THE DIVINITY OF THE Christian Religion PROVED By the Evidence of Reason AND Divine Revelation By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange 1677. The Divinity of the Christian Religion Proved by the Evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation CHAP. I. Religion is necessary for the honour of God and happiness of Man Among the variety of Religions in the world 't is the highest point of Wisdom to consider which is pleasing to God God alone is to prescribe the way of his Worship He has revealed it The truth of Christian Religion is made evident by comparing it with all other Religions Gentilism convinc'd of falsity by its contradicting Natural Light in mistaking the object of Worship and in the manner of it The Idolatry the impure and frivolous Rites the cruel Sacrifices of the Heathens considered Philosophy was ineffectual to redress those evils Judaism consider'd The ceremonial part of that Religion contains nothing morally good 'T was of impossible performance to all Nations 'T was enjoyn'd the Jews for special reasons The carnal Law was to expire at the coming of the Messiah and give place to the Christian Religion that is all life and spirit The falsness and absurdity of Mahometism discovered by the quality of the Author and its nature by the fraudulent and violent means whereby 't was propagated by the quality of those who received it ignorant barbarous Nations by the quality of the Reward it propounds neither becoming God to bestow nor Man to desire HAving in some former Discourses establish't and clear'd the Foundations of Religion I shall proceed to raise the Superstructure That God is the Maker of the World that he observes our moral Actions and will require an Account of them in the future state and distribute eternal Recompences accordingly has been proved by such invincible Evidence that Reason cannot resist It follows therefore that Religion is necessary both for the honour of God and in order to the happiness of Man For we cannot conceive but that the wise Creator in making all things design'd his own Glory both in the manifestation of his own Perfections and that they should be acknowledg'd and reverenc'd loved and prais'd by intelligent Creatures This is a natural duty to which Mankind with an unforc'd consent agrees For as Honour in the general is the homage paid to conspicuous Excellencies and specially to beneficent Vertues so Religion that is the highest Honour is justly due to God the most Sovereign Being in all Perfections and our Sovereign Benefactor And 't is equally clear that the happiness of Man depends on Religion For if God regards the Actions of Men not to have a naked speculative knowledg of them but with an Eye of Providence and Judgment if He will accept and reward our services not as profitable to Him but as the just expressions of our love thankfulness and obedience to Him 't is requisite our prime care should be to serve Him In this the greatest Duty and supream Interest of Men are inviolably united for what obligation can possibly be equal to that of pleasing our Maker and Preserver and what is comparable to the Interest of Eternity From hence there is a general inclination in Men to worship the Deity imprest from the Author of Nature but the ways are diverse Religion changes its shape in several Countries and the Rites that are observed by some Nations as sacred are rejected by others as impious or vain Now in this variety of Religions and every one contrary to the other 't is necessary to consider which is that special Way of serving God that is only pleasing to Him If a Traveller be distracted between several Wayes he will enquire which leads to his Journeys end and not go on with uncertainty And is it not infinitely reasonable to do that in the most important Affair which any person will do in the most ordinary To be indifferent in a matter so deeply concerning us is prodigious above all wonder For if the means we use to obtain the Favour of God provoke his Anger our misery is remediless But alas no rashness is so common as that of Men's preferring one Religion before another How many false Religions are defended by whole Nations with that Zeal as if they were the most assured Persons when the Foundations of their Belief and Adherence are so weak that did they call Reason to Counsel they must be convinc'd of their Errors They are led by vain respects to their Progenitors from whom their Religion is deriv'd and what they receive at first without discerning they never distrust As if the first Instructions were alwayes true They resign up their Judgments to their Princes And if humane Authority were a sufficient motive in this case then every Religion will be saving in the Country where 't is establish'd by Law Nay the Christian Religion though shining with an extraordinary luster which justifies it to every one that will but open his eyes to consider it yet is as injudiciously and carelesly received as the vainest Religion in the World Innumerable are Christians in title without any solid conviction in their minds or divine change in their hearts the effects of its truth and goodness They are Disciples of Christ as the Turks are of Mahomet by the sole impression of Example In the discussing this matter I shall proceed upon such Principles as are evident to the humane understanding 'T is a common Principle acknowledged by all Men That God alone is to prescribe that Way and Order of Service wherein He will be honoured For this Reason those who in any Nation introduc'd a Form of Religion always pretended to have Divine-Direction for it Now that God has signified his Will to Men in this most important Matter 't is most reasonable to believe The Philosopher observes that such is the providence of Nature that the most necessary Arts for the support of life are easily learnt of all In the rudest Ages men were skilfull to cultivate the Earth to govern their Flocks to dress their Provisions for food But those Arts that were onely for delight not absolutely useful as Musick Painting Perfuming Embriodery c. required more study and skill and therefore were more modern And if the Divine Providence has such a tender care of Man as to make the knowledge of such things easy as are requisite for the Temporal life 't is reason to believe he has not left him destitute of those means that are necessary for the obtaining Eternal Life Now that the Christian Religion alone is true will fully appear 1. By comparing it with other Religions that upon trial are convinc'd of open falsity or that they are infinitely excelled by the Christian in those things wherein they have any resemblance or degrees of Truth and Goodness 2. By considering it directly as to its intrinsick excellencies and those External Supernatural
Punishment God has taken away all the marks of his Alliance with them No distinction of their Tribes remain no observance of their legal Ceremonies no Priests no Altars no Sacrifices no Prophets nor Miracles in short there is no true Worship among them no God but angry and revenging their bloody impieties And which is most worthy of consideration the Romans that conquer'd them have lost their Empire and the Nations which were subdued by their Arms have recovered their Liberty But the Jews after sixteen hundred years are still miserable Now is not this Judgment of God upon them a dreadful proof of the extremity of their Wickedness in crucifying JESUS CHRIST and that consequently he was as he declar'd himself to be the Son of God and that his Office and Doctrine were from Heaven Never before did the Wrath of God break forth in such a fierce manner against a sinful Nation Therefore 't is represented under the Image of the final Doom when Justice arm'd with flames shall devour the Ungodly and the whole World become a Theatre of Terrors And never was any other Nation guilty of such an high provocation for the Son of God descended but once among Men to be personally crucified The singularity of the punishment is a visible instructive sign of their transcendent Crime Immediately upon their pronouncing the capital Sentence against him on Earth their utter Ruine was pronounc'd in Heaven And the execution of the Sentence was deferr'd no longer but till the Elect of that People were brought in and by the Preaching and excellent Miracles of the Apostles the Resurrection of Christ and the truth of the Gospel were confirm'd and thereby a beginning and form given to the new Christian Church Now they have written on their foreheads in very legible characters the Fatal Curse which their Fathers pronounc'd concerning Jesus Christ His Blood be on Us and our Children When with indignation for their Idolatry broke the Tables of the Law God reestablish'd them but when for a greater guilt God himself broke them there is no possible Redintegration If it be said that 't is not necessary to attribute this Ruine of the Jews to the particular Vengeance of God but only to the Instability of humane things wherein such disastrous Revolutions sometimes happen I answer That although Divine Justice was so visible in their astonishing Destruction that Titus himself refus'd a Triumphal-Crown after his compleat Victory declaring that he was but the Instrument of God's Anger who was the Invisible Emperor in that bloody Expedition yet to force an acknowledgment of it from all that are not wilfully blind it was foretold when the Jews were in peace and their killing the Messiah specified as the Meritorious Cause wherein that terrible Effect was included Thus our Saviour in the Parable of the Husbandmen and Vineyard after they had put to death the Master's Son he adds What shall therefore the Lord of the Vineyard do He will come and destroy the Husbandmen and give the Vineyard to others And upon his drawing near to the City of Jerusalem he wept over it saying If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes For the days shall come upon thee that thine Enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the Ground and shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy Visitation This was also foretold by Moses in all the terrible Circumstances The Lord shall bring a Nation against thee from far from the end of the Earth as swift as the Eagle flyeth a Nation whose Tongue thou shalt not understand a Nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old nor shew favour to the young and he shall eat the fruit of thy Cattel and the fruit of thy Land until thou be destroyed which also shall not leave thee either Corn Wine or Oyl or the encrease of thy Kine or flocks of thy Sheep until he have destroyed thee And he shall besiege thee in all thy Gates throughout all thy Land which the Lord thy God hath given thee in the Siege and in the straitness wherewith thine Enemies shall distress thee Such was the Threatning and the Event was correspondent in all the degrees of misery Which as it demonstrates the truth of the Prophecy so it may instruct us how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God 3. The converting of the Gentile World to the saving Knowledg of God by the Messiah was foretold in the Scriptures The beams of this glorious Truth were gradually dispens'd to the Israelites as their weak understandings could sustain it When the Covenant was made with Abraham God declared in express terms In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the World be blessed That Seed was the Messiah not the people of the Jews descended from Abraham for they were so far from being a universal Blessing to the World that on the contrary they vainly presum'd that God for their sakes despis'd the rest of Mankind And indeed before the coming of Christ they were an inclosed Garden the peculiar People of God and without the compass of Judea Sin reign'd absolutely and universally Now that Promise clearly signifies that the Favour and Blessing of God that he conferr'd upon Abraham in making known to him his Will and promising to be his God and of his Posterity should one day be extended to all Nations by calling them to his Knowledg and Service To this agrees the Prophesie of Jacob The Scepter shall not depart from Juda nor the Law-giver from between his feet till Shilo come and to him shall the gathering of the People be that is the Gentiles shall be converted from their Idols to the true God by the Messiah whom the Jews acknowledg to be signified by that Title And Moses introduces God as complaining of the Idolatry and Ingratitude of the Jews and declaring They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to anger with their vanities and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a People and I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation The external Covenant between God and his People is represented by the union of Marriage to signifie the Duty they owe to God the highest honour the most ardent affections and the benefits they receive from him Therefore when the Jews gave Divine Adoration the highest respects of Religion to Idols they provok'd God to jealousy and he threatens he would break his Alliance with them and give his Heart and Love to those which were not a People And by the Law of Counter-Passion they should be provok'd to Jealousy 'T is very visible these expressions signify the calling of the Gentiles And
to servitude imports only a continuance to the Jubile so that those Rituals were to continue in their vigour during that intire period and to be determin'd after the coming of the Messiah the great Jubile of the World And that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah is most evident in that his coming was exactly as he was designed and was to be expected that he had the power of working Miracles to authorise him to change the externals of their Worship and Service Briefly Judaism now is but the Carcass of a dead Religion and the obstinate adherers to it are become so sottishly blind as to believe the most prodigious fables as divine Revelations Their Talmud so reverenc'd by them contains intolerable follies nay Blasphemies against God It regulates his hours in the day It relates that he spends three in studying the Law and three more in the instructing Children that dyed in their minority and that he employs three in taking the accounts of the World and in the three last diverts himself with Leviathans and that the night being come for they imagine that the Sun sets in Paradise he ascends a Chariot drawn by the swiftest Spirits the Cherubims and visits the eighteen thousand Worlds he created I shall not instance in any more of their extravagant tales not to be defended by the pretence of solemn Mysteries and by strained Allegories This is sufficient to shew that by the Righteous Judgment of God for their rejecting the Truth of the Gospel they are given up to believe Lies Since the comeing of Jesus Christ Mahumetanism has overspread a great part of the Barbarous World But this carries in it such apparent and certain marks of falsity that it can be no temptation to any person in whom there is but a spark of good Hence whether we consider 1. The Authour from whom it was derived a robber one drencht in sensuality and therefore utterly unqualified to be the revealer of the Will of the Holy God to Men. 2. The quality of its doctrines some are ridiculous and extravagant above the vanity of a feaverish dream some are pernicious flattering both the lower Appetites the concupiscible by loosing its natural restraints from exorbitant fleshly pleasures the irascible by commending the violent oppression of others for the advancement of Religion 3. The means by which it had its rise and was propagated It sprang from imposture Mahomet erected an Oracle in his own Fancy and pretended that the Holy Ghost descended there to give his inspirations Thus he seduc'd at first but having got a strong party Force succeeded Deceit The Sword cut its way through many Countries And is it strange that the People so fiercely taught should follow the Religion of the cruel Conquerour Thus it was planted thus it increas'd and is still maintain'd by the same causes 4. The quality of those who received it They were Barbarous Nations and absolutely forbid to make an inquiry into the matters of Religion And how easie is it to make an impression on the rude lump of the multitude what wonder is it that pleasant follies should usurp the belief of the ignorant vulgar 5. It promises in the future life a Paradise fit for Swine most unworthy the glorious Rewarder God and the excellence of Man This is so evident that Avicen a Saracen Philosopher and Mahumetan in profession speaks with abhorence of those dreggy low delights and on the contrary asserts that the heighth of happiness is in the perfections of the Soul united to God and thus vertually condemns their Faith as repugnant to the dictates of clear Reason CHAP. II. The Christian Religion directly considered Previous Considerations That there was such a person as Jesus Christ who converst in the World and instituted that Religion is most credible from the uniform testimony of Christians in all Ages 'T is equally certain the Books containing the Doctrine of Christ are transmitted without material alteration The proofs of Christian Religion though not equal in clearness to sence or science yet are sufficient to convince unprejudiced minds of its truth The intrinsick Excellencies of the Christian Religion considered The Doctrines of the Gospel illustrate Natural Truths concerning God and reveal what is further necessary for his Glory and Man's Happiness The intire Agreement between them The Gospel discovers the misery of Man in its causes and degrees and the means of his recovery It represents a full and glorious Image of God's Perfections in the manner of our Restoration Therefore 't is worthy of all acceptation The Christian Religion sets before us a Rule pure and perspicuous in nothing superfluous or defective The Promises of the Gospel are worthy of God and suitable to the wants and desires of Men. They offer the pardon of Sin upon the condition of Repentance and Faith The supernatural Assistance of the holy Spirit The supply of our temporal wants and support under Afflictions The reward of Eternal Life I Will now consider the Christian Religion directly in it self It has this noble prerogative above the rest the more one searches into it the more its Divinity appears Whereas other Religions may please a sudden Eye but cannot endure a serious tryal Some things are to be premised 1. I shall suppose it as a Principle above all doubt there was such a Person as Jesus Christ who conversed in the World consign'd the Christian Doctrine to the Apostles and by them 't is conveyed to us in the New-Testament For in asserting it we have the uniform deposition of all that profess this Religion from its rise till the present Age and in all parts of the World Though in other things of different opinions yet they agree in this that Jesus Christ was their Founder Now who can better know the Author of an Institution Ecclesiastical or Sâ—cular than those who were admitted into its beginning and those who have succeeded in that order from age to age without interruption Besides we have the consenting and constant testimony of Jews and Heathens the obstinate opposers of the Christian Religion that its name as well as original was derived from Christ. We may with more Reason suspect there were never such Philosophers as Plato and Aristotle or that the Books which from their times by universal persevering fame have been attributed to them were made by others and put forth under false titles than to question what is so generally receiv'd concerning the Author of the Gospel 'T is the perfection of folly and madness to oppose such evidence 2. 'T is equally certain that the Books of the New-Testament are transmitted to us in their original purity without any material alteration For it is incredible that the societies of Christians should neglect the preserving incorrupt and intire those Writings which they esteemed a most sacred treasure on which they built their hopes of eternal blessedness It cannot be suppos'd they would transmit them to their Children whose Salvation must have been dearer to them than the
shall we goithou hast the words of Eternal Life CHAP. III. The External proofs of the truth of Christian Religion considered Miracles are only perform'd by God Why Christianity was confirm'd by them The number of Christs Miracles the manner of his performing them and their certainty consider'd The Miracles done by Christ to confirm his Doctrine are an authentick Testimony that God approved it The pretence of Libertines that the Heathen Religion was confirm'd by Miracles clearly disprov'd The rational assurance we have that the Apostles were sincere and certain of the Miraculous things related by them of Jesus Christ. His Resurrection attested by sufficient evidence VVE are next to consider those external proofs of the truth of Christianity the works of God himself that seal our full assurance of it I shall instance in two Miracles and the accomplishment of Prophecies 1. A Miracle is a supernatural work that requires an extraordinary Divine Power to effect it For none can derogate from the Universal Laws of Nature prescribed from the beginning of things and time but the Author of it Indeed we do not exactly know the compass of that Circle wherein the spirits of darkness excercise their power They may by the application of natural means unknown to us produce things that may astonish or by lying Wonders deceive Men but a true Miracle is a work reserv'd to God and possibly to no less than Infinite Power Whether it be a first or second Creation the forming a new Eye or the giving a visive power to that that was naturally blind it can only be done by his hand If we respect Omipotency there is the same facility if the thing done there is the same difficulty in the performance If the Devils had such a power they might create a separate Kingdom and reign there Now Miraculous Testimonies were given to confirm Christianity that there might be a just correspondence between its Doctrines and their Proofs The mysteries of the Gospel in their existence are above all natural power and in their belief above the natural understanding All that Nature can do or know does not make them credible Therefore 't was requisit those things should be confirm'd by the Divine Power that transcend the comprehension of humane Reason Besides as the Mysteries of the Gospel are sublime so the Rewards are future and that the Gentiles might not pretend that the Preachers of the Gospel feign'd another World and a Heaven and a Hell wherein the Souls and Bodies of Men shall be glorified or tormented according to their actions in this life supernatural Evidence of the truth of those Promises and Threatnings was necessary In short herein the Divine Goodness appeared That as the true Religion is necessary to the Salvation of all Men so 't was discernible by such signs as may convince all For upon the sight of those Divine Works the simplest people were led by the outward Sense to an inward firm Faith in Jesus Christ. These things being premised I will take a brief view of the Miracles wrought by our Saviour to give Faith to his Doctrine 'T is recorded of Moses who was a type of Christ that after his familiar converse with God as a Man with his Friend descending from the Mount his Face shone with such an excessive brightness as it were by reflection from the Face of God that coming to the Israelites to deliver to them the Divine Laws he was fain to cover it with a vail yet some rays of that miraculous splendor were visible through that mysterious Vail to assure them it was Moses himself that directed and govern'd them according to God's Will Thus when the Son of God came down from the Heaven of Heavens to instruct the World he shaded the light of the Deity with a vail of Flesh yet he was not so absolutely concealed under his humanity but that from time to time some beams of the Divine Nature appear'd in works so proper to God that the Apostle says We saw his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten Son of God In the representation of our Saviours Miracles by the Evangelists we may consider their number and variety his manner of performing them and the certainty of them 1. Their number and variety He went about all Galilee healing all manner of sicknesses and diseases even the most incurable the Blind the Deaf the Lame the Paralitic the Hydropic the Leprous the Lunatic were cured He rais'd the Dead and cast out Devils Besides his miraculous feeding so many thousands his commanding the enraged Winds and Seas to be still and a great calm followed His Transfiguration before his Disciples when the Beauty of Heaven descended on his Countenance to be there more beautiful discover'd the sensible Presence of the Deity in him 2. The manner of his performing them is very considerable They were done in an instant by absolute dominion over Nature Thus when he said to the Leper I will be thou clean immediately his Leprosy was cleansed Thus when the faithful Centurion addrest himself to him only speak the word and my Servant shall be healed He answered Be it done unto thee as thou believest and his Servant was healed c. both expressions of Command and Empire And his words to the Blind-Man Receive thy Sight had the same creating efficacy with those Let there be Light and there was Light Thus with Authority he commanded the unclean Spirits even the most furious and obstinate and they were expelled from those Mansions wherein they had revelled a long time Thus by the mere Act of his Will he revers'd the order of Nature When the Widows Son was carrying to the Grave He only said Young Man I say unto thee Arise and he that was dead sate up and began to speak Now in this respect the power of Miracles in Jesus Christ was transcendent above that that either Moses or the Prophets or the Apostles had 'T was derived to them by favour and commission from an extrinsick superiour principle the Omnipotence of God but 't was inherent in his Person the natural proper Attribute of his Deity and prov'd Him to be the Son of God the Lord of Nature visible in humane flesh In all places this blessed Vertue proceeded from Him 3. The certainty of his performing them was so great that no shadow of suspicion could remain about it Vitruvius the Master of Architects gives advice to those who built Temples to Aesculapius or any other of the Heathen Deities that were invocated by the Sick that they should choose such places as were open to the most favourable Aspects and Influences of the Heavens where there was a well-temper'd Soil clear Air pure Springs of Water that Diseased-Persons coming from unhealthyplaces might obtain Recovery and what was the benefit of Nature might be attributed to the Divine Vertue of Aesculapius Thus that Idolater counsel'd for the honour of his false Gods But in this he judged aright that the power of the Deity was believed
errour does not lessen its benign influences still it shines and causes the Spring and Autumn 'T is of little importance that a Philosopher is deceiv'd in his search after the principles of mixt bodies for notwithstanding his mistake Animals still live and move and perform all the Functions sutable to their Nature But in Judgments that respect matters of Fact if the Truth cannot be known by testimonys the civil felicity cannot long subsist For the unjust distribution of Rewards and Punishments is necessarily ruinous to the Being of the State And is it credible the Divine Providence that reaches to the smallest parts of the World in such an admirable manner should leave the conduct of humane affairs even of the greatest moment to a deceitful Light And that after the most diligent search and caution has been used the result should be only wavering Conjectures This imagination is extreamly injurious to his Wisdom and Goodness In particular if we consider the Number and the Quality of the Witnesses of Christ's Resurrection and the Circumstances of their Testimony we shall have so clear conviction of its truth as may induce us most firmly to believe it I do not now speak of a Divine Faith that supernatural Light that makes us acquiesce in things because God has reveal'd them but of a rational humane Faith grounded on just and powerful motives which is preparatory for the Divine 1. The Law admits two Witnesses as a competent number in Causes of greatest moment Of this there were many The approved Integrity of a Witness gives weight to his Testimony as on the contrary a known Lyar forfeits his Credit so entirely that he is not believed when he speaks true When Demades the Orator addrest himself to the Athenians I call all the Gods and Goddesses to witness the truth of what I shall say The Athenians often abused by his impudent Lyes presently interrupted him And we call all the Gods and Goddesses to witness we will not believe you The bare word of an Honest Man in an important matter perswades more than the most exquisite Oaths and far-fetch'd Imprecations by which a Lyar would give credit to his Imposture Now we have strong proof of the Integrity of the Apostles If an inflexible Fidelity and constant Truth were qualities so remarkable in the Community of the Primitive Christians that the Pagan Judges themselves were constrained to acknowledg it certainly they were found more eminently in those by whose Doctrine and Example they form'd themselves And as it is impossible to possess this Vertue so strictly united to Justice in an excellent degree without having all the others so 't is evident they were adorn'd with all moral Vertues For their lives were above the least reproach and charge of their implacable enemies so that they were fain to make express Laws against their Profession to render them guilty in Appearance Besides the circumstances of their Testimony make it very valuable 1. 'T was not built on the report of others Mere hear-say is very deceitful and often like a Contagion passes from Ear to Ear and blasts the Reputation of the Innocent with easy and credulous persons But a Testimony from sight makes impression on the belief of wise considering Men. Now we have undoubted Assurance of Christ's Resurrection from the clear and concurrent deposition of their Senses What we have heard and what we have seen with our eyes and what we have handled of the Word of Life saith the Apostle St. John 2. The uniformity of their Testimony renders it convincing If any material contradiction be between Witnesses 't is an infallible mark of their Forgery But the Apostles agreed not only in the substance but in the particularity of the Fact In vain Porphiry and Julian rack'd their Wits to find some contrariety in their Relations An impartial Inquirer must acknowledge all their Objections to be mere Cavils and effects of Malice 3. There were no motives to corrupt them For the humane will is naturally moved either by attraction of some Good or aversion from some Evil. A Fiction is not maintain'd for pure love of it self but with respect to either of those objects whether real or in appearance The Roman Histories report that Julius Proculus solemnly swore that he saw Romulus ascend to Heaven but the motive of his Imposture is visible for it was to prevent a great disorder among the People But 't is very evident that nothing desirable in the World had the least influence upon the Apostles Nay on the contrary whatever was terrible to Nature discourag'd them They suffer'd all temporal evils even Death it self for this Testimony And this last proof confirms all the others They are called Martyrs by way of excellency who have seal'd the Truth with their Blood Now what can be added to give us full and entire Faith in their Testimony In great and difficult Cases suspected Persons are put to Torture for the discovery of Truth The Apostles were tryed by the sharpest Sufferings yet declar'd the Resurrection of their Divine Master with unfainting perseverance What shadow of doubt can remain after such clear evidence of their sincerity Let sober Reason judge whether the matter is capable of proof more strong and convincing If it be said they were deceived with an Illusion either being distemper'd or in a dream both the pretences are most absur'd and incredible For the operations of the External Senses may be infallibly discern'd by their proper caracters from those of the Imaginations Indeed if the mind be in disorder either from some more fixed and tenacious cause or from sleep the influences of Reason are suspended or only some faint rays appear and are suddenly extingush'd so that it can make no true judgment of things In this state the Imagination draws all the vigour of the Soul to it self and the Phantasms are made so bright by the heat of the Spirits in the brain that those painted Scenes seem to be as real as the substantial objects we see hear and touch But sound Reason can reflect upon it self and extend its veiw to the operations of all the other faculties and observe the just and certain difference between Chimaeras in the imagination and things really existant It comprehends distinctly and with assurance that it is not disturb'd and that the Internal and External Senses are dispos'd for their regular operations It considers that the Pageants of Fancy moving in a dream vanish in a moment upon waking But real effects perceiv'd by the Senses in their full exercise are more constant and durable One may be wounded in a dream yet feel not loss of blood or strength when he is awake But the wounds received in a Combat are sometimes rebellious against the most potent remedies Now to apply this to the present subject Is it in the least degree probable that a vain shadow in a dream should make an indelible impression on the memories of the Apostles and their waking thoughts should