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Paley, William, 1743-1805

"Evidence of Christianity"

" (Lardner, vol. ii.
p. 276.) It is manifest that this boast proceeds upon the supposition
that the books over which the writer affects to triumph possessed an
authority by which Christians confessed themselves to be bound.
4. That the books to which Celsus refers were no other than our present
Gospels, is made out by his allusions to various passages still found in
these Gospels. Celsus takes notice of the genealogies, which fixes two
of these Gospels; of the precepts, Resist not him that injures you, and
if a man strike thee on the one cheek, offer to him the other also; of
the woes denounced by Christ; of his predictions; of his saying, That it
is impossible to serve two masters; ( Lardner, vol. ii. pp. 276-277.) Of
the purple robe, the crown of thorns, and the reed in his hand; of the
blood that flowed from the body of Jesus upon the cross, which
circumstance is recorded by John alone; and (what is instar omnium for
the purpose for which we produce it) of the difference in the accounts
given of the resurrection by the evangelists, some mentioning two angels
at the sepulchre, ethers only one.


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