abroad among the
brethren, that that disciple should not die." Suppose that this had come
down to us amongst the prevailing opinions of the early Christians, and
that the particular circumstance from which the mistake sprang had been
lost (which, humanly speaking, was most likely to have been the case),
some, at this day, would have been ready to regard and quote the error
as an impeachment of the whole Christian system. Yet with how little
justice such a conclusion would have been drawn, or rather such a
presumption taken up, the information which we happen to possess enables
us now to perceive. To those who think that the Scriptures lead us to
believe that the early Christians, and even the apostles, expected the
approach of the day of judgment in their own times, the same reflection
will occur as that which we have made with respect to the more partial,
perhaps, and temporary, but still no less ancient, error concerning the
duration of Saint John's life. It was an error, it may be likewise said,
which would effectually hinder those who entertained it from acting the
part of impostors.

The difficulty which attends the subject of the present chapter is
contained in this question; If we once admit the fallibility of the
apostolic judgment, where are we to stop, or in what can we rely upon
it? To which question, as arguing with unbelievers, and as arguing for
the substantial truth of the Christian history, and for that alone, it
is competent to the advocate of Christianity to reply, Give me the
apostles' testimony, and I do not stand in need of their judgment; give
me the facts, and I have complete security for every conclusion I want.

But, although I think that it is competent to the Christian apologist to
return this answer, I do not think that it is the only answer which the
objection is capable of receiving. The two following cautions, founded,
I apprehend, in the most reasonable distinctions, will exclude all
uncertainty upon this head which can be attended with danger.

First, to separate what was the object of the apostolic mission, and
declared by them to be so, from what was extraneous to it, or only
incidentally connected with it. Of points clearly extraneous to the
religion nothing need be said. Of points incidentally connected with it
something may be added. Demoniacal possession is one of these points:
concerning the reality of which, as this place will not admit the
examination, nor even the production