others? Why they should do this it is not easy to conceive; because it would have been an imposition, not only on others, but on themselves. It would have been an attempt to persuade themselves, that their Master was risen, when he really was not; from whence no possible benefit could arise to them, but, on the contrary, grief, disappointment, and mortification in the extreme. But besides this, the narratives. themselves of this great event bear upon the very face of them the strongest marks, of reality and truth. They describe, in so natural a manner, the various emotions of the disciples on their first hearing of our Lord's resurrection, that no one who is acquainted with the genuine workings of the human mind, can possibly suspect any thing like fraud in the case. the women were first told by the angels that Christ was risen, and were ordered to tell the disciples, they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; with joy at the unexpected good * Matt. xxviii. 8. When news news they had just heard; and with fear, not only from the sight of the angel, but lest the glad tidings he had told them should not prove true. They therefore "trembled, and were amazed, and ran to bring the disciples word; neither said they any thing to any man, for they were afraid." And when they told these things to the apostles, their words seemed to them. as idle tales, and they believed them not †. When Jesus himself appeared to the apostles at Jerusalem, they were terrified and affrighted, and thought they had seen a spirit; and they believed not for joy, and wondered. When he appeared again unto the eleven as they sat at meat, they were so incredulous that he upbraided them with their unbelief §, and Thomas would not be convinced without thrusting his hand into his side. This certainly was not the behaviour of men who were fabricating an artful story, to impose upon * Mark, xvi. 8. Luke, xxiv. 11. § Mark, xvi. 14. the the world, but of men who were themselves astonished, and overpowered with an event which they did not in the least expect, and which it was with the utmost difficulty they could be brought to believe. The account therefore of the resurrection given by the evangelists, may safely be relied upon as true. It may however be said, that this account is the representation of friends, of those who were interested in asserting the reality of a resurrection; but that there is probably another story told by the opposite party, by the Jews and the Romans, which may set the matter in a very different point of view; and that before we can judge fairly of the question, we must hear what these have to say upon it as well as the evangelists. This is certainly very proper and reasonable. There is, we acknowledge, another account given by the Jews respecting the resurrection of Christ and to show the perfect fairness and impartiality of the sacred historians, and how little they wish to shrink from the the severest investigation of the truth, they themselves tell us what this opposite story was. In the 11th verse of this chapter, St. Matthew informs us, "that as the women were going to tell the disciples that Jesus was risen, behold some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews unto this day.” This then is the statement of our adversaries, produced in opposition to that of the evangelists; which the latter simply relate without any observation upon it, without condescending to make the slightest answer to it, but leaving every man to judge of it for himself. And this If indeed they might safely do; for it is a fabrication too gross and too palpable to impose on any man of common sense. any person can bring himself to believe that sixty Roman soldiers should be all sleeping at the same time on guard; that they should be able to tell what was done in their sleep; that they should have the boldness to confess that they slept upon their post, when they knew the punishment of such an offence to be death; and that the disciples should be so devoid of all common sense as to steal away a dead body, which could not be of the smallest use to them, and, instead of proving a resurrection, was a standing proof against it; if any man, I say, can prevail on himself to listen for a moment to such absurdities as these, he may then give credit to the tale of the soldiers: but otherwise must treat it, as it truly deserves, with the most sovereign contempt. This senseless forgery, then, being set aside, and the body of Jesus being gone, and yet never having been produced by the |