ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



449 



happiness of millions. This cause 

 renaers the representations of his- 

 lor)', with resp6ct to religion, de- 

 fective and fallacious, in a greater 

 degree than they are upon any other 

 Kuhject.' ruh<r:on operates most 

 upon those of whom history knows 

 the least : upon fathers and mothers 

 irt their famih'es, upon men servants 

 and maid servants, upon the order-' 

 ly tradesmen, the quiet villager, the 

 manufacturer at his loom, the hus- 

 bandman in his fields. Amon(;st 

 such, its influence collectively may 

 be of inestimable value, vet its ef- 

 fects in the mean tims of little upon 

 those who figure upon the stage of 

 the world. They may know no- 

 thing of it : they may believe no- 

 thing of it ; they may be actuated 

 by motives more impetuous than 

 those which religion is able to ex- 

 cite. It cannot, therefore, be 

 thought strange, that this influence 

 should elude the grasp and touch 

 of public history ; for what is public 

 history, but a register of the succes- 

 ses and disappointments, the vices, 

 the follies, and the quarrels, of 

 those who engage in contentious 

 for power :" 



The eonclusion contains, as it 

 ought, a clear and able summary of 

 the preceding argum.ents. VVe 

 should be glad, for the sake of public 

 utility, to extract the whole, but 

 on account of its extent must con- 

 tent ourselves with selecting the 

 most material part : 



" The truth of Christianity de- 

 pends upon its leading facts, and 

 upon them alone. Now of these 

 we have evidence which ought to 

 satisfy us, at least until it appear 

 tLat mankind have ever been de- 

 ceived by the same. We have some 

 uncontested and Incontestable points, 

 to which the history of ihc human 



\oL. XXXVt 



species hath nothing similar to offer. 

 A Jewish peasant changed the reli- 

 gion of the world, and that, with- 

 out force, without power, without 

 support; without one natural source 

 Or circumstance of attraction, influ- 

 ence, or success. Such a thing hath 

 not happened in any other instance. 

 Tne companions of this person, af- 

 ter he himself had been put to death 

 for his attempt, asserted his super- 

 natural character, founded upon his 

 supernatural operations; and, in tes- 

 timony of the truth of their asser- 

 tions, i. e. in consequence of their 

 own belief of tliat truth, and, in 

 order to communicate the know- 

 ledge of it to others, voluntarily en- 

 tered upon lives of toil and hard- 

 ship, and, with a full experience of 

 their danger, committed themselves 

 tothelast extremities of persecution. 

 This hath not a parallel. More 

 particularly, a very few days after 

 this person had been publicly exe- 

 cuted, and in the very city in which 

 he was buried, these his companions 

 declared with one voice that his 

 body was restored to life ; that they 

 had seen him, handled him, eat with 

 him, conversed with him : and, in 

 pur.^uance of their persuasion of the 

 truth of what they told, preached 

 his religion, with this strange fact 

 as the foundation of it, in the face of 

 those who had killed him, who were 

 armed with the power of the coun. 

 try, and necessarily and naturally dis- 

 posed to treat his followers as thev 

 had treated himself; and havingdonc 

 this upon the spot where the eveot 

 took place, carried theintelligence o£ 

 it abroad, in spite of difliculties and 

 opposition, and where the nature 

 of their errand gave them nothing 

 to expect but derision, insult, aiid 

 outrage. This is without example. 

 These three facts, I think, are cer- 

 G g taip. 



