The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of JesusThe Gentleman's observation, that the general belief of the resurrection creates a presumption that it stands upon good evidence, and therefore people look no farther, but follow their fathers, as their fathers did their grandfathers did before them, is in great measure true, but it is a truth nothing to his purpose.-from The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of JesusOne of the most famous-and least read-works of Christian apologetics, this is Anglican bishop Thomas Sherlock's classic 1729 rebuttal to Deist Thomas Woolston's skeptical Discourses of the Miracles of Jesus Christ (1728-1729). Within the framework of a courtroom proceeding in which the Apostles are on trial for faking the Resurrection, Sherlock pits Woolston's own arguments against his own powerful defense of the "accused." Applying the logic and reason of the law to the Bible, this is a provocative and original interpretation of the story of Jesus' life and death.British theologian THOMAS SHERLOCK (1678-1761) was educated at Eton and Cambridge and served as a Church of England bishop for 33 years. |
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admit Angels answer Apostles apparition argument asleep bear testimony believe charge cheat chief Priests chre Christ's body common consider contradic contrary contrivance Counsel for Woolston course of Nature Court covenant crucifixion dead body death dence Disciples door expected fact false fore fraud Gamaliel Gamaliel's Gentleman thinks give guards hands happened imaginations impostor instances Jerusalem Jews Judge Jury King kingdom laid Lazarus letters of credence Lord Mary Magdalen matter Messias miracles never notions object of sense observation opinion passages Pilate plain plot prediction prejudices pretended Prince proof proper evidence prophecies prophets prove question real body reason reckon rection religion Resurrection of Christ Resurrection of Jesus rise Roman Governor seal sepulchre shew side sincerity spect story suffering sufficient suppose surely surrection suspect suspicion tell thing third day thought tion tleman told true truth women words
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Page 40 - Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Page 51 - ... to which I am not conscious ; that my blood moves in a perpetual round, which is contrary to all known laws of motion ; I cannot but think that the preservation of my life, in every moment of it, is as great an act of power as is necessary to raise a dead man to life.
Page 48 - That he was not alive, when you heard him, saw him, felt him, and conversed with him ? You could not suspect this without giving up all your senses, and acting in this case as you act in no other. Here then you would question whether the man had ever been dead. But would you say that it is incapable of being made plain by human testimony that this or that man died a year ago ? It cannot be said.
Page 5 - 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...
Page 7 - 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 Counsel for Woolston to begin.
Page 5 - ... 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 much persuasion he suffered himself...
Page 50 - And when men on proper evidence and information admit things contrary to this presupposed course of nature, they do not, as the gentleman expresses it, quit their own sense and reason, but in truth they quit their own mistakes and prejudices. In the case before us, the case of the resurrection, the great difficulty arises from the like prejudice. We all know...
Page 48 - ... the evidence of others, it is because you do not believe them, and not because the facts in their own nature exclude all evidence. Suppose a man should tell you that he was come from the dead ; you would be apt to suspect his evidence. But what would you suspect ? That he was not alive, when you heard him, saw him, felt him, and...
Page 20 - Because it must be difficult, if not impossible, to introduce among men (who in all civilized countries are bred up in the belief of some revealed religion) a revealed religion wholly new, or such as has no reference to a preceding one ; for that would be to combat all men on too many respects, and not to proceed on a sufficient number of principles necessary to be assented to by those on whom the first impressions of a new religion are proposed to be made...