offered himself a Sacrifice upon the Cross was made a Curse died was buried rose again and is sat down at the right hand of God that thereby he might redeem us from our Iniquities and from the Curse of the Law be a propitiation for our Sins and reconcile us to his Father through his Blood that our Trespasses might not be imputed to us but that by his Obedience we should be made righteous That he might become the Mediator of a new and better Covenant between God and Man than that which God made with the People of Israel when he brought them out of the Land of Egypt and that he might abolish the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances and break down the middle Wall of Partition between Jew and Gentile that so both might be united in one Building of which Christ was the chief Corner Stone and all of us be Members of one Body or Church of which Christ is the Head That he might be an Advocate with the Father when we sin and make continual Intercession for us that so upon our Confession and Repentance God might forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness And lastly That he might obtain a Kingdom and by that means spoil Principalities and Powers triumphing over them destroy the works of the Devil and put all Enemies under his feet and that when Death the last Enemy is destroyed he might raise the Dead and judge the World Part of which he has already performed and the rest he does and will hereafter fulfil The most remarkable matters that occur in the New Testament concerning the Nature Condition and Circumstances of Mankind are these Adam was the first Man Adam was first form'd then Eve the first Man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam by which is meant Christ was made a quickening Spirit which two different Expressions are distinguish'd as Natural and Spiritual Earthly and Heavenly by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the Trangression notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in Faith and Charity and Holiness with Sobriety Death reigned from Adam unto Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam 's Transgression who is the Figure of him that was to come A Man is the Image and Glory of God but the Woman is the Glory of the Man notwithstanding which all that are of the race of Mankind are stiled and accounted in the Scriptures sinners ungodly enemies of God dead in trespasses and sins servants of sin and corruption Children of the Devil by nature Children of Wrath of whom it is said further That Sin dwelleth in us and reigneth in our Mortal Bodies that when we would do good evil is present with us and we find the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Mind and bringing it into Captivity to the Law of Sin The Jews are represented as subject to Ordinances and a Law which had only a shadow of good things to come and as in bondage to weak and beggarly Elements and all other Nations are reckoned as Aliens and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World This is the state of Mankind considered without relation to Christ but by Christ we are cleansed from our sins we are made free we are justified by Faith in him and by his righteousness we are saved But the advantages which accrue to Mankind by the means of Christ and the change that is made in our Condition by him will be more fully understood from these following passages As by one Mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous as sin hath reigned unto death so shall Grace reign through righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ Cursed is every Man that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them the Man that doth them shall live in them but this being impossible 't is evident that no Man is justified by the Law in the sight of God if there had been a Law given which could have given life righteousness should have been by the Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise of Faith by Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe In many things we offend all but if we repent and are baptized and believe and shew our Faith by our Works and persevere unto the end we shall be saved but if we believe not the Truth and have pleasure in unrighteousness and repent not of the evils we have committed we shall be damned Those that have embraced and obeyed the Gospel of Christ are said to have put off the Old Man with his Deeds and put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him Thus through Christ only we are to expect Salvation there being no other Name given under Heaven whereby we might be saved which Salvation if we neglect we shall be condemned by God at the last day when he comes to judge the World in Righteousness by his Son whom he has appointed Judge of the quick and dead Then shall we be raised from the dead by Christ and receive every Man according to his Works As in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive and since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the dead The dead shall be raised incorruptible their mortal corruptible Bodies shall put on immortality and incorruption and those which are alive at the coming of Christ shall be changed in a moment at the last Trump As we have born the Image of the earthly Man Adam so we shall also bear the Image of the heavenly Man Christ Then shall they which have done evil be condemn'd to everlasting torment and misery and they which have done good shall be rewarded with everlasting joy and happiness in the presence of God and his holy Angels This is the substance of what is taught and proposed to the Faith of Mankind in the New Testament which I have express'd as near as ever I could in the very language of Scripture as my design plainly obliged me to do The other Branch of the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ which concerns the Practice of a Christian and may properly be stiled Christian Morality consists of such rules and measure of Action as every one that believes in Christ is obliged to conform his life to and without which his Faith is dead and vain he is still in his sins and he must expect the Wages of them Eternal Death The principal Heads of Christian Duty are these To love God and the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart and with all our power to honour praise
to see an Atheist telling Fortunes a Deist in quest of the Philosophers Stone and a Libertine venturing all his present Pleasures and Injoyments in a Rebellion for the good of his Posterity And yet such is generally the Conduct of the Irreligious and 't is a just Judgment from God upon them that they should be given up to believe Lyes and to act against their own Interest to throw off the Principles of Truth and not make the best of their Errours Vpon which account I think if the Enemies of God and his Christ are so far resolved upon the ways of Vnrighteousness that they will not consider the Proofs of their Duty in order to be reformed they would do well to betake themselves for Refuge to Ignorance and Amusement rather than Learning and Reasoning For all the Improvements of Knowledge do only furnish new Light and Strength to Religion and administer fresh occasions of Shame and Confusion to Unbelievers and therefore 't would be more advisable for them to keep up their Infidelity to themselves than to let it loose to the disturbance of others They had much better Intrench than Attack For besides that all attempts upon Virtue and Piety annoy the rest of the World without any Advantage to their Cause that make them 't would be more for their Ease to lie quiet For arguing and objecting against Religion and making Proselytes to Infidelity are not only certain Signs of present uneasiness but will very probably create them a great deal more If they will be continually disputing and pressing their Objections they will be sure to meet with something or other to puzzle and startle them and this may awaken their Fears and raise new Disquiets in their Mind which may at last end in a just Despair when they will be able to repent of nothing but this that they were not content to injoy the Fruits of Irreligion without offering to defend it I heartily wish such Advice as this to Vnbelivers were needless and that they were seriously disposed to imbrace a more reasonable and lasting Satisfaction by entering upon an humble and impartial Examination of the Proofs of the Christian Religion But this being to be lookt upon as an Effect of Extraordinary Grace all that can be expected from the Endeavours of those that undertake to set these Proofs in the best light they can is to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers and to prevent the mischief of Infidelity from spreading further than it has done And 't is my sincere Prayer to God that the following Discourse may have a share with many other upon the same Subject in contributing to so good an Effect All that I have to warn my Readers of is that if any of them should be inclined to judge that the Abstract I have given of the New Testament and the Proof of the Common Matters of Fact there Related either unnecessary or too long they would pass over these parts and leave them to be read by those for whom this Discourse was principally designed Most of which I believe will know more of the Christian Religion from that Abstract of it I have drawn up than they did before And I durst not presume so far upon them as to take the Common Matters of Fact for granted because if they are true I look upon all the other as demonstrable from them and therefore I was willing to lay the Foundation as firm and as broad as I could that it might bear the weight of what I was to build upon it and I perswade my self I have all along taken sufficient care not to overload it I have not been precise as to Time and some other Circumstances relating to the History of Christianity because what I was to prove is as fully made good within the Latitude allowed as if it had been more punctually determined ERRATA In the Book PAge 31. line 10. know read knows p. 39. l. 14 measure r. measures p 41. l. 27. him r. him p. 44. l. 5. Discourses r. Discoveries p. 53. l. 19. as r. a. p. 59. l. 10. too true r. to be true p. 62. l. 24. happen'd d. p. 67. l. 26. of r. as p. 76. l. 12. Year r. Years p. 79. l. 9. r. countrey p. 99. l. 13. r. must be p. 106. instanced in d. p. 107. l. 6. Words r. Records p. 109. l. 14. r. Diocletian p. 110. l. 24. sence r. force p. 112. l. last then r. there p. 115. l. 23. designs r. design p. 140. l. 22. r. according to p. 160. l. 22. Relation r. Relators p. 163. l. 26. r. Perceptions p. 174. l. 12. r. truth of p. 192. l. 2. execute r. excite p. 211. l. 14. r. some such p. 228. l. 3. ever r. never p. 240. l. 6. then r. than p. 287. l. 10. r. p. 293 l. last r. p. 298 l. 19. at r. of p. 304. l. 23. to be d. be p. 316. l. 10. Scheme r. Scene p. 337. l. 11. Motives r. Monuments p. 339. l. 5. were r. are p. 353. l. 2. r. frame of The Certainty of the Christian Revelation AND THE NECESSITY Of BELIEVING It. HAving in a former Discourse proved that there is a God That this God has appointed us a certain Rule and Order of Life That he has obliged us to Conform to his Will and Appointments by annexing Happiness to our Obedience and Misery to our Disobedience That the Rule he has given us to go by is whatever we can upon our own Enquiry or the Information of others discover to be agreeable to our purest and most unprejudiced Reason all which is comprehended under the Name of Religion Having likewise shewn that a general and exact Observance of all the Duties of such Religion would advance the Happiness of Mankind to the highest degree they are in this their Mortal Condition capable of and from these Principles together with the present Irregularity of things in the World having made it appear that there must be a Future State of Rewards and Punishments proportion'd to the different behaviour of Men in this I have now farther undertaken to prove that besides those Tokens and Indications God has given of himself his Will and Designs in the Nature and Constitution of things which are discoverable by right well-exercised Reason he has in a more extraordinary manner viz. by Immediate Revelation from himself made known his Mind to us by which means he has given us a clear and intire view of the forementioned rational Truths render'd our knowledge of them more certain plain and particular discovered a great many new Truths which the unassisted force of Human Faculties could not have found out and established new Rules and Measures of Duty over and above those our Reason was before by its utmost efforts able to inform us of All which extraordinary Discoveries I affirm to be contained in the Books which go under the Name of the Old and New Testament from whence I inferr that all the Doctrines Precepts and Directions
delivered in the Old and New Testament are obligatory to us so far as they are there declared to be so that is they are to be believed and observed in the Way and Manner and upon the Reasons and Motives there proposed and consequently that at present the true and adequate Rule of Human Life is what we call the Christian Religion But because as 't is plain from the nature of all Revelation the truth of what is pretended to be revealed must depend upon the proof of Matters of Fact I shall take this Method of establishing the Certainty of the Christian Revelation 1. Having premised some things concerning those particular Facts I design to insist upon I shall give a short Abstract or Summary of the Christian Scheme as we find it delivered in the New Testament 2. I shall prove by such direct Arguments as Matters of Fact are proveable by that all the principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament are true 3. I shall endeavour to make good the same Proposition indirectly by shewing the Absurdity of a contrary Supposition and the weakness of all the Difficulties and Objections raised against the truth of those Facts or of Revelation in general 4. I shall shew the sufficiency of such a proof as shall be given under the former Heads to induce us to believe the Christian Religion and to render us inexcusable if we do not As to what concerns those particular Facts I design to insist upon for the proof of the Christian Religion there are these three things necessary to be observed First I take all this for granted viz. That there are such Books as those I call the Old and New Testament that they are in the hands of a great number of People of different Countries in the World and are with a very little variation the same every where That the greatest part of those in whose hands they are who are called Christians profess to believe that the Matters of Fact there Recorded are true and that the Doctrines came from God and are appointed by him as the Rule and Measure of their Actions but more especially those delivered in the New Testament which they look upon to contain a full Scheme of their Duty That a large Sect of Men called Jews profess to believe the same of the Old Testament as the Christians do but reject the New and make the former only the Rule and Measure of their Duty and that a great many of these both Jews and Christians do really and sincerely believe what they profess and endeavour to order their Lives accordingly All which Matters of Fact are such as I have no manner of reason to suspect any body will deny me Secondly I insist wholly upon the proof of those Matters of Fact which are recorded in the New Testament not only because the Christian Religion the Certainty of which I have undertaken to establish is fully confirmed by the truth of those Facts But because the Old Testament is supposed and every where appealed to in the New as true and authentick upon which account a thorough effectual proof of the latter will be of it self a sufficient establishment of the former Besides many of the same Arguments that I shall make use of to support the Christian Revelation are in like manner applicable to the Jewish And therefore I shall only consider the Old Testament as a Book that was extant long before the Christian Religion appeared in the World and which was then and had been long before esteemed by the whole People of the Jews as a Book that contained the Revelations of God and I shall concern my self no farther in the proof of these ancient Writings than to defend them from the little Cavils and Objections raised against them by Modern Unbelievers with a design to weaken the Certainty of Divine Revelation in general and consequently to invalidate the proofs of the Christian Religion Thirdly I distinguish all the Matters of Fact observable by us in the New Testament into Common and Extraordinary such as are conformable to those Facts we have often taken notice of before or to those Notions we have of the Natures and Powers of the Agents which appear to be the immediate Authors of them and such as exceed all our Knowledge and Observation of what we call Nature and natural Powers which Extraordinary Facts mentioned in the New Testament I distinguish further into two kinds such as were immediately perceivable by some of the Senses of those before whom they were done and such as were knowable only by reasoning from the Natures of Things and other concurrent or consequent Facts Of the first kind are Prophesies and Miracles of the second are Divine Assistance and Revelation And thus I shall endeavour to establish the Certainty of the Christian Religion by proving the truth of all the principal Matters of Fact contained in the New Testament according to the Order and Distinction of them before mentioned viz. Common Historical Facts Prophecies and Miracles Divine Assistance and Revelation I. But for a better and clearer prosecution of my Design I shall in the first place before I enter upon this proof give a short Abstract or Summary of the Christian Scheme as we find it delivered in the Books of the New Testament Wherein I shall consider the Matter and Subject of these Books and the Manner in which they are writ with all the important Circumstances belonging to them that offer themselves upon a careful and impartial reading Which general view of of all the Christian Facts the truth of which I have undertaken to maintain will not only prevent a great many inconvenient Repetitions and shew the force of the subsequent Proofs in a stronger light but give us such an Idea of the Christian Religion as if carefully weighed and attended to would render any further attempts to prove it unnecessary It is plain to any one that reads over the New Testament that it contains in short a History of the Publication and Propagation of certain Doctrines and Rules of living proposed to the Belief and Practice of Mankind together with an Account of the several Discourses Actions Writings Sufferings and other remarkable Circumstances in the Lives of the first Publishers and some of the principal Propagators of those Doctrines and Principles which make up the New Scheme of Religion here delivered But to take a more particular Survey of the New Testament according to the several Parts or Volumes into which it is divided In the first Four Books of it call'd the Gospels we find a very large and particular Account of the Birth of Jesus Christ the first Author as is there affirm'd of that Religion which is now term'd Christian and his Birth is related to have been after an extraordinary manner in all the Circumstances of it viz. That he was conceiv'd by the Spirit of God and the over-shadowing of his Power That he was born of a Virgin That his Conception was foretold
to him and Expounding the Scriptures of the Old Testament in such a manner that all that heard him were astonished at his Vnderstanding his Doctrine and Answers His usual way of Teaching the People that believed on him and reproving the Scribes and Pharisees and others that were unbelievers and sought occasion to find fault with what he said was by Parables which were such familiar Resemblances of or Allusions to the common and most observ'd accidents of Life as were more easily apprehended by ordinary Capacities better attended to and remembred and not so liable to Censure and Misinterpretation as plain and proper expressions of the same Truths that were delivered this way would have been But sometimes he both taught and reproved openly without any disguise or reserve and some of his Parables were such as were not understood even by his Disciples till he was pleased in private to shew them the meaning of them and acquaint them with the reason of this part of his Conduct His Answers to those that accused him of any crime as of eating with Sinners breaking of the Sabbath Blasphemy and the like or that sought to entrap him in his Discourse and to find matter of Accusation against him were very surprizing and unexpected and such as always silenced and disappointed his Enemies His Exposition of some parts of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the Inferences he draws from them seem'd wholly new to all the Jewish Teachers and Expositors that heard him and yet we do not read that they confuted or so much as opposed either his Comments or his Arguments And in fine his whole Behavior and Conversation were so carefully and wisely ordered that though he was constantly watch'd and observ'd by cunning and malicious Men of different Opinions Designs and Interests yet no Man was ever able to convince him either of Sin or Ignorance as is manifest from the Answers he gave to those who Censured or Despised him or thought to puzzle him by difficult Questions and from the whole Process against him when he was condemn'd to die Thus lived Jesus Christ a perfect Pattern and Example of the Religion he established in all Holiness and unblameableness of Conversation shewing in all the Actions of his Life recorded of him an entire Submission and Resignation to the Will of God and exceeding great Charity and Compassion towards Men. And the same reason for which he came into the World and was obedient to the Law of Moses for which he published his Gospel and upon that account endured the Contradiction and Persecution of Sinners was that also which made him lay down his Life and submit to all the Indignities and Torments that accompanied it the only Cause Motive and End of all these Actions and Sufferings of Christ was the love of Mankind As he came into the World to save Sinners so he gave his Life a ransom for many To free Men from Eternal Misery render them capable of Eternal Happiness and to direct and assist them in the way of Salvation was his sole Work and Design These are the largest and most remarkable lines in the Character of Jesus Christ the first Author of that Religion we profess and defend In the next place I shall endeavour to give a short draught or representation of his Doctrine or Gospel or as we now call it The Christian Religion so far as it is plainly delivered in the Writings of the New Testament But all Religion as every one know consisting of Faith and Practice things to be believed and things to be done in consequence of such Belief I shall first consider the Christian Faith and afterwards what concerns the Practice of a Christian The sum of the Christian Faith is to believe in One God such as he is in the New Testament set forth to us and in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord according to the History and Character before given or whatever else the Scriptures say of him and by Faith in him accompany'd with a Sincere Vniversal and Persevering endeavour of Obedience to the Rules and Laws prescribed by him and a hearty Repentance for the Sins and Frailties we do at any time fall into to expect eternal inexpressible Happiness or in case of Infidelity or Disobedience attended with Impenitency to be assured of suffering Eternal inexpressible Misery in another Life The particular Doctrines which give us an account of these things more at large may be considered under these three Heads God Christ and Man The God proposed in the New Testament to be believed in is represented as a Spirit Invisible Incorruptible Eternal that is that was and is to come Almighty that knoweth all things and yet whose Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out Creator of the World and all things therein who upholdeth all things by his Power in whom we live and move and have our being of whom and through whom and to whom are all things Most Holy Just Righteous and Perfect who is to be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth and with purity of Heart no respecter of Persons of great goodness and forbearance and yet who will render to every Man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Immortality Eternal Life but to them that do not obey the Truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath of whom it is further said That he is the Father the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father a Title he is frequently and peculiarly distinguished by all over the New Testament That he sent his Son into the World to die for us and by him reconciled us to himself That the Sins of Ignorance he winked at but that now at the appointed time when Christ came into the World he calleth all Men every where to repent That at sundry times and in divers manners he spake in times past by the Prophets but in these last days hath spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he hath made the World that he foreknew predestinated and Elected some in Christ and adopted them for Sons to be Heirs of Salvation and to obtain a Heavenly Inheritance all which are said to be Sanctified by the Spirit of God who is often called the Holy Ghost or Spirit and the Spirit of Christ and of the Son in several places of Scripture is joined together with the Father and the Son and frequently talk'd of as a Person acting after such and such a manner as God is in other places represented to do and many of the same Titles Characters and Attributes are ascribed to him as are ascribed to the One Only Supreme God The principal things that are taught us in the writings of the New Testament concerning Christ besides what we have already mentioned in his History and Character are That he came into the World took upon him the nature of Man was obedient to the Law
seem to have been Pen'd by so many different Authors as appears not only from several Ways and Manners of Expression observable in each of them but also from the Subject which being the same in all and most of the same Matters of Fact being repeated in each Gospel some of which are told with such a diversity of circumstances as occasions some difficulty to reconcile together it cannot be imagined that any one Man would write so many accounts of the same Story so little different from one another in the main Branches and so much in some lesser particulars The Narration in all the Historical parts of the New Testament is very short naked and simple nothing but bare Matters of Fact being related just as they happen'd without any interposition of the Author There is no Preparation of Events no artful Transitions or Connexions no set Characters of Persons to be introduced or Reflections upon past Actions and the Authors of them no Excuses or Apologies for such things as a Writer might probably foresee would shock or disturb his Readers no Colours Artifices or Arguments to set off a doubtful Action and reconcile it to some other or to the Character of the Person that did it The Faults and Infirmities of those Persons the Authors would seem to recommend are fairly recorded without any mitigation or abatement and the Crimes of their Enemies barely told without any aggravation The Epistles appear to be written with a great Air of Piety and Devotion and the Authors of them seem to be acted by as warm and steady Zeal for the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind and to speak with mighty Assurance from a full Conviction of the truth of those things they so earnestly press and recommend Whether any of them were written by the Authors of the Historical Books and which of them were and which not we have nothing in the Writings themselves to judge by but the difference of Style which seems very distinguishable in some of them but I shall not lay much stress upon that because it may be disputed by Pretenders to Criticism The last Epistle which goes under the Name of the Revelation is plainly of a different Character from all the other Books of the New Testament though said to be written by one who was Author of a Gospel and some other Epistles which difference arising wholly from the Matters contained in it and the manner of their Conveyance into the Mind of the Writer upon this supposion it may easily be allowed to belong to the same Author that writ some other parts of the New Testament in a different Style from that of the Revelation which is altogether Figurative and Mysterious All the several Books in the New Testament excepting the Epistle to the Hebrews have Names of Persons prefixed to them as the reputed Authors of them who are all the same that are mention'd in the Gospels and Acts either as immediate Apostles of Christ or such as were chosen and directed by those that were so But neither by the Titles nor by any thing said in the Books themselves does it appear that any part of the New Testament was written by Christ himself or that he writ any thing at all I have these things further to observe of the Books of the New Testament in general that there are in divers places of them a great many particular remarkable Notes of Time to distinguish when the several Actions therein related happened all which are within the space contained betwixt the Death of Julius Caesar and the Destruction of Jerusalem That there are a great many Names of Persons and Places concern'd in these Actions the greatest part of which are Jewish Greek and Roman And that most of the chief Matters of Fact and Doctrines mention'd in any of the Books of the New Testament are supposed by the several Writers of them to be known and believed before those Books were writ The two former of these Observations are very evident upon the first and most transient reading of the New Testament and a very small degree of attention will serve to satisfie us of the latter All the Epistles are very absurd and unintelligible without this Supposition for first the Arguments and Exhortations there made use of with which they abound are for the most part inferences from Matters of Fact taken for granted and not newly told as appears from the Way and Manner in which they are mention'd the Facts being alluded to only and imperfectly hinted at not related with all the Circumstances necessary to inform those that had never heard of them before Then the Forms of Blessing and Salutation we find there and the Titles the Writers give themselves and those they write to all necessarily imply the same thing Besides there are several direct Expressions in many places of them which do formally and in plain terms assert that the Persons these Epistles were writ to had been before instructed in all the principal Truths of the Gospel 'T is plain also from the Acts of the Apostles as well as the Epistles that Churches and Congregations of Believers are supposed to be established in several parts of the World before any of these Books were writ the manner and way of their establishment being the chief Subject of that Book called the Acts as the fixing and confirming them in the Faith is the chief Design of the Epistles Nor is it less manifest from the Gospels that they all suppose the principal Matters of Fact related of Christ and most of the Doctrines delivered by him to have been known and believed by a great many at the the time when these Gospels were writ and in the places where they were published The manner of beginning each Gospel is a very good proof of this Truth St. Luke plainly in express Words affirms That the Person for whom he more particularly writ his Gospel had been before instructed in those things he was about to give him an account of in order and that those things which others had before him set forth a Declaration of were such as were most surely believed among them even as they delivered them unto them which from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word And the Writers of the other Gospels begin so abruptly and fall so immediately into the Story of Christ without any Introduction or Preface concerning the Character of the Person whose History they writ or the time or design of their writing that it cannot be imagined they would address themselves in such a manner to Persons who were perfect Strangers to the Name and History of Christ But besides this way of beginning we have several accounts in the Body of each Gospel of multitudes of People that followed Christ that heard his Sermons and were Witnesses of his Miracles of great numbers of Believers who were converted by his Discourses and of a great many that opposed and prosecuted Christ and objected several things to his
grounded or not is now the Enquiry That it was I shall prove by shewing that the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament are related and attested in such a manner that the Truth of them cannot possibly be called in question But that the strength and validity of what I have to say upon this Head may be better and more clearly perceived I think fit by way of Introduction to shew First What I mean by Miracles and Prophecies and Secondly What kind of Evidence these Facts are capable of and which way they are to be proved By Miracles then I would now be understood to mean only strange unusual Events out of the common Road and Course of Things which by all the Knowledge we have of Nature we cannot tell how to bring to pass nor account for when they have happened And these are to be distinguished into such as are absolutely at all Times strange and not to be accounted for by what we know of the Power and Force of Nature as the Resurrection of the Dead c. And such as are so only in consideration of some particular Circumstances as healing the Sick which is in it self no strange Thing but only when 't is done in a shorter Time than Medicines were ever known to operate or without the assistance of any visible means or the like By Prophecies I here understand Relations of such future Events as have no perceivable connexion with the State of Things at the Time when they are uttered This is all I mean at present by Miracles and Prophecies and every Body I am sure will allow me that there are a great many such Matters of Fact as these mention'd in the New Testament How and by what means they were done whether they were Natural or Supernatural Effects whether they were the Works of Art or Magick whether God or Man or some Good or Evil Spirit was the Autohr of them is not my present business to enquire that belongs to another place All that I have now undertaken to shew is that they were some way or other really done according to the Relation we have of them in the New Testament Now I know of no other way of proving this but by the Number and Character of the Witnesses who attest the Truth of these Facts and by the Nature and Circumstances of the Facts themselves according as they appear from the Account the Witnesses give of them If the Witnesses are such as we have no reason to think could be deceived themselves in what they relate or would offer to impose upon others and if the Facts are such as could not be represented by the Witnesses otherwise than they were without a certain discovery of the Falshood of their Relation nothing more can be required to justifie our Belief of the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament This being premised I shall endeavour to shew that the Christian Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament have all the forementioned Characters of Truth belonging to them and are therefore very reasonably and justly believed to be true which is the Thing I have obliged my self to make good and shall prosecute my Design in the following Method First I shall consider the Miracles by themselves and this according to the different Periods in which they were done and the different Persons they were done by Secondly I shall consider the Prophecies apart according to the same distinction of Times and Persons as I observe in treating of Miracles Thirdly I shall make some general Reflections with Relation to the proof of the Christian Miracles and Prophecies taken altogether First Then as to Miracles 't is very plain that a great many such Facts as these that I call Miracles are said to be done by Jesus Christ This is every where asserted or supposed in the New Testament and the Gospels give a very particular and circumstantial Account of several of them 'T is certain also from the general Proofs before given of the History of the New Testament that these Miracles were believed by the first Christians both by those that lived in Judea and those that dwelt in other Countries and the real Truth of them will as evidently appear if we consider the Grounds and Reasons upon which they were at first believed The greatest part of the Miracles Recorded of Christ were done in the presence of great Multitudes at the most Publick Places in Judea and at the most solemn Times of Meeting Nay he was so constantly imployed in Travelling and going about and performing so many Signs and Wonders where-ever he came and gave so many repeated instances of his Power in the same Places that there were very few in that whole Country who had not seen some of his mighty Works themselves and therefore the sole Ground and Reason upon which the generality of the first Christians of Palestine believed these Miracles was the Testimony of their own Senses The Facts themselves were so level to their Capacities and the manner of doing them was so open and so easily and fully perceived that they found no reason to distrust their Senses and therefore they readily concluded them to be true A great many of the first Believers of Christ's Miracles had a further and more intimate perception of the Truth of them than the rest viz. those upon whom some of the Miracles were wrought or who were made to have a share in the Actions themselves Such were all those that were healed or fed by Christ that had Devils cast out of them that had their secret Thoughts or private Actions revealed to them c. Those who saw none of these mighty Works themselves but believed upon the Testimony of others were confirm'd in their Faith by an universal concurrence of all Persons their Curiosity or Concern disposed them to enquire of For as we read in the New Testament all kinds of People believed the Miracles of Christ not only those who reverenced his Person and Character and imbraced his Doctrine but even those who despised him and set him at nought and rejected his Gospel The Scribes and Pharisees who were the most Powerful and most Zealous Enemies of Christ and his Gospel acknowledged his Miracles but attributed them to Evil Spirits Some of the Pharisees could not deny his wonderful Cure of a Blind Man but would not allow that he was of God because he kept not the Sabbath-day though others of them said how can a Man that is a Sinner do such Miracles None of the Jews upon the strictest Examination were able to disprove this or any other of his Miracles but notwithstanding they would not believe in Christ or embrace his Doctrine because they were Moses's Disciples and they knew that God spake unto Moses but as for that Fellow who cured the Blind Man they knew not from whence he was The Chief Priests and Elders never doubted of the mighty Works done by him but only question'd his Authority in doing
them Among the Chief Rulers many believed on him but did not confess him lest they should have been put out of the Synagogue His Country-men acknowledg'd that mighty Works were wrought by his hands but were offended because so mean a Person did them whose Birth Relations and Education they knew The Gergesenes were astonished at the wonderful Things he did though they besought him to depart out of their Coasts And the Devils confessed his Power before they were cast out though he came to torment them before the time A great many were convinced of the Truth of his Miracles but did not hearken to what he taught because none of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him and because they took him for a Galilean and thought that no Prophet arose out of Galilee Several would not believe on him because they knew whence he was and when Christ came no Man they supposed knew from whence he was though they were thus answered by others who believed when Christ cometh will he do more Miracles than these which this Man has done Some were entirely satisfied of his Miraculous Power by being healed by him as Nine of the Ten Lepers and nevertheless regarded him not Abundance of People accompanied him where-ever he went and were continual Witnesses of the Signs and Miracles done by him and yet followed him not for the sake of them but because they were fed by him And many there were that believed in his Name when they saw the Miracles that he did but Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all Men. So that all these bore Testimony to the Truth of the greatest part of Christ's Miracles as well as those who became his Disciples and imbraced his Doctrine But other Miracles there are Recorded of Christ which were done in the presence of his Apostles and Disciples only who already believed on him some of which continually attended him and others of them were very frequently with him Several of these Miracles were done in his Life-time sometimes before the whole Twelve who are peculiarly Styled Apostles sometimes before a Select Number of the Twelve sometimes before a promiscuous Company of his Apostles and Disciples together After his Death he appeared at several times to different Persons and different Companies but his Resurrection and whatever he did or said during Forty Days Conversing upon Earth after he was risen his Ascension into Heaven and Mission of the Holy Ghost with many extraordinary Signs and Wonders none were Witnesses of but his own Disciples and Followers and therefore the Truth of all these Miracles must principally depend upon the Credit of the Disciples of Christ that relate them Besides all these wonderful things immediately attributed to Christ himself we meet with several others in the New Testament which are represented as done by some other Power but are such as have a manifest relation to Christ and are designed to confirm the truth of his Pretences Such were the Appearance of Angels to Mary the Mother of Christ Zachariah the Father of John and to the Shepherds the appearance of a Star in the East to the Wise-Men the Dumbness of Zachariah and other Signs that attended the Birth of John and Christ the Dove and Voice from Heaven at the Baptism of Christ the Darkness Earthquake Renting of the Vail of the Temple and Resurrection of dead Bodies at his Crucifixion Several of these things could not be known immediately to the Evangelists that relate them or to any other Disciples of Christ but to those only whom they are told of and upon their credit we must in a great measure rely for the truth of them but several of them were very publick and consequently the truth of these rests upon the Testimony of a great number of Witnesses besides those that relate them In this manner are the Miracles of Christ and all the Wonders and Signs that accompanied him from his Conception to his Mission of the Holy Spirit upon his Apostles Related and Attested in the New Testament But of the same Jesus Christ who has so many wonderful things there reported of him it is farther testified that he conferred a power of working Miracles upon a great many of his Followers who believed in him and that a great many Miracles were accordingly performed by their Hands In his Life-time 't is said that he gave this Power to Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples whom he sent out into all the Towns and Villages of Judea with a Commission to Preach his Gospel to cast out Devils and to cure Diseases and they went about Preaching the Gospel and Healing every where and the Devils were subject to them through his Name This we have their own Testimony for and whoever were Cured or Dispossessed by them and all that saw what they did are so many more Witnesses of the Miracles they wrought but none of the Particular Facts or Circumstances of them are mentioned After the Ascension of Christ we read that the Twelve Apostles being all with one accord in one place received a larger power of working all kind of Miracles by the Mission of the Holy Ghost who according to the promise of Christ was to be constantly with them to guide and assist them in the whole course of their Ministry This Power immediately shewed it self by their speaking in several different Languages before unknown to them the Witnesses of which Fact are not only these Apostles themselves but a great many others that heard them Parthians and Elamites and the Dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia in Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and Strangers of Rome Jews and Proselytes Cretes and Arabians who were amazed to hear Galileans speak in their Tougues the wonderful things of God Those also confirm the truth of the Fact who foolishly imputed it to New Wine After this we read of a great many other Miracles of different kinds performed by several Apostles and Disciples who received their Power immediately from Jesus Christ and by the account that is given us of them we find that the particular Facts were more numerous more frequent and more publick then those of their Master Christ himself The time of Christ's Ministry was but Three Years or thereabouts the Exercise and Manifestation of his Power was confined to the Country of Palestine and whatever mighty things he did he did them in his own single Person Whereas the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were a great many all which were constantly imployed in Preaching the Gospel and confirming it every where with Signs and Wonders during the whole course of their several Lives and they performed this Work with Diligence not only in Judea and Samaria but in divers other Cities and Countries throughout the whole Roman Empire By which Account it plainly appears that most of the same Persons who were Witnesses of those Miracles of Jesus Christ were also Witnesses of those
that were done by the Hands of his Apostles and Disciples the truth of which was likewise owned and acknowledged by avast Multitude more both of such as believed the Gospel and of such as rejected and opposed it and violently Persecuted the Teachers of it To omit the Testimony of true Believers thus it is Recorded concerning those upon whom the Gospel of Christ had no Power nor Influence The Rulers Elders Scribes and High Priests among the Jews when they summoned Peter and John before them for curing a Lame Man could not deny but that a notable Miracle had been done by them which was manifest to all them that dwelt at Jerusalem They were afterwards filled with Indignation and took Counsel to slay them because they could not restrain them from doing more Miracles in the Name of Christ but they never questioned the Truth of the Facts Stephen full of Faith and Power did great Wonders and Miracles among the people but he was accused and condemned by the Council of the Jews not for deceiving the People with false Miracles but for speaking things against the Holy Place and the Law for saying that Jesus should destroy that Place and change the Customs which Moses delivered them when at the same time it is said that all that sat in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his Face as it had been the Face of an Angel Neither had they any Thing to object against his Life or his Works Simon the Sorcerer to whom all the people in Samaria gave heed from the least to the greatest looking upon him to be the great Power of God was himself as well as those that were bewitched by him Baptized by Philip and believed when he beheld the Miracles and Signs that were done But afterwards we find by the wickedness of his heart which he discovered to Peter that he was an Enemy to the true Doctrine of the Gospel Elymas the Sorcerer who was struck Blind by Paul and yet not converted to the Faith is another unwilling Witness of the Power of the Apostles The People of Lystra confirm the same Truth who took Paul and Barnabas for Gods in the likeness of Men by reason of the Miracles they saw performed by them and afterwards by the Instigation of the Jews stoned Paul The Damsel possess'd with a Spirit of Divination and her Masters who saw the hope of their gains gone by Paul's commanding the Spirit to come out of her several Vagabond Jews Exorcists who took upon them to cast out Evil Spirits in the Name of Jesus but suffered very much for the Impudence of their Pretences and a great many other such like were Witnesses of the Miracles of the Apostles who by reason of some wicked or dishonourable Motives rejected the Doctrine they taught or profess'd to imbrace it upon ill Designs or after they had received it made Shipwrack of the Faith Great Complaints of all which sort of Men we find in the Epistles Thus are the Miracles of the first Apostles and Disciples of Christ declared and attested But moreover it is Recorded of them that they had not only a Power of working Miracles themselves but that they were Authorized and Enabled by Christ and his Spirit to convey the like Power to others And accordingly we find a great many Instances in the New Testament where Miracles were wrought by private Christians by Virtue of a Power they had received from the Apostles which was conferred upon them by Prayer and Imposition of Hands After which Actions of the Apostles they are immediately said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and to have received the Gifts of the Spirit which according to the different exigencies of the Church and the different qualifications of the Persons indued with them were divers And among these are reckoned the Gifts of Tongues and of Interpretation the Gifts of Healing and of Miracles which Gifts are said to be very common among the first Converts to Christianity in all places where the Gospel was Preach'd and the same is plainly implied by the frequent Rules and Cautions that are given by the Apostles concerning the due Exercise of them and the fear and apprehension they often express lest the Christians thus impowered should by coveting one anothers Gifts or being puft up with those they were severally possessed of neglect to apply themselves as they ought to do to the Edification of the Church of Christ This is the Scripture-Account of Miracles and these were those wonderful Facts believed by the first Christians their full assurance of the Truth of which was the chief Ground and Motive of their imbracing the Gospel or Doctrine of Christ There were likewise other strange Matters of Fact called Prophecies which were most surely believed among them and which contributed very much to their receiving the Gospel and continuing in the Profession of Christianity without wavering and these I shall consider in the same Way and Method I did Miracles For there are several Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament as uttered by our Saviour himself together with several other spoken with relation to him and fulfilled by him others there are mentioned as spoken by the Apostles and Disciples of Christ who had received the Power of Prophecy immediately from him 'T is plain also from several Instances and Passages in the Sacred Writings that the Spirit of Prophecy was conveyed by the first Apostles and Disciples to private Christians and was very common among them The Prophecies spoken by our Saviour were most of them delivered in private to his Disciples some of which were not written till after the things happened and the truth of these the Disciples are wholly answerable for and some of them were Published in Writing before the things happened and these might then and may still be examined by the Circumstances of them others of them were spoken publickly and frequently before great Multitudes of People as those about his Suffering and Resurrection c. and several besides their being spoken openly in the presence of many were also spread abroad in Writing long before the Events actually happened as particularly that remarkable one concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem Prophecies spoken of Christ in former times with relation to his Person Actions Sufferings and Doctrine with the several Circumstances belonging to the whole Dispensation of his Gospel are to be found written in the Books of the Old Testament which were manifestly wrote long before his coming into the World and are now Extant and might then and may still be compared with those Events related in the New which are pretended to be completions of them And some Prophecies there are concerning our Saviour spoken by Holy Persons a little before and after his Birth and at his Presentation in the Temple as also others concerning John his Forerunner and all the Preaching of John was Prophetical of Christ The truth of all which Matters of Fact does not depend wholly upon the Credit of the Prophets themselves
but upon the Testimony of those also that heard them and some of them were spoken before much Company particularly what John said of Christ was very publick and frequently repeated and consequently there were great numbers of Witnesses of it The particular Prophecies of the first Apostles and Disciples and other Christians preserved in the New Testament are but few and most of the Events foretold were so near the time of their Prediction that we cannot certainly tell whether they were written before they were fulfilled but some of them there were many Witnesses of and consequently the truth of them does not depend wholly upon the credit of their Relation But what is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures of the New Testament concerning the Gift of Prophecy in the Church by which Expression is often signified an extraordinary Power of foretelling future Events as well as interpreting Scripture is a plain Appeal to the Testimony of all Christans in general For according to the account there given so many were indued with it that 't was an easy matter in any place where the Gospel was spread to be satisfied of the truth of the matter whether there were any Christian Prophets or not Thus have I taken a short view of the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament and shewn how they were all attested and upon what grounds they were at first believed In the next place I shall make some general Reflections upon the account here given in order to evince the truth of these extraordinary Facts and the reasonableness of those Grounds upon which the first Christians believed them It has been observed before that when any Matters of Fact are attested by such Witnesses as cannot be imagined capable of being deceived themselves or willing to deceive others and the Facts related by them are such as could not possibly be represented falsly without a certain discovery no greater evidence can be required for the proof of them And that the Miracles and Prophecies mentioned in the New Testament are such kind of Facts and so attested will plainly appear from the following Considerations First of all 't is certain from the account before given that Christ pretended to do a great many Miracles and that vast Multitudes of People pretended to have seen a great many Miracles done by him and to believe that what they saw was truly and really performed by his means and some pretended further to have experienced the effects of this strange power in themselves From whence it evidently follows that all these Miracles so attested were true because it was very easie for Christ to know whether he had such a Power as this or not by an immediate Consciousness and therefore he could not be deceived in pretending to what he had not and the Sincerity Innocence and Integrity of his Life the Disinterestedness of all his Actions the Humility and Uprightness of his Carriage and the many Troubles Sufferings and Afflictions he was actually exposed to upon account of these Pretences and which by his great Wisdom and Knowledge of Men he easily soresaw would happen to him all these I say do sufficiently assure us that he would not offer to deceive others by pretending to such Works which he knew he had not done or could not do Then as to the Persons pretending to have seen and for that reason to believe his Miracles they could not be deceived because the matters of Fact they are Witnesses of are such as were the proper Objects of Sense and were as easily distinctly and fully perceivable as any other the most common obvious Events dayly taken notice of so that every one who had Ears to hear and Eyes to see was a capable Judge of what Christ said and did and there wanted no great skill or capacity of understanding to compare his Pretences with his Performances But those who felt the effects of this wonderful Power in themselves had a more intimate and more infallible preception of the truth of his Miracles which gave them greater assurance of their not being deceived And when we consider the number of those who had all at the same time the same Preceptions 't is a further confirmation of the truth and reality of the Appearances especially when we observed that a great many of these were possessed with violent Prejudices against the Person and Doctrine of Christ and were unwilling to believe any thing that seemed any way to justifie his Pretences And as all these Witnesses of the Miracles of Christ cannot possibly be imagined to have been mistaken themselves in thinking they perceived what they did not really perceive so neither was it possible for them to deceive others by telling them such things were done in their presence which they knew were not done For besides that 't is utterly inconceivable how so great a Multitude of Persons of different Places Degrees and Opinions as the first Witnesses of these Miracles were should agree together to assert that they saw such Facts as were never done and this constantly without any ones ever discovering the Cheat besides this I say the Characters of the Witnesses will not suffer us to think they could entertain a design of imposing upon the World and the Manner and Circumstances of their first Declaration of their Belief of the Miracles makes a Confederacy to deceive utterly impossible As to the Characters of the Witnesses they were either such Persons as after they had seen believed and imbraced the Gospel of Christ or such as continued in the Religion they were before educated in notwithstanding all the Miracles they saw Most of the former sort were Persons of remarkable Probity and Integrity and of great Simplicity of Life and Manners who renounced all the Interests and Advantages of this present World and exposed themselves to great variety of Troubles and Afflictions for their constant profession of their Faith in Christ and his Miracles and it cannot be supposed of Persons of this Character that they would invent and industriously propagate what they knew to be false if the agreement of so many in the same design had been possible But if so many People could be supposed capable of forming such a design and of putting on such a false Character for the better promoting of it it is not imaginable that they should be able to continue their Plot and preserve their Character so long as they did without betraying themselves when they lost and suffered so much for carrying on the Cheat had no prospect of future success answerable to their present Sufferings and might have been very well rewarded by the Enemies of Christianity for a seasonable Discovery But all the Witnesses of Christ's Miracles who afterwards entertained his Gospel were not of the same Character with the former some of them confessed him with their Mouth but in their Works denied him they acknowledged his Authority and admired his Doctrine but being led away by their Lusts or distracted by the Cares
accordingly did upon their Promise to perswade the Governour if it should come to his Ears and secure them Now if all these Circumstances were true for the truth of all which the Chief Priests Pharisees and Elders Pilate and the Souldiers that watch'd the Sepulchre of Christ are cited as Witnesses then is it certain that the Body of Christ was removed out of the Sepulchre by an extraordinary Power agreeable to his own Prediction The belief of which will render all the after-Accounts of Christ very easie and probable and the sincerity of the Witnesses that relate them will take away all manner of doubt concerning the truth of them Which Sincerity of the Witnesses is manifest not only from the constant settled Character of the Men but from a great many peculiar Circumstances in the Relation it self that is given of this great and wonderful Event Such as were the Ignorance of the Disciples of Christ who knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the Dead their Fear and Flight when he was taken their Sorrow and Disconsolate Dispair of seeing Israel Redeemed by him after he was Dead as they trusted before it should their Amazement and Astonishment Terrour and Trembling when he appeared to any of them the Trouble and Distrust some of them shewed upon his discovering himself to them the suspence of others from believing by reason of their Joy and Wonder the difficulty of believing and hardness of Heart in all of them and particularly in Thomas who believed not them that had seen him after he was risen till they were convinced by the Testimony of their own Senses All which Passions are expressed in such a manner as none but honest sincere Persons who were throughly perswaded of the truth of things were capable of expressing Several other Circumstances might be alledged and all of them further inlarged upon to confirm the truth of what I have advanced and the like might be done in many other Facts besides that of the Resurrection as may be plainly seen in the Gospel-account of them but this single Instance is sufficient to shew that the truth uf the Private Miracles of Christ is supported by the Publick Circumstances with which they were attended as well as by the Characters of the Witnesses that related them But the greatest Confirmation of the Truth of all these Private Miracles of Christ and the chief Ground upon which the first Christians believed them was the Power of working New Miracles which was so manifestly and remarkably upon all occasions exercised by the Relatours and Publishers of them The Publick Miracles of Christ were such and so well known and attested as made it very easie to believe he might do the like or as great or greater privately in the presence of a few And the publick Miracles of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ took away all Suspicion of their forging privates ones done by their Master that extraordinary Power they were indued with being reckoned a certain Argument of the Divine Favour to them and consequently of their extraordinary Piety and Holiness which are Characters utterly inconsistent with all Falshood and Lying Pretences But if notwithstanding this wonderful Power and Appearance of Divine Aid they were Persons of a contrary Character and otherwise assisted then is it utterly inconceivable they should be so much concerned to invent and propagate and so earnest to persuade all People to believe what only made for the Honour of another at the same time they knew it to be false when they might better have served their own ends whatever they were in concealing it from the World if it had been true For whatever farther Designs they had 't is certain they intended to have their own Miracles believed in order to compass them and they could not possibly hope to make People believe they work'd Mâ—racles openly and publickly in their presence by vouching some done by another which they themselves only were Witnesses of The difficulty of believing these was likelier to lessen than increase the Credibility of their own the uncontested certainty of which was the chief Thing that made the other believed This is sufficient to establish the private Miracles of Christ Whatever Miracles are Recorded as done by the first Apostles and Disciples of Christ or any other Christian Believers afterwards privately in the presence of a few the Characters and publick Miracles of the Persons that did them are to those who were not Witnesses of them a sufficient Warrant for the Truth of their Relation or of any other Account not contradicted by them And those few who were Witnesses had a more Sensible Conviction themselves and were a further security for the Truth of the Relation of them to others What hath been said of the Miracles will hold in like manner of the Prophecies Recorded in the New Testament only there is one Thing to be observed which is peculiar to Prophecies and which makes the proof of them somewhat different from that of Miracles though I think in no respect less but in some instances rather greater This peculiar Character of Prophecies is that every Prophecy consists of two Parts a Prediction and an Accomplishment which are commonly at some distance from one another from whence it happens that the same Persons who are Witnesses of the one may not be so of the other which seems to take off something from the Credibility of the whole Fact that often depending upon the Agreement of several Persons who were at different times Witnesses to several parts of it But then on the other hand if we consider the Prediction only as well Attested and Recorded in Writing before the appointed time of its Accomplishment a Prophecy will have this advantage of a Miracle that more People may have read the Prediction in Writing than can possibly be Witnesses of a Miracle at the time when 't is done and consequently there may be often-times more Witnesses of the Accomplishment of a Prophecy than of the Performance of a Miracle forasmuch as things Prophesied of are commonly Events of such a nature as have a more fixt and continued Existence and a much wider compass of Appearance than Miracles have And besides this for a Person acquainted with the Prediction to be satisfied of the Accomplishment 't is sufficient to know such an Event is any ways come to pass without knowing any thing of the Power by which it was done or perceiving any thing extraordinary or unusual in the manner of its happening Thus for Example the Destruction of Jerusalem and Extirpation of the Jewish Nation were Events of a wider and more lasting Congizance than Healing a Sick or Raising a Dead Man and a Person who knew the former were foretold by reading the Prediction in Writing might be more easily and certainly satisfied of the truth of their Accomplishment than one who was not an actual Spectator of the other Facts could be of the truth of them For to be assured that that
their designing to impose upon us But because they do not require us to believe their own Witness but bid us examine their Works and inquire of their Doctrine in order to know whether they were of God or not we will take the Method they have prescribed us though I cannot but observe by the way that the Appeal they make and the Directions they give for a careful examination of their Pretences is a very good Argument of their Sincerity and full assurance of the truth of what they pretended to But waving all Observations of this kind I will confine my self to the consideration of the nature of the things said and done by Christ and his Disciples and shew that they were such as neither they themselves who said and did them nor those that saw and heard them nor any body else that is any other way convinced of the truth of the Appearances could be deceived in thinking they proceeded wholly from God The Matters to be inquired into fall under one of these Three Heads viz. Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines concerning which we will inquire first whether the Persons themselves who appeared to be the immediate Authors of them might not be infallibly satisfied that whatever of this kind they did or said was from God alone and not at all from their own Power or Skill This is certainly and undeniably possible that God may if he so please reveal and discover something to a Man which he did not know before and something which without such discovery he could not have known at all or not at that time when he first perceived himself to know it He that made us and gave us the capacity of Perception and Understanding may as easily when and howsoever he thinks fit put into our Minds such thoughts as our own Labour and Industry had not yet or could not have supplied us with There needs no further proof of this to him that believes a God And if God can reveal any thing to Man 't is likewise as certain that that Man to whom such discovery is made may be undeceivably convinced that the Revelation came from God The same God who gave him the faculty of difcerning betwixt Truth and Falshood in his acquired knowledge can enable him to distinguish as certainly betwixt his own Attainments and Divine Communications He may judge that such a thing was revealed to him by God with the same Satisfaction and Acquiescence of Mind and with the same impossibility of entertaining a doubt notwithstanding all his efforts and endeavours to distrust himself as he judges any other Proposition is true in which the connexion of the simplest and most known Ideas is irresistibly perceived Evidence of Perception is the only Standard of Truth in all Cases And though several Men may have been deceived in thinking some things were revealed to them by God which were not so revealed this is no more an Argument that a Man cannot be certain of any Revelation than 't is an Argument for Vniversal Scepticism that some Men have been mistaken in what they thought self-evident Propositions and Demonstrations But not to enter further into that dispute which I shall have occasion to consider in another place besides the certainty that a Man may have that God has revealed himself to him from immediate consciousness his Faith may be confirm'd if any degrees of Evidence can be supposed wanting by External Signs and Characters God may if he please give a Man such a strong conviction of his Power to do such and such wonderful things that he may be intirely satisfied without so much as a desire to make any tryal of his Talent and he may likewise manifest himself to him in such a manner as leaves some room for Doubts but such as must needs yeild to further Proofs ordained by God for the removal of them Thus for Instance a Man that is strongly perswaded God has given him a Power of performing such and such extraordinary things but has some little distrust of himself lest he should mistake the Delusions of his own Fancy for the Revelations of God when upon trial he finds that such things are really perform'd by his Hands all his doubts vanish and he is throughly confirm'd that both his Power and former Perswasion were from God This in general must be granted that a Man may take such a certain estimate of his own Capacities Powers and Attainments that he may be infallibly sure that he could not do or know such a thing of himself without some other Assistance that he did not know such a thing before such a time that he did not know it then by the help of his Antecedent Knowledge and that he did not do such a thing by any Power or Force of his own or by any Skill or Knowledge of the manner how it was done That I cannot now Cure the Sick nor Raise the Dead nor Speak the Syriack and Arabick Tongues nor tell when the Jews shall be settled in their own Country again I am as sure as 't is possible for me to be that I can think or speak or move And if I should hereafter Cure the Sick or Raise the Dead by the word of my Mouth if I should speak the Syriack and Arabick Languages without reading any Books writ in those Tongues or hearing them spoke or should foretel the exact time of the Restoration of the Jews I should then be also fully satisfied and assured that I did not perform such Works as curing the Sick and raising the Dead by any Power or Skill of my own that I did not understand such Languages or know any thing of such an Event before I spoke the one and foretold the other and that all the knowledge I had acquired before that time was not sufficient to make me understand those Languages and that Event without some further and more extraordinary Assistance exceeding all my Power and Knowledge If I am capable of knowing any thing at all of my self I cannot be mistaken in these things and the same Experience every other Man is alike capable of But supposing Christ whom I consider now only as a Man and his Apostles and Disciples were all severally satisfied by a certain consciousness of their own Power and Knowledge that the Miracles they performed exceeded their Humane Power and the Prophecies and Doctrines they delivered could not be the Results and Products of their antecedent Knowledge how could they be assured that God was the sole Author of them all and not some other Being of Superiour Order to Men Why the very same way they were convinced that they themselves were not God who made them after such a manner that they could by immediate consciousness perceive that such a thing did not proceed from themselves could enable them in like manner to judge that such a thing did proceed from God only and not from any other Being 'T is true indeed there may be and we have several reasons to
believe there are other Beings besides God of a Superiour Nature to Man who 't is probable may and do by some invisible unperceivable way act upon the Mind of Man as we are sure Men act upon one another by the means of External sensible Signs but if God so please we may distinguish as truly and certainly betwixt the Revelations of God and the Suggestions of other Spirits as we can betwixt the thoughts arising within us from our selves and those raised in us by other Men upon occasion of External Signs And though some may have mistaken the Suggestions of other Spirits for the Voice of God there is no more reason from hence for those who have had true Revelations to doubt of the certainty of them than there is for me to distrust the evidence of my own Perceptions when I judge such Ideas were occasioned in me by the real Voice and Presence of other Men because some have imagined they heard such and such Words spoke by such Persons when these Ideas came from their own Minds only without any External Occasions to execute them From all which it necessarily follows that Christ and his Apostles might be infallibly convinced that the Signs and Wonders they wrought were done by the Power of God that the knowledge of future Events was communicated to them by God and that the Doctrines they preached were delivered to them by God All this I say they might be infallibly convinced of by an immediate Consciousness not only of their own Disability to do and say such things of themselves without the assistance of some higher Power but of God's express Revelation of himself to them in all these Instances Which sort of Evidence and Satisfaction though it reaches no further than the Persons themselves who pretend to have received any Revelation from God yet is it of great use for the Conviction of others by making way for such Proofs as are proper to that end and which will not have any Force at all without it For except it be supposed that Divine Revelation is possible and that the Person to whom the Revelation is made may be certain of it 't is in vain to perswade any Man that he is obliged to believe and do such and such things because they were revealed by God For if Revelation be impossible 't is plainly absurd to make that a foundation either of Faith or Obedience and if Revelation be possible but no Man can be certain when any thing is revealed to him and when not there can be no Arguments found to convince another of the truth of a Revelation which the Person that pretends to it cannot be satisfied of himself But both these things being proved we are in the next place to examine how other People can be satisfied that God revealed himself to Christ and his Apostles Now 't is plain by the Account before given that they themselves might be intirely satisfied by the immediate assurance of their own Minds that God had given them a Power of saying and doing such things and had made such things actually present to their Minds as could proceed from him only and from no other Being But except they communicated what was given and revealed to them by External Signs 't is very plain that the Revelation could not be known to or concern any other but themselves and therefore the only way that others have of knowing the truth of the Christian Revelation is from the External Signs and Appearances by which it was communicated to them from those who first received it which as has been before observed may be considered under the style of Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines So that if it can be proved that the Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines Recorded in the New Testament did proceed from God this is sufficient to convince us that God has spoken to us by Christ and his Apostles and that we are obliged to believe and obey the Christian Religion as delivered to us by Divine Revelation and Authority The proof I shall give of this great and concerning Point shall consist of these three parts First I will indeavour to shew that Christ and his Apostles considered as meer Men unassisted by any higher Power could not be the Authors of the Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines Recorded in the New Testament Secondly I will make it appear not only that God might be the Author of them but that they have such certain Marks and Characters of Divinity upon them that we cannot be mistaken in attributing them to God Thirdly I will prove that 't is very improper and absurd to ascribe these things to Evil Spirits First Then I am to shew that Christ and his Apostles could not by any Humane Skill or Power be the Authors of those wonderful things said and done by their Ministry 'T is said of Christ that he spake as never Man spake and he says of himself that he did those things among the Jews that Man never did which he uses as an Argument to prove their unbelief in him inexcusable The plain meaning of both which Phrases here is not only that no Man could of himself speak like Christ or perform such things as he did but that no Man had ever spake like him or done what he did however assisted by any other Power This appears from several other Passages in the New Testament and particularly from Christ's own Argument against the Jews For he knew that they believed in Moses and the Prophets and were perswaded of the truth of all the Miracles Recorded in the Old Testament and therefore he did not think it sufficient for them to believe in him for the sake of his Works though he had done what no Man without Divine Assistance was able to do if he had not also done greater things than Moses or any other Person Divinely assisted had done before So much was necessary to convince the Jews and supersede a former Revelation but for the truth of Revelation in general both Christ and his Apostles seem to make this the only Test that what they said and did exceeded the Power and Wisdom of Men from whence they immediately concluded that therefore it was from God If this then be the Standard we are to judge of Revelation by 't will be easily made out that neither the Miracles Prophecies nor Doctrines of the New Testament could be from Men and therefore that they came from God who assisted and revealed himself to those Men that appeared to be the Authors of them It has been observed already that a Man may take such a certain estimate of his own Capacities and Powers and of his Present stock of Knowledge as to be infallibly sure that he cannot do or know such and such things either at all or not after such a manner And if we know any thing certain of the nature of Man in general we may confidently affirm that we are made and fashioned with such resemblance to one another that notwithstanding the
as does evidently appear from the Reflections before laid down But if it be further Objected notwithstanding the Evidence before given which plainly proves the contrary that all these things we call Miracles would have happen'd according to the Establish'd Course of Nature at the time and in the manner they did happen whether Christ and his Apostles had used such previous Signs as made them appear to be the Authors of them or not and so all the Facts are to be ascribed to other natural Causes tho' they could not be Effected by Man if this I say should be urged and the supposition allowed then must all the Miracles with respect to the pretended Authors of them be resolved into Prophecies and that will amount to the same thing For the foretelling all those wonderful Events Recorded in the New Testament as done by Christ and his Disciples will plainly appear by what has been already said upon the Subject of Prophecies to be as much above the Power and Skill of Man as the doing of them would be The vast number of Miracles done the multitude of Persons concern'd in them the publick Manner of doing them and the Times and Places in which they were done take off all imaginable suspicion of Confederacy if the Natures of the Facts would have admitted it as 't is certain they would not and therefore I shall not suppose that Objection and nothing more can possibly be urged And as the Miracles and Prophecies which concern the Christian Dispensation did certainly proceed from some Higher Power and Knowledge than that of Men so likewise did the Gospel it self by which I mean that whole Scheme of Doctrine delivered by Christ and his Apostles as we find it contained in the Books of the New Testament 'T is allowed on all Hands that there never was so Just and Noble a Draught of Morality as the Christian so full and consistent a Scheme of Humane Duty laid down in so plain and simple a Manner without any Art or Ostentation and press'd upon Mankind with so much Earnestness and Authority without any visible Interest or Advantage of the Preachers and Writers and without any Worldly Dignity or Title that made them Superiour to the lowest of those they Preach'd and Writ to It must be likewise confessed that the Grounds and Reasons upon which the Practise of this Morality is inforced by the Preachers of it are very New and Surprizing that the things they require Men to believe in order to render their Practice of the Duties injoyned them effectual are very shocking and repugnant to the common Opinions and Prejudices of Mankind but especially those of that time in which they were first Published and that the very Language and Forms of Expression in which the great Articles of the Christian Faith are delivered in the Scriptures are very different from whatever we find used upon any other Occasion Now these Things being granted I cannot possibly conceive how any Man should at once invent such a System of Morality as the Christian so very different from all others known before and so contrary to all the Passions and reputed Interests of Men nor how he should take upon him to injoyn several Duties as necessary whichnone of the Learned in these Matters had judg'd so before as bearing and forgiving Injuries doing Good for Evil and the like should possitively affirm some Things as certain which were doubted of till then as the Resurrection of the Body and a future state of Happiness and Misery c. should command every thing he said to be believed or done under the severest Penalties imaginable and all this barely upon his own Word and Authority without consulting any other Principles or Rules of Action which had before obtained or giving any Reasons to prove his own were better and therefore ought to be submitted to But if any Man can be supposed to have invented all the Christian Morality himself what force of Imagination what turn or agitation of Thoughts could have helpt him to conceive that Set of Notions which make up the whole Christian Faith in the way and manner they are joyned together in the New Testament If they had entered into his Mind what Reason or Motives could he have to believe them And had he believed them himself how could he expect to make others assent to the truth of them How could he imagine that these Opinions would recommend his Morality to the World Why should he think himself obliged to propagate them to insist upon them as necessary to make the danger of disbelieving them as great as neglecting the Duties of his Morality and yet give no other Reason to the World for what he said but his bare Saying it Besides were all these Christian Doctrines relating both to Faith and Practice found out by meer Humane Sagacity 't is extreamly difficult to imagine that neither the Contrivers nor Publishers of them should any where in their Preaching or Writing arrogate any Thing to themselves upon this account but should constantly renounce the Honour of the Discovery and never betray any design of procuring to themselves Esteem or any other Advantage of Life whatsoever for obliging Mankind with so beneficial a Scheme of Things as the Gospel proposes And to carry this Point yet farther If it be so very hard to imagine how any Person whatsoever should frame such Notions and Opinions to themselves and afterwards act upon such Motives and observe such a Conduct in the Publication of them 't is much more inconceivable how ignorant and unlearned Men of very low Education and constantly imployed in mean Affairs should do all this And 't is particularly unaccountable how Jews should give such a Character and Representation of their Messiah and his Office and Business in the World so directly contrary to all the Opinions and Expectations of that whole People and upon that account so very unlikely to be entertained or credited 'T is moreover impossible to conceive how so many Men as were concern'd in the Preaching and Propagating Christianity in several parts of the World at the same time should before any thing was committed to Writing all agree upon the same Set of Doctrines use the same open sincere unartful Method of delivering them and the same bold authoritative way of inforcing them and should all shew the same Courage and Resolution in maintaining the Truth of what they Preach'd and in bearing all manner of Losses and Afflictions for the sake of that Testimony This I say is not to be conceived or accounted for if they were not assisted by continual Revelations and constant supplies of Spiritual Strength and Force which proceeded from some more powerful and knowing Being than Man That they were all firmly persuaded they were thus assisted is the least that can possibly be supposed and how the invention of the whole Christian Scheme and the conduct of those that Publish'd and Preach'd it to the World and Suffered for it can be ascribed
insist upon is this That 't is utterly inconceivable that the supposed Author and Contriver of that Book could have imagined that such a Scheme of Things as we there find delivered should ever come to be believed and established in the World and without such a Thought and Perswasion of this in the Author we can never account for either the first Contrivance or Publication of it Whatever it was that determined him to frame the Christian Scheme whatever End he proposed to himself from his Labour and Skill in making it he must certainly design that the whole Fiction should be believed by those it was communicated to otherwise it was impossible for him to compass the End he aimed at If therefore 't is certain That the first Author and Publisher of the Christian Religion did design and intend to have it believed and if he was a Wise Understanding Man of great Reach and Sagacity as the Enemies of his Religion allow and is very evident from that Rational Draught of Morality the World is obliged to him for then does it plainly follow That Christianity is no Imposture and that the Books of the New Testament are not Forged and Invented For how was 't possible for a Wise Man to think that such a Multitude of strange unheard of Facts as are Recorded in the New Testament and made the Foundation of the Christian Religion should be believed without any manner of Proof or Evidence of the Truth of them But if he did not distrust the credibility of the Facts themselves what could induce him to give such a particular circumstantial Relation of them as submitted them to every Bodies Enquiry and Examination and made the discovery of their Falshood easie and obvious How could he perswade himself that such New and Difficult Doctrines should be entertained which no former Notions of Learning or Religion prepared Men to receive and which no Discovery or Revelation could make them fully comprehend And how was it possible for him to imagine That such Doctrines and Facts as these should set off and recommend his Morality to the World which considered by it self is granted to be unexceptionable Had the principal Aim and Design of this supposed Impostor been to establish the Christian Morality he would rather have Published it alone in the Name of some admired Prince or Philosopher or have pretended by some secret way of conveyance to have received it from Heaven This any Man of common Sense would have judged a likelier Method of getting it believed than the mixing and blending so many strange Facts and Doctrines amongst it and laying the whole Work upon such a Foundation as he knew had no manner of Support from Reality And on the other side had it been his chief Intention to abuse the Credulity of Mankind by making them believe so many strange and unaccountable Lyes as are contained in the History and peculiar Doctrines of Christianity if they are all False he would have taken care to have made his Morality more easie and palatable and more suited to the common Prejudices and Inclinations of the generality of Mankind that so the other parts of the Scheme might have been taken down readily and without Examination for the sake of this But taking the Christian Religion altogether as we now find it 't is not to be imagined that a Wise Man should believe he was able to bring People over to imbrace it supposing it purely an Invention of his own which he knew had no Foundation in true Facts And therefore there could be no End or Motive sufficient to Influence him to contrive what he could not believe would ever be received so far as to answer any End proposed But supposing it possible that there should have been some Man who was Wise enough to invent the whole Christian Scheme as we now find it in the Scriptures of the New Testament and who was at the same time so absurdly foolish as to think it would be believed so far as to recompence him for the pains of making and the hazard of Publishing it Supposing I say all this which to me is perfectly unconceivable yet the Books of the New Testament could not be forged Because 2. If the Principal Matters of Fact contained in the New Testament both Common and Extraordinary had not been true 't would have been utterly impossible that the Christian Religion should ever have been believed and propagated in the World in the manner we find it is at present which I shall endeavour to prove in the following Method That the Christian Religion such as we find delivered in the Books of the New Testament is at present own'd and profess'd in a great part of the World and that where-ever this Religion is profess'd those Books are appeal'd to as the Rule and Standard of it as to every thing therein contained are Truths I shall take for granted It is likewise as evident that there was a Time when there were no such Books or Religion known or heard of The inquiry then will be when and how the Christian Religion came to be Establish'd in the World In answer to which it must be allowed that either the Books of the New Testament were written first and the Christian Religion Propagated from them or the Doctrines therein contained were spread first by Preaching and Conversation and afterwards committed to Writing But which soever of these Suppositions we take the Publication of the Christian History and the Doctrines built upon it cannot possibly be placed above the Times mentioned in the New Testament because there are abundance of Names and other Circumstances allowed to be true which could not be known before without a Spirit of Prophecy which Imposture has nothing to do with In the Account the New Testament gives of this Matter the first Scene of the Imposture if the Christian Religion be accounted such is laid at Jerusalem in the time of Tiberius Cesar and consequently the Period fix'd upon for first acquainting the World with what is pretended to have happen'd then at Jerusalem must be at or near that time or at some distance since Let us consider this great Event in all these different Periods and see what the Success will be In the first place then let us suppose the Christian Religion Invented and Published at Jerusalem in the Reign of Tiberius Cesar 'T is plain the way of Propagating the belief of it must have been by Writing or Preaching if the Work was begun by Writing it must be by some of the Gospels none of the other Books of the New Testament can be pretended to be then Written without Prophecy But whether it were by one or more of the Gospels or by Preaching the things contained in them 't was absolutely impossible such a Scheme of Falshood should be believed by those who by an Infallible Consciousness must know it to be so or be spread propagated and defended by those who did not believe it themselves in places
where every body was as capable and certain a Judge of the Cheat as they Was not there such a Man as Christ Did he not in all appearance maintain such a Character Did he not pretend to such Discoveries and Wonderful Works and did he not really Suffer such things upon account of his Pretences as we find Recorded in those Books call'd the Gospels All this must be granted in the present Supposition which fixes the real Publication of that Religion we now profess at the same date we find mentioned in the New Testament And if it be allowed that these Facts were true then does it certainly follow that all the Pretences of Christ were real for otherwise they could never have been believed as has been sufficiently proved already and will more fully appear under another Head where I shall shew the necessary Connexion betwixt the truth of the Common and the Extraordinary Facts mentioned in the New Testament But if these Common Matters of Fact just now instanced in were false as well as the other then must the whole Story be much more Ridiculous and Incredible If the Forgery be dated about Forty Years lower at some time near the Destruction of Jerusalem then must we take in the Acts of the Apostles and the other Books of the New Testament into our Account which will render the difficulty of believing the Christian Religion much greater For here we have abundance of New Matters of Fact to believe as strange as those in the Gospels and as easie to be known and disproved but vastly more Numerous and more Publick to the truth of which a great many more Cities and Nations are brought in as Witnesses all which are supposed false and consequently could never obtain Credit in the World at that time If the Christian Religion was not heard of any where till some time after the Destruction of Jerusalem how could it possibly be then believed when its chief Pretence was that it had been Published Believed and Establisted in many places long before which was palpably and notoriously false Now that this must be the Pretence upon which the Christian Religion was first Founded whatever Period we suppose this Event happen'd in after the Destruction of Jerusalem is very plain from the Nature of the Religion its self and the Manner of its Publication which are intirely built upon Matters of Fact so that if the History of Christianity or the Principal Matters of Fact contained in the New Testament are false the whole Religion must fall And the Nature of those Facts 't is built upon is such that 't is imposible for any body to believe them at any distance from the time in which they are affirmed to happen if they were then first invented when he is required to believe them For let us fix the Period when we will how can we imagine that the History contained in the Books of the New Testamen should be believed by those who are supposed to live after the Times of all the Transactions therein mention'd and yet who had never before heard or read of any of them Can it possibly be thought that any People would change their Laws and Religion upon such a Story as this without enquiring into the truth of it And how could they be satisfied upon enquiry when the supposition of an Imposture makes all other Information but that of the Publishers utterly impossible And what reason could there be to believe him who gives only a positive bare Relation of Matter of Fact done before his time which he delivers without any pretence to Revelation himself and without any Authority but his own to confirm the truth of what he endeavours to impose upon the World Would not these have been every Man's Questions Why was not the Religion now offered to us imbraced when it was first prescribed to Mankind with all those wonderful Evidences of its Divine Original we are told of Why were not those strange Facts believed by those that were the immediate Witnesses of them If they were and if the Christian Religion spread and increased upon the Credit of them as is affirmed and if the Miracles were true must needs be allow'd How came it to pass that neither We nor our Forefathers ever heard of these things and that we have no History or Monuments of them remaining How should such a New Religion as this Establish'd upon the evidence of Sense and Propagated by vast Multitudes of Professors be quite lost and worn out of the memory of Men already How came you that Publish it to be the only Person that could recover the Knowledge of it What reason have you now to believe what has been laid aside by those who by being nearer the Original were better Judges of the truth of it And what Authority have you to receive it and enjoyn Mankind the belief of it These were Questions which an Impostor could never give any Answer to and without satisfaction in these Matters so great and wise a part of Mankind as are now and were formerly throughly perswaded of the truth of the Christian Religion could not voluntarily lay aside all their ancient Prejudices and Ingagements and imbrace a New Religion with all the dangerous Consequences that they knew must attend such a change It is therefore manifestly absurd to suppose there ever were any Men Foolish and Impudent enough to Publish a false History of Matters of Fact pretended to be done just before the Publication and in the very Place where the Scene is laid within the immediate Cognizance of all the People to whom the Relation is directed and if there were any such Pretenders 't is impossible to think there should be any People so Stupid as to believe they themselves saw and heard such Things as were never said or done among them and this purely upon the Information of others without which they had remained intirely ignorant of them from whence it necessarily follows that the Christian Scheme could not be Published at the Time 't is dated at if it were meer Forgery and Invention It is likewise very ridiculous and irrational to imagine that a long series of Publick Notorious Facts said to be done in the presence of great Multitudes of all sorts of Persons in different Countries and Nations the Consequences of which are pretended to be very great and concerning to all Mankind and which by the Credit they had obtained and the Opposition that had been made to them had occasioned mighty Changes and Alterations in the World 'T is very absurd I say to maintain that such Facts as these which never happen'd at all should at any distance from the Time in which they are pretended to have happen'd ever come to be genenerally believed in or near those Places they are appropriated to barely upon the Authority of their Publication when those that were supposed to believe them can have no other Reason for their Faith but this That some body had the confidence to
I mean such as is as well attested to have been done as those Recorded in the Scriptures and can no more be accounted for without the Power of God than they can many of which I will allow to have been done upon other occasions without any Application of them to the advantage of the Religion of those that performed them 'T is true indeed many Signs and Wonders may have been wrought for the Confirmation of false Doctrines and may have deceived many whom Simplicity and Bigotry to the Cause they made for disposed to entertain them but we have no Records of any such ill-intended Miracles left which by the Nature Circumstances Effects or Attestation of them can dispose a rational Man to ascribe them to God And whatever Pretences of this kind there may have been 't is a very good Argument that the World can distinguish betwixt the wonderful Works of God and the little Feats of Men and Evil Spirits That there are now no Opinions or Doctrines whatsoever remaining besides what are contained in the Jewish and Christian Revelations nor any particular Explications of or Deductions from them which were at first Believed and Propagated upon the Strength and Authority of strange and wonderful Facts publickly and really done for that end The next Intimation made use of to overthrow the Truth of the Scripture-Revelation concerns the Prophecies which make a great part of it And this as well as the first Objection against Miracles is wholly new the Invention of these latter Days wherein the Improvements of rational Knowledge have forced the Patrons of Irreligion upon new Absurdities Now the Argument as far as 't is capable of being expressed in such a form is this That the Prophecies of the Old Testament upon which the Christian Religion is principally built proceeded from Impressions made upon the Imaginations of the Prophets which Impressions were always agreeable to their several Tempers Complexions and Opinions from whence it must be inferr'd that such Visionary Scenes and Figurative Expressions as these Prophecies are delivered in could be attributed to God only in a popular way as all other extraordinary and unusual Events were and therefore cannot be made use of to prove a Divine Revelation because they proceeded wholly from Natural Causes though unknown to us But whatever of this nature is advanced by Spinoza or whatever Inferences are drawn from it by others who apply it further than he durst openly assert nothing can be concluded from his Account of Prophecy to the Prejudice of the Scripture-Revelation were all his Observations upon this Subject true as 't is manifest to any one that reads the Bible they are not For supposing all he says upon this Head were true viz. That the Prophets were Persons of livelier Imaginations than others as 't is plain of some of them that they were not That the Angry Chearful or Melancholy Prophet always Prophesied things suitable to his particular Temper as there are several Instances to be given to the contrary and that the Jews had a pious way of Attributing every thing strange or unusual to God c. What if all these things were so as Spinoza observes The Knowledge which these Angry Chearful c. Prophets of lively Imaginations had of Future Things must be allowed to come from God in a different manner from that whereby they received all their other Knowledge as Spinoza himself plainly owns and if it be so 't is a very good Argument that the Doctrines Preached by those Prophets were delivered to them by God also in the same way that their Prophecies were which is sufficient to inforce the Obligation of them upon us whatever Natural Causes God was pleased to make use of in the Revelation and that is all we contend for or are concern'd to maintain This is all that either the Ancient or Modern Enemies of the Christian Religion had or can have to object to the Miracles and Prophecies Recorded in the Bible excepting what has been already Answered in the direct proof that was given of the Truth of them The other parts of Scripture are charged with almost all the Faults which any Humane Writing is capable of viz. Contradictions to Reason and Philosophy Contradictions of one part to another Mistakes as to the Authors of the Books Connexion of the Parts Chronology Geography c. Ridiculous and Improbable Stories Absurd and Irrational Laws and Injunctions Trifling and Impertinent Reasons and Arguments Low and Unartful Language The Injustice of which Objections I shall shew very briefly as sying very open and obvious As to Contradictions to Reason and Philosophy pretended to be in the Scriptures no body has been acute enough yet or sufficiently instructed in the true System of things to make good this Charge We have lived to see several New Schemes Hypotheses and Theories of the World Confuted and Exploded but the Plainest Simplest and most Demonstrative Account of Nature that is now extant is found to be the most agreeable to Scripture and answers all the Ancient Blasphemies against Providence which were grounded upon false Hypotheses then in Reputation But after all the Scriptures were not written to teach us Philosophy If this had been the Design of them no doubt but we had had a truer Scheme of Knowledge than any Philosopher has been yet able to give us but then 't is certain we should have had much less Religion if that and our Philosophy had been revealed to us together Had the Language of Scripture been every where adapted to the true Nature of Things 't is hard to conceive how it should ever have come to be believed For supposing these Notions to be true That the Earth moves That the Sun is a Hundred thousand times bigger than the Earth That the Moon and the other Planets are inhabited That Beasts are senseless Machines and meer Clock-work and the like And supposing all the popular Expressions of Scripture concerning such Matters were changed and suited to these Notions would not all the Learned part of Mankind who lived before these new Discoveries in Nature were made have been apt to reject the whole Revelation as absurd and unphilosophical But if some of the Learned had been so sensible of their Ignorance of Nature and the Power of God as to make all the Prejudices of their Reason Submit to their Faith 't is hardly possible to imagine how the People should ever have been induced to believe such Opinions as shock those Common Natural Notions they have of Things which come to them without teaching and Opinions that will always seem to contradict their Senses The greatest Evidence of Miracles would not be sufficient to convince the People of the Truth of such Notions as those before-mention'd for though strange and wonderful Things which they actually and certainly perceive come to pass may satisfie them that as strange Things as these may happen hereafter yet even such Signs and Wonders as these which they see can hardly be supposed
to convince them that there are at present other strange Things which they do not see and which they believe their Senses as capable Judges of as of those which they do see But whether the Scriptures were believed in this Case by few or more those who had not been disposed to like them would have had greater and more unanswerable Objections to make to them from Reason and Philosophy than our present Unbelievers have How could a faithful Christian who lived before Copernicus and Des Cartes have defended the Philosophy of the Scriptures against such as rejected the forementioned Notions and exposed them as ridiculous and absurd The bare Authority of the Revelation without the Assistance of all our Modern Experiments and Observations would have been less effectual to convince Gainsayers then than it is now because the Opinions contrary to the Doctrines of Scripture then would have been more easie and popular than those contained in Scripture and therefore if the Scripture Notions were not true no Reason could be given why they should be there For it could not then be said as it is very justly and properly now in several Cases that the Expressions of Scripture were suited to the common Notions of the People who were to read them from whence it follows that the appearing Falshood of the Opinions above-mentioned if they had been found in Scripture would have been a more puzling Objection to the Christians of former Times than the allowed Falshood of the Common Vulgar Notions of Philosophy which the Scriptures are at present charg'd with can be to us And what we suppose of the Times before Copernicus would hold good of the present upon the like Tryal For it is not to be contested but there are a great many other true Notions in Philosophy hitherto unknown to us which upon the first discovery would appear as shocking and contrary to all our former Knowledge as the Motion of the Earth the Planetary Worlds c. did to our Predecessors and were these delivered in our Bibles as we have supposed the other to be they would furnish as much matter of Cavil to our Modern and all succeeding Scepticks as those would have done to the Philosophers of former Ages till further Experience had reconciled them to their Reason which could never be expected in all Points For had every Thing the Scripture has occasion to mention been expressed according to the true Philosophy of it the whole Race of Mankind could never make Experiments and Observations enough to satisfie themselves of the Truth of all the Scripture-Notions without the Authority of the Revelation as long as the World indures But beside this general Defence of the Philosophy of Scripture it may be said that several seeming Contradictions to Reason which the Enemies of our Religion have laid a great stress upon have been proved to be true and consistent by Learned Men and some of them that were capable of it Mathemaâ—ically demonstrated As particularly the Capacity of Noah's Ark. The same Thing may be answered to the next Objections made to Scripture viz. That several Places which seem'd to contradict one another have been plainly reconciled and several things which have been look'd upon as Mistakes as to the Authors of the Books Connexion of the Parts Chronology Geography c. have been clearly proved to be none by those who have particularly undertook the Examination of these Difficulties And as to those Places which do not admit of such a Solution all the Faults and Defects they are charged with are wholly owing to the Tradition and way of Conveyance which was purely Humane and were not in the Original Revelation which we say was Divine and have proved to be so by many incontestable Evidences Allowing therefore that the Text of the Scriptures like that of other Books hath received some alterations by Time and variety of Copies That some of the Rolls or Sheets of the Old Testament have been misplaced that some Things have been inserted afterwards Words and Sentences have been left out Letters have been changed and other Mistakes have been made by Transcribers That some of the Books or some parts of them are ascribed to wrong Authors and that it has been much controverted whether some of them should be admitted into the Canon Should we I say allow all this I do not see what use could be made of it to the prejudice either of the Truth or Divinity of the Jewish and Christian Revelations For variety of Copies from whence all the alterations of the Text proceed are a very great Argument of the Sincerity and Importance of the Original as being the best Preservative against all Corruption in the Substance and principal parts of it And the Controverted Books only shew what care and faithful Examination there was of every Book before it was admitted into the Canon But to give all the force and weight to these Objections which they can possibly have should we reject all Controverted Books and Passages whatsoever and should we establish any Reading we please where there is variety only letting the authentick undoubted Places be the Rule of Exposition to the doubtful than which nothing can be more reasonable in this Case I dare affirm that not one Article of Faith or Rule of Practice or any of the principal Facts our Religion is built upon would be cut off but might be as evidently proved from what remains uncontested as from the whole It does not therefore follow from those Changes and Alterations that have crept into the Scriptures since they were deposited in the hands of Men to keep or the Contests they have had about the Authority of some parts of them that what remains unaltered and uncontested is not true and of Divine Original because God has no where promised to exempt the Books in which his Revelations to Man are preserved from the accidents common to other Books Nay further should we allow what some have the confidence to assert That the Sacred Writers themselves were liable to the same Mistakes as other Men are in the Relation of Matters of Fact from 〈◊〉 own Memories or the Information of credible Witnesses it cannot be concluded from hence that any of the principal Facts which make a necessary part of our Religion are false Because these were all so very extraordinary and notorious and so impossible to be believed or pass'd by without Censure and Contradiction if they could have been denied that had the Authors of the Books of Scripture had no peculiar Assistance from God in the Composure of them we can have no manner of Reason to disbelieve or question the Truth of any Thing of the Substance and principal Parts either of the History or Doctrine there delivered For supposing those we call the Sacred Writers were not Divinely inspired as we believe they were yet were they capable and faithful Witnesses of what they writ and did not this appear to us from their Way and Manner of Writing
believe the Christian Religion and render us inexcusable if we do not Now the Matters of Fact I have undertook to prove lying out of the reach of our own present Perceptions and Memories and being not Communicated to us by Immediate Revelation from God we can be informed and assured of the truth of them no other way than by Humane Testimony the Connexion of present Appearances with former and from the Nature of things either in General or the Particular Facts in Question If therefore it can be shewn that those Matters of Fact which make up the Christian History and upon which the Christian Religion is Founded are as well attested as any other distant Facts whatsoever that there is as necessary a Connexion betwixt them and the present state of things in the World as betwixt the present and any former Appearances and that we have as much assurance both from the Nature of things in General and these in Particular that they are true as we can have that any thing else is so at a distance from us If I say it can be shewn that the Proof before given answers all these Characters then does it evidently follow that there is as much reason to believe the Christian Religion as there can possibly be to be believe any Matters of Fact out of the Notice and Observation of the Living and that there are some such Matters of Fact as these which deserve our assent to them as well as any Truths concerning the real Nature of things cannot be questioned 1. First Then as to Humane Testimony What true Matters of Fact are there now believed in the World which are better attested than the Christian are There is no History of former Times now extant confirm'd by such a Cloud of Witnesses and there never were any Witnesses of such unquestionable Characters We have a great many Authors now extant who had themselves a Principal Concern in the Transactions they write of They were all Persons of great Probity and Integrity of a disinteressed undesigning Simplicity of Manners Men without Guile and without Deceit They were bred up in a different Religion from that they Recommended in their Writings They were very much Prejudiced against the Pretences of their Master who came to instruct them in it They were slow to believe the Account he gave of Himself and the Gospel he Preached and the Meanness and Poverty of his Condition while he Lived the Scandal of his Death and the many Afflictions and Dangers his Disciples and Followers were exposed to after his Death were very great Discouragements from imbracing his Doctrine The History these Persons acquaint us with consists of such a multiplicity of Publick Notorious Facts so easie to be known so curious to be enquired into and of such vast Consequence and Importance for all Persons to be rightly imform'd in that every body might have disproved them if they had been False and every body that did not believe them would have thought himself concern'd to have done it if he could After these first Christian Writers we have a large Succession of other Authors who Lived at different Times during the space of Three Hundred Years and in several distant Countries and Nations throughout the Roman Empire who do unanimously acquaint us that Copies of those first Writers were carefully preserved in every Place and who confirm their Characters and the Truth of their Relation which they assure us were every where believed so firmly and heartily that vast Multitudes of People in all Places forsook the Religion they had been bred up in laid aside the old Laws and Customs they had lived by restrained the Inclinations and denied the Appetites they had indulged and conquered inveterate Prejudices and Aversions in order to comply with the Doctrine and Institution of Christ according as it was delivered in the Scriptures of the New Testament And in the same manner we are informed that during these Three Hundred Years all sorts of Christians were exposed to great Troubles Losses and Sufferings upon account of their Profession and that abundance of them indured various Tortures and suffered Death and Reproach for not renouncing their Faith of which number were most of the Writers of those Times of whose Sincerity Piety and Diligent Enquiry into the Truth of the Christian History and Revelation we have ample Testimonies remaining Several of them were likewise very Learned Men of great Fame and Reputation for Philosophy and who would not yeild to the Simplicity of the Gospel till over-ruled and bore down by the Irresistible Authority of Matters of Fact well proved and attested All of them writ at such Times and in such Places when and where every body that read what they had writ was as capable of imforming himself of the Truth and Integrity of the Christian Tradition as the Authors themselves were there being a great many other Writers cited by them and divers other Monuments and Records appealed to which were then extant and publickly known It is moreover very remarkable That during this forementioned Term of 300 Years while Christianity was new and under Persecution neither the Jews nor Heathens those industrious Enemies and Opposers of the Gospel who were every where mixt with the Christians and were continually Disputing with them This I say is a further confirmation of the Truth of the Christian Religion that not one of all its Ancient Enemies either Jew or Heathen should ever deny or call in question the great and wonderful Facts 't was built upon but that several of them should corroborate the Christian Accounts by many Circumstances mention'd in their own Writings as 't is manifest they have done Thus stands the first and earliest Proof of the Christian Religion from Humane Testimony which is further confirmed by an innumerable and continually increasing Company of Writers and the Constancy and Vniversality of Belief ever since which by reason of some Opposition or other has been in every Age almost examined over again and stood the Test of the most Malicious Examination 2. In the next place then without considering these Humane Authorities in particular let us examine what Connexion there is betwixt the present State of Christianity in the World and the Ancient History of it That the Christian Religion is now own'd and professed in a great many Countries that where-ever the Christian Religion is believed there the Scriptures of the New Testament are acknowledged also as the Rule and Standard of it and that all the wonderful Facts therein Recorded are believed by Christians to have really happen'd at the Times and Places there mentioned are Matters of Fact which every Body may by his own Observation find to be true and I shall here take for granted This therefore being the present State of Things in the World it necessarily follows from hence That the Christian Religion had a Beginning There was a Time when the Christian Religion was no where practised nor any of those Facts Recorded
in the New Testament believed How then came it to pass That any Body should Contrive and Publish such a Scheme as this And how came any Body to believe it when Published if it had not been true 'T is plain that the first Contrivers Publishers and Believers of the Christian Religion whoever they were must have been either Persons of no Religion at all before or of a different one from the Christian they must have been either Good Men or Ill Men such as lived up to the Rules and Principles of the Christian Religion or contrary to them But whichsoever of these Characters we suppose belong'd to the first Christians I cannot possibly account for the Present State of Christianity if the Principal Facts related in the New Testament were not true I cannot conceive that an Atheist or a Wicked Man that was bred up in different Notions of Religion and whose Practice was contrary to the Christian Rules of Life could invent such a Scheme as contradicted and condemned all his former Opinions and Practices or would have been at the pains to do it if he could And I can as little imagine that there was any Person before the appearance of Christianity in the World who could by the strength of his own Capacities without any Divine Assistance find out such a noble Plan and Model of Humane Life as that contained in the New Testament and by the extraordinary force and goodness of his own Disposition live up to it himself before he recommended it to others and as impossible is it to suppose that such a good Man as this should throw off those contrary Sentiments and Impressions of Religion he had been brought up in for being False and Ineffectual for the promoting a good Life and at the same time forge a Set of the most unaccountable Lyes that were ever known and make use of this Imposture to inforce the Belief and Practice of his new Principles which are plainly and directly inconsistent with such Methods But could we suppose any Person capable of framing such a Scheme as the 〈…〉 without the help of Revelation for the Doctrines of it or true History for the Facts 't is built upon What End or Motive could be imagined sufficient to determine him to do it He could not propose any Profit or Advantage to himself from a Work which he knew would render all the Promoters of it liable to Reproaches Troubles and Afflictions and every thing that was hard and grievous in Life For this whoever Published the Christian Religion first assures us was to be the Lot and Portion of those that imbraced it This is one of the Principal Doctrines of the Gospel where we are commanded to quit all we Possess to renounce all the Pleasures and Enjoyments of the World to expect Tribulation and Anguish Ignominy and Death and to suffer all manner of Persecution gladly for the sake of the Christian Profession How could a Man that made this a part of his Religion and had foresight enough to know he should have occasion to practice it himself think of advancing his Interest in the World by such an Invention And how can we imagine any uncertain doubtful Prospect of Future Reputation after Death should be strong enough to bear him up against all the sure and sensible Discouragements he was to meet with while he Lived As this cannot well be imagined so neither is it probable to believe that the meer pleasure of deceiving should put a Man upon the contrivance of such a Scheme as was very unlikely to take very hazardous to the Impostor and very beneficial to all that were deceived It is moreover very unconceivable how any Man should think of advancing the present Interest and Welfare of Mankind by perswading them to believe all the Wonderful Facts and Extraordinary Doctrines of the Christian Religion which have no manner of relation to it and how he should come to be so mightily for their Happiness in a Future State which he had no certainty of from Revelation Neither is there any reason to be given why he should imagine the belief of those Facts and Doctrines necessary to their Happiness in a Future State if he had been sure there was one nor why he should pitch upon the grossest Forgeries imaginable in order to promote the practice of such Vertues among Men as are directly opposite to the means he used for this end We cannot therefore account for the contrivance of the Christian Religion from any End or Motive that was likely to put a Man upon such a Work because it is very manifest from the whole Tenour of this Religion that the Author of it if it had been an Imposture could not have promised himself any kind of advantage from his Undertaking And upon further Enquiry and Examination it will appear That if any Man had been wise enough to invent such a Religion and foolish enough to have had some certain aim and prospect in effecting it his Success could never have been answerable to his Expectation For how could such a Religion as the Christian have ever obtained so general a Credit in the World as we find it now has if it had been purely Humane Invention The Morality of it is so Pure and Holy so contrary to all the prevailing Inclinations and Interests of Mankind in this Life that we find it the hardest thing in the World by continual Care and Instruction to bring Men to submit to it who have been accustomed by Education to believe it Revealed by God and Established upon the Conditions of Eternal Happiness and Misery in another World who are confirm'd in that belief by the concurrent Faith of all they know and converse with and who are left without a possibility of disproving the Truth of the pretended Revetion if it had been at first an Imposture How then can we imagine that the Christian Laws and Rules of Life should have been so easily received at their first Publication so widely Propagated afterwards and so absolutely and intirely submitted to that they should become the standing unalterable Laws of so many different Countries and Nations as do now profess the Christian Faith How I say could this have ever happen'd if the first Set of Persons that imbraced this Morality had not been fully convinced that it had been expresly revealed by God and injoyned Mankind under the Sanction of Eternal Rewards and Punishments And how could any Man be perswaded of this without believing those wonderful Facts upon the Credit of which the Truth of the whole Revelation is Founded But if we suppose the first Christians that ever were believed all those Matters of Fact how can this be supposed of them except they were true How can we possibly imagine that the Principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament which are now a necessary part of the Faith of all Christians should be believed by those in whose times the Scheme is laid in contradiction to all their
Senses or first obtain Credit among those who lived afterwards without any proof of their being done or believed before And if we suppose the Christian Morality Entertained and Established in the World without the present History we have of it the Forgery of that afterwards would have been wholly unnecessary and the difficulty of getting such a Forgery believed much greater From hence then it plainly follows that there could never have been such a state of things in the World as we now perceive if all the Principal Parts and Substance of the Christian History as it is at present generally believed were not true and had some time or other really happen'd out according to the Relation we find given of them This does likewise further appear from the way and manner in which those Books that contain this History are Written where we find so many extraordinary Marks and Characters of the Simplicity Integrity and undesigning Humility of the Writers their hearty Belief of what they wrote themselves and their great Zeal and Concern for the Good of Mankind as plainly shew them to have been Influenced not only by the force of well-attested Truth but by some extraordinary and more than Humane Impressions 3. These are in short the Reasons we have to believe the Truth of the Christian Religion The Validity and Force of which I shall endeavour to make out more fully under the Third Head where I am to shew the Sufficiency of the Proof that has been given of the Christian Matters of Fact from the Nature of Things upon which the certainty of all Matters of Fact as well as other Truths is ultimately founded Now the chief and immediate Reason of believing most Facts being taken from the Nature of Man and there being nothing we are so well acquainted with as the common Original Capacities and Powers Inclinations and Aversions of Mankind and consequently their Ends and Motives of acting it will be easie to shew from hence that the proof of the Christian Religion before given is not only sufficient to determine our assent to it but does in Evidence and Multiplicity of Conviction far exceed the Proof any other Matters of Fact are capable of In the first place then let us consider why we believe any Matter of Fact which never fell within our own particular and immediate Cognizance Why do we so firmly believe the Story of Julius Cesar and William the Conqueror that there is such a place as Italy or China c Now the reason of this upon examining our selves we shall find to be because a great many Men have acquainted us that there were formerly such Persons who did such and such Things and that there are now such Places in the World c. which Men were competent Judges of what they tell us had sufficient Opportunities of knowing the Truth themselves no Motives conceivable that could dispose them to lye to others and are contradicted by no body of equal Authority with them these are all the grounds of Credibility upon which Matters of Fact are generally believed and no further Characters of Truth are required by one that is satisfied of these But we have all these Reasons to believe the Common Matters of Fact related in the New Testament in the fullest Force and Extent of them and several other besides as the Incapacity of the Witnesses to deceive if they had been disposed to do it the greater Motives they had not to say what they did than to say it if it had been false and the greater Motives other Persons had to contradict them if they could have been disproved Let us examine all these Characters of Truth and see how far the Proof of the Christian History exceeds that of other Matters of Fact and how far the supposed Falshood of it notwithstanding these Characters is consistent with that certain Knowledge we have of Humane Nature As to the first Character required for the Proof of Matters of Fact the Number of the Witnesses there never was certainly so vast a Multitude of Persons all unanimously agreeing to assert the Truth of so great a variety of Matters of Fact as there is in the Case before us because the Progress of Christianity was so swift that we cannot suppose more Persons could have been acquainted with the History and Doctrines of it in so short a time and there never was such industrious Care taken to propagate the Belief of any other Facts and Opinions that we ever read of It is likewise as certain that the whole Multitude of the first Publishers and Professors of Christianity were as competent Judges of the Matters they bear witness of as 't is possible for any Man to be of any thing else whatsoever We will only suppose now that Christ and his Apostles and Disciples pretended to such Things as are Recorded of them in the Scriptures and consequently to believe their own Pretences and that all others who profess'd the Gospel of Christ did declare their Belief of all those Things which are related as said or done by Christ and his Apostles And surely a Man may infallibly know his own Thoughts and Imaginations he can tell whether he believes such or such a Thing or no or at least he can be certain that he thinks or fancies he believes it and if there be any Intercourse or Communication betwixt Men one Man may know that another pretends to believe or do a Thing whether he really believes or does it or no. If a Multitude of Men can be deceived in such Judgments as these concerning themselves and one another 't is evident that there is no such thing as Knowledge at all If therefore it must be allowed that a vast Multitude of Persons did pretend to believe all those things that they are said to believe in the New Testament it necessarily follows from hence that they did really and truly believe them or else they pretended to believe what they certainly knew to be false But that they did not pretend to believe what they knew to be false will evidently appear from these further Reflections upon Humane Nature First then 't is certain that every Man must act for some End or Motive and here is no End or Motive conceivable that could determine any of the first Publishers or Professors of Christianity to pretend to believe those Facts which they knew to be false All the Ends and Motives we can imagine any Man to act upon in such a Case we have reckoned up before and we find that if we put our selves into the same Circumstances with those first Witnesses of Christianity it would have been impossible for us to have been influenced by any of them to make the same pretences being infallibly assured at the same time that they were utterly false and groundless from whence we conclude that neither did they since all Men are so made and contrived as to be determined by the same general Motives though according to the difference of
made upon the course of things in the World it cannot be conceived or imagined that such Events as these should ever happen That there never was an Instance of any thing like the Christian Scheme which was proved or allowed by any body in the World to be an Imposture I shall take for granted since none of the Enemies of Christianity have ever produced one As for Mahometism which some have had the impudence to compare with Christianity so far as both they and we allow it to be an Imposture it can have no manner of place here as a Parallel Instance For it is on all hands granted that there was such a Man as Mahomet who lived at the Time and Place 't is pretended by his Followers he did 't is granted likewise that he wrote the Alcoran and pretended to the things there Recorded of him and that his Religion prevailed and was Propagated in the way and manner there related and described by him But in the present supposition of the whole Christian Scheme's being an Imposture it must be affirmed that call the Scriptures of the New Testament and the whole History therein contained are meer Forgery and Invention without any Foundation of Truth in the Common Matters of Fact there Recorded which makes the case of Christianity in all the important variety of Circumstances and Events possible unlike that of Mahometism And as no Instance of such an Imposture as is here pretended can be given out of the History of former times so likewise is it utterly impossible to imagine that such an Instance as this could ever happen at all To give our selves a fuller and more sensible Conviction of this let us take as exact and extensive a view as we can of the State of the World just before we affirm that Christianity was discovered or at the latest Period of Time mentioned in the New Testament Let us consider the General Temper Inclinations Opinions and Interests of the Jews at that time together with the highest Improvements in Learning and Religion then amongst them Let us make the same Reflections upon the Roman State and Government and the Principal Nations and Countries within that Empire Then let us carefully weigh and examine the Christian History and Religion contained in the Scriptures of the New Testament let us represent to our selves in one continued Prospect all the Principal Facts there Recorded drawn forth in all their variety of Circumstances the whole System of Doctrines and Rules in their just Dependance and Connexion the Characters of the Persons concerned in the Publishing and Establishing them together with the way and manner in which all these things are Written and when we have done this let us truly and impartially ask our selves whether we can possibly conceive how any Person could at that time Invent and Publish that whole Scheme of Things at Jerusalem Rome or any other part of the Roman Empire without any ground of truth to build upon and supposing it Published how it could be Believed so firmly and Propagated so far and wide that it should be fixt and continue in all this part of the World to this day without any Footsteps or Motives remaining whereby we might be able to detect the Imposture This I say appears to me as hard to conceive as that Rome should build it self and I am verily perswaded would appear so to any one else that had as fully and impartially considered the Matter as I have endeavoured to do If we date the Imposture later the same difficulty will attend the Invention and Propagation of it and we shall be further puzled to account for all the Signs and Monuments of Christianity which will appear to have been before the Period assigned for its Original wheresoever we place it But if we deal as fairly by Christianity as we do by Mahometism and allow the Common Matters of Fact Recorded of it to be true if we grant that there was such a Man as Christ who lived at the Time and Place 't is affirmed by Christians he did that he and his Disciples pretended to what is Recorded in the Scriptures of the New Testament of them that those Books were written by the Persons whose Names they bear and that the Christian Religion spread and prevail'd over the World in the way and manner and by the means of those Pretences we have there an account of Granting I say all these things as by the general acknowledgement of all sorts of Persons and the impossibility of their being false just before proved they must be granted From hence it necessarily follows that all the other Extraordinary Facts are true and consequently that the Christian Religion came from God and lays a necessary Obligation upon Mankind to believe it and conform themselves to it This is certain in the same way of Reasoning we used before because there never was an Instance and it cannot be conceived there ever should be one where such Marks and Indications of Truth as accompany these things should all belong to an Imposture Upon this account therefore it is that we affirm all these things to be impossible viz. That Persons of such Characters as Christ and his Disciples were represented to be should invent and contrive the Christian Doctrine and Institution or perform those things that are Recorded of them meerly by their own Skill and Power That Christ and his Disciples should pretend to have done such Extraordinary Facts as are attributed to them in the New Testament if they were not the true and immediate Instruments by whom they were done That such Multitudes of Persons as we there Read of should believe these Facts and imbrace Christianity upon the Credit of them if they were not true or should pretend to believe them if they were not really perswaded of their truth And if all the Principal Facts both Common and Extraordinary were certainly true as far as the Persons concerned in bearing Testimony to them were capable of perceiving their Truth It is likewise impossible but the whole Christian Religion and all the Conduct and Management in the Discovery and Propagation of it must come from God All these Propositions we are firmly assured of upon this ground viz. because if we suppose the contrary of any thing here alledged no Parallel Instance can be given to prove the truth of what we suppose and if we represent any of these Cases to our selves fairly in all its Circumstances we cannot possibly conceive it should ever happen 'T is true indeed there have been Persons of low Fortunes and mean Imployments in the World who have by the meer force of their Natural Genius spoke Wisely and acted Gallantly upon some Occasions but 't was never known and 't is impossible to conceive that Persons of no Learning or Education who knew nothing beyond the mean Affairs of their own Village and never Converst with any of higher Improvements than themselves it is impossible I say to imagine that such Persons
as these should be able by the meer strength of their Natural Parts to Compose such Poems as Virgil's and such Orations as Tully's and should likewise at the same time exceed all others in the Skill of Explaining hard Authors and in the Knowledge of Physick But 't is much harder to conceive that Christ and his Disciples being Persons of such Education and Character as they are represented to us to be could by their own unasisted Capacities Compose the Christian Religion Interpret Ancient Prophecies Foretel Future Events Cure all manner of Sick and Maimed and perform all those other Mighty Works that are Recorded of them We have heard of several Persons who have pretended to Revelations to Prophecies to Miracles and to all of them falsly without any ground for their pretences but there never were any who pretended to such Revelations such Prophecies and such Miracles as we find in the Scriptures of the New Testament so many and so publick so far exceeding all the conceivable Power of Art and Confederacy so liable to discovery and contradiction if they were false so hazardous to the Undertakers and so beneficial to the World in such a continued Series all of them concurrent to the same End and accompanied with such other Circumstances as these are related to be Whoever will be at the pains to consider all this wonderful Scheme of Things together will find it impossible to contrive such another though he has the Advantage of a Model before him which the Author of this had not and supposing he had succeeded in such a Contrivance he would find it impossible to prevail upon himself to pretend to act it over there being no Motives conceivable which bear any manner of Proportion to the plain and certain discouragements he must foresee supposing he knew all his Pretences to be false as in the present Case must be supposed And the same will hold with respect to the first Professors of Christianity 'T would be equally impossible for them to pretend to believe all these Things if they were not really and fully persuaded of the Truth of them Lying and Deceiving are a pleasure to some Men and the more notorious and gross the Deceit is the greater is the Satisfaction But then 't is certain likewise that there are very few of such a temper as to be pleased with Lying and Forgery without any other design or prospect but that there should be a large Succession and continual increase of such Men in divers Countries and Nations is much more difficult to conceive than that there should be an Age of Crookedness and Deformity when in a considerable part of the World the generality of People of all sorts had of a sudden by some strange unknown Influence some parts of their Bodies distorted and the Calamity was continually propagated all the time by an unusual sort of Infection But if this were allowed if all the first Christians were granted to be pure Deceivers 't would be exceedingly more difficult to imagine that the pleasure of Deceiving was so strong as to be able to support such vast Multitudes of Persons under all the other Losses and Sufferings Humane Nature is capable of 'T is possible indeed for Men to suffer all manner of Affliction and even to die Martyrs for the falsest and most absurd Religion that can be devised and frequent Instances may be given of such as have done so but then 't is certain also that they truly and firmly believed what they Suffered for There never was nor ever can be such an extravagant Army of Martyrs and Confessors as did or will renounce all the Comforts and Satisfactions of Life indure Grief and Pain chearfully and be ready upon all occasions to lay down their Lives for the Profession of such Matters of Fact as they are all infallibly convinced are false and which they are sure all their Persecutors have the same Reason to know are false that they have To affirm or imagine that any Men can act upon such disproportionate Motives as such Men must be supposed to act upon is full as absurd and ridiculous as to suppose that the Sea may be restrained with Bars and that the Hills and Mountains are lighter than the Dust of the Balance But if it be granted as we have shewn it must that all those who pretended to say and do such strange Things as are related of them in the New Testament and those who pretended to be persuaded of the Truth of what was said and done did all really and truly believe what they pretended to then is it impossible to conceive that the Things thus believed to be true should notwithstanding be false There are it is confessed no Opinions so extravagant and absurd but a great many Persons may be throughly persuaded of the Truth of them but there never was an Instance of such Stupidity or Enthusiasm yet where such Facts as those related in the New Testament were by great Multitudes believed to have happen'd within their own immediate Cognizance when no such Things did really and truly happen at all And 't is impossible to conceive there ever should be such an Instance as this in the World without a through change of Humane Nature and all the Powers and Faculties of it And we have no more reason to think it was so in the Case before us than we have to believe that there was a Time when the Earth and all the Bodies belonging to it did exist in the same State of outward appearance we now perceive them without Motion Figure or Extension And if all the Principal Matters of Fact both Common and Extraordinary were really true or did really and certainly happen so far as Humane Perceptions are to be relied on it cannot be doubted but God was the Author of the whole Christian Scheme because we have no Example of any such Scheme as this that was ever made by any other Power but the Divine We cannot by the utmost Knowledge we have of all the Powers that be conceive that any Power less than the Divine could produce such an Effect or that any other besides such as were Commission'd by him would have produced it if they could By what we know of the Nature of God the Work appears very worthy of him and very agreeable to all his Attributes and we cannot possibly imagine what more proper and effectual ways God could have taken to manifest himself to us if he was pleased to vouchsafe us that Favour These are the Reasons upon which we conclude that the Christian Religion came from God supposing all the Facts before-mentioned to be true as I think they have been proved to be which Proof being allowed we have as much Reason to believe that the Christian Religion proceeded from God as that the World was Created by him Thus does it plainly appear from the Nature of Things that the Proofs before given of the Christian Religion severally examined were all very well founded
And now if we take a just view of them and consider them all together we shall be obliged to make the following Conclusions 1. That there never was any Thing discovered or so much as suspected to be an Imposture that had so many Marks and Characters of Truth upon it as the Christian Religion has 2. That there never were any true Matters of Fact so well attested or that were capable of such a Proof as the Christian Facts are There being no Ancient Facts which have so many sensible Monuments and Effects of them left and in the Proof of which Mankind was so nearly and necessarily concern'd 3. That it is impossible to conceive or frame any Notion how or in what manner the Christian Religion might possibly have been an Imposture notwithstanding all the present appearances of its being true And if all these Conclusions are right as I am throughly and irresistibly convinced they are and I think have proved them so to be there can be no room left to disbelieve the Christian Religion without distrusting all our Knowledge and renouncing all pretences to Reasoning But supposing these Conclusions were not any of them fully proved and it could be shewn That something else which had once all the appearance of Truth that the Christian Religion now has had afterwards been detected to be false that some other Ancient Matters of Fact are as well attested and proved to be true as the Christian seem to be and that 't is possible to imagine which way the Christian Religion might come to obtain its present Credit in the World notwithstanding it was at first an Imposture none of which I am sure can be proved Yet even in this Case the Proof that has now been given of the Christian Religion is sufficient to build our Faith upon because the most that can be inferr'd from all these Arguments is only this That there is a bare possibility in the Nature of Things that the Christian Religion may be false But he that from hence should conclude that it was really so without any other Reasons to support his Opinion and in opposition to all that multiplicity of Proof that has been offered for the Truth of it must not pretend Reason but only Resolution for his Infidelity Such therefore is the Sufficiency of the Proof before given whatever be the Nature or Kind of it or however it may be thought to differ from or fall short of the Demonstration used in other Matters that we are utterly inexcusable if we do not believe the Christian Religion upon it and God may justly Condemn us for our disbelief and that upon these two accounts 1. Because we believe other Matters of Fact upon less Evidence and 2. Because we are obliged to believe such Facts as have these appearances of Truth which the Christian Religion has though they should really be false 1. That we believe Matters of Fact upon less Evidence than the Christian Religion is received upon is manifest by what has been before proved that no Matters of Fact have or are capable of so great and therefore to confirm this Point I shall only bring that one Instance of Mahometism Now 't is certain that those who look upon the Christian Religion as an Imposture do at the same time profess to believe all the principal Parts of the History of Mahomet Such as his Pretences to Revelation his Writing the Alcoran and his Propagating the Belief of the things contained in it in the way and manner therein mentioned These I say they do not in the least question notwithstanding that the Mahometan Religion pretends to a Divine Original as well as the Christian and is in like manner addrest to Mankind under the Promises and Threatnings of Future Happiness and Misery though it is withal a very absurd Composition in it self and of very pernicious Consequence to the World to be Believed and Established It is therefore very unreasonable for Men that believe these things to deny the Common History of Christianity such as the Pretences of Christ and his Disciples to Revelations Prophecies and Miracles the Writing of the Scriptures of the New Testament by those whose Names they bear or at least by some of Christ's immediate Disciples and the Propagation of the Christian Religion according to the Times Places Ways and Methods Recorded in those Books 'T is very unreasonable I say for Men who believe the History of Mahometism to question the truth of these things because they are attested by a much greater variety of Books and other Monuments and a greater multiplicity of the Copies of the Scriptures all which Testimonies we are sure by a numerous succession of others were extant nearer the date of the several Facts attested and in an Age of Learning among People of much higher Improvements than the first Mahometans were and moreover because it is certain that the Pretences of Christ were more difficult to be Feigned by himself or Forged by others afterwards that the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel are of more Concern and Importance to be enquired into and the Establishment of Christianity whether true or false in its Original would so certainly contribute to the Happiness of Mankind that 't is one very good Argument of its being true that it is impossible to make and contrive any other Scheme every way so suitable and agreeable to the truest Interests of Humane Nature From whence I conclude that we cannot question the Truth of the History of Christianity so far as concerns the Common Matters of Fact without distrusting all the Knowledge we have of every Thing that happen'd at any distance from us And if the Common Matters of Fact are true all the other are plainly demonstrable from them as far as we have any certain Knowledge of the Natures of Things as has already been proved We are therefore obliged either to believe the Christian Religion or to renounce our belief of all other Facts whatsoever because whatever of this kind we believe besides we believe upon less Evidence 2. But Secondly Whatever degree of Evidence other Matters of Fact may be supposed to have we are absolutely obliged to believe the Christian Religion upon that Evidence that is brought for it because we are obliged to believe such Facts as have those appearances of Truth the Christian Religion has though they should be really false We are to judge of Things by the Faculties God has given us according to those grounds and measures of Truth he has suited and proportion'd to them and therefore when we have the greatest assurance of a Thing that we are capable of according to the present frame our Nature and the State of Things in the World it would be highly unreasonable in us to deny it whatever it was barely upon a Suspicion it might be false though it should afterwards really prove to be so but if what we had this apparent Proof of was a Matter of concern and importance to us upon the
Belief or Disbelief of which our utmost Happiness or Misery seemed to depend and we should prefer a meer Suspicion to all the appearing Marks and Characters of Truth God might as justly punish us for disbelieving a real Error upon such grounds as for rejecting the Truth It is not whether our Opinions are true or false but whether we have judg'd well or ill that we are accountable for neither in Matters of meer Speculation is it of much concern whether we judge well or ill because it is of no great moment whether we judge at all but it is not indifferent to us whether we will be happy or no Happiness is and must be the end of all our Thoughts and the governing Principle of our Lives upon this Account it is as we have seen in a former Discourse that we are necessarily concerned to know whether there be a God or no whether he requires any thing of us if there is and whether he has appointed any Future State of Life for us And these things our Reason has assured us are true and fit to be believed notwithstanding any Suspicions we may have to the contrary because we venture all our Happiness by disbelieving them And upon the same Score it is that the Christian Religion challenges our Assent to it because if all the fore-mentioned Principles be true we venture our Happiness as much in denying it For if this does not contain the Will of God it is impossible to know what is required of us because we can never give so strong and certain a Proof of what our Particular Duty to God is without Divine Revelation as we can that the Christian Revelation is true We are therefore in as high a manner obliged to believe Christianity as Natural Religion because the Proofs of that are very near if not quite as strong as those that are brought for the other and our Happiness is more certainly ventured here than there for this reason that if the First General Principles of Religion should be false he that denies them will suffer nothing for his denial but if those be true and the Christian Religion should be false he that rejects that runs as great a hazard as if it had been true because God will certainly Judge him according to the Evidence and not according to the Reality of things And therefore he that believes in God is obliged to believe in Christ also since 't is certain that the Christian Religion has a great many Extraordinary Marks and Characters of Truth to recommend it and is pressed upon our Belief under the Considerations of Eternal Happiness and Misery and we have nothing to oppose to all the appearing Evidence it is built upon but barely a Suspicion that notwithstanding what appears to us it may possibly be false The two first of these Assertions are manifest and the Truth of the latter will be very visible to any one that will give himself the trouble of considering all the Objections that have ever been made to the Christian Revelation which taken altogether will not so much as make out the meer possibility of the Christian Schemes being false but amount to no more than this that something else like something contained in the History of Christianity has been proved to be false therefore the Christian Religion is an Imposture For all that has ever been urged against the Truth of the Christian Religion is in short but this that Histories have been false Prophecies and Miracles have been counterfeit there have been false Pretences to Revelation Books have been forged strange Things have been said and done by Men and stranger by Evil Spirits But it can no more be inferr'd from hence that the Christian History and Revelation and all the Christian Prophecies and Miracles are false and the Scriptures of the New Testament are forged than it can be concluded that all Men are mad or asleep because there have been several in these Conditions that have thought themselves awake and in their Senses or that all the Arguments and Proofs made use of in Mathematical Knowledge are false because some pretended Demonstrations have been Undemonstrated and Confuted And yet this is the utmost defence that Infidelity can make for it self as has before been more particularly shewn Wherefore they are utterly inexcusable whoever they are who believe there is a God and that he is a Rewarder of all those that diligently seek him and yet reject so plain and evident a Revelation of himself as the Christian Religion is But there are very few I believe of this Character to be found in the Christian World 'T is more reasonable to think that those among us who will not have the Son of God to Reign over them have as little regard for the Father that sent him and that if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets nor be perswaded by one that rose from the Dead neither will they understand the Eternal Power and Godhead by the things that are made And if this be the Case of our Modern Deists and Vnbelievers if their Minds are Blinded and their foolish Hearts Darkned to such a degree that they cannot perceive God in any of the other ways he has took of Revealing himself to them we must leave them to be convinced by the last Revelation that will be made of the Righteous Judgment of God when they shall be forced to Believe and Tremble FINIS BOOKS Printed for Tho. Bennet Folio THuidides Greek and Latin Collated with five entire Mannscript Copies and all the Editions Extant Also Illustrated with Maps large Annotations and Indexes by J. Hudson M. A. and Fellow of Vniversity Coll. Oxon. To which is added an exact Chronology by the Learned Hen. Dodwell never before Published Printed at the Theater Oxon. Octavo and Twelves Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions by Dr. Stradling Dean of Chichester Together with an Account of the Author by James Harrington Esq Sermons and Discourses upon several Occasions by Dr. Meggot Dean of Chichester The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antonius the Roman Emperor Translated out of Greek into English by Dr. Causabon with Notes To this Edition is added the Life of the Emperor with an Account of Stoick Philosophy as also Remarks on the Meditations All newly written by Monsieur and Madam Dacier The Inspiration of the New Testament Asserted and Explained in Answer to the Six Letters of Inspiration from Holland c. by Mr. L. Moth. THE CERTAINTY and NECESSITY OF Religion in General c. The Contents INtroduction shewing the design of the Discourse and the Method in which it is Prosecuted Page 1. An account of the Nature of Man so far as concerns Religion p. 9. Of the Nature of God p. 16. Of the Relation there is betwixt God and Man p. 18. A direct proof of the Being of God p. 19. Considered as Possible p. 20. Considered as Probable p. 26. Considered as Certain p. 40. The certainty of God's Existence proved
Grounds upon which the first Christians believed them evinced from General Reflections upon the Scripture-account of them p. 161. What is said in the New Testament concerning Divin Assistance and Revelation proved to be true p. 183. The Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines Recorded in the New Testament which are all the Matters to be inquired into under this Head did certainly proceed from God p. 185. The Person themselves who appeared to be the immediate Authors of them might be infallibly satisfied that whatever of this kind they said or did was from God p. 186. Others may be likewise convinced of the same Truth by a certain proof of the following Points viz. p. 194. That the Miracles Prophecies and Doctrines contained in the New Testament could not be the Work and Contrivance of meer Men. p. 195. That God was the Author of them all p. 222. And that 't is absurd to ascribe these things to Evil Spirits p. 242. The Truth of the Christian Revelation delivered in the Books of the New Testament proved indirectly by shewing the absurdity of a contrary Supposition and the Weakness of all the Objections raised against Scripture and Revelation in General p. 245. The Scriptures of the New Testament could not possibly be Forged and Invented p. 250. Because there is no end or design imaginable sufficient to have determined the supposed Author of this Work to have undertaken it And because further if the principal Matters of Fact both Common and Extraordinary had not been true it would have been utterly impossible that the Christian Religion should ever have been Believed and Propagated in the World p. 264. The principal Objections against Revelation and the Scriptures answered viz. p. 272. That the Miracles and Prophecies mentioned in Scripture are no Proofs of a Divine Revelation p. 276. And that there are such Faults observable in the other parts of Scripture as shew the whole to be a pure Humane Composure p. 288. The sufficiency of the proof before given of the Christian Revelation fully and undeniably made out p. 303. From Humane Testimony p. 305. From the Connexion of present Appearances with former p. 309. And from the Nature of Things in General and the particular Facts in Question p 317. The Arguments taken from the Nature of things further made good by shewing that they are as just and concluding in the case of the Christian Religion as any other Arguments drawn from the Nature of things are p. 332. The sufficiency of the Proof before given is such that God may justly condemn us for not believing the Christian Religion upon it p. 349. Because we believe other Matters of Fact upon less Evidence and Ib. Because we are obliged to believe such Facts have those appearances of Truth which the Christian Religion has though they should really be false p. 352. FINIS BOOKS Printed for Tho. Bennet THE Lives of all the Princes of Orange from William the Great Founder of the Common-wealth of the United Provinces to which is added the Life of his present Majesty King William III. from his Birth to his Landing in England By Mr. Tho. Brown Together with all the Princes Heads taken from the Original Draughts by Mr. Robert White A Voyage to the World of Des Certes Translated from the French by T. Taylor M. A. of Magd. Coll. Oxon. Thirty Six Sermons upon several Occasions in Three Vol. by Robert South D. D. The second Edition The Certainty and Necessity of Religion in general or the first Ground and Principles of Humane Duty Establish'd In Eight Sermons Preached at St. Martins in the Fields at the Lectures for the Year 1697. Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By F. Gastrel B. D. and Student of Christ Church Coll. Oxon.