fee; and I think that it was by no means the cafe at the time when the books were compofed.

Mr. Gibbon has argued for the genuinenefs of the Koran, from the confeffions which it contains, to the apparent difadvantage of the Mahometan cause *. The fame defence vindicates the genuineness of our Gospels, and without prejudice to the caufe at all.

There are fome other inftances in which the evangelifts honeftly relate what, they muft have perceived, would make againft them.

Of this kind is John the Baptift's meffage, preferved by St. Matthew and St. Luke, (xi. 2. vii. 18.) "Now when John had heard in the prifon the works of Chrift, he fent two of his disciples, and faid unto him, Art tho he that fhould come, or look we

* Vol. ix. c. 50, note 96.

for

for another?" To confefs, ftill more to ftate, that John the Baptift had his doubts concerning the character of Jefus, could not but afford a handle to cavil and objection. But truth, like honefty, neglects appearances. The fame obfervation, perhaps, holds concerning the apoftacy of Judas

* I had once placed amongst thefe examples of fair conceffion, the remarkable words of St. Matthew, in his account of Chrift's appearance upon the Galilean mountain: "And when they faw him they worshipped him, but fome doubted" I have fince, however, been convinced, by what is obferved concerning this paffage in Dr. Townshend's difcourfe † upon the refurrection, that the tranfaction, as related by St. Matthew, was really this: "Chrift appeared first at a distance; the greater part of the company, the moment they faw him, worshipped, but fome, as yet, i. e. upon this first distant view of his perfon, doubted; whereupon Chrift came up to them, and fpake to them," &c.: that the doubt, therefore, was a doubt only at firft, for a moment, and upon his being feen at a diftance, and was afterwards difpelled by his nearer approach, and by his entering into converfation with them.

St. Matthew's words are, Kat agooɛλbwv ò Iŋoes eh¤AYOEV aulas. This intimates, that, when he firft appeared, it was at a diftance, at least from many of the fpectators. Ib. p. 197.

John vi. 66. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." Was it the part of a writer, who dealt in fuppreffion and disguise, to put down this anecdote ?

Or this, which Matthew has preferved, (xiii. 58.)?" He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."

Again, in the fame evangelist (v. 17, 18.) "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to deftroy, but to fulfil; for, verily, I fay unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle, fhall in no wife pafs from the law, till all be fulfilled." At the time the gofpels were written, the apparent tendency of Chrift's miffion was to diminish the authority of the Mofaic code, and it was fo confidered by the Jews themfelves. It is very improbable, therefore, that, without the conftraint of truth, Matthew should have afcribed a faying to Chrift, which, primo intuitu, militated with the judgement

of

of the age in which his gofpel was written, Marcion thought this text fo objectionable, that he altered the words, fo as to invert the fense *.

"They

Once more, Acts xxv. 19. brought none accufation against him, of fuch things, as I fuppofed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jefus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." Nothing could be more in the character of a Roman governor than these words. But that is not precifely the point I am concerned with. A mere panegyrist, or a dishonest narrator, would not have reprefented his caufe, or have made a great magiftrate represent it, in this manner, i. e. in terms not a little disparaging, and bespeaking, on his part, much unconcern and indifference about the matter. The fame obfervation may be repeated of the speech which is afcribed to Gallio (Acts viii. 14.) "If it be a question

* Lard. vol. xv. p. 422.

of

of words, and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of fuch matters.'

Laftly, where do we difcern a stronger mark of candour, or lefs difpofition to extol and magnify, than in the conclufion of the fame hiftory? in which the evangelift, after relating that Paul, upon his first arrival at Rome, preached to the Jews from morning until evening, adds, " And fome believed the things which were fpoken, and fome believed not."

The following, I think, are paffages which were very unlikely to have presented themselves to the mind of a forger or a fa bulift.

Mat. xxi. 21. cr Jefus anfwered and faid unto them, Verily I fay unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye fhall not only do this, which is done unto the fig-tree, but ulfo, if ye fhall fay unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou caft into the

fea,