We might see an expression of honesty, | tives, all of them possessing the same claims which it is in the power of written lan- upon our belief. If it be improbable that guage, as well as of spoken language, to one should be written for the purpose of imconvey. We might see that there was no- posing a falsehood upon the world, it is still thing monstrous or improbable in the nar-more improbable that many should be writrative itself. And, without enumerating ten, all of them conspiring to the same perevery particular calculated to give it the verse and unnatural object. No one can impression of truth, we may, in the pro- doubt, at least, that of the multitude of writgress of our inquiries, have ascertained, that ten testimonies which have come down to copies of this manuscript were to be found us, the true must greatly preponderate over in many places, and in different parts of the the false; and that the deceitful principle, world, proving, by the evidence of its dif- though it exists sometimes, could never opefusion, the general esteem in which it was rate to such an extent, as to carry any great held by the readers of past ages. This gives or general imposition in the face of all the us the testimony of these readers to the value documents which are before us. The supof the performance; and as we are suppos- position must be extended much farther than ing it is a history, and not a work of ima- we have yet carried it, before we reach the gination, it could only be valued on the prin- degree of evidence and of testimony, of which ciple of the information which was laid be-on many points of ancient history, we are at fore them being true. In this way a solitary this moment in actual possession. Many document, transmitted to us from a remote documents have been collected, professing to antiquity, might gain credit in the world, be written at different times, and by men of though it had been lost sight of for many different countries. In this way a great body ages, and only brought to light by the revi- of ancient literature has been formed, from val of a literary spirit, which had lain dor- which we can collect many points of evimant during a long period of history. dence, too tedious to enumerate. Do we We can further suppose, that in the pro- find the express concurrence of several augress of these researches, another manu- thors to the same piece of history? Do we script was discovered, having the same cha- find, what is still more impressive, events racters, and possessing the same separate formally announced in one narrative, not and original marks of truth with the former. told over again, but implied and proceeded If they both touched upon the same period upon as true in another? Do we find the of history, and gave testimony to the same succession of history, through a series of events, it is plain that a stronger evidence ages, supported in a way that is natural and for the truth of these events would be afford- consistent? Do we find those compositions ed, than what it was in the power of either which profess a higher antiquity, appealed of the testimonies taken separately to sup-to by those which profess a lower? These, ply. The separate circumstances which and a number of other points, which meet gave a distinct credibility to each of the every scholar who betakes himself to the testimonies are added together, and give also actual investigation, give a most warm and much higher credibility to those points of in- living character of reality to the history of formation upon which they deliver a com- past times. There is a perversity of mind mon testimony. This is the case when the which may resist all this. There is no end testimonies carry in them the appearance of to the fancies of scepticism. We may plead being independent of one another. And even in vain the number of written testimonies, when the one is derived from the other, it their artless coincidence, and the perfect unstill affords an accession to the evidence; designedness of manner by which they often because the author of the subsequent testi- supply the circumstances that serve both to mony gives us the distinct assertion, that he guide and satisfy the inquirer, and to throw believed in the truth of the original testi- light and support upon one another. The infidel will still have 'something behind which he can entrench himself; and his last supposition, monstrous and unnatural as it is, may be, that the whole of written history is a laborious fabrication, sustained for many ages, and concurred in by many individuals, with no other purpose than to enjoy the anticipated blunders of the men of future times, whom they had combined with so much dexterity to bewilder and lead astray.

mony.

The evidence may be strengthened still farther, by the accession of a third manuscript, and a third testimony. All the separate circumstances which confer credibility upon any one document, even though it stands alone and unsupported by any other, combine themselves into a much stronger body of evidence, when we have obtained the concurrence of several. If, even in the case of a single narrative, a probability lies If it were possible to summon up to the on the side of its being true, from the mul- presence of the mind the whole mass of titude and diffusion of copies, and from the spoken testimony, it would be found, that air of truth and honesty discernible in the what was false bore a very small proportion composition itself, the probability is heigh- to what was true. For many obvious reatened by the coincidence of several narra-sons, the proportion of the false to the true

C

must be also small in written testimony. | thinks of disputing the fact; and from the Yet instances of falsehood occur in both; extracts which he makes for the purpose of and the actual ability to separate the false criticism, there can be no doubt in the mind from the true in written history, proves that of the reader that it is one or other of the four historical evidence has its principles and its Gospels to which he refers. The single testiprobabilities to go upon. There may be the mony of Celsus may be considered as denatural signs of dishonesty. There may be cisive of the fact, that the story of Jesus and the wildness and improbability of the nar- of his life was actually written by his discirative. There may be a total want of ples. Celsus writes about a hundred years agreement on the part of other documents. after the alleged time of the publication of There may be the silence of every author this story; but that it was written by the for ages after the pretended date of the companions of this Jesus, is a fact which he manuscript in question. There may be all never thinks of disputing. He takes it upon these, in sufficient abundance, to convict the the strength of its general notoriety, and the manuscript of forgery and falsehood. This whole history of that period furnishes nohas actually been done in several instances. thing that can attach any doubt or suspicion The skill and discernment of the human to this circumstance. Referring to a prinmind upon the subject of historical evidence, ciple already taken notice of, had it been have been improved by the exercise. The the history of a philosopher instead of a profew cases in which sentence of condemnation phet, its authenticity would have been adhas been given, are so many testimonies to mitted without any formal testimony to that the competency of the tribunal which has sat effect. It would have been admitted so to in judgment over them, and give a stability speak, upon the mere existence of the titleto their verdict, when any document is ap- page, combined with this circumstance, that proved of. It is a peculiar subject, and the the whole course of history or tradition does men who stand at a distance from it may not furnish us with a single fact, leading us multiply their suspicions and their skepti- to believe that the correctness of this titlecism at pleasure; but no intelligent man ever page was ever questioned. It would have entered into the details, without feeling the been admitted, not because it was asserted most familiar and satisfying conviction of by subsequent writers, but because they that credit and confidence which it is in the made no assertion upon the subject, because power of historical evidence to bestow. they never thought of converting it into a Now, to apply this to the object of our matter of discussion, and because their ocpresent division, which is to ascertain the casional references to the book in question age of the document, and the person who is would be looked upon as carrying in them the author of it. These are points of infor- a tacit acknowledgement, that it was the mation which may be collected from the very same book which it professed to be at performance itself. They may be found in the present day. The distinct assertion of the body of the composition, or they may Celsus that the pieces in question were be more formally announced in the title written by the companions of Jesus, though page-and every time that the book is re-even at the distance of a hundred years, is ferred to by its title, or the name of the author and age of the publication are announced in any other document that has come down to us, these points of information receive additional proof from the testimony of subsequent writers.

The New Testament is bound up in one volume, but we would be underrating its evidence if we regarded it only as one testimony, and that the truth of the facts recorded in it rested upon the testimony of one historian. It is not one publication, but a collection of several publications, which are ascribed to different authors and made their first apearance in different parts of the world. To fix the date of their appearance, it is necessary to institute a separate inquiry for each publication; and it is the unexcepted testimony of all subsequent writers, that two of the Gospels and several of the Epistles, were written by the immediate disciples of our Saviour, and published in their lifetime. Celsus, an enemy of the Christian faith, refers to the affairs of Jesus as written by his disciples. He never

an argument in favour of their authenticity, which cannot be alleged for many of the most esteemed compositions of antiquity. It is the addition of a formal testimony to that kind of general evidence, which is founded upon the tacit or implied concurrence of subsequent writers, and which is held to be perfectly decisive in similar cases.

Had the pieces, which make up the New Testament, been the only documents of past times, the mere existence of a pretension to such an age, and to such an author, resting on their own information, would have been sustained as a certain degree of evidence, that the real age and the real author had been assigned to them. But we have the testimony of subsequent authors to the same effect; and it is to be remarked, that it is by far the most crowded, and the most closely sustained series of testimonies, of which we have any example in the whole field of ancient history. When we assigned the testimony of Celsus, it is not to be supposed that this is the very first which occurs after the days of the apostles. The blank

of a hundred years betwixt the publication | Jesus Christ. Besides many references of of the original story and the publication of the second and third kind, we have also Celsus, is filled up by antecedent testimonies, other instances of the same kind of testimony which, in all fairness, should be counted which Clement gave to St. Paul's first Epismore decisive of the point in question. They tle to the Corinthians, than which nothing are the testimonies of Christian writers, and, can be conceived more indisputable. Ignain as far as a nearer opportunity of obtain- tius, writing to the church of Ephesus, takes ing correct information is concerned, they notice of St. Paul's epistle to that church; should be held more valuable than the tes- and Polycarp, an immediate disciple of the timony of Celsus. These references are of apostles, makes the same express reference three kinds :-First, In some cases, their re- to St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians in a ference to the books of the New Testament letter addressed to the people. In carrying is made in the form of an express quotation, our attention down from the apostolical and the author particularly named. Second- fathers, we follow an uninterrupted series ly, In other cases, the quotation is made of testimonies to the authenticity of the cawithout reference to the particular author, nonical scriptures. They get more numerand ushered in by the general words, "as ous and circumstantial as we proceed-a it is written." And, Thirdly, There are thing to be expected from the progress of innumerable allusions to the different parts Christianity, and the greater multitude of of the New Testament, scattered over all the writers, who came forward in its defence writings of the earlier fathers. In this last and illustration. case there is no express citation; but we have the sentiment, the turn of expression, the very words of the New Testament, repeated so often, and by such a number of different writers, as to leave no doubt upon the mind that they were copied from one common original, which was at that period held in high reverence and estimation. In pursuing the train of references, we do not meet with a single chasm from the days of the original writers. Not to repeat what we have already made some allusion to, the testimonies of the original writers to one another, we proceed to assert, that some of the fathers whose writings have come down to us, were the companions of the apostles, and are even named in the books of the New Testament. St. Clement, bishop of Rome, is, with the concurrence of all ancient authors, the same whom Paul mentions in his epistle to the Philippians. In his epistle to the church of Corinth, which was written in the name of the whole church of Rome, he refers to the first epistle of Paul to the former church. "Take into your hands the epistle of the blessed Paul the apostle." He then In estimating the value of any testimony, makes a quotation, which is to be found in there are two distinct objects of consideraPaul's first epistle to the Corinthians. Could tion; the person who gives the testimony, Clement have done this to the Corinthians and the people to whom the testimony is themselves, had no such epistle been in addressed. It is quite needless to enlarge existence? And is not this an undoubted on the resources which, in the present intestimony, not merely from the mouth of stance, we derive from both these considerClement, but on the part of the churches ations, and how much each of them contriboth of Rome and Corinth, to the authenti- butes to the triumph and solidity of the city of such an epistle? There are in this Christian argument. In as far as the peosame epistle of Clement several quotations ple who give the testimony are concerned, of the second kind, which confirm the exist-how could they be mistaken in their account ence of some other books of the New Tes- of the New Testament, when some of them tament; and a multitude of allusions or re-lived in the same age with the original wriferences of the third kind, to the writings of ters, and were their intimate acquaintances, the evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, and and when all of them had the benefit of an a great many of those epistles which have uncontrolled series of evidence, reaching been admitted into the New Testament. We down from the date of the earliest publicahave similar testimonies from some more tions to their own times? Or, how can we of the fathers, who lived and conversed with suspect that they falsified, when there runs

In pursuing the series of writers from the days of the apostles down to about 150 years after the publication of the pieces which make up the New Testament, we come to Tertullian, of whom Lardner says, "that there are perhaps more and longer quotations of the small volume of the New Testament in this one Christian author, than of all the works of Cicero, though of so uncommon excellence for thought and style, in the writers of all characters for several ages."

We feel ourselves exposed, in this part of our investigation, to the suspicion which adheres to every Christian testimony. We have already made some attempts to analyse that suspicion into its ingredients, and we conceive, that the circumstance of the Christians being an interested party, is only one, and not perhaps the principal of these ingredients. At all events, this may be the proper place for disposing of that one ingredient, and for offering a few general observations on the strength of the Christian testimony.

They would never have been so unwise as to commit in this way a cause, which had not a single circumstance to recommend it but its truth and its evidences.

The falsehood of the Christian testimony on this point, would carry along with it a concurrence of circumstances, each of which is the strangest and most unprecedented that ever was heard of. First, That men, who sustained in their writings all the characters of sincerity, and many of whom submitted to martyrdom, as the highest pledge of sincerity which can possibly be given, should have been capable of falsehood at all. Second, That this tendency to falsehood should have been exercised so unwisely as to appear in an assertion perfectly open to detection, and which could be so readily con

through their writings the same tone of plainness and sincerity, which is allowed to stamp the character of authenticity on other productions; and, above all, when, upon the strength even of heathen testimony, we conclude that many of them, by their sufferings and death, gave the highest evidence that man can give, of his speaking under the influence of a real and honest conviction? In as far as the people who received the testimony are concerned, to what other circumstances can we ascribe their concurrence, than to the truth of that testimony? In what way was it possible to deceive them upon a point of general notoriety? The books of the New Testament are referred to by the ancient fathers, as writings generally known and respected by the Christians of that period. If they were ob-verted to the discredit of that religion, which scure writings, or had no existence at the time, how can we account for the credit and authority of those fathers who appealed to them, and had the effrontery to insult their fellow Christians by a falsehood so palpable, and so easily detected? Allow them to be capable of this treachery, we have still to explain, how the people came to be the dupes of so glaring an imposition; how they could be persuaded to give up every thing for a religion, whose teachers were so unprincipled as to deceive them, and so unwise as to commit themselves upon ground where it was impossible to elude discovery. Could Clement have dared to refer the peoof Corinth to an Epistle said to be received by themselves, and which had no existence? or could he have referred the Christians at large to writings which they never heard of. And it was not enough to maintain the semblance of truth with the people of their own party.

Where were the Jews all the time? and how was it possible to escape the correction of these keen and vigilant observers? We mistake the matter much, if we think that Christianity at that time was making its insidious way in silence and in secrecy, through a listless and unconcerned public. All history gives an opposite representation. The passions and curiosity of men were quite upon the alert. The popular enthusiasm had been excited on both sides of the question. It had drawn the attention of established authorities in different provinces of the empire, and the merits of the Christian cause had become a matter of frequent and formal discussion in courts of judicature. If, in these circumstances, the Christian writers had the hardihood to venture upon a falsehood, it would have been upon safer ground than what they actually adopted. They would never have hazarded to assert what was so open to contradiction, as the existence of books held in reverence among all the churches, and which nobody either in or out of these churches ever heard of.

it was the favourite ambition of their lives to promote and establish in the world. Third, that this testimony could have gained the concurrence of the people to whom it was addressed, and that, with their eyes perfectly open to its falsehood, they should be ready to make the sacrifice of life, and of fortune in supporting it. Fourth, That this testimony should never have been contradicted by the Jews, and that they should have neglected so effectual an opportunity of disgracing a religion, the progress of which they contemplated with so much jealousy and alarm. Add to this, that it is not the testimony of one writer which we are making to pass through the ordeal of so many difficulties. It is the testimony of many writers, who lived at different times and in different countries, and who add the very singular circumstance of their entire agree ment with one another, to the other circumstances equally unaccountable, which we have just now enumerated. The falsehood of their united testimony is not to be conceived. It is a supposition which we are warranted to condemn, upon the strength of any one of the above improbabilities taken separately. But the fair way of estimating their effect upon the argument, is to take them jointly, and in the language of the doctrine of chances, to take the product of all the improbabilities into one another. The argument which this product furnishes for the truth of the Christian testimony, has, in strength and conclusiveness, no parallel in the whole compass of ancient literature.

The testimony of Celsus is looked upon as peculiarly valuable, because it is disinterested. But if this consideration gives so much weight to the testimony of Celsus, why should so much doubt and suspicion annex to the testimony of Christian writers, several of whom, before his time, have given a fuller and more express testimony to the authenticity of the Gospels? In the persecutions they sustained; in the obvious tone of sincerity and honesty which runs

through their writings; in their general | check which the vigilance, both of Jews agreement upon this subject; in the multi- and Heathens, exercised over every Christude of their followers, who never could tian writer of that period,-in all these have confided in men that ventured to com- circumstances, they give every evidence of mit themselves, by the assertion of what having delivered a fair and unpolluted testiwas obviously and notoriously false; in the mony.

CHAPTER III.

On the internal Marks of Truth and Honesty to be found in the New Testament.

II. We shall now look into the New Testament itself, and endeavour to lay before the reader the internal marks of truth and honesty, which are to be found in it. Under this head, it may be right to in- Within the period of the Gospel history, sist upon the minute accuracy, which runs Judea experienced a good many vicissitudes through all its allusions to the existing in the state of its government. At one time manners and circumstances of the times.it formed part of a kingdom under Herod To appreciate the force of this argument, it the Great. At another, it formed part of would be right to attend to the peculiar sit- a smaller government under Archelaus. uation of Judea, at the time of our Saviour. It after this came under the direct adIt was then under the dominion of the Ro-ministration of a Roman governor; which man emperors, and comes frequently under form was again interrupted for several the notice of the profane historians of that years, by the elevation of Herod Agrippa to period. From this source we derive a great the sovereign power, as exercised by his variety of information, as to the manner in grandfather; and it is at last left in the form which the emperors conducted the govern-of a province at the conclusion of the evanment of their different provinces; what gelical history. There were also frequent degree of indulgence was allowed to the changes in the political state of the counreligious opinions of the people whom they tries adjacent to Judea, and which are often held in subjection; in how far they were alluded to in the New Testament. A casuffered to live under the administration of price of the reigning emperor often gave their own laws; the power which was vest-rise to a new form of government, and a ed in the presidents of provinces; and a new distribution of territory. It will be number of other circumstances relative to readily conceived, how much these perpetthe criminal and civil jurisprudence of that ual fluctuations in the state of public affairs, period. In this way, there is a great num- both in Judea and its neighbourhood, must ber of different points in which the histori- add to the power and difficulty of that orans of the New Testament can be brought deal to which the Gospel history has been into comparison with the secular historians subjected. of the age. The history of Christ and his On this part of the subject, there is no want apostles contains innumerable references to of witnesses with whom to confront the writhe state of public affairs. It is not the his-ters of the New Testament. In addition to the tory of obscure and unnoticed individuals. Roman writers who have touched upon the They had attracted much of the public at-affairs of Judea, we have the benefit of a Jewtention. They had been before the govern-ish historian, who has given us a professed ors of the country. They had passed through history of his own country. From him, as was the established forms of justice; and some to be expected, we have a far greater quanof them underwent the trial and punishment tity of copious and detailed narrative, relaof the times. It is easy to perceive, then, tive to the internal affairs of Judea, to the that the New Testament writers were led to manners of the people, and those particuallude to a number of these circumstances lars which are connected with their religious in the political history and constitution of belief, and ecclesiastical constitution. With the times, which came under the cognizance many, it will be supposed to add to the of ordinary historians. This was delicate value of his testimony, that he was not a ground for an inventor to tread upon; and Christian; but that, on the other hand, we particularly, if he lived at an age subsequent have every reason to believe him to have to the time of his history. He might in this been a most zealous and determined enemy case have fabricated a tale, by confining to the cause. It is really a most useful exhimself to the obscure and familiar incidents ercise, to pursue the harmony which subof private history; but it is only for a true sists between the writers of the New Testa

and a contemporary historian to sustain a continued accuracy, through his minute and numerous allusions to the public policy and government of the times.