pose to a fact which was doing whilst they slept? 1 Besides, is it natural to believe, that these selected soldiers, chosen for the very purpose of counteracting a most dangerous imposture, should have given themselves. up to sleep? But, another thought occurs, to me, still more striking:-It is evidently clear to me, that the magistrates cannot. be ignorant of the truth if they are convinced that the body has really been stolen away, wherefore are notthe soldiers brought to a trial? Why is not the trial made public? What could be more decisive, more. proper to put a stop to the progress of the imposture, and infallibly confound the im-. postors? These magistrates, so directly, so nearly concerned to expose this imposture, do not take this measure, so plain, so obvious, so conformable to justice.. they do not even arrest the impostors : they do not confront them with the soldiers: they punish neither the impostors nor the soldiers they publish no trial: they do, not clear up the fact to the public. Neither do their successors clear it up at all better;; they confine themselves, as their ancestors did, to insisting on the imposture. Further; when these same magistrates,. soon after, send for two of the disciples, on account of a cure which had made a great noise; and these disciples are bold enough to upbraid them with an atrocious crime, and to attest in their presence the resurrection of that man, whom they had crucified; what is the conduct of these magistrates? They are contented with threatening them, and commanding them to teach no more in the name of Jesus. † These threatenings do not intimidate the witnesses; they continue to publish openly the resurrection of the crucified teacher, in the same place, and publicly, in the presence of the magistrates. They are again brought before the same magistrates, and persist with the same boldness in their account -The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew; we are his witnesses. What step do the magistrates now take?-When they * See This Book, Chap. iii. Acts v. 30, $2. bad beaten them, they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go! Surely, the judicious reader requires no further observations; he has heard every thing, and feels the strength of the arguments here produced. CHAP. - VII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE FACT.-REMARKS.—OBJECTIONS.-REPLY. THU * HUS we have circumstantial facts, facts which have never been contradicted, facts which have been constantly and unanimously attested by witnesses, who seem to be possessed of every qualification requisite (agreeably to the rules of sound logic), to establish the credibility of testimony. To invalidate such facts, shall I advance, that the magistrates, fearing the people, dared not to take the proper informations, nor to prosecute and publish the witnesses as impostors, nor to punish the authentic proceeding, &c. ? But, if the crucified man had, in the course of his life, done nothing to excite the admiration and veneration of the people; if he had wrought * Vide chap. ii. Book ii. no miracle; if the people had not, on his account, blessed God for having given such power to men; if his doctrine, and his manner of teaching, had not appeared to the people far superior to every thing which their doctors had taught; if they had not held it as a truth that no man ever spake as he spake ; wherefore should the magistrates have feared to prosecute juridically the abject disciples of an impostor, as great impostors themselves as their master had been? Wherefore should the magistrates have feared a people so strongly prejudiced, and for so long a time, in their favour, if these magistrates had been able to prove, by public and legal proceedings, that the cure of the man born blind, the resurrection of Lazarus, the healing of the lame man, the gifts of tongues, &c. were only impositions? How easy was it for them to procure the clearest information concerning those facts; and especially, how easy would it have been for them to prove that the witnesses spoke only their mother tongue? And again, what could these magistrates have to fear from the people, if they could have clearly demonstrated to them, that the disciples had stolen away |