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
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
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
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
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
Books of the Old Testament are partly reducible to Three Heads 1 st To a general Preparation of all things for the reception of the Messias who was to come 2 ly To the Representation of his Office and Oeconomy by a Type or Shadow 3 dly To the describing of him after such a manner as to render it altogether impossible for the Elect Souls not to know him when he came Whosoever shall consider the Books of the Old Testament under these Three Notions will certainly discover nothing in them that can perplex his Faith but he will find that every thing therein serves to increase his Knowledg by discovering to him as it were the Scheme of God's Councels and his great Plan and Design of Religion But since 't is not our present Design to dive into the unfathomable Abyss of the Justice Wisdom and Mercy of God so neither shall we enquire into the Reasons which induced him to permit Men to sin or why he was pleased to save some rather than others or upon what account he made use of the Intervention of a Mediatour rather than of any other Means or whether there were any other way to expiate the sins of Mankind but the Death of Christ I say we shall not trouble our selves about any of these vain and fruitless Enquiries And since it is but just we should freely own our Ignorance I think we can never find a better opportunity to acknowledge it than when we are talking about the secret Methods and Councels of God because we can never discover the bottom of them unless we cease to be what we are or he to be what he is Without attempting then to search into the manner of these things which is altogether incomprehensible to us and of which we are not able to speak but imperfectly we freely suppose the Truth of them We do not in the least question but God permits Sin because we are all Sinners We know that a small Number of Men are sanctified to whom the Scripture makes several great and sublime Promises And we are also taught that they are delivered from their Sins by the intervention of a Mediatour and that God had resolved to bring it to pass by such means even before the Foundation of the World But let us now consider how the Wisdom of God prepared and disposed Men for it These Preparations related in the Old Testament are manifold For there are Preparations of Events Preparations of Ceremonies Preparations of Prophecies Preparations of Precepts and Preparations of Tenets As for the Events they all relate to this great Center of Religion Had Abraham always lived in Vr of the Chaldees he must necessarily have fallen into Idolatry as well as the rest of his Kindred or he could never have preserved to his Posterity the Knowledge and Worship of the true God and his Seed consequently could not have been a Seed of Blessing for all the Nations to come It was then absolutely requisite he should forsake his Country as well as his Kindred And had Jacob always lived with his Father Laban the Posterity of the latter would have corrupted that of the former so that Esau having already mixed himself with Strangers the holy Race could by no means avoid being confounded with the profane and so the Promise of the Messias would not have been entailed upon any particular Family or Nation because in Succession of Time it would have been altogether impossible to distinguish it from the rest It was then necessary that Jacob should forsake his Father-in-Laws House and consequently live apart from all other Nations And had it not been for the protecting Providence of God this People who was honoured with his Covenants and intrusted with his Oracles would have absolutely perished in Egypt and together with them the Hopes of a promised Redeemer To preserve therefore such comfortable hopes they were necessarily separated from all other Nations and the better to keep themselves in that State tho' they differed from them all in matters of Policy Manners Inclinations and Religion yet it was necessary they had God for their supream Magistrate who gave them all those wonderful Marks of his Protection we read of in the Old Testament Tho' thev were carried away captives into Babylon for their Sins they were necessarily gathered together again from that Dispersion Seventy years after lest a longer Bondage should have made them for ever lose the Marks of their Election 'T is no difficult matter to perceive that it was in behalf of the Messias only that God was pleased to make so many Distinctions And the Promise of his coming could not be entailed upon every Nation of the World He set apart one single Nation from the rest purposely to intrust them with so great a Salvation And because 't was absolutely requisite this Distinction should remain till the Birth of that Redeemer so for that End he appointed five very remarkable Principles of that Separation The first whereof was the Knowledge of the true God a divine Character of the Election of that People and a Priviledge they could not chuse but be infinitely jealous of especially when they considered what profound Darkness Ignorance and Superstition was then dispersed in the World The second was the Circumcision that sign of his Covenant which God was pleased the Israelites should bear in their Flesh to distinguish them the more effectually from all other Nations For it was not by meer Chance or out of any fantastical Humour that this Custom was first settled among the Jews 'T is not to be supposed they could have received without very powerful Motives to it so painful and difficult a Custom so contrary to the natural Affection of Mothers as appears by the Example of Zeporah nay which even seems at first view somewhat shameful and obscene As for Philo's and other Mens Reflexions on the Customs of the Circumcision they are very pitiful The third Principle of that Distinction was the Land of Canaan which God gave to the Patriarchs and their Posterity after them tho' he did not give them immediatly an actual possession of it He fixed the Hearts of that People upon that particular Land lest they should have been insensibly dispersed over the Face of the whole Earth And the Patriarchs upon their Death-beds strictly recommended the carrying of their Bones into it the better to fix the Hopes and Affections of the whole Nation upon it But lest it should have happened that the Canaanites the Perisites the Jebusites c. who were before in possession of that Land should have intermixed themselves with the holy Generation and consequently corrupted them by their Superstition God himself consented that those Nations should in this Life undergo an exemplary Punishment for their Sins which had been carried on to the utmost pitch of Excess and for that end his Vengeance made use of Josuah and his Armies as Instruments to destroy them utterly The fourth was the Tabernacle and afterwards the