Whoever reads the
Gospels (and they ought to be read for this particular purpose) will
find in them not merely a general affirmation of miraculous powers, but
detailed circumstantial accounts of miracles, with specifications of
time, place, and persons; and these accounts many and various. In the
Gospels, therefore, which bear the names of Matthew and John, these
narratives, if they really proceeded from these men, must either be true
as far as the fidelity of human recollection is usually to be depended
upon, that is, must be true in substance and in their principal parts,
(which is sufficient for the purpose of proving a supernatural agency,)
or they must be wilful and mediated falsehoods. Yet the writers who
fabricated and uttered these falsehoods, if they be such, are of the
number of those who, unless the whole contexture of the Christian story
be a dream, sacrificed their ease and safety in the cause, and for a
purpose the most inconsistent that is possible with dishonest
intentions. They were villains for no end but to teach honesty, and
martyrs without the least prospect of honour or advantage.
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