ease,

The apprehensions of the man could not have failed to operate, although the anger of the Divinity should have been disregarded. Surely then the Apostles must have imagined, that they had heard and seen what they had never heard and seen; or that they had enquired into the truth of recent facts, when they had made no enquiry at all; and must have sacrificed their their liberty, their property, and their lives, for a mere fancy, an illusion of the brain. What an extraordinary, what a miraculous infatuation of mind must they, in this manner, have been under, to no purpose, but to subject them to the most grievous sufferings, and to delude, in all future ages, the residue of their fellowcreatures! This is to me a strange and incredible supposition. It has been insinuated, however, that they were encouraged to bear the harshness of their sentences with patience, and even with joy, because they were animated by the very singular incentive of earthly glory. crowning their afflictions, that their memory should be celebrated by panegyrical orations, and annual festivals, and that the greatest veneration would, at all times, follow the unparalleled disinterestedness of their conduct.

But is it really true, that there are any tra to be found of such feeble and comfortless expectations? There exists in us all an inherent love of life, which is so deeply engraven by the hand of nature, that it seems to form an essential part of the soul. Self-preservation is the fundamental law of our being; it is the passion, which precedes every other in the order of utility, and is implanted by the Creator, as the root from which every social and religious obligation necessarily springs; and in no other light, that I can find, did the Apostles ever conceive it. Yet, they, notwithstanding, heedless of consequences, and regardless of every consideration but truth, openly encountered hazards which they felt were to terminate in their destruction.

The instances recorded, however, of apostolic zeal, are not, I will confess, irrefragably direct proofs of the truth of Christianity; for every religion, nay every absurd sect of religion, has had its zealots, who have not scrupled to maintain their principles at the expence of their lives; and we ought no more, I acknowledge, to infer the truth of Christianity from the mere zeal of its propagators, than the truth of Mahommedanism, from that of the Turks. Even though

*Bishop Watson.

though a man suffer himself to be covered with infamy, pillaged of his property, and dragged at last to the block or the stake, rather than give up his opinion, it does not necessarily follow that his opinion is true; it is only evident, that he believes it to be true.

The ancient inhabitants of Europe, as we have seen, sought death with eagerness in the field of battle; or welcomed its approach in the decline of age, with the transports of heroic joy. The ancient Brachmans, to shun the wearisome decay of lingering sickness, anticipated the hour of death, and devoted themselves to the flames. The American, remains unmoved amid the dreadful preparations for a lingering execution, and defies, in the agonies of torture, the ingenious cruelty of his foes. The delicate Hindoo, with steady pace, and unaltered look, ascends the funeral pile, and becomes a willing sacrifice to the manes of her husband.

In these cases, however, we behold nothing but the effect of national custom, and inveterate habit. Such self-devoted victims have been regularly trained, from their birth, to the contemplation of spectacles of torture and of death; and their perpetual occurrence, operating upon

pre

predisposed manners and temper, have prepared the way for the ready sacrifice of life. On contemplating the situation and circumstances of an Apostle of Christ, however, his case will appear to be widely different. He was unfettered by prejudice, untainted by example, forbid even by religion, and dissuaded by common sense. He was alive to all the endearments of social life, and attached to the world by all those tender ties of affection, which hold the heart in the most permanent captivity. Hence naturally must have arisen a contest, between the love of God, and the love of life; between the suggestions of conscience, and the calls of affection; between the claims of rigid duty, and the expostulations of violated nature.

What could have been the motive, then, which could have induced the Apostles to deceive mankind? What good, real or imaginary, could they have had in view, if they had been conscious what they affirmed was falsehood? Certain it is, when Christ left them, they could no longer expect to advance their temporal interest by adhering to his cause. On the contrary, they were told by him, from the first, and after his death, they knew and believed, that per secution and martyrdom would be their lot in

this world; and as their Jewish education would also have taught them that God is just and holy, they, knowing themselves to be deceivers, could entertain no hope with respect to the next. This must equally have been the state of their mind, whether, with the Pharisees, they believed in a future state; or with the Sadducees, they denied it.*

Present gain, indeed, has the faculty of tempting the covetous; present power, the ambitious; or present pleasure, the sensual; and a delusive hope of future gratification or reward, may have the same operation with the enthusiast. But, where none of these temptations exist (and in the instance of the Apostles, it is certain, none of them did or could exist) what was there in nature, or in the human imagination, which could induce them to encounter a life of pain, poverty, persecution, and scorn, in support of an untruth? All the impostors who have appeared upon earth, have arrived at the acquisition of temporal advantages, of pleasure, wealth, or power; and in truth it is impossible to conceive what other motives can induce a rational being to become an impostor.

*Beatie's Evid. Christ.

But.