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Untitled Article
conceive their whole preaching to be founded on a delusion , and that they have transmitted to us a false impression of the character and office of Christ . It behoves every one , therefore , to examine the apostolic testimony to this
fact with the closest attention and the strictest impartiality ; since on the credibility of that testimony rests the solution of * the important question , whether Christianity is to be considered of divine , or of merely human , origin . The admission of the resurrection , with all the inferences deducible from it , constitutes the faith of a Christian in the strict and proper sense . When the evidence of that event hes once been rendered conclusive to the
mind , less difficulty will be felt ill admitting the other miracles of the Scripture history . If we can only bring ourselves to believe that Christ actually rose from the dead , we may claim our part in the blessings and privileges of the gospel covenant . Before entering on the examination of the evidence of this fact , let us premise a few words on the value of human testimony , and on the limits by which some have contended it must be circumscribed .
A reliance on the uniformity of causation—in other words , the assumption , that like causes will always produce like effects—is the criterion of all evidence , and the foundation of all belief , in regard both to moral and to physical events . We confidently expect a certain result under given circumstances , because we have always found it occur ; and if the result varies
from what we anticipated , we conclude at once , that some change has taken place in the foregoing circumstances , of which we were not aware . Under given circumstances , we place the roost implicit trust in the testimony of individuals , because , in those circumstances , we have never known them deceive or be deceived .
This fundamental principle , implied in all our reasonings and expectations , has been recently illustrated with great force and beauty by the author of Essays on the Pursuit of Truth , &c . ; and it is indeed impossible to contest it , as soon as ever the terms in which it is stated are clearly understood . To one of the illustrations , however , adopted by this ingenious writer , in weighing the force of human testimony against an assumed contrariety to the uniformity of physical causation , we feel ourselves compelled to demur . In
reference to the disposition of mankind , on particular occasions , to place a disproportionate trust inhuman testimony , he observes , * and justly , that the force of that testimony rests on the very same principle on which the evidence of physical facts is admitted , viz . that like causes will always produce like effects ; and he adds , " it not unfrequently happens that , while external circumstances tend to confirm the testimony , the nature and circumstances of the facts attested render it highly improbable that any such facts should have taken place , and these two sets of circumstances may be so
exactly equivalent as to leave the mind in irremediable doubt . " He supposes a case , " )* in which " a great number of people—people too of reputation , science , and perspicacity , " with " no motive for falsehood , " with " discernment to perceive , and honesty to tell the real truth , " " whose interests would essentially suffer from any departure from veracity , " bear their ** concurrent testimony" to the fact of having seen " a cubic inch of ice exposed to a temperature of 200 degrees of Fahrenheit , " and of having found " at the expiration of an hour that it retained its solidity . " In this case , he contends that the unexceptionable character of the testimony could
? Eftsay IU . pp . 255 , 256 . f Ibid . pp . 257 , 258 .
Untitled Article
146 On the Evidence of the Resurrection ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 146, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/2/
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