I lay down
this point positively; for had the ancient attestations to this valuable
record been less satisfactory than they are, the unaffectedness and
simplicity with which the author notes his presence upon certain
occasions, and the entire absence of art and design from these notices,
would have been sufficient to persuade my mind that, whoever he was, he
actually lived in the times, and occupied the situation, in which he
represents himself to be. When I say, "whoever he was," I do not mean to
cast a doubt upon the name to which antiquity hath ascribed the Acts of
the Apostles (for there is no cause, that I am acquainted with, for
questioning it), but to observe that, in such a case as this, the time
and situation of the author are of more importance than his name; and
that these appear from the work itself, and in the most unsuspicious
form.
II. That this account is a very incomplete account of the preaching and
propagation of Christianity; I mean, that if what we read in the history
be true, much more than what the history contains must be true also.
For, although the narrative from which our information is derived has
been entitled the Acts of the Apostles, it is, in fact, a history of the
twelve apostles only during a short time of their continuing together at
Jerusalem; and even of this period the account is very concise.
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