met with in any other ancient writings?

There are a great many other evidences which serve to corroborate
those mentioned, but if you can do _them_ away, no doubt the others
may be as easily removed.

You will duly consider that in disproving the religion of Jesus
Christ, you disprove all religion, for I am satisfied that you will
not pretend that you are making a choice between the gospel and some
other doctrine. No, the choice is between the gospel and no religion
at all.

Come then, strip away all the clouds of superstition, and demonstrate
at once that there has been no sun in the firmament during the whole
of a cloudy day! Soar like the strong pinioned eagle, make your tour
beyond the mists of error and bring us the joyless tidings that there
is no clear sky in the heavens. Can you imagine any thing to be more
pleasing than the coming of one that brought _good_ tidings? But let
us have the worst of it. Show from undoubted authority that there
never was such a man as Jesus, or show that he was a wicked impostor
and deservedly lost his life. Show moreover, that there never were
such men as the apostles of Jesus, or that they were likewise
impostors, and all suffered death for their wicked impiety! Give the
particulars of Saul's madly forsaking the honourable connexion in
which he stood, for the sake of practising a fraud which produced him
an immense income of suffering!

But you say the apostles were not bad men. Very well, then let us see
how good men could tell so many things which they knew were not true,
and suffer and die in attestation of what they knew to be false. You