The E

forians,

From

againft Chriftianity have allowed; and the numerous Paffages cited from them, and in their Names, even to this Day, do evince. And, laftly, that the Contents of these Books, in their descent to us, have not fuffered any confiderable Alteration; but, (excepting fome few Variations, occafioned by the Negligence of Tranfcribers,) from the Days of the Apostle, and apoftolick Men, to the prefent Age, have always been the fame; the long Continuance of the Autographa in the Church, the many Copies and Tranfcripts taken from them, and their early Tranflations into various Languages, have, under the Providence of God, been our Security.

Since then we have in our Hand authentick Records of our Saviour's Life and Actions, let us look a little into them, and fee, whether their Authors have been defective in any of the Marks and Characters of true Hiftorians.

That the Evangelifts were Persons of vangelifts too much Truth and Honefty, to relate true Hi- any wilful Lyes, is evident from the whole Tenor of their Writings; wheretheirown in the ftricteft Precepts about Speaking Character. Truth, and the fevereft Prohibitions of Guile and Diffimulation either in our Words or Actions, do every where Men of Cunning and Artifice

meet us.

have

have all their fawning and infinuating Ways, to captivate the Weak, and fuch as delight in Flattery; but, with what Plainnefs and Simplicity do they go about to perfuade Men to become Chriftians, when they barely relate the Matters of Fact concerning the Refurrection of Jefus, faying, that they themselves were Eye-witnesses of it, and, upon the Credit of this their Teftimony, expect that we should affent? Had they been minded to aggrandize their Mafter, they would have difplayed indeed the Wonderfulness of his Birth, the many Miracles he wrought, the Defcent of the Holy Ghoft upon him, the Voice from Heaven declaring him to be the Son of God, the Glories of his Refurrection, and the Triumph of his Afcenfion;. but. by all means wou'd they have labour'd to conceal the Obfcurity of his Birth and Parentage, the low Condition of his Life, and the fhameful and ignominious Circumstances of his Death. Had they been minded to extol him above meafure, as a great and mighty Worker of Miracles, they would have expatiated upon every one that came in their way, and not compriz'd fome in the fhort compass of a Verse or two, and conceal❜d others under a general Enumeration, as we find them frequently do. Had they de

fign'd

Their

fign'd to fet off themselves; their Labours, and Perils, and bold Adventures for the fake of the Gospel they might have described in all their pleafing Horror, but.(what is a fingular Inftance of their Truth and Ingenuity) their own mean Extraction and Employments, their Ignorance and Miftakes, their ambitious Contentions, cowardly Defertions, and base Denial of their Lord, in the Time of the greatest Exigence and Diftrefs, they themselves have left upon Record, for all fucceeding Ages to peruse and cenfure. Or had they defign'd any private Profit or Advantage to themselves, they took the most improper Method in the World, in publishing what, to the Jews, they knew, would be a Stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles, foolishness; and what, they could not but forefee, would expofe both them and their Companions to Scorn and Contempt, to Dangers and Hazards, to Poverty and Want, to Bonds and Imprifonment, and Death itself.

Now when Perfons are both above the Sufficien- Views of Secular Intereft, and forward cy of In- to lay open their own Faults and Failtelligence. ings, merely for the Sake of Truth, 'tis

a ftrong Presumption that they have no Inclination to write Falfhoods; if fo be they are but competent Judges of what

they

they are about, and have fufficient means of Information in their Power. And herein the Evangelifts could not be defective, because (even upon the Suppofition of no Divine Affiftance or Inspiration) they had Perfons enough living, to give them full Inftructions as to the great Periods and Actions of our Saviour's Life. d Of his Conception and Birth, and other Particulars preceding his Baptifm, they might have an Account from Simeon and Anna, and the Parents of John, as well. as from Jofeph and Mary. Of his Baptifm, and what thereupon enfu'd, they might have Intelligence from John and his Disciples. Of his Fafting and Temptation, from the fame John, who not unlikely retir'd with him into the Wilderness, (where himself had been before) and continu'd with him until his return; and of the feveral Tranfactions in his publick Miniftry, they themselves (as' well as the other Apoftles) were Eye and Ear-witnefes, and as competent Judges of what they heard and saw, as the greatest Philofophers living. By these and several other Helps, they might be fupply'd with proper Materials for their respective Hiftories; and when they had thus compil'd them, (we fpeak ftill upon the Suppofition of no Inspiration) their Fidelity

Grew's Cofmologia Sacra.

The Con tents of their Gof

pels.

Fidelity appear'd, in their speedy committing them to Writing. For, according to the beft Account of Antiquity, St. Matthew wrote his Gospel about eight, St. Mark about ten, St. Luke within fifteen, and St. John, not much above two and thirty Years, after our Saviour's Afcenfion; left any thing, deferving the Notice, or neceffary to the Salvation of Pofterity, might escape their Memories, by reafon of too long a delay.

And indeed, if we look into the Contents of the Hiftories, as well as the Characters of the Hiftorians, we fhall foon perceive fuch a Simplicity, as well as Majefty in their Narrations, fuch Purity in their Precepts, and fuch Sublimity in their Doctrines, as plainly denote them to be a Divine Revelation.

Men of quick Parts and Ingenuity, 'tis true, may tell us cunningly-devifed Fables, and amufe their Readers with Tales and Romances, that had never any Foundation in Nature: But, to frame fuch an excellent Syftem of Morality, as is contain❜d in the Gospels; to give such an extraordinary Account of the Satiffaction for Sin, and of the Nature and Office of a Mediator; to feign the Life and Actions of a Meffiah, which fhould agree fo exactly with the Predictions of the Prophets, and the Types and Prefi

gurations