that Reason which is obliged to own such Notions as do abound with equal if not greater Difficulties And certainly if Mathematicks will afford its Demonstrations pro and con if Matters obvious to sense do oft confound the Vnderstanding it is not to be hoped it should wade thorough the Abyss of infinite perfections and not be overwhelmed and lost 2. Consider whether you have not greater reason to believe these Doctrines then to disbelieve them From what is here discoursed in the introduction it is clear we have as many reasons to assert a Providence as we have reasons to believe that any signal Demonstrations of Gods power have been made by any acts of Judgment or of Mercy in any Parts or Ages of the World or that his Wisdome was engaged in any Revelations Oracles Predictions Dreams or Visions supernatural or in the Production of the World and in the exquisite Contrivance of any Portion of it We have as many reasons to believe a Providence as we have to assert that any good or evill Angels do exist or ever did appear or interest themselves in any actions of Mankind And yet our reasons which evince the truth of Christian Faith are far more numerous and cogent Let then the Atheist view and ponder what we have here produced in confirmation of these Truths and then consider whether his motives to renounce Christianity and to reject a Providence be more numerous and more convincing then what this Treatise offers to establish them If not he must have greater Reason to assert then to disown them and so his Infidelitie must be the worst of Follies Lastly Consider whether he that rejects the Christian Faith must not be forced to believe what 's more incredible then any Mystery contained in it For he must believe that Christ and his Disciples and the Christians of the three first Ages did endeavour to confirm the world in the belief of what they knew to be a lie and consequently that all the Primitive Professors who did so court the Flames and were so wearie of this present life were yet the vilest Atheists as not believing there was any God to punish this their pernicious lye Or secondly that they were all beside themselves that they had lost the principles of preservation and Self Love which Nature hath so deeply planted in the very Brutes and that they made it their designe to ruine and destroy their Souls and Bodys their Friends and their Relations to abandon all the Pleasures of this Life and to expose themselves to all the Miseries that can be incident to humane Nature without any motive but the love of Miserie And yet he must believe that they who did so little understand the common Principles of humane Nature were able to enrich the World with the best Notions of a Deity and of a future State and the best precepts of Moralitie that humane Nature ever was acquainted with And that these Fools had wit enough to propagate their Doctrine and to obtain belief throughout the World maugre all opposition that all the powers of men and Devils could make against them Or 2ly he must believe these Atheists chose to quit their Lives and suffer all the miseries they underwent only to beat down Atheisme and to establish that Religion which bears the Greatest Opposition to all the Naturall results of Atheisme He must believe that what is written in the Books of Scripture and the Apologies of all the Christians and that all that they pretended and appealed to in every corner of the World were but prodigious impudent untruths and that the World was universally induced to Worship a condemned Malefactor as God Blessed for evermore and to embrace the Doctrine of the Cross with all its Disadvantages without a seeming Miracle Or 2ly he must believe that they had no assistance in the Propagation of the Faith besides those arts of Magick in which both Jew and Gentile were more expert then they and which Apostates who were very numerous and frequent learned and ingenious were equally acquainted with and yet that never any of them did attempt to imitate or to disclose their Art or that the world when thus convinced of the Delusion would notwithstanding universally embrace and chuse to suffer for what they knew to be confirmed only by those Magical Collusions which they saw daily practised by Jew and Heathen and in which they were instructed by those very Christians who did so signally condemn those Arts as Devilish and threaten everlasting Misery to all that used them He must believe that all the Records of any signal Judgement which ever did befall the Enemies and Blasphemers of the Christian Faith or any portion of it or of any Mercies Preservations Gifts or Assistances vouchsafed to them in any age or places of the Christian World are void of Truth in every particular He must believe an hundred matters of like nature which this Treatise will suggest And therefore Reader I intreat you to peruse it with that care and diligence which matters of this moment do require and then I hope it may be instrumentall to convince you of and confirm you in the Truth of Christian Faith which is the hearty desire of Your Servant in the Defence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ DANIEL WHITBIE The Contents of the Chapters CHAP. I. WHAT Endeavours have been made to stop the growth of Atheism and Irreligion by asserting an All-wise presiding Power visible in the production of the World What seemeth further necessary to be alledged against the Atheist An Essay towards the eviction of a Providence 1. From the existence of evil Spirits 2. From many signal demonstrations of Gods Power 3. Of his Judgements upon rebellious Sinners And 4. of his power and mercy in preservation of his servants and his miraculous answers to their Prayers 5. From Revelations and Predictions of things contingent in their various Circumstances 6. From Apparitions of good and evil Angels 7. From Dreams and Visions supernatural 8. From things performed by pretenders to Miracles Magicians Witches Oracles Philosophers which could not be effected naturally c. The confirmation of the Christian Faith by what hath been delivered 1. by evincing that Providence hath been engaged for the establishment of some particular Religion in the World 2. That that particular Religion is no other then the Christian Faith pag. 1 2. CHAP. II. That common Prudence would not suffer the Apostles to pretend such things in their Historical Relations of the Life of Christ and in their Epistles to the Churches newly converted as must infallibly disgrace their Testimony and make them appear guilty of Delusion 2. That the Miracles recorded in those Historical Narrations and Epistles if true are a convincing evidence that some superior Power did assist the Workers of them 3. That Christ and his Disciples had no assistance from good or evil Angels to impose upon the World p. 55. CHAP. III. Sect. I. Proleg 4. That Christ and his Apostles did
that for such which they believed not to be so they being Men whose Holy Lives as well as Sufferings made a full proof of their exact Integrity If neither they could universally conspire to effect this thing nor can it be suspected that Providence should suffer them to do a thing so contrary to its great design of love unto Mankind If lastly it is morally impossible that since the second Century those Writings should be either forged or accidentally corrupted in matters of concern and moment they must remain sufficient Records of the Christian Faith Corol. Hence it follows That those Writings must be the very Works of those Apostles and Evangelists whose Names they bear since no Man could pretend they were so had they not really been such but they must put a cheat upon the World and substitute their own Inventions for the Word of God Indeed they have been handed down for such by a more general Tradition and of a firmer Credit then any of those Books of Virgil Cicero or Martial which we indisputably own as theirs For it was a Tradition of the whole 12 Christian World which owned and cited and received them for such from the Apostles days as is apparent from the Epistles of St Clement Barnabas Ignatius Polycarp the Works of Irenaeus and Justin Martyr whil'st others which pretended to the same Original were universally rejected by them Besides they did attest them so to be by many Sufferings which they had no Temptation to endure besides the truth of their Assertion and many Wonders to confirm their Testimony It was a Tradition which concern'd things of the highest moment and which it was their greatest Interest to be well assured of they being the sole ground and matter of their support at present under the sharpest Tryals and of their future hopes and therefore Writings they were concern'd to get and hear and read and keep Books written to whole Churches Nations yea the whole 13 World of Christians who could not have received them easily had the Apostles by whom they were at first converted given no Intimations of them Books of the greatest opposition against the Superstition both of Jews and of Gentiles and which denounced against them the greatest Plagues and Judgments such as obliged them to search as much as it was possible into the Truth of what they said And yet these Books were not denyed to be the very Works of those Apostles and Evangelists whose Names they bare Books which no cheat could be concern'd to forge nor could obtain that belief which was not due to them without the greatest Forgery Books which could not be spread abroad as they were in the Apostles Names whil'st they were living unless the Apostles had Endited them nor be esteemed as if they were the greatest Charter of the Christian Faith and the Apostles be so forgetful of them as not to let those Persons know it for whose sake they were written Books which pretended to a Commission from the Holy Jesus to leave a rule of Life and Doctrine to Mankind which was intrusted in the Hands of none but the Apostles and Evangelists all others still pretending to deliver what they received from them Lastly They being written partly to confirm and to ascertain to us the story of Christs Birth Life Passion Resurrection and partly to engage us to believe partly to put an end to Contentions and rectifie those Errors which had crept into the Church in the Apostles days and which did need a speedy Reformation partly to justifie themselves against false Brethren and to assert the Truth of their Apostleship and partly to preserve their Proselytes from such as did pervert the Faith and partly to instruct them how to bear up in Fiery Tryals and to support the Soul under those Miserie 's the Christians suffered and therefore on those Grounds which did require their quick dispatch on that Errand and to those Churches unto which they did intend them it is evident the Apostles must intend that early notice should be given of them and so accordingly commit them to their new-born Proselytes and Babes in Christ and so the Records of our Saviour his Life Death Resurrection Miracles must be divulged throughout Iudea whil'st the far greater part of Men were able to disprove them if they had been false ANNOTATIONS On the 4th Chapter 1. TErtullian tels us Percurre Ecclesias Apostolicas apud quas ipsae authenticae earum literae recitantur sonantes vocem repraesentantes uniuscujusque 2 Collected and consigned by S. John Veteres narrant Johannem Asiaticarum Ecclesiarum rogatu Germanum Scripturae Canoncm constituisse Euseb 3 Those many wavering Spirits nutant enim plurimi maximè qui literarum aliquid attigerunt Lact. l. 5. c. 1. 4 Those Hereticks who upon other motives did renounce the greater part of the New Test Cerinthus allowed only the Gospel of S. Mark Valentinus only that of S. John Iren. l. 3. c. 11. Marcion onely that of Luke Tertul. cont Marcio c. 4. Epiph. Haeres 42. Iren. l. 3. c. 11. the Ebionites rejected all the Epistles of S. Paul and embraced only the Gospel of the Nazarites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. in Cels p. 274. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 3. c. 27. vid. Valesium in locum Ejusdem farinae erant Severiani Tatiani ex quibus conflati sunt Encratitae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euscb Hist Eccl. l. 4. c. 27. Hieron catal script Eccl. in Tatiano De Encratitis vid. Theod. haeret fab l. 1. 5 Soe universally acknowledged and consented to Euseb calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist Eccl. l. 3. c. 25. 6 Soe generally dispersed for even the passage of S. Irenaeus which tells us of some barbarous Nations Qui fidem crediderunt sine literis sine charta sine atramento scriptam habentes in cordibus suis salutem doth shew plainly that other places not deemed Barbarous enjoy'd them as also doth the question following Quid autem si neque Apostoli quidem scripturas reliquissent nobis 7 Multiplyed into divers versions Cum enim fides Christiana ab ipsis Apostolorum temporibus recepta est nec sine scriptur is esse potest Ecclesia probabile est à primis nascentis Ecclesiae incunabilis harum versionum originem accersendam esse Walton Proleg in Bib. Polygl Of the innumerable latine versions that were extant in S. Augustine's daies we have one styled by S. Jerom. in Esaiam c. 14 49. Communis vulgata and by S. Gregory Epist ad Leandrum Vetus probabile est inquit Waltonus ipsam ab ipsis Ecclesiae primordiis in usu fuisse cum Ecclesia Latina sine verfione Latina esse non potuit eamque Ecclesia Romana in communi usu reciperet Of the Syriack version he speakes thus Ab Apostolicis viris factam concedo quod praeter generalem Ecclesiarum Orientalium traditionem cui multum in hoc loco tribuendum cum nulla
vanquish his two potent Heathen Adversaries Eugenius and Maximus against all humane probability as is attested by the 26 Poet Claudian the 27 soldiers who engaged in those warrs and by the 28 Christian writers of that age and is said to have been foretold with other matters of like nature by an 29 Ermite whose 30 name was celebrated in the Christian Church for the prediction of things future 31 If that miraculous rain and thunder which Antoninus did obtain for the confusion of his enemies and the refreshment of his army when almost dead with thirst was the result of Christian prayers as his 32 Epistle and the Christian writings do averr All these are instances of Providence and of that kindness which God bears unto his Servants Some Heathens I confess ascribe this wonder to the powers of 34 Magick but not to urge how insignificant they are in matters of this nature and how incredible to those who do not own a Providence the Emperour as his own 35 works inform us was a professed enemy to all such devilish Arts. § 7. 5ly IF any Revelations Jos 7.9.14.20 Judg. 18.23.29.1 Sam. 23.11.12.2 Sam. 2.1.5.19.23 or Predictions of things contingent in their various circumstances have been delivered from the mouth of prophets Oracles or any other way of Divination used or recorded by any sect of men If from the Urim and the Thummim the Jews receaved dayly answers and had it been a constant cheat what could induce them upon all occasions to consult it or to abide in that profession which bottomed upon such a lye when other †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. in Celsum l. 1. p. 28.29 Nations about them had or were believ'd to have true Oracles nay how impudent and shameless had it been to put the Question 2. Kings 1.3 is it because there is no God in Israel that you enquire after Baal if verily there had been none in Israel who could have satisfied their curiosity If there were any thing but Gross and shameless forgery in that Gift of Prophesie of which the Acts of the Apostles and the Canonical Epistles speak and the Effects whereof a Vid. in s c. 5. sect 2. Eusebius mentions as things experimented among Christians or in the Prophesies and Prophets of which we read so often in the records of the Jews which prophets they most highly reverenced though still denouncing Judgments against them and representing them as a most stubborn Apostatising Nation In a word if Heathen Jew or Christian have been supernaturally assisted in these things they must derive this power from that all ruling wisdome which orders all things according to the pleasure of his Will Now to omit all other instances in which t is easy to abound God by the prophet Esay said of Cyrus whom he expresly named a Joseph Ant. Jud. l. 11. c. 1. 210. years before his birth he shall perform my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem Isaiah 44.28.29.45.1.2.3 thou shalt be built and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid and Agen Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus whose right hand I have strengthened to subdue nations before him and turn the backs of Kings to open before him the two leavd Gates and the Gates shall not be shut I will go before thee and will break in peices the Gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of Iron I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places Now that these things might be accomplished this Cyrus first subdued Croesus then the Jonians and then Nabonidas king of Babylon thus did he turn the backs of kings and subdue nations and answer what Astyages's dream did signify viz. that from his daughter sprang a vine whose branches spread themselves throughout all Asia Who calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Euseb praep Evang. l. 9. c. 49. That Babylon had Gates of brass Abidenus witnesseth and therefore by Cyrus's conquest of it the Gates of brass were broken And that God gave unto him hidden treasures Pliny informs us in these words †Cyrus devict â Asiâ pondo 34 Millia invenerat praeter vasa aurea aurumque factum in eo folia ac platanum vitemque Quâ victoria argenti 500. Millia talentorum reportavit craterem Semiramidis cujus pondus 15. talenta colligebat l. 33. c. 3. Cyrus having conquered Asia besides the Golden vessels and other Gold which he found ready wrought met with 34000. pounds of Gold with certain leaves a plane and a vine tree of Gold and carried thence five hundred thousand Talents of silver and Semiramis her standing cup that weighed fifteen talents And that the manner of his conquest was punctually such as was delivered by the prophet Jeremiah viz. Jer. 51.28.36 that God by the kings of the Medes and Captains of that Nation would dry up her sea and make her springs dry will appear from what Herodotus hath plainly told †Tòv 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 1. p. 78. ed. Goth. viz. that by the cutting of a channel he brought back the River into the neighbouring fens and by so doing made the old channel passable for his soldiers That he gave power and commission to the Jewish Nation to rebuild the temple and gave assistance to the work that he professed the God of Israel had given to him all the kingdoms he enjoyd and charged him to build his remple we have recorded in the book of Ezra C. 1. v. 2. Now to imagine that these prophesies were written after that the things were done without the least imaginable shew of reason is in it self a thing precarious and may by these presumptions be concluded false 1 That the prophets do so punctually set down the times the place and the concernment of their Prophesie The book of Esay begins thus The visions of Isaiah son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the dayes of Uzziah Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah kings of Judah The prophet Jeremiah speaks thus The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah in the 13. year of his reign it came also in the dayes of Jehojakim the son of Josiah king of Judah unto the carrying away of Judah captive in the 5. month 2 That they did threaten to the Jewish Nation that they should goe into captivity and accordingly both they which lived in that Captivity and returned from it acknowledged that all things hapned to them according to those prophesies as is evident in the Books of Daniel Nehemiah Zachariah Haggai all which books must be but one continued chain of forgery or else t is evident there were such Prophesies and that those Prophesies were true And 3. from the sufferings they met with from the Jews †Certissima apud Hebraeos
better than that Gross and palpable Idolatry which then reigned in all parts of the Gentile world nor could more debase the nature of mankind then it was done already by a Luis enim non sentiat cujusmodi spiritus talibus obscoenitatibus delect entur nisi vel nesciens utrum omnino ulli immundi Spiritus Deorum nomine decipiant vel talem agens vitam in qua istos potius quam Deum verum optet propitios formidet iratos August de C. D. l. 2.2.4 those 1 barbarous and inhumane rites those 2 ridiculous 3 brutish filthy ceremonies which it was therefore the Devils business to confirme by frequent answers of his Oracles by miracles and predictions by Auguries their feasts solemnities and modes of worship That he knew not how to change these for worse it sufficiently appears by the care that his instruments took to prevent all innovations in religion and specially the bringing in of new Gods least the only true God should come in among the rest It appeares likewise by the wayes he now takes in the dark corners of the earth where he has power to doe what he pleaseth and nothing doth please him better than to keep them under the same Gross and palpable Idolatry But in case the Devil had been once minded to have changed his method of all methods in the world he never would have pitcht on this For nothing can be more contrary to his design then those things which are brought in by the Christian Religion which cautions us so oft and so severely against those wiles and Methods which had so long seduced and captivated the Heathen World unto his pleasure whith tends wholly to promote true Love and to knit men together in the bonds of Charity to instill those laws of Purity and Virtue that contribute so much unto the Welfare of mankind which press us with so much zeal to imitate divine Perfections become the fairest transcripts of a Deity and so the Greatest Sticklers against Satan and his Kingdome Would the enemy of mankind endeavour to promote that doctrine which carries such repugnance to his nature which sets the blackest brand on Pride and Envy Malice Falshood and Hypocrisy and all that viperous brood of fleshly lusts which are the proper characters of that evil one If so he very ill deserves the name of Satan the Destroyer the devouring Lyon or the evil one Besides Christianity was raised upon the ruines of the Devils kingdome and the Church built on the confusions of his Babel no sooner did the Joyfull voice sound in the Heathens eares but it 4 struck dumb his Oracles silenced his Tripods and his Pipes the very presence of a 5 Christian or a 6 Martyrs Bones would put a stop unto his Service at their command their Gods were 7 forced to confess they were but Devils and could do 8 nothing where the name of Christ was Invocated and so were forced to forsake those Seats they had so quietly possessed Thus as the Prophet had foretold Zeph. 2.11 they famished those earthly Gods the Foolishness of Preaching out-witted all their Policies the Weakness of the Gospel overcame their Strength it outed them of their Possessions it forced the Conjurer to become the Convert Acts 8.13 19. the Magicians to burn their Books and made the very name of Daemon become the hatred of good Men. Orig. in Celsum p. 234 It was this extorted that Ingenious Confession from the Mouth of Porphyry That since the Blessings of a Saviour all others were in vain expected from the Heathen Deities whose Statues and whose Powers were become Insensate It was that which forced the Heathen to enquire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what so benum'd their Deities what chased them from their Dens and Altars and this made the Christian so triumphantly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. p. 99. vide Euseb Praep. Evang. l. 1. c. 1. August de C. D. l. 4. c. 29. cry out Ubi sunt dii vestri ubi Prophetae ubi oracula ubi auguria ubi Sacrificia Again If what they did was by the power of Magick and Infernal Arts whence should they learn and by what means obtain to such dexterity that all the Wit and Learning in the World could neither equal nor detect their Subtilty nor do what was the daily work of Idiots and Mechanick Souls If we enquire of the Jew or Gentile they will derive this skill from the Aegyptian Magi with whom our Saviour did converse which they imagine without the least pretence of Evidence as having nothing else to say But were it so How came this Doctrine to convert even those Aegyptian Sorcerers and make them suffer so much for the Christian Faith Euseb Hist Eccles l. 8. c. 8. How is it none of them did e're contend with this new Moses in the power of working Miracles as of old they did though they had more prevailing Motives so to do or manifest those slights to the deceived World with which they were so well acquainted How is it Secondly That of those many which did desert the Christian Faith none ever did confess their skill in Magick Produce one Book or one Instruction which they had received from Christ or his Apostles to work such wonderful Effects Thirdly Why did they constantly profess so great an enmity unto that Art of Magick which the Jews and Heathens exercised that even their Artists when converted condemned their Books of Magick to the Flames In fine Matth. 9.4 12.25 Mark 2.6 8. 9 33. Joh. 2.25 Christ was acquainted with the thoughts of Men knew the Conceptions and the discourses of their very Souls rebuked the Pharisees and Scribes for what they did conceive within their hearts which things assure us that he was assisted by a greater Power than that of Good or Evil Angels we having neither heard or known that this hath been attempted or pretended by them though to be able so to do or to have it only believed that he is able would be highly instrumental to the preserving the Devils Power and the establishment of his Kingdom ANNOTATIONS On the 2d Chapter 1. THose Barbarous inhumane rites 1. eviration Matri deum Homines suis ipsi virilibus litant Lact. l. 1. c. 21. vide August de C. D. l. 7. c. 26. Tatian or cont Gentes Prudentium Hymno in Romanum Samiâ testâ Matris Deum sacerdotes virilitatem amputant Plin. l. 35. c. 12. vide Herodian l. 1. c. 20. Tibullum l. 1. El. 4. Voss de Idol l. 1. c. 20. l. 2. c. 35. 2ly incision of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian de Dea syria p. 419. Ille viriles sihi partes amputat ille lacertos secat ubi iratos deos timent qui sic propitios mirentur Senec. apud August de C. D. l. 6. c. 10. vid. l. 7. c. 26. Hoc Matri Deorum factum esse vide apud
Christ assured them a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 5. Orat. 2. in Bab. p. 442. they should out do those many miracles which He himself had wrought Ioh. 14.12 which was a promise of so strange a nature that never any person did pretend the like nor could it be fulfilled according unto what these Records have delivered without the greatest demonstration of Christs power or fail of being so without the ruine of that faith which he had planted the rejection of those Histories which spake of its exact completion But let it be considered 2ly That Jews and Heathens their most malitious and subtile enemies confess the thing Act. 4.16 That indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell at Jerusalem and we cannot deny it say the High Priest and Rulers of the Jews The Heathens tell us that they were the greatest 11 Juglers and had 12 received from our Saviour Books which did instruct them in these arts and made them able to derive the cheat unto their followers Nay they 13 acknowledge that at their very Sepulchers were many wonders done 3ly Agreably to these predictions and confessions we are told in the forementioned Records that God confirmed the word of his Grace Act. 14.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 19.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 8.13 Act. 4.23 Act. 9.40.20.10 by doing signs and wonders by the Apostles hands and that these Miracles were not mean ordinary things but mighty that with great power gave the Apostles witness to the Resurrection and that great grace was upon them all The dead were raised by them Tabitha by Peter and Eutychus by Paul and Irenaeus tells us that in his time by the prayers and fastings of the Church the dead were frequently restored to life a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. l. 2. c. 56. c. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hereticks saith he for all their boast of miracles they cannot raise the dead as Christ and his Apostles did and as many of the Brotherhood when the necessities of the Church required it have by their prayers and fastings often done Their miracles were wrought at distance and by unlikely and inconsiderable means by Handkercheifs and Napkins which obtained this virtue of doing mighty cures only by being sent from an Apostles hand b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost St Peters shadow healed all that were afflicted with evil Spirits throughout all Ierusalem and all the Cities round about it Their very Sepulchers were instrumental to the working of so many and such apparent Miracles that as their Enemies were forced to confess them so Christians did often 14 plead them with the greatest confidence they were such as conquered and amazed the Conjurer Acts 19.18 19. such as prevailed with the Magicians to burn their Books and make confession of their Practises and own that Doctrine though with the hazard of their Lives which pronounced them guilty of contracting with the Prince of darkness 3ly These Wonders were perform'd by Christians throughout all places of the World in which the Gospel did obtain and flourish St Paul assures us that from Jerusalem Rom. 15.19 and round about unto Illyricum the Gospel had been preached by him with mighty signs and wonders and by the power of the Holy Ghost and both the reason and the necessity of the thing assure us that what was done by him must be done also by the rest of the Apostles and especially by those who were preferred above him by the Church of Corinth and Galatia The Records of the Churches and the Apologies of Christians writ from each corner of the World the Conversion of so many by the Apostles Preaching in every quarter of it Joel 2.28 the Promise of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon all flesh Acts 2.29 and given to as many as the Lord should call all these and many other Circumstances confirm us in the Truth of this Particular Fourthly This Power of working Miracles was still retained in the World for divers Centuries For the Apologies and Records of the Christians in their respective Ages still avouch and plead them against the Heretick the Jew the Heathen for confirmation of their Faith Irenaeus writing against the Gnosticks Carpocratians and Valentinians asserts That if they truly did what they pretended only yet was it not to be compared with the Miracles of Christ and his Disciples And then he adds a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. l. 2. cap. 57. It is impossible to reckon up all the miraculous Gifts which the Church throughout the World receives and exerciseth to the benefit of the Heathens Origen in commendation of the Christian Faith above the Jews Pretensions tells them That b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. in Celsum l. 2. p. 62. since the coming of a Saviour they were left destitute of all the signs of Gods especial Presence with them they had no Prophets nor any Wonders done amongst them whereas the Christians were plentifully endowed with these Gifts of Miracles and Prophesie c Quanti honesti viri de vulgaribus enim non dicimus aut à Daemoniis aut valetudi nibus remediati sunt quando non Geniculationibus Jejunationibus nostris etiam siccitates sunt depulsae Tertul. ad Scap. c. 4. How many Men of reputation for we speak not of the vulgar sort have been freed from Devils by us when is it that our Prayers and Fastings do not cause their dearths to cease So Tertullian Of this miraculous Power the second and third Ages give us instances innumerable Of its continuance in the fourth Century Eusebius and 15 Cyril Theodoret and 16 Augustine are sufficient Witnesses If therefore these were matters which the Jews and Heathens who persecuted Christ and his Disciples do confess if Christians of all places through divers Ages of the World pretended and appealed to them using no other method to convince the World If their Apologies and Disputations with their Adversaries which were so mightily prevailing did bottom on the truth of these Particulars and if those Writings which contained them were universally acknowledged as Divine and absolutely true then must the Miracles recorded in them be Divine and such as they are held to be by Christians Besides the Apostle Paul assures the Church of Rome Rom. 15.15 18 19. he would not speak of any thing which Christ had not performed by him and yet he adds 2 Cor. 11.6 12.12 That he could glory of the grace given to him to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God And to the Church of Corinth he writes thus That he had given them full proof of his Apostleship that he had fully been made manifest among them in all things that he did not come behind the very chief of the Apostles Which is sufficient to evince that not St
believe it nothing besides this power of working Miracles but death and miseries at present which their experience proved to be true I say it is prodigious to think that He and his Disciples should with no other charmes worke such a lasting Faith in all the wisest part of men that neither time nor vice though most concerned to do so should ever be able to deface it And yet what 's so prodigiously incredible must be certain truth or else the Resurrection must be so THE CONCLUSION SHEWING that if what hath been delivered should be only probable yet the Christian Faith must in all reason be embraced as being 1. the safest way and 2ly the greatest instrument of present Happines A recapitulation of the whole with a practical reflection upon what hath been discoursed IF what hath been delivered do not seem to any to carry a convincing evidence let it but passe for probable and that which proves the Christian Faith more likely to be true than false and this will be sufficient plea for the profession of it For were it supposed only such it must in reason be embraced as being the securest way and the best instrument of present happiness And 1 CHRISTIANITY is the best help to present happines because it gives the highest motives to contentment in our present state the strongest comforts and supports against those evils we can fear or suffer the best preservatives and remedies against the terrors of an evil conscience the most effectual remedies against those passions and corrupt affections which impair our health and which disturb our peace and quiet It gives the fairest hopes and promises and so the greatest motives unto love and kindnes as is exceeding evident from Scripture and from what we have discoursed in the 10th Chap. of this Book 2. That Christianity is also the securest way hath been already proved and is invincibly concluded from what Arnobius saith of it See the Preface in illo periculi nihil est si quod dicitur imminere cassum fiat vacuum in hoc damnum est maximum id est salutis amissio si cum tempus advenerit aperiatur non fuisse mendacium Besides all other waies of Worship which stand in competition with it are so absurd or surely antiquated as not to bear the least degree of Evidence compared to the Evidence of Christian Faith and therefore we may rest assured that if there be a Providence it cannot be offended with us for preferring this before them But God may justly be incensed against us for not embracing of the Christian Faith though the Inducements so to do were only probable because we prosecute the most important Actions and Affaires of humane life upon the like Inducements We goe to sea only in hopes of a good Voyage and a safe returne and have recourse to the Physician only in hopes of a recovery and therefore cannot be excused if we neglect to do what we have like or greater reason to believe is both the will of God and that which doth conduce to our eternal happines especially considering that Christianity doth promise greater measures of Conviction and degrees of Evidence to such as do obey its Precepts assuring us that he who doth the Will of Christ shall know the Doctrine whether it be of God or not § 2. IF then it be but probable that Christ and his Disciples were endowed with any Power of working Miracles in confirmation of the Christian Faith that any of them healed diseases cast out devils raised the Dead and whilst they constantly pretended to these things for many generations and in all places of the World and did avouch them with their dearest blood were not the worst of fools and knaves or most deluded persons Or if it be but probable that such Men could never leave unto the world the best and the sublimest Revelations such as outdid the Laws of wisest Nations and all the Precepts of Philosophy such as best serve the present and eternal Interests of Man such as are most consistent with the common Principles of Reason and yet too hard for reason to invent If it be probable that they could never by the bare Assertion of the Resurrection of a condemned malefactor confirmed only by a lye prevail upon the world to owne him for their God to desert all other ways of Worship and to run the greatest risks at present only in expectation of some future Blessing which he had promised in another life If it be probable that such a world of men would never suffer fiery tryals and sundry kinds of death become the scorne and the Ofscouring of the world only to propagate that lye which scarce afforded a temptation so to do If it be probable that any real Judgments were inflicted upon the Enemies of the Christian Faith or upon such as did prevaricate in the profession of it or that the Church and chiefly the Apostles had power to inflict such Judgments and did not terrify their converts vith vain words If it be probable that any Revelations have been ever made in favour of the Christian Cause 1. Cor. 14. 29 30 31 32. and that S. Paul in his Epistles to the Church of Corinth doth not give directions about things of nought and confidently tell them that ever one had a Revelation when no man did enjoy it If it be probable that any Dreams or Visions have been vouchsafed to them or any tokens of divine Assistance under sufferings of wonderful deliverance from them of confusion to their Adversaries If it be probable that the predictions of the Messiah of the Jews were perfectly accomplish'd in our JESUS and that things particularly foretold by him viz. his Death and Resurrection the large and speedy Propagation of the Christian Faith the Miracles of his Disciples the destruction of the Jewish nation however most incredible were most assuredly fulfill'd or that that gift of Prophesie to which so many thousand soules pretended throughout divers centuryes was really vouchsafed to any one of them If it be probable that any of them spake with Tongues and the Apostle did not charge the Church of Corinth with the too frequent exercise of a gift with which they never were acquainted If it be probable that the whole Sect of Christians for three hundred years were neither wicked Impostors nor yet deluded Persons If it be probable that they had no assistance from good or evil Angels to delude the World and yet did things which could not be effected without the aid of some supernaturall Powers If it be probable that both their Gospels and Epistles were indited in that Age they lived in and sent to those Persons to whome they are inscribed and if it be improbable that whilst so many were alive that could attest the truth or falsehood of their story it should though a prodigious and bare-faced lye obtain to be the Rule of Faith I say if all these things are probable then must Christianity