Mankind or at least those Countreys where all those things came to pass I answer first those matters of fact were not in the least stifled or concealed They were so far from it that they converted an infinite number both of Jews and Gentiles and that too in a very short time Secondly there were several external Causes which very much contributed towards the weakning the Impression they would otherwise have made upon Mankind For first the Elders amongst the Jews endeavour'd as much as they could to perswade the People that all those Miracles were nothing but the product of some Magick Power or a kind of compact with the Devil Secondly Those that were in Power were so much exasperated against the Disciples of Christ that whosoever resolved to embrace his Doctrine must immediately prepare himself to be cast into a Dungeon or executed upon a scaffold Nay to undergo if possible any thing more sorrowful and fatal than this And because nothing makes a greater Impression upon Men than to see Punishments inflicted on others all Parents strictly charged their Children not to hold any Conversation with the Christians least they should see them end their days in the midst of Torments Nay they were very cautious and strict themselves in avoiding their Society which was the reason that keeping such an extraordinary distance from the Christians they shut their Eyes and stopped their Ears that they might not hear their Words nor see the Miracles which they perform'd Thirdly The Doctrine of the Apostles was so contrary to the Opinion the Jews had been prepossessed with that they could not but hate and avoid it For the Cross of Christ became a scandal to the Jews and was treated as a folly by the Greeks Lastly The Christian Religion putting an end to the bondage of the Law and the Religion of the Heathens a Jew then could not be converted to Christanity without utterly renouncing what he always esteemed inviolable nor could a Heathen believe in Jesus Christ without looking upon that as profane which he thought before most sacred Hence it is that the holy Scripture speaks to us of the effects of the Gospel attended with the power of the Holy Ghost as of the Creation of new Heavens and of a new Earth If we add to this the extraordinary care the Jewish and Heathenish Priests and the Magistrates of both Nations took to smother the light of the Gospel and the Weaknesses and Passions of Men who were unable to sustain so much as the Idea of the torments that were invented on purpose to hinder the progress of Christanity I say if we consider this we shall have no Reason to be any longer astonish'd at that which at first view so much surprised us But secondly it may be asked why the Historians among the Heathens never mention'd any thing of those mighty Wonders of the Gospel which yet deserved to have the most considerable place amongst the many other Events they have so carefully related We answer That this Consideration proves nothing against the truth of those Matters of fact we have so firmly established First because it is needless and extravagant to draw any further Consequences from a Principle which proves more than enough already 'T is true the Heathen Writers say little or nothing concerning Jesus Christ for they hardly knew his Name Suetonius speaks of him after this manner Judaei tumultuati sunt Cresto impulsore But what then Does it follow that because Suetonius hardly knew the Name of Christ that there was no such Person as Christ or that he was not really called Christus The Heathen Authors you see relate not how several Christian Churches were in a small time settled at Rome at Corinth at Ephesus at Sardis at Smirna at Philippi at Thessalonica c. But must it follow from thence that there was no such thing Certainly if any matters of fact were true this was undoubtedly true I grant indeed that the Miracles Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ were all matters of fact that might be doubted of yet we may at least affirm that the Establishment of those Christian Churches composed of such Men as believed all those things was a thing not to be doubted of This was a matter of fact very important and remarkable Yet it was not in the least mention'd by the Historians of that Age therefore the Objection goes too far it proves too much and so consequently proves nothing Secondly I say that the Historians of those Times have so ignorantly treated of the Jewish Affairs that we need not wonder they appear so little instructed in the Knowledge of what concerned the Christians whom they supposed to have been a Sect belonging to the Jews For if it appears that the History those Authors composed of them agrees not very well with the Gospel of the Apostles 't is but comparing it with that of Josephus and we may clearly see that it agrees no better with one than with the other Lastly the Heathen Authors consider'd the Christian Religion as a kind of Magick and a detestable Superstition which aimed at the total Destruction of Mankind It is certain that some Men earnestly endeavour'd to make it pass for such among those who lived both in the Time of the Apostles and long after them and it was very dangerous to give it any other Name The World was divided between the Friends and Enemies of Christanity Those who were the Friends of it professed it and deliver'd not only by word of Mouth but in Writing what they knew concerning the Wonders of it As for its Enemies they neither had the Boldness Power or Will to write ofit as the former had done They would not do it lest they should wrong their own Cause and dishonour their own Religion And they could not do it because they themselves were not so well acquainted with the Miracles of Christanity having always been afraid to converse with the Christians and esteemed the Belief of those Men a very sorrowful and dangerous Persuasion since by professing their Religion they were sure of getting nothing but Torments and Death it self Lastly they durst not presume to write things as they really were tho' they had been never so well acquainted with them because their own Writings would accuse them of having embraced Christianity a Crime which was so severely punish'd in those days that it would unavoidably have brought upon them certain Death and Ruin or at least after their Death Shame and Infamy upon their Families But thirdly it may be asked why the Apostles who had Power to heal the Sick and raise the Dead did not raise all the Dead to Life again nor heal all the sick that were in Judea because then all the World would have been forced in spite of themselves to believe in Jesus Christ We answer That this Question is much like what the Murtherers of Jesus Christ said to him upon the Cross He saved others let him save himself let him come
cometh after me is mightier than I c. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire Lastly John saw the Holy Ghost Descending upon Jesus under such a form as truly denoted the gentleness and mildness his Life was to be attended with and he heard that voice from Heaven this is my beloved Son c. These three matters of fact have a necessary connexion with the Principles of our Religion if they be true as they will evidently appear to be to all who shall seriously consider and reflect upon them 'T would be to no purpose to suspect the Evangelist of having forged that prediction of the Destruction of Jerusalem which he makes Jesus Christ himself utter because that Gospel was compiled long before that Event It would be as little to the purpose to pretend that that other prediction of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire was falslly inserted into the History of John the Baptist. For what likelyhood is there that the Disciples should have made John the Baptist utter such a prediction had they seen nothing like it And if they were truly baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire why should any body refuse to believe that St. John the Baptist foretold it Chapt. IV. 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness c. Had the Evangelists proposed any other Method to themselves in all their Writings but to speak the plain truth they would never have represented Christ to us as being delivered into the power of the Devil to be tempted of him who set him one while upon the Pinacles of the Temple and another while upon an exceeding high Mountain In all this Relation we have certainly a most undeniable mark of their Truth and Sincerity Vers 19. And he saith unto them follow me and I will make you fishers of men Who is this that without Riches Arms and Authority nay without any assistance from Men pretends to convert ordinary Fishers into Fishers of Men How came any such Thoughts into his Mind What a strange Design is this What a rash undertaking Nay what confidence joined to so great a weakness For Jesus Christ to fortel and execute that project he must not only have been absolute Master of his Disciples to convert them so wonderfully but also of their minds to enlighten them of their Hearts to make them less sensible of all wordly objects He must have been an absolute Master of suturity to foretel it of time present to Dispose of it of those Men's Inclinations whom he was thus to change of their resistance and continual struglings and oppositions against him nay he must have been absolute Master of all the Enemies of his Name in a word of all Events and Junctures whatsoever Vers 24. And his fame went throughout all Syria 'T is certain that the Evangelists could never have made the World believe that Jesus Christ was become famous for his Miracles had he really neither wrought nor pretended to work any Miracles Besides herein was Jesus Christ distinguish'd from John the Baptist that the former wrought many notable Wonders and Signs but the latter was famous only for the innocency of his Life and purity of his Manners And if Jesus Christ passed for a person who really did several Miracles it remains only for us to know whether those Miracles be true or false and that solely depends upon the examination of the Witnesses that saw them the nature of the matters of fact themselves and the Enemies that so firmly opposed them c. Chap. V. 1. And seeing the multitude he went up into a mountain c. And he opened his mouth and taught them c. I shall not say any thing concerning that excellent Sermon which Jesus Christ preached on the Mount We need only read it over to be satisfied that it is an abstract of the most Sound Pure and Spiritual the most impartial sublime and surprizing Doctrine that ever was thought of Read it therefore I say and you will as much be surprized at his Doctrine as the Multitudes that heard it Chap. VIII 1. When he was come down from the mountain c. In this Chapter we read of the cleansing of Lepers of healing sick Persons that were absent and far off by the efficacy of his word of his calming the Storms and Tempests of the Sea of his casting Devils out of those that were possessed of the consternation the Gadarenes were in at the loss of their Herd of Swine and their surprize to see those healed that were possessed with Devils all which are such matters of fact as the Evangelists could not have been perswaded of by a meer Illusion nor the Disciples make others believe against their own publick Knowledge Vers 11. And I say unto you many shall come from the East and West c. Who was it that had thus enlightned the Mind of Jesus Christ as to make him so clearly foretell the calling of the Gentiles Vers 22. But Jesus said unto him follow me and let the dead bury their dead This was certainly the expression of a Man that had so deeply reflected upon the vanity of the World and was truly perswaded of the Misery and Corruption of Mankind For did ever any Man but him speak after this manner Vers 34. And behold the whole City came out to meet Jesus and when they saw him they besought him that he would depart out of their Coasts Here were a sufficient number of Witnesses who might have easily convinced the Evangelists had that matter of fact been false Chap. IX 1. And he entred into a Ship c. In this Chapter Jesus Christ calleth Matthew from the receit of custom healeth a Woman that was diseased with an Issue of Blood twelve Years restoreth sight to two blind Men raiseth a young Girl to Life again and healeth one that was possessed with a Devil Now Matthew who compiled the History of all these matters of fact and whom no interest whatsoever could have obliged to follow Jesus Christ to the prejudice of his own repose could not but know certainly what force or secret Power had compelled him to follow Christ And Jairus knew very well whether or no his Daughter had been raised to Liâ—e again his Friends and Relations had been informed of it the Neighbours and Minstrels who were already come to solemnize her funerals could not be ignorant of it In a word the Blind the Lame and the Sick of that Town could not but tell whether they really experienced that healing virtue which proceeded from his very garments But who can suppose that so many Persons should have known the certain Truth of that matter of fact and yet that the Disciples themselves should not have known it And supposing they knew it how is it possible they could have so unanimously agreed to impose upon all the World at the expence of their lives and against their own temporal interest Vers 5. For whether is
they had known God they glorified him not as God therefore God also gave them up unto vile Affections Rom. 1. 21. And indeed it was no inconsiderable service the Christian Religion did Men in partly abolishing and disgracing so much that kind of detestable Debauchery that we look upon those to be no less than abominable Monsters that seem any way inclinable to it Humility and Charity those two Virtues so Essential and necessary to Men were so utterly unknown formerly that their Names were scarce known in all the Pagan World To what then do we owe the knowledge and Esteem we have of those two so excellent Virtues but to the Religion we profess Lastly 't was by the means of this Religion that the Creature was again call'd a Creature and God again called by his own Name Jehovah 'T was this Religion that took away from Vice the name of Virtue and reclaimed Virtue from the scandal of passing for Vice restored right Reason to it's former Privileges enlightned the Consciences of Men mortified their irregular and disorderly Passions and confounded their Avarice And surely by all these divine effects you must necessarily perceive and acknowledge the Divinity of Christianity IV. Portraiture of the Christian Religion as consider'd in the Purity of it's End IF the Effects of the Christian Religion are truly answerable to the Characters of it we may also affirm that it's End is truly answerable to it's Effects it being manifest there never was any so uncorrupt so pure so extraordinary and so perfect For we cannot but acknowledge that it is the main End and Design of Christian Religion to check and mortify Men's irregular Passions and restore the Principles of Righteousness and Uprightness in them which their Corruption had as it were Effac'd And it cannot be suppos'd this was the intention of the Devil whom we conceive to be as a Spirit naturally averse to the Good of Mankind nor that of Flesh and Blood that aim at nothing else but to satisfy their Lusts nor that of Nature which is easily perswaded being byassed by the Pleasures which Vice gives her a Prospect of nor that of Policy which tends only to the restraining the Licentiousness of all external Crimes in as much as they violate and invert the Order of publick Society but looks indifferently upon all Crimes that respect the Soul Neither can it be the scope and design of Reason which is easily corrupted by Avarice nor even that of Pride which is mortified much more than all the other Passions by this Doctrin unknown to the Flesh and insufferable to Nature Who then is it that concerns himself so much with Pride as to take away it's Errors it 's Vain-glory it 's chimerical Perfections Preferences Hypocrisy and Affectations and all this only by a serious Consideration of the divine Nature Who takes upon him to deprive Self-love of it's Injustice the Flesh of it's unlawful Pleasures and in a word all human Passions of their Disorders and Irregularities What can such a Design mean And how could this Thought of sanctifying Mankind enter of it self into any Man's Mind We may justly therefore ascribe this End and Design to the Christian Religion For it is certain it contains neither Exhortation nor Precept Promise nor Threat History nor Prophecy but what directly aims at that very End The Holy Scripture is not of the Nature of those Books that contain nothing but vain Speculations or curious Enquiries all those of that kind were brought to the Apostles to be burnt who returned no other Answer to those that asked them Men and Brethren what shall we do But this Repent ye They plainly declared that the Design of the Gospel was to free Men from the Bondage of their Sins and their Example shews us as much For what other Design could they have had in renouncing every thing and enduring all Persecutions but to perswade other Men they should renounce this present World Besides whether they speak or write they don't run out into vain Contests and Disputes the ordinary product of the Vanity of Mankind but come immediately to their purpose and insist only on what is material and essential to it Every particular in their Discourses and Writings is practical and relating to the Perfection of Morality so much they despise the Fineness of Eloquence and Subtilty of Human Philosophy and propose only to themselves the edification of Men. These things write I unto you say they that ye Sin not 1 John 2. 1. But supposing them such Deceivers as the Incredulous imagin what was it to them whether we Sinned or not What injury would it have been to the Son of a Carpenter tho the Pharisees were dissembling Hypocrites and dishonour'd the Deity by their Traditions and tho there had been Tables of Money-changers in the Court of the Temple What was it to him whether Sinners repented of their Sins or not Whether Men were Just and Merciful or thought they could appease God only with vain Offerings Whether the City that kill'd the Prophets knew the things that belong'd to her Peace or not What could move him to shed Tears in such abundance at the thoughts of the approaching Destruction of Jerusalem A sensible and effectual Proof indeed of his being very much concern'd for her Salvation What would it have signified to a few poor deluded Wretches whether the Gentiles had the Knowledge of the true God or not To a Company of false Witnesses whether Men were Cheats or Liars To persons odious and had in abomination every where whether Men truly loved one another or not To the Victims of publick Hatred whether Men were reconciled to God or not To such afflicted and disconsolate Wretches whether other Men were truly made sensible of a Divine Comfort and of the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Who can imagin that those Men designed to be wicked only to make us become honest To deceive all Mankind on purpose to establish a sacred and inviolable Law of Fidelity To become the Enemies of their own Nation to make us be in Charity with all Mankind In a word to establish a Religion in the World that tends wholly to the Sanctification of Mankind by the most signal Imposture and most heinous Crime that Men could be guilty of 'T would be strange if such wicked and deceitful Men as the Incredulous imagin the Apostles to have been should have the least Thoughts of sanctifying others And 't would be yet more surprizing if that Thought should be so fixed in their Minds as to become a full and perfect design of venturing and losing all to compass it Nay 't would be next to a Miracle if that Design should be put in execution and yet more 't would be an unheard of Prodigy if a continual succession of People should adhere to the same Principles and continue in the same disposition of Mind against their own Interest and in spite of the severest Persecutions Certainly we may confidently
shell and bark If I may so say of the Christian Religion by examining all those Arguments that are drawn from the external Testimony which the Primitive Christians gave of it and by considering their natural Capacities the discoveries that were made to them their prejudices the peculiar frame of their minds their Martyrdom and the reasons that induced them to suffer it c. And all this before we proceed to the consideration of the Writings of the New-Testament II. We shall consider these Writings themselves and enquire whether they are forged or not We shall examin the subject-matter of them and endeavour both to defend them against the suspicions of the Incredulous by shewing that they contain nothing but what is certainly true and to evince the Divinity of them by the Character of those things they contain III. and lastly We shall endeavour to shew the very substance and spirit of Christianity by discovering the Excellence uses advantages the end genius and in general all the beauties which are proper and natural to it And this is what we design to treat of in the following Sections whereof this second part is composed But since our Adversaries by their prejudices may be inclined to fear lest we should impose upon them by making them believe such Doctrines as can't be proved by Reason and since it is much for our advantage to remove all such suspicions we will for a while doubt of every thing with them and raising our selves by degrees to the Knowledge of those matters of fact which establish Christianity it self admit of nothing for truth but so far as appears evident CHAP. I. Where we shall enquire whence the Christians had their Original and what their Profession is by looking back into the first Ages wherein they appeared IN order to which we suppose that there are now Christians in the World and there have not always been such From this I gather that I must look back into past Ages to find out the Original of my Religion In this search I pass therefore from Age to Age till I come to Constantine without being able to clear this doubt But here we must make a little stop The prosperity of this Prince gives at first some occasion of suspicion and we easily mistrust a man who being Master of the most considerable part of the World seems probably to have established the Christian Religion therein either by Force or Policy looking perhaps upon it as more proper than that of the Heathens to carry on his designs Yet that suspicion soon vanishes since we are assured there were Christians in the World before Constantine's time All the Heathen Writers who lived before him speak of them and the Ecclesiastical Historians are wholly employed in describing their sufferings But supposing that these Historians lived in the days of Constantine or after him they must needs have either lost the use of their reason themselves or have imagined that the men of their age had lost theirs when they give them the History of the Christan Church down from the Apostles to Constantine if 't were certain there had not been Christians in the World before that Prince And therefore this must be too extravagant a suspicion to be entertained long But here is something still more observable viz. that on the one hand the Christians who lived before Constantine were then possessed of the Books of the New-Testament and on the other that those very Christians were so strongly perswaded of the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ of his miracles of the pouring out the holy spirit on the Apostles and of all other matters of fact that establish the Christian Religion that they hardly speak of any thing else their books are full of them and their Doctrine is altogether built upon this foundation And therefore if Constantine invented the matters of fact which establish Christianity he must not only have forged the Books of the New-Testament but also the Writings of Clemens Justin Iraeneus Athenagoras Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Origen and in general of all the Fathers who lived before him because every one of their Writings have an essential relation to those matters of fact that prove the truth of Religion And should we go up a little higher than the reign of Constantine we should hear of Christians that were afflicted during the three first Centuries of the Church and persecuted throughout the whole World and punished with most barbarous and new invented torments They were put to Death upon wheels and scaffolds tortured by fire their flesh torn with pincers their bodies were mangled by cutting off limbs one after another they were thrown into Rivers and cast into the Sea and exposed to Wild Beasts wrapp'd up in garments dipped in sulphur to serve for torches and set up to light Passengers in their Way In fine it was never known that men so universally agreed in any one thing as in their design of tormenting the Christians in so much that the ordinary people who have generally some compassion for the greatest malefactors upon the Scaffold conducted the Christians to the place of Execution with acclamations of Joy Certainly 't is a very difficult matter to restrain one's Curiosity so much as not to desire a more particular Knowledge of a people persecuted by the World with so much rage and malice For to see the whole World so strangely incensed against one sect of men one would easily think them the common Enemies of all mankind and the offspring of Hell it self born for a common plague to the Rest of the World What then were the great Crimes these Christians were guilty of They were accused of impiety murther and incest 'T was pretended that they violated the respect due to the Gods that they murthered their own Children which they scrupled not to eat up after having Killed them and lastly that they lay promiscuously together the Brother with the Sister and the Son with the Mother But first of all there is little likelyhood that the Christians should suffer Death and torments worse than Death it self in defence of a Religon which engaged them to the Commission of such infamous actions That stedfast constancy they shew'd in the midst of their Torments and which their Enemies themselves acknowledged sutes very ill with the voluptuousness and enormities they were accused of Besides were they question'd concerning these Crimes which they are obliged to clear themselves of they would produce in their Behalf the Apologies of Justin Athenagoras and Tertullian wherein they earnestly desired the Senate and Roman Emperours that they would make a strict enquiry into their lives and inflict upon them such torments as were a thousand times if possible more cruel than those they had already endured if they were really guâ—lty of what they were accused They would shew us likewise a letter from Pliny to Trajan which ought to be looked upon as an authentick monument of their Innocence Since Pliny there informs
were we not assured of them from the Writings of the Heathens and had we not a clearer proof in the complaints of the Fathers who certainly were not so extravagant as publickly to complain of an imaginary persecution when it was so dangerous to complain of one that was real And therefore I would fain know what this Christian Faith and Doctrine is which made men so patiently suffer and abandon all things But to my great amazement I find that they believed that a certain crucified man was the Son of God that a man hang'd and nailed on a Cross was the sovereign judg of the World and the object of our Adoration I confess I can't but acknowledg some supernatural power in all this For tho' men of as mean appearance as those who first preached the Gospel might without any Miracles have weigh'd down the Authority of Emperours and Prelates and all the Magnificence and glory of Paganism objects very suitable to the worldly and ambitious heart of a man yet how can we conceive that they could without the help of Miracles perswade men to believe a Paradox so offensive to Reason and which appears at first view so horrible as this that the Son of God was nailed on a Cross We can never perswade our selves without offering violence to our Reason that those who from their youth represented their Deities to themselves as the greatest and most glorious Beings they could imagin and gave the name of Divine to whatever they thought in the highest degree beautiful and magnificent should yet substitute to all these great Ideas the notion of a God who died an infamous Death upon the Cross That not one alone but an infinite number of persons embraced an Opinion that immediately overthrew all their first Ideas of a God that this great change was not gradually and insensibly brought to pass or in the compass of several ages but in a very few years and with an incredible swiftness by the Mystery of vile and contemptible persons of no power or authority in the World and that the passion they had for a Doctrine which seemed at first so monstrous to Men induced them to suffer Death in defence of the same after having renounced their Fortune Reputation and Pleasures But does not prejudice over-rule in all this and make me Fancy I see that distinctly which I perceive but confusedly in truth I ought yet further to distrust my self and tho' I honour Errour too much in suspecting it may be so coherent so united to the Principles of Common sense and involved in so many appearances of Truth yet I will not pass by any scruple for all that has been hitherto said I find then that the Christian Religion was established in the World an hundred years ago I know that the Christians believe in a certain Jesus Christ crucified I know also that this Opinion of theirs was not innate I am fully perswaded that neither the Heathenish Priests nor their ordinary Guides taught them this Doctrin because they were the profess'd Enemies of it I am compelled therefore in despite of my self to credit at least in some respect the Relation the ancient Doctors of the Church unanimously gave of it viz that some persons called Apostles and Disciples of Jesus Christ went about the World preaching that this same Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Messias whom God had promised to the Jews But these fundamental Truths require a more particular Examination and therefore we must shew more distinctly whether there were ever such men as the Apostles in the World what their Original was what Doctrine they preached and how they were qualified This we shall presently see by laying down for a certain Principle that the Christians had the books of the New-Testament in their possession at that very time we have chose for our fixed point I shall not at present enquire whether those Books are forged or not my design being to argue some time without entring upon that Enquiry For whether they are forged or not at least we learn from them certain undeniable matters of fact which will wonderfully illustrate all our following Enquiries CHAP. V. Which demonstrates that all the matters of fact contained in the Books of the New Testament can never be forg'd IF the New Testament be forged It may well be presumed that the Contrivers of that forgery who certainly could have no other design but to make it pass for truth endeavour'd to ground it upon some foundation either good or bad So that we have reason to believe that tho' they should have invented all that they relate at least they invented not the Names Country and Persons of Jesus Christ and his Apostles under whose Names they speak and to whom they ascribe the Establishment of the Christian Religion For is it probable they should endeavour to perswade men to worship a certain Jew called Jesus the Son of Mary a Galilean too who was crucified at Jerusalem and had several Disciples whose names â—re exactly related if the Jews could have immediâ—tely convinced them of the falsehood of all those matters by producing the Testimony of their own Nation who would have thronged in to tell them â—hat Jesus and his Disciples were only fictitious â—ames and that there was no more to do but conâ—ult all the Registers and Decrees wherein Augustus commanded all the Jews should be taxed in the days of Cyrenius and where it must have appeared that Jesus Christ himself if there was any such Person was also taxed 'T is all one as if a man should publish in this age a book full of excellent precepts of Morality intermixt with several fictitious actions which book he would have the World receive as the Doctrine of some divine and extraordinary man who in the beginning of this age raised up several men from the Dead healed all sorts of Diseases calm'd the Winds and Tempests of the Sea gave Authority to several of his Disciples to work many strange Miracles was at length seiz'd and put to Death in Germany and whose Disciples who bore such and such names and were born in such and such a Countrey came afterwards into France dispersed themselves throughout the other parts of Europe preach'd his Doctrine and at length died all unanimously in defence of it What think you of this Tale And how would it be received in the World but as a System only of many evident and palpable falsities What think you those persons would say of it who should be thus accused of so dreadful a parricide They would certainly reply that that fictitious book was purposely design'd to blast their Reputation But it appears the Jews never attempted to clear themselves after that manner They confess there was such a person as Jesus Christ and that their Fathers put him to Death neither do they deny the least Circumstance of his Life Ministry or Death excepting those which might probably make him pass for the Son of God But we
different Countries who speak different Languages do all understand my speech there can certainly be no illusion in that The Validity of a Testimony is no longer incertain when we are sure of two things First that the witness is not himself deceived and Secondly that he does not intend to deceive Others Now this might easily be verified concerning the Disciples of Jesus For first the matters of fact upon which their depositions were founded are so evident and notorious that none can ever be deceived in relation to them Thus how is it possible that the eyes should think they saw what they did not really see that the ears should agree to witness nothing but what was agreeable to the Testimony of the eyes that the hand should touch that which both the eyes and the ears perceived not once only but several times not the eyes the ears and the hands of one single man but of several men together that they should unanimously profess themselves to be endowed with an extraordinary power and that too of working miracles unless they themselves knew the certainty of it but tho we should suppose a man so Whimsical as to impose upon himself after that prodigious rate yet sure we could not without extravagance imagin that the Apostles had utterly lost their senses by the same kind of madness that this madness begun exactly after the Death of Jesus Christ that the spreading of the Gospel over the face of the Universe was a wonderful contrivance of the same that it was joyned to that Morality which is so excellent so sublime and yet so just and pious in it self that the very Enemies of our Religion always reverenc'd it And Lastly that all manner of vertues deriv'd their original from such pretended madness which works a change upon the World sanctifies mankind and exactly fulfills all those Oracles which foretold the calling of the Gentiles But if it appears that those men did not impose upon themselves much less ought they to be suspected of having had the will to deceive others because their Simplicity and mean Education allowed them not to frame any such design and besides the confusion they were in to see themselves frustrated of their hopes by the unexpected Death of their Master would wholly have diverted them from it Their temporal concerns too could not admit of it and their shame to shew themselves to the World after what had happened was of it self sufficient to hinder them from it Moreover their Conscience would have check'd them for their superstitious fondness of the vain shadow of a Messias And it is impossible they could ever have agreed together so as to contrive that strange and notorious imposture But supposing they undertook it the Torments inflicted on them would have made them repent such a rash design and the confession of one single person amongst them would have sufficiently discovered them all Lastly their Shame and Poverty the Gaols and the Chains the Stripes the Fire and the Sword that were used against them to make them recant sufficiently warrant us that they never intended to deceive the World And if one single person so disposed is to be looked upon as an unheard of prodigy how much more unlikely is it that a whole Society could have conceived such an extravagant design If the Testimony of the Disciples be false we cannot chuse but look upon them as Mad men or rather as Rascals nay perhaps as both And yet their preaching sufficiently shews the glory of their Innocence and Wisdom to confound both these Calumnies Let any man but read over the Books of those admirable Writers and there he will to his satisfaction find that Honesty Sincerity and Self denial is inseparably interwoven with the most pure and most judicious Morality that ever was But this Reflexion puts me in mind that I must now hasten to the consideration of the Books of the New Testament not to see whether they be human or divine for that will be considered in its own proper place but whether they be forged or not For if once we shew that they are not forg'd we need only read them over to know the Testimony the Disciples bore of Jesus Christ himself And because that Truth will serve for a confirmation of what we have already said we shall begin the following Section with the Consideration of it SECTION II. Wherein we shall prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion by examining the Books of the New-Testament CHAP. I. Wherein we shall prove that those Books can never be supposititious WHen I examin the Books of the New Testament all the doubts I strive to raise concerning them amount only to these three I. Whether those Books were not composed by some Impostor who probably might have ascribed them to the Apostles II. Whether those Books supposing they were composed by the Apostles were not afterwards corrupted by the Christians III. Whether the Apostles the pretended Authors of those Books did not themselves fill them up with many fictions for their Masters honour and the advantage of their Religion It is but just we should examine whether these three suspicions are well grounded or no. And First it is certain that in taking away the evidence of the Books of the New Testament we overthrow that of all other Books and call in question the account of all things past For who will warrant me that Cicero's Orations are his own if I can't reasonably assure my self that the Epistles of St. Paul were written by St. Paul himself But hold Perhaps it was easier or more advantageous to counterfeit the Books of the New Testament than those of Humane Learning This is what we must a little enquire into And I. the facility there is in Counterfeiting the the works of an Author wholly depends upon the several Circumstances of time place and persons upon the subject matter of that Book the temper of mens minds their different notions and their various interests which must be carried on in it Now to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning seems infinitely more easy in all these respects than to counterfeit those of the New Testament I. Because they who counterfeit a Book of Humane Learning may take as much time as they please for it but here we know not what time can be imagined the Books of the New Testament were forged in If we look back from age to age we find the Christians had those Books continually before their eyes and that they were quoted by the most ancient Fathers who looked upon them as Sacred and Divine II. It is easy to counterfeit Books of Humane Learning because there are generally but few people that interess themselves at all in them at least but very indifferently but it would have been a very difficult matter to counterfeit those Books which compelled men to suffer Martyrdom as the Books of the New Testament did If a man that lends out his money seeks the best security he can for it what
just going to shed the blood of Christians He went about afterwards preaching that he had seen Jesus Christ that a great light shone round about him that the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven were revealed unto him He affirmed that God had set him forth unto the World and that he became a Spectacle unto Men and Angels 1 Cor. 4. 9. If men will not credit his report let them try him by torments and see what effect they will have upon him Let them load him with Chains and cast him into Prison let them expose him to Wild beasts at Ephesus let the Elements Men and Devils be all at once set against him let them scourge him drag him along stone him let them bring him from Jerusalem to Cesarea from Cesarea to Rome increase and prolong his Afflictions Saul the Witness of the Synagogue 't is true recanted his opinion but Paul the Witness of Jesus will never recant his Having seen the strange alteration which happened to the Person of the Minister of the Synagogue let us reflect a little on that which happened to the Person of the Apostle of Jesus Christ Judas betrayed his Master and received for his reward thirty pieces of Silver But how comes it to pass he was so much disturbed after he had done it The Jews the Romans the People the Doctors the Magistrates and Judges all favoured his crime and let him go unpunished yet the remorse of his own Conscience tormented him to that degree that he could not rest any where and at length not being able to overcome his Despair he made away with himself and the Wisdom of God so ordered it that the Jews themselves preserv'd the memory of that astonishing event by buying with that mony a field which is since called Aceldama because it was the price of blood What a strange difference we find in these two Persons of Judas and Saul Judas killed himself in the midst of his Prosperity but Saul rejoyced in the midst of his afflictions Judas prevailed upon by the Synagogue could not be comforted by the same but died in despair Paul became the Disciple and Witness of Jesus and to him the Cross of Jesus was matter of the greatest joy God forbid says he Gal. 6. 14 that I should glory save in the Cross of my Saviour Christ by whom the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World Will any one believe that Judas was his own Executioner meerly out of remorse for having betray'd an Impostor to the Jews Or that St. Paul derived from the sense of his infidelity the courage he shewed in all his sufferings Certainly it may be very properly said that they were both the Martyrs of God but only with this difference that Judas was so against his will but Paul voluntarily If the constancy of the one testify'd in behalf of Jesus Christ the despair of the other was no small honour to him And the only difference is this that Paul was properly a Martyr but Judas in spite of himself a witness of the Truth of Religion CHAP. XVII Where we further answer the Objections of the Incredulous OF all the Objects which the Christian Religion offers to our understanding there is no one seems more to shock the Reason of a prejudiced and incredulous person than the Death of the Messias The Cross of Jesus Christ was according to the Expression of an Apostle a scandal to the Jew and a folly to the Greek But in our opinion there is nothing bears more visible characters of Greatness and Divinity than that does The Incredulous tell us that could we but rid our selves of all our prejudices we should be heartily ashamed to entertain such strange Ideas of God And we also tell them that could they once but free themselves of those passions which darken their understanding they would certainly admire with us the wonders of so Divine an object Who then is in the wrong in this thing That will best appear by the answers we shall make to their objections We find in the Person of Jesus Christ one who suffered himself to be seized upon and was afterwards nailed on a Cross not having any one to deliver him from the power of his Enemies This they object was a mark of his Weakness For say they had he been the King of the Jews why did he not come down from the Cross and all the World would have believed on him He died as one condemned by the grand Council of the Jews which God himself had established This was he as was found guilty He was seized with sorrowfulness even unto Death the day before his Passion and cried out bitterly when he gave up the Ghost This shews his wretched condition He was made to suffer a punishment proper only for Slaves It cannot therefore be doubted but that he died a most infamous Death And who can imagin that Weakness Guilt or at least Condemnation Wretchedness and Infamy should be the true Characters of the Son of God Thus the Incredulous argue We answer that Jesus Christ suffer'd by the determinate Council of God since the Scriptures foretold that he was to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities that he was to make his Soul an offering for sin that he was to be cut off but not for himself And St. John the Baptist seeing him coming to him at a time wherein it was very unlikely he should ever suffer called him the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World John 1. 29. Jesus Christ suffered voluntarily he foretold all his own Sufferings to his Disciples inviting them to take up their Cross and follow him He told them that he had made choice of a Company of miserable and afflicted Wretches in the World who were notwithstanding to overcome the World and by their sufferings establish the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth He freely owned to them that he was not come to settle peace in the World but the sword that God would smite the Shepherd and that the Sheep should be scattered that they were to drink of the same cup with him and be Baptised with his Baptism that is to taste the bitter cup of his Afflictions and be Baptised with him with a Baptism of Blood He intermixed his suffering with theirs that they might the better bear them in remembrance If we should in the least doubt whether Christ foretold his sufferings we need only consider the design of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the time wherein this Ceremony was instituted For unless we should call in question the real institution of that Sacrament and so affirm that the Disciples out of an unaccountable and fantastical Extravagance pretended only that Jesus Christ had instituted that Ceremony when there was no such thing it will appear that Jesus Christ foresaw his Death that he prepared himself for it and affirmed he suffer'd it voluntarily for the Salvation of Mankind The Sacrament of the Eucharist which he
represents the Disciples continually fasting and praying could not devise that matter of fact supposing it to be false He would be very extravagant that should believe that the Apostles led an ill course of Life and plunged themselves in all sorts of lewd Debaucheries Their Words their Actions convince us of the contrary Yet it may be said that they were Villains indeed if what they preached was false But if they were downright plain honest Men as their speech necessarily evinces to us then was their preaching also necessarily true Vers 12. Then the Deputy when he saw what was done believed being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. 'T would argue but little Judgment in any one that designs to impose a Fiction upon Men's belief to pitch upon Circumstances as are contrary to publick knowledge The Conversion of a Deputy was certainly an Event very remarkable Chap. XV. 39. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus This Historian is very exact in relating the least occurrences He is sincere too since he scruples not to relate the Contentions which arose among the Apostles themselves Chap. XX. 12. And they brought the young Man alive and were not a little comforted Can any thing be more surprising or convincing than the Resurrection of the Dead Chap. XXIV 25. And as he reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled and answered go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Great indeed was the Divine efficacy of his words which made a Judge tremble sitting on his Tribunal of Justice and before the Chains of his Prisoner Chap. XXVIII 30 31. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired House and received all that came unto him preaching the Kingdom of God c. Here endeth the History of the Acts of the holy Apostles written by St. Luke 'T is manifest he compiled it before the Destruction of Jerusalem because he mentions nothing of that Event Neither do the Gospels or Epistles of the Apostles speak of it But they often speak of the sudden coming of the Lord or of the Judgments he had resolved to execute upon the Jewish Nation CAHP. IX Wherein we shall yet farther produce from the Epistles of St. Paul St. Peter and St John several Texts very proper to make us truly sensible of the Divinity of the Christian Religion Epistle to the Romans CHap. I. 1 2 3 4. Paul the Servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God c. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead Men generally insert all their Titles in the Epistles they write but St. Paul inserts the whole Gospel in his And what was the reason of it Because his Mind and Heart were so full of it that he could not speak of any thing else Jesus Christ was his Alpha and his Omega his Beginning and his End Vers 7. To all that â—e in Rome beloved of God called to be saints Grace be unto you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Did ever Man before him write in this stile He directs his Discourse to those only that were called to be Saints He does not vainly complement them after the usual way of the World but wishes them the Peace and Grace of God Certainly he would not have wrote thus had he been an Impostor or an Enemy to his Country Men who endeavoured to render them odious throughout the World by accusing them of an imaginary Crime Vers 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth c. How strongly perswaded must that Man be of what he says who expresses himself after so pathetical a manner And how well does the fulness of his mind appear by all these manifold and multiplied expressions Chap. VIII 37 38 39. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels c. An immoveable Constancy indeed and a Divine confidence which he so naturally set down and which could not possibly arise from the Soul of an Impostor Chap. XI 28 29. As concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Father's sake For the Gifts and calling of God c. Why did St. Paul here speak so movingly and tenderly of the Jews And why did he earnestly endeavour to soften and mitigate the Minds of the Gentiles towards them Whence comes that inclination both of his Heart and Affections to favour those implacable Enemies who sought nothing but his Destruction and Ruin Certainly a Man that had forsaken his own Nation out of spight or a desire of revenge could not be of such a Temper Chap. XII 2. And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind c. We have here a Man who having been wholly changed having acquired new Knowledge new Habits and new Affections speaks of nothing but of being transformed renewed and becoming a New Creature c. A Man who having been enlightned in his way to Damascus speaks of nothing but of illumination of a Light that shone from Heaven of a Kingdom of Light A Man in fine who having had mercy shewn him in the midst of the fury of his persecutions speaks of nothing but Pardon and Grace T is an easy matter to collect his History from his very expressions Vers 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in Honour preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality Bless them which persecute you bless and curse not rejoyce with them that do rejoyce c. Can we suppose these to be the words or thoughts of an Impostor Chap. XIII 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Religion as it were Cements the good and welfare of a State and Piety seems inseparable from the publick good of a Society because God by whose appointment Kings reign is the prime Author of Religion Vers 12 14 The night is far spent the day is at hand c. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof This Author's words continually follow and express his thoughts He considered the Gospel as a Light that dissipated all the erroneous Darkness and Ignorance of his Mind he considered
have for ever divided Now the Christian Religion restores the Society of Nature For by uniting Men so strictly in the Bond of Charity it farther strengthens that natural Love which we call Humanity It destroys too the Societies of Interest and Ambition because it extirpates such inordinate Desires as are not true Principles of Vnion and good Vnderstanding one among another It also strengthens Civil Society by commanding us to obey our Superiours and teaching us to render unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods Lastly it establishes such a Society as restores the Equality of Nature among us and whereas there was in the World till the coming of Christ a Society of Men externally indeed united by the Bond of Civil Laws Government and the Degrees of Proximity of Blood but internally divided by their irregular Passions Christ shews us a Society of Men externally divided by the distance of Time and Place and the disparity of their Conditions but internally united by the Bonds of the same Faith the same Hope and the same Charity Nor are these meer Ideas or Speculations for besides that the Christian Religion visibly relates wholly to the Design of making Men holy and pure and dedicating them to God besides that the Apostles tell us that it is the End of their Preaching directing themselves in their Epistles to those that are called to be Saints and to the Spiritual Israel and declaring concerning Apostates that they went from them because they were not of them besides that Jesus Christ on all occasions makes the very same Distinction refusing to own them for his Disciples that should be wholly taken up with the advantages of the World and giving this Mark and Character of those whom he owned for his My Sheep hear my Voice and the World hates them because they are not of the World Joh. 17. 14. I say besides all this we have this Satisfaction that we can produce a Society of holy Men that yielded not to any Powers of the World but withstood the most rigorous Trials of Persecutions and renounced the enticing Charms of the World the better to adhere to the Cross of Christ A Society victorious in Temptations that overcame Vices and deluded the indefatigable Endeavours of Tyrants a Society composed of Mortal Men yet not to be exstinguished by Death that was subject to the Laws of Nature yet encourag'd with motives Super-natural that conversed in the World yet despised it that was dispersed in several different Times and Places yet always united in the same Thoughts and Opinions that was continually attack't by different Passions yet constantly surmounted them In a word a Society that still flourish'd in the midst of Persecution increas'd the more as often as it was defeated and rais'd it self out of it 's own ruins Certainly he must have read but little of Ecclesiastical History that is unacquainted with all these Truths and he must be wilfully blind and purposely impose upon himself that acknowledges not the Efficacy of Religion in all those wonderful Effects And 't is properly in that Society of holy Men or in the Church it self that we ought to seek for the Fruits of Religion for there we shall find the Accomplishment of those ancient Prophecies which promised to shew us the Sheep feeding with the Bear and the Leopard with the Lamb c. And as the Ark of God could not be left in the midst of it's Enemies without working several Wonders among them which even those Infidels were sensible of so the Christian Church cannot continue in the World without producing such remarkable Effects in it which the most incredulous themselves cannot call in question For let them tell us if they can how came the Oracles of the Heathens to be immediately silenced when the Apostles first preach'd the Mysteries of Christianity and by what Power the Sound of those Men being gone to the end of the World made those Oracles eternally cease which had so long foretold things to come and so forc'd the Heathenish Writers as Plutarch and others to inquire into the Cause of that so sudden and so unexpected Silence For to object with Julian that the Jewish and Christian Oracles have been also silenced concludes nothing because the Apostles foretold that the Gift of Prophecy should cease But how appears it that the Oracles among the Heathens declar'd they should one day be silenced The Accomplishment of our Prophecies being an everlasting Proof of the Truth of our Religion serves us instead of Perpetual Oracles But what Accomplishment of Prophecies confirms the Pagan Religion No less wonderful an Effect of our Religion was the abundance of Revelation which brought so many Superstitious and Idolatrous Nations to the Knowledge of the true God Hence came the World to be fill'd with Wisdom by the preaching of ignorant Persons and the meanest Servants to have more noble and rational Ideas of the Deity than the most quick Clear-sighted Philosophers and that too by the Proposal of such a Doctrin as seems indeed to the Flesh an Object of Scandal and Horror We cannot deny but that the Christian Religion has the advantage of all others for having utterly abolished all those Sacrifices wherein they offered the Blood of Men Neither can we doubt but that this cruel and bloody Superstition was sufficiently advanc'd in the World since we find that the Holy Scripture reproaches the Jews for having sacrificed their Children to Moloch and that Julius Cesar tells us in his Commentaries that it was an ancient Custom among the Gauls to offer Human Victims to their pretended Deities I confess indeed the Romans had already renounced such a barbarous and cruel Superstition but then I question whether they did not still retain some Spice of it in those Spectacles they exhibited to the People wherein they were extreamly pleased to see the Blood of their Gladiatours run down who killed one another meerly to make them Sport A Sacrifice so much the more impious because dedicated rather to the unlawful pleasure of Men than the Honour of those Beings they look't upon as Gods And what but the Christian Religion could have abolished all those bloody Spectacles and horrid Divertisements We have just reason to be surprized to think how licentiously that abominable Sin usually punish'd by God and Man with Fire reign'd heretofore in the World and we cannot without horror and amazement reflect how that the love of both Sexes seem'd equally grown common to Men and that ancient Authors freely speak of that kind of Debauchery which our own Writers dare not so much as mention lest they defile their Writings Socrates is represented to us by some of them as being deeply smitten with the Beauty of Alcibiades and the Emperour Trajan whose Panegyrick well deserv'd thirty Years labour strangely blemished his Reputation by that monstrous Lechery Which pretty well shews the just Grounds for St. Paul's reproach to the Heathens who says that because when