PART I. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.. BOOK I. Of the Internal Evidence. CHAP. I. The Necefity of this Inquiry. THE faith of Chriftians is thus diftinguished from all the other religions of the world: it pronounces Jefus to be the Redeemer of men, promifed by God, the only cause of their falvation, and afferts his doctrine to be undeniably true. Should there, then, never have exifted in the world a perfon, who, in the time of the Roman Emperour Auguftus, was born at Bethlehem of Mary, a Jewish virgin, and known to his countrymen by the name of Jefus; fhould this Jefus never have performed any miracles, in order to prove the truth of his doctrines; fhould he not have arisen from the dead; should he, laftly, have never uttered any true prophecies; then the Articles of the Chriftian Faith are, without doubt, a forgery. But fhould these facts be incontrovertibly true, then it is equally incontrovertible, that the religion of Chriftians is alfo true. The Chriftian religion, therefore, is founded on facts, and confequently must be proved in the fame manner as we prove the truth of other historical fubjects. The evidences which Chriftians adduce for the truth of these facts, are contained in the Books of the New Teftament. The authors of thefe books are the witneffes, on whofe credit Chriftians believe that hiftory. If, therefore, the credibility of these authors, and of their writings, can be as ftrictly proved as the credibility of a Tacitus, Livy, Thuanus, or Burnet, then we muft either give up the greatest, most beautiful, and moft ufeful part of human knowledge, the whole of history, together with all its various branches, or we must confefs-that the Books of the New Teftament, in all natural and not miraculous fubjects, are worthy of credit. I acknowledge, that should the credibility of the writers of the New Teftament be brought even to the very highest degree of hiftorical certainty, that the hiftorical truth of the miracles they relate would not be thereby proved. An author may be in the highest degree worthy of credit, and yet may fometimes be overcome by the weakness incident to human nature, and relate abfurdities or forged miracles as undoubted truths. We believe him in general; but if he relate palpable abfurdities, found Reafon be comes an evidence againft him, and her decifion is infinitely more to be depended upon, than the credibility of any author whatever. We believe him in general; but if he relate miracles, then his credit alone is not fufficient juftly to challenge our affent. The more uncommon an event is, fo much more weighty must be the proofs for it. If it be a real miracle, then it demands a perfectly peculiar kind of proof, of which I fhall speak in the Second Volume of this Work, when I treat of the Truth of the Chriftian Religion. According to these principles we decide on all historical writings. We acknowledge Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, and Livy, to be perfectly credible authorities. Nevertheless, when they speak of a certain divine vapour, which arofe from the earth, and inftilled into men a perfect knowledge of all futurity; or of a ring around the nofe, out of which the devil was driven; or |