one another and so to become Subjects of the same Heavenly King they renounced then all their differences and quarrels the dear expectation they had of their Messias stifling in their hearts all Passions and Resentments But when John the Baptist had as it were led them by the Hand to Jesus Christ himself they were strangely surprised to find in him nothing of what they expected They found in him Poverty where they thought to have found Riches Shame and Afflictions where they thought to have met nothing but great Splendor and Temporal Glory For this Reason therefore they rejected him with Horrour and Abomination all their thoughts being on a sudden changed into indignation and anger against him in whom before they had fixed all their imaginary hopes But tho' the generality of his Nation cast him off there were yet a certain number of persons who were willing to follow him and that number daily increased in proportion as Jesus Christ's sufferings and afflictions increased There were at first but twelve whom he called to his Service Then sent he seventy others abroad who were succeeded by a great may others after his Death And their number further increasing with the fury of the Sanhedrin there were at length many seen who testify'd in behalf of that crucified man But how come those Disciples to follow a Messias so contrary to their first Ideas and receiv'd opinions How is it possible they should not have been discouraged at his Cross unless Jesus Christ had promised them to do signs and wonders How could they have been with him night and day for three Years and an half without inquiring into that important matter of fact or knowing whether he were really able to do Miracles or not Or how is it possible when they found their mistake that Jesus Christ was but an ordinary sort of a man uncapable of working any signs or wonders they should not have forsaken him as a Whymsical Impostor How could their minds be so suddenly changed as to look on Humiliation and Meanness Misery and Afflictions as upon the true and real Character of the Messias they I say whose minds Education had filled only with carnal Ideas of the flourishing Kingdom of the Messias But above all how could they be present at the Crucifixion of their Master without being reduced to the last greatest Consternation and Confusion So that the second Consequence which may very well be drawn from these principles already established is that the Disciples having always imagined with their Fathers and Mothers their Brothers and Sisters their Teachers and Elders and in general with their whole Nation that their Messias should have restored the Kingdom of Israel and having understood those words in a literal sense it is impossible but that they should be extreamly offended to see him wearing a Crown of Thorns upon his Head when he was nailed on the Cross and a Reed instead of a Scepter in his Hand Nay more than this 't is morally impossible but that this object must have rooted out of their Hearts all thoughts of Pride and Ambition and all pretensions to Greatness and Temporal Prosperity which their Blindness had caused them to conceive upon this mans account unless there had happened since his Death such supernatural and extraordinary things as were able to revive in their Heart such great hopes as these Thirdly We shall conclude from the Principles we have already established that the Disciples as well as all other Jews being as it were ty'd to their Religion by what they had Seen and Heard by their Inclination and Vnderstanding by their Interest and Piety by their Customs and Education and by the Advantage wherewith they might well flatter themselves of being distinguished from all other Nations of the World and being further as it were wedded to it by that great number of Ceremonies and Customs the Justice and Holiness of which they could no way doubt of since they had been so exactly prescribed them by the Law of God himself it cannot be supposed but that they imagined their Law to be of an eternal Duration and that being extreamly averse to every new sort of Worship which was contrary to that of Moses they could not have so suddenly altered their opinion nor could there have happened so strange a revolution in the Hearts and Minds of so many persons united and as it were link'd by so many respects to the Law of Moses that in so small a period of time the Souls of all those Jews should have been so entirely changed as that they should begin to look upon the Jewish Religion as upon a Dispensation granted with a proviso and which was to come to an end and for the future be considered only as a thing altogether useless and out of Date I confess that this principle was not first of all approved of in the World without great contest and difficulty and that there were for a while certain Judaising Christians who taught others that the Law of Moses was still in force and that it was necessary to Salvation to joyn the Doctrine of Jesus Christ with the Ceremonies of the Law But then it is well known they were only either some of Christ's Enemies who started these questions out of a particular design to make a division in the Christian Church or some Jews turned Christians as yet very weak and not fully strengthened in their belief whose scrupulous Zeal and blind Superstition caused all those Controvesies But however 't is evident that the true Disciples of Jesus Christ and especially the Apostles were not long in an errour as to this point They affirmed that men were justify'd only by the Faith of Jesus Christ without the works of the Law And 't is manifest that in the first Council held at Jerusalem the Disciples of our Lord abolished the Customs and Rites of the Ceremonial Law But at last it is of no great moment whether the Ceremonial Law or Religion of Moses was abolished ten years sooner or later Still it is certain that it was sometimes abolished or rather to speak more exactly and truly it was fulfilled by the Gospel and so the observation of it ceased Now I demand how it is possible that those men who were so devoted and bigotted to that Law who made it the object of their thoughts and most common discourse should so great a number of them and in so short a time with one common consent renounce that Law which Piety made so venerable and Honour and Interest so valuable in their Esteem Whereas so many ages elapsed before the coming of Jesus Christ into the World could not wear out of their minds that profound esteem and respect they had for that Law For tho' they had often broke it in several respects yet it may be said in their behalf they almost always look'd upon it as inviolable And can we suppose that so many ages as have passed since the Death of Jesus Christ could not remove
Mankind or at least those Countreys where all those things came to pass I answer first those matters of fact were not in the least stifled or concealed They were so far from it that they converted an infinite number both of Jews and Gentiles and that too in a very short time Secondly there were several external Causes which very much contributed towards the weakning the Impression they would otherwise have made upon Mankind For first the Elders amongst the Jews endeavour'd as much as they could to perswade the People that all those Miracles were nothing but the product of some Magick Power or a kind of compact with the Devil Secondly Those that were in Power were so much exasperated against the Disciples of Christ that whosoever resolved to embrace his Doctrine must immediately prepare himself to be cast into a Dungeon or executed upon a scaffold Nay to undergo if possible any thing more sorrowful and fatal than this And because nothing makes a greater Impression upon Men than to see Punishments inflicted on others all Parents strictly charged their Children not to hold any Conversation with the Christians least they should see them end their days in the midst of Torments Nay they were very cautious and strict themselves in avoiding their Society which was the reason that keeping such an extraordinary distance from the Christians they shut their Eyes and stopped their Ears that they might not hear their Words nor see the Miracles which they perform'd Thirdly The Doctrine of the Apostles was so contrary to the Opinion the Jews had been prepossessed with that they could not but hate and avoid it For the Cross of Christ became a scandal to the Jews and was treated as a folly by the Greeks Lastly The Christian Religion putting an end to the bondage of the Law and the Religion of the Heathens a Jew then could not be converted to Christanity without utterly renouncing what he always esteemed inviolable nor could a Heathen believe in Jesus Christ without looking upon that as profane which he thought before most sacred Hence it is that the holy Scripture speaks to us of the effects of the Gospel attended with the power of the Holy Ghost as of the Creation of new Heavens and of a new Earth If we add to this the extraordinary care the Jewish and Heathenish Priests and the Magistrates of both Nations took to smother the light of the Gospel and the Weaknesses and Passions of Men who were unable to sustain so much as the Idea of the torments that were invented on purpose to hinder the progress of Christanity I say if we consider this we shall have no Reason to be any longer astonish'd at that which at first view so much surprised us But secondly it may be asked why the Historians among the Heathens never mention'd any thing of those mighty Wonders of the Gospel which yet deserved to have the most considerable place amongst the many other Events they have so carefully related We answer That this Consideration proves nothing against the truth of those Matters of fact we have so firmly established First because it is needless and extravagant to draw any further Consequences from a Principle which proves more than enough already 'T is true the Heathen Writers say little or nothing concerning Jesus Christ for they hardly knew his Name Suetonius speaks of him after this manner Judaei tumultuati sunt Cresto impulsore But what then Does it follow that because Suetonius hardly knew the Name of Christ that there was no such Person as Christ or that he was not really called Christus The Heathen Authors you see relate not how several Christian Churches were in a small time settled at Rome at Corinth at Ephesus at Sardis at Smirna at Philippi at Thessalonica c. But must it follow from thence that there was no such thing Certainly if any matters of fact were true this was undoubtedly true I grant indeed that the Miracles Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ were all matters of fact that might be doubted of yet we may at least affirm that the Establishment of those Christian Churches composed of such Men as believed all those things was a thing not to be doubted of This was a matter of fact very important and remarkable Yet it was not in the least mention'd by the Historians of that Age therefore the Objection goes too far it proves too much and so consequently proves nothing Secondly I say that the Historians of those Times have so ignorantly treated of the Jewish Affairs that we need not wonder they appear so little instructed in the Knowledge of what concerned the Christians whom they supposed to have been a Sect belonging to the Jews For if it appears that the History those Authors composed of them agrees not very well with the Gospel of the Apostles 't is but comparing it with that of Josephus and we may clearly see that it agrees no better with one than with the other Lastly the Heathen Authors consider'd the Christian Religion as a kind of Magick and a detestable Superstition which aimed at the total Destruction of Mankind It is certain that some Men earnestly endeavour'd to make it pass for such among those who lived both in the Time of the Apostles and long after them and it was very dangerous to give it any other Name The World was divided between the Friends and Enemies of Christanity Those who were the Friends of it professed it and deliver'd not only by word of Mouth but in Writing what they knew concerning the Wonders of it As for its Enemies they neither had the Boldness Power or Will to write ofit as the former had done They would not do it lest they should wrong their own Cause and dishonour their own Religion And they could not do it because they themselves were not so well acquainted with the Miracles of Christanity having always been afraid to converse with the Christians and esteemed the Belief of those Men a very sorrowful and dangerous Persuasion since by professing their Religion they were sure of getting nothing but Torments and Death it self Lastly they durst not presume to write things as they really were tho' they had been never so well acquainted with them because their own Writings would accuse them of having embraced Christianity a Crime which was so severely punish'd in those days that it would unavoidably have brought upon them certain Death and Ruin or at least after their Death Shame and Infamy upon their Families But thirdly it may be asked why the Apostles who had Power to heal the Sick and raise the Dead did not raise all the Dead to Life again nor heal all the sick that were in Judea because then all the World would have been forced in spite of themselves to believe in Jesus Christ We answer That this Question is much like what the Murtherers of Jesus Christ said to him upon the Cross He saved others let him save himself let him come
they had known God they glorified him not as God therefore God also gave them up unto vile Affections Rom. 1. 21. And indeed it was no inconsiderable service the Christian Religion did Men in partly abolishing and disgracing so much that kind of detestable Debauchery that we look upon those to be no less than abominable Monsters that seem any way inclinable to it Humility and Charity those two Virtues so Essential and necessary to Men were so utterly unknown formerly that their Names were scarce known in all the Pagan World To what then do we owe the knowledge and Esteem we have of those two so excellent Virtues but to the Religion we profess Lastly 't was by the means of this Religion that the Creature was again call'd a Creature and God again called by his own Name Jehovah 'T was this Religion that took away from Vice the name of Virtue and reclaimed Virtue from the scandal of passing for Vice restored right Reason to it's former Privileges enlightned the Consciences of Men mortified their irregular and disorderly Passions and confounded their Avarice And surely by all these divine effects you must necessarily perceive and acknowledge the Divinity of Christianity IV. Portraiture of the Christian Religion as consider'd in the Purity of it's End IF the Effects of the Christian Religion are truly answerable to the Characters of it we may also affirm that it's End is truly answerable to it's Effects it being manifest there never was any so uncorrupt so pure so extraordinary and so perfect For we cannot but acknowledge that it is the main End and Design of Christian Religion to check and mortify Men's irregular Passions and restore the Principles of Righteousness and Uprightness in them which their Corruption had as it were Effac'd And it cannot be suppos'd this was the intention of the Devil whom we conceive to be as a Spirit naturally averse to the Good of Mankind nor that of Flesh and Blood that aim at nothing else but to satisfy their Lusts nor that of Nature which is easily perswaded being byassed by the Pleasures which Vice gives her a Prospect of nor that of Policy which tends only to the restraining the Licentiousness of all external Crimes in as much as they violate and invert the Order of publick Society but looks indifferently upon all Crimes that respect the Soul Neither can it be the scope and design of Reason which is easily corrupted by Avarice nor even that of Pride which is mortified much more than all the other Passions by this Doctrin unknown to the Flesh and insufferable to Nature Who then is it that concerns himself so much with Pride as to take away it's Errors it 's Vain-glory it 's chimerical Perfections Preferences Hypocrisy and Affectations and all this only by a serious Consideration of the divine Nature Who takes upon him to deprive Self-love of it's Injustice the Flesh of it's unlawful Pleasures and in a word all human Passions of their Disorders and Irregularities What can such a Design mean And how could this Thought of sanctifying Mankind enter of it self into any Man's Mind We may justly therefore ascribe this End and Design to the Christian Religion For it is certain it contains neither Exhortation nor Precept Promise nor Threat History nor Prophecy but what directly aims at that very End The Holy Scripture is not of the Nature of those Books that contain nothing but vain Speculations or curious Enquiries all those of that kind were brought to the Apostles to be burnt who returned no other Answer to those that asked them Men and Brethren what shall we do But this Repent ye They plainly declared that the Design of the Gospel was to free Men from the Bondage of their Sins and their Example shews us as much For what other Design could they have had in renouncing every thing and enduring all Persecutions but to perswade other Men they should renounce this present World Besides whether they speak or write they don't run out into vain Contests and Disputes the ordinary product of the Vanity of Mankind but come immediately to their purpose and insist only on what is material and essential to it Every particular in their Discourses and Writings is practical and relating to the Perfection of Morality so much they despise the Fineness of Eloquence and Subtilty of Human Philosophy and propose only to themselves the edification of Men. These things write I unto you say they that ye Sin not 1 John 2. 1. But supposing them such Deceivers as the Incredulous imagin what was it to them whether we Sinned or not What injury would it have been to the Son of a Carpenter tho the Pharisees were dissembling Hypocrites and dishonour'd the Deity by their Traditions and tho there had been Tables of Money-changers in the Court of the Temple What was it to him whether Sinners repented of their Sins or not Whether Men were Just and Merciful or thought they could appease God only with vain Offerings Whether the City that kill'd the Prophets knew the things that belong'd to her Peace or not What could move him to shed Tears in such abundance at the thoughts of the approaching Destruction of Jerusalem A sensible and effectual Proof indeed of his being very much concern'd for her Salvation What would it have signified to a few poor deluded Wretches whether the Gentiles had the Knowledge of the true God or not To a Company of false Witnesses whether Men were Cheats or Liars To persons odious and had in abomination every where whether Men truly loved one another or not To the Victims of publick Hatred whether Men were reconciled to God or not To such afflicted and disconsolate Wretches whether other Men were truly made sensible of a Divine Comfort and of the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Who can imagin that those Men designed to be wicked only to make us become honest To deceive all Mankind on purpose to establish a sacred and inviolable Law of Fidelity To become the Enemies of their own Nation to make us be in Charity with all Mankind In a word to establish a Religion in the World that tends wholly to the Sanctification of Mankind by the most signal Imposture and most heinous Crime that Men could be guilty of 'T would be strange if such wicked and deceitful Men as the Incredulous imagin the Apostles to have been should have the least Thoughts of sanctifying others And 't would be yet more surprizing if that Thought should be so fixed in their Minds as to become a full and perfect design of venturing and losing all to compass it Nay 't would be next to a Miracle if that Design should be put in execution and yet more 't would be an unheard of Prodigy if a continual succession of People should adhere to the same Principles and continue in the same disposition of Mind against their own Interest and in spite of the severest Persecutions Certainly we may confidently