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Evidences of Christianity by William Paley

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* Lardner, Cred. edit. 1755, vol. i. p. 23, et seq. The reader will
observe from the references, that the materials of these sections are
almost entirely extracted from Dr. Lardner's work; my office consisted
in arrangement and selection.
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In this epistle appears the following remarkable passage:--"Let us,
therefore, beware lest it come upon us, as it is written; There are many
called, few chosen." From the expression, "as it is written," we infer
with certainty, that at the time when the author of this epistle lived,
there was a book extant, well known to Christians, and of authority
amongst them, containing these words:--"Many are called, few chosen."
Such a book is our present Gospel of Saint Matthew, in which this text
is twice found, (Matt xx. 16; xxii. 14.) and is found in no other book
now known. There is a further observation to be made upon the terms of
the quotation. The writer of the epistle was a Jew. The phrase "it is
written" was the very form in which the Jews quoted their Scriptures. It
is not probable, therefore, that he would have used this phrase, and
without qualification, of any book but what had acquired a kind of
Scriptural authority. If the passage remarked in this ancient writing
had been found in one of Saint Paul's Epistles, it would have been
esteemed by every one a high testimony to Saint Matthew's Gospel. It
ought, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it is
found was probably by very few years posterior to those of Saint Paul.

Beside this passage, there are also in the epistle before us several
others, in which the sentiment is the same with what we meet with in
Saint Matthew's Gospel, and two or three in which we recognize the same
words. In particular, the author of the epistle repeats the precept,
"Give to every one that asketh thee;" (Matt. v. 42.) and saith that
Christ chose as his apostles, who were to preach the Gospel, men who
were great sinners, that he might show that he came "not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Matt. Ix. 13.)

II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement, bishop of
Rome, (Lardner, Cred. vol. p. 62, et seq.) whom ancient writers, without
any doubt or scruple, assert to have been the Clement whom Saint Paul
mentions, Phil. iv. 3; "with Clement also, and other my
fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." This epistle is
spoken of by the ancients as an epistle acknowledged by all; and, as
Irenaeus well represents its value, "written by Clement, who had seen
the blessed apostles, and conversed with them; who had the preaching of
the apostles still sounding in his ears, and their traditions before his
eyes." It is addressed to the church of Corinth; and what alone may seem
almost decisive of its authenticity, Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, about
the year 170, i. e. about eighty or ninety years after the epistle was
written, bears witness, "that it had been wont to be read in that church
from ancient times."

This epistle affords, amongst others, the following valuable
passages:--"Especially remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, which he
spake teaching gentleness and long-suffering: for thus he said:* Be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it my be forgiven unto
you; as you do, so shall it be done unto you; as you give, so shall it
be given unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye show
kindness, so shall kindness be shown unto you; with what measure ye mete,
with the same shall it be measured to you. By this command, and by these
rules, let us establish ourselves, that we may always walk obediently
to his holy words."

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* "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matt. v.
7.--"Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto
you." Luke vi. 37, 38.--"Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again." Matt. vii. 1, 2.
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Again; "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for he said, Woe to that
man by whom offences come; it were better for him that he had not been
born, than that he should offend one of my elect; it were better for him
that a millstone should be tied about his neck, and that he should be
drowned in the sea, than that he should offend one of my little ones."*

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* Matt. xviii. 6. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which
believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged
about his neck, and that he were cast into the sea." The latter part of
the passage in Clement agrees exactly with Luke xvii. 2; "It were better
for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into
the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
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In both these passages we perceive the high respect paid to the words of
Christ as recorded by the evangelists; "Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus;--by this command, and by these rules, let us establish ourselves,
that we may always walk obediently to his holy words." We perceive also
in Clement a total unconsciousness of doubt whether these were the real
words of Christ, which are read as such in the Gospels. This observation
indeed belongs to the whole series of testimony, and especially to the
most ancient part of it. Whenever anything now read in the Gospels is
met with in an early Christian writing, it is always observed to stand
there as acknowledged truth, i. e. to be introduced without hesitation,
doubt, or apology. It is to be observed also, that, as this epistle was
written in the name of the church of Rome, and addressed to the church
of Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhibiting the judgment not only of
Clement, who drew up the letter, but of these churches themselves, at
least as to the authority of the books referred to.

It may be said that, as Clement has not used words of quotation, it is
not certain that he refers to any book whatever. The words of Christ
which he has put down, he might himself have heard from the apostles, or
might have received through the ordinary medium of oral tradition. This
has been said: but that no such inference can be drawn from the absence
of words of quotation, is proved by the three following
considerations:--First, that Clement, in the very same manner, namely,
without any mark of reference, uses a passage now found in the epistle
to the Romans; (Rom. i. 29.) which passage, from the peculiarity of the
words which compose it, and from their order, it is manifest that he
must have taken from the book. The same remark may be repeated of some
very singular sentiments in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Secondly, that
there are many sentences of Saint Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians standing in Clement's epistle without any sign of quotation,
which yet certainly are quotations; because it appears that Clement had
Saint Paul's epistle before him, inasmuch as in one place he mentions it
in terms too express to leave us in any doubt:--"Take into your hands
the epistle of the blessed apostle Paul." Thirdly, that this method of
adopting words of Scripture without reference or acknowledgment was, as
will appear in the sequel, a method in general use amongst the most
ancient Christian writers.--These analogies not only repel the
objection, but cast the presumption on the other side, and afford a
considerable degree of positive proof, that the words in question have
been borrowed from the places of Scripture in which we now find them.
But take it if you will the other way, that Clement had heard these
words from the apostles or first teachers of Christianity; with respect
to the precise point of our argument, viz. that the Scriptures contain
what the apostles taught, this supposition may serve almost as well.

III. Near the conclusion of the epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul,
amongst others, sends the following salutation: "Salute Asyncritus,
Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with
them." Of Hermas, who appears in this catalogue of Roman Christians as
contemporary with Saint Paul, a book bearing the name, and it is most
probably rightly, is still remaining. It is called the Shepherd,
(Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 111.) or pastor of Hermas. Its antiquity is
incontestable, from the quotations of it in Irenaeus, A.D. 178; Clement
of Alexandria, A.D. 194; Tertullian, A.D. 200; Origen, A.D. 230. The
notes of time extant in the epistle itself agree with its title, and
with the testimonies concerning it, for it purports to have been written
during the life-time of Clement.

In this place are tacit allusions to Saint Matthew's, Saint Luke's, and
Saint John's Gospels; that is to say, there are applications of thoughts
and expressions found in these Gospels, without citing the place or
writer from which they were taken. In this form appear in Hermas the
confessing and denying of Christ; (Matt. x. :i2, 33, or, Luke xli. 8,
9.) the parable of the seed sown (Matt. xiii. 3, or, Luke viii. 5); the
comparison of Christ's disciples to little children; the saying "he that
putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery" (Luke
xvi. 18.); The singular expression, "having received all power from his
Father," in probable allusion to Matt. xxviii. 18; and Christ being the
"gate," or only way of coming "to God," in plain allusion to John xiv.
6; x. 7, 9. There is also a probable allusion to Acts v. 32.

This piece is the representation of a vision, and has by many been
accounted a weak and fanciful performance. I therefore observe, that the
character of the writing has little to do with the purpose for which we
adduce it. It is the age in which it was composed that gives the value
to its testimony.

IV. Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient Christian writers, became
bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven years after Christ's ascension;
and, therefore, from his time, and place, and station, it is probable
that he had known and conversed with many of the apostles. Epistles of
Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary. Passages found
in the epistles now extant under his name are quoted by Irenaeus, A.D.
178; by Origen, A.D. 230; and the occasion of writing the epistles is
given at large by Eusebius and Jerome. What are called the smaller
epistles of Ignatius are generally deemed to be those which were read by
Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147.).

In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of
Saint Matthew and Saint John; yet so far of the same form with those in
the preceding articles, that, like them, they are not accompanied with
marks of quotation.

Of these allusions the following are clear specimens:

Matt.*: "Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be
fulfilled by him." "Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless
as a dove."

John+: "Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God: for it knows
whence it comes and whither it goes." "He (Christ) is the door of the
Father, by which enter in Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the
apostles, and the church."

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* Chap. iii. 15. "For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
Chap. x. 16. "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

+ Chap. iii. 8. "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." Chap. x. 9. "I am the
door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved."
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As to the manner of quotation, this is observable;--Ignatius, in one
place, speaks of St. Paul in terms of high respect, and quotes his
Epistle to the Ephesians by name; yet, in several other places, he
borrows words and sentiments from the same epistle without mentioning
it; which shows that this was his general manner of using and applying
writings then extant, and then of high authority.

V. Polycarp (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. 192.) had been taught by the
apostles; had conversed with many who had seen Christ; was also by the
apostles appointed bishop of Smyrna. This testimony concerning Polycarp
is given by Irenaeus, who in his youth had seen him:--"I can tell the
place," saith Irenaeus, "in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught,
and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his life, and the
form of his person, and the discourses he made to the people, and how he
related his conversation with John, and others who had seen the Lord,
and how he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the
Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine, as he had received
them from the eyewitnesses of the word of life: all which Polycarp
related agreeable to the Scriptures."

Of Polycarp, whose proximity to the age and country and persons of the
apostles is thus attested, we have one undoubted epistle remaining. And
this, though a short letter, contains nearly forty clear allusions to
books of the New Testament; which is strong evidence of the respect
which Christians of that age bore for these books.

Amongst these, although the writings of St. Paul are more frequently
used by Polycarp than any other parts of Scripture, there are copious
allusions to the Gospel of St. Matthew, some to passages found in the
Gospels both of Matthew and Luke, and some which more nearly resemble
the words in Luke.

I select the following as fixing the authority of the Lord's prayer, and
the use of it amongst the primitive Christians: "If therefore we pray
the Lord, that he will forgive us, we ought also to forgive."

"With supplication beseeching the all-seeing God not to lead us into
temptation."

And the following, for the sake of repeating an observation already
made, that words of our Lord found in our Gospels were at this early day
quoted as spoken by him; and not only so, but quoted with so little
question or consciousness of doubt about their being really his words,
as not even to mention, much less to canvass, the authority from which
they were taken:

"But remembering what the Lord said, teaching, Judge not, that ye be not
judged; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; be ye merciful, that ye may
obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again." (Matt. vii. 1, 2; v. 7; Luke vi. 37, 38.)

Supposing Polycarp to have had these words from the books in which we
now find them, it is manifest that these books were considered by him,
and, as he thought, considered by his readers, us authentic accounts of
Christ's discourses; and that that point was incontestible [sic].

The following is a decisive, though what we call a tacit reference to
St. Peter's speech in the Acts of the Apostles:--"whom God hath raised,
having loosed the pains of death." (Acts ii. 24.)

VI. Papias, (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 239.) a hearer of John, and
companion of Polycarp, as Irenaeus attests, and of that age, as all
agree, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, from a work now lost, expressly
ascribes the respective Gospels to Matthew and Mark; and in a manner
which proves that these Gospels must have publicly borne the names of
these authors at that time, and probably long before; for Papias does
not say that one Gospel was written by Matthew, and another by Mark;
but, assuming this as perfectly well known, he tells us from what
materials Mark collected his account, viz. from Peter's preaching, and
in what language Matthew wrote, viz. in Hebrew. Whether Papias was well
informed in this statement, or not; to the point for which I produce
this testimony, namely, that these books bore these names at this time,
his authority is complete.

The writers hitherto alleged had all lived and conversed with some of
the apostles. The works of theirs which remain are in general very short
pieces, yet rendered extremely valuable by their antiquity; and none,
short as they are, but what contain some important testimony to our
historical Scriptures.*

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* That the quotations are more thinly strewn in these than in the
writings of the next and of succeeding ages, is in a good measure
accounted for by the observation, that the Scriptures of the New
Testament had not yet, nor by their recency hardly could have, become a
general part of Christian education; read as the Old Testament was by
Jews and Christians from their childhood, and thereby intimately mixing,
as that had long done, with all their religious ideas, and with their
language upon religious subjects. In process of time, and as soon
perhaps as could be expected, this came to be the case. And then we
perceive the effect, in a proportionably greater frequency, as well as
copiousness of allusion.--Mich. Introd. c. ii. sect. vi.
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VII. Not long after these, that is, not much more than twenty years
after the last, follows Justin Martyr (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 258.).
His remaining works are much larger than any that have yet been noticed.
Although the nature of his two principal writings, one of which was
addressed to heathens, and the other was a conference with a Jew, did
not lead him to such frequent appeals to Christian books as would have
appeared in a discourse intended for Christian readers; we nevertheless
reckon up in them between twenty and thirty quotations of the Gospels
and Acts of the Apostles, certain, distinct, and copious: if each verse
be counted separately, a much greater number; if each expression, a very
great one.*

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* "He cites our present canon, and particularly our four Gospels,
continually, I dare say, above two hundred times." Jones's New and Full
Method. Append. vol. i. p. 589, ed. 1726.
_________


We meet with quotations of three of the Gospels within the compass of
half a page: "And in other words he says, Depart from me into outer
darkness, which the Father hath prepared for Satan and his angels,"
(which is from Matthew xxv. 41.) "And again he said, in other words, I
give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and venomous
beasts, and upon all the power of the enemy." (This from Luke x. 19.)
"And before he was crucified, he said, The Son of Man must suffer many
things, and be rejected of the Scribes and Pharisees, and be crucified,
and rise again the third day." (This from Mark viii. 31.)

In another place Justin quotes a passage in the history of Christ's
birth, as delivered by Matthew and John, and fortifies his quotation by
this remarkable testimony: "As they have taught, who have written the
history of all things concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ; and we
believe them." Quotations are also found from the Gospel of Saint John.
What moreover seems extremely material to be observed is, that in all
Justin's works, from which might be extracted almost a complete life of
Christ, there are but two instances in which he refers to anything as
said or done by Christ, which is not related concerning him in our
present Gospels: which shows, that these Gospels, and these, we may say,
alone, were the authorities from which the Christians of that day drew
the information upon which they depended. One of these instances is of a
saying of Christ, not met with in any book now extant.+

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+ "Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ has said, In whatsoever I shall
find you, in the same I will also judge you." Possibly Justin designed
not to quote any text, but to represent the sense of many of our Lord's
sayings. Fabrieius has observed, that this saying has been quoted by
many writers, and that Justin is the only one who ascribes it to our
Lord, and that perhaps by a slip of his memory. Words resembling these
are read repeatedly in Ezekiel; "I will judge them according to their
ways;" (chap. vii. 3; xxxiii. 20.) It is remarkable that Justin had just
before expressly quoted Ezekiel. Mr. Jones upon this circumstance founded
a conjecture, that Justin wrote only "the Lord hath said," intending to
quote the words of God, or rather the sense of those words in Ezekiel;
and that some transcriber, imagining these to be the words of Christ,
inserted in his copy the addition "Jesus Christ." Vol. 1. p. 539.
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The other of a circumstance in Christ's baptism, namely, a fiery or
luminous appearance upon the water, which, according to Epiphanius, is
noticed in the Gospel of the Hebrews: and which might be true: but
which, whether true or false, is mentioned by Justin, with a plain mark
of diminution when compared with what he quotes as resting upon
Scripture authority. The reader will advert to this distinction: "and
then, when Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, as
Jesus descended into the water, a fire also was kindled in Jordan: and
when he came up out of the water, (the apostles of this our Christ have
written), that the Holy Ghost lighted upon him as a dove."

All the references in Justin are made without mentioning the author;
which proves that these books were perfectly notorious, and that there
were no other accounts of Christ then extant, or, at least, no other so
received and credited as to make it necessary to distinguish these from
the rest.

But although Justin mentions not the author's name, he calls the books,
"Memoirs composed by the Apostles;" "Memoirs composed by the Apostles
and their Companions;" which descriptions, the latter especially,
exactly suit with the titles which the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles
now bear.

VIII. Hegesippus (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 314.) came about thirty
years after Justin. His testimony is remarkable only for this
particular; that he relates of himself that, travelling from Palestine
to Rome, he visited, on his journey, many bishops; and that, "in every
succession, and in every city, the same doctrine is taught, which the
Law and the Prophets, and the Lord teacheth." This is an important
attestation, from good authority, and of high antiquity. It is generally
understood that by the word "Lord," Hegesippus intended some writing or
writings, containing the teaching of Christ; in which sense alone the
term combines with the other term "Law and Prophets," which denote
writings; and together with them admit of the verb "teacheth" in the
present tense. Then, that these writings were some or all of the books
of the New Testament, is rendered probable from hence, that in the
fragments of his works, which are preserved in Eusebius, and in a writer
of the ninth century, enough, though it be little, is left to show, that
Hegesippus expressed divers thing in the style of the Gospels, and of
the Acts of the Apostles; that he referred to the history in the second
chapter of Matthew, and recited a text of that Gospel as spoken by our
Lord.

IX. At this time, viz. about the year 170, the churches of Lyons and
Vienne, in France, sent a relation of the sufferings of their martyrs to
the churches of Asia and Phrygia. (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 332.) The
epistle is preserved entire by Eusebius. And what carries in some
measure the testimony of these churches to a higher age, is, that they
had now for their bishop, Pothinus, who was ninety years old, and whose
early life consequently must have immediately joined on with the times
of the apostles. In this epistle are exact references to the Gospels of
Luke and John, and to the Acts of the Apostles; the form of reference
the same as in all the preceding articles. That from Saint John is in
these words: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Lord, that
whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service." (John xvi.
2.)

X. The evidence now opens upon us full and clear. Irenaeus (Lardner,
vol. i. p. 344.) succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons. In his youth he
had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John. In the time
in which he lived, he was distant not much more than a century from the
publication of the Gospels; in his instruction only by one step
separated from the persons of the apostles. He asserts of himself and
his contemporaries, that they were able to reckon up, in all the
principal churches, the succession of bishops from the first. (Adv.
Haeres. 1. iii. c. 3.) I remark these particulars concerning Irenaeus
with more formality than usual, because the testimony which this writer
affords to the historical books of the New Testament, to their
authority, and to the titles which they bear, is express, positive, and
exclusive. One principal passage, in which this testimony is contained,
opens with a precise assertion of the point which we have laid down as
the foundation of our argument, viz., that the story which the Gospels
exhibit is the story which the apostles told. "We have not received,"
saith Irenaeus, "the knowledge of the way of our salvation by any others
than those by whom the Gospel has been brought to us. Which Gospel they
first preached, and afterwards, by the will of God, committed to
writing, that it might be for time to come the foundation and pillar of
our faith.--For after that our Lord arose from the dead, and they (the
apostles) were endowed from above with the power of the Holy Ghost
coming down upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all things.
They then went forth to all the ends of the earth, declaring to men the
Message of heavenly peace, having all of them, and every one, alike the
Gospel of God. Matthew then, among the Jews, wrote a Gospel in their own
language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel at Rome, and
founding a church there: and after their exit, Mark also, the disciple
and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writing the things that had
been preached by Peter and Luke, the companion of Paul, put down in a
book the Gospel preached by him (Paul). Afterwards John, the disciple of
the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise published a
Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus in Asia." If any modern divine should
write a book upon the genuineness of the Gospels, he could not assert it
more expressly, or state their original more distinctly, than Irenaeus
hath done within little more than a hundred years after they were
published.

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We do not know the women's names, but their voices are quite distinct. All are pregnant. But while the first woman awaits the birth of her baby with a moon-like serenity, the other two are not so lucky. One, whose previous pregnancies have failed to go to term, is experiencing a heartbreaking late miscarriage; the other is a young student whose accidental pregnancy will end in her child being put up for adoption.

Sylvia Plath's only play was never intended for the stage, being broadcast instead on BBC radio in August 1962. Less than six months later, Plath killed herself, but not before the burst of astonishing creative energy that produced her extraordinary, terrifying Ariel poems.

Anyone who knows Plath's poetry will see the connection between Three Women and Plath's subsequent poems, particularly in the way she talks about the agony of childbirth, the rush of love for this tiny alien being, and both the wonder and wounded rawness of motherhood. It is a beautiful piece, full of startling imagery that draws you in through the sheer intensity of its femaleness, and because it so precisely articulates the emotions that are often thought but seldom voiced by women - certainly not in the early 1960s - about men, motherhood and our relationship to our bodies.

It's been 20 years since there has been an attempt at a professional stage version and - in a theatre world that happily accepts the poetic offerings of Sarah Kane and Debbie Tucker Green, or the staged possibilities of The Waves, one of Plath's own inspirations for the piece, I see no reason why it shouldn't be brought to life. Sadly, it doesn't breathe here, in a production by Robert Shaw that is clearly a labour of love, but which never finds a way to give the internal a physical reality. Plath's poetry, like most babies, is more robust than it appears - and won't break if treated with a little less reverence and considerably more grit.

Instead, what we are offered is tinkling piano music, mournful mood lighting, an innocuous pale setting, as well as three perfectly good but indisputably ladylike performances that capture none of the wounded redness of Plath's poetry, and do her the disservice of making her sound bleached and somewhat prissy. It's a pity. What might have been a wonder ends up a mere curiosity.

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