the Tables of the Consuls yet they were very carefully preserved in those times and as easily consulted by any inquisitive Person as any other publick Record and were so by all learned Men who made it their business to enquire into them or to convey the account of them to after-ages and particularly Eusebius who as he made use of many other helps and had all the other advantages of information would not want this that was so easie and so satisfactory as himself particularly informs us concerning the succession of Jerusalem that he transcribed it out of their own Archives Though setting aside the information that he received thence the History of the succession is sufficiently preserved by other Writers That of Rome is already cleared that of Antioch is as clear onely some Men are willing to raise a dispute about the immediate Successour to the Apostles whether it were Euodius or Ignatius probably it might be both as it was at Rome but if Euodius were the first it is enough that his Successour Ignatius was an Apostolical Man and familiarly acquainted with the Apostles and that from him the succession runs clear and undisputed down to the Council of Nice to which Eustathius its then present Bishop was summon'd and as he was a Man of eminent learning so he bore a considerable sway in it As for Alexandria the succession runs so clear there that I do not find that the most sceptical Adversaries in this point dare so much as question it and indeed the succession of learned Men in that Church was so early and so uninterrupted that it was no more possible for them to be ignorant of the succession of their Bishops than it is for any learned Man now not to know the succession in the See of Canterbury from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth To these it were easie to add many more if it were not too tedious but though I do not meet with any reasonable suspicion of an interrupted succession in any eminent Church yet I shall instance onely in two that next to those already mention'd most deserve our notice that is the Churches of Corinth and Athens an account of whose succession we have from Dionysius a learned Man and Bishop of Corinth in the time of M. Antoninus as indeed we have of many other Churches in his Epistles to them as for his own Church it were a vain thing to demand a particular account of its succession when himself was so near the fountain head and has withall accidentally let us understand his knowledge of what was transacted there before his own time and particularly by his account of Saint Clement's Epistle As for the Church of Athens he expresly affirms that Dionysius the Areopagite was their first Bishop and after him mentions Publius and Quadratus so that it was not possible there should be any unknown interruption in so short an interval This may suffice for a brief specimen of the certain succession in the most eminent Churches from the Apostles and by consequence of their undoubted Tradition § XXIX The next part of the Argument is to prove its more particular conveyance down from the very time of the Apostles through the hands of a great many wise and learned Men And for this reason it was that Clemens Alexandrinus after he had passed through the Discipline of several Masters and several Sects acquiesced at last without any farther search in the Christian Institution because they that preserved the Tradition of this heavenly Doctrine received it immediately from Peter James and John and Paul the holy Apostles as a Son succeeds a Father and by the Providence of God have brought it down to us planting those seeds of Doctrine which they derived from their Ancestours and the Apostles And it is a very good reason and becoming the wisedom of that learned Man supposing the matter of Fact to be true and that it is is evident from the succession it self in that the first Witnesses of Christianity next to the Apostles familiarly conversed with the Apostles themselves or with Apostolical Men. As Saint Clemens Bishop of Rome who wrote an excellent Epistle to the Church of Corinth received with great veneration in the Christian Church valued next to the holy Scriptures and therefore read with them in several Churches but especially the Church of Corinth And as it was the most ancient next to the Apostolical Books so was it the most undoubted Writing of the Christian Church it was says Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 received without controversie And it is cited by Dionysius Bishop of Corinth a short time after who affirms that it was then read in that Church every Lord's Day It is magnified by Irenaeus not onely for its own strength and piety but for the primitive Antiquity of its Authour who he says was conversant with the Apostles received his Christianity from them had their preaching still fresh in his memory and their customs and traditions in his eye as divers others there were then living that were taught by the Apostles themselves And Clemens Alexandrinus quoting this Epistle as he often does gives him the Title of Apostle for his primitive Antiquity But beside that it was unanimously attested by the Ancients it was never call'd in question by any of our modern Criticks who though they have taken infinite pains to destroy or impair as much as in them lay the credit of all the ancient monuments of the Church yet have passed this Epistle as undoubtedly genuine with an unanimous approbation Now this supposes the owning and the settlement of the Christian Religion in the World it asserts particularly the truth and certainty of our Saviour's Resurrection and beside several other Books of the New Testament quotes the first Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians in which the Apostle proves its undoubted certainty by the Testimony not onely of himself and the Apostles but of above five hundred Witnesses beside most whereof were then alive Beside this he tells us of the great labours and martyrdoms of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in asserting the Christian Faith and the great patience and constancy of vast numbers more for the same cause and this he speaks of as a thing present Let us says he consider the generous and worthy Examples of our own Age through emulation and envy the faithfull Pillars of the Church were persecuted even unto a most grievous Death Let us place before our Eyes our holy Apostles and so he proceeds to the acts and sufferings of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Now how could this have been done at that time if Christianity had been a meer Fable or what more unquestionable Tradition can we have of its truth especially of the Resurrection when he quotes the Gospels in which it is recorded the Epistle of Saint Paul in which it is proved by such a number of Eye-witnesses the Testimony of the Apostles and innumerable others that lived at the
very point of his dissolution as his Legacy to the Christian Church communicated to several Churches publickly and vulgarly known attested by Saint Policarp Irenaeus Clemens of Alexandria and not long since by Origen 't is not possible that all the Copies of such a Writing as this should be lost about one and the same time and that a false one should immediately rise up in their stead and that Eusebius a Man so familiarly acquainted with the choicest Libraries of that part of the World should embrace so late and so gross a Forgery and put the mistake upon all learned Men that followed after him The Man that can satisfie himself with such wild surmises and suppositions as these there is nothing so absurd but he may easily swallow its belief nor so demonstratively proved but he may withstand its evidence Now the Authority of these Epistles being vindicated and I am apt to think that they will never more be call'd in question they are a brave and generous Assertion of the truth of the Christian Faith being written with that mighty assurance of Mind that shews the Authour of them to have had an absolute certainty or a kind of an infallible knowledge of the things that he believed In every Epistle his Faith is resolved into that undoubted evidence that he had of our Saviour's Death and Resurrection and particularly in that to the Church of Smyrna he protests that he could no more doubt of its reality than of his own chains and again positively affirms that he knew it to be true And yet not withstanding that all the ancient Copies and all the quotations of the Ancients out of him agree in this sense that he knew Jesus to be in the flesh after his death because in Saint Jerom's Translation who excuses himself for the haste and carelesness of the work it is rendred that he saw Jesus in the flesh this is made use of by the learned Men of our new Church of Geneva as a sufficient Objection to overthrow the Authority of all these Epistles It is possible indeed he might have seen Jesus in the flesh but it is not probable neither is it his design to affirm it in this place seeing he proves its truth from the Testimony of the Apostles as Eye-witnesses and not from his own immediate knowledge but when he onely says that from them he knew it to be true to put this assertion upon him that he saw it with his own eyes against the reading of all the ancient Books from a careless Translation proves nothing but the invincible stubbornness of prejudice and partiality But the truth is these Men have been so zealous for their Faction as not to care how in pursuit of it they endanger'd nay destroyed their Religion For whereas one of the greatest Pillars of the Christian Faith is the Testimony of the Ancients in the Age next to the Apostles in that it is hereby particularly proved that it is no figment of an unknown time and that the Records of it were of that Antiquity that they pretend to be yet because they do as positively assert the original Constitution of the Christian Church which this faction of Men have hapned to renounce they have labour'd with indefatigable industry utterly to overthrow all their Authority but thanks be to God with that ill success that by their endeavour to shake our Faith they have onely made it to take the better root for by this occasion the most ancient Tradition of the primitive Church has been much more inquired into and better clear'd than if it had passed without any dispute or contradictition But to keep close to our Ignatius what has been the bottom of all the zeal and fury against his Epistles but his earnest pressing all good Christians to submit to the government of the Church as to the Ordinance of God or rather because he describes the Constitution of the primitive Platform so accurately as to condemn their Discipline of folly and rashness in departing from the prescription of God himself And yet all the ancient Doctours of the Church have done the same thing laying as great a stress as he has done upon the duty of Obedience to their Ecclesiastical Governours as set over them by Divine Institution For as there was nothing of which they were then more tender than the Peace and Unity of the Church so they thought it could be no other way preserved than by submission to those Guides and Governours that Christ had set over it This it were easie to make evident out of their Writings especially Saint Cyprian's who as he was a Person of very great prudence and discretion so is he full as peremptory in this point as Ignatius But I shall onely instance in the Epistle of Saint Clement because of its greater Antiquity For if that assert a certain form of Church government establisht by our Saviour and observed by the Apostles that prevents and confutes the groundless conjecture of an unknown time immediately after the Apostles in which the whole power of the Church devolved upon the Presbyters because they had appointed no one particular and perpetual form of Government And this Saint Clement asserts in these positive words The Apostles were appointed to preach the Gospel to us from our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ from God himself Christ being sent by God and the Apostles by him the sending of both was in an orderly manner after the will of God For the Apostles receiving their command and having a full confidence through the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and faith in the word of God with an assurance of the Holy Spirit went forth publishing the Gospel of the Kingdom of God which was erecting They therefore preached the Word through divers Countries and Cities ordaining every where the first fruits of such as believed having made proof and trial of them by the Spirit to be Overfeers and Deacons to minister unto them that should afterwards believe So that it seems they were so far from neglecting to provide Governours for the future state of the Church that they were carefull beforehand to provide Governours for future Churches And this he affirms the Apostles did because they understood by our Lord Jesus Christ that strife and contention would arise about the Title of Episcopacy for this cause therefore having absolute knowledge beforehand thereof they ordained the forenamed Officers and for the future gave them moreover in command that whensoever they should dye others well approved of should succeed into their Office and Ministery So that it is evident that the Apostles themselves by virtue of our Saviour's order observed and prescribed a particular form of Government to be continued down to future Ages And though our Authour does not express the several distinct Orders by the common names of Bishop Priest and Deacon yet he describes them as expresly by allusion to the Jewish Hierarchy under the names of High-priest Priest and Levite
However it is evident from hence that the Apostles settled a perpetual form of Church government to which all Christian people were indispensably bound to conform and then if that form were Episcopacy and if they settled that by our Saviour's own advice with an Eye to prevent Schisms and Contentions the case is plain that Ignatius his pressing all Churches so earnestly to obedience to their Bishop was nothing else but a prosecution both of our Saviour's and their command And then that it was Episcopacy is so evident from the unanimous and unquestionable Testimony of all Antiquity that it is positively asserted by all the Ancients and not opposed by any one but that would be too great a digression from the present Argument and therefore I shall not pursue it though I have gone thus far out of my way to shew for what reasons some Men have endeavour'd to impair the credit of the Records of the ancient Church not for any real defect and uncertainty that they found in them but because they give in such clear and undeniable Witness against their fond and unwarrantable Innovations And therefore I would advise these Gentlemen as they value the peace either of the Church or their own Consciences that they would cease to struggle any longer against their own convictions renounce their Errour when they can neither defend nor deny it and not be so headstrong as rather than part with a wrong Notion or confess a Mistake endeavour what in them lies to blow up the very foundations of the Christian Faith Or to bespeak them in the Words of Saint Clement Is there any one then that is bravely spirited among you Is there any one that hath compassion Doth any one abound in Charity Let him say if this Sedition or Contention or Schism be for me or by my means I will depart I will go my way whither soever you please I will do what the Society commands onely let the Sheepfold of Christ enjoy peace with the Elders that are placed over it He that shall doe so shall purchase to himself great glory in the Lord. Thus they doe and thus they will doe who leade their lives according to the rules of God's policy This was the gentle and peaceable temper of the primitive Christians but if they thought it their duty to quit their Country rather than occasion the disturbance of the Churches peace how much more to forgoe a false or an ungrounded Opinion And therefore to deal plainly with them I shall load their Consciences with this one sad and serious truth that when Men have once rashly departed from the Church that they live under and persevere in their Schism in spite of the most evident conviction they have renounced together with the Church their Christian Faith and are acted meerly by the spirit of Pride i. e. the Devil And therefore I do with all compassion to their Souls request such Men among us impartially to reflect upon themselves and their actions and if they are convicted in their own Consciences of having made causless Schisms in the Christian Church as I know they must be by those peevish pitifull pretences that they would seem to plead in their own excuse with all possible speed to beg pardon of God and his Church and as they would avoid the Judgment and displeasure of Almighty God against Pride Envy Peevishness Contention and Sedition to make publick confession of their fault to all the People that they have drawn after them into the same sin and with all humility and lowliness beg to be admitted into the bosom and communion of this truly ancient and Apostolick Church But my tender Charity to these poor Men that I see driving with so much fury self-conceit and confidence to utter destruction has again drawn me out of my way to perswade them if it be possible to turn back into the way of peace and salvation however it is high time for me to return to my Discourse § XXXI After this great and glorious Martyr the next eminent Witness of the original Tradition of the Christian Faith is his dear Friend and fellow Disciple Saint Policarp who as he was educated together with him under the Discipline of Saint John so he out-lived his Martyrdom about sixty years and by reason of his very great Age was able to give his Testimony not onely to that but to the next period of time so that as he conversed with Saint John Irenaeus conversed with him and withall gives an account of his Journey to Rome in the time of Anicetus and of his Martyrdom under M. Aurelius which was not till the year 167. So that through the great Age of Saint John and Saint Policarp the Tradition of the Christian Church was by them alone delivered down to the third Century for Irenaeus lived into the beginning of it not suffering Martyrdom himself by the earliest account till the year 202. And this is the peculiar advantage of his Testimony beyond all others that as it was as early as any so it continued into the most known times of the Christian Church for it was under the reign of M. Aurelius that the greatest part of the Christian Apologists flourisht and beside that his great courage and constancy in suffering for the Faith proves the great and undoubted certainty of his Tradition He was familiarly conversant with the Apostles and Eye witnesses of our Lord and therefore Ignatius recommended to him the care of his Church as knowing him to be a truly Apostolical Man and so he continued his care of the Christian Church for many years with great Faith and Resolution and at last seal'd his Faith with his Bloud I shall not need to give a particular account of his Life it is enough that as he declared at his Trial he had faithfully served his Lord and Master fourscore and six years but among the Records of his Life there is none more certain or more remarkable than his own Epistle to the Church of Philippi and the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning his Martyrdom in both which is shewed his great assurance of Immortality In the first he bottoms his Exhortation to an holy Life upon no other principle than the certain evidence of their Saviour's Resurrection and firm belief of their own in the second he cheerfully resigns up his last breath with the greatest assurance of Mind concerning it in this short and excellent Prayer O Lord God Almighty the Father of thy well-beloved and ever-blessed Son Jesus Christ by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee the God of Angels Powers and of every Creature and of the whole race of the Righteous who live before Thee I bless Thee that Thou hast graciously condescended to bring me to this day and hour that I may receive a portion in the number of thy holy Martyrs and drink of Christ's Cup for the Resurrection to eternal Life both of Soul and Body in the incorruptibleness of the Holy Spirit
met with many Bishops and found them all of one Mind and teaching the same Doctrine and having given some account of Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians he adds that the Church remain'd after that in the pure and right Doctrine untill the time of Primus Bishop there with whom sayling to Rome I conferred and abode many days being come to Rome I stayed there till the time of Anicetus whose Deacon was Eleutherius whom Soter succeeded and after him Eleutherius In all their Succession and in every one of their Cities it is no otherways taught than as the Law and the Prophets and the Lord himself preached This is a singular Testimony of the sincere Tradition not onely of one or two or a few Churches but of the Catholick Church And as he described the Ecclesiastical Succession every where so has he the rise and birth of Heresies and particularly in the Church of Jerusalem After that James sirnamed the Just had suffer'd Martyrdom his Uncle Simeon the Son of Cleophas was chosen Bishop being preferred by the unanimous Vote of all because he was the Lord's Kinsman And hitherto that Church was call'd a pure Virgin because as yet it had not been deflour'd with any false Doctrines But Thebalis being displeased that he was not chosen Bishop secretly endeavour'd to debauch it from whom sprang those many Heresies that he afterward reckons up and so having elsewhere described the Martyrdom of Saint Simeon he adds untill those times the Church of God remain'd a pure and undefiled Virgin For such as endeavour'd to corrupt the perfect Rule and the sincere delivery of the Faith hid themselves till that time in secret and obscure places but after that the sacred Company of the Apostles was worn out and that generation was wholly spent that by special favour had heard with their Ears the heavenly Wisedom of the Son of God then the conspiracy of wicked and detestable Heresies through the fraud and imposture of such as affected to be masters of new and strange Doctrines took rooting And because none of the Apostles were then surviving they published with all imaginable confidence and boldness their false conceits and impugned the old plain certain and known truth At these passages I must stop a little because though they are a great Testimony of the purity of the primitive Church yet I find them very confidently made use of by Innovatours as unanswerable Arguments for rejecting its Authority Thus Gittichius an eager Socinian contending with Ruarus both concerning Grotius his way of writing in making so much use of citations out of the ancient Fathers in his Commentaries and withall concerning the primitive Fasts of the Church which Schliclingius and some of that party began to imitate condemns it not onely as altogether useless but dangerous De antiquitate in Religionis negotio statuo extra ipsas sacras novi foederis literas in iis exempla Apostolorum nullius omnino antiquitatis habendam cuiquam Christiano ullam rationem And then proves his Assertion from this passage of Hegesippus and the more ancient he says the Tradition is after the time of the Apostles so much the worse it is because from the very time of their dissolution the Church was overrun with Heresie and Superstition So peevish are Men against the honour and authority of the ancient Church when they are sensible of their own Apostasie from it And the truth is all our Innovatours agree in this one principle and that for this one very good reason because the ancient Church if it were permitted to give judgment upon them condemns them all For these Men finding errours and corruptions in the Church of Rome instead of reforming them as they ought to have done according to the Constitution of the primitive Church they fall to contriving new Models and Bodies of Divinity out of their own brains And among others Socinus disliking the Calvinian Theology as contrary not onely to the holy Scriptures but to the first principles of natural Religion sets up a new Divinity of his own contrivance without ever enquiring into the Doctrine and Discipline of the ancient Church and being advised of his flying so wide of it he together with his followers rather than part with their own fine new Notions of which they had the honour to be the first Authours and Abettours will by no means allow of any such thing as a true and uncorrupted Church ever since the time of the Apostles But with what vanity and arrogance it is none of my present task to enquire onely in answer to this Objection I must reply that it is a very wide and I am sure very far from a civil Inference to conclude that because there were Heresies in the primitive Church there was nothing else And they might with as much reason have applied the Objection against the Apostolical Church it self because then as the Apostles themselves complain the Tares were sowing though it seems not so openly and so impudently as afterwards Nay upon these terms it is impossible their should ever be any such thing as a true Church in the World for as long as there are such things as Pride and Vanity among Mankind there will be such Men in all Societies as will be tainted with their own idle dreams and conceits and then rub their itch upon the common People But though there were Heresies in the primitive Church which I say was not to be avoided as long as it consisted of Men yet they were never able to prevail but after some struggling for admittance were sooner or later utterly stifled And we have as certain a Tradition of the Birth Growth and Death of Heresies as we have of the true Doctrines of the Church and it is very considerable that all the ancient Doctours of the Church overwhelm the Hereticks with this one Argument by convicting them of apparent Innovation and deriving down their own Doctrines from the Apostles themselves So that though there were Heresies in the primitive Church yet its Apostolical Tradition was never mixt or tainted with them but run down in a pure and clear chanel by it self And therefore it is a very childish as well as disingenuous Objection against its Authority that there were some Men in it that would have been corrupting the purity of its Doctrine but were never able to compass their design especially when they were so far from passing undiscover'd or uncontroul'd that we have as certain an account both of the Men and of their Opinions and their inconsistency with the Apostolical Tradition as we have of the new fangled conceits of our own present Innovatours And therefore there is no more danger of our swallowing down old Heresies together with the Tradition of the Church than there is of sucking in their new ones whilst we adhere faithfully to that And thus having upon occasion of this particular passage of this ancient Authour cleared the Authority of the ancient Church in
to their Vow But one of the Priests a Recabite says Hegesippus interposed to save James from the fury of the People But this says Scaliger could not be for the Recabites were of the Tribe of Judah and so uncapable of the Priesthood As if the Original constitution of either had been exactly observed at that time especially of the Priesthood when it is so well known that ever since the time of Herod the Great those Offices even of the High-Priesthood it self were entirely disposed of by their Governours who at pleasure put them in and out as they did any other Officers of State But they placed him says Hegesippus on the Pinacle of the Temple whither great numbers of the People went up to cast him down which says Scaliger they could not do because it was as Josephus tells us so very thick set with pointed Irons as to keep the Birds from setling upon it And so it is probable the greatest and highest Battlement of all was but it is very far from being in the least probable that James should be placed there to Preach to the People when it was impossible to be heard from so great an height or that he should not be dasht apieces when he was cast thence instead of falling alive upon his Knees as the Historian reports And therefore this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies any covering or Battlement must have been some lower frame of building from which he might be most conveniently heard of the People Now as from these Objections says Scaliger we may learn what to think of this Hegesippus so say I from these Replies to them may we learn what to think of this Scaliger that upon such poor surmises as these will not stick to destroy and villifie the best and most Ancient Records of the Christian Church And now the credit of this Ancient Author being fully Vindicated it does not only make good his own Testimony but of all others that were Recorded in his History between our Saviour's time and his own and to mention no more his account of the Bishops of Jerusalem goes a great way For next to James the Just he informs us that Simeon the Son of Cleophas and Cousen German to our Lord succeeded in the Bishoprick and sat there till the Reign of Trajan under whom he suffered Martyrdom only for the old jealousie of Vespasian and Domitian of being of the Line of David and so a Rival to the Empire So that here the Tradition of the Church was conveyed down to that time by as short a Succession as we have already shewn it to have been in the Church of Corinth from St. Paul to Clement and from Clement to Dionysius and in the Asian Church from the Apostles by Policarp to Pothinus and Irenaeus § XXXIII Next to Hegesippus follows Justin Martyr though had not the other been an Historian he might as being somewhat his Senior have gone before him being converted to Christianity in the time of Adrian about the end of the First Century after our Saviour's Passion and within Eight years after addrest an excellent Apology to Antoninus Pius in behalf of the Christian Faith and afterwards a Second to M. Aurelius his Son and Successor He was a Person of Eminent Parts and Learning the most judicious Philosopher of his time that had Surveyed all the Tenets of the several Sects and studied all kinds of useful Learning for the settlement and satisfaction of his own mind and having passed through the Schools of the Stoicks the Peripateticks the Pythagoreans and the Platonists of which himself hath given a pleasant account in the beginning of his Dialogue with Trypho he was at last advised by an unknown Grave Old Man that met him in his retired Walks to consider the Christian Philosophy to which he had no sooner applyed himself but he found it the only certain and satisfactory Philosophy In short he was such a Proficient in all kinds of Learning that his own Writings make good Photius his Character of him that as he was admirably furnisht with all sorts of Reading and History so he was arrived to the Perfection both of the Christian and Heathen Philosophy and therefore immediately after his Conversion gave a Learned and Rational account of the Vanity of the Gentile Religion As afterwards in his Apologies and his other Writings he did of the certain truth and Divine Authority of the Christian Faith both from the undoubted Miracles that in his time were wrought for the demonstration of it and from the certain Proof of our Saviour's Resurrection and the uninterrupted conveyance of it down to his own time And the assurance of his Faith he frequently avows with the greatest freedom and courage of mind and at last Seal'd it with his Blood And though he foresaw and foretold it not from any Spirit of Prophesie that he pretended to in it but from the probable course and most natural event of things yet notwithstanding this he did not in the least slacken his Zeal for the Christian cause but went on with all assurance of mind in its defence till it brought him to the encounter of Death which he did not only meet with his Eyes open but with all Joy and Alacrity as being Arrived at the end of his hopes and the beginning of his happiness Next to Justin Martyr Irenaeus follows in order who lived much about or a little after the same time but of him I shall need to say the less because I have already shewn the certainty of the Tradition that he had of the things that he believed from Policarp and Pothinus and his acquaintance with other Apostolical men only some few Remarks remain to make up his perfect Character and make out his perfect knowledge and for this that excellent Epistle of his to Florinus deserves to be consider'd in the first place This Doctrine of thine O Florinus that I may frankly declare the truth savoureth not of the sincere Faith disagreeth from the Church and betrayeth such as listen to it into extream Impiety This Doctrine no not the Hereticks which were out of the Church durst ever Publish this Doctrine such as were Elders before us and Disciples of the Apostles never delivered unto thee I saw thee when I was yet a Youth with Policarp in the lesser Asia living Gorgeously in the Emperour's Palace and mightily buisying thy self to get into favour and credit with him For I remember better the things of old than latter affairs for the things we learn in our younger years sink deepest into our minds and grow together with us So that I particularly remember the very place where Policarp sate when he taught his going out and his coming in his course of life the figure and proportion of his Body the Sermons he made to the People the report he made of his Conversation with John and others which knew the Lord how he remembred their sayings and what he heard from their mouths concerning the Lord
and it requires onely eye-sight to observe that it could be contrived no other way but by Divine Providence But when I pretend to have routed all the mechanick Philosophers it is so far from presumption that there is no more glory in it than in the Conquest of an Infant And indeed nothing does more exactly resemble their wise contrivances than the little sports and works of Children for just as they make their Play-things so do these grave Philosophers make their Worlds In short the folly and non-sense of meer Mechanism or accounting for the nature of Things onely by Matter or Motion or any other second Causes is so notorious that all the Philosophers in the World never were nor ever will be able to give any the least account how so much as a Stone should fall to the ground without a Divine Providence This may seem a very odd challenge to be made to the great Wits and Virtuosi of Mankind but I make it not rashly and have throughly consider'd all their Attempts and more than enough demonstrated their Vanity and am sure upon the most diligent enquiry that it can never be done any other way than by resolving it into the force of Magnetism than which in all the Universe there is not a more amasing piece of Divine Art and Wisedom But here before I can proceed to what ought to have immediately followed I am forced to thrust in a kind of preposterous digression in answer to a very mean piece of disingenuity that I have lately met with from the Mechanick Philosophers viz. That I have made too bold with the reputation of great and famous Men and treat those that have been admired and renown'd for Wisedom and Learning in all Ages as if they were void of common sense And thus the late Authour of the Augmentation to Mr. Hobbs his Life when he has represented me as one of the keenest and unkindest of his Adversaries brings off his Master with this clean Complement that he has no reason to take it unkindly from one that sticks not to treat the greatest even of the ancient Philosophers after the same rate and gives the same correction even to the great Aristotle himself as to Mr. Hobbs and as for the famour de-Cartes he sticks not to chastise him like any School-boy But in the first place methinks this is a very poor and humble Objection and becomes not the due confidence of a Philosopher For it is this sort of Men that first upbraid us with the great and unanswerable Performances of Mr. Hobbs and tell us that till we can answer him we may preach what we please to the People but wise Men will be of his mind And yet when we not onely answer but plainly demonstrate the pitifull and even childish folly of his pretended Philosophy that is objected as an unpardonable rudeness to so learned a Man But I would fain know what is to be done in this case you will not be content till we undertake him and yet if we do you grow angry and our very attempting it is made our crime But yet if he be exposed 't is none of our fault but his own for 't is not in any Man's power to make his Notions better or worse than they are and if we represent them truly and they prove ridiculous we cannot help it but if we do not it would be somewhat to the purpose if they could convince us of so unmanly a piece of disingenuity but till then 't is at best but a very childish thing to complain either of unkind or uncivil Usage And therefore in the second place it was done much less like a Philosopher onely to give an account of my Assertions against Mr. Hobbs without taking any notice of our Reasons and Arguments For if I have charged any thing upon Mr. Hobbs and have not demonstratively prov'd it I am bound to give publick satisfaction to his memory But if I have then the severity of my charge is no fault of mine and for that I dare and do appeal to the judgment of all impartial Men whether I have not proved upon and against him all that I pretended to and if I have then it is evident that Mr. Hobbs has asserted a very wicked Cause very foolishly But lastly 't is done still much less like a Philosopher to load me with that invidious charge of traducing the greatest Worthies among the Ancients For I know no one quality more unbecoming a Man that pretends to letters and civility than an envious affectation of finding fault with the Performances of great Men. This has ever been the creeping artifice of small People to make themselves considerable onely by the greatness of their Adversaries and it is a practice that I detest as I do Slander or Perjury And if they could but assign one Instance in which I have in the least wrong'd any learned Man they should not be so forward to shew it as I would be to confess it But otheways to insinuate that I spare not the greatest even of the ancient Heroes is to say no worse but a sneaking way of encountring an Enemy and indeed an inward confession of the want of some better reply For if they thought they were able to overthrow Arguments in fair Combate they would scorn to betake themselves to such skulking Artifices For when all is done the whole merits of the Cause will rest upon the reason of the thing so that if I have opposed or confuted any of the ancient Philosophers upon good and substantial grounds I have done them no wrong in doing Truth right If otherwise I have not really injured them but my self and it is in these Gentlemens power that make the complaint to demonstrate the falshood or the folly of my Opposition But till then I think it becomes not the state and grandeur of a Philosopher to condescend to such poor topicks of Insinuation But if they will do so it is all one to me for my onely design is the pursuit of real Truth I mean not useless and barren Speculation but such as is serviceable to the Happiness of humane Nature and that is all the Learning or Wisedom that I care for And if any Man stand in my way though it be Aristotle or de-Cartes Epicurus or Mr. Hobbs Friend or Foe yea though it be M. Tullius himself yes though it be an Angel from Heaven I must on and if I am forced to justle them out of my way I cannot help it for I am resolved never to leave it my self However it is a vain thing for Mechanick Philosophers to complain of being a little derided when they so wantonly and affectedly expose themselves to it For how is it possible for the wittiest Men to come off with better success that when we see the whole World framed with such admirable Art and Wisedom shall undertake to teach the senseless Materials of which it is made to be their own Architect I will
hope of Immortality The vanity of Epicurus his great Antidote against the fear of Death viz. That Death cannot hurt us because when that is we are not p. 106. § XXII All the other Receits prescribed by the Philosophers against the fear of Death represented and exploded p. 113. § XXIII Without a future State no sufficient foundation for Vertue First Not for Temperance p. 120. § XXIV Secondly Not for Justice nor Magnanimity p. 124. § XXV The vanity of the stoical Philosophy represented upon its Principles neither Happiness nor Vertue without a future State p. 131. § XXVI An account of the Platonick and Peripatetick Morality out of Tully And first his consolatory Discourses in his first Book of Tusculane Questions against the fear of Death proved vain and ineffectual p. 139. § XXVII The same shewn of the Remedies prescribed in his second Book for the alleviating of Pain p. 147. § XXVIII The same shewn of the Prescriptions of the third and fourth Books against Grief and Trouble under the calamities of Life and all other perturbations of the Mind p. 151. § XXIX An account of the fifth Book where he forsakes the Peripatetick Philosophy as insufficient to his purpose and what good reasons he had so to doe p. 157. § XXX The defect of his own new way of philosophising proved in general p. 162. § XXXI That great and glorious Maxime of his Friend Brutus That Vertue is sufficient to its own Happiness proved to be a vain and empty saying without Immortality The Argument concluded p. 167. PART II. A Demonstration of the Divine Authority of the Christian Religion from the undoubted Certainty of the Matter of Fact and the uninterrupted Tradition of the Church § I. THE great advantage of the Gospel above the Law of Nature pag. 175. § II. The Evidence and Certainty of the Christian Faith demonstrated from the infinite and intolerable Absurdities of Unbelief p. 179. § III. This particularly proved according to our Saviour's own Advice in the Article of his Resurrection p. 182. § IV. The impossibility of the Apostles being false in their Testimony of it demonstrated from the first Instinct of humane Nature love of Life and desire of Self-preservation p. 184. § V. The same proved from its contradiction to all the principles of Prudence and common Understanding p. 190. § VI. The same proved from its inconsistency with and contrariety to their own design in publishing Christianity to the World p. 193. § VII The undoubted Truth of the Scripture History if written by those Persons whose names it bears p. 199. § VIII That it could not be written by any other demonstratively proved p. 204. § IX The Books of the New Testament whose Authority was sometime disputed proved to be of Apostolical Antiquity p. 207. § X. Mr. Hobbs's Witticism against the Divine Authority of the Scriptures that the Canon was first compiled by the Council of Laodicea confuted p. 210. § XI The concurrence of Jews and Heathens with the Testimony of Christian Writers p. 112. § XII Josephus and Saint Luke reconciled about the Tax of Cyrenius and the Death of Herod Agrippa p. 215. § XIII The famous Testimony of Josephus concerning our Saviour vindicated from the exceptions of Tanaquil Faber and other Criticks p. 222. § XIV The Testimony of Phlegon concerning the Eclipse at the Passion asserted p. 229. § XV. Pontius Pilate his Narrative concerning our Saviour to Tiberius and Tiberius his Opinion of it cleared p. 230. § XVI The Story of Agbarus proved genuine p. 235. § XVII The impossibility of the Apostles prevailing upon the Faith of Mankind if their Story had been false p. 239. § XVIII The speedy propagation of Christianity in all parts of the World described Philo's Therapeutae proved to have been Christians p. 241. § XIX The first disadvantage of Christianity if it had been false its being a late matter of Fact p. 251. § XX. The second disadvantage of Christianity was its contrariety to the Atheism and the Luxury of the Age in which it was published p. 256. § XXI The third disadvantage of Christianity was its defiance to the establisht and inveterate Religions of the World both Jewish and Heathen p. 259. § XXII The wonderfull success of Christianity notwithstanding all other disadvantages not to be ascribed to any thing but the greatness of that rational Evidence that it gave of its Truth p. 263. § XXIII That the Apostles planted the Christian Faith with so much speed by the power of Miracles and that it was not possible to have done it any other way p. 266. § XXIV The continuance of the same power to the next following Ages asserted and with the greatest Assurance appeal'd to by all the Advocates of Christianity in their publick Writings p. 275. § XXV The vanity of the Objection of the Ancients against the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles that they were wrought by Magick p. 283. § XXVI The vanity of the Miracles opposed by the Heathens to our Saviour particularly that of Vespasian in curing the Lame and the Blind p. 287. § XXVII An account of the evident Imposture of Apollonius Tyanaeus from his own Historian Philostratus p. 293. § XXVIII The Evidence of the Christian Faith from meer humane Tradition and that first publick by the uninterrupted succession of Bishops in the chief Churches from the Apostles p. 300. § XXIX The same proved by private Tradition and first of Saint Clement Bishop of Rome p. 308. § XXX Secondly of Saint Ignatius with an account of himself and his Epistles p. 311. § XXXI Thirdly of Saint Policarp Pothinus and Papias The wisedom of the Ancients vindicated as to the Paschal Controversie p. 320. § XXXII Of Hegesippus The purity of the primitive Church vindicated against all Innovators And Hegesippus his History against the cavils of Scaliger p. 328. § XXXIII Of Justin Martyr Irenaeus and a great number more p. 338. § XXXIV The Objection from the Infidelity of great numbers of Men in that Age answered the first ground of the Infidelity of the Jews was their invincible Prejudice in honour of Moses p. 343. § XXXV Their second great Prejudice was their expectation of a great Temporal Prince for their Messias and how they were crossed in it by our Saviour p. 349. § XXXVI Atheism the ground of the Sadducees opposing Christianity and fanatick Pride and Arrogance of the Pharisees p. 357. § XXXVII The Heathens opposed Christianity for the sake of Idolatry The Neronian Persecution onely a trick of State to secure himself from the fury of the Multitude by delivering up the Christians to it p. 363. § XXXVIII Domitian's Persecution founded upon jealousie of State against the Line of David Hegesippus vindicated in his account of it against Scaliger The jealousie both of the Emperours and the Senate about the Messias p. 370. § XXXIX An account of the following Persecutions and of the injustice and unreasonableness of their several Proceedings against
may suffice at this present upon this Argument as far as it concerns the Apostles and first Preachers of Christianity That if they were not absolute Fools they had never undertaken it if false and if they were they could never have proceeded with any success in it § VI. But lastly We must either suppose the Apostles and first Witnesses of Christianity to have been in good earnest or not If they were then the truth of their Testimony is unquestionable For the matter of Fact of which they pretended to have been Eye-witnesses was no Magick Story or any thing capable of jugling Tricks and Illusions but a plain and common Object of Sense of which they had the same Assurance as we have or can have of any thing that we see or hear And they had the same Evidence of our Saviour's Refurrection as we are capable of having of one anothers Conversation And what is more they were jealous and incredulous and suspected some Mistake or Illusion and forced him to appeal to the Judgment and convince them by the Testimony of all their Senses And now 't is likely when it was so impossible that they should be deceived themselves that they would take so much pains and endure so many Miseries to perswade the World to believe an impudent and an unprofitable Fable Which if they did then we must suppose that they were not in good earnest and if they were not then beside all the foremention'd Abfurdities this Supposition labours under one very enormous difficulty peculiar to it self viz. that such profligate Cheats and Impostors should concern themselves with so much zeal as they did for the credit and propagation of Vertue and Goodness in the World For that it is the design of Christianity to promote and advance the practice of all true Morality no Man that understands what it is can question and if it be then they could be no other than good Men that labour'd as the Apostles did in promoting of Christianity But that perhaps you will say is a frequent Artifice for Men of the worst Designs to make the best Pretences It is so but then they must have some Design to carry on under their Pretences whereas if the Apostles very Pretence were not their real Design they had none at all And that is the difficulty proper to this Supposition that wicked Men that were conscious to themselves of their own Wickedness should spend their Days and loose their Lives for the interest and advancement of Goodness with out any design or advantage to themselves And therefore as from the former Premises we have sufficient reason to conclude the Integrity of the Men and from the Integrity of the Men to prove the Divinity of their Master's Doctrine so in this place does the Divinity of his Doctrine prove the Integrity of the Men. For as they pretended to have seen the Works so to have heard the Sermons of Jesus and were not less zealous to publish the one than the other to the World nay they divulged his Miracles onely for the sake of his Doctrines Now what was it that he taught and they recorded Are they not the most perfect Rules of Vertue and Holiness that were ever delivered to Mankind And as wonderfull as his Actions were his Precepts were scarce less admirable The Goodness of his Laws if it does not outdoe yet it equals the Greatness of his Miracles and their own innate Excellency is one of the strongest Arguments of their Divinity But of this I hope to give an Account in a Treatise by it self in which I shall make it apparent that he has commanded all the Laws of Nature and right Reason that he has not omitted any Instance of moral Goodness and that no Law nor no Philosophy can so much as pretend to a Morality so wise so good so usefull And now if the truth of our Saviour's Doctrine and his Miracles rely upon the same Testimony and the same Persons who report that he did such mighty Works record also that he taught such excellent Laws and that he wrought those Works of God for a proof and confirmation of his Divine Authority what can be more probable than that the same Persons should in the same Design be guilty of the greatest Vertue and greatest Villany in the World and at the same time sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes to the Interest of Vertue and Holiness and the Credit of Blasphemy and Imposture For if those things that they report concerning the Miracles and Resurrection of our Saviour are not true then was he as lewd and wretched an Impostor as ever appear'd in the World in bearing out as if he were the Son of God and Saviour of the World and they as bold atheistical and ungodly Wretches knowingly to abuse Mankind with such a palpable and blasphemous Cheat. Is it not then likely that Men should doe and suffer after their rate for the propagation of an accursed Imposture that were so infinitely zealous for the concernment of Truth and Integrity How awkerdly do these things piece together What strange Contradictions are reconciled in this odd Supposition The same Men dye Martyrs to the worst Imposture and best Institution in the World To lay down their Lives to gain credit to what themselves knew to be a notorious Lye and yet dye to advance the credit of Uprightness and Integrity 'T is none of the most conceivable things in the World that so many plain and simple People should conspire together in the contrivance of so lewd a Forgery and then seal the truth of the Fable with their Bloud but how does the Prodigy heighten that such profligate Wretches should so easily foregoe their Lives rather than their Innocence and Integrity So that it is plain that their zeal for the Interest of Truth and Goodness is a most undeniable Demonstration of the faithfulness of their Testimony And the more Men tumble and toss their Thoughts about to raise jealousies and suspicions upon the Report the more do they entangle themselves in Absurdities and Contradictions But I shall prosecute this Argument no farther because in truth to say no more he must be a very odly conceited Man that can but perswade himself so much as to suspect that the Apostles were not in good earnest And now if we review these Circumstances of our Saviour's Story as it was told by the Apostles 't is favourd with all the utmost advantages of Credibility So that if it be possible to suppose it an Imposture yet had it been the Truth of God 't is not to be supposed how it could have been vouched with stronger and more enforcing motives of Belief There is no Satisfaction that Mankind can reasonably desire which God in his infinite Goodness and Wisedom has not given to the truth of the Christian Faith All Scruples and Exceptions are so fortunately prevented that there is not any possible escape or pretence left for Insidelity For first We have all the Assurance in
the World both of the Sufficiency and Sincerity of the Witnesses Of their Sufficiency in that they were Eye-witnesses of his Miracles and Companions of his Conversation and were themselves sufficiently suspicious and incredulous and refused to be convinced till their distrustfull Minds were overborn by evidence of Fact Of their Sincerity not onely from the agreement of so great a number of honest and upright Men in the same Report but from their readiness to seal the truth of their Testimony with their Bloud And what greater Assurances was it possible for them to have of the truth of their Testimony than to be Eye-witnesses of what they reported And what greater Evidence is it possible for us to desire of the certainty of their Report than they have given us of their Fidelity So that here to withhold or deny our Assent is first a direct affront to the Faith and Reason of Mankind 't is to give the Lye to all the World and suppose none worthy of any Belief beside our selves For unless we will distrust the truth of all manner of Testimony and believe nothing but by the immediate information of our own Senses there is no remedy but we must of necessity quit all degrees of diffidence and suspicion in this Affair Secondly We must believe that Men endued with the first Principle of humane Nature love of Life should conspire to throw away their Lives onely to gain credit to an impudent Lye Thirdly We must either believe that Men endued with the Principles of common Sense would lose their Lives for a ridiculous Fable or that a company of Fools and Madmen could so easily perswade the World to believe such a wild Story meerly by virtue of their Report Lastly We must believe that Men who made it their onely employment to advance Truth and Vertue in the World should yet dye Martyrs to Falsehood and Villany and that when they layed down their Lives for the sake of Jesus they were not in good earnest Now laying all these things together and onely supposing that there was at that time such a Person as Jesus of Nazareth in the World I will appeal to the common Sense of Mankind whether 't is possible for any History or Report to come attested with more various more pregnant more unquestionable motives of Credibility than his Actions particularly his Resurrection as publisht to the World by his Apostles And thus having considered the evidence of their Testimony as given in by word of Mouth I come in the next place to consider their Testimony as recorded in their Writings and to shew into what wild Absurdities we must again run our selves if we will not believe the truth of the Scripture-history § VII First then We must believe either that the Gospels were written by those Persons whose Names they bear or that they were not If they were then we must believe that the things that they relate of their own knowledge were either true or false If true then we believe the truth of the Christian Faith If false then either for want of sufficient knowledge or sincerity Not for want of knowledge for two of the Evangelists Saint Matthew and Saint John were immediate Disciples and constant Companions of the Person whose History they wrote and so were present at his Works and Miracles and Eye-witnesses of his Resurrection Saint Mark and Saint Luke if they were not Disciples during our Saviour's abode upon the Earth they were intimate Associates with the chief Apostles that were So that if they wrote not from their own immediate knowledge yet however they wrote from the information of Eye-witnesses And as for the Acts of the Apostles written by Saint Luke Saint Luke himself was interested in the greatest part of if not all the History And so for the Epistles pretended to be written by the Apostles either they were or they were not if they were then their case is the same with that of the Gospel's that they had sufficient knowledge of the things they wrote of So plain is it that if those Persons wrote the Books of the New Testament who go for their Authours that we have no ground to suspect the truth and certainty of their Reports for want of sufficient knowledge and information And then as for their sincerity the case of their writing is the same with that of their preaching and so labours under all the foremention'd Difficulties and one more peculiar to it self viz. that when they had been so wicked as to contrive a wilfull Lye and so foolish as to publish it to all the World they should meet with no contradiction in so gross and manifest a Forgery These things were written in a very short time after they were done and therefore if they were false it is not possible that they should escape discovery or obtain any the least belief For example When Saint Luke reports that a Person born lame and known to all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem by his having beg'd daily for many years at the chief Gate of the Temple was cured by Saint Peter onely with invocating the Name of Jesus and that this Miracle was so very well known at Jerusalem that it immediately converted no less than five thousand Persons to the Christian Faith If all this had been a Fable the meer publication of it had provoked thousands of People nay the whole Nation of the Jews and especially the Citizens of Jerusalem to discover the falsehood and it could not but have met with so much Opposition as utterly and for ever to disgrace and destroy it self And so again When Saint Paul tells the Corinthians that our Saviour after his Resurrection was seen not onely by the Apostles and himself but by above five hundred Persons at once most of whom were then surviving If this had been a Lye it had been a very foolish and impudent one and too bold for any Man to vent that was not lost not onely to all modesty but all discretion and if any Man could have been so rash as to venture upon so lewd a falsehood it is impossible that he could ever have escaped the shame of discovery Especially when it was written to baffle some Fanatick Persons who denied that there was any such thing as a Resurrection for as all others would be eager to enquire into the truth of it for the satisfaction of their Curiosity so would those Men especially be concern'd to examine it more strictly if it were possible to confute their Adversary So that it is equally incredible that Saint Paul should be so weak as to vent so great a Lye that might be so easily contradicted and that when he had vented it he should be so lucky as to escape all manner of Contradiction from those who were concern'd to oppose him For if he had been convicted of falsehood in it all the Corinthians must immediately have turn'd back to their Infidelity and therefore when we find the Christian Faith prevailing every where
unquestionable proofs in the World § XX. This is the first invincible Impediment of Christianity supposing it had been false but whether true or false it labour'd under many other great disadvantages that it could never have surmounted but by the irresistible evidence and certainty of its truth And the first is its contrariety to the Vice and Wickedness of that Age in which it was first divulged The World being at that time as is evident from the Records that are left of it extreamly debaucht both in its Manners and Principles For Julius Caesar having violated all the Laws of his Countrey and overthrown the old Government that had always kept up a generous sense of Vertue and Integrity and by that means chiefly raised it self to that vast Greatness that afterwards so much exposed it to the attempts of ambitious Men. For though that spirit began to work in the time of Marius and passed down through all the great Men Cinna Sulla and Pompey all of them struggling for the sole Sovereignty of so vast an Empire the design was never compleatly compassed but by the boldness and activity of Julius Caesar. Now the success of the Caesarean Faction that were generally Atheists and Epicureans against the Patriots of the old State that were as generally eminent for Worth and Honour Vertue and Integrity and Zeal for the publick Good made the thriving Principles and Practices quickly come into Fashion and Reputation with the World And after the Death of Brutus we find no such thing as an ancient Roman but what he said in passion was seriously and universally embraced as a great truth That Vertue was nothing but an empty name So that if we survey the Roman History before and after the Usurpation of Caesar it does not look like the History of the same Nation the former abounding with the bravest examples of Gallantry and Magnanimity whereas in the latter we are generally entertain'd with no other politicks than Fraud and Treachery Even the admired wisedom of the great Augustus himself was no better than craft and dissimulation And though his Successour Tiberius be particularly remarqued for that Vice it was onely because he was not able to act his part so artificially as his Predecessour had done who dyed with that particular comfort to himself that he had so skilfully played the Comedy of humane Life and certainly of all Princes upon Record he had the most subtile faculty of appearing highly honest without any design of ever being so In short under his Reign all the Principles of Atheism and Impiety were prevalent in the Court of Rome that then prescribed Manners to the best part of the then known World neither were their Practices disagreeing to their Principles for as they cast off all restraints of Vertue and Modesty so they entirely devoted themselves to Luxury and Sensuality and studied nothing else than to emprove their bruitish Pleasures to the utmost extravagance of Enjoyment And as was the great Court of Rome so were all the other lesser Courts of their several Prefects and Governours And that not onely by imitation but by the natural baseness of the Men themselves Scarce any but the worst of Men that is Epicureans and Vilains by Principle being prefer'd by J. Caesar to Authority in the Empire though things grew much worse under the Tyranny of Mark Anthony a Man kneaded up of Lust and Malice and the onely reason why he was not more of each was because he was all both for he would never unless for the sake of his Lust quit his Cruelty nor ever unless to satisfie his Cruelty forsake his Lust and as himself was made up of all manner of Baseness so he would advance none to preferment but such as had recommended themselves to his good liking by their more than ordinary Wickedness And for that reason it was that Judaea and the parts about it were at that time more over-run with Vice and Debauchery than in any former Age in that Herod one of the vilest Men that ever lived had by the patronage of Mark Anthony obtain'd their Government and by a long Reign over them after his Patron 's Death under Augustus had familiarised all manner of the most licentious Wickedness to the People even so much that one half of the leading Men even among the Jews themselves that had been so famous through all Ages for their reverence to their Religion were no better than open and avowed Atheists Now how was it possible for such a Doctrine as Christianity that consists of Precepts of Chastity and Sobriety of Truth and Honesty of Kindness and Charity and of renouncing the Pleasures of this Life for the Rewards of another to make its way into such a wicked World as this Men of atheistical Principles are of all others the most stubborn and inflexible they scorn all manner of better Information and will not endure to enquire into the truth of any thing that might possibly undeceive them so that there is no way to overcome Persons so prejudiced and so conceited unless we can by the meer evidence of things force them into conviction And as for Men of luxurious Lives they have neither Mind nor Leisure to attend to any thing that may reclaim them It is Pain to them to think of parting with their Pleasures they will labour to preserve them upon any terms and as long as they are able to resist no information shall be able to fasten on them and therefore when the Christian Religion so suddenly reformed infinite numbers from all sorts of Vices it must have brought along with it a real Evidence equal to its pretended Authority for as it pretended to a Divine Commission by virtue whereof it required strict Obedience to all its Commands so it must have proved the reality of its Commission by such certain Evidence that it was not possible for the most refractory Persons to withstand its force and therefore when we find such multitudes so wonderfully prevail'd upon to quit their most beloved Lusts and Vices we have reason from thence onely to conclude that they were more than convinced of the undeniable truth of its pretences § XXI The next disadvantage of Christianity was its bold and open defiance to the establisht and inveterate Religions of the World For of all prejudices those of Religion are the strongest and the older they are the deeper root they take And therefore when its Enemies could plead the antiquity of many hundred years against it it could not but be a very difficult task to perswade them out of such an ancient Prescription It s meer Novelty was an Objection of no small force but when a new and upstart Religion would not be content with its own Authority but must disgrace all the settled Religions in the World and refuse its own settlement unless they may be utterly extirpated this could not but seem too sawcy a demand especially to Princes and great Men to require of them not onely
with all the opposition that Mankind could make it it was forced to encounter the Fury of the Multitude the Zeal of Superstition the Hatred of the Jews the Contempt of the Greeks the Power of the Romans the Pride of Philosophers and the Policy of Statesmen and by all these together that is by all means possible was it every-where harrassed with all the outrage and cruelty of Persecution No other party of Men in the World were ever hunted with that keenness of Malice or sacrifised with that cheapness and contempt of humane Bloud and as the Enemies to Christianity supposed it to be a new thing in the World they resolved its Punishments should be so too invented new methods of Torment studied all the arts of Pain and were not satisfied with the death of Christians unless they might tire them out of their Lives with length and variety of Tortures In short it wanted not the utmost opposition that could be made against it by Men or Devils if we suppose as we may for argument sake that there are any such malignant Beings And yet notwithstanding all disadvantages it grew and flourished after such a rate all the World over as if it had met with all the contrary ways and methods of encouragement Now what could be the reason of all this There is no other imaginable account to be given of it but that irresistible force of evidence that it gave of its Truth and Divine Authority For when every thing else was against it and yet notwithstanding it prevailed so wonderfully by the power of its own truth it must be clear of all doubt and suspicion that could bear away the Minds of Men with so great a force against all Arguments and Motives in the World beside For I do not urge this at present as an argument of God's Providence being concern'd in its propagation but for the reasonableness of the thing it self viz. that a Doctrine labouring under all these mighty and unparallel'd disadvantages should ever have prevaild with such suddain and admirable success had it not come attested with the clearest and most irresistible Proofs For is it not utterly incredible that an Institution so destitute of secular Power and Interest so uncouth to the Principles and Prejudices of Education so contrary to the Vices and Inclinations of Men so contradictory to the settled Laws and what was much more considerable to the establisht Religions of Common-wealths so much opposed by all the Power all the Wit and all the Zeal in the World should yet so effectually bear away all resistence and force the strugling World in spite of all their opposition to yield up all that was dear to them to the evidence of its Divine Authority For seeing it could have nothing else to recommend it to the World nay seeing it had all other things to oppose it and yet found such strange and otherwise unaccountable entertainment that alone I say is a demonstrative proof of its infinite evidence and certainty Neither am I ignorant that learned Men both Ancient and Modern usually ascribe it to the Almighty and miraculous Power of God overruling the Minds of Men And the truth is the thing was so prodigious that it is scarce accountable how it could be done without a Miracle But though I do not doubt of the secret and inward workings of the Spirit of God upon the Minds of Men yet I can by no means allow the reason of any thing to be resolved into that alone for if that be the onely reason of any Man's assent then his assent is unreasonable and all the account he can give of his Faith is that he finds himself vehemently inclined to believe he knows not why But that is not a proper way of determining rational Creatures and therefore we cannot suppose that God would force the Minds of Men to a stronger assent than the evidence of the thing assented to requires for that instead of helping the Understandings of Men would utterly destroy them And therefore how strong soever the influences of the Spirit of God were upon the Minds of the Primitive Christians as no doubt they were very extraordinary yet the outward and rational evidence that he gave them of the truth of Christianity was still proportionable to that inward confidence that he wrought upon their Minds otherwise they had more confidence than they had reason for and then all that they had over and above was unreasonable Seeing therefore their Faith was so infinitely confident I shall demonstrate that the grounds and motives that they had for it were equal to their greatest assurance and they were chiefly these two undeniable Miracles and undoubted Tradition from both which they had so great an assurance of the Christian Faith that it was not possible for them to be deceived and if they had so much they had as much as can be desired because no Man can have more § XXIII I have already shewn in the beginning of this Discourse the great and unparallel'd credibility of the Apostles Testimony taken by it self as it stands upon their own naked Reputation in that we have all the evidence in the World that they were sincere and serious in their Design so that meerly by virtue of their own Authority they might justly chalenge the Faith of Mankind But to the undoubted Integrity of the Witnesses God was pleased to adde a more forcible Testimony of his own by enduing them with a power of working Miracles and thereby demonstrating to the World that as they who pretended to be his Ambassadours were serious and in good earnest in their Design so was he too And in truth unless he had endued them with this power from above they could never have had the courage so much as to have undertaken the work but instead of travelling into all parts of the World to tell a Story to the People of which they could not understand one word as being utter Strangers to the Language in which they spake they must have concluded it a wiser course to resolve upon mending their old Nets and betaking themselves to their old Trade But this Eusebius has excellently represented to us in their own Persons In that when our Saviour commanded them to go and teach all Nations they ought to have replied upon him how is this possible that we who are unlearned Persons and understand onely our mother Tongue should discourse in their several Languages to the Romans Grecians Egyptians Persians Armenians Chaldeans Scythians Indians and all the other numberless Nations of the barbarous World And if we cannot as without a Miracle we cannot to what purpose is it to travel from Pole to Pole and tell an unintelligible Story to the People Nay how can we so much as dream that it is possible for us to perswade them to renounce their Country Gods and to worship a new and unknown Deity What eloquence what unheard of power of words must we be inspired with to encourage us
this way of conveyance is insisted upon by the Ancients themselves in justification of the Catholick Truth both against Hereticks and Insidels Thus the Apostolical Tradition says Irenaeus is spread all the World over and this every Man that pleases may find in every Church and we are able to reckon up all those that were appointed by the Apostles to be their Successours and Bishops in the Churches of Christ down to our own time But because it would be too tedious in such a Discourse as this to enumerate the Succession of all Churches I shall onely instance in those great ancient and famous Churches that were founded at Rome by those two glorious Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul hereby to shew the Tradition of that Faith that was preached by the Apostles to have been safely conveyed by the Succession of Bishops down to our own time And I choose to exemplifie this thing in this Church rather than any other because of its great preheminence and resort from all parts of the World upon which account its Tradition must needs be more publick and better known The blessed Apostles therefore having laid the Foundations of the Church delivered the oversight of it to Linus of whom Saint Paul makes mention in his Epistle to Timothy to him succeeds Anacletus then Clemens who familiarly conversed with the Apostles and had their Preaching still sounding in his Ears and their Tradition before his Eyes In whose time there hapned a great Schism in the Church of Corinth to allay which the Church of Rome directed an excellent Epistle to them in which she exhorts them to Peace and Unity rubs up their memory of the primitive Faith and sets before them the fresh Tradition of the Apostles themselves To him succeeds Evaristus to Evaristus Alexander and then Sixtus Telesphorus Higinus Pius Anicetus Soter and now Eleutherius in the twelfth place from the Apostles This is a clear and an accurate account of the Apostolical Succession of that Church so that it is impossible to understand how there should ever have been a Bishop in it unless we begin the Succession from the Apostles and then this is an undeniable proof of the certainty of their Tradition as in all other places so particularly in that great and populous City And this very Argument Epiphanius insists upon against the Carpocratians And let no Man wonder says he that I so accurately and carefully set down every single Person in the Succession because hereby the undoubted truth that has been from the beginning will evidently appear And the truth is granting the Succession it would be a pretty hard task to avoid the Tradition and yet against that there lies onely one poor exception viz. That some ancient Writers place Clement in the first place who here stands in the third but that to pass by many other conjectures and especially a very probable one of Epiphanius is clear'd by one that is more than probable and founded upon the Authority of the Ancients themselves that there were at first two Churches at Rome one of the Circumcision over which Saint Peter presided another of the Uncircumcision founded and govern'd by Saint Paul who as we reade in the last Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles left the obstinate Jews to preach to the Gentiles neither is this conjecture a little confirm'd by this very passage of Irenaeus who speaks not of the Church of Rome as a single Church but as two distinct and those eminent Churches from the beginning so that though Clement were immediate Successour in one of them yet he might be the third in the other in that surviving Linus and Cletus and the difference between Jew and Gentile being in a great measure worn away both Churches might naturally unite into one Body under his Jurisdiction Others object to mudd the succession that some Writers place both Cletus and Anacletus before Clemens as if they were distinct Persons But this is a mistake of later Writers who sometimes finding these different names in the Copies of the ancient Books concluded them different Persons but herein they go against the Authority of all the ancient Writers themselves and particularly of Eusebius whose account ought to be valued beyond all others because he collected the succession of Bishops out of the Archives and Diptychs of the Churches themselves to which he particularly refers in the succession of the Church of Jerusalem So that here is no real difficulty or labyrinth as to the succession and all that seems to be is onely occasion'd by an easie and obvious mistake of some later Writers against the more ancient and unquestionable Authority After the same manner does Tertullian triumph over the Hereticks by challenging them to prescribe for their Opinions from the beginning as the Catholicks were able to doe for theirs The truth says he will appear from its Antiquity that is true and delivered by the Lord himself that we find most ancient but that is foreign and false that was brought in afterwards and if they shall dare to pretend to the Apostolical Age let them produce the Originals of the Churches let them describe the succession of their Bishops and so derive it from the beginning as that the first Bishop should have succeeded to some Apostle or some Apostolical Man that conversed with the Apostles For in this way it is that the Apostolical Churches prove their Original as the Church of Smyrna will produce Policarp placed there by Saint John the Church of Rome Clement ordain'd by Saint Peter and so for all other Churches they shew you the Men that were settled in their Episcopal Office by the Apostles themselves and conveyed down their Doctrine to Posterity And again this is the onely Testimony of the truth its possession from the beginning and for this you that are concern'd to enquire more diligently after your Salvation may travel over the Apostolical Churches where the very seats in which the Apostles presided are still remaining where their own authentick Letters are still extant Do you live in or near to Achaia go to Corinth In Macedonia to Philippi or Thessalonica In Asia to Ephesus In Italy to Rome And this certainly as it was sufficient to prescribe to all the Innovations of the Hereticks so was it to demonstrate the undoubted truth and certainty of the Christian Religion when it was so clearly and so uninterruptedly deliver'd down from the first Founders of it And the truth is the succession of Bishops in the principal Churches was so accurately recorded by the Ancients that it had never been so much as call'd in question had not some Men been forced to it onely to justifie themselves in their departing from it it having been the custom of all but especially the most famous Churches to keep an exact Register of the Names and the Deaths of their Bishops which they call'd Diptychs and though it is objected that these Records are now lost and so are
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
him and after that he is kill'd he shall rise the Third day yet they understood not that saying Mark 9. 3. One would think the saying were as plain as words could make it but though they understood the Grammatical sense of them yet they were so possest with this Jewish Prejudice of his being a great Temporal Prince that nothing that seem'd inconsistent with it could enter into their heads so that the meaning of those words they understood not that saying is that they understood not how they could be reconcil'd to those Prophesies that they had of the Kingdom of the Messias And therefore upon occasion of all such Discourses they still minded him of the recovery of his Kingdom and when those hopes were buried in his Grave then all their expectations utterly dyed together with him Saint Peter thinks of returning to his old trade of Fishing And we trusted say the two Disciples that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel Luke 24. 21. And after they were assured of his Resurrection the very first thing they were sure to put him in mind of was the interest of his Crown Lord wilt thou not at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel Acts 1. 6. These were the big and swelling expectations of the whole Nation of the Jews concerning their Messias but whilst they were eagerly gazing upon the outward pomps and glories of the World the Providence of God so orders it that their Prince should slip into it cloathed in all the dresses of meanness and humility that he might have nothing to recommend him to Mankind but meer evidence of truth Every circumstance of his Birth Life and Death was design'd cross to all the Grandeur and Vanity of the World Thus was he born not at Jerusalem the Imperial City but at Bethlehem the least among the Cities of Judah not in the Town but in the Suburbs in a poor Cottage not in the dwelling House but in the Stable among Beasts and Beggars Rags were his onely Imperial Robes and his first Throne a Manger And instead of posting away Curriers to the Courts of Rome or Persia the Message of his Birth is imparted to a few plain and honest Pesants they were Shepherds a simple and innocent sort of People that made the first Address and did the first Homage to this Infant Prince And the whole progress of his Reign was but agreeable to this humble Coronation he was subject to his poor Parents and as some who were no incompetent Witnesses tell us wrought at his Fathers Trade and got his living by making of Ploughs and Yokes And after he enter'd upon his Office and declared who he was he chose for the principal place of his residence Galilee the most ignoble part of all Judaea not onely because it lay most remote from Jerusalem the place of their Court and Temple but because it was inhabited by a mixt sort of People and thence commonly styled Galilee of the Gentiles partly in that lying next to them and having more commerce with them they were not so coy of admitting them into their Kindreds as the other Jews and partly in that it was inhabited by some of those Jews that return'd from the Captivity who settled there among the Gentiles that had during the Captivity placed themselves in it so that the Galileans were lookt upon as a sort of Mungril Jews and a Galilean was little better than a name of reproach whence the Proverb Shall Christ come out of Galilee And as he chose the worst part of his Country for the chief place of his Residence though at times he shewed himself in other places but still under the disadvantage of a Galilean so he chose the meanest of his Country-men for the Ministers of his Kingdom Fishermen a poor and beggarly sort of People and yet they were made so much the poorer by being his Disciples We have left all says Peter to follow thee and this mighty all was nothing but a few tatter'd Nets but yet with them were they able to get a small maintenance for their Families whereas when they left their Trade to follow him they became perfect Beggars for the Foxes have holes c. Nay what was still a greater condescension he conversed not onely with the meanest but as his Office required with the worst of Men Publicans and Sinners the most hated and most scandalous Persons insomuch that his Enemies took advantage from it to reproach himself as a Person that lived a Life of Looseness and Debauchery And thus he past on through perpetual Affronts Reproaches and Calumnies till he purposely went up to Jerusalem to deliver up himself into the hands of his Enemies and with what Scorn Insolence and Cruelty he was there treated and with what Meekness Patience and Humility he there behaved himself I need not here represent They indeed put upon him a royal Robe but it was in Derision they crown'd him but it was with Thorns they bowed the Knee before him bâ—â— it was in Mockery and they writ him King of the Jews but it was upon his Cross where he suffer'd himself to be executed with two Thieves and that in the midst of them as the greatest Villain of the three All which as he suffer'd for other weighty ends so not least of all in order to his Resurrection partly because that being design'd as the ground-work of his Religion the Providence of God took particular care to make it stand upon its own unassisted Evidence and for that purpose not onely laid it so very deep but clear'd away every thing that might seem to give it the least Assistance partly because being the most material Article of our Faith and withall most difficult to be believed God was pleased to confirm its truth by sensible Experience As Arnobius has very well observed Cumque novitas rerum inaudita promissio audientium turbaret mentes credulitatem faceret hoesitare virtutum omnium Dominus atque ipsius mortis extinctor hominem suum permiserit interfici ut ex rebus consequentibus scirent in tuto esse spes suas quas jamdudum acceperant de animarum salute nec periculum mortis aliâ se posse ratione vitare When the strangeness of the Doctrine and the greatness of the promise of immortal Happiness amazed Men's Minds and stumbled their Belief the Lord of all Power and Conquerour of Death permitted his humane Nature to be slain that from his Resurrection and those things that followed after his Death they might be assured of the truth of their Faith as to the future Salvation of their Souls Now this humble Appearance of Jesus being design'd so utterly cross to the proud and revengefull expectations of the Jews who thirsted for the coming of their Messias onely to be avenged of all their Enemies it did not onely raise their prejudice â—ut their indignation against him But especially when he took upon him the great Prerogative of the Messias and
altogether false and frivolous what is that to what hapned at Rome So that had there been never so many of the Posterity of David at Babylon there might have been no more than two found at Rome And therefore if Hegesippus had affirm'd that there were onlytwo all Scaliger's Stories of Babylon are to no purpose But when he has affirm'd no such thing but on the contrary gives us a distinct account of Simeon the Son of Cleopas Bishop of Jerusalem who lived there after the time of Domitian Scaliger could have no motive to make the Objection but onely to empty his Common-place-book of two or three Rabinical Quotations But yet his next Exception is much worse viz. that there was no such Person as Judas of the Kindred of our Lord mention'd in the Gospels But suppose there were no such upon Record it seems very hard dealing with an Ancient Writer that lived so near the times that he Writes of and had opportunity of enquiring into the Genealogy of the Family when he affirms that there was such a Branch of it to deny the truth of the matter of Fact onely because it hapned not to be mention'd in the Gospels whereas nothing is better known than that divers more material passages relating to our Saviour's Family are there omitted their design being to describe his own descent from David and not to give any account of the several present Branches of the Family And yet after all Scaliger's confidence that there was no such Man upon Record do we find him expresly reckoned among our Saviour's nearest Kindred Mat. 13. 15. Is not this the Carpenters Son Is not his Mother called Mary And his Brethren James and Joses and Simon and Judas So blind is the humour of Criticising as to overlook the most obvious passages rather than loose the Glory of one new discovery This passage I have vindicated not because that it self was at all needful to my purpose but onely to maintain the credit of Hegesippus for if there were no such Story that saves our labour of giving any account of it if there were then we must take it as we finde it in Hegesippus according to whose account it was no Persecution for Religion but onely a jealousie of State Neither is it to be wondred at that Domitian though of all men most suspicious should be so strongly tainted with it when the same conceit had for a long time been of so great force among his Predecessours For it is very obvious from the Histories of those time that the Jewish Notion of their Messias had got deep footing in the Gentile World from the Authority of the Sybilline Oracles in that the Old Books of the Sybils that had been for many Ages Religiously preserved in the Capitol were together with the Capitol it self burnt about Eighty years before our Saviour's Birth and to retreive their loss three Ambassadours were about Seven years after when the Capitol was rebuilt dispatcht into Asia to gather together what Records they could there find of those Prophesies and brought back with them about a thousand Verses By whom they were first Composed I am not concern'd to enquire though it is probable as the Learned Isaac Vossius conjectures that they were Collected by the Jews out of the Ancient Prophets as appears from their agreement with the Holy Writings and especially in the great Prediction of a Messias or Universal Monarch Which it seems was so plainly foretold by them that in a little time it alarm'd the Senate it self to forbid the reading of them and that for very good reason too When they found every aspiring Spirit in the Common-wealth to apply them to himself For this was one of the Foundations of Catiline's Conspiracy as Tully informs us concerning Leutulus in his Third Oration against Catiline And when Caesar had made himself Master of all it was vulgarly believed to have been the effect of this Prophesie as the same Author Triumphantly tells us in his Second Book of Divination which was written immediately after Caesar's fall Cum Antistitibus agamus quidvis potius ex illis libris quà m Regem proferant quem Romae posthaec nec Dii nec homines esse patientur The great thing that offended the zealous Common-wealths Man in them was the name of a great King And if we may believe Suetonius or his Author Julius Marathus the same year that Augustus Caesar was Born the Senate upon the account of this Prediction Regem populo Romano naturam parturire that nature was then in labour with a King of the Romans Decreed nequis illo anno genitus educaretur Not unlike the practice of Herod when he Murther'd the Children of Bethlehem to secure the Title of Shiloh to himself which some of the Atheistical Jews of the Sect of the Sadducees had flatteringly applyed to him and were for that reason stiled Herodians And this conceit himself cherished with very great care among the Jews as the fulfilling of Jacob's Prophesie upon the departure of the Scepter from Judah to himself thereby to conciliate the greater reverence and Authority to his Government And this probably was the reason as very an Atheist as he was of his building so magnificent a Temple because the Jews expected such a glorious work from their Messias Now this conceit being so familiarly entertain'd in the minds of men in that Age it is no wonder if all that were in actual possession of Authority whether themselves believed it or not were so watchful against all pretenders to it but much less in such a suspicious Prince as Domitian especially as to the Family of David who by the consent of the Jews that were the great Masters of these Prophesies had the first Title to this great Prerogative And yet it was not so much but onely as far as appears by Story they were presented by some flattering and officious Informers to the Emperour which occasion'd some trouble both to themselves and the followers of Jesus but when the jealous Emperour came to enquire into their Claims he was so satisfied of the Innocence of the men that he immediately dismist the Inditement as frivolous and revoked all Edicts against the Christians as Partisans in the same cause This is the true account of all his proceedings against them though if he had proceeded upon other reasons all his reasons could be nothing but reasons of State and all his executions nothing but acts of Savageness and Cruelty But whatever they were there is no evidence of his entring into the merits of the cause and if he did not his brutal Tyranny can be no objection Nay if he did all that can be inferr'd is that Christianity was not pleasing to one of the worst of Princes and that is the best that can be made of his Persecution and there we leave it that as Nero was the first so Domitian was the second Enemy to Christianity and conclude with Tertullian Consulite commentarios vestros
Calumnies of their Enemies viz. That those wicked Practices that were charged upon them were too grosly inconsistent with the Principles of their Religion and so Athenagor as tells the Emperour plainly that it is no less than impossible for a Christian to be a bad Man unless he were an Hypocrite and a meer Dissembler And for a farther proof they still appeal'd to the undeniable innocence of their own Lives and Conversations They challenged the strictest Trials of their Enemies and even forced from them publick confessions of their Vertue and Integrity And though they were strictly religious towards God yet they accounted that no Worship was acceptable to him but what is recommended by a just an honest and an usefull Life He that is carefull to preserve his Innocence says Minutius Felix honours his Lord he that observes Justice in his dealings offers Sacrifice to God he that absteins from Fraud presents a Peace-offering he that relieves his Neighbour brings an ample Expiation these are our Sacrifices and these the Solemnities of our Devotion and with us he passes for the most religious Man that is the most honest And thus they rated their Piety chiefly by the usefulness of their Lives and the first things they sacrificed to Heaven were their own Lusts and Passions They did not think it enough in those days to say their Prayers unless they lived them too that is unless their Actions were conformable to their Devotions in a constant and uniform obedience to the Laws of their Religion In short they knew no other terms of Salvation but the habitual practice of Piety and Devotion of Justice and Honesty of Mercy and Charity of Humility and Meekness of Temperance and Sobriety of Continence and Chastity of Obedience and Subjection to Government of Unity and a peaceable Disposition among themselves but above all of Heavenly mindedness and contempt of the World and Courage and Constancy in suffering for their Religion Now it is evident that these Men were serious and in good earnest in their profession of the Christian Faith and that may be added to all that accumulation of Argument that I have laid together in this Discourse to demonstrate the infinite truth of Christianity that Persons who by their nearness of Age to its beginning had so much advantage of enquiring into it were satisfied with an undoubted assurance of its Divine Authority when it made such a prodigious and otherwise unaccountable change in all parts of their Lives and Conversations And as by it they shewed themselves sincere Christians so rational Men too in pursuing the natural consequence of their Principles For upon supposition of the certain truth of the Christian Faith it was infinitely reasonable that they should give the exactest and most punctual obedience to the Christian Laws Nay they then thought that it was impossible to doe otherwise and though they made allowances for the lapses and infirmities of humane Nature yet they lookt upon a Christian that was habitually vicious as the grossest of contradictions and the truth is nothing can be more apparently absurd and enormous if we onely consider the greatness of those Rewards and Punishments wherewith the Laws of Christianity are enacted The most difficult Duty that it requires is that of Martyrdom yet even that whilst it is undergone within the prospect of Heaven and Immortality is a very easie not to say an eligible thing And so the learned Clemens of Alexandria discourses in the Fourth Book of his Collections The Man that truly loves our Lord cannot but be very willing to be deliver'd out of this Life so as to account himself beholden to his Accuser as the cause of his escape because he gave him a lawfull occasion which he could not give himself to shew his love to his Lord and for it be welcom'd by him into the place of Happiness and excellently to the same purpose does that wise that pious that couragious Prelate Saint Cyprian discourse to the Confessours in Prison to prepare them for their Martyrdom So far are you says he from having any reason to fear Death that you ought to desire it as not worthy to be weighed against the recompence of Immortality where he that overcomes shall be crown'd with eternal Happiness what vigour what greatness what courage ought to lodge in such Breasts that are fill'd with such heroick thoughts For where no lower Meditations are entertain'd than of the Laws of God and the Promises of Christ there can be no sense of any other design but to doe the will of God And though you are still confin'd to this present state of things yet you do not live the Life of this World but of the World to come And how passionately does that brave Martyr Ignatius rejoice in the near approach of his Martyrdom O that I might come to those wild Beasts that are prepared for me how do I wish that I might instantly encounter them I could even invite and encourage them to dispatch me nay I could even provoke them to it I am concern'd for nothing either seen or unseen more than to enjoy Jesus let Fire and the Cross and the fury of wild Beasts breaking of Bones distortion of Members tormenting the whole Body yea all the punishments which the Devil can invent befall me so as thereby I may come to the enjoyment of my blessed Lord and Saviour This was the Courage and these the Resolutions of those times But alas their brave Examples rather upbraid than instruct our degenerate Age and the height of their courage instead of inviting scares our endeavours 't is almost pain to us to conceive the Idea of their Vertues Their flaming Spirits lie raked up in their own Ashes not a spark of their heavenly Fire glows in our Bosoms there is nothing heroick left all that is brave and gallant has fled the World and our Age produces no such Heroes whose actions may convince us that the Miracles of the ancient Faith were possible things But what do I talk of the wonders of Martyrs and Confessours the effects of an extraordinary assistance for an extraordinary work when it would be wonder big enough for our degenerate Age if we could but see the common fruits of Christianity But alas we are entertain'd with a greater at least a more unaccountable prodigie than all the Miracles that have been represented for the demonstration of the Christian Faith when we daily see such vast numbers of Men that are seriously and passionately concern'd to believe the Truth of the Gospel and yet so utterly unconcern'd to obey its Precepts for this can be no less than a direct and barefaced affront to the Authority of God himself to own and yet disobey his Laws Our blessed Saviour imputes it as an unpardonable sin of disingenuity to the Scribes and Pharisees that when they were convinced by the evidence of the matter of Fact of the Divine Power of his Miracles they yet disbelieved the Divine Authority of his