called “The Acts of the Apostles," or, for shortness, The Acts: and that such throughout is,-on the one hand, the nature of the occurrence itself, on the other hand, the character of the representation given of it, -that, to a disbelief in the exercise of any such supernatural power, it is not necessary that any such imputation as that of downright and wilful falsehood should be cast upon the author of that narrative: the occurrences in question being, mostly, if not entirely, such as lie within the ordinary course of nature,-but, upon which, either by the fancy, or by the artifice of the narrator, a sort of supernatural colouring has been superinduced. For this purpose, these supposed miracles are, each of them, separately brought to view and examined. This part occupies the 13th chapter.

5. Part the Fifth is employed in showing, that, even if, on all these several occasions, the exercise of a power of producing supernatural effects had, by unequivocal statements, been ascribed to Paul by the author of the Acts,-such testimony, independently of the virtual contradiction given to it by the abovementioned circumstantial evidence,-could not, with any propriety, be regarded as affording adequate proof -either of the fact of Paul's having received a divine commission, and thereby, having become, inwardly as well as outwardly, a convert to the religion of Jesus-either of that radical fact, or so much as of any one of the alleged achievements, which, upon the face of the accounts in question, are wont to present themselves as miraculous: for that, in the first place, it is only by error that the history in question has been ascribed to Saint Luke: it being, in respect of the account given of the circumstances accompanying the ascension of Jesus, inconsistent with the account given in the gospel of Saint Luke*,—and as to those attend

*Luke xxiv. compared with Acts i. 3 to 12.

ant on the death of Judas, inconsistent with the account in Saint Matthew*: and moreover, such being the whole complexion of his narrative, as to render it incapable of giving any tolerably adequate support to any statement whereby the exercise of supernatural power is asserted. This part occupies Chapter 14.

In Part the Sixth, to give additional correctness and completeness, to the conception supposed to be conveyed, of the character of Paul and his attendant historiographer, jointly and severally considered,—a conjunct view is given of five reports of his five trials, as reported in the Acts. This part has been added since the publication of the above-mentioned Summary View. It occupies Chapter 15 of the present work.

Chapter XVI. and last, winds up the whole, with some general observations on the self-declared oppositeness of Paul's Gospel, as he calls it, to that of the Apostles together with an indication of a real Antichrist, in compensation for the fabulous one, created by Paul, and nursed by the episcopal authors and editors of the Church of England, translators of the Bible and by Chapter 12 of the present work, the imaginary Antichrist is, it is hoped, strangled.

At the time of the publication of the Summary View, for the more complete and satisfactory demonstration of the relative insufficiency of the narrative in question, a short but critical sketch was, as herein stated, intended to be given, of the parts not before noticed of the History of the Church, from the ascension of Jesus, being the period at which that narrative commences, to that at which it terminates,-to wit, about two years after the arrival of Paul at Rome † : the history-to wit, as deducible from the materials

* Matt. xxvii. 3 to 10; and Acts i. 16 to 20.

† Acts xxviii.

which, in that same narrative, are brought to view : the duration of the period being, according to commonly received computations, about 28 or 30 years*: the author of " The Acts" himself,-if he is to be believed,- an eye-witness, during a considerable portion of the time, to the several occurrences which he relates.

On this occasion, and for this purpose,-the history in question had been sifted, in the same manner and on the same principles, as any profane history, in which, in a series of occurrences mostly natural, a few, wearing a supernatural appearance, are, here and there,

*To prevent, if possible, an embarrassment, which might otherwise be liable to have place on the part of the reader,—and therewith, the idea of inconsistency, as having place here and there in the work,—the following indication may be found to have its use.

A cloud of uncertainty, to the length of one or two years, hangs over the duration of the period embraced by this work: namely, that between the point of time at which the conversion of Paul is stated to have taken place, and the point of time at which the history, intituled The Acts of the Apostles, as therein declared, concludes a point of time, posterior by two years to that of his arrival at Rome. The chronology herein followed,—down to the time at which, Ao 1821, the above-mentioned Summary View was published,-was that indicated in the heading to the 8vo edition of the Bible, commonly called Scholey's Bible, as being printed for the bookseller of that name: that being the Bible which, from that time, the author of the present work was in use to consult. Since then, on turning to Dr. Blair's Chronological Tables, the above difference, in regard to time, has been observed. In Scholey's Bible, the conversion of Paul is headed by two different years, namely, 34 and 35: in Blair's Tables, it is placed in the year 36: both, however, agree, in placing in the year 62 the arrival of Paul in Rome. Of the notes to Scholey's, the author or compiler was, as every page testifies, a church-of-Englandist: Blair, it is presumed, a church-of-Scotlandist. But, on the one hand, with relation to the design of the present work, no difference is created by the difference between the lengths of the two periods: on the other hand, neither does the chronological difference appear to have had its root in any theological difference between the doctrines of the two churches.

interspersed as, for instance, in Livy's, and even in Tacitus's Roman History: on the one hand, the authority not being regarded as affording a sufficient foundation, for a belief in the supernatural parts of the narrative; nor, on the other hand, the sort of countenance, given to the supernatural parts, as affording a sufficient reason, for the disbelief of those, which have nothing in them that is unconformable to the universally experienced course of nature.

Ön further consideration,-in regard to this part of the original work, the determination has been taken, to reserve it for another time, or another hand. Of the matter, which, on the present occasion, is offered to the public,-it will scarcely be said, that it does not of itself bear the character of a whole. Since the publication of the above-mentioned Summary View, nearer three than two years have already elapsed. In behalf of the original intention, of making the addition now omitted,-upon recollection, no other cause has been found, than the sort of vis inertia, which was the result of the impulse given by the main design. Of the present volume, as it stands,—the bulk will, it is not doubted, be generally regarded as quite sufficient and, in so far as a feeling of this sort has place, any addition, made to the volume of the work by the author, would have been an unprofitable load, upon the patience as well as the pocket of the reader.

In the form of an Appendix, and not in the body of the work, was likewise intended for insertion a quantity of matter, the object of which was-to show, that, for engaging Paul in the occupation, in which he employed himself with such illustrious success, inducements of a purely temporal nature were not wanting: inducements, such as, without a grain of belief in the religion of Jesus, or in any other religion,-were, in their nature and magnitude, perfectly adequate to the production of all the known and visible effects,

which, by the several documents that relate to him, are represented as produced: and, in particular, in his own epistles, of which, unless in one not very material instance, the genuineness seems to stand hitherto clear of dispute,—and, in truth, by their own internal character, to be placed altogether above dispute. In proportion as these inducements are duly considered,— it will (it is believed) be understood, that,-for a minute portion of the temporal enjoyments, not only sought but actually obtained by him,-a large proportion of the inhabitants of every civilized country,and, in particular, the whole class of men engaged by sea or land in military service,—devote themselves for life, to occupations, by which they are exposed to dangers, and, at all events, subjected to sufferings, far exceeding any which he appears to have in reality ever experienced.

To those, if any such there should be, in whose eyes,-after the view thus given of the conduct of this self-styled apostle,-the nature of the desires, by which, in the character of motives, it was produced, can be matter of doubt, or a subject of curiosity,-the evidence, capable of being afforded under this head,all of it extracted from his own writings,-would afford ample information: nothing more being requisite for this purpose, than the bringing together his own addresses, made to various sets of persons, on various occasions, and, for the purpose of showing in what different ways they bear upon their common object, the arranging them under heads.

This labour had likewise been gone through: but, by the considerations already stated, the result of it has, for the present at least, been consigned to the same fate as the work just mentioned as having been discarded. Meantime, the heads under which this mass of matter had been arranged, bei ng already be