The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the OldEnglish, George Bethune
Religion
The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the Old
English, George Bethune
Rationalism
martyrdom will support any religion; and it has, in fact, been
cheerfully undergone by enthusiasts and zealots of all religions, in
testimony of the firm belief of the sufferers not only in the
absurdities of Popery, and Brachinanism, but of every, even
the most monstrous system that ever disgraced the human
understanding. There have been martyrs for Atheism itself.
This argument of martyrdom has been more particularly applied to
the Apostles and first Christians. "How can it be imagined, (say
Christian Divines,) that simple men like the Apostles could be
induced to leave their employment, and wander up and down, to
teach the doctrines, and testify to the facts of the New Testament,
and expose themselves to persecution, imprisonment, scourging,
and untimely and violent death: unless they certainly knew, that
both the doctrines, and the facts were true? Besides, what honours,
what riches, could they expect to get by supporting false doctrine,
and false testimony?"
To this argument 1 might reply as in the preceding pages, for I
would ask, have we not seen simple and honest men quit their
employments, and wander up and down to preach doctrines which
they not only had no means of certainly knowing to be true, but
which they did not even understand? Have we not seen such
men submit to deprivations of every kind, and exposed to
imprisonment, and the whipping post? And do we not certainly
know that some such have cheerfully suffered a most cruel death?
Is it possible that any sensible man, after reading the History of the
Roman Catholic Missionaries, the Baptists, the Quakers, and the
Methodists, can be convinced of the certain truth of the Christian
religion, or seriously endeavour to convince another of it, by such
an argument as the above?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account