The Trial of the Witnessses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
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Thomas Sherlock >> The Trial of the Witnessses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
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The TRIAL
of the
WITNESSES
of the
RESURRECTION
of
JESUS CHRIST
N.B. Not only Mr. Woolston's objections in his Sixth Discourse on our
Saviour's Miracles, but those also which he and others have published
in other Books, are here considered.
First Published about the Year 1729
THE
T R I A L
OF THE
WITNESSES
OF THE
Resurrection of Jesus
We were, not long since, some Gentlemen of the inns of court together,
each to other so well known, that no man's presence was a confinement
to any other, from speaking his mind on any subject that happened to
arise in conversation. The meeting was without design, and the
discourse, as in like cases, various. Among other things we fell upon
the subject of Woolston's trial and conviction, which had happened some
few days before. That led to a debate, How the law finds in such
cases? what punishment it inflicts? and, in general, whether the law
ought at all to interpose in controversies of this kind? We were not
agreed in these points. One, who maintained the favorable side to
Woolston, discovered a great liking and approbation of his discourses
against the miracles of Christ, and seemed to think his arguments
unanswerable. To which another replied, I wonder that one of your
abilities, and bred to the profession of the law, which teaches us to
consider the nature of evidence, and its proper weight, can be of that
opinion: I am sure you would be unwilling to determine a property of
five shillings upon such evidence, as you now think material enough to
overthrow the miracles of Christ.
It may easily be imagined, that this opened a door to much
dispute, and determined the conversation for the remainder of the
evening to this subject. The dispute ran thro' almost all the
particulars mentioned in Woolston's pieces; but the thread of it was
broken by several digressions, and the pursuit of things which were
brought accidentally into the discourse. At length one of the company
said pleasantly; Gentlemen, you don't argue like lawyers; if I were
judge in this cause, I would hold you better to the point. The company
took the hint, and cried, they should be glad to have the cause
reheard, and him to be the judge. The Gentlemen who had engaged with
mettle and spirit in a dispute which arose accidentally, seemed very
unwilling to be drawn into a formal controversy; and especially the
Gentleman who argued against Woolston, thought the matter grew too
serious for him, and excused himself from undertaking a controversy in
religion, of all others the most momentous. But he was told, that the
argument should be confined merely to the nature of the evidence; and
that might be considered, without entering into any such controversy as
he would avoid; and, to bring the matter within bounds, and under one
view, the evidence of Christ's resurrection, and the exceptions taken
to it, should be the only subject of the conference. With such
persuasion he suffered himself to be persuaded, and promised to give
the company, and their new-made judge, a meeting that day fortnight.
The judge and the rest of the company were for bringing on the cause a
week sooner; but the council for Woolston took the matter up, and said,
Consider, Sir, the Gentleman is not to argue out of Littleton,
Plowden, or Coke, authors to him well known; but he must have his
authorities from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and a fortnight is time
little enough of all conscience to gain a familiarity with a new
acquaintance: and, turning to the Gentleman, he said, I'll call upon
you before the fortnight is out, to see how reverend an appearance you
make behind Hammond on the New Testament, a concordance on one hand,
and a folio Bible with references on the other. You shall be welcome,
Sir, replied the Gentleman; and perhaps you may find some company more
to your own taste. He is but a poor council who studies on one side of
the question only; and therefore I will have your friend Woolston,
T____l, and C___s, to entertain you when you do me the favor of the
visit. Upon this we parted in good humour, and all pleased with the
appointment made, except the two Gentlemen who were to provide the
entertainment.
The Second Day
The company met at the time appointed: but as it happened in
this, as in like cases it often does, that some friends to some of the
company, who were not of the party the first day, had got notice of the
meeting; and the Gentlemen who were to debate the question, found they
had a more numerous audience than they expected or desired. He
especially who was to maintain the evidence for the resurrection, began
to excuse the necessity he was under of disappointing their
expectation, alledging that he was not prepared; and he had persisted
in excusing himself, but that the strangers who perceived what the case
was, offered to withdraw; which the Gentleman would by no means consent
to: they insisting to go, he said, he would much rather submit himself
to their candour, unprepared as he was, than be guilty of such
rudeness, as to force them to leave the company. Upon which one of the
company, smiling, said, It happens luckily that our number is
increased: when we were last together, we appointed a judge, but we
quite forgot a jury: and now, I think, we are good men and true,
sufficient to make one. This thought was pursued in several allusions
to legal proceedings; which created some mirth, and had this good
effect, that it dispersed the solemn air, which the mutual compliments
upon the difficulty before mentioned had introduced, and restored the
ease and good humour natural to the conversation of Gentlemen.
The judge perceiving the disposition of the company, thought it a
proper time to begin, and called out, Gentlemen of the jury, take your
places; and immediately seated himself at the upper end of the table.
The company sat round him, and the judge called upon the council for
Woolston to begin.
Mr. A. Council for Woolston, addressing himself to the judge,
said,
May it please your Lordship, I conceive the Gentleman on the
other side ought to begin, and lay his evidence, which he intends to
maintain, before the court; till that is done, it is to no purpose for
me to object. I amy perhaps object to something which he will not
admit to be any part of his evidence; and therefore I apprehend, the
evidence ought in the first place to be distinctly stated.
Judge. Mr. B What say you to that?
Mr. B. Council on the other side:
My Lord, If the evidence I am to maintain, were to suppose any
new claim; if I were to gain any thing which I am not already possessed
of, the Gentleman would be in the right: but the evidence is old, and
is matter of record; and I have been long in possession of all that I
claim under it. If the Gentleman has anything to say to dispossess me,
let him produce it; otherwise I have no reason to bring my own title
into question. And this I take to be the known method of proceeding
in such cases: no man is obliged to produce his title to his
possession; it is sufficient if he maintain it when it is called in
question.
Mr A. Surely, my Lord, the Gentleman mistakes the case. I can
never admit myself to be out of possession of my understanding and
reason; and since he would put me out of this possession, and compel me
to admit things incredible, in virtue of the evidence he maintains, he
ought to set forth his claim, or leave the world to be directed by
common sense.
Judge. Sir, you say right, upon supposition that the truth of
the Christian religion were the point in question. In that case it
would be necessary to produce the evidence for the Christian religion.
But the matter now before the court is, Whether the objections produced
by Mr. Woolston, are of weight to overthrow the evidence of Christ's
resurrection? You see then the evidence of the resurrection is supposed
to be what it is on both sides; and the thing immediately in judgement
is, the value of the objections; and therefore they must be set forth.
The court will be bound to take notice of the evidence, which is
admitted as a fact on both parts. Go on, Mr. A.
Mr. A. My Lord, I submit to the direction of the court, I cannot
but observe, that the Gentleman on the other side, unwilling as he
seems to be to state his evidence, did not forget to lay in his claim
to prescription; which is perhaps, in truth, tho' he has too much skill
to own it, the very strength of his cause. I do allow, that the
Gentleman maintains nothing, but what his father and grandfather, and
his ancestors, beyond time of man's memory, maintained before him: I
allow too, that prescription in many cases makes a good title; but it
must always be with this condition, that the thing is capable of being
prescribed for: and I insist, that prescription cannot run against
reason and common sense. Customs may be pleaded by prescription; but
if, upon showing the custom, anything unreasonable appears in it, the
prescription fails; for length of time works nothing towards the
establishing anything that could never have a legal commencement. And
if this objection will overthrow all prescriptions for customs; the
mischief of which extends perhaps to one poor village only, and affects
them in no greater a concern, than their right of common upon a ragged
mountain: shall it not much more prevail, when the interest of mankind
is concerned, and in no less a point than his happiness in this life,
and all his hopes for futurity? Besides, if prescription must be
allowed in this case, how will you deal with it in others? What will
you say to the ancient Persians, and their fire-altars? nay, what to
the Turks, who have been long enough in possession of their faith to
plead -----
Mr. B. I beg pardon for interrupting the Gentleman, but it is
to save him trouble. He is going into his favorite common-place, and
has brought us from Persia to Turkey already; and if he goes on, I know
we must follow him around the globe. To save us from this long journey,
I'll waive all advantage from the antiquity of the resurrection, and
the general reception the belief of it has found in the world; and am
content to consider it as a fact which happened but last year, and was
never heard of either by the Gentleman's grandfather, or by mine.
Mr. A. I should not have taken quite so long a journey as the
Gentleman imagines; nor, indeed, need any man go far from home to find
instances to the purpose I was upon. But, since this advantage is
quitted, I am as willing to spare my pains, as the Gentleman is
desirous that I should. And yet I suspect some art even in this
concession, fair and candid as it seems to be. For I am persuaded,
that one reason, perhaps the main reason, why men believe this history
of Jesus, is, that they cannot conceive, that any one should attempt,
much less succeed in such an attempt as this, upon the foundation of
mere human cunning and policy; and 'tis worth to go round the globe, as
the Gentleman expressed himself, so see various instances of the like
kind, in order to remove this prejudice. But I stand corrected, and
will go directly to the point now in judgement.
Mr. B. My Lord, the Gentleman, in justification of his first
argument, has entered upon another of a very different kind. I think
he is sensible of it, and seeming to yield up one of his popular
topicks, is indeed artfully getting rid of another; which has made a
very good figure in many late writings, but will not bear in any place
where he who maintains it may be asked questions. The mere antiquity
of the resurrection I gave up; for, if the evidence was not good at
first, it can't be good now. The Gentleman is willing, he says, to
spare us his history of ancient errors; and intimates, that upon this
account he passes over many instances of fraud, that were in like
circumstances to the case before us. I would not have the main
strength of his case betrayed in complaisance to me. Nothing can be
more material than to show a fraud of this kind, that prevailed
universally in the world. Christ Jesus declared himself a Prophet, and
put the proof of his mission on this, that he should die openly and
publickly, and rise again the third day. This surely was the hardest
plot in the world to be managed; and if there be one instance of this
kind, or in any degree like it, by all means let it be produced.
Mr. A. My Lord, There has hardly been an instance of a false
religion in the world, but it has also afforded a like instance to this
before us. Have they not all pretended to inspiration? Upon what foot
did Pythagoras, Numa, and others set up? Did they not all converse
with the gods, and pretend to deliver oracles?
Mr. B. This only shews, that revelation is by the common consent
of mankind the very best foundation of religion; and therefore every
imposter pretends to it. But is a man's hiding himself in a cave for
some years, and then coming out into the world, to be compared to a
man's dying, and rising to life again? So far from it, that you and I
and every man may do the one, but no man can do the other.
Mr. A. Sir, I suppose it will be allowed to be as great a thing
to go to heaven, and converse with angels, and with God, and to come
down to earth again, as it is to die, and rise again? Now, this very
thing Mahomet pretended to do; and all his disciples believe it. Can
you deny this fact?
Mr. B. Deny it, Sir? No. But tell us who went with Mahomet? Who
were his witnesses? I expect, before we are done, to hear of the
guards set over the sepulchre of Christ, and the seal of the stone.
What guard watched Mahomet in his going or returning? What seals and
credentials had he? He himself pretends to none. His followers
pretend to nothing but his own word. We are now to consider the
evidence for Christ's resurrection, and you think to parallel it, by
producing a case for which no one ever pretended there was any
evidence. You have Mahomet's word; and no man ever told a lie, but you
had his word for the truth of what he said: and therefore you need not
go round the globe to find such instances as these. But this story, it
is said, has gained great credit, and is received by many nations.
Very well. And how was it received? Was not every man converted to
this faith with the sword at his throat? In our case, every witness to
the resurrection, and every believer of it, was hourly exposed to
death. In the other case, whoever refused to believe, died; or, what
was as bad, lived a wretched conquered slave. And will you pretend
these cases to be alike? One case indeed there was, within our own
memory, which, in some circumstances, came near to the case now before
us. The French prophets put the credit of their mission upon the
resurrection of Dr. Emmes, and gave publick notice of it. If the
Gentleman pleases to make use of this instance, it is at his service.
Mr. A. The instance of Dr. Emmes is so far to the purpose, that
it shews to what lengths enthusiasm will carry men. And why might not
the same thing happen at Jerusalem, which happened but a few years ago
in our own country? Matthew and John, and the rest of them, managed
that affair with more dexterity than the French prophets; so that the
resurrection of Jesus gained credit in the world, and the French
prophets sunk under their ridiculous pretensions. That is all the
difference.
Mr. B. Is it so? And a very wide difference, I promise you. In
one case everything happened that was proper to convince the world of
the resurrection; in the other, the event manifested the cheat: and
upon the view of these circumstances, you think it is sufficient to
say, with great coolness, That is all the difference. Why, what
difference do you expect between truth and falsehood? What
distinction _____
Judge. Gentlemen, you forget you are in a court, and are falling
into dialogue. Courts don't allow of chit-chat. Look ye, the evidence
of the resurrection of Jesus is before the court, recorded by Matthew,
Mark, and others. You must take it as it is; you can neither make it
better, or worse. These witnesses are accused of giving false
evidence. Come to the point; and let us hear what you have to offer to
prove the accusation.
Mr. B. Is it your meaning, Sir, that the objections should be
stated and argued all together, and that the answer should be to the
whole at once? or would you have the objections argued singly, and
answered separately by themselves?
Judge. I think this court may dispense with the strict forms of
legal proceeding; and therefore I leave this to the choice of the jury.
After the jury had consulted together, the foreman rose up,
The Foreman of the Jury. We desire to hear the objections argued
and answered separately. We shall be better able to form a judgement,
by hearing the answer while the objection is fresh in our minds.
Judge. Gentlemen, you hear the opinion of the jury. Go on.
Mr. A I am now to disclose to you a scene, of all others the most
surprising. "The resurrection has been long talked of, and, to the
amazement of everyone who can think freely, has been believed through
all ages of the church." This general and constant belief creates in
most minds a presumption that it was founded on good evidence. In
other cases the evidence supports the credit of the history; but here
the evidence itself is presumed only upon the credit which the story
has gained. I wish the books dispersed against Jesus by the ancient
Jews had not been lost; for they would have given us a clear insight
into this contrivance: but it is happy for us, that the very account
given by the pretended witnesses of this fact, is sufficient to destroy
the credit of it.
The resurrection was not a thing contrived for its own sake. No!
it was undertaken to support great views, and for the sake of great
consequences that were to attend it. It will be necessary therefore to
lay before you those views, that you may be the better judge of this
part of the contrivance, when you have the whole scene before you.
The Jews were a weak superstitious people, and, as is common
among such people, gave great credit to some traditionary prophecies
about their own country. They had, besides, some old books among them,
which they esteemed to be writings of certain Prophets, who had
formerly lived among them, and whose memory they had in great
veneration. From such old books and traditions they formed many
extravagant expectations; and among the rest one was, that some time or
other a great victorious prince would rise among them, and subdue all
their enemies, and make them lords of the world. In Augustus's time
they were in a low state, reduced under the Roman yoke; and as they
never wanted a deliverer more, so the eagerness of this hope, as it
happens to weak minds, turned into a firm expectation that he would
soon come. This proved a temptation to some bold, and to some cunning
men, to personate the prince so much expected. And "nothing is more
natural and common to promote rebellions, than to ground them on new
prophecies, or new interpretations of old ones; prophecies being suited
to the vulgar superstition, and operating with the force of religion."
Accordingly, many such imposters rose, pretending to be the victorious
prince expected; and they, and the people who followed them, perished
in the folly of their attempt.
But Jesus, knowing that victories and triumphs are not things to
be counterfeited; that the people were not to be delivered from the
Roman yoke by sleight of hand; and having no hope of being able to cope
with the Emperor of Rome in good earnest, took another and more
successful method to carry on his design. He took upon him to be the
prince foretold in the ancient Prophets; but then he insisted that the
true sense of the prophecies had been mistaken; that they related not
to the kingdoms of this world, but to the kingdom of heaven; that the
Messias was not to be a conquering prince, but a suffering one; that
he was not to come with horses of war, and chariots of war, but was to
be meek and lowly, riding on an ass. By this means, he got the common
and necessary foundation for a new revelation, which is to be built and
founded on a precedent revelation.
To carry on this design, he made choice of twelve men of no
fortunes or education, and of such understandings, as gave no jealousy
that they would discover the plot. And, what is most wonderful, and
shews their ability, while the master was preaching the kingdom of
heaven, these poor men, not weaned from the prejudices of their
country, expected every day that he would declare himself a king, and
were quarreling who should be his first minister. This expectation had
a good effect on the service; for it kept them constant to their
master.
I must observe further, that the Jews were under strange
apprehensions of supernatural powers: and as their own religion was
founded on the belief of certain miracles said to be wrought by their
lawgiver Moses; so were they ever running after wonders and miracles,
and ready to take up with any stories of this kind. Now, as something
extraordinary was necessary to support the pretensions of Jesus, he
dextrously laid hold of this weakness of the people, and set up to be a
wonder-worker. His disciples were well qualified to receive this
impression: they saw, or thought they saw many strange things, and
were able to spread the fame and report of them abroad.
This conduct had the desired success. The whole country was
alarmed, and full of the news of a great Prophet's being come among
them. They were too full of their own imagination, to attend to the
notion of a kingdom of heaven. Here was one mighty in deed and in
word; and they concluded that he was the very prince their nation
expected. Accordingly they once attempted to set him up for a King;
and at another time attended him in triumph to Jerusalem. This natural
consequence opens the natural design of the attempt. If things had
gone on successfully to the end, it is probable that the kingdom of
heaven would have been changed into a kingdom of this world. The
design indeed failed, by the impatience and over-hastiness of the
multitude; which alarmed not only the chief of the Jews, but the Roman
governor also.
The case being come to this point, and Jesus seeing that he could
not escape being put to death, he declared, that the ancient Prophets
had foretold, that the Messias should die upon a cross, and that he
should rise again on the third day. Here was the foundation for the
continuing this plot, which otherwise had died with its author. This
was his legacy to his followers; which, having been well managed by
them and their successors, has at last produced a kingdom indeed; a
kingdom of priests, who have governed the world for many ages, and have
been strong enough to set Kings and Emperors at defiance. But so it
happens, the ancient Prophets appealed to are still extant; and there
being no such prophecies of the death and resurrection of the Messias,
they are a standing evidence against this story. As he expected, so it
happened, that he died on a cross; and the prosecuting of this
contrivance was left to the management of his disciples and followers.
Their part is next to be considered-----.
Mr. B. My Lord, Since it is your opinion that the objections
should be considered singly, and the Gentleman has carried his scheme
down to the death of Christ, I think he is come to a proper rest; and
that it is agreeable to your intention that I should be admitted to
answer.
Judge. You say right, Sir. Let us hear what you answer to
this charge.
Mr. B. My Lord, I was unwilling to disturb the Gentleman by
breaking in upon his scheme; otherwise I would have reminded him that
this court sits to examine evidence, and not to be entertained with
fine imaginations. You have had a scheme laid before you, but not one
bit of evidence to support any part of it; no, not so much as a
pretence to any evidence. The Gentleman was, I remember, very sorry
that the old books of the Jews were lost, which would, as he supposes,
have set forth all this matter; and I agree with him, that he has much
reason to be sorry, considering his great scarcity of proof. And since
I have mentioned this, that I may not be to return to it again, I would
ask the Gentleman now, how he knows there ever were such books? And
since, if ever there were any, they are lost, how he knows what they
contained? I doubt I shall have frequent occasion to ask such
questions. It would indeed be a sufficient answer to the whole, to
repeat the several suppositions that have been made, and to call for
the evidence upon which they stand. This would plainly discover every
part of the story to be mere fiction. But since the Gentleman seems
to have endeavored to bring under one view the many insinuations which
have of late been spread abroad by different hands, and to work the
whole into a consistent scheme; I will, if your patience shall permit,
examine this plot, and see to whom the honour of the contrivance
belongs.
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