WHOEVER WISHES TO ATTAIN AN ENGLISH STYLE, FAMILIAR BUT NOT COARSE, AND ELEGANT BUT NOT OSTENTATIOUS, MUST GIVE HIS DAYS AND NIGHTS TO THE VOLUMES OF ADDISON. DR. JOHNSON. THE EVIDENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. SECTION I. I. General division of the following discourse, with regard to pagan and Jewish authors, who mention particulars relating to our Saviour. II. Not probable that any such should be mentioned by pagan writers who lived at the same time, from the nature of such transactions. III. Especially when related by the Jews. IV. And heard at a distance by those who pretended to as great miracles of their own. V. Besides that, no pagan writers of that age lived in Judæa or its confines. VI. And because many books of that age are lost. VII. An instance of one record proved to be authentic. VIII. A second record of probable, though not undoubted, authority. THAT I may lay before you a full state of the subject under our consideration, and methodise the several particulars that I touched upon in discourse with you; I shall first take notice of such pagan authors as have given their testimony to the history of our Saviour; reduce these authors under their respective classes, and show what authority their testimonies carry with them. Secondly, I shall take notice of Jewish authors in the same light 2. The author did not live to write this second part. VOL. III. B |