We were compelled to pronounce the
evidence for the Resurrection and Ascension absolutely and hopelessly
inadequate to prove the reality of such stupendous miracles, which must
consequently be unhesitatingly rejected. There is no reason given, or
even conceivable, why allegations such as these, and dogmas affecting
the religion and even the salvation of the human race, should be
accepted upon evidence which would be declared totally insufficient in
the case of any common question of property or title before a legal
tribunal. On the contrary, the more momentous the point to be
established, the more complete must be the proof required.
If we test the results at which we have arrived by general considerations,
we find them everywhere confirmed and established. There is nothing
original in the claim of Christianity to be regarded as Divine Revelation,
and nothing new either in the doctrines said to have been revealed,
or in the miracles by which it is alleged to have been distinguished.
There has not been a single historical religion largely held amongst
men which has not pretended to be divinely revealed, and the written
books of which have not been represented as directly inspired. There
is not a doctrine, sacrament, or rite of Christianity which has not
substantially formed part of earlier religions; and not a single
phase of the supernatural history of the Christ, from his miraculous
conception, birth and incarnation to his death, resurrection, and
ascension, which has not had its counterpart in earlier mythologies.
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