56. But our writers, we
shall be told, have put forth these statements with false
effrontery; they have extolled3354
| 3354
According to Rigaltius the ms.
reads ista promiserunt in immensum—“have put
forth (i.e., exaggerated) these things to an immense degree falsely,
small matters and trivial affairs have magnified,” etc.; while by
a later hand has been superscribed over in immensum, in ink of a
different colour, extulere—“have
extolled.” |
small matters to an inordinate degree,
and have magnified trivial affairs with most pretentious
boastfulness. And
3355
| 3355
So the ms., 1st ed., and Hildebrand,
while all others read atqu-i—“but.” |
would that all things could have been
reduced to writing,—both those which were done by Himself, and
those which were accomplished by His
apostles with equal
authority and
power. Such an assemblage of
miracles, however, would make you
more incredulous; and perhaps you might be able to
discover a passage
from which
3356
| 3356 So
LB., reading quo for the ms. quod. |
it would seem
very probable, both that additions were made to facts, and that
falsehoods were inserted in writings and commentaries. But in
nations which were unknown to the writers, and which themselves knew
not the use of letters, all that was done could not have been embraced
in the records or even have reached the
ears of all men; or, if any
were
committed to written and connected narrative, some insertions and
additions would have been made by the malevolence of the
demons and of
men like to them, whose care and study it is to obstruct
3357
| 3357 So
most edd., reading intercip-erefor the ms. intercipi—“it is that the
progress be obstructed,” etc. |
the progress
of this
truth: there would have been some changes and mutilations
of words and of syllables, at once to mar the
faith of the cautious and
to impair the
moral effect of the
deeds. But it will never avail
them that it be gathered from written testimony
only who and
what Christ was; for His cause has been put on such a basis, that if
what we say be admitted to be true, He is by the confession of all
proved to have been God.
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