their Faith and Christian Resolution this way But the general Character of these Writers as well as the Authority of what they say will be further made out from the consideration of the Subjects they writ about the several kinds and sorts of their Writings and the Manner in which they are writ All which I shall endeavour to bring under one view and raise such Observations from them as will plainly confirm the main Conclusion I am to establish The common Subject of all the Books and Writings of the first Orthodox Authors was the Christian Religion though in several Ways and Methods discoursed of Most of these concern the History of Christian Affairs either expresly or occasionally For besides those Authors who purposely designed an Historical Relation either of the Church in general or of some particular Ecclesiastical Matter there 's hardly a Christian Writer within the Time of our present Enquiry but has some occasion or other to mention several Historical Passages in almost every Book that he wrote in order to some further end he proposed to himself in writing Now concerning the Writings of Christian Authors considered under this Character of Historians I have these Things to observe First That they do manifestly confirm the truth of all those Traditions and standing Monuments before mentioned For we have frequent Proofs of the Antiquity of the Scriptures and all those Religious Customs and Institutions in use amongst Christians in Eusebius's time and the General Tradition strengthen'd by abundance of New Circumstances such were the great Controversies and Quarrels about some Christian Usages particularly Baptism and the Feast of Easter together with the Canons and Decrees that were made and the Letters that were writ with relation to these Affairs Here is likewise mention made of the same Christian Relicks and Momonuments and the same publick Acts and Records which Eusebius saw and the Accounts and Extracts of them in several Authors agree with what Eusebius himself was witness of In the next place 't is very plain that they give us an account of several other Customs Monuments and publick Acts and abuudance of other particular Historical Passages besides those mention'd in Eusebius the Truth of which or the Antiquity of their Fiction being proved they are so many new Arguments in behalf of the Christian Tradition or the truth of those Facts we are now to prove Thirdly I observe that most of these Authors considered as Historians were very Competent Judges and Credible Reporters of the truth of the Facts they relate For either they were actual and immediate Witnesses of what they tell us themselves or they took a great deal of care to inform themselves right or the Facts were of that nature that they could not be deceived though they did not examine them very strictly and which way soever they came by them they were Faithsul and Sincere in their Relation Several things they tell us of their own Knowledge others they quote their Authors for and others they deliver only as Traditional Reports which they distinguish also into Probable and Fabulous according to the Evidence that then appeared to them upon a diligent Examination And several of them have given great Marks of their Diligence and Care in enquiring as well as Sincerity in reporting as particularly Hegesippus who gave an account of the Unity of Faith in several Cities after having travell'd through them and convers'd with the Bishops of them Clemens who used all the care he could to inform himself of the Truth and Sincerity of the Christian Tradition from several Eminent Persons of different Countries Irenoeus who carefully remember'd the Conversation he had with Eminent Christians in his Youth and was very much concern'd to have his own Writings deliver'd down faithfully to Posterity a proof of which first Remark concerning Irenaeus we have in an Epistle of his to Florinus quoted by Eusebus part of which I think worth the Transcribing when reproving Florinus for some ill Opinions he held he speaks to him in this manner Eus Ec. H. l. 5. c. 26. These Opinions the Presbyters who lived before our times who also were the Disciples of the Apostles did in no wise deliver unto thee For I saw thee when being yet a Child I was in the Lower Asia with Polycarp behaving thy self very well in the Palace and endeavouring to get thy self well esteemed of by him for I remember the things then done better then what has happen'd of late for what we learnt being Children increases together with the Mind it self and is closely united to it insomuch that I am able to tell where the Blessed Polycarp sate and Discoursed also his goings out and comings in his manner of Life the shape of his Body the Discourses he made to the Populace the familiar Converse which he said he had with John and with those who had seen the Lord and how he rehears'd their Sayings and what they were which he had heard from them concerning the Lord concerning his Miracles and his Doctrine according as Polycarp received them from those who with their own Eyes beheld the Word of Life so he related them agreeing in all things with the Scriptures These things by the Mercy of God bestowed upon me I then heard diligently and copied them out not in Paper but in my Heart and by the Grace of God I do continually and sincerely ruminate upon them And the same Irenaeus at the end of one of his Pieces says thus I adjure thee who shalt Transcribe this Book by our Lord Jesus and by his Glorious coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead that you compare what you shall Transcribe and correct it diligently according to that Copy whence you shall Transcribe and that in like manner you ascribe this Adjuration and annex it to your Copy Which concern of Irenaeus for the faithful conveyance of Truths contained in his own Writings to Posterity is a very good argument of his care in examining the Traditions and Writings that came down to him from elder times respecting the same Important Truths A great many other such like Instances as these may be given where the Primitive Christian Writers positively and expresly declare that they had seen and convers'd with the immediate Successors of the Apostles and with those upon whom several great Miracles had been wrought by them had themselves been Witnesses of a great many wonderful Gifts remaining in the Church in their time as likewise where they demonstrate by many sensible Marks and Signs the great Care and Diligence they had taken in examining the Informations they received from remoter Hands and all other concurring Presumptions arising from Circumstances of Fact and Rational Inferences And as they were competent Witnesses and careful Relators in General so are they more especially to be relied upon as to those two great and concerning Matters of Fact the Scriptures of the New Testament and Persecutions of Christians The Truth and Authority of the Scriptures
Tradition Another Set of Testimonies which Eusebius furnishes us with in behalf of the Christian Tradition are Relicks Buildings and other such like Monuments several of which were remaining in his Time and seen by him himself such were Christian Burying-Places and Sepulchres with the Names of Christians upon them particularly those of Peter and Paul Statues and Pictures particularly the Statue of the Woman cured by Christ of the Bloody Flux Pictures of Christ Peter and Paul in colours These were all seen by Eusebius himself as was likewise the Episcopal Chair of James at Jerusalem several Christian Libraries and several Christian Temples before they were pull'd down and destroyed by the Order of Dieclesian These and many other such like Monuments remaining in Eusebius's Time whether all the Particular Traditional Reports concerning them were true or false might easily be perceived upon view or divers other ways be known to be Ancient and whatever Age they were of they must be good proofs of the Belief of the Men of those Times and consequently of the truth of Christianity so far as we are now concern'd to prove it But the Tradition of Christianity from its first Original down to the Council of Nice with all the principal Matters of Fact upon which it is built is further and more especially secured to us and the truth of all the foregoing Testimonies confirm'd by Books and written Records vast Numbers of which of different Kinds and different Ages written by several Men of different Countries Characters Designs and Religious Persuasions were extant in Eusebius's Time a great many of which were generally known multitudes of Copies of them being dispersed throughout the World and several of these Writings were carefully preserved in particular places and either never communicated further by any Transcripts or Copies to remaining there to be seen in their Primitive State after Transcription Now all these Writings of what kind soever they are whose Authority is made use of for the establishing the Christian Faith I shall rank under certain distinct Heads in order to shew what sense and weight they have in the proof of what they are brought to maintain The several Books and Writings then to be considered are Copies of the Holy Scriptures viz. of the Books of the Old and New Testament Publick Acts and Records belonging properly to Societies and not to particular Authors Genuine Writings of profess'd Christians who by reason of their common Agreement in some certain Doctrines of Christianity are Styl'd Orthodox Books writ by Hereticks who were Men of particular Opinions different from those commonly received by other Christians Jewish and Pagan Books containing such Things as have Relation to Christianity Forged and Supposititious Writings of uncertain Authors which do some way or other concern the Christian Religion As to Copies of the Scriptures found in the hands of Christians in Eusebius's Time I have these Things to observe that they were then multiplyed to so great a Variety that hardly a Christian Family was without some of the Books That they were Translated into several different Languages That in those Countries where the Translations were of common use a great many Copies in the Original Language were preserv'd That in most of the great Cities and Episcopal Churches there was a Copy in the Original Language more ancient than the rest from whence the other Copies were taken and Translations made That such Copies as these might not only by Tradition but by several intrinsick Marks be known to be ancient and their Age pretty nearly determined That upon comparison there was a very great Agreement betwixt these ancient Copies preserved in several very distant and remote Churches That such care had been taken in Transcribing and Translating from them that the differences found between any Copies either of the Originals or Translations were very inconsiderable That all Christians thought themselves concern'd to preserve the Jewish Canon of Scripture as well as the New Testament and therefore Copies of the Old Testament in the Original Tongue and Translations of it into several Vulgar Languages were multiplied carefully Transcribed and kept together with those of the New That upon a diligent search into the Matter it was found that besides those Copies of the greatest part of the Books of the New Testament which were alike to be met with in all Christian Churches there were others received in some Churches and by a constant Tradition then vouch'd to be as early and of as great Authority as the rest From all which I think I may safely inferr That the Writings of the New Testament were as early as they are pretended to be and that the Christian Religion had its Original in Judea at the time assigned it which being less than 300 Years before Eusebius and the Books of the New Testament which give an account of the Christian Religion and plainly suppose an antecedent Propagation and Establishment of it in a great part of the World being writ some time after the first Publication Eusebius or any other Person of his Age who throughly examined the Matter concerning the Copies of the Scriptures then received must needs be satisfied from this Consideration only that the Books of the New Testament had as early a Publication in the World as is now ascribed to them and consequently that the Christian Faith was somewhat earlier and the same then as it is in these Books represented to have been This will further be made out from the next sort of Writings to be considered viz. Publick Acts and Records belonging properly to Societies and not to particular Authors such were Catalogues of Bishops Decrees of Synods Letters from Churches and Societies of Men general Records of remarkable Matters particular Acts and Monuments of Martyrs Psalms Hymns Creeds and Forms of Prayer The most famous Churches especially those constituted by Apostles kept the Succession of their Bishops with great care laid up in their Archives recording their Names and days of their Death in a pair of writing Tables This Eusebius tells us was the Custom of the Primitive Christians and these Tables he assures us he diligently examined and he was very exact in the Account he took of them as particularly appears from what he says concerning the Church of Jerusalem viz. That he found from Old Records fifteen Bishops with their Names who had succeeded in that Church from the Apostles to the Siege of the Jews in Adrian 's Time but could not find preserved in Writing the space of Time each Bishop spent in his Presidency over that See The like diligence and exactness are observable in the Account he gives of the Succession of Bishops in several other Churches most of their Names being set down and the times of their several Succession Presidency and Death punctually determined and Reasons given why he could not speak with the same certainty of the rest omitted There were likewise extant in his Time a great many Canons and Decrees made by several Councils and
Indirectly and Negatively by shewing that none of those Suppositions which exclude the Being of God can be true p. 57. Matter alone considered at rest could not be Eternal and in time produce the Present Frame of the World p. 59. 'T is impossible to account for the Production of the World by the Atheist's Hypothesis of moving Atoms p. 61. 'T is absurd to suppose that the World has Existed Eternally under the same Form we now behold it without a God p. 64. The Eternal Coexistence of Matter and Mind improbable p. 71. Supposing it probable neither Matter alone nor Matter and Motion nor the present Constitution of things could have been Eternal Independently of God p. 77. The Original of all things from God further evinced from General Reflections p. 81. A positive and direct Proof of Religion drawn from the Nature of God and Man and the Relations there are betwixt them p. 91. Of the Nature and Ground of Obligation together with the Right and Power of Obliging Ib. That Man is obliged to order his Life according to the Will of God is proved p. 102. From the Natural Judgments we make concerning our Actions p. 105. From the End and Design of God in making us which appears by several Tokens and Indications p. 117. in the Frame and Disposition of our Mind p. 118. and in the Oeconomy and Constitution of Humane Society p. 125. From the Nature of Religion it self a regular practice of which conduces to the greatest Happiness we are capable of in this Life p. 129. And from the certainty of a Future State which is proved p. 137. From the defect of a General and Regular Practice of Religion here p. 138. And from the General Wants Necessities and Imperfections of our present Nature p. 141. From all which Considerations it appears that 't is more for our Happiness to live Religiously then otherwise and therefore we are obliged to live so p. 146. The Certainty and Necessity of Religion further shewn from the pernicious effects of all kind of Irreligion with respect to the Happiness of Mankind p. 149. The absurdity and folly of all the Grounds and Pretences of Irreligion and whatever is alledged in defence of it p. 181. Irreligion not capable of any direct proof p. 183. The usual Ways and Methods of defending it Improper and Insufficient p. 187. Ridiculing Religion proves nothing against it Ib. Requiring a more certain and Mathematical proof of it unreasonable p. 188. Schemes and Hypotheses to account for the present state of things without God and Religion absurd and inconsistent p. 192. The chief and most common Objections against Religion answered viz. p. 200. Mysteries seeming Inconsistencies and Absurdities in Scripture p. 201. Extravagant Notions and Pernicious Doctrines maintained under the name of Religion p. 202. Variety of Opinions among the Professors of the same Religion p. 204. Foolish and Ridiculous Arguments urged in defence of it p. 205. Scandalous Lives of great pretenders to Piety and Virtue p. 206. Religion the effect of Fear and Education p. 209. Religion a politick Contrivance p. 211. The absurdity and folly of Irreligious Principles and Practices demonstrated from General Reflections upon the different Grounds and Foundations Religion and Irreligion stand upon and the different Conduct of those that act under the Influence of the one and the other p. 213. Irreligion further exposed from the causes and Reasons that induce Men to take up Atheistical and Prophane Opinions p. 227. The chief Causes of Atheism shewn to be these two The Fear of an after reckoning for a wicked Life and the Vanity of appearing greater and wiser than other Men. p. 230. The Doctrines of Irreligion the sole result of Prejudice and not deliberate reasoning more plainly made out p. 239. From the Character and Capacities of the Atheists Ib. From the manner and process of their Infidelity p. 242. And from the Confession of several Atheists themselves p. 246. An account of the Notions of Atheism and Deism and how they are to be distinguished p. 249. THE CERTAINTY Of the Christian Revelation And the Necessity of Believing it c. The Contents THe Connexion of this Discourse with the former Page 1. The Method laid down for the Establishing the Certainty of the Christian Revelation p. 3. An Abstract or Summary of the Christian Scheme as it is delivered in the Books of the New Testament p. 8. The General Subject of the several Books or Volumes of the New Testament p. 9. The Character of Jesus Christ p. 19. A short Account of his Doctrine or Gospel p. 31. The Character of those that believed in him and that assisted him in the Publishing and Propagating his Gospel p. 42. The Character of those that Persecuted Him and his Disciples and opposed the Establishment of his Religion p. 50. The way and manner in which the Books of the New Testament are writ with all the important Circumstances which refer to the form and composition of those Writings p. 51. All the Principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament shewn to be true by a plain direct proof according to this distinction of them premised viz Common Matters of Fact Miracles and Prophecies Divine Assistance and Revelation p. 59. The Common Historical Facts mentioned in the New Testament proved to be true in the following manner p. 60. The Original of Christianity rightly assigned in the New Testament p. 61. A Survey of the Christian Religion in the time of Constantine p. 70. The Christian Faith the same in the time of Constantine as it was at and immediately after the first Publication of the Gospel p. 74. This Proposition made out from the constant Tradition of such a Belief together with many sensible Infallible Effects of it p. 75. And from many other extrinsick Signs and Monuments remaining at the Meeting of the Council of Nice under Constantine p. 105. Such as were several Customs and Vsages p. 107. Relicks Buildings and other the like Monnments p. 108. Books and Written Records of several kinds viz. p. 109. Copies of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament p. 110. Publick Acts and Records belonging to Societies p. 113. Genuine Writings of Orthodox Christians p. 119. Books Written by Hereticks p. 132. Jewish and Pagan Books p. 133. Forged and Suppositious Writings of uncertain Authors p. 137. The Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament shewn to be true Facts according to the Relation there given of them p. 140. An Account by way of Introduction of what is meant by Miracles and Prophecies in this place p. 141. And what kind of Evidence these Facts are capable of p. 143. The Miracles considered by themselves according to the different Periods in which they were done and the different Persons they were done by p. 144. The Prophecies considered apart according to the same distinction of Times and Persons p. 158. The Truth of these Extraordinary Facts call'd Miracles and Prophecies and the Reasonableness of those
Doctrine and Miracles all which being told as happening in the life-time of Christ most of the things concerning him must be supposed by those who pretend to have written presently after his Death as 't is plain all the Evangelists do to be generally known and freshly remembred at the time of their Writing which Supposition further appears from the short and disorderly Relation of several Matters of Fact in each Gospel which in such cases where we are not assisted with a fuller Account from the other Gospels or following Books of the New Testament seem very obscure to us now who are not acquainted with the rest of the Circumstances omitted This is what I thought fit to remark concerning the Subject and Form of that Book which we call the New Testament And now that this Book does really contain such things as are before mention'd and is writ in such a way and manner as I have here represented I think may be taken for granted since whatever has been observed under this head must necessarily appear too true to any one that will read over the New Testament and is capable of making any Judgment of a Book II. Supposing then that I have given a just Account and Character of the New Testament and the several Books or Volumes it consists of I shall from hence advance to the main Design proposed which was to prove That all the principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament are really true that is did really happen out at the Times and Places and in the Manner they are there recorded to have happen'd This I shall endeavour in the second place to make good by a direct Proof according to the distinction of the several Facts to be enquired into before laid down viz. common Historical Facts Prophesies and Miracles Divine Assistance and Revelation I. The first Step then I am to make in the proof of what I have before asserted is to shew that the common Historical Facts mention'd in the New Testament are true The principal of which are these following viz. That there was such a Person as Jesus Christ of such a Character who taught such Doctrines pretended to such mighty Works and was executed in such a manner as is represented in the New Testament That there were likewise certain Persons who were Followers and Adherents of Christ who after his Death profess'd to believe the Miracles we find now recorded of him and to do as great themselves who taught the same Doctrines he did in his life-time and many other things which they pretended to have received from him while he was alive and from the Spirit of God afterwards and who made is their business to propagate the Belief and Practice of what they taught throughout the World whose Characters and Sufferings were such as are before described That the Doctrine or Religion of Christ was accordingly propagated through all Judea and most Parts of the Roman Empire so that great Numbers of People every where own'd and profess'd it And that all this happen'd within that compass of Time included between the Death of Julius Caesar and the Destruction of Jerusalem Now these are such remarkable notorious Facts have been so well proved by multiplicity of Evidence and so little contested by the several Enemies of Christianity That I shall content my self by giving a summary Proof of them without entring upon that great Variety of particular Arguments every general Branch of Evidence contains in it Which Proof I shall cast into this Method First I shall take an Account of the Original of Christianity and shew That this Religion must have came first into the World at the time assign'd for this Event in the New Testament Afterwards I shall consider the state of Christianity at another Period of Time when it will certainly be allowed that all the principal Matters of Fact that stand now recorded in the New Testament were generally believed And then I shall prove That the same Matters of Fact were likewise believed at and immediately after the Times in which they are said to happen and so continually down to that particular Period fixed upon Which last Proposition I shall endeavour to make out From the constant Tradition of such a Belief together with many sensible infallible Effects of it And from many other extrinsick Signs and Monuments remaining at that Time From which constant and universal Belief among Christians of all the principal Facts in the New Testament both common and extraordinary continued down to such a Period from the very first Times in which they severally happen'd I conconclude That at least the common Matters of Fact such as I have just before instanced in must be true First then as to the Original of Christianity it is to be observ'd That there is no Age of the World no Portion of Time since the beginning of Things at any great Distance from us that we have a clearer fuller and more particular Account of than we have of that which past under the Twelve first Cesars or Emperors of Rome both Learning and Empire being then at the highest Pitch and furnishing abundance of Matter for the Pens of that and the succeeding Ages And as the History of that time is the truest and best known of any so no Matter of Fact could happen within that Time which was more remarkable or could more easily and certainly be conveyed down to Posterity than the first Rise and Propagation of the Christian Religion There 's nothing so easy to be known of any Countrey where we have the least Remains of History left us as what Religion was profess'd there and what considerable Alterations were made in it All the Laws Customs and Policy of a Nation are intermixt with their Religion most of the Actions Opinions and Characters of particular Men bear the Marks of it and if we examin Things more narrowly and trace them up to their Original we shall find that Religion puts a greater Distinction betwixt one Nation and another than any difference of Climate can do But not to pursue that Speculation any further 't is very plain from all History what the Religion of the Jews was and what Religion they had at Rome and in other Parts of the Roman Empire under the Reign of Augustus There were no such Persons then to he heard of as bore the Name of Christians no such Religion any where professed as that which is now call'd Christian the Plan and Model of which we find in the Books of the New Testament But in the Time of Nero we find a great many Persons at Rome Tacitus call'd Christians put to Death and several other ways persecuted and tormented for being so by that Emperor which Denomination and whatever they thought themselves obliged to believe or do upon that Account was then generally acknowledged by themselves and others to be derived to them from one Christ who was sometime before crucified at Jerusalem Now the Time when this
of the New Testament were acknowledg'd by the greatest part of the Nicene Fathers and most of them by all 'T is plain from all the publick Decisions and Orders of the Council That they are grounded upon some or other of the Books of Scripture now in our Hands if they may be supposed to have been written before that Time And that they were Eusebius one of the Bishops of this Council is a sufficient Witness who in a History he has left us gives us an Account of the Time when they were all writ and the Authors they were writ by which is another very good Argument That most of the Nicene Bishops had the same Bible For Eusebius being not only present amongst and conversing with several of them but having a great Share in the Management of the Controversy they came to decide and being of a doubtful Faith in the main Point determined by them or as some suspect a Favourer of the Side condemned must have had occasion either in publick Debate or private Conversation to have cited most of the Books he acknowledg'd for Scripture and had any doubt arisen concerning the Authority of them such a considerable and important Controversy as would have sprung from thence would have produced a Determination of the Council upon it or to be sure have been as much taken Notice of and as faithfully Recorded as any Thing else that was done there Besides 't is plain from the History we have of this Council by Cotemporaries and others of the Age immediately following That some Scriptures were appeal'd to their Authority acknowledg'd Forms of Expression drawn from thence a Difficulty made of departing from Scripture-Terms till other equivalent Expressions were found necessary to distinguish those who believ'd Scripture in a right Sence from those who interpreted it wrong And therefore if Eusebius or Athanasius who were present at the Council or any other Writer cotemporary or near in Time to it says any Thing of this Nature he must be judg'd to mean That the same Scriptures were acknowledg'd by the Nicene Council which he himself owns So that if Eusebius or Athanasius own'd all the Books of the New Testament which we do 't is manifest That when he talks of the Scriptures in the Account he gives of the Nicene Council he must mean the same that he does when he mentions them upon any other Occasion And the like will hold of other Writers But further to put this Matter past all doubt 't is certain That the Canon of Scripture was some time or other afterwards fixed as we find it now with all the same Books in the New Testament that we have at present The Occasion of making such a Canon was because it was doubted of some of the Books Whether they were the genuine Works of those whose Names they bore and if they were not Whether they were of equal Authority with the rest Now the way that was taken to remove all Objections and fix the Authority of those Scriptures which were to be the unalterable Standard of the Christian Religion was by examining the general Tradition of all the different Churches where Christianity was professed upon which Examination when it was certainly known That such and such Books which were doubted of by some because they had been but lately received among the Christians of those Provinces and Churches to which they belong'd had been constantly acknowledg'd under the same Style and Character with the rest by the Generality of the other Churches of Christians these were likewise as universally receiv'd as the other and their Authority in the same manner allow'd The Consent of so many different Churches in the same Opinion concerning certain Books and agreeably to their Opinion in the same careful Preservation of them unalter'd most of which Churches had continued separate and independent one of another ever since the Date they ascribed to those Writings and several of them at such a Distance as to have had no communication with one another since that Time such a Consent I say as this whensoever the Canon of Scripture was first determined in a general Meeting was thought sufficient to establish the Authority of any Book that was doubted of and accordingly the whole Canon we now have was afterwards universally acknowledg'd Since therefore we find That all the Scriptures of the New Testament were universally received some time after the Nicene Council and since the Establishment of the Canon and universal Submission to it were founded upon a general Tradition so faithfully preserved in the far greatest part of Christian Churches that all other Christians were fully satisfied of it From hence it follows That the greatest part of the Nicene Bishops must own the same Scriptures we do now because the greatest part of the Churches from whence they came did But not to insist upon this we will consider only those Scriptures which were never doubted of by any Christians and consequently must have been received by the whole Council of Nice These were according to Eusebius who in his History gives us a Catalogue of them the Four Gospels Acts of the Apostles the Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul which have his Name to them the First Epistle of Peter and the First Epistle of John And Eusebius could not say this had he known of any of his Fellow-Bishops of the Council who denied either the Authority or general Reception of any of these Books Supposing therefore That these were the only Scriptures acknowledg'd by all the Nicene Bishops then what was said before concerning several Religious Customs and Practices there mention'd will hold in like manner of those Books of Scripture and such or such a particular Bishop that was present at this Council might himself by a short easy and unquestionable way of conveyance be assured That for 150 Years last past the same Scriptures had been acknowledg'd as well as the same Religious Customs practised in that Church and Province from whence he came and consequently That the main Scheme of Christian Doctrine and the publick Profession of it had been all that Time the same Now if we apply the foregoing Observations to all the several Bishops of this Council and suppose them all satisfied of the constant Tradition of the same Scriptures Customs as are before specified in the several Churches and Provinces from whence they came as the History of these Times relates the Matter of Fact to have been then is the unanimous consent of all these Bishops an infallible Argument of the truth of what they testifie And if there had not been such a constant Tradition in any of these Churches or Provinces as we suppose then the Original Introduction or Intermission of any of those Scriptures or Customs within the same compass of Time would have been in the same Way and Manner and with the same Certainty known to the Bishops of those Churches and Provinces where such Introduction or Intermission happen'd and what was first introduced
Synods convened at several times in different Countries and upon different occasions as also several Letters writ from Churches and Societies of Men such as were the Epistles of the Churches of Vienna and Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia concerning their Martyrs Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp Epistle of the Martyrs of Lyons to Eleutherus Bishop of Rome Epistles of the Bishops and other Members of Synods inforcing the Observation of the Canons they made c. All which were according to the Nature and Designs of them either dispersed far abroad and to be found in several Countries or else carefully preserved in some particular places whither they were directed and so remain'd there to be seen by such as were pleased to consult them Besides such occasional Writings as these which according to some particular Exigencies of the Church were sent abroad and communicated from one Society of Christians to others there were in several Places Publick Histories of all remarkable Affairs that happened in each Place continued down for a considerable space of Time several of which Publick Histories or Records Eusebius consulted as he himself assures us particularly when he gives us that wonderful Relation of Agbarus King of Edessa he says he took it out of the Publick Records kept at Edessa wherein the Antiquities of the City and the Acts of Agbarus are contained And a great many other Memorable Facts he came by the same way In this manner were more especially preserved the Acts and Monuments of such as had suffered Martyrdom upon the account of the Christian Religion The Names of abundance of Martyrs the Times when they Suffered the various sorts and kinds of Sufferings they endured with all the other Circumstances relating to their Persecution were largely set forth in Writing and the Records of them carefully kept in many Countries where the Cruelty and Violence of the several long Persecutions which had raged at several distant Periods of Time were most remarkable Other Publick Writings extant in Eusebius's Time were Hymns and Psalms Creeds and Forms of Prayer Several of which that were constantly used in the Publick Assemblies of Christians were known to be of great Antiquity And some of these ancient Forms of Worship were the same in many Churches and several of them more or less different from one another Now 't is plain to any one that examines any of these Publick Writings belonging to Societies of Christians that whensoever they were writ and whether in all respects true or false they are certain proofs of an antecedent Establishment and Belief of the Christian Religion such as it was in Eusebius's Time and such as it was and is now found in the New Testament and all the Accounts we have of the Age and other Circumstances of them do concurr to strengthen the Evidence already given of the Christian Tradition But the Truth of all those Matters of Fact related in the New Testament which I have at present engaged my self to prove will be more abundantly made out by a continued Succession of a vast number of Writings belonging to particular Persons distinguish'd by the Titles of Orthodox Christians Hereticks Jews and Heathens A great many of these Writings are mention'd by Eusebius and had been with incredible industry read and examined by him Several he gives the Titles of only others he gives some Character and Account of and Transcribes large Passages out of them a great many Orthodox Books he omits the mention of for want of their Authors Names being prefix'd to them others for want of being able to distinguish when their Authors lived and a great many he rejects the Authority of though they made for the Cause of the Christian Religion which he maintained because they had not sufficient Marks upon them to prove they belong'd to the Persons and Times they pretended to Some of the Writings he quotes were lost in his Time and only Fragments of them to be found in others that were entirely extant several that were then extant and mention'd by him were seen by a great many later Authors and all his Quotations out of them are confirm'd to us by their Writings but the Originals of them are now lost and a great many remain entire still and are plainly the same he represented them to be and so are the Fragments of more ancient Authors contained in them All which are certain Arguments of the Diligence and Sincerity of this Historian and the Antiquity of those Books whose Authority we are now to make use of In the next place then let us take a more particular view of these Writings and consider the Age Character and other Circumstances of the Authors the Subjects they treat about and the Form and Manner in which they are writ As to the Age of those Christian Authors we call Orthodox some small Treatises and Fragments we have of such as lived together with the Apostles and were immediate Witnesses of the Doctrines delivered and the mighty Works done by them and several of these ancient Pieces are allowed to be Genuine by those whose Skill and Enquiry into the Matter have rendred them capable Judges The Authors of the next Age who declare they lived with those who convers'd with the Apostles are more their Writings much larger and of more unquestionable Authority than the other being confirmed by more numerous Testimonies of following Writers who in very near Periods of Time continually succeeded them The Character of all these Writers was in some respects very like and in others very different Some of them were Jews and Heathens converted to Christianity others were born of Christian Parents many of them were Greeks and writ in that Language and many were of Roman Colonies and writ in Latin but though all the Authors we have writ in one of these Languages they were most of them of very different and very remote Countries from one another Several of the first Writers were Plain Simple Men without the advantage of a Learned Honourable or Publick Education others of them were Philosophers and Men very well vers'd in all the Heathen Learning some were of Honourable Families and Publick Employments many of them were Bishops of the Christian Church and lived in the most considerable Cities of the Roman Empire and by that means had great opportunities of being acquainted with the true State of Things in the World In this they all agree that they were hearty Believers and zealous Assertors of the Christian Religion that they bottom'd their Faith upon the Books of the New Testament that they made it the chief Business of their Lives and Writings to promote the Christian Faith and that they were ready to bear Testimony to the Truth of what they profess'd by resigning their Lives the sincerity of which disposition of theirs is confirm'd to us by the actual Martyrdom of several of them who lived in such Times and Places as gave them opportunities of manifesting
account in a great measure may be given of the Heathens whose Writings do any ways concern Christianity For neither those of them that were Instrumental in the Persecution of Christians nor those who endeavour to overthrow the truth of their Religion by Arguments do deny any of those matters of Fact related in the New Testament which we have distinguished by the Title of Common Historical Facts and a great many of them are confirm'd by other Heathen Writers who treat of their own affairs only or mention Christian Matters occasionally as they happen'd to be intermixt with those Things they designedly writ about Nay some of those that writ expresly against the Christian Religion do not only allow that Christ pretended to Miracles and that he did those Things Recorded of him in appearance as was the Opinion of several of them but that he did really work those very Miracles he pretended to But then they endeavour to lessen the Credit of them and destroy the Doctrines built upon them either by ascribing them as many of the Jews likewise did to Magick and Evil Spirits or shewing that several of their own Religion had done as extraordinary Things as any that were attributed to Christ and his Apostles A great many of these Heathen Writings are quoted some of them particularly Answer'd and Confuted and several large Pieces of them inserted in the Books of Christian Authors There we find besides a great many Passages out of Private Authors and Common Traditions several Rescripts Edicts and Letters of Roman Emperors either mentioned or transcribed and several Publick Acts and Records compiled by the Authority of Heathens and in their keeping appeal'd to with the greatest Confidence and Assurance imaginable as extant in the Writers Time that Cites them and generally known Particularly we meet with divers of these Heathen Monuments in the Christian Apologies which were at several times by different Writers Dedicated to Roman Emperors the Senate of Rome and Governors of Provinces Many such Proofs and Evidences as these of the Christian Faith and History are still to be found in the Christian Books which were writ before Eusebius and are now extant But there were also extant in his Time several of the same Heathen Books out of which those Testimonies were taken and others which gave the same Account of Christian Affairs which was look'd upon by Eusebius to be so notorious a Truth that when he talks of the State of Christianity under Domitian he confirms what he says by the Authority of Heathen Writers without thinking it necessary to name any particular Author Eus E. H. l. 3. c. 18. So mightily says he did the Doctrine of our Faith flourish in those forementioned Times that even those Writers who are wholly estranged from our Religion by which he plainly means Heathens have not thought it troublesome to set forth in their Histories both this Persecution and also the Martyrdoms suffered therein and they have also accurately shewn the very Time relating that in the Fifteenth Year of Domitian Flavia Domitilla Daughter of the Sister of Fabius Clemens at that time one of the Consuls of Rome was together with many others banished into the Island of Pontia for the Testimony of Christ There are likewise several Heathen Authors still separately extant out of which may be Collected a great many Passages which give a concurrent Evidence of the Truth of the Christian History as Tacitus and Pliny before quoted and divers others and there is nothing to be found in any of them that does in the least contradict any of the principal Matters Fact now to be proved But besides these Writings which are acknowledged to be Genuine and the true and proper Works of those Persons whose Names they bear whether Orthodox Christians Hereticks Jews or Heathens there were a great many other in the Primitive Times of Christianity written by uncertain Authors and either purposely Published under false Names and Titles with a design to promote the Belief of the Christian Religion in general or to advance and defend some particular Notions and Practices which the Authors of them approved and had a mind to recommend to the World or else by some mistake ascribed to those Persons to whom they did not really belong Such were a great many false Gospels Acts Epistles and Revelations and several other Historical and Doctrinal Discourses Published under the Names of Christ the Virgin Mary the Apostles and Eminent Christians of the succeeding Ages such were also several Letters said to be Writ by Pilate Seneca and Lentulus the Oracles of the Sybils and several other Writings attributed to some considerable Heathens a Passage in Josephus relating to Christ c. All which supposing them all Forged or only some of them so some accidentally mistaken and others doubtful whoever were the Authors of them so long as it plainly appears they were of such and such Antiquity they are certain proofs of the general Faith of Christians at the respective Times when any of them were Published and consequently of the Truth of those Facts in question forasmuch as they all evidently suppose an antecedent Belief of the Christian Religion founded upon those Facts as is visible by all the Remains we have left of them and therefore are as good Arguments of the Truth of what I am proving as the most Genuine unquestionable Writings of any other Author whatsoever viz. That the common Historical Facts related in the New Testament are true Which Point I think is proved by such a multitude and variety of Evidence that I may take it for granted That Jesus Christ who lived and was Crucified at Jerusalem in the Reign of Tiberius Cesar was the first Author of the Christian Religion That the Characters Sufferings and Pretences of Christ and his Apostles and the Doctrines taught by them were the same we find represented in the Books of the New Testament and that the Christian Religion there delivered was propagated through the World and those Books writ according to the Time Manner and Circumstances there mentioned between the middle of Tiberius and the beginning of Trajan's Reign and consequently that the Christian Faith as to the principal Facts and Doctrines contain'd in the New Testament was always the same from the Time of Tiberius to the Council of Nice and from thence to the present Age the greatest part of the Scriptures having been always acknowledged to be the Genuine Works of those whose Names they bore and to contain the unalterable grounds of the Christian Religion and the Sum of what Christians were obliged to believe 2. In the next place then I am to prove that those extraordinary Facts Recorded in the New Testament which we call Miracles and Prophecies were really true according the Relation there given of them That they were constantly believed to be true by all Christians ever since the Time in which they are first said to happen has already been proved but whether their Faith was well
I mean such as is as well attested to have been done as those Recorded in the Scriptures and can no more be accounted for without the Power of God than they can many of which I will allow to have been done upon other occasions without any Application of them to the advantage of the Religion of those that performed them 'T is true indeed many Signs and Wonders may have been wrought for the Confirmation of false Doctrines and may have deceived many whom Simplicity and Bigotry to the Cause they made for disposed to entertain them but we have no Records of any such ill-intended Miracles left which by the Nature Circumstances Effects or Attestation of them can dispose a rational Man to ascribe them to God And whatever Pretences of this kind there may have been 't is a very good Argument that the World can distinguish betwixt the wonderful Works of God and the little Feats of Men and Evil Spirits That there are now no Opinions or Doctrines whatsoever remaining besides what are contained in the Jewish and Christian Revelations nor any particular Explications of or Deductions from them which were at first Believed and Propagated upon the Strength and Authority of strange and wonderful Facts publickly and really done for that end The next Intimation made use of to overthrow the Truth of the Scripture-Revelation concerns the Prophecies which make a great part of it And this as well as the first Objection against Miracles is wholly new the Invention of these latter Days wherein the Improvements of rational Knowledge have forced the Patrons of Irreligion upon new Absurdities Now the Argument as far as 't is capable of being expressed in such a form is this That the Prophecies of the Old Testament upon which the Christian Religion is principally built proceeded from Impressions made upon the Imaginations of the Prophets which Impressions were always agreeable to their several Tempers Complexions and Opinions from whence it must be inferr'd that such Visionary Scenes and Figurative Expressions as these Prophecies are delivered in could be attributed to God only in a popular way as all other extraordinary and unusual Events were and therefore cannot be made use of to prove a Divine Revelation because they proceeded wholly from Natural Causes though unknown to us But whatever of this nature is advanced by Spinoza or whatever Inferences are drawn from it by others who apply it further than he durst openly assert nothing can be concluded from his Account of Prophecy to the Prejudice of the Scripture-Revelation were all his Observations upon this Subject true as 't is manifest to any one that reads the Bible they are not For supposing all he says upon this Head were true viz. That the Prophets were Persons of livelier Imaginations than others as 't is plain of some of them that they were not That the Angry Chearful or Melancholy Prophet always Prophesied things suitable to his particular Temper as there are several Instances to be given to the contrary and that the Jews had a pious way of Attributing every thing strange or unusual to God c. What if all these things were so as Spinoza observes The Knowledge which these Angry Chearful c. Prophets of lively Imaginations had of Future Things must be allowed to come from God in a different manner from that whereby they received all their other Knowledge as Spinoza himself plainly owns and if it be so 't is a very good Argument that the Doctrines Preached by those Prophets were delivered to them by God also in the same way that their Prophecies were which is sufficient to inforce the Obligation of them upon us whatever Natural Causes God was pleased to make use of in the Revelation and that is all we contend for or are concern'd to maintain This is all that either the Ancient or Modern Enemies of the Christian Religion had or can have to object to the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the Bible excepting what has been already Answered in the direct proof that was given of the Truth of them The other parts of Scripture are charged with almost all the Faults which any Humane Writing is capable of viz. Contradictions to Reason and Philosophy Contradictions of one part to another Mistakes as to the Authors of the Books Connexion of the Parts Chronology Geography c. Ridiculous and Improbable Stories Absurd and Irrational Laws and Injunctions Trifling and Impertinent Reasons and Arguments Low and Unartful Language The Injustice of which Objections I shall shew very briefly as sying very open and obvious As to Contradictions to Reason and Philosophy pretended to be in the Scriptures no body has been acute enough yet or sufficiently instructed in the true System of things to make good this Charge We have lived to see several New Schemes Hypotheses and Theories of the World Confuted and Exploded but the Plainest Simplest and most Demonstrative Account of Nature that is now extant is found to be the most agreeable to Scripture and answers all the Ancient Blasphemies against Providence which were grounded upon false Hypotheses then in Reputation But after all the Scriptures were not written to teach us Philosophy If this had been the Design of them no doubt but we had had a truer Scheme of Knowledge than any Philosopher has been yet able to give us but then 't is certain we should have had much less Religion if that and our Philosophy had been revealed to us together Had the Language of Scripture been every where adapted to the true Nature of Things 't is hard to conceive how it should ever have come to be believed For supposing these Notions to be true That the Earth moves That the Sun is a Hundred thousand times bigger than the Earth That the Moon and the other Planets are inhabited That Beasts are senseless Machines and meer Clock-work and the like And supposing all the popular Expressions of Scripture concerning such Matters were changed and suited to these Notions would not all the Learned part of Mankind who lived before these new Discoveries in Nature were made have been apt to reject the whole Revelation as absurd and unphilosophical But if some of the Learned had been so sensible of their Ignorance of Nature and the Power of God as to make all the Prejudices of their Reason Submit to their Faith 't is hardly possible to imagine how the People should ever have been induced to believe such Opinions as shock those Common Natural Notions they have of Things which come to them without teaching and Opinions that will always seem to contradict their Senses The greatest Evidence of Miracles would not be sufficient to convince the People of the Truth of such Notions as those before-mention'd for though strange and wonderful Things which they actually and certainly perceive come to pass may satisfie them that as strange Things as these may happen hereafter yet even such Signs and Wonders as these which they see can hardly be supposed
And now if we take a just view of them and consider them all together we shall be obliged to make the following Conclusions 1. That there never was any Thing discovered or so much as suspected to be an Imposture that had so many Marks and Characters of Truth upon it as the Christian Religion has 2. That there never were any true Matters of Fact so well attested or that were capable of such a Proof as the Christian Facts are There being no Ancient Facts which have so many sensible Monuments and Effects of them left and in the Proof of which Mankind was so nearly and necessarily concern'd 3. That it is impossible to conceive or frame any Notion how or in what manner the Christian Religion might possibly have been an Imposture notwithstanding all the present appearances of its being true And if all these Conclusions are right as I am throughly and irresistibly convinced they are and I think have proved them so to be there can be no room left to disbelieve the Christian Religion without distrusting all our Knowledge and renouncing all pretences to Reasoning But supposing these Conclusions were not any of them fully proved and it could be shewn That something else which had once all the appearance of Truth that the Christian Religion now has had afterwards been detected to be false that some other Ancient Matters of Fact are as well attested and proved to be true as the Christian seem to be and that 't is possible to imagine which way the Christian Religion might come to obtain its present Credit in the World notwithstanding it was at first an Imposture none of which I am sure can be proved Yet even in this Case the Proof that has now been given of the Christian Religion is sufficient to build our Faith upon because the most that can be inferr'd from all these Arguments is only this That there is a bare possibility in the Nature of Things that the Christian Religion may be false But he that from hence should conclude that it was really so without any other Reasons to support his Opinion and in opposition to all that multiplicity of Proof that has been offered for the Truth of it must not pretend Reason but only Resolution for his Infidelity Such therefore is the Sufficiency of the Proof before given whatever be the Nature or Kind of it or however it may be thought to differ from or fall short of the Demonstration used in other Matters that we are utterly inexcusable if we do not believe the Christian Religion upon it and God may justly Condemn us for our disbelief and that upon these two accounts 1. Because we believe other Matters of Fact upon less Evidence and 2. Because we are obliged to believe such Facts as have these appearances of Truth which the Christian Religion has though they should really be false 1. That we believe Matters of Fact upon less Evidence than the Christian Religion is received upon is manifest by what has been before proved that no Matters of Fact have or are capable of so great and therefore to confirm this Point I shall only bring that one Instance of Mahometism Now 't is certain that those who look upon the Christian Religion as an Imposture do at the same time profess to believe all the principal Parts of the History of Mahomet Such as his Pretences to Revelation his Writing the Alcoran and his Propagating the Belief of the things contained in it in the way and manner therein mentioned These I say they do not in the least question notwithstanding that the Mahometan Religion pretends to a Divine Original as well as the Christian and is in like manner addrest to Mankind under the Promises and Threatnings of Future Happiness and Misery though it is withal a very absurd Composition in it self and of very pernicious Consequence to the World to be Believed and Established It is therefore very unreasonable for Men that believe these things to deny the Common History of Christianity such as the Pretences of Christ and his Disciples to Revelations Prophecies and Miracles the Writing of the Scriptures of the New Testament by those whose Names they bear or at least by some of Christ's immediate Disciples and the Propagation of the Christian Religion according to the Times Places Ways and Methods Recorded in those Books 'T is very unreasonable I say for Men who believe the History of Mahometism to question the truth of these things because they are attested by a much greater variety of Books and other Monuments and a greater multiplicity of the Copies of the Scriptures all which Testimonies we are sure by a numerous succession of others were extant nearer the date of the several Facts attested and in an Age of Learning among People of much higher Improvements than the first Mahometans were and moreover because it is certain that the Pretences of Christ were more difficult to be Feigned by himself or Forged by others afterwards that the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel are of more Concern and Importance to be enquired into and the Establishment of Christianity whether true or false in its Original would so certainly contribute to the Happiness of Mankind that 't is one very good Argument of its being true that it is impossible to make and contrive any other Scheme every way so suitable and agreeable to the truest Interests of Humane Nature From whence I conclude that we cannot question the Truth of the History of Christianity so far as concerns the Common Matters of Fact without distrusting all the Knowledge we have of every Thing that happen'd at any distance from us And if the Common Matters of Fact are true all the other are plainly demonstrable from them as far as we have any certain Knowledge of the Natures of Things as has already been proved We are therefore obliged either to believe the Christian Religion or to renounce our belief of all other Facts whatsoever because whatever of this kind we believe besides we believe upon less Evidence 2. But Secondly Whatever degree of Evidence other Matters of Fact may be supposed to have we are absolutely obliged to believe the Christian Religion upon that Evidence that is brought for it because we are obliged to believe such Facts as have those appearances of Truth the Christian Religion has though they should be really false We are to judge of Things by the Faculties God has given us according to those grounds and measures of Truth he has suited and proportion'd to them and therefore when we have the greatest assurance of a Thing that we are capable of according to the present frame our Nature and the State of Things in the World it would be highly unreasonable in us to deny it whatever it was barely upon a Suspicion it might be false though it should afterwards really prove to be so but if what we had this apparent Proof of was a Matter of concern and importance to us upon the