The grounds, then, on which we are authorized, or we may almost say compelled, to believe the doctrine of Christ's resurrection are these: it is attested by persons who had every opportunity of knowing the truth, and who had no inducement to tell a falsehood; and it is attested even by the ene mies of Christianity, who, from the account which they have given of this transaction, show to the perfect satisfaction of every one capaple of distin guishing between truth and falsehood, that their account is fabulous, and that Christ is indeed " ri sen from the dead according to the Scriptures." This doctrine, thus satisfactorily established, ac counts completely for the zeal and for the success of the apostles and first preachers of Christianity, which, on any other view, must appear altogether inexplicable. We need not be surprised to see them devoting their whole lives, and sacrificing every consideration of ease and temporal conve nience, in propagating the religion of him who was so visibly demonstrated to them to be the Lord's life, and the only hope of salvation; nor need we wonder that the doctrines of the cross, so different from any thing that had hitherto been known among men, should increase and flourish in the immediate hands of him who had preached it, for healing to the nations." A candid examination of the success which attended the labours of the apostles cannot fail to make us recognise more clearly the power and wisdom of God in rendering such feeble instruments effectual in promoting such momentous consequences.
They tell us that they wrought miracles in the name of Christ, and that it was in consequence of the signs and wonders which God wrought by their hands that the Gentiles were turned to the know ledge of the truth. These were high pretensions; and it would have required more infatuation or ef frontery than ever falls to the lot of any person of sound mind, to advance such claims in the very face of persons eapaple of producing instant refu tation, had they been unfounded. In the second epistle to the Corinthians, xis. 12, St. Paul says, " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds." It is not in the power of hu rnan credulity to suppose that such a declaration would have been made, had it not been supported by truth. We can easily conceive that a man may boast, in one place, of fictitious exploits alleged to have been done in another. But was ever any braggart so senseless as to make the very people whom he wished to deceive, the judges of his im pudence and lying vanity? No; such a supposition is belied by every feature of human nature; and therefore we may rest assured that the apostle ap peals to events which no man could contradict.
But we dwell not any longer on a detail of evi dence for the authenticity of the apostolic miracles; generally speaking, they rest on the same founda tion with those performed by our Lord. We would only request attention to a few facts in the history of the Apostles which never have been, and never can be, disputed, viz. to the fact of unlearned fishermen converting the world, subduing the pride of philosophy, and resisting the efforts of power, till the princes of the earth were compelled to bend the knee before the cross of Christ; to the fact of such persons publishing doctrines which the inge nuity of learning never had been able to discover, and inculcating precepts for the regulation of life, far exceeding any thing that the wisest moralists or politicians had ever devised; to the facts of their blameless lives, of their disinterested labours, of their unwearied benevolence: grant but these facts, and you need no higher miracle, and no stronger confirmation that they were commissioned and taught of God; and these are facts which infidels themselves will not venture to dispute.
Such were the persons employed, and such the extraordinary result of their labours. Let us see whether we can discover the secret of their success in the nature of the means which they used. Did they owe their success to a more approved method of teaching than had usually been practised, to superior eloquence or more elaborate reasoning? Quite the reverse; they themselves boast that they did not attempt to inveigle converts by the enticing words of man's wisdom. 1 Cor. i. 17. Their doc trine was indeed pre-eminently distinguished by its importance, and its majestic simplicity: but these arc not qualities with which the world is readily captivated, when separated from the accessaries of high birth, or eloquence, or fashionable opinion. The apostles had none of these advantages to re commend their doctrines. They derived no influ ence from their rank in society; none from the re putation of their learning; none from the obse quiousness and pliancy of their manners. They were stern moralists, inflexible advocates of truth, justice, and purity; intrepid reprovers of every de viation from integrity and virtue. Though in things indifferent they had sufficient liberality to "become all things to all men;" yet they were en tirely unaccommodating and unbending with regard to every thing that had even the appearance of evil.
In all these respects the apostles were as opposite as can possibly be conceived to the character and conduct of those who seek pleasure or private ad vantage from the doctrine which they teach; for the doctrines of the gospel are not accommodated to a single failing, to a single prejudice, or to a single sinful propensity in human nature. They are addressed to the highest feelings, the sublimest conceptions, and the loftiest and purest hopes which the mind can entertain; and they never can be relished but by a heart emancipated from vulgar prejudices, and purified from mean and grovelling affections. They had to contend with the preposses sions of the Jews, which were the more inveterate from their bring founded on mistaken interpreta taions of the word of God; and with the learned pride of the Greeks, who had imposed their litera ture on the masters of the world, and scorned, of course, to be tutored by the despised nation of the Jews. In short, the general prejudices of human nature, and the local and natural prepossessions of every tribe and district, were all up in arms against the new and unwelcome doctrine, and against its unlearned and uncourtly teachers. Yet with all these disadvantages, the doctrine of the cross pre vailed more and more, till the heathen temples were deserted, and the heathen rulers began to fear that the Christians might form a combination to overturn their power.