861 



CHRISTIANITY. 



The* be. 



Illy l>0 p. 



















unity 



.'.:: .-' 



4 to 







varnished mar.aer ; nor is it in general accompanied with 

 any of those strong astrveratioos, by which an in-.; 

 to often attempt* to practise upon the credulity of hit 

 victim*. 



60. In the simple narrative of the evangelists, thry be- 

 tray no fct-Img of wonder at the extraordinary nature of 

 the evcatt which they record, and no consciousness that 

 :!icy arc announcing is to excite any wonder among 

 their reader*. This appears to us, to be a very strong 

 ..ftancc. Hid it been the newly broached tale of 

 would, in all likelihood, have feigned 

 astonishment himself, or at least have laid his account 

 with the doubt and astonishment of thos; to whom it 

 WM addressed]. When a person tells a wonderful story 

 to a company who are totally unacquainted with it, he 

 must be icn-iblo, not merely of the surprise which is ex- 

 cited in the minds of the hearers, but of a corresponding 

 sympathy in his own mind with the feelings of those who 

 to II'I.T- He lays his account with the wonder, if 

 uot the incK'Jiility, of his hearers; and this distinctly ap- 

 pears in the terms with which he delivers his story, and 

 the manner in which he introduces it. It makes a wide 

 difference, if, on the other hand, he tells the same story 

 to a company, who have long been apprised of the chief 

 circumstances, but who listen to him for the mere pur- 

 pose of obtaining a more distinct and particular narrative. 

 Now, in as far as we can collect from the manner of the 

 cvangvli-.f, they stand in this last predicament. They 

 do not write, as if they were imposing a novelty upon 

 their readers. In the language of Luke, they write for 

 the sake of giving more distinct information ; and that 

 the readers might know the certainty of those things, 

 wherein thry had been instructed. In the prosecution of 

 thit task, they deliver themselves with the most familiar 

 ajid unembarrassed simplicity. They do not appear to 

 anticipate the surprise of their readers, or to be at all 

 aware, that the marvellous nature of their story is to be 

 any obstacle to its credit or reception in the neighbour- 

 hood. At the first performance of our Saviour's miracles, 

 there was a strong and a widely spread sensation over the 

 whole country. Hit fame tvcnt abroad, and all people 

 trert amazed. This is quite natural ; and the circumstance 

 of no surprise being either felt or anticipated by the 

 evangelists, in the writing of their history, can best be 

 accounted for by the truth of the history itself, that the 

 experience of years had blunted the edge of novelty, and 

 rendered miracles familiar, not only to them, but to all 

 the people to whom they addressed themselves. 



61. What appears to us a most striking internal evi- 

 dence for the truth of the gospel, is that perfect unity of 

 ._ mind and of purpose which is ascribed to our Saviour. 

 Had he been an iir.postor, he could not have foreseen all 

 the fluctuations of his history, and yet no expression of 

 turprise is recorded to have escaped from him. No event 

 appear* to have caught him unprepared. We see no 

 ihifting of doctrine or sentiment, with a view to accom- 

 modate to new or unexpected circumstances. His par- 

 ables and warnings to his disciples, give sufficient iiitima- 

 lion, that lie laid his account with all those events, which 

 appeared to his unenlightened friends to be so unto- 

 ward, and so promising. In every explanation of his 

 objects, we see the perfect consistency of a mind, before 

 whose prophetic eye, all futurity lay open ; and when 

 the events of this futurity came round, he met them, not 

 at chances, that were unforeseen, but as certainties which 

 he bad provided for. This consistency of his views is 

 supported through all the variations of his history, and 

 it stand* finally contrasted in the record of the evangelists, 

 with the mUcooception;, the lurpriict, the disappoint- 



ments of his followers. The gradual progress of 

 minds from the splendid anticipations of earthly grandeur, '* 

 to a full acquiescence in the doctrine of a crucified Savi- """"' ~"~" r ' 

 our, throws a stronger light on the perfect unity of pur- 

 pose and of conception which animated his, and which 

 can only be accounted for by the i: that tilled 



and enlightened it. It may have been possible enough 

 to describe a self-sustained example of this contrast from 

 an actual history before us. It is difficult, however, to 

 conceive, how it could be sustained so well, and in a 

 manner so apparently artless, by means of invention, and 

 particularly when the inventors made their own errors 

 and their own ignorance form part of the fabrication. 



62. III. There was nothing in the situation of the The crcdi. 

 New Testament writers, which leads us to perceive that '"lii 



they had any possible inducement for publishing a false- llr!: u '"'- 

 i i names of 



63. We have not to allege the mere testimony of the hmory. 

 Christian writers, for the danger to which the profes- , 



sion of Christianity exposed all its adherents at that pe- ^J^' 

 riod. We have the testimony of Tacitus to this effect, which the 

 We have innumerable allusions, or express intimations of firn wit- 

 the same circumstance in the Roman historians. The uewere 

 treatment and persecution of the Christians makes a prin- 

 cipal figure in the affairs of the empire ; and there is no 

 point better established in antient history, than that the 

 bare circumstance of being a Christian, drought many to 

 the punishment of death, and exposed all to the danger 

 of a suffering, the most appalling and repulsive to the feel- 

 ings of our nature. 



64. It is not difficult to perceive, why the Roman go- 

 vernment, in its treatment of Christians, departed from 

 its usual principles of toleration. We know it to have 

 b- on their uniform practice, to allow every indulgence to 

 the religious belief of those different countries, in which 

 they established themselves. The truth is, that euch an 

 indulgence demanded of them no exertion of moderation 

 or principle. It was quite consonant to the spirit of Pa- 

 ganism. A different country worshipped different gods, 

 but it was a general principle i ; MI, that each 

 country had its gods, to which the inhabitants of that 

 country owed their peculiar homage and veneration. In 

 this way there was no interference betwixt the different 

 religions which prevailed in the world. It fell in with 

 the policy of the Roman government to allow the fullest 

 toleration to other religions, and it demanded no sacrifice 

 of principle. It was even a dictate of principle with 

 them to respect the gods of other countries and the 

 violation of a religion different from their own, seems to 

 have been felt, not merely as a departure from policy or 

 justice, but to be viewed with the same sentiment of hor- 

 ror, which is annexed to blasphemy or sacrilege. So 

 long as we are under Paganism, the truth of one religion 

 does not involve in it the falsehood ur rejection of ano- 

 ther. In respecting the religion of another country, we 

 did not abandon our own ; nor did it follow, that the in- 

 habitants of that other country, annexed any contempt 

 or discredit to the religion in which we li.ul been edu- 

 cated. In this mutual reverence for the religion of each 

 other, no principle was departed from, and no obj* cl of 

 veneration abandoned. It did nut involve in it the denial, 

 or relinquishmcnt of their own gods, but only the addi- 

 tion of so many more gods to their catalogue. 



(>5. In this respect, however, the Jews stood distinguished 

 from every other people within the limits of the Roman 

 empire. Their religious belief carried in it something 

 more than attachment to their own system. It carried 

 in it the contempt and detestation of every other. Yet, 

 in spite of this circumstance, their religion was protected 



