a с ment of his fuffering, which, though it has been fince very properly and frequently imitated, was then, I apprehend, new. His prudence is difcerned, where prudence is moft wanted, in his conduct upon trying occafions, and in answers to artful queftions. Of these the following are examples: His withdrawing, in various inftances, from the firft fymptoms of tumult,b and with the exprefs care, as appears from St. Matthew, of conducting his miniftry in quietnefs; his declining of every species of interference with the civil affairs of the country, which difpofition is manifested by his conduct in the cafe of the woman caught in adultery, and in his repulfe of the application made to him, to interpofe his decifion about a difputed inheritance; e his judicious, yet, as it fhould feem, unprepared anfwers, will be confeffed in the cafe of the Roman tribute,f in the difficulty concerning the interfering relations of a future ftate, as propofed to him in the inftance of a woman who had married seven brethren; and, more especially in his reply to thofe who demanded from him an explanation of the authority by which he acted, which reply confifted, in propounding a question to them, fituated between the very difficulties, into which they were infidiously endeavouring to draw him.↳ Our Saviour's leffons, beside what already has been remarked in them, touch, and that oftentimes by very affecting reprefentations, upon fome of the moft interefting topics of human duty, and of human meditation; upon the principles, by which the decifions of the last day will be regulated,i upon the fuperior, or rather the fupreme importance of the religion, upon penitence, by the most preffing calls, and the most encouraging invitations, felf-denial, watchfulness," placability," confidence in God, the value of fpiritual, that is, of mental worship, the neceffity of moral obedience, and the directing of that obedience to the fpirit and principle of the law, inftead of feeking for evasions in a technical construction of its terms. q e Luke xii. 14. h xxi. 23. et feq. g Ib. 28. k Mark viii. 35 Mat. vi. 31-33. n Mark xiii. 1 John xv. m Mat. v. 29. o Luke xvii. 4. Mat. xviii. 33. 4 John iv. 231 24. Luke xii. 16, 21—4, 5. P Mat. v. 23-30. r Mat. v. II. If we extend our argument to other parts of the New Tef tament, we may offer, as amongst the best and shortest rales of life, or, which is the fame thing, descriptions of virtue, that have ever been delivered, the following paffages: "Pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, to vifit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unfpotted from the world."a "Now the end of the commandment is, charity, out of a pure heart, and a good confcience, and faith unfeigned." "For the grace of God that bringeth falvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lufts, we should live foberly, righteoufly, and godly in this prefent world.". Enumerations of virtues and vices, and thofe fufficiently accurate, and unquestionably juft, are given by St. Paul to his converts in three feveral epiftles. с d The relative duties of husbands and wives, of parents and children, of masters and fervants, of Chriftian teachers and their flocks, of governors and their fubjects, are set forth by the fame writer, not indeed with the copioufnefs, the detail, or the distinctness, of a moralift, who should, in these days, fit down to write chapters upon the subject, but with the leading rules and principles in each; and, above all, with truth, and with authority. Laftly, the whole volume of the New Teftament is replete with piety; with what were almoft unknown to heathen moralifts, devotional virtues, the most profound veneration of the Deity, an habitual fenfe of his bounty and protection, a firm confidence in the final refult of his councils and difpenfations, a difpofition to refort, upon all occafions, to his mercy, for the fupply of human wants, for affiftance in danger, for relief from pain, for the pardon of fin. CHAP. III. The Candour of the Writers of the New Teflament. I MAKE this candour to confift, in their putting down many paffages and noticing many circumstances, which no writer whatever was likely to have forged; and which no writer would have chofen to appear in his book, who had been careful to prefent 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 ftrong and well-known example of the fairness of the evangelifts, offers itself in their account of Chrift's refurrection, 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 exclufive word alone; but that all the inftances which they have recorded of his appearance, are instances of appearance to his difciples; that their reafonings upon it, and allufions to it, are confined to this fuppofition; and that, by one of them, Peter is made to fay, "Him God raised up the third day, and fhowed him openly, not to all the people, but to witneffes chofen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rofe from the dead." The commoneft understanding muft have perceived, that the history of the refurrection would have come with more advantage, if they had related that Jefus appeared, after he was rifen, to his foes as well as his friends, to the fcribes and pharifees, the Jewish council, and the Roman governor; or even if they had afferted the public appearance of Chrift in general unqualified terms, without noticing, as they have done, the prefence of his disciples upon each occafion and noticing it in fuch a manner as to lead their readers to fuppofe that none but difciples were prefent. They could have reprefented it one way as well as the other. And if their point had been, to have the religion believ ed, whether true or false; if they had fabricated the story ab initio, or if they had been difpofed, either to have delivered their teftimony as witneffes, or to have worked up their materials and information as historians, and in fuch a manner as to render their narrative as fpecious and unobjectionable as they could; in a word, if they had thought of any thing but of the truth of the cafe, as they understood and believed it; they would, in their account of Chrift's several appearances after his refurrection, at least have omitted this restriction. At this distance of time, the account as we have it, is perhaps more credible than it would have been the other way; because this manifestation of the hiftorian's candour, is of more advantage to their teftimony, than the difference in the circumftances of the account would have been to the nature of the evidence. But this is an effect which the evangelifts would not forefee; and I think that it was by no means the cafe at the time when the books were compofed. a Mr. Gibbon has argued for the genuineness of the Koran, from the confeffions which it contains, to the apparent difadvantage of the Mahometan cause. The fame defence vindicates the genuineness of our gofpels, and without prejudice to the cause at all. There are fome other inftances in which the evangelifts honeftly relate what, they must have perceived, would make against them. Of this kind is John the Baptift's meffage preferved by St. Matthew and St. Luke, (xi. 2, 3. vii. 19) "Now when John had heard, in the prifon, the works of Chrift, he sent two of his disciples, and faid unto him, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another ?" To confefs, ftill more to ftate, that John the Baptift had his doubts concerning the character of Jefus, could not but afford a handle to cavil and objection. But truth, like honefty, neglects appearances. The fame obfervation, perhaps, holds concerning the apoftacy of Judas.b a Vol. IX. c. 50. note 96. b I had once placed amongst thefe examples of fair conceffion, the remarkable words of St. Matthew, in his account of Chrift's appearance upon the Galilean mountain; and when they faw him, they worshipped him, but fome doubted." I have fince, however, been convinced, by what is obferved concerning this paffaget in Dr. Townfend's difcourfe upon the refurrection, that the tranfaction, as related by St. Matthew, was really this: "Christ appeared firft at a distance; the greater part of the company, the moment they faw him, worthipped; but fome, as yet, i. e. upon this first distant view of his person, doubted; whereupon Chrift came up to them and fpake to them," &c.: that the doubt, therefore, was a doubt only at first, for a moment, and upon his being feen at a distance, and was afterwards difpelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into conversation with them. + Page 177. * xxviii. 17. St. Matthew's words are, Kai #forexBwv o Ixows exaλnde auris. This intimates, that when he first appeared, it was at a distance, at least from many of the fpectators. (Ib. p. 197.) John vi. 66. "From that time many of his difciples went back, and walked no more with him." Was it the part of а writer, who dealt in fuppreffion and disguise, to put down this anecdote ? Or this, which Matthew has preferved, (xiii. 58.) "He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." Again, in the fame evangelift, (ver. 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 fay unto you, till heaven and earth pafs, one jot or one tittle fhall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be fulfilled." At the time the gospels were written, the apparent tendency of Chrift's miffion was to diminish the authority of the Mofaic code, and it was fo confidered by the Jews themselves. It is very improbable, therefore, that, without the constraint of truth, Matthew fhould have afcribed a saying to Christ, which, primo intuitu, militated with the judgment of the age in which his gofpel was written. Marcion thought this text fo objectionable, that he altered the words fo as to invert the fenfe.a Once more, A&ts xxv. 19. "They brought none accufation against him, of fuch things, as I fuppofed, but had certain queftions against him of their own fuperftition, and of one Jefus 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 precifely the point I am concerned with. A mere panegyrift, or a dishonest narrator, would not have reprefented his cause or have made a great magiftrate reprefent it, in this manner, i. e. in terms not a little difparaging, and befpeaking on his part much unconcern and indifference about the matter. The fame observation may be repeated of the fpeech which is afcribed to Gallio. (Acts viii. 14.) "If it be a queftion of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of fuch matters. Laftly, where do we difcern a stronger mark of candour, or lefs difpofition to extol and magnify, than in the conclufion of the fame history? in which the evangelist, after relating that Paul, upon his first arrival at Rome, preached to the Jews from morning until evening, adds, "and fome believed the things which were spoken, and fome believed not. a Lard. vol. XV. p. 422. R |