"
"Thou judgest well. It would be madness and absurdity in the extreme to
deny the existence of thy historian, or the events to which he refers;
and yet a record which to thee is of the greatest moment, wherein thine
own interests are for ever involved, and to the truth of which there is
much more clear and irrefragable testimony, thou rejectest as a fraud
and an imposture."
"What proof can its promulgers give me of the infallibility of their
doctrines, even supposing these events to be true?"
"Miracles, acknowledged to be such, contravening and transcending the
common course of nature,--these, I reckon, will be a sufficient warranty
that the message is from the great Author of all things Himself."
"I own these are the strongest evidences that I could require, and I
would admit them if I had witnessed their performance."
"Good. Now to the proof. It is impossible that any simple fact could be
imposed, or that a number of persons could be made to believe they had
witnessed such fact, unless it had actually taken place. For instance,
if I were to assert that I had divided the waters of this river here, in
the presence of the inhabitants, and that I had once led the whole of
them over dryshod, the waters standing like a wall on each side, to
guard their path, appealing to them at the same time in proof of my
testimony; it would be impossible, I say, to convince those people it
were true, provided the event had not happened.
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