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CHRISTIAN WITNESSES NUMEROUS. [Ess. 11.

and his apostles actually took place, was also more or less directly allowed by Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, who, unable to refute the evidences of their reality, contented themselves with attributing these wonderful works to the power of magic; and a somewhat similar admission is made by those Jewish enemies of Christianity -the authors of the Talmud: see Lardner, 4to edit., vol. iii. 557, vol. iv. 113-149, 209-250, 311-348.

VI. In the preceding sections, our attention has been almost exclusively directed to the credibility of the four historical writers of the New Testament -Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These writers, however, were far indeed from being the only Christian witnesses of the truth of that miraculous history which is recorded in their Gospels. All the twelve apostles (Matthias having been substituted for Judas) and others of the earliest followers of Christ, persons who had heard his doctrine and beheld his actions, were engaged in the same work. They proclaimed the principles of Christianity, and adduced the miracles of Christ, as well as their own, in proof of the Divine origin of the religion which they taught: see Acts x. 39, etc. That pre-eminent miracle, the spontaneous resurrection of their Divine Master from the dead, was more especially a fact to which they all appealed, and with the truth of which (according to their own account of the matter) they were all personally acquainted: for the apostle Paul assures us that the risen Jesus had appeared first to Peter, then to all the apostles together, and afterwards to "five hundred brethren at

Ess. II.]

NEITHER DECEIVED NOR DECEIVERS.

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once," 1 Cor. xv. 6. Now the numerous individuals, who were thus engaged in bearing their testimony to the miraculous history of the Gospel, went forth as preachers of Christianity into every part of those very countries where the miracles of Christ are said to have taken place, and at a period when the whole circumstances of the case were fresh in the recollection of their hearers; and, although they were surrounded by a host of inveterate enemies, were carried before many formidable tribunals, and were subjected to the most severe examinations, (see, for example, Acts iv., xxiv., xxv., xxvi.) no want of consistency appears to have been discovered in their testimony, nor is there the slightest ground to suppose that their story met with any refutation.

To consider this branch of the subject with somewhat more of precision, it is plain that these earliest propagators of the gospel, in their capacity of witnesses of the miracles and resurrection of Christ, were neither deceived nor deceivers.

That they were not deceived appears from two considerations. First, that the apostles-the principal persons thus engaged, and who had been present with Jesus during the whole course of his ministrywere no enthusiasts or fanatics: for the four Gospels, considered as genuine and generally credible histories, afford abundant evidence that they were simple, sober, and unsophisticated persons; that, so far from being distinguished by eager credulity, they were full of fears, prone to distrust, and peculiarly slow and cautious in the reception of Christian truth. Secondly, that the very numerous miracles, to the

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THEY APPEALED TO THEIR OWN MIRACLES. [ESS. II. performance of which they bore testimony, are described as having been subjected to their frequent, yet cool and deliberate observation, and as being at the same time of far too decided a character to admit of any mistake or delusion. When, for example, the Lord Jesus, after he had publicly expired on the cross, and had been as publicly watched in his grave, repeatedly appeared alive in the midst of their company, conversed with them, ate with them, and showed them his wounds-when they saw him, heard him, and handled him-it is certain that they could not be deluded, when they admitted the fact of his resurrection.

That the apostles were not deceivers, is a point equally susceptible of moral demonstration. The entire candour and honesty manifested by two of their number in recording the humiliation of their Master, as well as their own faults and those of their brethren, have already been noticed; nor can anything be more evident than the simplicity and godly sincerity which distinguish the Epistles of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John. Jesus himself was denominated the "Truth;" and from various passages of the New Testament it is manifest that a deep sense of the importance of truth was one principal characteristic of his followers. The personal virtue of the apostles is indeed indisputable. They were engaged in propagating the strictest code of morality which had ever been heard of in the world; and they were thus engaged under sanctions and motives of unspeakable weight and moment. More especially, it was a doctrine explicitly recognized

Ess. II.] THEY APPEALED TO THEIR OWN MIRACLES. 51

among them that Satan was the father of lies, and that liars were exposed to eternal punishment in the world to come: see John viii. 44.; Rev.; xxii. 15.

The veracity of the apostles may also be justly measured by their disinterestedness. They sought no temporal advantages; they pursued no outward emoluments; they engaged in a career fraught with inconveniences, dangers, labours, and sorrows; they gave up all that was naturally dear to them, and sacrificed their pleasures, their comforts, and their worldly hopes, to the welfare of mankind and to the service of a crucified Redeemer. Their cause was the cause of righteousness, and in support of that holy cause they exposed themselves, without reserve, to "cruel mockings and scourgings," to "the spoiling of their goods," to "bonds and imprisonments," and, finally, to the violent infliction of death itself.

Since, then, the original witnesses of the Christian miracles were of so sober and cautious a character, and were placed under such circumstances, with respect to the miracles, that they could not be deceived; and since their acknowledged virtue and disinterestedness afford the most satisfactory evidence that they could not be deceivers, I know not how the impartial inquirer can escape from the conclusion, that the story which they told is true.

VII. The earliest preachers of the gospel were enabled through Divine assistance, to confirm their declarations respecting Christ by the miracles which they wrought themselves. "They went forth," says the evangelist Mark, "and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word

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EARLY DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY.

[Ess. II. with signs following," ch. xvi. 20. The numerous instances which confirm this declaration, and which are recorded in the book of Acts, cannot be here adduced with propriety, since the credibility of that book is in part the subject of our discussion; but we may safely call in the testimony of the apostle Paul, who, in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, expressly appeals to "the signs of an apostle :" "the signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds," which he had wrought in the presence of the very persons whom he was then addressing, 2 Cor. xii. 12. On another occasion, he gives the Corinthian Christians directions respecting the right use of that miraculous gift of tongues which they themselves enjoyed, 1 Cor. xiv. Had Paul spoken to the Corinthians only of the miracles which he had wrought among the Ephesians, we might have hesitated in admitting his testimony; but, when we find him appealing to the Corinthians as eyewitnesses of his works ; when we observe him, moreover, familiarly adverting, in his written communications with them, to their own supernatural endowments; and when we take into account that this apostle was neither a fool nor a madman-we cannot with any reason deny the position that the earliest propagators of Christianity were gifted with miraculous powers.

VIII. Lastly, let us notice the astonishing propagation and prevalence of early Christianity. Absolutely opposed as it was to the prejudices of the Jews, and to the systems and habits of the Gentiles; offering, in the history of a crucified Redeemer, to the former a sore offence, and to the latter a tale