majesty." The Christian martyrs who had never seen Jesus, nor been eye-witnesses of any miracles wrought by him, or by others in his name, but who died, rather than they would abandon the belief which they had adopted, contributed by their constancy to the propagation of the Christian religion; but they did not establish its truth in the same way that the apostles did.

The Christians of the present age are strong in opinion, that Jesus was raised from the deadthe Jews, and unbelievers of the present age, are strong in opinion, that Jesus was not raised from the dead. Christians and Jews, of all preceding ages, till we come to the very time when this great event-the resurrection of Jesus-either did or did not happen, have been uniform in their respective opinions, and both are now ready to shed their blood in support of them; there is no hypocrisy in the profession of either; what reason then has an impartial inquirer after truth to credit the Christian rather than the Jew?-He has this reason; the groundwork of the belief of the Christian, is a matter of fact attested by eye-witnesses; but the groundwork of the belief of the Jew, is an assertion destitute of proof. The Jews,

who lived at the time when Jesus either did or did not rise from the dead, found the sepulchre, in which his body had been laid, empty. The sepulchre might have become empty two ways, either by the body having been raised from the dead, or by its having been taken away. The Jews asserted that it was taken away by his disciples, but they gave no proof of their assertion; they neither pretended to have seen it taken away, nor to have seen it after it had been taken away. The apostles also found the sepulchre empty, but they did not, from that circumstance, assert, that Jesus was risen from the dead; no, they asserted that they had seen him, handled him, eaten with him, conversed with him, not only once, but often, and in different places, after his resurrection from the dead. Now, no one, who understands the nature of evidence, can hesitate in pronouncing, that the belief of the Christians of the present age, when traced back to its origin, is founded on a rock, on the testimony of eye-witnesses to a matter of fact; whilst that of the Jews is founded on an assertion of their ancestors not only destitute of proof, but utterly incredible, as might easily be shewn from an ex

..

amination of the circumstances attending the crucifixion and interment of Jesus.

Had the chief priests reported, that, in consequence of the precautions they had taken, the body of Jesus was on the third day after the crucifixion found in the sepulchre; and had the apostles reported, that on the third day the body was not found in the sepulchre, and said no more upon the subject; the Christians and Jews of succeeding ages might, with some appearance of reason, have disputed concerning the degree of credit due to the testimony of their respective progenitors. Yet even on this supposition, the Christian would have had a better foundation for his belief, than the Jew could lay claim to; for the predecessors of the Christian sacrificed their lives in support of their testimony, but the predecessors of the Jew gave no such proof of their sincerity and truth.

The sum of what has been said amounts to this-we have as great, if not greater reason to believe, that the history of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as related in the

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New Testament, is a genuine and authentic history, as we have to believe in the genuineness and authenticity of any other ancient book-we have no evidence, external or internal, to induce us to conclude, that the apostles had either ability or motive to introduce and propagate an imposture. The selfishness, ambition, and cowardice of the apostles, shewn during the life, and at the death of Jesus, are perfectly natural and credible; and when contrasted with their subsequent disinterestedness, humility, and fortitude, afford an exceeding strong proof, both of the general veracity of the evangelists as historians, and of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus, as a cause adequate to the production of so great, and otherwise unaccountable change in their character and conduct.

A

CHARGE,

DELIVERED TO THE

CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF LANDAFF,

IN JUNE, 1795.

REVEREND BRETHREN,

THE pleasure which I experience in meeting you on such occasions as the present, is always accompanied with some degree of anxiety. I am fearful, lest I should have nothing to produce to you worthy of your attention, as scholars and divines; and I think too well of your general good conduct, in the discharge of your parochial duties, to employ the time in reprehending you for faults, which probably do not exist; or in cautioning you against errors, to which you probably are not prone.

On a former occasion I took the liberty of giving you my advice, on the necessity of your