of the Messiah whereas hitherto God had only described him under the Figure of a bare man tho' the other was made sufficiently intelligible when the Destruction of the Empire of the Tempter and the right of procuring a Blessing unto all the Nations of the Earth which he was personally to enjoy were attributed to him things infinitely beyond the power and condition of Mankind to perform were attributed to him II. He observes That this Person of whom he speaks such magnificent things ought however to be descended from Jacob which ratifies Jacob's Prophecy in favour of Judah III. Tho' he hints very clearly at the effects of those Blessings and Temporal Victories which Jacob's Posterity was to obtain over their Neighbours yet at the same time he infinuates plainly enough that the bestowing of the Blessing which all the Nations of the World should obtain was to be reserved to Jacob's Seed when he refused to retract those Promises of Blessing which God had made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to which Oracles he made a sensible Allusion And it is very important to consider that the Jews always applyed this Oracle to the Messiah as may be seen by their Chaldee Paraphrast and it was acknowledged so generally that the famous Achiba who lived under the Emperour Hadrian pretended that Barchocheba was the Messiah because his name was Chochab which is a Star in Hebrew as if God intended to mark that Impostor for the true Messiah by foretelling what name he should be called by The Oracle which Moses uttered a little before his Death is very considerable The People being terrified with the manner of God's speaking to them upon Mount Sinai desired that God would no longer speak as he had done before but that Moses should give them an Account of whatever God should command Hereupon God consents to their Request and promised them by Moses that he would raise them up a Prophet like unto Moses to whom they ought to hearken upon pain of being cut off He that made the Addition to the last Book of Moses wherein his Death is described takes notice that there never rose up afterwards a Prophet in Israel like to Moses If it was Ezra who made that Addition then here is a plain and clear decision against the Jews some of whom assert that Joshua or Jeremiah was the Prophet whom Moses promised If it was Eleazar who liv'd in Joshua's time then here Joshua at least is excluded from this priviledge of being designed by Moses But it is to no purpose to stop at such frivolous Objections One needs only observe Moses's Character to take notice of four certain Marks of Moses's Prophecies which advance him infinitely above all the other Prophets I. He had all the sorts of Revelations which are generally found amongst all the Prophets II. He was illustrious for great numbers of Miracles III. He not only reform'd the Errors and false ways of Worship then prevailing amongst the Jews but he set up a new Worship and a new Form of Religion IV. He introduced this Law and this way of worshipping God by such a conversation with God as one see 's amongst two intimate Friends In which of the Prophets may these four Characters be found The Galileans themselves testified plainly that these Characters ought only to be found in the person of the Messiah when they saw the Miracles of Jesus Christ John VI. 14. and the Jews acknowledged the same in our Saviours time when they applyed that Oracle to the Messiah John I. 45. But if these Oracles were obscurely hinted at in this Oracle one may see them clearly apply'd to the Messiah in the following Oracles proportionably as the Revelation encreased and as God unravelled the Idea's of these ancient Oracles by explaining them more particularly by those Prophets whom he afterwards raised up This may clearly be seen if we pass on to those Oracles which were uttered by David and the other Prophets who lived about his time CHAP. X. Of the Oracles which concern the Messiah in the Book of Psalms THese were the Oracles which were the subjects of the Meditations of the Faithful from the Year of the World 2553 in which Moses dyed until David's time who was particularly chosen by God to be the only man of his Family which was also separated from all the other Families of Judah who came from Pharez from whom the Messiah was to be descended I have observed in another place that in all probability God raised David to the Throne only to make the Genealogy of that Family better known from which the Messiah was to spring As this double advancement of David one to the Throne of Israel the other to be the Father to the Messiah ought to have inspired him with lively Resentments of Gratitude and as his Oracles would be much more famous being uttered by a Royal Prophet and the rather because God employ'd him in the making a just Regulation of the Service of the Sanctuary so we see that David employ'd his Pen in giving more distinct Idea's of that Messiah which he promised them The Name Messiah properly signifies a person consecrated by anointing to be King Priest or Prophet This Name was particularly applyed by David and the Prophets who lived after him to that holy Seed which God had promised to Abraham's Family by Isaac by Jacob by Judah and by David and one may observe in David's Psalms and in the Prophets of his time that they gave the Name of Messiah to the promised Seed under one or other of these three Senses The Characters both of a Prophet and a Priest tho' each of them are august enough yet yield to that of a King. These are the different Idea's which David and the Prophets of that time follow'd in all the variety of their Descriptions But it is not my Design to give a particular Account of all those Oracles which describe these different Characters for fear of being excessively long So I shall content my self with observing two things I. That David alone uttered more Oracles than all the Prophets who came before him II. That these Oracles of David concerning the Messiah are clearer than all the precedent ones Now I say that David alone uttered more Oracles than any one Prophet who came before him Thus in the XL Psalm he explains the Decree by which the Messiah became the Servant of God and clothed himself with the form of a Servant to offer unto God a more perfect Obedience than that which had formerly been offered by Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices He describes the measure and the Nature of his Ministry which was to consist in the instruction of the People in Righteousness Truth and the Salvation of God. Psalm XL. 7. 11. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine Ears hast thou opened Burnt-offering and Sin offering hast thou not required Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will
by chance and without any certain Principle CHAP. XX. An Answer to the Objection which may be drawn out of the History of China against the Mosaick Hypothesis concerning the newness of the World. I Come now to the other Objection which may be made against Moses's Calculation according to the Hebrew Text as we have it now It is drawn from the History of China whose uninterrupted Series runs up the Succession of their Emperors to Fobius who Reign'd about four hundred years before the Flood Some Learned Men have already made use of that Argument to discredit the Mosaick Chronology according to the Hebrew Text and to cry up the Calculation of the Septuagint which exceeds that of the Hebrew Text in the History before the Flood by 800 years and above 700 in the History from the Flood to Moses This Objection appears very strong to those who read in the History of Martinius that there is not the least interruption in the Catalogue of the Kings of China from Fobius that the History of their actions is so certain having always been written by a Publick Authority that no Man can reasonably entertain any doubt about it And the Missionaries in China have thought that there was no other way to reconcile the Mosaick Chronology with the Chinese but in making use of the Septuagint's Account and wherein they agree with all the Asiatick Christians and even those in Europe who follow the Septuagint in their reckoning up the years of the World for the most part Though St. Hierome's Translation which follows the Hebrew Text exactly is received in the West But after all there is little difficulty in answering this Objection and we may hereupon easily satisfie those who do not dispute only for disputing sake but are ready to examine this Question with that equity which is requisite in the examination of all Questions of that nature I confess ingeniously that this History which is one of the most ancient in the World hath many Illustrious Characters of certainty especially if we give credit to all that Martinius relates of it First It marks out exactly the Series and Succession of all the Kings of China from the very beginning and original of that Nation Secondly It records in what Year of each Cycle of threescore years every King began his Reign and did such or such an action Thirdly It relates some Astronomical Observations older than any that have been made by the most Ancient Astronomers in other Nations Fourthly It was written by a Publick Authority and by such Authors as lived in the time when the things which they record were transacted the immediate Successor to the Empire taking always care that the History of his Predecessor should be written Nay to all this we must add that the Chinese's way of writing making no use of Letters but of Hieroglyphicks may have prevented these alterations which might otherwise have been made in their History the whole Life of a Man being hardly sufficient to attain to the perfect knowledge of a Tongue which hath above Threescore Thousand Figures which must be all learnt before a Man can be able only to Read and Write But besides that all this depends upon the sole Authority of Martinius no body else beside him having given us as yet any opportunities of examining those ancient Monuments of China we may find out of this very History some strong Proofs to confirm that of Moses and so easily resolve the Difficulties which may be raised out of it against the Book of Genesis First F. Martinius observes that the common Opinion of the Chinese is that the World had a beginning And tho' there be some of them of Epicurus's Opinion yet there was never any amongst them that was for the Eternity of the World but since the Incarnation of Christ and the Introduction of Idolatry amongst them Secondly He tells us that they commonly acknowledge a God whom they call Xangti which is not the Name but the Epithet of God this word signifying Supream Governour of Heaven and Earth Thirdly He saith that they acknowledge a first Man brought forth out of the Chaos in one Night in the Spring which opinion some amongst them have made intricate by the addition of their own Fables Fourthly He shews that Sacrifices have been in use amongst them Fifthly That they believe a certainty of Punishments and Rewards after this Life for Vice and Vertue Sixthly That they believe the existence of good and bad Angels Seventhly That they assign to some of them the protection of Cities and Provinces and pay them great Veneration at the Instalment of their Magistrates Eighthly That they acknowledge them to be Incorporeal Beings and that it is but of late that they have Erected and Consecrated Statues to them And Lastly That they have a very great knowledge of the Flood which in their account happened about 3500 years before Jesus Christ Here are we see many truths which are the grounds of Religion and which were known to them from whence we may easily judge in comparing those Truths with the History of Moses that the ancient Chinese did agree with all other Nations in the believing the first Principles of Religion laid down by Moses We may likewise observe that those Antiquities of China for the most part are as like those recorded by Moses as a Tradition which cannot but have received many alterations during such a long interval of time can be like to an exact Narrative of Matters of Fact drawn up by an Author who knew very well what he writ First It appears that what they say concerning the Thirteen Successors of the first man named Puoncuus all descended from him is agreeable enough to the History of Genesis which sets down the successive Patriarchs from Father to Son. All the difference is that the Chinese by a foolish Ambition of appropriating all to themselves maintain that those Thirteen Kings were all in China Secondly What they tell us of the World being civiliz'd under the second of those Kings call'd Thienhoang after the death of the great Dragon that had disturbed Heaven and Earth agrees very well with the History of Seth who began to form Mankind to a right notion of the worship of God when he separated them from Cain's Family Thirdly It is very probable that when the Chinese have reckoned up thirteen Kings lineally descended from the first man and his Successors they have included in that number Cain and Abel who tho' they were both the Sons of the first man yet were not reckon'd up by Moses because his Scope was only to give an Account of the Lineal Descent of Adam's Posterity by Seth. They believe that under Ginhohang there was a kind of Golden Age the Earth being then fruitful to admiration and that under his Successor Men being extreamly simple and altogether ignorant of the several Arts necessary to Human Life as of Characters and Letters one Sujus to supply the want of them
they passed for Holy Men because they designed to imitate what as they were told had happened to Noah by his Son Ham which introduced the Custom amongst the Assyrians of Castrating themselves that they might be Priests Thirdly Deut. XXII God commanded that any Virgin which was Betrothed to a Husband and was corrupted in her Father's House or that was Ravished without calling for help should be punished with Death so that all the Virgins were indispensably engaged for fear of losing both Life and Honour together to preserve their Virginity with all possible care But here is a fourth Law concerning this matter whereby God obliged the Parents of all contracted Virgins to take a more than ordinary care of them when he commands Deut. XXII 21. That a Virgin for whom the Tokens of Virginity were not found should be brought out to the door of her Father's House and there be stoned to death by the Men of the City for so her Parents were by that means made partakers of the punishment of her Crime and their negligence was severely punish'd by such a shameful Execution as dishonoured their whole Family Fifthly God submitted Women to the Examination of their Husbands to whom they were Married Nay one would think that he intended to raise the Jealousie of Husbands when he gives them leave to bring their Wives to a publick Tryal and to punish them with Death when they did not preserve the Tokens of their Virginity It was for that reason that he commanded that the Parents or near Relations of the young Married Women thus complained of Deut. XXII should produce upon all such occasions the Tokens of the Virginity of those Daughters which they disposed in Marriage which was usually done with many Solemn Circumstances and Formalities And here are three things which deserve to be attentively considered The First is the Custom that was amongst the Jews for Parents never to let their Virgin Daughters go out of their Houses which Custom made them be called Concealed in opposition to those that went abroad that is that were Prostitutes The Second is another Custom which the just desire of preserving the Virginity of their Daughters against all Accidents had introduced amongst that People which was that all their Virgins did wear a sort of Fetters which are called in the Talmud Cevalim which are discribed by the famous Moses the Son of Maimon in this manner Cevalim sunt compedes in forma periscelidis Ad Massec Sabbath c. 6. J 4. inter quos interposuerunt catenulas illis compedibus ornabant se Virgines ut non incederent passu magno ne contigeret ipsis damnum in Virginitate sua This Description may be thought to be one of the foolish phancies of the modern Jews if we did not meet with proofs of the practice of that Custom in more ancient times In short one see 's in the third of Isaiah that Chains are reckon'd up amongst other Ornaments of the Daughters of Israel which God threatneth to take away from them when he would force them to go Captives into Babylon The Third is an ancient Tradition mentioned in the Pirke Eliezer in the XVI Chapter Solent Israelitae digito educere Virginitatem ne incidant in dubitationem vel suspicionem juxta illud Sumat Pater Mater puellae c. In a word it seems that for fear least these Tokens of Virginity should be thought to be obscure and ambiguous by their Husbands that God has provided for the securing of the Virginity of their young Women before Marriage by a Miracle the experience whereof was ordinary and common amongst so jealous a people Numb V. Joseph l. 3. Antiq. p. 95. I mean the Waters of Jealousie which all Women whose Carriage was suspected by their Husbands were obliged to drink by which God did either miraculously justifie them or else he began to inflict a punishment upon them which was so much the more dreadful and exemplary as it proceeded from the hand of God himself This Miracle lasted to the destruction of the second Temple as the Jews themselves tells us in that Title of their Talmud Sota c. 9. which concerns Women suspected of Adultery However as God works no Miracles without great reasons so he here made a Law the observance whereof was very rigorous which was that he would not suffer any Women to be Married when there was the least probability that they had their Courses but that they should be separated at that time as unclean The Reason of this Law was because it was then almost impossible but that the lewd Women might have imposed upon their Husbands in the Marks of their Virginity which at that time are very uncertain not to say that as a politick Law-giver he might prescribe the observation of this Law least the Common-wealth of the Jews should have been overstocked with weak and sickly people Lastly one see 's that God himself has fastned a Blot upon Leprous persons Isidor Pelus l. 5. Ep. 117. Joseph Antiq l. 3 p. 94. because they were supposed to have been Conceived when their Mothers had their Courses And hereupon was that Law of God founded which debarred Lepers for ever from the Right of coming into the Congregations of his people One ought to make the same Observation upon those that were unlawfully begotten for they were deprived of the Right of entring into the Congregation and how innocent soever they were as to the lewdness of those who gave them their Lives yet they were thus with them made partakers of the punishment of their sin If one considers all these several Laws attentively one shall find on the one hand that several of them were of very little moment except we suppose that God intended to secure the state of Virginity by them beyond all danger And on the other hand one shall find that some of them are very severe about things which do not seem to deserve so terrible a rigour But if we consider them according to God's design as he hath afterwards particularly explained it They will appear I am confident to be all very worthy of the Wisdom of such a Law-giver One needs only reflect upon that method of God that I have now explained to see that nothing can be conceived to be better managed than this Model according to the design which God himself had drawn One may make the same Observations and examine the same stroaks of the Wisdom of God in several other precautions which he made use of to make the Messiah be perfectly distinguish'd according to the several Characters under which he was to be proposed afterwards by the Ministry of the Prophets One sees that the Messiah being to be born of a Virgin was to be a first-born and for that reason we find many Laws which distinguish in general the priviledges of the first-born So it appears by the XVIII of Deuteronomy that the Messiah was to be a Prophet and therefore God afterwards
Syria obtained over the Kings of Samaria One finds that the Story of Phaeton is solely founded upon the Translation of Elijah in a Chariot of Fire II Kings II. All that I have taken notice of happened before the time of the first Olympiad from whence the learned Varro has observed That the first Knowledge of History began amongst the Greeks whence also it is that they call all the precedent Time fabulous the Greeks having before nothing but Fables into which they had turned whatever ancient History they were acquainted with Since that time we do not find fewer Marks of the Truth of the Sacred Histories One see 's in the Pagan Writers the Reign of Tiglah-Pileser who is the same with the younger Ninus as also the destruction of the Syrian Monarchy by his means as it is described to us in the Sacred Historians Nicholas Damascenus in Josephus Antiq. Lib. VII cap. 6. One see 's amongst the Heathens Castor in Euseb the Succession of Shalmaneser as it is described in the Scriptures One see 's the manner of Sennacherib's conquering the most part of the Towns of Palestina Menander apud Joseph Lib. IX cap. ult of Tyre and Sidon described in Heathen Writers particularly as we have it in the Scriptures The manner of Sennacherib's Succession to Shalmaneser of his desolating the Country of Palestine while he carried on his Victories is described by the Heathens Herodot Lib. II. Berosus in Josephus Lib. X. c. 1. exactly as the Sacred Historians relate it The Memory of Tirbakah King of Aethiopia Strabo Lib. I. XV. as of a great Conqueror is preserved amongst the Heathens for it was his coming in short which obliged Sennacherib to arise from before Libna whence he intended to go and besiege Jerusalem One finds amongst the Heathens the remembrance of the manner of the Destruction of all Sennacherib's Army for his Blasphemies against God which the Egyptians disguised to appropriate to themselves Herodot Lib. II. cap. 141. One finds the ruin of Ashdod by King Psammetichus described by Heathen Authors Herodot Lib. I. cap. 104. Lib. II. cap. 1. Lib. VII cap. 10. as we have it in the Sacred Scriptures Herod Lib. II. One finds an Account of the ways by which the Medes lost the Empire of Asia under Cyaxares after his Conquests over the Assyrians in the Heathen Writers much the same as it is described in Nahum H. 5. The Account of the taking of Ninive by Nabopollasar Alexand. Polyhistor ap Syncellum and by Astyages is much the same in Heathen Authors with the description of it in Nahum Esaiah and Ezekiel The manner of Josia's undertaking a War against Pharaoh-Necho King of Egypt when he was overthrown in the Plains of Megiddo Herodot Lib. II. as it is described by the Heathens agrees with the Relation which are given of it in the Holy Scriptures The Victories of Nebuchadnezzar over the Egyptians and the Jews II Kings XXIII 29 30. the carrying away of the consecrated Vessels of the Temple and of the Jews to Babylon are described by the Heathens The manner of the yielding up of Tyre to Nebuchadnezzar as they describe it Annal. Phoenicic ap Joseph Lib. I. contra Apionem agrees with what Ezekiel says Chap. XXVIII 18 19. One finds in Heathen Authors an Account of the stately building of Babylon by Nebuehadnezzar Beros Abyden which is described exactly in the Scriptures One finds also in them Herodot Lib. II cap. 163 169. That the death of Pharaoh-Hoptha or Vaphres as they call him happened according to Jeremiah's Predictions Chap. XL. 30. One finds also the taking of Babylon by Cyrus Herod Lib. I. cap. 178. as it is described by the Prophet Jeremiah Chap. LI. 46. One finds also that the Death of Belshazzar happened exactly as Daniel had described it Xenophon Histor Lib. VII Chap. V. One see 's there an Account of Xerxes's great Undertaking against Greece Herod Lib. VII capp 5 6. as Daniel had foretold it Chap. XI Here then is an Agreement which is perfect enough in several Articles to which we might add a greater number if we had a greater number of Pagan Historians But as we cannot find after the Reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus Histories amongst the Jews of equal Authority with those which were written by and after Moses as Josephus the Jewish Historian observes so we cannot compare the Jewish and Pagan Histories together afterwards in that form we have done hitherto But it is easie to observe four things which are very considerable upon this Head. I. That the Credit of the Sacred Historians may be grounded upon the great number of Remarks we have made already or else nothing will ever establish it For how can we conceive that all sorts of Historians of all Nations and all Ages Babylonians Assyrians Tyrians Egyptians and Greeks could agree so exactly with the Jews in those Facts they relate if the Jewish Authors had not exactly follow'd the Rules of Truth II. That as the Prophecies of Zechariah and Daniel describe with an almost incredible exactness the considerable Events which happened in the Countries near to Judea and in Judea it self in a time which was not expired until the Sacred Writers had given over writing amongst the Jews so there was need of almost nothing else but to look over the Books of Daniel to see what happened from day to day And here we may observe That the Reason why Porphyry thought the Book of Daniel was forged after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes was because this Book seem'd to him to be rather a History than a Prediction which he justify'd in making a sort of Commentary upon this Prophecy by comparing with it the Pagan Historians which were then extant III. That as the Jewish Commonwealth came under the Power of the Greeks who were Masters of Learning and of the Art of writing Histories so there is little need of any other Witnesses beside the Greek Authors as Josephus demonstrates in effect by proving that the Greeks were well enough acquainted with the Affairs of the Jewish Nation IV. That we do really find after the time of Artaxerxes a very great part of the Jewish History composed by the care of some particular Men with sufficient exactness tho' it be not of equal Authority with the Sacred Writers CHAP. III. That there is an uninterrupted Series of Events foretold by the Sacred Oracles of which we may see a very great number accomplished in every Age. AS we may very reasonably say That all the History of the People of Israel has a very exact dependence upon the Writings of that famous Legislator so we may also observe That there are scarce any considerable Events which make up the Body of this History which do not deserve a particular Remark either as a fulfilling of Moses's Prophecies or of those other Prophets whom God raised up after him to reform the Errors of that Nation And
preferr'd before others used by him without any solid Reason that therefore we must reject the deposition of so many Witnesses who unanimously attest it Since Jesus Christ had raised three persons to life again which then lived in Judea since Jerusalem had continued fourty years after the death of Christ since sixty solemn Feasts were celebrated in that time where all the Jews had an occasion to examine the truth of these Facts and the truth or falsity of the Accusation charged upon the Apostles by the Council of the Jews and that multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were converted at the preaching of the Apostles who reduced all to this Question of the Fact of the Resurrection of our Saviour is not this an invincible proof against all the Accusations and Suspicions of the Synagogue Forasmuch as the Witnesses who maintain the Resurrection of Christ are the very same that attest his Ascension into Heaven and that they assert it with the same proofs and the same zeal the Reflexions here set down may serve for that also and the rather because I am next to consider the sending of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which is an undeniable proof both of the Resurrection of Christ and his Ascension and that these very Gifts of the Holy Spirit enabled the Jews to write preach and publish throughout all the World the truths of that Christianity which we now profess CHAP. XIV That Jesus Christ sent to his Apostles and to the Primitive Christians the miraculous Gifts of his Holy Spirit as he had promised in the Ancient Prophecies I Have shewn that the Prophecies of the Old Testament speak very plainly of this sending of the Spirit as a Preliminary to the Calling of the Gentiles which was the great design of God. The Prophet Joel speaks of it as such and makes this wonder to precede the destruction of Jerusalem as S. Peter observes in the second of the Acts. Isaiah speaks very particularly of it as such in the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy where he sufficiently intimates that the Spirit of Prophecy should from thence forward so rest upon Jesus Christ that it would not be found any longer among the Jews whose City and Temple should be destroyed At present my business is to shew that this thing has been exactly fulfilled according to the design which God had laid down in the Prophets To be convinc'd of this we need only make some Reflexions upon the Relation which S. Luke gives us of it in the Acts. He tells us therefore that fifty days only after the death of Jesus Christ the Apostles having continued at Jerusalem and being assembled there they received the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost that is the power of speaking all sorts of Languages to make them fit to preach the Gospel to all Nations and to explain the most sublime Mysteries of our Saviour's Religion Every thing is considerable in this Relation of S. Luke 1. That he relates this Fact as happening fifty days only after the Jewish Passover when Christ was crucified the whole Nation of the Jews having been witnesses of his death 2. That he relates it as happening in the same City where Jesus Christ was condemned that the same Multitude who after fifty days were again assembled there at this Feast might be Witnesses of this miraculous Event In short it plainly appears that this new Law from Mount Sion was solemnly promulg'd in the presence of all the Jews who were assembled from all parts of the World as the old Law was when all the People assisted at the foot of Mount Sinai 3. That these Gifts were granted to all the Disciples of our Saviour Gifts which till that time had been wholly unheard of and whereof some part only had been granted to some Prophets and to some Priests and of which none had been made partakers since the time of Malachi God having so ordered it that the desires of the Jews might be the more inflamed for the Messiah's coming as also that upon his coming he might the more easily be discerned 4. That this was a Fact openly known amongst the Jews and differently interpreted by them some saying They they were full of new Wine 5. That the Apostles asserted by the mouth of S. Peter that this was an Accomplishment of the ancient Oracles as well as of the Promises of Jesus Christ 6. That they declared that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ his Ascension into Heaven and this miraculous Donative had been foretold by David and Joel 'T is certainly therefore very natural to make these following Reflexions upon the Relation of so considerable an Event The first will confirm the truth of this miraculous Fact if we consider that it is absurd to suppose that S. Luke a wise man should be so rash as to relate a matter of this nature if he had not been fully convinc'd of it and if it had not been an easie thing to have convinc'd his Readers thereof also nothing more being required for their conviction but the presence of one of those first Christians and to make a trial of this supernatural vertue bestowed on them for which there were frequent occasions 2. We must observe that this Relation of S. Luke is as it were the foundation which he lays down to make his Book of the Acts to appear just and reasonable and to justifie the Apostles conduct in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles not only contrary to the opinion of the Jews who looked upon them as wholly excluded from the Priviledges of the Covenant but also contrary to the seeming Maxim of Jesus Christ who acted only as the Minister of Circumcision and contrary to the pretensions of many Christians who after the Mission of the Holy Ghost took it very ill that S. Peter had preached to the Gentiles 3. S. Luke supposes that this Fact came to pass in such a manner that it was followed by Consequences as illustrious as they were incredible Twelve poor Fishermen undertook to go and preach to all the World that their Master who fifty days before was crucified at Jerusalem at the prosecution of the whole Synagogue and by order of one of the Magistrates of the Roman Empire was not only living not only ascended into Heaven but that he also had given them the power of speaking all sorts of Languages of curing all Diseases and even of raising the Dead 4. They go yet further they boldly maintain that Jesus Christ had given them a priviledge of communicating the same power to all those who would believe that he was the promised Messiah and this without any other mystery but the bare laying on of their hands after they had received them by Baptism into the Profession of Christianity Nothing could have been more easie than to convince them of the contrary unless they had confirmed the truth of their Assertion by the miraculous Consequences of that first Miracle The Fact was publickly acknowledged Simon Magus is convinced thereof and