either professed themselves Enemies of Christ when he was upon Earth, or of his Gospel. By the like Argument we gather, that they were not juggling Tricks, because very many of the Works were done openly, (a) in the Sight of all the People; and amongst whom were many learned Men, who bore no good Will to Christ, who observed all his Works. To which we may add, that the like Works were often repeated, and the Effects were not of a short Continuance, but lasting. All which, rightly considered, as it ought to be, it will plainly

The Jews follow, according to the Jews' own Confession, that acknaoleden Miracle, to these Works were not the Effects of any bad Spirit,

these Works were done by some Power more than human, that is, by some good or bad Spirit: That

is from hence evident, that this Doctrine of Christ

be donely for the Proof of which these Works were performed, ве Jome good was opposite to those evil Spirits: For it forbids Badspite Worship of evil Spirits; it draws Men off from all Immortality, in which such Spirits delight. Uh Caulono appears also, from the Things themselves, that wherever this Doctrine has been received, the

It

be from a Worship of Demons and (6) Magical Arts have ceased; and the one God has been worshipped, Badspil with an Abhorrence of Demons; whose Strength because the and Power (c) Porphyry acknowledges were broken upon the coming of Christ. And it is not at all Doctine credible, that any evil Spirits should be so impruwhich they dent, as to do those Things, and that very often, from which no Honour or Advantage could arise wore to peo them, but, on the contrary, great Loss and wey all Disgrace. Neither is it any way consistent with Goother, forbid In the sight of allthe People, &c.] Actsxxvi. 26. Lauke xii. the Evil ping the Advice of the Disciples of Christ, dcts xix. 19. a Majce I (0) Porphyry acknowledges, &c.] The Place is in Eusebius's Prob. Book V. Chap. 3. "After Christ was worshipped havens "nobody experienced any public Benefit from the Gods."

Magical Arts, &c.] The Books about which were burnt

the

the Goodness or Wisdom of God, that he should be thought to suffer Men, who were free from all wicked designs, and who feared him, to be deceived by the Cunning of Devils; and such were the first Disciples of Christ, as is manifest from their unblameable Life, and their suffering very many Calamities for Conscience-sake. If any one should say, that these Works were done by good Beings, who yet are inferior to God; this is to confess, that they were well-pleasing to God, and redounded to his Honour; because good Beings do nothing but what is acceptable to God, and for his Glory. Not to mention, that some of the Works of Christ were such as seem to declare God himself to be the Author of them, such as the raising more than one of those that were dead to Life. Moreover, God neither does, nor suffers Miracles to be done without a Reason; for it does not become a wise Law-giver to depart from his

Laws, without a Reason, and that a weighty one. Miracles Now no other Reason can be given, why these' Things were done, but that which is alledged by were done Christ, viz. (a) to give Credit to his Doctrine; nor t to give could they, who beheld them, conceive any other Reason in their Minds: Amongst whom, since

Gedih to there were many of a pious Disposition, as was Nashists Doc

said before, it would be prophane to think Godes.
should do them to impose upon such. And this
was the sole Reason why many of the Jews, who

(a) To give Credit to his Doctrine, &c.] We may add that the Event itself, in that so great a Part of Mankind embraced the Christian Religion, shews that it was a Thing so worthy of God, as for him to confirm it with Miracles at the Beginning. If he did so many for the Sake of one Nation, and that no very great one, I mean the Jewish; how much more agreeable to his goodness was it to bestow this heavenly Light to so great a Part of Minkind, who lay in the thickest Darkness. Le Clerc.

lived near the Time of Jesus, (a) who yet could not be brought to depart from any Thing of the Law given by Moses, (such as they who were called Nazarenes and Ebionites) nevertheless owned Jesus to be a Teacher sent from Heaven.

SECT. VI.

The Resurrection of Christ proved from credible Testimony.

CHRIST'S coming to Life again in a wonderful Manner, after his Crucifixion, Death and Burial, affords us no less strong an Argument for those Miracles that were done by him. For the Christians of all Times and Places assert this not only for a Truth, but as the principal Foundation of their Faith: Which could not be, unless they, who first taught the Christian Faith, had fully persuaded their Hearers, that the Thing did not come to pass. Now they could not fully persuade Men, of any Judgment, of this, unless they affirmed themselves to be Eye-witnesses of it; for without such an Affirmation, no Man in his Senses would have believed them, especially at that Time, when such a Belief was attended with so many Evils and Dangers. That this was affirmed by them with great

(a) Who yet could not be brought, &c.] See Acts xv. Rom. xiv. Jerom in the Eusebian Chronicon, for the Year of Christ CXXV. after he had named fifteen Christian Bishops of Jerusalem, adds, "These were all Bishops of the Circumcision, who governed till the Destruction of Jerusalem under the Emperor Adrian." Severus Sulpitius, concerning the Christians of those Times and Places, says, "They believed Christ to be God, whilst they observed also the Law; and the Church had a Priest out of those of the Circumcision." See Epiphamius, where he treats of the Nazarenes and Ebionites. Nazarenes was a Name not for any particular Part, but all the Christians in Palestine were so called, because their Master was a Nazarene.

Constancy,

Constancy, their own Books, (a) and the Books of others, tell us; nay, it appears from those Books, the disciple that they appealed to (b) five hundred Witnesses, who saw Jesus after he was risen from the Dead produced Now it is not usual for those who speak Untruths, 60 Witness 560 to appeal to so many Witnesses. Nor is it possible so many Men should agree to bear a false Testimony. And if there had been no other Witnesses, but those twelve known first Propagators of the Christian Doctrine, it had been sufficient. Nobody has any ill Design for nothing. They could not hope for any Honour, from saying what was not true, because all the Honours were in the Power of the Heathens, and Jews, by whom they were reproached and contemptuously treated: Nov false, for

for Riches, because on the contrary, this Profes

gain, the

mented the

sion was often attended with the Loss of theirket waid Goods, if they had any; and if it had been otherwise, yet the Gospel could not have been taught by them, but with the Neglect of their temporal feathers we Goods. Nor could any other Advantages of this tedd ter Life provoke them to speak a Falsity, when the very preaching of the Gospel exposed them to Hardship, to Hunger and Thirst, to Stripes and Imprisonment. Fame, amongst themselves only. was not so great, that for the Sake thereof, Ment resurrecti of upright Intentions, whose Lives and Tenets were free from Pride and Ambition, should undergo so many Evils. Nor had they any Ground to hope, that their Opinion, which was so repugnant to Nature, (which is wholly bent upon its own

(a) And the Books of others, &c.] Even of Celsus, who wrote against the Christians. See Origen, Book II.

ཝཱ

(b) Five hundred Witnesses, &c.] Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 6. He says, some of them were dead at that Time, but their Children and Friends were alive, who might be hearkened to, and testify what they had heard, but the greater Part of them were alive when Paul, wrote this. This Appearance was a Mountain in Galilee.

reactie

Advantages) and to the Authority which every where governed, could make so great a Progress, but from a Divine Promise. Further, they could not promise to themselves that this Fame, whatever it was, would be lasting; because (God on purpose concealed his Intention in this Matter from them) they expected that (a) the End of the whole World was just at Hand, as is plain from their own Writings, and those of the Christians that came after them. It remains therefore, that they must be said to have uttered a Falsity, for the Sake of defending their Religion; which, if we consider the Thing aright, can never be said of them; for either they believed from their Heart

The der afle that their Religion was true, or they did not be

lieve it. If they had not believed it to have

Hey believed been the best, they would never have chosen it into be the and honourable. Nay, though they believed it best Religiato be true, they would not have made a Profession of it, unless they had believed such a Profession Romely. Chinnecessary; especially when they could easily foresee, and they quickly learnt by Experience, that Aleftale left all such a Profession would be attended with the Death they for it, of a vast Number; and they would have been guilty of the highest Wickedness, to have given such Occasion without a just Reason. If they believed their Religion to be true, nay, that it he was the best, and ought to be professed by all lived, with Means, and this after the Death of their Master; it was impossible this should be, if their Master's Sons, Promise concerning his Resurrection had failed Boffiness

from all other Religions, which were more safe

in which they

might

(a) The End of the whole World, &c.] See 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16. 1 Cor. xv 52. Tertullian of having but one Wife: "Now the Time is very short." Jerom to Gerontis: "What is that to us, upon whom the Ends of the World are "come?"

them;