Nothing depends upon their being true or false.
But not, surely, of this kind were the alleged miracles of Christ and
his apostles. They decided, if true, the most important question upon
which the human mind can fix its anxiety. They claimed to regulate the
opinions of mankind upon subjects in which they are not only deeply
concerned, but usually refractory and obstinate. Men could not be
utterly careless in such a case as this. If a Jew took up the story, he
found his darling partiality to his own nation and law wounded; if a
Gentile, he found his idolatry and polytheism reprobated and condemned.
Whoever entertained the account, whether Jew or Gentile, could not avoid
the following reflection:--"If these things be true, I must give up the
opinions and principles in which I have been brought up, the religion in
which my fathers lived and died." It is not conceivable that a man
should do this upon any idle report or frivolous account, or, indeed,
without being fully satisfied and convinced of the truth and credibility
of the narrative to which he trusted. But it did not stop at opinions.
Pages:
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274