fwered, that be was; declaring however at the fame time, that his kingdom was not of this world +. And upon Pilate's fending him to Herod, he was there arrayed in a gorgeous robe, in ridicule of his laying claim to the character of a King.

After this we find Pilate afking the Jews, whom they were defirous to have releafed unto them; Barabbas; or Jefus, who was called Chrift, the King of the fews §? And ftill again, when they had defired him to release Barabbas, he replied;

What shall I do then with Jefus, who is called Christ;-whom ye call the King of the Jews? Thefe are all fuch circumftances as it was manifeftly out of the power of the Apostles to forge; and fuch as prove unanswerably, that JESUS had all along afferted, and did at that time affert himself to be the CHRIST, and A KING.

When Pilate had at laft confented that JESUS fhould be crucified, the next circumftance we hear is, that the foldiers carried him to their common hall; and that there they stripped him, and put on bim a fcarlet robe, and when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right band; and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail king of the Jews ¶ : and prefently after Pilate brought out JESUS, and fat him before all the people, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe *. Could the Apoftles forge fuch a fact as this? Or could this have been the cafe, if Jesus himself had laid claim to no other character than that of a mere man, whofe whole defign was nothing more than that of inculcating the mere duties of natural religion and moral virtue?

But what followed? The Jews perceiving Pilate's unwillingness to put JESUs to death, anfwered him, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die, becaufe be made himself the Son of God*. This teftimony of the Jewish Rulers themselves, which could not poffibly be forged, admits of no reply. Pilate being ftruck with this declaration, he ftill fought to releafe JESUS; but the Jews cried out, faying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cafar's friend whoever maketh himself a King, Speaketh against Cafar +-At length Pilate, going to the judgment feat, he faid to the Jews, Behold your King, and when they cried out, Crucify him; he replied, Shall I crucify your King? And at last, when he had delivered him to be crucified, the title which he wrote, and caufed to be fixed upon the cross, was, Jefus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. The Chief Priests indeed did not approve of this infcription: but what was their objection to it? Not that it attributed to him a character to which he had never laid claim; but that tho' he had pretended to it, it did not really belong to him. This title then read many of the Jews; for the place where JESUS was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. Then faid the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate;-write not, The King of the Jews; but that he faid, I am the King of the Jews §. This again is evidence, which, we may venture to affert, admits of no reply. If these circumftances, which the Apoftles could not forge, do not prove beyond all poffibility of contradiction, that JESUS himself had claimed the divine character of the MESSIAH and KING of the Jews; it is in the nature of things impoffible for any fact whatever to be proved.

* John xix. 7. Ibid. ver. 20, 21.

+ Ibid. ver. 12.

Ibid. ver. 14, 15, 19.

C 4

JESUS

JESUS being nailed to the cross, the next particu lar we hear is, That they that paffed by reviled him, wagging ther beads and saying,-Thou THAT DESTROY

EST THE TEMPLE, AND BUILDEST IT IN THREE

DAYS, fave thyself: if thou be THE SON OF GOD, come down from the cross. Likewife alfo the Chief Priefts, with the Scribes and Elders, faid,-HE SAVED OTHERS; a manifeft confeffion of his having worked miraculous cures, and raised the dead to life; kimfelf he cannot fave: if he be THE KING OF ISRAEL, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him*. And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, faying, If thou be THE CHRIST, Jave thyfelf and us +. Here we have the concurrent teftimony not of the people only, but of the Chief Priests and Rulers themselves; both to the particular divine character, which JESUS had himself affumed, and the miraculous works by which he had in fact proved the truth of his pretenfions; and this related to have been given in fuch cir cumstances, that the Apostles could not forge it.

Still the Rulers themselves will furnifh us with one ample proof more. On the day after JESUS'S burial, The Chief Priefts and Pharifees came together to Pilate, faying, Sir, we remember that That Deceiver faid, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rife again -Obferve what they say: WE REMEMBER that he faid; his having faid what they mention was a fact publicly known. Still further, We remember that THAT DECEIVER faid, &c.--But if JESUS had taught only morality, and had not laid claim to a divine commiffion and character; fince it is manifeft his moral doctrines were moft excellent and true; in what could he have been a Deceiver? And what was it they remembered he had faid? After three days I WILL RISE AGAIN. Was this the

:

*Matth. xxvii. 39-42. + Luke xxiii. 39. xxvii. 62, 63.

Matth.

affertion

affertion of a man who pretended to nothing more, than to be a preacher of pure morality? But we must hear them out:-Command therefore that the fepulchre be made fure until the third day; left his dif ciples come by night, and steal him away, and fay unto the people, He is rifen from the dead. And in confequence we are told, that they did actually make the fepulchre fure; fealing the stone, that they rolled against its entrance, and placing a guard to watch it. Was it poffible all this could be done to one who had laid claim to no other character than that of a mere preacher of morality? And MATTHEW informs us, that it was well known to all at Jerufalem, even when he wrote his gofpel, that they afterwards bribed the very guard which they themselves had placed at the tomb, to publish abroad that the difciples had come to the fepulchre, and actually done, what they were placed there purposely to prevent. These are relations, which place THE FACT of JESUS's having' himself affumed that divine character which he is declared to have affumed in the gofpels, beyond doubt. The Apoftles could not have afferted these material and most important facts in their gofpels, had they not always related them, from their firft beginning to preach in the name of JESUS; and they could not have related them from the beginning had they not been notoriously true.

Thus the point, that the divine character, and fupernatural works and doctrines afcribed to JESUS in the Gospels, could not be forged by the Apoftles Themfelves, is abundantly afcertained. But ftill it may be asked, what proof we have, that those fupernatural doctrines to be found in their Epiftles, which are no where afferted to have been delivered by JESUS himself in the gofpels, were not fuperadded by them to what he himself had taught,

Matth. xxvii. 64.

without

without authority from him? And this doubt, it is evident can no other way be refolved, than by enquiring into the evidence they themselves produced to prove the divine authority of whatever they delivered.

In the gofpels JESUS is reprefented as telling the Apostles, on the very evening of his crucifixion, That he had many things to fay unto them, but they could not bear them then; that therefore, after he fhould be taken from them, the Father would fend them another Comforter in his name, the Spirit of truth; who should not only bring all things to their remembrance, that he had faid unto them, but teach them all things and guide them into all truth, and fhew them things to come; and testify of him; and glorify him, because he should receive of his and fhew it unto them §: and that they should be endowed with power from on high ||.

t;

If then the Apostles themselves produced fuch evidence of their divine commiffion to preach the gofpel, after the death of JESUS, as is fufficient to eftablish the truth of fuch pretenfions; whatever they taught in addition to the doctrines JESUS himself had delivered in perfon, must be admitted as doctrines taught by them under his fuperintending guidance and direction. And that they did produce evidence fufficient for this purpose is plain from the whole Hiftory of their Acts. The effufion of the Holy Ghoft upon them, manifefted by their miraculous gift of tongues, and the confequences it produced, are events, which neither the Apostles could have related to their difciples, nor LUKE have recorded, if they had not been in fact as publicly known to have come to pafs, as their very nature implies that they muft have been.-The miraculous cure of the

John xvi. 12. Ibid. xvi. 14.

+ Ibid. xiv. 26. Luke xxiv. 49.

Ibid. xv. 26.

See A&ts ii.

man