is, that these histories were not the cause of the belief of the resurrection of Jesus, but were themselves among the consequences of that belief, the proper evidence having produced its full effect long before they were written; so that it could not have been deficient in any material respect.

That all mankind were not immediately con vinced of the truth of christianity may be suffici ently accounted for; as, from the little interest that great numbers take in any thing relating to religion; from the aversion which the greatest part of mankind have to examine into any thing that is new, when it is hostile to that which is old and their listening to any idle tales to the prejudice of those who teach it, which we see every day. And if the powerful, the learned, and the polite, whose prejudices, especially against any thing that originates with the illiterate, are well known to be as strong as any prejudices whatever, would not read or think seriously on the subject (which was evidently the case with the generality of the Greek and Roman philosophers, and other persons of distinction at that time) many would be influenced by their example, and join in a blind opposition to

what

what they had never considered, from imagining that it was not worth their while to consider it.

Besides all this, we are to consider the great numbers who were, directly or indirectly, interested in the support of the old established systems of religion, who would feel themselves exasperated, and, therefore without any inquiry into the merits of the case, would, with all their might, oppose the progress of the new religion. Such would be the case with many persons of eminence and influence; and the lower orders, the mob, might be inflamed by any idle tales. This is nothing more than the common fate of all reformers, and all reformations in matters of religion. It flows from the common principles of human nature, which are the same in all ages, and which operate in the same manner in all' similar circumstances.

In this state things continued as long as they possibly could, the friends and the enemies of christianity being equally interested to discover the truth, while the facts were at all recent, and most easy to be investigated; and the new religion established itself gradually, as, if founded on truth, and unaided by power, it naturally would do in such circumstances. The attention of the more dispassionate and disinterested was gradually gain......

ed, and converts were in time made of some mén of learning, who were capable of writing in defence of christianity, and whose writings made other converts, both philosophers and others.

i

At length the converts to christianity in all pla ces, and especially in those that were the nearest to the scene of the transactions, were so numerous. that the old religion sunk into general contempt and neglect; and in less then three hundred years after the promulgation of christianity, we see that, notwithstanding the deep-rooted attachment of all the heathen world to the religion of their ancestors, Constantine could safely declare himself a christi an, without any apprehension from his competitors, who endeavoured to avail themselves of that cir cumstance. None of them, however, were able, by this means, to throw any considerable obstacle in his way, and he reigned almost in peace, and a longer time than any of the emperors after Au gustus.

This is a clear proof of the preceding spread of christianity, and of the hold which it had got on the minds of the people in general; and this was in the most disadvantageous circumstances that can be imagined, if it had been an imposture. But this most striking evidence of the truth of christia

nity we could not now have had, if the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus had been such, as to have convinced all the Jews and all the world as soon as he appeared. What had been the most satisfactory to them would have been (from the nature of the thing) the least so to us.

When the persecution of christianity began, the facts on which it was founded were recent, so that it was in the power of men of sense and inquiry to satisfy themselves concerning them; and we have seen that they were sufficiently interested so to do. But if one whole generation should have been, as we say, infatuated, so as to have taken up the be lief of these facts without any sufficient reason, the next generation might have been sensible of this, and have made more diligent search (and then it was not too late) and not have thrown away their fortunes and their lives for nothing, as their fathers had done before them. But notwithstanding this, every inquiry continued to make more converts, till, without any aid from power, or from learning in the first instance, the new religion completely established itself on the ruins of the old, and was embraced by persons of all ranks without distinction, the rich and the poor, the philosophers and the vulgar.

If all this could take place without there being any truth in the history of the miracles, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, it must have been more extraordinary, nay, strictly speaking, more miraculous, than those events themselves.

For

human nature was the same then, that it is now; and that men, such as we now find them to be, should, in the circumstances that I have now described, have been impressed as the early converts to christianity were, that they should have been induced to believe a story which they might easily have discovered to be destitute of all foundation, and have sacrificed so much as they did to their belief, must have been the greatest of all miracles; no natural cause being adequate to such an effect. It must also have been so stupendous a miracle (operating on the minds of men, which is more extraordinary than any effect that is apparent to the senses) without any rational end or object. Nay the Divine Being must have wrought this miracle with no other view than to puzzle and confound his creatures, and to involve some of the most deserving of them in the greatest calamities. On the other hand, the miracles which gave birth to christianity had the greatest and noblest of all ́objects, the instruction and reformation of the world.