a

thrust his hand into his side. In this matter there could be no delusion. Let us suppose some persons should tell us, that a friend, with whom they had been so intimate as to be almost daily in his com pany for three years or more, had gone for some little time into another part of the country, and that he had returned from thence. Let us suppose they were to tell us, that they had seen him after his return several times, and that they all knew him to be their well-known friend. If they all were to declare that they had seen him eat and drink after his return, that they had conversed with him upon several subjects, and that upon some of them having doubted the affirmation of others that they had seen him, he had shewn them some marks upon his body by which he was particularly distinguished from others, must not every one conclude that all these witnesses must have known if they had seen their friend or not, that they must have known whether they spake the truth or a falsehood?

But I will forbear-I am ashamed in so clear a case to say any more than that I can maintain it to be an absolute impossibility, that the apostles were deceived in regard to the resurrection of their Master, that is, that they were deluded enthusiasts. It is as absolute an impossibility, as that any thing can at the same time exist and not exist. I suppose the greater part of those who deny the resurrection of Jesus, will conceive that the apostles were impostors, that is, that they pretended to have seen their Master alive several days after his crucifixion, when they knew they had not seen him. I shall therefore quit this part of the argument, and prove that it is morally impossible (that is, improbable in the highest degree) that they were impostors; which is the first kind of evidence a circumstance of this nature admits.

It will easily be granted, when a person invents and propagates a falsehood, he hopes, provided he is not a fool or madman, that it will by some means or other contribute to his advantage or pleasure. To

invent and propagate a falsehood, where the inventor is himself assured that it will bring him to ruin, imprisonment, infamy, a cruel death, must indicate folly or madness in the extreme. The apostles knew that the severest persecution would follow their publishing to the world the resurrection of their Master. There can be no ground whatever for urging, that they might have expected some worldly advantages from the propagation of the gospel. They knew that Peter and John, soon after they had divulged their Master's resurrection, were threatened by a council * of the Jews, that they should speak no more in his name. They had a little while after seen one of their brethren† stoned for avowing his zeal for their master; and they knew soon after Herod began to persecute them for preaching in his name, that he for this killed James the brother of Johnf, and imprisoned Peter. They were told by their Master, that they were to look forward to persecution and death, for preaching the gospel. "They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you." "They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons §." "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you ." "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God servicett." Moreover, the apostles themselves declared that they looked forward to persecution and death. St. Paul says (and he, though not one of the first apostles, was an eye-witness of his Master's resurrection, and in this may be looked upon as the mouth of his brethren), "The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide met." And again," For I think that God hath sent forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed unto death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world,

*Acts, iv. 17.
Matthew, xxiv. 9.
5tt John, xvi. 2.

+ Acts, vii, 59.
§ Luke, xxi. 19.

Acts, xii. 2, 3, 4, John, xv. 20. Acts, xxii. 23.

and to angels, and to men. Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are buffetted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working with our hands; being reviled, we bless; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of albathings unto this day." It is impossible, therefore, that the apostles could have invented and have propagated the story of the resurrection of their Master, without being fools or madmen; and, for their not being such, I appeal to the living evidence of their write ings. To impute either folly or madness to them, would prove him who made the imputation to be pos2 sessed of no sound understanding for they in their writings give every sign of a sober and a clear mina Their style and their doctrine are evidently grave, serious, and simple: and the worst enemies of Chris tianity have been compelled, though reluctantly to acknowledge the excellence of its morality. And Í think a very strong argument may be urged in favou of the apostles having known that what they asserted was a truth, from their bearing with cheerfulness and joy this persecution, which it is too certain to be denied or doubted that they expected to combaty It is said in Acts †," And when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that theyi should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his sake." For let me ask, in the name of common sense, from what this cheerfulness and this joy could have proceeded, but from the sau tisfaction of their consciences, and the expectation of a future reward, for performing what they knew to be their duty to God? Is it possible that any one, except his mind is insane, can be cheerful for being punished and afflicted for the avowing of that which he knows to be altogether an unprofitable falsehood? What reward, if they knew that the story of the re* 1 Corinthians, iv. 9.

Acts, v. 40, 41.

surrection of their Master was a falsehood (and whether it was one or not they indisputably must have known), could they have expected as a recompence for the troubles they underwent?

We must observe it also to be improbable in the extreme, that such men as the apostles, who were fishermen and publicans, who were "unlearned* and ignorant men," could have conceived so compendious and so great a design as the introducing a new religion, to overturn and extirpate every other in the world. They were men of no natural courage, which we should expect to find in the contrivers of such a scheme, but were rather of an irresolute temper. They theirselves mention their desertion of their Master, their denial of him, and their flight from him in the hour of distress. It is not to be conceived, with reason on our side, that any thing but the consciousness of truth, and a reliance on Heaven, flowing from that, could bave supported them in this matter. For if what they asserted had been a falsehood, they must naturally have expected, by a strange concurrence, that earth, and hell, and heaven, would have combined against them. They must have expected the bitterest persecution from the chief priests and rulers of the Jews, for they accused them of the most treacherous hypocrisy, and of the most flagrant murder. They must have expected that the lusts and passions of men, which they wished to subdue or to check, would have combated against them for the publication of their doctrines. They must have expected that God himself would have poured his severest vengeance on them, for their continued invocation of him to witness a daring lie.

How is it possible, if the apostles were impostors, if what they declared was a falsehood, that they could so soon have introduced their doctrines into the world? In this the hand of heaven evidently appears, The rapid progress of Christianity is itself a miracle. Immediately after the inspiration of the apostles on *Acts, iv. 13.

the day of pentecost, upon the preaching of Peter, three thousand persons were convinced by his reasoning, and became Christians. "And the same day

there were added to them about three thousand souls." Soon after, "A great company of priests were obedient unto the faith." And not a great while after, there were myriads of Jews who believed. "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands (vpiades, myriads) of Jews there are which believe." And here I expect that the reader, who may not yet be convinced of the truth of Christianity, will urge that this kind of evidence does not avail with him, as he does not admit the credibility of the witnesses. Such an evasion, however, will profit him nothing. For we can prove, not only from the sacred writings, but from Heathen authors, that Christianity prevailed upon the apostles preaching it, over a considerable part of the globe, as the fruitful Nile sometimes spreads over Egypt. Tacitus says, that in Nero's days (who became emperor twenty years after the death of Christ) there was a great multitude of Christians at Rome, who were burnt at the time the city was set on fire. Suetonius § also mentions the in*Acts, ii. 41.

Acts, vi. 7. The epistles written to several churches plainly prove that there were congregations of Christians in Rome, Co. rinth, Ephesus, Colosse, Thessalonica, Philippi, Laodicea, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Crete, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and many other places. Vide Doddridge's sermon "On the Evidences of Christianity allowed to be genuine" in the "Protestant System," vol. ii. page 416.

Acts, xxi. 20.

He says of the Christians, who were seized upon the confla gration of Rome, Igitur primo correpti qui fatebantur, deinde, indicio eorum, multitudo ingens, haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis, conjuncti sunt. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose, that the number of Christians in the city was extremely considerable, as many would glory in confessing themselves to be such, though they were sensible of the immediate persecution which would attend the acknowledgment of their faith. The Roman author tells us, that there was a great multitude seized, who did not confess it. Vide Annal. 15, chap. xliv. The words, indicio eorum, prove the prophecy of our Saviour just, that the nominal Christians should betray one another." Matthew, chap. xxiv. verse 10.

§ Vide Suetonius in Nerone, chap. xvi.