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ground from anything that we know of them to suppose that any much leas that all of them could be so Ear deluded . As little reason have we to question their integrity . They published the account of their Master ' s resurrection in the very place whcrc . hc had been crucified , and reproached his murderers with
putting him Jbo death . And when they had been brought before the council , and beaten for the testimony which they had borne , they were not deterred from their undertakings but rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shareie for the name vof Christ . Nor does it appear that they aimed at worldly power , authority or emolument .
What I have said of Christ and his immediate disciples , is on the supposition that the accounts of them which have been transmitted to us , are worthy of credit . And why are they not ? They relate extraordinary things it is
true ; but surely . nothing that is impossible to the Creator of the universe ; nothicg that , is unworthy of his interposition ; and if not , why should they be considered as so utterly incredible that u © evidence whatever can establish their
truth f There may indeed , be sonu evidence in favour of these books , and yet not sufficient to produce conviction But if there be any evidence at ajl of their truth , they are entitled to attention * aiad if they contain nothing incredible , that evidence remains with un diminished force .
And yet if these narratives be entitled to any degnee of credit , then it cannot fustly be said that " of the first propagators jof Christianity , history is silent , ' as " the adversary" ^ ifftnxi s . For here we have an account , of the founder oi
that religion , and of the principal measures adopted by him and his followers for the dissemination of their doctrines : and their circumstances are ajt least " so clearly aud distinctly" related , as to warrant us in asserting that they could not have tyeen lunatics , and would not have beetf deceivers .
H ought further to be ccmaidered that this i * an uncontradicted history ; that it is not even inconsistent with any other Well attested facts , and that the apparent artleasness and impartiality of the writ * - « rs , render it by no means probable that the books should have been forged .
Had they not been genuine , bow could they £ uejr hase been generally received
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as such ? Were any writer of the present time to forge a continuation of HumeV or of Rapin s history down to a later period ; and assert that it was written , and published by the original author * and tnat it was generally received and .
acknowledged as his , would Jiot every body know to the contrary ? And would not the whole body of Christians have known to the contrary , had any one attempted to impose on them a spurious book as the genuine work ef an apostle , a hundred or fifty years after his decease ?
And though other feistorians may be silent respecting the rise and progress of the Christian religion , how does this affect its credibility , if they were mea who never inquired into the truth of the circumstances which are said to ^ have at ^ tended its origin ? Was the knowledge
of these circumstances to be forced up * on their minds whether they wouid receive it or not ? Or if they thought such narratives beneath their attention , hovr does that invalidate the testimony of those who were eye witnesses , and who sealed that testimony with their blood ? It is true that Paul was neither " an
early disciple nor an eye witness of the miracles or ministry of Jesus /' . It is likewise sufficiently evident that lie was by no means pre-disposed to crniwace the religion which Jesus taught . So far from this , he was a violent , and ycc a conscientious persecutor of Christian s *
He " verily thought that he ou ^ ht to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth . " He «* breatbed out threatening * and slaughter against the disciple * , " and kept the clothes of tho > e who stoned Stephen to death . Afterwards , when he became a convert .
fee " laboured more abundantly' * than all the apostles , and perhaps suffered more abundantly . He declares that ' *< a £ the J ews , five times he received forty stripes save one /* that he was thrice beaten with rods , and once stoned . Ho
would have received no , stripes from the Jews , he would neither have been beaten with rods nor stoned , if he had Dot professed and preached the Christian faith . What could Have occasioned thit surprising difference in him ? He him *
self tells , that it was eflected by a woicc speaking to Mm from heaven . Had this been all , it might have been a dclusiott , as it was heard by none but himself $ but it -was attended by a shining ft ^ ht wfci cife was seen hkcvrhc by those who -went ?
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Mr . Alichiiis ' Answer ^ to the Churchman ' s Reply . 655
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2399/page/29/
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