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CHAPTER III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

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Summary

There is satisfactory evidence that many, professing to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct.

Of the primitive condition of Christianity, a distant only and general view can be acquired from heathen writers. It is in our own books that the detail and interior of the transaction must be sought for. And this is nothing different from what might be expected. Who would write a history of Christianity, but a Christian? Who was likely to record the travels, sufferings, labours, or successes of the apostles, but one of their own number, or of their followers? Now these books come up in their accounts to the full extent of the proposition which we maintain. We have four histories of Jesus Christ. We have a history taking up the narrative from his death, and carrying on an account of the propagation of the religion, and of some of the most eminent persons engaged in it, for a space of nearly thirty years. We have, what some may think still more original, a collection of letters, written by certain principal agents in the business, upon the business, and in the midst of their concern and connexion with it.

Type
Chapter
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A View of the Evidences of Christianity
In Three Parts
, pp. 51 - 61
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1794

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  • CHAPTER III
  • William Paley
  • Book: A View of the Evidences of Christianity
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701283.006
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  • CHAPTER III
  • William Paley
  • Book: A View of the Evidences of Christianity
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701283.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • CHAPTER III
  • William Paley
  • Book: A View of the Evidences of Christianity
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701283.006
Available formats
×