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
Doctrine and Miracles all which being told as happening in the life-time of Christ most of the things concerning him must be supposed by those who pretend to have written presently after his Death as 't is plain all the Evangelists do to be generally known and freshly remembred at the time of their Writing which Supposition further appears from the short and disorderly Relation of several Matters of Fact in each Gospel which in such cases where we are not assisted with a fuller Account from the other Gospels or following Books of the New Testament seem very obscure to us now who are not acquainted with the rest of the Circumstances omitted This is what I thought fit to remark concerning the Subject and Form of that Book which we call the New Testament And now that this Book does really contain such things as are before mention'd and is writ in such a way and manner as I have here represented I think may be taken for granted since whatever has been observed under this head must necessarily appear too true to any one that will read over the New Testament and is capable of making any Judgment of a Book II. Supposing then that I have given a just Account and Character of the New Testament and the several Books or Volumes it consists of I shall from hence advance to the main Design proposed which was to prove That all the principal Matters of Fact related in the New Testament are really true that is did really happen out at the Times and Places and in the Manner they are there recorded to have happen'd This I shall endeavour in the second place to make good by a direct Proof according to the distinction of the several Facts to be enquired into before laid down viz. common Historical Facts Prophesies and Miracles Divine Assistance and Revelation I. The first Step then I am to make in the proof of what I have before asserted is to shew that the common Historical Facts mention'd in the New Testament are true The principal of which are these following viz. That there was such a Person as Jesus Christ of such a Character who taught such Doctrines pretended to such mighty Works and was executed in such a manner as is represented in the New Testament That there were likewise certain Persons who were Followers and Adherents of Christ who after his Death profess'd to believe the Miracles we find now recorded of him and to do as great themselves who taught the same Doctrines he did in his life-time and many other things which they pretended to have received from him while he was alive and from the Spirit of God afterwards and who made is their business to propagate the Belief and Practice of what they taught throughout the World whose Characters and Sufferings were such as are before described That the Doctrine or Religion of Christ was accordingly propagated through all Judea and most Parts of the Roman Empire so that great Numbers of People every where own'd and profess'd it And that all this happen'd within that compass of Time included between the Death of Julius Caesar and the Destruction of Jerusalem Now these are such remarkable notorious Facts have been so well proved by multiplicity of Evidence and so little contested by the several Enemies of Christianity That I shall content my self by giving a summary Proof of them without entring upon that great Variety of particular Arguments every general Branch of Evidence contains in it Which Proof I shall cast into this Method First I shall take an Account of the Original of Christianity and shew That this Religion must have came first into the World at the time assign'd for this Event in the New Testament Afterwards I shall consider the state of Christianity at another Period of Time when it will certainly be allowed that all the principal Matters of Fact that stand now recorded in the New Testament were generally believed And then I shall prove That the same Matters of Fact were likewise believed at and immediately after the Times in which they are said to happen and so continually down to that particular Period fixed upon Which last Proposition I shall endeavour to make out From the constant Tradition of such a Belief together with many sensible infallible Effects of it And from many other extrinsick Signs and Monuments remaining at that Time From which constant and universal Belief among Christians of all the principal Facts in the New Testament both common and extraordinary continued down to such a Period from the very first Times in which they severally happen'd I conconclude That at least the common Matters of Fact such as I have just before instanced in must be true First then as to the Original of Christianity it is to be observ'd That there is no Age of the World no Portion of Time since the beginning of Things at any great Distance from us that we have a clearer fuller and more particular Account of than we have of that which past under the Twelve first Cesars or Emperors of Rome both Learning and Empire being then at the highest Pitch and furnishing abundance of Matter for the Pens of that and the succeeding Ages And as the History of that time is the truest and best known of any so no Matter of Fact could happen within that Time which was more remarkable or could more easily and certainly be conveyed down to Posterity than the first Rise and Propagation of the Christian Religion There 's nothing so easy to be known of any Countrey where we have the least Remains of History left us as what Religion was profess'd there and what considerable Alterations were made in it All the Laws Customs and Policy of a Nation are intermixt with their Religion most of the Actions Opinions and Characters of particular Men bear the Marks of it and if we examin Things more narrowly and trace them up to their Original we shall find that Religion puts a greater Distinction betwixt one Nation and another than any difference of Climate can do But not to pursue that Speculation any further 't is very plain from all History what the Religion of the Jews was and what Religion they had at Rome and in other Parts of the Roman Empire under the Reign of Augustus There were no such Persons then to he heard of as bore the Name of Christians no such Religion any where professed as that which is now call'd Christian the Plan and Model of which we find in the Books of the New Testament But in the Time of Nero we find a great many Persons at Rome Tacitus call'd Christians put to Death and several other ways persecuted and tormented for being so by that Emperor which Denomination and whatever they thought themselves obliged to believe or do upon that Account was then generally acknowledged by themselves and others to be derived to them from one Christ who was sometime before crucified at Jerusalem Now the Time when this
Christ the first Author of this Sect of Men call'd Christians began to publish his Doctrine to the World is very particularly and circumstantially set down by St. Luke in the Third Chapter of his Gospel to be the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of Tiberius Cesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Judea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene Annas and Caiaphas being the High Priests of the Jews And in the Book call'd the Acts of the Apostles said to be writ by the same St. Luke it is affirm'd That the Disciples by which Word is there meant all those that believed in Christ and embraced the Doctrines taught by him were called Christians first at Antioch Which Matter of Fact is by the Consent of all Christian Historians recorded to have happen'd at the latter end of the Reign of Caligula who was the next that succeeded Tiberius in the Empire of Rome And that this is the lowest Point of Time it can be fix'd at appears from the same Place of St. Luke where immediately after the Words before cited it follows And in these Days came Prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch and there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the Spirit that there should be great Dearth throughout all the World which came to pass in the Days of Claudius Cesar From whence I infer That this Relation of Agabus concurring in Time with that other Account of the Disciples being first call'd Christians and it being plain from what is said concerning the Completion of Agabus's Prophecy in the Days of Claudius Cesar That he first utter'd his Prophecy some time before the Days of Claudius Cesar the Time when the Disciples were first called Christians must likewise be sooner or later before the Reign of Claudius which Claudius being the immediate Successor of Caligula in the Empire the Matter of Fact in question must happen in the latter end of the Reign of Caligula or at some time before Now from the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius when Christ first published his Doctrine at Jerusalem to the last of Caligula when his Disciples were first call'd Christians at Antioch is about Twelve Years from whence to the Tenth Year of Nero when the Christians were first persecuted at Rome is a little above Twenty Years within Five Years after which Jerusalem was destroyed and an End was put to the Jewish Government and Policy So that from the Fifteenth of Tiberius when it is pretended that Christ first published his Gospel at Jerusalem to the first of Vespatian when Jerusalem was destroy'd is about Forty Years and no more If therefore these Matters of Fact concerning the Neronian Persecution and the Destruction of Jerusalem are true as is constantly attested by Heathen and Jewish as well as Christian Writers 't is more than probable that those mention'd by St. Luke are so too For before the Fifteenth of Tiberius no Signs or Footsteps of Christianity are to be found in the World neither is it pretended by any of the Adversaries of this Religion that it was earlier and the Destruction of Jerusalem falling in the First Year of Vespatian the Propagation of the Christian Religion from thence to other Parts of the World must needs have had as early a Date of that And therefore if we find great Numbers of Christians at Rome in Nero's Time both the Propagation as well as Original of the Christian Religion must have happen'd not only before the Destruction of Jerusalem but some time between the Fifteenth Year of Tiberius and the Tenth of Nero and consequently the Account before given by St. Luke of these great Events cannot well be imagin'd to be false but 't is certain the Mistake in Time if there should be any supposed cannot be considerable From all which I think I have reason to conclude That the Christian Religion was profess'd at Rome in the Time of Nero and was derived from one Christ who was the first Author of it and suffered Death at Jerusalem upon that Account toward the latter end of Tiberius's Reign as I find it recorded by St. Luke and the other Writers of the New Testament The next view I shall take of the Christian Religion shall be under Constantine another Emperor of Rome who upon some occasion or other was disposed to embrace this Religion about 300 Years after the first Publication of it by Christ at which time it is very notorious that Christianity was the prevailing Religion in all the parts of the Roman Empire the extent of which was then very great This manifestly appears from all the accounts we have of the History of this famous Emperor and the State of the World under his Reign in the Twentieth Year of which was held a General Council which was a Meeting or Assembly of a great number of Bishops who came from all the different Provinces and Cities both of the Eastern and Western Empire and were Persons that in their several Districts govern'd and directed in Religions Affairs the chief design of that Meeting was by Constantine who called them together declared to be for the decision of a Controversie that had happen'd between certain Christian Professors concerning a particular Article or Doctrine of their Religion which some affirm'd ought to be believed in one Sense and some in another These Bishops did meet accordingly to the number of about 300 decided the Matter they were called about by appointing a Form of Words for all Christians to express their Belief of that and several other particulars in which was unanimously approved and subscribed by all but two Besides which Form of Faith they made several Canons or Rules with Relation to Discipline which concern'd the Qualifications of such Persons as were to perform Religious Offices or to partake of the Effects of them their manner of Acting upon such occasions and their Behaviour to one another upon the account of any Religious distinction But in order to take a more particular survey of the State of the Christian Religion under Constantine from the account that is given us of this Council by Eusebius and Athanasius who were present at it and other credible Writers who lived at or near the same time I shall draw these following Observations and Reflections I. Constantine was the first Roman Emperor that profest the Christian Religion There was no King Consul Dictator Emperor or any other the chief Governour of the Roman State before him that ever departed from the ancient Institution made upon the first Settlement of that Commonwealth or publickly embraced a new Religion of a different Character from that established by the Laws of Numa 2. There never was before this Council any such General Meeting of Eminent and Learned Persons who were Assembled together from so many different quarters of the World purely to settle some Controversies in Religion Which two surprising Circumstances must make this
that being but 150 Years before the Council of Nice the same it was then And if the Christian Religion was as far spread in the time of Trajan as it was Sixty Years afterwards the same will hold as to all the Roman Empire and if it was not it must be derived to those Provinces that wanted it from those where it was profess'd which amounts to the same thing for if the Christian Religion in the time of Trajan was not the same it was Sixty Years afterwards no account can be given of so general and wide an Agreement then in so many different Provinces as has already been prov'd the same Christian Religion was profess'd in at that time in all which the Religion then profess'd must be supposed different from the Original it was derived from Sixty Years before even in those very Provinces where it had been so long ago established as well as in those where it was later entertain'd which is absurd to imagine And further since by the account we have of these Times it plainly appears that the Christian Religion was very far spread under the Reign of Trajan and consequently published long before and since as far as it was then spread it was the same it was Sixty Years afterwards when as we have already proved the greatest part of the Roman Empire agreed in the same general Form or Scheme of Religion which was profess'd at the Council of Nice and in the same Religious Institutions and Practices as were then in use it follows from hence and from what has been before advanced that the Christians we find in Nero's Time were of the same Religion and Faith with those that lived at the time of the Council of Nice and consequently that all the common Historical Matters of Fact mention'd in the New Testament respecting the Original of the Christian Religion the Place where it first appeared the Time and Manner of Publishing and Propagating it the Characters of those concern'd in the Work and the Fortune that attended both them and their Doctrine must necessarily be true as I shall endeavour to shew more particularly by summing up the whole Argument in this manner It has been proved before That the generality of Christians at the time of the Council of Nice acknowledg'd all the same Scriptures that we do now and that most of the Books of the New Testament were universally received then and believed by all Christians of that Time to have been so from their first appearance in the World The Books which were thus universally received were as universally thought to have been written by those Authors to whom they are ascribed and to have been all written by their several Authors at several times between the end of Caligula 's Reign and the beginning of Trajan's And indeed if they believ'd the Scripture-History as 't is plain the Christians who received these Books did they must have believed likewise that all the Books of the New Testament being written by such Authors whose Names they bear were writ within the compass of Time assigned for them for from the Time and Manner of the Publication of the Christian Religion it appears that they could not have been any of them written sooner and from the Age of the Authors it is plain that they could not have been Works of a later Date This being the general Faith of all Christians at the Time of the Council of Nice must likewise according to what has been already proved the universal Belief of Christians 150 Years before this Council sat and if the same Scriptures were in the same Manner received and acknowledg'd in the greatest part of the Roman Empire 150 Years before this Council of Nice they must have been generally known and received in the Time of Trajan as far as the Christian Name then reach'd they could not otherwise have been propagated so far and wide in less than Threescore Years time And if the Christians in Trajan's Time knew and believ'd these Scriptures then was the Christian Religion under Trajan the same it was under Nero For in every Book of the New Testament the Author plainly supposes the Christian Religion established and all the principal Matters of Fact and Doctrines there recorded believed before he wrote and therefore if all or any of these Books were received at Rome in the Time of Trajan as the Epistle to the Romans must have been when Sixty Years afterwards it was believed by the greatest part of the Roman Empire to have been sent to them then does it follow that all the Christians that received them must have certainly known that they believed the same Facts and Doctrines which they found in those Books ever since they profess'd the Christian Religion and that all others who were of the same Name must have profess'd to believe the same things too the Nature of that Religion so requiring and consequently that the Christian Religion at Rome was the same in the Time of Nero it was then the Neronian Persecution being not above Thirty five Years before the Reign of Trajan which is so short a Period that several Christians of Trajan's Time might have been Christians under Nero too and must have known whether Christianity then Preach'd to them was the same with what they found written supposing they were converted before they had seen any of the Books of the New Testament and if they were not they might as easily have inform'd themselves whether that part of the Christian History they found in these Books respecting Rome and particularly Nero's Time were true or not And their Conversion to Christianity by the means of these Books necessarily proves them satisfied of the truth of the Relations there given Now if most of the Books of the New Testament were received in Trajan's Time and if Christianity was the same under Nero as under Trajan and the same Preach'd as Written then does it necessarily follow not only that these Books were written by those Authors whose Names they bear some time between the Death of Tiberius and beginning of Trajan's Reign but that all the common Historical Facts mention'd in the New Testament and which I have undertaken to prove under this Head are certainly true otherwise they could not have been so generally and firmly believed so near the Time they are there reported to have happen'd in For the Christians that lived in Trajan's Time and received these Books as written by such Authors must consequently believe that the first Promulgation of the Gospel or Christian Religion by Jesus Christ happen'd but Seventy Years before and that during that space it was Preach'd throughout the Roman Empire by such Persons and in such a Manner as is there related that it was embraced by great numbers of People in all the considerable Provinces and Cities of it established by the Vnion of large Societies and Congregations under the same common Form of Discipline and Witness'd and Confirm'd by the various Sufferings of the first
Tradition Another Set of Testimonies which Eusebius furnishes us with in behalf of the Christian Tradition are Relicks Buildings and other such like Monuments several of which were remaining in his Time and seen by him himself such were Christian Burying-Places and Sepulchres with the Names of Christians upon them particularly those of Peter and Paul Statues and Pictures particularly the Statue of the Woman cured by Christ of the Bloody Flux Pictures of Christ Peter and Paul in colours These were all seen by Eusebius himself as was likewise the Episcopal Chair of James at Jerusalem several Christian Libraries and several Christian Temples before they were pull'd down and destroyed by the Order of Dieclesian These and many other such like Monuments remaining in Eusebius's Time whether all the Particular Traditional Reports concerning them were true or false might easily be perceived upon view or divers other ways be known to be Ancient and whatever Age they were of they must be good proofs of the Belief of the Men of those Times and consequently of the truth of Christianity so far as we are now concern'd to prove it But the Tradition of Christianity from its first Original down to the Council of Nice with all the principal Matters of Fact upon which it is built is further and more especially secured to us and the truth of all the foregoing Testimonies confirm'd by Books and written Records vast Numbers of which of different Kinds and different Ages written by several Men of different Countries Characters Designs and Religious Persuasions were extant in Eusebius's Time a great many of which were generally known multitudes of Copies of them being dispersed throughout the World and several of these Writings were carefully preserved in particular places and either never communicated further by any Transcripts or Copies to remaining there to be seen in their Primitive State after Transcription Now all these Writings of what kind soever they are whose Authority is made use of for the establishing the Christian Faith I shall rank under certain distinct Heads in order to shew what sense and weight they have in the proof of what they are brought to maintain The several Books and Writings then to be considered are Copies of the Holy Scriptures viz. of the Books of the Old and New Testament Publick Acts and Records belonging properly to Societies and not to particular Authors Genuine Writings of profess'd Christians who by reason of their common Agreement in some certain Doctrines of Christianity are Styl'd Orthodox Books writ by Hereticks who were Men of particular Opinions different from those commonly received by other Christians Jewish and Pagan Books containing such Things as have Relation to Christianity Forged and Supposititious Writings of uncertain Authors which do some way or other concern the Christian Religion As to Copies of the Scriptures found in the hands of Christians in Eusebius's Time I have these Things to observe that they were then multiplyed to so great a Variety that hardly a Christian Family was without some of the Books That they were Translated into several different Languages That in those Countries where the Translations were of common use a great many Copies in the Original Language were preserv'd That in most of the great Cities and Episcopal Churches there was a Copy in the Original Language more ancient than the rest from whence the other Copies were taken and Translations made That such Copies as these might not only by Tradition but by several intrinsick Marks be known to be ancient and their Age pretty nearly determined That upon comparison there was a very great Agreement betwixt these ancient Copies preserved in several very distant and remote Churches That such care had been taken in Transcribing and Translating from them that the differences found between any Copies either of the Originals or Translations were very inconsiderable That all Christians thought themselves concern'd to preserve the Jewish Canon of Scripture as well as the New Testament and therefore Copies of the Old Testament in the Original Tongue and Translations of it into several Vulgar Languages were multiplied carefully Transcribed and kept together with those of the New That upon a diligent search into the Matter it was found that besides those Copies of the greatest part of the Books of the New Testament which were alike to be met with in all Christian Churches there were others received in some Churches and by a constant Tradition then vouch'd to be as early and of as great Authority as the rest From all which I think I may safely inferr That the Writings of the New Testament were as early as they are pretended to be and that the Christian Religion had its Original in Judea at the time assigned it which being less than 300 Years before Eusebius and the Books of the New Testament which give an account of the Christian Religion and plainly suppose an antecedent Propagation and Establishment of it in a great part of the World being writ some time after the first Publication Eusebius or any other Person of his Age who throughly examined the Matter concerning the Copies of the Scriptures then received must needs be satisfied from this Consideration only that the Books of the New Testament had as early a Publication in the World as is now ascribed to them and consequently that the Christian Faith was somewhat earlier and the same then as it is in these Books represented to have been This will further be made out from the next sort of Writings to be considered viz. Publick Acts and Records belonging properly to Societies and not to particular Authors such were Catalogues of Bishops Decrees of Synods Letters from Churches and Societies of Men general Records of remarkable Matters particular Acts and Monuments of Martyrs Psalms Hymns Creeds and Forms of Prayer The most famous Churches especially those constituted by Apostles kept the Succession of their Bishops with great care laid up in their Archives recording their Names and days of their Death in a pair of writing Tables This Eusebius tells us was the Custom of the Primitive Christians and these Tables he assures us he diligently examined and he was very exact in the Account he took of them as particularly appears from what he says concerning the Church of Jerusalem viz. That he found from Old Records fifteen Bishops with their Names who had succeeded in that Church from the Apostles to the Siege of the Jews in Adrian 's Time but could not find preserved in Writing the space of Time each Bishop spent in his Presidency over that See The like diligence and exactness are observable in the Account he gives of the Succession of Bishops in several other Churches most of their Names being set down and the times of their several Succession Presidency and Death punctually determined and Reasons given why he could not speak with the same certainty of the rest omitted There were likewise extant in his Time a great many Canons and Decrees made by several Councils and
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
whole Christian Scheme as delivered in the Writings of the New Testament which we have before laid together in a short Draught and Representation of the Principal Parts and Characters of it and if at the same time we take a just view of Humane Nature we shall find it utterly impossible that such a Scheme as this should ever have been contrived or believed without any Extraordinary Interposition of Divine Providence All the Notions we have of the Powers and Capacities of the Soul of Man will not enable us to conceive how such a Set of Thoughts as compose the Christian Scheme could be brought together by the meer unassisted Force and Agitation of the Soul whatever Internal Springs we imagine that Force derived from But when we consider further that if there had been any Man capable of such an Invention there was no End or Motive sufficient to determine him to undertake it and Conduct and Support him in the Management of the whole Work we must conclude that it was not of Humane Composition And this we are assured of because there are but such and such Ends that Mankind can act upon and none of these could have any influence in the Contrivance of the Christian Religion in the manner we find it delivered to us in the New Testament for it is so Framed and Contrived in all its Parts and Circumstances that 't was impossible for any one that could be the Author of it not to perceive that all the Ways and Methods he took of Establishing his Invention would most certainly and effectually defeat the End he aimed at whatever we suppose that to be and no Man could make use of such means for the obtaining an End which he knew would destroy it But besides the difficulties of the Invention which cannot be accounted for by all the knowledge we have of the Nature of Man the Propagation of the Christian Religion does plainly surmount all Humane Art and Power For supposing the first Christians never so well inclined to believe Christianity when it was proposed to them 't is impossible for Men to belive what they will The Evidence of some things is so great that we cannot resist and on the contrary there are some things of such a Nature that no Byass or Prejudice whatsoever is strong enough to make us believe them without their proper Evidence and such are all the Principal parts of the Christian History as appears from the Reflections before made upon them But if we consider the first Christians as being all strongly disposed to reject the Christian Religion before they imbraced it as 't is certain they were whoever we suppose them to be then was their difficulty of believing much greater From whence it is necessarily inferr'd that if the Principal Matters of Fact contained in the Christian History had not been proved to be true when they were first Published they could never have been believed and if they could not have been truly and really believed 't was full as impossible that great Multitudes of People should pretend to believe them when they did not because all the Reasons and Motives that can be supposed for such Pretences could have no more Influence in the first Profession then they had in the Invention of Christianity and there they had none at all as we have shewn before Thus does it plainly appear from the whole Frame and Texture of the Christian Religion the Nature of the Facts and Doctrines contained in it and the manner in which it is delivered to the World compared with the Nature of Man that the Christian Religion as we now find it contained in the Scriptures of the New Testament was Discovered Published and Propagated in the way and manner there Recorded From whence I shall infer that it certainly came from God for the Reasons given in the former part of this Discourse concerning the Nature of God and Evil Spirits which I shall not repeat here because if the first Point be granted this Inference I believe will not be disputed by any Man Now that the Arguments here taken from the Nature of Man have all the force and weight that is laid upon them I shall further endeavour to make good by shewing that we have as much reason to conclude that these are Just and True as we have that any other Arguments drawn from the Nature of Things are Valid In order to which end I shall take the liberty to go over the chief Proofs of the Christian Religion again and consider them with this particular View Let us then examine what ground we proceed upon in our reasoning upon other Matters and how we arrive at any certainty concerning them How come we to affirm that a Body of such a Density and Bulk is of such a Weight that a Body of such a Weight has such a force in Projection that such a particular Body in such and such Circumstances will certainly produce such Effects that 't is impossible that such a Body should exceed such limits in its Motion and the like Now the only reason we have to conclude such Propositions concerning Bodies to be true upon which all the fine Mathematical Demonstrations in Natural Philosophy and all the useful Inventions in Mechanicks are grounded is this That all the Observations and Experiments that have ever been made upon these things do assure us that they have always been after this manner and the like will hold in our Reasonings from Humane Nature I can no more believe the whole Christian Scheme an Imposture of mere Humane Contrivance than I can believe that all the Materials which composed the City of Rome met together and put themselves into that Form For as I cannot see what should give those Materials a determinate Motion towards the building that City no more can I comprehend what should influence or determine a Man to Frame and Contrive such a History and Religion as the Christian And as 't is impossible to believe that if all the Materials necessary for the Building of Rome had by some extraordinary Motion been carried to that Place they would have fashioned themselves and fell into that exact Form we find that City built in so likewise is it equally impossible to conceive that if there was any End or Motive in Nature sufficient to determine a Man to invent such a Religion as the Christian he should have made and contrived it in all its Parts and Circumstances just such as it is delivered to us in the Scriptures and that so contrived it should have been Entertained Propagated and Fixt in the World upon lasting Foundations Now the reason why I conclude both these things equally impossible is because there never was any thing like either of these Events ever known to have happen'd in the World and because upon the utmost stretch of Thought grounded upon the most intimate Knowledge we can have of the Nature of the Things concern'd and the greatest compass of Observation that can be