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CHAP. III.

The Candour of the Writers of the New Testament.

I MAKE this candour to consist, in their putting down many passages, and noticing many circumstances, which no writer whatever was likely to have forged; and which no writer would have chosen to appear in his book, who had been careful to present the story in the most unexceptionable form, or who had thought himself at liberty to carve and mould the particulars of that story, according to his choice, or according to his judgment of the effect.

A strong and well-known example of the fairness of the evangelists, offers itself in their account of Christ's resurrection, namely, in their unanimously stating, that after he was risen, he appeared to his disciples alone, I do not mean that they have used the exclusive word alone; but that all the instances which they have recorded of his appearance, are instances of appearance to his disciples; that their reasonings upon it, and allusions to it, are confined to this supposition; and that, by one of them, Peter is made to say, 'Him. God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.'' The most common understanding must have perceived, that the history of the resurrection would have come with more advantage, if they had related that Jesus appeared, after he was risen, to his foes as well as his friends, to the Scribes and Pharisees, the Jewish council, and the Roman governar: or even if they had asserted the public appearance of Christ in general unqualified terms, without noticing, as they have done, the presence of his disciples on each occasion, and noticing it in such a manner as to lead their readers to suppose that none but disciples were

Acts x. 48, 41.

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appearances. The same observation, perhaps, holds concerning the apostasy of Judas.*

John vi. 66. From that time many of his disci. ples went back, and walked no more with him,' Was it the part of a writer, who dealt in suppression and disguise, to put down this anecdote?

Or this, which Matthew has preserved? (xii. 58.) 'He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."

Again, in the same evangelist: (v. 17, 18.) "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil: for, verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.' At the time the Gospels were written, the apparent tendency of Christ's mission was to diminish the authority of the Mosaic code, and it was so considered by the Jews themselves. It is very improbable, therefore, that, without the constraint of truth, Matthew should have ascribed a saying to Christ, which, primo intuitu, militated with the judgment of the age in which his Gospel was written. Marcion thought this text so objectionable that he altered the words, so as to invert the sense.

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Once more: (Acts xxv. 18, 19.) They brought none accusation against him, of such things as I sup

I had once placed amongst these examples of fair concession the remarkable words of Saint Matthew, in his account of Christ's appearance upon the Galilean mountain: And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubled.'* I have since, however, been convinced by what is observed concerning this passage in Dr Town shend's discourse † upon the resurrection, that the transaction, as re lated by Saint Matthew, was really this: Christ appeared first at a distance; the greater part of the company, the moment they saw him, wor shipped, but some, as yet, i. e. upon the first distant view of his person, doubted; whereupon Christ came up to them, and spake to them, &c.: that the doubt, therefore, was a doubt only at first, for a moment, and upon his being seen at a distance, and was afterward dispelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into conversation with them. Chap. xxviii. 17. + Page 177.

* Saint Matthew's words are και προσελθων ὁ Ιησους ελάλησαν αυτώς. This intimates, that, when he first appeared, it was at a distance, ai least from many of the spectators. Ib. p. 197.

Lardner, Cred. vol. xv. p. 429.

posed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.' Nothing could be more in the character of a Roman governor than these words. But that is not precisely the point I am concerned with. A mere panegyrist, or a dishonest narrator, would not have represented his cause, or have made a great magistrate represent it, in this manner; i. e. in terms not a little disparaging, and bespeaking, on his part, much unconcern and indif ference about the matter. The same observation may be repeated of the speech which is ascribed to Gallio, (Acts xviii. 15.) If it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.'

Lastly, where do we discern a stronger mark of candour, or less disposition to extol and magnify, than in the conclusion of the same history? in which the evangelist, after relating that Paul, on his first arrival at Rome, preached to the Jews from morning until evening, adds, 'And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.'

The following, I think, are passages which were very unlikely to have presented themselves to the mind of a forger or a fabulist.

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Matt. xxi. 21. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done unto the fig-tree, but also, if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done; all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, it shall be done.'s appears to me very improbable that these words should have been put into Christ's mouth, if he had not actually spoken them. The term 'faith,' as here used, is perhaps rightly interpreted of confidence in that internal notice, by which the apostles were admonished of their power to perform any particular miracle And this exposition renders the sense of the text

See also chap. xvii. 20, Luke xvil, 6.

more easy. But the words, undoubtedly, in their obvious construction, carry with them a difficulty, which no writer would have brought upon himself officiously.

Luke ix. 59. 'And he said unto another, Follow me: but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.' This answer, though very expressive of the transcendent importance of religious concerns, was apparently harsh and repulsive; and such as would not have been made for Christ, if he had not really used it. At least some other instance would have

been chosen.

The following passage, I, for the same reason, think impossible to have been the production of artifice, or of a cold forgery:-' But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire (Gehennæ).' Matt. v. 22. It is emphatic, cogent, and well calculated for the purpose of impression; but is inconsistent with the supposition of art or wariness on the part of the relater.

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The short reply of our Lord to Mary Magdalen, after his resurrection, (John xx. 16, 17.) Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended unto my Father,' in my opinion, must have been founded in a reference or allusion to some prior conversation, for the want of knowing which, his meaning is hidden from us. This very obscurity, however, is a proof of genuineness. No one would have forged such an answer.

John vi. The whole of the conversation recorded in this chapter, is, in the highest degree, unlikely to be fabricated, especially the part of our Saviour's reply between the fiftieth and the fifty-eighth verse. need only put down the first sentence: 'I am the liv

See also Matt. viii. 23.

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