Epistles of
Paul, and regarded him as an impostor. They report, among other things,
that he was originally a Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, where he
lived some time; and that having a mind to marry the daughter of the
high priest, he had himself been circumcised; but that not being able to
obtain her, he quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against circumcision,
and against the observation of the Sabbath, and against all the legal
ordinances.--Author.] [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. de la Vie de
St. Paul, by N.A. Boulanger, 1770.--Editor.]

When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening
between the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the
New Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even without the
assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is
of its authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as
regards the authorship, is much better established than that of the New
Testament, though Homer is a thousand years the most ancient. It was
only an exceeding good poet that could have written the book of Homer,
and, therefore, few men only could have attempted it; and a man capable
of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to
another. In like manner, there were but few that could have composed
Euclid's Elements, because none but an exceeding good geometrician could
have been the author of that work.

But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such
parts as tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any person
who could tell a story of an apparition, or of a man's walking, could
have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The chance,
therefore, of forgery in the Testament is millions to one greater than
in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priests or parsons of
the present day, bishops and all, every one of them can make a sermon,
or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if it has been translated
a thousand times before; but is there any amongst them that can write
poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid? The sum total of a parson's
learning, with very few exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, haec, hoc;
and their knowledge of science is, three times one is three; and this is
more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time,
to have written all the books of the New Testament.

As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was