CHAPTER IV. THE DISCOURSES, CONDUCT, AND WRITINGS OF ST. PETER WERE FREE FROM ALL MARKS OF ENTHUSIASM. UNBELIEVERS, when they have been unable to maintain that the Apostles of Christ wilfully deceived mankind, have affirmed that they might themselves have been deceived, and that, if they cannot be thought insincere men, they might have been led astray by enthusiastic feelings. A sufficient answer to the charge of enthusiasm, alleged against the Apostles, is, that they had the plainest EVIDENCE OF THEIR SENSES for the facts which they asserted. There was no room for selfdeception. They beheld, in repeated instances, the confirmation which Christ afforded to His pure and holy doctrines by public, unquestionable miracles. Of the reality of His triumph over the grave they were assured by palpable, “infallible proofs '." They, who, of all men, best knew the person of Jesus, saw, and felt, and conversed, and ate and drank with Him, risen from the dead. He appeared among them, in various interviews, for "forty days 2" after His passion. They were present when He ascended from the earth. "While he blessed them 3 " while He was speaking to them face to face"while they beheld, he was taken (or lifted) up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." The Holy Ghost afterward came down upon them in visible splendour, and, in completion of their Lord's promise, endued them with the power of speaking in new and strange languages; an ability, which, if it had not been conferred, no extravagance of enthusiasm could have led men to believe that they possessed. It is easy to show, that, as the faith of the Apostles was founded upon evidence, in which sober reason could not but acquiesce-in which men, endowed with a common capacity to distinguish truth from falsehood, could not be mistaken-so, in 1 ἐν πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις. Acts i. 3. di' nμερv Tεσσapákovтα-for forty days' continuance, during which period He appeared at intervals. 3 Luke xxiv. 51. 4 Acts i. 9. proposing this faith to the acceptance of others, they were guided by the rules and maxims of sound discretion 1. I confine myself, however, to the history of St. Peter, from every passage of which it is apparent that his zeal in propagating Christianity was wholly exempt from the weaknesses and imprudences of fanaticism. I. The PUBLIC ADDRESSES of this Apostle were forcible appeals to the reason and judgment of his hearers. He did not ask them to trust to his own inward persuasion that Jesus was the Messiah. He did not call upon them to believe, without proposing arguments sufficient to justify their faith 2. their faith 2. He constantly insisted that he and his associates had received sensible evidence of the truth which they proclaimed. "This Jesus hath God raised up," said The first enemies of the Gospel charged the Apostles, not with enthusiasm, but with artful and crafty designs. See Matt. xxviii. 12-15. 2 Locke, in his chapter on Enthusiasm, says: "The assuming of an authority of dictating to others, and a forwardness to prescribe to their opinions, is a constant concomitant of this bias and corruption of our judgments: for how almost can it be otherwise, but that he should be ready to impose on others' belief, who has already imposed on his own? Who can reasonably expect arguments and conviction from him, in dealing with others, whose understanding is not accustomed to them in his dealing with himself?" Essay concerning Human Understanding. were assured by palpable, "infallible proofs '." They, who, of all men, best knew the person of Jesus, saw, and felt, and conversed, and ate and drank with Him, risen from the dead. He appeared among them, in various interviews, for "forty days" after His passion. They were present when He ascended from the earth. "While he blessed them 3 " while He was speaking to them face to face"while they beheld, he was taken (or lifted) up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." The Holy Ghost afterward came down upon them in visible splendour, and, in completion of their Lord's promise, endued them with the power of speaking in new and strange languages; an ability, which, if it had not been conferred, no extravagance of enthusiasm could have led men to believe that they possessed. It is easy to show, that, as the faith of the Apostles was founded upon evidence, in which sober reason could not but acquiesce-in which men, endowed with a common capacity to distinguish truth from falsehood, could not be mistaken-so, in 1 ἐν πολλοῖς τεκμηρίοις. Acts i. 3. 2 di' ¡μepwv тεσσарáкоvтα-for forty days' continuance, during which period He appeared at intervals. 3 Luke xxiv. 51. 4 Acts i. 9. proposing this faith to the acceptance of others, they were guided by the rules and maxims of sound discretion 1. I confine myself, however, to the history of St. Peter, from every passage of which it is apparent that his zeal in propagating Christianity was wholly exempt from the weaknesses and imprudences of fanaticism. I. The PUBLIC ADDRESSES of this Apostle were forcible appeals to the reason and judgment of his hearers. He did not ask them to trust to his own inward persuasion that Jesus was the Messiah. He did not call upon them to believe, without proposing arguments sufficient to justify their faith 2. He constantly insisted that he and his associates had received sensible evidence of the truth which they proclaimed. "This Jesus hath God raised up," said 1 The first enemies of the Gospel charged the Apostles, not with enthusiasm, but with artful and crafty designs. See Matt. xxviii. 12-15. 2 Locke, in his chapter on Enthusiasm, says: "The assuming of an authority of dictating to others, and a forwardness to prescribe to their opinions, is a constant concomitant of this bias and corruption of our judgments: for how almost can it be otherwise, but that he should be ready to impose on others' belief, who has already imposed on his own? Who can reasonably expect arguments and conviction from him, in dealing with others, whose understanding is not accustomed to them in his dealing with himself?" Essay concerning Human Understanding. |