do not receive it. The case is not the same. He who heard the preaching of the apostles, accredited by such miracles as Jesus promised them in the 17th and 18th verses of this chapter, had it in his power to examine whether they were true, and to believe. If he disbelieved, it was his own fault. If even now the ablest missionary were to preach to heathens, it might be an easy thing to convince them of the absurdity of idolatry; but it would be much more difficult to convince them of the truth of the Christian religion. The question then would be, whether the books, in which the miracles and prophecies are recorded, and which are produced by the missionary as documents attesting the truth of the religion, are ancient and authentic; and against this the heathen may entertain an innocent suspicion, especially if the missionary previously convinces him that the religious books of the heathen,-as, for instance, the Vedam of the Indians, are neither ancient nor authentic.

17. "And these signs shall follow them that believe."] The apostles not only received the gift of performing miracles, but of communicating certain powers to the faithful by the imposition of hands; and this was, assuredly, the

most irrefragable proof of the divinity of the gospel. See Acts viii. 14-18; xix. 1–7; and 1 Cor. xii. xiii. xiv.

18. "Take up serpents."] Or, as it is in some manuscripts, "and take up serpents with their hands;" although I do not consider this addition to be genuine. The only instance of such a miracle recorded in the New Testament, is Acts xxviii. 3-6. It has been asserted by some critics, that the words in the common text, and which are in all manuscripts and translations, are not genuine; and that they should be, "and they shall banish all serpents;"> although it is not pretended Paul banished all serpents from Malta. But such criticisms cannot affect the authenticity of the received text I cannot refrain from saying, that these words do not exactly please me; although my objection to them is of another kind, and rests upon this, that from want of perspicuity, they have not sufficient dignity, and, at the first sight, strike the reader as something inferior. To have serpents in your hands, namely, such as are accustomed to it, or rather whose four poisonous teeth are taken out; or to hold them by the tail, when they cannot turn round their head to seize the hand, is one of the common

mountebank tricks of impostors in Asia and Egypt it is scarcely credible, that the apostles would imitate this degraded piece of art, to take up serpents in their hands that really had their venomous teeth entire. What happened to Paul, upon whose hand a serpent dashed from the fire, and coiled round him, is totally distinct; it happened only once, and was not so much taking up serpents, as remaining uninjured by them. I would not, however, upon this account, expunge words which are SO common in manuscripts and old translations; but rather let my doubts operate upon the whole of this appendix to Mark.

XI. JESUS SHOWS HIMSELF EIGHT DAYS AFTERWARDS TO THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES, AND ESPECIALLY TO THOMAS, WHO WOULD NOT BELIEVE IN HIS RESURRECTION.

JOHN XX. 24-31.

24. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25. "The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26. "And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27. "Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing.

28. "And Thomas answered and said unto him,

My Lord and my God.

29. "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

30. "And

many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name.”

A very important history, and highly satisfactory in investigating the truth of the resurrection, that one, at least, who doubted, was present amongst the eleven disciples. Thomas, whose character we learn more accurately from John, than from any other evangelist, seems to have been quite the reverse of credulous, and by no means formed for a belief in miracles. The disciples had already witnessed the resurrection of the dead, in the case of Lazarus, and when Jesus, in speaking of him, as one that he held dear, says that he is going to wake him out of sleep, the idea of a resurrection never occurred to Thomas; but he expresses himself, as if they were all in danger, by going to Lazarus, and that they would die if they went into Judæa. When, on the other hand, Jesus had predicted with sufficient clearness, his approaching death, preparatory to his going to the Father, and had added: "And whither I go,