you look further, to the preaching of the apostles, you will find this
was the great article insisted on [Acts 2:22, 3:15, 4:10, 5:30]. And
St. Paul knew the weight of this article, and the necessity of teaching
it, when he said, If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain. You see,
then, that the thing which the apostles testified, and the thing for
which they suffered, was the truth of the resurrection; which is a mere
matter of fact.

Consider now how the objection stands. The council for Woolston
tells you, that it is common for men to die for false opinions; and he
tells you nothing but the truth. But even in those cases their
suffering is an evidence of their sincerity; and it would be very hard
to charge men who die for the doctrine they profess, with insincerity
in the profession. Mistaken they may be; but every mistaken man is not
a cheat. Now, if you will allow the suffering of the apostles to prove
their sincerity, which you cannot well disallow; and consider that they
died for the truth of a matter of fact which they had seen themselves,
you will perceive how strong the evidence is in this case. In
doctrines, and matters of opinion, men mistake perpetually; and it is
no reason for me to take up with another man's opinion, because I am
persuaded he is sincere in it. But when a man reports to me an uncommon
fact, yet such an one as in its own nature is a plain object of sense;
if I believe him not, it is not because I suspect his eyes, or his
sense of feeling, but merely because I suspect his sincerity: for if I
was to see the same thing myself, I should believe myself; and
therefore my suspicion does not arise from the inability of human
senses to judge in the case, but from a doubt of the sincerity of the
reporter. In such cases, therefore, there wants nothing to be proved,
but only the sincerity of the reporter: and since voluntary sufferings
for the truth, is at least a proof of sincerity; the sufferings of the