He could have presented a separate
miracle to each man's senses. He could have established a standing
miracle. He could have caused miracles to be wrought in every different
age and country. These and many more methods, which we may imagine if we
once give loose to our imaginations, are, so far as we can judge, all
practicable.
The question therefore is, not whether Christianity possesses the
highest possible degree of evidence, but whether the not having more
evidence be a sufficient reason for rejecting that which we have.
Now there appears to be no fairer method of judging concerning any
dispensation which is alleged to come from God, when question is made
whether such a dispensation could come from God or not, than by
comparing it with other things which are acknowledged to proceed from
the same counsel, and to be produced by the same agency. If the
dispensation in question labour under no defects but what apparently
belong to other dispensations, these seeming defects do not justify us
in setting aside the proofs which are offered of its authenticity, if
they be otherwise entitled to credit.
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