belief of any thing that is false, or contrary to piety:— that Jesus Christ was absolutely infallible, as well as free from all sin, because of the Godhead that was always united to him, and which perpetually inspired him; insomuch, that all he taught is as certain as if God himself had pronounced:— and in the last place, that God did often dictate to the apostles the very words which they should use. These five heads are enough to believe. We allow in these things the authority of the holy scriptures, and they who affirm more are deceived (41) .

The case is the same as to differences, want of exactness, and small mistakes. We may justly celebrate the harmony or agreement

of the sacred writers, with regard to the principal transactions by them mentioned,

as a strong proof of the integrity of the evangelists, and of the certainty of the fact. This evinces the truth of christianity: but in matters of very small moment, we must allow a want of accuracy, or slips of memory, or different informations. This cannot hurt the authority of the gospels, as it proves the honesty of the writers by showing they did not compose by compact: and I think, that some of the evangelists having been eye-witnesses of, and

actors in the facts of the several gospels; and others having written from the information of those who had got a perfect information of all things from the very beginning, is an argument solid and rational for the credibility of the evangelical history. It is sufficient. I am sure it is better to allow this, than to say the writers of the four gospels were mere organs, when the little omissions and inaccuracies observable in their records, cannot be accounted for, if we suppose that God conveyed the facts and truths through them, as pipes, to the world. It must needs be a perfect work, which the spirit of God directs.

No contradiction in St. Mark's and St. John's account of the crucifixion.
As to St. Mark and St. John's accounts, I see no contradiction in the relations. St. John says, (reckoning as the Romans did,

as he was then in Asia, and Jerusalem destroyed) that at the sixth hour, that is, six o'clock in the morning, he brought Jesus out to them again, the last time, and strove to mitigate the rage of the Jews, and save the life of Christ: but as this was what he could not do, he washed his hands before them all