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
Christ the first Author of this Sect of Men call'd Christians began to publish his Doctrine to the World is very particularly and circumstantially set down by St. Luke in the Third Chapter of his Gospel to be the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Cesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene Annas and Caiaphas being the High Priests of the Jews And in the Book call'd the Acts of the Apostles said to be writ by the same St. Luke it is affirm'd That the Disciples by which Word is there meant all those that believed in Christ and embraced the Doctrines taught by him were called Christians first at Antioch Which Matter of Fact is by the Consent of all Christian Historians recorded to have happen'd at the latter end of the Reign of Caligula who was the next that succeeded Tiberius in the Empire of Rome And that this is the lowest Point of Time it can be fix'd at appears from the same Place of St. Luke where immediately after the Words before cited it follows And in these Days came Prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the Spirit that there should be great Dearth throughout all the World which came to pass in the Days of Claudius Cesar From whence I infer That this Relation of Agabus concurring in Time with that other Account of the Disciples being first call'd Christians and it being plain from what is said concerning the Completion of Agabus's Prophecy in the Days of Claudius Cesar That he first utter'd his Prophecy some time before the Days of Claudius Cesar the Time when the Disciples were first called Christians must likewise be sooner or later before the Reign of Claudius which Claudius being the immediate Successor of Caligula in the Empire the Matter of Fact in question must happen in the latter end of the Reign of Caligula or at some time before Now from the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius when Christ first published his Doctrine at Jerusalem to the last of Caligula when his Disciples were first call'd Christians at Antioch is about Twelve Years from whence to the Tenth Year of Nero when the Christians were first persecuted at Rome is a little above Twenty Years within Five Years after which Jerusalem was destroyed and an End was put to the Jewish Government and Policy So that from the Fifteenth of Tiberius when it is pretended that Christ first published his Gospel at Jerusalem to the first of Vespatian when Jerusalem was destroy'd is about Forty Years and no more If therefore these Matters of Fact concerning the Neronian Persecution and the Destruction of Jerusalem are true as is constantly attested by Heathen and Jewish as well as Christian Writers 't is more than probable that those mention'd by St. Luke are so too For before the Fifteenth of Tiberius no Signs or Footsteps of Christianity are to be found in the World neither is it pretended by any of the Adversaries of this Religion that it was earlier and the Destruction of Jerusalem falling in the First Year of Vespatian the Propagation of the Christian Religion from thence to other Parts of the World must needs have had as early a Date of that And therefore if we find great Numbers of Christians at Rome in Nero's Time both the Propagation as well as Original of the Christian Religion must have happen'd not only before the Destruction of Jerusalem but some time between the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius and the Tenth of Nero and consequently the Account before given by St. Luke of these great Events cannot well be imagin'd to be false but 't is certain the Mistake in Time if there should be any supposed cannot be considerable From all which I think I have reason to conclude That the Christian Religion was profess'd at Rome in the Time of Nero and was derived from one Christ who was the first Author of it and suffered Death at Jerusalem upon that Account toward the latter end of Tiberius's Reign as I find it recorded by St. Luke and the other Writers of the New Testament The next view I shall take of the Christian Religion shall be under Constantine another Emperor of Rome who upon some occasion or other was disposed to embrace this Religion about 300 Years after the first Publication of it by Christ at which time it is very notorious that Christianity was the prevailing Religion in all the parts of the Roman Empire the extent of which was then very great This manifestly appears from all the accounts we have of the History of this famous Emperor and the State of the World under his Reign in the Twentieth Year of which was held a General Council which was a Meeting or Assembly of a great number of Bishops who came from all the different Provinces and Cities both of the Eastern and Western Empire and were Persons that in their several Districts govern'd and directed in Religions Affairs the chief design of that Meeting was by Constantine who called them together declared to be for the decision of a Controversie that had happen'd between certain Christian Professors concerning a particular Article or Doctrine of their Religion which some affirm'd ought to be believed in one Sense and some in another These Bishops did meet accordingly to the number of about 300 decided the Matter they were called about by appointing a Form of Words for all Christians to express their Belief of that and several other particulars in which was unanimously approved and subscribed by all but two Besides which Form of Faith they made several Canons or Rules with Relation to Discipline which concern'd the Qualifications of such Persons as were to perform Religious Offices or to partake of the Effects of them their manner of Acting upon such occasions and their Behaviour to one another upon the account of any Religious distinction But in order to take a more particular survey of the State of the Christian Religion under Constantine from the account that is given us of this Council by Eusebius and Athanasius who were present at it and other credible Writers who lived at or near the same time I shall draw these following Observations and Reflections I. Constantine was the first Roman Emperor that profest the Christian Religion There was no King Consul Dictator Emperor or any other the chief Governour of the Roman State before him that ever departed from the ancient Institution made upon the first Settlement of that Commonwealth or publickly embraced a new Religion of a different Character from that established by the Laws of Numa 2. There never was before this Council any such General Meeting of Eminent and Learned Persons who were Assembled together from so many different quarters of the World purely to settle some Controversies in Religion Which two surprising Circumstances must make this
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
that were done by the Hands of his Apostles and Disciples the truth of which was likewise owned and acknowledged by avast Multitude more both of such as believed the Gospel and of such as rejected and opposed it and violently Persecuted the Teachers of it To omit the Testimony of true Believers thus it is Recorded concerning those upon whom the Gospel of Christ had no Power nor Influence The Rulers Elders Scribes and High Priests among the Jews when they summoned Peter and John before them for curing a Lame Man could not deny but that a notable Miracle had been done by them which was manifest to all them that dwelt at Jerusalem They were afterwards filled with Indignation and took Counsel to slay them because they could not restrain them from doing more Miracles in the Name of Christ but they never questioned the Truth of the Facts Stephen full of Faith and Power did great Wonders and Miracles among the people but he was accused and condemned by the Council of the Jews not for deceiving the People with false Miracles but for speaking things against the Holy Place and the Law for saying that Jesus should destroy that Place and change the Customs which Moses delivered them when at the same time it is said that all that sat in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his Face as it had been the Face of an Angel Neither had they any Thing to object against his Life or his Works Simon the Sorcerer to whom all the people in Samaria gave heed from the least to the greatest looking upon him to be the great Power of God was himself as well as those that were bewitched by him Baptized by Philip and believed when he beheld the Miracles and Signs that were done But afterwards we find by the wickedness of his heart which he discovered to Peter that he was an Enemy to the true Doctrine of the Gospel Elymas the Sorcerer who was struck Blind by Paul and yet not converted to the Faith is another unwilling Witness of the Power of the Apostles The People of Lystra confirm the same Truth who took Paul and Barnabas for Gods in the likeness of Men by reason of the Miracles they saw performed by them and afterwards by the Instigation of the Jews stoned Paul The Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination and her Masters who saw the hope of their gains gone by Paul's commanding the Spirit to come out of her several Vagabond Jews Exorcists who took upon them to cast out Evil Spirits in the Name of Jesus but suffered very much for the Impudence of their Pretences and a great many other such like were Witnesses of the Miracles of the Apostles who by reason of some wicked or dishonourable Motives rejected the Doctrine they taught or profess'd to imbrace it upon ill Designs or after they had received it made Shipwrack of the Faith Great Complaints of all which sort of Men we find in the Epistles Thus are the Miracles of the first Apostles and Disciples of Christ declared and attested But moreover it is Recorded of them that they had not only a Power of working Miracles themselves but that they were Authorized and Enabled by Christ and his Spirit to convey the like Power to others And accordingly we find a great many Instances in the New Testament where Miracles were wrought by private Christians by Virtue of a Power they had received from the Apostles which was conferred upon them by Prayer and Imposition of Hands After which Actions of the Apostles they are immediately said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and to have received the Gifts of the Spirit which according to the different exigencies of the Church and the different qualifications of the Persons indued with them were divers And among these are reckoned the Gifts of Tongues and of Interpretation the Gifts of Healing and of Miracles which Gifts are said to be very common among the first Converts to Christianity in all places where the Gospel was Preach'd and the same is plainly implied by the frequent Rules and Cautions that are given by the Apostles concerning the due Exercise of them and the fear and apprehension they often express lest the Christians thus impowered should by coveting one anothers Gifts or being puft up with those they were severally possessed of neglect to apply themselves as they ought to do to the Edification of the Church of Christ This is the Scripture-Account of Miracles and these were those wonderful Facts believed by the first Christians their full assurance of the Truth of which was the chief Ground and Motive of their imbracing the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ There were likewise other strange Matters of Fact called Prophecies which were most surely believed among them and which contributed very much to their receiving the Gospel and continuing in the Profession of Christianity without wavering and these I shall consider in the same Way and Method I did Miracles For there are several Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament as uttered by our Saviour himself together with several other spoken with relation to him and fulfilled by him others there are mentioned as spoken by the Apostles and Disciples of Christ who had received the Power of Prophecy immediately from him 'T is plain also from several Instances and Passages in the Sacred Writings that the Spirit of Prophecy was conveyed by the first Apostles and Disciples to private Christians and was very common among them The Prophecies spoken by our Saviour were most of them delivered in private to his Disciples some of which were not written till after the things happened and the truth of these the Disciples are wholly answerable for and some of them were Published in Writing before the things happened and these might then and may still be examined by the Circumstances of them others of them were spoken publickly and frequently before great Multitudes of People as those about his Suffering and Resurrection c. and several besides their being spoken openly in the presence of many were also spread abroad in Writing long before the Events actually happened as particularly that remarkable one concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem Prophecies spoken of Christ in former times with relation to his Person Actions Sufferings and Doctrine with the several Circumstances belonging to the whole Dispensation of his Gospel are to be found written in the Books of the Old Testament which were manifestly wrote long before his coming into the World and are now Extant and might then and may still be compared with those Events related in the New which are pretended to be completions of them And some Prophecies there are concerning our Saviour spoken by Holy Persons a little before and after his Birth and at his Presentation in the Temple as also others concerning John his Forerunner and all the Preaching of John was Prophetical of Christ The truth of all which Matters of Fact does not depend wholly upon the Credit of the Prophets themselves
but upon the Testimony of those also that heard them and some of them were spoken before much Company particularly what John said of Christ was very publick and frequently repeated and consequently there were great numbers of Witnesses of it The particular Prophecies of the first Apostles and Disciples and other Christians preserved in the New Testament are but few and most of the Events foretold were so near the time of their Prediction that we cannot certainly tell whether they were written before they were fulfilled but some of them there were many Witnesses of and consequently the truth of them does not depend wholly upon the credit of their Relation But what is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures of the New Testament concerning the Gift of Prophecy in the Church by which Expression is often signified an extraordinary Power of foretelling future Events as well as interpreting Scripture is a plain Appeal to the Testimony of all Christans in general For according to the account there given so many were indued with it that 't was an easy matter in any place where the Gospel was spread to be satisfied of the truth of the matter whether there were any Christian Prophets or not Thus have I taken a short view of the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament and shewn how they were all attested and upon what grounds they were at first believed In the next place I shall make some general Reflections upon the account here given in order to evince the truth of these extraordinary Facts and the reasonableness of those Grounds upon which the first Christians believed them It has been observed before that when any Matters of Fact are attested by such Witnesses as cannot be imagined capable of being deceived themselves or willing to deceive others and the Facts related by them are such as could not possibly be represented falsly without a certain discovery no greater evidence can be required for the proof of them And that the Miracles and Prophecies mentioned in the New Testament are such kind of Facts and so attested will plainly appear from the following Considerations First of all 't is certain from the account before given that Christ pretended to do a great many Miracles and that vast Multitudes of People pretended to have seen a great many Miracles done by him and to believe that what they saw was truly and really performed by his means and some pretended further to have experienced the effects of this strange power in themselves From whence it evidently follows that all these Miracles so attested were true because it was very easie for Christ to know whether he had such a Power as this or not by an immediate Consciousness and therefore he could not be deceived in pretending to what he had not and the Sincerity Innocence and Integrity of his Life the Disinterestedness of all his Actions the Humility and Uprightness of his Carriage and the many Troubles Sufferings and Afflictions he was actually exposed to upon account of these Pretences and which by his great Wisdom and Knowledge of Men he easily soresaw would happen to him all these I say do sufficiently assure us that he would not offer to deceive others by pretending to such Works which he knew he had not done or could not do Then as to the Persons pretending to have seen and for that reason to believe his Miracles they could not be deceived because the matters of Fact they are Witnesses of are such as were the proper Objects of Sense and were as easily distinctly and fully perceivable as any other the most common obvious Events dayly taken notice of so that every one who had Ears to hear and Eyes to see was a capable Judge of what Christ said and did and there wanted no great skill or capacity of understanding to compare his Pretences with his Performances But those who felt the effects of this wonderful Power in themselves had a more intimate and more infallible preception of the truth of his Miracles which gave them greater assurance of their not being deceived And when we consider the number of those who had all at the same time the same Preceptions 't is a further confirmation of the truth and reality of the Appearances especially when we observed that a great many of these were possessed with violent Prejudices against the Person and Doctrine of Christ and were unwilling to believe any thing that seemed any way to justifie his Pretences And as all these Witnesses of the Miracles of Christ cannot possibly be imagined to have been mistaken themselves in thinking they perceived what they did not really perceive so neither was it possible for them to deceive others by telling them such things were done in their presence which they knew were not done For besides that 't is utterly inconceivable how so great a Multitude of Persons of different Places Degrees and Opinions as the first Witnesses of these Miracles were should agree together to assert that they saw such Facts as were never done and this constantly without any ones ever discovering the Cheat besides this I say the Characters of the Witnesses will not suffer us to think they could entertain a design of imposing upon the World and the Manner and Circumstances of their first Declaration of their Belief of the Miracles makes a Confederacy to deceive utterly impossible As to the Characters of the Witnesses they were either such Persons as after they had seen believed and imbraced the Gospel of Christ or such as continued in the Religion they were before educated in notwithstanding all the Miracles they saw Most of the former sort were Persons of remarkable Probity and Integrity and of great Simplicity of Life and Manners who renounced all the Interests and Advantages of this present World and exposed themselves to great variety of Troubles and Afflictions for their constant profession of their Faith in Christ and his Miracles and it cannot be supposed of Persons of this Character that they would invent and industriously propagate what they knew to be false if the agreement of so many in the same design had been possible But if so many People could be supposed capable of forming such a design and of putting on such a false Character for the better promoting of it it is not imaginable that they should be able to continue their Plot and preserve their Character so long as they did without betraying themselves when they lost and suffered so much for carrying on the Cheat had no prospect of future success answerable to their present Sufferings and might have been very well rewarded by the Enemies of Christianity for a seasonable Discovery But all the Witnesses of Christ's Miracles who afterwards entertained his Gospel were not of the same Character with the former some of them confessed him with their Mouth but in their Works denied him they acknowledged his Authority and admired his Doctrine but being led away by their Lusts or distracted by the Cares
of the World they continued still in their Sins and never lived up to those holy Rules he prescribed These who never felt the power of the Christian Religion could never be so concerned for the Interests of it as constantly to vouch and maintain an unprofitable Lye in its defence when 't is very probable they might have had easier Consciences and better Fortunes for disproving the Pretences it was built upon Others of them made Shipwrack of their Faith and turn'd again unto those beggarly Elements or Idols they were freed from neither can these be suspected of justifying what they knew to be false in behalf of a Religion they had forsaken 'T is more reasonable to suppose had they been privy to any deceit that they would have been very zealous in the discovery of it Then as to those who rejected the Authority and Doctrine of Christ and continued in the Religion they were at first Educated in notwithstanding all the Miracles they saw who as we find by the History of the Gospel were frequently reproached by Christ and his Apostles for their Infidelity and obstinate adherence to the Religion and Traditions of their Fathers the greatest part of whom and those Persons of the greatest Dignity Authority and Learning among them made it their business to Persecute Christ and his Apostles and all that professed the Christian Religion 'T is plainly as impossible to imagine that Persons of this Character should agree to own the truth of Christ's Miracles which they knew to be false as that honest sincere Christians who abhorred a Lye and were throughly perswaded Eternal Misery was the certain Punishment of Lying should conspire to deceive the World by contriving spreading and continually supporting what they were sure was the grossest Cheat imaginable But without considering the Characters of the Witnesses the Manner and Circumstances in which they first gave Testimony to the truth of Christ's Miracles makes a confederacy to deceive utterly impossible For in many Instances of Publick Miracles in the New Testament we find that upon the sight of something done by Jesus Christ the whole Multitude of Spectators immediately declared their Belief and Admiration by openly glorifying God or expressing their Wonder to one another So that it plainly appeats from hence that they were all severally convinced of the truth and wonderfulness of what they saw before they could know one anothers Minds concerning it and therefore the agreement of their Testimony could not be the effect of any antecedent concert among themselves Thus have I evidently proved the truth of the Publick Miracles of Jesus Christ and whatever has been said upon this Subject will hold with the same or rather greater degrees of certainty concerning the Publick Miracles of the first Apostles and Disciples of Christ who received that Power immediately from their Master and of all other Christian Believers to whom the same Gifts were conveyed by their Hands For the Signs and Wonders Recorded to have been done by any of them were as easily known and distinguished by vulgar Senses and Capacities as those of Christ the Characters and Circumstances of the Witnesses so far as concerns the credibility of their Testimony was very near the same But the number of those who by an intimate consciousness of their own Power knew they performed such Works of those who felt the Effects of this Miraculous Power in themselves and of those who saw the External Signs and Appearances of it in the Facts that were done was very far greater than in the former Case and the impossibility of a general agreement to deceive more manifest here than there and consequently the truth of all these Facts is as evident as that of the other before proved As to the more Private Miracles done by Jesus Christ himself in the presence of his Disciples only and the Signs and Wonders imployed by some other Power for the manifestation of Christ to a few chosen Persons we have these reasons to believe them true The Facts were of the same nature and as easy to be known and discerned as the other before mentioned the several Witnesses of these things which happen'd at several times taken altogether were a great many which makes an agreement of them all to deceive and a constant invincible Perseverance in a Cheat very difficult to imagine the Characters of them as far as appears from the History of the New Testament were such as leave no room to suspect the Fidelity of their Relation for they are all of them the Apostles and first Disciples especially who are principally concern'd in the present Cause represented as honest sincere undesigning Persons that feared God and loved Mankind that were free from Pride and Vanity and were so far from seeking their own Interest or Advancement in this World that they were despised and set at nought and evilly intreated whereever they came and were as to this Life of all Men most miserable for constantly asserting the truth of the Resurrection and Ascention of Christ and such other Facts now in question all which they were as firmly perswaded of as of any of the Publick Miracles of Jesus Crrist and several of them they Preach'd up as more necessary and impottant to be believed Besides all this many of these Miraculous Facts which were fully discovered only to a few were accompanied with several Circumstances more publickly known with which they have so near and almost necessary a connexion that 't is very difficult to imagine these Circumstances should be true and not the principal Facts also as will easily appear from the Instance of the Resurrection of Christ In the account of which wonderful Fact we find that it was known to the Chief Priests and Pharisees among the Jews that Christ had said while he was yet alive after three Days I will rise again for which reason they make Application to Pilate to secure his Sepulchre that his Disciples might not come and steal him away by Night and take occasion from thence to give out he was risen from the Dead The Sepulchre was accordingly made sure by rolling a great Stone to the Door of it by Sealing the Stone and setting a Watch But 't is further said that at the time appointed and foretold for the rising of Christ there was a great Earthquake and that then the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and rolled back the Stone from the Door of the Sepulchre and sat upon it that his Countenance was like Lightning and his Raiment White as Snow that the Keepers saw all these things and for fear of the Angel did shake and became as dead Men Afterwards we read that some of the Watch came into the City and shewed unto the Chief Priests all the things that were done that the Chief Priests when they were Assembled with the Elders and had taken Counsel gave large Money to the Souldiers to say his Disciples came by Night and stole him away while they Slept which the Souldiers
Prediction was fulfilled and that therefore it was a true Prophecy 't was enough to know that Jerusalem was Destroyed and the Jewish People driven out of their Country whatever way this came about but to know that such a Man was Well or such another Alive or that the one had been Sick and the other to all appearance Dead is not sufficient to convince a Man of the truth of the Miracle in either case and a Person who did not see the Manner and Circumstances in which each of these Facts was done can receive no assurance of them afterwards but from the Testimony of others because there are no visible Remains and Footsteps of the Miracle left after the Action is over whereas in the other Instance of Prophecy the Event is constantly the same it was at first and equally convincing at all times to every one that will take the pains to satisfie himself And further if a considerable time intervene between the Prediction and the Accomplishment and the Record of the Prediction was very publick before the thing happen'd the Persons who live after the Accomplishment and so were immediate Witnesses of neither part of the Prophecy may be more easily and fully satisfied of the truth of a particular Prophecy than of a particular Miracle they were not Witnesses of themselves because both the Prediction and the Accomplishment being Common Facts considered in themselves without any relation to one another are less liable to suspicion than unusual Events of a more surprising Nature and the truth of the latter Fact being often certainly cognizable at any time of inquiry there is so much time supposed between this Accomplishment and the former Prediction that 't is easie to find out whether that really happened out before this which is all that is required for the truth of the whole Prophecy the extraordinary nature of which arises from the comparison of both together in order to know the reason of their Connexion and not from any thing in the Facts themselves severally considered as it does in Miracles where the Facts themselves are wonderful without any consideration of the Causes or Occasions of them Thus are the first Christian Miracles and Prophecies related and attested These are the Grounds and Reasons upon which they were believed and this is the summ of all the Evidence that is brought for them which is capable of being illustrated and confirm'd by a vast variety of particular Observations but my intended Method not allowing me to make such Inlargments I shall conclude the Proof I was upon with this General Reflexion From the account that is given in the New Testament of the Miracles and Prophecies there Recorded and of the manner of Preaching the Gospel and Converting People to the Christian Religion it plainly appears that the first and principal Motive upon which any Persons believed in Christ and imbraced the Doctrine taught by him and his Apostles was some Miracle they themselves were actual Witnesses of for Miracles were then so common every where that there was hardly any Christian even among the Gentile Converts for above Threescore Years after the Promulgation of the Gospel by Christ but was himself a Witness of some Miracle wrought by others So that tho' they might be further confirm'd in the belief of what was taught them by the Characters of Christ and his Apostles the Testimony of Jewish Christians who upon the several Persecutions in Jerusalem and all Judea were scattered and dispersed among the Gentiles of all Nations and the Accomplishment of Prophecies written in the Books of the Old and New Testament which they knew to have been written before the Events happen'd yet the first and chief ground of their assent to the Miracles and Doctrines of the Gospel was some Miraculous Power they had themselves been Witnesses of When therefore we consider the vast number of Converts that were made to Christianity in the first Age of the Gospel and consequently the vast Multitude of seeming Miracles that must have been continually wrought for their Conversion in all Places together with the steady and invincible Perseverance of Christians in the Faith notwithstanding all the variety of Sufferings they indured for believing 't is impossible to imagine there should be a whole Age of Delusion and Deceit that there should be such a long continued train and series of meer empty Appearances without any reality under them which produced such real Effects as remain till this Day and Effects of such an extraordinory nature as in a very short time gave a new turn to the whole Scheme of Affairs in the most considerable part of the World Since therefore all the common Matters of Fact mentioned in the History of the Gospel as we find it delivered in the New Testament are true as I have shewed before and consequently that among the rest that the Miracles Recorded in the New Testament were believed according to the relation there given of them it necessarily follows from hence that there were such Facts as those in appearance at least otherwise there could have been no ground for believing them in that manner as 't is said they were believed and if there were all those appearances of something done I shall take it for granted for the reason just before given that there were so many true real Facts And if the Miracles are allowed to be real the Prophecies must be so too as being freer from all suspicion of wrong appearance 3. The next step I am to make in the proof of the Christian History is to shew that what is said in the New Testament concerning Divine Assistance and Revelation is true Now 't is frequently and positively asserted there not only that such and such Signs and Wonders were wrought such Prophecies uttered and fulfilled and such Doctrines preach'd but that all these things were performed by the immediate Power and Authority of God This is every where acknowledg'd and insisted upon by Christ and his Apostles and all that were concerned in the Work and Ministry of the Gospel What they constantly affirm of themselves is that they were sent from God that they were authorized and ordained by God to Preach the Gospel that they were doing the Work of the Lord that the Doctrine they taught and preached came from God that they had it by Revelation that God shewed them things to come that they spake by the Spirit of God that the Power they had was from God and that God was with them continually assisting them and revealing himself to them Whether the Matters of Fact were really so as they affirmed we have no other ways of knowing but these two their own Testimony and the nature of the things said and done by them As to the Testimony of those who declare all these wonderful things of themselves their Condition Character and Sufferings have been considered already and found to be such as are a sufficient warrant to secure us from any fear or suspicion of
Souls are able to frame of God and therefore since it could not proceed from Man as has already been shewn we must ascribe it to God But moreover besides the nature of the Things revealed the Ways and Methods made use of to Communicate them to the World and to Establish and Propagate the Belief of them among Men are Infallible Marks that the Revelation came from God His Power and Wisdom are as Legible in this whole Dispensation as in the Frame and Structure of the Universe as will easily appear from a short view of the Progress and Conduct of this great Work of the Salvation of Man For except the Hand of the Lord was in it how came the Jews to have better and juster Notions of God the Original of the World and the Nature of Man than any other Nation under Heaven when they had no manner of Learning among them no gradual Improvements in Knowledge as we find other Countries had How came the whole People to have these Notions as well as the chief and most knowing among them In all the Periods of Learning among the Egyptians Chaldeans Greeks and Romans the People were generally Idolaters and the Priests and Philosophers durst not propagate better Notions of God when they had found them out tho' even their best had a ridiculous mixture of Fable and Superstition in them How then came the People of the Jews to remain intirely free from Idolatry for so many Years ever since they became a Nation Or if we believe their own Story and they were as inclinable to Worship Idols and imbrace absurd Opinions of God and Religion as any other Nation How came they to recover themselves again and preserve the true Worship of God among them And how at last when they were so wedded to the external form and manner of Worshipping the true God as to place all their Religion in it to the neglect of Moral Duties at a time when there was no other sort of Learning among them how I say came a perfecter Scheme of Morality and Religion to proceed from thence than from any other Quarter of the World and such a Scheme as no body that professed it durst think of altering adding to or diminishing when no such respect was paid to any Philosophers Scheme by his own Sect or Party To whom can we ascribe such a wonderful Preservation of true Religion but to God who was able to bring Strength out of Weakness and even of Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham If afterwards we consider by what particular Hands this perfecter Scheme of Religion was delivered to Mankind and in what manner it was first Published and Preached to the World here the Finger of God will plainly appear also For all the Instruments and Ministers of this great Work were Persons of a low Rank and mean Occupations Ignorant and Unlearned and of no Reputation in the World and their Preaching was plain and simple without the enticing Words of Man's Eloquence and yet where-ever they came the Gospel prevailed many were daily added to the Church and in a little time they drew the whole World after them this they did notwithstanding all the Opposition that was made to them by the Reasonings and Disputings of the Learned and by the Force and Authority of Magistrates and Men in Power notwithstanding the Doctrine they Preached was everywhere spoken against and the Preachers and Believers of it were everywhere Persecuted and Afflicted with all the variety of Sufferings their Enemies could invent And when we perceive it so ordered that the Foolish things of the World should Confound the Wise that the Weak and Base things of the World and things which are despised should Confound the things which are Mighty and in great Esteem we cannot but acknowledge that God hath chosen them and what is thus wonderful in our Eyes is the Lord 's doing Thus it became God Almighty to humble Men and shew his Power in a way directly contrary to all the measures they would have imagined proper Was it not likewise every way worthy of God and agreeable both to the Wisdom and Goodness of his Designs in giving Mankind a more perfect Model of Religion than they were hitherto acquainted with that he should convince them of the Beauty and Reasonableness and incourage them to the Practice of it by exemplifying the whole Scheme in the Lives of the first Publishers and Preachers of this Religion And where were such perfect Characters of Men ever heard of before as those of Christ and his Apostles and most of the first Christian Believers What could more demonstrate the Force and Influence of the Christian Religion and recommend it more Effectually to the World than this As therefore the Knowledge of a true and reasonable Service of God must be referred to him so must likewise the power to will and to do according to all those Rules and Measures he has been pleased to prescribe us But further when such Doctrines as those of the Gospel which were Preached Believed and Propagated in such a manner and recommended by Persons of such Characters as is before specified are confirm'd by so many Prophecies and Miracles and those of such kinds as we find mentioned in the New Testament it must be likewise allowed that God was the Author of all these Signs and Wonders For if it be possible and sometimes expedient for God to reveal something to Mankind as has been already shewn more infallible Tokens and Indications of himself he cannot give us than such Prophecies and such Miracles as those Recorded in the New Testament no greater Instances of Knowledge and Power besides what appear in the Making and Governing the World are conceivable by us and what better deserved such an extraordinary and immediate Manifestation of these Attributes of God then the Gospel To what nobler Ends could God imploy his Power than for the confirming and promoting the belief of such a just reasonable and beneficial Scheme of things as the Christian Religion But besides these Prophecies and Miracles were not only certain Indications of Divine Revelation and Assistance in themselves and more undoubtedly so to us for being made use of to confirm a Doctrine which deserved such Attestation but they were also the properest and most suitable means that could be chosen for Establishing the belief of the Gospel to which they were designed and consequently must be imployed by God to that End For what was more becoming the Divine Wisdom and what could be more effectual to convince Men of the truth of such future things as are Promised and Threatened in the Christian Religion than by the Completion of Prophecies spoken of at several distant Periods of time before the Events happen'd to give them a sensible proof that all things were manifest and open to the Eyes of God and that a Thousand Years was to him but as One Day And that the strangeness of the Christian Events relating to a Future State