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Page 36
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?
But, much more than this can be said upon this topic; for it can be
shown, that the Apostles in preaching Christianity, did not suffer
near so much as some well meaning enthusiasts in modern times
have suffered, to propagate religious tenets, notoriously false and
absurd. And that the Apostles could expect to get neither fame, nor
honour, nor riches by their preaching is doubtful. This is certain
that they could not lose much. For they were confessedly men of
the lowest rank in society, and of great poverty--poor fishermen,
who could not feel a very great regard for their own dignity, or
respectability. And it was by no means a small thing for such men
to be considered as divine Apostles, and �in exchange for
heavenly things,� to have the earthly possessions of their converts
laid at their feet. Peter left his nets, his boat, and boorish
companions, and after persuading his disciples to receive his words
for oracles, go where he would, he found ample hospitality from
them. This, at least, was an advantageous change, and though they
did not acquire fame, or respect from the higher ranks of society,
they were at least had in great respect by their followers. Neither
George Fox, nor Whitfield, nor Westley were honoured by the
nobility, or gentry, or scholars of England; nor Ann Lee, by the
most respectable citizens of the United States. Yet among their
disciples, the Quakers, the Methodists, and the Shakers they were
held by the most implicit veneration and can any man believe that
they did not think themselves thus well payed for the trouble of
making converts?
It is true that the Apostles did not acquire riches, for they were
conversant only with the poor. But neither had they any to lose, by
taking up the profession of Apostles, and Preachers. At least by
preaching the gospel, they obtained food, and clothing, and
contributions; as is evident from many places in the Epistles,
where they write to their converts, �It is written, �thou shalt not
muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn;�� and Paul tells them,
that they must not think from this place, that God takes care for
oxen, �for, (says he,) it was undoubtedly written for our sakes.�
Thus we see that the gospel was by no means altogether
unprofitable, and many men daily risk their lives for less gain than
the Apostles did.
As to the dangers to which it is said they exposed themselves, they
had none to fear, except in Judea, which they quickly quitted,
finding the Jews too stubborn, and went to the Greeks. From the
Greeks, and likewise from the Romans, they had not much to fear,
who were not very difficult or scrupulous in admitting new gods,
and new modes of worship. Besides this, the Romans for a great
while seem to have considered the Christians merely as a Jewish
sect who differed from the rest of the Jews in matters not worth
notice; as is to be gathered from Tacitus and Suetonius. And if the
Apostles did speak against the Pagan gods, it was no more than
what the Roman poets and philosophers did; and the magistrates
were not then very severe about it. And it is evident from the Acts
of the Apostles, that the Roman praetors considered the
accusations against Paul and his companions, as mere trifles. But
in Judea, where the danger was evident, it was otherwise. When
Paul was in peril there, on account of his transgressions against the
law, after being delivered from the Jews by the Roman garrison at
Jerusalem, he pleaded before Festus and Agrippa, that he was
falsely accused by the Jews; and he asserted that he had taught
nothing against the Law of Moses, and his country, but that he only
preached about the resurrection of the dead; and that it was for this
that the Jews persecuted him; and ended by appealing to Caesar.
When yet he knew that this was not the reason of the hatred of the
Jew against him; but that it was because he taught that
circumcision, and the Law of Moses were abolished, and no longer
binding: which is evident to any one who will read the Acts, and
the Epistle to the Galatians. So you see by what manoeuvre he got
out of the difficulty: first, by at least equivocating, and then by
refusing to be tried by his own countrymen, and appealing to
Caesar; thus securing himself a safe conduct out of Judea, which
was too dangerous for him. Among the Gentiles, their doctrine had
a better chance of success, for they taught them marvellous
doctrines, such as they had been accustomed to listen to, viz. how
the Son of God was born of a virgin, and was cruelly put to death;
and that his Divine Father raised him from the dead. The idea of
God�s having a son of a woman did not shock them, for all their
demigods they believed had been so begotten; and a great part of
their poems are filled with the exploits and the sufferings of these
heroes, who are at length rewarded by being raised from earth to
heaven, as Jesus is said to have been. These doctrines were not
disrelished by the common people, but were rejected by the wise
and learned. Accordingly we see that Paul could make nothing of
the philosophers of Athens, who derided him, and considered him
as telling them a story similar to those of their own mythology,
when he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And in
revenge, we see Paul railing against both the stubborn Jews, and
the incorrigible philosophers, as being unworthy of knowing �the
hidden wisdom,� which was to the one �a stumbling block,� and
to the other, �foolishness,� and which he thought fit only for �the
babes,� and �the devout women,� with whom he principally dealt.
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