all the coafts thereof, from two years old, and under : Thefe are things of that publick nature, that it was impoffible they should be feign'd, when St. Matthew's Gospel was first publish'd. If they had not been true, thousands must have been able to contradict them, and discover the Falfhood of them. When matters of Fact are related, with fo many manifeft and publick Circumftances, it is an Appeal to the world for the Truth of what is written; and no Man of common fenfe would contrive, a falfe Story with fuch publick Circumstances, as that every Reader may be able to difprove it. If any Man fhould affirm, that in fuch a City or Village in England, at the Command of fuch a King, and at fuch a time, within our Memory, all the Infants, from two years old and under, were murther'd, he muft fcarce expect to be believ'd, or to confirm any thing else he has to deliver, by fuch a Fiction to introduce it. The triumphant Shouts and Hofanna's of the Multitude at Chrift's Entrance into Jerufalem, whereby all the city was moved, Matt. xxi. 10, 11. immediately before the Paffover, when there was the greatest Concourfe of People, was a thing that could not foon be forgotten: At the fame time he drove out all that fold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the Money-changers; and when he was in the Temple, the blind and the lame came to him and he healed them; and the chief-priests and feribes faw the wonderful things that he did, and the Children crying in the Temple Hofannah to the Son of David, and they were fere difpleas'd at it. The Evangelifts would never have brought in the Chief-Priefts and Scribes themselves, with the whole People of Jerufalem, and the vast numbers of Jews and Profelytes out of all Nations, affembled at the Paflover, as Spectators and Witneffes of these things, if they had not been fo certain of them as to appeal to them all, for the Truth of what they relate, fo lately, and fo folemnly, and publickly done. U 4 The The Darkness of the whole Earth for three hours together, in the midft of the day, the Veil of the Temple's being rent from the top to the bottom, the Earthquake, and the rending of the Rocks, and the opening of the Graves, are things that must have been generally known, and could not be feign'd; or if any Man can be fo vain as to imagine they might, let him but confider, whether fuch things could now be impofed upon any People, by the Writings of a few Men, as done in the Metropolis of a Nation, at a folemn time, within the Memory of thoufands yet living, who are able to contradict them, from their own certain Knowledge. If a Man fhould pretend, that but a few years ago, in the chief City of any Kingdom or Nation, one part of the principal Church was rent from the bottom to the top, by an Earthquake, which tore afunder the Rocks, and open'd the Graves of the dead, and that at the fame time, the Moon being in that Position, that the Sun could fuffer no Eclipfe, the Sun was darken'd from twelve at noon, to three in the afternoon, could he hope to gain any Credit or Belief to any Doctrine he had to propagate, by feigning fuch Circumftances, as would put it into the Power of every Man that heard of them to difprove him? Would not this be the readiest and the most effectual way he could poffibly invent, to expofe himself and his Caufe? The Death of Judas, and the Cause and Manner of it, which is fo clear a Vindication of our Saviour, and fo plain a Proof that he is the Chrift, was known unto all the dwellers of Ferufalem, infomuch as that field was called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to fay the field of blood, A&tsi. 19. Matt. xxvii. 8. If this Field had not been fo call'd, and this had not been well known at Jerufalem, would any Man have written in this manner? And befides the Twelve Apostles, and the Seventy Difciples, who all believ'd and attefted the Truths contain'd J contain❜d in the Evangelifts, many Perfons of Authority and Note among the Jews are mention'd, who would have found themselves concern'd to disprove what is related, if it had been falfe. Nicodemus is faid to have come to Christ by night, who was a Pharifee, and a Ruler of the Jews, John iii. 2. vii. 50. xix. 39. and to put this Mark upon him three several times, That he came to Jefus by night, and durft not own his coming to him, was no flattering Character, or fuch as might engage Nicodemus or his Friends to diffemble the Injury, if it had not been true that Nicodemus was his Difciple. The like is faid of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich Man, and an honourable Counfellor, Matt. xxvii. 57. Mar. xv. 43. that he was a Difciple of Jefus, but fecretly for fear of the Jews, Joh. xix. 38. Herod and Pontius Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas, and feveral other Perfons particularly named and most of them with no Commendation, but with that Character, which the Truth of the History required, would be concern'd themselves, or their Friends and Relations for them, after their Decease, to expose any Falfhood, that could have been discover'd in the History of our Saviour. The other Books of the New Testament are explicatory and confequential to the Gospel or History of Christ; and besides they contain many memorable and publick Facts, as the speaking of all forts of Languages, and working all kinds of Miracles at the folemn Feast of Pentecoft; and the Converfion of many thoufands thereby, the frequent Examination of the Apoftles before the Council at Jerufalem, their Preachings and Miracles in the most publick places, as in the Temple, in the Streets, &c. thefe are things that could not be impofed upon the World in that very Place, and in defiance of that very People, before whom they are faid to have been done. Gamaliel, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, Dionyfius the Areopagite, Sergius Paulus, Si mon Magus, Felix, King Agrippa, Tertullus, Gallio, and others, were Names of too great Note and Fame to be used in a falfe Story, in which they are so much concern'd. And all their Proceedings in the Courts of Judicature were kept upon Record, and therefore could not be pretended, (without being discover'd ) by thofe, who always had fo many Adverfaries. The miraculous Power bestow'd upon the Apostles was chiefly employ'd in curing Diseases, and for the Health and Preservation of Mankind, but they had a Power of inflicting Diseases likewife, and Death it felf, upon juft occafions, as in the cafe of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v. of Elymas the Sorcerer, Acts xiii. and the incestuous Corinthian, 1 Cor. v. And when this was done by private Men, and divulg'd to the World, with the Names of the Perfons who inflicted Diseases and Death it felf, and of thofe, on whom they were inflicted, this is an Evidence both of the Truth of the Matter of Fact, and of the Power by which it was done for no Author could think to ferve his Friend or his Caufe, by relating things of this nature, unlefs they had been evidently done in a miraculous manner, and by a Divine Commission and Authority. The Converfion of St. Paul was a thing fo memorable, both for the Manner of it, and for the Business he was going about, and the Perfons that employ'd him, and for his known Zeal at other times, in perfecuting the Church, that St. Paul appeals to King Agrippa, as one, who could not be ignorant of a thing fo notorious, Acts xxvi. 26. and it was the great Providence and Wisdom of God, that a Man fo well known and esteem'd by the Pharifees and Chief-Priests before his Converfion, fhould be the greatest Instrument, both by his Preaching and Writings, for the Propagation of the Gofpel; and both his Epiftles, and the other Books of Holy Scripture, have the fame Proof, from the Obfervations already mention'd, concerning the Names and Characters of Perfons, and 1 other Circumstances. And they were always read in the Affemblies of Chriftians, and were appointed to be read in them, Coloff. iv. 16. 1 Theff. v. 27. And the Writings both of him, and of the Evangelifts, and the other Apoftles, are cited by Authors contemporary with the Apostles, by Barnabas an Apostle himself, and by Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, Polycarp, &c. and they have been acknowledg'd to be the genuine Works of those whofe Names they bear, both by Jews and Heathens, and particularly by Tryphon the Jew, in his Dialogue with Justin Martyr; and by Julian the Apoftate. It is enough in this place to obferve, that (excepting fome very few Books, of which an Account shall elsewhere be given) the Books of the Scriptures of the New Teftament have been receiv'd as genuine, from their firft Appearance in the World, during the Lives of their several Authors, and have been deliver'd down for fuch through the feveral Ages of the Church. In the main, they have been fo unanimously receiv'd, and fo fully attefted by Chriftians, that the Jews and Heathens themselves never denied them to be genuine, nor ever pretended the principal Matters of Fact to be falfe or doubtful. m Many of the Eye-witneffes to the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles, liv'd to a great Age; St. John himfelf above an hundred years, and he preach'd the Gofpel above seventy years. "St. James was Bishop of Jerusalem thirty years. Simeon the Son of Cleopas, lived to an hundred and twenty years, and Polycarp the Difciple of St. John, at his Martyrdom profefs'd, that he had been a Servant of Christ fourfcore and fix years; and he was Bishop above fixty years, as it appears from St. Ignatius's Epiftles, whom he furviv'd about that number of years. P And Irenaus, in an E Hieron. adv. Jovin. I. 1. |