EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY
by
WILLIAM PALEY, D.D.
A New Edition
London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street
1851
THE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND
JAMES YORK, D.D., LORD BISHOP OF ELY
My LORD,
When, five years ago, an important station in the University of
Cambridge awaited your Lordship's disposal, you were pleased to offer it
to me. The circumstances under which this offer was made demand a public
acknowledgment. I had never seen your Lordship; I possessed no
connection which could possibly recommend me to your favour; I was known
to you only by my endeavour, in common with many others, to discharge my
duty as a tutor in the University; and by some very imperfect, but
certainly well-intended, and, as you thought, useful publications since.
In an age by no means wanting in examples of honourable patronage,
although this deserve not to be mentioned in respect of the object of
your Lordship's choice, it is inferior to none in the purity and
disinterestedness of the motives which suggested it.
How the following work may be received, I pretend not to foretell. My
first prayer concerning it is, that it may do good to any: my second
hope, that it may assist, what it hath always been my earnest wish to
promote, the religious part of an academical education. If in this
latter view it might seem, in any degree, to excuse your Lordship's
judgment of its author, I shall be gratified by the reflection that, to
a kindness flowing from public principles, I have made the best public
return in my power.
In the mean time, and in every event, I rejoice in the opportunity here
afforded me of testifying the sense I entertain of your Lordship's
conduct, and of a notice which I regard as the most flattering
distinction of my life.
I am, MY LORD,
With sentiments of gratitude and respect,
Your Lordship's faithful
And most obliged servant,
WILLIAM PALEY.
CONTENTS
Preparatory Considerations--Of the antecedent Credibility of Miracles.
PART 1.
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS
DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES.
Proposition stated
PROPOSITION I.
That there is satisfactory Evidence, that many professing to be original
Witnesses of the Christian Miracles passed their Lives in Labours,
Dangers, and Sufferings, voluntarily undergone in Attestation of the
Accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their Belief
of those Accounts; and that they submitted, from the same Motives, to
new Rules of Conduct.
CHAPTER I
Evidence of the Suffering of the first Propagators of Christianity, from
the Nature of the Case.
CHAPTER II
Evidence of the Sufferings of the first Propagators of Christianity,
from Profane Testimony.
CHAPTER III
Indirect Evidence of the Sufferings of the first Propagators of
Christianity, from the Scriptures and other ancient Christian Writings.
CHAPTER IV
Direct Evidence of the same.
CHAPTER V
Observations upon the preceding Evidence.
CHAPTER VI
That the Story for which the first Propagators of Christianity suffered
was miraculous.
CHAPTER VII
That it was, in the main, the Story which we have now proved by indirect
Considerations.
CHAPTER VIII
The same proved from the Authority of our Historical Scriptures.
CHAPTER IX
Of the Authenticity of the historical Scriptures, in eleven Sections
SECT. 1 Quotations of the historical Scriptures by ancient Christian
Writers.
SECT. 2 Of the peculiar Respect with which they were quoted.
SECT. 3 The Scriptures were in very early Times collected into a
distinct Volume.
SECT. 4 And distinguished by appropriate Names and Titles of Respect.
SECT. 5 Were publicly read and expounded in the religious Assemblies of
the early Christians.
SECT. 6 Commentaries, &c., were anciently written upon the Scriptures.
SECT. 7 They were received by ancient Christians of different Sects and
persuasions.
SECT. 8 The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles
of St. Paul, the first Epistle of John, and the first of Peter,
were received without doubt by those who doubted concerning
the other Books of our present Canon.
SECT. 9 Our present Gospels were considered by the adversaries of
Christianity as containing the Accounts upon which the Religion
was founded.
SECT. 10 Formal Catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published, in
all which our present Gospels were included.
SECT. 11 The above Propositions cannot be predicated of those Books
which are commonly called Apocryphal Books of the New
Testament.
Recapitulation.
CHAPTER X.
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS
DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES.
PROPOSITION II.
CHAPTER I
That there is not satisfactory Evidence, that Persons pretending to be
original Witnesses of any other similar Miracles have acted in the same
Manner, in Attestation of the Accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their Belief of the Truth of those Accounts.
CHAPTER II
Consideration of some specific Instances
PART II.
OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY,
CHAPTER I
Prophecy
CHAPTER II
The Morality of the Gospel
CHAPTER III
The Candour of the Writers of the New Testament
CHAPTER IV
Identity of Christ's Character
CHAPTER V
Originality of our Saviour's Character
CHAPTER VI
Conformity of the Facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in
Scripture with the State of things in these Times, as represented by
foreign and independent Accounts.
CHAPTER VII
Undesigned Coincidences.
CHAPTER VIII
Of the History of the Resurrection.
CHAPTER IX
Of the Propagation of Christianity.
SECT. 2 Reflections upon the preceding Account.
SECT. 3 Of the Religion of Mahomet.
PART III
A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS.
CHAPTER I
The Discrepancies between the several Gospels.
CHAPTER II
Erroneous Opinions imputed to the Apostles.
CHAPTER III
The Connection of Christianity with the Jewish History.
CHAPTER IV
Rejection of Christianity.
CHAPTER V
That the Christian Miracles are not recited, or appealed to, by early
Christian Writers themselves, so fully or frequently as might have been
expected.
CHAPTER VI
Want of Universality in the Knowledge and Reception of Christianity, and
of greater Clearness in the Evidence.
CHAPTER VII
Supposed effects of Christianity.
CHAPTER VIII
Conclusion.
PREPARATORY CONSIDERATIONS.
I deem it unnecessary to prove that mankind stood in need of a
revelation because I have met with no serious person who thinks that,
even under the Christian revelation, we have too much light, or any
degree of assurance which is superfluous. I desire, moreover, that in
judging of Christianity, it may be remembered that the question lies
between this religion and none: for, if the Christian religion be not
credible, no one, with whom we have to do, will support the pretensions
of any other.
Suppose, then, the world we live in to have had a Creator; suppose it to
appear, from the predominant aim and tendency of the provisions and
contrivances observable in the universe, that the Deity, when he formed
it, consulted for the happiness of his sensitive creation; suppose the
disposition which dictated this counsel to continue; suppose a part of
the creation to have received faculties from their Maker, by which they
are capable of rendering a moral obedience to his will, and of
voluntarily pursuing any end for which he has designed them; suppose the
Creator to intend for these, his rational and accountable agents, a
second state of existence, in which their situation will be by their
behaviour in the first state, by which suppose (and by no other) the
objection to the divine government in not putting a difference between
the good and the bad, and the inconsistency of this confusion with the
care and benevolence discoverable in the works of the Deity is done
away; suppose it to be of the utmost importance to the subjects of this
dispensation to know what is intended for them, that is, suppose the
knowledge of it to be highly conducive to the happiness of the species,
a purpose which so many provisions of nature are calculated to promote:
Suppose, nevertheless, almost the whole race, either by the imperfection
of their faculties, the misfortune of their situation, or by the loss of
some prior revelation, to want this knowledge, and not to be likely,
without the aid of a new revelation, to attain it; under these
circumstances, is it improbable that a revelation should be made? Is it
incredible that God should interpose for such a purpose? Suppose him to
design for mankind a future state; is it unlikely that he should
acquaint him with it?
Now in what way can a revelation be made, but by miracles? In none which
we are able to conceive. Consequently, in whatever degree it is
probable, or not very improbable, that a revelation should be
communicated to mankind at all: in the same degree is it probable, or
not very improbable, that miracles should be wrought. Therefore, when
miracles are related to have been wrought in the promulgating of a
revelation manifestly wanted, and, if true, of inestimable value, the
improbability which arises from the miraculous nature of the things
related is not greater than the original improbability that such a
revelation should be imparted by God.
I wish it, however, to be correctly understood, in what manner, and to
what extent, this argument is alleged. We do not assume the attributes
of the Deity, or the existence of a future state, in order to prove the
reality of miracles. That reality always must be proved by evidence. We
assert only, that in miracles adduced in support of revelation there is
not any such antecedent improbability as no testimony can surmount. And
for the purpose of maintaining this assertion, we contend, that the
incredibility of miracles related to have been wrought in attestation of
a message from God, conveying intelligence of a future state of rewards
and punishments, and teaching mankind how to prepare themselves for that
state, is not in itself greater than the event, call it either probable
or improbable, of the two following propositions being true: namely,
first, that a future state of existence should be destined by God for
his human creation; and, secondly, that, being so destined, he should
acquaint them with it. It is not necessary for our purpose, that these
propositions be capable of proof, or even that, by arguments drawn from
the light of nature, they can be made out to be probable; it is enough
that we are able to say concerning them, that they are not so violently
improbable, so contradictory to what we already believe of the divine
power and character, that either the propositions themselves, or facts
strictly connected with the propositions (and therefore no further
improbable than they are improbable), ought to be rejected at first
sight, and to be rejected by whatever strength or complication of
evidence they be attested.
This is the prejudication we would resist. For to this length does a
modern objection to miracles go, viz., that no human testimony can in
any case render them credible. I think the reflection above stated,
that, if there be a revelation, there must be miracles, and that, under
the circumstances in which the human species are placed, a revelation is
not improbable, or not to any great degree, to be a fair answer to the
whole objection.
But since it is an objection which stands in the very threshold our
argument, and, if admitted, is a bar to every proof, and to all future
reasoning upon the subject, it may be necessary, before we proceed
further, to examine the principle upon which it professes to be founded;
which principle is concisely this, That it is contrary to experience
that a miracle should be true, but not contrary to experience that
testimony should be false.
Now there appears a small ambiguity in the term "experience," and in the
phrases, "contrary to experience," or "contradicting experience," which
it may be necessary to remove in the first place. Strictly speaking, the
narrative of a fact is then only contrary to experience, when the fact
is related to have existed at a time and place, at which time and place
we being present did not perceive it to exist; as if it should be
asserted, that in a particular room, and at a particular hour of a
certain day, a man was raised from the dead, in which room, and at the
time specified, we, being present and looking on, perceived no such
event to have taken place. Here the assertion is contrary to experience
properly so called; and this is a contrariety which no evidence can
surmount. It matters nothing, whether the fact be of a miraculous
nature, or not. But although this be the experience, and the
contrariety, which Archbishop Tillotson alleged in the quotation with
which Mr. Hume opens his Essay, it is certainly not that experience, nor
that contrariety, which Mr. Hume himself intended to object. And short
of this I know no intelligible signification which can be affixed to the
term "contrary to experience," but one, viz., that of not having
ourselves experienced anything similar to the thing related, or such
things not being generally experienced by others. I say "not generally"
for to state concerning the fact in question, that no such thing was
ever experienced, or that universal experience is against it, is to
assume the subject of the controversy.
Now the improbability which arises from the want (for this properly is a
want, not a contradiction) of experience, is only equal to the
probability there is, that, if the thing were true, we should experience
things similar to it, or that such things would be generally
experienced. Suppose it then to be true that miracles were wrought on
the first promulgation of Christianity, when nothing but miracles could
decide its authority, is it certain that such miracles would be repeated
so often, and in so many places, as to become objects of general
experience? Is it a probability approaching to certainty? Is it a
probability of any great strength or force? Is it such as no evidence
can encounter? And yet this probability is the exact converse, and
therefore the exact measure, of the improbability which arises from the
want of experience, and which Mr. Hume represents as invincible by human
testimony.
It is not like alleging a new law of nature, or a new experiment in
natural philosophy; because, when these are related, it is expected
that, under the same circumstances, the same effect will follow
universally; and in proportion as this expectation is justly
entertained, the want of a corresponding experience negatives the
history. But to expect concerning a miracle, that it should succeed upon
a repetition, is to expect that which would make it cease to be a
miracle, which is contrary to its nature as such, and would totally
destroy the use and purpose for which it was wrought.
The force of experience as an objection to miracles is founded in the
presumption, either that the course of nature is invariable, or that, if
it be ever varied, variations will be frequent and general. Has the
necessity of this alternative been demonstrated? Permit us to call the
course of nature the agency of an intelligent Being, and is there any
good reason for judging this state of the case to be probable? Ought we
not rather to expect that such a Being, on occasions of peculiar
importance, may interrupt the order which he had appointed, yet, that
such occasions should return seldom; that these interruptions
consequently should be confined to the experience of a few; that the
want of it, therefore, in many, should be matter neither of surprise nor
objection?
But, as a continuation of the argument from experience, it is said that,
when we advance accounts of miracles, we assign effects without causes,
or we attribute effects to causes inadequate to the purpose, or to
causes of the operation of which we have no experience of what causes,
we may ask, and of what effects, does the objection speak? If it be
answered that, when we ascribe the cure of the palsy to a touch, of
blindness to the anointing of the eyes with clay, or the raising of the
dead to a word, we lay ourselves open to this imputation; we reply that
we ascribe no such effects to such causes. We perceive no virtue or
energy in these things more than in other things of the same kind. They
are merely signs to connect the miracle with its end. The effect we
ascribe simply to the volition of Deity; of whose existence and power,
not to say of whose Presence and agency, we have previous and
independent proof. We have, therefore, all we seek for in the works of
rational agents--a sufficient power and an adequate motive. In a word,
once believe that there is a God, and miracles are not incredible.
Mr. Hume states the ease of miracles to be a contest of opposite
improbabilities, that is to say, a question whether it be more
improbable that the miracle should be true, or the testimony false: and
this I think a fair account of the controversy. But herein I remark a
want of argumentative justice, that, in describing the improbability of
miracles, he suppresses all those circumstances of extenuation, which
result from our knowledge of the existence, power, and disposition of
the Deity; his concern in the creation, the end answered by the miracle,
the importance of that end, and its subserviency to the plan pursued in
the work of nature. As Mr. Hume has represented the question, miracles
are alike incredible to him who is previously assured of the constant
agency of a Divine Being, and to him who believes that no such Being
exists in the universe. They are equally incredible, whether related to
have been wrought upon occasion the most deserving, and for purposes the
most beneficial, or for no assignable end whatever, or for an end
confessedly trifling or pernicious. This surely cannot be a correct
statement. In adjusting also the other side of the balance, the strength
and weight of testimony, this author has provided an answer to every
possible accumulation of historical proof by telling us that we are not
obliged to explain how the story of the evidence arose. Now I think that
we are obliged; not, perhaps, to show by positive accounts how it did,
but by a probable hypothesis how it might so happen. The existence of
the testimony is a phenomenon; the truth of the fact solves the
phenomenon. If we reject this solution, we ought to have some other to
rest in; and none, even by our adversaries, can be admired, which is not
inconsistent with the principles that regulate human affairs and human
conduct at present, or which makes men then to have been a different
kind of beings from what they are now.
But the short consideration which, independently of every other,
convinces me that there is no solid foundation in Mr. Hume's conclusion,
is the following. When a theorem is proposed to a mathematician, the
first thing he does with it is to try it upon a simple case, and if it
produce a false result, he is sure that there must be some mistake in
the demonstration. Now to proceed in this way with what may be called
Mr. Hume's theorem. If twelve men, whose probity and good sense I had
long known, should seriously and circumstantially relate to me an
account of a miracle wrought before their eyes, and in which it was
impossible that they should be deceived: if the governor of the country,
hearing a rumour of this account, should call these men into his
presence, and offer them a short proposal, either to confess the
imposture, or submit to be tied up to a gibbet; if they should refuse
with one voice to acknowledge that there existed any falsehood or
imposture in the case: if this threat were communicated to them
separately, yet with no different effect; if it was at last executed; if
I myself saw them, one after another, consenting to be racked, burnt, or
strangled, rather than live up the truth of their account;--still if Mr.
Hume's rule be my guide, I am not to believe them. Now I undertake to
say that there exists not a sceptic in the world who would not believe
them, or who would defend such incredulity.
Instances of spurious miracles supported by strong apparent testimony
undoubtedly demand examination; Mr. Hume has endeavoured to fortify his
argument by some examples of this kind. I hope in a proper place to show
that none of them reach the strength or circumstances of the Christian
evidence. In these, however, consists the weight of his objection; in
the principle itself, I am persuaded, there is none.
PART I.
OF THE DIRECT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND WHEREIN IT IS
DISTINGUISHED FROM THE EVIDENCE ALLEGED FOR OTHER MIRACLES.
The two propositions which I shall endeavour to establish are these:
I. That there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be
original witnesses of the Christian miracles passed their lives in
labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation
of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their
belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same
motives, to new rules of conduct.
2. That there is not satisfactory evidence that persons professing to be
original witnesses of other miracles, in their nature as certain as
these are, have ever acted in the same manner, in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and properly in consequence of their
belief of those accounts.
The first of these prepositions, as it forms the argument will stand at
the head of the following nine chapters.
CHAPTER I
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witness of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their of
belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same
motives, to new rules of conduct.
To support this proposition, two points are necessary to be made out:
first, that the Founder of the institution, his associates and immediate
followers, acted the part which the proposition imputes to them:
secondly, that they did so in attestation of the miraculous history
recorded in our Scriptures, and solely in consequence of their belief of
the truth of this history.
Before we produce any particular testimony to the activity and
sufferings which compose the subject of our first assertion, it will be
proper to consider the degree of probability which the assertion derives
from the nature of the case, that is, by inferences from those parts of
the case which, in point of fact, are on all hands acknowledged.
First, then, the Christian Religion exists, and, therefore, by some
means or other, was established. Now it either owes the principle of its
establishment, i. e. its first publication, to the activity of the
Person who was the founder of the institution, and of those who were
joined with him in the undertaking, or we are driven upon the strange
supposition, that, although they might lie by, others would take it up;
although they were quiet and silent, other persons busied themselves in
the success and propagation of their story. This is perfectly
incredible. To me it appears little less than certain, that, if the
first announcing of the religion by the Founder had not been followed up
by the zeal and industry of his immediate disciples, the attempt must
have expired in its birth. Then as to the kind and degree of exertion
which was employed, and the mode of life to which these persons
submitted, we reasonably suppose it to be like that which we observe in
all others who voluntarily become missionaries of a new faith. Frequent,
earnest, and laborious preaching, constantly conversing with religious
persons upon religion, a sequestration from the common pleasures,
engagements, and varieties of life, and an addiction to one serious
object, compose the habits of such men. I do not say that this mode of
life is without enjoyment, but I say that the enjoyment springs from
sincerity. With a consciousness at the bottom of hollowness and
falsehood, the fatigue and restraint would become insupportable. I am
apt to believe that very few hypocrites engage in these undertakings;
or, however, persist in them long. Ordinarily speaking, nothing can
overcome the indolence of mankind, the love which is natural to most
tempers of cheerful society and cheerful scenes, or the desire, which is
common to all, of personal ease and freedom, but conviction.
Secondly, it is also highly probable, from the nature of the case, that
the propagation of the new religion was attended with difficulty and
danger. As addressed to the Jews, it was a system adverse, not only to
their habitual opinions but to those opinions upon which their hopes,
their partialities, their pride, their consolation, was founded. This
people, with or without reason, had worked themselves into a persuasion,
that some signal and greatly advantageous change was to be effected in
the condition of their country, by the agency of a long-promised
messenger from heaven.* The rulers of the Jews, their leading sect,
their priesthood, had been the authors of this persuasion to the common
people. So that it was not merely the conjecture of theoretical divines,
or the secret expectation of a few recluse devotees, but it was become
the popular hope and Passion, and, like all popular opinions, undoubting
and impatient of contradiction. They clung to this hope under every
misfortune of their country, and with more tenacity as their dangers and
calamities increased. To find, therefore, that expectations so
gratifying were to be worse than disappointed; that they were to end in
the diffusion of a mild unambitious religion, which, instead of
victories and triumphs, instead of exalting their nation and institution
above the rest of the world, was to advance those whom they despised to
an equality with themselves, in those very points of comparison in which
they most valued their own distinction, could be no very pleasing
discovery to a Jewish mind; nor could the messengers of such
intelligence expect to be well received or easily credited. The doctrine
was equally harsh and novel. The extending of the kingdom of God to
those who did not conform to the law of Moses was a notion that had
never before entered into the thoughts of a Jew.
_________
* "Pererebuerat oriento toto vetus et contans opinio, esse in fatis, ut
eo tempore Judaea profecti rerum potirsatur." Sueton. Vespasian. cap.
4--8.
"Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo
ipso tempore fore, ut valesecret oriens, profectique Judaea rerum
potirentur." Tacit. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9--13.
_________
The character of the new institution was, in other respects also,
ungrateful to Jewish habits and principles. Their own religion was in a
high degree technical. Even the enlightened Jew placed a great deal of
stress upon the ceremonies of his law, saw in them a great deal of
virtue and efficacy; the gross and vulgar had scarcely anything else;
and the hypocritical and ostentatious magnified them above measure, as
being the instruments of their own reputation and influence. The
Christian scheme, without formally repealing the Levitical code, lowered
its estimation extremely. In the place of strictness and zeal in
performing the observances which that code prescribed, or which
tradition had added to it, the new sect preached up faith,
well-regulated affections, inward purity, and moral rectitude of
disposition, as the true ground, on the part of the worshipper, of merit
and acceptance with God. This, however rational it may appear, or
recommending to us at present, did not by any means facilitate the plan
then. On the contrary, to disparage those qualities which the highest
characters in the country valued themselves most upon, was a sure way of
making powerful enemies. As if the frustration of the national hope was
not enough, the long-esteemed merit of ritual zeal and punctuality was
to be decried, and that by Jews preaching to Jews.
The ruling party at Jerusalem had just before crucified the Founder of
the religion. That is a fact which will not be disputed. They,
therefore, who stood forth to preach the religion must necessarily
reproach these rulers with an execution which they could not but
represent as an unjust and cruel murder. This would not render their
office more easy, or their situation more safe.
With regard to the interference of the Roman government which was then
established in Judea, I should not expect, that, despising as it did the
religion of the country, it would, if left to itself, animadvert, either
with much vigilance or much severity, upon the schisms and controversies
which arose within it. Yet there was that in Christianity which might
easily afford a handle of accusation with a jealous government. The
Christians avowed an unqualified obedience to a new master. They avowed
also that he was the person who had been foretold to the Jews under the
suspected title of King. The spiritual nature of this kingdom, the
consistency of this obedience with civil subjection, were distinctions
too refined to be entertained by a Roman president, who viewed the
business at a great distance, or through the medium of very hostile
representations. Our histories accordingly inform us, that this was the
turn which the enemies of Jesus gave to his character and pretensions in
their remonstrances with Pontius Pilate. And Justin Martyr, about a
hundred years afterwards, complains that the same mistake prevailed in
his time: "Ye, having heard that we are waiting for a kingdom, suppose
without distinguishing that we mean a human kingdom, when in truth we
speak of that which is with God."* And it was undoubtedly a natural
source of calumny and misconstruction.
_________
* Ap. Ima p. 16. Ed. Thirl.
_________
The preachers of Christianity had, therefore, to contend with prejudice
backed by power. They had to come forward to a disappointed people, to a
priesthood possessing a considerable share of municipal authority, and
actuated by strong motives of opposition and resentment; and they had to
do this under a foreign government, to whose favour they made no
pretensions, and which was constantly surrounded by their enemies. The
well-known, because the experienced, fate of reformers, whenever the
reformation subverts some reigning opinion, and does not proceed upon a
change that has already taken place in the sentiments of a country, will
not allow, much less lead us to suppose that the first propagators of
Christianity at Jerusalem and in Judea, under the difficulties and the
enemies they had to contend with, and entirely destitute as they were of
force, authority, or protection, could execute their mission with
personal ease and safety.
Let us next inquire, what might reasonably be expected by the preachers
of Christianity when they turned themselves to the heathen public. Now
the first thing that strikes us is, that the religion they carried with
them was exclusive. It denied without reserve the truth of every article
of heathen mythology, the existence of every object of their worship. It
accepted no compromise, it admitted no comprehension. It must prevail,
if it prevailed at all, by the overthrow of every statue, altar, and
temple in the world, It will not easily be credited, that a design, so
bold as this was, could in any age be attempted to be carried into
execution with impunity.
For it ought to be considered, that this was not setting forth, or
magnifying the character and worship of some new competitor for a place
in the Pantheon, whose pretensions might he discussed or asserted
without questioning the reality of any others: it was pronouncing all
other gods to be false, and all other worship vain. From the facility
with which the polytheism of ancient nations admitted new objects of
worship into the number of their acknowledged divinities, or the
patience with which they might entertain proposals of this kind, we can
argue nothing as to their toleration of a system, or of the publishers
and active propagators of a system, which swept away the very foundation
of the existing establishment. The one was nothing more than what it
would be, in popish countries, to add a saint to the calendar; the other
was to abolish and tread under foot the calendar itself.
Secondly, it ought also to be considered, that this was not the case of
philosophers propounding in their books, or in their schools, doubts
concerning the truth of the popular creed, or even avowing their
disbelief of it. These philosophers did not go about from place to place
to collect proselytes from amongst the common people; to form in the
heart of the country societies professing their tenets; to provide for
the order, instruction and permanency of these societies; nor did they
enjoin their followers to withdraw themselves from the public worship of
the temples, or refuse a compliance with rites instituted by the laws.*
These things are what the Christians did, and what the philosophers did
not; and in these consisted the activity and danger of the enterprise.
_________
* The best of the ancient philosophers, Plato, Cicero, and Epictetus,
allowed, or rather enjoined, men to worship the gods of the country, and
in the established form. See passages to this purpose collected from
their works by Dr. Clarke, Nat. and Rev. Rel. p. 180. ed. v--Except
Socrates, they all thought it wiser to comply with the laws than to
contend.
_________
Thirdly, it ought also to be considered, that this danger proceeded not
merely from solemn acts and public resolutions of the state, but from
sudden bursts of violence at particular places, from the licence of the
populace, the rashness of some magistrates and negligence of others;
from the influence and instigation of interested adversaries, and, in
general, from the variety and warmth of opinion which an errand so novel
and extraordinary could not fail of exciting. I can conceive that the
teachers of Christianity might both fear and suffer much from these
causes, without any general persecution being denounced against them by
imperial authority. Some length of time, I should suppose, might pass,
before the vast machine of the Roman empire would be put in motion, or
its attention be obtained to religious controversy: but, during that
time, a great deal of ill usage might be endured, by a set of
friendless, unprotected travellers, telling men, wherever they came,
that the religion of their ancestors, the religion in which they had
been brought up, the religion of the state, and of the magistrate, the
rites which they frequented, the pomp which they admired, was throughout
a system of folly and delusion.
Nor do I think that the teachers of Christianity would find protection
in that general disbelief of the popular theology, which is supposed to
have prevailed amongst the intelligent part of the heathen public. It is
by no means true that unbelievers are usually tolerant. They are not
disposed (and why should they?) to endanger the present state of
things, by suffering a religion of which they believe nothing to be
disturbed by another of which they believe as little. They are ready
themselves to conform to anything; and are, oftentimes, amongst the
foremost to procure conformity from others, by any method which they
think likely to be efficacious. When was ever a change of religion
patronized by infidels? How little, not withstanding the reigning
scepticism, and the magnified liberality of that age, the true
principles of toleration were understood by the wisest men amongst them,
may be gathered from two eminent and uncontested examples. The younger
Pliny, polished as he was by all the literature of that soft and elegant
period, could gravely pronounce this monstrous judgment:--"Those who
persisted in declaring themselves Christians, I ordered to be led away
to punishment, (i. e. to execution,) for I DID NOT DOUBT, whatever it
was that they confessed, that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy ought
to be punished." His master Trajan, a mild and accomplished prince,
went, nevertheless, no further in his sentiments of moderation and
equity than what appears in the following rescript:--"The Christians are
not to be sought for; but if any are brought before you, and convicted,
they are to be punished." And this direction he gives, after it had been
reported to him by his own president, that, by the most strict
examination, nothing could be discovered in the principles of these
persons, but "a bad and excessive superstition," accompanied, it seems,
with an oath or mutual federation, "to allow themselves in no crime or
immoral conduct whatever." The truth is, the ancient heathens considered
religion entirely as an affair of state, as much under the tuition of
the magistrate as any other part of the police. The religion of that age
was not merely allied to the state; it was incorporated into it. Many of
its offices were administered by the magistrate. Its titles of pontiffs,
augurs, and flamens, were borne by senators, consuls, and generals.
Without discussing, therefore, the truth of the theology, they resented
every affront put upon the established worship, as a direct opposition
to the authority of government.
Add to which, that the religious systems of those times, however ill
supported by evidence, had been long established. The ancient religion
of a country has always many votaries, and sometimes not the fewer,
because its origin is hidden in remoteness and obscurity. Men have a
natural veneration for antiquity, especially in matters of religion.
What Tacitus says of the Jewish was more applicable to the heathen
establishment: "Hi ritus, quoquo modo inducti, antiquitate defenduntur."
It was also a splendid and sumptuous worship. It had its priesthood, its
endowments, its temples. Statuary, painting, architecture, and music,
contributed their effect to its ornament and magnificence. It abounded
in festival shows and solemnities, to which the common people are
greatly addicted, and which were of a nature to engage them much more
than anything of that sort among us. These things would retain great
numbers on its side by the fascination of spectacle and pomp, as well as
interest many in its preservation by the advantage which they drew from
it. "It was moreover interwoven," as Mr. Gibbon rightly represents it,
"with every circumstance of business or pleasure, of public or private
life, with all the offices and amusements of society." On the due
celebration also of its rites, the people were taught to believe, and
did believe, that the prosperity of their country in a great measure
depended.
I am willing to accept the account of the matter which is given by Mr.
Gibbon: "The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world
were all considered by the people as equally true, by the philosopher as
equally false, and by the magistrate as equally useful:" and I would ask
from which of these three classes of men were the Christian missionaries
to look for protection or impunity? Could they expect it from the
people, "whose acknowledged confidence in the public religion" they
subverted from its foundation? From the philosopher, who, "considering
all religious as equally false," would of course rank theirs among the
number, with the addition of regarding them as busy and troublesome
zealots? Or from the magistrate, who, satisfied with the "utility" of
the subsisting religion, would not be likely to countenance a spirit of
proselytism and innovation:--a system which declared war against every
other, and which, if it prevailed, must end in a total rupture of public
opinion; an upstart religion, in a word, which was not content with its
own authority, but must disgrace all the settled religions of the world?
It was not to be imagined that he would endure with patience, that the
religion of the emperor and of the state should be calumniated and borne
down by a company of superstitious and despicable Jews.
Lastly; the nature of the case affords a strong proof, that the original
teachers of Christianity, in consequence of their new profession,
entered upon a new and singular course of life. We may be allowed to
presume, that the institution which they preached to others, they
conformed to in their own persons; because this is no more than what
every teacher of a new religion both does, and must do, in order to
obtain either proselytes or hearers. The change which this would produce
was very considerable. It is a change which we do not easily estimate,
because, ourselves and all about us being habituated to the institutions
from our infancy, it is what we neither experience nor observe. After
men became Christians, much of their time was spent in prayer and
devotion, in religious meetings, in celebrating the Eucharist, in
conferences, in exhortations, in preaching, in an affectionate
intercourse with one another, and correspondence with other societies.
Perhaps their mode of life, in its form and habit, was not very unlike
the Unitas Fratrum, or the modern methodists. Think then what it was to
become such at Corinth, at Ephesus, at Antioch, or even at Jerusalem.
How new! How alien from all their former habits and ideas, and from
those of everybody about them! What a revolution there must have been of
opinions and prejudices to bring the matter to this!
We know what the precepts of the religion are; how pure, how benevolent,
how disinterested a conduct they enjoin; and that this purity and
benevolence are extended to the very thoughts and affections. We are
not, perhaps, at liberty to take for granted that the lives of the
preachers of Christianity were as perfect as their lessons; but we are
entitled to contend, that the observable part of their behaviour must
have agreed in a great measure with the duties which they taught. There
was, therefore, (which is all that we assert,) a course of life pursued
by them, different from that which they before led. And this is of great
importance. Men are brought to anything almost sooner than to change
their habit of life, especially when the change is either inconvenient,
or made against the force of natural inclination, or with the loss of
accustomed indulgences. It is the most difficult of all things to
convert men from vicious habits to virtuous ones, as every one may judge
from what he feels in himself, as well as from what he sees in others.*
It is almost like making men over again.
_________
* Hartley's Essays on Man, p. 190.
_________
Left then to myself, and without any more information than a knowledge
of the existence of the religion, of the general story upon which it is
founded, and that no act of power, force, and authority was concerned in
its first success, I should conclude, from the very nature and exigency
of the case, that the Author of the religion, during his life, and his
immediate disciples after his death, exerted themselves in spreading and
publishing the institution throughout the country in which it began, and
into which it was first carried; that, in the prosecution of this
purpose, they underwent the labours and troubles which we observe the
propagators of new sects to undergo; that the attempt must necessarily
have also been in a high degree dangerous; that, from the subject of the
mission, compared with the fixed opinions and prejudices of those to
whom the missionaries were to address themselves, they could hardly fail
of encountering strong and frequent opposition; that, by the hand of
government, as well as from the sudden fury and unbridled licence of the
people, they would oftentimes experience injurious and cruel treatment;
that, at any rate, they must have always had so much to fear for their
personal safety, as to have passed their lives in a state of constant
peril and anxiety; and lastly, that their mode of life and conduct,
visibly at least, corresponded with the institution which they
delivered, and, so far, was both new, and required continual
self-denial.
CHAPTER II.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
After thus considering what was likely to happen, we are next to inquire
how the transaction is represented in the several accounts that have
come down to us. And this inquiry is properly preceded by the other,
forasmuch as the reception of these accounts may depend in part on the
credibility of what they contain.
The obscure and distant view of Christianity, which some of the heathen
writers of that age had gained, and which a few passage in their
remaining works incidentally discover to us, offers itself to our notice
in the first place: because, so far as this evidence goes, it is the
concession of adversaries; the source from which it is drawn is
unsuspected. Under this head, a quotation from Tacitus, well known to
every scholar, must be inserted, as deserving particular attention. The
reader will bear in mind that this passage was written about seventy
years after Christ's death, and that it relates to transactions which
took place about thirty years after that event--Speaking of the fire
which happened at Rome in the time of Nero, and of the suspicions which
were entertained that the emperor himself was concerned in causing it,
the historian proceeds in his narrative and observations thus:--
"But neither these exertions, nor his largesses to the people, nor his
offerings to the gods, did away the infamous imputation under which Nero
lay, of having ordered the city to be set on fire. To put an end,
therefore, to this report, he laid the guilt, and inflicted the most
cruel punishments, upon a set of people, who were holden in abhorrence
for their crimes, and called by the vulgar, Christians. The founder of
that name was Christ, who suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, under
his procurator, Pontius Pilate--This pernicious superstition, thus
checked for a while, broke out again; and spread not only over Judea,
where the evil originated, but through Rome also, whither everything bad
upon the earth finds its way and is practised. Some who confessed their
sect were first seized, and afterwards, by their information, a vast
multitude were apprehended, who were convicted, not so much of the crime
of burning Rome, as of hatred to mankind. Their sufferings at their
execution were aggravated by insult and mockery; for some were disguised
in the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs; some were
crucified; and others were wrapped in pitched shirts,* and set on fire
when the day closed, that they might serve as lights to illuminate the
night. Nero lent his own gardens for these executions, and exhibited at
the same time a mock Circensian entertainment; being a spectator of the
whole, in the dress of a charioteer, sometimes mingling with the crowd
on foot, and sometimes viewing the spectacle from his car. This conduct
made the sufferers pitied; and though they were criminals, and deserving
the severest punishments, yet they were considered as sacrificed, not so
much out of a regard to the public good, as to gratify the cruelty of
one man."
_________
* This is rather a paraphrase, but is justified by what the Scholiast
upon Juvenal says; "Nero maleficos homines taeda et papyro et cera
supervestiebat, et sic ad ignem admoveri jubebat." Lard. Jewish and
Heath. Test. vol. i. p. 359.
_________
Our concern with this passage at present is only so far as it affords a
presumption in support of the proposition which we maintain, concerning
the activity and sufferings of the first teachers of Christianity. Now,
considered in this view, it proves three things: 1st, that the Founder
of the institution was put to death; 2dly, that in the same country in
which he was put to death, the religion, after a short check, broke out
again and spread; 3dly, that it so spread as that, within thirty-four
years from the Author's death, a very great number of Christians (ingens
eorum multitudo) were found at Rome. From which fact, the two following
inferences may be fairly drawn: first, that if, in the space of
thirty-four years from its commencement, the religion had spread
throughout Judea, had extended itself to Rome, and there had numbered a
great multitude of converts, the original teachers and missionaries of
the institution could not have been idle; secondly, that when the Author
of the undertaking was put to death as a malefactor for his attempt, the
endeavours of his followers to establish his religion in the same
country, amongst the same people, and in the same age, could not but be
attended with danger.
Suetonius, a writer contemporary with Tacitus, describing the
transactions of the same reign, uses these words: "Affecti suppliciis
Christiani genus hominum superstitionis novae et maleficae." (Suet.
Nero. Cap. 16) "The Christians, a set of men of a new and mischievous
(or magical) superstition, were punished."
Since it is not mentioned here that the burning of the city was the
pretence of the punishment of the Christians, or that they were the
Christians of Rome who alone suffered, it is probable that Suetonius
refers to some more general persecution than the short and occasional
one which Tacitus describes.
Juvenal, a writer of the same age with the two former, and intending, it
should seem, to commemorate the cruelties exercised under Nero's
government, has the following lines: (Sat. i. ver. 155)
"Pone Tigellinum, taeda lucebis in illa,
Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant,
Et latum media sulcum deducit arena" (Forsan "deducis.")
"Describe Tigellinus (a creature of Nero), and you shall suffer the same
punishment with those who stand burning in their own flame and smoke,
their head being held up by a stake fixed to their chin, till they make
a long stream of blood and melted sulphur on the ground."
If this passage were considered by itself, the subject of allusion might
be doubtful; but, when connected with the testimony of Suetonius, as to
the actual punishment of the Christians by Nero, and with the account
given by Tacitus of the species of punishment which they were made to
undergo, I think it sufficiently probable that these were the executions
to which the poet refers.
These things, as has already been observed, took place within thirty-one
years after Christ's death, that is, according to the course of nature,
in the life-time, probably, of some of the apostles, and certainly in
the life-time of those who were converted by the apostles, or who were
converted in their time. If then the Founder of the religion was put to
death in the execution of his design; if the first race of converts to
the religion, many of them, suffered the greatest extremities for their
profession; it is hardly credible, that those who came between the two,
who were companions of the Author of the institution during his life,
and the teachers and propagators of the institution after his death,
could go about their undertaking with ease and safety.
The testimony of the younger Pliny belongs to a later period; for,
although he was contemporary with Tacitus and Suetonius, yet his account
does not, like theirs, go back to the transactions of Nero's reign, but
is confined to the affairs of his own time. His celebrated letter to
Trajan was written about seventy years after Christ's death; and the
information to be drawn from it, so far as it is connected with our
argument, relates principally to two points: first, to the number of
Christians in Bithynia and Pontus, which was so considerable as to
induce the governor of these provinces to speak of them in the following
terms: "Multi, omnis aetatis, utriusque sexus etiam;--neque enim
civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam et agros, superstitionis istius
contagio pervagata est." "There are many of every age and of both
sexes;--nor has the contagion of this superstition seized cities only,
but smaller towns also, and the open country." Great exertions must have
been used by the preachers of Christianity to produce this state of
things within this time. Secondly, to a point which has been already
noticed, and, which I think of importance to be observed, namely, the
sufferings to which Christians were exposed, without any public
persecution being denounced against them by sovereign authority. For,
from Pliny's doubt how he was to act, his silence concerning any
subsisting law on the subject, his requesting the emperor's rescript,
and the emperor, agreeably to his request, propounding a rule for his
direction without reference to any prior rule, it may be inferred that
there was, at that time, no public edict in force against the
Christians. Yet from this same epistle of Pliny it appears "that
accusations, trials, and examinations, were, and had been, going on
against them in the provinces over which he presided; that schedules
were delivered by anonymous informers, containing the names of persons
who were suspected of holding or of favouring the religion; that, in
consequence of these informations, many had been apprehended, of whom
some boldly avowed their profession, and died in the cause; others
denied that they were Christians; others, acknowledging that they had
once been Christians, declared that they had long ceased to be such."
All which demonstrates that the profession of Christianity was at that
time (in that country at least) attended with fear and danger: and yet
this took place without any edict from the Roman sovereign, commanding
or authorizing the persecution of Christians. This observation is
further confirmed by a rescript of Adrian to Minucius Fundanus, the
proconsul of Asia (Lard. Heath. Test. vol. ii. p. 110): from which
rescript it appears that the custom of the people of Asia was to proceed
against the Christians with tumult and uproar. This disorderly practice,
I say, is recognised in the edict, because the emperor enjoins, that,
for the future, if the Christians were guilty, they should be legally
brought to trial, and not be pursued by importunity and clamour.
Martial wrote a few years before the younger Pliny: and, as his manner
was, made the suffering of the Christians the subject of his ridicule.
In matutina nuper spectatus arena
Mucius, imposuit qui sua membra focis,
Si patiens fortisque tibi durusque videtur,
Abderitanae pectora plebis habes;
Nam cum dicatur, tunica praesente molesta,
Ure* manum: plus est dicere, Non facio.
*Forsan "thure manum."
Nothing, however, could show the notoriety of the fact with more
certainty than this does. Martial's testimony, as well indeed as
Pliny's, goes also to another point, viz, that the deaths of these men
were martyrdom in the strictest sense, that is to say, were so
voluntary, that it was in their power, at the time of pronouncing the
sentence, to have averted the execution, by consenting to join in
heathen sacrifices.
The constancy, and by consequence the sufferings, of the Christians of
this period, is also referred to by Epictetus, who imputes their
intrepidity to madness, or to a kind of fashion or habit; and about
fifty years afterwards, by Marcus Aurelius, who ascribes it to
obstinacy. "Is it possible (Epictetus asks) that a man may arrive at
this temper, and become indifferent to those things from madness or from
habit, as the Galileans?" "Let this preparation of the mind (to die)
arise from its own judgment, and not from obstinacy like the
Christians." (Epict. I. iv. C. 7.) (Marc. Aur. Med. 1. xi. c. 3.)
CHAPTER III.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed there lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
Of the primitive condition of Christianity, a distant only and general
view can be acquired from heathen writers. It is in our own books that
the detail and interior of the transaction must be sought for. And this
is nothing different from what might be expected. Who would write a
history of Christianity, but a Christian? Who was likely to record the
travels, sufferings, labours, or successes of the apostles, but one of
their own number, or of their followers? Now these books come up in
their accounts to the full extent of the proposition which we maintain.
We have four histories of Jesus Christ. We have a history taking up the
narrative from his death, and carrying on an account of the propagation
of the religion, and of some of the most eminent persons engaged in it,
for a space of nearly thirty years. We have, what some may think still
more original, a collection of letters, written by certain principal
agents in the business upon the business, and in the midst of their
concern and connection with it. And we have these writings severally
attesting the point which we contend for, viz. the sufferings of the
witnesses of the history, and attesting it in every variety of form in
which it can be conceived to appear: directly and indirectly, expressly
and incidentally, by assertion, recital, and allusion, by narratives of
facts, and by arguments and discourses built upon these facts, either
referring to them, or necessarily presupposing them.
I remark this variety, because, in examining ancient records, or indeed
any species of testimony, it is, in my opinion, of the greatest
importance to attend to the information or grounds of argument which are
casually and undesignedly disclosed; forasmuch as this species of proof
is, of all others, the least liable to be corrupted by fraud or
misrepresentation.
I may be allowed therefore, in the inquiry which is now before us, to
suggest some conclusions of this sort, as preparatory to more direct
testimony.
1. Our books relate, that Jesus Christ, the founder of the religion,
was, in consequence of his undertaking, put to death, as a malefactor,
at Jerusalem. This point at least will be granted, because it is no more
than what Tacitus has recorded. They then proceed to tell us that the
religion was, notwithstanding, set forth at this same city of Jerusalem,
propagated thence throughout Judea, and afterwards preached in other
parts of the Roman Empire. These points also are fully confirmed by
Tacitus, who informs us that the religion, after a short check, broke
out again in the country where it took its rise; that it not only spread
throughout Judea, but had reached Rome, and that it had there great
multitudes of converts: and all this within thirty years after its
commencement. Now these facts afford a strong inference in behalf of the
proposition which we maintain. What could the disciples of Christ expect
for themselves when they saw their master put to death? Could they hope
to escape the dangers in which he had perished? If they had persecuted
me, they will also persecute you, was the warning of common sense. With
this example before their eyes, they could not be without a full sense
of the peril of their future enterprise.
2. Secondly, all the histories agree in representing Christ as
foretelling the persecution of his followers:--
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and
ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matt. xxiv. 9.)
"When affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately
they are offended." (Mark iv. 17. See also chap. x. 30.)
"They shall lay hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to
the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers
for my name's sake:--and ye shall be betrayed both by parents and
brethren, and kinsfolks and friends, and some of you shall they cause to
be put to death." (Luke xxi. 12--16. See also chap. xi. 49.)
"The time cometh, that he that killed you will think that he doeth God
service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when
the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them." (John
xvi. 4. See also chap. xv. 20; xvi. 33.)
I am not entitled to argue from these passages, that Christ actually did
foretell these events, and that they did accordingly come to pass;
because that would be at once to assume the truth of the religion: but I
am entitled to contend that one side or other of the following
disjunction is true; either that the Evangelists have delivered what
Christ really spoke, and that the event corresponded with the
prediction; or that they put the prediction into Christ's mouth, because
at the time of writing the history, the event had turned out so to be:
for, the only two remaining suppositions appear in the highest degree
incredible; which are, either that Christ filled the minds of his
followers with fears and apprehensions, without any reason or authority
for what he said, and contrary to the truth of the case; or that,
although Christ had never foretold any such thing, and the event would
have contradicted him if he had, yet historians who lived in the age
when the event was known, falsely, as well as officiously, ascribed
these words to him.
3. Thirdly, these books abound with exhortations to patience, and with
topics of comfort under distress.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us." (Rom. viii. 35-37.)
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body;--knowing
that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus,
and shall present us with you---For which cause we faint not; but, though
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For
our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, 10, 14, 16,
17.)
"Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the
Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold,
we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job,
and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of
tender mercy." (James v. 10, 11.)
"Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were
illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilst ye
were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly
whilst ye became companions of them that were so used; for ye had
compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an
enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which
hath great recompense of reward; for ye have need of patience, that,
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." (Heb.
x. 32-36.)
"So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye
endure. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that
ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom for which ye also suffer." (2
Thess. i. 4, 5.)
"We rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and
patience experience, and experience hope." (Rom. v. 3, 4.)
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to
try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice,
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.--Wherefore let them
that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their
souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Pet. iv. 12,
13, 19.)
What could all these texts mean, if there was nothing in the
circumstances of the times which required patience,--which called for
the exercise of constancy and resolution? Or will it be pretended, that
these exhortations (which, let it be observed, come not from one author,
but from many) were put in merely to induce a belief in after-ages, that
the Christians were exposed to dangers which they were not exposed to,
or underwent sufferings which they did not undergo? If these books
belong to the age to which they lay claim, and in which age, whether
genuine or spurious, they certainly did appear, this supposition cannot
be maintained for a moment; because I think it impossible to believe
that passages, which must be deemed not only unintelligible, but false,
by the persons into whose hands the books upon their publication were to
come, should nevertheless be inserted, for the purpose of producing an
effect upon remote generations. In forgeries which do not appear till
many ages after that to which they pretend to belong, it is possible
that some contrivance of that sort may take place; but in no others can
it be attempted.
CHAPTER IV.
There is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
The account of the treatment of the religion, and of the exertions of
its first preachers, as stated in our Scriptures (not in a professed
history of persecutions, or in the connected manner in which I am about
to recite it, but dispersedly and occasionally, in the course of a mixed
general history, which circumstance, alone negatives the supposition of
any fraudulent design), is the following: "That the Founder of
Christianity, from the commencement of his ministry to the time of his
violent death, employed himself wholly in publishing the institution in
Judea and Galilee; that, in order to assist him in this purpose, he made
choice, out of the number of his followers, of twelve persons, who might
accompany him as he travelled from place to place; that, except a short
absence upon a journey in which he sent them two by two to announce his
mission, and one of a few days, when they went before him to Jerusalem,
these persons were steadily and constantly attending upon him; that they
were with him at Jerusalem when he was apprehended and put to death; and
that they were commissioned by him, when his own ministry was concluded,
to publish his Gospel, and collect disciples to it from all countries of
the world." The account then proceeds to state, "that a few days after
his departure, these persons, with some of his relations, and some who
had regularly frequented their society, assembled at Jerusalem; that,
considering the office of preaching the religion as now devolved upon
them, and one of their number having deserted the cause, and, repenting
of his perfidy, having destroyed himself, they proceeded to elect
another into his place, and that they were careful to make their
election out of the number of those who had accompanied their master
from the first to the last, in order, as they alleged, that he might be
a witness, together with themselves, of the principal facts which they
were about to produce and relate concerning him; ( Acts i. 12, 22.) that
they began their work at Jerusalem by publicly asserting that this
Jesus, whom the rulers and inhabitants of that place had so lately
crucified, was, in truth, the person in whom all their prophecies and
long expectations terminated; that he had been sent amongst them by God;
and that he was appointed by God the future judge of the human species;
that all who were solicitous to secure to themselves happiness after
death, ought to receive him as such, and to make profession of their
belief, by being baptised in his name." (Acts xi.)
The history goes on to relate, "that considerable numbers accepted this
proposal, and that they who did so formed amongst themselves a strict
union and society; (Acts iv. 32.) that the attention of the Jewish
government being soon drawn upon them, two of the principal persons of
the twelve, and who also had lived most intimately and constantly with
the Founder of the religion, were seized as they were discoursing to the
people in the temple; that after being kept all night in prison, they
were brought the next day before an assembly composed of the chief
persons of the Jewish magistracy and priesthood; that this assembly,
after some consultation, found nothing, at that time, better to be done
towards suppressing the growth of the sect, than to threaten their
prisoners with punishment if they persisted; that these men, after
expressing, in decent but firm language, the obligation under which they
considered themselves to be, to declare what they knew, 'to speak the
things which they had seen and heard,' returned from the council, and
reported what had passed to their companions; that this report, whilst
it apprized them of the danger of their situation and undertaking, had
no other effect upon their conduct than to produce in them a general
resolution to persevere, and an earnest prayer to God to furnish them
with assistance, and to inspire them with fortitude, proportioned to the
increasing exigency of the service." ( Acts iv.) A very short time after
this, we read "that all the twelve apostles were seized and cast into
prison; ( Acts v. 18.) that, being brought a second time before the
Jewish Sanhedrim, they were upbraided with their disobedience to the
injunction which had been laid upon them, and beaten for their
contumacy; that, being charged once more to desist, they were suffered
to depart; that however they neither quitted Jerusalem, nor ceased from
preaching, both daily in the temple, and from house to house (Acts v.
42.) and that the twelve considered themselves as so entirely and
exclusively devoted to this office, that they now transferred what may
be called the temporal affairs of the society to other hands."*
_________
* I do not know that it has ever been insinuated that the Christian
mission, in the hands of the apostles, was a scheme for making a
fortune, or for getting money. But it may nevertheless be fit to remark
upon this passage of their history, how perfectly free they appear to
have been from any pecuniary or interested views whatever. The most
tempting opportunity which occurred of making gain of their converts,
was by the custody and management of the public funds, when some of the
richer members, intending to contribute their fortunes to the common
support of the society, sold their possessions, and laid down the prices
at the apostles' feet. Yet, so insensible or undesirous were they of the
advantage which that confidence afforded, that we find they very soon
disposed of the trust, by putting it into the hands, not of nominees of
their own, but of stewards formally elected for the purpose by the
society at large.
We may add also, that this excess of generosity, which cast private
property into the public stock, was so far from being required by the
apostles, or imposed as a law of Christianity, that Peter reminds
Ananias that he had been guilty, in his behaviour, of an officious and
voluntary prevarication; "for whilst," says he, "thy estate remained
unsold, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine
own power?"
_________
Hitherto the preachers of the new religion seem to have had the common
people on their side; which is assigned as the reason why the Jewish
rulers did not, at this time, think it prudent to proceed to greater
extremities. It was not long, however, before the enemies of the
institution found means to represent it to the people as tending to
subvert their law, degrade their lawgiver, and dishonour their
temple. (Acts vi. 12.) And these insinuations were dispersed with so much
success as to induce the people to join with their superiors in the
stoning of a very active member of the new community.
The death of this man was the signal of a general persecution, the
activity of which may be judged of from one anecdote of the time:--"As
for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
taking men and women committed them to prison." (Acts viii. 3.) This
persecution raged at Jerusalem with so much fury as to drive most of the
new converts out of the place,* except the twelve apostles. The converts
thus "scattered abroad," preached the religion wherever they came; and
their preaching was, in effect, the preaching of the twelve; for it was
so far carried on in concert and correspondence with them, that when
they heard of the success of their emissaries in a particular country,
they sent two of their number to the place, to complete and confirm the
mission.
_________
*Acts viii. I. "And they were all scattered abroad;" but the term "all"
is not, I think, to be taken strictly as denoting more than the
generality; in like manner as in Acts ix. 35: "And all that dwelt at
Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord."
_________
An event now took place, of great importance in the future history of
the religion. The persecution which had begun at Jerusalem followed the
Christians to other cities, ( Acts ix.) in which the authority of the
Jewish Sanhedrim over those of their own nation was allowed to be
exercised. A young man, who had signalized himself by his hostility to
the profession, and had procured a commission from the council at
Jerusalem to seize any converted Jews whom he might find at Damascus,
suddenly became a proselyte to the religion which he was going about to
extirpate. The new convert not only shared, on this extraordinary
change, the fate of his companions, but brought upon himself a double
measure of enmity from the party which he had left. The Jews at
Damascus, on his return to that city, watched the gates night and day,
with so much diligence, that he escaped from their hands only by being
let down in a basket by the wall. Nor did he find himself in greater
safety at Jerusalem, whither he immediately repaired. Attempts were
there also soon set on foot to destroy him; from the danger of which he
was preserved by being sent away to Cilicia, his native country.
For some reason not mentioned, perhaps not known, but probably connected
with the civil history of the Jews, or with some danger* which engrossed
the public attention, an intermission about this time took place in the
sufferings of the Christians. This happened, at the most, only seven or
eight, perhaps only three or four years after Christ's death, within
which period, and notwithstanding that the late persecution occupied
part of it, churches, or societies of believers, had been formed in all
Judea, Galilee, and Samaria; for we read that the churches in these
countries "had now rest and were edified, and, walking in the fear of
the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." (Acts
ix 31.) The original preachers of the religion did not remit their
labours or activity during this season of quietness; for we find one,
and he a very principal person among them, passing throughout all
quarters. We find also those who had been before expelled from Jerusalem
by the persecution which raged there, travelling as far as Poenice,
Cyprus, and Antioch; (Acts xi. 19.) and lastly, we find Jerusalem again
in the centre of the mission, the place whither the preachers returned
from their several excursions, where they reported the conduct and
effects of their ministry, where questions of public concern were
canvassed and settled, whence directions were sought, and teachers sent
forth.
_________
* Dr. Lardner (in which he is followed also by Dr. Benson) ascribes the
cessation of the persecution of the Christians to the attempt of
Caligula to set up his own statue in the temple of Jerusalem, and to the
consternation thereby excited in the minds of the Jewish people; which
consternation for a season superseded every other contest.
_________
The time of this tranquillity did not, however, continue long. Herod
Agrippa, who had lately acceded to the government of Judea, "stretched
forth his hand to vex certain of the church." (Acts xii. 1.) He began
his cruelty by beheading one of the twelve original apostles, a kinsman
and constant companion of the Founder of the religion. Perceiving that
this execution gratified the Jews, he proceeded to seize, in order to
put to death, another of the number,--and him, like the former,
associated with Christ during his life, and eminently active in the
service since his death. This man was, however, delivered from prison,
as the account states miraculously, (Acts xii. 3--17.) and made his
escape from Jerusalem.
These things are related, not in the general terms under which, in
giving the outlines of the history, we have here mentioned them, but
with the utmost particularity of names, persons, places, and
circumstances; and, what is deserving of notice, without the smallest
discoverable propensity in the historian, to magnify the fortitude, or
exaggerate the sufferings, of his party. When they fled for their lives,
he tells us. When the churches had rest, he remarks it. When the people
took their part, he does not leave it without notice. When the apostles
were carried a second time before the Sanhedrim, he is careful to
observe that they were brought without violence. When milder counsels
were suggested, he gives us the author of the advice and the speech
which contained it. When, in consequence of this advice, the rulers
contented themselves with threatening the apostles, and commanding them
to be beaten with stripes, without urging at that time the persecution
further, the historian candidly and distinctly records their
forbearance. When, therefore, in other instances, he states heavier
persecutions, or actual martyrdoms, it is reasonable to believe that he
states them because they were true, and not from any wish to aggravate,
in his account, the sufferings which Christians sustained, or to extol,
more than it deserved, their patience under them.
Our history now pursues a narrower path. Leaving the rest of the
apostles, and the original associates of Christ, engaged in the
propagation of the new faith, (and who there is not the least reason to
believe abated in their diligence or courage,) the narrative proceeds
with the separate memoirs of that eminent teacher, whose extraordinary
and sudden conversion to the religion, and corresponding change of
conduct, had before been circumstantially described. This person, in
conjunction with another, who appeared among the earlier members of
the society at Jerusalem, and amongst the immediate adherents of the
twelve apostles, (Acts iv. 36.) set out from Antioch upon the express
business of carrying the new religion through the various provinces of
the Lesser Asia. (Acts xiii. 2.) During this expedition, we find that in
almost every place to which they came, their persons were insulted, and
their lives endangered. After being expelled from Antioch in Pisidia,
they repaired to Iconium. (Acts xiii. 51.) At Iconium, an attempt was
made to stone them; at Lystra, whither they fled from Iconium, one of
them actually was stoned and drawn out of the city for dead. (Acts xiv.
19.) These two men, though not themselves original apostles, were acting
in connection and conjunction with the original apostles; for, after the
completion of their journey, being sent on a particular commission to
Jerusalem, they there related to the apostles (Acts xv. 12--26.) and
elders the events and success of their ministry, and were in return
recommended by them to the churches, "as men who had hazarded their
lives in the cause."
The treatment which they had experienced in the first progress did not
deter them from preparing for a second. Upon a dispute, however, arising
between them, but not connected with the common subject of their
labours, they acted as wise and sincere men would act; they did not
retire in disgust from the service in which they were engaged, but, each
devoting his endeavours to the advancement of the religion, they parted
from one another, and set forward upon separate routes. The history goes
along with one of them; and the second enterprise to him was attended
with the same dangers and persecutions as both had met with in the
first. The apostle's travels hitherto had been confined to Asia. He now
crosses for the first time the Aegean sea, and carries with him, amongst
others, the person whose accounts supply the information we are
stating. (Acts xvi. 11.) The first place in Greece at which he appears to
have stopped, was Philippi in Macedonia. Here himself and one of his
companions were cruelly whipped, cast into prison, and kept there under
the most rigorous custody, being thrust, whilst yet smarting with their
wounds, into the inner dungeon, and their feet made fast in the
stocks. (Acts xvi. 23, 24, 33.) Notwithstanding this unequivocal specimen
of the usage which they had to look for in that country, they went
forward in the execution of their errand. After passing through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica; in which city the
house in which they lodged was assailed by a party of their enemies, in
order to bring them out to the populace. And when, fortunately for their
preservation, they were not found at home, the master of the house was
dragged before the magistrate for admitting them within his doors. (Acts
xvii. 1--5.) Their reception at the next city was something better: but
neither had they continued long before their turbulent adversaries the
Jews, excited against them such commotions amongst the inhabitants as
obliged the apostle to make his escape by a private journey to
Athens. (Acts xvii. 13.) The extremity of the progress was Corinth. His
abode in this city, for some time, seems to have been without
molestation. At length, however, the Jews found means to stir up an
insurrection against him, and to bring him before the tribunal of the
Roman president. (Acts xviii. 12.) It was to the contempt which that
magistrate entertained for the Jews and their controversies, of which he
accounted Christianity to be one, that our apostle owed his
deliverance. (Acts xviii. 15.)
This indefatigable teacher, after leaving Corinth, returned by Ephesus
into Syria; and again visited Jerusalem, and the society of Christians
in that city, which, as hath been repeatedly observed, still continued
the centre of the mission. (Acts xviii. 22.) It suited not, however, with
the activity of his zeal to remain long at Jerusalem. We find him going
thence to Antioch, and, after some stay there, traversing once more the
northern provinces of Asia Minor. (Acts xviii. 23.) This progress ended
at Ephesus: in which city, the apostle continued in the daily exercise
of his ministry two years, and until his success, at length, excited the
apprehensions of those who were interested in the support of the
national worship. Their clamour produced a tumult, in which he had
nearly lost his life. (Acts xix. 1, 9, 10.) Undismayed, however, by the
dangers to which he saw himself exposed, he was driven from Ephesus only
to renew his labours in Greece. After passing over Macedonia, he thence
proceeded to his former station at Corinth. (Acts xx. 1, 2.) When he had
formed his design of returning by a direct course from Corinth into
Syria, he was compelled by a conspiracy of the Jews, who were prepared
to intercept him on his way, to trace back his steps through Macedonia
to Philippi, and thence to take shipping into Asia. Along the coast of
Asia, he pursued his voyage with all the expedition he could command, in
order to reach Jerusalem against the feast of Pentecost. (Acts xx. 16.)
His reception at Jerusalem was of a piece with the usage he had
experienced from the Jews in other places. He had been only a few days
in that city, when the populace, instigated by some of his old opponents
in Asia, who attended this feast, seized him in the temple, forced him
out of it, and were ready immediately to have destroyed him, had not the
sudden presence of the Roman guard rescued him out of their hands. (Acts
xxi. 27--33.) The officer, however, who had thus seasonably interposed,
acted from his care of the public peace, with the preservation of which
he was charged, and not from any favour to the apostle, or indeed any
disposition to exercise either justice or humanity towards him; for he
had no sooner secured his person in the fortress, than he was proceeding
to examine him by torture. (Acts xxii 24.)
From this time to the conclusion of the history, the apostle remains in
public custody of the Roman government. After escaping assassination by
a fortunate discovery of the plot, and delivering himself from the
influence of his enemies by an appeal to the audience of the
emperor, (Acts xxv. 9, 11.) he was sent, but not until he had suffered
two years' imprisonment, to Rome. (Acts xxiv. 27.) He reached Italy after
a tedious voyage, and after encountering in his passage the perils of a
desperate shipwreck. (Acts xxvii.) But although still a prisoner, and his
fate still depending, neither the various and long-continued sufferings
which he had undergone, nor the danger of his present situation,
deterred him from persisting in preaching the religion: for the
historian closes the account by telling us that, for two years, he
received all that came unto him in his own hired house, where he was
permitted to dwell with a soldier that guarded him, "preaching the
kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ, with all confidence."
Now the historian, from whom we have drawn this account, in the part of
his narrative which relates to Saint Paul, is supported by the strongest
corroborating testimony that a history can receive. We are in possession
of letters written by Saint Paul himself upon the subject of his
ministry, and either written during the period which the history
comprises, or, if written afterwards, reciting and referring to the
transactions of that period. These letters, without borrowing from the
history, or the history from them, unintentionally confirm the account
which the history delivers, in a great variety of particulars. What
belongs to our present purpose is the description exhibited of the
apostle's sufferings: and the representation, given in our history, of
the dangers and distresses which he underwent not only agrees in general
with the language which he himself uses whenever he speaks of his life
or ministry, but is also, in many instances, attested by a specific
correspondency of time, place, and order of events. If the historian put
down in his narrative, that at Philippi the apostle "was beaten with
many stripes, cast into prison, and there treated with rigour and
indignity;" (Acts xvi. 23, 24.) we find him, in a letter to a
neighbouring church, (I Thess. ii. 2.) reminding his converts that,
"after he had suffered before, and was shamefully entreated at Philippi,
he was bold, nevertheless, to speak unto them (to whose city he next
came) the Gospel of God." If the history relates that, (Acts xvii. 5.)
at Thessalonica, the house in which the apostle was lodged, when he
first came to that place, was assaulted by the populace, and the master
of it dragged before the magistrate for admitting such a guest within
his doors; the apostle, in his letter to the Christians of Thessalonica,
calls to their remembrance "how they had received the Gospel in much
affliction." (1 Thess. i. 6.) If the history deliver an account of an
insurrection at Ephesus, which had nearly cost the apostle his life, we
have the apostle himself, in a letter written a short time after his
departure from that city, describing his despair, and returning thanks
for his deliverance. (Acts xix. 2 Cor. i. 8--10.) If the history inform
us, that the apostle was expelled from Antioch in Pisidia, attempted to
be stoned at Iconium, and actually stoned at Lystra; there is preserved
a letter from him to a favourite convert, whom, as the same history
tells us, he first met with in these parts; in which letter he appeals
to that disciple's knowledge "of the persecutions which befell him at
Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra." (Acts xiii. 50; xiv. 5, 19. 2 Tim. 10,
11.) If the history make the apostle, in his speech to the Ephesian
elders, remind them, as one proof of the disinterestedness of his views,
that, to their knowledge, he had supplied his own and the necessities of
his companions by personal labour; (Acts xx. 34.) we find the same
apostle, in a letter written during his residence at Ephesus, asserting
of himself, "that even to that hour he laboured, working with his own
hands." (1 Cor. iv 11, 12.)
These coincidences, together with many relative to other parts of the
apostle's history, and all drawn from independent sources, not only
confirm the truth of the account, in the particular points as to which
they are observed, but add much to the credit of the narrative in all
its parts; and support the author's profession of being a contemporary
of the person whose history he writes, and, throughout a material
portion of his narrative, a companion.
What the epistles of the apostles declare of the suffering state of
Christianity the writings which remain of their companions and immediate
followers expressly confirm.
Clement, who is honourably mentioned by Saint Paul in his epistle to the
Philippians, (Philipp. iv. 3.) hath left us his attestation to this
point, in the following words: "Let us take (says he) the examples of
our own age. Through zeal and envy, the most faithful and righteous
pillars of the church have been persecuted even to the most grievous
deaths. Let us set before our eyes the holy apostles. Peter, by unjust
envy, underwent not one or two, but many sufferings; till at last, being
martyred, he went to the place of glory that was due unto him. For the
same cause did Paul, in like manner, receive the reward of his patience.
Seven times he was in bonds; he was whipped, was stoned; he preached
both in the East and in the West, leaving behind him the glorious report
of his faith; and so having taught the whole world righteousness, and
for that end travelled even unto the utmost bounds of the West, he at
last suffered martyrdom by the command of the governors, and departed
out of the world, and went unto his holy place, being become a most
eminent pattern of patience unto all ages. To these holy apostles were
joined a very great number of others, who, having through envy
undergone, in like manner, many pains and torments, have left a glorious
example to us. For this, not only men, but women, have been persecuted;
and, having suffered very grievous and cruel punishments, have finished
the course of their faith with firmness." (Clem. ad Cor. c. v. vi. Abp.
Wake's Trans.)
Hermas, saluted by Saint Paul in his epistle to the Romans, in a piece
very little connected with historical recitals, thus speaks: "Such as
have believed and suffered death for the name of Christ, and have
endured with a ready mind, and have given up their lives with all their
hearts." (Shepherd of Hermas, c. xxviii.)
Polycarp, the disciple of John (though all that remains of his works be
a very short epistle), has not left this subject unnoticed. "I exhort
(says he) all of you, that ye obey the word of righteousness, and
exercise all patience, which ye have seen set forth before your eyes,
not only in the blessed Ignatius, and Lorimus, and Rufus, but in others
among yourselves, and in Paul himself and the rest of the apostles;
being confident in this, that all these have not run in vain, but in
faith and righteousness; and are gone to the place that was due to them
from the Lord, with whom also they suffered. For they loved not this
present world, but him who died, and was raised again by God for us."
(Pol. ad Phil c. ix.)
Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, recognises the same topic,
briefly indeed, but positively and precisely. "For this cause, (i. e.
having felt and handled Christ's body at his resurrection, and being
convinced, as Ignatius expresses it, both by his flesh and spirit,) they
(i. e. Peter, and those who were present with Peter at Christ's
appearance) despised death, and were found to be above it." (19. Ep.
Smyr. c. iii.)
Would the reader know what a persecution in those days was, I would
refer him to a circular letter, written by the church of Smyrna soon
after the death of Polycarp, who it will be remembered, had lived with
Saint John; and which letter is entitled a relation of that bishop's
martyrdom. "The sufferings (say they) of all the other martyrs were
blessed and generous, which they underwent according to the will of God.
For so it becomes us, who are more religious than others, to ascribe
the power and ordering of all things unto Him. And, indeed, who can
choose but admire the greatness of their minds, and that admirable
patience and love of their Master, which then appeared in them? Who,
when they were so flayed with whipping that the frame and structure of
their bodies were laid open to their very inward veins and arteries,
nevertheless endured it. In like manner, those who were condemned to the
beasts, and kept a long time in prison, underwent many cruel torments,
being forced to lie upon sharp spikes laid under their bodies, and
tormented with divers other sorts of punishments; that so, if it were
possible, the tyrant, by the length of their sufferings, might have
brought them to deny Christ." (Rel. Mor. Pol. c. ii.)
CHAPTER V.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
On the history, of which the last chapter contains an abstract, there
are a few observations which it may be proper to make, by way of
applying its testimony to the particular propositions for which we
contend.
I. Although our Scripture history leaves the general account of the
apostles in an early part of the narrative, and proceeds with the
separate account of one particular apostle, yet the information which
it delivers so far extends to the rest, as it shows the nature of the
service. When we see one apostle suffering persecution in the discharge
of this commission, we shall not believe, without evidence, that the
same office could, at the same time, be attended with ease and safety to
others. And this fair and reasonable inference is confirmed by the
direct attestation of the letters, to which we have so often referred.
The writer of these letters not only alludes, in numerous passages, to
his own sufferings, but speaks of the rest of the apostles as enduring
like sufferings with himself. "I think that God hath set forth us the
apostles last, as it were, appointed to death; for we are made a
spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men; even unto this
present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labour, working with
our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;
being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and as
the offscouring of all things unto this day." (I Cor. iv. 9, et seq.)
Add to which, that in the short account that is given of the other
apostles in the former part of the history, and within the short period
which that account comprises, we find, first, two of them seized,
imprisoned, brought before the Sanhedrim, and threatened with further
punishment; (Acts iv. 3, 21.) then, the whole number imprisoned and
beaten; (Acts v. 18, 40.) soon afterwards, one of their adherents stoned
to death, and so hot a persecution raised against the sect as to drive
most of them out of the place; a short time only succeeding, before one
of the twelve was beheaded, and another sentenced to the same fate; and
all this passing in the single city of Jerusalem, and within ten years
after the Founder's death, and the commencement of the institution.
II. We take no credit at present for the miraculous part of the
narrative, nor do we insist upon the correctness of single passages of
it. If the whole story be not a novel, a romance; the whole action a
dream; if Peter, and James, and Paul, and the rest of the apostles
mentioned in the account, be not all imaginary persons; if their letters
be not all forgeries, and, what is more, forgeries of names and
characters which never existed; then is there evidence in our hands
sufficient to support the only fact we contend for (and which, I repeat
again, is, in itself, highly probable), that the original followers of
Jesus Christ exerted great endeavours to propagate his religion, and
underwent great labours, dangers, and sufferings, in consequence of
their undertaking.
III. The general reality of the apostolic history is strongly confirmed
by the consideration, that it, in truth, does no more than assign
adequate causes for effects which certainly were produced; and describe
consequences naturally resulting from situations which certainly
existed. The effects were certainly there, of which this history sets
forth the cause, and origin, and progress. It is acknowledged on all
hands, because it is recorded by other testimony than that of the
Christians themselves, that the religion began to prevail at that time,
and in that country. It is very difficult to conceive how it could
begin without the exertions of the Founder and his followers, in
propagating the new persuasion. The history now in our hands describes
these exertions, the persons employed, the means and endeavours made use
of, and the labours undertaken in the prosecution of this purpose.
Again, the treatment which the history represents the first propagators
of the religion to have experienced was no other than what naturally
resulted from the situation in which they were confessedly placed. It is
admitted that the religion was adverse, in great degree, to the reigning
opinions, and to the hopes and wishes of the nation to which it was
first introduced; and that it overthrew, so far as it was received, the
established theology and worship of every other country. We cannot feel
much reluctance in believing that when the messengers of such a system
went about not only publishing their opinions, but collecting
proselytes, and forming regular societies of proselytes, they should
meet with opposition in their attempts, or that this opposition should
sometimes proceed to fatal extremities. Our history details examples of
this opposition, and of the sufferings and dangers which the emissaries
of the religion underwent, perfectly agreeable to what might reasonably
be expected, from the nature of their undertaking, compared with the
character of the age and country in which it was carried on.
IV. The records before us supply evidence of what formed another member
of our general proposition, and what, as hath already been observed, is
highly probable, and almost a necessary consequence of their new
profession, viz., that, together with activity and courage in
propagating the religion, the primitive followers of Jesus assumed, upon
their conversion, a new and peculiar course of private life. Immediately
after their Master was withdrawn from them, we hear of their "continuing
with one accord in prayer and supplication;" (Acts i. 14.) of their
"continuing daily with one accord in the temple" (Acts ii. 46.) Of "many
being gathered together praying." (Acts xii. 12.) We know that strict
instructions were laid upon the converts by their teachers. Wherever
they came, the first word of their preaching was, "Repent!" We know that
these injunctions obliged them to refrain from many species of
licentiousness, which were not, at that time, reputed criminal. We know
the rules of purity, and the maxims of benevolence, which Christians
read in their books; concerning which rules it is enough to observe,
that, if they were, I will not say completely obeyed, but in any degree
regarded, they could produce a system of conduct, and, what is more
difficult to preserve, a disposition of mind, and a regulation of
affections, different from anything to which they had hitherto been
accustomed, and different from what they would see in others. The change
and distinction of manners, which resulted from their new character, is
perpetually referred to in the letters of their teachers. "And you hath
he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times
past ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience; among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh, and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even
as others." (Eph. ii 1-3. See also Tit. iii. 3.)--"For the time past of
our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries; wherein they think it strange
that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot." (1 Pet. iv. 3,
4.) Saint Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, after
enumerating, as his manner was, a catalogue of vicious characters, adds,
"Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified." (1
Cor. vi. 11.) In like manner, and alluding to the same change of
practices and sentiments, he asked the Roman Christians, "what fruit
they had in those things, whereof they are now ashamed?" (Rom. vi. 21.)
The phrases which the same writer employs to describe the moral
condition of Christians, compared with their condition before they
became Christians, such as "newness of life," being "freed from sin,"
being "dead to sin;" "the destruction of the body of sin, that, for the
future, they should not serve sin;" "children of light and of the day,"
as opposed to "children of darkness and of the night;" "not sleeping as
others;" imply, at least, a new system of obligation, and, probably, a
new series of conduct, commencing with their conversion.
The testimony which Pliny bears to the behaviour of the new sect in his
time, and which testimony comes not more than fifty years after that of
St. Paul, is very applicable to the subject under consideration. The
character which this writer gives of the Christians of that age, and
which was drawn from a pretty accurate inquiry, because he considered
their moral principles as the point in which the magistrate was
interested, is as follows:--He tells the emperor, "that some of those
who had relinquished the society, or who, to save themselves, pretended
that they had relinquished it, affirmed that they were wont to meet
together on a stated day, before it was light, and sang among themselves
alternately a hymn to Christ as a God; and to bind themselves by an
oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but that they would not
be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery; that they would never
falsify their word, or deny a pledge committed to them, when called upon
to return it." This proves that a morality, more pure and strict than
was ordinary, prevailed at that time in Christian societies. And to me
it appears, that we are authorised to carry his testimony back to the
age of the apostles; because it is not probable that the immediate
hearers and disciples of Christ were more relaxed than their successors
in Pliny's time, or the missionaries of the religion than those whom
they taught.
CHAPTER VI.
There is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
When we consider, first, the prevalency of the religion at this hour;
secondly, the only credible account which can be given of its origin,
viz. the activity of the Founder and his associates; thirdly, the
opposition which that activity must naturally have excited; fourthly,
the fate of the Founder of the religion, attested by heathen writers,
as well as our own; fifthly, the testimony of the same writers to the
sufferings of Christians, either contemporary with, or immediately
succeeding, the original settlers of the institution; sixthly,
predictions of the suffering of his followers ascribed to the Founder
of the religion, which ascription alone proves, either that such
predictions were delivered and fulfilled, or that the writers of
Christ's life were induced by the event to attribute such predictions
to him; seventhly, letters now in our possession, written by some
of the principal agents in the transaction, referring expressly to
extreme labours, dangers, and sufferings, sustained by themselves
and their companions; lastly, a history purporting to be written
by a fellow-traveller of one of the new teachers, and, by its
unsophisticated correspondency with letters of that person still extant,
proving itself to be written by some one well acquainted with the
subject of the narrative, which history contains accounts of travels,
persecutions, and martyrdoms, answering to what the former reasons lead
us to expect: when we lay together these considerations, which taken
separately are, I think correctly such as I have stated them in the
preceding chapters, there cannot much doubt remain upon our minds but
that a number of persons at that time appeared in the world, publicly
advancing an extraordinary story, and for the sake of propagating the
belief of that story, voluntarily incurring great personal dangers,
traversing seas and kingdoms, exerting great industry, and sustaining
great extremities of ill usage and persecution. It is also proved that
the same persons, in consequence of their persuasion, or pretended
persuasion, of the truth of what they asserted, entered upon a course of
life in many respects new and singular.
From the clear and acknowledged parts of the case, I think it to be
likewise in the highest degree probable, that the story for which these
persons voluntarily exposed themselves to the fatigues and hardships
which they endured was a miraculous story; I mean, that they pretended
to miraculous evidence of some kind or other. They had nothing else to
stand upon. The designation of the person, that is to say, that Jesus of
Nazareth, rather than any other person, was the Messiah, and as such the
subject of their ministry, could only be founded upon supernatural
tokens attributed to him. Here were no victories, no conquests, no
revolutions, no surprising elevation of fortune, no achievements of
valour, of strength, or of policy, to appeal to; no discoveries in any
art or science, no great efforts of genius or learning to produce. A
Galilean peasant was announced to the world as a divine lawgiver. A
young man of mean condition, of a private and simple life, and who had
wrought no deliverance for the Jewish nation, was declared to be their
Messiah. This, without ascribing to him at the same time some proofs of
his mission, (and what other but supernatural proofs could there be?)
was too absurd a claim to be either imagined, or attempted, or credited.
In whatever degree, or in whatever part, the religion was argumentative,
when it came to the question, "Is the carpenter's son of Nazareth the
person whom we are to receive and obey?" there was nothing but the
miracles attributed to him by which his pretensions could be maintained
for a moment. Every controversy and every question must presuppose
these: for, however such controversies, when they did arise, might and
naturally would, be discussed upon their own grounds of argumentation,
without citing the miraculous evidence which had been asserted to attend
the Founder of the religion (which would have been to enter upon
another, and a more general question), yet we are to bear in mind, that
without previously supposing the existence or the pretence of such
evidence, there could have been no place for the discussion of the
argument at all. Thus, for example, whether the prophecies, which the
Jews interpreted to belong to the Messiah, were or were not applicable
to the history of Jesus of Nazareth, was a natural subject of debate in
those times; and the debate would proceed without recurring at every
turn to his miracles, because it set out with supposing these; inasmuch
as without miraculous marks and tokens (real or pretended), or without
some such great change effected by his means in the public condition of
the country, as might have satisfied the then received interpretation of
these prophecies, I do not see how the question could ever have been
entertained. Apollos, we read, "mightily convinced the Jews, showing by
the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ;" (Acts xviii. 28.) but unless
Jesus had exhibited some distinction of his person, some proof of
supernatural power, the argument from the old Scriptures could have had
no place. It had nothing to attach upon. A young man calling himself the
Son of God, gathering a crowd about him, and delivering to them lectures
of morality, could not have excited so much as a doubt among the Jews,
whether he was the object in whom a long series of ancient prophecies
terminated, from the completion of which they had formed such
magnificent expectations, and expectations of a nature so opposite to
what appeared; I mean no such doubt could exist when they had the whole
case before them, when they saw him put to death for his officiousness,
and when by his death the evidence concerning him was closed. Again, the
effect of the Messiah's coming, supposing Jesus to have been he, upon
Jews, upon Gentiles, upon their relation to each other, upon their
acceptance with God, upon their duties and their expectations; his
nature, authority, office, and agency; were likely to become subjects of
much consideration with the early votaries of the religion, and to
occupy their attention and writings. I should not however expect, that
in these disquisitions, whether preserved in the form of letters,
speeches, or set treatises, frequent or very direct mention of his
miracles would occur. Still, miraculous evidence lay at the bottom of
the argument. In the primary question, miraculous pretensions and
miraculous pretensions alone, were what they had to rely upon.
That the original story was miraculous, is very fairly also inferred
from the miraculous powers which were laid claim to by the Christians of
succeeding ages. If the accounts of these miracles be true, it was a
continuation of the same powers; if they be false, it was an imitation,
I will not say of what had been wrought, but of what had been reported
to have been wrought, by those who preceded them. That imitation should
follow reality, fiction should be grafted upon truth; that, if miracles
were performed at first, miracles should be pretended afterwards; agrees
so well with the ordinary course of human affairs, that we can have no
great difficulty in believing it. The contrary supposition is very
improbable, namely, that miracles should be pretended to by the
followers of the apostles and first emissaries of the religion, when
none were pretended to, either in their own persons or that of their
Master, by these apostles and emissaries themselves.
CHAPTER VII.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
It being then once proved, that the first propagators of the Christian
institution did exert activity, and subject themselves to great dangers
and sufferings, in consequence and for the sake of an extraordinary and,
I think, we may say, of a miraculous story of some kind or other; the
next great question is, whether the account, which our Scriptures
contain, be that story; that which these men delivered, and for which
they acted and suffered as they did? This question is, in effect, no
other than whether the story which Christians have now be the story
which Christians had then? And of this the following proofs may be
deduced from general considerations, and from considerations prior to
any inquiry into the particular reasons and testimonies by which the
authority of our histories is supported.
In the first place, there exists no trace or vestige of any other story.
It is not, like the death of Cyrus the Great, a competition between
opposite accounts, or between the credit of different historians. There
is not a document, or scrap of account, either contemporary with the
commencement of Christianity, or extant within many ages afar that
commencement, which assigns a history substantially different from ours.
The remote, brief, and incidental notices of the affair which are found
in heathen writers, so far as they do go, go along with us. They bear
testimony to these facts--that the institution originated from Jesus;
that the Founder was put to death, as a malefactor, at Jerusalem, by the
authority of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate; that the religion
nevertheless spread in that city, and throughout Judea; and that it was
propagated thence to distant countries; that the converts were numerous;
that they suffered great hardships and injuries for their profession;
and that all this took place in the age of the world which our books
have assigned. They go on, further, to describe the manners of
Christians in terms perfectly conformable to the accounts extant in our
books; that they were wont to assemble on a certain day; that they sang
hymns to Christ 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;* that they worshipped him who was crucified in Palestine; that
this their first lawgiver had taught them that they were all brethren;
that they had a great contempt for the things of this world, and looked
upon them as common; that they flew to one another's relief; that they
cherished strong hopes of immortality; that they despised death, and
surrendered themselves to sufferings.+
_________
* See Pliny's Letter--Bonnet, in his lively way of expressing himself,
says,--"Comparing Pliny's Letter with the account of the Acts, it seems
to me that I had not taken up another author, but that I was still
reading the historian of that extraordinary society." This is strong;
but there is undoubtedly an affinity, and all the affinity that could be
expected.
+ "It is incredible, what expedition they use when any of their friends
are known to be in trouble. In a word, they spare nothing upon such an
occasion;--for these miserable men have no doubt they shall be immortal
and live for ever; therefore they contemn death, and many surrender
themselves to sufferings. Moreover, their first lawgiver has taught them
that they are all brethren, when once they have turned and renounced the
gods of the Greeks, and worship this Master of theirs who was crucified,
and engage to live according to his laws. They have also a sovereign
contempt for all the things of this world, and look upon them as
common." Lucian, de Morte Peregrini, t. i. p. 565, ed. Graev.
_________
This is the account of writers who viewed the subject at a great
distance; who were uninformed and uninterested about it. It bears the
characters of such an account upon the face of it, because it describes
effects, namely the appearance in the world of a new religion, and the
conversion of great multitudes to it, without descending, in the
smallest degree, to the detail of the transaction upon which it was
founded, the interior of the institution, the evidence or arguments
offered by those who drew over others to it. Yet still here is no
contradiction of our story; no other or different story set up against
it: but so far a confirmation of it as that, in the general points on
which the heathen account touches, it agrees with that which we find in
our own books.
The same may be observed of the very few Jewish writers of that and the
adjoining period, which have come down to us. Whatever they omit, or
whatever difficulties we may find in explaining the omission, they
advance no other history of the transaction than that which we
acknowledge. Josephus, who wrote his Antiquities, or History of the
Jews, about sixty years after the commencement of Christianity, in a
passage generally admitted as genuine, makes mention of John under the
name of John the Baptist; that he was a preacher of virtue; that he
baptized his proselytes; that he was well received by the people; that
he was imprisoned and put to death by Herod; and that Herod lived in a
criminal cohabitation with Herodias, his brother's wife. (Antiq. I.
xviii. cap. v. sect. 1, 2.) In another passage allowed by many, although
not without considerable question being moved about it, we hear of
"James, the brother of him who was called Jesus, and of his being put to
death." (Antiq. I. xx. cap. ix. sect. 1.) In a third passage, extant in
every copy that remains of Josephus's history, but the authenticity of
which has nevertheless been long disputed, we have an explicit testimony
to the substance of our history in these words:--"At that time lived
Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a man, for he performed many
wonderful works. He was a teacher of such men as received the truth with
pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews and Gentiles. This was the
Christ; and when Pilate, at the instigation of the chief men among us
had condemned him to the cross, they who before had conceived an
affection for him did not cease to adhere to him; for, on the third day,
he appeared to them alive again, the divine prophets having foretold
these and many wonderful things concerning him. And the sect of the
Christians, so called from him, subsists to this time." (Antiq. I.
xviii. cap. iii. sect 3.) Whatever become of the controversy concerning
the genuineness of this passage; whether Josephus go the whole length of
our history, which, if the passage be sincere, he does; or whether he
proceed only a very little way with us, which, if the passage be
rejected, we confess to be the case; still what we asserted is true,
that he gives no other or different history of the subject from ours, no
other or different account of the origin of the institution. And I think
also that it may with great reason be contended, either that the passage
is genuine, or that the silence of Josephus was designed. For, although
we should lay aside the authority of our own books entirely, yet when
Tacitus, who wrote not twenty, perhaps not ten, years after Josephus, in
his account of a period in which Josephus was nearly thirty years of
age, tells us, that a vast multitude of Christians were condemned at
Rome; that they derived their denomination from Christ, who, in the
reign of Tiberius, was put to death, as a criminal, by the procurator,
Pontius Pilate; that the superstition had spread not only over Judea,
the source of the evil but it had reached Rome also:--when Suetonius, an
historian contemporary with Tacitus, relates that, in the time of
Claudius, the Jews were making disturbances at Rome, Christus being
their leader: and that, during the reign of Nero, the Christians were
punished; under both which emperors Josephus lived: when Pliny, who
wrote his celebrated epistle not more than thirty years after the
publication of Josephus's history, found the Christians in such numbers
in the province of Bithynia as to draw from him a complaint that the
contagion had seized cities, towns, and villages, and had so seized them
as to produce a general desertion of the public rites; and when, as has
already been observed, there is no reason for imagining that the
Christians were more numerous in Bithynia than in many other parts of
the Roman empire; it cannot, I should suppose, after this, be believed,
that the religion, and the transaction upon which it was founded, were
too obscure to engage the attention of Josephus, or to obtain a place in
his history. Perhaps he did not know how to represent the business, and
disposed of his difficulties by passing it over in silence. Eusebius
wrote the life of Constantine, yet omits entirely the most remarkable
circumstance in that life, the death of his son Crispus; undoubtedly for
the reason here given. The reserve of Josephus upon the subject of
Christianity appears also in his passing over the banishment of the Jews
by Claudius, which Suetonius, we have seen, has recorded with an express
reference to Christ. This is at least as remarkable as his silence about
the infants of Bethlehem.* Be, however, the fact, or the cause of the
omission in Josephus,+ what it may, no other or different history on the
subject has been given by him, or is pretended to have been given.
_________
* Michaelis has computed, and, as it should seem, fairly enough; that
probably not more than twenty children perished by this cruel
precaution. Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, translated by
Marsh; vol. i. c. ii. sect. 11.
+ There is no notice taken of Christianity in the Mishna, a collection
of Jewish traditions compiled about the year 180; although it contains a
Tract "De cultu peregrino," of strange or idolatrous worship; yet it
cannot be disputed but that Christianity was perfectly well known in the
world at this time. There is extremely little notice of the subject in
the Jerusalem Talmud, compiled about the year 300, and not much more in
the Babylonish Talmud, of the year 500; although both these works are of
a religions nature, and although, when the first was compiled,
Christianity was on the point of becoming the religion of the state,
and, when the latter was published, had been so for 200 years.
_________
But further; the whole series of Christian writers, from the first age
of the institution down to the present, in their discussions, apologies,
arguments, and controversies, proceed upon the general story which our
Scriptures contain, and upon no other. The main facts, the principal
agents, are alike in all. This argument will appear to be of great
force, when it is known that we are able to trace back the series of
writers to a contact with the historical books of the New Testament, and
to the age of the first emissaries of the religion, and to deduce it, by
an unbroken continuation, from that end of the train to the present.
The remaining letters of the apostles, (and what more original than
their letters can we have?) though written without the remotest design
of transmitting the history of Christ, or of Christianity, to future
ages, or even of making it known to their contemporaries, incidentally
disclose to us the following circumstances:--Christ's descent and
family; his innocence; the meekness and gentleness of his character (a
recognition which goes to the whole Gospel history); his exalted nature;
his circumcision; his transfiguration; his life of opposition and
suffering; his patience and resignation; the appointment of the
Eucharist, and the manner of it; his agony; his confession before
Pontius Pilate; his stripes, crucifixion, and burial; his resurrection;
his appearance after it, first to Peter, then to the rest of the
apostles; his ascension into heaven; and his designation to be the
future judge of mankind; the stated residence of the apostles at
Jerusalem; the working of miracles by the first preachers of the Gospel,
who were also the hearers of Christ;* the successful propagation of the
religion; the persecution of its followers; the miraculous conversion of
Paul; miracles wrought by himself, and alleged in his controversies with
his adversaries, and in letters to the persons amongst whom they were
wrought; finally, that MIRACLES were the signs of an apostle.+
_________
* Heb. ii. 3. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation,
which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard him, God also be bearing them witness, both
with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy
Ghost?" I allege this epistle without hesitation; for, whatever doubts
may have been raised about its author, there can be none concerning the
age in which it was written. No epistle in the collection carries about
it more indubitable marks of antiquity than this does. It speaks for
instance, throughout, of the temple as then standing and of the worship
of the temple as then subsisting.--Heb. viii. 4: "For, if he were on
earth, he should not be a priest, seeing there are priests that offer
according to the law."--Again, Heb. xiii. 10: "We have an altar whereof
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."
+ Truly the signs of as apostle were wraught among you in all patience,
in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.' 2 Cor. xii. 12.
_________
In an epistle bearing the name of Barnabas, the companion of Paul,
probably genuine, certainly belonging to that age, we have the
sufferings of Christ, his choice of apostles and their number, his
passion, the scarlet robe, the vinegar and gall, the mocking and
piercing, the casting lots for his coat, (Ep. Bar. c. vii.) his
resurrection on the eighth, (i. e. the first day of the week,[Ep. Bar.
c. vi.]) and the commemorative distinction of that day, his
manifestation after his resurrection, and, lastly, his ascension. We
have also his miracles generally but positively referred to in the
following words:--"Finally, teaching the people of Israel, and doing
many wonders and signs among them, he preached to them, and showed the
exceeding great love which he bare towards them." (Ep. Bar. c. v.)
In an epistle of Clement, a hearer of St. Paul, although written for a
purpose remotely connected with the Christian history, we have the
resurrection of Christ, and the subsequent mission of the apostles,
recorded in these satisfactory terms: "The apostles have preached to us
from our Lord Jesus Christ from God:--For, having received their
command, and being thoroughly assured by the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, they went abroad, publishing that the kingdom of God was
at hand." (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xlii.) We find noticed, also, the humility,
yet the power of Christ, (Ep. Clem. Rom. c. xvi.) his descent from
Abraham--his crucifixion. We have Peter and Paul represented as faithful
and righteous pillars of the church; the numerous sufferings of Peter;
the bonds, stripes, and stoning of Paul, and more particularly his
extensive and unwearied travels.
In an epistle of Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, though only a brief
hortatory letter, we have the humility, patience, sufferings,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ, together with the apostolic
character of St. Paul, distinctly recognised. (Pol. Ep. Ad Phil. C. v.
viii. ii. iii.) Of this same father we are also assured, by Irenaeus,
that he (Irenaeus) had heard him relate, "what he had received from
eye-witnesses concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his
doctrine." (Ir. ad Flor. 1 ap. Euseb. l. v. c. 20.)
In the remaining works of Ignatius, the contemporary of Polycarp, larger
than those of Polycarp, (yet, like those of Polycarp, treating of
subjects in nowise leading to any recital of the Christian history,) the
occasional allusions are proportionably more numerous. The descent of
Christ from David, his mother Mary, his miraculous conception, the star
at his birth, his baptism by John, the reason assigned for it, his
appeal to the prophets, the ointment poured on his head, his sufferings
under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch, his resurrection, the
Lord's day called and kept in commemoration of it, and the Eucharist, in
both its Parts,--are unequivocally referred to. Upon the resurrection,
this writer is even circumstantial. He mentions the apostles' eating and
drinking with Christ after he had risen, their feeling and their
handling him; from which last circumstance Ignatius raises this just
reflection;--"They believed, being convinced both by his flesh and
spirit; for this cause, they despised death, and were found to be above
it." (Ad Smyr. c. iii.)
Quadratus, of the same age with Ignatius, has left us the following
noble testimony:--"The works of our Saviour were always conspicuous, for
they were real; both those that were healed, and those that were raised
from the dead; who were seen not only when they were healed or raised,
but for a long time afterwards; not only whilst he dwelled on this
earth, but also after his departure, and for a good while after it,
insomuch that some of them have reached to our times." (Ap. Euseb. H. E.
l. iv. c. 3.)
Justin Martyr came little more than thirty years after Quadratus. From
Justin's works, which are still extant, might be collected a tolerably
complete account of Christ's life, in all points agreeing with that
which is delivered in our Scriptures; taken indeed, in a great measure,
from those Scriptures, but still proving that this account, and no
other, was the account known and extant in that age. The miracles in
particular, which form the part of Christ's history most material to be
traced, stand fully and distinctly recognised in the following
passage:--"He healed those who had been blind, and deaf, and lame from
their birth; causing, by his word, one to leap, another to hear, and a
third to see: and, by raising the dead, and making them to live, he
induced, by his works, the men of that age to know him." (Just. Dial.
cum Tryph. p. 288, ed. Thirl.)
It is unnecessary to carry these citations lower, because the history,
after this time, occurs in ancient Christian writings as familiarly as
it is wont to do in modern sermons;--occurs always the same in
substance, and always that which our evangelists represent.
This is not only true of those writings of Christians which are genuine,
and of acknowledged authority; but it is, in a great measure, true of
all their ancient writings which remain; although some of these may have
been erroneously ascribed to authors to whom they did not belong, or may
contain false accounts, or may appear to be undeserving of credit, or
never indeed to have obtained any. Whatever fables they have mixed with
the narrative, they preserve the material parts, the leading facts, as
we have them; and, so far as they do this, although they be evidence of
nothing else, they are evidence that these points were fixed, were
received and acknowledged by all Christians in the ages in which the
books were written. At least, it may be asserted, that, in the places
where we were most likely to meet with such things, if such things had
existed, no reliques appear of any story substantially different from
the present, as the cause, or as the pretence, of the institution.
Now that the original story, the story delivered by the first preachers
of the institution, should have died away so entirely as to have left no
record or memorial of its existence, although so many records and
memorials of the time and transaction remain; and that another story
should have stepped into its place, and gained exclusive possession of
the belief of all who professed, themselves disciples of the
institution, is beyond any example of the corruption of even oral
tradition, and still less consistent with the experience of written
history: and this improbability, which is very great, is rendered still
greater by the reflection, that no such change as the oblivion of one
story, and the substitution of another, took place in any future period
of the Christian aera. Christianity hath travelled through dark and
turbulent ages; nevertheless it came out of the cloud and the storm,
such, in substance, as it entered in. Many additions were made to the
primitive history, and these entitled to different degrees of credit;
many doctrinal errors also were from time to time grafted into the
public creed; but still the original story remained, and remained the
same. In all its principal parts, it has been fixed from the beginning.
Thirdly: The religious rites and usages that prevailed amongst the early
disciples of Christianity were such as belonged to, and sprung out of,
the narrative now in our hands; which accordancy shows, that it was the
narrative upon which these persons acted, and which they had received
from their teachers. Our account makes the Founder of the religion
direct that his disciples should be baptized: we know that the first
Christians were baptized, Our account makes him direct that they should
hold religious assemblies: we find that they did hold religious
assemblies. Our accounts make the apostles assemble upon a stated day of
the week: we find, and that from information perfectly independent of
our accounts, that the Christians of the first century did observe
stated days of assembling. Our histories record the institution of the
rite which we call the Lord's Supper, and a command to repeat it in
perpetual succession: we find, amongst the early Christians, the
celebration of this rite universal. And, indeed, we find concurring in
all the above-mentioned observances, Christian societies of many
different nations and languages, removed from one another by a great
distance of place and dissimilitude of situation. It is also extremely
material to remark, that there is no room for insinuating that our books
were fabricated with a studious accommodation to the usages which
obtained at the time they were written; that the authors of the books
found the usages established, and framed the story to account for their
original. The Scripture accounts, especially of the Lord's Supper, are
too short and cursory, not to say too obscure, and in this view,
deficient, to allow a place for any such suspicion.*
_________
* The reader who is conversant in these researches, by comparing the
short Scripture accounts of the Christian rites above-mentioned with the
minute and circumstantial directions contained in the pretended
apostolical constitutions, will see the force of this observation; the
difference between truth and forgery.
_________
Amongst the proofs of the truth of our proposition, viz. That the story
which we have now is, in substance, the story which the Christians had
then, or, in other words, that the accounts in our Gospels are, as to
their principal parts, at least, the accounts which the apostles and
original teachers of the religion delivered, one arises from observing,
that it appears by the Gospels themselves that the story was public at
the time; that the Christian community was already in possession of the
substance and principal parts of the narrative. The Gospels were not the
original cause of the Christian history being believed, but were
themselves among the consequences of that belief. This is expressly
affirmed by Saint Luke, in his brief, but, as I think, very important
and instructive preface:--"Forasmuch (says the evangelist) as many have
taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which
are most surely believed amongst us, even as they delivered them unto
us, which, from the beginning, were eye-witnesses and ministers of the
word; it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all
things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou hast been instructed."--This short introduction testifies,
that the substance of the history which the evangelist was about to
write was already believed by Christians; that it was believed upon the
declarations of eye-witnesses and ministers of the word; that it formed
the account of their religion in which Christians were instructed; that
the office which the historian proposed to himself was to trace each
particular to its origin, and to fix the certainty of many things which
the reader had before heard of. In Saint John's Gospel the same point
appears hence, that there are some principal facts to which the
historian refers, but which he does not relate. A remarkable instance of
this kind is the ascension, which is not mentioned by St. John in its
place, at the conclusion of his history, but which is plainly referred
to in the following words of the sixth chapter; "What and if ye shall
see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" (Also John iii. 31;
and xvi. 28.) And still more positively in the words which Christ,
according to our evangelist, spoke to Mary after his resurrection,
"Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go unto my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father,
unto my God and your God." (John xx. 17.) This can only be accounted for
by the supposition that St. John wrote under a sense of the notoriety of
Christ's ascension, among those by whom his book was likely to be read.
The same account must also be given of Saint Matthew's omission of the
same important fact. The thing was very well known, and it did not occur
to the historian that it was necessary to add any particulars concerning
it. It agrees also with this solution, and with no other, that neither
Matthew nor John disposes of the person of our Lord in any manner
whatever. Other intimations in St. John's Gospel of the then general
notoriety of the story are the following: His manner of introducing his
narrative (ch. i. ver. 15.)--"John bare witness of him, and cried,
saying" evidently presupposes that his readers knew who John was. His
rapid parenthetical reference to John's imprisonment, "for John was not
yet cast into prison," (John iii, 24.) could only come from a writer
whose mind was in the habit of considering John's imprisonment as
perfectly notorious. The description of Andrew by the addition "Simon
Peter's brother," (John i. 40.) takes it for granted, that Simon Peter
was well known. His name had not been mentioned before. The evangelist's
noticing the prevailing misconstruction of a discourse, (John xxi. 24.)
which Christ held with the beloved disciple, proves that the characters
and the discourse were already public. And the observation which these
instances afford is of equal validity for the purpose of the present
argument, whoever were the authors of the histories.
These four circumstances:--first, the recognition of the account in its
principal parts by a series of succeeding writers; secondly, the total
absence of any account of the origin of the religion substantially
different from ours; thirdly, the early and extensive prevalence of
rites and institutions, which resulted from our account; fourthly, our
account bearing in its construction proof that it is an account of facts
which were known and believed at the time, are sufficient, I conceive,
to support an assurance, that the story which we have now is, in general,
the story which Christians had at the beginning. I say in general; by
which term I mean, that it is the same in its texture, and in its
principal facts. For instance, I make no doubt, for the reasons above
stated, but that the resurrection of the Founder of the religion was
always a part of the Christian story. Nor can a doubt of this remain
upon the mind of any one who reflects that the resurrection is, in some
form or other, asserted, referred to, or assumed, in every Christian
writing, of every description which hath come down to us.
And if our evidence stopped here, we should have a strong case to offer:
for we should have to allege, that in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, a
certain number of persons set about an attempt of establishing a new
religion in the world: in the prosecution of which purpose, they
voluntarily encountered great dangers, undertook great labours,
sustained great sufferings, all for a miraculous story, which they
published wherever they came; and that the resurrection of a dead man,
whom during his life they had followed and accompanied, was a constant
part of this story. I know nothing in the above statement which can,
with any appearance of reason, be disputed; and I know nothing, in the
history of the human species, similar to it.
CHAPTER VIII.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
That the story which we have now is, in the main, the story which the
apostles published, is, I think, nearly certain, from the considerations
which have been proposed. But whether, when we come to the particulars,
and the detail of the narrative, the historical books of the New
Testament be deserving of credit as histories, so that a fact ought
to be accounted true, because it is found in them; or whether they are
entitled to be considered as representing the accounts which, true or
false, the apostles published; whether their authority, in either of
these views, can be trusted to, is a point which necessarily depends
upon what we know of the books, and of their authors.
Now, in treating of this part of our argument, the first and most
material observation upon the subject is, that such was the situation of
the authors to whom the four Gospels are ascribed, that, if any one of
the four be genuine, it is sufficient for our purpose. The received
author of the first was an original apostle and emissary of the
religion. The received author of the second was an inhabitant of
Jerusalem, at the time, to whose house the apostles were wont to resort,
and himself an attendant upon one of the most eminent of that number.
The received author of the third was a stated companion and
fellow-traveller of the most active of all the teachers of the religion,
and, in the course of his travels, frequently in the society of the
original apostles. The received author of the fourth, as well as of the
first, was one of these apostles. No stronger evidence of the truth of a
history can arise from the situation of the historian than what is here
offered. The authors of all the histories lived at the time and upon the
spot. The authors of two of the histories were present at many of the
scenes which they describe; eye-witnesses of the facts, ear-witnesses of
the discourses; writing from personal knowledge and recollection; and,
what strengthens their testimony, writing upon a subject in which their
minds were deeply engaged, and in which, as they must have been very
frequently repeating the accounts to others, the passages of the history
would be kept continually alive in their memory. Whoever reads the
Gospels (and they ought to be read for this particular purpose) will
find in them not merely a general affirmation of miraculous powers, but
detailed circumstantial accounts of miracles, with specifications of
time, place, and persons; and these accounts many and various. In the
Gospels, therefore, which bear the names of Matthew and John, these
narratives, if they really proceeded from these men, must either be true
as far as the fidelity of human recollection is usually to be depended
upon, that is, must be true in substance and in their principal parts,
(which is sufficient for the purpose of proving a supernatural agency,)
or they must be wilful and mediated falsehoods. Yet the writers who
fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if they be such, are of the
number of those who, unless the whole contexture of the Christian story
be a dream, sacrificed their ease and safety in the cause, and for a
purpose the most inconsistent that is possible with dishonest
intentions. They were villains for no end but to teach honesty, and
martyrs without the least prospect of honour or advantage.
The Gospels which bear the names of Mark and Luke, although not the
narratives of eye-witnesses, are, if genuine, removed from that only by
one degree. They are the narratives of contemporary writers, or writers
themselves mixing with the business; one of the two probably living in
the place which was the principal scene of action; both living in habits
of society and correspondence with those who had been present at the
transactions which they relate. The latter of them accordingly tells us
(and with apparent sincerity, because he tells it without pretending to
personal knowledge, and without claiming for his work greater authority
than belonged to it) that the things which were believed amount
Christians came from those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and
ministers of the word; that he had traced accounts up to their source;
and that he was prepared to instruct his reader in the certainty of the
things which he related.* Very few histories lie so close to their
facts; very few historians are so nearly connected with the subject of
their narrative, or possess such means of authentic information, as
these.
_________
* Why should not the candid and modest preface of this historian be
believed, as well as that which Dion Cassius prefixes to his Life of
Commodus? "These things and the following I write, not from the report
of others, but from my own knowledge and observation." I see no reason
to doubt but that both passages describe truly enough the situation of
the authors.
_________
The situation of the writers applies to the truth of the facts which
they record. But at present we use their testimony to a point somewhat
short of this, namely, that the facts recorded in the Gospels, whether
true or false, are the facts, and the sort of facts which the original
preachers of the religion allege. Strictly speaking, I am concerned only
to show, that what the Gospels contain is the same as what the apostles
preached. Now, how stands the proof of this point? A set of men went
about the world, publishing a story composed of miraculous accounts,
(for miraculous from the very nature and exigency of the case they must
have been,) and upon the strength of these accounts called upon mankind
to quit the religions in which they had been educated, and to take up,
thenceforth, a new system of opinions, and new rules of action. What is
more in attestation of these accounts, that is, in support of an
institution of which these accounts were the foundation, is, that the
same men voluntarily exposed themselves to harassing and perpetual
labours, dangers, and sufferings. We want to know what these accounts
were. We have the particulars, i. e. many particulars, from two of their
own number. We have them from an attendant of one of the number, and
who, there is reason to believe, was an inhabitant of Jerusalem at the
time. We have them from a fourth writer, who accompanied the most
laborious missionary of the institution in his travels; who, in the
course of these travels, was frequently brought into the society of the
rest; and who, let it be observed, begins his narrative by telling us
that he is about to relate the things which had been delivered by those
who were ministers of the word, and eye-witnesses of the facts. I do not
know what information can be more satisfactory than this. We may,
perhaps, perceive the force and value of it more sensibly if we reflect
how requiring we should have been if we had wanted it. Supposing it to
be sufficiently proved, that the religion now professed among us owed
its original to the preaching and ministry of a number of men, who,
about eighteen centuries ago, set forth in the world a new system of
religious opinions, founded upon certain extraordinary things which they
related of a wonderful person who had appeared in Judea; suppose it to
be also sufficiently proved, that, in the course and prosecution of
their ministry, these men had subjected themselves to extreme hardships,
fatigue, and peril; but suppose the accounts which they published had
not been committed to writing till some ages after their times, or at
least that no histories but what had been composed some ages afterwards
had reached our hands; we should have said, and with reason, that we
were willing to believe these under the circumstances in which they
delivered their testimony, but that we did not, at this day, know with
sufficient evidence what their testimony was. Had we received the
particulars of it from any of their own number, from any of those who
lived and conversed with them, from any of their hearers, or even from
any of their contemporaries, we should have had something to rely upon.
Now, if our books be genuine, we have all these. We have the very
species of information which, as it appears to me, our imagination would
have carved out for us, if it had been wanting.
But I have said that if any one of the four Gospels be genuine, we have
not only direct historical testimony to the point we contend for, but
testimony which, so far as that point is concerned, cannot reasonably be
rejected. If the first Gospel was really written by Matthew, we have the
narrative of one of the number, from which to judge what were the
miracles, and the kind of miracles, which the apostles attributed to
Jesus. Although, for argument's sake, and only for argument's sake, we
should allow that this Gospel had been erroneously ascribed to Matthew;
yet, if the Gospel of St. John be genuine, the observation holds with no
less strength. Again, although the Gospels both of Matthew and John
could be supposed to be spurious, yet, if the Gospel of Saint Luke were
truly the composition of that person, or of any person, be his name what
it might, who was actually in the situation in which the author of that
Gospel professes himself to have been, or if the Gospel which bear the
name of Mark really proceeded from him; we still, even upon the lowest
supposition, possess the accounts of one writer at least, who was not
only contemporary with the apostles, but associated with them in their
ministry; which authority seems sufficient, when the question is simply
what it was which these apostles advanced.
I think it material to have this well noticed. The New Testament
contains a great number of distinct writings, the genuineness of any one
of which is almost sufficient to prove the truth of the religion: it
contains, however, four distinct histories, the genuineness of any one
of which is perfectly sufficient.
If, therefore, we must be considered as encountering the risk of error
in assigning the authors of our books, we are entitled to the advantage
of so many separate probabilities. And although it should appear that
some of the evangelists had seen and used each other's works, this
discovery, whist it subtracts indeed from their characters as
testimonies strictly independent, diminishes, I conceive, little either
their separate authority, (by which I mean the authority of any one that
is genuine,) or their mutual confirmation. For, let the most
disadvantageous supposition possible be made concerning them; let it be
allowed, what I should have no great difficulty in admitting, that Mark
compiled his history almost entirely from those of Matthew and Luke; and
let it also for a moment be supposed that were not, in fact, written by
Matthew and Luke; yet, if it be true that Mark, a contemporary of the
apostles, living, in habits of society with the apostles, a
fellow-traveller and fellow-labourer with some of them; if, I say, it be
true, that this person made the compilation, it follows, that the
writings from which he made it existed in the time of the apostles, and
not only so, but that they were then in such esteem and credit, that a
companion of the apostles formed a history out of them. Let the Gospel
of Mark be called an epitome of that of Matthew; if a person in the
situation in which Mark is described to have been actually made the
epitome, it affords the strongest possible attestation to the character
of the original.
Again, parallelisms in sentences, in word, and in the order of words,
have been traced out between the Gospel of Matthew and that of Luke;
which concurrence cannot easily be explained, otherwise than by
supposing, either that Luke had consulted Matthew's history, or, what
appears to me in nowise incredible, that minutes of some of Christ's
discourses, as well as brief memoirs of some passages of his life, had
been committed to writing at the time; and that such written accounts
had by both authors been occasionally admitted into their histories.
Either supposition is perfectly consistent with the acknowledged
formation of St. Luke's narrative, who professes not to write as an
eye-witness, but to have investigated the original of every account
which he delivers: in other words, to have collected them from such
documents and testimonies as he, who had the best opportunities of
making inquiries, judged to be authentic. Therefore, allowing that this
writer also, in some instances, borrowed from the Gospel which we call
Matthew's and once more allowing for the sake of stating the argument,
that that Gospel was not the production of the author to whom we
ascribe it; yet still we have in St. Luke's Gospel a history given by a
writer immediately connected with the transaction with the witnesses of
it with the persons engaged in it, and composed from materials which
that person, thus situated, deemed to be safe source of intelligence; in
other words, whatever supposition be made concerning any or all the
other Gospels, if Saint Luke's Gospel be genuine, we have in it a
credible evidence of the point which we maintain. The Gospel according
to Saint John appears to be, and is on all hands allowed to be, an
independent testimony, strictly and properly so called. Notwithstanding
therefore, any connexion or supposed connexion, between one of the
Gospels, I again repeat what I before said, that if any one of the four
be genuine, we have, in that one, strong reason, from the character and
situation of the writer, to believe that we possess the accounts which
the original emissaries of the religion delivered.
Secondly: In treating of the written evidences of Christianity, next to
their separate, we are to consider their aggregate authority. Now, there
is in the evangelic history a cumulation of testimony which belongs
hardly to any other history, but which our habitual mode of reading the
Scriptures sometimes causes us to overlook. When a passage, in any wise
relating to the history of Christ is read to us out of the epistle of
Clemens Romanus, the epistles of Ignatius, of Polycap, or from any other
writing of that age, we are immediately sensible of the confirmation
which it affords to the Scripture account. Here is a new witness. Now,
if we had been accustomed to read the Gospel of Matthew alone, and had
known that of Luke only as the generality of Christians know the
writings of the apostolical fathers, that is, had known that such a
writing was extant and acknowledged; when we came, for the first time,
to look into what it contained, and found many of the facts which
Matthew recorded, recorded also there, many other facts of a similar
nature added, and throughout the whole work the same general series of
transactions stated, and the same general character of the person who
was the subject of the history preserved, I apprehend that we should
feel our minds strongly impressed by this discovery of fresh evidence.
We should feel a renewal of the same sentiment in first reading the
Gospel of Saint John. That of Saint Mark perhaps would strike us as an
abridgment of the history with which we were already acquainted; but we
should naturally reflect, that if that history was abridged by such a
person as Mark, or by any person of so early an age, it afforded one of
the highest possible attestations to the value of the work. This
successive disclosure of proof would leave us assured, that there must
have been at least some reality in a story which not one, but many, had
taken in hand to commit to writing. The very existence of four separate
histories would satisfy us that the subject had a foundation; and when,
amidst the variety which the different information of the different
writers had supplied to their accounts, or which their different choice
and judgment in selecting their materials had produced, we observed many
facts to stand the same in all; of these facts, at least, we should
conclude, that they were fixed in their credit and publicity. If, after
this, we should come to the knowledge of a distinct history, and that
also of the same age with the rest, taking up the subject where the
others had left it, and carrying on a narrative of the effects produced
in the world by the extraordinary causes of which we had already been
informed, and which effects subsist at this day, we should think the
reality of the original story in no little degree established by this
supplement. If subsequent inquiries should bring to our knowledge, one
after another, letters written by some of the principal agents in the
business, upon the business, and during the time of their activity and
concern in it, assuming all along and recognising the original story,
agitating the questions that arose out of it, pressing the obligations
which resulted from it, giving advice and directions to these who acted
upon it; I conceive that we should find, in every one of these, a still
further support to the conclusion we had formed. At present, the weight
of this successive confirmation is, in a great measure; unperceived by
us. The evidence does not appear to us what it is; for, being from our
infancy accustomed to regard the New Testament as one book, we see in it
only one testimony. The whole occurs to us as a single evidence; and its
different parts not as distinct attestations, but as different portions
only of the same. Yet in this conception of the subject we are certainly
mistaken; for the very discrepancies among the several documents which
form our volume prove, if all other proof were wanting, that in their
original composition they were separate, and most of them independent
productions.
If we dispose our ideas in a different order, the matter stands
thus:--Whilst the transaction was recent, and the original witnesses
were at hand to relate it; and whilst the apostles were busied in
preaching and travelling, in collecting disciples, in forming and
regulating societies of converts, in supporting themselves against
opposition; whilst they exercised their ministry under the harassings of
frequent persecutions, and in a state of almost continual alarm, it is
not probable that, in this engaged, anxious, and unsettled condition of
life, they would think immediately of writing histories for the
information of the public or of posterity.* But it is very probable,
that emergencies might draw from some of them occasional letters upon
the subject of their mission, to converts, or to societies of
converts, with which they were connected; or that they might address
written discourses and exhortations to the disciples of the institution
at large, which would be received and read with a respect proportioned
to the character of the writer. Accounts in the mean time would get
abroad of the extraordinary things that had been passing, written with
different degrees of information and correctness. The extension of the
Christian society, which could no longer be instructed: by a personal
intercourse with the apostles, and the possible circulation of imperfect
or erroneous narratives, would soon teach some amongst them the
expediency of sending forth authentic memoirs of the life and doctrine
of their Master. When accounts appeared authorised by the name, and
credit, and situation of the writers, recommended or recognised by the
apostles and first preachers of the religion, or found to coincide with
what the apostles and first preachers of the religion had taught, other
accounts would fall into disuse and neglect; whilst these, maintaining
their reputation (as, if genuine and well founded, they would do) under
the test of time, inquiry, and contradiction, might be expected to make
their way into the hands of Christians of all countries of the world.
________
* This thought occurred to Eusebius: "Nor were the apostles of Christ
greatly concerned about the writing of books, being engaged in a more
excellent ministry which is above all human power." Eccles. Hist. 1.
iii. c. 24.--The same consideration accounts also for the paucity of
Christian writings in the first century of its aera.
_________
This seems the natural progress of the business; and with this the
records in our possession, and the evidence concerning them correspond.
We have remaining, in the first place, many letters of the kind above
described, which have been preserved with a care and fidelity answering
to the respect with which we may suppose that such letters would be
received. But as these letters were not written to prove the truth of
the Christian religion, in the sense in which we regard that question;
nor to convey information of facts, of which those to whom the letters
were written had been previously informed; we are not to look in them
for anything more than incidental allusions to the Christian history. We
are able, however, to gather from these documents various particular
attestations which have been already enumerated; and this is a species
of written evidence, as far as it goes, in the highest degree
satisfactory, and in point of time perhaps the first. But for our more
circumstantial information, we have, in the next place, five direct
histories, bearing the names of persons acquainted, by their situation,
with the truth of what they relate, and three of them purporting, in the
very body of the narrative, to be written by such persons; of which
books we know, that some were in the hands of those who were
contemporaries of the apostles, and that, in the age immediately
posterior to that, they were in the hands, we may say, of every one, and
received by Christians with so much respect and deference, as to be
constantly quoted and referred to by them, without any doubt of the
truth of their accounts. They were treated as such histories, proceeding
from such authorities, might expect to be treated. In the preface to one
of our histories, we have intimations left us of the existence of some
ancient accounts which are now lost. There is nothing in this
circumstance that can surprise us. It was to be expected, from the
magnitude and novelty of the occasion, that such accounts would swarm.
When better accounts came forth, these died away. Our present histories
superseded others. They soon acquired a character and established a
reputation which does not appear to have belonged to any other: that, at
least, can be proved concerning them which cannot be proved concerning
any other.
But to return to the point which led to these reflections. By
considering our records in either of the two views in which we have
represented them, we shall perceive that we possess a connection of
proofs, and not a naked or solitary testimony; and that the written
evidence is of such a kind, and comes to us in such a state, as the
natural order and progress of things, in the infancy of the institution,
might be expected to produce.
Thirdly: The genuineness of the historical books of the New Testament is
undoubtedly a point of importance, because the strength of their
evidence is augmented by our knowledge of the situation of their
authors, their relation to the subject, and the part which they
sustained in the transaction; and the testimonies which we are able to
produce compose a firm ground of persuasion, that the Gospels were
written by the persons whose names they bear. Nevertheless, I must be
allowed to state, that to the argument which I am endeavouring to
maintain, this point is not essential; I mean, so essential as that the
fate of the argument depends upon it. The question before us is, whether
the Gospels exhibit the story which the apostles and first emissaries of
the religion published, and for which they acted and suffered in the
manner in which, for some miraculous story or other, they did act and
suffer. Now let us suppose that we possess no other information
concerning these books than that they were written by early disciples of
Christianity; that they were known and read during the time, or near the
time, of the original apostles of the religion; that by Christians whom
the apostles instructed, by societies of Christians which the apostles
founded, these books were received, (by which term "received" I mean
that they were believed to contain authentic accounts of the
transactions upon which the religion rested, and accounts which were
accordingly used, repeated, and relied upon,) this reception would be a
valid proof that these books, whoever were the authors of them, must
have accorded with what the apostles taught. A reception by the first
race of Christians, is evidence that they agreed with what the first
teachers of the religion delivered. In particular, if they had not
agreed with what the apostles themselves preached, how could they have
gained credit in churches and societies which the apostles
established?
Now the fact of their early existence, and not only of their existence,
but their reputation, is made out by some ancient testimonies which do
not happen to specify the names of the writers: add to which, what hath
been already hinted, that two out of the four Gospels contain averments
in the body of the history, which, though they do not disclose the
names, fix the time and situation of the authors, viz., that one was
written by an eye-witness of the sufferings of Christ, the other by a
contemporary of the apostles. In the Gospel of St. John (xix. 35),
describing the crucifixion, with the particular circumstance of piercing
Christ's side with a spear, the historian adds, as for himself, "and he
that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he
saith true, that ye might believe." Again (xxi. 24), after relating a
conversation which passed between Peter and "the disciple," as it is
there expressed, "whom Jesus loved," it is added, "this is the disciple
which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things." This
testimony, let it be remarked, is not the less worthy of regard, because
it is, in one view, imperfect. The name is not mentioned; which, if a
fraudulent purpose had been intended, would have been done. The third of
our present Gospels purports to have been written by the person who
wrote the Acts of the Apostles; in which latter history, or rather
latter part of the same history, the author, by using in various places
the first person plural, declares himself to have been a contemporary of
all, and a companion of one, of the original preachers of the religion.
CHAPTER IX.
There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief
of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,
to new rules of conduct.
OF THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
Not forgetting, therefore, what credit is due to the evangelical
history, supposing even any one of the four Gospels to be genuine; what
credit is due to the Gospels, even supposing nothing to be known
concerning them but that they were written by early disciples of the
religion, and received with deference by early Christian churches; more
especially not forgetting what credit is due to the New Testament in its
capacity of cumulative evidence; we now proceed to state the proper and
distinct proofs, which show not only the general value of these records,
but their specific authority, and the high probability there is that
they actually came from the persons whose names they bear.
There are, however, a few preliminary reflections, by which we may draw
up with more regularity to the propositions upon which the close and
particular discussion of the subject depends. Of which nature are the
following:
I. We are able to produce a great number of ancient manuscripts, found
in many different countries, and in countries widely distant from each
other, all of them anterior to the art of printing, some Certainly seven
or eight hundred years old, and some which have been preserved probably
above a thousand years.* We have also many ancient versions of these
books, and some of them into languages which are not at present, nor for
many ages have been, spoken in any part of the world. The existence of
these manuscripts and versions proves that the Scriptures were not the
production of any modern contrivance. It does away also the uncertainty
which hangs over such publications as the works, real or pretended, of
Ossian and Rowley, in which the editors are challenged to produce their
manuscripts and to show where they obtained their copies. The number of
manuscripts, far exceeding those of any other book, and their wide
dispersion, afford an argument, in some measure to the senses, that the
Scriptures anciently, in like manner as at this day, were more read and
sought after than any other books, and that also in many different
countries. The greatest part of spurious Christian writings are utterly
lost, the rest preserved by some single manuscript. There is weight also
in Dr. Bentley's observation, that the New Testament has suffered less
injury by the errors of transcribers than the works of any profane
author of the same size and antiquity; that is, there never was any
writing, in the preservation and purity of which the world was so
interested or so careful.
_________
* The Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was written
probably in the fourth or fifth century.
_________
II. An argument of great weight with those who are judges of the proofs
upon which it is founded, and capable, through their testimony, of being
addressed to every understanding, is that which arises from the style
and language of the New Testament. It is just such a language as might
be expected from the apostles, from persons of their age and in their
situation, and from no other persons. It is the style neither of classic
authors, nor of the ancient Christian fathers, but Greek coming from men
of Hebrew origin; abounding, that is, with Hebraic and Syriac idioms,
such as would naturally be found in the writings of men who used a
language spoken indeed where they lived, but not the common dialect of
the country. This happy peculiarity is a strong proof of the genuineness
of these writings: for who should forge them? The Christian fathers were
for the most part totally ignorant of Hebrew, and therefore were not
likely to insert Hebraisms and Syriasms into their writings. The few who
had a knowledge of the Hebrew, as Justin Martyr, Origen, and Epiphanius,
wrote in a language which hears no resemblance to that of the New
Testament. The Nazarenes, who understood Hebrew, used chiefly, perhaps
almost entirely, the Gospel of Saint Matthew, and therefore cannot be
suspected of forging the rest of the sacred writings. The argument, at
any rate, proves the antiquity of these books; that they belonged to the
age of the apostles; that they could be composed, indeed, in no other.*
_________
* See this argument stated more at large in Michaelis's Introduction,
(Marsh's translation,) vol. i. c. ii. sect. 10, from which these
observations are taken.
_________
III. Why should we question the genuineness of these books? Is it for
that they contain accounts of supernatural events? I apprehend that
this, at the bottom, is the real, though secret, cause of our hesitation
about them: for had the writings inscribed with the names of Matthew and
John related nothing but ordinary history, there would have been no
more doubt whether these writings were theirs than there is concerning
the acknowledged works of Josephus or Philo; that is, there would have
been no doubt at all. Now it ought to be considered that this reason,
however it may apply to the credit which is given to a writer's judgment
or veracity, affects the question of genuineness very indirectly. The
works of Bede exhibit many wonderful relations: but who, for that
reason, doubts that they were written by Bede? The same of a multitude
of other authors. To which may be added that we ask no more for our
books than what we allow to other books in some sort similar to ours: we
do not deny the genuineness of the Koran; we admit that the history of
Apollonius Tyanaeus, purporting to be written by Philostratus, was
really written by Philostratus.
IV. If it had been an easy thing in the early times of the institution
to have forged Christian writings, and to have obtained currency and
reception to the forgeries, we should have had many appearing in the
name of Christ himself. No writings would have been received with so
much avidity and respect as these: consequently none afforded so great a
temptation to forgery. Yet have we heard but of one attempt of this
sort, deserving of the smallest notice, that in a piece of a very few
lines, and so far from succeeding, I mean, from obtaining acceptance and
reputation, or an acceptance an reputation in anywise similar to that
which can be proved to have attended the books of the New Testament,
that it is not so much as mentioned by any writer of the first three
centuries. The learned reader need not be informed that I mean the
epistle of Christ to Abgarus, king of Edessa, found at present in the
work of Eusebius,* as a piece acknowledged by him, though not without
considerable doubt whether the whole passage be not an interpolation, as
it is most certain, that, after the publication of Eusebius's work, this
epistle was universally rejected.+
_________
* Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 15.
+ Augustin, A.D. 895 (De Consens. Evan. c. 34), had heard that the
Pagans pretended to be possessed of an epistle of Christ to Peter and
Paul; but he had never seen it, and appears to doubt of the existence of
any such piece either genuine or spurious. No other ancient writer
mentions it. He also, and he alone, notices, and that in order to condemn
it, an epistle ascribed to Christ by the Manichees, A.D. 270, and a short
hymn attributed to him by the Priscillianists, A.D. 378 (cont. Faust. Man.
Lib xxviii, c,4). The lateness of the writer who notices these things, the
manner in which he notices them, and above all, the silence of every
preceding writer, render them unworthy on of consideration.
_________
V. If the ascription of the Gospels to their respective authors had been
arbitrary or conjectural, they would have been ascribed to more eminent
men. This observation holds concerning the first three Gospels, the
reputed authors of which were enabled, by their situation, to obtain
true intelligence, and were likely to deliver an honest account of what
they knew, but were persons not distinguished in the history by
extraordinary marks of notice or commendation. Of the apostles, I hardly
know any one of whom less is said than of Matthew, or of whom the little
that is said is less calculated to magnify his character. Of Mark,
nothing is said in the Gospels; and what is said of any person of that
name in the Acts, and in the epistles, in no part bestows praise or
eminence upon him. The name of Luke is mentioned only in St Paul's
epistles,* and that very transiently. The judgment, therefore, which
assigned these writings to these authors proceeded, it may be presumed,
upon proper knowledge and evidence, and not upon a voluntary choice of
names.
VI. Christian writers and Christian churches appear to have soon arrived
at a very general agreement upon the subject, and that without the
interposition of any public authority. When the diversity of opinion
which prevailed, and prevails among Christians in other points, is
considered, their concurrence in the canon of Scripture is remarkable,
and of great weight, especially as it seems to have been the result of
private and free inquiry. We have no knowledge of any interference of
authority in the question before the council of Laodicea in the year
363. Probably the decree of this council rather declared than regulated
the public judgment, or, more properly speaking, the judgment of some
neighbouring churches; the council itself consisting of no more than
thirty or forty bishops of Lydia and the adjoining countries.+ Nor does
its authority seem to have extended further; for we find numerous
Christian writers, after this time, discussing the question, "What books
were entitled to be received as Scripture," with great freedom, upon
proper grounds of evidence, and without any reference to the decision at
Laodicea.
_________
* Col. iv. 14. 2Tim. iv. 11. Philem. 24.
+ Lardner, Cred. vol. viii. P.291, et seq.
_________
These considerations are not to be neglected: but of an argument
concerning the genuineness of ancient writings, the substance,
undoubtedly, and strength, is ancient testimony.
This testimony it is necessary to exhibit somewhat in detail; for when
Christian advocates merely tell us that we have the same reason for
believing the Gospels to be written by the evangelists whose names they
bear as we have for believing the Commentaries to be Caesar's, the
Aeneid Virgil's, or the Orations Cicero's, they content themselves with
an imperfect representation. They state nothing more than what is true,
but they do not state the truth correctly. In the number, variety, and
early date of our testimonies, we far exceed all other ancient books.
For one which the most celebrated work of the most celebrated
Greek or Roman writer can allege, we produce many. But then it is more
requisite in our books than in theirs to separate and distinguish them
from spurious competitors. The result, I am convinced, will be
satisfactory to every fair inquirer: but this circumstance renders an
inquiry necessary.
In a work, however, like the present, there is a difficulty in finding a
place for evidence of this kind. To pursue the details of proof
throughout, would be to transcribe a great part of Dr. Lardner's eleven
octavo volumes: to leave the argument without proofs is to leave it
without effect; for the persuasion produced by this species of evidence
depends upon a view and induction of the particulars which compose it.
The method which I propose to myself is, first, to place before the
reader, in one view, the propositions which comprise the several heads
of our testimony, and afterwards to repeat the same propositions in so
many distinct sections, with the necessary authorities subjoined to
each.*
_________
* The reader, when he has the propositions before him, will observe that
the argument, if he should omit the sections, proceeds connectedly from
this point.
_________
The following, then, are the allegations upon the subject which are
capable of being established by proof:--
I. That the historical books of the New Testament, meaning thereby the
four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are quoted, or alluded to, by
a series of Christian writers, beginning with those who were
contemporary with the apostles, or who immediately followed them, and
proceeding in close and regular succession from their time to the present.
II. That when they are quoted, or alluded to, they are quoted or alluded
to with peculiar respect, as books 'sui generis'; as possessing an
authority which belonged to no other books, and as conclusive in all
questions and controversies amongst Christians.
III. That they were, in very early times, collected into a distinct
volume.
IV. That they were distinguished by appropriate names and titles of
respect.
V. That they were publicly read and expounded in the religious
assemblies of the early Christians.
VI. That commentaries were written upon them, harmonies formed out of
them, different copies carefully collated, and versions of them made
into different languages.
VII. That they were received by Christians of different sects, by many
heretics as well as Catholics, and usually appealed to by both sides in
the controversies which arose in those days.
VIII. That the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles
of Saint Paul, the first epistle of John, and the first of-Peter, were
received without doubt by those who doubted concerning the other books
which are included in our present canon.
IX. That the Gospels were attacked by the early adversaries of
Christianity, as books containing the accounts upon which the religion
was founded.
X. That formal catalogues of authentic Scriptures were published; in all
which our present sacred histories were included.
XI. That these propositions cannot be affirmed of any other books
claiming to be books of Scripture; by which are meant those books which
are commonly called apocryphal books of the New Testament.
SECTION I.
The historical books of the New Testament, meaning thereby the four
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, are quoted, or alluded to, by a
series of Christian writers, beginning with those who were contemporary
with the apostles, or who immediately followed them, and proceeding in
close and regular succession from their time to the present.
The medium of proof stated in this proposition is, of all others, the
most unquestionable, the least liable to any practices of fraud, and is
not diminished by the lapse of ages. Bishop Burnet, in the History of
his Own Times, inserts various extracts from Lord Clarendon's History.
One such insertion is a proof that Lord Clarendon's History was extant
at the time when Bishop Burnet wrote, that it had been read by Bishop
Burnet, that it was received by Bishop Burnet as a work of Lord
Clarendon, and also regarded by him as an authentic account of the
transactions which it relates; and it will be a proof of these points a
thousand years hence, or as long as the books exist. Quintilian having
quoted as Cicero's, (Quint, lib. xl. c. l.) that well known trait of
dissembled vanity:--"Si quid est in me ingenii, Judices, quod sentio
quam sit exiguum;"--the quotation would be strong evidence, were there
any doubt, that the oration, which opens with this address, actually
came from Cicero's pen. These instances, however simple, may serve to
point out to a reader who is little accustomed to such researches the
nature and value of the argument.
The testimonies which we have to bring forward under this proposition
are the following:--
I. There is extant an epistle ascribed to Barnabas,* the companion of
Paul. It is quoted as the epistle of Barnabas, by Clement of Alexandria,
A.D. CXCIV; by Origen, A.D. CCXXX. It is mentioned by Eusebius, A.D.
CCCXV, and by Jerome, A.D. CCCXCII, as an ancient work in their time,
bearing the name of Barnabas, and as well known and read amongst
Christians, though not accounted a part of Scripture. It purports to
have been written soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, during the
calamities which followed that disaster; and it bears the character of
the age to which it professes to belong.
_________
* Lardner, Cred. edit. 1755, vol. i. p. 23, et seq. The reader will
observe from the references, that the materials of these sections are
almost entirely extracted from Dr. Lardner's work; my office consisted
in arrangement and selection.
_________
In this epistle appears the following remarkable passage:--"Let us,
therefore, beware lest it come upon us, as it is written; There are many
called, few chosen." From the expression, "as it is written," we infer
with certainty, that at the time when the author of this epistle lived,
there was a book extant, well known to Christians, and of authority
amongst them, containing these words:--"Many are called, few chosen."
Such a book is our present Gospel of Saint Matthew, in which this text
is twice found, (Matt xx. 16; xxii. 14.) and is found in no other book
now known. There is a further observation to be made upon the terms of
the quotation. The writer of the epistle was a Jew. The phrase "it is
written" was the very form in which the Jews quoted their Scriptures. It
is not probable, therefore, that he would have used this phrase, and
without qualification, of any book but what had acquired a kind of
Scriptural authority. If the passage remarked in this ancient writing
had been found in one of Saint Paul's Epistles, it would have been
esteemed by every one a high testimony to Saint Matthew's Gospel. It
ought, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it is
found was probably by very few years posterior to those of Saint Paul.
Beside this passage, there are also in the epistle before us several
others, in which the sentiment is the same with what we meet with in
Saint Matthew's Gospel, and two or three in which we recognize the same
words. In particular, the author of the epistle repeats the precept,
"Give to every one that asketh thee;" (Matt. v. 42.) and saith that
Christ chose as his apostles, who were to preach the Gospel, men who
were great sinners, that he might show that he came "not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Matt. Ix. 13.)
II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement, bishop of
Rome, (Lardner, Cred. vol. p. 62, et seq.) whom ancient writers, without
any doubt or scruple, assert to have been the Clement whom Saint Paul
mentions, Phil. iv. 3; "with Clement also, and other my
fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." This epistle is
spoken of by the ancients as an epistle acknowledged by all; and, as
Irenaeus well represents its value, "written by Clement, who had seen
the blessed apostles, and conversed with them; who had the preaching of
the apostles still sounding in his ears, and their traditions before his
eyes." It is addressed to the church of Corinth; and what alone may seem
almost decisive of its authenticity, Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, about
the year 170, i. e. about eighty or ninety years after the epistle was
written, bears witness, "that it had been wont to be read in that church
from ancient times."
This epistle affords, amongst others, the following valuable
passages:--"Especially remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, which he
spake teaching gentleness and long-suffering: for thus he said:* Be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it my be forgiven unto
you; as you do, so shall it be done unto you; as you give, so shall it
be given unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye show
kindness, so shall kindness be shown unto you; with what measure ye mete,
with the same shall it be measured to you. By this command, and by these
rules, let us establish ourselves, that we may always walk obediently
to his holy words."
_________
* "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matt. v.
7.--"Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto
you." Luke vi. 37, 38.--"Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again." Matt. vii. 1, 2.
_________
Again; "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for he said, Woe to that
man by whom offences come; it were better for him that he had not been
born, than that he should offend one of my elect; it were better for him
that a millstone should be tied about his neck, and that he should be
drowned in the sea, than that he should offend one of my little ones."*
_________
* Matt. xviii. 6. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which
believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged
about his neck, and that he were cast into the sea." The latter part of
the passage in Clement agrees exactly with Luke xvii. 2; "It were better
for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into
the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
_________
In both these passages we perceive the high respect paid to the words of
Christ as recorded by the evangelists; "Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus;--by this command, and by these rules, let us establish ourselves,
that we may always walk obediently to his holy words." We perceive also
in Clement a total unconsciousness of doubt whether these were the real
words of Christ, which are read as such in the Gospels. This observation
indeed belongs to the whole series of testimony, and especially to the
most ancient part of it. Whenever anything now read in the Gospels is
met with in an early Christian writing, it is always observed to stand
there as acknowledged truth, i. e. to be introduced without hesitation,
doubt, or apology. It is to be observed also, that, as this epistle was
written in the name of the church of Rome, and addressed to the church
of Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhibiting the judgment not only of
Clement, who drew up the letter, but of these churches themselves, at
least as to the authority of the books referred to.
It may be said that, as Clement has not used words of quotation, it is
not certain that he refers to any book whatever. The words of Christ
which he has put down, he might himself have heard from the apostles, or
might have received through the ordinary medium of oral tradition. This
has been said: but that no such inference can be drawn from the absence
of words of quotation, is proved by the three following
considerations:--First, that Clement, in the very same manner, namely,
without any mark of reference, uses a passage now found in the epistle
to the Romans; (Rom. i. 29.) which passage, from the peculiarity of the
words which compose it, and from their order, it is manifest that he
must have taken from the book. The same remark may be repeated of some
very singular sentiments in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Secondly, that
there are many sentences of Saint Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians standing in Clement's epistle without any sign of quotation,
which yet certainly are quotations; because it appears that Clement had
Saint Paul's epistle before him, inasmuch as in one place he mentions it
in terms too express to leave us in any doubt:--"Take into your hands
the epistle of the blessed apostle Paul." Thirdly, that this method of
adopting words of Scripture without reference or acknowledgment was, as
will appear in the sequel, a method in general use amongst the most
ancient Christian writers.--These analogies not only repel the
objection, but cast the presumption on the other side, and afford a
considerable degree of positive proof, that the words in question have
been borrowed from the places of Scripture in which we now find them.
But take it if you will the other way, that Clement had heard these
words from the apostles or first teachers of Christianity; with respect
to the precise point of our argument, viz. that the Scriptures contain
what the apostles taught, this supposition may serve almost as well.
III. Near the conclusion of the epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul,
amongst others, sends the following salutation: "Salute Asyncritus,
Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with
them." Of Hermas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Christians as
contemporary with Saint Paul, a book bearing the name, and it is most
probably rightly, is still remaining. It is called the Shepherd,
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 111.) or pastor of Hermas. Its antiquity is
incontestable, from the quotations of it in Irenaeus, A.D. 178; Clement
of Alexandria, A.D. 194; Tertullian, A.D. 200; Origen, A.D. 230. The
notes of time extant in the epistle itself agree with its title, and
with the testimonies concerning it, for it purports to have been written
during the life-time of Clement.
In this place are tacit allusions to Saint Matthew's, Saint Luke's, and
Saint John's Gospels; that is to say, there are applications of thoughts
and expressions found in these Gospels, without citing the place or
writer from which they were taken. In this form appear in Hermas the
confessing and denying of Christ; (Matt. x. :i2, 33, or, Luke xli. 8,
9.) the parable of the seed sown (Matt. xiii. 3, or, Luke viii. 5); the
comparison of Christ's disciples to little children; the saying "he that
putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery" (Luke
xvi. 18.); The singular expression, "having received all power from his
Father," in probable allusion to Matt. xxviii. 18; and Christ being the
"gate," or only way of coming "to God," in plain allusion to John xiv.
6; x. 7, 9. There is also a probable allusion to Acts v. 32.
This piece is the representation of a vision, and has by many been
accounted a weak and fanciful performance. I therefore observe, that the
character of the writing has little to do with the purpose for which we
adduce it. It is the age in which it was composed that gives the value
to its testimony.
IV. Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient Christian writers, became
bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven years after Christ's ascension;
and, therefore, from his time, and place, and station, it is probable
that he had known and conversed with many of the apostles. Epistles of
Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary. Passages found
in the epistles now extant under his name are quoted by Irenaeus, A.D.
178; by Origen, A.D. 230; and the occasion of writing the epistles is
given at large by Eusebius and Jerome. What are called the smaller
epistles of Ignatius are generally deemed to be those which were read by
Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147.).
In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of
Saint Matthew and Saint John; yet so far of the same form with those in
the preceding articles, that, like them, they are not accompanied with
marks of quotation.
Of these allusions the following are clear specimens:
Matt.*: "Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be
fulfilled by him." "Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless
as a dove."
John+: "Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God: for it knows
whence it comes and whither it goes." "He (Christ) is the door of the
Father, by which enter in Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the
apostles, and the church."
_________
* Chap. iii. 15. "For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
Chap. x. 16. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
+ Chap. iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." Chap. x. 9. "I am the
door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved."
_________
As to the manner of quotation, this is observable;--Ignatius, in one
place, speaks of St. Paul in terms of high respect, and quotes his
Epistle to the Ephesians by name; yet, in several other places, he
borrows words and sentiments from the same epistle without mentioning
it; which shows that this was his general manner of using and applying
writings then extant, and then of high authority.
V. Polycarp (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. 192.) had been taught by the
apostles; had conversed with many who had seen Christ; was also by the
apostles appointed bishop of Smyrna. This testimony concerning Polycarp
is given by Irenaeus, who in his youth had seen him:--"I can tell the
place," saith Irenaeus, "in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught,
and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his life, and the
form of his person, and the discourses he made to the people, and how he
related his conversation with John, and others who had seen the Lord,
and how he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the
Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine, as he had received
them from the eyewitnesses of the word of life: all which Polycarp
related agreeable to the Scriptures."
Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country and persons of the
apostles is thus attested, we have one undoubted epistle remaining. And
this, though a short letter, contains nearly forty clear allusions to
books of the New Testament; which is strong evidence of the respect
which Christians of that age bore for these books.
Amongst these, although the writings of St. Paul are more frequently
used by Polycarp than any other parts of Scripture, there are copious
allusions to the Gospel of St. Matthew, some to passages found in the
Gospels both of Matthew and Luke, and some which more nearly resemble
the words in Luke.
I select the following as fixing the authority of the Lord's prayer, and
the use of it amongst the primitive Christians: "If therefore we pray
the Lord, that he will forgive us, we ought also to forgive."
"With supplication beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead us into
temptation."
And the following, for the sake of repeating an observation already
made, that words of our Lord found in our Gospels were at this early day
quoted as spoken by him; and not only so, but quoted with so little
question or consciousness of doubt about their being really his words,
as not even to mention, much less to canvass, the authority from which
they were taken:
"But remembering what the Lord said, teaching, Judge not, that ye be not
judged; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; be ye merciful, that ye may
obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again." (Matt. vii. 1, 2; v. 7; Luke vi. 37, 38.)
Supposing Polycarp to have had these words from the books in which we
now find them, it is manifest that these books were considered by him,
and, as he thought, considered by his readers, us authentic accounts of
Christ's discourses; and that that point was incontestible [sic].
The following is a decisive, though what we call a tacit reference to
St. Peter's speech in the Acts of the Apostles:--"whom God hath raised,
having loosed the pains of death." (Acts ii. 24.)
VI. Papias, (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 239.) a hearer of John, and
companion of Polycarp, as Irenaeus attests, and of that age, as all
agree, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, from a work now lost, expressly
ascribes the respective Gospels to Matthew and Mark; and in a manner
which proves that these Gospels must have publicly borne the names of
these authors at that time, and probably long before; for Papias does
not say that one Gospel was written by Matthew, and another by Mark;
but, assuming this as perfectly well known, he tells us from what
materials Mark collected his account, viz. from Peter's preaching, and
in what language Matthew wrote, viz. in Hebrew. Whether Papias was well
informed in this statement, or not; to the point for which I produce
this testimony, namely, that these books bore these names at this time,
his authority is complete.
The writers hitherto alleged had all lived and conversed with some of
the apostles. The works of theirs which remain are in general very short
pieces, yet rendered extremely valuable by their antiquity; and none,
short as they are, but what contain some important testimony to our
historical Scriptures.*
_________
* That the quotations are more thinly strewn in these than in the
writings of the next and of succeeding ages, is in a good measure
accounted for by the observation, that the Scriptures of the New
Testament had not yet, nor by their recency hardly could have, become a
general part of Christian education; read as the Old Testament was by
Jews and Christians from their childhood, and thereby intimately mixing,
as that had long done, with all their religious ideas, and with their
language upon religious subjects. In process of time, and as soon
perhaps as could be expected, this came to be the case. And then we
perceive the effect, in a proportionably greater frequency, as well as
copiousness of allusion.--Mich. Introd. c. ii. sect. vi.
_________
VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more than twenty years
after the last, follows Justin Martyr (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 258.).
His remaining works are much larger than any that have yet been noticed.
Although the nature of his two principal writings, one of which was
addressed to heathens, and the other was a conference with a Jew, did
not lead him to such frequent appeals to Christian books as would have
appeared in a discourse intended for Christian readers; we nevertheless
reckon up in them between twenty and thirty quotations of the Gospels
and Acts of the Apostles, certain, distinct, and copious: if each verse
be counted separately, a much greater number; if each expression, a very
great one.*
_________
* "He cites our present canon, and particularly our four Gospels,
continually, I dare say, above two hundred times." Jones's New and Full
Method. Append. vol. i. p. 589, ed. 1726.
_________
We meet with quotations of three of the Gospels within the compass of
half a page: "And in other words he says, Depart from me into outer
darkness, which the Father hath prepared for Satan and his angels,"
(which is from Matthew xxv. 41.) "And again he said, in other words, I
give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and venomous
beasts, and upon all the power of the enemy." (This from Luke x. 19.)
"And before he was crucified, he said, The Son of Man must suffer many
things, and be rejected of the Scribes and Pharisees, and be crucified,
and rise again the third day." (This from Mark viii. 31.)
In another place Justin quotes a passage in the history of Christ's
birth, as delivered by Matthew and John, and fortifies his quotation by
this remarkable testimony: "As they have taught, who have written the
history of all things concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ; and we
believe them." Quotations are also found from the Gospel of Saint John.
What moreover seems extremely material to be observed is, that in all
Justin's works, from which might be extracted almost a complete life of
Christ, there are but two instances in which he refers to anything as
said or done by Christ, which is not related concerning him in our
present Gospels: which shows, that these Gospels, and these, we may say,
alone, were the authorities from which the Christians of that day drew
the information upon which they depended. One of these instances is of a
saying of Christ, not met with in any book now extant.+
_________
+ "Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ has said, In whatsoever I shall
find you, in the same I will also judge you." Possibly Justin designed
not to quote any text, but to represent the sense of many of our Lord's
sayings. Fabrieius has observed, that this saying has been quoted by
many writers, and that Justin is the only one who ascribes it to our
Lord, and that perhaps by a slip of his memory. Words resembling these
are read repeatedly in Ezekiel; "I will judge them according to their
ways;" (chap. vii. 3; xxxiii. 20.) It is remarkable that Justin had just
before expressly quoted Ezekiel. Mr. Jones upon this circumstance founded
a conjecture, that Justin wrote only "the Lord hath said," intending to
quote the words of God, or rather the sense of those words in Ezekiel;
and that some transcriber, imagining these to be the words of Christ,
inserted in his copy the addition "Jesus Christ." Vol. 1. p. 539.
_________
The other of a circumstance in Christ's baptism, namely, a fiery or
luminous appearance upon the water, which, according to Epiphanius, is
noticed in the Gospel of the Hebrews: and which might be true: but
which, whether true or false, is mentioned by Justin, with a plain mark
of diminution when compared with what he quotes as resting upon
Scripture authority. The reader will advert to this distinction: "and
then, when Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, as
Jesus descended into the water, a fire also was kindled in Jordan: and
when he came up out of the water, (the apostles of this our Christ have
written), that the Holy Ghost lighted upon him as a dove."
All the references in Justin are made without mentioning the author;
which proves that these books were perfectly notorious, and that there
were no other accounts of Christ then extant, or, at least, no other so
received and credited as to make it necessary to distinguish these from
the rest.
But although Justin mentions not the author's name, he calls the books,
"Memoirs composed by the Apostles;" "Memoirs composed by the Apostles
and their Companions;" which descriptions, the latter especially,
exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
now bear.
VIII. Hegesippus (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 314.) came about thirty
years after Justin. His testimony is remarkable only for this
particular; that he relates of himself that, travelling from Palestine
to Rome, he visited, on his journey, many bishops; and that, "in every
succession, and in every city, the same doctrine is taught, which the
Law and the Prophets, and the Lord teacheth." This is an important
attestation, from good authority, and of high antiquity. It is generally
understood that by the word "Lord," Hegesippus intended some writing or
writings, containing the teaching of Christ; in which sense alone the
term combines with the other term "Law and Prophets," which denote
writings; and together with them admit of the verb "teacheth" in the
present tense. Then, that these writings were some or all of the books
of the New Testament, is rendered probable from hence, that in the
fragments of his works, which are preserved in Eusebius, and in a writer
of the ninth century, enough, though it be little, is left to show, that
Hegesippus expressed divers thing in the style of the Gospels, and of
the Acts of the Apostles; that he referred to the history in the second
chapter of Matthew, and recited a text of that Gospel as spoken by our
Lord.
IX. At this time, viz. about the year 170, the churches of Lyons and
Vienne, in France, sent a relation of the sufferings of their martyrs to
the churches of Asia and Phrygia. (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 332.) The
epistle is preserved entire by Eusebius. And what carries in some
measure the testimony of these churches to a higher age, is, that they
had now for their bishop, Pothinus, who was ninety years old, and whose
early life consequently must have immediately joined on with the times
of the apostles. In this epistle are exact references to the Gospels of
Luke and John, and to the Acts of the Apostles; the form of reference
the same as in all the preceding articles. That from Saint John is in
these words: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord, that
whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service." (John xvi.
2.)
X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. Irenaeus (Lardner,
vol. i. p. 344.) succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he
had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. In the time
in which he lived, he was distant not much more than a century from the
publication of the Gospels; in his instruction only by one step
separated from the persons of the apostles. He asserts of himself and
his contemporaries, that they were able to reckon up, in all the
principal churches, the succession of bishops from the first. (Adv.
Haeres. 1. iii. c. 3.) I remark these particulars concerning Irenaeus
with more formality than usual, because the testimony which this writer
affords to the historical books of the New Testament, to their
authority, and to the titles which they bear, is express, positive, and
exclusive. One principal passage, in which this testimony is contained,
opens with a precise assertion of the point which we have laid down as
the foundation of our argument, viz., that the story which the Gospels
exhibit is the story which the apostles told. "We have not received,"
saith Irenaeus, "the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any others
than those by whom the Gospel has been brought to us. Which Gospel they
first preached, and afterwards, by the will of God, committed to
writing, that it might be for time to come the foundation and pillar of
our faith.--For after that our Lord arose from the dead, and they (the
apostles) were endowed from above with the power of the Holy Ghost
coming down upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all things.
They then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the
Message of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one, alike the
Gospel of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, wrote a Gospel in their own
language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel at Rome, and
founding a church there: and after their exit, Mark also, the disciple
and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writing the things that had
been preached by Peter and Luke, the companion of Paul, put down in a
book the Gospel preached by him (Paul). Afterwards John, the disciple of
the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise published a
Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia." If any modern divine should
write a book upon the genuineness of the Gospels, he could not assert it
more expressly, or state their original more distinctly, than Irenaeus
hath done within little more than a hundred years after they were
published.
The correspondency, in the days of Irenaeus, of the oral and written
tradition, and the deduction of the oral tradition through various
channels from the age of the apostles, which was then lately passed,
and, by consequence, the probability that the books truly delivered what
the apostles taught, is inferred also with strict regularity from
another passage of his works. "The tradition of the apostles," this
father saith, "hath spread itself over the whole universe; and all they
who search after the sources of truth will find this tradition to be
held sacred in every church, We might enumerate all those who have been
appointed bishops to these churches by the apostles, and all their
successors, up to our days. It is by this uninterrupted succession that
we have received the tradition which actually exists in the church, as
also the doctrines of truth, as it was preached by the apostles." (Iren.
in Haer. I. iii. c. 3.) The reader will observe upon this, that the same
Irenaeus, who is now stating the strength and uniformity of the
tradition, we have before seen recognizing, in the fullest manner, the
authority of the written records; from which we are entitled to
conclude, that they were then conformable to each other.
I have said that the testimony of Irenaeus in favour of our Gospels is
exclusive of all others. I allude to a remarkable passage in his works,
in which, for some reasons sufficiently fanciful, he endeavours to show
that there could he neither more nor fewer Gospels than four. With his
argument we have no concern. The position itself proves that four, and
only four, Gospels were at that time publicly read and acknowledged.
That these were our Gospels, and in the state in which we now have them,
is shown from many other places of this writer beside that which we have
already alleged. He mentions how Matthew begins his Gospel, bow Mark
begins and ends his, and their supposed reasons for so doing. He
enumerates at length the several passages of Christ's history in Luke,
which are not found in any of the other evangelists. He states the
particular design with which Saint John composed his Gospel, and
accounts for the doctrinal declarations which precede the narrative.
To the book of the Acts of the Apostles, its author, and credit, the
testimony of Irenaeus is no less explicit. Referring to the account of
Saint Paul's conversion and vocation, in the ninth chapter of that book,
"Nor can they," says he, meaning the parties with whom he argues, "show
that he is not to be credited, who has related to us the truth with the
greatest exactness." In another place, he has actually collected the
several texts, in which the writer of the history is represented as
accompanying Saint Paul; which leads him to deliver a summary of almost
the whole of the last twelve chapters of the book.
In an author thus abounding with references and allusions to the
Scriptures, there is not one to any apocryphal Christian writing
whatever. This is a broad line of distinction between our sacred books
and the pretensions of all others.
The force of the testimony of the period which we have considered is
greatly strengthened by the observation, that it is the testimony, and
the concurring testimony, of writers who lived in countries remote from
one another. Clement flourished at Rome, Ignatius at Antioch, Polycarp
at Smyrna, Justin Martyr in Syria, and Irenaeus in France.
XI. Omitting Athenagoras and Theophilus, who lived about this
time; (Lardner, vol. i. p. 400 & 422.) in the remaining works of the
former of whom are clear references to Mark and Luke; and in the works
of the latter, who was bishop of Antioch, the sixth in succession from
the apostles, evident allusions to Matthew and John, and probable
allusions to Luke (which, considering the nature of the compositions,
that they were addressed to heathen readers, is as much as could be
expected); observing also, that the works of two learned Christian
writers of the same age, Miltiades and Pantaenus, (Lardner, vol. i. p.413,
450.) are now lost: of which Miltiades Eusebius records, that his
writings "were monuments of zeal for the Divine Oracles;" and which
Pantaenus, as Jerome testifies, was a man of prudence and learning, both
in the Divine Scriptures and secular literature, and had left many
commentaries upon the Holy Scriptures then extant. Passing by these
without further remark, we come to one of the most voluminous of ancient
Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria (Lardner, vol. ii. p. 469.).
Clement followed Irenaeus at the distance of only sixteen years, and
therefore may be said to maintain the series of testimony in an
uninterrupted continuation.
In certain of Clement's works, now lost, but of which various parts are
recited by Eusebius, there is given a distinct account of the order in
which the four Gospels were written. The Gospels which contain the
genealogies were (he says) written first; Mark's next, at the instance
of Peter's followers; and John's the last; and this account he tells us
that he had received from presbyters of more ancient times. This
testimony proves the following points; that these Gospels were the
histories of Christ then publicly received and relied upon; and that the
dates, occasions, and circumstances, of their publication were at that
time subjects of attention and inquiry amongst Christians. In the works
of Clement which remain, the four Gospels are repeatedly quoted by the
names of their authors, and the Acts of the Apostles is expressly
ascribed to Luke. In one place, after mentioning a particular
circumstance, he adds these remarkable words: "We have not this passage
in the four Gospels delivered to us, but in that according to the
Egyptians;" which puts a marked distinction between the four Gospels and
all other histories, or pretended histories, of Christ. In another part
of his works, the perfect confidence with which he received the Gospels
is signified by him in these words: "That this is true appears from
hence, that it is written in the Gospel according to Saint Luke;" and
again, "I need not use many words, but only to allege the evangelic
voice of the Lord." His quotations are numerous. The sayings of Christ,
of which he alleges many, are all taken from our Gospels; the single
exception to this observation appearing to be a loose quotation of a
passage in Saint Matthew's Gospel.*
_________
* "Ask great things and the small shall be added unto you." Clement
rather chose to expound the words of Matthew (chap. vi. 33), than
literally to cite them; and this is most undeniably proved by another
place in the same Clement, where he both produces the text and these
words am an exposition:--"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and its
righteousness, for these are the great things; but the small things, and
things relating to this life, shall be added unto you." Jones's New and
Full Method, vol. i. p. 553.
_________
XII. In the age in which they lived, (Lardner, vol. ii. p. 561.)
Tertullian joins on with Clement. The number of the Gospels then
received, the names of the evangelists, and their proper descriptions,
are exhibited by this writer in one short sentence:--"Among the apostles
John and Matthew teach us the faith; among apostolical men, Luke and
Mark refresh it." The next passage to be taken from Tertullian affords
as complete an attestation to the authenticity of our books as can be
well imagined. After enumerating the churches which had been founded by
Paul at Corinth, in Galatia, at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ephesus; the
church of Rome established by Peter and Paul, and other churches derived
from John; he proceeds thus:--"I say, then, that with them, but not with
them only which are apostolical, but with all who have fellowship with
them in the same faith, is that Gospel of Luke received from its first
publication, which we so zealously maintain:" and presently afterwards
adds, "The same authority of the apostolical churches will support the
other Gospels which we have from them and according to them, I mean
John's and Matthew's; although that likewise which Mark published may be
said to be Peter's, whose interpreter Mark was." In another place
Tertullian affirms, that the three other Gospels were in the hands of
the churches from the beginning, as well as Luke's. This noble testimony
fixes the universality with which the Gospels were received and their
antiquity; that they were in the hands of all, and had been so from the
first. And this evidence appears not more than one hundred and fifty
years after the publication of the books. The reader must be given to
understand that, when Tertullian speaks of maintaining or defending
(tuendi) the Gospel of Saint Luke, he only means maintaining or
defending the integrity of the copies of Luke received by Christian
churches, in opposition to certain curtailed copies used by Marcion,
against whom he writes.
This author frequently cites the Acts of the Apostles under that title,
once calls it Luke's Commentary, and observes how Saint Paul's epistles
confirm it.
After this general evidence, it is unnecessary to add particular
quotations. These, however, are so numerous and ample as to have led Dr.
Lardner to observe, "that there are more and larger quotations of the
small volume of the New Testament in this one Christian author, than
there are of all the works of Cicero in writers of all characters for
several ages." (Lardner, vol ii. p. 647.)
Tertullian quotes no Christian writing as of equal authority with the
Scriptures, and no spurious books at all; a broad line of distinction,
we may once more observe, between our sacred books and all others.
We may again likewise remark the wide extent through which the
reputation of the Gospels, and of the Acts of the Apostles had spread,
and the perfect consent, in this point, of distant and independent
societies. It is now only about one hundred and fifty years since Christ
was crucified; and within this period, to say nothing of the apostolical
fathers who have been noticed already, we have Justin Martyr at
Neapolis, Theophilus at Antioch, Irenaeus in France, Clement at
Alexandria, Tertullian at Carthage, quoting the same books of historical
Scriptures, and I may say, quoting these alone.
XIII. An interval of only thirty years, and that occupied by no small
number of Christian writers, (Minucius Felix, Apollonius, Caius, Asterius
Urbanus Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, Hippolytus, Ammonius Julius
Africanus) whose works only remain in fragments and quotations, and in
every one of which is some reference or other to the Gospels (and in one
of them, Hippolytus, as preserved in Theodoret, is an abstract of the
whole Gospel history), brings us to a name of great celebrity in
Christian antiquity, Origen (Lardner, vol. iii. p. 234.) of Alexandria,
who in the quantity of his writings exceeded the most laborious of the
Greek and Latin authors. Nothing can be more peremptory upon the subject
now under consideration, and, from a writer of his learning and
information, more satisfactory, than the declaration of Origen,
preserved, in an extract from his works, by Eusebius; "That the four
Gospels alone are received without dispute by the whole church of God
under heaven:" to which declaration is immediately subjoined a brief
history of the respective authors to whom they were then, as they are
now, ascribed. The language holden concerning the Gospels, throughout
the works of Origen which remain, entirely corresponds with the
testimony here cited. His attestation to the Acts of the Apostles is no
less Positive: "And Luke also once more sounds the trumpet, relating the
acts of the apostles." The universality with which the Scriptures were
then read is well signified by this writer in a passage in which he has
occasion to observe against Celsus, "That it is not in any private
books, or such as are read by a few only, and those studious persons,
but in books read by everybody, That it is written, The invisible things
of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by things that are made." It is to no purpose to single out quotations
of Scripture from such a writer as this. We might as well make a
selection of the quotations of Scripture in Dr. Clarke's Sermons. They
are so thickly sown in the works of Origen, that Dr. Mill says, "If we
had all his works remaining, we should have before us almost the whole
text of the Bible." (Mill, Proleg. esp. vi. p. 66.)
Origen notices, in order to censure, certain apocryphal Gospels. He also
uses four writings of this sort; that is, throughout his large works he
once or twice, at the most, quotes each of the four; but always with
some mark, either of direct reprobation or of caution to his readers,
manifestly esteeming them of little or no authority.
XIV. Gregory, bishop of Neocaesaea, and Dionysius of Alexandria, were
scholars of Origen. Their testimony, therefore, though full and
particular, may be reckoned a repetition only of his. The series,
however, of evidence is continued by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who
flourished within twenty years after Origen. "The church," said this
father, "is watered, like Paradise, by four rivers, that is, by four
Gospels." The Acts of the Apostles is also frequently quoted by Cyprian
under that name, and under the name of the "Divine Scriptures." In his
various writings are such constant and copious citations of Scripture,
as to place this part of the testimony beyond controversy. Nor is there,
in the works of this eminent African bishop, one quotation of a spurious
or apocryphal Christian writing.
XV. Passing over a crowd* of writers following Cyprian at different
distances, but all within forty years of his time; and who all, in the
perfect remains of their works, either cite the historical Scriptures of
the New Testament, or speak of them in terms of profound respect: I
single out Victorin, bishop of Pettaw, in Germany, merely on account of
the remoteness of his situation from that of Origen and Cyprian, who
were Africans; by which circumstance his testimony, taken in conjunction
with theirs, proves that the Scripture histories, and the same
histories, were known and received from one side of the Christian world
to the other. This bishop (Lardner, vol. v. p. 214.) lived about the
year 290: and in a commentary upon this text of the Revelation, "The
first was like a lion, the second was like a calf, the third like a man,
and the fourth like a flying eagle," he makes out that by the four
creatures are intended the four Gospels; and, to show the propriety of
the symbols, he recites the subject with which each evangelist opens his
history. The explication is fanciful, but the testimony positive. He
also expressly cites the Acts of the Apostles.
_________
* Novatus, Rome, A.D. 251; Dionysius, Rome, A.D. 259; Commodian, A.D.
270; Anatolius, Laodicea, A.D. 270; Theognostus A.D. 282; Methodius
Lycia, A.D. 290; Phileas, Egypt, A.D. 296.
_________
XVI. Arnobius and Lactantius (Lardner, vol. viii. p. 43, 201.), about
the year 300, composed formal arguments upon the credibility of the
Christian religion. As these arguments were addressed to Gentiles, the
authors abstain from quoting Christian books by name, one of them giving
this very reason for his reserve; but when they came to state, for the
information of their readers, the outlines of Christ's history, it is
apparent that they draw their accounts from our Gospels, and from no
other sources; for these statements exhibit a summary of almost
everything which is related of Christ's actions and miracles by the four
evangelists. Arnobius vindicates, without mentioning their names, the
credit of these historians; observing that they were eye-witnesses of
the facts which they relate, and that their ignorance of the arts of
composition was rather a confirmation of their testimony, than an
objection to it. Lactantius also argues in defence of the religion, from
the consistency, simplicity, disinterestedness, and sufferings of the
Christian historians, meaning by that term our evangelists.
XVII. We close the series of testimonies with that of Eusebius, (Lardner,
vol. viii. p. 33.) bishop of Caesarea who flourished in the year 315,
contemporary with, or posterior only by fifteen years to, the authors
last cited. This voluminous writer, and most diligent collector of the
writings of others, beside a variety of large works, composed a history
of the affairs of Christianity from its origin to his own time. His
testimony to the Scriptures is the testimony of a man much conversant in
the works of Christian authors, written during the first three centuries
of its era, and who had read many which are now lost. In a passage of
his Evangelical Demonstration, Eusebius remarks, with great nicety, the
delicacy of two of the evangelists, in their manner of noticing any
circumstance which regarded themselves; and of Mark, as writing under
Peter's direction, in the circumstances which regarded him. The
illustration of this remark leads him to bring together long quotations
from each of the evangelists: and the whole passage is a proof that
Eusebius, and the Christians of those days, not only read the Gospels,
but studied them with attention and exactness. In a passage of his
ecclesiastical History, he treats, in form, and at large, of the
occasions of writing the four Gospels, and of the order in which they
were written. The title of the chapter is, "Of the Order of the
Gospels;" and it begins thus: "Let us observe the writings of this
apostle John, which are not contradicted by any: and, first of all, must
be mentioned, as acknowledged by all, the Gospel according to him,
well-known to all the churches under heaven; and that it has been justly
placed by the ancients the fourth in order, and after the other three,
may be made evident in this manner."--Eusebius then proceeds to show
that John wrote the last of the four, and that his Gospel was intended
to supply the omissions of the others; especially in the part of our
Lord's ministry which took place before the imprisonment of John the
Baptist. He observes, "that the apostles of Christ were not studious of
the ornaments of composition, nor indeed forward to write at all, being
wholly occupied with their ministry."
This learned author makes no use at all of Christian writings, forged
with the names of Christ's apostle, or their companions. We close this
branch of our evidence here, because, after Eusebius, there is no room
for any question upon the subject; the works of Christian writers being
as full of texts of Scripture, and of references to Scripture, as the
discourses of modern divines. Future testimonies to the books of Scripture
could only prove that they never lost their character or authority.