.
* I Peter, iv. 12, 13, 19.
CHAP.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. ^^
CHAP. IV.
There is fatisfa6lory evidence that many profejftng io be original %uitneffes of the Chrijlian Miracles^ pajfed their lives in labours^ ■ dangers and fujf'er- ings, voluntariiy undergone in atfejiation of the accounts which they delivered, and folcly in confe- quence of their belief of thofe accounts ; and that they alfo fubmitted from the fame motives to new rules of conduct.
1 HE account of the treatment of the religion and of the exertions of its firll preachers, as dated in our fcriptures, not in a profclTed hiftory of perfecutions, or in the connected manner in which 1 am about to recite it, but difperfedly and occa- fionally, in the courfe of a mixed, general, hiftory, (which circum!lance alone negatives the fuppofiiioii of any fraudulent defign) is the following ; " That " the founder of Chriftianity, from the commence- " ment of his miniftry to the time of his violent " death, employed himfclf wholly in publiihing the *' inftiiurion in Judaea- and Galilee ; that, in order " to afliil him in this purpofe, he made choice, out " of the number of his followers, of twelve pcrfcns, " who might accompany him as he travelled from " place to place ; that, except a (liort abftnce upon " a journey, in which he fent them, two by two, " to announce his miuinn, and one, of a few days, " when they went before him to Jerufalem, thefe " perions were ftatediy and conftanrly attending " upon him ; that they were with him at Jerufalem " when he was apprehended and put to death ; and " that they y/ere commillioned by him, when his
D 4 " own
4« A VIEW OF THE
own miniftry was concluded, to publifli his gofpel, and collefl difciples to it from all countries of the world." The account then proceeds to flate, 1 hat, a few days after his departure, thefe per- fons, with fome of his relations, and fome who had regularly frequented their fociety, affemhled at Jerufalem ; that, confidering the office of preaching the religion as now devolved upon them, and one of their number having deferred the caufe, and, repenting of his perfidv, having deftroyed himfclf, they proceeded to eieft another into his place, and that they were careful to make their election out of the number of thofe who had accompanied their mailer from the firft to the lad:, in order, as they alleged, that he might be a wit- nefs, together with thtmfelves, of the principal fa6ls which they were about to produce and re- late concerning him*; that they began their work at Jeriifalem, by publicly afferting that this Jefos, whom the rulers and inhabitants of that place had fo lately crucified, was, in truth, the perfon in whom ail their prophecies and long expe6>ations terminated ; that he had been fent amongfl them by God ; and that he was appointed by God the future judge of the human fpecies ; that all, who were folicitous to fecure to themfelves happinefs after death, ought to receive him as fuch, and to make profefiion of their belief, by being baptifed in his name-j-." The hiflory goes on to relate. That confiderable numbers accepted this propofal, and thofe who did fo, formed amongft themfelves a UrlLl: union and fociety|; that, the attention of the Jewiili government being foon drawn upon them, two of the principal perfons of the twelve, and who alfo had lived moil intimately and con-
* A£ts i. 21, 22. t Aas xl. X Ads V. 41.
" ftantly
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 41
*' ftantly with the founder of the religion, v/ere fcized *' as they were difcourfmg to the people in the tem- " pie; that, after being kept all nisjht in prifon, tliey " were brought the next day before an ailembly *' compofed of the chief perfons of the Jewifli ma- '♦ giftracy and priedhood ; that this affembly, after *' ifome confiiitatJon, found nothing, at that time, «'• better to be done towards fuppreffing the growth *' of the feet, than to threaten their prifoncrs with *' punifliment if they perfifted •, that thefe men, after *' txpreffing, in decent but firm language, the obli- *' gatian under which they cortfidered themfelves to " be, to declare what they knew, ' to fpe■^k the " things which they had fcen and heard,* returned •' from the council, and reported what had pafled " to their companions ; that this report, whiHl it *' apprized them of the danger of their fituation and *' undertaking, had no other effefl upon tlieir con- " duct, than to produce in them a general refolutioii *' to perfevere, and an earneft prayer to God to " farnifli them with alTi.lance, and to infpire them " with fortitude, proportioned to the increafmg " exigency of the fervice'*.'* A very fliort time after this, we read *' that all the twelve apoftles " were feized and call into prifon | ; that being " brought a fv-xond time before the Jewifli San- *' hedrim, they were upbraided with their difobe- " dience to the injunftion which had been laid upoa " tiiem, and beaten for their contumacy ; that be- *' ing charged once more to dsfift, they were fuf- *' fered to depart ; that, however, they neither *' quilted jerufalem, nor ceafed from preaching, *' both daily in the temple, and from houfe to "lioufej; and that the twelve confiJered them.
* Ads iv. f Aas V. iS, X Afts V.
*' felves
42 A VIEW OF THE
*' felves as fo entirely and exclufively devoted t© *' this office, tliat they now transferred, what may *' be called the temporal affairs of the fociety, to " other hands *."
Hitherto the preachers of the new religion feem to have had the common people on their fide; which is affi;;^ned as the reafon, why the Jewiih rulers did not, at this time, think it prudent to proceed to greater extremities. It was not long, however, be- fore the enemies of the inllitution found means to reprefent it to the people as tending to fubvert their law, degrade their law giver, and diflionour their temple f. And thefe infinuations were dif- perfed with fo much fuccefs, as to induce the people to join with their fuperiors in the ftoning of a very ;i6live member of the new community.
* I do not know that it has ever been infmuated, that the Chriftian miffion, in the hafids oi: the apoftles, was a Icheme -for making a fortune, or for getting money. But it may, neverthelels be fit to remark upon this palTage of their hiftory, how perfecily free they appear to have been from any pecu- niary or interclled views whatever. The mod tempting oppor- tunity, which occurred, of making a gain of their converts, was by the.cuftody and management of the public funds, when fome of the richer members, intending to contribute their fortunes to the common fupport of the fociety, fold their pof- feffions, and laid down the prices at the apoftles' feet. Yet fo infenable or undefnous were they of the advantage which that confidence aflbrded, that, we find, they very foon dif- pofed of the truli, by putting it into the hands, not of nomi- nees of their own, but of itewards formally elected for the purpofe by the fociety at large.
We may add, alfo, that this excefs of generofity, which caPt private property into the public ilock, was fo far from being required by the apoflles, or impofed as a law of Chriftianity, that Peter reminds Ananias that he had been guilty, in his behaviour, of an officious and voluntary prev<:rication ; for whilft, fays he, thy eftate rem.ained unfold, '♦ was it not thine *' own ? and, after it was fold, was it not in thine own power ?"
f Afts vi. 12.
The
EVIDENCES OF CIIllISTIANITY. 43
The death of this man was the fignal of a (general perfecution j which rai'^ed at Jerulalcm with (o much fury, as to drive moll: * of the new converts out of the place, except the twelve apoftles. The converts, thus ••' fcattered abroad," preached the rehgioii wherever they came ; and their preaching was, in efle^l, tlie preaching of the tzueive, for it was fo far carried on in concert and corrcfpondcnce with t/jcm, thar, when they heard of the fuccefs of their emif- faries in a particular country, they fent two of their number to the place, to complete and confirm the niiilion.
An event now took place, of great importance in the future niltory of the religion. The | perfecu- tion which had begun at Jerufalem, followed the Chriftians to other cities, in which the authority of the Jewilh Sanhedrim over *hofe of their own nation was allowed to be exercifed. A young man, who had lignalized himfelf by his hoRility to the profcf- fk-n, and had procured a coram iiiion from the coun- cil at jerufalem to fcizi any converted Jews whom he might find at Damafcu"^, fuddenly became a pro- felyte to the religion which he was going about to extirpate. The new convert not only ihared, upon this extraordinary change, the fate of his compa- nions, but brought upon himfelf a double meafurc of enmity from the party which he had left. The Jews at Damafcus, upon liis return to that city, watched the gates night and day with (o much dili- gence, that he efcapcd from their liaiida only by
'* A>5ts viii. I. And they were all fcattered abro;id ; but the term *' all" is not, I think, to be taken Ihialy, or as de- noting more than the gtneiaUfy; in like manner as in AiSs ix. 35. " And aH tl-.at dwelt at Lydd.i and iJuron faw him, and *« turned to the Lord."
f Ads ix.
being
4.^ A VIEYv- OF THE
being let down in a balket by the wall. Nor did" lie find himfelf in greater fafety at Jerufalem, whi- tber he immediately repaired. Attempts were there alfo foon fet on foot to dcftroy him, from the dan- ger of which he was prcferved by being fcnt away to Cilicia, his native country*
For fome reafon, not mentioned, perhaps not known, but probably connefted with the civil hiilory of the Jews, or with fome danger * which engroifed the public attention, an intermiiTion about this time took place in the fulFerings of the Chriftians. This happened, at the moil only feven or eight, perhaps only three or four years, after Chrift's death. Within which period, and notv^ithilanding that the late perfecntion occupied part of it, churches, or focieties of believers, had been formed in all Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria ; for we read that the churches in thefe countries " had now reft, and were edified, *' and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the " comfort of the Holy Ghoft:, were multiplied. •]-'* The original preachers of the religion did not remit iheir labours or adivity during this feafon of quiet- Eefs ; for wc find one, and he a very principal per- fon amongft them, pafting throughout all quarters. We find alfo thofe, who had been before expeiled from Jerufalem by the perfecution wliich raged there, travelling as far as Phisnice, Cyprus, and Antioch t : And laftly, we find Jerufalem again the centre of the milTion, the place whither the preachers returned from their feveral excurfions, where they
* Dr. Lardner (in which he is followed alio by Dr. Ben- fbn) afcribes this ceiratiou of the perfecution of the Chriliians to the attempt of Caligula to fet up his own ftatue in the Tem- ple of je;ufalem,3nd to the conftemation thereby excited in the ininds of the Jewifn people ; which coiifternatiou for a feafon excluded ev^ry other conteft.
f A£ts ix. 31. X ^^^^ xi' ^^9*
reported
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, 45
reported the conduft and effects of their rainiflry, where qiieftions of public concern were canvaflcd and fettk-d, from whence directions were fought, and teachers fent forth.
The time of this tranquillity did not, however, continue long. Herod A^^rippa, who had lately accecied 10 the government of Judxa, '• (Iretched " forth his hand to vex certain of the church *." He began his cruelty by beheading one of the tw-elve original apoftles, a kinfman and conflant companion of the founder of the rcligijn. Per- ceiving that this execution gratified the Jews, he proceed-e-.! to feize, in order to put to dearh, another of the number; and him, like the former, alTociated with Chrill during his life, and eminently aftive ia the fervice fmce his death. This man was, how- ever, delivered from priAm, as the account ilates |, miraculoufly, and made his efcape from Jerufalem..
Thcfe things are related, not in the general terms under which, in giving the outlines, of the hillory, we have here mentioned them, but with the utmoft particv»!arity of names, perfons, places, and circum- Ilances ; and, v/hat is deferving of notice, without the fmalleil; difcoverable propenfity in the hiftorian to m.ignify the fortitude, or exaggerate the fuirer- ings, of his party. When they fled for their lives, he tells us. When the churches had relt, he re- marks it. When the people took their part, he •does not leave it without notice. When the apoftles were carried a fecond time before the Sanhedrim, he is careful to obferve thvit they were brought without violence. When milder councils were fus;- gefted, he gives us the author of the advice, and the fpeech which contaiiird it. When, in confc- quencc of this advice, the rulers contented them-
* A&s xli. I. + AGs xli. 3—17.
felves
46 A VIEW OF THE
felvcs with threatening the apoftles, and command- ing them to be beaten with ftripes, without ur ling at that time the perfecution farther, the hiftorian candidly and dillindly records their forbearance* When, therefore, in other inftances, he ftates heavier perfeciitions, or aftual martyrdoms, it is reafonable to believe that he flares them becaufe they were true ; and not from any wifli to ai^gra- vate, in his account, the fuTerings which Chriftians fuftained, or to extol, more than it deferved, their patience under them.
Our hiflory novv^ purfues a narrower path. Leav- ing the refl of the apoftles, and the oricinal aflbciates cf Chrifl, engaged in the propagation of a new faith, (and who, there is not the leaft reafon to be- lieve, abated in their diligence or courage) the nar- rative proceeds with the feparate memoirs of that eminent teacher, whofe extraordinary and fudden converfion to the religion, and corrcfponding change of condufts had before been circumflantially de-^ fcribed. This perfon, in conjunflion with another, who appeared amongfl the earlied members <^f the fociety at Jerufalem, and amongll the immediate ad- herents * of the twelve apoftles, fct out from An- tioch upon the exprefs bufmefs of carrying the new religion through the various provinces of the leffer Afiaf. During this expedition we find, that, in al- raofl every place to which they came, their perfons were infulted, and their lives endangered. After being expelled from Antioch in Pifidia, they repaired to Iconium J. At Iconium an attempt was made to flone them. At Lyflra, whither they fled from Iconium, one of them aftually was fconed, and drawn out of the city for dead §. Thefe two men^
|
* Ads Jv. 3^. |
-f- Ads xiii. 2. |
|
|
:J: Ibid. xiii. 50. |
§ Ibid, xiv. 5. |
though |
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. ^y
though not thcmfclves original apoftles, were aflinjr ill connection and conjunction with the original apof- tles j for, after the completion of their journey, btin^ fcnt upon a particular commillion ro Jerusa- lem, they there related to the apoftles * and elders, the events and fuccefs of their miniftry, and were, in return, recommended by them to the churches, " as men who had haziirded their lives iii the " caufe."
The treatment which they had experienced in their firft progrtfs did not deter them from prepar- ing for a fecond. Upon a difpute, however, arifmg between tliem, but not connected with the common fubjeCl of their labours, they afted as wife and fin- cere men would aCl ; they did not retire in difgnft from the fervice in v/hich they were engaged, but, each devoting his endeavours to the advancement of the religion, they parted from one another, and (ct forwards upon feparate routes. The hillory goes along with one of them ; and ihe.fccond enrerprifc to him was attended with the fame dangers and per- fections as both hiid met with in the firft. The apoille's travels hitherto had been confined to Afia. He now crofles, for the £riT: time, the ^gean Sea, and carries v*iih him, amongft others, the perfon whofe accounts fupply the information we are ftat- ing ^. The firft place in Greece at which he ap- pears to have flopped was Phiiippi in Macedonia. Here him.fclf and one of his companions were cruelly whipped, caft into prifon, and kept there under the molt rigorous cuftody, being thruft, whilft yet fmart- ing with their wounds, into the inner dungeon, and their feet made faft in tlie ftocks J. NoiVvMthftand- rng tliis unequivocal fpecimen of the ufage they had to look for in that country, they went forward ia
* A&i XV. n — 26. f A<5is xvj, ii, i V. 23, 24, 73,
the
43 A t^IEVf OF THS
the execution of their errand. After pafling througli Amphipolis, and Appollonia, ihey came to TheiTa- lonica ; in which city the houfe in which they L'idged w.is afiailed by a parry of their enemies, in order to bring them out to the populace. And when, for* tunately for their prefcrvatiou, they were not found at home, the mailer of the houfe was drac^c^ed be- fore the magiflrate for admitting them within his doors *. Their reception at the next city was fome- thing better : but neither here had they continued long before their turbulent adverfaries, the Jews, excited as^ainft thcra fuch commotions amonCTft the inhabitants, as obliged the apoftle to m-.>ke his cfcape by a private journey to Athens -f. The extremity of the progrefs was Corinth. His abode in this city, for fom.e time, fecras to have been without mo- legation. At length, however, the Jews found means to flir up an infuVrc(5i:ion againll: him, and to bring him before the tribunal of the Roman prefi- dent |. It was to the contempt which that raagidrate entertained for the Jews and their controverfies, of which he accounted Chridianity to be, one, that our apoftle owed his deliverance §.
This indefatigable teacher, after leaving Corinth, returned by Ephefus into Syria ; and again vifited Jerufalem, and the focicty of Chridians in that city, U^hich, as hath been repeatedly obfervedy -.^l con- tinued the centre of the mifTion jj. It furreti^'not, however, with the aftivity of his zeal to remain at Jerufalem. We find him going from thence to An- tioch, and, after fome fray there, traverfmg once more the northern provinces of Afia Minor^. This progrefs ended at Ephefus ; in which city the apo- fllc continued in the daily exercife of his rainiifry
* Acts y.vu. I — 5. f Ibid. v. 15. j: Ibid, xviii. 12.
, § Ibid, xviii, 15.' j] Ibid, xviii. 22. ^ Ibid. v. 23.
4 two
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 49
two years, and until bis fuccefs, at length, excited the apprehenfions of thofe who were intereftcd in the fupport of the national worfliip. Their clamour produced a tuinulr, in which he had nearly loft his liFe*. UndifniLiyed, however, by the dangers to which he faw hiiufclf expofed, he was driven from Ephefas only to renew his labours in Greece |. After paffing over Macedonia, he thence proceeded to his former flation at Corinth +. When he had formed his defign of returning by a d'lrcS. courfe from Corinih mto Syria, he was compelled by a confpiracy of the Jews, who were prepared to inter- cept him on his way, to trace back hi> lleps through Macedonia to Philippi, and from thence to take fliipping into Afra. Along the coaft of Afia he pur- fued his voyage with all the expedition he could comman.l, in order to reach Jerufalem againfl the feaft of Pentect)!!: §. His reception at Jerufalem was of a piece with the ufitge he had experienced from the Jews in other places. He had been only a few .iavs in that city when the populace, inftigared by fume of his old opponents in Afia who attended this feail:, feized him in the temple, forced him out of it, and were re.idy immediately to have dellroyed him, had not the fudJen prefence of the Roman guard refcued him out of their hands ||. The offi- cer, however, who had thus feafona'^ly interpofed, afted from his care of the public peace, with the prefervation of vv'hich he was charged, and not from any favour to the apoftie, or indeed any difpofiiion to exercife eirher juftice or humanity towards him ; for he had no fooner fecured his perfon in the for- tref^, than he was proceeding to examine him by torture ^.
* Ads xix. I, 9, 10. t Ibid xix. r^Q, 31. % Ibid xix. i.
§ Ibid xix. 16. i| Ibid xxi 27 — 33. fibidxxii. 12.24.
E Fro a
so A VIEW OF THE
From this time to the conchifion of the hiftory the apoflle remains in public cuftody of the Roman government. After efcaping aflaflination by a for- tunate difcovery of the plot, and delivering himfelf from the influence of his enemies by an appeal to the audience of the emperor*, he wa% fent, but not until he had fuifered two years imprifonment, to Romef. He reached Italy after a tedious voyage, and after encountering in his pafTage the perils of a defperatc fliipwreckj. But although ftill a prifoner, and his fate ftill depending, neither the various and long- continued fufFerings which he had undergone, nor the danger of his prefent fituation, deterred him from perfifting in preaching the religion ; for the hiftorian clofes the account by telling us, that, for two years, he received all that came unto him in his own hired houfe, where he was permitted to dwell with a foldier that guarded him, " preaching the *^' kingdom of God,' and teaching rhofe things '* which concern the Lord Jefus Chrift with all " confidence."
Now the hiftorian, from whom we have drawn this account, in the part of his narrative which re- lates to St. Paul, is fupported by the ftrongeft corro- borating teftimony that a hiftory can receive. We are in pofTelTion of letters written by St. Paul himfelf upon the fubjefi: of his miniftry, and either written during the period which the hiftory comprifes, or, if written afterwards, reciting and referring to the tranfaftions of that period. Thefe letters, without borrowing from the hiftory, or the hiftory from them, unintentionally confirm the account which the hiftory delivers in a great variety of particulars. What belongs to our prefent purpofe is the defcrip- tion exhibited of the apoftle's fufferings : and the re-
* Aits XXV. 9, II. f Ibid xxiv. 27 J Ibid xvii.
prcfentatioHj
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 51
prefentntion, givrn in the hiftory, of the dangers and dirtreffcs w hi^h he undt-rwcnt, not only agrees, in general, with the ianp;uaq;e which he himfch ufcs, whenever he fpeaks of his hte or minilfry, but is alfo, in many inftances, atteftcd by a fpecific corre- fpondency of time, place, and order of events. If the hillorian relates that at Philippi the apoftle •' was beaten with many ftripes, caft into prifon, and *' there treated with rigor and indignity*," we fmd him, in a Icrterf to a neighbouring church, remind- ing his converts, tliat, " after he had fuff red *' before, and was fliamefully intreatcd at Philippi, '* he was bold, nevenhelefs, to fpeak unto them (to *' wliofe city he next came) the Gofpel of God.'* If the hiftory relate J, that, at ThcfTalonica, the houfe in which the apoftle was lodged, when he fird carae to that place, was aiTaulted by the populace, and the mall'er of it dragged before the magiftrate for admitting fuch a gueft within his doors, the apo- ftle, in his letters § to the Chriftians of TheiTalonica, calls to tiieir remembrance '* how they had received *' the Gofpel in much aflli^ion.'* If the hiftory de- liver an account of vin infurre^lion at Ephefus, which had nearly cofl the apoflle his life, wc have the apofiie himfelf, in a letter written a fhort time after his departure from that city, defrribing his defpair, and returning thanks for his deliverance ||. If the hiftory inform us, that the apo'lle was expelled from Antioch in Pifidia, attempted to be ftoned at Iconium, and a£lually ftoncd at Lyftra, there is preferved a letter from him to a favourite convert, whom, as the fame hillory tells us, he firft met with in thefe p irts ; in which letter he appeals to that difcipl 's know- ledge " of the perfecutions which befel him at An-*
* A(fts xvi. 24, f I ThefT. 11. 2 :j: Al^s xvll. 57.
§ I Their. I. 6. II Aas xlx. 2 Cor. j. 8, y.
E 2 " liochj
^2 A VIEW OF THE
" tioch, at Iconium, at Lyftra*." If the hiilory make the apoftle, in his fpecch to the Ephefian el- ders, remind them, as one proof of the difmrereft- ednefs of his views, that, to their knowledge, he had fupplied his own and the neceffities of his com- panions by perfonal labour |, we find the fame apo- flle, in a letter written during his refidence at Ephe- fus, aiTtrting of himlelf, " that even to that hour he " laboured, working with his own hands J.'*
Thcfe coincidences, together v/ith many relative to other parts of the apoftle's hiftory, and all drawn from independent fources, not only confirm the truth of the account, in the particular points as to which they are obferved, but add much to the credit of the narrative in all its parts ; and fupport the author's profeflion of being a contemporary of the perfon wh )fe hiftory he writes, and, throughout a material portion of his narrative, a companion.
What the epiflles of the apoltles declare of the fuffering ftate of Chrifhianity, the writings which rem.ain of their companions, and immediate follow- ers, exprefsly confirm.
Clement, who is honourably m>entioned by St. Paul in his Epiftle to the Philippians§, hath left us his atteflation to this point in the following words : " Let us take (fays he) the examples of our own " age. Through zeal and envy the mofl faithful ■ *' and righteous pillars of the church have been per- *' fecuted even to the moft grievous deaths. Let us *' fet before our eyes ihs holy apojlles. Peter, by *' unjufl: envy, underwent, not one or two, but many " fufferings ; till at lad, being martyred, he went *' to the place of glory that was due unto him. For " the fame caufe did Paul, in like manner, receive
* Acls xiil. 50 xix. 5, 19. 2 Tim. iii. 10, IT.
t hSi% XX. 34. X 1 Cor. iv. II, 12. § Adis iv. 3.
« the
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 3:3
" the reward of his patience. Seven times he was " in bonds ; he was whipped, was (toned ; he " preached both in the eaft and in the weft ; leaving " behind him the glorious report of his faith: and " fo having taught the whole world righteoufncfs, " and for that end travelled even unto the utmofl *' bounds of the weft:, he at laft fufFcrcd martyrdom " by the command of the governors, and departed " out of the world, and went unto his holy place, " being become a moft eminent pattern of patience " unto all ages. To thefe holy apoftles 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 perfecuted; and having fuff.red very grievous " and cruel puniiliments, have finiilicd the courfe of *' their faith with firmnefs*."
Hermas, fiilutcd by St Paul in his Epiftle to the Romans, in a piece very little connecSled with hifto- rical recitals, thus fpeaks — " Such as have believed *' and fuffercd death for the name of Chrift, and " have endured with a ready mind, and have given " up their lives with all their hearts }-."
Polycarp, tlie difciple of John, thonoh all that remains of his works be a very ftiort epiftle, has nor left this fubje^l unnoticed. " I exhort (fays he) all " of you, that ye obey the word of ri'^hteoufnefs, " and exercife all patience, which ye have fecn fct " forth before your eyes, not only in the bleiTed *' Ignatius, and Lorimus and Rufus, but in others *' among yourfelves, and in Paul himfclf and ihs rejl " of the apojlles ; being confident in this, that all '< thefe have not run in vain, but in faith and righ-
* Clem, ac Cnr. c. v. vi. A. D. \V>ikc's tranf. f Shepherd of Herm.is, c. xxviii.
E 3 *' leoufncfs j
54 A VIEW OF THE
^' teoufnefs ; and are gone to the place that was due -^' to them from the Lord, with whom alfo they fuf- " fered. For they loved not this prtfent world, *' but him who died and was raifed again by God « for us*."
Ignatius, the contemporary of Po'ycarp, recog^- nizes the fame topic, briefly indeed, but pofitively and precifely. " For this caufe (/. e. for having felt " and handled Chrift^s body after his refurreftion, ." and beinsj convinced, as Ignatius expreffes it, both .*' by his fiefli and fpirit), they (/. e. Peter, and thofe ..*' v/ho were prefent with Peter at Chrift^s appear- -*' ance) defpifed death, and were found to be above « h f."
Would the reader know what a pei-fecution in rthefe days was, I would refer him to a circular letter, written by the church of Smyrna foon after the death of Polycarp, who, it will be remembered, had lived with St. John ; and which letter is entitled a relation of that bifhop's martyrdom. " The fufferings (fay " they) of all the other martyrs were blelTcd and *' generous, which they underwent according to the " will of God. For fo it becomes us, who are more ^' religious than others, to afcribe the power and .^^ ordering of all things unto him. And indeed who .^* can choofe but admire the greatnefs of their minds, *' and that admirable patience and love of their maf- " ter, which then appeared in them ? who, when .*' they were fo fleaed with whippmg, that the frame ^' and ftrufture of their bodies were laid open to *' their very inward veins and arteries, neverthelcfs ^' endured ir. In like manner, thofe who were con^- *' demned to the beafts, and kept a long time in pri- ^' fon, underwent many cruel torments, being forced
v |*oJ. ad Phil. c. ix. j- 19. Ep. Smyr. c. iii.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. S5
«* to lie upon fliarp fpikes laid under their bodies, *' and tormented with divers other forts of punifli- " ments ; that fo, if it were poflible, the tynint, by " the length of their fufferings, might have brought " them to deny Chrifl:*.'*
CHAP. V.
There is fatisfadory evidaicc, that ?nany profejfing to be original ivitneffes of the Chrijiian miracles^ pa/fed their lives in labours^ dangers, and fuffer- ings, voluntarily undergone in atteftation of the ac- counts -which they delivered, and folely in confe- quence of their belief of the truth of thofe accounts ; and that they alfo fubmitted from the fame motives io new rules of condu6l.
Upon the hiftory, of which the laft chapter contains an abftraft, there are a few obfer- vations which it may be proper to make, by way of applying its teftimony to the particular propofitions for which we contend.
I. Although our fcripture hiftory leaves the general account of the apoftles in an early part of the narrative, and proceeds with the feparate ac- count of one particular apoftle, yet the information which it delivers (o far extends to the reft, as it fliows the nature of the fervice. When we fee one apollle fulTcring perfecuiion in the difcharge of his commiiTion, wc fliall not believe, wirhout evidence, that the fame office could, at the fame time, be at-
* Rel. Mor. Pol. c. li.
JL 4 tended
$6 A VIEW OF THE
tended with cafe and fiifety to othrrs. And this fair and reafonable inference is confirmed by the dir. ft atteilation of the letters, to which we h^wc fo often referred. The writer of thefe iet'.ers not only alludes, in numerous paffages, to his own fuiferings, but fpeaks of the reft of the apoftles as endurin.< like fufferings with himfclf. " I think that God haih " fet forth us the apojiles laft, as it were appointed " to death; for we are made a fpeftacle unto the *' world, and to angels, and to men — even unto this *' prefent hour, we both hunger and thirft, and are *' naked, and are buifetted, and have no certain. *' dwelling-place, and labour, working with our " own hands: being reviled, we blefs; being perfe- '^^ cuted, we futfcr it; being defamed, we entreat: we " are made as the filth of the v/orld, and ;^s the off- " fcouring of all things unto this day *." Add to which, that in the fliort account that is given of the other apoftles, in the former part of the hiflory, and within the Ihort period which that account cora- prifes, we find, firil, two of them feized, imprifoned, brought before the Sanhedrim, and threatened with further punidiment -[-; then, the whole number, im- prifoned and beaten I : foon afterwards, one of their adherents floned to death, and fo hot a perfecution raifed again.d the feft, as to drive mofl of them out of the place; a fhort time only fucceeding, before one of the twelve was beheaded, and another fen- tenced to the fame fate; and all this pafling in the lingle city of Jerufalem, and within ten years after the founder*s death, and the commencement of the inflitution.
II. Secondly; We take no credit at prefent for the miraculous part of the narrative, nor do we infift upon the correftnefs of fmgle palTages of it. If the
'# I Cor. iv. et.feq, f Afts iv* 3, 2 j. % Ibid v, 1 8, 40.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 57
whole (lory be nor a novel, a romance; the whole anion vi dream; if Pf tcr, and James, and Paul, and the rrft of the apoftlcs, mentioned in the account, be not all imaginary perfons; if their letters be not all lort^cries; and, what is more, forgeries of names and charaftcrs which never exifted; then is there evidence in our hands fufficicnt to fupport the only faft we contend for (and which, I repeat again, is, in itfelf, hiiihly probable), that the original follov/ers of jefus Chrill exerted great endeavours to propa- gate his religion, and underwent great labours, dani^ers, and fulTerlngs, in confequence of their un- dertaking.
III. The general reality of the apoftolic hidory is fl:ront:;ly confirmed by the confideraiion, that it, in truth, does no more than affi;',n adequate caufcs for efFe£ti which cert linly were produced, and defcribe confequences naturally refulting from fituations which certainly exifted. The effects were certainly there, of which this hiftory fets forth the caufe, and origin, and progrefs. It is acknowledged on all h mds, bec.mfe it is recorded by other teftimony than that of the Chriftians themfelves, that the religion began to pr-^vail 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 ne\y perfnafion. The hiftory now in our hands dcfcribes thefe exertions, the perfons employed, the means and endeavours made ufe of, and the labours under- taken in the profecution of this purpofe. Again, the treatment which the hiftory dcfcribes the firll propagators of the religion to have experienced, was no other than what naturally refulted from the iku- ation in which they were confciTtdiy placed. It is admitted that the religion was adverfe, in a great Clcgrce, to the reigning opinions, and to the hopes
and
«5 A VIEW OF THE
and wiflies of the nation to which it was firfl intro- duced; and that it overthrew, (o far as it was received, the eflabliflied theology and worfliip of every other country. We cannot feel much reluc- tance in believing that, when the meiTrng^rrs of fuch a fyftem went about not only publifliing their opinions, but colle^ing profelytes, and forming re- gular focieties of profelytes, they iliould meet with oppofition in their attempts, or that this oppofition fliould fomctimes proceed to fatal extremities. Our hiflory details examples of this oppofition, and of the fufferings and dangers which the cmiiTaries of the religion underwent, perfectly agreeable lo what might reafonably be expefted, from the nature of their undertaking, compared with the charadler of the age and country in which it was carried on.
IV. Fourthly; The records before us fupply evi- dence of what formed another member of our general propofition, and what, as hath already been obferved, is highly probable, and almofl a neceffary confequence of their new profelTion, viz. that, together with activity and courage in propagating the religion, the primitive followers of Jefus aiTumed upon their converfion, a new and peculiar courfe of private life. Immediately after their mafter was withdrawn from them, we hear of their " continuing *' with one accord in prayer and fupplitation*," of their " continuing daily with one accord in the *' teraplef," of "■ many being gathered together *' praying |.'* We know what drift injunftions were laid upon the converts by their teachers: wherever they came, the firft word of their preach- ing was " repent.'* We know that thefe injunftions obliged them to refrain from many fpecies of licen- tjoufnefs, which were not, at that time, reputed cri-
* A6ts i. 14. Ibid ii. 46 Ibid xii. 12.
miaal.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 59
minal. Wc know the rules of purity, and the maxims of benevolence, which Chriftians read in their books; concerning which rules, it is enoup^h to obfcrve, that, if they were, I will not fay, completely- obeyed, but in any degree regarded, they would produce a fyfteni of condufl:, and what is more diffi- cult to prtferve, a difpofition of mind, and a regula- tion of affe^ions, different from any thing to which they had hitherto been accuflomed, and different from what they would fee in others. The change and difl:in£lion of manners, which refulted from their new chara<rter, is perpetually referred to in the letters of their teachers. " And you h ith he quick- '" ened, who ic^cre dead in trefpaffes and llns, -" wherein in times pafl ye walked, according to the *' courfe of this world, according to the prince of *' the power of the air, the fpirit that now worketh *' in the children of difobedience; among whom *' alfo we all had our converfation in times pad, in ** the lufts of our flefli, fulfilling the defires of the f' flefli, and of the mind, and were by nature the chil- *' dren of wrath even as others.*'*-" For \\\tlime pajl *' of our life may fufiice us to have wrought the will ^' of the Gentiles, when we walked in lafcivioufnefs, *' luft, excefs of wine, revellings, banquetings, and ^* abominable idolatries, ivherein they think itjirange ^' that ye run not with them to the fame exccfs of *' riot\.'* St. Paul, in his firft letter to the Corin- thians, after enumerating, as his manner was, a catalogue of vicious characters, adds,- — " Such " were fome of yoti, but ye are waflied, but ye ** are fan£lified];." In like manner, and alluding to the fame change of practices and fentimcnt, he alts the Roman Chriflians " what fruit they had ia
^ ^ph. ii. 1—3. fee alfo Tit. lii. 3. f 1 Pet. iv. 3, 4. :{: I Cor. vi. ii>
€e A VIEW OF THE
*' thofe things "whereof they are jiozu aiharned|?" The phrafes which the fame writer employs to d'efcribe the moral condition of Chriftians, com- pared with their condition before they became Chriftians, fuch as " newn^fs of life," being " freed '^ from fin," being " dead to fm," " the dcflruc- " tion of the body of fm, that, for the future, they " fliould not ferve fin;" " children of light and of " the day," as oppofed to '* children of darknefs " and of night," " not lleeping as others," imply, at leaft, a new fyftem of obligation, and, probably, a new feries of condu6>, commencing with their converfion.
The teflimony which Pliny bears to the behaviour of the new fe£l: in his time, and which teflimony €0^mes not more than fifty years after that of St, Paul, is very applicable to the fnbjeft under confide- radon. The chara61er which this writer gives of the Chriftians of that age, and which v/as drawn from a pretty accurate enquiry, becaufe he confidered their moral principles as the point in which the magiftrate was interefted, is as follows: — He tells the emperor, "■ that forae of thofe who had relinquiflied the fociety, " or who, to fave themfelves, pretended that they " had relinquiflied it, afErmed that they were wont *' to meet together, on a dated day, before it waS " light, and (mg among themfelves alternately a " hymn to Chrifl as a God; and to bind themfelves, " by an oath, not to the commiiTion of any wicked- " nefs, but that they would not be guilty of theft or '' robbery, or adultery: that they would never fal- " fify their word, nor deny a pledge committed to '' them, when called upon to return it." This proves that a morality, more pure and drift than was ordinary, prevailed at that time in Chriuian fo^
* Rom. vl. 2|»
cieties.
EVIDENCES OF CHRIS'HANITY. 6i
cicties. And to me it appears, tliat we are auiho- rilcd to carry this teilunony back to the age of the apodles, becaul'c it is not probable that the imrnc- diaie hearers and difupics of Chrill were more rehixed than their fucccflors in Pliny's time, or the millionarics of the religion than ihofe whom they
taui^ht.
CHAP. VI.
There is fatisfaSory evidence that many^ P''^fi/P^Z ^* have been original luitncffes of the Chriftian Miracles, paffed their lives in labours, dangers and fujfcrings, vGliintarily undergone in attejlation of the accounts ivhich they delivered, and folch in confequcnce of their belief of the truth of thofe ac^ counts; and that they alfo fubmittcd from the fame motives to new rules of conduct,
VV HEN we confidcr, fir!T, the preva- lency of the religion at this hour; fccondly, the only credible account which can be given of its original, viz. the activity of the founder and his affociatcs; thirdly, the opporuion w'nich that adtiviry muft naturally have excited; fourtldy, the fate of the founder of the religion, artcfted by heathen writers as well as our own; fifthly, the tcflimony of the fame writers to the fu -erings of Chriftians, either contemporary with, or immediately fucceeding, tlie original frttlers of the iniVitution; fixihly, predictions of the fufFerings of his followers afcribed to the founder of the religion, which afcription alone proves, cither that fach predictions were delivered
and
6i A VIEW OF THE
and fulfilled;, or that the writers of Chrift's life wer<5 induced by the event to attribute fuch prediftions to him; feventhly, letters no\v in our pofTcflion, written by fome of the principal agents in the tranfaftion, and referring exprefsly to extreme labours, dangers, and fuiferings, fuftained by themfelves and their companions ; lafljy, a hiflory, purporting to be writ-* ten by a fellow-traveller of one of the new teachers, and, by its unfophiflicate 1 correfpondency with let- ters of that perfon ilill extant, proving itfclf to be written by fome one well acquainted with the fubjeft of the narrative, which hiftory contains accounts of travels, perfecutions, and martyrdoms, anfwering to what the form.er reafons lead us to expeft: when we ]ay together thefe confiderations, v/hich, taken fepa- rately, are, 1 thmk, corre611y fuch as I have dated them in the preceding chapters, there cannot much doubt remain upon our minds, but that a number of perfons at that time appeared in the world, publicly advancing an extraordinary (lory, and, for the fake of propagating the belief of that (lory, voluntarily incurring great perfonal dangers, traverlmg feas and kingdoms, exerting great induilry, and fuftaining great extremities of ill ufage and perfecution. It is alfo proved that the fame perfons, in confequence oF their perfuafion, or pretended perfuafion of the truth of what they aiferted, entered upon a courfe of hfs in many refpt^ls new and fingular.
From the clear and acknowledged parts of the cafe, 1 think it to be likewife in the higheft degree probable, that the ftory, for which thefe perfons voluntarily expofed theinfelves to the fatigues and hardfhips which they endured, was a miraculous ftory; I mean, that they pretended to miraculous evidence of lome kind or other. They had nothing elfe to ftand upon. The defignation of the perfon, that is to fay, that Jefus of Nazareth, rather than
any
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 6j
any other perfon, was the Mefliah, and, as fuch, the fubjeft of their miniftry, could only be founded upon fupernatural tokens attributed to him. Here were no vi6lories, no conquefts, no revolutions, no fur- prifing elevation of fortune, no achievements of valour, of flrength, or of policy, to appeal to; no difcoverics in any art or fciencc, no great efforts of genius or learning to produce. A Galilean pcafant was announced to the world as a divine lawgiver. A young man of mean condition, of a pn-ivate and funple life, and who had wrought no deliverance for the Jewifli nation, was declared to be their Meffiah. This, without afcribing to him at the fame time fome proofs of his miffion, (and what other but fuperna- tural proofs could there be?j was too abfurd a claim to be either imagined, or attempted, or credited. Im whatever degree, or in whatever part, the religion was arguvientative, when it came to the queftion, Is the carpenter's fon of Nazareth the perfon whom we are to receive and obey? tliere was nothing but the miracles attributed to him, by which his prcten- fions could be maintained for a moment. Every controverfy and every queflion niufl: prcfuppofe ihefe; for however fuch controverfies, when they did arife, might, and naturally would, be dif( uiTed upon their own grounds of argumentation, without citing the miraculous evidence which had been afferted to attend the founder of the religion, (which would have been to enter upon another, and a more general, queftion) yet we are to bear in mind, that, without previoufly fuppofing the exiftence, or the I-rctence, of fuch evidence, there could have been no place for the difcufTion or the argument at all. Thus, for example, whether the propheile', which the Jews interpreted to belong to the MelTiah, were, or v/ere not, applicable to the hillory of Jcfus of Nazareth, was a natural fubjcO of debate in thofe
times ^
H A VIEW OF THE
times ; and the debate would proceed, withoitt recurring at every turn to his miracles, bee ufe it fet out with fuppofing thefe; inafmuch as with'iut miraculous marks and tokens, (real or pretended) or without fome fuch great change effefted by his means in the public condition of the country, as might have fatisfied the then received interpretation of thefe prophefies, I do not fee how the queflion could ever have been entertained. ApoUos, we read, " mightily convinced the Jews, fliowing by the '* fcriptures that Jefus was Chrifl*;'* but unlefs Jcfus had exhibited fome diilinftion of his pcrfon, fome proof of fupernatural power, the argument from the old fcriptures could have had no place. It had nothing to attach upon. A young man, calling himfelf the fon of God, gathering a crowd about him, and delivering to them leftures of morality, could not have excited fo much as a doubt araongft the Jews v/hether he v/as the objeft in whom a long feries of ancient prophefies terminated, from the completion of which they had formed fuch magnifi- cent expeftaticns, and expeftations of a nature fo oppofire to what appeared; I mean, no fuch doubt could exifl when they had the whole cafe before them, when they faw him put to death for his olS- cioufnefs, and when by his death the evidence con* cerning him was clofed. Again, thcff^-'t^of the Mef- iiah's coming, fuppofing Jefus to have been bim, upon Jews, upon Gentiles, upon their relation to each other, upon their accepiance with God, upon their duties and their expectations ; his nature, authority, oiHce, and agency ; v;ere likely to become fubjetis of much confideration with the early vota- ries of the religion, and to occupy their attention and writings. 1 fliould not, however, expeft, that in
A<!^s xvilL 28. A thefe
EVIDENCES or CHRISTIANITY. 65
thefc difquifitions, whether preferved in the form of letters, fpecches, or fet ireanfes, frequent or very dirtft mention of his miracles would occur. Still miraculous evidence lay at the bottom of the argu- ment. In the primary queftion, miraculous preten- fions, and mir.iculous pretenfions alone, were what they had to rtly up<n.
That the origmal (lory was miraculous, is very fairly alfo inferred from the miraculous powers which were laid claim to by the Chriilians of fuc- ceeding age?. If the accounts of thefe miracles be true, i"t w IS a continuation of the fame powers : if they be fa'ft , it was an imiiation^ I will not fay, of what had been wrought, hut of what had been re- ported to have been wnmght, by thofe who preceded thrm. That irr.itaiion fliould follow reality; fiftion be grafted upon truth ; that if miracles were per- formed at firil, miracles fliould be pretended after- wards, agrees fo well with the ordinary courfe of human affairs, that we can have no great difficulty in believing it. The contrary fuppofition is very improb.ihle, namely, that miracles (hould be pre- tended to by the followers of the apoftles and firft erailliiries of the religion, v;hen none were pre- tended to, either in their own perfons or that of their mailer, by thefe apoftles and emilTaries them- fclves.
CHAP.
66 A VIEW OF THE
CHAP. vir.
There is fathfaclory evidence^ that many profejjtng to have been original witnejfes of the Chri/iian Mi- racles, pajfed their lives in labours, da tigers and Sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attejiation of the accounts which they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of thofe ac^ counts ; and that they alfo fubmitted, from the fame motives, to new rules of conduct.
IT once then being proved, that the fird propagators of the Chriftian inftituticn did exert great adlivity, and fubjeft themfelves to great dan- gers and fufierings, in confequence, and for the fake of an extraordinary, and I think we may fay, of a miraculous ftory of fome kind or other j the next great queftion is, whether the account, which our fcriptures contain, be that ftory; that which thefe men deUvered, and for which they afted and fuffer- ed as they did.
This queftion is, in effe£^, no other than whether the ftory, which Chriftians have nozu, be the ftory which Chriftians had then; and of this the following proofs may be deduced from general confiderations, and from confiderations prior to any inquiry into the particular reafons and teftimonies by which the au- thority of our hiftories is fupported.
In the iirft place, there cxifts no trace or veftige of any other ftory. It is not, like the death of Cy- rus the great, a competition between oppofite ac- counts, or between the credit of different hiftorians. There is not a document, or fcrap of account, either contemporary with the commencement of Chriftia-
nity,
EVTOENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 67
nity, or extant within many af^e? after that com- mencement, which afliirns a hiftory fubftantially dif* fertnt from our^. The remote, brief, and inciden- tal notices of the affair, which are found in he uhen writers, fo far as they do go, go along with us. They bear teftimony to ihefe fa<51s ; tljat the inftitutioii originated from Jefus ; that the founder was put to death, as a malefiiftor, at Jerufalem, by the autho- rity of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate ; that the religiiin neverthelefs fpread in that city, and throughout Judcea ; and that it was propagated from thence to diftant countries ; that the converts were numerous ; that they fuffered great hardlhips and injuries for their profefFion ; and that all this took place in the age of the world which our books have affigned. They go on further, to defcribe the vianners of Chriftians in terms perfe6lly conformable to the accounts extant in our books ; that they were wont to affemble on a certain day ; that they fung hyTins to Clirift as to a god ; that they bound them- feives by an oarh not to commit any crime, but to abltain from theft and adultery, to adhere ftriclly to their promifts, and not to deny money depofited in their hands * ; that they worihipped him who was crucified in Paleftine ; that this, their firfl law-giver, 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 'hey flew to one another's relief; that they cherifhed Itrong hopes of immortality j that they dtfpifed
* Vide Pliny's Letter. Bonnet, in his lively way of exprefi"- ing himfclf, fays, — " Comparing Pliny's Letter with the ac " count In the Afts, it fecms to me that I liad not taken up " another author, but that I was ftill reading the lilftorlan of *' that extraordinary foclcty." Thi- is ftrong -, but there u un- doubtedly an affinity, and all the affinity that could be expedled.
F 2 death.
6^ A VIEW OF THE
death, and furrendered tbemfelves to fufFerings *J* This is the account of writers who viewed the fub- jeft at a great didance, who were iininforrned and uninterefted about it. It bears the chara(5i:ers of fuch an account upon the face of it, becaufe it defcribes elFe£ls, namely, the appearance in the world of a fiew religion, and the .converfion of great multitudes to it, without dtfccnding, in the frnalleft degree, to the detail of the tranfa£lion upon which it was founded, the interior of the inftitution, the evidence or arguments offered by thofe who drew over others to it. Yet dill here is no contradiction of our (iory, iio other or different fiory fet up againfl: it, but (o far a confirmation of it, as that, in the general points upon which the heathen account touches, it agrees with that v.'hich we find in our own books.
The fame may be obferved of the very few JewiOi "Writers, of that and the adjoining period, w^hich have come down to us. Whatever they omit, or whatever difficulties we may find in explaining the omiffion, they advance no other hiftory of the tranf- aftion than that which we acknowledge. Jofephus, who wrote his antiquities, or hiftory of the Jews, about fixty years after the commencement of Chrif- tianity, in a palTage generally admitted as genuine, makes mention of John under the name of John the
* " It is incredible what expedition they ufe when any of *• their friends are known to be in trouble- In a word, they f* fpare nothing upon fuch an occalion — for thefe miferabl& ** men have no doubt they fhall be immortal, and live for ever, " therefore they contemn death, and many furrender themfelves " to fufFerings. Moreover their firft law-giver has taught ** them that they are all brethren, when once they have turned *' and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worfhip the mafler *' of theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according " to his laws. They have alfo a fovcreign contempt for all *' the things of this world, and look upon them as common.''* Lucian de Morte Peregrlni, t. i. p. ^6^. ed. Grxv.
Baptid J
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 69
Baptifl ; tliTit he was a preacher of virtue ; that he baptized his proftlytes ; that he was well received by the people ; that he was imprifoned and put to death by Herod ; and that Herod hved in a criminal cohabitation with Herodias, his brother's wife *. In another palTage, allowed by many, although not without confiJerable queftion being moved about it, we hear of " James, the brother of him who was " called Jefus, and of his being put to death |." In a third paffiige, extant in every copy that remains of Jofephus's hiftory, but the authenticity of which has neverthelefs been long difputed, we have an ex- plicit teftimony to the fubdance of our hillory in ihefe words: — " At that time lived Jefus, a wife " man, if he may be called a man, for he performed " many wonderful works. He was a teacher of " fuch men as received the truth with pleafure. " He drew over to him many Jews and Gentiles. " This was the Chrift ; and when Pilate, at the '• inftigation of the chief men among us, had con- *' demned him to the crof*^, they, w'ho before had " conceived an affe^iion for him, did not ceafe to *' adhere to him ; for on the third day he appeared " to them alive again, the divine prophets having *' foretold thefe and many wonderful things con- " cerning him. And the fc£t of the Chriftians, fo " called from him, fubfifts to this time J." What- ever becomes of the controverfy concerning the ge- nuinenefs of this paiTage ; whether Jofephus go the whole length of our iiiitory, which, if the paiTage be fincere, he docs ; or whether he proceed only a very little way witli us, which, if the paflage be rcjc<5led, we confefs to be the cafe ; ftill vv'hat we
* Antiq. 1. xviii. cap. v. {c€t. i, 2. ■\- Antiq. 1. XX. c;ip. ix. fed. I. i Ar.tiq. 1. xviii. cap. iii. fed. 3.
F 3 aff^prtcd
7© A VIEW OF THE
aflerted is true, that he gives no other or different hiftory of the fubjeft from ours, no other or differ- ent account of the original of the inftitution. And I think alfo that it may with great reaf -n be con- tended, either that the paffage is genuine, or that the filence of Jofephus was defigncd. For, al- though we fliould lay afide the aurhoriry of our own books entirely, yet when Tacitus, wh> wrote not twenty, perhaps not ten, years after J< fephus, in his account of a period in which Jofephus was near thirty years of age, tells us, that a v:-''^ mul- titude of Chriftians were condemned ar Rome ; th it they derived their denommation from Chrift, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was put to death, as a tri- minal, by the Procurator Pontius Pilate ; that the fuperflition had fpread not only over Judaea, the fource of the evil, but had reached Rome alfo : when Suetonius an hillorian contemporary with Ta- citus, relates, that, in the time of Claudius, the Jews were making difturbances at Rome, Chreftus being their leader ; and that, during the reign of Nero, the Chriflians were punilhed ; under both which emperors Jofephus lived : — When Pliny, who wrote jhis celebrated epiftle not more than thirty years after the publication of Jofephus's hiftory, found the Chriftians in fuch numbers in the province of By- thynia as to draw from him a complaint, that the contagion had feized cities, towns and villages, and had fo feized them as to produce a general defer- tion of the public rites ; and when, as hath already been obferved, there is no reafon for imagining that the Chriftians were more numerous in Bythynia than -in many other parts of the Roman empire : it can- not, I ftiould fuppofe, after this, be believed, that the religion, and the tranfa£tion upon which it was founded, were too obfcure to engage the attention pi Jofephus, or tp obtain a place in his hiftory.
Jl'erhaps
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 71
Perhaps he did not know how to reprefent the bu- iinefs, and difpofed of his difficulties by pafling it over in filence. Eufebius wrote the hfe of Con- flaniine, yet omits entirely the moft renin rkable cir- cumftance in that life, the death of his fon Crifpus ; undoubtedly for the reafon^ here j^iven. The referve of Jofcphus upon the fubjeft of Chriflianicy appears alfo in his pafling over tlie banifhraent of the Jews by Claudius, which Suetonius, we have feen, has recorded with an exprefs reference to Chrift. This is a^ le ifl: as remarkable as his filence about the in- fants of Betlilehem *. Be, however, the faft, or the caufe of ihe omiflion in Jofephus |, what it may, no other or different hiftory of the fubje^ has been given by him, or is pretended to have been given. But further, the whole feries of Chriftian writers, from the firfl age of the inftituiion down to the pre- fent time, in their difcuflions, apologies, arguments, and controverfies, proceed upon the general ftory which our fcriptures contain, and upon no other. The main fafls, 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 feries
* Michaelis has computed, and, as it fiioiild feem fairly enough, that probably not more than twenty children periOied by this cruel precaution. Michael. Introd. to the N. Tell, tranllated by Marfli. Vol. i. c. ii. feet. 11.
f There is no notice taken of Chriflianity in the Miflma, a colle^ion of Jewifh traditions compiled about the year 1 80, al- though it contains a Travel, " De cultu Pcregrino," of flrange or idolatrous woi iliip ; yet it cannot be difputed but that Chrillianity was perfedly well known in the world at this time. There is extremely little notice of the fubjeift in the Jerufalem Talmud, compiled about the year 300, and not much more in the Babylunilh Talmud, of the year 500, aUhough both thefe works are of a religious nature, and although, when the firfl was compiled, Chrillianity was upon the point of becoming the religion of the Rate, and, when the latter was publiflied, had been fo for 200 years.
F 4 of
71 A VIEW OF THE
of writers to a contaft with the hiftoriral books oi the New Tedament, and to the age of the firft emif- faries of the religion, and to deduce ir, by an un- broken continuation, from that end of the train to the prefer] t.
The remaining letters of the apofiles (and what more original than their letters can we have) though written without the reraoiefl: defign of tranfmitting the hiltory of Chrift, or of ChriiVianiry, to future ages, or evfo of making it known to their contem- poraries, incidentally difclofe to us the folloM'ing circumftances : " Chrifl's defcent and fiimily, his *' innocence, the raeekntfs and genilencfs of his " character (a recognition which goes to the whole " gofpel hiftory), his exalted nature, his circumci- " fion, transfiguration, his life of oppofition and " fuffering, his patience and refignation, the ap- ' *' pointraent of the eucharift: and the manner of it, *' his agony, his confefiion before Pontius Pi'atej *' his ftripes, crucifixion, burial, refurreftion, his *' appearance after it, firft to Peter, then to the reft *' of the apoftles, his afcenfiOn into heaven, and his *' defignarion to be the future judge of mankind : ^'' the ftatcd refidence of the apoftles at Jerufalem, *' the working of nniracles by the firft preachers of 5' the gofpel, who were alfo the hearers of Chrift* :
* Heb. 11. 3. " How fhall we efcape if we neglecl fo great lalvation, which, at the firft, began to be fpoken by the Lordj, and was confirmed unto us iy thein that heard him, God alfo bearing them witnefs, both with f'gns and tuonders, and with divers miracles^ and gifts of the Holy Ghoft." I allege this epiiHe without hefitation, for whatever doubts may have been raifed about its author, there can be none concerning the age an which it was written. No epiftle in the colledion carries about it more indubitable marks of antiquity than this does. It fpeaks, for inftance, throughout, of the temple as then itanding, and of the worOiip of the temple as then fubfifting. —Heb. viii. 4. *' For if he were on earth, he fhould not be 3,
prieft^
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 73
" the fuccefsful propagation of the religion, the pcr- *' fecution of its followers, the miraculous convcr- *' fion of Paul, miracles wrought by himfclf, and '' alleJged in his controverfies with his advcrfaries, " and in letters to the perfons amongft whom they '- were wrought ; finally, that ?nij-aclcs were the figns " Qf an apojile*:'
In an epillle bearing the name of Barnabas the companion of Paul, probably genuine, certainly be- longing to that age, we have the full'erings of Chrill, his choice of apoltlcs and their number, his paflion, the fcarlet robe, the vinegar and gall, the mocking and piercing, the carting lots for his coat-]-, his re- furre(R:!on on the eighth, (/. c. the firft day of the weekj) and the commemorative difl:in£lion of that day, his manift Nation after his refurrcftion, and laflly, his afcenfion. We have alfo his miracles, generally but poficively referred to in the following words : " finally teaching the people of Ifrael, and doing many wonders andjigns among ihem, he preached to them, Lind (liowcd the exceeding great love which he bare towards ihem^."
In an epillle of Clement, a hearer of St. Paul, although writren for a purpofe remotely connected wi:h the Chriflian hitlory, wc have the refurre£i:ion of Chrill, and the fuhfequent million of the apoftles, recorded in thefe fatisfaciory terms : " The apoftles " have preached to us, from our Lord Jefus Chrili: " from God — For having received their command, " and being thoroughly ajfurcd by the refurrcffion cf
prlcft, feeing there are pricfts tlwt ofTer nccordinoj to the law." Again, Heb. xlii. 10. " We have an alrar '^liercor they have tin right to eat v hicli ferve the tabernacle."
* 2 Cor. xii. 12. " TT].\]y, t/.Y/rrf!s o/<;n a/'fJ?L' were wvrunrht amon;T you in all patience, in figns and wonders, and nii<;hty .deeds."
I Ep. Bar, c. vii. + Ibid. c. vl, § Ibi.'. c. v.
" cur
74 A VIEW OF THE
*' our Lord ye/us Chriji, they went abroad, pub- " lifhing that the kingdom of God was at hand*.** "We find noticed alfo, the humility, yet the power of Chriftf, his defcent from Abraham, his cruci- fixion. We have Peter and Paul reprefented as faithful and righteous pillars of the church, the nu- merous fufferings of Peter, the bonds, ftripes, and ftoning of Paul, and more particularly, his extenfive and unwearied travels.
In an epiftle of Polycarp, a difciple of St John, though only a brief hortatory letter, we have the humility, patience, fufferings, lefurreftion, and afcenfion of Chrift, together with the apoftolic cha- rafter of St. Paul diftinftly recognized J. Of this fame father we are alfo affured by Irenasus, that he (Iren^us) had heard him relate, " what he had rc- " ceived from eye-witneffes concerning the Lord, *' both concerning his miracles and his doftrine§."
In the remiiining works of Ignatius, the contem- porary of Polycarp, (yet, like thofe of Polycarp, treating of fubjefts in no wife leading to any recital of the Chriftian hiftory) the occafional allufions are proportionably more copious. The defcent of Chrifl from David, his mother Mary, his miraculous con- ception, the ftar at his birth, his baptifm by John, the reafon affigned for it, his appeal to the prophets, the ointment poured on his head, his fufferings under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch, his refuire£tion, the Lord's day called and kept in com- memoration of it, and the Eucharift, in both its parts, are unequivocally referred to. Upon the refurreOion this writer is even circumllaniial. He mentions the apoftles eating and drinking with
* Ep. Clem. Rom. c xlii. f Ibid c. xvi. X PlI. Eq. ad Phil. c. v. viii. ii. iii. § Ir. ad Flor. aq. Euf' 1. v. c. 2q.
Chrifl
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 75
Chrill after he was rifen, their feeling and their handling him ; from which laft circumftance Ignatius raifcs this jufl: reflexion — " They believed, being '* convinced both by his flcfli and fpirit ; for this " caufe they defpifed death, and were found to be '• above it*.*'
Quadratus, of the fame age with Ignatius, has left us the following noble teftimony :— " The works '^ of our Saviour were always confpicuous, for they " were real : both they that were healed, and they " that were raiil^d from the dead : wLo were feeii " not only when they were healed or raifed, but for " a lon^ time afterwards. Not only whild he dwelled " on this earth, but alfo after his departure, and " for a good while after it, hifomuch that fome of " them have reached to our times-}-.'-'
Juftin Martyr came little moie than thirty years after Qaadratus. From Juftin's works, which are {till extant, might be collected a tolerably complete account of Chrift's life, in all points agreeing with that which is delivered in our fcrii)tares ; taken in- deed, in a great meafure, from thofe fcriptures, but flill proving that this account, and no other, was the account known and extant in that age. The miracles in particular, which from the part of ChriiVs hiilory mod material to be traced, ftand fully and diftioi^ly recognized in the following paf- fige : — " He healed thofe who had been blind, and "deaf, and lame, from their birth, canfmg, by his *' word, one to leap, another to hear, and a third " to fee ; and by raifiiig the dead, and makin:^ thcra " to live, he induced, by his works, the men of " that age to know him J,"
* Ad. Smyr. c. iii. f Ap. Euf. H. E. 1. !v. c 3. J Juft. dial. cum. Tryph. p. ^C:".. cJ. Thirl.
76 A VIEW OF THE
It is unneceffary to carry thefe citations lower, becaufe the hi (lory, after this time, occurs in ancient Chriftian writings as familiarly as it is wont to do in modern fermons ; occurs always the fame in fub- iT:ance, and always that which our evangelifts re- prefenr.
This is not only true of thofe writings of Chrif- tians which are genuine, and of acknowledged au- thority, but it is, in a great meafure, true of all their ancient writings which remain ; although fome of thefe may have been erroneoufly afcribed to au- thors to whom they did not belong, or may contain falfe accounts, or may appear to be undeferving of credit, or never indeed to have obtained any. — Whatever fables they have mixed with the narrative, they preferve the material parts, the leading fa£ls, as we have them ; and, fo far as they do this, al- though they be evidence of nothing elfe, they are evidence that thefe points were fixcd^ were received and acknowledged by all Chriftians in the ages in which the books were written. At lead it may be afTerted, that, in the places where we were m,oft likely to meet with fuch things, if fiich things had cxifted, no reliques appear of any (lory fubftantially different from the prefent, as the caufe, or as the pretence, of the inftitution.
Now that the original ftory, the (lory delivered by the firil preachers of the inilirurion, fliould have died away fo entirely as to have left no record or memorial of its exiflence, although fo many records and memorials of the time and tranfaclion remain ; and that another (lory fnould have (lepped into its place, and gained exclafive poiTelTion of the belief of all who profelTed themfelves difciples of the inftitution, is beyond any example of the corrup- tion of even oral tradition, and ftill lefs confident with the experience of written hidory : and this
impror
Evidences of Christianity. 77
Improbability, which is very great, is rendered ftill greater by the reflexion, that no fiich change, as the oblivion of one flory and the fiibftitution ot another, took place in any future period of the Chriftian aera. Chrifiianity has travelled through dark and turbu- lent ages ; ncvertlie'.efs it came out of he cloud and the ftorm fuch, in fubllance, as it entered in. Many additions were made to the primitive hiflory, and thefe entitled to different dcLijrees of credit; many do(^rinal errors alfo were from time to time grafted into the public creed, but flill the original ftory re- mained, and remained the fame. In all its principal parts it has been fixed from the beginning.
Thirdly, The religious rites and ufages that pre- vailed amongfl: the early Jifcirles of Chrifiianity were fuch as belonged to, and fprung out of, the narra- tive now in our hands ; which accordancy fliows, that it was the narrarive upon which thefe perfons a£ted, and which they h:-id received from their teachers. Our account makes the founder of the religion direft that his difciplcs fliould be baptized : we know that the firft Cliriftians were baptized. Our account makes him direct that they fliould hold religious affemblies. Onr accounts make the apof- tles affemble upon a flated day in the week : we find, and that from infor;nation perfe£lly independent of our accounts, that the Chrillians of the firfi; century did obfcrve dated days of affembling. Our hiilories record the inftitution of the rite which v/e call the Lord's Supper, and a com rand to repeat it in per- petual fuccefiion : we find, araongft the early Chrif- tians, the celebration of this rire univerfal. And indeed wc find concurring in all the above-mentioned obfervances, Chriftian fucieties ok' many different nations and languages, removed froni one another by great diffance of ])lace and diffimilituJe of fitua- iHon. It is alfo e.xircmcly material to remark, that
there
7^ A VIEW OF THE
there is no room for infinuating that our books were* fabricated with a fludions accommodation to the uf.^ees which obtained at the time they were written ; that the authors of the books found the ufages efta- bliflied, and framed the flory to account for their original. The fcripture accounts, efpecially of the Lord's Supper, are too fliort and curfory, not to fay too obfcure, and, in this view, deficient, to al- low a pi:ioe for any fuch fufpicion*.
Amongft the proofs of the truth of our propo- fition, viz. that the ftory, which we have now^ is, ia fubftance, the flory which the Chriftians had then^ or, in other words, that the accounts in our gofpeis are, as to their principal parts at leaft, the accounts "which the apoftles and original teachers of the reli- gion delivered, one arifes from obferving, that it appears by the gofpeis ihemfelves, that the flory was public at the time, that the Chriftian community was already in pofTeiTion of the fiibftance and princi- pal parts of the narrative. The gofpeis wxre not the original caufc of the Chriflian hiftory being be- lieved, but were themfelves among the confequences of that belief. This is exprefsly affirmed by St. Luke in his brief, but, as I think, very important and in- Oruftive preface. " Forafrauch ffays the evange- " lift) as many have taken in hand to fet forth in " order a declaration of thofe things which are mojl *' furely belic-vcd amongft us, even as they delr^ered " them unto us^ ivhich^jrom the beginning, were eye- " ivitnejfes and mlnifiers of the word ; it feemed. " good to me alfo, having had perfect uaderflanding
* The reader who is converfant in thefe refearches, by com- paring the fnort fcripture accounts of the Chriftian rites above mentioned with tlie minute and circumftsntial diredlions con- tained in the pretended apoftolical conftitulions, v.nll fee the force of this obfervatit.n ; the difFerence between truth and fojgery.
« of
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 79
** of all things from the very firft, to write unto thee " in order, mod; excellent Theophilus, ihat thou " mightefl know the certainty of thofe things " ivhcrein thou haji been in/irit&ed.** This fliort introduction tcdifies, that the fubflance of the hif- tory, which the evangelift was about to write, was already believed by Chriftians; thai it was believed upon the declarations of eye-witnelTes and minifters of the word ; that it formed the account of their religion, in v/hich Chriftians were inflru£led; that the office which the hiftorian propofed to himfelf, was to trace each particular to its origin, and to fix the certainty of many things which the reader had before heard of. In St. John's Gofpel, the fame point appears from hence, that there arc fome prin- cipal fafts, 10 which the hiftorian refers, but which he does not relate. A remarkable inftance of this kind is the afcenfion^ which is not mentioned by St. John in its place, at the conclufion of his hiltory, but which is plainly referred to in the following words of the fixth chapter*: " What and if ye fliall " fee the Son of man afcend up where he was " before.'* And ftill more pofiiively in the words, which Chrifl:, according to our evangelift, fpoke to Mary after his refurrcClion, *' Touch me not, for I " am not yet afcended to my father; but go unto my " brethren, and fay unto them, I afcend unto my *' father and your father, unto my god and your " godf." This can be only accounted for by the fiippofition, that St. John wrote under a fenfe of the notoriety of Chrift's afcenfion, amongfi; thofe by whom his book was likely to be read. The fame account mufl alfo be given of St. Matrhew's omilTion of the fame important fiifl. Ihe thing was very well known, and it did not occur to the hiftorian,
* Alfo John ill. 13. and xvi. 28. f John xx- 1 7.
that
i^ A VIEW OF nni
that It was neceflary to add any particulars conceffi-* rag it. It agrees alio with this folution, and wi;h no other, that neither Maithew nor John difpofe of the perfon of our Lord in any manner whatever. Other Intimations in St John's Gofpel of the then general notoriety of the ftory are the fo'.Jowing; His manner of introducing his narrative, (ch. i. v. 15.) " John " bare witnefs of him, and cried, faying," evidently prcfuppofcs that his readers knew who John was. His rapid parenthetical reference to John's iraprifon- ment, " for John was not yet caft into prifon *," could only come from a writer whofe mind was in the habit of confidering John's imprifonment as per-- feflly notorious. The defcription of Andrew by the addirion " Simon Peter's brother |," takes it for granted that Simon Peter was well known. His name had not been mentioned before. The evan- gelift's noticing j the prevailing mifconflrutStion of a difcourfe, which Chrift held with the beloved difci- ple, proves that the charafters and the difcourfe were already public. And the obfervation which thefe inilances afford, is of equal validity for thd purpofe of the prefent argument, whoever was the author of the hiftories.
THESE four circumflances, fird, the recognition of the account in its principal parts by a feries of fucceeding writers; fecondly, the total abfence of any account of the origin of the religion totally dif- ferent from ours; thirdly, the early and extenfive prevalence of rites and inftitutions, which refult from our account; fourthly, our account bearing in its conftru£i:ion proof that it is an account of fa£ls, which were known and believed at the time; are fufficient, I conceive, to fupport an aflurance, that the (lory,
* John iii, 24. I Ibid. I. 40, X J^^^^ ^^'^- 24'
4 ■which
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. $i
which we have now, is, in general, the flory which Chriflians hcd at the beginning. I fay, in general; by which term I mean, that it is the fame in its tex- ture, and in its principal fa<fts. For inftance, I make no doubt, for the reafons above dated, but that the refurre4iion of the founder of the religion was always a part of the Chriftian (lory. Nor can a doubt of this remain upon the mind of any one, who reflefts that the refurre<flion is, in fome form or other, aflerted, referred to, or aiTumed, in every Chrifliaa writing, of every defcription, which have come down to us.
And if our evidence (lopped here, we {liould have a ftrong cafe to offer: for we fliould have to allege, that, in the reign of Tiberius C^efar, a certain num- Iper of perfons fet about an attempt of cflablifliing a ne.w religion in the world; in the profecution of which purpofe, they voluntarily encountered great dangers, undertook great labours, fuftained great fufferings, all for a miraculous ftory which they publifhed wherever they came; and that the refurreflion of a dead man, whom, during his life, they had followed and accompanied, was a conflant part of this flory, I know nothing in the above flatement which can, with any appearance of reafon, be difputed; and I know nothing in the hiflory of the human fpecies fimilar to it.
G CHAP'
52 A VIEW OF THE
CHAP. viir.
There is fatisfaclory evidence, that many profejjing t§ be original witnejfes of the Chri/iian Miracles ^ paffed their lives in labours, dangers, and fuffer- ings, voluntarily undergone in attejiation of the ac- counts which they delivered, and folely in confe- quence of their belief of the truth of thefe accounts ; and that they alfo fub mitt ed, from the fame 'motives, to nezv rules of conduct.
J. HAT the {lory, which we have now is, in the main, the flory which the apoftles pub- liflied, is, I think, nearly certain from the confidera- tions which have been propofed. Bpt whether, when ve come to the particulars and the detail of the narrative, the hiftorical books of the new tefta- rnent be deferving of credit as hiflories, fo that afaft ouo-ht to be accounted true becaufe it is found in
o
them; or whether they are entitled to be confidered as reprefcniing the accounts, which, true or falfe, the apodles, publifhed ; whether their authority, in either ot thefe views, can be irufted to, is a point which neceiTarily depends upon what we know of the books, and of their author?.
Now, in treating of this part of our argument, the firft, and a raofl: material, obfervation upon the fub- jecl is, that, fuch was the fituation of the authors to v;hom the four gofpels are afcribed, that, if any one of the four be genuine, it is fufficient for our purpofe. The received author of the firfl: was an original apoftie and emilTary of the religion. The received author of the fecond was an inhabitant of Jerufalem at the time, to whofe houfe the apoftles
were
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 83
were wont to refort, and himfelf an attendant upon one of tlie moft eminent of that number. The re- ceived author of the third was a ftatcd companion and fellow-traveller of the moft aflive of all the teachers of the religion, and in the courfe of his travels frequently in the fociety of the original apofHes. Xhc received author of the fourth, as well as of the firft was one of thefe apoftles. No ftronger evidence of the truth of a hiilory can arife from the fituation of the hiftorian than what is here offered. The authors of all the hiftories lived at the time and upon the fpot. The authors of two of the hiftories were prefent at many of the fcenes which they def- cribe; eye-witneffcs of the fa<5fs, ear-witneffes of the difcourfes; writing from perfonal knowled;T;e and recolleftion, and, what ftrcngthens their teftimony, writing upon a fubjecl in which their minds were deeply engaged, and in which, as they muft have been very frequently repeating the accounts to others, the paffages of the hiftory would be kept continually alive in their memory. Whoever reads the gofpcls (and they ought to be read for this particular pur- pofe) will find in them not merely a general affirma- tion of miraculous powers, but detailed circumftan- tial accounts of miracles, with fpecification of time, place, and perfons; and thefe accounts many and various. In the gofpels, therefore, which bear the names of Matthew and John, thefe narratives, if they really proceed fronn thefe men, muft either be true, as far as the fidelity of human recolleiStion is ufually to be depended upon, that is, muft be true in fub- ftance, and in their principal parts, (which is fuffi- cient for the purpofe of proving a fupernatural agency) or they muft be wilful and meditated falfe- hoods. Yet the writers who fabricated and uttered thefe falfehoods, if they be fiich, are of the number of thofc who, unlefs the whole contexture of the
G 2 Chriftian
^4 A vi$:w b? Tffl
Ciirlflian fVdry be a dreatti, facrffieed thiel'r esfe atid Ik'fety in the csnfe, aiid for a purpofe the mod iticdn- Ment that is polTible with difhoneft intentions. They tvere villains for no end but to teach honefty, ar.d "rtiartyrs without the leall profpecl of honour ^r advantage.
The gofpeh %hrch bear the name of Mark and l.uke, ahhougli not the narratives of eye-witneffes, lire, if genuine, removed from that only bjr one degree. They are the narratives of contemporary Writers, of writers therafelves mixinfc^ with the'bufi- iiefs, one of the two probably living in the place t^hich was the principal fcene of a£Vion, both living in habits of fociety and and rorrefpoftdence with thdfe who had been prefeilt at ihe tranfa6Vibns which they relate. The latter of them accordingly telis us, ( 3titi \vith app'ii-erit 'iincerify, becaufe he tells it Without ^pretendihg foperfonal ktiowledge, and vi^ithout chim- ing for his Work greater authority than belonged to it) that the rtiitigs Which "were believed amoiigft Chridiaris c^imefro'fn tbofe who from the beginning AVere eye-witnelTes and miniflers of the word ; that tfe feid traded up accounts to their fource; 'and that he V/tis prepared to inftruft his reader in the certainty of the things ^vhich he related*. Very few hiftories "ffe fo'cibfe to their fafls; very few hiftorians are fo 'ii'early connected with the fubjeft of their narrative. Or poffeis fuch means of authentic information, as thefe,
Thefituationof the writers applies to the the truth of the fafts which they record. But at prefent we
* Why fhoiild hot the candid and ttiodefl preface of this hiftoffan be believed as w^'ell as rhat "which Dion Caffius prefixes to his life of Commodus. '* Thefe things and the following " I write not from the report of others, but from my own *' knowledge and obfervation." I fee no reafon to doubt but that both paflages defcribe truly enough the fituation of the aiithors.
life
EVIDENCi:S OF CHRISTIANITY. ^
ufc thdr tcdimony co a point fomewbat (hort of this, Rainely, liiat the fafts recprdvi^t it\ the gofpels, whether true pr fulfe, arp the fuft?, ^nd :\ic fort ot ii,i<fts whkh the origirial preachers of the rchgion al- icgpd. Strivtly fpeakinjr, I am coucerned only to liiow, \\\kM what the gofpels contain, is the fame as wliat the ^poftles preached. Now how Hands the prppf of this point ? A fet of men \yen; about the Wprld publifhing a ftpry compofed pf Riir^cijlpu^ accounts (for rniraculou:^ from the very nature and exigency of the cafp they mull: have beep) and, npon ■ije jlrength of thcfc accoqnts, called upon i^iankind tp quit the religions in which they liad been edu- cated, ^nd tp take up, from thencefprth, a new vHem of opinions, and Pew rwle^ of g-fjiion. Wh;^t i-. mpre, in atteftation of thefe accounts, that is, in Uipport of an inftitntion of which thefe accounts were the foundation, tlie fame ipen Yp|uptarily expofed thcmfeU'cs to haraiTing aijd perpetual labours, dangers and fuffcrings. We want tp j^ppw what thefe accoiipt^ were. "VVe have thf particular?, i.e. many particulars, from two of rheir own nurobjer. Wt; have thejA from an attendant of out or jthe rjumber, and \ylio there is rejjfon to beJLeye w.a? aij inh^bitaiit of" JeryfuJeip at the time. We have tiiera from a foiTtb writer, who acconapaijijed the mp.il laborious mjfiionary of the jn((tji.ii>tioA m hk tr^y.eis.; who In the courfe of thefe travels w^s frequently brought iuto the fociety pf the red; and whp, let it be ob- ferved, begiijs. his niirra.tiy.e by ^telling us, that he is about to relate the ihini^s which had been delivered by thofe who were miuillc.rs of the word, and eve- witneiTes pf the faG. I do pot k^Qw what uiifp.rtna- tion can be more fi\tisfa£tory than tjiis. We tTiay, perhaps, perceive liie force and value of it more fenfibly, if we rcile£l how inquiring we flipuld have been if we had wanted it. Siij^^pring it to be G 3 fufficitnily
86 A VIEW OF THE
fufficiently proved, that the religion, now profeffed among us, owed its original to the preaching and miniftry of a number of men, who, about eighteen centuries ago, fet forth in the world a new fyllem of religious opinions, founded upon certain extraor- dinary things which they related of a wonderful per- fon who had appeared in Judasa : fuppofe it to be alfo fufficiently proved, that, in the courfe and pro- fecution of their miniftry, thefe men had fubje^led themfclves to extreme hardihips, fatigue, and peril ; but fuppofe the accounts which they publiflied had not been committed to writing till fome ages after their times, or at leafl; that no hiflories, but what had been compofed fome ages afterwards, had reach- ed our hands ; we fliould have faid, and with reafon, that we were willing to believe thefe men under the cir umftances in which they delivered their tefti- raony, but that we did not, at this day, know with fufficient evidence what their teftimony was. Had we received the particulars of it from any of their own number, from any of thofe wb.o lived and con- verfed with them, from any of their hearers, or even from any of their contemporaries, we fliould have had foraething to rely upon. Now, if our books bc=' genuine, we have all thefe. We have the Very fpecies of information which, as it appears to me, our imagination would have carved out for us, if it had been wanting.
But I have faid, that, if any one of the four gof- pels be genuine, we have not only dire6i: hiilorical tcilimony to tht point we contend for, but teftimony which, fo far as that point is concerned, cannot rea- fonibly be rejcfted. If the firft gofpel v/as really written by Matthew, we have the narrative of one of the number from which to judge what were the '^.■racies, and the kind of miracles, which the apof- tles attributed to Jefus. Although, for argument's
fake.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 87
Take, and only for argument's fake, we fhould al- low that this gofpel had been erroncoufly afiribcd to Matthew, yet if the gofpel of St. John be genu- ine, the obfervation holds wirh no Itfs ftrcngth. Again, although the gofpels both of Matthew and John could be fuppofed to be fpurious, yet, if the gofpel of St. Luke was truly the compofition of that perfon, or of any perfon, be his naine what it might, who was aftually in the fituation in which tlie author of that gofpel profeffes himfelf to have been; or if the gofpel v/hich bears the name of Mark really proceeded from him ; we itill, even upon the lowetl fappoii:ion, poflefs the accounts of one writer at leaf!:, who was not only contemporary with the apoftles, but aflo- ciated with them in their miniftry ; which autho- rity feems fufficient, when the queflion is fimply what it was which ihefe apoflles advanced.
I think it material to have this well noticed. The New Teftament contains a great number of diftinft writings, the genuinenefs of any one of v/nich is almofl: fufficient to prove the truth oFthe religion : it contains, however, four diftindl hiflories, the ge- nuinenefs of any one of which is perfectly fufficient. If, therefore, we mud be confidered as encountering the rilk of error in affigning the authors of our books, we are entitled to the advanrage of fo many feparate probabilities. And although it (liould ap- pear that fome of the evangelifts had feen and ufed each other's works, this difcovery, whilft it fubtraflg indeed from their characl:er as ttftimrnies ftric^tly in- dependent, diminilhes, I conceive, little, either their feparate authority, by which 1 mean the auihoriry of any one that is genuine, or their mutual conlir- mation. For let the mod: difadvantageous fuppofi- tion poffible be made concerning them ; let it be al- lowed, what 1 fliould have no grc^at difficulty in ad- mitting, that Mark compiled his hiflory almoft en-
G 4 * tirely
Si A VIEW (# rm
tirely from tliofe of Matthew and Luke ; and let it 2tHb, for a moment, be fuppofed, that thefe hiftories were not, in fa£t, written by Matthew and Luke ; yet if it be true that Mark, a contemporary of the apoftles, living in habits, of focicty With the apoftles, a fellow labourer with fome of them ; if, I fay, it be true that this perfon made the compilation, it fol- lows, that the Writings from Which he made it exiftc'd in the times, of the apodles, and riot oiily fo, but that tliey were then in fuch efteerii and credit, that a companion of the apoftles formed a hiftory out of them. Let the gofpel of Mark be called an tpi- tome of that of Matthew ; if a perfon in the fituation in whith Mark is defcribed to h'aie beeii a'^uaily tnade the epitom.e, it affords the ftrongeft pbffib'fe atteftation to the character of the original. Again, parallellifms in fentehte^, in wordsf, dnd rii the order of words, have Been traced oiit between the gofpel of jVlattheW and that of Luke ; which concurrence taimb't eafily te fekplained 6ther\vife than b^ fop- pofihg, either that Luke had cohfulted Matthew's hiftory, or, what appears to me in no wife incredi- ble, that minutes of foihe of Chtift's difcourfes, as Well as brief memoirs of fome paffages of his life, had been committed to writing at the time, and that itich written accounts had by both authors been ot- tiifibnally admitted into their hiftories. Either fup- pofition is perfectly confiftent with the lacknowledged formatiori of St. Luke's narrative, who profeffes not to write as an eye-wltiiefs, but to have inveftigated the original of every account which he delivers ; ia other Words, to have collefted them from fuch do- cuments and teftimonies as he, who had the beft opportunities of making enquiries, judged to be au- thentic. Xhfrcfore, allowing that this Writer alfo, in fome inftances, borrowed from the gofpel which wb c^lL MattheW*s, <ind once fnoire allowing, for the
fake
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 89
lake of ftiuing the argument, tlvat the gofpel was not the produ(hiort of the author to whom we iifcribe it, yet dill we have, in St. Luke*s gofpel, a hiftory given by a writer immediately connetrted with the tranfa^lion, with the witneffes of it, with the pcr- fons engaged in it, and compofcd of materials which that perfon, thus fituated, deemed to he fafe {ources of intelligence : in other words, whatever fuppofition be made concerning any or all the other gcfpels, if St. Luke's gofpel be genuine, we have in it a cre- dible evidence of the point which we maintain. The gofpel according to St. John appears to be, and is on all hands allowed to be, an independent teilimo- ny, ftriftly and properly fo called. Notwithltand- ing, therefore, any connei^ion, or fuppofed con- nection, between foine oi the gofpels, 1 again re- peat, what I before faid, that, if any one of the four be genuine, We have in that one, ftrong reafon from the char:\(^er and fitnation of the writer to believe, that we poffefs the accounts which the original emif- faries of the religion delivered.
II. In treating of the written evidences of Chri- flianity^ next to their feparate, we vire to confider their aggregate authority. Now there is in the Evangelic hillory a cumulation of teflimony, which belongs hardly to iatiy other, but \vhich our habitual mode of reading the fcriptures fometimes caufes us 10 overlook. When a palT.ige, in any wife rehting to the hiftory of Chiift, is read to us out of the cpiftle of Clemens Romanus, the epif^les of Igna- tius, of Polycarp, or from any other writing of that ilge, We afe immediately fenfible of the confirmation which it affords to the fcripture account. Here is a hew witnefs. Now if we had been accudoaicd to read the gofpel of Matthew alone, and had known that of Luke only as the generality of Chrillians know the writings of ;he apoftolical fathers, that
is.
99 A VIEW OF THE
is, had known that fuch a writin,^ was extant and acknowledged ; when we came, for the firil time, to look into what it contained, and found mnny of the facls which Matthew recorded, recorded alfo there, many other fa6ls of a ilmilar nature added, and throughout the whole work the fame general feries of tranfadions (tated, and the fame general character of the pcrfon who was the fubjeft of the hiftory preferved, 1 apprehend that we fliould feel our minds flrongly impreifed by this difcovery of frefli evrdencc. We foould feel a renewal of the fame fertimcnt in Hrll reading the gofpel of St. John. That of St. Mark perhaps would ilrike us as an abridgment of the hillory with which we v/ere al- ready acquainted ; but we lliould naturally rcfleft, that, it that hiftory was abridged by fuch a perfon as Mark, or by any perfon of fo early an age, it afforded one of the higheO: poiTible atteffations to the value of the work. This fuccefiive difclofure of proof would leave us affured, that there muft have been at leafi fonie reality in a ftory which, not one, but many, had taken in hand to commit to writing. The very exiilence of four feparate hiflories would fatisfy us that the fubje^l had a foundation •, and Y/hen, amidll the variety which the different infor- mation of the different writers had fupplied to their accounts, or which their different choice and judge- ment in felecling their materials had produced, we obfcrved many facts to ftand ihe fame in all ; of thefe fa^ls, at leaft, we fliould conclude, that they were fixed in their credit and publicity. If, after this, we fhould come to the knowledge of a diflinft hidory, and that alfo of the fame age v/ith the rcfl, taking up the fubje«ft v.here the others had left it, and carrying on d narrative of the cffefts produced in the world by the extraordinary caufes of which we had already been informed, and which effects
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 91
fubfift at this day, we fliould think the reality of the original llory in no little degree eftablilhed by this fuppleinent. If fubfequent inquiries Ihould bring to our knowledge, one after another, letters written by fome of the principal agents in the bufuiefs, upoa the bufinefs, and during the time of their activity and concern in it, alTumino- all alon-r and recop^nizintr the original ftory, agitating the quellions that arofe out of it, prciling the obligations which refulted from it, giving advice and directions to thofe who .a6led upon it, I conceive that we fliould find, in every one of thefe, a rtill further fupport to the con- clufion we had formed. At prefent the weight of this fucceflive confirmation U, in a great meafure, unperceived by u?. The evidence does not appear to us, what it is ; for, being from our infancy accuf- tomed to regard the New Tcfl:ament as one book, we fee in it only one tefl:imony. The whole occurs to us as a fmgle evidence ; and its different parts, not as diilinCl atteffations, but as different portions only of the fame. Yet in this conception of the fubje<5l: we are certainly millaken ; for the very difcrepan- cies amongfl: the feveral documents which form our volume prove, if all other proof w.is wanting, that in their origin;d rompofition they were feparate, and mofl: of them independent productions.
If we difpofc our ideas in a dilTerent order, the matter (lands thus : — Whilrt: the tranfadion was re- cent, and the original witntfles were at hand to re- late it ; and whilll the apoftles were bufied in preach- ing and travelling, in colleiTting difciples, in forming and regulating Societies of converts, in fupporting ihemfclves againft oppofition ; whilfl: they excrcifed their miniilry under the harafTmgs of frequent per- fecution, and in a (late of aimod continual alarm, it is not probable that, in this engaged, anxious, and unfettled condition of life, they would think imme- diately
^2 A VIEW OF THE
diutely of writing hiflories for the information of the public or of pofteriry*. But it is very probable that emergcRcies might draw, from fome of thrm, occafional letters upon the fafcjccl: of their million to converts, or to focieties of converts, with which they Vv'ere connected ; or that they might addrefs written difcourfes and exhortations to the dilciples of the inflitution at large, wbicih would be received and read with a refpeft proportioned to the character of the writer. Accounts in the mean time would get abroad of the extraordinary things that had been palTing, written with different degrees of infor- mation and ccrreftnefs. The extenfion of the Chrif- tian fociety, which could no longer be inftrui^cd by a perfonal intercourfe Vviih the apoftles, and the pof- fible circulation of imperfeft or erroneous narra- tives, wou'd foon teach fome amongil them the ex- pediency of frnding forth authentic iTiemoirs of the life and do<51:riiie of their mafter. \/iien accounts appeared, authorized by the name, and credit, and fitua'.ion of the writers, recommended or recognized by the apoRles and firfl preachers cf lUc religion, or found to coincide with what the apoilks and firll preachers of the religion had taught, other accounts would fall into difufe and negleft ; wkiill thefc-, maintaining their reputation (as, if genui«e and v/ell founded, they would do) under the ted of time, en- quiry, and contradiction, might be expe^ed to make their way into the hands of ChriHians of all coun- tries of the world. This feems the natural progrefs of the bufmefs ; and with this the records in our
* This thought occurred to Eafebius — *< Nor were the * apoftles of Chrift greatly conecrned about the writing of *' books, being engaged in a more excellent xniniftry, which is «' above all human power." Ecc. Hift. 1. iii. c. 24. The fame confid^raiion accounts alio for the paucity of Chriftian writings in the firft century of its sera.
poffeffion,
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 93
poflWTion, unci the evidence concerning them, cor- rcfpond. Wc have remaining in the iirft place, many letters of th: kind above defcribed, which have been prelcrvcd " ith a care and fidelity anfwer- in.^ to the refpeft wr li which we may fuppofe that •Airh iertcrs would be received. Bur as thcfc letters
•"." not Avrittcn to prove the truth of the Chrif-
:;in religion, in the fcnfe in which we recijard that
T'letVion, nor to convey inforn^.ation of fafts, ot
.'hioh'thnfe ro -whom the lest-crs were written had
.oetii prt^/ioufly informed.; we are not to look in
rhCTT. for any ihino more than incidental allufions
tiie Chriftian hiftory. We are able, however, to !5ither from thefe documents various particular atteftations which have been already enumerated ; and this is a fpecics of ■'written evidence, as far as it goes, in the higheil degree fatisfa£i:ory, and iti point of time pcrlraps the firfl. But for our more circumflantial information we have, in the next place, five direft bijiorics^ bearing the names of per- fons acquainted, by their fituation, with the truth of what they relate, and three of them purporting, in the very body of the narrative, to be written by fuch perfons : of which books we know that fomc were ill the hands of thofe who were contempo- raries of the upoilles, and that, in the age immedi- ately pofterior to that, they were in the hands, we may fay, of every one, and received by Chriitians with fo much refpe^l and deference, as to be con- ftantly quoted and referred to by them without any doubt of the truth of their accounts. They were treated as fu€h hidories, proceeding from fuch au- thorities, might expCiH: to be treated. In the pre- face to one of our hiflories we have intimationr. left us of the cxiilence of forae ancient accounts which are now loft. There is nothing in this cir- cumflance that can furprife u?. It wa^ to be ex-
peftcJ
94 A VIEW OF THE
pefted from the magnitude and novelty of the oc* cafion that fuch accounts would fwarm. When better accounts came forth, thefe died away. Our prefent hiftories fuperfeded others. They foon ac- quired a chara6ler and eftabliilied a reputation which does not appear to have belonged to any other : that, at lead:, can be proved concerning them, which cannot be proved concerning any other.
But to return to the point which led to thefe re- flections. By confidering our records in either of the two views in which v/e have reprefentcd them, we lliall perceive that we poffefs a colledion of proofs, and not a naked or folitary teftimony ; and that the written evidence is of fuch a kind, and comes to us in fuch a ftate, as the natural order and progrcfs of things, in the infancy of the inftiiution, might be expefted to produce.
Thirdly ; The genuinenefs of the hiftorical books of the New Teftaroent is undoubtedly a point of importance, becaufe the ftrength of their evidence is augmented by our knowledge of the fituation of their authors, their relation to the ful-ijecl, and the part which they fuflained in the tranfacHon : and the teftimonies vrhich we ar-e able to produce compofe a firm ground of perfuafion that the gofpels were writ- ten by the perfons whofe names they bear. Never- thelefs I mull be allowed to flate, that, to the argu- ment which I am endeavouring to maintain, this point is not eflential ; I mean, io effeniiai as that the fate of the argument depends upon it. The queftion before us is, whether the gofpels exhibit the {lory which the apoflles and iirfl eraiffaries of religion publilhed ; and for which they acled and fuffered in the manner, in which, for fome miracu- lous flory or other, they did aft and fuifer. Now let us fuppofe that we polfeifed no other information concerning thefe books than that they v.cre written
by
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 95
by early difciples of Chriflianity ; that they were known and read during the time, or near the time, of the original apoHles of the religion ; that by Chriltians whom the apoflles inflrufted, by focieties of Chriflians which the apoftles founded, thefe books ivere received^ (by which term " received" I meaa that they were believed to contain authentic accounts of the traiifaftion upon which the religion refted, and accounts which were accordingly ufed, repeated, and relied upon) this reception would be a valid proof that thefe books, whoever were the authors of them, muit have accorded with what the apoflles taught. A reception by the firft race of Chriftians is evidence that they agreed with what the firft teachers of the religion delivered. In particular, if they had not agreed with what the apoflles them- felves preached, how could they have gained credit in churches and focieiies which the apoflles efla- bliHied ?
Now the faifl of their early exiflencc, and not only of their exillence but their repiuation, is made out by fome ancient tellimonies which do not happen to fpecify the names of the writers : add to which, what hath been already hinted, that two otu of the four gofpels contain averments in the body of the hiflory, which, though they do not difclofe tlie names, fix the time and fituation of the authors, viz. that one was written by an e^e-witnefs of the fufFerings of Chrifl, the other by a contemporary of the apoflles. In the gofpel of St John (xix. ^tS'^-* after defcribing the crucifixion, with the particular circumflance of piercin^r Chrifl's fide with a fpear, the hillcrinn adds, as from himfelf, " and he that " faw it bare record, and his record is true, and *' he knoweth that he faith true, that ye might bc- " lievc." Again, (xxi. 24.) after relating a con- verfation which pafied between Peter and the difci- 2 pie.
^6 A Vi^W OF THE
pie, as it is -there exprefTed, whom Jefus loved, it ^ added, " this is the difciple which cefttfieth of tbefe *■* things and wrote thefe thing«5." This teftimony, let it be remarked, is not the lefs worthy of regard, becaufe it is in one view imperfe6l. The name is not mentioned, which, if a fraudulent purpofe had been intended, would have been done. The third of our prefent gofpels purports to have been written by the perfon who wrote the A6ls of the Apoftles ; in which latter hiftory, or rather latter part of the fame hif- tory, the author, by ufmg in various places the firft: perfon plural, declares himfelf to have been a con- temporary of all, and a companion of one <jf the original preachers of the religion.
■t 4.iUii laWD.Pi
CHAP. ]X.
Thiereis fatisfd3ory evidence that many profejjtn^ to be original witnejfes of the Chrijiian Miracles, pajfed their lives in labours, dangers and fuffer- ings, vrAiintariiy undergone in attejiation of the accounts which they delivered, andfolely in confe- quence of their belief of the truth of thofe accounts ; and that they alfo fubmitted,from the fame motives y to new rides of conduct.
OF THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
IN O T forgetting, therefore, what cre- dit is due to the evangelic hiilory, fuppofmg even any one of the four gofpels to be genuine ; what credit is due to the gofpels, even fuppofmg nothing to be known concerning them but that they were
written
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 97
written by early difciok's of tlic religion, and re- ceived with deference by early Chriflian churches ; more efpecially not forgetting what credit is due to the New TelVament in its capacity of cumulative evi- dence ; we now proceed to Ihite the proper and dif- tincH: proofs, which fliow not only the general value of thcfe records, but their fpecific authority, and the high probability there is that they a<5luaily came from the perfons whofe names they bear.
There are, however, a few preliminary reflections, by which v/e may drav/ up with more regularity the propofitions, upon which the clofe and particular difcufiion of the fubje6l depends. Of which nature are the following :
I. We are able to produce a great number of ancient juanufcripts, found in many diiTerent coun- tries, and in countries widely diilant from each other, all of them anterior to the art of printing, fome certainly fevcn or eight hundred years old, and fome which have been preferved probably above a thoufand years*. We have alfo many ancient ver- ftons of thcfe books, and fome of them into languaejes which are not at prelent, nor for many ages have been, fpoken in any part of the world. The exif- tence of thefc manufcripts and verfions proves that the fcriptures were not tlie production of any modern contrivance. It does awav a1fo the uncertainty which hangs over fuch publication? a-; the works, real or pretended, of Offian and Rov.lcy, in which the editors are challenged to produce their manu- fcripts, and to fhow where they obtained their co- pies. The number of manufcripts, far exceeding thofe of any other books, and their wide difperfion, affords an argument, in fome meafurc, to the fcnfeSy
* The Alexandrian mimufcript, now in the Kinor's library, WIS wriffon probably in the fourth or fifth century.'
H ihac
98 A VIEW OF THE
that the fcripturcs anciently, in like manner as at this day, were more read and fought after than any other books, and that alfo in many ri?Terent coun- tries. The greateft part of fpurious Chriftian wri- tings are utterly loft, the reft preferved by fome An- gle manufcript. There is weight alfo in Dr. Bent- ley's obfervation, that the New Teltament has fuf- fered lefs injury by the errors of tranfcribers than the works of any profane author of the fame fize and antiquity ; that is, there never was any writing in the prefervation and purity of which the world was fo intercfted or fo careful.
II. An argument of great weight with thofe who are judges of the proofs upon which it is found- ed, and capable, through their teftimony, of being addrelfed to every underftanding, is that which arifes from the ftyle and language of the New Teftament. It is juft fuch a language as might be expefled from the apoftles, from perfons of their age and in their fituation, and from no other perfons. It is the ftyle neither of claftic authors, nor of the ancient Chriftian fathers, but Greek coming from men of Hebrew origin ; abounding, that is, with Hebraic and Syriac idioms, fuch as would naturally be found in the wri- tings of men who ufed a language fpoken indeed where they lived, but not the common diale£t of the country. This happy peculiarity is a ftrong proof of the genuinenefs of thefe writings ; for who ftiould forge them ? The Chriftian fathers were for the moft part totally ignorant of Hebrew, and theiefore were not likely to infert Hebraifms and Syriafms into their ivritings. The few who had a knowledge of the Hebrew, as Juftin Martyr, Origen, and Epiphanius, wrote in a language which bears no refemblance to that of the New Teftament. The Nazarenes, who underftood Hebrew, ufed chiefly, perhaps almoft entirely, the gofpel of St. Matthew, and therefore
cannot
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 9^
cannot be fufpefted of forging the reft of the facrcd
writings. The argument, at any rate, proves the antiquity of thcfe books ; that they belonged to the age of the apoltles ; that they could be compofed indeed in no other*.
III. Why fliould we queflion the genuinenefs of thefe books ? Is it for that they contain accounts of fupernatural events ? I apprehend that this, at the bottom, is the real, though fecret, caufe of our he- litation about them ; for had the writings infcribed with the name of Matthew and John related nothing but ordinary hiftory, there would have been no more doubt whether thefe writings were theirs, than there is concerning the acknowledged works of Jofephus or Philo, that is, there would have been no doubt at aH. Now it ought to be confidered that this reafon, however it may iipply to the credit which is given to a writer's judgment or veracity, afFefts the queftion of genuinenefs very indireftly. The works of Bede exhibit many wonderful rela- tions ; but who for that reafon doubts that they were written by Bede ? The fatne of a multitude of other authors. To which may be added, that we aflv no more for our books than what we allow to other books in fome fort fimilar to ours. We do not deny the genuinenefs of the Koran. We admit that the hiftory of AppoUonius Tyanasus, purporting to be written by Philoftratus, was really written by Philoftratus.
IV. If it had been an eafy thing in the early times of the inftitution to have forged Chriftian writings, and to have obtained currency and reception to the forgeries, we fliould have had many appearing in
* See this argument ftated more at large in Michaelis's in- trodu(5tion, (Marfli's tranflation; vol. I. c. ii. fee. x. from Tvhich thefe obfervations are taken.
H 2 the
ICO A VIEW OF THE
the name of Chrift himfelf. No writings would liave been received with fo much avidity and refpeft as thefe ; confequenily none afforded fo great tempta- tion to forgery. Yet have we heard but of one at- tempt of this fort deferving of the fmalleft notice, that in a piece of a very few lines, and fo far from fucceeding, I mean from obtaining acceptance and reputation, or an acceptance and reputation in any wife fmiilar to that which can be proved to have at- tended the books of the New Tefiament, that it is not fo much as mentioned by any writer of the three firft centuries. The learned reader need not be in- formed that I mean the epillle of Chrift to Abgarus, king of Edeilli, found at prefent in the works of Eufebius*, as a piece acknowledged by him, though not without confiderable doubt whether the whole pailage be not an interpolation, as it is mod: certain that, after the publication of Eufebius's v/ork, this epiftle was univerfally rejeftedj.
V. If the afcription of the gofpels to their rcfpec- tive authors had been arbitrary or conjeflural, they would have been afcribed to more eminent men. This obfervation holds concerning the three firft gofpels, the reputed authors of which were enabled, by their fituation, to obtain true intelligence, and
* H. Eccl. 1. i. c. 13.
f Auguftin, A. D. 395, (de confenf. evang. c. 34) had heard that the Pagans pretended to be poiTefled of an epiftle from Chrift to Peter and Paul, but he had never feen it, and appears to doubt of the exiftence of any fuch piece, either ge- nuine or fpurious. No other ancient writer mentions it. He al- fo, and he alone, notices, and that in order to condemn it, an epiftk afcribed to Chrift by the Manichecs, A. D. 270, and a ihnrt hymn attributed to him by the Prifcillianifts, A. D. 378, (cent. Pauft. Man. lib. 28, c. 4.) The latenefs of the vvriter who notices thcfe things, the manner in which he no- tices them, and, above all, the filence of every preceding AM iter, reiidtr them unworthy of confideration.
were
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. loi
were likely to deliver :in honcfi: account of \vh;ic they knew, but were perfons not dillinguiflied in the hiftory by extraordinary marks of notice or com- mendation. Of the apoflles, I hardly know any one of whom lefs is faid than of Matthew, or. of whom the little that is faid, is lefs calcuLired to magnify his charafter. Of Mark nothing is faid in the pof- pels ; and what is faid of any perfon of that name in the afts, and in the epililcs, in no part beflows praife or eminence upon him. The name of Luke is rnentioned only in St. Paul's epiftles*, and that very tranfiently. The judgment, therefore, which afligned thefe wiitings to thefe authors proceeded, it may be prefumed, upon proper knowledge and evidence, and not upon, a vohmtary choice of names.
VI. Chriflian writers and Chridian churches ap- pear to have foon arrived at a very general agree- ment upon the fubjesft, and that without the inter- pofition of any public authority. VvHicn the diverfity of opinion which prevailed and prevails among Chriflians in other points is confidered, their concurrence in the canon of fcripiure i^, remarkable, and of great weight, el^^ecially as it fcems to have been the refult of private and free enquiry. VV^'e have no knowledge of any interference of authority in the queflion before the council of Laodicca in the year 363. Probably the decree of this council rather declared than regulated the public judgment, or, more properly fpeaking, the judgment of fome neighbouring churches j the council itfelf confiding of no more than thirty or forty bifliops of Lydia and the adjoining countries *. Nor does its authority feem to have e:;tended farther; for we find num.e-
* Col. iv. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 1 1. Pliilem, 24. f Lardner's Cred. vol. VIII. p. 291, et ftq.
II 3 reus
102 A VIEW OF THE
rous Chriftlan writers, after this time, difculTing the quefti'^n, " what books were entitled to be received *' as fcripture," with great freedom, upon proper grounds of evidence, and without any reference to the decifion at Laodicea.
Thefe confjderations are not to be neglefted : but of an argument concerning the genuinenefs of ancient writing;s, the fubftance undoubtedly and ftrength is ancient teftimony.
This teftimony it is neceflary to exhibit fomewhat in detail ; for when Chriftian advocates merely tell us, that we have the fame reafon for believing the gofpels to be written by the evangelifts, whofe name they bear, as we have for believing the Commen- taries to be Ccefar's, the ^neid Virgils, or the Ora- tions Cicero's, they content themfelves with an imperfe£l reprefentation. They ftate nothing more than what is true, biit they do not ftate the truth correftly. In the number, variety, and early date of our teflim.onies, we far exceed all other ancient books. For one, which the moft celebrated work of the mod celebrated Greek or Roman writer can allege, we produce nnan)^ But then it is more rcquifite in our books, than in theirs, to feparate and diftinguifli them from fpurious competitors. The refult, I am convinced will be fluisfaftory to every fair enquirer; but this circumftance renders an en- quiry neceflary.
In a work, however, like the prefent, there is a difficulty in finding a place for evidence of this kind. To purfue the detail of proofs throughout, would be to tranfcribe a great part of Dr. Lardner's eleven oftavo volumes; to leave the argument without proofs, is to leave it without effeft ; for the perfuafion produced by this fpecics of evidence, depends upon a view and indudion of the particulars which com- pofe it, ^ The
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 103
The merhod which I propofe to myfelf is, firft, to place before the reader, in one view, the propofi- tions which comprife the feveral heads of our tefti- mony, and afterwards, to repeat the fame propofitions in fo many diflinft feftions, with the necelTary authorities fubjoined to each *.
The following, then, are the allegations upon the fubjecft, which are capable of being eftablillied by proof.
• I. That the hifl-orical books of the New Tefta- mcnt, meaning thereby the four gofpels and the a(5ls of the apofiics, are quoted, or alluded to, by a feries of Chriflian writers, beginning with thofe who were contemporary with the apoftles, or who imme- diately followed them, and proceeding in clofe and regular fucceffion from their time to the prefeni.
II. That when they arc quoted, or alluded to, they are quoted or alluded to with peculiar refpe^l:, as hodk^fui generis, as poffeffing an authority which belonged to no other books, and as conclufive in all queftions and controverfies amongfl: Chriftians.
III. That they were, in very early times, colleftcd into a diftinfl volume.
IV. That they were diftinguiQied by appropriate names and titles of refpeft.
V. That they were publicly read and expounded in the religious aiTcmblies of the Chriftians.
* The reader, when he has the propofitions before hire, will obferve that the argument, If he flioald omit the fcftions, proceeds connccftedly from this point.
H 4 VI. Tha
104 A VIEW OF THE
VI. That commentaries were written upon them, harmonies formed out of them, different copies care- fully collated, and verfions of them made into dif- ferent languages.
VII. That they were received by Chriflians of different {e£is, by many heretics as well as catholics, and ufually appealed to by both fides in the contro- verfies which arofe in thofe days.
VIII. That the four gofpels, the afts of the apofHes, thirteen epiilles of St. Paul, the firfl epiflle of John, and the firfl of Peter, were received, with- out doubt, by thofe who doubted concerning the other books which are included in our prefent canon.
IX. That the gofpels were attacked by the early advcrfaries of Chriflianity, as books containing the accounts upon Vv^hich the religion was founded.
X. That formal catalogues of authentic fcriptures were publiihed ; in all which our prefent flicrcd hif- tories were included.
XI. That thefe proportions cannot be afHrmed of any other books, claiming to be books of fcripiure; by which I mean thofe books which are commonly called apochryphal books of the New Teflament.
SECT.
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 105
SECTION I.
The h'lftor'ical hooks of the New Tcflameni^ meaning thereby the four gofpcls and the Acls of the Apo/iles, are quoted^ or alluded to, by a feries of Chriflian writers, beginning with thofe who were contempo- rary with the Apoftles, or who immediately followed them, and proceeding in clofe and regular fiiecejjlon from their time to the prefent.
JL he medium of proof ftated in this propofition is, of all others, the moft unqiieliionable, the lead liable to any praftices of fraud, and is not diminiflied by the lapfe of ages. Bifliop Burnet, in the hiftory of his own times, infcrts various extra^ls from Lord Clarendon's hiftory. One fuch infertion is a proof, that Lord Clarendon's hiftory was extant at the time when Bifliop Burnet wrote, that it liad been read by Bifliop Burnet, that it was received by Bifliop Burnet as a work of Lord Clarendon's and alfo regarded by him as an authentic account of the tranfaftions which it relates : and it will be a proof of thefe points a thoufand years hence, or as long as the books exifl. Juvenal having quoted, as Cicero's, that memorable line,
" O fortunatam natam me confule Romam."
the quotation would be flrong evidence, were there any doubt, that the oration, in which that line is found, actually came from Cicero's pen. Thefe infl:ances, however fimple, may ferve to point out to a reader, who is little accuftomed to fuch rcfcarchcs, the nature and value of the argument.
The
io6 A VIEW OF THE
The teillraonies which we have to bring lorward under this propofition are the followin^r :
I. There is extant an epiftle afcribed to Barnabas *, the companion of Paul. It is qjoted as the epiille of Barnabas by Clement of Alexandria, A. D. 194: by Origen, A. D. 230. It is mentioned by Euie- bins, A. D. 315, and by Jerome, A. D. 392, as m ancient work in their time, bearing the nan.e of Bar- nabas, and as well known and read among the Chriftians, though not accounted a part of fcripture. It purports to have been written foon after tlie def- truftion of Jerufalem, during the calamities which followed that difailcr; and it bears the character of the age to which it profelTes to belong.
In this epiflle appears the following remarkable paffage : — " Let us, therefore, beware left it come *' upon us, as it is wriiten, there are many called, *• few chofen." From the expreftion, " as it is *' written,'* we infer with certamty, that, at the time when the author of this epiftle lived, there was a book extant, well known to Chriftians, and of authority among them, containing ihefe word*; — " many are called, few chofen." Such a book is our prefent gofpel of St. Matthew, in which this text is twice found, and is found in no o^her book now known. There is a farther obfervaiion to be made OH the terms of the quotation. The writer of the epiftle was a Jew. The phrafe " it is written" was the very form in which the Jews quoted their fcrip- tures. It is not probable, therefore, that he would have ufed this phrafe, and without qualification, of any books but what had acquired a kind of fcriptu-
* Lardner's Cred. ed. 1755, vol. I. p. 23, et feq. The reader will obferve from the references that the materials of thefe fedions are almofl entirely extrafled from Dr. Lardner's work — my office confifted in arrangement and feledion.
ral
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 107
ral authority. If the paffage remarked in this ancient writing had been found in one of St. Paul's epiftles, it would have been efteemed by every one a high teftiraony to St. Matthew's gofpel. It oughrt, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it is found was probably but very view years pofterior to thofe of St. Paul.
Befide this paffage, there are alfo in the epiftle before us feveral others, in which the fentiment is the fame with what we meet with in St. Matthew's gofpel, and two or three in which we recognize ' the fame words. In particular, the author of the epiftle repeats the precept, " give to every one that " afketh thee," and faith that Chrift chofe as his apoftles, who were to preach the gofpel, men who were great fmners, that he might {how that he came " not to call the righteous, but fmners, to repen- « tance."
II. We are in poireffion of an epiftle written by Clement, Bifliop of Rome *, whom ancient writers, without any doubt or fcruple, aftert to have been the Clement whom St. Paul mentions, Phil. iv. 3. " With dement alfo, and other my fellow-labourers, " whofe names are in the book of life." This epiftle is fpoken of by the ancients as an epiftle acknowledged by all; and, as Irenasus well reprefents its value, " written by Clement, who had fcen the *' bleffed apoftles and converfed with them, who had* " the preaching of the apoftles ftill founding in his " ears, and their traditions before his eyes." It is addreffed to the Church of Corinth; and what alone may feem almoft dccifive of its authenticity, Dionyfius, Bifliop of Corinth, about the year 170, /. e. about eighty or ninety years after the epiftle was written,
* Lardner's Cred. vol. I. p. 62, et feq.
bears
loS. A VIEAV OF THE
bears witners, " rbat it had been wont to be read in " that church from ancient timci;."
This cpiille affords, aiiiongft others, the following valnable palTages:™" Efpecially remembering the " words of the Lord Jefus which he fpake, teaching " gentlenefs and long fuffcring; for thus he faid*: *' Be ye merciful iliat ye may obtain mercy; foreive, *' that \t may forgiven unto you; as you do, fo lliall " it be done unto you; as you give, fo ihali ir be " given unto you ; as ye judge, fo lba.Il yc be judged ; " as ye ihow kindnefs, fo {hall kindnefs be faown *' unto you; with what racufure ye mete, with the " fame it fliall be meafured to you. By this ccm- '* mand, and by thefe rules, let us eftabliru ourfelves, " that we may always Vv'alk obediently to his holy " words."
Again, " Remember the v/ords of the Lord Jefus, *• for he faid, Vv'o to that man by whom offences " come; it v/ere better for him that he had not been '• born, than that he (hcu'd oitend one of my elect; " it were better ior him that the miibflone fliould " be tied about his neck, and that he (liould be " drowned in the fea, than that he Ihould offend one " of ray little onesj."
* " JDlelTed are the merciful, for they fhall obtain mercy." Mat. V. 7. — " Forgive, and ye fhall be forgiven; give, and it Ihall be given unto you." Luke vi, 37, 38. — *♦ Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment be judge, ye Ihall be judged, and with what meafure ye mete, it fhall be meafured to you again." Mat. vii. 2.
f Mat. xviii. 6. " But whofo (hall offend one of thefe little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-{lr:ne were hanged about his neck, and that he were cafl into the fea." The latter part of the paifage in Clement agrees more exa«nly with Luke xvii. 2, "It were better for liim that a mill-ftone were hrmged about his neck, and he call into the fea, than that he fliould offend one of thefe iitde ones."
In
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 109
In both thcfe pi^ffagcs we perceive the liii^h rcfpeft paid to the words of Chrift as recorded by tl\e evangelifts: " Rejiieinber the words of the Lord " jdus — by this command and by thefe rules let us " clbibiifh ourfclves that we may always walk obe- " diently to his holy words." We perceive alfo in Clement a total unconfcioufnefs of doubt, whether thefe were the real words of Chrift, which are read as fuch in the gofpels. This obfervation indeed be- longs to the whole feries of teftimony, and efpecially to the moft ancient part of it. Whenever any thing nov/ read in the gofpels is met with in an early Chriftian writing, it is alwiiys obferved to (land there as acknowledged truth, ;. c. to be introduced with- out hefitation, doubt, or apology. It is to be obferved alfo, that as this epiftle was written in the name of the Church of Rome, and addrciled to the church of Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhi- biting the judgment not only of Clement, v/ho drew up the letter, but of thefe churches themfelves, at ieaft as to the authority of the books referred to.
It may be faid, that, as Clement hath not ufed words of quotation, it is not certain that he refers to any book whatever. The words of Chrift, which he has put down, he might himfeU have heard from the apoftles, or miglit have received through the ordinary medium of oral tradition. This hath been faid: but that no fuch inference can be drawn from the abfence of words of quotation is proved by the three following confidcrations: — Firft, that Clement in the very fame manner, namely, without any mark of reference, ufts a pafliige nov^' found in the epiftle to the Romans*; which paftage from the peculiarity of the words which compofe it, and from their order, it is manifcft that he mull have taken IVoni tiie book.
* Roni. i. 2.;.
Tug
no A VIEW OF THE
The fame remark may be repeated of fome very fmgular fentiments in the epiftle to the Hebrews. Secondly, that there are many fentences of St. Paul's epiftle to the Corinthians ftanding in Clement's epif- tle without any fign of quotation, which yet cer- tainly are quotations ; becaufe it appears that Cle- ment had Si. Paul's epiftle before him, inafmuch as in one place he mentions it in terms too exprefs to leave us in any doubt — ' Take into your hands the epiftle of the blelTed apoftle Paul.' Thirdly, that this method of adopting words of fcripture, without reference or acknowledgement, was, as will appear in the fequel, a method in general ufe amongft the moft ancient Chriftian writers. Thefe analogies not only repel the obje6i-ion, but caft the prefumptioii on the other fide ; and afford a confiderable degree of pofitive proof, that the words in queftion have been borrowed from the places of fcripture in which we now find them.
But take it if you will the other way, that Cle- ment had heard thefe words from the apoftles or firft teachers of Chriftianity ; with refpe^t to the precife point of our argument, viz. that the fcrip- tures contain what the apoftles taught, this fuppofi- tion may ferve almoft as well.
III. Near the conclufion of the epiftle to the Romans, St. Paul, amongft others, fends the fol- lowing falutation : " Salute Afyncritus, Phlegon, " Her?nas, Patrobus, Hermes, and the brethren " which are with them."
Of Hermas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Chriftians as contemporary with St. Paul, a book bearing the name, and (it is moft probable) rightly, is ftill remaining. It is called the Shepherd or Paftor of Hermas*. Its antiquity is inconteftible,
* Larder's Cred. vol. i. p. iii.
from
EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. iii
from the quotations of it in Irenccus, A, D. 178, CIrment of Alexandria, A. U. 194, Tertullian, A. D. 200, Origen, A. D. 230. The notes of time extant in the epiftle itfelf agree with its title, and with the teflimonies concerning it, for it pur- ports to have been written during the Hfe-time of Clement.
In this piece arc tacit allufions to St. Matthew*^, St Luke's, aod St. John's gofpels, that is to fay, they are applications of thoughts and expreflions found in thefe gofpels, without citing the place or writer from which they were taken. In this form appear in Hermas the confefHng and denying of Chrift ; the parable of the feed fown ; the compa- rifon of Chrifl's difciples to little children ; the faying, " he that putteth away his wife, and mar- ricth another, committeth adultery." The fmgular expreflion, " having received all power from his " father," in probable allufion to Matt, xxviii. 18. and Chrift being the " gate," or only way of coming " to God," in plain allufion to John xiv. 6. — x. 7, 9. There is alfo a probable allulion to A6ls v. 32.
This piece is the reprefentation of a vifion, and has by many been accounted a weak and fanciful performance. I therefore obferve, that the cha- racter of the writing has little to do with the purpofe for which we adduce it. It is the age in which ic was compofed that gives the value to its teftimony.
IV. Ignatius, as it is tcftified by ancient Chriitian writers, became Bilhop of Antioch about thirty- fevcn years after Chaift's afcenfion ; and therefore, from his time, and place, and Itaiion, ic is probable that he had knov/n and converU^d with many of the apoftles. Epiftles of Ignatius are rrferred to by Polycarp his contemporary. Pafiages, found in the epiftles now extant under his name, are quoted by IrenTu*^, A. D. 178, by Ori^^en, A. I). 2305 and
the
112 A VIEW OF THE
the occafion of writing the epiftle is given at large by Eufebius and Jerome. What are called the fmaller cpiftles of Ignatius, are generally deemed to be tliofe which were read by Irenasus, Origen, and Eufebius*.
In thefe epiftles are various undoubted allufions to the gofpels of St. Matthew and St. John ; yet fo far of the jfame form with thofe in the preceding articles, that, lilce them, they are not accompanied with marks of quotation.
Of thefe allufions the following are clear fpeci- mens :
r " Chrift was baptifed of John, that all J. _ J righteoiifnefs might be fulfilled by bifii.'*
- a f«t \ cs ]^g jQ c^iJq as ferpents in all things, L and harmlefs as a dove. r " Yet the fpirit is not deceived, being j from God ; for it knows whence it conies^ . , J and whither it g-(?a." John\. <; ,, jj^ (Chrift) is the door of the Father, I by which enter in Abraham and Ifaac and L Jacob and the Apoftles and the Church.'* As to the manner of quotation this is obfervable : — Ignatius, in one place, fpeaks of St. Paul in terms of high refpe^l, and quotes his epiftle to the Ephe- frans by name ; yet in feveral other places he bor- rows words 2nd fentiments from the llune epiftle, without mentioning it : which fliews, that this was
*