their Faith and Christian Resolution this way But the general Character of these Writers as well as the Authority of what they say will be further made out from the consideration of the Subjects they writ about the several kinds and sorts of their Writings and the Manner in which they are writ All which I shall endeavour to bring under one view and raise such Observations from them as will plainly confirm the main Conclusion I am to establish The common Subject of all the Books and Writings of the first Orthodox Authors was the Christian Religion though in several Ways and Methods discoursed of Most of these concern the History of Christian Affairs either expresly or occasionally For besides those Authors who purposely designed an Historical Relation either of the Church in general or of some particular Ecclesiastical Matter there 's hardly a Christian Writer within the Time of our present Enquiry but has some occasion or other to mention several Historical Passages in almost every Book that he wrote in order to some further end he proposed to himself in writing Now concerning the Writings of Christian Authors considered under this Character of Historians I have these Things to observe First That they do manifestly confirm the truth of all those Traditions and standing Monuments before mentioned For we have frequent Proofs of the Antiquity of the Scriptures and all those Religious Customs and Institutions in use amongst Christians in Eusebius's time and the General Tradition strengthen'd by abundance of New Circumstances such were the great Controversies and Quarrels about some Christian Usages particularly Baptism and the Feast of Easter together with the Canons and Decrees that were made and the Letters that were writ with relation to these Affairs Here is likewise mention made of the same Christian Relicks and Momonuments and the same publick Acts and Records which Eusebius saw and the Accounts and Extracts of them in several Authors agree with what Eusebius himself was witness of In the next place 't is very plain that they give us an account of several other Customs Monuments and publick Acts and abuudance of other particular Historical Passages besides those mention'd in Eusebius the Truth of which or the Antiquity of their Fiction being proved they are so many new Arguments in behalf of the Christian Tradition or the truth of those Facts we are now to prove Thirdly I observe that most of these Authors considered as Historians were very Competent Judges and Credible Reporters of the truth of the Facts they relate For either they were actual and immediate Witnesses of what they tell us themselves or they took a great deal of care to inform themselves right or the Facts were of that nature that they could not be deceived though they did not examine them very strictly and which way soever they came by them they were Faithsul and Sincere in their Relation Several things they tell us of their own Knowledge others they quote their Authors for and others they deliver only as Traditional Reports which they distinguish also into Probable and Fabulous according to the Evidence that then appeared to them upon a diligent Examination And several of them have given great Marks of their Diligence and Care in enquiring as well as Sincerity in reporting as particularly Hegesippus who gave an account of the Unity of Faith in several Cities after having travell'd through them and convers'd with the Bishops of them Clemens who used all the care he could to inform himself of the Truth and Sincerity of the Christian Tradition from several Eminent Persons of different Countries Irenoeus who carefully remember'd the Conversation he had with Eminent Christians in his Youth and was very much concern'd to have his own Writings deliver'd down faithfully to Posterity a proof of which first Remark concerning Irenaeus we have in an Epistle of his to Florinus quoted by Eusebus part of which I think worth the Transcribing when reproving Florinus for some ill Opinions he held he speaks to him in this manner Eus Ec. H. l. 5. c. 26. These Opinions the Presbyters who lived before our times who also were the Disciples of the Apostles did in no wise deliver unto thee For I saw thee when being yet a Child I was in the Lower Asia with Polycarp behaving thy self very well in the Palace and endeavouring to get thy self well esteemed of by him for I remember the things then done better then what has happen'd of late for what we learnt being Children increases together with the Mind it self and is closely united to it insomuch that I am able to tell where the Blessed Polycarp sate and Discoursed also his goings out and comings in his manner of Life the shape of his Body the Discourses he made to the Populace the familiar Converse which he said he had with John and with those who had seen the Lord and how he rehears'd their Sayings and what they were which he had heard from them concerning the Lord concerning his Miracles and his Doctrine according as Polycarp received them from those who with their own Eyes beheld the Word of Life so he related them agreeing in all things with the Scriptures These things by the Mercy of God bestowed upon me I then heard diligently and copied them out not in Paper but in my Heart and by the Grace of God I do continually and sincerely ruminate upon them And the same Irenaeus at the end of one of his Pieces says thus I adjure thee who shalt Transcribe this Book by our Lord Jesus and by his Glorious coming to Judge the Quick and the Dead that you compare what you shall Transcribe and correct it diligently according to that Copy whence you shall Transcribe and that in like manner you ascribe this Adjuration and annex it to your Copy Which concern of Irenaeus for the faithful conveyance of Truths contained in his own Writings to Posterity is a very good argument of his care in examining the Traditions and Writings that came down to him from elder times respecting the same Important Truths A great many other such like Instances as these may be given where the Primitive Christian Writers positively and expresly declare that they had seen and convers'd with the immediate Successors of the Apostles and with those upon whom several great Miracles had been wrought by them had themselves been Witnesses of a great many wonderful Gifts remaining in the Church in their time as likewise where they demonstrate by many sensible Marks and Signs the great Care and Diligence they had taken in examining the Informations they received from remoter Hands and all other concurring Presumptions arising from Circumstances of Fact and Rational Inferences And as they were competent Witnesses and careful Relators in General so are they more especially to be relied upon as to those two great and concerning Matters of Fact the Scriptures of the New Testament and Persecutions of Christians The Truth and Authority of the Scriptures
was with much enquiry and examination Established This every one made it his business to be well assur'd of and a free disquisition concerning the truth of some or other of the Books of Scripture is every where to be found among the Antient Writers Then as to the Persecutions they were so many they continued so long together were so widely spread were attended with so vast a number of very new and remarkalbe Facts and so many of the Writers lived in the heat of them and had so large a share and concern in them themselves that 't is impossible that the accounts they give of them should not be most of them at least very true The Fourth Observation I have to make upon the Historical part of the first Christian Writers is that there are so many Notes of time to be found in them such a particular Designation of Places and Persons and such a mixture of Jewish and Heathen Affairs with the Christian History as rendred any Errours or Mistakes so liable to a discovery at those times when the several Books that treat of these Matters were first Published to the World that by not being confuted they are as to the main substance of what they declare irrefragably confirm'd The other Writings of OrthodoxChristians of the first Ages which do not concern the History of Christianity are either Vindications and Defences of the Christian Religion against all the Objections and Calumnies raised by any of the Enemies of it or Explications of the Christian Doctrine Government and Discipline or Exhortations and Directions to Practise or Animadversions and Reproofs for Errours and Offences All which are written under the form of Orations or Apologies Letters Disputations Comments c. Now it 's plain from all these Writings that the several Authors of them were throughly convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion This appears from the Zeal and Warmth with which many of them writ upon several occasions to one another and to Hereticks the readiness they testifie to quit all they have and to lay down their Lives rather than do any thing contrary to their Profession the concern they express for the continuance of their Fellow-Christians in the same Faith and the Conversion of others to Christianity the Boldness and Courage they shew to Persons of Power and Authority when the truth of their Religion or their own Innocence is call'd in question and from many other unquestionable marks of Honesty Sincerity and a through Perswasion visible almost in every Page 'T is manifest likewise that all these Authors believed the Scriptures of the New Testament and Founded their Religion upon them Several of them have writ Comments upon them all quote them and confirm the Doctrines they deliver and the Rules and Directions they give from them and all their Writings plainly declare they were very well vers'd in them and influenced by the same Spirit that governs there and distinguishes those Writings from any other and when ever any Controversy happen'd in matters of Christian Faith or Practiced the Appeal is constantly made to these Scriptures Several other Remarks and Observations might be drawn from the Writings of those Christians call'd Orthodox but these are sufficient for what I design to prove by them and so I pass on to consider what we have written by Heretieks Jews and Heathens with relation to Christianity A great many things were written by Persons of these several Denominations in the Three first Ages of the Christian Aera but very little of them that expressly concerns Christianity remains now and a great many of these Writings were lost in Eusebius's Time so that almost all we know of them is contained in the Orthodox Writers In many of which there are several considerable Fragments yet to be found and accounts of what is lost From all which we may collect that none of the Enemies of the Christian Religion neither Hereticks Jews nor Heathens did at any time offer to disprove or contradict those Christian Facts I have been now Establishing but did in several respects strengthen and confirm the truth of them We find by the Orthodox Writers that there were in the most Primitive Times and continually in all the after-Periods of Christianity a great many Hereticks of very different Characters and Opinions who troubled the Peace of the Church and endeavoured to corrupt the Christian Doctrine and Tradition Their Writings are full of the strange Opinions of Hereticks they are oftentimes very large in giving a History of the Men their vicious Lives and wicked Designs and in confuting their Absurd and for the most part Blasphemous Doctrines From hence we find that several of these Hereticks in order to justifie their Errors made use of all the Arts and Shifts they could and some denied one Book of Scripture and some another some took upon them to reform the Scriptures and added what they thought serv'd their turn or took away what they did not like Others made new Scriptures and put them out in the Names of the Apostles but none of them denied the principal matters of Fact contained in the New Testament neither Miraculous nor Common though their Character oftentimes allow'd and their Cause requir'd such a denial if the Evidence of those Facts had not appear'd to them so strong as to render all contradiction Vain and Ineffectual The Jews who writ against the Christian Religion allow'd most of the principal matters of Fact Recorded of Christ in the New Testament even his Miracles as well as the Common History of his Life and when they deny the Reality they grant the Pretence are wholly concern'd to shew that Christ was not the Messias promised them notwithstanding his extraordinary Character because as they thought several of the Prophecies in the Old Testament which were agreed on all hands to relate to the Messias could not be apply'd to Christ In this consisted wholly the Controversie betwixt them and the Christians and therefore are the Jews of these times censur'd by the Christian Writers as corrupting the Old Testament in such Passages of it as seem'd to them to make most for the Christian Religion Particularly Justin in his Dialogue with a Jew endeavors to evince That several Testimonies of the Prophets which he quoted was cut out of the Bible by the Jews which charge whether true or false proves thus much that the Jews had no other way of resisting the Evidence of the Christian Religion but by denying or in some manner evading the Arguments drawn from the Prophecies of the Old Testament Here they placed the chief strength of their Cause and not in the Confutation of the Christian History the greatest part of which is plainly granted in the Arguments they make use of to overthrow the Faith built upon it and the Inferences drawn from it Particularly Josephus does comfirm the truth of several of the Facts related in the New Testament and such as necessarily determine the Oririginal of Christianity The like
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
Council of Nice one of the most remarkable Events that ever happen'd in the World 3. The calling of this Council does plainly inferr that Constantine look'd upon the whole Roman Empire to have been at that time generally Christian The Persons summon'd the Places from whence they came the occasion of their Meeting do all prove this For the Persons of which the Council was compos'd were most of them Governors and Teachers of large Churches and Congregations they came out of all the greater and lesser Provinces and from the most Populous and Considerable Towns under the Roman Government and the reason of their coming was to give their Opinion concerning a particular Doctrine which did suppose an antecedent Belief of the whole Christian Scheme 4. The whole behaviour of this Council of Bishops while they sat together and the business they did there is a certain proof not only that they were Christians and that the Christian Religion was publickly and generally profest in the Places from whence they came but that they all agreed in some common Faith and that the Christian Religion profess'd in the several Places from whence they came was every where the same without any other variation than what was grounded upon the different Conception of some Articles by particular Persons which were allowed by all alike in some general Terms or different application of some general Rules about such Matters as Christians were by the whole tenour of their Religion left at liberty so to apply 5. The reason of this general Agreement of all Christians separated so far from one another in place and never before this time united under one common Head or Governor was as we find by what pass'd in this Council a firm and constant Belief that such and such Books which they all had amongst them were written by the immediate Followers and Disciples of Christ and contained a true Account of his Life and Doctrine and a full Scheme of their Religion What ever was in any of these Books they lookt upon as Obligatory and such they esteemed the Authority of these Writings That they were not upon any Account in the least Passage of them to receive any Addition Diminution or Alteration whatsoever In the Decision of the present Controversy before them these were appeal'd to on both Sides and the Authority of them allowed by all and the particular Canons they made were founded upon the general Rules and Orders of Discipline laid down in these Scriptures 6. As we find by what was done in this Council concerning the Matter of Faith they came to settle That all the Bishops there assembled were acquainted with several of the same Books of Scripture which we now have under the Name of the New Testament and that they were perswaded they were delivered down to them from the Apostles as a Rule of their Faith So by several of the Canons they made we are assur'd That in all the several Places from whence they were assembled the Customs of Baptism and the Communion were universally and constantly used That the First Day of the Week was observed as a Day set a-part for Religious Services which were chiefly Prayers and Reading the Scriptures That there were a great many Men in a particular Way and Manner appointed for the Performance of Religious Offices in the Name and Presence of the People And that some of these did in a more eminent Degree preside over all other both Religious Officers and common Christians in such a District under the Title and Style of Bishops Now the Truth of this Relation concerning the Council of Nice and the State of the Christian Religion at that Time being supposed in the next Place I shall undertake to prove That the Christians we find in Nero's Time were of the same Faith and Religion with those that lived under the Reign of Constantine and consequently That all the principal Matters of Fact now recorded in the New Testament were generally believed at and immediately after the Times in which they are said to happen and so continually down to the Council of Nice This I shall endeavour to make out First From the constant Tradition of such a Belief together with many sensible and infallible Effects of it From the Neronian Persecution to the Council of Nice is about 260 Years which is so short a Period That 't is hardly possible to imagine the Tradition of so important a Fact as the general Profession of the Christian Religion in any considerable Country or Nation should in the main Branches and Substance of it be defective or corrupted within that Time though there were no other remaining Monuments of it but what were obvious to every Man 's own Observation at the Meeting of this Famous Council And therefore since the Christians of this latter Period did look upon it as a certain Truth delivered down to them That the Christians who lived in Nero's Time professed the same Faith they did as 't is plain from the Account before given of their Religion they must we may very well conclude That the Matter of Fact was really so without further Proof But to remove all Doubts and Objections so general a Conclusion as this may be apt to create the Truth and Credibility of the Tradition shall be more clearly made out in the following Manner Several of those who were present at the Council of Nice might of their own certain knowledge be fully satisfied That for Fifty Year backward the Christian Religion had been the same it was then in the Countries from whence they came That all this Time they had had the same Scriptures among them That these Scriptures had constantly been read both in publick and private and as far as fell within humane Cognizance as constantly and in the same manner believed and esteemed as they appeared then to be That the Ceremonies of Baptizing and Communicating had been always universally used at such Times and upon such and such Occasions That these and several other Religious Performances as Reading the Scriptures Prayers Exhortations c. had been constantly practised in publick when Christians were assembled together That Meetings or Assemblies for these Purposes were very frequent That besides other occasional Times they always observed the First Day of the Week as a Portion of Time which they thought themselves obliged to set a-part for the Performance of Religious Duties and especially in Publick That there were a constant Succession of Men by certain Ceremonies peculiarly appropriated to the Discharge of some Religious Offices which they did not think it Lawful for others not so distinguished to be concern'd in That it was the particular Business of these Men to teach and instruct the rest in the Knowledge of the Christian Religion and exhort them to a steady and exact Submission to the Rules of it That there were some of these styled Bishops who were by some different Marks of Distinction known from the rest of their Brethren and presided
among them might as easily and surely have been traced to the Country or Province from whence it was derived to them and the Manner and Occasion of the Conveyance as certainly remembred as the continued Tradition of the same State of things could have been and then the enquiry may be made in those Churches and Provinces which did not derive their Religion from any other within the time before set of 150 Years and so far the Argument from Tradition will most undoubtedly hold according to the former Supposition laid down But however this be whether we suppose that all the Countrys and Provinces from whence the Nicene Bishops came had profess'd the Christian Religion for 150 Years before this Council met or that some of them had received it later the Tradition concerning the continued Vniformity of the Scriptures and Religious Customs which I have before given an account of is equally to be relied on for that whole space of Time for the Tradition of any thing being preserved by a Succession of Men and not a constancy of Place There was no Person at this Council but was capable of informing himself with great certainty that the Christian Religion had been in the World and the same Scriptures and Religious Customs they then had in the Church he belonged to had been in like manner constantly own'd and receiv'd by those that profess'd the Christian Religion for 150 Years before that time either in the Country he himself was then of or in some other from whence that Religion and those Scriptures and Customs were derived to them The Succession of the Persons conveying such a Tradition is so very short that no change of Place is sufficient to disturb or interrupt the Conveyance and therefore no Person that gave himself the trouble of a faithful Enquiry could be mistaken in it and it must be allowed to have been the concern of all to enquire and since 't is plain that all the Bishops did acknowledge these things to be of greater Antiquity and of uninterrupted continuance as all pretences to the Christian Religion do necessarily inferr it must also be supposed that several of them had taken particular care to satisfie themselves of the truth of these Matters and that none of them had met with any contrary accounts that shock'd their Faith Thus does it manifestly appear from the certainty of bare Tradition only without the assistance of any concurrent Monuments of a more fix'd and lasting signification to strengthen it that for 150 Years before the Council of Nice the Christian Religion was in the main Foundation and Substance and in the principal Institutions of it the same it was then wheresoever it was profess'd at either of these times And by accounts written about this latter Period by Persons that were present at the Council then Assembled who could be sure of the Tradition themselves in some Countrys and could receive the like Information from the other Bishops Assembled with them as to the Places they came from it is likewise certain that in most if not all the Provinces and Cities any of the Nicene Bishops belong'd to the Christian Religion had been established 150 Years before the Meeting of that Council and in the same manner profess'd during that whole Term. Taking it therefore for granted that the Christian Religion was by large numbers of Men profess'd in the greatest part of the Roman Empire 150 Years before the Council of Nice in the same manner it was at the Meeting of that Council this Agreement of so many several distinct Countries in the same Religion necessarily proves that that Religion must have been derived to them all from some common Original and since as has before been observed the Chief Governor of all these Provinces and Countries was always till the Person that then Reigned of a Religion opposite to that which was then profess'd by so many of his Subjects and consequently cannot be supposed by any Decree or Law of his to have introduced this into all his Dominions at once it evidently follows from hence that this Religion must have been published and entertain'd in some one Countrey or Province first before it was heard of in any of the other and in some particular Town or City of that Province except we suppose a great many first Inventors concerting a Scheme and agreeing to publish it all at the same time in several Countries or several parts of the same Country which is a very unlikely Supposition will hardly be objected here and if it was would do the Objectors little service as might easily be proved if there was occasion Whatever Country then we suppose the Christian Religion first published in we must allow some time for its spreading through that Country and being afterwards propagated and fix'd in so many other Nations of different Manners Tempers and Languages as the several Provinces of the Roman Empire were in which the Christian Religion was 150 Years before the Council of Nice established and flourished notwithstanding all the opposition a New Religion unsupported by Civil Power must meet with Now if we allow about Threescore Years for all this and according to the natural progress of Things 't is incredible the Christian Religion should from any one City or Province of the Roman Empire in so short a time be diffused so far be embraced by so many and be established so sare under all the disavantages that such a Religion must be attended with yet allowing but Threescore Years or thereabouts for so wonderful an Event this added to the 150 before accounted for brings us to the time of Trajan We are sure therefore that the Christian Religion could not have a later Original than under the Reign of Trajan Pliny But 't is plain from an Eminent Minister of his Court that there were then vast numbers of Christians in the Roman Empire and in Provinces very remote from Rome as well as within the district of Rome it self and the account he gives of that Religion manifestly shews that it was so far the same with what was found in the Scriptures and profess'd by all Christians at the time of the Council of Nice Since therefore as has before been proved the Christian Religion was the same 150 Years before the Council of Nice as it was then since in some of those very Provinces and Cities of the Roman Empire where the same Christian Religion was profess'd 150 Years before the Council of Nice we find that the Christian Religion was likewise profess'd and there were great numbers of Christians about Threescore Years before that time under the Reign of Trajan and the account we have of these Christians and their Religion by Heathen Authors agrees exactly with the Character of the Christian Religion which not long afterwards we find generally maintain'd then it follows from hence that in those particular Places the Religion was the same in the time of Trajan it was Threescore Years afterwards and consequently
Synods convened at several times in different Countries and upon different occasions as also several Letters writ from Churches and Societies of Men such as were the Epistles of the Churches of Vienna and Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia concerning their Martyrs Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of Polycarp Epistle of the Martyrs of Lyons to Eleutherus Bishop of Rome Epistles of the Bishops and other Members of Synods inforcing the Observation of the Canons they made c. All which were according to the Nature and Designs of them either dispersed far abroad and to be found in several Countries or else carefully preserved in some particular places whither they were directed and so remain'd there to be seen by such as were pleased to consult them Besides such occasional Writings as these which according to some particular Exigencies of the Church were sent abroad and communicated from one Society of Christians to others there were in several Places Publick Histories of all remarkable Affairs that happened in each Place continued down for a considerable space of Time several of which Publick Histories or Records Eusebius consulted as he himself assures us particularly when he gives us that wonderful Relation of Agbarus King of Edessa he says he took it out of the Publick Records kept at Edessa wherein the Antiquities of the City and the Acts of Agbarus are contained And a great many other Memorable Facts he came by the same way In this manner were more especially preserved the Acts and Monuments of such as had suffered Martyrdom upon the account of the Christian Religion The Names of abundance of Martyrs the Times when they Suffered the various sorts and kinds of Sufferings they endured with all the other Circumstances relating to their Persecution were largely set forth in Writing and the Records of them carefully kept in many Countries where the Cruelty and Violence of the several long Persecutions which had raged at several distant Periods of Time were most remarkable Other Publick Writings extant in Eusebius's Time were Hymns and Psalms Creeds and Forms of Prayer Several of which that were constantly used in the Publick Assemblies of Christians were known to be of great Antiquity And some of these ancient Forms of Worship were the same in many Churches and several of them more or less different from one another Now 't is plain to any one that examines any of these Publick Writings belonging to Societies of Christians that whensoever they were writ and whether in all respects true or false they are certain proofs of an antecedent Establishment and Belief of the Christian Religion such as it was in Eusebius's Time and such as it was and is now found in the New Testament and all the Accounts we have of the Age and other Circumstances of them do concurr to strengthen the Evidence already given of the Christian Tradition But the Truth of all those Matters of Fact related in the New Testament which I have at present engaged my self to prove will be more abundantly made out by a continued Succession of a vast number of Writings belonging to particular Persons distinguish'd by the Titles of Orthodox Christians Hereticks Jews and Heathens A great many of these Writings are mention'd by Eusebius and had been with incredible industry read and examined by him Several he gives the Titles of only others he gives some Character and Account of and Transcribes large Passages out of them a great many Orthodox Books he omits the mention of for want of their Authors Names being prefix'd to them others for want of being able to distinguish when their Authors lived and a great many he rejects the Authority of though they made for the Cause of the Christian Religion which he maintained because they had not sufficient Marks upon them to prove they belong'd to the Persons and Times they pretended to Some of the Writings he quotes were lost in his Time and only Fragments of them to be found in others that were entirely extant several that were then extant and mention'd by him were seen by a great many later Authors and all his Quotations out of them are confirm'd to us by their Writings but the Originals of them are now lost and a great many remain entire still and are plainly the same he represented them to be and so are the Fragments of more ancient Authors contained in them All which are certain Arguments of the Diligence and Sincerity of this Historian and the Antiquity of those Books whose Authority we are now to make use of In the next place then let us take a more particular view of these Writings and consider the Age Character and other Circumstances of the Authors the Subjects they treat about and the Form and Manner in which they are writ As to the Age of those Christian Authors we call Orthodox some small Treatises and Fragments we have of such as lived together with the Apostles and were immediate Witnesses of the Doctrines delivered and the mighty Works done by them and several of these ancient Pieces are allowed to be Genuine by those whose Skill and Enquiry into the Matter have rendred them capable Judges The Authors of the next Age who declare they lived with those who convers'd with the Apostles are more their Writings much larger and of more unquestionable Authority than the other being confirmed by more numerous Testimonies of following Writers who in very near Periods of Time continually succeeded them The Character of all these Writers was in some respects very like and in others very different Some of them were Jews and Heathens converted to Christianity others were born of Christian Parents many of them were Greeks and writ in that Language and many were of Roman Colonies and writ in Latin but though all the Authors we have writ in one of these Languages they were most of them of very different and very remote Countries from one another Several of the first Writers were Plain Simple Men without the advantage of a Learned Honourable or Publick Education others of them were Philosophers and Men very well vers'd in all the Heathen Learning some were of Honourable Families and Publick Employments many of them were Bishops of the Christian Church and lived in the most considerable Cities of the Roman Empire and by that means had great opportunities of being acquainted with the true State of Things in the World In this they all agree that they were hearty Believers and zealous Assertors of the Christian Religion that they bottom'd their Faith upon the Books of the New Testament that they made it the chief Business of their Lives and Writings to promote the Christian Faith and that they were ready to bear Testimony to the Truth of what they profess'd by resigning their Lives the sincerity of which disposition of theirs is confirm'd to us by the actual Martyrdom of several of them who lived in such Times and Places as gave them opportunities of manifesting
account in a great measure may be given of the Heathens whose Writings do any ways concern Christianity For neither those of them that were Instrumental in the Persecution of Christians nor those who endeavour to overthrow the truth of their Religion by Arguments do deny any of those matters of Fact related in the New Testament which we have distinguished by the Title of Common Historical Facts and a great many of them are confirm'd by other Heathen Writers who treat of their own affairs only or mention Christian Matters occasionally as they happen'd to be intermixt with those Things they designedly writ about Nay some of those that writ expresly against the Christian Religion do not only allow that Christ pretended to Miracles and that he did those Things Recorded of him in appearance as was the Opinion of several of them but that he did really work those very Miracles he pretended to But then they endeavour to lessen the Credit of them and destroy the Doctrines built upon them either by ascribing them as many of the Jews likewise did to Magick and Evil Spirits or shewing that several of their own Religion had done as extraordinary Things as any that were attributed to Christ and his Apostles A great many of these Heathen Writings are quoted some of them particularly Answer'd and Confuted and several large Pieces of them inserted in the Books of Christian Authors There we find besides a great many Passages out of Private Authors and Common Traditions several Rescripts Edicts and Letters of Roman Emperors either mentioned or transcribed and several Publick Acts and Records compiled by the Authority of Heathens and in their keeping appeal'd to with the greatest Confidence and Assurance imaginable as extant in the Writers Time that Cites them and generally known Particularly we meet with divers of these Heathen Monuments in the Christian Apologies which were at several times by different Writers Dedicated to Roman Emperors the Senate of Rome and Governors of Provinces Many such Proofs and Evidences as these of the Christian Faith and History are still to be found in the Christian Books which were writ before Eusebius and are now extant But there were also extant in his Time several of the same Heathen Books out of which those Testimonies were taken and others which gave the same Account of Christian Affairs which was look'd upon by Eusebius to be so notorious a Truth that when he talks of the State of Christianity under Domitian he confirms what he says by the Authority of Heathen Writers without thinking it necessary to name any particular Author Eus E. H. l. 3. c. 18. So mightily says he did the Doctrine of our Faith flourish in those forementioned Times that even those Writers who are wholly estranged from our Religion by which he plainly means Heathens have not thought it troublesome to set forth in their Histories both this Persecution and also the Martyrdoms suffered therein and they have also accurately shewn the very Time relating that in the Fifteenth Year of Domitian Flavia Domitilla Daughter of the Sister of Fabius Clemens at that time one of the Consuls of Rome was together with many others banished into the Island of Pontia for the Testimony of Christ There are likewise several Heathen Authors still separately extant out of which may be Collected a great many Passages which give a concurrent Evidence of the Truth of the Christian History as Tacitus and Pliny before quoted and divers others and there is nothing to be found in any of them that does in the least contradict any of the principal Matters Fact now to be proved But besides these Writings which are acknowledged to be Genuine and the true and proper Works of those Persons whose Names they bear whether Orthodox Christians Hereticks Jews or Heathens there were a great many other in the Primitive Times of Christianity written by uncertain Authors and either purposely Published under false Names and Titles with a design to promote the Belief of the Christian Religion in general or to advance and defend some particular Notions and Practices which the Authors of them approved and had a mind to recommend to the World or else by some mistake ascribed to those Persons to whom they did not really belong Such were a great many false Gospels Acts Epistles and Revelations and several other Historical and Doctrinal Discourses Published under the Names of Christ the Virgin Mary the Apostles and Eminent Christians of the succeeding Ages such were also several Letters said to be Writ by Pilate Seneca and Lentulus the Oracles of the Sybils and several other Writings attributed to some considerable Heathens a Passage in Josephus relating to Christ c. All which supposing them all Forged or only some of them so some accidentally mistaken and others doubtful whoever were the Authors of them so long as it plainly appears they were of such and such Antiquity they are certain proofs of the general Faith of Christians at the respective Times when any of them were Published and consequently of the Truth of those Facts in question forasmuch as they all evidently suppose an antecedent Belief of the Christian Religion founded upon those Facts as is visible by all the Remains we have left of them and therefore are as good Arguments of the Truth of what I am proving as the most Genuine unquestionable Writings of any other Author whatsoever viz. That the common Historical Facts related in the New Testament are true Which Point I think is proved by such a multitude and variety of Evidence that I may take it for granted That Jesus Christ who lived and was Crucified at Jerusalem in the Reign of Tiberius Cesar was the first Author of the Christian Religion That the Characters Sufferings and Pretences of Christ and his Apostles and the Doctrines taught by them were the same we find represented in the Books of the New Testament and that the Christian Religion there delivered was propagated through the World and those Books writ according to the Time Manner and Circumstances there mentioned between the middle of Tiberius and the beginning of Trajan's Reign and consequently that the Christian Faith as to the principal Facts and Doctrines contain'd in the New Testament was always the same from the Time of Tiberius to the Council of Nice and from thence to the present Age the greatest part of the Scriptures having been always acknowledged to be the Genuine Works of those whose Names they bore and to contain the unalterable grounds of the Christian Religion and the Sum of what Christians were obliged to believe 2. In the next place then I am to prove that those extraordinary Facts Recorded in the New Testament which we call Miracles and Prophecies were really true according the Relation there given of them That they were constantly believed to be true by all Christians ever since the Time in which they are first said to happen has already been proved but whether their Faith was well
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
and from the Testimony of others concerning them yet are the Accounts they give us of such a Nature and Writ at such Times that 't is impossible they should ever have been believed if they had not been true from whence it follows That the History of the Scriptures must be true and the Doctrines they contain given by Divine Inspiration though the Persons that Recorded the wonderful Works and Revelations of God were not Divinely assisted in the same manner in the Writing as they themselves or others they write of were in the first Preaching and Publishing the Will of God As to the remaining Objections to Scripture viz. Ridiculous and Improbable Stories absurd Laws and Injunctions Impertinent Reasons and Arguments low and unartful Expressions All those will admit of one common Answer and are easily and justly accountable for from our Ignorance of the Language in which the Scriptures and especially those of the Old Testament were writ Ancient Customs and Vsages in speaking and acting and the Temper and Circumstances of the People where the Things were said and done The Wisdom of all Laws and Institutions is to be judg'd of by the Temper and Circumstances of the Persons for whom they were made particularly at the Time when they were made The Eloquence and Propriety at all Discourses and the Force and Weight of Arguments depend likewise upon the Character of the Persons the Discourses were directed to or intended for and their peculiar Disposition and Circumstances at such and such Times Ridiculous and absurd are arbitrary and relative Terms and vary according to the different Notions of the Persons that use them there being several Things which to some appear absurd and ludicrous which considered by others in different Circumstances appear proper and grave From these Considerations might all the particular Things objected under the forementioned Heads be answered as a great many of them have been already were we throughly instructed in those Matters which are absolutely necessary in order to make any Judgment upon the Things in question which at this distance from the first delivery of them is in several Cases impossible But in defect of such Information as is necessary to give a clear and particular Account of all the Passages of Scripture excepted against by Prophane and Cavilling Men 't is sufficient to say in general what has been before unanswerably proved that all the principal Matters of Fact Recorded in the Holy Writings upon which the Certainty of the Revelation and the Obligations of the Religion therein contained are founded are beyond all exception true for the Authority of these will bear down and over-rule all other seeming difficulties that occur in Scripture which are not manifestly inconsistent with the first Principles of our Knowledge upon which all our Faith as well as Reason is grounded There are several Relations of Things in the most approved Books which I should not believe so readily if they were not supported by the Authority of the rest But when I have unquestionable proof of the Veracity and Wisdom of the Writer in some things I can easily believe other things which he says must be true and wise though they seem to me foolish and untrue And therefore when I am certainly convinced 't is God that speaks by Infallible Signs and a great part of the Discourse appears to me worthy of God I cannot doubt but all the rest must proceed from God and be worthy of him though it would not appear so without this support Had the Bible came down to us with all the exceptionable Stories and Expressions put together without the other parts of it I could not have perceived it belonged to God without many wonderful Signs to confirm it and I should have been very distrustful of the Signs but when I am throughly convinced of the Authority of a Testimony nothing but a downright Contradiction would shock my Belief Did Twelve Men of known Integrity to me affirm they heard an Ass or Serpent Speak or any such thing as is Recorded in Scriture I should believe them without any manner of Scruple or Hesitation and according to the Nature and Importance of what was said I should judge it proceeded either from the secret force of Nature or from Evil Spirits or from God If therefore we are satisfied by undeniable Arguments that the Substance and Principal parts of the Scripture-History are true and consequently that the Bible is the Word of God it necessarily follows that all the questionable Places of it are capable of such a Solution as is very consistent with the Wisdom and Designs of God and with all the Principles of our Reason though we should not be able to give it And indeed such Answers have been already made to several things which seemed most liable to Exception that 't is very easie to conceive how those that are yet unanswered might be Solved were we furnished with all the Knowledge requisite for such a Performance But it has not pleased God to give us such Light and it does not seem Repugnant to any thing in the Divine Nature to deny it us and therefore the Difficulties of Scripture as well as those of Natural Providence may be a proper Exercise of our Faith but are a very unjust and unwarrantable ground of Infidelity since in both he has vouchsased us such plain and certain Manifestations of himself as cannot be darkned by all that infinite abyss of Knowledge which is veiled and concealed from us I shall not therefore concern my self any further to give a particular Answer to the many minute Objections that are made to Scripture because if the Authority of the Holy Writings depended upon the Force or Invalidity of these Objections in order to prove the Truth of those Writings every one of them must be distinctly and satisfactorily Answered and that is plainly impossible by reason that they cannot all receive their proper Solutions without a through insight into the whole compass of Humane Knowledge which no Man or Generation of Men is capable of and without such a Penetration into the Ways and Designs of God as is not attainable but by Revelation But if it be urged that there are some particular Objections which do of themselves without the assistance of any other Arguments overthrow the Credit and Authority of the Scriptures these having been never yet alledged 't is time enough to give an Answer to them when the whole Cause is put upon that Issue But besides all this a particular Answer to all or any Objections is a needless trouble because the proof that has been given of the Christian Revelation is sufficient to Establish the Authority of it notwithstanding any Objection that can be made to the Books of Scripture which I shall endeavour more fully to make out under the next General Head of Discourse IV. Forurthly then I shall shew the Sufficiency of such a Proof as has before been given by Matters of Fact to induce us to
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