The evidences of the Christian religion: by the Right Honorable Joseph Addison, Esq; To which are added, several discourses against atheism and infidelity, ... occasionally published by him and others: ... With a preface, containing the sentiments of Mr. Boyle, Mr. Lock, and Sir Isaac Newton, concerning the gospel-revelation.

THE EVIDENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

SECTION I.

I. General division of the following discourse, with regard to Pagan and Jewish Authors, who mention particulars relating to our Saviour.

II. Not probable that any such should be mentioned by Pagan Writers who lived at the same time, from the Nature of such transactions.

III. Especially when related by the Jews▪

IV. And heard at a distance by those who pretended to as great miracles of their own.

V. Besides that, no Pagan Writers of that age lived in Judaea or its Confines.

VI. And because many books of that age are lost.

VII. An instance of one record proved to be authentick.

VIII. A second record of probable, though not undoubted, authority.

I. THAT I may lay before you a full state of the sub∣ject under our considera∣tion, and methodize the several particulars that I touched upon in discourse with you; I shall first take notice of such Pagan Au∣thors as have given their testimony to the history of our Saviour; reduce these Au∣thors under their respective classes, and shew what authority their testimonies car∣ry with them. Secondly, I shall take no∣tice of * 1.1 Jewish Authors in the same light.

II. There are many reasons, why you should not expect that matters of such a wonderful nature should be taken notice of by those eminent Pagan writers, who were contemporaries with Jesus Christ, or by those who lived before his Disciples had personally appeared among them, and as∣certained

the report which had gone a∣broad concerning a life so full of miracles.

Supposing such things had happened at this day in Switzerland, or among the Grisons, who make a greater figure in Europe than Judaea did in the Roman Em∣pire, would they be immediately believed by those who live at a great distance from them? or would any certain ac∣count of them be transmitted into fo∣reign countries, within so short a space of time as that of our Saviour's publick ministry? Such kinds of news, though never so true, seldom gain credit, till some time after they are transacted and exposed to the examination of the cu∣rious, who by laying together circum∣stances, attestations, and characters of those who are concerned in them, either receive, or reject what at first none but eye-witnesses could absolutely believe or disbelieve. In a case of this sort, it was natural for men of sense and learning to treat the whole account as fabulous, or at farthest to suspend their belief of it, until all things stood together in their full light.

III. Besides, the Jews were branded not only for superstitions different from all the religions of the Pagan world, but

in a particular manner ridiculed for be∣ing a credulous People; so that whatever reports of such a nature came out of that country, were looked upon by the heathen world as false, frivolous, and improbable.

IV. We may further observe, that the ordinary practice of Magic in those times, with the many pretended Prodigies, Di∣vinations, Apparitions, and local Mira∣cles among the Heathens, made them less attentive to such news from Judaea, 'till they had time to consider the nature, the occasion, and the end of our Saviour's miracles, and were awakened by many surprizing events to allow them any con∣sideration at all.

V. We are indeed told by St. Mat∣thew, that the fame of our Saviour, du∣ring his life, went throughout all Syria, and that there followed him great multi∣tudes of people from Galilee, Judaea, De∣capolis, Idumaea, from beyond Jordan, and from Tyre and Sidon. Now had there been any historians of those times and places, we might have expected to have seen in them some account of those wonderful transactions in Judaea; but there is not any single Author extant, in any kind, of that age, in any of those Countries.

VI. How many books have perished in which possibly there might have been mention of our Saviour? Look among the Romans, how few of their writings are come down to our times? In the space of two hundred years from our Saviour's birth, when there was such a multitude of writers in all kinds, how small is the number of Authors that have made their way to the present age?

VII. One authentick Record, and that the most authentick heathen Record, we are pretty sure is lost. I mean the ac∣count sent by the Governor of Judaea, under whom our Saviour was judged, condemned, and crucified. It was the custom in the Roman Empire, as it is to this day in all the governments of the world, for the praefects and vice-roys of distant provinces to transmit to their So∣veraign a summary relation of every thing remarkable in their administration. That Pontius Pilate, in his account, would have touched on so extraordinary an e∣vent in Judaea, is not to be doubted; and that he actually did, we learn from Ju∣stin Martyr, who lived about a hundred years after our Saviour's death, resided, made Converts, and suffered martyrdom

at Rome, where he was engaged with Philosophers, and in a particular manner with Crescens the Cynick, who could easi∣ly have detected, and would not fail to have exposed him, had he quoted a Re∣cord not in being, or made any false ci∣tation out of it. Would the great Apo∣logist have challenged Crescens to dispute the cause of Christianity with him be∣fore the Roman Senate, had he forged such an evidence? or would Crescens have refused the challenge, could he have tri∣umphed over him in the detection of such a forgery? To which we must add, that the Apology, which appeals to this Re∣cord, was presented to a learned Empe∣ror, and to the whole body of the Ro∣man Senate. This Father in his apology, speaking of the death and suffering of our Saviour, refers the Emperor for the truth of what he says to the acts of Pon∣tius Pilate, which I have here mentioned. Tertullian, who wrote his Apology about fifty years after Justin, doubtless referred to the same Record, when he tells the Governor of Rome, that the Emperor Tiberius having received an account out of Palestine in Syria of the Divine per∣son, who had appeared in that country,

paid him a particular regard, and threat∣ned to punish any who should accuse the Christians; nay, that the Emperor would have adopted him among the Deities whom they worshipped, had not the Senate re∣fused to come into his proposal. Tertulli∣an, who gives us this history, was not only one of the most learned men of his age, but what adds a greater weight to his autho∣rity in this case, was eminently skilful and well read in the laws of the Roman Empire. Nor can it be said, that Tertul∣lian grounded his quotation upon the au∣thority of Justin Martyr, because we find he mixes it with matters of fact which are not related by that Author. Euse∣bius mentions the same ancient Record, but as it was not extant in his time, I shall not insist upon his authority in this point. If it be objected that this parti∣cular is not mentioned in any Roman Hi∣storian, I shall use the same argument in a parallel case, and see whether it will carry any force with it. Ulpian the great Roman Lawyer gathered together all the Imperial Edicts that had been made a∣gainst the Christians. But did any one ever say that there had been no such E∣dicts, because they were not mentioned

in the histories of those Emperors? Besides, who knows but this circumstance of Tibe∣rius was mention'd in other historians that have been lost, though not to be found in any still extant? Has not Suetonius many particulars of this Emperor omitted by Tacitus, and Herodian many that are not so much as hinted at by either? As for the spurious Acts of Pilate, now extant, we know the occasion and time of their wri∣ting, and had there not been a true and authentick Record of this nature, they would never have been forged.

VIII. The story of Agbarus King of Edessa, relating to the letter which he sent to our Saviour, and to that which he received from him, is a Record of great authority; and though I will not insist upon it, may venture to say, that had we such an evidence for any fact in Pagan history, an Author would be thought very unreasonable who should reject it. I believe you will be of my opinion, if you will peruse, with other Authors, who have appeared in vindica∣tion of these letters as genuine, the addi∣tional arguments which have been made use of by the late famous and learned Dr. Grabe, in the second volume of his Spi∣cilegium.

SECTION II.

I. What facts in the history of our Saviour might be taken notice of by Pagan Au∣thors.

II. What particular facts are taken notice of, and by what Pagan Authors.

III. How Celsus represented our Saviour's miracles.

IV. The same representation made of them by other unbelievers, and proved unrea∣sonable.

V. What facts in our Saviour's history not to be expected from Pagan writers.

I. WE now come to consider what undoubted authorities are ex∣tant among Pagan writers; and here we must premise, that some parts of our Saviour's history may be reasonably ex∣pected from Pagans. I mean such parts as might be known to those who lived at a distance from Judaea, as well as to those who were the followers and eye-witnesses of Christ.

II. Such particulars are most of these which follow, and which are all attested by some one or other of those heathen Authors, who lived in or near the age of our Saviour and his disciples. That Augustus Caesar had ordered the whole em∣pire to be censed or taxed, which brought our Saviour's reputed parents to Bethle∣hem: This is mentioned by several Ro∣man historians, as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion. That a great light, or a new star appeared in the east, which directed the wise men to our Saviour: This is recorded by Chalcidius. That Herod, the King of Pa∣lestine, so often mentioned in the Roman history, made a great slaughter of innocent children, being so jealous of his succes∣sor, that he put to death his own sons on that account: This character of him is given by several historians, and this cruel fact mentioned by Macrobius, a heathen Author, who tells it as a known thing, without any mark or doubt upon it. That our Saviour had been in Egypt: This Celsus, though he raises a monstrous sto∣ry upon it, is so far from denying, that he tells us our Saviour learned the arts of magic in that country. That Pontius Pi∣late was Governor of Judaea, that our Sa∣viour

was brought in judgment before him, and by him condemned and crucified: This is recorded by Tacitus. That many miracu∣lous cures and works out of the ordinary course of nature were wrought by him: This is confessed by Julian the Apostate, Por∣phyry, and Hierocles, all of them not only Pagans, but professed enemies and perse∣cutors of Christianity. That our Saviour foretold several things which came to pass according to his predictions: This was at∣tested by Phlegon in his annals, as we are assured by the learned Origen against Cel∣sus. That at the time when our Saviour died, there was a miraculous darkness and a great earthquake: This is recorded by the same Phlegon the Trallian, who was like∣wise a Pagan and Freeman to Adrian the Emperor. We may here observe, that a native of Trallium, which was not situate at so great a distance from Palestine, might very probably be informed of such remark∣able events as had passed among the Jews in the age immediately preceding his own times, since several of his countrymen with whom he had conversed, might have re∣ceived a confused report of our Saviour before his crucifixion, and probably liv∣ed within the Shake of the earthquake,

and the Shadow of the eclipse, which are recorded by this Author. That Christ was worshipped as a God among the Christians; that they would rather suffer death than blaspheme him; that they received a sacra∣ment, and by it entered into a vow of ab∣staining from sin and wickedness, conform∣able to the advice given by St. Paul; that they had private assemblies of worship, and used to join together in Hymns: This is the account which Pliny the younger gives of Christianity in his days, about seventy years after the death of Christ, and which agrees in all its circumstances with the accounts we have in holy writ, of the first state of Christianity after the cruci∣fixion of our Blessed Saviour. That St. Pe∣ter, whose miracles are many of them re∣corded in holy writ, did many wonderful works, is owned by Julian the apostate, who therefore represents him as a great Magician, and one who had in his pos∣session a book of magical secrets left him by our Saviour. That the devils or evil spirits were subject to them, we may learn from Porphyry, who objects to Christi∣anity, that since Jesus had begun to be worshipped, Aesculapius and the rest of the gods did no more converse with men.

Nay, Celsus himself affirms the same thing in effect, when he says, that the power which seemed to reside in Christians, proceeded from the use of certain names, and the invocation of certain daemons. Origen remarks on this passage, that the Author doubtless hints at those Christians who put to flight evil spirits, and healed those who were possessed with them; a fact which had been often seen, and which he himself had seen, as he declares in an∣other part of his discourse against Celsus. But at the same time he assures us, that this miraculous power was exerted by the use of no other name but that of Je∣sus, to which were added several passages in his history, but nothing like any invo∣cation to Daemons.

III. Celsus was so hard set with the re∣port of our Saviour's miracles, and the confident attestations concerning him, that though he often intimates he did not believe them to be true, yet know∣ing he might be silenced in such an An∣swer, provides himself with another re∣treat, when beaten out of this; namely, that our Saviour was a magician. Thus he compares the feeding of so many thou∣sands at two different times with a few

loaves and fishes, to the magical feasts of those Egyptian impostors, who would pre∣sent their spectators with visionary en∣tertainments that had in them neither substance nor reality: which, by the way, is to suppose, that a hungry and fainting multitude were filled by an ap∣parition, or strengthned and refreshed with shadows. He knew very well that there were so many witnesses and actors, if I may call them such, in these two mi∣racles, that it was impossible to refute such multitudes, who had doubtless suf∣ficiently spread the fame of them, and was therefore in this place forced to re∣sort to the other solution, that it was done by magic. It was not enough to say that a miracle which appeared to so many thousand eye-witnesses was a forgery of Christ's disciples, and therefore suppo∣sing them to be eye-witnesses, he endea∣vours to shew how they might be de∣ceived.

IV. The unconverted heathens, who were pressed by the many authorities that confirmed our Saviour's miracles, as well as the unbelieving Jews, who had actual∣ly seen them, were driven to account for them after the same manner: For, to

work by magic in the heathen way of speaking, was in the language of the Jews to cast out devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the devils. Our Saviour, who knew that unbelievers in all ages would put this perverse interpretation on his mira∣cles, has branded the malignity of those men, who contrary to the dictates of their own hearts started such an unrea∣sonable objection, as a blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and declared not only the guilt, but the punishment of so black a crime. At the same time he conde∣scended to shew the vanity and emptiness of this objection against his miracles, by representing that they evidently tended to the destruction of those powers, to whose assistance the enemies of his do∣ctrine then ascribed them. An argu∣ment, which, if duly weighed, renders the objection so very frivolous and ground∣less, that we may venture to call it even blasphemy against common sense. Would Magic endeavour to draw off the minds of men from the worship which was paid to stocks and stones, to give them an abhorrence of those evil spirits who re∣joiced in the most cruel sacrifices, and in offerings of the greatest impurity;

and in short to call upon mankind to ex∣ert their whole strength in the love and adoration of that one Being, from whom they derived their existence, and on whom only they were taught to depend every moment for the happiness and con∣tinuance of it? Was it the business of magic to humanize our natures with compassion, forgiveness, and all the in∣stances of the most extensive charity? Would evil spirits contribute to make men sober, chaste, and temperate, and in a word to produce that reformation, which was wrought in the moral world by those doctrines of our Saviour, that received their sanction from his Miracles? Nor is it possible to imagine, that evil spirits would enter into a combination with our Saviour to cut off all their cor∣respondence and intercourse with man∣kind, and to prevent any for the future from addicting themselves to those rites and ceremonies, which had done them so much honour. We see the early ef∣fect which Christianity had on the minds of men in this particular, by that num∣ber of books, which were filled with the secrets of magic, and made a sacrifice to Christianity by the converts mentioned

in the Acts of the Apostles. We have likewise an eminent instance of the incon∣sistency of our Religion with magic, in the history of the famous Aquila. This person, who was a kinsman of the Em∣peror Trajan, and likewise a man of great learning, notwithstanding he had embra∣ced Christianity, could not be brought off from the studies of magic, by the re∣peated admonitions of his fellow-christi∣ans: so that at length they expelled him their society, as rather chusing to lose the reputation of so considerable a Pro∣selyte, than communicate with one who dealt in such dark and infernal practices. Besides we may observe, that all the fa∣vourers of magic were the most profest and bitter enemies to the christian reli∣gion. Not to mention Simon Magus and many others, I shall only take notice of those two great persecutors of christiani∣ty, the Emperors Adrian and Julian the Apostate, both of them initiated in the mysteries of divination, and skilled in all the depths of magic. I shall only add, that evil spirits cannot be supposed to have concurred in the establishment of a religion, which triumphed over them, drove them out of the places they possest,

and divested them of their influence on mankind; nor would I mention this par∣ticular, though it be unanimously re∣ported by all the ancient christian Au∣thors; did it not appear from the autho∣rities above-cited, that this was a fact confest by heathens themselves.

V. We now see what a multitude of Pagan testimonies may be produced for all those remarkable passages, which might have been expected from them: and indeed of several, that, I believe, do more than answer your expectation, as they were not subjects in their own na∣ture so exposed to publick notoriety. It cannot be expected they should mention particulars, which were transacted a∣mongst the Disciples only, or among some few even of the Disciples them∣selves; such as the transfiguration, the agony in the garden, the appearance of Christ after his resurrection, and others of the like nature. It was impossible for a heathen Author to relate these things; because if he had believed them, he would no longer have been a heathen, and by that means his testimony would not have been thought of so much vali∣dity. Besides, his very report of facts so

favourable to Christianity would have prompted men to say that he was pro∣bably tainted with their doctrine. We have a parallel case in Hecataeus, a famous Greek Historian, who had several passa∣ges in his book conformable to the hi∣story of the Jewish writers, which when quoted by Josephus, as a confirmation of the Jewish history, when his heathen ad∣versaries could give no other answer to it, they would need suppose that Heca∣taeus was a Jew in his heart, though they had no other reason for it, but because his history gave greater authority to the Jewish than the Egyptian Records.

SECTION III.

I. Introduction to a second list of Pagan Authors, who give testimony of our Sa∣viour.

II. A passage concerning our Saviour, from a learned Athenian.

III. His conversion from Paganism to Chri∣stianity makes his evidence stronger than if he had continued a Pagan.

IV. Of another Athenian Philosopher con∣verted to Christianity.

V. Why their conversion, instead of weaken∣ing, strengthens their evidence in defence of Christianity.

VI. Their belief in our Saviour's history founded at first upon the principles of hi∣storical faith.

VII. Their testimonies extended to all the particulars of our Saviour's history,

VIII. As related by the four Evangelists.

I. TO this list of heathen writers, who make mention of our Sa∣viour, or touch upon any particulars of his life, I shall add those Authors who were at first Heathens, and afterwards converted to Christianity; upon which account, as I shall here shew, their te∣stimonies are to be looked upon as the more authentick. And in this list of evi∣dences, I shall confine myself to such learned Pagans as came over to Christi∣anity in the three first centuries, because those were the times in which men had the best means of informing themselves of the truth of our Saviour's history, and because among the great number of phi∣losophers who came in afterwards, under

the reigns of christian Emperors, there might be several who did it partly out of worldly motives.

II. Let us now suppose, that a learn∣ed heathen writer who lived within six∣ty years of our Saviour's crucifixion, af∣ter having shewn that false miracles were generally wrought in obscurity, and be∣fore few or no witnesses, speaking of those which were wrought by our Sa∣viour, has the following passage.

But his works were always seen, because they were true, they were seen by those who were healed, and by those who were raised from the dead. Nay these persons who were thus healed, and raised, were seen not only at the time of their being healed, and raised, but long afterwards. Nay they were seen not only all the while our Savi∣our was upon earth, but survived af∣ter his departure out of this world, nay some of them were living in our days.

III. I dare say you would look upon this as a glorious attestation for the cause of Christianity, had it come from the hand of a famous Athenian Philosopher. These forementioned words however are

actually the words of one who lived about sixty years after our Saviour's crucifixi∣on, and was a famous Philosopher in A∣thens: but it will be said, he was a con∣vert to Christianity. Now consider this matter impartially, and see if his testi∣mony is not much more valid for that reason. Had he continued a Pagan Phi∣losopher, would not the world have said that he was not sincere in what he writ, or did not believe it; for, if so, would not they have told us he would have em∣braced Christianity? This was indeed the case of this excellent man: he had so thoroughly examined the truth of our Sa∣viour's history, and the excellency of that religion which he taught, and was so entirely convinced of both, that he became a Proselyte, and died a Martyr.

IV. Aristides was an Athenian Philoso∣pher, at the same time, famed for his learning and wisdom, but converted to Christianity. As it cannot be questioned that he perused and approved the apolo∣gy of Quadratus, in which is the passage just now cited, he joined with him in an apology of his own, to the same Em∣peror, on the same subject. This apolo∣gy, tho' now lost, was extant in the time

of Ado Viennensis, A. D. 870, and highly esteemed by the most learned Athenians, as that Author witnesses. It must have contained great arguments for the truth of our Saviour's history, because in it he asserted the Divinity of our Saviour▪ which could not but engage him in the proof of his miracles.

V. I do allow that, generally speak∣ing, a man is not so acceptable and un∣questioned an evidence in facts, which make for the advancement of his own party. But we must consider that, in the case before us, the persons, to whom we appeal, were of an opposite party, till they were persuaded of the truth of those very facts, which they report. They bear evidence to a history in de∣fence of Christianity, the truth of which history was their motive to embrace Christianity, They attest facts which they had heard while they were yet hea∣thens, and had they not found reason to believe them, they would still have con∣tinued heathens, and have made no men∣tion of them in their writings.

VI. When a Man is born under chri∣stian Parents, and trained up in the pro∣fession of that religion from a child, he

generally guides himself by the rules of Christian Faith in believing what is deli∣vered by the Evangelists; but the learned Pagans of antiquity, before they became Christians, were only guided by the com∣mon rules of Historical Faith: That is, they examined the nature of the evidence which was to be met with in common fame, tradition, and the writings of those persons who related them, together with the number, concurrence, veracity, and private characters of those persons; and being convinced upon all accounts that they had the same reason to believe the history of our Saviour, as that of any other person to which they themselves were not actually eye-witnesses, they were bound by all the rules of historical faith, and of right reason, to give credit to this history. This they did accord∣ingly, and in consequence of it published the same truths themselves, suffered ma∣ny afflictions, and very often death itself, in the assertion of them. When I say, that an historical belief of the acts of our Saviour induced these learned Pagans to embrace his doctrine, I do not deny that there were many other motives, which conduced to it, as the excellency of his

precepts, the fulfilling of prophecies, the miracles of his Disciples, the irreproach∣able lives and magnanimous sufferings of their followers, with other considera∣tions of the same nature: but whatever other collateral arguments wrought more or less with Philosophers of that age, it is certain that a belief in the history of our Saviour was one motive with every new convert, and that upon which all others turned, as being the very basis and foundation of Christianity.

VII. To this I must further add, that as we have already seen many particular facts which are recorded in holy writ, attested by particular Pagan Authors: the testimony of those I am now going to produce, extends to the whole histo∣ry of our Saviour, and to that continued series of actions, which are related of him and his Disciples in the books of the New Testament.

VIII. This evidently appears from their quotations out of the Evangelists, for the confirmation of any doctrine or account of our blessed Saviour. Nay a learned man of our nation, who examin∣ed the writings of our most ancient Fa∣thers in another view, refers to several

passages in Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clemens of Alexandria, Origen, and Cyprian, by which he plainly shows that each of these early writers ascribe to the four Evangelists by name their respective histories; so that there is not the least room for doubting of their belief in the history of our Sa∣viour, as recorded in the Gospels. I shall only add, that three of the five Fa∣thers here mentioned, and probably four, were Pagans converted to Christianity, as they were all of them very inquisitive and deep in the knowledge of heathen learning and philosophy.

SECTION IV.

I. Character of the times in which the Chri∣stian religion was propagated.

II. And of many who embraced it.

III. Three eminent and early instances.

IV. Multitudes of learned men who came over to it.

V. Belief in our Saviour's history, the first motive to their conversion.

VI. The names of several Pagan Philoso∣phers, who were Christian converts.

I. IT happened very providentially to the honour of the Christian reli∣gion, that it did not take its rise in the dark illiterate ages of the world, but at a time when arts and sciences were at their height, and when there were men who made it the business of their lives to search after truth, and sift the several o∣pinions of Philosophers and wise men, concerning the duty, the end, and chief happiness of reasonable creatures.

II. Several of these therefore, when they had informed themselves of our Sa∣viour's history, and examined with un∣prejudiced minds the doctrines and man∣ners of his disciples and followers, were so struck and convinced, that they pro∣fessed themselves of that sect; notwith∣standing, by this profession in that jun∣cture of time, they bid farewel to all the pleasures of this life, renounced all the views of ambition, engaged in an unin∣terrupted, course of severities, and expo∣sed themselves to publick hatred and contempt, to sufferings of all kinds, and to death itself.

III. Of this sort we may reckon those three early converts to Christianity, who each of them was a member of a Senate famous for its wisdom and learning. Jo∣seph the Arimathean was of the Jewish Sanhedrim, Dionysius of the Athenian Are∣opagus, and Flavius Clemens of the Roman Senate; nay at the time of his death Consul of Rome. These three were so thoroughly satisfied of the truth of the Christian religion, that the first of them, according to all the reports of antiquity, died a martyr for it; as did the second, unless we disbelieve Aristides, his fellow-citizen and contemporary; and the third, as we are informed both by Roman and Christian Authors.

IV. Among those innumerable multi∣tudes, who in most of the known nations of the world came over to Christianity at its first appearance, we may be sure there were great numbers of wise and learned men, beside those whose Names are in the Christian records, who with∣out doubt took care to examine the truth of our Saviour's history, before they would leave the religion of their country and of their forefathers, for the sake of one that would not only cut

them off from the allurements of this world, but subject them to every thing terrible or disagreeable in it. Tertullian tells the Roman Governors, that their corporations, councils, armies, tribes, companies, the palace, senate, and courts of judicature were filled with Christians; as Arnobius asserts, that men of the finest parts and learning, Orators, Grammarians, Rhetoricians, Lawyers, Physicians, Phi∣losophers, despising the sentiments they had been once fond of, took up their rest in the Christian religion.

V. Who can imagine that men of this character did not thoroughly inform themselves of the history of that person, whose doctrines they embraced? for how∣ever consonant to reason his precepts appeared, how good soever were the ef∣fects which they produced in the world, nothing could have tempted men to ac∣knowledge him as their God and Savi∣our, but their being firmly persuaded of the miracles he wrought, and the ma∣ny attestations of his divine mission, which were to be met with in the histo∣ry of his life. This was the ground∣work of the Christian religion, and, if this failed, the whole superstructure sunk

with it. This point therefore, of the truth of our Saviour's history, as recor∣ded by the Evangelists, is every where taken for granted in the writings of those, who from Pagan Philosophers be∣came Christian Authors, and who, by reason of their conversion, are to be looked upon as of the strongest collate∣ral testimony for the truth of what is delivered concerning our Saviour.

VI. Besides innumerable Authors that are lost, we have the undoubted names, works, or fragments of several Pagan Philosophers, which shew them to have been as learned as any unconverted hea∣then Authors of the age in which they lived. If we look into the greatest nur∣series of learning in those ages of the world, we find in Athens, Dionysius, Qua∣dratus, Aristides, Athenagoras; and in A∣lexandria, Dionysius, Clemens, Ammonius, and Anatolius, to whom we may add Ori∣gen; for though his father was a Chri∣stian martyr, he became, without all controversy, the most learned and able Philosopher of his age, by his education at Alexandria, in that famous seminary of arts and sciences.

SECTION V.

I. The learned Pagans had means and op∣portunities of informing themselves of the truth of our Saviour's history;

II. From the proceedings,

III. The characters, sufferings,

IV. And miracles of the persons who pub∣lished it.

V. How these first Apostles perpetuated their tradition, by ordaining persons to succeed them.

VI. How their successors in the three first centuries preserved their tradition.

VII. That five generations might derive this tradition from Christ, to the end of the third century.

VIII. Four eminent Christians that deliver∣ed it down successively to the year of our Lord 254.

IX. The faith of the four above-mentioned persons, the same with that of the Churches of the East, of the West, and of Egypt.

X. Another person added to them, who brings us to the year 343, and that many other lists might be added in as direct and short a succession.

XI. Why the tradition of the three first centuries, more authentick than that of any other age, proved from the conversa∣tion of the primitive Christians.

XII. From the manner of initiating men in∣to their religion.

XIII. From the correspondence between the Churches.

XIV. From the long lives of several of Christ's Disciples, of which two instances.

I. IT now therefore only remains to consider, whether these learned men had means and opportunities of inform∣ing themselves of the truth of our Sa∣viour's history; for unless this point can be made out, their testimonies will ap∣pear invalid, and their enquiries ineffe∣ctual.

II. As to this point, we must consi∣der, that many thousands had seen the transactions of our Saviour in Judaea, and that many hundred thousands had receiv∣ed an account of them from the mouths of those who were actually eye-witnesses. I shall only mention among these eye-witnesses the twelve Apostles, to whom we must add St. Paul, who had a parti∣cular call to this high office, though ma∣ny

other disciples and followers of Christ had also their share in the publish∣ing this wonderful history. We learn from the ancient records of Christianity, that many of the Apostles and Disciples made it the express business of their lives, travelled into the remotest parts of the world, and in all places gathered multi∣tudes about them, to acquaint them with the history and doctrines of their cruci∣fied Master. And indeed, were all Chri∣stian records of these proceedings entire∣ly lost, as many have been, the effect plainly evinces the truth of them; for how else during the Apostles lives could Christianity have spread itself with such an amazing progress through the several nations of the Roman empire? how could it fly like lightning, and carry conviction with it, from one end of the earth to the oth••r?

III. Heathens therefore of every age, sex, and quality, born in the most diffe∣rent climates, and bred up under the most different institutions, when they saw men of plain sense, without the help of learn∣ing, armed with patience and courage, instead of wealth, pomp, or power, ex∣pressing in their lives those excellent do∣ctrines

of Morality, which they taught as delivered to them from our Saviour, averring that they had seen his miracles during his life, and conversed with him after his death; when, I say, they saw no suspicion of falshood, treachery, or worldly interest, in their behaviour and conversation, and that they submitted to the most ignominious and cruel deaths, rather than retract their testimony, or even be silent in matters which they were to publish by their Saviour's espe∣cial command, there was no reason to doubt of the veracity of those facts which they related, or of the Divine Mission in which they were employed.

IV. But even these motives to Faith in our Saviour would not have been suf∣ficient to have brought about in so few years such an incredible number of con∣versions, had not the Apostles been able to exhibit still greater proofs of the truths which they taught. A few per∣sons of an odious and despised country could not have filled the world with Be∣lievers, had they not shown undoubted credentials from the Divine person who sent them on such a message. According∣ly we are assured, that they were inve∣sted

with the power of working mira∣cles, which was the most short and the most convincing argument that could be produced, and the only one that was adapted to the reason of all mankind, to the capacities of the wise and ignorant, and could overcome every cavil and eve∣ry prejudice. Who would not believe that our Saviour healed the sick, and raised the dead, when it was published by those who themselves often did the same miracles, in their presence, and in his name! Could any reasonable person imagine, that God Almighty would arm men with such powers to authorize a lye, and establish a religion in the world which was displeasing to him, or that evil spirits would lend them such an ef∣fectual assistance to beat down vice and idolatry?

V. When the Apostles had formed many assemblies in several parts of the Pagan world, who gave credit to the glad tidings of the Gospel, that, upon their departure, the memory of what they had related might not perish, they ap∣pointed out of these new converts, men of the best sense, and of the most unble∣mished lives, to preside over these seve∣ral

assemblies, and to inculcate without ceasing what they had heard from the mouths of these eye-witnesses.

VI. Upon the death of any of those substitutes to the Apostles and Disciples of Christ, his place was filled up with some other person of eminence for his piety and learning, and generally a mem∣ber of the same Church, who after his decease was followed by another in the same manner, by which means the suc∣cession was continued in an uninterrupt∣ed line. Irenaeus informs us, that every church preserved a catalogue of its Bi∣shops in the order that they succeeded one another, and (for an example) produces the catalogue of those who governed the Church of Rome in that character, which contains eight or nine persons, though but at a very small remove from the times of the Apostles.

Indeed the lists of Bishops, which are come down to us in other churches, are generally filled with greater numbers than one would expect. But the succession was quick in the three first centuries, be∣cause the Bishop very often ended in the Martyr: for when a persecution arose in any place, the first fury of it fell upon

this Order of holy men, who abundant∣ly testified by their Deaths and Suffer∣ings that they did not undertake these offices out of any temporal views, that they were sincere and satisfied in the be∣lief of what they taught, and that they firmly adhered to what they had received from the Apostles, as laying down their lives in the same hope, and upon the same principles. None can be supposed so utterly regardless of their own happi∣ness as to expire in torment, and hazard their Eternity, to support any fables and inventions of their own, or any forgeries of their predecessors who had presided in the same church, and which might have been easily detected by the tradition of that particular church, as well as by the concurring testimony of others. To this purpose, I think it is very remarkable, that there was not a single Martyr among those many Hereticks, who disagreed with the Apostolical church, and intro∣duced several wild and absurd notions into the doctrines of Christianity. They durst not stake their present and future happiness on their own chimerical ope∣rations, and did not only shun persecu∣tion, but affirmed that it was unnecessa∣ry

for their followers to bear their reli∣gion through such fiery tryals.

VII. We may fairly reckon, that this first age of Apostles and Disciples, with that second generation of many who were their immediate converts, extended it self to the middle of the second Cen∣tury, and that several of the third gene∣ration from these last mentioned, which was but the fifth from Christ, continued to the end of the third Century. Did we know the ages and numbers of the members in every particular church, which was planted by the Apostles, I doubt not but in most of them there might be found five persons who in a continued series would reach through these three centuries of years, that is till the 265th from the death of our Sa∣viour.

VIII. Among the accounts of those very few out of innumerable multitudes, who had embraced Christianity, I shall single out four persons eminent for their lives, their writings, and their sufferings, that were successively contemporaries, and bring us down as far as to the year of our Lord 254. St. John, who was the beloved Disciple, and conversed the

most intimately with our Saviour, lived till Anno Dom. 100. Polycarp, who was the Disciple of St. John, and had con∣versed with others of the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord, lived till Anno Dom. 167, though his life was shortened by martyrdom. Irenaeus, who was the Disciple of Polycarp, and had conversed with many of the immediate Disciples of the Apostles, lived, at the lowest com∣putation of his age, till the year 202, when he was likewise cut off by martyr∣dom; in which year the great Origen was appointed Regent of the Catechetick school in Alexandria, and as he was the miracle of that age, for industry, learn∣ing, and philosophy, he was looked upon as the champion of Christianity, till the year 254, when, if he did not suffer martyrdom, as some think he did, he was certainly actuated by the spirit of it, as appears in the whole course of his life and writings; nay, he had often been put to the torture, and had undergone tryals worse than death. As he conver∣sed with the most eminent Christians of his time in Egypt, and in the East, brought over multitudes both from heresy and heathenism, and left behind him several

Disciples of great fame and learning, there is no question but there were con∣siderable numbers of those who knew him, and had been his hearers, scholars, or proselytes, that lived till the end of the third century, and to the reign of Constantine the Great.

IX. It is evident to those, who read the lives and writings of Polycarp, Ire∣naeus, and Origen, that these three Fathers believed the accounts which are given of our Saviour in the four Evangelists, and had undoubted arguments that not only St. John, but many others of our Sa∣viour's disciples, published the same ac∣counts of him. To which we must sub∣join this further remark, that what was believed by these Fathers on this subject, was likewise the belief of the main body of Christians in those successive ages when they flourished; since Polycarp cannot but be looked upon, if we consider the re∣spect that was paid him, as the represen∣tative of the Eastern Churches in this particular, Irenaeus of the Western upon the same account, and Origen of those established in Egypt.

X. To these I might add Paul the fa∣mous hermite, who retired from the De∣cian

persecution five or six years before Origen's death, and lived till the year 343. I have only discovered one of those chan∣nels by which the history of our Saviour might be conveyed pure and unadultera∣ted, through those several ages that pro∣duced those Pagan Philosophers, whose testimonies I make use of for the truth of our Saviour's history. Some or other of these Philosophers came into the Chri∣stian faith during its infancy, in the se∣veral periods of these three first centu∣ries, when they had such means of in∣forming themselves in all the particulars of our Saviour's history. I must further add, that though I have here only cho∣sen this single link of martyrs, I might find out others among those names which are still extant, that delivered down this account of our Saviour in a successive tra∣dition, till the whole Roman empire be∣came Christian; as there is no question but numberless series of witnesses might follow one another in the same order, and in as short a chain, and that perhaps in every single Church, had the names and ages of the most eminent primitive Christians been transmitted to us with the like certainty.

XI. But to give this consideration more force, we must take notice, that the tradition of the first ages of Christi∣anity had several circumstances peculiar to it, which made it more authentick than any other tradition in any other age of the world. The Christians, who carried their religion through so ma∣ny general and particular persecutions, were incessantly comforting and sup∣porting one another, with the exam∣ple and history of our Saviour and his Apostles. It was the subject not only of their solemn assemblies, but of their pri∣vate visits and conversations. Our vir∣gins, says Tatian, who lived in the second century, discourse over their distaffs on di∣vine subjects. Indeed, when religion was woven into the civil government, and flourished under the protection of the Emperors, men's thoughts and discour∣ses were, as they are now, full of secu∣lar affairs; but in the three first centu∣ries of Christianity, men, who embraced this religion, had given up all their in∣terests in this world, and lived in a per∣petual preparation for the next, as not knowing how soon they might be called to it: so that they had little else to talk

of but the life and doctrines of that di∣vine person, which was their hope, their encouragement, and their glory. We cannot therefore imagine, that there was a single person arrived at any degree of age or consideration, who had not heard and repeated above a thousand times in his life, all the particulars of our Sa∣viour's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

XII. Especially if we consider, that they could not then be received as Chri∣stians, till they had undergone several ex∣aminations. Persons of riper years, who flocked daily into the Church during the three first centuries, were obliged to pass through many repeated instructions, and give a strict account of their proficien∣cy, before they were admitted to Bap∣tism. And as for those who were born of Christian parents, and had been bap∣tised in their infancy, they were with the like care prepared and disciplined for confirmation, which they could not ar∣rive at, till they were found upon exa∣mination to have made a sufficient pro∣gress in the knowledge of Christianity.

XIII. We must further observe, that there was not only in those times this re∣ligious

conversation among private Chri∣stians, but a constant correspondence be∣tween the Churches that were establish∣ed by the Apostles or their successors, in the several parts of the world. If any new doctrine was started, or any fact re∣ported of our Saviour, a strict enquiry was made among the Churches, especi∣ally those planted by the Apostles them∣selves, whether they had received any such doctrine or account of our Saviour, from the mouths of the Apostles, or the tradition of those Christians, who had preceded the present members of the Churches which were thus consulted. By this means, when any novelty was published, it was immediately detected and censured.

XIV. St. John, who lived so many years after our Saviour, was appealed to in these emergencies as the living Ora∣cle of the Church; and as his oral testi∣mony lasted the first century, many have observed that, by a particular providence of God, several of our Saviour's Disci∣ples, and of the early converts of his re∣ligion, lived to a very great age, that they might personally convey the truth of the Gospel to those times, which were

very remote from the first publication of it. Of these, besides St. John, we have a remarkable instance in Simeon, who was one of the Seventy sent forth by our Saviour, to publish the Gospel before his crucifixion, and a near kins∣man of the Lord. This venerable per∣son, who had probably heard with his own ears our Saviour's prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, presided over the Church established in that city, du∣ring the time of its memorable siege, and drew his congregation out of those dreadful and unparallel'd calamities which befel his countrymen, by following the advice our Saviour had given, when they should see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, and the Roman standards, or abo∣mination of desolation, set up. He liv∣ed till the year of our Lord 107, when he was martyred under the Emperor Trajan.

SECTION VI.

I. The tradition of the Apostles secured by other excellent institutions;

II. But chiefly by the writings of the E∣vangelists.

III. The diligence of the Disciples and first Christian converts, to send abroad these writings.

IV. That the written account of our Sa∣viour was the same with that delivered by tradition:

V. Proved from the reception of the Gospel by those Churches which were established before it was written;

VI. From the uniformity of what was be∣lieved in the several Churches;

VII. From a remarkable passage in Irenaeus.

VIII. Records which are now lost, of use to the three first centuries, for confirming the hi∣story of our Saviour.

IX. Instances of such records.

I. THUS far we see how the learned Pagans might apprize themselves from oral information of the particulars

of our Saviour's history. They could hear, in every Church planted in every distant part of the earth, the account which was there received and preserved among them, of the history of our Sa∣viour. They could learn the names and characters of those first missionaries that brought to them these accounts, and the miracles by which God Almighty atte∣sted their reports. But the Apostles and Disciples of Christ, to preserve the histo∣ry of his life, and to secure their ac∣counts of him from error and oblivion, did not only set aside certain persons for that purpose, as has been already shewn, but appropriated certain days to the commemoration of those facts which they had related concerning him. The first day of the week was in all its returns a perpetual memorial of his resurrection, as the devotional exercises adapted to Fri∣day and Saturday, were to denote to all ages that he was crucified on the one of those days, and that he rested in the grave on the other. You may apply the same re∣mark to several of the annual festivals instituted by the Apostles themselves, or at furthest by their immediate successors, in memory of the most important parti∣culars

in our Saviour's history; to which we must add the Sacraments instituted by our Lord himself, and many of those rites and ceremonies which obtained in the most early times of the Church. These are to be regarded as standing marks of such facts as were delivered by those, who were eye-witnesses to them, and which were contrived with great wisdom to last till time should be no more. These, without any other means, might have, in some measure, conveyed to posterity, the memory of several transactions in the history of our Saviour, as they were re∣lated by his Disciples. At least, the rea∣son of these institutions, though they might be forgotten, and obscured by a long course of years, could not but be very well known by those who lived in the three first centuries, and a means of informing the inquisitive Pagans in the truth of our Saviour's history, that be∣ing the view in which I am to consider them.

II. But lest such a tradition, though guarded by so many expedients, should wear out by the length of time, the four Evangelists within about fifty, or, as Theodoret affirms, thirty years, after our

Saviour's death, while the memory of his actions was fresh among them, consigned to writing that history, which for some years had been published only by the mouths of the Apostles and Disciples. The further consideration of these holy penmen will fall under another part of this discourse.

III. It will be sufficient to observe here, that in the age which succeeded the Apostles, many of their immediate Disciples sent or carried in person the books of the four Evangelists, which had been written by Apostles, or at least ap∣proved by them, to most of the Churches which they had planted in the different parts of the world. This was done with so much diligence, that when Pantaenus, a man of great learning and piety, had travelled into India for the propagation of Christianity, about the year of our Lord 200, he found among that remote peo∣ple the Gospel of St. Matthew, which upon his return from that country he brought with him to Alexandria. This Gospel is generally supposed to have been left in those parts by St. Bartholomew the Apostle of the Indies, who probably car∣ried it with him before the writings

of the three other Evangelists were pub∣lish'd.

IV. That the history of our Saviour, as recorded by the Evangelists, was the same with that which had been before delivered by the Apostles and Disciples, will further appear in the prosecution of this discourse, and may be gathered from the following considerations.

V. Had these writings differed from the sermons of the first planters of Chri∣stianity, either in history or doctrine, there is no question but they would have been rejected by those Churches which they had already formed. But so consi∣stent and uniform was the relation of the Apostles, that these histories appeared to be nothing else but their tradition and oral attestations made fixt and perma∣nent. Thus was the fame of our Saviour, which in so few years had gone through the whole earth, confirmed and perpe∣tuated by such records, as would preserve the traditionary account of him to after∣ages; and rectify it, if at any time, by passing through several generations, it might drop any part that was material, or contract any thing that was false or fictitious.

VI. Accordingly we find the same Je∣sus Christ, who was born of a Virgin, who had wrought many miracles in Pa∣lestine, who was crucified, rose again, and ascended into Heaven; I say, the same Jesus Christ had been preached, and was worshipped, in Germany, France, Spain, and Great-Britain, in Parthia, Media, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Asia and Pamphilia, in Italy, Egypt, Afric, and beyond Cyrene, India and Persia, and, in short, in all the islands and provinces that are visited by the rising or setting sun. The same account of our Saviour's life and doctrine was delivered by thou∣sands of Preachers, and believed in thou∣sands of places, who all, as fast as it could be conveyed to them, received the same ac∣count in writing from the four Evangelists.

VII. Irenaeus to this purpose very apt∣ly remarks, that those barbarous nations, who in his time were not possest of the written gospels, and had only learned the history of our Saviour from those who had converted them to Christianity before the Gospels were written, had a∣mong them the same accounts of our Sa∣viour, which are to be met with in the four Evangelists. An uncontestable proof

of the harmony and concurrence between the holy scripture and the tradition of the Churches in those early times of Christianity.

VIII. Thus we see what opportuni∣ties the learned and inquisitive heathens had of informing themselves of the truth of our Saviour's history, during the three first Centuries, especially as they lay near∣er one than another to the fountain∣head: beside which, there were many un∣controverted traditions, records of Chri∣stianity, and particular histories, that then threw light into these matters, but are now entirely lost, by which, at that time, any appearance of contradiction, or seeming difficulties, in the history of the Evangelists, were fully cleared up and explained: though we meet with fewer appearances of this nature in the history of our Saviour, as related by the four Evangelists, than in the accounts of any other person, published by such a number of different historians who lived at so great a distance from the present age.

IX. Among those records which are lost, and were of great use to the primi∣tive Christians, is the letter to Tiberius, which I have already mentioned; that

of Marcus Aurelius, which I shall take notice of hereafter; the writings of He∣gesippus, who had drawn down the histo∣ry of Christianity to his own time, which was not beyond the middle of the second Century; the genuine Sibylline oracles, which in the first ages of the Church were easily distinguished from the spu∣rious; the records preserved in particu∣lar Churches, with many other of the same nature.

SECTION VII.

I. The sight of miracles in those ages a fur∣ther confirmation of Pagan Philosophers in the Christian faith.

II. The credibility of such miracles.

III. A particular instance.

IV. Martyrdom, why considered as a stand∣ing miracle.

V. Primitive Christians thought many of the Martyrs were supported by a miracu∣lous power.

VI. Proved from the nature of their suf∣ferings.

VII. How Martyrs further induced the Pagans to embrace Christianity.

I. THERE were other means, which I find had a great influence on the learned of the three first Centuries, to create and confirm in them the belief of our blessed Saviour's history, which ought not to be passed over in silence. The first was, the opportunity they enjoyed of examining those miracles, which were on several occasions performed by Chri∣stians, and appeared in the Church, more or less, during these first ages of Chri∣stianity. These had great weight with the men I am now speaking of, who, from learned Pagans, became fathers of the Church; for they frequently boast of them in their writings, as attestations given by God himself to the truth of their religion.

II. At the same time, that these learn∣ed men declare how disingenuous, base and wicked it would be, how much be∣neath the dignity of Philosophy, and con∣trary to the precepts of Christianity, to utter falshoods or forgeries in the sup∣port of a cause, though never so just in it self, they confidently assert this mira∣culous power, which then subsisted in the Church, nay tell us that they them∣selves

had been eye-witnesses of it at se∣veral times, and in several instances; nay appeal to the heathens themselves for the truth of several facts they re∣late, nay challenge them to be present at their assemblies, and satisfy them∣selves, if they doubt of it; nay we find that Pagan Authors have in some instan∣ces confessed this miraculous power.

III. The letter of Marcus Aurelius, whose army was preserved by a refresh∣ing shower, at the same time that his enemies were discomfited by a storm of lightning, and which the heathen histo∣rians themselves allow to have been su∣pernatural and the effect of magic: I say, this letter, which ascribed this unexpe∣cted assistance to the prayers of the Chri∣stians, who then served in the army, would have been thought an unquestion∣able testimony of the miraculous power I am speaking of, had it been still pre∣served. It is sufficient for me in this place to take notice, that this was one of those miracles which had its influence on the learned Converts, because it is related by Tertullian, and the very letter appealed to. When these learned men saw sickness and frenzy cured, the dead raised, the ora∣cles

put to silence, the Daemons and evil spirits forced to confess themselves no Gods, by persons who only made use of prayer and adjurations in the name of their crucified Saviour; how could they doubt of their Saviour's power on the like occasions, as represented to them by the traditions of the Church, and the writings of the Evangelists?

IV. Under this head, I cannot omit that which appears to me a standing mi∣racle in the three first Centuries, I mean that amazing and supernatural courage or patience, which was shewn by innu∣merable multitudes of Martyrs, in those slow and painful torments that were in∣flicted on them. I cannot conceive a man placed in the burning iron chair at Lyons, amid the insults and mockeries of a crouded Amphitheatre, and still keeping his seat; or stretched upon a grate of iron, over coals of fire, and breathing out his soul among the exqui∣site sufferings of such a tedious execu∣tion, rather than renounce his religion, or blaspheme his Saviour. Such tryals seem to me above the strength of human nature, and able to over-bear duty, rea∣son, faith, conviction, nay, and the most

absolute certainty of a future state. Hu∣manity, unassisted in an extraordinary manner, must have shaken off the pre∣sent pressure, and have delivered it self out of such a dreadful distress, by any means that could have been suggested to it. We can easily imagine, that many persons, in so good a cause, might have laid down their lives at the gibbet, the stake, or the block: but to expire lei∣surely among the most exquisite tortures, when they might come out of them, even by a mental reservation, or an hy∣pocrisy which was not without a possibi∣lity of being followed by repentance and forgiveness, has something in it, so far beyond the force and natural strength of mortals, that one cannot but think there was some miraculous power to support the sufferer.

V. We find the Church of Smyrna, in that admirable letter which gives an ac∣count of the death of Polycarp their be∣loved Bishop, mentioning the cruel tor∣ments of other early Martyrs for Christi∣anity, are of opinion, that our Saviour stood by them in a vision, and personal∣ly conversed with them, to give them strength and comfort during the bitter∣ness

of their long-continued agonies; and we have the story of a young man, who, having suffered many tortures, esca∣ped with life, and told his fellow-chri∣stians, that the pain of them had been rendred tolerable, by the presence of an Angel who stood by him, and wiped off the tears and sweat, which ran down his face whilst he lay under his sufferings. We are assured at least that the first Martyr for Christianity was encouraged in his last moments, by a vision of that divine person, for whom he suffered, and into whose presence he was then hasten∣ing.

VI. Let any man calmly lay his hand upon his heart, and after reading these terrible conflicts in which the ancient Martyrs and Confessors were engaged, when they passed through such new in∣ventions and varieties of pain, as tired their tormentors; and ask himself, however zealous and sincere he is in his religion, whether under such acute and lingring tortures he could still have held fast his integrity, and have professed his faith to the last, without a supernatural assistance of some kind or other. For my part, when I consider that it was not an unac∣countable

obstinacy in a single man, or in any particular sett of men, in some ex∣traordinary juncture; but that there were multitudes of each sex, of every age, of different countries and conditions, who for near 300 years together made this glorious confession of their faith, in the midst of tortures, and in the hour of death▪ I must conclude, that they were either of another make than men are at present, or that they had such miracu∣lous supports as were peculiar to those times of Christianity, when without them perhaps the very name of it might have been extinguished.

VII. It is certain, that the deaths and sufferings of the primitive Christians had a great share in the conversion of those learned Pagans, who lived in the ages of Persecution, which with some intervals and abatements lasted near 300 years af∣ter our Saviour. Justin Martyr, Tertul∣lian, Lactantius, Arnobius, and others, tell us, that this first of all alarmed their cu∣riosity, roused their attention, and made them seriously inquisitive into the nature of that religion, which could endue the mind with so much strength and over∣come the fear of death, nay raise an ear∣nest

desire of it, though it appeared in all its terrors. This they found had not been effected by all the doctrines of those Philosophers, whom they had thorough∣ly studied, and who had been labouring at this great point. The sight of these dying and tormented Martyrs engaged them to search into the history and do∣ctrines of him for whom they suffered. The more they searched, the more they were convinced; till their conviction grew so strong, that they themselves embraced the same truths, and either actually laid down their lives, or were always in a readiness to do it, rather than depart from them.

SECTION▪ VIII.

I. The completion of our Saviour's prophe∣cies confirmed. Pagans in their belief of the Gospel▪

II. Origen's observation on that of his Disciples being brought before Kings and Governors;

III. On their being persecuted for their re∣ligion;

IV. On their preaching the Gospel to all nations;

V. On the destruction of Jerusalem, and ruin of the Jewish oeconomy.

VI. These arguments strengthened by what has happened since Origen's time.

I. THE second of those extraordinary means, of great use to the learn∣ed and inquisitive Pagans of the three first Centuries, for evincing the truth of the history of our Saviour, was the com∣pletion of such prophecies as are record∣ed of him in the Evangelists. They could not indeed form any arguments from what he foretold, and was fulfilled du∣ring his life, because both the prophecy and the completion were over before they were published by the Evangelists; though, as Origen observes, what end could there be in forging some of these predictions, as that of St. Peter's deny∣ing his master, and all his Disciples for∣saking him in the greatest extremity, which reflects so much shame on the great Apostle, and on all his companions? Nothing but a strict adherence to truth,

and to matters of fact, could have prompted the Evangelists to relate a cir∣cumstance so disadvantageous to their own reputation; as that Father has well observed.

II. But to pursue his reflections on this subject. There are predictions of our Sa∣viour recorded by the Evangelists, which were not completed till after their deaths, and had no likelihood of being so, when they were pronounced by our blessed Sa∣viour. Such was that wonderful notice he gave them, that they should be brought before Governors and Kings for his sake, for a testimony against them and the Gen∣tiles, Mat. x.28. with the other like prophecies, by which he foretold that his Disciples were to be persecuted. Is there any other doctrine in the world, says this Father, whose followers are punished? Can the enemies of Christ say, that he knew his opinions were false and impious, and that therefore he might well conjecture and foretel what would be the treatment of those persons who should embrace them? Supposing his do∣ctrines were really such, why should this be the consequence? what likelihood that men should be brought before Kings

and Governors for opinions and tenets of any kind, when this never happened even to the Epicureans, who absolutely denied a Providence; nor to the Peri∣pateticks themselves, who laughed at the prayers and sacrifices which were made to the Divinity? Are there any but the Christians who, according to this pre∣diction of our Saviour, being brought before Kings and Governors for his sake, are pressed to their latest gasp of breath, by their respective judges, to renounce Christianity, and to procure their liber∣ty and rest, by offering the same sacri∣fices, and taking the same oaths that o∣thers did?

III Consider the time when our Sa∣viour pronounced those words, Mat. x. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven: but whosoever shall de∣ny me before men, him will I also deny be∣fore my Father which is in heaven. Had you heard him speak after this manner, when as yet his Disciples were under no such tryals, you would certainly have said within your self, If these speeches of Jesus are true, and if, according to his prediction, Governors and Kings un∣dertake

to ruin and destroy those who shall profess themselves his Disciples, we will believe (not only that he is a Pro∣phet) but that he has received power from God sufficient to preserve and pro∣pagate his religion; and that he would never talk in such a peremptory and dis∣couraging manner, were he not assured that he was able to subdue the most pow∣erful opposition, that could be made a∣gainst the faith and doctrine which he taught.

IV. Who is not struck with admira∣tion, when he represents to himself our Saviour at that time foretelling, that his Gospel should be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, or as Origen (who rather quotes the sense than the words) to serve for a convi∣ction to Kings and people, when at the same time he finds that his Gospel has accordingly been preached to Greeks and Barbarians, to the learned and to the ig∣norant, and that there is no quality or condition of life able to exempt men from submitting to the doctrine of Christ? As for us, says this great Author, in an∣other part of his book against Celsus,

When we see every day those events

exactly accomplished which our Sa∣viour foretold at so great a distance: That his Gospel is preached in all the world, Mat. xxiv.14. That his Disci∣ples go and teach all nations, Mat. xxviii.19. And that those, who have received his doctrine, are brought for his sake before Governors, and before Kings, Mat. x.18. we are filled with admiration, and our faith in him is confirmed more and more. What clearer and stronger proofs can Celsus ask for the truth of what he spoke?

V. Origen insists likewise with great strength on that wonderful prediction of our Saviour, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, pronounced at a time, as he observes, when there was no likeli∣hood nor appearance of it. This has been taken notice of and inculcated by so many others, that I shall refer you to what this Father has said on the subject in the first book against Celsus. And as to the accomplishment of this remark∣able prophecy, shall only observe, that whoever reads the account given us by Josephus, without knowing his character, and compares it with what our Saviour foretold, would think the historian had

been a Christian, and that he had no∣thing else in view but to adjust the event to the prediction.

VI. I cannot quit this head without taking notice, that Origen would still have triumphed more in the foregoing argu∣ments, had he lived an age longer, to have seen the Roman Emperors, and all their Governors and provinces, submit∣ting themselves to the Christian religion, and glorying in its profession, as so ma∣ny Kings and Soveraigns still place their relation to Christ at the head of their titles.

How much greater confirmation of his faith would he have received, had he seen our Saviour's prophecy stand good in the destruction of the temple, and the dissolution of the Jewish oecono∣my, when Jews and Pagans united all their endeavours under Julian the Apo∣state, to baffle and falsify the prediction? The great preparations that were made for re-building the temple, with the hur∣ricane, earthquake, and eruptions of fire, that destroyed the work, and terrified those employed in the attempt from pro∣ceeding in it, are related by many histo∣rians of the same age, and the substance of the story testified both by Pagan and

Jewish writers, as Ammianus Marcellinus and Zemath-David. The learned Chry∣sostome, in a sermon against the Jews, tells them this fact was then fresh in the memories even of their young men, that it happened but twenty years ago, and that it was attested by all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, where they might still see the marks of it in the rubbish of that work, from which the Jews desisted in so great a fright, and which even Julian had not the courage to carry on. This fact, which is in it self so miraculous, and so indisputable, brought over many of the Jews to Christianity; and shows us, that after our Saviour's prophecy a∣gainst it, the temple could not be pre∣served from the plough passing over it, by all the care of Titus, who would fain have prevented its destruction, and that instead of being re-edified by Julian, all his endeavours towards it did but still more literally accomplish our Saviour's prediction, that not one stone should be left upon another.

The ancient Christians were so entire∣ly persuaded of the force of our Saviour's prophecies, and of the punishment which the Jews had drawn upon themselves,

and upon their children, for the treat∣ment which the Messiah had received at their hands, that they did not doubt but they would always remain an abandoned and dispersed people, an hissing and an astonishment among the nations, as they are to this day. In short, that they had lost their peculiarity of being God's peo∣ple, which was now transferred to the body of Christians, and which preserved the Church of Christ among all the con∣flicts, difficulties and persecutions, in which it was engaged, as it had pre∣served the Jewish government and oeco∣nomy for so many ages, whilst it had the same truth and vital principle in it, not∣withstanding it was so frequently in dan∣ger of being utterly abolished and de∣stroyed, Origen, in his fourth book a∣gainst Celsus, mentioning their being cast out of Jerusalem, the place to which their worship was annexed, deprived of their temple and sacrifice, their religious rites and solemnities, and scattered over the face of the earth, ventures to assure them with a face of confidence, that they would never be re-established, since they had committed that horrid crime against the Saviour of the world. This was a

bold assertion in the good man, who knew how this people had been so won∣derfully re-established in former times, when they were almost swallowed up, and in the most desperate state of desola∣tion, as in their deliverance out of the Babylonish captivity, and the oppressions of Antiochus Epiphanes. Nay, he knew that within less than a hundred years be∣fore his own time, the Jews had made such a powerful effort for their re-esta∣blishment under Barchocab, in the reign of Adrian, as shook the whole Roman empire. But he founded his opinion on a sure word of prophecy, and on the pu∣nishment they had so justly incurred; and we find, by a long experience of 1500 years, that he was not mistaken, nay that his opinion gathers strength daily, since the Jews are now at a greater distance from any probability of such a re-establishment, than they were when Origen wrote.

SECTION IX.

I. The lives of primitive Christians, another means of bringing learned Pagans into their religion.

II. The change and reformation of their manners.

III. This looked upon as supernatural by the learned Pagans,

IV. And strengthened the accounts given of our Saviour's life and history.

V. The Jewish prophecies of our Saviour, an argument for the heathens belief:

VI. Pursued:

VII. Pursued.

I. THERE was one other mean en∣joyed by the learned Pagans of the three first centuries, for satisfying them in the truth of our Saviour's histo∣ry, which I might have flung under one of the foregoing heads; but as it is so shining a particular, and does so much honour to our religion, I shall make a distinct article of it, and only consider it with regard to the subject I am upon:

I mean the lives and manners of those holy men, who believed in Christ during the first ages of Christianity. I should be thought to advance a paradox, should I affirm that there were More Christians in the world during those times of per∣secution, than there are at present in these which we call the flourishing times of Christianity. But this will be found an indisputable truth, if we form our calculation upon the opinions which pre∣vailed in those days, that every one who lives in the habitual practice of any vo∣luntary sin, actually cuts himself off from the benefits and profession of Christiani∣ty, and whatever he may call himself, is in reality no Christian, nor ought to be esteemed as such.

II. In the times we are now surveying, the Christian religion showed its full force and efficacy on the minds of men, and by many examples demonstrated what great and generous souls it was capable of producing. It exalted and refined its proselytes to a very high degree of per∣fection, and set them far above the plea∣sures, and even the pains, of this life. It strengthned the infirmity, and broke the fierceness of human nature. It lifted up

the minds of the ignorant to the know∣ledge and worship of him that made them, and inspired the vicious with a rational devotion, a strict purity of heart, and an unbounded love to their fellow-creatures. In proportion as it spread through the world, it seemed to change mankind into another species of Beings. No sooner was a convert initiated into it, but by an easy figure he became a New Man, and both acted and looked upon himself as one regenerated and born a second time into another state of exi∣stence.

III. It is not my business to be more particular in the accounts of primitive Christianity, which have been exhibited so well by others, but rather to observe, that the Pagan converts, of whom I am now speaking, mention this great refor∣mation of those who had been the great∣est sinners, with that sudden and sur∣prising change which it made in the lives of the most profligate, as having some∣thing in it supernatural, miraculous, and more than human. Origen represents this power in the Christian religion, as no less wonderful than that of curing the lame and blind, or cleansing the leper.

Many others represent it in the same light, and looked upon it as an argument that there was a certain divinity in that religion, which showed it self in such strange and glorious effects.

IV. This therefore was a great means not only of recommending Christianity to honest and learned heathens, but of confirming them in the belief of our Sa∣viour's history, when they saw multitudes of virtuous men daily forming themselves upon his example, animated by his pre∣cepts, and actuated by that Spirit which he had promised to send among his Dis∣ciples.

V. But I find no argument made a stronger impression on the minds of these eminent Pagan converts, for strengthen∣ing their faith in the history of our Sa∣viour, than the predictions relating to him in those old prophetick writings, which were deposited among the hands of the greatest enemies to Christianity, and owned by them to have been extant many ages before his appearance. The learned heathen converts were astonished to see the whole history of their Saviour's life published before he was born, and to find that the Evangelists and Prophets,

in their accounts of the Messiah differed only in point of time, the one foretel∣ling what should happen to him, and the other describing those very particulars as what had actually happened. This our Saviour himself was pleased to make use of as the strongest argument of his being the promised Messiah, and without it would hardly have reconciled his Dis∣ciples to the ignominy of his death, as in that remarkable passage which men∣tions his conversation with the two Dis∣ciples, on the day of his resurrection. St. Luke. xxiv.13. to the end.

VI. The heathen converts, after ha∣ving travelled through all human learn∣ing, and fortified their minds with the knowledge of arts and sciences, were par∣ticularly qualified to examine these pro∣phecies with great care and impartiality, and without prejudice or prepossession. If the Jews on the one side put an unna∣tural interpretation on these prophecies, to evade the force of them in their con∣troversies with the Christians; or if the Christians on the other side over-strained several passages in their applications of them, as it often happens among men of the best understanding, when their minds

are heated with any consideration that bears a more than ordinary weight with it: the learned Heathens may be looked upon as neuters in the matter, when all these prophecies were new to them, and their education had left the interpreta∣tion of them free and indifferent. Be∣sides, these learned men among the pri∣mitive Christians, knew how the Jews, who had preceded our Saviour, inter∣preted these predictions, and the several marks by which they acknowledged the Messiah would be discovered, and how those of the Jewish Doctors who suc∣ceeded him, had deviated from the inter∣pretations and doctrines of their forefa∣thers, on purpose to stifle their own con∣viction.

VII. This set of arguments had there∣fore an invincible force with those Pa∣gan Philosophers who became Christians, as we find in most of their writings. They could not disbelieve our Saviour's history, which so exactly agreed with every thing that had been written of him many ages before his birth, nor doubt of those circumstances being fulfilled in him, which could not be true of any person that lived in the world besides

himself. This wrought the greatest confusion in the unbelieving Jews, and the greatest conviction in the Gentiles, who every where speak with astonish∣ment of these truths they met with in this new magazine of learning which was opened to them, and carry the point so far as to think whatever excellent do∣ctrine they had met with among Pagan writers, had been stole from their con∣versation with the Jews, or from the perusal of these writings which they had in their custody.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Author did not live to write this second Part.