were we not assured of them from the Writings of the Heathens and had we not a clearer proof in the complaints of the Fathers who certainly were not so extravagant as publickly to complain of an imaginary persecution when it was so dangerous to complain of one that was real And therefore I would fain know what this Christian Faith and Doctrine is which made men so patiently suffer and abandon all things But to my great amazement I find that they believed that a certain crucified man was the Son of God that a man hang'd and nailed on a Cross was the sovereign judg of the World and the object of our Adoration I confess I can't but acknowledg some supernatural power in all this For tho' men of as mean appearance as those who first preached the Gospel might without any Miracles have weigh'd down the Authority of Emperours and Prelates and all the Magnificence and glory of Paganism objects very suitable to the worldly and ambitious heart of a man yet how can we conceive that they could without the help of Miracles perswade men to believe a Paradox so offensive to Reason and which appears at first view so horrible as this that the Son of God was nailed on a Cross We can never perswade our selves without offering violence to our Reason that those who from their youth represented their Deities to themselves as the greatest and most glorious Beings they could imagin and gave the name of Divine to whatever they thought in the highest degree beautiful and magnificent should yet substitute to all these great Ideas the notion of a God who died an infamous Death upon the Cross That not one alone but an infinite number of persons embraced an Opinion that immediately overthrew all their first Ideas of a God that this great change was not gradually and insensibly brought to pass or in the compass of several ages but in a very few years and with an incredible swiftness by the Mystery of vile and contemptible persons of no power or authority in the World and that the passion they had for a Doctrine which seemed at first so monstrous to Men induced them to suffer Death in defence of the same after having renounced their Fortune Reputation and Pleasures But does not prejudice over-rule in all this and make me Fancy I see that distinctly which I perceive but confusedly in truth I ought yet further to distrust my self and tho' I honour Errour too much in suspecting it may be so coherent so united to the Principles of Common sense and involved in so many appearances of Truth yet I will not pass by any scruple for all that has been hitherto said I find then that the Christian Religion was established in the World an hundred years ago I know that the Christians believe in a certain Jesus Christ crucified I know also that this Opinion of theirs was not innate I am fully perswaded that neither the Heathenish Priests nor their ordinary Guides taught them this Doctrin because they were the profess'd Enemies of it I am compelled therefore in despite of my self to credit at least in some respect the Relation the ancient Doctors of the Church unanimously gave of it viz that some persons called Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ went about the World preaching that this same Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Messias whom God had promised to the Jews But these fundamental Truths require a more particular Examination and therefore we must shew more distinctly whether there were ever such men as the Apostles in the World what their Original was what Doctrine they preached and how they were qualified This we shall presently see by laying down for a certain Principle that the Christians had the books of the New-Testament in their possession at that very time we have chose for our fixed point I shall not at present enquire whether those Books are forged or not my design being to argue some time without entring upon that Enquiry For whether they are forged or not at least we learn from them certain undeniable matters of fact which will wonderfully illustrate all our following Enquiries CHAP. V. Which demonstrates that all the matters of fact contained in the Books of the New Testament can never be forg'd IF the New Testament be forged It may well be presumed that the Contrivers of that forgery who certainly could have no other design but to make it pass for truth endeavour'd to ground it upon some foundation either good or bad So that we have reason to believe that tho' they should have invented all that they relate at least they invented not the Names Country and Persons of Jesus Christ and his Apostles under whose Names they speak and to whom they ascribe the Establishment of the Christian Religion For is it probable they should endeavour to perswade men to worship a certain Jew called Jesus the Son of Mary a Galilean too who was crucified at Jerusalem and had several Disciples whose names â—re exactly related if the Jews could have immediâ—tely convinced them of the falsehood of all those matters by producing the Testimony of their own Nation who would have thronged in to tell them â—hat Jesus and his Disciples were only fictitious â—ames and that there was no more to do but conâ—ult all the Registers and Decrees wherein Augustus commanded all the Jews should be taxed in the days of Cyrenius and where it must have appeared that Jesus Christ himself if there was any such Person was also taxed 'T is all one as if a man should publish in this age a book full of excellent precepts of Morality intermixt with several fictitious actions which book he would have the World receive as the Doctrine of some divine and extraordinary man who in the beginning of this age raised up several men from the Dead healed all sorts of Diseases calm'd the Winds and Tempests of the Sea gave Authority to several of his Disciples to work many strange Miracles was at length seiz'd and put to Death in Germany and whose Disciples who bore such and such names and were born in such and such a Countrey came afterwards into France dispersed themselves throughout the other parts of Europe preach'd his Doctrine and at length died all unanimously in defence of it What think you of this Tale And how would it be received in the World but as a System only of many evident and palpable falsities What think you those persons would say of it who should be thus accused of so dreadful a parricide They would certainly reply that that fictitious book was purposely design'd to blast their Reputation But it appears the Jews never attempted to clear themselves after that manner They confess there was such a person as Jesus Christ and that their Fathers put him to Death neither do they deny the least Circumstance of his Life Ministry or Death excepting those which might probably make him pass for the Son of God But we
then must that person do or rather what must an infinite number of persons do who utterly renounce all things for the sake of the Gospel III. There has been found some who have counterfeited Books of Humane Learning but none ever known that were willing to die in defence of their forgery Now none here can be suspected to have forged the Books of the New Testament but only those who suffered Death in defence of the Christian Religion and consequently to confirm the Truth of these matters of fact on which Chistianity it self is founded IV. A man may very well counterfeit a Book of Humane Learning but not always nor in all circumstances and 't would be very ridiculous in a man to forge Letters that must have been written not long ago to whole Societies or Epistles that must have been deposited in the hands of an infinite number of persons and in very many different places Now this must needs be affirmed of all the Epistles of the Apostles which make up a very considerable part of the New Testament And how could the Church of Rome have possibly been made to believe that St. Paul wrote an Epistle to her or the Church of Corinth that she had received two Epistles from him and so of the rest unless it had been so V. This argument is so much the more considerable since he that grants one point in this matter unavoidably grants the whole and if you should agree with me that perhaps one single Epistle among all those of the New Testament was not forg'd you must grant the same thing of them all or at least it will be to no purpose for the Incredulous to to cavil thereupon For what if I should grant the four Gospels to be forg'd does not the Book of the Acts of the Apostles contain nay does it not necessarily suppose the same essential matters of fact related to us in the Gospels should I grant the same of the Book of Acts are not the Epistles of St. Paul sufficient to inform us that Jesus Christ wrought several miracles rose again from the Dead and ascended into heaven and that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Disciples on the day of Pentecost and that 's as much as I desire In a word should I grant all the Epistles of St. Paul to be the works of another man I need but receive those of St. Peter or those of St. John to prove the same thing There being never an Epistle in all the New Testament but what mentions or implies those essential matters of fact without which there can be no such thing as Christianity in the World Let us now see whether we can perswade our selves that all the Books of the New Testament without excepting one fragment or single Epistle amongst them are forg'd and whether we can entertain such a suspicion which no Heretick no Impious or Incredulous Person ever entertained But how is it possible all the Epistles of the Apostles should be forg'd since they must have been committed to an infinite number of Persons as they were really in the begining of Christianity and since Tertullian tells us that in his time they carefully preserved in several Churches the Originals of those Epistles which the Apostles had wrote to them Again in what time and on what occasion could this Forgery have been made Was it during the lives of the Apostles No For could the World consider those Books as Sacred and Divine which the Apostles themselves forg'd Was it then immediately after the Death of the Apostles Do we owe it to Clemens Polycarp and the other Doctors of that Age By no means for those Disciples of the Apostles separated themselves as soon as those great Lights of the World were extinguished Polycarp went to Rome to decide a controversy with a Bishop of Rome occasioned in the Church about the time wherein they were to celebrate the Feast of the Christian Resurrection or Passover Those two great men differed much in that point but yet they both greed unanimously to receive the Writings of the Apostles and to look upon them as the true standard of their Faith and Manners Moreover what Probability is there that so great a number of Churches could have been induced to receive so many false Epistles so soon after the Death of the Apostles and when there was so many Persons yet living who had conversed with them In truth this is so extravagant a Notion that we hold our selves not at all obliged to refute it But it may be objected that the Primitive Christians question'd the Authority of some Epistles such as the Epistle to the Hebrews whose Author was never certainly known the second Epistle of St. Peter that of St. Jude c. I grant it but then I presume that this consideration makes for us since it cannot be conceived that the Ancient Primitive Christians should dispute so long about some Epistles in particular had the rest altogether been as liable to suspicion But may we not reasonably imagin that during those strange disorders which followed the destruction of Jerusalem some Christians either perfect cheats or but partly perswaded of that Faith might have composed the Books of the New Testament and so after having inserted in them whatever stories they pleased ascribed them to the Apostles to gain the greater veneration and respect for their fictions No certainly because the devastation of Jerusalem hinder'd not but that there might be very numerous Churches at Rome at Antioch at Thessalonica Philippi c. whom it would have been impossible to have perswaded that the Apostles had wrote them some Epistles which must have been already deposited in their hands And besides that it appears plainly that the Books of the New Testament were composed before the destruction of Jerusalem because Jerusalem and the Church established at Jerusalem is often mention'd therein without the least hint that Jerusalem was then utterly destroyed Besides how could it come into any mans mind to forge such Books after the destruction of Jerusalem whose design was only to humble the pride of the Jews to induce them no longer to hate the Heathens as being strangers and to perswade them that tho God as yet suffered the carnal worship of their Law they ought not to expect to be justified by that This I say was the end of the New Testament and especially the Epistles of St. Paul who seems earnestly to desire to unite the minds of the two Nations And Heaven having sufficiently declared it self against the Jews by the destruction of their City the confusion of their Tribes and Families and that general dispersion which made them Tributaries to all other Nations there was no need of any further reasons to prove that the Jews were not the only Nation called to the Knowledge of the true God 'T was enough that this proof was evidently written by the hand of God in the just punishment of that people In the mean while 't is necessary to observe
corruption of the Scripture was done before any of the Fathers begun to write that is fifteen or twenty years after the Death of the Apostles But we need only recall to mind all the reasons that perswaded us that the Books of the New Testament were not forged by the Successors of the Apostles and it will appear they are no less conclusive in this place In short we need but joyn the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians who were not certainly so Whimsical as to die in defence of their fictions with the passion the people had for the Writings of the Apostles the Divisions which disunited the Church immediately after their Death the variety of Translations the number of Copies the constant and perpetual Tradition of the Ancient Fathers the connexion of the essential matters of fact of the Gospel which is such that he that admits of one is obliged to admit of the other too as he that believes the Ascension of Jesus Christ is obliged to believe his Resurrection also and he that denies those matters of fact is no longer a Christian the number of the Books which the New Testament consists of the Repetition of the same matters of fact in them the want of Time and Opportunity to invent or essentially corrupt them the impossibility of it unless the Book was wholly forg'd the prodigious multitude of people who must have been imposed upon in that respect the nature of the matters of fact they must have been made to believe viz. that whole Societies had received some Epistles from the Apostles which contained such and such things which they ought to have well remembred the Experience of time past which evidently shews that from Clemens and Polycarp down to us that is for sixteen Ages together the Books of the New Testament were not essentially corrupted the distance of places where those Books must have been forg'd or corrupted together with the impossibility of making many fictions which in all appearance those Books would have been full of pass for Truth and that so soon after the Death of the Apostles when the World had their preaching yet fresh in their memory the silence of the Enemies of the Christians on that account who never mentioned any thing concerning that pretended forgery the distinction the Primitive Christians made at first between the Writings of the Fathers and those of the New Testament which they looked upon as the absolute Rule and Standard of their Faith All these considerations I say put together plainly shew us and that too in an evident manner that it would argue madness in the highest Degree longer to entertain either of the two former Suspicions I pass on therefore to a third which is that the Apostles themselves composed fables for the honour of their Master But since this is the most considerable of them all and that which Julian Mahomet and almost every Incredulous person of these times chiefly urge against us it is but reasonable I should more particularly and throughly examin it in the following Chapters for truly upon that chiefly depends the solid proof of our Religion CHAP. III. That the Apostles did not Write what was false TO comprehend distinctly that the Authors we speak of did not impose upon us in their Writings it is fit to consider those Writings in particular one after another They consist of three principal parts which are the four Gospels the Book of Acts and the Epistle of the Apostles St. Mathew writ the first and his Gospel is quoted by Clemens Bishop of Rome Disciple and Contemporary with the Apostles Barnabas quotes it also in his Epistle And Ignatius and Polycarp who lived in the time of St. John Justin Iraeneus who lived a little after Athenagoras Tertullian and all the other Doctors of the Church which succeeded them unanimously received it There is not only the Gospel according to St. Matthew concerning which 't would be a very difficult matter to entertain any reasonable suspicions but the Gospel according to St. Mark was also a while after written for a second support of our belief The same Fathers who testify of the one testify also of the other Papias Clemens Alexandrinus Justin speak of it and St. Iraeneus relates that Mark the Disciple of St. Peter composed his Gospel of those matters he had heard the latter speak of St. Luke who accompanied St. Paul in all his Travells wrote a third Gospel which the Ancient Fathers have also received Lastly St. John the last of the Apostles composed a fourth Gospel towards the latter end of his days as the Doctors of the Primitive Church tell us and this Apostle declares at the end of it that he himself is the Author of it this is the Disciple says he which testifieth of these things which he has seen chap. 21. 24. It is to be observed first of all that the four Evangelists who all agree in the plainness and ingenuity which appears in their Relations have nevertheless a very different stile from one another Thus St. John expresses himself after a very simple manner if compared with that of St. Luke who being a Phisitian ought to have written in a more lofty stile than St. John who was originally a Fisherman And this consideration removes the Suspicion we might entertain that all those Gospels were composed by one and the same Author Secondly We may observe that altho' these Writers agree essentially in the matters they relate there is nevertheless some small difference betwixt them which very sensibly shews us that they composed their Gospels separately Divine Providence having so ordered it the better to confirm ouâ— Faith Yet our incredulous Adversaries will not stand to this Assertion They will perhaps imagin that the Disciples of Jesus having got together at Jerusalem after the Death of their Master took certain Measures to make men believe certain supposititions matters of fact which they very exactly and precisely set down least they should contradict themselves in the Testimony they should give of them and that after having founded several Churches by then preaching some of them took special care to digest those very matters of fact in Writing which they had preach'd throughout the World after having invented them I think this is the most plausible objection of theirs that is likely to be raised against this subject But in order to confute this imagination it might perhaps suffice to call to mind what I have before mentioned the absurdity there is in supposing that a few simple and ignorant Fishermen dejected by the Death of their Master undeceived of the opinion they had entertained that he was their Messias and so fearful that they fled when he was seized upon in order to his Crucifixion should contrive amongst themselves how to deceive other men when they themselves were so miserably deluded that they should dare to invent a matter of fact which would certainly fix an eternal blot and scandal upon their Nation by making the Jews be looked
Preaching a Church at Jerusalem II. Would you know the time 'T was in the space of three years that the Miracles of Jesus Christ his Death Resurrection and Ascension were brought to pass and a few Weeks after the Ascension the Apostles begun to Preach publickly in Jerusalem III. Would you know the witnesses of the truth of these matters of fact We can produce a great number of persons who both lived and conversed with Jesus Christ himself IV. Would you fain know the nature of the matters of fact here attested We shew you that they are very evident and singular ones that the Sick are healed the Winds and Seas hush'd the Dead raised a man put to death who convers'd with his Disciples and ascended into Heaven c. V. If you would know their number we can shew that the whole Life of Jesus Christ was but one continual series of Miracles VI. Lastly Would you know the proofs of all this The Apostles themselves boast of having received miraculous gifts and that too by a good Title as we shall shew in the sequel of this Work In the interim do but unite all these Circumstances together and see what an irresistible evidence arises from their Union How could the Apostles perswade so many persons concerned in this thing so many that had both known and seen Jesus Christ Would they not soon have lost all Credit if search had been made into the places and the truth of what they affirmed strictly examin'd Or rather how is it possible that whilst they ventur'd to publish such things in the very places where they must necessarily have been brought to pass the Jews should not have stopt the progress of the Gospel by discovering to the World so visible and evident an Imposture For the Apostles did not publish only one single matter of fact of this nature They affirm'd also that their Master had raised Lazarus from the Dead together with the Son of the Widdow of Naim and the Daughter of Jairus that he had heal'd almost an infinite number of people possessed with the Devil Deaf Blind and sick of the Palsy and that his fame had spread throughout all Syria Nor were the Apostles content barely to preach all these things they put them also down in writing and their Writings are dispers'd throughout all the World Therefore they hid not themselves but were willing every one should know the certainty of what they testify'd and examine as much as they pleased the matters of fact they related They gave them out to the World and exposed them to be search'd all manner of ways But supposing I should grant those Books to be written forty fifty or sixty years after the Death of Jesus Christ still is it evident that before that time there was a Church at Jerusalem founded by the preaching of the Apostles and it is certain that the Apostles had declared by word of mouth the Miracles and Resurrection of Jesus Christ which are the essential matters of fact contained in those Books For how could they otherwise perswade the World to worship a crucified man or convince them that Jesus Christ was the true Messias How was it possible the Christians should look upon that Book as Divine which went upon a supposition of what was never done By what kind of agreement should four persons who wrote in different times and places and copy'd not one anothers Writings as is plain if we read them over with never so little attention and consider their different manner of relating the same things I say by what kind of agreement should they have conspired to inform us of the same matters of fact if the Apostles had not first of all unanimously and universally publish'd them How could the Apostles have perswaded men to turn Christians had they not declared the Miracles Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ since Christianity can't subsist without these matters of fact Thus we see 't is to no purpose for Impostors to disguise themselves for all their shifts and tricks serve only to discover them CHAP. V. Where we shall more particularly examine whether the Apostles had the Power or the Will to deceive mankind THose men who have a design to deceive the World must have more skill wit and cunning than others which skill wit and cunning will appear in their works in spite of all their Art and subtilty But when I strictly examine those Authors whom we call Sacred I neither find Cunning Wit nor Affectation in their Books Every thing they contain seems to me very simple naked and open They all exactly relate their own Weaknesses and imperfections They do not conceal their true Birth and extraction They discover their ambition in their controversy who amongst them should be the greatest in the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias their gross ignorance in the Questions they asked their Master and one another viz. What meaneth this to rise again from the Dead their cowardise in betaking themselves to flight at the sight of the Soldiers that came to take away their Master and their incredulity in those scruples they raised concerning his Resurection All these things plainly discover the greatest sincerity and impartiality But yet there arises here a certain scruple which seems not altogether inconsiderable and may deserve a little consideration Who knows perhaps some will object but that this is an affected sincerity which prepossesses our minds in their behalf only to deceive us the more securely In order to overthrow this notion I shall not assert that the Writers we speak of were originally Fishermen and Publicans and that it would seem very strange that men of that Birth and Education should affect simplicity and be capable of so refined apiece of policy of which there can hardly be given an example amongst the most able Politicians that ever took upon them to deceive mankind Neither shall I say that since the four Evangelists composed their Writings apart 't would be very surprising that they should all concur in the design of imposing upon the credulity of men by Writing after so simple and ingenuous a manner and that they should not only be entirely conformable to one another in this respect but also should agree with the other Writers of the New Testament 'T is sufficient to observe that they sometimes relate such things as at first view suggest those notions in us which Piety utterly rejects and Incredulity makes use of to oppose the Christian Religion by attacking its divine head This they would never have done had they only affected an ingenuous simplicity Thus it 's ask'd why Jesus Christ who was subject to his holy and ever blessed Mother according to the observation of the Evangelists should make her this answer which is some what rough and severe Woman what have I to do with thee my hour is not yet come Thus Julian the Apostate Celsus Porphirius and other Enemies of the Christian Religion stick not to say that Jesus Christ gave
Holy Ghost But perhaps 't is a question whether there was ever any Christian Church founded at Jerusalem If so then must the Ancient Doctors of the Church who lived in different times and in different places have conspired together to deceive us in this respect and the Jews and Heathens and all other profess'd Enemies of our Religion as well Ancient as Modern who never contested the truth of this matter of fact must utterly have lost their Reason In a word supposing the Book of Acts composed long after the destruction of Jerusalem that is when there could be no longer any flourishing Church in that City yet there is no point gained For it is true still that the Apostles set down the matter of fact we speak of and that their Epistles are filled with such things as visibly relate to it I shall not here further add that the Book of Acts mentions nothing of the Death of the Apostles which manifestly shews that it was composed during their lives and consequently in a time wherein the Church of Jerusalem flourish'd nor that it mentions nothing of the last destruction of Jerusalem no not so much as any of the signs or presages of it which induces us to believe that that Book was composed some time before that great Event it being very probable that the Author who composed it meerly for the Glory of the Apostles and of the Christian Religion as the Incredulous undoubtedly imagin would never have failed to have inserted in it the History of all those dreadful Misfortunes which fell upon the Jews and which the Christians look upon as the effect of their rejecting the Messias But since my design is not to leave the Reader the least shadow of a doubt I promise to prove by and by that the Apostles both received and imparted many miraculous gifts In the mean while till the Method I have prescribed to my self gives me leave to enter upon that subject I think it fit to make some few Reflexions concerning the success of the Apostles's preaching which is that essential head to which all other matters contained in the Book of Acts relate CHAP. X. Wherein we shall take into Consideration what success the Preaching of the Apostles had THis matter of fact is related with very remarkable Circumstannces As I. That those men who first preached the Gospel were Fishermen that is gross and ignorant people of no appearance or authority in the world II. That those men went about preaching that they had seen Jesus Christ risen from the Dead and ascending into Heaven and that they had long before been Eye-Witnesses to his Miracles III. That they offended by their preaching all the Powers of the World and exposed their persons to an infinite number of Dangers and Misfortunes IV. That they suffered them with Patience or rather with Joy V. That the success of their preaching was so swift and sudden as is almost inconceivable In all this St. Luke has told us nothing but what our own Reason would tell us We may conclude that they were men of no extraordinary birth or credit in the World that first preached the Gospel since no body has ever said any thing to the contrary 'T is manifest that those men ought to have testified that they had seen Jesus Christ work many miracles seen him risen from the Dead and ascending into Heaven because they would never have converted so many Nations as they did had they only said they knew all those things by hear say and besides that the Epistles of the Apostles inform us that that was the subject of their preaching There is no doubt but all the Powers of the World persecuted these men for as much as Policy is an Enemy to all new Sects and the People themselves are always Jealous of their Religion It cannot be doubted neither but that the Apostles very couragiously suffered the effects of that persecution because had they recanted or drawn back for fear of punishments their design would have miscarried in its very beginning Lastly who can deny but that the success of their preaching was very swift and sudden in as much as in a short time there were several Churches established in all parts of the known World This is a matter of fact which was never contested And therefore Reason as well as St. Luke tells us all these things The Book of Acts informs us of the Truth of them and the Nature of things will not suffer us to doubt but that they were so which utterly destroys the suspicion we might entertain that they were all forg'd or invented In the mean time I cannot consider all these matters of fact nor unite them together and observe the proportion they have one with another without presently believing the Truth of that Religion which they so plainly Prove and Establish CHAP. XI Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Epistles of the Apostles THo' the Ancients had not unanimously received the Epistles of St. Paul tho' Clemens Polycarp and Barnabas had made no mention of the second Epistle of St. Peter yet it would be sufficient to observe that they were written to some Churches that is to whole Societies who for a long while preserved the Originals of them to assure us that they were not forg'd 'T is then our concern to see whether we can find therein any Characters of the Divinity of our Religion We cannot Read St. Paul's Epistles without observing therein I. The Piety and Charity of that Apostle II. His Impartiality and Contempt of the advantages of the World III. His Courage in enduring afflictions which instead of disheartning rather overjoy'd him IV. A continual repetition of the Testimony which the Apostles bore of the Truth of the Resurrection of the Lord. V. Such things which manifestly denote that St. Paul had received the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost and that those that then believed very frequently received them The Piety of that Apostle so variously discovers it self in his Writings that we cannot think it dissembled without offering Violence to our Understanding For tho' a man should constrain himself upon some occasions yet is it possible he should after the very same manner during a great part of his life in all his Actions in all his Words in his manner of telling of things which oftener discovers the bottom of the heart than the things he speaks of I know very well Hypocrisy covers it self with the external shew of Vertue but really there is yet something which I can't express a simple and natural air in true vertue which is not to be met with in Hypocrisy or rather Hypocrisy is neither so subtle nor clear sighted but that it discovers it self on one side or other nay often it lets drop a wordwhich unmasques it to the eye of the World However I am willing the Epistles of St. Paul should be strictly examin'd to see whether any thing but what is very natural and sincere can be found
A VINDICATION OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion Against the Objections of all Modern Opposers PART II. Written in French by James Abbadie D. D. Render'd into English By HENRY LUSSAN M. A. of New College in Oxford LONDON Printed for J. Wyat at the Rose and R. Wilkin at the Kings-Head in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCVIII The CONTENTS SECTION I. Containing some Arguments for the Christian Religion drawn from the Testimony of those who were the first Publishers of it THE Design of this Work Page 1 Chap. I. Where we shall enquire whence the Christians had their Original and what their Profession is by looking back into the first Ages wherein they appeared p. 3 Chap. II. Where we shall examin the Martyrdom of the Primitive Christians p. 7 Chap. III. In which we further prove the Truth of Religion by several undeniable matters of Fact p. 10 Chap. IV. Where we yet further prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by several undeniable matters of Fact p. 14 Chap. V. Which demonstrates that all the matters of Fact contained in the Books of the New Testament can never be forg'd p. 17 SECTION II. Wherein we shall prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion by examining the Books of the New Testament CHAP. I. Where we shall prove that those Books can never be Supposititious p. 33 Chap. II. Proving that the Books of the New Testament were never Corrupted p. 39 Chap. III. That the Apostles did not write what was False p. 44 Chap. IV. That the Disciples of Jesus Christ could not impose upon Men in the matter of their Writing or Preaching p. 49 Chap. V. Where we shall more particularly examin whether the Apostles had the Power or the Will to deceive Mankind p. 53 Chap. VI. Where we shall examin the matters contained in the Gospels and see whether they are capable of Illusion or Imposture p. 58 Chap. VII Of the Holyness of Life of Jesus Christ p. 63 Chap. VIII Of the Prophecies of Jesus Christ p. 71 Chap. IX Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Book of Acts. p. 82 Chap. X. Wherein we shall take into Consideration what success the Preaching of the Apostles had p. 86 Chap. XI Wherein we shall examin the matters contained in the Epistles of the Apostles p. 88 Chap. XII Wherein we further examin the Epistles of St. Paul p. 102 Chap. XIII That we ought to look upon the New Testament as a Divine Book p. 107 Chap. XIV Wherein we shall examin those Difficulties which may probably be raised against the foregoing Truths p. 113 Chap. XV. Where we further examin the objections of the Incredulous p. 119 Chap. XVI Where we further examin those Difficulties which may be raised against our Principles p. 126 Chap. XVII Where we further answer the objections of the Incredulous p. 133 SECTION III. Wherein we shall endeavour to carry even to a Demonstration the Proofs drawn from the External Evidence of matters of Fact contained in the New Testament and the inward sense we have of them CHAP. I. Of the natural Temper Dispositions and Inclinations of the Disciples and what sort of prejudices they were possessed with when Jesus Christ Manifested himself to them p. 143 Chap. II. The first Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Miracles of Jesus Christ p. 162 Chap. III. The second Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ p. 184 Chap. IV. The third Center of Truth a particular Consideration of the Ascension of Jesus Christ p. 200 Chap. V. The fourth Center of Truth A particular Consideration of the Effusion of the gifts of the holy Ghost upon the Disciples p. 213 Chap. VI. Wherein we shall joyn all the Miraculous matters of Fact together and form thereby a full and perfect Demonstration of them p. 220 Some reflections on the Gospel according to St. Matthew p. 242 Chap. VII Wherein we shall further Produce out of the other Gospels several places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Truth of the Christian Religion p. 258 Chap. VIII Wherein we shall further produce from the Acts of the Apostles several places very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion p. 274 Chap. IX Wherein we shall yet farther produce from the Epistles of St. Paul St. Peter and St. John several Texts very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion p. 282 SECTION IV. Wherein we shall prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the consideration of its Nature and Properties SEveral Portraitures in which it may be considered Page 300 I Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the multitude of Testimonies given in favour of it p. 301 II Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is opposed to all other Religions p. 307 III Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its effects p. 320 IV Portraiture of the Christian Religion as considered in the Purity of its end p. 325 V Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its suitableness to the necessities of mankind p. 329 VI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the relation it bears to the Glory of God p. 341 VII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its Morality p. 344 VIII Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in its Mysteries p. 360 IX Portraiture of the Christian Religion or the conformity of its Mysteries to the Lights of Reason p. 399 X Portraiture of the Christian Religion or the proportion it bears to the Jewish Religion p. 420 XI Portraiture of the Christian Religion as it is considered in the proportion it bears to Natural Religion p. 432 A TREATISE OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion PART II. Wherein the Christian Religion is proved by its own proper Characters SECTION I. Containing some Arguments for the Christian Religion drawn from the Testimony of those who were the first Publishers of it The Design of this Work IN the first Part of this Work we took our rise from this Proposition There is a God and from thence we proved that Jesus Christ the Son of Mary is the Messias who was to come We shall now take a contrary course and begin with this Proposition There are at present Christians in the World and from thence prove that There is a God who has been pleased to manifest himself by the means of Religion There we have had but a faint prospect of Jesus Christ by the Light of Nature and Revelation of Moses Here we shall as it were draw the Curtain and discover Jesus Christ with that brightness of Truth and fulness of Light as will wonderfully illustrate both the Religion of Moses and the Revelation of Nature and in an excellent manner confirm the truth of the Existence of God In order to which we shall do these three things I. We shall consider the
shell and bark If I may so say of the Christian Religion by examining all those Arguments that are drawn from the external Testimony which the Primitive Christians gave of it and by considering their natural Capacities the discoveries that were made to them their prejudices the peculiar frame of their minds their Martyrdom and the reasons that induced them to suffer it c. And all this before we proceed to the consideration of the Writings of the New-Testament II. We shall consider these Writings themselves and enquire whether they are forged or not We shall examin the subject-matter of them and endeavour both to defend them against the suspicions of the Incredulous by shewing that they contain nothing but what is certainly true and to evince the Divinity of them by the Character of those things they contain III. and lastly We shall endeavour to shew the very substance and spirit of Christianity by discovering the Excellence uses advantages the end genius and in general all the beauties which are proper and natural to it And this is what we design to treat of in the following Sections whereof this second part is composed But since our Adversaries by their prejudices may be inclined to fear lest we should impose upon them by making them believe such Doctrines as can't be proved by Reason and since it is much for our advantage to remove all such suspicions we will for a while doubt of every thing with them and raising our selves by degrees to the Knowledge of those matters of fact which establish Christianity it self admit of nothing for truth but so far as appears evident CHAP. I. Where we shall enquire whence the Christians had their Original and what their Profession is by looking back into the first Ages wherein they appeared IN order to which we suppose that there are now Christians in the World and there have not always been such From this I gather that I must look back into past Ages to find out the Original of my Religion In this search I pass therefore from Age to Age till I come to Constantine without being able to clear this doubt But here we must make a little stop The prosperity of this Prince gives at first some occasion of suspicion and we easily mistrust a man who being Master of the most considerable part of the World seems probably to have established the Christian Religion therein either by Force or Policy looking perhaps upon it as more proper than that of the Heathens to carry on his designs Yet that suspicion soon vanishes since we are assured there were Christians in the World before Constantine's time All the Heathen Writers who lived before him speak of them and the Ecclesiastical Historians are wholly employed in describing their sufferings But supposing that these Historians lived in the days of Constantine or after him they must needs have either lost the use of their reason themselves or have imagined that the men of their age had lost theirs when they give them the History of the Christan Church down from the Apostles to Constantine if 't were certain there had not been Christians in the World before that Prince And therefore this must be too extravagant a suspicion to be entertained long But here is something still more observable viz. that on the one hand the Christians who lived before Constantine were then possessed of the Books of the New-Testament and on the other that those very Christians were so strongly perswaded of the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ of his miracles of the pouring out the holy spirit on the Apostles and of all other matters of fact that establish the Christian Religion that they hardly speak of any thing else their books are full of them and their Doctrine is altogether built upon this foundation And therefore if Constantine invented the matters of fact which establish Christianity he must not only have forged the Books of the New-Testament but also the Writings of Clemens Justin Iraeneus Athenagoras Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Origen and in general of all the Fathers who lived before him because every one of their Writings have an essential relation to those matters of fact that prove the truth of Religion And should we go up a little higher than the reign of Constantine we should hear of Christians that were afflicted during the three first Centuries of the Church and persecuted throughout the whole World and punished with most barbarous and new invented torments They were put to Death upon wheels and scaffolds tortured by fire their flesh torn with pincers their bodies were mangled by cutting off limbs one after another they were thrown into Rivers and cast into the Sea and exposed to Wild Beasts wrapp'd up in garments dipped in sulphur to serve for torches and set up to light Passengers in their Way In fine it was never known that men so universally agreed in any one thing as in their design of tormenting the Christians in so much that the ordinary people who have generally some compassion for the greatest malefactors upon the Scaffold conducted the Christians to the place of Execution with acclamations of Joy Certainly 't is a very difficult matter to restrain one's Curiosity so much as not to desire a more particular Knowledge of a people persecuted by the World with so much rage and malice For to see the whole World so strangely incensed against one sect of men one would easily think them the common Enemies of all mankind and the offspring of Hell it self born for a common plague to the Rest of the World What then were the great Crimes these Christians were guilty of They were accused of impiety murther and incest 'T was pretended that they violated the respect due to the Gods that they murthered their own Children which they scrupled not to eat up after having Killed them and lastly that they lay promiscuously together the Brother with the Sister and the Son with the Mother But first of all there is little likelyhood that the Christians should suffer Death and torments worse than Death it self in defence of a Religon which engaged them to the Commission of such infamous actions That stedfast constancy they shew'd in the midst of their Torments and which their Enemies themselves acknowledged sutes very ill with the voluptuousness and enormities they were accused of Besides were they question'd concerning these Crimes which they are obliged to clear themselves of they would produce in their Behalf the Apologies of Justin Athenagoras and Tertullian wherein they earnestly desired the Senate and Roman Emperours that they would make a strict enquiry into their lives and inflict upon them such torments as were a thousand times if possible more cruel than those they had already endured if they were really guâ—lty of what they were accused They would shew us likewise a letter from Pliny to Trajan which ought to be looked upon as an authentick monument of their Innocence Since Pliny there informs
have here something still more clear and convincing than all this to offer Either those Books which you may think forg'd or not forg'd spread of themselves the Christian Doctrine throughout the World after they had been carried into several Parts of it before there were any Apostles to preach it there or else those Books were composed after the Apostles had published their Doctrine in the different parts of the Universe I see no medium If the Books of the New Testament instructed men in the Christian Doctrine before any of the Apostles had preached it how could the Romans be perswaded that St. Paul which is a meer Name had wrote an Epistle to them or those of Antioch that St. Peter had been in their City or the Galatians that St. Paul had preached the Gospel to them or in general all Judea and Galilee that Jesus Christ with his Disciples had preached there or in particular the people of Jerusalem that he was there condemned to Death by the Sanhedrin c. But if the New Testament was not collected into several Books nor composed till after the Disciples of Jesus Christ had preached the Gospel in the several parts of the World it must follow from thence that there were some Apostles before that time and a certain Jesus Christ crucified who was reputed the Son of God and the true Messias according to the Christian Doctrin So that whether those Books be forg'd or not still I am certain they relate certain fundamental matters of fact which are necessarily true For it is certain there was such a person as Jesus Christ who dwelt in Nazareth and was at last crucified at Jerusalem 'T is also as certain that Peter James and John were Fishermen who followed him out of Galilee and preached the Gospel after his Death in several Parts of the World Wherefore then should I be the only person that should question a thing never so much as doubted of among the Christians or the Jews nay which the Incredulous themselves of these times do not pretend to call in question But to stop a little here It seems that Jesus the Son of Mary living in a certain Corner of Judea pretended himself to be the Son of God or if you will the Messias 'T is very strange indeed that a Man of so mean an extraction who all his life time followed the profession of a Carpenter as his Enemies so often reproached him to have done should notwithstanding pretend himself to be the Messias who was to have been according to the profess'd opinion of that age surrounded or attended with pomp splendour and temporal Prosperity Let us therefore enquire a little into it This Jesus whoever he might be and whatever Idea we may frame to our selves of him gathered together a company of Disciples some of which he took from among Fishermen on the bank of the Lake of Gennesareth some out of the Towns of Galilee nay and some he called from among the Publicans themselves whom the people ever had in abomination as the First Enemies of Christian Religion laid to his charge Those men which thus followed him were of mean Education and Birth They neither had Learning nor Politeness they neither were acquainted with the heart nor the inclinations of men neither with the Policy of Princes nor the elevated Morals of the Stoicks nor lastly with the misterious and secret Wisdom of the Sages But they were mean and simple Persons as the Enemies themselves of Christianity readily acknowledge I shall not at present examin what Reasons induced them so firmly to adhere to Jesus Christ nor what convincing arguments he used to engage them to follow him It is enough we know they were ignorant persons who looked for the Messias according to the common Opinion of those times and so might probably be thought to have been imposed upon in that respect But here I cannot but admire that those mean and ignorant people who had undoubtedly framed to themselves a very sublime Idea of their Messias and imagined no less than that he would have distributed Crowns to them to use that expression since this was always a strong opinion amongst the Jews I say I cannot but admire that those ignorant sort of people should content themselves with the outward and apparent meanness of a man who took quite another form upon him than that of a Conqueror It can't be denied that Jesus Christ was in a very poor and mean condition when he called his Disciples since Porphirius Celsus and Julian the Apostate reproach him with it Besides this is such a matter of fact as no man would invent tho' he could easily have done it and which he could not easily invent tho he would have done it 'T is certain the Jews at that time and always before expected a Triumphant Messias 'T is also as certain the Disciples adher'd to Jesus Christ notwithstanding the profess'd opinion they were prepossessed with at that time this is what we are surpris'd at Since the Disciples found not in Jesus Christ all the Glory and temporal power they were strongly perswaded their Messias should have been invested with they undoubtedly imagin'd that what their Master did not then actually possess he would certainly enjoy some time after They did not at all question but that he was to re-establish the Monarchy of Israel and overcome the Enemies of the Jews This made them to dispute the Priority among themselves They would know who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias which they termed the Kingdom of heaven in imitation of the Prophet Daniel Nay two of them importuned our Saviour to grant them to sit the one on his Right Hand and the other on his Left as soon as he was exalted to that state of Glory I admit not of these matters of fact meerly because they are in the New Testament but because they are very conformable to the Jewish Tradition and Reason it self Common Sense assures us that the Disciples adhered not to Jesus Christ without some hope or other Now what could they hope for from him whom they looked upon as the Messias but that which they expected from the true Messias himself viz. a temporal deliverance attended with the like Prosperity But not to advance any thing doubtful or in the least uncertain in it self I affirm that the Disciples considered Jesus Christ as the true Messias and that they could not regard him as such but either in the sense of the Jews or in that of the Christians that is either as a temporal Deliverer or a spiritual one and consequently that whatever sense we take it in still were they to hope for some advantage or other from him but let us see how far this twofold Consideration will lead us Whilst the Disciples were strongly preposessed with the thoughts that Jesus was their Messias that is the person that should have raised up their Nation to
different Countries who speak different Languages do all understand my speech there can certainly be no illusion in that The Validity of a Testimony is no longer incertain when we are sure of two things First that the witness is not himself deceived and Secondly that he does not intend to deceive Others Now this might easily be verified concerning the Disciples of Jesus For first the matters of fact upon which their depositions were founded are so evident and notorious that none can ever be deceived in relation to them Thus how is it possible that the eyes should think they saw what they did not really see that the ears should agree to witness nothing but what was agreeable to the Testimony of the eyes that the hand should touch that which both the eyes and the ears perceived not once only but several times not the eyes the ears and the hands of one single man but of several men together that they should unanimously profess themselves to be endowed with an extraordinary power and that too of working miracles unless they themselves knew the certainty of it but tho we should suppose a man so Whimsical as to impose upon himself after that prodigious rate yet sure we could not without extravagance imagin that the Apostles had utterly lost their senses by the same kind of madness that this madness begun exactly after the Death of Jesus Christ that the spreading of the Gospel over the face of the Universe was a wonderful contrivance of the same that it was joyned to that Morality which is so excellent so sublime and yet so just and pious in it self that the very Enemies of our Religion always reverenc'd it And Lastly that all manner of vertues deriv'd their original from such pretended madness which works a change upon the World sanctifies mankind and exactly fulfills all those Oracles which foretold the calling of the Gentiles But if it appears that those men did not impose upon themselves much less ought they to be suspected of having had the will to deceive others because their Simplicity and mean Education allowed them not to frame any such design and besides the confusion they were in to see themselves frustrated of their hopes by the unexpected Death of their Master would wholly have diverted them from it Their temporal concerns too could not admit of it and their shame to shew themselves to the World after what had happened was of it self sufficient to hinder them from it Moreover their Conscience would have check'd them for their superstitious fondness of the vain shadow of a Messias And it is impossible they could ever have agreed together so as to contrive that strange and notorious imposture But supposing they undertook it the Torments inflicted on them would have made them repent such a rash design and the confession of one single person amongst them would have sufficiently discovered them all Lastly their Shame and Poverty the Gaols and the Chains the Stripes the Fire and the Sword that were used against them to make them recant sufficiently warrant us that they never intended to deceive the World And if one single person so disposed is to be looked upon as an unheard of prodigy how much more unlikely is it that a whole Society could have conceived such an extravagant design If the Testimony of the Disciples be false we cannot chuse but look upon them as Mad men or rather as Rascals nay perhaps as both And yet their preaching sufficiently shews the glory of their Innocence and Wisdom to confound both these Calumnies Let any man but read over the Books of those admirable Writers and there he will to his satisfaction find that Honesty Sincerity and Self denial is inseparably interwoven with the most pure and most judicious Morality that ever was But this Reflexion puts me in mind that I must now hasten to the consideration of the Books of the New Testament not to see whether they be human or divine for that will be considered in its own proper place but whether they be forged or not For if once we shew that they are not forg'd we need only read them over to know the Testimony the Disciples bore of Jesus Christ himself And because that Truth will serve for a confirmation of what we have already said we shall begin the following Section with the Consideration of it SECTION II. Wherein we shall prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion by examining the Books of the New-Testament CHAP. I. Wherein we shall prove that those Books can never be supposititious WHen I examin the Books of the New Testament all the doubts I strive to raise concerning them amount only to these three I. Whether those Books were not composed by some Impostor who probably might have ascribed them to the Apostles II. Whether those Books supposing they were composed by the Apostles were not afterwards corrupted by the Christians III. Whether the Apostles the pretended Authors of those Books did not themselves fill them up with many fictions for their Masters honour and the advantage of their Religion It is but just we should examine whether these three suspicions are well grounded or no. And First it is certain that in taking away the evidence of the Books of the New Testament we overthrow that of all other Books and call in question the account of all things past For who will warrant me that Cicero's Orations are his own if I can't reasonably assure my self that the Epistles of St. Paul were written by St. Paul himself But hold Perhaps it was easier or more advantageous to counterfeit the Books of the New Testament than those of Humane Learning This is what we must a little enquire into And I. the facility there is in Counterfeiting the the works of an Author wholly depends upon the several Circumstances of time place and persons upon the subject matter of that Book the temper of mens minds their different notions and their various interests which must be carried on in it Now to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning seems infinitely more easy in all these respects than to counterfeit those of the New Testament I. Because they who counterfeit a Book of Humane Learning may take as much time as they please for it but here we know not what time can be imagined the Books of the New Testament were forged in If we look back from age to age we find the Christians had those Books continually before their eyes and that they were quoted by the most ancient Fathers who looked upon them as Sacred and Divine II. It is easy to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning because there are generally but few people that interess themselves at all in them at least but very indifferently but it would have been a very difficult matter to counterfeit those Books which compelled men to suffer Martyrdom as the Books of the New Testament did If a man that lends out his money seeks the best security he can for it what
that by shewing that the New Testament was composed before the destruction of Jerusalem I shew also that it is as ancient as the Apostles themselves which affords us one determination very advantagious to our Cause So that this objection being very favourable to instead of proving any thing against us nothing hinders but that we pass on to the consideration of the second suspicion we were willing to entertain concerning the Books of the New Testament CHAP. II. Proving that the Books of the New Testament were never corrupted 'T Is certain that from the Apostles time to ours the New Testament was ever look'd upon as sacred and not to be corrupted without impiety and Irreligion But whether it were Reason or Prejudice that made it so esteemed by the Christians I shall now examin It is enough that the esteem men have of it seems as ancient as the Book it self It s being considered as the foundation of all our hopes and the original of heavenly Revelation its being read and order'd to be read in Publick and Private from the Age of Clemens Polycarp Justin and Iraeneus to ours I say all this shews that it could not have been corrupted in its Essentials But this Truth very well deserves a more strict consideration I say then how is it possible that all the World should have unanimously conspired to corrupt this Book For tho' one single Doctor of the Church should have attempted it yet the rest would certainly have opposed it Tho' all the Christian Doctors dispersed up and down the World should have agreeed to it yet the people would never have consented to 't Tho' the Doctors and the People together should have been inclinable to it yet sure their Adversaries would not have failed to reproach them with it The Jews and Heathens whose only aim was to cry down their Religion would never have concealed it Julian Porphirius and all other particular Enemies of the Christians would have drawn some advantage from it In a word tho' the silence of their Adversaries had favoured so strange an Enterprise yet the different parties and various Heresies which soon after sprung up among the Christians were an invincible obstacle to it 'T is well known that immediately after the Death of the Apostles the Church was strangely disturbed by several various Controversies For not to speak here of the Gnosticks that abominable Sect which deserves not the honourable name of Christians certainly the Opinion of the Millenarians which Papias seems to have been the Author of founded upon the Apostolical Tradition fifteen years after the death of St. John the Controversy which soon after happened concerning the Christian Passover together with the Disputes of the Orthodox against the Origenists concerning the Resurrection and several other Articles of the Christian Doctrin I say these Disputes might easily have divided the Christians in the first Century of the Church Next to them succeeded the famous Disputes of the Orthodox with the Arrians and with what heat and animosities they were carried on is sufficiently known to all the World But however fatal all those Controversies were to the Church yet they produced that good effect by the direction of Providence which orders every thing to some good end that they preserv'd the Revelation of the New Testament pure and entire and at present strengthen our belief against all suspicions we might probably entertain in this respect For tho the Millenarians the Origenists and the Arians should have attempted to corrupt the Scripture yet how were it possible that the Orthodox which were so exasperated against them should have suffered it to be done or that if the Orthodoxes had had any such design their Adversaries which were so incens'd should have agreed with them in the same Intention Should I further grant this mutual agreement possible doubtless the almost infinite number of Copies of Editions and Translations made at first of the New Testament rendered the execution of that design impossible For tho' a man had corrupted one single Copy among all those Copies or translated those Books false yet how could he corrupt all the other Copies of them which are dispersed in the World or how could he alter so many other Translations which have been made of them in different times and in different places But supposing this were feasible if the Writings of the Apostles were ever corrupted it must have been either in their Essentials or in things of little Importance I mean by their Essentials those miraculous matters of fact related in the New Testament as well as all those others which if true demonstrate the Truth of the Christian Religion Now if those Writings were not corrupted in their Essentials it necessarily follows that they contain several true matters of fact sufficient to prove the Truth of Christianity But if they were altered in their Essentials there must have been added to them the Miracles of Jesus Christ his Resurrection Ascension into Heaven the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost the power the Apostles had of speaking strange Languages and of imparting miraculous gifts to others Now I affirm that all those matters of fact could not have been added to the New Testament unless the whole Book was forg'd because the subject matter of the New Testament consists of nothing else but of those matters of fact or if you will of such things as evidently relate to them and which would certainly be false if those matters of fact were false But let us joyn Experience to Reason and consider that if the Christians had corrupted the writings of the Apostles the Books of the New Testament would now be quite different from what they were in the former ages and that having been continually altered from that time untill now nothing could be more apparent than such an alteration Yet 't is easy to perceive the contrary and it evidently appears by an almost infinite number of places of the New Testament quoted in the Books of the Fathers that there never was a Book that suffered less alteration by the revolution of years than that did There are but two things in my opinion that may be answered to this Argument the first is that in corrupting the Books of the New Testament those places quoted in the Works of the Fathers might also have been altered But this thought can never enter into any reasonable mans mind for he must then suppose that there was a person in a manner Immortal who might have had time enough to alter so many Books composed from Age to Age and a man too so much Master of other Mens hearts and understandings as to have been able to corrupt a Book the most universally read and most carefully preserved that ever was and to alter also with it all the Books of the ancient Fathers without any body ever perceiving it or making the least opposition against it The second thing that may be answered is that this
not immediately be found out by those who perfectly understood those Languages yet how could there be others who expounded divers Languages and understood men of all Nations others who healed the Sick others who by Faith wrought miracles c. But perhaps the Incredulous will not be satisfied with that one Text of Scripture and therefore here is another of the same stamp 1 Cor 13. 1 2. Tho' I speak with the tongues of Men and of Angels c. and tho' I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries c. And tho' I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains c. 1. Cor. 12. 29 30 31. Are all prophets says he in the foregoing chapter Are all workers of Miracles Have all the gift of healing Do all speak with tongues Do all Interpret But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way 'T is then he begins his Encomium of Charity and prefers it before all other miraculous gifts In like manner he speaks in this place indirectly and as it were by the by of those gifts and the manner of his Expression manifestly shews that this matter of fact was publickly known But if they should still require a greater demonstration of this Truth such a demonstration as seems to me above all subtilty of Cavils and Exceptions it 's sufficient to observe that among all those Gifts that of Tongues was so common by reason it was very often imparted by the Apostles's imposition of hands that there arose a great Disturbance and Confusion in the Church of Corinth upon the account of it because all those who had received that gift being desirous to speak strange Languages in the Church the Congregation was not in the least edified by it And it obliged St. Paul to write to them very sharply thereupon to which end he particularly designed the 14. Chap. of his first Epist to the Corinthians I would says he to them v. 5. that ye all speak with tongues but rather that ye prophecied that the Church may receive edifying Now to prophecy in the sense of this Apostle is to declare the word of God and expound it to the people I thank my God adds he further v. 18 19. I speak with tongues more than you all Yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my Vnderstanding that by my voice I might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue Wherefore adds he a little further v. 22. Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not but prophecying serveth not for them that believe not but for them which believe That is as any one may easily conceive that the gift of tongues which God had granted to the Church after a most extraordinary and wonderful manner was designed either to confound or convert the Infidels by that evident testimony of the Divinity of Christianity whereas the gift of prophecying that is of declaring God's Will and expounding it to the people had been wholly given men for the good and Edification of the faithful Now to these miraculous Gifts St. Paul certainly alluded when he said in his first Epist to the Thessalonians Chap. 5. v. 19. Quench not the spirit And t is concerning those same gifts and signal miracles that he says to the Galatians O foolish Galatians c. Chap. 3. 5. He therefore that ministreth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the preaching of the Faith Lastly 't is concerning these miraculous gifts that the Apostle speaks when he says that the sign of his Apostleship was manifested among the Corinthians in all Patience in Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds We may see to what perplexity and confusion the Incredulous are reduced and how angry soever they may be there are but two sides they can take They must either assert that St. Paul had lost his senses when he wrote those things we just now mention'd which they 'll never do because their opinion is that St. Paul wanted no cunning to deceive a great many persons or they must confess that the faithful very frequently received many miraculous gifts in the Ancient Church that those gifts were various that there had actually been such persons in the Church of Corinth who had caused some kind of disturbance in it by speaking divers Languages as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost and consequently they must own the Divinity of our Religion CHAP. XIII That we ought to look upon the New Testament as a divine Book I Doubt not but that we may certainly find several unquestionable Characters of Divinity in that Book For not to repeat here what we have already said in our first part of this work concerning the Books of the Old Testament and which is no less true of the New one we cannot but admire the mutual agreement of those Authors with Moses and the other Prophets We cannot but be surprised to see such an unanimous consent among those Writers whether it be in the things they relate or in in the design of their Exhortations or lastly in the record they bear Never was Author seen so conformable to himself as those Divine Authors are to one another in the Essentials of their Doctrine Where can we find such a Character of Sweetness Gentleness and Simplicity so much Charity for Mankind and Aversion to Vice so many motives to Humiliation and so great a desire to glorify God Where can we find such a Loftiness of thought and yet such a Simplicity of expression such a mixture of joy and sorrow such heroical confidence in a forlorn state of Misery such profound Humility and such presence and greatness of mind which is the cause that their Morality is the finest that ever was and their thoughts more elevated than those of other men their design the noblest that ever entred into the heart of man that is to gain all men unto God having no self interest or refined Niceties of Policy but only a fervent desire to succeed in their Ministry I know that this here is matter of Inward sense rather than Demonstration and that I shall never perswade the Incredulous that they may discover in the New Testament that loftiness of thought and that divine Majesty which I my self perceive amidst that seeming rough and unpleasant Language which is as it were the bark and outward shell of it but yet for all their obstinacy they cannot deny these four following Truths I. That never any known Impostor left us such excellent Books as the Apostles no not even Mahomet himself who might have easily borrowed their Notions the better to disguise his own II. That it appears that their Writings are a thousand times more free from all Passions and Humane Imperfections than all the Books of the Wisest men among the Heathens where we see Pride as it were upon her Throne III. That the
Character of the New Testament is infinitely more excellent than that of the Writings of all the Fathers who lived successively from the Apostles down to us wherein any one may easily observe a strange affectation a particular vanity of shewing their parts and learning and sometimes much heat and passion because they were far from the perfection in Christianity which the Apostles had IV. That the best sorts of godly Books written amongst the Christians from the Apostles's time down to us I mean those Books that most establish the peace and tranquility of publick Society and chiefly tend to the Glory of God were written in imitation of the holy Scriptures from which they had their materials to compose them with This is what in my opinion is very sure and certain And as certain it is that if the Apostles were not divinely inspired they must necessarily be Impostors nay such abominable men as desired only to dishonour their Nation and to sacrifice to a vain flattering Idea of Glory the lives and fortunes of an infinite number of persons whom they encouraged to suffer Martyrdom Let us now see whether we can perswade our selves that the most excellent Books that were ever known I mean those Books that are most proper to inspire us with piety with the love of God and our Neighbour that are the source of the best matters that ever were written and the original of the Piety and Vertue of all those persons who were converted by them were only the invention of the most wicked men that ever were Certainly since all Christians in all Ages considered this Book as Divine and as the rule of their Faith whereby they distinguish'd it from all other Books it follows thence that all the Christians were either deceived in the Essentials of it and that their Faith was false or else that Book must in reality be of a Divine Authority For such an Universal Tradition so constant and so necessarily affixed to the end and design of Religion can never impose upon us It has been the Wisdom of Providence as we have already observed to take care that this Book should be left to us as entire as when it came out of the Apostles hands and the Primitive Christians who all assure us that it is of a Divine Authority tell us only but what right Reason obliged them to acknowledge and us as well as them For the Word preached and the Word written by the Apostles differ not essentially from one another so that if the former be Divine the latter must necessarily be so too And who doubts but that Word must be looked upon as Divine which God himself authorised by so many Miracles Perhaps some will reply that it would be of a very dangerous Consequence to reason often after this manner and that altho' a false Prophet should work prodigious Miracles yet we ought not to follow him upon a bare supposition that God never assists an Impostor with his infinite Power But this I own and affirm also that we ought strictly to examin both his Doctrine and Miracles to find out by that comparison the true Original of both And therefore we have this advantage that we not only find here such miracles as excel all the power of Hell such as for example the raising a man from the Dead but that this Doctrine also visibly bears all the Characters of one that proceeded from Heaven Those miracles on the one hand so great and numerous that the people cried out surely this is the finger of God take away all suspicion of the falsity and pernicious consequences of the Doctrine they confirm because the arm of the Lord is not usually employed in favour of an Imposture And on the other hand that Doctrine which is so holy and so perfectly tends to the union and wellfare of Mankind which is so worthy of the love of God to man sufficiently warrants us that the Miracles whereby it is confirmed proceed not in the least from the power of Darkness as the Enemies of Christianity seem to believe Hell never concerns it self either to unite or sanctify mankind All the Apostles expresly declare that the word which they preached proceeded not from themselves but God But I certifie you Brethren says St. Paul in his Epist to the Galatians Chap. 1. v. 11. that the Gospel which was preached of me was not after man for I neither received of man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Thus when the Apostles were assembled together at Jerusalem in the first Council that ever was held and wrote to some Chnrches concerning several questions that were then in Agitation they made use of this manner of speaking For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15. 28. It appears then that the Apostles spoke by the Order and Revelation of God which was given several ways viz. sometimes by Vision as when St. Peter saw a certain vessel descending from Heaven as it had been a great sheet knit by the four Corners wherein were all kinds of unclean Beasts and he was commanded saying Peter kill and eat Act. 10. 13. on purpose to signify that he ought to preach â—he Gospel to the Gentiles who were no longer an unclean Nation in the sight of God sometimes by Dreams as when a certain Macedonian appeared unto St. Paul commanding him to go into Macedonia and preach the Gospel there sometimes by Exâ—asy as it is probable that St. Paul was caught up into the third Heaven but yet much oftener by the inward dictates of the Holy Ghost formed as it were â—n their Souls as when the Spirit said unto Peter concerning the men which Cornelius sent to enquire for him Go thou with them doubting nothing for I â—ave sent them Act. 10. 20. 'T is true one might very well suspect these Reveâ—ations if one single man boasted of having had â—hem imparted to him but here we have several God did not reveal himself to them after one single manner but after divers They asserted not only â—hat God had revealed some things to them in order â—o induce Mankind to believe it but they wrought many Miracles spoke divers Languages imâ—arted â—hose Gifts to others thereby converted the World â—nd exactly fulfilled the Oracles of God That â—pirit which filled them and was necessarily to fill â—hem because the time of the Calling of the Gentiles â—as come was outwardly produced by such effects â—s undoubtedly will confound the Incredulous if they â—eflect upon them Certainly if it be true as it is that God poured down his Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost 't was only that they might preach unto men by their Ministry unless it be pretended that the Tongues of the Apostles which were exalted after a supernatural manner so far as to speak all sorts of Languages were to confine themselves to that particular employ and not to reveal unto men the will of God But if we ought
to look upon that word as Divine which those Tongues have preached we cannot but look upon those Writings as Divine in which that Word it self is contained I hope that whosoever shall seriously reflect on the Connexion of all these principles will fully be perswaded that their Union is not to be dissolved If there was such a Book as the New Testament in the days of Clemens Polycarp and of the Primitive Fathers as without dispute there was that Book could never have been forg'd If the Book of the New Testament could not have been forg'd it is impossible but that certain publick matters of fact which are inserted in that Book as being publickly known by all the Christians are true And if those matters of fact are true it can never be denied but that the Apostles received the Holy Ghost If the Apostles did receive the Holy Ghost certainly their Writings must be looked upon as Divine I have made choice of these principles only among several others which I have established but lest any one should imagin that they subsist meerly by their Connexion I desire the Reader to remember that I have proved each of them apart by themselves after several different ways It is very true therefore that the New Testament as well as our Religion is divine for these two Truths are properly one and the same The Christian Religion can't be Divine if the Word or the Scripture which is the ruleof the Faith of its Professors be Humane and the Scripture can never be Divine unless the Christian Religion be of an heavenly Original and proceeded from God But it is fit that we should examin the Difficulties that are opposed against this grand principle CHAP. XIV Wherein we shall examin those Difficulties which may probably be raised against the foregoing Truths TRuth is an Enemy to all shifts and tricks let us therefore briefly consider what doubts we may possibly entertain in the foregoing Truths Let us give full scope to our imagination to frame what suspicions we can as to the persons of Jesus Christ and his Apostles their Miracles the Resurrection of our Lord and the extraordinary and miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost which were imparted to mankind by the hands of the Apostles themselves And I. to begin with the Person of Jesus Christ there are some who believe that Jesus Christ was an Essene and that he borrowed from that Sect the purity of his Morals and the soundness of his Doctrine And indeed it appears from the Description which Philo and Josephus gave us of that Sect that the Essenes lived among themselves in a perfect union that they possessed all things in Common that they looked upon one another as so many brethren and that they had very rational and sound Ideas of God and Religion All this pretty well agrees with the Nature of Chistianity Besides it does not appear that Jesus Christ ever opposed their Doctrine when he pronounced so many woes against the Scribes and Pharisees And if it be true that Jesus Christ borrowed his Doctrine from that Sect we should have less Reason to be surprised at his extraordinary Morality and Holiness of life But 't is easy to refute this notion if we consider that there was no such Sect as that of the Essenes in Galilee which was the native Country of Jesus Christ that the Essenes avoided all correspondence with other men as looking upon them as impure and prophane and for that reason dwelt not in any great Cities Whereas Jesus Christ travers'd Towns and Villages taught multitudes Preached in the Synagogues c. Besides the Essenes abhorr'd Matrimony whereas Jesus Christ made choice of such Disciples as were Married and lastly that he had several Fishermen to attend him but none of them were Essenes But II. May we not think that Jesus Christ ow'd his knowledge to his Education But how could that be For as much as he was bred up in the shop of a Carpenter as his Enemies themselves confess in their reproaches of him III. Some will object that 't was out of spite to the Scribes and Pharisees and other Rulers of the Jews that he first exclaimed so much against them and after invented on purpose to thwart them a Religion quite opposite to theirs But what had the Son of Mary to do with all those Teachers since he neither was Priest nor Levite nor pretended to any such dignities What should make him come in competition with them Besides it is not sufficient to assert that Jesus Christ seemed very much exasperated against their Doctrine and Behaviour it must also be considered whether he had not a great deal of reason to be so IV. 'T is objected that perhaps he was ambitious of being thought a Prophet or it may be not rightly understanding certain Oracles which seemed to determine at that time the coming of the Messias he really thought himself to be that Messias But nothing of this is true For Jesus Christ could not have thought himself to be the Messias out of meer simplicity and ignorance nor have endeavoured to make the World believe it out of malice or deceit We have no reason to believe the former if we consider his Morality and Doctrine and his holiness of life gives us no occasion to imagin the latter The incredulous will soon be reduced to an evident absurdity if they assert that Jesus Christ was the most ignorant or most wicked of men the most ignorant if he thought himself to be the Messias without being really so or the most wicked if he endeavoured to make other men believe it when he believed it not himself because one must be wilfully blind not to perceive that the Christian Religion proceeds both from a very clear principle and a good foundation too V. But may we not say the same of Mahomet The incredulous compare them often together They pretend that Jesus Christ and Mahomet might have been animated both with the same Spirit But of all the shifts of the Incredulous this is certainly their weakest and 't is a plain demonstration that they have no manner of Idea of the things they speak of when they insist upon this comparison For we can here produce several essential differences betwixt Jesus Christ and Mahomet Mahomet never pretended to Establish his Religion by working miracles although several have been imputed to him Whereas Jesus Christ desired no belief but upon the testimony of his extraordinary Miracles being willing thereby to convince the eyes and senses of his Disciples by sensible matters of fact and such miracles as he gave them also power to work themselves when he sent them forth to preach abroad his Resurrection and Miracles at the same time he threatned them with Death and eternal Damnation in case they should endeavour to deceive any body with fictions or even disguise the Truth it self Mahomet left no such prophecies behind him as have been accomplished whereas we have several of Jesus Christ which have
the use of his Tongue whilst he was in the Temple that all the people were Eye-Witnesses of it and that he remained Speechless till the time was come wherein he was obliged to give a name to that wonderful Child which God had given him in his old age notwithstanding the Barrenness of his Wife Supposing the Gospel wherein this matter of fact is related was composed long after that Event still it is true that St. Luke composed his Gospel before his Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles and that he composed the Book of Acts somtime before the destruction of Jerusalem as we have in another place already observed and as it is without doubt true Then supposing also forty fifty or sixty years if you will had past since all these things had happened and before St. Luke composed his Gospel can forty fifty or sixty years be sufficient to perswade several thousands of people nay all the Inhabitants of that great and flourishing City of Jerusalem that they had seen either with their own eyes or that their Forefathers had seen one of their Priests wholly deprived of the use of his tongue because he had seen a Vision in the Holy Place and yet that he recovered it precisely and exactly at the time he was obliged to give a name to his Child Certainly had none but Zachariah's Relations been acquainted with the Event of those things yet it would have argued rashness in any man to invent any thing false concerning them For what an extravagance would it have been in any one to pretend to invent it against the publick Knowledge of a whole and very numerous Nation so solemnly assembled together and so intent upon that Event nay so surprised at that prodigy or if you will according to the Incredulous so fully satisfied that there was nothing in it but a vain Chimaera and delusion And the people says the Historian waited for Zacharias and marvelled that he tarried so long in the Temple And when he came out he could not speak unto them and they perceived that he had seen a Vision in the Temple for he beckened unto them and remained Speechless Luke 1. 21 22. But the manner in which Zacharias was healed is no less surprising And it came to pass says the Evangelist that on the eighth day they came to Circumcise the Child and they called him Zachariah after the name of his Father And his Mother answered and said not so but he shall be called John And they said unto her there is none of thy Kindred that is called by that name And they made signs to his Father how he would have him called And he asked for a Writing Table and wrote saying his name is John And they marvelled all And his Mouth was opened immediately and his Tongue loosed and he spake and praised God And fear came on all that dwel't round about them and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the Country of Judea Luke 1. 59 60 61 62 63 64 65. Thus it appears this History consists of two Parts the first whereof was known to all the City of Jerusalem and the other was spread abroad throughout all the Country of Judea and certainly it is absolutely impossible any one should have in the least designed to impose upon the World in that Respect against that double knowledge they must have had of that matter of fact For then the Evangelist would have taken away all possibility of belief from his Narration by the choice of those Circumstances he inserted into his History Now it does not seem natural for an Author who wrote the History of Jesus Christ and his Miracles in a time wherein it was so strictly examined and the followers of that Sect were adjudged and condemned to Death with so much Severity in a time wherein as he himself makes the Jews of Rome tell it to St. Paul speaking to him at the latter end of the Book of Acts Chap. 28. v. 22. For as concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against I say it does not seem Natural that that same Author who knew it â—ay observed it himself should have published such matters of fact the falsity of which he would soon have been convinced of by twenty thousands of people who must have been present in the Temple with Zachariah or at least heard it related by those who were there present One of the most dangerous errors which the Incredulous plunge themselves in is that they imagin that the same distance of time which is between us and those matters of fact related to us is also to be found between those very matters of fact themselves and those who so related them And they perceive not that whereas with respect to us 't is many ages ago since all those things came to pass yet 't was but a little while since these things must necessarily have happened with respect to the Disciples who published them to the World either by their preaching or writings Now for St. Luke to have invented such matters of fact must either have argued in him a certain drolling Mirth and pleasant Gayety of Spirit in telling such stories so gravely or else he must have had but a very mean opinion of Mens sense and understanding in his time to think they could so easily be deluded and imposed upon The History the Evangelists give us of the coming of the Wise-Men of the East into the City of Jerusalem of Herod's suspicious Concern and the cruel cautions he used to secure his own Crown by commanding all the Young Children that were in the City of Bethlehem and in all the Coasts thereof to be slain from two years old and under according to the time he had diligently enquired of the Wise-men I say this History is much of the same stamp with that we just now consider'd Had the Evangelists only told us in general that the Wise-men saw a Star in the East which they took to be the Star that signified the Birth of the King of the Jews that would have been somewhat more suspicious Had they told us only that those Wise-men came to Jerusalem that would not positively have concluded much But when they tell us that they came publickly to Jerusalem not any way concealing themselves or the cause of their coming and that the whole City was alarmed and concerned at it Does it seem natural that a man should fancy he could perswade so great a City as Jerusalem was that it had been disturbed and surprised at the arrival of Certain Wise-men who were come to worship the King of the Jews That a man who had proposed to himself to relate certain Fables whom it concerned that they should pass for true and certain matters of fact should yet pick out such circumstances as those were to vent abroad to a Nation that knew so very well the falshood of them For if we consider who it was that related these things 'T was
uncircumcision but a new Creature Great indeed was his Faith for he would not subscribe to their Maxims who constrained the faithful to be Circumcised tho he might have thereby avoided a sharp Persecution But he shews us that the Circumcision of the Heart only was acceptable to God that none but the New Creature could be for the future agreeable to him A Circumcision indeed infinitely more painful than the first and a New Creature established upon the Ruins of the World the pleasures of which are so dear to us Certainly it is impossible this Doctrine so spiritual so holy and so necessary in it self should have proceeded only from Flesh and Blood Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. III. 17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth all Knowledge c. Had the Apostles been such Deceivers as the Incredulous would have them to be what mean those transports of admiration as often as they reflect on the mercy of God which every Page of this Book is full of Were they then deceived No surely because they could not be imposed upon in such certain matters of fact Had they then a mind to deceive other people That could not be neither because their Writings seem to be designed only to induce Men to fear God Chap IV. 24 25. And that ye put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true holiness Wherefore putting away lying speak every Man truth with his neighbour c. A strange and surprising Discourse indeed but which would have been much more astonishing should it have been uttered by the mouth of an Impostor Epistle to the Philippians Chap. I. 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake The Stoicks who had so much distinguished and raised themselves above all other Men by their sublime Morality had ever imagined that the Wise man might very well preserve a tranquil and sedate Mind in the midst of his Afflictions and they were so much intoxicated with Pride that they were altogether insensible of any Pain or Torment But the Disciples of Christ went yet higher They looked upon the most cruel Sufferings as upon so many Benefits and so many causes of Joy and Peace and Ineffable Consolation and Comfort They cried out I rejoyce in my sufferings c. I delight in Stripes in Afflictions c. Nay more than this they returned Thanks to God for having been thought worthy to suffer for his Name 's sake Their Afflictions gave rise to their Gratitude And all this because they were supported by a Divine hand and were most certain to obtain an everlasting Reward A strange thing indeed that this Certainty only should be absolutely requisite to demonstrate the truth of Religion The Apostles could never have entertained any false hopes of reward because their hopes were grounded on what they had seen and on the miraculous Gifts of God they had both received and often imparted to others We can't then doubt but that they had the hopes of a future Reward in prospect unless we will be wilfully Blind and Ignorant So blind must the Incredulous be who wilfully shut their Eyes and refuse to be convinced of so evident a Truth First Epistle to the Thessalonians Chap. I. 4. For our Gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost c. By these words it appears that the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost continually testified of the Gospel Chap. III. 4. For verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as â—t came to pass and ye know The Disciples of Christ had been prepared by him and had prepared themselves nay prepared their Successors also to suffer patiently according to the Words of this Apostle who says in another place 2 Tim. 3. 12. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution T was therefore in cold Blood with their own choice and free deliberation they suffered such Torments Chap. V. 27. I charge you by the Lord that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren St. Paul feared not in the least his being contradicted or convinced of any Falsity he had advanced concerning his Afflictions and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost And therefore he commanded that his Epistles should be read to all the holy Brethren First Epistle to Timothy Chap. III. 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into glory This mystery can't be invented only by Humane understanding for several Reasons 1. Because it is so great and sublime that Men tho never so learned and quick sighted in other things yet would never have been able to find it out of themselves barely by the Scrutinies of their Reason 2. Because they were only poor Fishermen that preached it 3. Because this so sublime and magnificent Object proceeds if I may so speak from the Death and Sufferings of a Man who was condemned and punished with the most rigorous Punishments that could be thought of For t was only after the Passion of Christ that the Disciples went about preaching every where the wonderful works of God 4. And lastly because the contemplation of it depends upon Experience it self and altho this mystery appears at first view infinitely exalted above the reach of our capacity yet it must have been both seen and touched by the Disciples They certainly saw Christ and beheld his glory as the Glory of the only Son of God full of Grace and Truth They saw with their Eyes that Flesh in which corporeally dwelt an intire fulness of the glorious Godhead They were fully convinced of the extraordinary excellence of his Mysteries and the perfection of his Holiness They themselves received the Gifts of that same Spirit in which God himself was justified They saw Angels ascending and descending to minister unto him They preached it themselves to the Gentiles and so compelled the World to believe in him by their Patience and Preaching which was continually attended with the Demonstration of that Spirit and the Evidence of those Miracles performed by them in the Name of Jesus Lastly he ascended into Heaven in their sight So that these are all sure and certain proofsof the Truth of that great Mystery which can't in the least be suspected Second Epistle to Timothy Chap. III. 15 16. And that from a Child thou hast known the holy Scriptures c. All Scripture is given by inspiration There is no maintaining false Religions in the World but by the help of Ignorance Negligence and a blind Submission But the Christian Religion can't be suspected of any
against their so very simple and natural Expressions It is our chiefest Concern to regard the Substance and Essential part of their preaching and that is God's Design to save Mankind by the Death of his Son To this every thing relates and it is supported by Three other very great and important Objects the Resurrection of Christ attested by the Apostles themselves the Completion of all the Prophecies contained in the Old Testament and the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost all which things the Apostles saw and clearly and distinctly taught Men and at last digested in Writing directed by the Wisdom of God when the whole Earth seemed full of Astonishment at the sight of the Extraordinary Gifts God poured down upon Men at the accomplishment of so many Prophecies in the Person of Christ and at the sufferings and Trials of the Witnesses of God And this is the main Substance of the Writings of the Apostles as well as of their Preaching And Divine Providence was pleased that all those things should be digested in Writing in a time when they could not possibly be forged or altered that they should be received and approved of in all Christian Societies of the World that they should be first dispersed every where by an infinite number of Copies and Translations of them then afterwards quoted by almost an infinite number of Doctors carefully preserved almost every where and carried generally into those places whence Persecution had banished and removed the Christians Nay God has pleased that those Writers should all conspire to teach us the same things tho each expressed himself after his own particular way that the manner of their Compositions should be the same with that of their Speaking that they should exactly follow in all their Quotations the Greek Translation which was known of the People and not puzzle the Faith of the simple and ignorant by any critical Remarks which were things beneath those Men who had both seen and handled the Word of Life had declared the wonderful Works of God and received the Gift of Tongues that they might be clearly understood by all Men. It was also necessary that those wonderful Writers should insist rather upon the things themselves that they delivered than the ordering of their Words that so they might keep up the great Character of their Office and we might learn from thence to regard rather the Sense of what they have written than the accuracy of their Expressions They have sufficiently expounded all the fundamental Truths of Religion which tho not very many are yet repeated almost in every Page of their Writings They left to their Disciples the Care of collecting their Writings and setting together those Canonical Books which contain all things necessary for Salvation Not that that Collection has all the Writings of the Apostles but it contains certain Truths often and often repeated by them sufficient to promote the Sanctification of Mankind As for the various Readings they are so few and so inconsiderable in themselves that they alter not in the least the Sense of these Books so far are they from changing the unalterable Substance of Religion in as much as there is no part of the Apostles Writings to which it is not inseparably united and almost every where repeated And as for the Objections about the Hebrew Grammar and Authority of the Books of the Old Testament were all true as is objected which yet is dubious it ought not to disturb us since Christ and the rest of his Apostles have so fully confirmed those Books Those little and inconsiderable Difficulties are far from being prejudicial to our Faith since 't is enough to know that the Scripture is the Word of God as we perceive by the Marks and Characters of it 'T is enough to be certain that it is impossible that either through the Faults of the Transcribers or Negligence of Men or the want of Exactness found in the Translations or lastly through the Multitude of equivocal Terms it should ever want those important Precepts and evident Truths which are necessary for our Salvation and Sanctification and of which 't is as it were a constant Repetition For otherwise God must either have deceived us or his Wisdom have been deceived in being wanting in the preservation of such Means as it purely design'd to maintain and keep up the Faith of Mankind However it be 't is not our present Design to blame in the least either the Care which some take to instruct themselves in the Criticisms of the Holy Scripture or the Respect they have for its Expressions which are indeed worthy to be preferred before all others God forbid we should ever entertain any such impious and foolish Thoughts We therefore here intend only to assert Two things 1 st that all those small Difficulties the Criticks raise against them ought not to be looked upon as any way sufficient to shake the Foundations of our Faith the Wisdom of God having wonderfully provided that our Faith should be established without Respect had to those Difficulties The second is that those very Difficulties are not only of excellent use to humble our Minds but also necessary to keep us from the Superstition of insisting only upon a literal Signification and from that Folly which we may call the Adoration of Words We must therefore grant that all things our Senses Education the Curiosity of the Mind Superstition Philosophy Policy Humane Eloquence and Grammar are as so many Instruments which our Passions employ to make void that Submission which our Faith owes to God that through the ill use we put them to they are converted into so many different ways of shaking off that Divine Obedience and that the Speculations which spring from all these Principles aim at nothing else but the weakning our Faith just as the loose and remiss Maxims of some Casuists tend to the Destruction of Morality it being as difficult for the Vnderstanding to believe as for our Heart to mortifie it self Nevertheless it may reasonably be affirmed 1 st That this Submission of our selves to God is absolutely necessary and that unless we pay it him by readily receiving the Principles of his Religion we must inevitably yield it up to Matter and so give up our selves to the most wretched and impious Ignorance and horrid Darkness of Understanding it being most certain that we shall no better comprehend what Eternity Infinity Extension the manner and necessity of the Existence of Matter is than we already know what passes within God 2 ly That our Heart is disposed to such a submission of Mind in those things which relate to our civil and natural Concern And if it be certain that we do not defer to receive Nourishment till we are fully instructed after what manner Nutrition is made within us and if we are easily induced to beleive the Attraction of the Magnetick Stone tho we are ignorant of the manner of that Operation why should we not in like manner as