who know any Thing of their celebrated Simon owe their Knowledge entirely to the Account which we have of him in the Acts of the Apostles So that were it not for the Christians his very Name wou'd before this Time have been bury'd in oblivion and 't was sufficiently evident from Experience that he bore none of the shining Characters of one who had a Divine Commission CHAP. XLVII THEN Celsus's Jew not keeping to the sacred Text says That our Saviour boasted that some wise Men of the Chaldaeans being mov'd by a secret Perswasion that he was born came to pay Divine Worship to him in his Infancy and that when they had acquainted Herod the Tetrarch with it he order'd his Officers to kill all the Infants that were about that Age imagining that our Saviour wou'd inour the same Fate with them and thereby be prevented from ever coming to the Crown Take Notice how grosly the Jew is mistaken here who confounds the wise Men and the Chaldaeans not discerning that for any Thing that appears to the contrary they might be of Different Countrys and Professions and notoriously Falsifying the Account which we have of this Matter in the Gospels And I know not how it comes to pass that he don't think fit to acquaint us that the Star which they â—aw in the East was the Ground of their secret Perswasion that the Messiah was then born into the World Let us see therefore what matter of Discourse this Subject will afford us I confess 't is my Opinion that the Star that appear'd at our Saviour's Nativity was entirely new and vastly different from those which are commonly seen whether in the superiour or inferiour Orbs and I am enclin'd to think it might be much of the same kind with those Comets that appear for a Time and have different Names assign'd 'em by the Greeks according to their different Figure And I build my Opinion upon the following Grounds It has been observ'd by Learned Authours that when any considerable Alteration has happen'd in the Face of Affairs such Stars have expos'd themselves to View as did presage some strange Revolutions of Empires some dreadful Wars or some such Accidents as these which put the whole World into a terrible and unusual Commotion I have also read in a Treatise concerning Comets writ by Chaeremon the Stoick that sometimes they have presag'd very happy Events and he produces several Instances from very credible Historians to make good the Assertion which he there lays down If then at the Establishment of some new Monarchy or before some remarkable Scene of publick Affairs do's begin to open these Comets or Stars of the like Nature do appear 't is no Wonder at all that a Star shou'd be seen at the Nativity of our Saviour who was design'd by the All-wise God to make so sudden so great and so happy an Alteration in the World to publish a new unadorn'd and discountenanc'd Doctrine not only to the Jews and Greeks but also to a vast Number of the most distant and barbarous Nations of the World And this I may safely say in Favour of the Christian Religion that we don't meet with any or at least with no Scripture-Prophecy concerning the Appearance of such a Star at such a Time for Instance at the Establishment of such a Rising Empire but the Star that grac'd our Saviour's Nativity was foretold by Balaam as Moses gives us an Account There shall come says Numbers xxiv v. 17 he a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel But here I must argue with the Greeks and Jews and therefore shall be oblig'd to dispute against each Sort of Persons from very different Topicks To the Greeks I have this to offer that the Magicians who converse with Daemons and do with a most Horrid Solemnity invoke their seasonable Assistance for the most part attain the End which they propose to themselves unless a Divine Power interfere that is Superiour to the Daemons or some Name be mention'd that has a greater Force than those Names which are appropriated by 'em to the Art they practice But if that shou'd happen then all their Magical Operations are unavoidably lost and they are as it were dazzl'd and confounded with the bright Rays of the Sun of Righteousness It seems to me therefore to be highly probable that when our Saviour was born and a Multitude of the Heavenly Host as St. Luke do's credibly relate the Passage prais'd God saying Glory to God in the highest Peace on Earth and good Will towards Men Luke ii V. 14. the Daemons were shock'd and all their Hellish Measures most strangely disconcerted not only by good Angels who came down from Heaven to celebrate the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour but also by the Humane Soul of the Holy and Spotless Jesus as being a happy Instrument of the Deity which dwelt in so glorious but inconceivable a Manner ev'n in his Humane Nature The Wise Men therefore being desirous to perform their usual Operations and failing in what they endeavour'd to effect we may naturally suppose enquir'd into the Reason of their bad Success and were sensible that something extraordinary must occur to defeat their rais'd Expectations and exceed the Power of the Daemons and when they saw a Sign in the Heavens they had a natural Curiosity to know its Meaning and having perhaps consulted the Prophecies of Balaam and this Prophecy of the Star of which Moses gives us an Account and particularly those Words I shall see him but not now I shall behold Numbers xxiv V. 17 him but not nigh from hence they might frame this rational Conjecture that the very Person at whose Birth 't was prophesy'd that a Star shou'd appear was then actually born and having a just Notion that he was far Superiour to all their Daemons they came to pay him the just Tribute of Divine Adoration They steer'd their Course therefore to Judaea being perswaded that some great Prince was born but ignorant of the Nature of his Kingdom and the Place of his Nativity and when they were happily come to the Place where the young Child was they offer'd Presents to him that were lively Representations of his Divine and Humane Nature viz. Gold an Emblem of his Royal Power Frankincense to note to us his Divinity and Myrrh to signify his bitter Passion CHAP. XLVIII SINCE therefore 't was the Saviour of Mankind that was come into the World who was God and by Consequence above the Angels tho' they are frequently employ'd as ministring Spirits in the Behalf of Men the Worship which the Wise-Men paid him was abundantly recompens'd by the Warning which the Angel gave 'em that they shou'dn't return to Herod but depart into their own Country another Way And 't is no Wonder at all that Herod shou'd seek to destroy the Infant-Saviour tho' Celsus's Jew seems to doubt very much of the Truth of what we think was plain Matter of Fact For Malice is so
celebrated Authors which you have reckon'd up had any tolerable Effect especially on the common People since according to your own Confession they were design'd for them who were capable of understanding Allegories Whereas Moses acted the Part of a Skillful and Divine Orator who makes use of Expressions that admit of different Sences neither giving the Laity among the Jews a Handle for the least Irregularity in their Morals nor wanting Matter for the sublime Speculations of those who are more judicious learned and inquisitive And I don't see I confess that the Works of your Poets with all their Wisdom are preserv'd what Service soever they might do the Publick But the Books of Moses have prevail'd with them whose Opinions and Customs are vastly different from those which obtain among the Jewish Nation to believe that according to the Account he gives the Laws which are contain'd in 'em were giv'n him by the great God himself the glorious Creator of the spacious Universe For 't was agreeable to the Dictares of his infinite Wisdom that since it was his Will to give Laws to the World they shou'd carry along with 'em that Force and Efficacy without which 't was impossible for 'em so readily and so universally to obtain This I say not examining at present what has an immediate Relation to our Blessed Saviour but contenting my self with what relates to Moses who tho' he came infinitely short of the Holy and Unspotted JESUS did vastly excel your most Celebrated Heroes whether Poets Historians or Philosophers CHAP. XVII THEN Celsus being desirous and ev'n eager to cast an oblique Reflection upon the Account which Moses gives of the Creation of the World according to whom it wants a great Deal of the Duration of Ten thousand Years discovers himself tho' he do's what he can at the same time to conceal or dissemble his Opinion to be one of them who hold the Eternity of the Material World Any judicious Person may justly and easily infer this from that Passage of his There have been says he in all Ages of the World many Conflagrations and Inundations the last of which was Deucalion 's Flood and that is of no early Date Let him therefore especially since he blames the Christians for not building their Faith on rational and solid Grounds acquaint me what Demonstrative Arguments do of Necessity induce him to believe that There have been several Conflagrations and Inundations and that Deucalion 's was the latest Flood and Phaeton's Conflagration the latest that has ever happen'd And if he refers me to Plato's Dialogues concerning those Matters I shall return him the following Answer that we have Reason to believe that the virtuous and refin'd Soul of Moses which was rais'd above all sensible Objects and all created Beings and had its entire and firm Dependance upon God was fill'd with the Holy Spirit who enabl'd him to set Divine Truths in a much clearer Light than Plato or any of the ancient Sages whether Greeks or Barbarians But perhaps he may demand of us what rational Grounds we have for such a Belief as this If so let him first give us his Reasons for the Opinion which he holds and advances ev'n without the Shadow of a Demonstration and then I 'll undertake that he shall soon be acquainted with the Grounds on which our Faith in this Affair is built tho' I can't but take Notice that sorely against his Will he confess'd the World was of a modern Date and not of the Duration of Ten thousand Years when he said That these remarkable Events were esteem'd ancient by the Greeks because the Conflagrations and Inundations have been Means to bury in Oblivion many considerable Events of much greater Antiquity But let him if he pleases support his fabulous Account of Conflagrations and Inundations by the Authority of the Egyptian Doctors who in his Opinion were the wisest Men that were ever born into the World some Footsteps of whose profound Wisdom may be seen in their paying Divine Worship to the Brute Beasts themselves and in those very Arguments which they bring to justify and recommend the Symbolical Rites that are made use of in the RELIGION of their Country The Egyptians forsooth who endeavour to give some Colour of Reason for their mystical Ceremonies by their Theological Speculations must pass for Men of most admirable Wisdom but one who in Observance of the Jewish Law refers every Thing to the Blessed GOD of whom and thro' whom and to whom are all Things is more ignorant if we may give any heed to Celsus and Men of his unhappy Principles than they who don 't only dishonour the Deity by paying divine Adoration to Creatures endu'd with Reason but ev'n by paying it to those which are inanimate under a Pretence of I know not what imaginary Transmigration of the Soul which they make to descend from Heav'n and pass into the Bruits ev'n into those of 'em which are of the most savage and cruel Disposition And it seems the Egyptians who hide their Religion under the sacred Veil of significant but obscure Figures do challenge from us the profoundest Reverence but Moses forsooth who has writ a faithful and useful History of the Jewish Nation and left 'em wholsome Laws for the Regulation of their Conduct both in a private and publick Capacity has only in the Judgment of Celsus and the Epicureans amus'd 'em with empty and ridiculous Fables that will not admit ev'n of an Allegorical Interpretation CHAP. XVIII THEN he says That Moses having borrow'd his Opinions from this wise and eloquent People meaning the Egyptians got himself a prodigious and unaccountable Name To which I answer that 't is no Wonder at all if Moses borrow'd some Notions from the Wise Men that liv'd in Egypt before him and introduc'd 'em with some little Difference or great Improvement among his Country-men the Jews And without all doubt he deserves to be blam'd severely if he has advanc'd such Notions as bear neither the Characters of Truth nor Wisdom but if he has embrac'd and taught those Opinions which according to Celsus's own Confession are both true and wise I can't conceive that he has done any Thing whereby he might justly incur his Censure I wish with all my Heart that Epicurus and Aristotle who do's not so directly and so grosly deny an over-ruling Providence as the other do's I say I wish with all my Heart that they and the Stoicks who hold that God is corporeal had been instructed in that Heav'nly Doctrine that was deliver'd by Moses that the World might not so much abound as it do's with Authors that absolutely deny a Providence or confine it within very narrow Bounds or introduce a corporeal and corruptible Principle insomuch that the Stoicks hold God himself to be nothing more than Matter and are not asham'd to acknowledge that he undergoes the various Changes to which Bodies are subject or that if he is so happy as to be incorruptible 't is
Conquest And I scarce know whether the Greeks can produce any Instances of this kind in any other Persons besides Phaedon and Polemon or at best they can name but very few Persons who ever left their Intemperance and Debauchery to apply their Minds to the entertaining and useful Study of Philosophy But in the School of Christ besides the twelve Apostles who had the Honour to be contemporary with him we see daily a far greater Number of Persons that become virtuous and pious and join in a Blessed Chorus acknowledging with the deepest shame and Sorrow the many false and almost fatal Steps which formerly they took We our says the Apostle were sometimes Tit. iii. V. 3 4. foolish and disobedient deceiv'd serving diverse Lusts and Pleasures living in Malice and Envy hateful and hating one another But after that the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour toward Man appear'd not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he sav'd us by the Washing of Regeneration and the Renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly For as the Prophetical Psalmist speaks He sent his Word and heal'd 'em and deliver'd 'em Psal cvii. V. 20. from their Destructions I might add that Chrysippus in a Book which he has writ Entitul'd The Art of Curing the Disorders of the Humane Passions endeavours to lay down proper and effectual Rules for the Management of those which disturb the Peace of the Mind and to that end he argues upon the Principles of several Sects of Philosophers not examining which of 'em are most agreeable to Truth and has the following Words If says he Pleasure be esteem'd the chief Good the Passions may and ought thus to be cur'd and if there be three Kinds of Good they are to be cur'd after this different Manner Now they who find Fault with the Christian Religion do wilfully Neglect to consider how many unruly Passions are successfully govern'd by it what a Stop it puts to that rapid Torrent of Vice and Immorality which is too visible in the World and what extravagant savage and ev'n Diabolical Tempers it has frequently happily and very suddenly conquer'd Certainly it ought to raise their Admiration and constrain 'em to make the most thankful Acknowledgements to Almighty God to consider what vast and apparent Advantage the Publick reaps from those proper and most excellent Methods which our Saviour took for the Reformation of Manners and one wou'd think that if they won't allow Christianity to be the True Religion yet they must confess that it conduces very much to the true Interest of Manking and which is more has an Immediate and Principal Regard to their better and immortal Part. CHAP. LIV. AND our Saviour has so effectually consulted ev'n the Temporal Advantage of his Followers that he wou'dn't have 'em to be rash and precipitate but gives 'em this necessary Lesson When they persecute you in one City flee unto another and teaches 'em by his own Example not to run into needless Dangers Celsus takes Occasion ev'n from hence to form an Accusation against him in the Person of a Jew in the following Words You run up and down with your Disciples But as for the Charge which is here brought against our Blessed Saviour we meet with a Parallel Case ev'n in the Histories which the Greeks have publish'd For Aristotle that Famous Philosopher when he saw he shou'd be condemn'd as a wicked Person by reason of some peculiar and in some Sence dangerous Notions he advanc'd which as the Athenians thought did give too great Encouragement to Licentiousness took an Opportunity to go from Athens and remov'd his School to Chalcis making the following Apology to some of his Acquaintance Let us leave Athens says he that we mayn't suffer it to be in the Power of the Athenians to re-act that horrid Impiety which they plainly discover'd by their ill Treatment of so great a Genius as the World knows Socrates to have been and to commit a most grievous Offence against so sacred a Thing as Philosophy CHAP. LV. CELSVS adds That our Saviour running up and down with his Disciples was forc'd to beg his Bread like a sordid Wretch But pray let him inform us where he has rak'd up all these scurrilous Expressions I confess we read in the Gospels that certain Women that were cur'd of their Infirmities among which was Susannah did readily distribute some Part of their Substance to furnish the Disciples with what was necessary for the Support of Life But pray what Philosopher who employs his Time and Strength with some Regard to the Benefit of his Relations and Friends and indeed of Mankind in general wou'd refuse to have his Wants supply'd Or did it become the Philosophers to accept the seasonable and generous Assistance of their Friends and others but argue a base and sordid Spirit in our Blessed Lord or those who became his Followers CHAP. LVI THEN the Jew whom Celsus personates continues his Discourse with our Saviour in the following Words What Necessity was there that when you were an Infant you shou'd be carry'd into Egypt to avoid being kill'd For surely it didn't become a God to be afraid of Death An Angel it seems was dispatch'd from Heav'n to bid You and some of your nearest Relations betake your to Flight lest you shou'd be found and be put to Death But cou'dn't Almighty God who as we are told did imploy his Angels for your Direction and Assistance preserve his Son as easily in Judea as in Egypt Celsus thinks that there was nothing extraordinary in the Humane Body and Soul of our Blessed Saviour and ridiculing his precious Blood that was shed upon the Cross he says 't was not Such Blood as from the Immortal Gods do's Hom Il. Lib. 5. V. 34â— flow But we who give Credit to our Saviour when he gives a Testimony of his Divinity in the following Words I am the Way the Truth and the Life John xiv V. 6. and in other Parallel Places and when he bears Witness to the Truth of his Humanity in the following Expression Now ye seek to kill me a Man who has told you the Truth I say we who believe John viii V. 40. our Saviour when he speaks thus of himself do assert and maintain that he had Two Natures the one Divine and the other Humane and that since he came into the World with an Intention to live in some respects like the rest of Men 't was highly incongruous that he shou'd run upon a Precipice and be fond of Misery and Death 'T was fit he shou'd be directed and govern'd by them to whom the Care of his Education did belong and that the Angel's Orders shou'd be strictly and religiously observ'd and the same Angel which said at first Joseph thou Son of David fear not to Mat. i. V. 20. take unto thee Mary thy Wife for that which is conceiv'd in her is of the Holy Ghost said