united force of affections, passions, and interests, had not a more powerful influence than that of reason operated on their minds, and produced this wonderful change. To them it appears, that the Holy Ghost must have given, not only to the first preachers of the gospel, a variety of languages, with courage and fervent zeal; but to the hearers also, attentive and teachable dispositions. Which of these opinions is the most probable; whether the quick growth of Christianity was itself miraculous, or was the natural effect of other miracles, either perpetually performed, or plainly related, it is not necessary for us to decide. In any of these views, it is equally certain, that our religion was not introduced into the world by the power or wisdom of man, but by the immediate interposition and authority of God.

SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE XI.

MATTHEW, CHAP. V.--VERSE 11.

IT is a circumstance favorable to any cause, that the witnesses produced against it are either inconsistent or manifestly false this enlarged on. Such advantage the Christian cause receives from the testimonies of its adversaries. Not only the truths they have acknowleged, but even the falsehoods they have invented, help to confirm it. The characters which they have given of the first professors of Christianity, now to be examined. These characters must be collected from a variety of passages, in which the Christians are accidentally mentioned. Reasons given why our observations should be confined to notices of them casually dispersed in the writings of the Greeks and Romans on other subjects. Enumeration of the various accusations made against the Christians.

The first charge we meet with is superstition: account of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny, on this head. Nor did their accusers conceal the foundation of this charge. It was urged as a proof not only of a weak and perverted understanding, that they had embraced a religion different from that of their ancestors, but of wicked hearts, and an enmity to the whole human race this topic dilated on, and fully illustrated.

Another charge against them was credulity and easiness of temper, from their reliance on the evidence of miracles, their expectations of immortality, and their contempt of this world's goods.

After many vain attempts to recall them to the established rites, they were charged with the opposite extremes of rigid obstinacy and perverseness: this topic enlarged on and illustrated.

But this steady, consistent conduct, had the less influence among heathens of superior rank, because they considered the Christians as a low and illiterate rabble: this illustrated from heathen writers: testimony of St. Paul to the same effect.

But though the Christians are sometimes represented as extremely ignorant, at other times we hear that they were profoundly skilled in the hidden sciences, the curious clandestine arts of Egypt: this enlarged on.

The last two accusations, equally common and inconsistent, related to the morals of the Christians. Some complained of them as a lazy, idle set of people, useless to the public; whilst others described them as restless, vigilant, and active in deceit and mischief. These two contradictory charges reconciled by the assistance of passages in two Greek authors, Lucian and Aristides the Sophist.

The amount of all these testimonies, taken together, considered at full. It seems remarkable, that in this whole charge against the Christians, and their answers to it, no one perceptible fact, nothing which is the proper subject of testimony, is alleged on one part and denied on the other. The accusation and defence rest wholly on the same acknowleged facts, the same external circumstances: the difference is only in the conclusions formed from these known facts concerning men's inward dispositions: this subject enlarged on; whereby it is shown, that in every instance, when we apply the necessary caution, and separate facts from the opinions of the relaters, we find the calumnies of the heathens strongly supporting the history of the first propagation of Christianity, as delivered by the Christians themselves. Conclusion.

DISCOURSE XI.

OF THE CHARACTERS GIVEN BY HEATHEN WRITERS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS.

MATTHEW, CHAP. V.-VERSE 11.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

It is a circumstance favorable to any cause, that the witnesses produced against it are either inconsistent or manifestly false, even in points not essential to the merits. We naturally suppose, that the principal story cannot be reconciled with truth, when the minuter parts of it cannot be reconciled with each other; and justice will be conceived to be on that side, to which fraud and falsehood are opposed. These advantages the Christian cause receives, from the testimonies of its adversaries. Not only the truths they have acknowleged, but even the falsehoods they have invented concerning it, help to confirm it. We have considered, on a former occasion, what the heathen writers have confessed of the surprising progress of Christianity let us now attend to the characters they have given of the first professors of it. These characters must be collected from a variety of passages, in which the Christians are accidentally mentioned, soon after their appearance in the world, by the historians, philosophers, and poets of those ages: for, though our religion was first propagated at a season, when arts and literature were cultivated with the greatest industry and success, and several learned heathens composed labored works in opposition to it; yet none of these pieces have remained to our time. There are, indeed, large extracts remain

:

ing from them, preserved in the writings of the early Christians; and, if we may judge from these quotations, they contained nothing very plausible, either against the manners of the Christians or the evidence of their religion. But, should we endeavor to learn from them the objections of the heathens, a doubt might arise, whether these controversialists had fairly conveyed to us the opinions of their opponents. My observations, therefore, shall be chiefly taken from those notices of the Christians, which we find casually dispersed in the writings of the Greeks and Romans on other subjects: and, though their accusations be not only different, but opposite; we may, perhaps, discover something in each part, which approaches to the truth, and discern through their false colors the true grounds of the complaint. They accuse the Christians of superstition and of atheism; they speak of them sometimes as credulous, easy, ductile people, and sometimes as perverse and obstinate, even unto madness; now they represent them as weak and illiterate, now as wonderfully skilled in the hidden sciences of magic and necromancy; now as most contemptibly indolent and inattentive, and again as watchful and indefatigable in every kind of mischief.

The first charge ou the Christians we meet with, is superstition. Tacitus and Suetonius, writing the history of Rome at that period when Christianity just began to be heard of there, agree in giving it this appellation: one calls it, a new superstition; the other, a foreign+ and pestilent superstition and Pliny, some time after, speaks of it as a wicked and immoderate superstition. Nor did the accusers of the Christians conceal the foundation of this charge.. It was urged as a sufficient proof of their weak and perverted understandings, that they had embraced a religion different from that of their ancestors. It was supposed that they showed not only weak understand

*Suet. Nero, 16. The charge of novelty was often brought against the Christians. See Luc. De Morte Per. et Symm. lib. x. ep. 54.

Tac. Ann. xiii. 32. § Lib. x. ep. 97. Orat. Plat. xi.

Id. xv. 44.

See also Lucian. Pseudomant. et Arist.