and transactions of his Life were open and conspicuous to the World he laid not the scene of his actions in a dark unknown or undiscover'd corner of the Earth but he appear'd in one of the most eminent places of all Asia all his Works were perform'd amidst his Enemies and he chose the Jews the most jealous and the most prejudiced People in the World for the Eye-witnesses of his Miracles and the Companions of his Conversation But above all Jerusalem it self the most famous City at that time in that part of the World was the scene of his most publick Actions there it was that he was put to death in the presence not onely of that City but of the whole Nation there it was that he rose from the dead there it was that his Disciples first publisht his Resurrection and there it was that some of them wrought undeniable Miracles in proof of the Divinity of his Power and the Truth of their own Testimony And Origen has observed very well that the publick Death of Jesus in the sight of all the People of the Jews was design'd by the Divine Providence as an advantageous circumstance to demonstrate the truth of his Resurrection for if it had been private and not notorious to all the Nation though he had afterward risen from the dead as he did the obscurity of his Death might have been pleaded against the certainty of his Resurrection But beside the notoriety of the matter of Fact among the Jews the strange Stories that were reported of him in a little time fill'd the World with noise and wonder No Affair in that Age was more talked of than the Story of Jesus of Nazareth every body made enquiry into the circumstances of his Actions and they were exposed to the malice of the Jews and the curiosity of the Philosophers There was never Man born as Eusebius observes upon whose account the whole World was so much concern'd as upon that of Jesus of Nazareth Mankind being as it were at first divided concerning him so that the controversie is not improperly styled by Nicephorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the struggling and concussion of the World Now 't is a likely matter and worthy our belief that a few simple and illiterate persons should have the confidence but much more the ability to perswade the World into the belief of a Legend so palpable and so obnoxious to contradiction That they should be so impudent as to begin to publish the strange Story of his Life and stranger one of his Resurrection even in Jerusalem it self and amidst his most implacable Enemies where though it were so easie to discover the bold and manifest cheat if a cheat at all that yet it should pass without any contradiction of the matter of Fact and meet with such prodigious and unparallel'd entertainment in the Minds of so many thousands of its Inhabitants Certainly they must have been puissant and irresistible Arguments wherewith they could so briskly bear down and vanquish Jewish stubbornness Their prejudices were too strong to be overcome by any weaker proof than evident and undeniable demonstration and had they not brought some such thing along with them they might to as much purpose have preached to the Stones of the Temple as to the People of Jerusalem But that I say is the wonder that they should first publish this strange story in the very place where it was acted and yet if it were false not onely escape being convicted of Forgery which it was impossible they should upon supposition of its being false but force great numbers of Persons against their most stubborn prejudices to own and submit to the truth of their Relation and from that very place in a short time to propagate the belief of it all the World over This is the thing that I affirm not to be at all possible in the course of humane Affairs that a matter of Fact of such a nature and under these circumstances if really and indeed false should ever gain so great a belief of its being true I will grant that Mankind may be imposed upon in matters of meer Opinion as much as any Man can require but matter of Fact is of a quite different nature that depends not so much upon Mens Understandings as their Senses and the Senses of all Mankind are alike here is no difference between the learned and the unlearned And though a false Story may for a while be imposed upon the common People yet unless it appear to prove it self true with an evidence proportionable to its weight it either dyes and vanishes of its own accord or is convicted of Forgery by the more wise and judicious when they come to enquire into its grounds and pretences And yet this Story the more it was enquired into the more firmly it was believed and learned Men every where and of all persuasions when they came to examine into it could not bring their Minds to any issue concerning it till at length they were forced to resign up themselves to its full belief I have indeed heard some witty Gentlemen as our phantastick Age very much abounds with such shrew'd persons compare the first propagation of Christianity in those parts of the World with that of the late growth and spreading of the folly of Quakerism in England than which nothing could be more enormously surmised for setting aside a thousand other defects in the comparison it is notorious that that wild and enthusiastick Sect did not set up upon the pretence of a new Revelation but onely pretended to raise some foolish and fanatique conceits of their own upon supposition of the truth of an old one But if the leaders of that Rabble when they first appear'd about thirty years since at York and Bristol had pretended to have wrought in those great Cities such kind of Miracles as are recorded of our Saviour and his Apostles no Man can doubt but that they had been long since buried in contempt and oblivion And yet that is the case of Christianity that such a matter of Fact as that was gain'd such a firm belief in the place where it was first published and acted too and from thence all the World over onely by the undeniable evidence of its own Proofs and Miracles For the Men of that Age were every whit as cautious and incredulous as the Wits of ours and as I shall shew anon their Minds were prepossest with stronger prejudices of Atheism and Infidelity How then could this Story of Jesus prevail so effectually upon them but by the undeniable evidence of its truth and certainty and when it carried with it nothing in the World whereby it might bribe their belief nay when it labour'd under all other objections but onely evidence of Truth I will challenge any sober Man to frame any the least tolerable Hypothesis how it was so much as possible that it should prevail had not its truth been vouched by the most undoubted and
same time and laid down their Lives out of that undoubted assurance they had of its truth and certainty We may now with much more reason doubt of what was done to his late Majesty in January 1648. than they could at that time of the Testimony of the Apostles concerning the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Neither did the current of this Tradition stop here in the Corinthian Church but as it came down from the first Witnesses so it descended in the same chanel to after-times for as the Apostolical Writings are own'd by this Epistle so is this Epistle by those who could not but be certain of its Authority especially Dionysius Bishop of that Church to whom it was written for as Saint Clement's Epistle was written not long after the time of the Apostles probably in the Reign of Domitian so was that of Dionysius written not at a greater distance from Saint Clemens for he flourished in the time of M. Aurelius and had full assurance of its being authentick from its having been constantly read in the Corinthian Church So that the Tradition of the Apostles Testimony was as certain in that Church in the time of that Emperour who began his Reign about the year 161. as it was in their own time so that if the Corinthians who lived in the time of Dionisius had been contemporary to the Apostles themselves they could not have had a more satisfactory and unquestionable information of the truth of those things that they preached than was given them from so clear and uninterrupted a Tradition for that being so entirely free from all manner of doubt and suspicion the distance of time made no alteration as to the certainty of the thing § XXX To the Testimony of this Apostolical Man we may joyn that of Ignatius Policarp Papias and Quadratus as having all conversed with the followers and familiars of our Saviour And first as for Ignatius he was educated under the Apostles themselves and by them constituted Bishop of the great City of Antioch where he sate many years and govern'd his charge with extraordinary zeal and prudence and at last with infinite courage and alacrity suffer'd Martyrdom for the Testimony of his Faith There have been great Controversies of late in the Christian World concerning his Epistles though with how little reason on their side that oppose them I have accounted elsewhere and though I shall by and by make use of their Authority and make it good too yet our present Argument is not concern'd in that dispute for whether these Epistles that at this time pass under his name be genuine or counterfeit it is certain that there was such a Man and that he wrote such Epistles and if so then he is another competent Witness of the truth of the Apostolical Testimony and his great sense of Immortality and earnest desire of Martyrdom shew his great assurance of our Saviour's Resurrection upon which they were founded so that he is another undoubted Witness of the Apostolical Tradition viz. That the Christian Faith descended from the Apostles and that they gave that proof of their Testimony that is recorded of them in the holy Scriptures And by his Testimony of the truth of all that Christianity pretends to is the Tradition of the Apostles connected with the certain History of after-times so as to leave no dark and unknown Interval wherein the Story pretended to have been formerly acted by the Apostles might have been first obtruded upon the World but on the contrary to make it undeniably evident that there could never have been any such Story had it not first descended from the Apostles But though this be enough to my purpose for attesting the truth of the Apostolical History by such a near and immediate Witness to make the Tradition of the Church certain and uninterrupted yet I will not wave that advantage that I have from this glorious Martyr's Epistles because they breathe so much the genuine spirit of the ancient Christianity especially as to the undoubted assurance of a future Immortality which shews what mighty satisfaction they had of the reality of the thing that they so firmly believed and so vehemently desired And as for the Epistles themselves they are so strongly and unanimously attested by the Records of the ancient Church that they had never been so much as question'd but for their resolute Opposition to some Mens Prejudices for they being resolved in their own Innovation of Church-government contrary to that of the Apostolical and primitive Constitution which these Epistles so zealously assert and that as establisht by the command of God and thereby made necessary to the peace of the Christian Church they had no way left but stubbornly I ought to have said impudently to reject their Authority But alas that is so admirably vouched as if the Providence of God had purposely design'd to secure their credit for ever And particularly in the first place by his Friend Policarp who sent a Copy of them to the Church of Philippi with a Letter of his own now Policarp's Epistle was never question'd nay it was for some hundred years after publickly read in the Churches of Asia how then is it possible to avoid so clear and certain a Testimony as this they have no other way but onely by saying that this particular passage was foisted in without any shadow of ground for the surmise nay contrary to the common sense of Mankind that an Epistle so universally known to the learned and the unlearned should be so easily corrupted and the corruption never taken notice of and when this counterfeit passage was thrust into it contrary to the faith of all the publick Books it should pass down uncontroul'd and unquestion'd to all after-ages Nay farther if it were forged it must have been before the time of Eusebius who gives an account of it and believes it genuine and yet himself affirms that it was at his time publickly read in Churches as Saint Jerome afterwards that it was in his now it is a very probable thing that Eusebius would be imposed upon by one private Copy contrary to the faith of all the publick Books or that he should impose the mistake upon all that followed him when the same Books were preserved in the same publick manner till the time of Saint Jerome But beside this they have another shift altogether as groundless and not less bold viz. That it is true that there had been such Epistles of Ignatius that Policarp speaks of but that a little before Eusebius his time the true ones were lost and a counterfeit Copy put upon the World which as it is nothing but meer conjecture for the sake of a desperate cause and void of all pretence of probability so it is incredible in it self and not possible in the course of humane Affairs that such a famous Writing of such an ancient and apostolical Bishop of such an eminent and glorious Martyr written at such a time at the
vigorous in their resolutions Can you think all this comes to pass slightly and by chance that Men do not consider what they are about when they dye for their Religion that there is a conspiracy of Sots and Mad-men all the World over to undoe themselves and throw away their Lives without so much as thinking what they are doing It were endless to heap up all the Testimonies that might be collected out of the primitive Writers upon this Argument when it was so known and confessed a thing even by the Enemies of the Religion So that this was the ground of Pliny's Letter to the Emperour concerning the Christians the multitude of Persons of all conditions which he says was so great that the Temples and Sacrifices were almost utterly forsaken And Tacitus tells us of an Ingens multitudo that were put to death by Nero in Rome alone for firing the City which was not much above thirty years after our Saviour's Passion and in the time of the Apostles some of whom suffer'd in the Persecution in short the prevalency of the Christian Religion was so observable among the Heathens that it was vulgarly styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the prevailing Doctrine and they the prevailing Sect several Instances whereof are collected by Valesius out of Damascius Porphyry and Julian And therefore I will add no more Testimonies to prove a thing so unquestionable but shall onely rescue one that is more ancient than any of the rest from that violence that has been offer'd to it by some learned Men and that is the Testimony of Philo the Jew for whereas in his little Treatise concerning a Contemplative Lise he gives a large description of a certain Sect of Men and Women that he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were at that time very famous and numerous in the World especially in Egypt and about Alexandria where he chiefly resided but most of all in the Mareotick Prefecture this Eusebius will have to be understood of the primitive Christians and that for this one very good reason because it is such an exact description of their way of Life Worship and Discipline that if Philo had design'd to have done that he could not have done it more accurately and the truth is there is scarce in all the Records of Antiquity a fuller account of the manners of the primitive Christians as to their renouncing the World for the love of Heaven their parting with their Estates for the benefit of the Poor their great Temperance and Chastity their meeting every Seventh-day for religious Worship their Love-feasts their great Festivals of Easter and Pentecost c. All which as they agree in every circumstance to the primitive Christians so to no other Sect of which we find any other memory or mention in all the Records of Antiquity and that one would think were Argument sufficient to conclude that Philo's description appertain'd to them and none else But Scaliger according to his usual custom of quarrelling with Eusebius will not have it applied to the Christians but to the Jewish Essenes of which he affirms there were two sorts the Practical and the Speculative and that in the former Book Philo treated of those of these in this And the ground of his mistake was Philo's transition from the first to the second Book viz. That having in the former given an account of the Essenes who lived a practical Life and conversed in Cities he now came to treat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that live a contemplative Life i. e. says Scaliger of those Essenes but that without any ground from the words themselves which being onely general of those Men that live a contemplative Life may with as much reason be understood of any other Sect as appropriated to the Essenes But what if Philo had call'd them Essenes and thought them so yet there is no necessity they should hà ve been so for seeing the Essenes were accounted Men of the strictest Lives among the Jews when Philo saw this Society of Christians then newly founded by Saint Mark in those parts that so much resembled the Essenes in their Manners and Discipline it was easie for him to suppose them a branch of the same Sect and pass them under the same name And yet after all this is a distinction meerly of Scaliger's own framing to salve his own groundless conjecture for Philo no where calls them Essenes which he would have done if Essenes they had been of what sort soever and therefore constantly giving those in the former Book the Title of Essenes and never giving it to these it is plain that they were of a different Sect from all Essenes Neither are there any the least footsteps of these two sorts of Essenes in all Antiquity and Josephus though he does more than once give an account of this Sect makes no mention of these speculative Essenes which so diligent a Writer could never have omitted if they had been so famous and so numerous in the World as Philo says these Therapeutae were Beside that there were no Essenes out of Judaea as Philo himself more than once informs us and expresly in the former Book whereas this Sect was spread as he affirms in this through all parts of the World Neither were there any Women admitted among the Essenes whereas both Sexes were indifferently enter'd into this Sect from whence it is evident that it must have been of a different Constitution And for these reasons Valesius disagrees with Scaliger for understanding the Essenes here yet agrees with him for not understanding the Christians but upon Arguments so weak and unconcluding that he had as good gone through with him in the whole matter as leave him half way to so little purpose As first That these Therapeutae read the ancient Writings of the Authours of their Sect which could not be understood of the old Prophets because they are expresly distinguisht by Philo from them nor of the Evangelists and Apostles because himself lived in their time and therefore could not term their Writings ancient But in answer to this it is evident that Philo was not thoroughly acquainted with the Principles of this Sect but had onely been present sometime at their Assemblies and from what he had there observed had drawn up this description of them And therefore finding that they had peculiar Books to themselves and distinct from those of the old Prophets he might easily think them more ancient than really they were especially when they were valued by the Christians or the Men that he speaks of as the most authentick Commentaries and Expositions of the Prophets themselves But however Antiquity is a relative term and therefore the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles being the first Records of the Church might nay must be term'd the most ancient and so Philo seems to expound himself when he adds that they were such as
to set about such an Undertaking to reverse all the ancient Laws and Religions in the World and to introduce every where not onely a different but a contrary state of things These things says he if they should have objected he could have return'd them no other answer had he not prevented the Objection by the promise of his miraculous Assistance And therefore when they were obedient to his command it is evident that they were already by his Divine Works convinced of his Divine Authority For that they believed in him must be granted in that they so readily obeyed him in a little time leaving their own native Country to instruct the World in the Faith of Jesus and soon saw the promise of his Divine Assistance not onely made good but abundantly exceeded by their incredible success But when they went about such a Work as this after what manner think you did they address themselves to the People Did they go into the Market-place and there summon up an Auditory of all Passengers or did they apply themselves to particular Persons Take which you please I pray which way did they win their Attention when they began their Story at the most ignominious Death of their Master whom they set forth as the onely Instructour of Mankind the Son of God and Saviour of the World For if they had conceal'd that part of his History that related to his Passion and Sufferings and onely trumpeted out his great Vertues and much greater Miracles it had been very difficult to overcome the Faith of Mankind to a report so very strange and in it self incredible And yet if they had done this they might have kept their Story within some bounds of probability But when they acknowledged that the same Person whom they magnified as a God lived like a miserable Man encountred perpetual Affronts and Contumelies and at last suffer'd the Death of the worst and most ignominious Malefactours who that heard them would not laugh at the gross contradiction of their own Story Or at least how could any Man be so credulous as upon the bare report of unknown Persons to believe that a Person so shamefully executed should be so conspicuously risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven when he was not able to rescue himself from so dishonourable an Execution However who could have been so easie as to forsake the Religion of their Countrey and that way of Worship that had been used as they believed from the beginning of the World by the meer Authority of a company of mean and ignorant Mechanicks and a crucified Malefactour who notwithstanding his contemptible Life and dishonourable Death would bear himself out as the onely Son of God While says he I revolve these things in my Mind and consider the improbability of the Story in it self I cannot imagine how it is possible meerly by their own bare report to prevail upon the Faith of any one Man And yet when I reflect upon the strange Effect of their Endeavours and that such despicable Persons as they were in themselves should prevail upon such innumerable multitudes of Men and that not in barbarous and obscure places onely but in the most famous Cities of Rome Alexandria Antiochia nay in all parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa I am forced to enquire into the rational Account of so strange an Event and find that nothing could ever have brought it about but a manifest Divine Power whereby they were able when they pleased as we find in their Records to work Miracles and that alone was more than enough to vanquish and subdue the minds of Men to their Authority For when they saw their Miracles they could not but be concern'd to enquire by what Means they wrought such Effects And when they were told that they were empower'd by Jesus and did whatever they did by virtue of his Authority that alone over-ruled their Minds and without farther proof commanded entire submission to his Doctrine So that it was not the evidence of the thing it self nor the credit of their Testimony but the undeniable power of God discovering it self in their miraculous Actions that so easily subdued the World before them And it is impossible as Origen observes that the Apostles of our Lord without these miraculous Powers should ever have been able to have moved their Auditours or perswaded them to desert the Institutions of their Countrey and embrace their new Doctrine and having once embraced it to defend it to the death and defie all manner of dangers in its defence But then as it was impossible to have wrought this wonderfull change in the World without these miraculous Powers so with them it was impossible for Men to withstand so clear a demonstration of Divine Authority And therefore they did not so properly convert the World by their Preaching as by their Actions whilst they perform'd such things as though they themselves had never opened their Minds proclaim'd their Divine Commission And when People were once convinced of that little perswasion would serve the turn to engage them to the belief of that Doctrine which by their works they had already proved to be of Divine Authority And this if we consult the Apostolical History was the usual method of their proceeding first to shew a Miracle and then to declare its meaning Thus the first time that they appeared in publick after their Commission to preach the Gospel to the utmost parts of the Earth was at the great Festival of Pentecost when Proselytes of all Nations resorted to Jerusalem to whom they preached in their several Languages and this being noised abroad that a few illiterate Fishermen were all on a sudden inspired with the gift of speaking all the Languages of the known and habitable World curiosity brought great multitudes to hear them and when the multitude was convinced of and amased at the Miracle then was it a proper time for Saint Peter to begin his Sermon of the Resurrection of Jesus and prove it by their own Testimony This Jesus hath God raised up whereof we are all Witnesses That is we that are as you see endued with this miraculous gift of speaking all Languages in order to our preaching in the name of Jesus to all Nations do here assure you that we were no less than Eye-witnesses of his Resurrection And there lay the main strength and efficacy of Saint Peter's Sermon it was the Miracle that so soon converted thousands to his Doctrine So again when it was blazon'd abroad that the famous Cripple that was so well known to every Boy in the City to have kept for so many years together his begging stage at the chief Gate of the Temple styled Beautifull because made as Josephus informs us of Corinthian Brass was so miraculously healed by one of the company onely by a word speaking this could not but enflame their curiosity and every Man was concern'd to satisfie himself in the truth or falshood of a report
fiercest Enemies How then could they avoid its force by denying it Never nay they confess it as a thing undeniable Thus Hierocles freely grants our Saviour's Miracles but then he says that they onely proved him to be a Divine Man but not what he pretended to be a God But if they were true then whatever he was they prove him to be what he pretended to be and that is enough to our present purpose against Paganism and Infidelity viz. That he came from God and after that whether he were to be truly and properly to be styl'd God or onely esteem'd of as an Ambassadour from him is a dispute that supposes his Divine Commission So that this very confession of Hierocles proves no less because we all know that he profest to teach and act by no less Authority In the next place the Emperour Julian does not deny but diminish the wonder of our Saviour's Miracles in that there is nothing so very remarkable recorded of him unless to cure the Lame and the Blind and to cast out Devils in the Towns of Galilee may be reckoned among the works of greatest magnificence But this is objected rather like an Emperour than a Philosopher For as Huetius very well replies to it it is the greatest work of ambitious Princes to raise Armies to dispeople Nations to erect prodigious Buildings here to demolish a great City and there to reedifie a greater But alas these are works within the power of Art and Nature and are to be wrought out by the wit or the industry of Men whereas those that were wrought by Jesus were quite of another stamp and such as could never have been effected by any power less than Divine These are works truly magnificent and becoming the greatness of the Son of God and therefore it was very weakly objected of a great pretender to Philosophy that he did nothing so extraordinary when to raise one Man from the Grave proceeds from a power that infinitely exceeds that of Alexander or Caesar in sending so many millions thither But the most usual shifts made use of to evade the force of this Argument is either to ascribe all this train of Miracles to the power of Magick or to vye against them the wonderfull works of other Men that never made any such lofty pretences And at this lock we find Celsus at every turn and whenever he is pressed hard he still takes shelter in one of these evasions and for that reason we cannot avoid to take notice of them And first as for the pretence of Magick it s own vanity is its own confutation for if he were such a Magician as is pretended then either himself was the first Inventour and Master of his own Art or he learnt it from others if he had no Teacher and yet acquired the skill of doing things so extraordinary that alone seems something divine and wonderfull that a young Man without Learning without Books without Tutours without Instructions should by the strength of his own Faculties arrive to an higher degree of knowledge than all the learned Men in the World beside for it cannot be denied that the Actions recorded of him infinitely exceed the very pretences of all others Yes but say they he had Masters in Egypt from whom he learnt all those Magick Mysteries by which he afterward made himself so famous in Judaea But why then do we hear of no such eminent Magicians at that time either in Egypt or any where else beside himself Why was there no fame of them in the World before his Accusation Why was there not any the least memory of them preserved whilst his Name is so universally celebrated or when did any Magician from the beginning of the World either among the Greeks or Barbarians doe such things as he did But what need I say more our Saviour's works themselves are the fullest confutation of this vain pretence for whatever the powers of Magick may be no Man can ever believe that any thing less than a Divine Power could with a word speaking cure all manner of Diseases give sight to Men born Blind recover dying Persons at a distance and raise the Dead themselves To ascribe such actions as these meerly to Magick is a conceit so utterly extravagant that it were an affront to the understanding of Mankind at least at this time to think it needed any other confutation beside its own impossibility Though if any Man will be so humoursomly credulous in his Infidelity as to pretend some such suspicion I shall onely refer him to a smart Discourse of Arnobius in answer to it who first pursues all our Saviour's miraculous actions and the manner of their performance and then appeals to the common sense of Mankind concerning each particular how it was possible that they could ever have been effected by any power less than Divine But in my Opinion this thing is so evident of it self that at this time it would be a very needless piece of Industry to spend so much pains upon it whatever it might have been in his Age when it was so easie and indeed so usual a thing to impose upon the superstitious vulgar with such vain Romances Insomuch that the Enemies to Christianity were not content to perswade them that Christ was a Magician but told them that he was a Teacher of Magick too and writ a Book to instruct his Disciples in the same Art especially Peter and Paul to whom he inscribed it So ignorantly do these Calumniatours falsifie when it is so well known that our Saviour had left the World a considerable time before Paul became his Disciple but beside that the story is altogether groundless and without proof and if it were not yet it confutes it self by its own silliness and absurdity viz. That the Apostles should learn to doe those things that they did by Rules of Art But either these Men that tell us of this magick Book have seen it or they have not if they have not they speak at random if they have why are they not able to doe the same things themselves why do they not cure their sick Friends or conjure them out of their Graves As for the Fable of the Jews that our Saviour had stoln out of the Temple the Shem Hamporash or the Name of God written in its proper Characters which they say it was not lawfull for them vulgarly to doe and by virtue of that was enabled to work all kind of Miracles it is a Fable so very despicable that I am ashamed to repeat it and therefore much more scorn to confute it § XXVI Their next evasion to this Argument is to vye other Stories with that of our Saviour and his Apostles and thereby to abate either their wonder or their credit and this they chiefly doe as to the Resurrection especially Celsus who has in this point more than any other shewn the strength of his Malice and the weakness of his Cause And he