that the Prophecies mentioned in the New Testament were not conceived and uttered by meer Men without the assistance of some other Being of greater Knowledge and Wisdom And the same likewise may easily be made out of the Miracles there Recorded that they were such Works as Man alone by his own Power could not perform For some of them were such that the Persons who did them had never seen or heard of before as casting out of Devils speaking unknown Tongues c. How came it then into their Minds to think of them And when they did think of them how had they the Confidence to believe they could do them and venture upon a tryal Most of those they had heard of before were by them themselves believed to surpass Humane Skill and to have been done by a Higher Power and therefore they could have no Inducement or Incouragement from thence to try their own Abilities upon them nay further any indeavours of this kind were utterly inconsistent with such a Belief as is here supposed The Skill or Art of doing any of them in a natural way was never pretended to before and was never known to any other Persons Whence therefore had these Men their great unheard of Skill Raising the Dead Curing all manner of Diseases and several other things Recorded to have been done by Christ and his Apostles have always been lookt upon as impossible to be effected by any Humane Art or Application of the Powers and Vertues of Bodies to one another And not to mention those other Miracles of Christ and his Apostles which seem more above Humane Power it cannot be supposed but among those vast promiscuous Multitudes of Blind Lame Sick and Maimed that were cured by them there must have been some such as were then and always before and would be now accounted Incurable by the help of any known Remedies But allowing that the secret force of Nature is very great that the Powers of Natural Bodies and their Operations upon one another are very strange and wonderful and that we cannot conclude such or such Effects are impossible because we have never seen the like before that there may be Medicines proportioned to every Disease and that there may be an Universal Remedy for all found out as several Learned Men have imagined Allowing I say all this and supposing further that Christ and his Disciples were acquainted with all these mighty Secrets yet if the History of the Gospel be true as we have proved before it is the wonderful Cures they did could not be brought about in a natural way such as is here intimated because 't is plain by the account we have of these Matters that they never made use of any manner of Applications of other Bodies to the Persons Cured by them excepting one in the case of a Blind Man and if they had whatever the Medicines were which they used no body could have been Cured by them in the manner Persons are said to be Cured in the New Testament The first is plain from all the several Relations there given of the Cures that were done it being every where almost positively affirmed that Persons were Cured by Christ and his Disciples immediatly most of them upon their speaking the Word without any kind of operation or process some of them by a Touch of their Garment and some by their Shadow passing over them And however ignorant we may be in the Nature of Bodies we comprehend the whole Force and Power and all the possible Vertues of a Word a Tonch of a Garment and a Humane Shadow But if the most powerful Medicines the World affords had been applied 't is demonstrable from the Nature and Laws of Motion and the constant Manner of Operation observed in all other Natural Works that the Cures performed by Christ and his Disciples could not have been wrought in an instant nor in any short time without such violent Agitations in the Bodies Cured as would have appeared in strange External Marks which must have been taken notice of by all the Beholders and consequently some of them would have been mentioned in the Accounts that were written of the Facts whereas we find no such things in all the History of the New Testament unless perhaps one Case of a Blind Man be thought an Objection to what is here advanced But this Instance which is made use of by some to prove that this and all other Miracles were brought about the same way by the Application of proper means is a very good Argument to the contrary for besides that the means here used had no particular fitness in them for the End designed above any other whatsoever this was the slowest Cure we read of and took up the longest time in doing And if these Observations hold true as to the Cures wrought by Christ and his Disciples they are of much greater weight with respect to several other of the Miracles done by them If the Sick could not be Cured by a Word 's speaking without the use of Remedies How could the Dead be Raised without any other Application If no Application could Cure the Sick in an instant what Force or Power of Natural Bodies could Raise the Dead immediately And to what secret Workings of Nature can we ascribe the power of speaking several Languages which the Speakers were utterly ignorant oâ— immediately before they spoke them Neither is it to any purpose to urge that the Relation of all these Miracles in the New Testament is impersect and several Circumstances omitted which if they had been Recorded would have enabled us to explain how the Facts might have been brought to pass in a Natural ordenary Way For if that Account we have of them or those Circumstances that are mentioned are true 't is impossible by the addition of any other Circumstances whatsoever to make the Events appear such as might be compassed by Human Power If several Persons who were unknown to Christ and whose Constitution and Case he had no antecedent knowledge of were Cured by him immediately upon his first view of them as soon as he had spoke the Word as 't is plain they were from abundance of Instances in the Gospel's if Lazarus came out of the Grave immediately upon Christ's calling of him if the Centurion's Servant was healed the self same hour Christ spoke that it should be done without his going to the House where he lay and if the Apostles were enabled to speak several Languages which the Day before they spoke them they knew nothing of which things are all positively asserted in the New Testament let us imagine what other Circumstances we please and suppose Christ and his Apostles indued with all the Knowledge and Power that any Man ever was or could be Master of 't is impossible to give such an account of these Matters consistent with that Relation we have of them in the New Testament as can satisfie any Man they were Effected by Humane Skill and Power
and worship God in Spirit and in Truth with purity of heart and intention to submit our Wills to his and to aquiesce in all the dispensations of his Providence with the utmost resignation of Mind and Judgment possible To love our Neighbours as our selves to do unto all Men as we would they should do unto us to forgive and love our Enemies to bless and pray for those that despightfully use us and persecute us to do good against evil and to endeavour as much as in us lies to live peaceably with to do good unto and to promote the Salvation of all Men. To deny our selves and to mortifie all our Lusts and Affections to take off our Affections from things on the Earth and set them upon things above and to have our conversation in Heaven to live chastly and soberly in this present World avoiding all manner of excess and intemperance to bridle our Tongues to take care that we offend not in word and to bring every thought into Captivity to the Law of Christ to think lowly of our selves with all humility preferring each other to humble our selves in the presence of God and when we have done all that we can to say we are unprofitable Servants to take up the Cross of Christ and not only to bear Afflictions patiently but to glory in them and rejoyce that we are thought worthy to suffer These and all other the particular Duties derived from them we are required constantly and sincerely to endeavour to perform without a willful allowance of our selves to offend in one point or to do evil that good may come of it and whenever we have transgress'd any of these Rules of Life prescribed us to act by we are immediately to break off our sins by repentance All which we are obliged to do for the Glory of God in pure obedience to his Word and Command in love and gratitude for all the Mercies we receive from him and in hope and expectation of enjoying Eternal Happiness and escaping Eternal Misery in another life and upon no other account or prospect whatsoever these being the only true Ends and Motives of Human Action and the only Grounds of Duty and Obligation We have considered the Character of Jesus Christ and taken a short view of the Gospel or Religion he taught and recommended to Mankind In the next place let us see who and what sort of Men they were that first believed in him who assisted in the publishing and propagating his Gospel and who they were that opposed the Establishment of it and persecuted Christ and all that bore Testimony to him Those that were any ways concern'd in the receiving publishing and propagating the Gospel of Christ were John his Forerunner his Twelve Apostles other Apostles and Disciples and such as were particularly set apart for the Ministry and Common Believers John who is stil'd The Forerunner of Christ and one that was to prepare the way before him was born of Parents who were righteous before God and walked in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless his Conception and Birth were attended with many extraordinary Signs and Wonders then it is said of him That he grew and waxed strong in Spirit and was in the Desarts till the day of his shewing unto Israel and his Rayment was of Camels hair and his Meat was Locusts and wild Honey afterwards he came Preaching in the Wilderness of Judea saying Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and many were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins all he Preached to and baptized he acquainted with the Character and near approach of Jesus Christ whom in a particular manner he preferr'd to himself and and by that means satisfied them that he was not the Christ which before they doubted of Little more is recorded of his Preaching or Discourses but only some particular advice to some Persons that enquired of him what they should do and his reproof of the Multitude that came to him and of Herod for which last he was put in Prison by him and afterward beheaded He did no Miracles but the Austerity of his Life the Authority of his Preaching and Baptizing and the Holiness of his Conversation made him lookt upon by all People as a Prophet Jesus Christ says of him that he was more than a Prophet and even Herod himself that beheaded him fear'd him while alive and observ'd him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly knowing him to be a just Man and a holy The Twelve Apostles were all of them Persons of a low Rank and mean Occupations all the time they followed Christ they seem'd not to be fully acquainted who he was or what he design'd several of his Discourses they understood not but wondered what the meaning of them should be they were several times by their Master reproach'd for want of apprehension and knowledge in the Scriptures after the plain Discourses he had made of himself to them and for want of Faith and Courage notwithstanding the many Miracles and mighty Works he had done before them and they themselves had done by his Commission they lookt upon him as a Temporal Messiah or Deliverer who was to restore the Kingdom again to Israel and they had several little Contests among themselves who should be greatest in the Kingdom they fancied their Master came to establish they acknowledg'd him to be the Christ the Son of God but they seem'd not to have rightly understood what they said when he was apprehended to be put to death one of them betrayed him all the rest were offended because of him and fled but one of them that return'd after him solemnly deny'd him and immediately repented and he that betrayed him repented and hang'd himself After his death we find some of them bewailing themselves as disappointed in all the hopes and expectations they had conceived of him and when it was reported that he was risen again none of them would believe it till they saw him themselves and one of them was more remarkably incredulous in this point than the rest till he had received the satisfaction he desired But after the Ascension of Christ and the choice of another Apostle in the room of him that had hang'd himself we find the Twelve Apostles maintaining a different Character from what they had in their Master's life-time Now they appear perfectly instructed in all things concerning Christ whatsoever before seem'd strange to them either in his Actions or Discourse is all unriddled and the Scriptures which before were difficult to be understood are now made plain and manifest And as their Knowledge is enlarg'd their Faith is strengthened no doubts or distrusts are now entertain'd but they Preach the Gospel of Christ with Authority and full Assurance insomuch that we find many more converted at their Preaching than at Christ's they are endued with new Powers which they had not whilst their Master lived and which did not shew forth
received from a constant Repetition of the same appearances But 't is not to prove a God or Providence or the first General Principles of Natural Religion that Miracles are urged these things are all so plain and easie without such a confirmation that they are altogether without excuse who do not believe them or act contrary to their belief but when Men are lost and gone out of the way and are become altogether Corrupt when through Blindness and Ignorance they know not how to serve God aright and when those who use their endeavours to do it can have no assurance of being accepted if in compassion to this sad and distressed Estate of Mankind God is pleased to reveal himself to them and acquaint them with a true and certain way to Happiness which they were not able to find out of themselves what Perfections of God is it contrary to to make such a discovery to his Creatures And how could he take a more effectual way to convince them of the truth of the Revelation than by Miracles which are real Effects of Divine Power and which Men are readily disposed to acknowledge as Infallible Signs and Indications of it If these were the Works of God and might certainly be known to be so as has already been proved in the former part of this Discourse then were they very fit and proper Proofs that the Doctrine they were intended to comfirm came from God though they were not brought about by an immediate Interposition but were part of the General Scheme of Nature And therefore though it should be allowed to be a Derogation to God to make him the Author of those Works we call Miracles by a present and immediate exercise of his Power yet it can be no diminution to any of his Perfections to affirm that originally at the beginning of the World he ordered such Effects to proceed from the General Laws of Nature at such a time that they might be for Signs and Tokens to Mankind that the Revelation which should then be given them came from him Another Objection made to the Argument of Miracles is that Miracles have been wrought by other Men as well as Moses and Christ and as great as those that were Recorded of them from whence it is inferred that the Doctrines they taught are never the truer for their Working Miracles To which I Answer that the Matter of Fact is none of it sufficiently attested a great deal or it manifestly false and were it all true the Inference drawn from it does not hold To make good this Charge I shall instance in the Miracles attributed to Vespasian and Apollonius Tyanaeus which have been particularly made use of by the Enemies of our Religion to lessen the Credit and Authority of it Of Vespasian it is Recorded That he once cured two Blind Men but the strange and wonderful Works of Apollonius fill a Book writ on purpose to give an account of them Now as to Vespasian's Cure of the Blind 't is but one single Miracle and therefore is very unjustly compared with that Multitude of mighty Works that were wrought by the Hands of Christ neither is it so well attested but Reasons may be given why it should be false notwithstanding the reality of all the appearing Circumstances of it Several Inducements might be alledged that very probably disposed this Emperor to pretend to such a Miracle 't is very easie to conceive how his Design might be brought about in the Presence of a great many People without their discovering the Cheat and should any have found it out 't is very obvious to imagine why they did not Publish it But nothing of all this would hold when applied to Christ had he pretended to no more than the Cure of two Blind Men A Man of his Character and Condition in the World could not promise himself any Honour Respect or Advantage from such a Pretence and should he have made this use of it he would very probably have raised the Envy of all the People of the same Rank and the Jealousie of his Superiors upon these and other Motives as well as Natural Curiosity a great many would have been very Industrious and Inquisitive in searching into the Truth of the Fact and whom can we imagine so far concern'd for such a Pretender as to be privy or assisting to his Cheat at the first or to conceal his shame after they had found it out But supposing an Account could be given in one or two Instances how 't was possible for Christ to pretend to such Works as were never done there are abundance still remaining upon Record that are manifestly incapable of such a Solution which puts an unanswerable difference betwixt the Miracles of Christ and the Pretences of other Men. As to the Story of Apollonius the whole Credit of it depends upon the Testimony of one single Author who lived too long after him to be a competent Witness of the Truth of what he Relates and was too Credulous and Partial to be believed if he had lived at the same time with him The strange unusual Things Related to have been done by this Apollonius bear no Proportion to the Miracles of Christ either as to the Number of the Facts and Persons concern'd in them the Wonderful and Extraordinary Nature of them the beneficial Design of them or the publick and hazardous Manner in which they were done and a great many of these have been proved to be false upon examination from the manifest inconsistencies and contradictions in the Relation of them But supposing the Miracles attributed to Vespasian and Apollonius were true in Fact what Reasons can we alledge either from the Characters of the pretended Authors the Ends and Designs they acted upon the Consequences and Effects of the Pretences or from any other Circumstances of their Story that the strange Things Recorded of them were not done by the Ministry of Evil Spirits Let us suppose farther That the Facts were not only real but true and proper Miracles performed by the express and immediate Assistance of God What can be inferred from thence Not that the Heathen Religion was true because these Miracles were not design'd or intended for a Confirmation of it Not that the Christian Religion was purely Humane because the whole End of Christ's working Miracles was to prove that his Doctrine came from God There may be several Reasons given why it may please God sometimes to work Miracles indifferently by the Hands of good or ill Men Men of a true or false Religion but it cannot possibly be supposed of God that he should imploy Good Men or concur with the Wicked in working Miracles in order to their deceiving Mankind and establishing a Lye by such Evidence as cannot be disproved and no Instance can be given where any one true Miracle was wrought by a Person that made use of it to prove any other Doctrine by than what we have delivered in the Scriptures By a true Miracle