all the pains and terrors of death. And you alfo may know, that this Gofpel is the Gofpel of Chrift, and con-fequently that thefe wonderful effects, which fo apparently carry a divine fignature upon them, are produced by him. All these things, and others of a like nature which might be mentioned, are immediately open to your view, moft vifible and certain; and one would think, that these alone would fatisfy the mind of a ferious and impartial enquirer into the truth of Chriftianity. And efpecially when thefe are accompanied with fuch other credentials of our holy religion, which (though not fo directly in view, yet) by neceffary confequence, give us the fame affurance and certainty of the truth.

But it's time I thould come more directly to anfwer the objection; and to fhew you, how it may by necef fary confequence be known, that the facts upon which Christianity principally depends, are certainly true.

You yourself muft own, it's impoffible that thofe doctrines can be falfe, which are attested by fo many. and fuch kind of miracles, as are faid to be wrought by our Lord Jefus Christ and his apoftles. For God cannot fet his feal to a lie; nor confirm a horrible imposture by his immediate atteftation from heaven.

You must own, that it's impoffible for the apostles and other witneffes of thefe miraculous operations, to be themselves deceived, while they had all the means of - certainty in the cafe before us, that ever any man had any cafe whatsoever.

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You must likewife own, that it's impoffible for a great number of fober, judicious, and apparently honeft men, to spend their lives in a continued confpiracy againft their own eafe, comfort, honour, life, and eternal welfare, for no other motive but to deceive the world; and bring eternal ruin upon themselves and their fellowcreatures; as these must have done, if they knew those facts to be falfe which they publish'd at their peril, andi fealed with their blood.

You must also own that it was impoffible to deceive the world about them, at the time when thefe facts were done, by reporting, that fuch miraculous operations

were openly perform'd before them all; which none of them knew any thing about.

You will certainly own, it's impoffible that they could deceive the churches to whom they wrote, by vain pretences, that each one of these had themfelves the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, fuch as tongues, miracles, healing, prophecy, and the like, when every one of them knew that there was nothing in it.

You must in like manner own it impoffible for fuch multitudes of people, for fo long a tract of time, to be impofed upon by pretences of miraculous operations; and none of them ever detect the impoflure, fo much as in one fingle inftance, while all of them had, the opportunity of doing it when they pleased, if the facts had not been true.

Can you imagine it any ways poffible, that fuch multitudes in the firft ages of Chriftianity, in such distant countries and nations, fhould confpire together to acknowledge thefe facts, and the doctrines founded on them, at the peril of their lives; and no ruan among thefe profeffors themselves, or among the heretics, and apoftates that fell away from them, fhould discover the fraud, ither living or dying?

You will certainly own it utterly impoffible, that fo many thousands, in so many lands, could with joy and chearfulness submit to fuch poor and afflicted lives, and to fuch cruel and barbarous deaths, as were the common lot of the first Chriftians, in confirmation of a reli gion, founded upon facts which they knew to be falle.

And you must acknowledge it also altogether impoffible, at any time after thefe facts were pretended to be done, to palm the hiftory of them upon the world, if it was falle; and to perfwade fo many nations to receive it for truth. It were impoffible to perfwade any nations, and much more all the early nations of Chiiftendom, that at fome diftant forgotten age there were a number of men that came among them, taught them the doctrines of Chriftianity, confirm'd the fame by mi racles, baptiz'd them into the faith; and established a fettled order of the minillry in their churches; from which time, they have all of them profefled the Chrif

tian faith; had the New Teftament in their hands; and enjoy'd' a continued fucceffion of minifters and ordinances. Let an attempt of this kind be made upon our Indians, and try, if any one man among them can be impos'd upon to believe thefe things.

To this I may add, that it is abfolutely impoffible, at any one time, to have obtruded the infpired writings upon the world, if they were indeed fpurious; and to have made all the Chriftian nations believe, that these were written in the apoftolic age, fpeedily tranflated into divers languages, publickly kept, and publickly read and preached in their churches; that they and their fathers before them had always reverenced and efteemed them as the rule of their lives; and their guide to eternal happinefs. What fuccefs, but fcorn and derifion, could be hoped for from fuch an attempt ?

I may once more fubjoin to all this, that it is at leaft highly improbable, that the early writers against Chrif tianity fhould never deny thefe facts, if they were not notoriously true, when they could not want advantages to detect any fraud or deceit, that can poffibly be fuppofed in a cafe of this kind. And it is yet more improbable, that any of the adverfaries of Chriftianity fhould confirm the truth of these facts, as we find fome of them do, if they had not been moft apparently and undoubtedly true.

And now, Sir, what can be wanting, what can you demand or defire more, to confirm you in the faith of Christianity? It is established upon the veracity of God himself, upon those facts, by which he has from heaven attefted to the truth of it; and these facts are ver?fied by evidences, which cannot poffibly deceive us. By believing therefore, we fet to our feal that God is true: But he that believeth not, maketh him a lyar : because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

You may perhaps tell me, that if you had seen these miracles yourself, you would have believed them. But ban't every body elfe the fame claim to this fort of fatisfaction as you; and the fame reafon to defire, to be eye and car-witneles of fuch miraculous operations? At

this rate, miracles would ceafe to be miraculous, they would become common and familiar things; and no longer ftrike the mind with any conviction at all, any more than the ebbing and flowing of the fea, the, rifing and setting of the fun; or any other such displays of the divine power, in the common course of providence.

Upon the whole, there is no evidence wanting, to leave the believer inexcufable. There is evidence every way fufficient, to fatisfy the mind of an impartial enquirer after truth. And it is impoffible for any man in the world to imagine any means of confirmation in this important truth, fuperior to what is herein fet before you. How unreasonable would it therefore be, `to require more evidence in a cafe, wherein we have already as much as we are poffibly capable to receive? That may be effectual to establish you in the faith, is and fhall be the prayer of,

it

SIR,

Yours, &c.

LETTER III. Wherein an histerical Account of the BIRTH, LIFE, PASSION, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, and future KINGDOM of our bleffed SAVIOUR, is collected from the Prophecies of the Old Testament.

SIR,

I Rejoice to hear from you, that any endeavours of

mine have contributed in the least towards your fatisfaction. I am thereby the more encouraged to hope, that your remaining difficulties may eafily be obviated; and particularly, that it will not prove difficult to answer your prefent demand; to fhew you how you may certainly know that the prophecies of the Old Testa•ment had a direct reference unto Jesus Christ. may know this by the exact accommodation of the prediction with the event. That this therefore may be fet before you in a proper light, I will endeavour to give you (in the form of an hiftory) a brief reprefentati on of our bleffed Saviour, gather'd from the Old Tefta

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ment; and leave you to compare this with the narrative of him in the new. If thefe agree, you thereby have a certain discovery of the divine original of thefe prophe. cies; fince none but an omnifcient mind could poffibly foresee these events. And you have likewife the fame certainty, that Jesus Christ is the predicted Meffiah, and that his miffion is divine, fince what was foretold of the Meffiah in the prophecy, is fulfilled in him.

*

The time of the manifeftation of this glorious perfon, whom I am now to defcribe, was during the continuance of the Kingdom of Judah, while a scepter was in the hand, and a lawgiver came from between the feet of that tribe, Gen. xlix. 10. while the fecond temple was yet ftanding, Mal. iii. 1. Hag. ii. 7. juft 450 Chaldee years after the decree went forth to restore and to build Jerufalem, which was in the twentieth year of Artexerxes Longimanus, king of Perfia, Dan. ix. 25. This king likewife came into the world, and the God of heaven fet up his everlafting kingdom, at that feafon of the fourth or Roman monarchy, Dan. ii. 44. when there was an end put to the dreadful fhaking of the heavens and the earth, the fea, and the dry land, and indeed of all nations, by the wars of Alexander the Great, the four kingdoms that arofe out of his conquefts; and the Romans the conquerors of them all; and when peace was restored to the world, Hag. ii. 6, 7, 9. which happen'd when Auguftus Cæfar was emperor of Rome, and Herod the Great was king of Judea.

As to the pedigree or defcent of our bleffed Saviour, it must be confider'd with refpect to the two different natures, that were united in this glorious perfon. For how wonderful foever it may appear to us, the man Chrift Jefus was alfo Immanuel, God with us, Ifa. vii. 14. and that divine Child which was born, and that Son which was given to us (at the time before defcrib

* Daniel's feven weeks and threefcore and two weeks, or 483 years, were to terminate at the death of the Meffiah. We must therefore fubftract from that number, the 33 years of his life; and there remains 450 years to his birth.