that they must go to such a Book which we call the Bible and that will satisfy them But why should they pin their Faith upon any Book in the world This is what they urge for their Infidelity This now being the State of the Controversy between Us and several of the Unbelievers among us you see it turns upon this single Point that is now before us namely Whether a man that does not see may not have sufficient Reason to believe at many hundred years distance Or more particularly thus Whether we in these days who never saw our Saviour nor his Miracles particularly That of his Resurrection with Reference to which these words were spoken have not abundant Reason to believe in him upon the Testimony of those that did see all these things We say we have They say we have not Here therefore we join Issue Now for the making good our side of the Question I proceed by these Steps In the first place We lay it down as a Principle and I suppose every body will agree to it That if Iesus Christ and his Apostles when they first Preached the Gospel did give sufficient Proof and Evidence that what they Preached was from God And likewise if both the Doctrine they Preached and the Proof and Evidence they gave for it be faithfully transmitted to us and with such Certainty likewise that we cannot have any reasonable doubt that it is so transmitted Then I say we can have no reason in the earth to complain that we want Evidence for the Truth of the Gospel I do not say yet that we have as strong Proof as if we had seen or heard those things our selves But I say we have sufficient Proof to convince any reasonable unbiassed man This I presume no body will deny and it is all that we ask at present In the Second place I believe none will deny that what was once really spoken or what was once really done may be truly and faithfully put into writing And it is possible likewise that those Writings may come so well attested to them that live many Ages after those things were spoken or done that none in any Age can reasonably doubt that they give a true and faithful account of the things therein reported to be done or taught I say I believe none will deny this for if it be not admitted we can give no Credit to any History that was written nor consequently to any Matter of Fact that was done in former Ages It therefore will I hope be granted that both the Doctrines of our Saviour and his Proofs of them might in this way if God so pleased be so faithfully transmitted to Posterity that future Ages might certainly come to the knowledge of them In the Third place we say That it is obvious to all Mankind that if ever there was any Affair in the world wherein the Providence of God was concerned that there should be a faithful Conveyance of it made to all Generations to come and carrying the Marks of its own Credibility this Affair of the Gospel of Christ was such a one Because the Importance of it to all the Children of men was such that their Salvation or Damnation to the end of the world did depend upon the Belief of it if the Author of this Gospel delivered a true Doctrine And therefore we may certainly conclude that if what Christ taught at the first was from God God would take care that what he taught together with sufficient Proof of the Truth of it should be conveyed to all the Ages of the world And if all this was to be contained in a Book we may likewise be assured that Book should come to us with such Evidence of its being true that we could have no reasonable Suspicion concerning it We are sure God's Providence hath taken care that Writings of an Ancienter Date than the Gospel that are of infinitely less consequence to Mankind should come down to us without any Suspicion of Imposture And can it be imagined then his Providence should be unconcerned in preserving and bringing safe to our hands the Records of a thing by the Belief or Denial of which the Eternal State of men in the other world is to be concluded In the Fourth place having laid these Foundations we advance a Step higher It is certain that there was a timely and a faithful Record of all the things that Iesus Christ taught in order to Salvation and of all the Proofs he gave for the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine And this Record is contained in the Books of the New Testament That this is true Matter of Fact we have all the Proof that a thing of this Nature is capable of These Books were written either by men that were Eye and Ear Witnesses of our Saviour's Miracles and Doctrine and Conversation Or by such as Conversed with those that were This appears not only from the Writings themselves which carry in them all the Marks of their being written by Persons so qualified but also from the constant Tradition that hath in all Ages gone in the world about the Authors of these Writings And you may with as much or more reason doubt that those Writings among us which go under the Name of Cicero or Caesar or Seneca or any other most unquestioned Author were none of Theirs but forged since their times than you can doubt that the Gospels of St. Matthew Mark and Iohn and Luke's both Gospel and Acts of the Apostles and St. Paul's Epistles were not writ by those Authors or in the Age they pretend to be I say there is a great deal more reason to doubt of that than there is of this Because we have not only all the Proofs of the Genuineness of those Writings that can be given for any other Writings which are the most unquestioned in the world but this over and above which is compatible to none but these namely That the Matter of these Writings is of such a Nature that all Mankind were concerned to detect the Fraud and the Forgery of them if there had been any But yet they have always passed under the Names they bear at this day nay and in every Age from the first publishing of them we have Authentick Authorities in a continued Succession to vouch for them Well but supposing these men to be the Authors of these Writings yet how can we depend upon the Truth of what they have Reported In answer to this I say in the Fifth place Let any man read them and then speak from his Conscience Whether he does not think that these men were in good earnest and did really write according to their own inward sense And yet the Matters they wrote were such as it was not possible they could be deceived about them because they were all plain Matters of Fact things which their Eyes and Ears were witnesses of But that is not all They who lived in those days and had full opportunities of examining
the Truth of what they had written gave Testimony to them since they built their Faith upon the Matters of Fact they had delivered If therefore you suppose these Writers to be sincere honest men it is certain that what they recorded concerning our Lord Jesus and his Doctrines and his Actions must be true On the other side if you suppose them to have had Designs of imposing upon the world with a false Story you must at the same time suppose a great number of People of whom there is no ground for such a suspicion to be perfect Fools or Mad-men who gave so much Credit to all that matter which they related concerning our Saviour that they laid down their Lives to attest the Truth of it I know nothing to be said against this unless it be That though they could not well be supposed to be mistaken in the Matters of Fact which they relate concerning our Saviour yet they might in the Matter of his Doctrines These they might misrepresent and consequently their Writings ought not to be of that Authority with us as that we should be bound to believe all that they say But to this I give a very short Answer If we do admit them to be true Reporters of Matters of Fact we must also of necessity admit them to be true Reporters nay I say more Infallible Reporters of our Saviour's Doctrine so as that their Declarations of it must for ever conclude all Christians And the reason is this The Authors of these Writings were either Apostles or Apostolick Men as has been said before and it is one of the matters of Fact reported in these Writings that our Saviour did so assist these men with his Holy Spirit that they were enabled faithfully and infallibly to Preach that Doctrine to others which he had delivered to them Now if we be sure they were inspired in what they Preached we may be as much assured they were inspired in putting what they Preached into writing since it was the same Doctrine that they Preached and that they Wrote and especially since after it was written it was to remain to all succeeding Generations and to be a Rule of mens Faith so long as the world should last And further we are sure that all the Christians of those days did look upon those Writings to have a stamp of divine Authority upon them and distinguished them from all other human Compositions And to Evidence this they made these Writings to be the Standard of their Belief the Measure by which they tryed all Opinions and Doctrines in Religion So that whatever was not found in these Scriptures was not accounted as necessary to Salvation and whatever was found disagreeing from these Scriptures was rejected as an Innovation or an Error in Christianity And of this we have sufficient Evidence from Antiquity Well but how shall we know whether these Scriptures be faithfully transmitted down to us How do we know but that they may have been corrupted since the time they were written and made to speak different things now from what they did at the first This is the last Question upon this Argument and in Answer to it I say in the Sixth Place If the Providence of God as I told you before was ever concerned to preserve any Writings from being depraved or corrupted it was certainly more especially concerned to do it as to the Writings we are now speaking of they being of such vast Importance to all the Generations of Mankind But I do not leave the matter so There is Evidence of Fact as well as Reason to be offered in this Case Let the Books of the New Testament as we now have them be tryed by the severest Rules of Criticism Let the Copies both Ancient and Modern which are extant of them be compared Let the several Versions of them likewise that were made in the earliest times be examined Lastly Let all the Ecclesiastical Writers from the beginning of Christianity to this day who have either commented upon them or proved any Doctrine from them or but occasionally quoted them in their Writings be searched into It will appear by all these ways of Tryal that our Scriptures are the same at this day that they were at the beginning without any material difference Indeed considering the multitude of Copies that were taken of these Books and the several Translations that were made of them into other Languages even shortly after the time they were first published we cannot imagine it possible that in After-ages any thing could be foisted into them to serve the Turn of any Party but the Imposture would have been presently discovered And accordingly we find that when any Attempts of this kind have been made there were not wanting those who took care to detect and expose them I do not when I say this deny that there are many differences and various readings to be met with in the ancient Copies of these Books occasioned by the negligence or mistakes of Transcribers Nay and some few Passages may be wanting in some Copies that are found in others But then I desire it may be observed that these differences are of such small moment that it is of no Importance to the Christian Faith which of the Readings be right and which of them be wrong For they all agree in all the Matters which concern either our Saviour's Doctrines or his Precepts or the Proofs he gave of his Divine Mission And farther agreement than this I think none needs to desire Indeed if slight and verbal differences in Copies be a good Argument against the Genuineness of a Writing we have no Genuine Writing of any ancient Author at this day For the same thing has happened to all old Books whatsoever that have been often transcribed And to suppose that it should be otherwise in the Books of the Scripture is to suppose that God ought in every age as immediately and infallibly to guide the Pen of every Transcriber of them as he did the Minds of their first Authors To make now a little Reflection on what I have said about the Scriptures of the New Testament It is urged by our Deists as a very hard thing That whereas when the Gospel was first preached men had opportunities of being convinced by their senses of the Truth of it or at least it is pretended they had such Opportunities we now are only referred to a Book that gives us an account of these matters Why I desire to know what other way they would have had an account of them but by Books Would they have had our Saviour to come down from Heaven every Fifty or Threescore years and to Preach the same Doctrine and Confirm it by the same Miracles to the men of that Generation that he once did among the Iews Yet this it must be supposed necessary for him to do if Men cannot otherwise be convinced of the Truth of his Religion but by their Senses Nay that would not be enough He must
not only publish his Doctrine and repeat his Miracles to every Age but to every individual Man of every Age Otherwise All Men had not opportunity of being convinced by their Senses and consequently could not upon reasonable grounds believe in him But if this Supposition be absurd as it certainly is then we must be content and there is all the reason in the world we should be so with that sort of Evidence for the Truth of his Gospel that other Matters of Fact done at a great distance of time from us are capable of That is to say Authentick Witnesses of them at the first and the Testimony of those Witnesses faithfully transmitted down to Posterity And how any Testimony can be more faithfully transmitted than by the way of Writing let them shew us if they can And then as for the Books or Writings that we refer you to in this Case we ask no more for the gaining Credit to them than only that it may be seriously considered of what sort they are and what Authority they carry along with them We do not send you to Herodotus and Pliny or such like Writers who though they were very good Authors yet took a great deal of what they said from uncertain Reports Much less do we send you to a Golden Legend or the Lives of the Saints as they have been written of later days by Men who took advantage of the Ignorance and Credulity of the Age they liv'd in to obtrude what they pleased upon the World But we send you to Authors who themselves knew and were Witnesses of what they wrote Who gave all possible proof of their Sincerity and Integrity not only by publickly in all places asserting the Truth of what they had written but some of them also sealing it with their Blood Who were so assisted with the Divine Spirit that they themselves wrought the same Miracles for the confirmation of Christ's Doctrine that they had recorded him to have done And lastly Who in all succeeding Ages were had in such veneration among Christians that their Writings were esteemed the Platform and Standard of True Faith And upon which they set so high a value that they would keep them at the Peril of their Lives And Instances we have of Multitudes who rather chose Torments and Death than they would deliver up their Bibles Taking now all this together can any thing like it be said for the Truth or the Authority of any other Book in the world But this is not all I desire in the Seventh and last place it may be considered That we do not send you to a bare Book for the Proof of the Christian Religion how much soever that Book may have the Marks not only of a True and Genuine but also of a Divine History But we insist upon a great many other things for the Proof of the Matters contained in that Book besides the Authority of the Book it self If indeed nothing had followed upon Christ's publishing his Gospel and we had never heard more of it or him save what we might happen to meet with in those Old Writings I do not know how far their Evidence alone now at the distance of near Seventeen hundred Years would have prevailed with us to embrace his Religion But now when we see and are convinced that so many remarkable Effects ensued upon his Preaching in the world and still continue visible at this day which yet cannot be ascribed to any other cause than to the particular Power and Providence of God which was concerned to justify our Saviour and his Pretensions to the world This is certainly a new Evidence and a standing one both for that Book which mentions all these things and especially for that Cause it maintains The Case of the Christian Religion is plainly this Iesus Christ a mean Person as to his outward Circumstances sets up for a Preacher of a new Religion And this not in the times of Ignorance and Barbarism when an Imposture might be supposed more easy to be carried on and which Advantages Mahomet afterwards made use of but in the Reign of Augustus Caesar when Learning and Arts and Sciences were in the most flourishing Condition that ever they were known to be He chuses a Company of very ordinary Unlettered Men but very Honest Men to be the Witnesses of his Conversation and Doctrine And these he designs for the Spreaders of his Religion throughout the World He neither makes use of Arts nor Arms for the gaining Disciples to himself only declares plainly that he is the Person whom God had long before promised to send and whom he did now send to publish Eternal Salvation to all that should believe in him The Religion which he taught and which all his Followers were to take upon them was so far from gratifying Flesh and Blood that it seemed much better contrived as the World then stood for the frighting men from it than for the alluring Proselytes to it For there was nothing in it that ministred to any sensual or worldly purposes nothing that tended to make a man either wise or rich or great or happy in the sense of this world but all the quite contrary He that would be his Disciple must quit all the popular Notions about Happiness Instead of being thought wise must submit to be counted a Fool for Christ's sake Instead of getting Wealth or Honour or Preferment must be prepared to part with all these things if he was already possessed of them must deny himself and all his Temporal Interests nay must forsake Father and Mother and his own Life also whenever he was called to it The way to Heaven as he taught it was by Humility and Meekness and Contempt of the World and all the Glories of it by patient suffering Afflictions and Injuries and an absolute Resignation of our selves to God to do and suffer whatever was his Will And he himself as he lived thus so did he thus go off the Stage being after Three Years preaching this sort of Doctrine hanged up on a Cross as an Impostor and that by the Vote of his own Countrymen Where now was the temptation to the generality of men to own this Man as a Prophet sent from God to Mankind Why in truth by what I have yet represented there was very little Nay indeed to any one that considers these beginnings of the Gospel it will be matter of Astonishment that any more came of it and that it did not presently dye with the Author of it But here was the thing Our Lord in how poor a Condition soever he lived yet he spake as never man spake He so explained the Old Scriptures which foretold of him He taught such Important Truths concerning another Life concerning the Nature and Providence of God and his Mercy to lost Mankind and the way in which he would be served and in what sort of things it was that true Religion did consist that he pierced the very Souls of those