CHAPTER V.

THE MIRACLES OF THE GOSPEL ARE CREDIBLE.

Having shown, in the preceding chapter, that miracles may be so attested as to be credible, I come now to examine the evidence by which the miraculous facts recorded in the New Testament, may be established.

This is the main point in our inquiry; for, after all that has been said, it must be admitted, that unless the Christian religion is attended with sufficient evidence, we cannot believe in it, even if we would.

Before entering directly on this discussion, it may be useful to premise a few things respecting the na. ture and force of testimony which, it is presumed, will be admitted by all who have attended to the subject.

This species of evidence admits of all conceivable degrees, from the weakest probability to the fullest as. surance; for while, on this ground, we yield to some reports the most hesitating assent, we are as certain. ly persuaded of others, as of those things which we perceive by our senses, or have demonstrated by mathematical reasoning.

The exact force of testimony cannot be calculated by rule, nor estimated by reason, but is known, only from experience. Many things are believed on testimony with the most unwavering confidence, when we are utterly unable to explain the precise ground on which our conviction rests. The sources of our information have been so numerous, and the same facts

presented to us in so many forms, that it is impossible to attribute to each its influence in gaining our assent. If we were asked, on what particular testimony we believe that there is such a place as Rome ? or why we believe that such a person as Buonaparte lately figured in Europe ? we could only answer, in the general, that multiplied testimonies of these facts had reached us, so that all possibility of doubting was excluded. The same assurance, and resting on the • same grounds, is experienced in relati to facts which occurred in ages long past. Who can bring himself to doubt, whether such persons as Julius Cæsar, Paul, Mohammed, Columbus, or Luther, ever existed ?

When we have obtained evidence to a certain amount, nothing is gained by the admission of more. The mind becomes, as it were, saturated, and no change in its conviction is produced by multiplying witnesses. One sound demonstration of a theorem in mathematics is as good as a hundred.: A few upright witnesses who agree, and are uncontradicted by other evidence, are as satisfactory as any conceivable number. On a trial for murder, if there were a thousand witnesses who could attest the fact, a judicious -court would not deem it necessary to examine more than half a dozen, or, at most, a dozen, if there were a perfect agreement in their testimony. Experience only can inform us what degree of evidence will produce complete conviction ; but we may judge from former experience, what will be the effect of the same evidence in future ; and from the effect on our own minds, what it will be on the minds of others.

Testimony, not of the strongest kind, may be so corroborated by circumstances, and especially, by the existing consequences of the facts reported that it

a

a

may be rendered credible, and even irresistible. Should a historian, of doubtful credit, attest that an eclipse of the sun occurred on a certain day,'and was visible in a certain place; if we possessed no other evidence of the fact, it might be considered doubtful, whether the testimony was true or false; but if, by astronomical calculation, it should be found that there must have been an eclipse of the sun at that time, and visible at that place, the veracity of the witness, in this case, would be confirmed beyond all possibi." lity of doubt. Or should we find it recorded by an anonymous author, that an earthquake, at a certain time, had overthrown a certain city; without further evidence, we should yield but a feeble assent to the statement; but if, on personal observation, or by the report of respectable travellers, it was ascertained, that the ruins of an ancient city existed in that place, we should consider the truth of the history sufficient. ly established.

The evidences of the Christian religion may be sufficient, and yet not so strong as inevitably to produce conviction. Our conduct in the pursuit and reception of truth may be intended by our Creator to be an important part of that probation to which we are subjected ; and therefore the evidence of revelation is not so great as to be irresistible, but is of such a kind, that the sincere and diligent inquirer will be in no danger of fatal mistake, while men of pride and prejudice, who prefer darkness to light, will be almost sure to err.

It is natural for all men to speak truth ; falsehood requires an effort. Wicked men lie only when they have some sinister end in view. Combinations to

deceive are never formed but with a view to accomplish some object desirable to those concerned. No set of men will be at the trouble of forging and propagating a falsehood, which promises them no profit or gratification. Much less will they engage in such an enterprise, with the view of bringing evil on them. selves ; or when they foresee that it can be productive of nothing but pain and reproach.

Between truth and falsehood there is so great a difference, that it is extremely difficult for the latter so effectually to assume the garb, and exhibit the aspect of the former, as, upon a strict scrutiny, not to be detected. No imposture can stand the test of rigid inquiry; and when the inquisition is made, the truth seldom remains doubtful : the fraud is pretty sure to become manifest. The style and manner of truth are entirely different from those of falsehood. The one pursues a direct course, is candid, unaffected, and honest; the other evasive, cunning, tortuous, and inconsistent; and is often betrayed by the efforts made to avoid discovery

When both sides of a question are pressed with difficulties, reason teaches us to choose ihat which is attended with the fewest. Objectors to Christianity often forget to notice the difficulties of their own hypothesis. Every question has two sides ; if we reject the affirmative, we, of necessity, receive the negative with all the consequences with which it may be burdened. If we reject the evidence of Christianity, and deny that miracles ever existed, we are bound to account for the existence of the Christian church, and for the conduct of the first preachers and primitive believers, on other principles. And whoever seriously undertakes this, will impose on himself a difficult task. Gibbon has put forth his dence. *

strength, on this subject with very small success. His account of the origin of Christianity is very unsatisfactory, and is totally defective in historical evi

If the evidences, on both sides of an important question, appear to be pretty equally balanced, it is the dictate of wisdom to lean to the safe side. In this question, undoubtedly, the safe side is that of religion ; for if we should be mistaken here, we shall suffer no loss, and obtain some good by our error; but a mistake on the other side must prove fatal.

When a proposition has been established by proper and sufficient evidence, our faith ought not to be shaken by every objection which we may not be able to solve. To admit this, would be to plunge into scepticism, on all subjects ; for what truth is there to which some objection may not be raised, that no man can fully answer ? Even the clearest truths in science are not exempt from objections of this sort. It must be so, as long as our minds are so limited, and the extent of human knowledge so narrow. That man judges incorrectly, who supposes, that when he has found out some objection to Christianity which cannot be satisfactorily answered, he has gained a victory. There are indeed objections, which relate to the essence of a proposition, which, if sustained, do overthrow the evidence; but there are other nu. merous objections which leave the substantial evidence undisturbed. Concerning them I speak, when

that objections, though not capable of an answer, should not be permitted to unsettle our faith,

Let us now proceed to the examination of the testimony for the miracles recorded in the Gospel. In

I say,