might do, or fay, could not difcover any marks of impofture. No other facts in the whole compass of hiftory, we may fafely venture to affert, ever underwent a thoufandth part of the investigation that, from the nature of the circumftances, these muft have done; and, what is of particular confequence, at the time when the investigation was the most easy.

Though Jefus did not appear in public after his refurrection, the miracle of the defcent of the Holy Spirit, enabling the apostles and other difciples to fpeak intelligibly languages which they had not been taught, and alfo many other miracles wrought by them, were as public as poffible; and every miracle wrought by the apostles was, in fact, a proof of the refurrection of their mafter. If his miffion, confirmed by, and implying the truth of, his refurrection, was not from God, neither was theirs; for both were part of the fame fcheme, and therefore they imply one another.

Thus our faith does not rest on the testimony of the four evangelifts, Matthew, Mark,

Mark, Luke, and John, who wrote the hiftory of Chrift, and of the promulgation of Chriftianity. We have, in fact, the teftimony of the age in which they lived, to the great events recorded by them. Thefe books, or ever fo many of the fame nature, could never have been received, and tranfmitted to us, as authentic hiftories, in the circumftances that I have described, if the contents of them could have been queftioned.

The inconfiftencies that we difcover in the accounts of the four evangelists imply no defect in the evidence; being no greater than are ufually found in the narratives of any important event written by different perfons; who will always attend chiefly to what is most effential to the story, and less to the minute circumftances of it; and thefe narratives were all written a confiderable time after the event. But the most important confideration is, that these hiftories were not the caufe of the belief of the refurrection of Jefus, but were themfelves among the confequences of that belief, the proper evidence having produced

its full effect long before they were written; fo that it could not have been deficient in any material respect.

That all mankind were not immediately convinced of the truth of Christianity may be fufficiently accounted for; as, from the little intereft that great numbers take in any thing relating to religion; from the averfion which the greatest part of mankind have to examine into any thing that is new, when it is hoftile to that which is old, and their listening to any idle tales to the prejudice of those who teach it, which we see every dy. And if the powerful, the learned, and the polite, whofe prejudices, especially against any thing that originates with the illiterate, are well known to be as ftrong as any prejudices whatever, would not read or think seriously on the fubject (which was evidently the case with the generality of the Greek and Roman philofophers, and other perfons of diftinction at that time) many would be influenced by their example, and join in a blind oppofition to what they had never confidered, from imagining that it was not worth their while to confider it.

Befides

Befides all this, we are to confider the great numbers who were, directly or indirectly, interested in the support of the old established systems of religion, who would feel themselves exafperated, and therefore, without any enquiry into the merits of the cafe, would, with all their might, oppofe the progress of the new religion. Such would be the cafe with many perfons of eminence and influence; and the lower orders, the mob, might be inflamed by any idle tales. This is nothing more than the common fate of all reformers, and all reformations in matters of religion. It flows from the common principles of human nature, which are the fame in all ages, and which operate in the fame manner in all fimilar circumstances.

In this ftate things continued as long as they poffibly could, the friends and the enemies of Christianity being equally interested to discover the truth, while the facts were at all recent, and most easy to be investi gated; and the new religion established itfelf gradually, as, if founded on truth, and unaided by power, it naturally would do in fuch

fuch circumstances. The attention of the more difpaffionate and difinterested was gradually gained, and converts were in time made of fome men of learning, who were capable of writing in defence of Christianity, and whose writings made other converts, both philofophers and others.

At length the converts to Chriftianity in all places, and efpecially in thofe that were the nearest to the fcene of the tranfactions, were fo numerous, that the old religion funk into general contempt and neglect; and in less than three hundred years after the promulgation of Chriftianity, we fee that, notwithstanding the deep-rooted attachment of all the heathen world to the religion of their ancestors, Conftantine could fafely declare himself a Chriftian, without any apprehenfion from his competitors, who endeavoured to avail themselves of that circumstance. None of them, however, were able, by this means, to throw any confiderable obstacle in his way, and he reigned almost in peace, and a longer time than any of the emperors after Auguftus.

This is a clear proof of the preceding fpread