A Series of Letters, in Defence of Divine Revelation: In Reply to Rev. Abner Kneeland's Serious Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Same. To Which is Added, a Religious Correspondence, Between the Rev. Hosea Ballou, and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckminster and Rev. Joseph Walton, Pastors of Congregational Churches in Portsmouth, N. H.Ballou, Hosea
Religion
A Series of Letters, in Defence of Divine Revelation: In Reply to Rev. Abner Kneeland's Serious Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Same. To Which is Added, a Religious Correspondence, Between the Rev. Hosea Ballou, and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Buckminster and Rev. Joseph Walton, Pastors of Congregational Churches in Portsmouth, N. H.
Ballou, Hosea
Revelation; Universalism -- Doctrines
2d. Even allowing your supposition, your consequences would be very
unlikely to follow. You surely would not suppose that the apostles
could believe they saw Jesus when they did not, if they had the use of
their reason properly. We must suppose them to have been insane
then.--What then would have been the consequences? Would the authority
have put these mad-men to death? Would they have been persecuted at
all for their misfortune? But these mad-men preached Jesus and the
resurrection to the people, and so convinced them of the fact, that
multitudes believed them, and on this supposition we are now to
_suppose_ our religion was first established in the world! If we may
suppose such things, there are no absurdities that we may not suppose.
You must suppose it to be a very dangerous thing to try a man for his
life by a jury of twelve men, for if the man was innocent of the
murder for which he was indicted and no evidence was produced to
convict him on, these men might all be made to believe, some how, by
some circumstance, "no matter what," that they all saw the murder
committed by this very innocent person on trial.
5th. I thought of saying something on your suggestion of the necessity
of miracles in some future time to convince the Jews that Jesus is the
Messiah, but being a little more careful, than at first, I find you
seem to give up this matter. You say: "considering the prejudices of
the Jews, as a people, I cannot suppose that they will ever believe in
Jesus, as their promised Messias short of being convinced of its truth
by a miracle; and should they return to the land of Palestine, and
there rebuild their temple, at Jerusalem, it would be such a clear
fulfilment of the prophesy of Ezekiel, that it would be equal to a
miracle, and do as much towards corroborating the truth of all the
other prophecies." If the return of the Jews, etc. be equal to
miracles, then it may preclude their necessity. But as this particular
does not immediately concern our general subject it is dismissed.
6th. As none of the evangelists have been particular respecting the
meeting in Galilee, and as this was an appointment even before the
crucifixion, as well as afterward, it is fairly within the reach of
probable conjecture, that this meeting was sufficiently numerous to
justify St. Paul's words. He does not speak of this matter as of a
subject with which his acquaintance was small, for he says; "he was
seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part
remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." He no doubt,
had seen many of this great number and had been informed of the
circumstances of the occasion, and of the time when this multitude was
favoured with this sight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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