And to me it appears that we are authorised to carry this tef timony back to the age of the apoftles, because it is not probable that the immediate hearers and difciples of Chrift were more relaxed than their fucceffors in Pliny's time, or the miffionaries of the religion than thofe whom they taught.

CHAP. VI.

There is fatisfactory evidence, that many, profeffing to have been original witneffes of the Chriftian Miracles, paffed their lives in labours, dangers, and fufferings, voluntarily undergone in atteftation of the accounts which they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of thofe accounts; and that they alfo fubmitted, from the fame motives, to new rules of conduct. WHEN we confider, first, the prevalency of religion at this

hour; fecondly, the only credible account which can be given of its origin, viz. the activity of the founder and his affociates; thirdly, the oppofition which that activity muft naturally have excited; fourthly, the fate of the founder of the religion, attefted by heathen writers as well as our own; fifthly, the teftimony of the fame writers to the fufferings of the Chriftians, either contemporary with, or immediately fucceeding, the original fettlers of the inftitution; fixthly, predictions of the fufferings of his followers afcribed to the founder of the religion, which afcription alone proves, either that fuch predictions were delivered and fulfilled, or that the writers of Chrift's life were induced by the event to attribute fuch predictions to him; feventhly, letters now in our poffeffion, written by fome of the principal agents in the tranfaction, and referring exprefsly to extreme labours, dangers, and fufferings, fuftained by themfelves and their companions; laftly, a hiftory, purporting to be written by a fellow-traveller of one of the new teachers, and, by its unfophifticated correfpondency with letters of that perfon ftill extant, proving itself to be written by some one well acquainted with the subject of the narrative, which history contains accounts of travels, persecutions, and martyrdoms, anfwering to what the former reafons lead us to expect when we lay together thefe confiderations, which, taken feparately, are, I think, correctly fuch as I have stated them in the preceding chapters, there cannot much doubt remain upon our minds, but that a number of persons at that E

time appeared in the world, publickly advancing an extraordinary ftory, and, for the fake of propagating the belief of that story, voluntarily incurring great perfonal dangers, traverfing feas and kingdoms, exerting great induftry, 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 afferted, entered upon a courfe of life in many refpects new and fingular.

From the clear and acknowledged parts of the cafe, I think it to be likewife in the highest degree probable, that the ftory, for which these perfons voluntarily expofed themselves to the fatigues and hardships which they endured, was a miraculous story; I mean that they pretended to miraculous evidence of fome kind or other. They had nothing else to stand upon. The defignation of the perfon, that is to fay, that Jefus of Nazareth, rather than any other perfon, was the Meffiah, and as fuch, the subject of their miniftry, could only be founded upon fupernatural tokens attributed to him. Here were no victories, no conquefts, no revolutions, no furprifing elevation of fortune, no achievements of valour, of strength, or of policy, to appeal to ; no difcoveries in any art or fcience, no great efforts of genius or learning to produce. A Galilean peafant was announced to the world as a divine lawgiver. A young man of mean con dition, of a private and fimple life, and who had wrought no deliverance for the Jewish 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 fupernatural proofs could there be?) was too abfurd a claim to be either imagined, or attempted, or credited. In whatever degree, or in whatever part, the religion was argumentative, when it came to the question, Is the carpenter's fon of Nazareth the perfon whom we are to receive and obey? there was nothing but the miracles attributed to him, by which his pretenfions could be maintained for a moment. Every controverfy and every question must prefuppofe thefe; for however fuch controverfies, when they did arife might, and naturally would be difcuffed 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 previously fuppofing the exiftence, or the pretence, of fuch evidence, there could have been no place for the difcuffion or the argument at

all. Thus, for example, whether the prophecies, which the Jews interpreted to belong to the Meffiah were or were not, applicable to the hiftory of Jesus of Nazareth, was a natural fubject of debate in those times; and the debate would proceed, without recurring at every turn to his miracles, because it set out with fuppofing thefe; inafmuch as without miraculous marks and tokens (real or pretended) or without fome fuch great change effected by his means in the public condition of the country, as might have fatisfied the then received interpretation of thefeprophecies, I do not fee how the queftion could ever have been entertained. Apollos, we read, "mightily convinced the Jews, fhowing by the fcriptures that Jefus was Chrift ;"a but unless Jefus had exhibited fome diftinction of his perfon, 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 himself the Son of God, gathering a crowd about him, and delivering to them lectures of morality, could not have excited fo much as a doubt amongst the Jews whether he was the object in whom a long-series of ancient prophecies terminated, from the completion of which they had formed fuch magnificent expectations, and expectations of a nature fo oppofite to what appeared; I mean, no fuch doubt could exift when they had the whole cafe before them; when they faw him put to death for his officiousness, and when by his death the evidence concerning him was closed. Again, the effect of the Meffiah's coming, fuppofing Jefus to have been him, upon Jews, upon Gentiles, upon their relation to each other, upon their acceptance with God, upon their duties and their expectations; his nature, authority, office and agency; were likely to become fubjects of much confideration with the early votaries of the religion, and to occupy their attention and writings. I fhould not, however, expect, that in thefe difquifitions, whether preferved in the form of letters, fpeeches, or fet treatifes, frequent or very direct mention of his miracles would occur. Still miraculous evidence lay at the bottom of the argument. In the primary queftion, miraculous pretenfions, and miraculous pretenfions alone, were what they had to rely upon.

That the original story was miraculous, is very fairly alfo inferred from the miraculous powers which were laid claim to by the Christians of fucceeding ages. If the accounts of these miracles be true, it was a continuation of the fame powers; if they

a Acts xviii. 28.

be falfe, it was an imitation, I will not fay, of what had been wrought, but of what had been reported to have been wrought by those who preceded them. That imitation fhould follow reality; fiction be grafted upon truth; that if miracles were performed at firit, miracles fhould be pretended afterwards, 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 improbable, namely, that miracles fhould be pretended to by the followers of the apostles and first emiffaries of the religion, when none were pretended to, either in their own perfons or that of their mafter, by thefe apoftles and emiffaries themselves.

CHAP. VII.

There is fatisfactory evidence, that many, profeffing to bave been original witneffes of the Chriftian Miracles, paffed their lives in labours, dangers and fufferings, voluntarily undergone in atteftation of the accounts which they delivered, and folely in confequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts; and that they also fubmitted, from the fame motives, to new rules of conduct.

IT once then being proved, that the first propagators of the

Chriftian inftitution did exert great activity, and fubject themfelves to great dangers and fufferings in confequence and for the fake of an extraordinary, and I think we may fay, of a miraculous ftory of fome kind or other; the next great queftion is, whether the account, which our fcriptures contain, be that ftory; that which thefe men delivered, and for which they acted and fuffered as they did.

This question is, in effect, no other than whether the story, which Chriftians have now, be the story which Christians 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 authority of our hiftories is fupported.

In the first place, there exifts no trace or veftige of any other ftory. It is not, like the death of Cyrus the great, a competition between oppofite accounts, or between the credit of different hiftorians. There is not a document, or fcrap of account,. either contemporary with the commencement of Christianity, or extant within many ages after that commencement, which

The remote,

aligns a history fubftantially different from ours. brief, and incidental notices of the affair, which are found in heathen writers fo far as they do go, go along with us. They bear testimony to thefe facts; that the inftitution originated from Jefus; that the founder was put to death, as a malefactor, at Jerufalem, by the authority of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate; that the religion nevertheless fpread in that city, and throughout Judea; and that it was propagated from thence to diftant countries; that the converts were numerous; that they fuffered great hardships 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 farther, to defcribe the manners of Christians in terms perfectly conformable to the accounts extant in our books; that they were wont to affemble on a certain day; that they fung hymns to Chrift as to a God; that they bound themselves by an oath not to commit any crime, but to abstain from theft and adultery, to adhere strictly to their promises, and not to deny money deposited in their hands ;a that they worshipped him who was crucified in Palestine; that this, their firft lawgiver, had taught them that they were all brethren; that they had a great contempt for the things of this world, and looked upon them as common; that they flew to one another's relief; that they cherished strong hopes of immortality; that they defpifed death, and furrendered themselves to fufferings." This is the account of writers who viewed the fubject at a great distance, who were uninformed and uninterefted about it. It bears the characters of fuch an account upon

a Vide Pliny's Letter. Bonnet, in his lively way of expreffing him, felf, fays-"Comparing Pliny's Letter with the account in the Acts, it feems to me that I had not taken up another author, but that I was fill reading the hiftorian of that extraordinary fociety." This is ftrong; but there is undoubtedly an affinity, and all the affinity that could be expected...

b"It is incredible what expedition they ufe when any of their friends are known to be in trouble. In a word, they fpare nothing upon fuch an occafion; for thefe miferable men have no doubt they fhall be immortal, and live forever, therefore they contemn death, and many furrender themfelves to fufferings. Moreover, their first lawgiver has taught them that they are all brethren, when once they have turned and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship the master of theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according to his laws. They have alfo a fovereign contempt for all the things of this world, and look upon them as common." Lucian de Morte Peregrini, .1. p. 565, ed. Græv,