Christian religion's appeal from the groundless prejudices of the sceptick to the bar of common reason by John Smith.

Christian Religion's APPEAL To the BAR of Common Reason, &c. The Third Book. (Book 3)

We have as good Grounds of Assurance, that the Matter of Fact, and Delivery of Do∣ctrine contain'd in the Gospel, were done and delivered as they are reported there, as we have, or can have, of any the most unquestionable Relation in the World.

CHAP. I.

The Universal Tradition of the Church, a good Evidence of the Gospels Legitimacy.

§ 1. The inconquerable force of Universal Tradition. § 2. No danger of being over-credulous in our Case. § 3. Reasons interest in Matters of Religion. § 4. We have better assurance, that the Evangelical Writings and History are those mens Off-spring, whose names they bear, than any Man can have that he is his reputed Father's Son. § 5. The Sceptick cannot prove him∣self his Mothers Son, by so good Arguments, as the Gospel hath for its Legi∣timacy. § 6. Bastard-slips grafted into Noble Families. The Sceptick in Religion, is a Leveller in Politicks.

§ 1. ANd doubtless nothing can hinder any man in his wits, from giving assent to this Proposition; That the Framers of the Gospel were Persons endowed with Reason. But then the Atheist puts in this Bar, a∣gainst his own and others Belief: That Christianity, possibly may have been lick'd into this form, wherein the Scripture presents it, after the Age of the Apostles, by such Politicians, as conceived it a good Epedient to keep men in Order, out of an awe and reverence of Religion.

For the removal of this Scruple, I shall prove in this third Book; That we

have as good Grounds of assurance, that the Matters of Fact and Doctrine, contain'd in the Gospel, were done and delivered by Christ and his Apostles; as we have (or can have) of any other (the most certain and unquestiona∣ble) Relation in the World.

Though we (who live at this great distance from the Time, wherein those Occurrences fell out) are so far disadvantaged, as 'tis scarce to be hoped that obstinate and captious Gain-sayers, who hate the Gospel for its Holiness and Strictness, will acquiess in the clearest Demonstration we can lay before them: [Necsi solem quidem ipsum gestemus in manibus, fidem accomodabunt ei doctrinae, quae illos jubet, &c.] (Lactantius de divino praemio, l. p. c. 1) Debaucht persons will not yield assent to a Doctrine that commands Holiness, Justice and Temperance, though for demonstration of the truth of it, we should carry in our hands the Sun it self. Before I make my defence (saith Origen against Celsus) (lib. 1. calum. 23.) let me premise this; That to vindicate the Truth of any History, though never so true, is a matter of exceeding difficulty; and in some cases impossible. If a man be frowardly bent to deny, that the Grecians fought with the Trojans; that Oedipus married his Mother Jocasta, &c. there's no convincing of him: there's no remedy against the biting of a Sycophant: Yet the abovesaid disadvantage, hath this convenience attend∣ing it; that it necessitates us to the use of soberness of Mind, in seeking and receiving satisfaction: For the things in question being done many generati∣ons before us, it were the highest act of unreasonableness imaginable, to expect or demand any other grounds of satisfaction, than such as all men, (that are not besides themselves, and incapacitated for rational Discourse) in all other the like cases acquiess in, without the least hesitancy; that is, Universal Tra∣dition, which is of that force, as to leave all wise men as much assured of those Matters, that are so communicated to them, as of those they them∣selves are eye-witnesses of. I can no more force my self out of an assurance, that there were such men as Caesar, Pompey, Alexander; such Cities as Troy, Carthage, Jerusalem; than I can perswade my self to believe, that I am not now writing. Nay, I should sooner be brought to doubt of this than that: for I may perhaps (for this once) be but in a Dream; but that the whole World of Authentick Historians, (who have conveighed the Tradition of those things to us) should dream waking, for so many Successions of Ages, bids that manifest defiance to Reason and common Sence: as I must grow blind on both these eyes, before I can swallow that Flie.

When I sift my Mind to find out the bottom of this invincible Assurance, such thoughts as these comes to hand: It is not any way my own Interest that byasseth me; whether there ever were any such Men or Cities, or no, (mihi nec seritur, nec metitur) I am no way concern'd in it; I cannot possi∣bly discover the least Atom of self, in my tenacious (and even obstinate) ad∣hering to such Propositions. It must be therefore some pure Beam of refined Reason, by which I clime up, to this degree of Confidence: I take up, and hold to, these Conclusions, meerly as a Man, as a reasonable Creature; with∣out circumstantiating my self with those moveable, those separable Attri∣butes; of poor, of rich, wise, foolish, &c. But find all Men, in all Ages since, have (with one mouth) either reported, or assented (by their si∣lence) to these Stories; and Vox populi, vox Dei, The common vote of Man-kind, is the voice of God: If I deny the validity of such Testimony, I banish all humane Converse out of the World.

It may here perhaps be objected; that, in these cases, we suffer our Reason to be captivated to the general Vogue, by slender presumptions; and because we may, without any considerable detriment, ride with the stream, we are willing to save our selves the labour of rowing against it: but in Matters of so high a Concern (as Religion) Prudence should dictate to us the use of more Caution, than to be born down with the Current.

But what we take up (in trust of the Publick Faith) upon such Univer∣sal Testimonies, is not credulously imbraced, but forceth it self upon us with

main force of common Reason (I was almost saying) of demonstration; for else these Confidences might possibly be dismounted. If these assurances were not built upon the firmest Grounds, they might be undermined: if they were not mann'd and garrison'd by the strongest Reason, other Reasons might enforce to a surrender, as we see it daily happens in questions de Jure, and all Propositions built upon articifial Arguments. A man may be perswaded of the Truth of the Affirmative to day, and to morrow be confident of the Nega∣tive, if that come arm'd (to his thinking) with better Reasons. But now in Matters of Fact, delivered by the Universal Tradition of those that were up∣on the place, we cannot acquit our selves of the belief of them; we cannot extricate our selves out of those Chains that are clapt upon our judgement, by the most Proteus-like change thereof, though into an hundred forms and shapes. Let one (for instance) that upon such an account is perswaded, that King Henry the Eighth is dead, try if he can writhe himself out of the belief of it, by all the versatile windings, which the most serpentine invention can prompt; if he can hale that Conceipt out of his Mind, with a whole Team of the strongest Arguments he can yoak together: he will find he labours as much in vain, as the Sea-men did, in their attempts to bring the Vessel that was freighted with the reputed Mother of the Gods to shore, after she was faln a ground. The Hair-lace of the vestal (though under a suspition of inconti∣nency) did more than all their Cables could. But in our Case the single twine of current Tradition (the votary of the never-dying Flame, the pre∣server of the immortal Memory of things past) will draw the mind to a full irreversible Assent, against all contrary halings of the Cart-ropes of artificial Reasonings; notwithstanding our jealousies of a possibility of Error, or Adul∣teration. Nay, Universal Testimony forces the belief of those things upon us, which we would not believe, could we any way baffle the Evidence; when it informs us of the death of Friends, of the defeating of our Armys, of the loss of our Garrisons, of the sinking of our richly-laden and home∣ward-bound Vessels, (though we could wish to keep St. Thomas his Resoluti∣on of not believing, till we see and handle the truth of those Relations, though we put in an hundred caveats of hope, that its otherwise) yet there's no resisting the evidences of such a Testimony: It lays our tatter'd Ships, our dismembred Soldiers, the pale-fac'd Corps of our Relations (though at ne∣ver so great a local distance from us) so manifestly before us, as we cannot but hear their dying groans, handle their wounds, and see them laid out: In this Magick Glass we behold our Sea-men pinion'd, our Goods rifled, our Tackling torn, our Masts floating; and whatever we would not see nor hear, as sensibly as feelingly, as if we were upon the place.

It begets in us a belief of (otherwise) most unlikely, incredible things; of such occurrences, as without this, all the Reason imaginable could not have perswaded us to assent to. Abstract Caligula's causing the way to be swept from Rome to Belgium, before that Army, wherewith he furiously charged the Sea, from that Reason, which the Currency of that History commends it with to our Belief; and then should we muster up all the Mediums in Aristotles To∣picks to assail and conquer our Minds to a perswasion; That a person ad∣vanc'd to such honour, in so wise a State, might possibly be so pompously mad, as to play such freaks: or that those Sons of Mars (at whose prowess the World trembl'd) should be such tame Fools, as to be commanded (by him) to play such Munkey-tricks; the issue would shew that to be as vain and fruit∣less a Charge upon our Judgements, as his was against the Ocean. But yet the Validity of the Historical Testimony hath (in spight of all unlikelyhood) gain'd Universal Credit for these Stories.

It was Heresie at Rome (a while ago) to assert there were Antipodes; the Mathematicks (those demonstrative Sciences) could not convince the sacred Colledge, but that men must fall into the skie, if their feet were opposite to ours: The Books that made offer to make proof thereof, by the strongest Reasons imaginable, were (as heretical) committed to the devouring Flames.

(Aventinus annal. Boiorum, lib. 3.) And in a more knowing Age this Opi∣nion of the Earths globous Form was derided by Lactantius [est quispiam tam ineptus qui credat homines esse, quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita? aut ibi quae apud nos jaceat Universa pendere? fruges & arbores deorsùm versùs crescere, pluvias, & nives, & grandinem, sursùm versús cadere in terram? & mira∣tur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrare, quum philosophi, & agros, & maria, & urbes, & montes pensiles faciunt?] with more shew of Reason than can be brought against the Evangelical History (Instituti, lib. 3. cap. 24.) Can any man be so egregious a fool as to think that there are men who walk with their feet higher than their heads? or a place where such things as here lay upon the ground, hangs in the Air? that Plants grow with their tops downwards: that Rain, Snow and Hail fall upwards upon the earth? why should we wonder at the pensil Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the World; seeing Phi∣losophers make pensil Fields, Walls, Cities and Mountains. But I presume (for all this show of reason to the contrary) men are now as verily perswaded that the Earth is round, and that there are Antipodes, as they are, that there is an Heaven What hath conquer'd them to this belief? have better Reasons been laid before them? none but this of Universal Tradition: Since the im∣provement of Navigation, men daily make voyages thither, and learn by the report of the Inhabitants of that lower Hemisphere, that that part of the World is not grown up of late (as a bunch upon the back of ours) but of as long a standing as it: and hence springs the undoubted confidence of its Existence now, and its Pre-existence to our knowledge and discovery.

§ 2. To the other part of the Objection I make this twofold reply.

1. In our present Case we are out of danger of receiving damage by being over-credulous: were that Testimony, which commends to my Belief Go∣spel-matters of Fact, less credible than it is; my acquiescing therein would be transcendently advantageous, but no way possibly prejudicial: a Report goeth abroad, that some great Prince (upon the motion of his Son, who by certain condescentions has promerited the King's favour for them) hath sent out his Declaration to his Subjects; wherein he proclaims liberty to Captives tenders to those that will embrace his Son, and deport themselves as becomes Men, advancement to the highest honours; and menaceth to such, as will not by such inducements be reclaim'd from a bestial Life, the most exquisite Tortures that can be invented by abused Love: who but short-reason'd Idi∣ots would be over-curious, too nice in believing such a Report? which if it prove true, he is made, that conforms to it; he undone, that does not: however, the Terms are but reasonable, complying therewith (at present) prefers a man to the Lordship of himself, (and he's put to no expence, but what he may well disburse out of that Lordship) and for the future he is in a more promising way to Happiness, than any other course he can stere can bring him to. Hereto assents to that of divine Plato: (Phaedone;) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. If these things (touching the happiness of the Soul in a state of seperation) which I say be true, we shall do our selves a pleasure by believing them, but if there remain nothing either of a man or for a man, when he is dead; yet however the Contemplation of these things will make my present life more comfortable. To which is a kin that of Cicero; (Tusculan) preclarum autem nescio quid adepti sunt, quod didicerunt se, cùm tempus mortis venisset, to∣tos esse perituros: quod ut it à sit (nihil enim pugno) quid habet ista res aut laeta∣bile aut gloriosum? They think they have obtain'd an excellent point when they have learn'd that by death they will be wholly dissolved: say it were so, what is there in this thing either joyous os glorious? All the danger here lies on the o∣ther hand, in not believing: hereby we may possibly incur the pain threat∣ned; to be sure, lose the reward promised: but what detriment can we sus∣tain by embracing the Gospel, save of a little beastly Pleasure of Sin for a

season? What danger can we become obnoxious to, but a little suffering, for as short a season? which yet will be recompenced, an hundred fold, even in this Life, not only with the Hope of the Recompence of Reward, which made the Martyrs rejoyce more when they were condemned, than when absolved, [Magis damnati quàm absoluti gaudemus. (Tert. ad scapul. cap. 1.) Nay, such were the expressions of the Märtyrs Joys under the most painful sufferings, as made whole multitudes of Christians offer them∣selves without summons, to Pagan Tribunals, there to receive the sentence of Death: insomuch as Tertullian urgeth Scapula to forethink what he would do with so many thousands of Men, Women and Children, as in Carthage pro∣fess'd the Gospel, if they should offer themselves to him to be crowned with Martyrdom, as the Christians in Asia had done to Arrius Antoninus. (Id. Ib.) Sufferings, I say, for righteousness sake will be counterballanced, not only by the Contemplation of future Glory, but with the peace of Conscience, and the calm quiet of a Mind, not conscious to its self of any base Act, or Disposition unworthy of Man. And when we die, suppose the Gospel should prove a Fable, as that Pope, unworthy of name, stiled it (quantum nobis profuit haec de Christo fabula!) yet our having observed the Rules of it, will put us into a fairer capacity of Happiness in the other World, than the Rules of any other Religion, than our following the conduct of our bruitish Lusts, and untamed Passions can (in common sence) be presumed to do. For certain∣ly if Man exist after death, his having habituated himself to the life of Man, to intellectual Pleasure, (on this side of it) must render the Life of Reason (and that's the lowest degree of life we can be imagin'd there to live) more familiar, more complacential, and satisfactory on that side of it. If Man's proper and peculiar Felicity stand in his enjoyment of Communion with God (as it must do if there be a God, for to desire the possession of the very best, is a Quality radically adhering to an humane Soul) certainly our inuring our selves to Acquaintance with him, and Conformity to him here, must make way for our more clear beatifical Vision of him, and Converse with him hereafter: Should then our Christian Faith prove Credulity; yet that Credulity will prove our Wisdom, our way to Happiness: and therefore is not so much to be feared in our case, as the Objection implies. Be it an Er∣ror, 'tis the happiest and most profitable Error, that Mankind can possibly fall into, though many men (saith Origen against Celsus) are set free from the slave∣ry of their own Passions, from the Colluvies and filthy slud of beastly Vices? how many have got their savage Manners tamed and charmed, upon occasion of hearing the Gospel preach'd? which (if we were wise) we would with all thankfulness embrace; were it but for this, that it is so soveraign and compendious a Remedy of all Vice: we should give it our grace and approbation to pass, if not as true, yet as most advantageous to humane kind. (lib. 1. cal. 30.)—[Et probanda si non ut vera, certè ut humano generi utilis∣sima—] The truth is, all the hurt that the VVorld has received by Christi∣an Religion, is the turning of Beasts into Men, and Men into Heroes and petty Gods: and all the benefit it reaps by rejecting the Precepts of it, and sipping the Circean cup of Atheism, is the transmuting of Men into Lyons, Tigers, VVolves, Hoggs, Harpies, Ravens, and as many kinds of wilde Beasts, and unclean Birds, as enterd Noah's Ark: Iniquity and injustice to∣wards Man hath ever attended Impiety towards God. Dionisius the Atheist, after he had rob'd Jupiter of his golden Robe, as being too heavy for Sum∣mer, too cold for VVinter; Aesculapius of his golden Beard as not becoming the Son to wear, while his Father was beardless; and spoil'd the Temples of what was worth taking away, and made sale of his sacrilegious Booties, commanded those that bought them, to restore every man the things he had bought within a set day to the Temples, whence they were stoln: [ità ad impietatem in Deos, in homines adjunxit injuriam.] Haud unquam tulit docu∣menta sors majora—Never was more feeling Proofs given of this sad Truth than this Age hath produced; nor can a clearer demonstration be made of any

thing, than the Primitive Times made of the Truth of the former Branch; when the Discipline of Christianity bound its Professors, to the keeping of the Peace, to a modest, meek, and good behaviour of Heart, Tongue, and Hand, towards all men, under the greatest temptation to the contrary, that the bloodiest Persecution could suggest; though the sufferers were the more numerous party almost in every City. [Ex disciplina patientiae divinae agere nos satis manifestum esse vobis potest, cùm tanta hominum multitudo, pars penè major civitatis cujus{que} in silentio & modestiâ agimus] When Christians were not otherwise discernable from other Sects, but by the badge of emendation of Manners: [Nec aliundè noscibiles quàm de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum.] (Tert. ad Scap. cap. 2.) Nor could be branded with any vice, but that sup∣posed one in the name of Christian. [Bonus vir Cajus Seius, sed malus tan∣tùm quòd Christianus.] (Tert. apol. cap. 3.) When they durst challenge the Ad∣versaries to shew (if they could) among all the Christians, which their Pri∣sons were thronged with, one High-way-man, one Cut-purse, one Robber of Temples, one Cheater. (Tertul. apol. 44.) [De vestris semper aestuat carcer, de vestris semper metalla suspirant, de vestris semper bestiae suginantur—nemo illic Christianus nisi planè tantum Christianus, aut si & aliud, non jam Christianus.] Malefactors condemned to perpetual imprisonment, to the Mines, and to the Beasts are of your own (the Pagan) Religion; among such there is not one Christian: or if there be, he is there for no other Crime, but only that of being a Christian; for if he be an Offender in any other point, he is no longer a Christian. A seditious, a factious, a traitorous Christian, was then a non-ens, that could no where be found. When they could maintain that [nunquam vel Nigriani, vel Albi∣niani, vel Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani] (Tert. ad scap. c. 2.) No Chri∣stian had been a Traytor to his Prince. When the worst effect of Christian Faith appear'd to be, that it procur'd the Husband a chaste Wife, the Father an obe∣dient Son, the Master a faithful Servant. [Vt domi habeat uxorem jam pudicam maritus non jam zelotipus, filium subjectum pater, famulum fidelem dominus.] (Tert. apol. cap. 3.) Of the same importance is that of Rab. David Chimchi (in Ps. 1. 3. 4.) [Mundus documentum à viro bono recipit, per umbram viarum, & fructum operum ejus, non sic impii: nullum commodum per eos venit, sed dam∣num, velut gluma per ventum in occulos hominum pulsa, vel super hortos & domos cadit (Vicars Decupla.) The World receiveth good Instruction from a good man (grown good by meditating in Gods Law) by the Tract of his Ways, by the Fruit of his Works: But as for the ungodly, it is not so; there is no benefit to be reapt of them, but incommodity; they are like the Chaff which the Wind scatters, and beats into mens eyes to afflict them; or into Gardens and Houses to annoy, to foul and disfigure humane Society.

§ 3. Reply 2. Though humane Testimony (in Religious Matters) be the feeblest of all Arguments, to prove or disprove the Truth of Doctrine de∣livered, or the goodness of things done, yet it is of as much validity to e∣vince the delivery of Doctrine, the Doing of such Things, in this case, as in any other: we must not (indeed) so much as admit it into the Juries Chamber, much less into the Judges Seat, to give sentence, what is de jure: but yet it must be allowed, even in the Lords Courts (a place among the Witnesses) to declare what it knows de facto; to give in evidence, whether the Action un∣der debate was done or not: whether an Action be legal or criminal, is the Judges Office to declare; but whether the Actions which are brought before him were done or no, is the Witnesses Office to discover. If the question be, What Doctrine was delivered hy Christ, Moses, Mahomet? what Orations were writ by Tully? what Poems by Homer? humane Testimony, and undoubted Tradition must umpire this: but if it be, what-like Doctrine, Orations, Po∣ems, those are? Reason (regulated by the Maximes of every such Art or Sci∣ence, whose subject is under debate) must cast the scales, and determine that Controversie. Reason (I say) may and must be exercised about Religion, in discerning the true from the false: we must not chuse our Religion, as men

draw lots, unseen: nor as Children, in that Libian Province, where women were promiscuously and in common frequented, drew Fathers, each of them taking him for Father, to whom in a great assembly chance, or instinct directed their first steps (Herodot) He that's a Christian, but perchance, may perchance be no better than no Christian, the blessed Jesus is well content, that Mer∣chants who deal with him, should see his Ware, before they buy. Indeed that God should endow our Souls with Reason, and make us differ from Brutes, only that we might rule them and not our selves; in what highliest con∣cerns us; that he should put a golden Mattock into our hands, on purpose that we should digg Dung hills; and not rather, for hid Treasure, that he should communicate to us a Ray of the invisible World, only that we may contemplate the visible, and employ that Light (that Candle of the Lord) in the search of things, only on this side of Eternity, hath not the least con∣gruity with that Decorum, observ'd by him in all his Works, which are fram'd in Number, Weight and Order. And those Morning Stars, which the Divine Goodness hath fixed in the Orb of our body, are (from the height of their Native Heaven) faln into the lowest Abyss of Reptile-spiritedness; if they be content with, and submit to such drudgery, such Gally-slave∣work; and not exert their noblest Powers, upon the noblest Objects, in the stu∣dy of God, and the way to the eternal Possession of him. In which Case though we make it Reasons duty, to judge of the Religion which is true; yet we set not Reason above the true, but only the Unreasonableness of the false. The King of France set not Joan of Acres (that holy Maid of France, as the Pri∣mitive Rebel-covenanters stiled that their Enthusiastick Sister) as a Judge o∣ver himself; nor our King Henry the Eighth (of glorious memory) the Cardinal and his guests over himself: when they put them to it, to judge which of those Gallants was the of King France? which of these Guisers was the King of England? Reason may (without the least suspition of usurping the Office of a Divider, or the Authority of a Judge over him) determine which is the King in a crowd of Guisers; provided, that when she has discover'd him, she give him the Chair of State. I mean Reason in her Debates about the true Religion (after she hath, by Principles of common Sence, discover'd it to be of divine Revelation; from those manifest Impresses of its sacred Original it brings with it into the World) must be regulated by Maximes of that, now acknowledged, heavenly Science. We allow her to walk round about Sion, to mark well the Bull-warks, and count her Towers: but in judging of their Strength or Comeliness, she must not walk by the exotick, and forreign Rules of inferiour Sciences, but by the Domestick Principles of that Architectonick Art, the Municipal Laws of that holy State: while she sojourns in the City of God, she must conform to the Customs thereof. That may be a good Reason in one Science, that's a grand Solecism in another. The Asses adjudging the Palm to the Cuckow, from the Nightingal, was therefore absurd; because it was not grounded upon Principles of Musick (the Art wherein they strove for preheminency) had he past the same Sentence (upon the same reason he did that) in case of contest betwixt two publick Criers, the Determination would have been grave, substantial, and becoming a wiser A∣nimal.

But to return from this Digression: Humane Testimony, (as to Matters of Fact) touching Religion, is of as much validity, as in any other Subject. For although the Actions relate to Religion, they are not reported under that consideration; but barely as Actions that have past over the Stage of the World: and, as such, the Spectators are as competent Judges of them, as of any that are brought before them. All that is demanded of Tradition is, whether it saw Christ and his Apostles doing such things? whether it heard them deliver such Doctrines? or what it ever heard or saw tending to the disproof of that Relation? we call her not to pass judgement upon the Na∣ture or Quality of either Words or Works; we summon her to do the part of an Historian, not Commentator: And what hinders but that she may gra∣tifie

us in this, as well as in any other Case? were not Christs Actions as visible as Caesar's, his Words as audible as Cicero's?

§ 4. Having thus stated the Question, and assigned to the Witnesses what we expect from them, as to the Resolution of it, we will call them in, and take their depositions.

1. Had we nothing to produce but those almost numberless Copies, and Translations of the Text into most of the Languages of the anciently∣known World; those Cart-loads of Commentators, Paraphrasts, &c. upon the Text (all agreeing in substance, and out of which we may with facility gather, not only the Matter, but the very Words (and every Word) of the Gospels) this would be a full-measure Proof, that the Books of the New Testament, as they stand now in the sacred Canon, are as faithful a Repository of the A∣ctions and Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, as any Writings whatsoever can be of the Subjects contain'd in them. This would be a better Evidence (for instance) that the History and Doctrine therein contain'd is the genuine Off-spring of those whose Names they bear, than any man living can pro∣duce, to prove that the Books going under the Names of Virgil, Horace, Ci∣cero, are those mens Works, whose Names they bear: That the Deeds and Conveighances whereby he holds his Estate, are those mens Deeds whose Names and Seals are affixt to them: or that he is that Man's Child, whom he calls Father. This comes near enough to the state of the Question: and one would think it concern'd the VVorld to repute that Generation of men the bane of Mankind, who with their insociable infusions of Suspitions into mens Heads (that possible it might be otherwise) deprive all men, Princes and Peasants, of power to make a rational Proof of their Title to what they hold from their Ancestors, as their Heirs at Law: And the Sceptick cannot in reason expect a more satisfactory Answer to his Misprisions, than such like as Plutarch (in his Apothegms) reports Cicero to have given his Nephew Metellus: to whom, demanding of Cicero to tell who was his Father, it was replyed, thus: It would be a far harder thing to tell, who was thy Fa∣ther; for thy Mother was accounted an errant Strumpet; and mine, an ho∣nest Matron. The truth is, all the claim that any body can make to him, whom he calls Father, depends wholly upon the single twine of one VVo∣mans Honesty; which, be it never so apparent, is not to be cast in the Scales with the Fidelity of the immaculate Virgin-spouse of Christ, the Apostoli∣cal Church. But I will wave this odious Comparison; partly because I would not create jealousies) of this Nature, in the Ranters Head, to harden him a∣gainst his poor Mother (to whom it is affliction enough, to have been the Pa∣rent of such a Son;) and partly that I may not cast the least suspition of disho∣nour upon our Female-Gentry, whose inconquerable Vertue necessitates our Goatish Males to turn Channel-rakers, and to scrape off Dung-hills (fuel for their Lusts) the scum and off-spring of the fordid and Rascal vulgar, the scrapings and garbish of the Body Politick: such as that Nobleman of the East would hardly have set before the Dogs of the Flock. How many courses of Purification must such Lumps of Dirt mixt with the Dregs of English Blood undergo, before he that values the Nobility of his own, can think them fit for his touch, even by the proxy of a pair of Tonges. The Bawd washes the Cats face, pares her Claws, by the transforming power of the exchange dubs her a Gentlewoman: and then (though all the Castle-sope in Christendom cannot wash out Pusse's stains (contracted in the Chimney-corner;) nor all the perfumers Shops in Level-land take away the Nautious scent of her rank Blood) presents her, as the great Beauty of the Land, an Helen, a Venus, a Peer for a Prince, a Bed-companion for a Peer.

Issa est purior osculo columbae; Issa est blandior omnibus puellis;

Issa est carior Indicis lapillis; Issa est deliciae catella Publii. * 1.1

If there be no difference of Blood, why do we boast of Nobility? If there be, why does it not recoil (even in spight of the most lustful Titillations) in∣to those Vessels we extracted from our noble Progenitors, or at least, (for shame,) into our Faces; fitter Receptacles of it than such common Jakes? such unequal mixtures, are a kind of Buggery: For though in Religion there's none, yet in Nature there's as great, and in Politicks a greater di∣stance, between the Cream of Nobility, and the Sediments of Vulgar Base∣ness, than there is betwixt this and some ingenious Animals: And in E∣thicks 'tis a less Indecorum, to see a Ladies Dog in bed with her, than her Groom: Publius commits a less Solecism in dallying with his Bitch, than with his Laundress: Catullus may with less Absurdity bill with his Sparrow, than his Maid.

That our delicate and spruce Gallants (who cannot relish Prayer and Fasting which would cure them of this Canine Appetite after strange Flesh, of this Orexis after dirty Puddings) should be brought to this necessity, of feeding their Wolf with such course fare, at such three-penny Ordinaries; That they who will not lose so much of their height, as the bending of their Knees (to him who has promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask) would put them to the expence of; should (by an unclean Spirit) be precipitated from the top of Honour's Scale, to the foot of the Hangman's Ladder, with that Wanton in Petronius. [Vsque ab Orchestria quatuordecim transilit ut in extre∣ma Plebe quaerat quod diligat: & amplexus in crucem mittat.] He leaps down at least fourteen steps from the top of the stairs of Nobility; that he may seek a Mistress amongst the basest of the Vulgar, and obtain the Embraces of one of Mal-Cutpurse-Nymphs, who last Assizes held up her hand at the Bar, and hardly e∣scap'd the Gallows. That our fine-nosed Gentry (who can smell State-plots and humane Inventions in the most sacred Religion) should not smell the Plot which their own lusts have upon their Honour, nor how rank their Mistresses smell of the Dunghill; can proceed from nothing but their habituating themselves to such Carrion, for want of better fare. And that they are fain to feed the Flame of their Green-sickness-lusts with Coal and Cinders, must (with all thankfulness) be ascribed to the Chastity of our English Matrons: for if the Ladies honour had not been impregnable, Joan had never come in such re∣quest. Such Mushromes would never have been meat for the Gods (to bor∣row Nero's Phrase;) such Lettice would never have pleased their lips, If the Garden of truly-noble Virginity had not been shut up against their Importu∣nities. Let this be engraven (in perpetuam rei memoriam) to the eternal praise of our English Ladies; that in the hour of temptation and laying seige to their Honour, they have not given up the Fort. And therefore, though the off-spring of Females of profligated honour, should follow the Dam (there being no sufficient presumption, whereby the Father can be indicated: upon which is grounded that of Vlpian: [Lex naturae haec est, ut qui nasci∣tur sine legitimo matrimonio, matrem sequatur;] (Grotii de Jure 3. 7. 5.) and that of Cotta in Tully (de nat. deor. 3. pag. 133.) where he gives this Reason, why those Heroes, whose Mothers were Goddesses, were canonized Deities, and not those that had a God for their reputed Father; because the former were of the surer side: (ut enim in Jure Civili, qui est de matre libera, liber est: item Jure Naturae, qui de Dea matre est, Deus sit necesse est.) Yet for those that are born in Wedlock, the common sence of Nations presumes the Father is sufficiently pointed out. And as to our English Ladies, the respect

they have to their Honour, is next door to a Demonstration of the Legiti∣macy of their Issue; and that their Partus [non minùs sequeretur patrem quàm matrem] is as sure on the Father's as Mother's side (Grot. de jure 2. cap. 5. 29.) Nay (to give that whole Sex of all Ranks its due) though the Chil∣dren of Servants in Wedlock, among the Lombards, Saxons, and most Na∣tions, follow the Mother: yet so famous have our English Women been for Conjugal Fidelity; as the Law here is: [Francus, qui est aut villanus, ex pa∣tre, idemque in aliis conditionum discriminibus observatur, Littleton de villanis,] (referente Grotio ibid.) I will therefore wave this Comparison; and fall upon the proof of that, that's less Odious, and yet will shave the Seeker's Preju∣dice (against the Faith) more close, and come nearer the quick.

§ 5. That the Gospel gives better evidence for its being rightly father'd on Christ, than he can produce, to convince such a captious Gainsayer as himself, that he is that Woman's Son, whom he calls Mother.

1. If the Depositions of Gossips, Midwives, &c. the Evidence of a Pa∣rish-register, be valid Proofs; that at such a time, such a man was born, of such Parents, &c. which of all these are wanting in our case? The things reported in the Gospel have been attested by many Eye and Ear-witnesses, who were upon the place when these things were brought forth; have been ingrossed in Parchment-rolls; deposited in the Archives of those Churches, to which they were originally directed: whither they were immediately con∣veighed by the hands of the Evangelists and Apostles Messengers, under known Seals, Marks, Tokens, Hands.

2. If not withstanding these Evidences, the bare possibility of Fallacy (ei∣ther active or passive) (from both which we have freed the Apostles in our first and second Books) may administer, to a considerate Mind, ground of doubting; whether the Works and Doctrine reported of Christ, be indeed his, and not wrong father'd: will not that Principle much more warrant me to doubt, whether thou art thy reputed Mother's Child? For might not Mother, Midwife, Gossips either deceive, or some of them be deceived (far more probably than Christ, his Apostles, or Primitive Church) and combine to impose a suborn'd Child upon the Father, rather than they a suborn'd Go∣spel upon the World.

1. Put case thy Mother had suspected her Husband would have thought her unfaithful by reason of the disparity of thy Complexion to that of both thy reputed Parents, and had question'd whether her alledging, that in the time of Conception she had in her Eye some Picture of another Complexion resembling thine, would have removed the scruple; might the not rather than put a point so tender to hazard, have put thee out secretly (as Persina (in He∣liodorus, Ethiop. 10.) did Characlia upon the like account, fearing that her Child, resembling Andromeda whose Image hung before her while she con∣ceived, would not be thought to be the Off-spring of an Aethiopian.) Say thy Mother, upon such a surmise, had put thee out to her whom thou callest Mother; by what prints couldst thou prick out thy way back again to thy true Original, or prove to a captious pretender that this is not thy lot, to mis∣take thy Nurse for thy Mother?

2. Put case thy reputed Father's Estate was intail'd upon Heirs Male, or that he passionately desired a Son, and his Wife as passionately desired to gra∣tifie his importunate Longings; how many ways might she invent to deceive him into an Opinion, that she was teeming with a Son, when she was not so much as with child? We have frequent examples of Women cheating them∣selves (through their extremely impatient desire to have it so) into a most confident beleif, that they are near the time of Delivery, when they have not so much as conceiv'd. It is not long since I knew one so big with a Mi∣nerva (a Brat of her own Brain;) as when her own appointed time of labour came, she cryed out for the Midwife and her Neighbours; who, though at first they had much ado to with-hold laughing out-right at the Woman's appa∣rent

folly; yet, as her pangs and visible child-bearing pains grew upon her, her Opinion grew upon them. In short, she could have no case, nor would allow them rest, till by the Midwive's advice they had fairly laid a bed, with all the Formalities appertaining to a Woman in that condition, into which she had fancied her self; and perswaded her she was delivered of a goodly Boy; at the news whereof her Travelling throws surrendred their place to a sound Sleep. I was christning a Child, in peril of death, over the way where this Comedy was acting, and some of this new laid Woman's Gossips came over to us; to whom telling this strange Story, and withal their fears, that upon her awaking (finding her mistake) she might fall into the like or worse Pangs; some advised, that the Child I had then Christen'd might be carried and shewed to her; that so time might be gain'd for the allaying of her Passion. Had now the Parents of this Child been content to forego it; it might have found a Mother, who would as verily have believ'd it to have been her Child, as thou believest thou art the Son of thine own Mother, or as thy Mother believes thee to be her Son. And had the Company been bound to keep si∣lence, he might have rock'd the Cradle, whose own the Child was not; and the Cobler's Son, on the surest side, might have proved the Gentleman's Heir. If Women's Fancy can thus impose upon their Wit, how much more easily may their Wit impose upon our Fancy; when they set their Inventions on work, how they may (in case of Barrenness, Abortion, &c.) free them∣selves from the frowns of their (upon that account churlish) Husbands; or gratify the longings of their otherwise repining and dis-satisfied Mates, with the joyful Acclamations of [God give you joy of your Son.] Canst thou give any other kind of Proof, that this was not thy case, than we alledg to prove it was not the Gospel's case. To be sure thou art not able to imagine any such Temptations to have pressed the Apostles, to the use of such Legerde∣main; as not only may rationally be supposed, but are actualy recorded, to have induced some Women to such like Practices.

3. Say thy mother used none of this craft, but was really delivered of a Son; What Evidence can she her self have, or those who were then about her give, that thou art that Child which was then born, [Verum est de factis nullam esse certam perceptionem; sed ea quae solent in conspectu hominum fieri sui generis certitudinem habent extestimonio: Quo sensu mater certa esse dicitur, quia in∣veniuntur qui quaeve partui & educationi adsuerunt:] (Grot. de jure, 2. 7, 8.) We cannot have a certain perception of matters of fact, but such things are done in the sight of men have that Certitude, is proper to them, by Testimony: in which sence the Mother is said to be certain, that such an one is her Child, because o∣thers were present at the Birth and Education of it, &c. Hence Menander saith, Mothers love their Children more tenderly than Fathers; because Mothers know them, but Fathers only deem them, to be theirs. Yet how many Miles does thy Mother's Grounds of this Certainty fall short of those, upon which the Belief of the Gospel's Legitimacy is grounded? What privy Mark could she give thee (at thy coming into the World) whereby she can assured∣ly know, that that Babe which the Midwife wash'd, and swadled, and pre∣sented to her was that which she was delivered of? Or if we presume the Midwife did honestly restore the Pledg (for our prudent Fore-fathers, to pre∣vent that collusion, which they providently foresaw might be used here, took the Midwives sworn: and perhaps when thou wast an Infant (and had not learn'd to discourse the World into a contempt of the Deity) Oaths were accounted sacred and obligatory;) yet what privy Mark did she take to know thee by, 10 or 20 Years after? (Sebastian King of Portugal was be∣holding to such a Mark, for his release out of the Goal of Venice, and for his restauration to his Crown;) and nothing would convince the sagacious Hy∣daspes that Characlea was the Child of his Queen, till Sisimithres made her strip her arm, and shew the print of an Elephant stamp'd thereon; a Mark which she brought with her into the World (Heliodor. Aethiopic. l. 10. cap. 15.) To whom did she communicate the knowledg of that Mark; for she

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her self is but a single Testimony: whereas we have four, and all agreeing in the same Circumstances of every Story, better than any two ever did, in an History of such length and variety. I will not here urge that thy Mother might do all this, and yet not know who begat thee (and yet be an honest Woman, and true to thy Fathers Bed for ought she knew.) For such an ac∣cident might perhaps befall her, as befell the Widow of Burdeaux; of whom the Lord Montagne (l. 2. ch. 2. of his Essays) tells this story, that she was got with child, she knew not when, nor where, nor by whom; and therefore got the Parish-priest to cry the Father of it: and to publish in the Church, That whosoever he were that was guilty of that Fact, she would for∣give him, and (if he pleased) make him her Husband, &c. I doubt not but had her Husband been then living, she would have father'd it upon him, with as much confidence as thy Mother father'd thee upon hers. But say this was not her hap, to be taken asleep in the Chimney-corner: Wast thou chain'd to thy Cradle; and a Padlock hung at each end of the Chain: and the Keys deposited in the hands of sufficient Persons, of known Diligence and Integrity: for else, for ought that thou knowest, thou maist be a Fairy-Elf chang'd in thy Cradle. And verily, except thou canst disprove the truth of that Maxime, that [the Baptismal Character is indelible,] thy renouncing of it is a stronger presumption that thou art a Changeling, then any of those, than all those thou alledgest against the Gospel's legitimacy. And when thou wast loosed from thy Cradle: was a Chain (with the like Caution and Cere∣mony,) put about thy Neck and the Wrest of one or more Guardians, who led thee up and down like a Monkey, till thou came to Puberty (not to fix thee, that term of thy Walk, thou hast not yet attain'd to, years of discretion;) for else the Child that was then born may be secretly conveighed or made a∣way, and thou be nothing but a supposititious Perkin or Lambert (as it happen∣ed to the Duke of Clarence, and Edward the fourth's Children.)

§ 6. Besides, art thou the none-such of the World? may not another so near resemble thee, as a third man cannot discern which of the two thou art? Vi∣bius and Publicius were so like Pompey the great, that they were usually salu∣ted by one another's Names; and wheresoever either of them appear'd, the People stood up, as if Pompey had been in presence: this was Fortunes Play (saith my Authour, Valerius Maximus) with that Family; but she played fairer with him than she had done with his Father; for of him Menogenes his Cook was so perfect a Copy; as he could not (with all his Courage, or the Forces he commanded, repell the fastening of his Cook's name, upon him∣self; or of his honour upon his Cook. Neither the probity of Cornelius Sci∣pio his Manners, nor the reverence of his Ancestors, could hinder the insert∣ing, among the illustrious names of his Family, that of Serapion, the Sut∣ler; such was the resemblance betwixt them. Rome had two Consuls toge∣ther, who, when they sate in the Theatre, had as many Spectators as they that were upon the Stage; by reason of their resembling two Players: of one of which, [Spinther] Lentulus was sirnamed: and Metellus his Colleague had been branded by the name of the other, [Pamphilus] if he had not, in imi∣tation of his Nephew, repulsed it. But Mesalla his Consular Dignity and Office of Censor could not teach the People better manners, than to be-spat∣ter him with the Nick-name of Menogenes: nor Curio his many honours prevent his being called Burbulius: blots inured upon them, for their resem∣bling two Actors of those names. Artemon was so perfect a Samplar of King Antiochus, as Laodice having slain the King, placed him in his bed, where he so well acted the part of dying Antiochus, as the People admitted (in pretence) to here the last words of their departing Prince, believed verily they heard and saw the King himself committing, at his last gasp, Laodice and his Chil∣dren to their Fidelity. Hybreas the Oratour, in lineaments of Face and whole Body was so peer'd by the sweeper of his School, as the eyes of all Asia did as good as point him out for his Brother: all the mark of difference betwixt

them was the Oratour's fluent Tongue; (never was that of the Philosopher more seasonable then here [Loquere, ut te videam:] Speak that I may see thee.) The Proconsul of Sicily found a fellow of that Province, so perfectly like himself, as he could not imagine how that Oneness of shape should happen, seeing his Father never came into that Island; till the Sicilian quicken'd his fancy, rub'd up his invention, by telling him that his Father had often been at Rome. By means of this coincidence of outward Features, Speech, Garb, Port, &c. (improved by the art of palliation and personating) how many base fellows have insinuated themselves into noble Families, and Estates they were never born to. Equitius Firmianus (of no better Bran then the Picene Smelt-mills ground) made the people of Rome so verily be∣lieve he was the Son of T. Graccus, as they prefer'd him to the Tribuneship. Herophilus (a Horse-leech) by giving out himself to be the Grand-child of Caius Marius, obtain'd that repute; as many of the ancient Roman Plantati∣ons, the fairest Corporations, and almost all Societies within the Empire, chuse him their Patron: insomuch as he began to vie with Caesar in his great∣est glory (even after the Conquest of his Rival Pompey) in the point of Popu∣larity; and concluded with an attempt (after Caesar's murder) to send the Se∣nate after him. The sacred Majesty of the great and fortunate Augustus could not shield it self from this kind of injury: for a sawcy knave had the bold∣ness to fain himself the Son of his Sister Octavia; who had (as he said) for his exceeding deformity exposed him to a poor Woman, and taken her child in exchange for her own. Another had the face, to assert him∣self the Son of Q. Sertorius, and the luck to be believed; notwithstand∣ing that Sertorius his Lady could by no force be compell'd to own him; any more than all the Arguments we could use (from the Testimony of the Pa∣rish whence he was sent, from his wanting an eye and his having all the o∣ther marks which her Child had) would prevail with one of my reverend and religious Father's Parishioners, to acknowledg a Child for hers, which was sent to her out of Ireland, where she had formerly lived with her Husband. Trebellius Calca had so far insinuated into the People a belief, that he was the Son of Clodius; as Clodius his right heir had much ado to keep his Estate out of his clutches. In Sulla's Dictatorship, a rude Clown burst into the house of Cn. Asinius Dion, and casting his Son out of doors, took upon himself the name of Dion's Son, and the possession of his goods: which he kept till the Reign of Caesar. Smerdis, the Magus, might have passed still for Smerdis the Son of the great Cyrus; had he not been detected by his Ear-mark. That Jew of Sidon whom Josephus mentions (antiq. 17. 14.) did so perfectly re∣semble Alexander the son of Herod) (whom his Father had slain) as he per∣swaded all the Jews of Cyprus, yea all that set eyes upon him (every where) who had seen the true Alexander (and those most, that had been best acquaint∣ed with him) to believe, that he was the very Alexander; one of whom Celenus (a Freeman of Augustus) being sent by the Emperour to take a view of him, though he had been the play-fellow and most familiar acquaintance of Alexander, yet he could discern no difference betwixt him and this his Counterfeit: nor had he been detected, if the sagacious and Eagle-eyed Au∣gustus had not perceived wanting in him that softness of Hand, and grace of Body; which to persons of noble extract and delicate breeding, is heredita∣ry (Joseph, Antiq. 17. 18. Bel. Jud. 2. 5.) Examples are numberless of strange and base Slips that have been ingrafted into noble Families: infinitely more Persons have been suborned than Religions: and therefore if those presum∣ptions, which the Sceptick brings against our Religion, be applyed to Poli∣ticks, (and 'tis all the reason in the World that he should be forc'd to buy and sell by the same Bushel) down goes Nobility and Gentry, all distinction of Lines and Families, and all possibility of making good our claims of Honour, Patrimony, or whatever we hold by our Birthright: for upon his may-be-Principles, wherewith he militates against the Faith divine, he destroys all humane Faith, turns the World into a Chaos, and renders it disputable,

whether Augustus may not be a Baker's Son; our most famous God-born Heroes, the Sons of the Earth: the most splendid Princes and illustrious No∣bles, the Off-spring of Grooms and Muleters. I prostrate my self at the feet of his most sacred and serene Majesty, the Princes of the Royal Blood, and the rest of the honourable Nobility, for their favourable Interpretation of this freedom of Speech. To whom I will not make that Apology which St. Ambrose made for his to Valentinian; (lib. 5. Epist. 29.) neque imperiale est, libertatem dicendi negare; neque sacerdotale, quod sentiat, non dicere: (neither would it sute my case, with which St. Ambrose his [sentiat] will not comport: for I speak not what I think, but what the Atheist's Argu∣ments against the Scriptures would tempt Men to think.) But this, that my Parrhasie proceeds (next to the service I owe to the Blessed Jesus, and to the Souls for which he died) from the regard I have of their Honours, and that deep resentment of a design the Atheist is carrying on, to disseize them of their most deserved and indubitable Birth-rights; while he puts in these fee∣ble Exceptions against the Legitimacy of the Gospel, as may (with far more colour) be alledged against the Legitimacy of the most undoubted Heir appa∣rent.

This Pillar and Foundation of Truth, [the Testimony of the Church primi∣tive and Universal,] taken from eye-witnesses (for Eusebius saith that Qua∣dratus made proof (to Adrian the Emperour) of the truth of Christ's mira∣culous Cures, from the testimony of many of those, upon whom they were wrought: who lived long after Christ's Ascention, and numbers of them unto that very time, when he wrote his Apology, Eus. hist. 4. 3.) This Pillar (upon which these Sampson-wits are leaning, with all their strength, to pull it down) cannot fall, but all our Birth-rights fall with it; as having nothing else to bear them up, but Pegs fasten'd to those Pillars, Stones built upon that Foundation [the testimony of particular and private Christians:] which if it be exauctorised, welcom that of Homer, in its most levelling sence.

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And that of Menander

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No man shall know where to find Father or Mother: we must draw lots for both Parents, as the Lybians did for the Father. We must be baptized after the Marcionist's form in the Name of the unknown Father (Irenae. l. 1. c. 18.) or each man know his own by presensation, as Jarchus (the Indian King) did the Parents of Apollonius (Philostratus lib. 3. de vita Apollonii.) Except being by this levelling Policy turn'd into. Terrae silios, we be resolv'd (with those Earth-born Brethren in the Poet) to destroy one another by end∣less contending.

Tantum irreligio potuit suadere malorum.

The irreligious imperswasibleness of the Sceptick, which inclines him to cavil at the Churches Testimony to the Truth of Evangelical History, and to question his own Christian-name; will, with more shew of reason, induce the World into a disbelief of every man's Sir-name, and bury all, men's Birth-rights in the rubbish of buzzing Exceptions: which strike their venomous Sting deeper into the sides of the State, than the Church; her Testimony be∣ing a better proof of the Gospel's Legitimacy than any man can produce of his own. [Audacter dico quòd sine fide neque infidelis vivit: nam si ab insideli per∣cunctari voluero quem patrem vel quam matrem habuerat? protinùs respondebit, illum atque illam: quem si statim requiram utrùm noverit quando conceptus sit, vel viderit quando natus? nihil horum vel se nosse vel vidisse fatebitur, &c.]

(Gregor. Dialog. l. 4. c. 4.) I affirm confidently (saith Gregory the great) that the very Infidel himself doth not live without faith; for if I ask an Infidel, who is his Father or Mother, he will forthwith answer, such a man, such a wo∣man: and if I then demand of him whether he knew when he was conceived or born, he will confess that he knew neither of these, but believes that he was begot∣ten by that man whom he calls father, of her whom be calls mother, upon the account of probable Testimony.] In se spuit qui in caelum spuit, he spits in his own face who spits in Heaven's face, as Seneca of old observ'd (consol. ad Polyb. c. 21.) and from him our Companella in his Atheismus triumphatus.

CHAP. II.

The Suffrage of the Adversary to the Testimony of the Church.

§ 1. Pagan Indictments shew what was found Christianity in Pagan Courts. § 2. Christian Precepts and Examples civilized the Courts of Heathen Emperours. § 3. Pliny's Information concerning Christians to Trajan. § 4. What it was in Christians that Maximinus hated them for.

§ 1. 1. TUrn over the Examinations, the Confessions, of Christians, in open Court, before Pagan Tribunals; where the same thing was done before the face of the Heathen World that was done at Baptism in the face of the Church. [Excepto martyrio, ubi tota Baptismi sacramenta complentur. Baptizandus confitetur fidem suam coram sacerdote, & interrogatus respondet; hoe & martyr coram persecutore facit: ille, post confessionem, vel asper∣gitur, vel intingitur; & hic vel aspergitur sanguine, vel contingitur igne: ille confitetur se mundi actibus renunciaturum, hic ipsi renuntiat vitae:] For this cause the ancient Fathers believed Martyrdom to supply the want of Water-baptism; because therein were performed all the Rites of Baptism: the Martyr confessed, before the Persecutor the same Faith, which he that was to be baptized confessed before the Priest: he, after Confession, was dipp'd or sprinkled with water; the Martyr either sprinkled with blood, or plung'd over head and ears in fire: he pro∣miseth that he will frsake the life of the World, the Martyr renounceth life it self; (Gennadius de eccles. dogmat. in appendice ad 3. tom. operum sancti Augu∣stini, pag. 384.) Let us, I say, examine the Confessions of Martyrs and in them you may find the Substance of the Gospel: peruse their Indictments against the Martyrs, examine what Crimes they charged Confessors with, what it was for which they raised against Christians those Out-cries [Christi∣ani ad Leones, away with these fellows to the Lyons;] they are not fit to live: they will not worship our Gods; they will not sacrifice for the Emperour's health; they worship for God one Jesus, who was born in Judaea, whom Pilate (at the request of his own Nation) put to death as an Impostor; who gave his followers a Law destructive to humane Societies, set up an unsocia∣ble, an unpracticable Religion, &c. And there we meet with the Sum of Christian Religion. St. James his Crime, for which Ananas the younger (the high Priest and a Saducee) put him to death, in the vacancy of a Go∣vernour (betwixt Festus his death and the coming of Albinus) was, that be∣ing ask'd, what he thought of Jesus that was crucified? he answered; why ask ye me of Jesus, the Son of Man, when as he sitteth at the right hand of the great Power in Heaven? and his asserting the Resurrection; (as saith Ae∣gesippus in Eusebius Ec. hist. 2. 3.) which the story, that Josephus gives, of his death, confirms; not only telling us that the Jews imputed the Fall of Je∣rusalem to their sin, in slaying that just Person; but that the whole body of the religious Jews moved Albinus to put Ananas from the High-priesthood,

for imbrewing his hands in the blood of so just a man; a title conferred up∣on him by that Party out of an Odium to the Sadducees; and because he died in witnessing to those Articles of Christian Faith, which oppose Saduceism (upon the very same account that they sided with St. Paul.)

The questions upon which Domitian examined the reputed Kinsfolks of our Lord, were, concerning Christ and his Kingdom: in what manner, and when and where it should appear: to which they answered, that it was not Worldly or Earthly, but Celestial and Angelical; that it should come at the consummation of the World, when that he coming in glory shall judg the quick and the dead, and reward every man according to his works: (Eus. ec. hist. 3. 19. out of Aegesippus:) which story, together with that of the noble Flavia's banishment for the same Doctrine, he tells us, he found recorded in the Pagan Histories of that Age.

In the persecution of the Gallican Church, under Antoninus Verus; his bloody Lieutenants writ the cause of their process against those Christians, to have been their professing Christ to be God; their refusing to give divine Worship to any but God, their believing the Resurrection, their communi∣cating in the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood: In their solicitating them, to renounce Christ, to adore their Pagan Gods; In their calumniate∣ing them with Thiestian Banquets (for which they had no ground, but the confessions of some that fell (under the weight of that intollerable Persecu∣tion) informing their Examiners, that in their sacred assemblies they ate and drank the Body and Blood of our Saviour: in answer to which misprision the Martyrs would usually argue; that it was extremely unlikely, that they should devour Infants, when their Religion did not suffer them to suck the blood of Beasts, nor to eat any Flesh with the Blood; (Tertul Apol. adv. gen∣tes:) taking that for their Medium, in their Disputes with Heathens upon this point, as a thing famously known.) And lastly in their burning their bodies to ashes, and throwing the ashes into Rhodanus; (when yet the Em∣perour himself bestowed an honourable Burial and Sepulchre upon his Horse Panasinus: (Julius Capitolinus in vero Imper.) whether in affront to our Christian hope I know not. But his Lieutenants did dissipate and drown the ashes of Christian Martyrs on purpose to prevent their Resurrection: whereof (say they) the Christians being fully perswaded, contemn Punishment, and hasten themselves chearfully to death: Now let us see whether they can arise, after this dissipation of their Bodies. All which the French Church hath left Re∣cords of (taken in open Court) in their Epistle to the Asian and Phrygian Churches: (Euseb. Eccl. hist. 5. 1.)

§ 2. If the Scepticks except against these Allegations; that we have them but at second hand, and not immediately from Pagan Records, and demand to see the Original; (though that be a request not all out so reasonable, as if a man, pretending to dissatisfaction in a Copy taken out of the Parish-re∣gister, certifying his Parentage, and attested to by the Incumbents hand; should demand to see the Register-book it self) we can gratifie his utmost cu∣riosity. For we may gather what kind of people Christians were, by taking out those Characters of them which Secular Historians give, while at once they describe the temper of those civilized Emperours who indulg'd them; and give in that Indulgence as the reason, of others raising persecution a∣gainst them: Alexander Severus (saith Lampridius) [Christianos esse passus est] permitted Christians. This he would not have done, had their Religion tole∣rated Theft, Uncleanness, Lying, Bribery, &c. which the Emperour so far hated; as he made Proclamation to forbid all such Criminals to salute either himself or Mother or his Wife, prohibited mix'd Baths; would not allow [Lenonum, & Meretricum & exolotorum vectigal in sacrum aerarium inferri,] the Tribute of Brothel-houses to come within the sacred Treasury. And yet his Court was so frequented with Christians: as Maximinus, his Successor, raised Persecution against them, out of that grudg he bare to the Family of Severus:

(Euseb. l. 6. c. 21.) And his Mother Mammea sent for St. Origen, and entertain'd him in the Court as her Chaplain (Id. Ib. c. 15.) to whom her son was [unicè pi∣us] above measure dutiful, and built in the Roman Palace Dining-rooms for her (Lamprid. Alex. Sever.) [Places (I suppose) separate from common use for the celebration of the Christian Feast.] He caused the sinews of the fingers of a No∣tary, who had delivered into the Court a false Breviat of a cause depending, to be cut off, that he might be disenabl'd ever afterwards to write; and yet he per∣mitted Origen, and other Christian Doctors, who gave in to the World a Bre∣viate of Christs Cause to reside in the Palace; an Argument that they were not in the least suspected of forgery: When a Nobleman of a sordid life, and given to bribery (who had procured some Kings to intercede to the Emperor for him, that he would bestow upon him some Military promotion) was admitted into his presence; he was in the Presence of his Patrons, convict of Theft (that is bribery) and by their sentence condemn'd to the Cross. Had the Preachers of the Cross been under suspicion of that, or the like Crime, they would have sped no better. He caused Turinus for lying, to be smoak'd to death in a fire of green wood, while the Cryer made this Proclamation [Fumo punitur, qui fumum ven∣didit,] Would so great an hater of Lyars have tolerated Christians, had they been guilty of that vice: Would he have honoured our Saviours Image, with a place in his Chappel (amongst those of Apollonius, Abraham, Orpheus, and others, whom he deemed choice men, and holiest Souls;) if the Doctrine he taught had been any other than pious, any other than what the Gospel com∣municates? Would he have taken up thoughts of building a Temple to Christ, and receiving him into the number of the Gods, but that he was ad∣vised, that the whole Empire would then turn Christian, and desert the Tem∣ples of all other Gods? If the Christian Religion had not exceld all others, and been then presented, according to the Evangelical pattern now in be∣ing? If the custom of Ordaining Christian Priests after trial (according to the now extant Evangelical prescript) had not been then in use in the Church? Would he (by name) have commended that Custom of Christians to the imitation of the Romans, in the appointing of Provincial Governours and Civil Officers. [Cùm id Christiani facerent in praedicandis sacerdotibus qui or∣dinandi sunt.] (Lamprid. Alex. Severus.) Had not the Christian Religion, then profest, been (as it is now) against serving the Belly? Would he have adjudged the benefit of a publiek place, which they had taken possession of, for Divine Service, rather to the Christians than to the Cooks? Whence learn'd he to offer those incomparable Jewels, which an Ambassador pre∣sented, to sale; and when he could not meet with a chapman would give the price; to hang them on the ears of Venus, rather than his Wives: but from that of St. Peter [whose adorning let it not be that outward of wearing of gold] This he did (saith Lampridius) to prevent the Queens giving bad Example to other Matrons, by this excess of costliness in Attire: who also (being a Pagan Histo∣rian) writes, That if any of his Soldiers had in their march, offered violence or done injury to any man, this Pagan Emperor would see him beaten before his face with cudgels orrods, or more grievously punish'd, if the offence deserv'd it: ingeminating to the offender, this expostulation [Wouldst thou have this done to thy self, and thy own possessions, that thou dost to another] (And that he was wont, while he was giving correction to the culpable, to cause proclamation to be made by a Cryer) [What thou wouldst not have done to thy self, do not to another] (quod à quibusdamsive Judae is sive Christianis audierat) which he had heard, either from some Jews or Christians. Thou mayst learn by this, Reader, that Lampridius was a Pa∣gan: for otherwise he would never have made such a dis-junction, as ascribes that saying to the Jew, which never came in his mouth: but downright have affirmed (as other Heathens did, who studied the Case of the Christians on pur∣pose to oppose it) that this was a Christian Proverb. Though that other Precept was originally Judaick which he walkt by, when in judging that Widows Cause, whom a Soldier had plundered of more than he could restore, he disbanded the Soldier, & made him work (at his carpenters trade) for the relief of the Widow. In

the History of this our Emperour, here are sufficient intimations given us of those Qualifications of the Christian Faith and Professors, as speak it, and them to have been such then, in the apprehension of Pagans, as they are given out to be in the Gospel at this day, viz. A Religion instituted by, and a Sect named from Christ, a Person of such holiness, as he deserved to be numbred in the rank of the best and divinest Philosophers, and would have been enrolled amongst the Gods, but for fear that the Religion of his Institu∣tion would put down all others; it containing those excellent Precepts, which so civilized the followers of his Doctrine, as they were permitted in the Court of this Emperour, whence all vicious persons were prohibited; and were of that use in the administration of the Affairs of the Empire, as this very best of Heathen Emperours took those Rules and Practices of Christi∣ans for his Pattern, which the Gospel exhibites. Should I prosecute the Reigns of the rest of the Emperours, who had a favour to Christians (though themselves were none.) It would swell my discourse to too great a bulk, I will therefore content my self with two instances more.

§ 3. One out of Pliny, who in laying down the Reason why Trajan remitted that persecution which his Predecessors had raised against Christians, presents them in their religious Assemblies and civil Converse, walking by that Rule of Faith and Manners, which is extant at this day in the Evangelical and Apo∣stolical Writings. This great Agent of State under Trajan informed the Empe∣rour, that by examining those that were brought before him, and accused as Christians, he had learn'd this to be the sum of their Religion (of their Crime or Errour, as Pliny calls it) [That upon stated days, they were wont to as∣semble before day to sing Songs, and make Prayers together to Christ, as God. To bind themselves by the Sacrament, not to any mischievous or dishonest action, but that they should not commit Thefts, Robberies, or Adulteries, that they should not break their word, betray their trust, or falsifie their promise; that they should not with-hold or deny the pledge, when they were call'd to restore it: That after the performance of Divine Service, their custom was to depart every one home, and afterwards to meet together again to take meat in common, to keep harmless Love-feasts.] This (saith he) I extorted, (and this was all I could learn by racking them to know the truth.) In the same Epistle, he testifies the won∣derful growth, and prevailing of the Christian Religion, through the perse∣verance of the Martyrs; multitudes professing it, of all Ages, Orders, Sexes in Cities, Villages, Hamblets; [Insomuch as the Idol-temples were almost left desolate, their Solemnities of a long time intermitted, the sale of Sacrifices and Victims, in a manner given over, by reason there were so few buyers.] (Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 103. Trajano) A description of the Religion and State of the Christian Church, (so exactly answering that which the Gospel gives, as if it had been transcribed thence,) is here drawn out to the life, and transmitted to us, by the Pencil and Pen of an Heathen, employed (by the Roman Em∣peror (to take an account of the Religion profest by Christians; to inform him∣self what it was, wherein they, so far differ'd from the Religions establish'd or allowed, by the Imperial Laws, as to be therefore universally hated: and taken from their mouths, that were [cognoscendis causis Christianorum] (Plin. ibid.) appointed to take cognisance of the causes of Christians (as such) brought before them.

§ 4. My last instance here shall be, the account upon which Maximinus raised the sixth Persecution, as it is laid down by Eusebius, (and proveable out of Lampridius and Capitolinus) [Maximinus, by reason of that grievous envy wherewith he burned against the Houshold of Alexander (where very ma∣ny Christians converst) stir'd up a bitter tempest of persecution against the Chri∣stian Pastors: because they had taught that Doctrine whereby the Imperial Court had been so much civilized] (Euseb. Hist. l. 6. c. 21.) This Beast (saith Capi∣tolinus) who was so cruel, as some called him, Cyclops; others, Busiris;

others, Phaleris; some Typho; (and the Senate inade publick, and the whole City private supplications, that such a Monster as Maximinus, might never be seen at Rome.) so Mortally hated Alexander for his severe Virtue, and the strictness of his Court: (to which he had brought it by converse with Christi∣ans, and by conforming his Government to their Precepts, (saith Lampridius in his Alexander) as the Vulgar charged him with the murder of Alexander: and moreover, he put to death all the Ministers of State, and Familiars of A∣lexander. [Dispositionibus ejus invidens] grieving to see so good men in place. If now thou wilt seek (Reader) what kind of Men and Courtiers they were, for whose Christian Manners this Monster hated them, and persecuted the Christian Doctors, for introducing this civilty into the Roman (then Pagan) Palace (and therewithall learn what went for Christian Virtue above 1400 years ago) thou wilt find that Maximinus persecuted as Christian those E∣vangelical Precepts which the Apostolical VVritings commend to us, and are not to be found, but there, or in Books derived from thence. And thou needest not go far for a resolution of this enquiry: for Lampridius will resolve thee, who in answer to that Question of Constantine [How Alexander a stranger born of Syrian extract, became so excellent a Prince?] tells him, That though he could alledge the indulgence of Mother Nature (who is a Step∣dame to no Country) and the fate of Heliogabalus (which might have terrified him from vicious living) yet because he would suggest to him the very truth, he commends to him what he had already written, and Constantine read (I sup∣pose touching the favour he had to Christians, and his sucking in their Pre∣cepts) upon the perusal whereof, and reflexion upon that saying of Marius Maximus [It is better and more safe for the Republick, that the Prince himself be evil, than that his Friends and Counsellors be so; for one evil man may be over∣sway'd by a multitude of good men; but a multitude of bad men can by no means be brought into order by one, though never so good a Prince.] And that An∣swer, which Homulus gave to Trajan, when he said, that Domitian was the worst of men, but had good Friends and Agents. [He must needs be a worse Prince than Domitian, who being a better man than he, had committed the administra∣tion of publick affairs to men of a bad life.] He presents it to Constantine as a thing not at all strange, that Alexander should prove so good a Prince; se∣ing by following his Mother Mammaea's instruction, (which she had learnt of her Christian Doctors) he himself became the best of men. [Optimus fuit, optimae matris consiliis usus] and had constituted his Court, and adopted fa∣miliars of men, [not malicious, not ravenous, not thievish, not factious, crafty, con∣senting to evil, haters of goodness, lustful, cruel, circumventors, scorners: But ho∣ly, venerable, continent, religious, lovers of their Prince, who would neither re∣proach him, nor be a reproach to him, who would take no bribes, would not lye nor dissemble, nor betray their trust, but love their Prince.] such singly as one of them (Catilius Severus) he stiles [vir omnium doctissimus,] another, (Aelius Serenianus) [vir omnium sanctissimus;] another (Quintillius Marcel∣lus) [quo meliorem nè historia quidem continet] another (Fabius Sabinus [Cato sui temporis, &c.] And altogether, such, as gave occasion to the Senate (af∣ter that, by the overthrow of Maximinus, the affairs of the Roman Empire were brought to that state, wherein Alexander left them) to congratulate the new Emperours (Maximus and Balbinus) with the wish of Scipio Affrica∣nus [ut in eo statu dii Rempublicam servarent in quo tunc esset, quòd nullus me∣lior inveniretur] (Julii Capitolini Max. & Balbin.) That the Gods would pre∣serve the Common-wealth in that State wherein it was, there being no better imagi∣nable than that which Alexander following those Evangelical Precepts (which are at this day given out as the peculiar Doctrine of our Saviour) had reduc'd it to: for the publishing of which, Maximinus hated and persecuted to death the Christian Doctors. So that as our ruled Law-cases inform us what is Treason, Felony, &c. So we may inform our selves of the great things of Christs Law, by observing what Pagan Judges found to be Christianity, and censur'd in them as criminal. This is one most unsuspectfull way,

whereby it hath pleased God to hand down Religion to us, upon which gracious Providence let me make these Reflections, to enforce it upon our Minds.

1. What we meet with in such Records, is Christianity confest with a witness; tis Christianity writ in the blood of the Professors of it; It is Christs Name in Capitals superscribed over his Cross, (the truely venerable Relicks of Martyrs) whose Tombs would speak, were the Scriptures silent; the preaching of the Cross by men not coming from the dead with it, but (what is more powerful) going to death for it.

2. As the Original Testimony of Christian Confessors, is in this case very venerable; so the Transcript of that Testimonie is very credible: it being conveighed to us from them by the hands of most malicious enemies; whose wrath the Lord so far restrain'd, as to make the remainder of it praise him, and serve his Church. Had Rome Heathen not been more ingenious than Rome Papal; she might either have thrown the Confessions of Martyrs into the fire with their Authors, or have left them to Posterity so mangled and dis-figured, as we should not have been able to have pick'd one word of the Gospel Religion out of them; nor have known any whit better for what they suffer'd, than we can now know out of Popish Records, what Jerom of Prague, John Huss, Wickliff, and the Waldenses suffer'd for; scarce one of forty of those Articles they are charged with, being to be found in their own Writings, or the most authentick Histories of them. This is one part of that Mystery of Iniquity (to put Saints into Devils-hoods, Fools-coats, and Wild-beasts skins, that they might have some colour for bayting them;) which was not working so early as Pagan persecution; And through Gods thus restrayning the Heathens malice, it comes to pass, that we have a true account out of their own Court-rolls, what they charged Christians with, the Life-blood of the Gospel conveighed to us from the heart of the Martyrs, by the hands of Persecutors.

CHAP. III.

The Substance of Christian Religion, as it stands now in the Gospel, is to be found in the Books of its Ad∣versaries.

§ 1. The Effigies of the Gospel is hung out where it is proscribed. § 2. Hiero∣cles, attempting to out-oye Jesus with Apollonius, hath presented to the World the Sum of Evangelical History. § 3. More Apes of Christ than Apollonius. § 4. Christ's Doctrine may be traced out by the foot-steps of the Hunters who pursued it.

§ 1. 2. THe Substance of the Gospel is delivered to us in the Polemical VVritings of such as did most hotly and cunningly oppose it. As we may learn, out of the Thomists confutations of them, what are the opinions of the Scotists: and out of the Scotists opposing of them, what are the opi∣nions of the Thomists (bating their mistating the Question, and their wrest∣ing the Terms of it, to serve their own turn:) so we may gather the main Points of Christianity out of those Authors, who set themselves to oppose it (saving that here and there they pervert its sence, to make it more odious.) The Effigies of the Gospel (though bespattered with their dirty misinter∣pretations) is hung forth there, where it is proscribed, in those Books, where it is condemned. I am perswaded, by that little I have read, and that much I have observed, in that little reading, looking that way; that a man furnish'd with leisure, and the conveniencie of Libraries, might find

out, not only the general Sum of the Gospel, but the Contents of every Book, comprised in the undoubted Canon, under the Rubbish of Pagan Controversies and Calumnies against the things therein specified.

The Roots of every material Gospel-truth (that flower and blow within the Pale of Christ's inclosed Garden) may be found (if we dig there for them) in the outward Court or VVaste that has been troden down of the Gentiles.

The Tables of Christ's Royal Law (that hang out bare, and to open view, on the Pillars of the Church) lie buried under the earth (tepidae & trepidae con∣tradictiuneulae, to use St. Austins phrase) Of Pagan tepid and trepid Contradiction, in the very Temple of the Idolaters, in the strong holds of those that have captivated them (but as the Philistines did the Ark) till we fetch them thence. Did we mistrust all the Copies of the Gospel in our own hands, we might fetch an undoubted one out of the Enemies Tents; and as intire as the Ark, and its appurtenances were (when David brought it back out of the Land of the Philistines) not a Pin wanting in the Tabernacle, not a tittle wanting in the Book of Testimony.

1. We have a compleat History of the Miracles mentioned in the Go∣spel, in those Pagan Writers, whose drift is, either to paralel or out-vye Christ and his Apostles, in those mighty VVorks were done by them (as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses) by presenting, to the fascinated eye of the mind, shadows of those substantial VVonders, which Christ and his A∣postles wrought: In their VVritings you may see the Star that guided the Wisemen to our Saviour, hear the Angels singing his Genethliacum; here you meet with Persons of mean Extract and Education, arrived (ex tempore) to that height of knowledge, as the greatest Philosophers have been silenc'd by them (as the Scribes, Pharisees and Lawyers were by Christ) here you have produced Examples of men, that have cured the blinde, lame, possest; with a touch, with a word, with a nod; that have raised the dead, that have themselves been restored to life, after they had been dead, not only days, but years, have been taken up into the Clouds; have obtained divine Honours, Temples and the repute of Gods. This is a manifest Argument of the Pa∣gans assenting to the Truth of Gospel-history, of their acknowledging Christ to have done those wonders the Gospel reports of him. Else what needed this waste of like Narratives? VVhy did the Aegiptian Sor∣cerers make shew, that they could turn a Rod into a Serpent, if they had not seen Moses his Rod first turned? the Truth always goes before the coun∣terfeit.

VVhile I lead my Reader (that I may give him a prospect of this Truth) into those places which are most infested with pestilential Airs: to secure himself from the malignity thereof, let him take this Antidote, made up of these cautionary ingredients.

1. As to Matters of Fact, there is as wide a difference betwixt our and their reports (in point of the credibility of the evidence) as is betwixt the Fables of Tom. Thumb, the Tales of Robin Hood; and the most authentick Chronicles. Ours being of things done before many VVitnesses, in the open Sun; their's in a corner, and for which we have nothing but the bare word of him that did them, or his that reports them. Diocles his Author, Phi∣lostratus, grounds all his whole stories upon the report of Demaris, the Disci∣ple and Servant of Apollonius: most of which happened before Demaris saw Apollonius his face, and many of which were done behind Demaris his back, in his absence from his Master: So that all depend originally upon Apollonius his own Testimony of himself.

2. As to the Pagans exceptions against the Articles of the Christian Faith, they proceed upon these Fallacies.

1. Upon their misunderstanding some words, which we use in a peculiar sence, or they wrest from their common sence.

2. Upon their confounding [the divine Oeconomy,] the distinction of

the two Natures, in the person of our Saviour; concluding he is not God, from such things as he did or suffered, on purpose, that he might declare him∣self Man.

3. And for their Cavils against our Christian Morals, they are raised.

1. From their not distinguishing betwixt God's changing of his Me∣thods of Providence to us, and his changing of his own mind in himself: Or,

2. From their mis-applying, to the external Court, those Laws Christ in∣tended for the Court of Conscience.

What falls not under these I shall solve as I meet with them (if I think them worth answering.)

In the Interim, having thus secur'd my Reader from mortal danger, I shall venture to give him a sight of Christ, in the High Priest's Hall, before Pilat's Judgment-seat, in the crowd of those that cried [crucifie him.] Vo∣piscus (in his Aurelian) hath this Story: When Aurelian found the Gates of Thiana shut against him, he said in a rage, that he would not leave a dog a∣live in that Town: but the Town being taken, when his Souldiers (think∣ing to gratifie his fury) ask'd him if they should depopulate that place: he bid them kill all the Dogs they found there, but not a man save Heraclom∣mon, who betrayed his native place, and therefore would never be true to him This alteration of the Emperour's mind (saith Vopiscus) is reported by some grave men, and recorded in some Books of the Ulpian Library, to have been occasion'd by Apollonius Thyanaeus his Ghost's appearing to him, and saying, [Aureliane, si vis vincere, nihil est quod de civium meorum nece cogites: Aure∣liane, si vis imperare, à cruore innocentium abstine: Aureliane, si vis vincere, cle∣menter age.] who was there amongst men more holy, more venerable, more august, more divine than this Apollonius? he raised the dead to life, he did and said many things beyond humane Power, upon the account whereof, he was worshipped as a God, &c. But, as such things would never have been invented of him, if they had not seen such things done first by Christ: So Vopiscus hath no Author for all the strange stories of Apollonius, but Philostra∣tus; I shall therefore wave reflecting upon him, till I have shewed how

§ 2. Hierocles (out of the History of Philostratus) attempts to compare A∣pollonius to our Saviour, in the point of Miraculous Works, and stupendious Occurrencies. (Upon the account of this conceited resemblance Alexander Severus had his Image, together with Christ's, in his Chappel, amongst the Images of the chief Gods:) (Lampridius.) The Angel Gabriel appears to the Mother of our Lord; to his, a Fantasm that called himself the Egyptian Proteus. Angels sung at Christ's Birth; at his a Flock of Swans: (Philo∣strat. de vita Apol. lib. 1.) Christ was not brought up in the Schools of the Prophets, yet attain'd that height of Knowledg, as he understood more than all the Doctors; knew what was in the hearts of men. Apollonius (as Phi∣lostratus reports from Damaris) told Damaris at their first congress, that with∣out artificial instruction in the knowledg of Tongues and Sciences, he was naturally endowed with a presention of things, could understand all Lan∣guages, the voices of Birds (so as he would ordinarily discourse with them;) yea the secret thoughts and conceits of men. Appollonius understood a Spar∣row, that came to inform a Flock of Sparrows, that at the Gate an Ass was fallen down under his burden, and had spilt the sack of Wheat. Porphiry triumphs in this story, and would prove its likelihood by two others (Tiresias and Melampus) who understood the voices of Beasts (in 3 de abstinen.) but Lucian (in his Alexander) affirms this Apollonius to have been an arrant Cheat∣er saith (Vossius de orig. idolat. lib. 3. cap. 44.) Christ made an escape through the throng of his enemies, unseen, unobserved by them; Apollonius could convey himself out of prison, out of the closest chains: Christ was transfi∣gured before the Apostles; Damaris observ'd Apollonius frequently to have assumed a form more august than humane, to have been elevated two cubits

above the Earth, and to have hung as a glorified body in the Air, by an art he had learn'd of the Indian Brachmans: (Philostratus, lib. 1. & 3.) Christ fed many thousands with five Loaves, and at another time four thousand with se∣ven Loaves: Apollonius was present when the Indian Brachmans entertain'd King Jarchus with a Banquet upon the ground: where the earth (ex tempore) brought forth grassy Beds, for the Guests to sit down on; where they were served by four brazen Statues (in stead of Cup-bearers) with Wine and Wa∣ter, flowing from four three-footed stools, as so many living Fountains: (I∣dem Ibidem.) Christ foresaw the Earthquakes, Pestilences, &c. that forerun the destruction of Jerusalem: Apollonius foretold the Pestilence that Ephesus was afflicted with: (Philost. lib. 4.) of which being accused unto Domitian (as proceeding from his practising of prohibited Arts) he excused it, by this Apology for himself; that he using a more fine and sober diet than other men, his spirits were thereby so refined, as he could perceive the corruption of the Air, long before others felt the mortal effects of it: (Philost. lib. 7.) But could he sent at that distance that Daniel or our Saviour set the Roman Eagles? Moses and Elias confer'd with Christ in the Mount, in their glorified forms: Apollonius had discourse with the Ghost of Achilles arising out of his grave, apparel'd in a Souldiers coat; and of the stature of five at first, after∣wards of twelve Cubits) about Homer's History of the Trojan War; till the Lyon-like apparition was, by the crowing of a Cock, frighted into his hole: (Idem ibid.) Christ cast out Devils, so did Apollonius, and that of both Sexes; one a Male, out of a lascivious Youth; another a Female, which Phi∣lostratus calls Empusa (for he must be feigned to make the Devils confess their names, as well as Christ did that Legion, wherewith the Gaderene was pos∣sessed.) He is said to raise a Roman Damsel from death to life: Which if they were any thing but mere Fictions, his emulous Rival in Philosophy (Eu∣phrates) then living in Rome, would (without doubt) have put them in a∣gainst him, among those Articles he prefer'd to Domitian. Our Saviour told the Woman of Samaria all the Occurrences of her life: Apollonius is brought upon the Stage by Philostratus (lib. 5.) telling a Piper his Pedigree, Estate, and all the Fortunes he had passed through, &c. Because Christ saith of himself, By me Kings reign: Vespasian is introduc'd begging the Empire of Apollonius, and Apollonius returning him answer, that he had already decreed him Emperour. Christ knew what was in man; and therefore this Ape must be reported, to understand what the sufficiencies of all men were: in∣somuch as his Censures past for Oracles with Vespasian; who merely upon A∣pollonius his assuring him (from a gift of seeing into men's hearts) that they were wise and honest men, retain'd Dion and Euphrates into his Council, and most secret designs: though in the sequel of the story, his memory fails the Fabler: for him whom Apollonius had commended to the Father (Ve∣spasian) as a just and wise man; he declaims against to the Son (Domitian) as a flattering Parasite, &c. [Caupo est, cupedinarius, publicanus, faenerator, &c.] But that was after Euphrates had cryed out first, and accused him as a Wizard. However this is enough to spoil his Divination, and to evince that he could not foresee that Euphrates would become his enemy, any more than he could foreknow that Domitian would not permit him to repeat that elaborate Oration, he had with so much pains pen'd and prepared: (Euseb. in Hiero. Clem. lib. 7, 8.) Had the Children held their peace, the stones would have cryed, Hosannah to the son of David. This was it that put words into the mouth of that Elm, that in an articulate and womanly slen∣der Voice, welcom'd Apollonius to among the Egyptian Gymnosophists. (Philostrat. lib. 6.) By the invocation of Christ's name after his Assension, Miracles were effected: That they might make Apollonius vye in this particu∣lar, with the blessed Jesus; there were some who affirmed, they had experienc'd a Magical Virtue in his name towards miraculous Operations. And lastly, (for I am weary of tracing him (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) foot by foot, where he is made to tread in Christ's steps) As Christ ascended into Heaven; so did he (if Philo∣stratus

be to be believed) whither he was invited and taken up by a chore of Fe∣male-angels, or Virgin-nymphs: his Tomb being no where to be found, though Philostratus sought for it, through the whole World: though with∣al he tells us, he knows nothing touching his death, nor do Authors (saith he) agree touching his departure; some saying, it was at Ephesus; others, in the Temple of Minerva Lindia: others, in the Island of Crete: and him∣self (a little before) (lib. 7.) at the Bar, where he stood indicted of Witch∣craft, before Domitian: to whom after he had proclaimed that petulant and boasting bravado: [thou canst not keep my body bound, nor kill me (Caesar) for I am death-less:] he presently vanish'd out of humane sight.

§ 3. Hierocles was not the only man that made those odious Compari∣sons, neither was Apollonius the only man that was compared to our Jesus; but Apuleius and others, as Marcellinus tells St. Austin. [Apollonium siqui∣dem suum nobis, & Apuleium aliósque Magicae artis homines in medium profe∣runt, quorum majora contendunt extitisse miracula:] (Marcel. Augustino ep. 4.) The Pagans, (saith he, of whom we have great store in this City) set before us their Apollonius, Apuleius, and other persons; who by the help of Magick have done greater Miracles than Christ. Insomuch as that question was then worn thread-bare, and managed on their part with all subtilty, and patronized by great men and Wits, who moved every stone, ransack'd every corner, of Divine and Secular History, that they might parallel Christs migh∣ty Works, and that no line in Christ's face, no lineament in his whole body, might pass without a parallel. Upon this subject, saith Celsus (in Orig. l. 7. cal. 76.) If you have a mind to believe stories of men being made Gods, and to fasten that Privilege upon any one, whose life and death make them wor∣thy of that honour; had not Hercules or Aesculapius pleased you, you had Orpheus; who without doubt was inspired with a divine Spirit, and died a Martyr to Philosophy, by the hands of the enraged frows of Bacchus. And if the cause of his death mislike you: (and truly who but a sorbid Epicure can like it?) for he deservedly contracted the just hatred of all Womankind, by his singing the flagitious brutishness of the Gods, in their unnatural Gani∣median Lusts: [nonnulli aiunt quòd Orpheus primus puerilem amorem induxe∣rit, mulieribus visum contumeliam fecisse, illis, ab haue rem interfectum, &c. (Higini poetic. astron. Lyra.) some say Orpheus first introduc'd the unnatural love of boys, which women taking as a reproach to their Sex did therefore slay him.) However had not Orpheus pleased you (saith Celsus) you might have pitch'd up∣on Aristarchus, who (being cast into a Mortar) in the midst of his pains utter'd this egregious speech, the result of a truly divine spirit; [pound, bray Aristar∣chus his pelt, for thou canst not bray Aristarchus himself.] Or Epictetus, who when his master was racking his Thigh, (smiling, and without fear) told him, [if he did not take heed he would break his Thigh:] and when he had broken it, did I not tell thee (saith he) thou wouldst break my Thigh. What did your God utter (saith Celsus) in the time of his suffering comparable to these men? (Ans. he prayed for his enemies and prevented the breaking his Thigh or one of his bones.) The same Celsus (in Orig. 1. 21.) Does as good as assent to the truth of the Evangelical History that gives an account of Christ's Miracles; confessing, that by reason thereof many believed in him: and calumniating them, as proceeding from Magick: in which point he had been equall'd if not exceeded by many, who never gain'd thereby the repute of being Gods. [Deum Deique Filium nemo ex talibus signis & rumo∣ribus tàmque frigidis argumentis approbat:] (2. 24.) Xamolxis, Pythagoras, Rampsinitus, who is said to have played at Chess with Ceres, and to have brought away from the dead, her golden Mantle as a prize: Orpheus, Prote∣silaus, Theseus, Hercules (cal. 41.) I have often wonder'd that the blessed Jesus would sit still, while his picture was drawing by such cursed hands, to such a contumelious end, against his sacred person. But his omniscience foresaw, that an Age was approaching, when it would be disputed; whe∣ther

that be his true portraiture, that is drawn in the Gospel? whether he was such an one, and did those miraculous Works; as he is there described to be, and declared to have done? And his mercy provided for the satisfaction of all (that are not peevishly captious) by permitting the Heathen to draw one after that, in all points so like it, as the most curious eye can find no more difference, betwixt that which the Church hangs forth (to be worship'd) and that which the Heathen World hung out (to be scorn'd) than there was (from it self) in that homely piece, which the Sexton hung up (for the Image of our Saviour▪ over the Altar: and the Priest caused to be taken thence, and hung in the Belfry (for the Picture of the Devil;) if I may use, in so sacred a business, so homely an illustration. That which the Pagans drew and hung in the Belfrey, is the same with that which the Church drew and set over the Altar: not one prodigious Circumstance in this that is not in that; the Clay presents as full a proportion of the golden Key, as the Wax. So that had we lost the impression of it in the Churches Wax (in the sacred History) we mightmake another, by taking the Pattern of it that's drawn in the Clay of Pagan Fables, which emulate and counterfeit the sacred stories of Christ's mighty Works.

§ 4. 2. We may infallibly know which way the Lamb of God has gone, by following the steps of his pursuers, where they have been hunting to death his Doctrine, as well as works. There being not one Branch of Christ's Roy∣al Law planted on the Tree of Life (in the midst of the Garden:) that the Pagan Antagonists have not attempted to graft, upon the Wildin of the For∣rest; or transplanted grafts of, into their Discourses against that Law.

Can any man question whether Christ preach'd that Sermon in the Mount (that Breviate of Christian Morality) in that very form wherein the Evange∣lists record it, that observes, how many exceptions the World made against Christianity, upon the account of that Sermon, of which Marcellinus thus complains to St. Austin: (Epist. 4.) The Pagan Philosophers in this place (saith he) perswade those, that are not well setled in the Christian Faith, to waver; by propounding such like Scruples. How can Christ's erecting a new Law, stand with the goodness of the old? if they of old said well, why does he come after them with his; [but I say unto you:] How is it consist∣ent with God's Immutability, to command one thing by Moses, another by Christ: [Ista varietas inconstantiae Dominum arguit.] Respon. Their Fellow∣philosopher, Jamblicus, will tell them. [Deus diversos suppeditat modos, non quidem distractus ipse, sed individuo nutu, formâque simplici suggerit omnes: & diversis temporibus suggerit diversos, non ipse per tempora varius:] (de mysteriis, pag. 74, 76.) God vouchsafes several ways to reveil himself; not that he is di∣stracted in mind, but he suggests them all by one individual will and simple form, divers in divers ways, in divers times; but he himself is not various, but one in all times. having so good an Antidote prepared by a Pagan Philosopher's hand, I shall venture to lay before my Reader the discourse of that grunting Philosopher Celsus; who upon the same Instances calumniates Christian Re∣ligion, as charging Mutability on God. [How comes it to pass that God by Moses should commend the getting of wealth and of power, to fill the Earth with Progeny, to extirpate whole Nations, &c. but his Son makes Laws directly contra∣ry: not so much as allowing access to the Father to any man, that shall seek to grow rich, or aspire to greatness, dominion or honour in the World: and command∣ing us, to take no more thought for food, than the fowls of the Air; for cloathing than the Lillies of the Field, &c.] [Uter mentitur, Moses, vel Jesus? an forte Pater, cum hunc mitteret, oblitus erat ejus, quòd Mosi priùs mandaverat? an damnatis propriis legibus mutavit sententiam, & cum contrariis mandatis misit nuntium?] (Orig. con. Cels. 7. 7.) But let's hear the remainder of the Phi∣losopher's Exceptions, in Marcellinus, who thus proceeds. How destructive to Commonwealths, how unpracticable among men, is that Law of Christ which commands us, [not to return evil for evil; to turn the other Cheek to

him that smiles on the one, to give our Coat also to him that takes away our Cloak, to go two miles with him that constrains us to go one?] For who can endure that any thing should be taken from himself by an enemy, and not seek re∣paration? that the plunderers of the Roman Provinces should not be forc'd (by right of War) to make restitution? &c. Here the Philosoper mis-ap∣plies to publick Justice, what Christ enacted against private Revenge.

Deo gratias informs the same Father, (St. August, Epist. 49.) that the Disci∣ples of Porphyry made these Exceptions against the Evangelical Precepts. [If none but he that does these sayings of Christ lays a sure foundation of hope for e∣ternal life, what became of those that lived before Christ? must we exclude our Fore-fathers from hope of salvation? If there was a door open for them what need any other now?] This hath been answered before out of Jamblicus. But thus the Platonicks proceed. [Does not your Christ ridiculously contradict him∣self; when in one place, he threatens eternal punishments to them that believe not in him; and in another saith, [with what measure men mete it shall be mea∣sured to them again?] for if punishment be to be proportion'd by measure, and measure be circumscribed by the bounds of time, what mean his threats of infinite suffering? The Platonick's Falacy here lies in two things.

1. In their wresting Christ's saying [with what measure] into a compli∣ance with their Master's Placit. That all penal Purification (as they call'd it) was limited to certain Periods of Time; after the expiration whereof the Soul was to be restored into the state wherein it was, before it contracted guilt: in pursute of which Placit St. Origen thought the Devils should be dis∣charged after a long imprisonment:

2. In their making Christ's expressions of [eternal fire] of [the worm that never dies, &c.] to contradict that former notion of receiving by measure; whereas it is manifest, that Christ speaks not of measure of time, but pro∣portion of kind and degree, betwixt doing and receiving good or evil.

To return to Pagan Testimony, for the truth of Christ's delivering that his Royal Law, which the New Testament hangs out the Table of; we find the Adversary attesting to Christ's dispencing of it, as to several other heads of it. While Celsus will needs make the Royal Law useless and needless, as to the most part of it; There is nothing (saith he) in the Christian Discipline new, or worthy of commendation, but is common to it and the Philoso∣phers; who, before Christ, have taught [that there is to be expected Rewards of Virtue, and Mulcts for Sin, in the other World:] (Orig. contr. Cel. 1. 4.) Christ tell us (saith he) we ought not to worship Gods made with hands, that the Father is to be worship'd in Spirit. Why? we Philosophers account not I∣mages of the Gods to be Deities (we know that the Workmanship of wicked Artificers and villanous men (as many times they are that grave these Ima∣ges) cannot be Gods;) we have learn'd of Heraclitus, that they who adore liveless Statues do as simply as they that talk to Walls: of the Persians, that the Deity is not comprehended within any Structure made with hands: and of Zeno Citiensis (in his Book of the Common-wealth) that he need not build Chappels, that prepares the Temple of his own Soul, for the enter∣tainment of God.

Those very Laws, which the Madaurencian Philosophers blamed (as destructive to humane Societies) Celsus mentions with Commendation: as far more ancient than Christ. They have also (saith he) these Laws: [Thou must not repel injuries: If any man smite thee on thy cheek, turn the other to him:] this is an old Dictate, long since utter'd by Socrates, when he was disputing with Crito, and mention'd by Plato in his Timaeus: (Orig. contr. Cel. 7. 17.) upon the same account he mentions the commendations which Christ gives to Humility, Purity of Heart, Pacateness of Spirit, &c. as bet∣ter expressed by Plato; (in his Books of Laws) advising him that would be happy, to pursue Righteousness with an humble, pure and pacate Mind: (Id lib. 5. cal. 8.) And the Caution that Christ gives against Covetousness, Celsus (in the same place) affirmeth to have been derived from Plato; whose saying,

[that it is impossible, for any man to be very rich, and very good.] he paral∣lels to that of Christ: [It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.] (The mortiferous∣ness of these Waters is to be cured, by casting in that cruze of Salt, which I have already exhibited, and brought to hand in the second Book; where I shewed, that whatsoever points of abstruse knowledge occurr in the Schools, they are beholding to the Temple for, and are but Beams of that Light, which Christ (or his Spirit in the Prophets) communicated to the World, the last of which Prophets Writings, are near as old, as the first of Gentile Philosophers.)

It were endless to enumerate the ecchoes of Christs Law, which those Rocks that oppose it, so articulately reverberate; as a steadily listning. Ear may take in the beginning, middle and end of every Evangelical Precept, from those mock-sounds in Heathen Authors. I shall not therefore enlarge this Section with more Instances: but conclude it with this Observation; That the Adversaries, in making reply to our urging them with the excel∣lencie of Christs Law, would not have taken that course, as puts them upon such self-contradictory Salvoes; if they durst for very shame (the contrary was so palpable) have denied them to be Christs. Briefly we find in the Pagan Writers, what they took to be Christ's Law; and that which they opposed (as such) is the very same with that, that the Gospel presents, as such; not one Egg is more like another, than that Bracelet of Pearls, which our Saviour fitted to the necks of his Disciples, is to that, which these im∣pure Swine trample under their feet.

CHAP. IV.

Every Article of the Apostles Creed to be found, as as∣serted by the Church, in those Writings which opposed Christian Religion.

§ 1. Maker of Heaven and Earth. § 2. His only Son. § 3. Conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary. § 4. Suffered under Pontius Pi∣lat, &c. § 5. Rose again the third day. § 6. Ascended into Hea∣ven: thence, &c. § 7. The holy Ghost. § 8. Holy Catholick Church, &c.

§ 1. 3. THe sum of the Christian Faith, taught by Christ and his Apo∣stles, is intirely (and in every branch of it) recorded, as such in the Authors that disputed against it.

For order and brevities sake, I shall here instance in the several Articles of it, comprised in (that most admirable Compendium of it) the Apostles Creed; which, as it has been taken for such by all Christians, so it has been op∣posed, as such, by all Adversaries.

Article 1. [I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.]

That this Article, as it is now profest by the Church, and laid down in the New Testament, was from the beginning held forth, as a point of that Doctrine, which Christ and his Apostles Preach'd (and therefore not wrong∣father'd upon them) is manifest from those quotations out of Pagan Au∣thors, who affronted it, upon that very account and only Reason; because it was Christ's Doctrine.

Celsus, from the practice of the Ophiani (Hereticks who worship'd the Serpent, as bestowing upon our first Parents the knowledge of good and evil, a gift which God envied them, as they blasphemously speak) objects; that Christians (contrary to that faith which they profess) worship another God than the Creator of all things, to wit, the Serpent (Or. Con. Cels. 5. 16.) (As Celsus doth here confess, that that Doctrine which our Bible exhibites, touching Gods prohibiting Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, and the Serpents prevailing with Adam to eat of that Tree, and the opening of Adam's eyes thereupon to discern good and evil, and the Serpents infinuating to Adam, that God envied him that knowledge, &c.) was the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles; so his charging upon the Church that impious Practice of these Heriticks misgrounded upon the Churches Faith, and which the Church exprest her abhorrencie of, was no more equal dealing than that which the Romanists measure out to the British and other Protestant Churches, when they lay to her charge the practices of such as are at as great a distance from Communion with her, as with them.) You Christians (saith Celsus) profess you believe in, and worship God the Creator of this Uni∣verse; but since Plato saith, it is hard to find out and know that God, and impossible to communicate the knowledge of him to another, is it like that you (of all other men) should attain to the knowledge of this God, being fast bound in chains of ignorance, so as you cannot see what is pure (Idem. 7. 14.) (Compare what the Christians teach, with what the Philosophers guess concerning God; and the controversie, which of us have attained to a more perfect knowledge of God? will easily be determined.) That God created man after his own Image, was the Doctrine of Christ and the Pri∣mitive Church; appears from Celsus his arguing; that if the Christans de∣nyed, that God was first to be represented by Images made like man: they overthrew their own Doctrine, [that man was made after the similitude of Cod.] (Id. Ib. cal. 19.) The Son is the only express Image of the Fathers Person, and therefore we worship him by that Image only.) Nay, he ar∣gueth for the worshipping of Angels and Daemons, from what Opinions Christians hold touching the Creation: you profess (saith he) that all Crea∣tures are governed and order'd by the appointment of God; that Angels, Devils, Men, and all Creatures have assigned them, powers allotted (by him) such as he thinks meet to confer upon them; why then may not we worship them, as Creatures endowed with power to help or hurt us, as the Princes Favourites. (Id. lib. 7. cal. 20.) (as if we could not honour them as Gods friends without imparting to them (their Masters due) divine honour. He gives still further and clearer evidence of the delivery of this Article of our Christian Faith, while he indulgeth himself the liberty, to deride that Truth which was once delivered to the Saints. The Jews (saith he) in a corner of the VVorld (Palestine) conspiring together, invented the Fable of Gods forming Man, and breathing into him the breath of Life; of VVoman brought out of his side; of man's receiving a Precept from God, and pre∣ferring the Serpents Precept above Gods; of Gods casting Adam iuto a sleep, and taking Eve out of Adam's rib, &c. (Orig. Contr. Celsum. lib. 4. cal. 15.) (It is easier to call this Sacred History a Fable, than to prove it one.)

This same Epicurean Hog thus grunts out Calumnies against the Circum∣stances, of Gods making Heaven and Earth (lib. 6. 23. 24. &c.) [God said let there be light.] Did the Maker of all things borrow Light to work by, as we light our Candle at our Neighbours? God did not borrow, but made Light, not for himself to see by, but to illustrate his Creatures. Can any thing be more ridiculous, than to assign certain days to the Creation of the World; in the first whereof, God perfected one kind of being; in the se∣cond, another; in the third, another, &c. and in the sixth and last Man? The Matter of visible and invisible things God created in a moment, and in the same moment educ'd the invisible World out of that Matter. But that he should (for instance) create a Natural Day (which was his first days

work) consisting of twenty four hours, in less than twenty four hours, im∣plies a Contradiction; and that day being the first, and pattern of all the rest (that is) consisting the first half of it of night, and the other of day, it was impossible but that Darkness must be upon the face of the Deep one twelve hours, and Light in the upper Hemisphere other twelve hours. Or that he should (to instance in the fourth days work) make Sun and Moon, and set them in the Firmament of Heaven, and make them successively make a day and night in less time than twenty four hours, does equally imply a Contradiction. And for the rest they being more gross bodily substances educ'd out of the first Matter, it implies a Contradiction that they should move in an instant to those forms the Divine Power first bestow'd upon them; and it was most congruous (seeing they could not be made but in some time) to perfect them also in such a proportion of time (by his own free choice) as the nature of the things themselves required which were made the first and fourth day. Besides, the Light created on the first day (which must necessarily move sphaerically, or it could not have made a natural day) might be instrumental towards the producing those powers, which God (by his Fiat) gave the Matter, into effect: and then before the earth was all over-spread with Grass and Cattle, and the Sea with Fish, &c. that Light must shine upon them from one end of the Heaven to the other; which could not be done in less space than twenty four hours. And that God should rest on the seventh day, as if like a lazie Artificer he had been tyred, and must then keep holiday? Could there be days before the Sun was made; whose Motion measures Time? that lucid Cloud, created the first day, had a circular Motion, and thereby measured time, till on the fourth day God made the Sun. (Vide▪ Zanch. de operibus Dei par. 1. l. 1. c. 2.) There is nothing (saith he) in the whole History of Gods making the World (according to the Christian Hypothesis) but what is incompetent to the Divine Nature: but their credulity proceeds from their believing that God made Man after his own Image; an opinion as absurd as any of the rest: for he is not at all like us, but incomprehensible, innominable, wherein he contradicts, not on∣ly his own late recited opinion, but his own Sect (for Apuleius the Epicu∣rean (in Tull. de Natura deorum. lib. 1.) shapes God in all points even of bodi∣ly Members like to Man:) And manifestly wrests Moses, who discourseth of the Creation in such borrowed Terms as are most familiar in vulgar use, and introduceth God resting, not out of lassitude, but in complacencie with the Goodness and Beauty of his Work; and that for our imitation, that we might rest in contemplation of that eternal Wisdom in which he made them: neither did God in that rest cease from work altogether but from Creating∣work.

§ 2. Article 2. [And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord.]

If the Christians (saith Celsus) worship'd no other but God the Father, Maker of Heaven and Earth, they might without blame contemn all our Gods: but who can endure, that they should despise those whom the whole World (in a manner) do worship for Deities, and in the mean time cry up Christ for God: who (we all know) was but born the other day? (Christ as to his Man-hood, was born in the fulness of Time, assigned by the Prophets: as he was God, his Generation was from Eternity.) Nay, that they should not worship the Father, but together with this Author of their Religion, whom they call the Son of God? (Orig. con. Cel. 8. cal. 3. 4.) (The Christians worship the Father through the Son; and whosoever ex∣pects acceptance with the Father, but through the Son worships an Idol, a God of his own framing.) They avoid our Altars, Statues, Temples, sacred Rites, that they may keep untainted that Faith they have plighted to Christ: they will not (with 〈◊〉〈◊〉 worship the one God, the common God of all Na∣tions, that they may (among themselves) worship Christ as God. (Id. Ib.

cal. 6.) To which Pliny gives his suffrage (in the place fore-quoted) [The Christians sing Psalms to one Christ, whom they repute to be God. And Licinius (in his Speech to his Soldiers) encouraging them to the engagement against Constantine; with this Argument, that he had cast off the Gods of his Fa∣ther and Country, and put his trust in a new and strange God, one Jesus of Nazareth (Euseh. de vita Constant. l. 2. c. 5.) but this new God of Constantine, was too hard for all Licinius his old Gods; insomuch as being disappointed of their aid, he exauctorated them, and run about seeking other Gods to re∣lieve him. (Id. Ib. c. 15.) Touching Christ's Title [the Son of God] attri∣buted to him by Christians, Celsus his Jew (lib. 1. cal. 26.) thus expostulates with the blessed Jesus: Seeing thou sayest, that every man is the Son of God, by Providence or Creation; and that Persons so and so qualified are his Chil∣dren, by Favour or Grace; wherein dost thou excel all other men, who givest out thy self to be his Son after a more excellent way? (Resp. He was begotten of the Substance of his Father, we are born again of the will of God.) The blasphemous Familists and Quakers may here learn into whose Tents they are removed. And in the same Book (cal. 33.) thus he descants upon Gods calling his Son into, and out of Aegypt: What need was there, that (when thou wast an Infant) thou shouldst be carried into Aegypt, to escape the fury of Herod's Sword? for fear of death cannot fall upon God. Was it in obedience to thy Father, who sent his Angel to call thee thither? Why! could not that great God (whom thou calls Father) with as little trouble have secured thy life at thy own home, in thy native Country; as he put himself and his Angels to, in sending first one, to call thee into a strange Land; and then another, to recal thee into thy own? This was done that the Scripture might be fulfill'd [Out of Aegypt I have called my Son] that the Reality of his Humane Nature might be evidenc'd; that his glori∣ous Deity might be demonstrated by the Angels attending upon him, as the only begotten of the Father. Upon Herods murthering the Innocents he descants (lib. 4. cal. 27.) ridiculum cùm Herodes irabundus occidit infantulos;] [Could not he whom thou calls Father have secur'd thee from Herod?] He brings in (in his first Book) the Jew calumniating Christ to have learned Ma∣gick in Aegypt; by the improvement whereof, after his return•• into Ju∣daea, he attempted to make men believe he was King Messias, (cal. 20.) and (in the 28 cal.) he repeats the whole story of the Wisemens coming to worship Christ; of their telling Herod, the King of Israel was born; of Herod's slaying the Bethlehemitish Insants, &c. And thus casts his scoffs (cal. 23.) upon the voice that came from Heaven at Christs Baptism. Thou sayest the form of a Dove lighted upon thee, and a voice (then) came from Hea∣ven, saying, This is my Son: What VVitness is there of this, worthy of cre∣dit? who, beside thy self, and thy Companions, saw this Vision, heard this Voyce? The mighty VVorks wrought by our Saviour, were so many Wit∣nesses, that he was the Son of God, and that God was with them, in all they said and writ.

And why doth not Celsus make the like Exception against the reports of his healing the Sick, casting out Devils, and raising the dead, &c. but be∣cause those Miracles were wrought in the sight and hearing of multitudes un∣interested. And yet, even here, John the Baptist saw and heard all; whom not to have been Christs Disciple, (but to have been murdered, by the com∣mand of Herod, not for following Christ, but reproving Herod) Josephus testifieth, who also affirmeth, that multitudes flocked to John's Baptism: and the sacred History tells us that Jesus was baptized when all the People were baptized (Luk. 3. 22.) and that he came to John to be baptized of him, while John was exhorting those multitudes that came out of Jerusalem, Judaea, and about Jordan (Mat. 3. 5. 13.)

§ 3. Article 3. [Who was conceived by the holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.

Celsus in Orig. (4. cal. 1, 2, 3, &c.) thus states the Controversie betwixt the Christian and Jew, touching the coming of the Son of God down from Heaven, for us men and our salvation, (as the Nicen Creed prefaceth this Article:) The Christians say, there is already descended: the Jews say, there is to descend from heaven, a certain God, or Son of God, who is the Justi∣fier and Saviour of mortal men. A Conceipt (saith he) so absurd, and un∣beseeming the Deity; as it needs no other Confutation, but its bare men tioning. (Resp. Celsus here verifies that of the Apostles, the Gospel is foolish∣ness to the Greeks; but to them that believe the Power and Wisdom of God) and yet this Hypothesis; that God would descend into this dungeon of the Earth, for the salvation of Mankind, was held by the Platonicks, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 hath been proved. But hear we how Celsus cavils against it. [For what new thing could come into Gods Mind, that he should now, at last, descend to us? Did he come to know how the affairs of m••nstood here on earth? Did not he know all things without coming to see? or if there had been any thing amiss, could not he have rectified it, by his Divine Power, without sending his Son, (what pity it is, that Celsus was not of Gods Council!) to be born amongst us? he must, of necessity, desert his own habitation above, if he descend to us] The Porphyrian Scepticks in St. Austin (Epist. 2.) speaks in the same te∣nour [Mundi Dominus & Rector tamdiu à sedibus suis abest, at{que} ad unum cor∣pusculum totius mundi cura transfertur] [The Lord of the Universe was so long absent from his own seat, and the care of the whole World is transferr'd to the body of one Woman] [Novit ubi{que} totus esse, & nullo contineri loco, novic venire non recedendo ubi erat; novit abire, non deserendo quà venerat.] [God is altogether every where, and contain'd in no place: he can come without for∣saking the place where he was: he can depart without deserting the place from whence he came. But Celsus proceeds. Did God or the Son of God therefore come down from Heaven, and dwell among us; that he might make him∣self known to the World, that had been ignorant of him before? (as Princes go on Progress, to shew their Magnificence to their Subjects in the Country:) Did God then, now at last, (after so many Ages laps'd) think of justifying men, whose Salvation he neglected, for so long a time before? St. Austin (Epist. 49. quest. 2 da.) proves, that pious persons before Christs coming were saved by Christ, whose Grace was at no time wanting to any Nation; and that the varying of the Mode of Worship, according as the di∣vine VVisdom thinks expedient for mens salvation, does not make a vari∣ous Religion. But hear we Celsus confirming the Tradition of this point of Christian Faith, while he objects against the Doctrine delivered. If the Christians be in earnest, when they say they believe: that [God so loved the World, that he sent his only begotten Son into the World to save it] what other arguments than what are drawn from that Love, need be urged, to constrain men to love God, and live unto him? and therefore Christ did foolishly in frightning men to obedience, by menacies of Hell-fire, &c. But all will not be won by Love: the fear of approaching death was of more avail to perswade Celsus his Master Epicurus, that there is a God, than all the sweet morsels he cramb'd his belly with. Let the Antinomian here acknowledge his first Father. Besides, saith he, (lib. 6. 19) Do not the Christians charge God with want of Power, or Foresight, in his permitting the Serpent, so far to deface his Image in Man; as that (in order to the restoring of it) he is forc'd to send his only Son to become Man's Advocate? God knew how to use his Power and VVisdom better than in prevention of that evil, viz. by bringing a greater good out of it.

[Conceived by the Holy Ghost.]

Touching the Christian's belief, that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost: he hath this Animadversion: (lib. 6. cal. 35.) What need was there that the Holy Ghost should over-shaddow the Virgin, and frame Christ a Body in her womb? could not God have shaped him a Body, (he could not have a Body of the Seed of the Woman without the Seed of the Woman) without immersing his own Spirit into so great contamination? Celsus might have learn'd better Language of Proclus the Pagan Philosopher: (Secundum, nihil omnino providentiam ex gubernatis accipere, nec eorum natura repleri, nec eis alicubi commisceri: non enim ex eo, quòd omnia disponit, admiscetur prop∣tereà gubernatis: (Proclus de anima & daemone tit. [providentia per singula per∣currit, & interim nullis addit:] pag. 191.) If he had been conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost, his Body would have excelled all othets in Stature, in Form, in Strength, in Voice, (nec vox hominem sonat) in Majesty, and in Elocution: for it is incredible that he who had so much Divinity, who was formed by so divine an hand, should not surpass all men: but Christ (as the Christians con∣fess) was but like to (if not inferiour to other men:) His face (according to Prophecy) was to be mar'd more than any man's:) low, mean, humble, yea deformed. Why should the holy Spirit be sent to one in a corner of the World, in Judea; and not be inspired into all men, (man must let the work of Re∣demption alone for ever,) if God have a purpose to save all men?

As to the last clause of this Article, he brings in a Jew (lib. 1. cal. 20.) thus scoffing at Christ for chusing to be born of so mean a Woman, at so mean a Town; (he was to be born in the form of a servant, and Bethlehem-Judah was the least of the Cities) of Judea as Bethlehem, &c. did her beauty (her inward Beauty (being full of Grace) invited God to chuse her for the Mo∣ther of the Son of God before others) invite God into her embraces? how could she conceive and bring forth a Son without the knowledg of man? &c. which Origen retorts thus: how do the Vultures breed (as your own Pagan Writers report) without companying with the Male? why could not God make the second Adam without a Father, as well as the first without either Father or Mother? and lastly, that we Christians are not the only men who embrace such admirable stories is manifest, from your believing that Plato was conceived by Apollo, and born of his Mother Amphictione yet a Virgin, before her Husband Aristo had knowledg of her, being prohibited by a Vision to touch her: At the same point the Seeker, whom Volusianus mentions, strains: (August. ep. 2.) Who is there among you (saith he) so well versed and e∣stablished in the Christian Religion as can resolve me, where I stick; [I won∣der how the Lord of the Universe could take up his lodging in the body of a spotless Virgin! how she could go out her ten Months, and then bring forth a Child, and after that continue a Virgin! how could he lurk in the little body of a Vagient In∣fant whom the Heavens are not able to contain? how could the Ancient of days endure to undergo so many years of Infancy, of Childhood, of Youth, of Man-hood? or the everlasting God that faints not, neither is weary, submit to sleep, to hunger and thirst, to cold and wearisomness, and the rest of humane weaknesses?] cease this wondring, man: Christ did all this, to make it manifest that he was the Son of Man, as well as of God (Jam illud, [quòd in somnos solvi∣tur, &c.] hominem persuadet hominibus, quem non consumpsit utique sed assump∣psit) (August. epist. 2. Volusiano:) and as to her continuing a Virgin St. Au∣stin answers; [Ipsa virtus per inviolatae Mariae virginea viscera, membra infan∣tis eduxit, quae posteà per clausa ostia membra juvenis introduxit:] that power which brought Christ through the shut door, did bring him out of the shut womb.

It is St. Austin's Observation, that the Philosophers, in questioning the truth of the Church touching the Incarnatlon, overthrew their own Princi∣ples. It is their Assertion, saith he, (de civit. 10. 29.) that the intellectual Soul may by purging become consubstantial [paternae menti] with the Father's

Mind (which they confess to be the Son of God) what absurdity then can there be in the Christian Belief; that one individual soul, being the purest that ever was created (for the salvation of many) was assumed into Union with the Son of God? Now that the Body must adhere to the Soul, that he may be a perfect man, we learn by the Testimony of Nature it self: which Union of Body and Soul, if it were not usual, would be less credible than the union of an Humane Soul to the Mind, Word, or Son of God. For 'tis casier to be believed, that an incorporeal should be united to an in∣corporeal, than that a corporeal and incorporeal Being should conflate into one. And Tertullian observes (Apol. priùs citato) that nothing was more common in the Heathen World, than Virgin-births of divine Conceptions; and yet they had been more common, if some like Olympias had not been jealous of Juno's Jealousie: after whose Copy she return'd this answer to her son Alexander's Letter, thus superscribed, [King Alexander the Son of Jupi∣ter Hammon to his Mother Olympias all health:] I pray thee Son do not tra∣duce me and accuse me to Juno as one that had been naught with her Hus∣band: for I shall never be able to bear the burden of that her spightful jea∣lousie which she will conceive against me upon thy writing thy self the Son of Jove, and thy insinuating me to be his Whore: (Agellius Noct. Attic. lib. 13. cap. 4.)

This Text of St. Austin, (Ep. 2.) beside that that I quoted it for, points to a great many Circumstances in the History of the blessed Jesus, mention'd in the Gospel: all which are, from this allegation of the Adversaries, ac∣knowledged to have been the Doctrine of the Apostolical, as well as Mo∣dern, Church.

§ 4. Article, 4. [Suffered under Pontius Pilat, was crucified, dead and bu∣ried: and descended into Hell.]

The Jew in Celsus (lib. 2. 6.) upbraids the Christian, for believing in him that could not avoid or evade those dangers, that Death, he was brought to, by the Treason of his own Disciple; but suffer'd himself to be apprehended, arraigned, condemned, and crucified; for all that he fore-knew, and fore-told his Disciples of those things that befell him. And that they put their confidence in Jesus, who not only in appearance suffer'd these things, but really, openly, before many Witnesses (as themselves say;) what God, An∣gel, or but wise Man, would wittingly and willingly have been taken in those snares, which were laid in his sight, if he could have help'd it? Is it not a wonder, that Christ by telling Judas of his Treason, Peter of his De∣nial, should not have been so far revered (they believing him to be God) as to prevent the Apostacy of the one, the Lapse of the other? or did he not by foretelling it, teach them to do it, and lay snares for the Companions of his Table? God is impassible; why then did Christ, if he were God, suffer such an Agony for fear of death, as made him sweat like drops of Water and Blood, and cry out to be saved (in the Garden) in these words, [Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me:] and complain (on the Cross) in these, [My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?] The Christians (after all their Promises) produce, for the Son of God, not a pure and holy Word (as they term Christ) but a man affected with most ignominious suffering; beaten with stripes, spit upon, and nailed to the Cross; whence he could not descend, though provoked to do it. It was then (sure) high time for him to declare himself God, when the Jews insulted over him before Pilat, when in mockage they put on him a purple Robe, put a Reed for a Scepter into his hand, and set a Crown of Thorns upon his head; with the pricking whereof, as also of the Nails and Spear, Blood issued out from him. I pray, what kind of Blood was that that flowed from your crucified God? was it not like that which issued from the wounded hand of Venus?

Cruor qualis divis manat ille beatis.

Can you blame us Jews, for not embracing (for our Prince Messiah,) one that while he lived could not get above eleven or twelve Disciples, and those Fishermen and Publicans (the most dis-ingenuous kind of men, and most easie to be seduc'd:) who, rather than they would run the hazard of suffe∣ring with him, did with most fearful execrations deny him. One who (while he was upon the Cross) was so impatient of pain; as he thirsted, and greedily gulp'd in a draught of Vinegar; and discovered more impati∣ency, than an ordinary man would have done. You say (indeed) he de∣scended into Hell: (Observe, by the way, that our over-wise Disputers, who question the Antiquity of the Article of the Descent, are more ignorant of the Christian Faith than this dull-pated Epicurean Philosopher: this Article was so obvious to Celsus, as he made it the subject of Derision; and yet is so dark to men that can see through a Mill-stone, as we must take it for a cour∣tesie, if they will allow us to make it the Object of our Faith.) Was it to get Disciples there, seeing he could get so few among the living? (lib. 2. cal. 41.) the Jew mentions Christ's last words at giving up the Ghost, the Earthquake and Darkness that attended his death. On these Scenes, Celsus as he discovers the truth of the delivery of these parts of the History of Christ, and his knowledg of that History; so it bewrays his ignorance in the Contents of the Old Testament; wherewith if he had been acquainted, he would never have brought a Jew upon the stage thus to flout at the blessed Je∣sus for suffering those things which their own Prophets foretold were to befal their Messias: to wit, that he was to be apprehended, arraigned, and con∣demned, as a Lamb not opening his mouth, that he was to have Vinegar giv∣en him to drink, that he was to be betrayed by Judas, forsaken of his Disci∣ples, denyed by Peter, &c. So that Celsus could not have devised how to e∣vince the Jew more effectually, that Jesus is the Christ, than by these very Arguments that he puts into his mouth against him: nor more manifestly have confirm'd the Truth of that Evangelical Assertion. That the Jews stumbled on this stone of Christs outward Meanness: they dreaming of a Messias who would come in external Pomp.

While you Christians (saith Celsus unpersonated, (lib. 3. cal. 9.) worship for God, one that was apprehended, and condemned, and put to death; you are but Apes of the Getae, who worship Xamolxis; of the Cylicians, who adore Mopsus; of the Acarnanians, who give divine honour to Amphilochus; of the Thebanes, who revere the Deity of Amphiaraus; and of the Lebadi∣ensians, who repute Trophonius a God.

Upon this point he beats again (lib. 6. 12.) You contemn our Jove, be∣cause the Cretians shew his Sepulchre in their Island: why do you then wor∣ship Jesus, who was buried? (Their Jove never declared himself to be the e∣ternal Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead as our Jesus did.) And (lib. 6. 18.) that prophane Wretch thus scoffs at the Christians using these words, [The Tree of Life, the Blood of the Cross, &c.] such words are often in their mouths; I suppose, because Jesus was crucified, and his Father Joseph a Carpenter: sure, had he been thrown down from a Rock, precipitated into a deep Dungeon, or strangled in an Halter; had he been a Currier, a Brick∣layer, or a Blacksmith, we should have heard the Christian extol to the Hea∣vens the Rock of Life, the Dungeon of Resurrection, the Halter of Immor∣tality, the blessed Stone, the Iron of Love, the holy Pelt. So much foolish∣ness was the Cross of Christ to this Grecian.—But these Scoffs Lactan∣tius well answers: [tot latrones semper perierunt, & quotidiè pereunt; quis e∣••rum post crucem suam non dico Deus, sed homo appellatus est?] (de justitia, l. 5. cap. 3.) And he must be a weak Christian that needs any other help to get over these Blocks without stumbling, than what Christ hath afforded in his Resurrection: for as in these he declared himself Man, made under the

Law, and pointed out by Prophesie; so in that he demonstrated himself God.

This Article was opposed (as Apostolical) by the Affrican Gentiles, as well as European; the sound of it went over the Sea: But what need we more, than the Jews reproaching us with it, in stiling our Saviour [Su∣spensus] and the confession of Benjamin Tudelensis (in itinerario) that Jesus was put to death at Jerusalem: (Grotii annotat. ad lib. 2. pag. 153.) and the Vote of Tacitus, annal. l. 15. that Christ, of whom the Christians are de∣nominated, suffer'd by Pontius Pilate, the Governour in the Reign of Ti∣berius.

§ 5. Article 5. [The third day he rose again from the dead.]

You therefore believe Christ to be God (saith Celsus his Jew, in Orig. 2. 41.) because, according as he had foretold you, he that could not save him∣self from Death, did arise from the dead, and shewed the prints of the Nails (wherewith he had been fastned to the Cross) to a simple VVoman, and one or two more of his Disciples; who, if they were skill'd in the Magick Art of their Master, were willingly deluded with vain Spectrums: if not, Christ astonish'd them with such like Prodigies, on purpose that they might afford matter for lies to the rest of the Tale-bearers, by reporting those things with confidence. This was, then, the report of the Disciples, this their Faith; And that Report and Faith so grounded; as Celsus, though while (with the Ape) he uses the Cats Claw to pull the Ches-nut out of the fire; he puts the Jew upon this desperate piece of service, to storm the likelihood of this Re∣port (lib. 2. cal. 40. 41.) yet when he enters the lists in his own Person, he has more regard of his own credit, than to forfeit it (with all men) by que∣stioning the truth of a Fact was so well known to Friends and Foes; and therefore attempts to ward off the dirt of it, by introducing examples of many, who have risen from the dead, and yet have not been reputed Gods. (lib. 3. 8.) The first Story he brings to parallel this, is (out of Pindar, and Herodotus his fourth Book) of Aristaeus Proconesius, who going into a Fullers Shop, there departed this Life: The Fuller, shutting the door upon the Corps, goes to acquaint his Relations with this sudden accident: upon which, as they were discoursing, in comes a Cyzicene, and tells them, that in his travelling homeward, he met with the Ghost of Aristaeus travelling to its long home, trudging (as fast as it could) into the other VVorld: which he confidently affirming, his friends (with preparations for his burial) enter the Fullers Shop, where no Aristaeus appears, either alive, or dead: nor was he seen or heard of, till that seven years after, he shewed himself to the Pro∣connensians, and having made that Paper of Verses which are called Ari∣maspaei, he again disappeared. This (saith Herodotus) I have from the Re∣lations of his Citizens: But this I know, that he was seen alive, by the Me∣tapontines, in Italy, 340 years after his second disparition: where (after he had play'd thus long at boe-peep with Death) by the appointment of the Ghost, and the confirmation of that his VVill by the Pythian Apollo, he had his Statue erected, by the Altar of Apollo: which was not made of such run∣ing Leather, as was its Prototype, that was standing, where it was first erect∣ed, in Herodotus his age. Besides the incoherence of this Story, and the unlikelihood that a Squire of Apollo should be so many years in making one poor Paper of Verses, &c. Agellius reckons this Aristaeus, for one of the Gre∣cian Fablers, deserving the Whet-stone (Noct. Attic. l. 9. c. 4.)

The next Parallel that Celsus brings of our Saviours Resurrection, is Cle∣omenes Astypulaeus, who to avoid the hands of his enemies, hid himself in an Ark; which when they that sought for him looked into, he was not found there, but, by some Divine Fate, had made a cleanly conveyance of himself out of his enemies clutches: but did they set a watch upon the Ark, as the Sanhedrim did upon Christ's Sepulchre?

The third story of Celsus, is of Clazomenius, whom he brings in as a Paral∣lel of Christ; in that he had power to lay down his life, and take it up again: for Clazomenius his Soul would often leave its body, and walk naked up and down; and, when it had taken the Air, return home again to its old Lodge∣ing. But I suppose it never took a three days journey, nor was so long ab∣sent; as to let the vital Fire go out, before its return; or the warmth of its Apparel be extinct, before it put on its cloaths again. The Story of Zamolxis is alledged by Celsus to the same purpose; though his Author He∣rodotus not only questions the truth of it, but relates it thus (which makes nothing for Celsus:) that he only withdrew himself three years into a sub∣terraneal house he had built, and that on purpose to deceive the Scythians in∣to an opinion that he had been so long dead, and to the embracing of that Doctrine of his Master Pythagoras, which he taught amongst them, that the soul of man was immortal (Herodotus Melpomene.)

Celsus vies Christ's shewing his Hands and Feet with Pythagoras his shew∣ing, in an assembly of Grecians, his Ivory Shoulder and Thigh; to convince them that he was that Euphorbus, who was famous in the Wars of Troy, and whose Shield and Coat of Arms he challenged: (lib. 5. cal. 5.) And in the same Book (cal. 11.) mentions the Angels rowling away the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, not without this Sarcasm: [as if the Son of God was not able to do it himself, but must have it done for him by some other.] (but if he had minded what he read, he might have learn'd that it was not rowl∣ed away for Christ's sake, that he might come out; but for the Women and Disciples sake, that they might look in) and not omitting so much as the variety in the Evangelists story; one, mentioning one; another, two An∣gels. One sitting upon the stone, two sitting, when the VVomen first lookt in; but standing, when they spake to the VVomen, one at the head, the other at the feet of the Sepulchre: (August. de consensu evan. lib. 3. cap. 24.)

Deogratias, mentions Christ's eating, and shewing the prints of the Nails, after his Resurrection (as points of Christian Faith) and argues from those Points as Christian principles (of which more anon.) as that Bishop informs St. Austin. (Ep. 39. quest. 1.) Nay, the Adversaries of the Christian Faith have not only mention'd Christs Resurrection, as an Article of our Faith (which is all I need to prove now) but have been forc'd to confess the Truth thereof, and to acknowledge that Christ did indeed rise from the dead: by name, R. Bechai (as he is alledged by Grotius de veritate Christan. rel. lib. 2. pag. 89.) [Satis magnis testimoniis convictus, Judaeorum magister Bechai, veri∣tatem hujus rei agnoscit:] But I shall hereafter alledge more Authorities for the proof of this Article from the confession of Adversaries; and shall now therefore make only this Reflection upon these Mock-resurrections. Be those Stories true or false, they are a good argument that the ancient and best Philosophers did not think the Resurrection impossible: for Plato (de repub. 10.) (quoted by Eusebius de praep. evan. 11. 35.) and mention'd by Va∣ler. Max. (lib. 1. c. 8.) and Plutar. (Symposiae 9. 5.) and Macrobius (Som. Scipionis initio) reports, that that happened to Eris an Armenian. Hera∣clides Ponticus, whom Pliny mentions (l. 7. 32.) writ a Book of a Woman who was raised from the dead after the seventh day, saith Pliny; after the thirtieth day saith Diogenes Laertius (Proaem. & Empedocle.) Plinius sic. [nobile il∣lud apud Graecos volumen Heraclidis, septem diebus feminae exanimis ad vitam revocatae.]

The like does Plutarch report of Aristaeus; (in his Romulus) and of The∣spesius, (de sera numinis vind.) We have here supererrogated, having pro∣duc'd Pagan Testimony, not only for the proving of matter of Fact, to wit, that this Article which we now profess, was delivered by the Apostles to the Primitive Church; but also their Confessions of the possibility of the thing believed.

§ 6. Article 6. [He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God.]

The Argument of Christ's Divinity drawn from his assumption into heaven, they darken with so great a volly of Examples of their own Hero's; as it would tire me to take up those Arrows one by one. But that he ascended with that body that was crucified: Celsus one while attributed to to delusion, it being impossible (as he argues) that a body can be made immortal, that being the Creature of inferiour Nature; not of God, as the soul is, and all other immortal beings. This Principle he borrows of the Manichees, out of the dispute betwixt Jason and Papiscus concerning Christ (lib. 4. cal. 22. 23.) Another while granting it true, he denys it to be a sufficient proof of Christ's Deity; because Cleomenes had (by what Art God knows) obtain'd that agility of body, as he could fly up as fast, and as far, as a dart could, even out of sight; and that was as far, as the Dis∣ciples could see Christ ascend. But the gift, which Christ shed forth after his Ascension, spake him to have ascended far above the highest Heavens. And as to the truth of this assertion [That this was an Article of the Aposto∣lical faith, that Christ did ascend into heaven] This Epicures carping at it, is proof sufficient; and his not daring to stand to his first Cavil; [that it was impossible,] but flying to another Salvo [But it was no more than others be∣fore him bad done, who yet thereby obtained not the repute of their deserving divine Honours] is a tacit Concession to the Truth of the thing it self: which is more than I here need to prove. I will therefore hasten to the next Article; which, because of its relation to this, I shall annex to the same Section.

Article 7. [From thence he shall come, to judge the quick and the dead.]

The Epicurean Beast runs full mouth upon this Article, and raiseth this crie. It is the common guise of all Fanatick Prophets; to profess them∣selves God, or the Son of God, or the divine Spirit: and to give out such pretences, as your Jesus made: [I am come into the world to save it, (from those impending judgements, that are ready to fall upon it, for its sins) happy they that believe in me! I will appear for their salvation, when I come again in glory and great power, with the heavenly host; at which my coming; I will adjudge all that reject me to everlasting Fire; and they that now despise my me∣nacies, shall then (when its too late to repent) mourn and lament:] No Chri∣stian Catechist can better express the mind of this Article, than this Philoso∣pher here doth (lib. 7. cal. 3.) A man of greater Reading than Celsus will be hard put to it, to find one man, before Christ's coming, who did so much as pretend to his being appointed of God, to be the Judge of all men. And for those Mock-christ's, who afterwards would have rob'd the blessed Je∣sus of this Prerogative, and challeng'd it to themselves: not one of them could shew their Commission under Gods hand, as he did.

§ 7. Article 8. [I believe in the holy Ghost.]

1. As this implies the Equality and Consubstantiality of the Spirit with the Father and the Son, and his being, therefore, together with them to be wor∣shipped (as the Nicen Fathers expound it.) Porphyrie, (who, for all Celsus his brags, that he himself understood the bottom, top and middle, of our Reli∣gion; was the best acquainted with our Scriptures, (both old and new) of any Heathen Philosopher) parallels it with his Master Plato's Opinion (in St. Austin de Civitate 10. 23.) quoted by R. vives, and thus exprest by Por∣phyrie (as St. Cyril contrà Julianum relates it) [Plato as well as the Christians held three Subsistences in the divine Essence: to wit, the All-Good and All-Great

God (the Father;) then the Creator God the Son, and the third, the Soul of the World, the holy Ghost. [Tres Substantias in Essentia divina statuit, Deum Opt. Max. deinde Creatorem, tertiam, Animam Mundi: to wit, that which moved upon the Waters; the Lord and giver of Life, as the abovesaid Fa∣thers describe him. What Beetle-brow'd Novices in Christianity are the So∣cinians, who will not acknowledge the Revelation of the ineffable sacred Tri∣nity to be communicated in these Evangelical VVritings: wherein the Atheni∣an Owls, the Pagan Philosophers, saw it so plainly exhibited; as they not only take notice of it, as an Article of our Religion, in their Polemical Animadversions; but offer to make proof, that this point of Doctrine was embraced by their Wisemen, even before it was attested by those wonders which God set as his seal, for the confirmation of the Gospel. So little did they deem it to be against Reason, as by the conduct even of Reason they stumbled upon that Divine Notion, which the Socinians will not submit their vain Reason to the belief of, upon (the strongest of all Reasons) Di∣vine Revelation: proved to be so, by the clearest of all evidences, the de∣monstration of power, exerted at the first manifest revelation of this Myste∣ry, at the Baptism of Christ; when the heavens were opened, and the Spi∣rit descended upon the Son, and a voyce was heard from the Fa∣ther.

2. As it implies (still to go along with the same Father) the Churches confession of her belief; that the holy Ghost spake by the Prophets, It is thus assronted by Celsus (lib. 8. cal. 16.) what you boast of the Spirit speak∣ing by your Old and New Testament-prophets, we can out-vie, if we had a mind to repeat those many Oracles of our Prophets and Prophetesses, (who sung future things with a Prophetick voice, which they suck'd in from the Recesses of the Gods) those many which were delivered from the En∣trails of Sacrifices, and premonstrated from other Prodigies; or reveiled by the vive-voyce of the Gods themselves, appearing in visible forms. How many Cities have been founded by the advice of Oracles, and been freed from Famine and Pestilence, by following their direction; or brought to ut∣ter ruine, hy forgetting or despising their Counsels. How many Colonies have been sent forth upon their Order; thriving exceedingly, while they fol∣lowed their counsel? To how many Princes and private men has it been fortunate or fatal, to observe or sleight them? How many barren Women have become fruitful? How many maimed persons have recovered the use of their Limbs? How many distracted persons, the use of their Reason, by following the advice of Oracles, &c. What a vast distance there is be∣twixt these and Scripture-prophecies is discovered in my fourth Book, pag. 8.

3. As it imports his working of those Miracles, which God hath set as a Seal to the Gospel: It has already been shew'd, what attempts the Hea∣then made, to out-vye that point of the Church's Faith, and the Operations of that Spirit (recorded in our Scriptures) by tbe impostures and shadows of Miracles wrought amongst them: To which I shall here add the confession of Celsus. (in Origen. 2. lib.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [Ye believe he is the Son of God, because he cured the lame and blind.]

And that of Julian (in Cyril. lib. 6.) except a man should reckon amongst great works [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—] the curing of the lame and blind, and the relieving them that were possess'd with Devils in Bethsaida and Bethanie. What did Jesus do? Here the most bitter Adversary of the Christian Cause bears witness, that the Apostolical Church urged the World to a belief of the Gospel, from the consideration of Christ's great works, to wit, his curing the lame, blind, possessed, &c. And makes open confession, that Christ did do those great works which the Evangelists mention; so that he hath nothing to say against the validity of the Churches Argument, but only this, That such

works are not indications of a divine Power. It is therefore incumbent upon him, and his party to shew, what other man did ever do such works, or by what power less than divine they can be effected?

§ 8. Article 9. [The holy Catholick Church, the Communion of Saints.

How can you call your society, Catholick: either as to time, since it was but erected the other day (saith Celsus, lib. 1. cal. 19.) or place, seeing, till of late, it was shut up in Judaea, a corner of Palestine (lib. 4. 14.) and since it peeped out into other parts of the World, its celebrated clandestinely and in holes (lib. 1. cal. 1.) That so inconsiderable a part of Mankind (as the Jews and Christians) should boast themselves to be the whole Company of Mortals acceptable to the Gods; is just, as if a company of Bats and Emits, or of Frogs and Worms should contend for preheminence, in point of the Gods favour to them; and say, that they are the only creatures, to which God vouchsafes to reveil his mind; and that neglecting the whole World beside, he only takes care of their welfare (lib. 4. cal. 11.) Lastly, how can your Church be Catholick, in point of Doctrine? seeing you dissent and rend your selves, as a Sect from the Catholick Religion of the whole World (lib. 8. cal. 1.) The truth is (saith he, lib. 1. 5.) And are rent your selves into so many sects (lib. 3. 4.) We could allow your Religion to be acceptable to the God of Judaea, and your Society (upon that account) in favour with that God. But we cannot endure that pride, that you will either be all, or none: that you applaud your selves, as the All of the Universe, which God respects; and exclude all, but your selves, out of the divine favour: that your Church should be the Catholick Receptacle of the whole Community of Saints, and your Religion the Universal way of Soul-cure (a thing never heard of be∣fore, either among the Traditions of the Magi, Gymnosophists, or Philo∣sophers) this is that we cannot but with abhorrencie disgust. That the Jews (for Christian Religion is orignally Judaick) that inconsiderable People, (and so much hated of the Gods, as they cannot obtain of any of them, so much room upon Earth, as to dwell upon together) should prescribe, in matters of Religion, to the whole World, and not permit to other Nations their own, as best for them: but break the bond of universal Peace; decry that National Independency, which (till this universal way of Salvation, this common Faith was obtruded upon the whole World) kept all Nations in a friendly Communion of heart, in a charitable correspondency among them∣selves: each one allowing other that Religion they esteem'd most convenient for themselves. The Evangelical way of Salvation, the Christian Faith; and Christian Church are therefore called Common, Universal and Catho∣lick; because it is that way of Salvation, which God hath from the begin∣ning propounded to all Mankind, and been intirely embraced in all Ages and Places, by all Persons, who have preferr'd divine Revelations before their own Inventions: who are therefore collectively stiled the Catholick Church.

1. Celsus therefore equivocates in saying our Religion and Church were but erected the other day: for though the Gospel, as it is an History of the exhibition of the promised Seed, could not commence before that Fulness of Time, when Christ came into the World; yet, as it is the glad tydings of Salvation by that Seed, it was preach'd in Paradise: in which respect Je∣sus Christ is yesterday, and to day the same Rock upon which the Church hath been built in all Ages.

2. This Religion and Church was not shut up in Judaea, a corner of the World, but proclaim'd and establish'd in Eden, first, by God himself, to and in the old World: and next by Noah, to and in the new World, in the hearing and sight of all Mankind: from whence, as from the Center, their Lines went to the utmost Circumference of suceeding Generations: a∣mongst whom whosoever retain'd the fear of God, and wrought righteous∣ness, were accepted of God.

When indeed men grew weary of waiting for the Seed promis'd, and became so vain in their Imaginations, as to frame Gods, and Saviours, and Religions to themselves. God preach'd the Gospel anew, and repeated the old and Catholick Religion to his friend Abraham, annexing thereto the Seal of Circumcision, as a sign that the Seed was not yet come, and that it was to come out of his Loyns by Isaac.) This was not only a peculiar Priviledge to his Posterity, but a general advantage to the whole World: For whither could men, in common reason, think themselves obliged to look (when they found themselves at a loss in point of Religion;) but to Sem's Family, to which they were directed by Noah's blessing the God of Sem: And to which of Sem's stock could they repair, but to Abraham whom Sem himself (that King of Salem, and Priest of the high God (as some think) had blessed in the name of that high God. So that Abra∣ham, and his Seed by Isaac, were Gods Standard bearers, to lift up Christ as an Ensign to the Gentiles: And to make these Standard-bearers higher by the head, than all other Nations, and the Ensign more conspicuous. God lifted that People up above all others, by signal favours while they walk'd in that way that he had appointed them, punish'd them double to any other trangressors, when they cast off the fear of Isaac, he built his glorious Tem∣ple amongst them upon his own Hill, adorn'd his Worship with such Cere∣monies, as at once rendred it august in the Eyes of Gentiles, and instructive to their minds: august as out-vying their Inventions in multitude, in mag∣nificence: Instructive, as pointing to the bruised heel of the Womans Seed; as being so chargeable and toilsome, as it was not credible that any Nation should (by their own free choice) encumber themselvs with so burdensome a service, nor possible they could be induc'd to the embracing of it, by any Mo∣tives inferiour to those dreadful appearances of the divine Majesty (at the promulgation of it) and Menacies annext to it. Add to all this, their so∣journing in Aegypt (the Nursery of Idolatry) so many hundred years: Their settlement in Canaan; where the worship of Devils had taken deepest root; so near to Caldaea, where the Primitive Tradition had been first corrupted; The improvement of the Art of Navigation by Solomon; Their several dispersi∣sions into the utmost parts of the inhabited Earth, &c. And it will appear; that as the Earth was over-spread by degrees with people, and people grew to apostatize from the Catholick Religion; God sent this (then last) Edition of the Gospel after them; by the hand of Abrahams seed, bringing to their remembrance the almost forgotten Promise of the Womans Seed: And that therefore the Divine Grace administred to all men an occasion to seek after God: whom they might have found, if they would have sought him where he directed them: and whom all did find, who did not maliciously shut their eyes against the Light, shining in Judaea, in its full body (as the Sun in its Orb) and thence transmitting its Beams into the utmost Coasts of the World. Briefly, The Jews (setting aside the Covenant of Peculiarity, which con∣sisted of Earthly Promises and Carnal Ordinances) was only the Worlds Cock, to give it notice how the time past (till the Fulness of Time was come) to awake its drowsie eyes to wait for break of day; to profligat those paint∣ed Lyons who had usurpt the Title of the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah; to give notice, the Star of Jacob was not yet risen, and to direct them, by the voice of their Prophets, when and where to look for the promised Seed. In a word; they were not the Catholick Church, but a Nation of Priests, se∣parated for the service of the Catholick Church, consisting of Jews and Gen∣tiles, worshipping the true God, and waiting for Christ.

3. Celsus his Exception, therefore, that Christian Religion opposeth the general Religion of the World, is manifestly false: for there never was any Religion universally profest (as that which bringeth Salvation to all) save the Christian; that is, Faith in the promised Seed; for Gentile Religions were calculated to particular Climes, but this publish'd to, and believed through the whole World.

4. What he objects as to Sects of Christians, I answer, what ever Sect re∣cedes from the Catholick Church, and the common Faith ceaseth to be Chri∣stian; that is, whoever rend themselves from that body of Believers (who in all Ages (before Christ and since) have held the common Way of Sal∣vation by the blood of the Womans Seed;) become, as to Religion, Hea∣thens: and therefore the Church is not chargeable with them.

Article 10. [The forgiveness of sins.]

This is plainly to be read, as a Point of Christ, and his Apostles Doctrine, and the Churches Faith, in that odious Comparison of the Epicurean So∣phist Celsus (lib. 3. 16, 17.) They that are to be initiated in Pagan Mysteries, are by a Cryer thus invited [whosoever is of pure hands and heart, whosoever is free from all impieties, whosoever hath a soul not conscious to it self of any vil∣lany, whosoever hath lived well and justly, come hither:]

At sacer est locus—procul ite prophani, &c.

But the Christian Preachers invite men to the Christian Faith, after these forms: [Whosoever is simple, wretched, wicked, prophane, here is pardon for them. Come ye impure and defiled Souls, here is a Fountain of Purgation open for you to wash in.] Your Jesus (you say) came not to call the righteous but sinners, (and whither should the Physician come but to the sick) as Origen well replies. In the exposition of the Apostles Creed, (among the works of St. Cyprian; but by St. Jerom ascribed to Ruffinus, and by Gennadius com∣mended as the best piece of Ruffinus; and therefore judged by Erasmus to be his;) the Pagans object against this Article, That the Christians do miserably deceive themselves in believing, that sins can be forgiven; that what is com∣mitted indeed, can be purg'd by words; whether of Promise on Gods part; or Confession on the penitent's part; or Absolution, on the Priests part. Is it possible (say they) that he that hath committed Murder or Adultery, should not be reckon'd a Murderer or Adulterer: to which it is there well answered: Why should I not believe, that that God who of Earth made me a Man, can make me of guilty, innocent; that he who made me see, who before was blind; who made me hear, who before was deaf; who made me sound, who was be∣fore lame: can restore innocency to me, when I have lost it, &c?

Article 11. [The Resurrection of the Flesh.]

Were this Article buried, in the oblivion of whole Christendom, it might obtain a Resurrection, even out of the grave of Pagan Writers; and loose no more of its perfection, than our bodies shall do at their's. That fleering Philosopher Celsus, while he laughs it out of countenance, brings it to re∣membrance. All that Christ taught you (saith he) touching the Resurrection of the body, touching Eternal Life and Death, he borrowed from the Books of the Jewish Prophets (lib. 2. 3.) But with how much absurdity do you (with that earnestness, as if you accounted nothing more desireable) hope and wait for the Resurrection of your Body? when in the mean while you throw your Bodies as vile things to all kinds of Torments (lib. 8. 18.) And (lib. 3. cal. 6.) The Christians amuse the unwary Vulgar with vain and bug-bear threats, of eternal judgement, of the pains of the damned: and with the alluring promises of future rewards. And yet the same Author (lib. 4. 7.) confesseth that we in our discourses of the day of Judgement speak congru∣ously to the old Philosophers. And (lib. 1. cal. 4.) the very first instance he bringeth of our concurrence with the opinions of Philosophers is that which we teach touching rewards and punishment.

Deogratias relates to St. Austin this Quaere propounded by a Gentile Philo∣pher; Whether the promised Resurrection would be like that of Lazarns

or that of Christ? not like Lazarus (saith the Philosopher;) for he rose be∣fore his Body was consum'd: but you Christians say, that mens bodies shall rise many Ages after they are crumbled to dust: not like Christ; for he shew'd the scars in his Hands and Side, and did eat after he rose again: but you say, that after the Resurrection men shall neither eat nor drink, nor have any blemish upon their Bodies (Aug. Ep. 49.) Here we have not only the Re∣surrection, but the manner of it, as it is described in the Gospel, attested by Pagans to bave been the known Doctrine of the Church, viz. that our Bodies should rise glorious Bodies. Hitherto appertains that place of Ruffin. (expl. symbol.) [Infideles reclamant, & dicunt quomodò potest caro, quae putrefacta, dissolvitur, aut in pulverem vertitur, aut in mari profundo solvitur, fluctibùs{que} dispergitur, recolligi rursùm & reintegrari in unum, & corpus ex eâ hominis repara∣ri? Resp. quod in seminibus quae tu in terra jacis, per annos singulos fieri vides, hoc de tua carne, quae Dei lege seminatur in terra futurum esse non credis? Cur, quaeso te nunc, tam angustus & invalidus divinae potentiae existmator es, ut dispersum uniuscujus{que} carnis pulverem in suam rationem colligi & reparari posse non cen∣seas; cùm videas quòd etiam mortale ingenium demersas in profundum terrae metallorum venas rimatur, & artificis oculus aurum videt in quo imperitus ter∣ram putet? nec tantum quidem concedimus ei qui fecit hominem, quantum homo, qui ab ipso factus est, consequi potest? & cum auri esse propriam venam, & ar∣genti aliam, aeris quo{que} longè disparem, ferri quo{que} & plumbi, diversas in terra species latere terrae, mortale deprehendat ingenium: divina virtus invenire posse ac discernere non putabitur uniuscujus{que} carnis proprium sensum etiam si videatur esse dispersum.] Against this Doctrine (of the Resurrection of the Body) the Lufidels exclaim, and say; How can the Flesh, after it is dissolv'd and turn'd in∣to dust, or mouldered away in the bottom of the Sea, and scatter'd with the waves, be again gather'd up and reunited into one, and the body of a man be made up of it? I answer, [That which thou seest every year done, in the seed that thou casts into the ground; dost thou not believe this may be done in thy flesh, which by the Law of God is sown in the earth? Why (I pray thee now) hast thou so low an esteem of the divine Power, that thou caust not conceive how the scatter'd dust of e∣very mans body can be collected and set in its own rank? when thou seest that even humane Wit searcheth, out of the depth of the earth, divers Veins of Me∣tals: And that the Artificers eye discerns that to be Gold, wherein the unskilful perceive nothing but earth. And shall we not ascribe so much to God, who made man, as we see man can attain to, who is but Gods Creature? Or shall not the divine Power be thought able to find out and discern the proper rank▪ to which every crum of dust (of every mans) appertains; seeing the Ingenuity of Mortals extends it self to the discerning of the Veins of Gold, Silver, Brass, Iron, and Lead asunder?] But we shall meet with more upon this subject while we present the Animadversions of Pagans upon the next and last Ar∣ticle.

Article 12. [And life everlasting.]

If when you speak of eternal Life (saith Celsus, lib. 8. 18.) you meant no more, than that you hope your Soul shall live for ever; I should cordial∣ly assent to you, as rightly thinking, that they shall be happy that have lived well, and the unrighteous held in everlasting misery. From this Opinion, neither the Christian, nor any body else can recede: But to think that the Body shall be made immortal, is a Conceit that cannot enter but into rustick, impure, and brutish Animals. Why then did Plato think, that Souls separate have a kind of Body wherein they appeared about Sepulchres? (Orig. cont. Cels. 2. 41.) why did he assign certain fortunate Islands for the habitation of fortunate Souls, if he had not some gimmering of the Resurrection: What need a place so large, (as in comparison of that, this habitable Earth is but an Ant-hill) if it be not intended for glorified Bodies as well as Souls (lib. 7. cal. 9.) as St. Origen reasons. Lastly, why does this fleering Epicure deride

the Church for believing the everlasting Life of the Body, as a thing impos∣sible? Seeing the Philosophers are of Opinion, that the whole world is an Animal, a living Creature consisting of Soul and Body: and yet an Animal most blest and sempiternal. And that the Sun and the rest of the Planets have not only bodies (as every man's Eye may inform him) but Bodies animated, and (with these bodies of theirs) sempiternal, why cannot he, who hath given so bright and everlasting a Body to the Sun, cloath our Souls with Bodies, that shall shine as the Sun for ever, as St. Austin argues (de civitat. 10. 29.) expostulating with the Philosopers, for that they are forc'd to recede from their own Placits, while they argue against the Articles of our Faith. [Quid ergò est quòd cùm vobis fides Christiana suadetur tunc obliviscemini, aut ignorare vos fingitis, quòd disputare aut docere soleatis? quid causae est quod propter opiniones vestras quas ipsi oppugnatis Christiani esse nolitis?] [What's the matter, that while we argue with you to imbrace the Christian Faith, ye either forget, or feign your selves ignorant of, such things as you use to defend and teach? what's the matter that for the sake of those opinions of yours, which your selves oppose, you refuse to bocome Christans?]

Can a fuller demonstration be required than this, that Christian Religion was deliver'd (at first) in that very Form, wherein it is now profes'd by the Church, and delineated in the Gospel? That the Rose of Sharon, the Lilly of the Vallies, which now sticks on the Churches bosome, is that which was planted by the hand of the Apostles, sixteen hundred years ago, may be evi∣denc'd (beyond all possibility of doubt) by comparing it, with that, which grows among these Thorns, with the cuts and prints of it, in those Her∣bals that were drawn on purpose to decry the Virtue of it. I put it here to the Scepticks Conscience; whether he would not esteem him a sleepy or brib∣ed Judge, who would not give sentence of his Legitimacie, would not pro∣nounce him the Son of that Woman he calls Mother, after he had heard the Adversaries (and those that would have his Inheritance to be theirs) in their pleadings against him, describe the Child, that was then born of that Wo∣man, in all points so like the defendant; as the Pagan Adversaries of our Re∣ligion describe that Religion, which Christ and his Apostles publish'd, to be like that is now contain'd in our Scriptures. Briefly, to rally up the strength of this first Argument (for the credibleness of that Testimony which com∣mends the Gospel to us) we have heard the Witnesses on both sides examin'd and those ••gainst our cause give as full evidence for us (as to Matter of Fact) as those of our own party: we have heard the Plaintiff declare, and his Decla∣ration is a pleading of our Cause: VVe alledge that Christ was born, cruci∣fied, rose again, &c. we can make proof of all this by thousands of Evi∣dences in our custody; but to spare the labour of perusing them, and to prevent all suspicion of Forgery, we are content to refer the business to our Adversaries Records: these have been produc'd, and appear to be all one with ours (as to the stating Matters of Fact:) so that there was never any thing more unanimously agreed in, than Gospel-history, Friends and Foes giving in their harmonious, Testimonie to the Truth thereof: and the busi∣est Adversaries being not able to make any solid Exception against any thing reported in it.

CHAP. V.

The Truth of Gospel-History attested by Secular Wri∣ters.

§ 1. Old Antagonists did not persist in the denyal of any point of Gospel-history, save that of Christs Resurrection: and the manner of their denying it proves the truth of it. § 2. Josephus his Story of John Baptist, accords with Go∣spel-history. § 3. His Text in Testimony of Jesus vindicated from the exceptions of Vossius, &c. § 4. Josephus his Date of Christ's, and the Baptists Story falls in with Gospel-Chronologie. § 5. The Stories of He∣rod, Herodias, Aretus, Artabanus, Philip, Lysanias, in Josephus, Taci∣tus, Suetonius, timed to Sacred Chronology. § 6. The twin-Priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas at Christ's Baptism and Passion cleared. § 7. The Date of Philip the Tetrarch's death.

§ 1. 1. THat Christ was born at such a time, of such a Mother, did such things, preach'd such Doctrine, as our Scriptures mention; the Jew (who was upon the place, and his Contemporary) had not the face to deny: as being things not done in a corner, but the greatest and most consi∣derable part of them, famously known to thousands of Eye and Ear-witnesses. The only Passage (in the whole Story of Christ) he offer'd to make excepti∣on against, was that of Christ's Resurrection: for the disproof of which he hired Soldiers, to say, that he was not risen, but his body stoln away by his Disciples. But now the positive part of their Testimony clearly confutes the Negative, and confirms the rest of the Evangelical Story, touching that matter: for if the Soldiers can tell, that his Disciples stole him away; then it is certain; that his Sepulchre was watch'd by them; that his body (the third day) was gone out of the Sepulchre; and that his Disciples said, he was risen. And this is as much as we need strive for, in this Question (con∣cerning Matters of Fact reported by the Apostles) Whether this report were true or no! is another Question, whose final and irrefragable Determinati∣on depends upon the probat of their divine Mission (of which anon:) For grant but this, that the Apostles (to whose Doctrine God set his Seal) did preach, that Christ rose again; and Gods Seal will go farther (with conside∣rate men) than the word of suborn'd Buff-coats: Soldiers are not gene∣rally, men of over-tender Consciences: To weigh the Evidences, at present, in the Scales of common Sense: That Christ was conveighed out of the Grave (either by the hand of his divine Power, or of his Disciples) and that the Disciples said he was risen; is confes'd, is attested to, by the Soldiers: the only doubt remaining, is, whether in that Point wherein they differ, we are (in reason) to believe the Apostles, or Soldiers? The Apostles can shew Gods Hand and Seal, to confirm their Report; do with great power give evidence of Christ's Resurrection: we have only the Soldiers bare word, and the syllables of it not hanging well together: His Disciples (say they) stole him away while we slept: a company of armed men, set on purpose to watch, must certainly be asleep, if they let his Body be taken away by a few unarm'd and timorous persons, a few scatter'd sheep, now their Shep∣herd was smitten, and on a dead sleep, if they were not awaken'd by that noise (they could not but make) in opening the mouth of the Sepulchre: it being shut up, with a great stone, firmly fastned in the Rock, with cramps of Iron soder'd into the Rock and Stone; and made as sure as could be, by the wit of his mortal enemies: Make it as sure as you can (saith Pilate) so they went and made the Sepulchre sure, sealing the Stone, Mat. 27. 65. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, use the best of your skill to make it fast, so fast as it

cannot be removed [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] they made the Sepulchre sure: as sure as a prison is, when the doors are fast lock'd; as feet are from getting out, when they are lock'd in the Stocks, Act 5. 23. Act. 16. 24. And this by sealing the stone, not as we seal bags (which makes them not fast, but is only a sign of honest dealing;) for no such sealing could have hindred the Disciples (if they had had a mind) to steal away the Lords Body: and therefore this sealing of the stone, could be nothing else, but their fastning it to the Rock, as hath been above expres'd, (Gaill's Sacred Philosophy, art. 4. cap. 27.) But then (if they were on so dead a sleep) how can they tell what was done, or by whom it was conveighed away? They were awake (after the Body of our Lord was gone) when they saw, it was not in the Grave: and the Disciples were awake, those many times they saw him, and handled him, after his Resurrection. All say, they saw the Se∣pulchre empty, on Sunday morning, when they were broad awake: the Dis∣ciples say, they saw him alive after he was risen; and knew that Body, where∣in he appear'd, to be that very Body which was crucified, by many infallible tokens. No (say the Soldiers) he did not rise again, but the Disciples stole away his Body; yet confess, they were asleep, while this was done: which is (in effect) to acknowledge they cannot tell, how it was conveighed a∣way: and to forbid all sober men to give assent to what they say, as being in∣competent Witnesses. Christ's Body we can assure you is not in the Sepulchre; but how it was removed thence, or by whom? ask them that can tell, for we were asleep. This is just like the evidence which Aemilianus gave a∣gainst Apuleius. (Apolog. pag. 295.) [Habuit Apuleius quaepiam linteolo involu∣ta: haec quoniam ignoro quae fuerint, iccirco Magica fuisse contendo: crede igitur mihi quod dico, quia id dico quod nescio.] Apuleius had certain things wrapt up in Linnen cloath: these, because I knew not what they were, I strongly affirm to have been some Magical Tools; that is, (as Apuleius truly represents to the Judges this Testimony) you must therefore believe me, because I affirm that of which I am wholly ignorant. And had the Chief Priests themselves believed the Soldiers Tale, why did they not send hue and cry after the Thief? why did they not rack those, that were famously known to be his Disciples, to make them confess where they had laid it? why did they not make privy search for it, while the sent was hot? Why did not the Soldiers, (if they had believ'd themselves) as soon as they awoke (and saw the stone roll'd a∣way) disperse themselves several ways, in pursuit of those had stoln it? why did they not apply themselves (forthwith) to the Guards, at every Gate? to the Watchmen, that went up and down the City; with a [Saw ye not, heard ye not, can ye tell no tydings?] why was not Jerusalem all in an up∣roar at the news? How easily might the Discipies have been taken in the manner, who (by the Soldiers own confession) could not be gone far, be∣fore they awoke: for they had not time, (to shut the Cabinet, after they had stoln the Jewel) to roll the stone to the Sepulchres mouth again, after they had taken out the Corps; which certainly they would have done (had they not been prevented) on purpose to hide from the Soldiers so certain an indication of the removal of the Body, till they were got out of their reach. It had been worth the while to have turn'd every stone, to find whither the Disciples had convey'd it, that they might have laid it forth to open view of the people, to affront the Apostles preaching of the Resurrection: But the proud are robbed, they have slept their sleep (as their own Prophes, in a holy scorn and derision of them, had foretold) and in the hands of the mighty there is found nothing: Nothing, but this palpably feigned Tale, can be in∣vented, to prejudice the truth of Christ's Resurrection, by a Council of the subtilest and most implacable enemies Christs name ever had, and that, after whole nights plotting upon their pillow, (for they suspected Christ would rise from the dead) what to do? what to say, in case their fears should come to pass? yea, after comparing notes, and taking counsel together. Had they so drain'd their heads of devilish policy, in compassing Christs Death, as

they could invent nothing, to disprove his Resurrection by, but this pitiful shift? (as Euphranor bestow'd so much art in carving the Image of Neptune, as he could not tell how to go to work with the other Gods.) I begin (now) less to wonder at the observation I am upon, than I did, when I first took it up: It seemed strange to me, that Gospel-history should pass through so many Ages so currently, as not to meet with the least rational Contradiction (as to any Clause or Tittle of it) from any of those millions of desperate enemies it hath met with (all along in its passage down to us) save only in this case: But I see (in this very case) the Devils good will to oppose it, especially in this Article of the Resurrection; (this being that, wherein Christ triumphed over him; and we, in Christ; ['Tis Christ that dyed, yea, rather that rose from the dead] is the acme of the Apostles glorying) And his want of skill, or power, or heart, to oppose it, ever since Christ tri∣umphed so gloriously over him (and his Instruments) in this Debate about his Resurrection; as no man (how great soever his enmity was against it) would so far under value his own Reputation, as to hazard it in gainsaying the Reports of the Gospel: So that this little Stone (ever since it was cut out of the Mountain) has not met with any contradiction, that could put it to a stop; but what it has with ease run over. I would not be too pe∣remptory in affirming, what hath not been done; there may be more Anta∣gonists against our Religion, than I have read: but this I may safely say, that after some considerable enquiry, and most serious perusal of all the ancient Authors opposing Christianity (that I could compass a sight off;) I have not read, nor heard of one person, who offered to assert himself, an Eye-witness, of any one thing, contrary to the Evangelical Story.

§ 2. These Testimonies of Adversaries are sufficient to evince the Truth of the delivery, and though the impossibility of the Apostles, either de∣ceiving or being deceived (which hath been demonstrated in the first and se∣cond Book) does manifestly evince that they delivered nothing but the Truth: yet that the Atheists mouth may for ever be stopt, I shall, ex abun∣danti, produce the Testimonies of strangers and enemies, for the proof of the Truth of the things delivered.

There is (we see) no Comparison betwixt the Allegations of Plaintiff and Defendant. Their exceptions are, to our Evidences; as the dust up∣on the Ballances, to the weight in the Scales; lighter than vanity. Were it a drawn match betwixt us, were the Scales equally ballanced; the weight of the Testimony of By-standers, of persons that did not interest them∣selves in the quarrel, as it relates to Religion; but nakedly record the great Emergencies of the World, as Historians; especially of such of them as (in point of Religion) side with our Adversary, will add over weight to our Scale, and cast the ballance, on our side so irrecoverably, as it shall not be in the power of Scepticism it self (by injecting Queries) to pull down the other Scale; or, with all the doubts it can raise, to with-hold its assent to the in∣dubitable Truth of our Evangelist, in those things that are hardest to be be∣lieved, and of that importance, as the belief of them necessarily inforceth and demonstrateth the Truth of the rest of their Histories.

Josephus, a Jew and a Priest of Aaron's Order (as himself informs us in the History of his own life) in that part of his Jewish Antiquities, for the truth whereof he appeals (against the Exceptions of one Justus, a bold lying Pamphleter) to the Roman Records, in the custody of Vespasian and King Agrippa; that Agrippa, who was so zealous of the Law, as he wish'd he might no longer live, than he might be serviceable towards the pro∣moting of the Jewish Religion (and therefore fell down dead at Caligula's feet, when he perceived him inexorably set against the Jews, for refusing to erect his Statue in their Temple (Philo, Legatione ad Caium) And if the Testi∣mony, of such an Author, confirm'd by such Evidences, in the custody of so great an enemy to our Religion, be not sufficient to prove the Truth of

it, in those parts of it, it hath relation to, what will satisfie? Now this Jo∣sephus, (Jud. antiq. lib. 18. cap. 9.) relates the whole History of John Bap∣tist exactly in the tenour of the Evangelists, thus. [Herod putting away his own Wife, the Daughter of Aretas, the King of Arabia; and taking from his Brother (yet living) his Wife Herodias, had (not long after) War with Aretas: in which Battle Herod's host utterly perished: after which (for Herodias her sake, and through her ambition) he was deprived of his Kingdom, and, with her, banish'd to Vienna in France] What manner of man doth this speak the Baptist to have been, in the opinion of the people? when they impute Herod's mishap to the murthering of him, rather than the Sanhedrim (re∣puted sacred persons) or his own Children (a cruelty more than salvage) a∣gainst which Barbarities, though Josephus declaims, yet he does not impute to them Herod's falling into the displeasure of God, but to his beheading John. (lib. 16. cap. ult.) and his following the counsel and humours of Hero∣dias (18. 9.) wherein he had the concurrence of other Jews, as himself writ∣eth. [Many of the Jews were perswaded, that those judgements befel them in punishment and revenge of the death of John Baptist [as he was commonly call∣ed:) for Herod had slain him, being a just man. This John commanded the Jews to embrace Virtue, to execute justice one towards another, to serve God in Piety, reconciling men by Baptism to Unity: for upon this account Baptism seem∣ed unto him a thing acceptable to God; if it were used, not for the remission of sins only, but for the purifying of the body, the soul being, first, cleansed from unrighteousness: he excited men to the studie of Virtue, but chiefly of Pie∣ty and Justice, as also to the Laver of Baptism; which he then said was grate∣ful to God, when they did not give over this, or that, but all sins; and to minds, first purified by righteousness, added the purity of the body. (lib. 18. c. ap. 7.) And when as divers flocked after him (for they were greatly delighted in hearing him) Herod fearing, that so forceable a power of perswading, (as he was endowed with) might possibly lead the people into Rebelligon, sent him to Machaerous Castle.] How perfectly does this square with our Evangelists? as to his Doctrine of Repentance of Righteousness, &c. As to the Opinion the Jews had of him, as a just Person: As to the occasion of his confinement and death; in pre∣tence (and partly) Herods fear, that he might draw the people into Re∣bellion (and therefore Christ, hearing of John's Imprisonment (and the Pharisees muttering, that Jesus Baptised more Disciples than John) fearing that upon the same score he might be restrain'd, steps aside into Galilee, out of Judea; where he saw the people flocking after him, was looked upon with an evil eye (John 4. 1, 2.) as Scaliger well observes (de emendat. temp. lib. 6.) But really (and chiefly) John's telling him of his Brothers Wife, and Herod's gratifying of Herodias: for if they did not rtpute her hand to be in John's murder, why should they deem her exile (as well as Herod's) to be the effect of Divine Vengeance, for the death of the Baptist. As to the multitude of his Followers; the End of his Baptism, to be a Badge of U∣nity, (a sign of the reconciliation of the hearts of Fathers to Children, of Children to Fathers, and of the unwise to the wisdom of the just.) Its in∣effectualness to save by the outward Sign, without the inward Grace fignified, &c. Non ovum ovo similius: never was one more like himself (in all propor∣tions) than that Baptist is, which the Evangelists, to him, whom Josephus describes.

§ 3. No less a Similitude is there, betwixt that Jesus, whom the Evange∣lists describe at large in Iliads; and him whose story Josephus contracts, into this Nut-shell: (Antiq. l. 18. c. 4.) [About this time there was one Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to account him a Man (and no more;) for he was a worker of Miracles; a Teacher of them, who gladly embraced the Truth: of whom he drew many after him both Jews and Gentiles; this was Christ: Insomuch, as though Pilate (by the advice and instigation of our Elders) delivered him to be crucified, yet they who had loved him from the beginning, did not forsake him;

for the third day he appeared alive to them; (as the holy Prophets had foretold, not only these, but innumerable more marvelous things, of Him.) And to this day the Christian people (which of him are so named) cease not to encrease.]

Before I proceed to the Application of this Testimony to our present Case, I must remove some Objections, whereby some of the over-wise Sect have attempted to alleviate this Authority.

There are who suspect a Pious Fraud here; that some Christians have been tampering with this Text of Josephus, and turned what was originally writ in dispraise of our Jesus, into this commendation; by foysting two Clauses into it.

• 1. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [if we may call him a man.] And
• 2. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [this is Christ.]

But why might not Josephus make honourable mention of Jesus? as well as of his fore-runner, John the Baptist: or his Disciple, James the Just? both which he commends for holy men, and so far in Gods favour; as, in re∣venge of their Murders, Vengeance fell upon Herod, and utter desolation upon Jerusalem.

Josephus they say was a Pharisee, and upon that account would not befriend Christ with so large an Encomium.

1. If Interest will not lye, he was more an Essene than a Pharisee: for in several places he condemns this, but every where extols that Sect) even such as himself affirms Bannus, his Preceptor, to have been (viz.) an Essene, and a great admirer of John Baptist: whom, if he followed in other things, is it like he would desert him, in his good opinion of Christ? wherein he might come short of a Christian, and be no other than Theodoret and Origen pre∣sent him: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉;] [one that did not embrace the Christian Re∣ligion, nor our Lord Jesus Christ:] And yet come so far towards one, as to believe, Jesus of Nazareth to have been the Messiah, according to the Noti∣on of the Ebionites, and Nazarens, and some other Jews, (both in the time of Christ, and Josephus) who observ'd the Mosaical Rites, and differ'd not from other Jews, save in opining Jesus to have been born of a Virgin, to have risen again, to have been a great Prophet, &c. whom Trypho the Jew [in Justin Martyr) if he do not praise, does not disallow. It is true, he that would look for a Jew of this temper now, had need light up a Candle at noon-day, to seek him out: for the Sun affords not light enough. But we must not, from our Modern (ignorant and malicious) Jew, take a measure of those, who lived a while after Christ: and who might, by the Miracles which the Apostles and their Successors daily wrought, understand how great a Person he must be, in whose Name those things were done, and yet not become Christs Disciples any more than those Egyptian Christians, whom the Emperour Adrian, in his Epistle to Servianus (mention'd by Vo∣piscus, in his Saturninus:) thus describes: [Illi qui Serapin colunt, Christiani sunt: & devoti sunt Serapi qui se Christi Episcopos dicunt: nemo illic Archisy∣nagogus Judaeorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum Presbyter, non mathema∣ticus, non aruspex, non aliptes. Ipse ille Patriarchacùm Egyptum venerit ab aliis Se∣rapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Christum.] That is, Christian Samaritans, the fol∣lowers of Simon Magus, as Vopiscus himself stiles them in his description of the Egyptians. Suntenim Aegiptii ventosi, furibundi, aruspices, medici: nam & Christi∣ani Samaritae. For the Egyptians are windy, rageful, South-sayers, Quacks; and there are also amongst them Christian Samaritans; for so should Vopiscus be read, and not Christiani, Samaritae. These Simonians, I say, though, after their master they believed that Christ, in whose Name such mighty works were done, was a divine Person; yet they retain'd still their old Heathenish Religion, and these are the Christians of which Adrian writes, that they worship'd Serapis, and that their Bishops, for all they said they were Christians, were yet devoted to Serapis; and that there was none of that Sect, be he a Ruler of the Jewish Sy∣nagogue,

a Samaritan or a Christian Presbyter, who was not a Conjurer, a Wiz∣zard, and an Anoynter. Insomuch, as when the Patriarch came into Aegypt, some solicited him to adore Serapis, some Christ. Though Adrian of all others had least reason to condem these mungrel Christians; for he himself not∣withstanding his adhering to the Gentile Religion had that honourable e∣steem of Christ, as he had a mind to build a Temple to him, and canonize him for a God (Lampridti Alexand. Severus.)

2. What if Josephus had been a Pharisee? could he not lay the corrup∣tion of that Sect down, when he went to write? truly, if he keep pro∣mise with his Reader, he every where faithfully performs the office of an Historian, in recording Occurrences (as they fell out) without favour and affection: and (I think) never Pen, that was not guided by infallible In∣spiration, went more evenly, or directly to the point of Truth, than he did; or let fall less Passion. A suspicion of this Nature could not have en∣tred into the head of any man, to whom Josephus is not a perfect stranger.

3. Had the Pharisees enmity against no Sect but the Christian? do not we find them in opposition to the Sadducees (who denyed the Resurrection, and said there were neither Angels nor Spirits, and consequently no Miracles nor Prophesies) siding and going along with St. Paul, as far as Josepus doth in this Text: for what is there in these words that are excepted against, as not becoming the mouth of a Pharisee, or inclining any further to the appro∣bation of Christianity, than their opposition to Saducism might bend a Pha∣risee to, without prejudice to his own Sect.

1. Not in that [If it be lawful to call him a man,] for, first, that may be taken in as bad a sence, as those paradoxical wits put upon the immediat fol∣lowing words [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] who interpret them, as a defama∣tion of the blessed Jesus; which joyn'd together (if the Context did not re∣claim, and Christian ears abhor the sound) may, by a sinister interpretation, be made to speak Josephus to have had this opinion of our Saviour; that he was not a Man, but some Changeling or Fairy-elf, who shewed apish Tricks, play'd strange Pranks [mimi & histriones quo{que} dicti sunt paradoxi.] (Vos. Ety∣mol.) If therefore the Christians had had a mind to periwigg Josephus (to make him look more favourably upon Christ) they would never have put upon him such a border as this; out of which he looks more a squint upon him, than he did without it. Had Josephus (in opprobry) called Christ, a doer of paradoxical actions, it would have been neither Piety nor Policy in Christ's friends, to have added by way of Preface. [I cannot tell whether I should call him a man:] the worst sence which the first clause is capable of alone, being better than the best bad sence, that can be put upon it, in conjunction with such a Preface. If it cast a bad aspect upon Christ alone, it will cast a worse in such company.

2. Take them both (as Josephus delivers them) with the right-hand; as speaking (in consort with the whole series of his Discourse) the commenda∣tion of our Saviour; and what is gain'd by taking in, or lost by leaving out these words [if we may call him a man,] that deserves the raising of so much dust? does not Christ's doing miraculous Works, his rising from the dead (according to the Prophecies that went of him) speak him to have been more than an ordinary Man; either the Messias, or that Prophet, or Elias: which is all that Josephus intends, or can be deem'd to intend in those words, (which import no more but his being of an Opinion equivolent to that Pagan Opinion of Christ mention'd by St. Austin, (de consensu Evang. 1. 7. tom. 4. pag. 162.) [honorandum enim tanquam sapientissimum virum putant, non colendum tanquam Deum.] (They thought he was to be honoured as a most wise man, but not to be worship'd as a God.) for he was so far from thinking Christ to be God: as, in the question about Messiah, he preferr'd Vespasian before him; (de Bel. Jud. 7. 12.) (an Argument, that he did not apprehend the Messias himself to be God) only, he perceiv'd (by the great Works Christ did) that he

was more than a common Man; and (by the Analogy, which those Works bare to Prophecie) that he was one of those extraordinary persons, to whom those Prophecies had relation: Either the Christ, or Elias, or that Prophet, or one of the Prophets; as some of the Jews conjectured our Saviour to be, who were far enough from believing in him, as Christ the Son of the living God (Mat. 16. 6.)

2. Nor in that, [that is Christ] whereby it was not in Josephus his thought to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth, for the Christ, but only, to distinguish him (by that appellation) from others, his Coetanians, who were called Jesus; as the Son of Ananus (who for seven years together, before the ruin of the Ci∣ty, denounced wo against it, (Bel. Jud. 7. 12.) Jesus the son of Damneus, whom Albinus made high Priest, in room of Ananus the younger, the murderer of St. James, our Lords Brother; which James, Josephus (in the same Chapter) calls the Brother of Jesus Christ, to distinguish him from that other Jesus (Jud. antiquit. 20. 7.) there mentioned; as also from Jesus, the Cap∣tain of those Cut-throats, whom the Imperialists of Sephorim hired to sur∣prise Josephus: (vita Josephi) and Jesus, the son of Saphias, that fire-flin∣ger, who incens'd the Galileans against Josephus. (Ibid.) Jesus, the son of To∣bias, that Captain of Robbers, who, near Tiberias, surprised five of Valerian's Soldiers, (Bel. Jud. 3. 16.) Jesus, the son of Thebath, to whom Titus gave quarter at the taking of the upper part of the City Jerusalem (Bel. Jud. 7. 15.) and Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, who succeeded that other Jesus, already named, in the high Priesthood. (antiq. Jud. 20. 7.) So that, besides our Jesus, there were six, who (in that Age) bare that name, and two of them men∣tion'd in the same Chapter, where he is named Jesus Christ (Ant. Jud. 20. 7.) Briefly; so ambiguous was the name Jesus, in that Age; as the Jewish Ex∣orcists, that they might not leave the unclean spirits (which they adjured [in the name of Jesus]) in doubt who that Jesus was; annex to it, in their form of Conjuration, this discriminating Circumstance [whom Paul preacheth;] without which they might have pleaded, they neither knew Jesus nor Paul; there being Jesusses many, and Pauls many; but no Paul that preach'd Je∣sus, saving the Apostle, nor any Jesus whom Paul preach'd but Jesus Christ: and therefore the Spirits are forc'd to confess [Jesus we know, and Paul we know.] Would our supercilious Criticks have had Josephus (in this Chap∣ter) to have left out that discriminating compellation, for fear of being ac∣counted a Christian? that had been to make work indeed for the Criticks, and an administration of Goats-wool, enough for them to have spun an endless thread of contention, who that Jesus should be. But this excellent Au∣thor was better skill'd in the Laws of History, than to leave his Reader in that ambiguity; by telling a story of an individuum vagum, of one Jesus, with∣out making that name (so common to many) proper to that person, of whom he writes, by the addition of, Christ; as that which distinguished him from all other Jesuses, and whereby he was famously known and exprest by, even in Heathen Writers of that Age, wherein Josephus finish'd his Antiquity (to wit) the thirteenth year of Domitian: (as himself dates it (Antiq. 20. 9.) at which time Suetonius, writing of our Jesus, calls him Christus [Judios im∣pulsore Christo tumultuantes:] he banish'd the Jews Rome, for their turbu∣lencie on occasion of Christ, (Sueton. Claudius 25.) And Tacitus (annal. l. 15.) [Vulgus Christianos appellabat: auctor nominis ejus Christus, qui Tiberio imperitante per Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat.] they were commonly called Christians, the Author of this name was Christ, who in the Reign of Tiberius was crucified by Pontius Pilate. Have the Christians been tampering with Suetonius and Tacitus? or did they embrace him as the Christ, seeing they call him Christ? The strength therefore of this Testimony of our Religion, does not lye in those Locks, so as to put any well-willer thereof upon thinking to advantage its cause, by fastning these clauses to Josephus his Text, but they stood originally in it, as necessary parts of his History, without which it had been lame, and unintelligible; For how will his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]

stand with the leaving out of [this is Christ] were the Christians nam'd of Jesus, or of Christ? And 'tis far more proba∣ble that Ruffinus (of whose and other Latin Translations Gelenius (Epist. nuncupat.) complains, that he found in them not only many Text's depraved, but in many places, not only whole lines, but pages over-slip'd) might (for brevities sake) in his quotation of Josephus, leave out the first; and Cedrenus in his, leave out the second; than that either of them should be wanting in our Author: St. Jerom's [credebatur] is rather his addition to Josephus his [this was the Christ] than that, an addition to him, by any Fautour of our Religion; and that Vossius his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (not in the the last, but last but one Chapter, of the last Book of his Antiquities, if I mistake not) is better in the translation of Gelenius applyed to James, than Jesus [fratrem Jesu Chri∣sti Jacobum nomine] the Brother of Jesus Christ called James, rather than the Brother of Jesus called Christ.

§ 4. If we please our selves in this humour (of razing out of the most Au∣thentick Authors, whatsoever our fanatick Genius disgusts, or takes the least (though never so unreasonable) exception against) we shall shortly turn all An∣tiquity into razed Tables: we shall leave its venerable head perfectly bald, if (as our different Fancies move us) one, pluck out the black; and another, the gray hairs. We will therefore, notwithstanding those Moths and Book∣worms attempts to deface this Text (by their corrosions and nibling at the edges of it) read it as it stands, and hath ever stood in Josephus, present∣ing us with a Table of the chief things contain'd in the Evangelical story of Christ.

1. As to the Date of Christs publick Appearance, and being taken notice of; the Evangelists state, the dawning of it in the Baptists Ministry, in a manner immediately preceding Christ's Baptism. [In the fifteenth year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being Governour of Judaea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip Tetrareh of Iturea, and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene: Annas and Caiaphas being the high Priests;] with whom the History of Josephus will appear to synchronize in every Circumstance, if we first remove such rubs as are laid in our way by some too critical Scholiasts. As to that [In the fifteenth year of Tiberius.] The learned Vossius, that he may reconcile those Fathers to Scripture, who affirm'd that Christ suffer'd in the fifteenth of Tiberius: di∣stinguisheth the years of Tiberius his Reign [alone] and [with his Father] and conceives that St. Luke followed the Provincial Account, reckoning Tiberi∣us his Reign from the time that Augustus made him his colleague, almost three years before his death: and the Fathers, the Roman Account of his reigning alone. But, first, as this great Critick missed the mind of the Fathers, who never dream'd of such a distinction, but grounded their opinions barely upon their misinterpretation of Isaiah 61. 2. [To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord] deeming that that Text limited Christ's Ministry to a precise year. They are of age, let them speak for themselves, by the mouth of Clemens Alexandrinus (stromat. 1.) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. [Christ was but to preach one year: for the Prophet speaking of him saith, The Lord hath sent me to preach an acceptable year.] And therefore he does but wash the Aethiopian, while he seeks to salve the matter. So, secondly, the Scheme which he himself draws upon this ground, runs foul upon his Author Josephus; while he assigns the beginning of Gratus his Presidency over Judaea, to the third year of Tiberius his Reign alone, which Josephus fastens to the beginning of his Reign, and mentions immediately after his coming to the Crown. And, thirdly, manifestly con∣tradicts St. Luke. For while he placeth the beginning of Gratus his Goverment, anno Tiberii 3. Christi 21. (seeing that Gratus continued that his Goverment cleven years) he is forc'd to place the beginning of Pilates Regencie; in the fourteenth year of Tiberius his Reign alone, and of Christ's thirty second; that is, two years at least after Christ's Baptism, upon his hypothesis: when

as the Evangelical Text saith expresly, that at the beginning of John's Bap∣tism, Pontius Pilate was Governour of Judaea, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius current, (the fifteenth of his Reign alone) not his twelfth: for Annius Ru∣fus was President of Judaea, when Augustus dyed: and his successor Valerius Gratus continued President eleven years; who, if he began (as Vossius think∣eth) in Tiberius his third alone, Tiberius his twelfth alone, must be expired long before Pilate enter'd upon the Government.

(Vossii Chron. Saer. pag. 231.)

Anno Christi.

• 16—Tiberius aequum ac Augustus imperium habere incipit.
• 19—Augustus moritur; incipit Tiberius regnare solus.
• 21—Gratus fit Judaeae Procurator.

Pag. 232.

• 30—Christus baptizatur.
• 32—Grato succedit Pontius Pilatus.
• 33—Christus crucisigitur.

This learned man therefore must not only prove, that Tiberius was Em∣perour three years with Augustus, but that Pilate was two years Governour of Judaea with Gratus, and that St. Luke intended that, as well as Tiberius his Government with Augustus: or his and St. Luke's Chronology will never con∣cur, as to the date of Christ's Baptism. And hardly in the date of his Passion, so as Pilate could in that time, before it, which he allows him (one year) bring his Family from Rome, and settle it in Jerusalem, much less be a long time at enmity with Herod, (as the sacred Text asserts;) so that his hypothesis ha∣zards that Article of the Creed [Suffered under Pontius Pilate] as well as cancels that part of sacred History [baptized under Pontius Pilate] I speak this in caution to others, not in disgrace of this excellent Person, to whose elaborate and judicious lucubrations we cannot ascribe too much praise, except we give them the divine honour of Infallibility. But the imperti∣nency of the application of this distinction of the years of Tiberius, to the Evangelical History, will be made more apparent in our proving of Josephus his concurrence with St. Luke in the several specified Circumstances of the Date of Christ's Story.

Instance 1. Pilate.

That Josephus placeth the Story of Christs beginning to shew himself, a∣bout the fifteenth of Tiberius, and the whole Story (from thence) of his and his Precursor's, both Life and Death, under the Government of Pilate; will best appear by reflecting upon his dating Pilate's Entrance and Exit. Tibe∣rius (saith he) at the beginning of his Reign, and after the Death of Augu∣stus, made Valerius Gratus Governour of Judaea, in the room of Rufus, whom Augustus (at his death) left in that place: which Province, after Gratus had managed it eleven years, he committed to Pontius Pilate; whom Vitel••ius, the President of Syria sent to Rome, after he had been Governour ten years: But Tiberius was dead before Pilate got to Rome. So that Pi∣late's Presidency, and Tiberius his Reign and Life ended near about the same time. Now Tiberius dyed the twentieth of the Calends of April, before the middle of the twenty third year of his Reign, which began legally at the Death of Augustus, the fourteenth of the Calends of September: upon which Consideration the Senat moved to have the name of August transferr'd from the precedent to that Month (saith Suetonius.) Tiberius therefore pre∣cisely

reigned twenty two years, five months and thirteen days. (Josephus Anti{que} lib. 18. cap. 1. cap. 9.) or (thirteen according to the Greek.) That which I observe in this part of Josephus his Chronology, and the Contin∣gencies within that time mention'd, is

1. That he inserts the History of Christ, and the Baptist in the midst of the Story of Pilate's Gests while he was Governour.

2. That he placeth Pilate's entring upon that Office in the twelfth year of Tiberius, that is, ten years and an half before his Death: for he assigns ten years to Pilate's Regency; and we cannot, in reason, assign much less than half a year, betwixt his turning out of Office, and his arrival at Rome (to answer for the misdemeanours, the Jews accused him of to Vitellius) whither it is not likely he would make too much haste, upon so unpleasing an Errand, having so good an excuse for his making delay from the season of the year, Winter being but ended upon his arrival there; where he met with the news of Caesars death. And it is no more probable that his Predecessor Gratus could enter upon his eleven years Presidentship, before the second year of Tiberius: If we consider how much of that year he complemented away in a seeming backwardness to take up the Imperial Crown, and the business at home that lay upon his hand, till he had settled there the Affairs of the Empire, before he could look so far abroad as Judaea.

3. That, by the Account of Josephus, Pilate was in Office above two years before our Saviour came in publick view; and remain'd about four years in Office after his ascension. So that all that our Saviour did, or suffer'd af∣ter he came under the Worlds Eye, is comprehended within the bounds of Pilate's Story, where Josephus lays it.

Instance 2. Herod and Philip.

§ 5. That those occurrences concerning the blessed Jesus, which Josephus mentions, as coetaneous with the Acts of Pilate, fell out while Herod was Tetrarch of Galilee, and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea (the first where∣of all the Evangelists mention in the History of Christ's Passion, as he to whose cognizance Pilate referr'd the Cause of Christ, after he heard he was of Galilee, and belong'd to Herod's Jurisdiction) is attested by Josephus (Ant. lib. 17. 1.) who gives us a Catalogue of Herod the Great's Male-issue that su∣pervived their Father, viz. Herod Antipas, and Archelaus, his sons by Mal∣thace a Samaritan: (Bel. Jud. 1. 18.) And Herod Philip by Cleopatra, the Daughter of Simon, whom he preferr'd to the Priesthood to blanch over the meanness of his Daughters Parentage. (Antiq. 17. 1.) And in the tenth Chapter of the same Book gives an account of Herod's changing his Will the second time: for whereas in the first change, (Bel. Jud. 1. 21.) he had expung'd the name of Antipater (whom he caus'd to be put to death five days before his own,) and appointed Antipas to succeed him, passing by his elder Brethren Archelaus and Philip, (upon some prejudice he had taken up against them, through the information of Antipater;) In his second change thereof, he ap∣pointed Archelaus, the Elder Brother of Antipas, to be King: gave Philip Trachonitis, and the Country about it; and to Antipas the Tetrarchate of Ga∣lilee. (Bel. Jud. 1. 21.) So that Archelaus (as St. Matthew records) reigned in his Father's stead: but falling into the hatred of the Jews, (his subjects) and into the displeasure of the Emperour (his Lord) in the twelfth year of his Reign, he was banished by Augustus, and his Kingdom and Goods con∣fiscate; (which is the reason we hear no more of him in the History of Christ, he being gone off the Stage of the World, before Christ shewed himself up∣on it.) But the other two, Herod and Philip, as they are mentioned toge∣ther by the Evangelists, so also by Josephus. This being that Herod (the Fox) who made a prey of the Wife of, (this) his Brother, Philip. In telling of which Story Josephus indeed stiles Philip only Herod (Herod Antipas, saith he) in his travelling to Rome lodg'd with Herod, his Brother, but born of ano∣ther

Mother, the Daughter of Simon, with whose Wife, Herodias he falling in love, enticed her, at his return, to leave her Husband and go with him. But that he means Herod Philip, and that I have given the right sence of his Catalogue of Herod's Sons (though in mentioning the Issue of Herod, by Si∣mon's Daughter, he, in one place, names Herod and Philip, as if they were two) is manifest: For, first, the Relative and Verb are of the singular num∣ber, in that Clause. [Herodem genuit & Philippum qui & ipse Romae edu∣cabatur;) and therefore the Copulative (&) is either redundant, or the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] by the incautelousness of the Scribe put in room of the Article [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] or else is explicative, and should be rendred by [etiam] i. e. he begot Herod, even (or to wit) Philip. 2. Josephus, in his mentioning the Sons of Herod the Great, does no where name more Herods than three; to wit, Herod by Mal∣thace, Herod by Cleopatra Simon's Daughter, and Herod by Mariamne, the Daughter of Alexander the High Priest. Now this last Herod dyed while he was at School at Rome (Bel. Jud. 1. 18.) and therefore he could neither be that Herod by whom, nor that Herod from whom, Herodias was taken. 3. He∣rod in his last Will provides for no other sons, but Archelaus Antipas and Philip: and therefore both these Herods must have starved, if their Father had not provided for one of them, under the name of Antipas; and for the other, under that of Philip. 4. Josephus puts a Key into our hands (Bel. Jud. 2. 8.) The Kingdom of Archelaus being reduc'd to a Province, the re∣mainder of Herod's sons, to wit, Philip and Herod called Antipas govern'd their own Tetrarchates.

In this honour they both continued, from within one year, after our Savi∣ours Birth, to within one year after Tiberius his Death; and one of them unto the Reign of Caligula: Of both which Josephus giveth this account, viz. Agrippa, (this was that Herod Agrippa, who was eaten up of worms) after six months grievous imprisonment by Tiberius, was, at Tiberius his Death, not only set at Liberty by Caligula, but had the Kindom of Judaea bestowed on him, and the Tetrarchate of Philip, (but then newly deceas'd.) This Preferment of Agrippa did so sting Herodias, as Herod could have no rest from her importunities, till she had got him to Rome (in order to his strengthning his Court interest for his own, and against Agrippa's Promoti∣on) But Agrippa so well plays his Game against his Uncle Herod, as he is forc'd to flee to Spain, and leave his Tetrarchate (by Caligula's order) unto Agrippa (Antiq. 18. 9. 14.)

Neither doth Josephus only mention these two Tetrarchs as then in being, when our Saviour was upon earth, but all the Circumstances relating to them, recorded in sacred Writ. We read in the Gospel of Caesarea Philip∣pi (St. Matt. 16. 13.) so called because Philip the Tetrarch of a Village named Paneas, made it a City, and named it after Cesar, as Josephus writ∣eth. (Jud. Ant. l. 18. cap. 3:) where he describes its Scituation, ad Jordanis fontes, answerable to the Topography of the Evangelists, who describe Christ's peregrination, after he departed from Jerusalem to avoid the trea∣chery of the Jews who sought to kill him, into that part of Galilee, which appeartain'd to Philip's Tetrarchate; so, as though the Cities about the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias, or the Lake of Geneseret, (all in Philip's Precincts) he passeth over that Sea, and along the Coasts of Jordan till he came to Cae∣sarea Philippi: A wealthy Inhabitant of which City he had before that cured at Capernaum; who, in a grateful memorial of that mercy, had caused to be ingraven the History of that Cure; to wit, two Statues, one repre∣senting her self kneeling before, the other of our Saviour with a garment down to his feet, where there grew an Herb, which, when it became so high as to touch the Hem of his Garment, had the medicinal virtue to heal all Diseases: these Statues remain'd intire, till by the command of Julian the Apostate, they were cast down, and his own erected. This Statue Eusebius affirmeth to have stood there in his time; and that when he went to Caesarea, on purpose to inform himself of the truth, he saw it with his own eyes.

(Eccl. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 14.) I therefore mention this story at large, that the Romanists may see how little it makes for their Image-worship, seeing it was erected only, as a Monument of that benefit this Woman receiv'd, and had not divine honour conferr'd upon it, for all this miraculous effusion of di∣vine Virtue into its Neighbour plant. And that our Divines may learn a more substantial way of resolving the Popish Sophisms, than by denying what is most apparently true, upon such weak Reasons as a learned man of∣fereth, viz. why all this at Caesarea, since the Woman was cured at Caper∣naum? But whoever affirm'd the memorial of this Cure to have been erect∣ed in the place where it was done, and not of the Womans aboad on whom it was wrought? or who can think but she whose Faith was so strong, as to believe she should be healed, if she could but touch the Hem of Christs Gar∣ment, and Wealth so competent as she could erect those brazen Statues at her door; could want either will or means to travel (for the Cure of so tedi∣ous and noisome a disease) as far as from Caesarea to Capernaum? (not half so far asunder as London and the Bath) or that she could think to meet with Christ any where more likely, than at the place of his home, Capernaum, or of fixing the memorial of so great a Mercy any where more conveniently than at her own door? This touch given for the Cure of such impetuous Fluxes of indigested Notions, I return to Caesarea, concerning which Jose∣phus hath this story: That antiently the head of Jordan was reputed to be in its Confines, till Philip the Tetrarch by observing that the Chaff which he caused (for trials sake) to be cast into a Well an hundred and twenty Fur∣longs from it, called Phiale, came out at the Springs of Jordan near Cae∣sarea, discover'd that Well to be the head of it: from whence working like a Mole underground, till it came to Paneas, and there breaking out in two Fountains, it made those two Whirl-pools in the Caverns under the Earth, which swallowed up the Sacrifices, which the Pagan Priests once a year cast into Paneas, making the silly people believe it was miraculous. This I re∣port not for any mention is made hereof in sacred Writ; but for the illustra∣tion of that Story in Eusebius (Eecl. hist. l. 7. c. 14.) which he receiv'd from the mouth of Astyrius his familiars; how Astyrius by invocating the Name of Christ, caused the Sacrifice to swim at the top, by a miraculous power, contrary to that natural motion of it downward, and sucking of it in by the subterraneal Vorago, whence the Priests took occasion to abuse the Credulity of the Vulgar.

If we slide down the Stream of Jordan thirty four Miles, we arrive at the Sea of Tiberias, or the Lake of Genesareth, and on the Bank of that Lake, at Bethsaida, another of Philip's Towns, improved by him into a City; whence St. Luke stiles it the City Bethsaida, as it is called (Chap. 9. 11.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] intimating it had but newly commenc'd a City. And now we are upon this Lake, we will take notice of the Issue which Christ's Execration of Bethsaida, Corazin, Capernaum, and the other Towns border∣ing upon it had, of which Josephus (Bel. Jud. l. 3. c. 17. 18.) gives us this ac∣count; That they were so slaughter'd by the Romans, as one might see the whole Lake coloured with Blood, and replete with Carkasses; insomuch as the Air grew thereby to that degree of Infection, as became trouble∣some to the Conquerour, of those who were on the Lake not one escap'd, and those who through Age••staid at home, were with Promises of safety en∣ticed out of their houses, and in their march to Tiberias slain by the Romans, except six thousand of the stoutest of them, who were sent captives to Nero. But that which is remarkable, in the infliction of the Divine Vengeance upon them, is that Vespasian calling a Council of War, to determine what they should do with the conquer'd, though they had given them quarter, though Vespasian naturally inclin'd to the more merciful side, and though they all confest it was not honest, yet the Vote past generally that the dis∣missing them alive, was not safe in that juncture of affairs, and therefore that they should all be put to the Sword. If I were not afraid to tire thy pati∣ence (Reader) I could carry thee to other places mention'd in the Gospel,

over which Secular History, draws the same Line that the Evangelius do, though I have no instance at hand of any place in his brother Herod's juris∣diction made famous by our Saviours Converse, for the Lamb of God kept himself out of that Foxes walk, after he had murder'd his Fore runner, and was warned of Herod's intent to kill him. I will therefore dismiss the prose∣cution of that Topick, and conclude Herod's Story with that of Herodias so frequently mention'd in sacred Scripture, of which, besides those that have already been specified, Josephus relateth these Circumstances: That so soon as Herod's Wife, the Daughter of Aretas, perceiv'd the Regal Bed to smell rank of this Strumpet, not being able to endure to be nosed by a Sow with a gold Ring in her Snowt, having first removed her Court to Macheron, not then the Baptists Prison: for had John been then shut up there, she neither would have desired to remove thither, nor Herod have permitted her the so∣ciety of a person, who had so openly declared himself in that Cause against Herodias, and was so well able to represent it in its most loathsome colours, to the World, if he had pleased; the fear whereof, through Herodias im∣portunity, made Herod, a while after confine the Baptist to prison in the Castle of Macheron: from whence, before he came there, the Daughter of Aretas was fled to her Father; who when he could neither prevail with He∣rod to dismiss his Brothers Wife, nor with Philip to take her from his Bro∣ther by force of Arms, he himself begins a War, at first with Philip, hoping the fear of loosing her Daughters Inheritance, might force Herodias back to her own Husband, and loosen her from those incestuous Bonds, whereby, as the Fire-brand of Galilee, she was drawing an intestine War upon that Country. And when that succeeded not any farther than to the begetting in Philip's subjects a grudge against Herod; for the convenient venting where∣of they waited, even under Herod's Banners, whither (upon Aretas his ex∣pelling them from their own habitations) they had repair'd; he turns his revenging Arms, whetted with a Fathers grief, and back'd with the justice of his Cause, upon his obscene Son-in-Law: to whose forces by the help of Philip's Subjects, who (more resenting the injury Herod had done to the Daughter of Aretas, than that which Aretas had done to themselves) turn'd about to his Standard, in the heat of the battle: he gave so total a rout, as made the religious party of the Jews interpret that defeat to have been Gods revenge upon Herod, for his rejecting the Baptists Counsel, and delivering that good man up to the will of Herodias. And forc'd Herod to run puling to Caesar for aid against Aretas; Caesar orders Vitellius to stand by Herod; a∣gainst whose joynt Forces, while Aretas is preparing to march, (with a great deal of confidence, as having been assured (by a Dream) that either he who lead the adverse Army, or he who appointed him to that undertaking, should fall by the stroak of death, before the Fight was ended.) The news of the Emperour's death is brought to Vitellius; after whose decease, Caligula coming to the Imperial Crown, uncrowns Herod, and exiles him and his Mi∣nion.

How excellently doth Josephus in all this comment upon the Baptists Ser∣mon, and prove him to have been a true Prophet, when he told him [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (St. Mar. 6. 18.) no good will come of it; it will not succeed well with thee, these stoln Waters will prove bitter in the latter end.

§ 6. To this pair of Tetrarchs, I will (for the Oneness of their Religion) subjoyn that Pair of High Priests Annas and Caiaphas, whom St. Luke men∣tions, as being in Office at the beginning of the Baptists Ministry, and to have continued in that office, till after our Saviours Crucifixion.

Sea-men of old took the joynt-appearance of those Twins Castor and Pol∣lux for a luckie omen, but accounted it a presage of an eusuing Tempest, when one of them appear'd singly: This Twin-appearance of two High-Priests together, hath wrought contrary effects, and raised such Theologi∣cal

Storms, as have clouded the Skie of plain Truth, and divided the Fleet of Fishers of men into as many Opinions, almost, as there are Pilots: So that they, whose Profession it is to secure our passage from falling upon inconve∣nience, by falling foul upon one another, have run us upon the hazard of shipwracking the Faith. I will first therefore clear the Vessel of those quicks wherein it sticks; that, having gain'd an open Sea, we may present it under sail, steering its course, by the Wind that blows from Secular, to the same Port which that, which breathes from sacred History, directs it to.

1. By divine Institution there could not be two High Priests at a time; for nothing but the death (either of Nature or in Law) of the High Priest could make way for the Succession of another. I ground this Distinction of death upon (1 Kings 2. 26.) where Solomon, before he put Abiathar from the Priesthood and Zadock in his room, tells Abiathar, that he was a man of death (a dead man in Law, having forfeited his life by Treason) worthy to dye: but for the service he had done for, and the sufferings he had under∣gone with his Father, he is content to remit that part of his punishment, and in room thereof confines him during life, to the City of the Priests, Ano∣thoth.

In rigid propriety of Speech therefore, those whom Herod, and his Po∣sterity, or the Roman Deputies brought into the High-priesthood over the necks of one another, were none of them High Priests.

2. However, the Office being necessary, and those whose Office it was by lawful Succession not being permitted to exercise it; that God, who will have mercy and not sacrifice, was pleased so far to wave his own right of instituting Successors in that Office by the death (the Key whereof he keeps in his own hand) of his Predecessor: as to own them for High Priests, whom that civil Au∣thority, which he had set over that Nation, put into that Office. (Qod fieri non debuit, factum valet:) It was an Usurpation of the Magistrate over God, to put such persons into possession, but they being in the possession it was not then a time to dispute Titles; to have question'd subjection to them, as High Priests, would have been a greater Usurpation, and of more destructive consequence: and therefore we read not only that St. Paul excuseth himself for not treating Annanias with that respect, which was due to Gods High Priest: but that God himself vouchsafed to inspire Caiaphas with a spirit of Prophecy in honour of his Office, than which a more satisfactory evidence of Gods approbation could hardly have been given; this being, for kind, that wherewith God honour∣ed Moses, as that which should have stopt the mouths of all querulous op∣posers, [I have spoke face to face to my servant Moses, wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses] (Num. 12. 18.)

3. But this would not satisfie the over-righteous Jewish zealots; especi∣ally if those High Priests, whom the Deputies displac'd, were more deserving of the Office, more zealous of the Law, and more complying with their Principles, than those who were thrust into their rooms.

Now of all those of the Romans erecting, whom afterwards they dis∣possest, there was none after whom the Jews had so hankering a mind as this Annas in St. Luke's Text: Of whom Josephus hath this Observation, That after he had enjoy'd the Priesthood a long while, he had five Sons bare that Office; and was of all men the most happy in the love of the people. (Jos. Ant. 20. 8.) It was, doubtless, the dissatisfaction which the people took at his deposition, which forc'd Valerius Gratus to thrust out, within a year, Ismael (whom he put into the room of Annas) and bestow that honour upon E∣leazar the Son of Annas; which forc'd Vitellius to promote Jonathan, the Son of Annas, after the deposition of Caiaphas; which forc'd Agrippa to e∣lect Annas the younger, into the room of Joseph Cabi. And yet this An∣nas was not alone in partaking this favour of the people, so as to be reputed High Priest, after his Ejection: For Jonathan his Son (whom Vitellius made High Priest, in the room of Caiapas, and a while after deposed, putting

into his place his Brother Theophilus) gain'd that repute among the Jews, for his refusing to be restored by Agrippa in the second of Claudius, as the name of High Priest was bestowed upon him to his dying day, even after the Election of Ananias; as appears by this story of him in Josephus, (Ant. l. 20. c. 2.) Faelix, bearing a grudge against Jonathan the High Priest, for ad∣monishing him of his Duty, procured one of his familiars to murder him. (Jos. ant. lib. 20. c. 6.) and when he reports how he pleaded against the Sa∣maritans before Quadratus at Tyre, he stiles him Jonathan the High Priest. (Bel. Jud. l. 2. c. 11.) The like Privilege Ananias obtain'd, whom Herod King of Calchis (having obtain'd of Claudius for himself and Successors the power of electing the High Priest, which was continued to them till after the Wars) put into the High Priesthood, a little before his own death, in the eighth of Claudius: And yet after that Quadratus, Governour of Syria, had sent him bound to Rome, in the twelfth of Claudius, to answer what the Samaritans laid to his charge, as to his abetting the Galileans against them, and above ten years after that, when Ismael the Son of Phabeus, Joseph the Son of Cabi, Annas the Son of Annas, Jesus the Son of Damneus, and Jesus the Son of Gamaliel had possest the Priesthood, after his ejectment, he still retain'd the name of High Priest, even then Josephus writes him High Priest, when the doom which St. Paul had past was executed upon him; when this painted Wall was smitten and slain by the Robbers. (Jos. Bel. l. 2. cap. 18.) Till when, from his deposition he grew daily (by his largess to the People, his caressing of the Governours, and their High Priests) into such favour with the People, as made him in effect the High Priest, and the High Priests themselves but shadows. (Joseph. ant. l. 20. c. 8.) This (by the way) is that An••nias, whom St. Paul called painted Wall, and excused himself; for that he knew not that he was the High Priest; that is, not in actual possession of that Office. For, upon Cumanus sending him prisoner to Rome, Agrippa put Ismael into the High Priesthood: (l. 20. cap. 6.) upon the same reason that he put Joseph Cabi into Ismael's room, when he understood that he was one of them who went to Rome to plead for the standing of that blind to his prospect into the Temple, which he would have had pull'd down (l. 20. c. 7.) Or if I mistake Josephus in this point; in this I am sure I do not; that Agrippa conferr'd the High Priesthood upon Ismael soon after Faelix his com∣ing into Office, and his own repair into Judaea, and long enough before St. Paul was brought before the Council. This might put a wise man to a stand, in determining who was then High Priest, there being in that juncture three that bore that name and repute (according as the interest of several Sects, lead them to like or dislike,) to wit, this Ananias, a Sadducee; Jonae∣than, a Pharisee (and therefore St. Paul's crying he was a Pharisee was in design not only to secure himself from the fury of the rabble (by dividing them) but to prevent this whited walls falling upon him, (in revenge of St. Paul's affronting him;) and Ismael whom the lawful power had estated (though perhaps unduly) in that Office, and whom St. Paul therefore meant to be the true High Priest, and the pragmatical Ananias only a shadow. For I cannot think he intended to assert there was then no High Priest at all; for what had that been but to equivocate? seeing those he replyed to, had not yet heard him, or any other Apostle preach Christ to be the true High Priest, and therefore could not be thought to have any other conception of that Title than the common Notion: neither would they have permitted such a Reply, as he gave, to have past without examination, if they had not had some person in their eye, to whom that Office did more legally appertain than to Ananias. Neither could Paul be ignorant what Ananias was, and there∣fore that he meant, as his Reply plainly imports, that he knew Ananias was not the High Priest, there being another; to wit, Ismael preferr'd to that ho∣nour by the same Authority from whence he had formerly receiv'd the High Priesthood. In which particular as he vindicated the honour of Gods Or∣dinance in bestowing it where it was due; and gratefully pleads for that

Power, the priviledge of being born under which, he had pleaded for himself the day before (Act. 22. 28.) praising now the Bridge he had gone over then: so he secured himself of protection under that Power, which God had set over the Nation, against the violence of his inraged adversary Ananias, the courage of whose party he had so lately quell'd with the terrour of the Roman Name, at the hearing whereof his Accusers and Examiners slunck a∣way, (Act. 22. 29.) But let the Learned judge as they please of this Exposi∣tion of St. Paul's Reply; That to have two High Priests at once in those times, (one legally invested by the Roman Authority, and another factiously adhered to, as unjustly deposed: The one called in scorn the Kings High Priest, as ordained by man only; the other in honour, the Lords High Priest, as elected of God, and judged to be so by the Lords people, as that si••pering Fa∣ction proudly stiled it self) was no strange thing, is manifest from that Passage in Josepus (Bel. Jud. l. 2. cap. 11.) [Indè cùm Lyddam venit—duos autem Principes Sacerdotum, Jonathan & Ananiam—] When Quadratus came to Lyd∣da he again heard the complaints of the Samaritans, and calling before him twenty eight Jews, who were proved to have been in the fight, he caused them to be beheaded, and sent two Chief Priests, Jonathan and Ananias, unto Caesar; so called, not because they were Members of the Sanhedrim, but in the then most proper acceptation of that name; because Ananias was, and Jonathan had been in the possession of the Priesthood. Nay, so far did the popular Interest prevail over that of lawful Authority in the deposition of Simon Canthar; as after his place had been filled with Matthias, and Elionaeus elected by Agrippa, Herod the King of Calchis was fain to eject him, and bring to the order of a common Priest, before he would yield up the Office of the High Priest (Antiq. l. 19. c. 6. l. 20. 3.) By all these Allegations it appears, that St. Luke speaks the common Lan∣guage of the Jews, in the assigning the beginning of John's Ministry, to that time when Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests; for so indeed they were in the then vulgar acceptation of that Title; the one being then in Office by appointment of the Roman Deputy Valerius Gratus; and the other, though by him deposed, yet so much in favour with the People, as they still reputed him for High Priest, amongst whom he privately, and in Conventicles, out of the sight of the Roman Magistrate, carried it as High Priest, and pre∣pared Matters for the true High Priests proposal to the Roman Lievtenants, whom they imployed in things of that nature, only proforma, and to cast a blind before their eyes; especially during the High Priesthood of Caiaphas, who being his Son-in-Law, would not scruple to gratifie both him and the people with so obliging a favour to them, and a condescension advantagious to himself, he hereby preventing their solliciting Pilat to turn him out, as it is like they had to depose Ismael the Son of Fabi, and Simon the Son of Ca∣muthi, those short-liv'd High Priests, Caiapas his Predecessors. By this tem∣porizing he preserv'd his Father-in-Laws honour among his own people, provided for the satisfaction of the squeamish Consciences (for so they call∣ed their ignorant Zeal) of his Brethren: and yet reserv'd to himself the Re∣venues of the Office; which was more than those High Priests could do, whom Agrippa set up after the deposition of Ananias, in after more tumul∣tuous times, against those Harpyes, which the ejected Pontif. sent to rob the floores and store-houses of Tithes, and Oblations so bare, as many Priests were famish'd through that plenty he brought into his own Barns and Cof∣fers (Antiq. l. 20. cap. 6.) insomuch, as the High Priests themselves had no∣thing to live upon, but his leavings, which, falling short of a Subsistence, they accounted the later Rain of his Benevolence so great an obligation, as at last they permitted him to do what he pleased in managing that Office, whereof they retain'd only the just Title, and unprofitable Name. Caiaphas, as if by a spirit of Political Prophecie, he had fore-seen that this would have been the Issue of his standing upon rigid Terms with Annas and his Favourites, is content to let him do the work, provided that he may enjoy the benefit of the Office. Hence it was that he was not seen in our Saviours

Condemnation, till the Godly party of Pharisees had satisfied their tender Consciences, touching that point, by enquiring at their Divine Oracle, and High Priest Annas; from whence, having receiv'd their Lesson, for form of Law's sake, they carry Christ bound to Caiapas formally sitting in Council; That is after they had been with him all night, at the house of Annas, where our Saviour was examin'd, condemn'd by the sentence of the High Priest, as that faction reputed him, contumeliously reproached by the servants, and denyed thrice by St. Peter: and all this on the night, that Pilate might not take notice of their preferring Annas, the deposed, before Caiaphas the legal High Priest; they bring him bound from Annas to Caiaphas at break of day, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Luc. 22. 66.) where the Scribes and the Elders were as∣sembled, (St. Matt. 26. 57) that is into their Ecclesiastical Council [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Ibid) where the Sanhedrim were set (St. Luk. 22. 66.) where without any witness, but upon what they heard out of his own mouth, after the High Priest had adjured him to say, whether he were the Son of God or not, and ask'd the Votes of the Council, he is condemn'd as a Blasphe∣mer, (vers. 70. 71.) (St. Matt. 26. 63. 66.) From Caiaphas they carry Christ bound before Pilat into the Civil Council, that Council into which these Saints would not come themselves for fear of defilement, that is, into the common Hall (St. Joh. 18. 28.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] while it was but yet morning [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] I walk by the Light of that shining Lamp of Af∣fric. (St. Aust. de consensu Evang. l. 3. 17.) In my stating St. Peter's denials in the house of Annas; which as it may be evinc'd by those Reasons which he alledgeth (to which I refer the Reader) so it is more than probable by this, that Annas was the High Priest of the Faction, from his female attendants, and their pragmaticalness, Damsels waiting in the Hall, and keeping the door, as busie with St. Peter below, as their Master was with his above; whose Zeal to the Cause, either would not permit them to go to bed, or rowsed them thence at the news of our Saviours apprehension; that Sex being made up more of Passion than Reason, are mark'd out in sacred Writ as most obnoxi∣ous to seduction and aptest to be proselyted into a Faction. As to the rest, the observing how inconsiderable a while our Saviour was before Caiaphas, as it intimates the satisfaction of the Jews in the Sentence of Annas, and that Caiaphas was only their Stalking-horse, to give a Form of Law to their Acti∣on, as being that Person without whose previous Juridical Sentence, Pilat would not have proceeded against our Saviour; so it perfectly reconciles the Evangelists, without putting us upon the miserable shift of crowd∣ing Pilat and Caiaphas, or Caiaphas and Annas into one joynt habi∣tation.

4. Notwithstanding that Annas, though deposed, was adhered to by the Faction, as the Lord's High Priest, in conformity to which Notion St. Luke calls him High Priest; (as Moses in compliance with vulgar apprehension stiles the Moon one of the great Lights, though she be the least of those God hath set in the Firmament.) Yet Caiaphas, at the beginning of John's Ministry, and at the Passion of our Saviour, was indeed the lawful High Priest, as being put into that Office by the Minister of God, the Roman power ordain'd of God over the Jews. To this Josephus gives his suffrage (Ant. l. 18. c. 3. and 6.) Valerius Gratus took the High Priesthood from Annas, and gave it to Ismael; a while after he bereaves Ismael of it, and bestows it on Eleazar; but de∣poseth Eleazar, after he had enjoy'd that honour a year, and sets up Joseph sirnamed Caiaphas: in which Office he left him, when he went out of his own: and of which Caiaphas held possession till Vitellius Governour of Syria turn'd him out, and put in Jonathan, at what time he received order from Tiberius to conclude a peace with Artabanus, so near the Death of Ti∣berius, as Pilat whom Vitellius turn'd out of Office, and sent at the same time to Rome to answer for his Male-administrations, found him dead when he arrived there. Josephus indeed does not write Caiaphas the Son-in-Law of Annas (it not being his wont to set down any Relations but that of Father

and Son in his Catalogue of High Priests) but he writes Annas old enough to have been his Father-in-Law in his mentioning Eleazar the Son of Annas to have been High Priest before Caiaphas. So that hitherto the Chronology of St. Luke keeps time perfectly with the forreign and secular Account.

Instance 3. Lysanias.

That Lysanias was then Tetrarch of Abilene appears from the story of Jo∣sephus: (Ant. 15. 13.) thus translated by the judicious Dr. Heylin (in his Palestine) This tract made up the greatest part of the Kingdom of Calchis, possessed by Ptolomy the son of Menneus, in the beginning of Herod's Rise, who dying, left it to Lysanias his Eldest Son, murder'd about seven years af∣ter by M. Antony, at the instigation of Cleopatra: But M. Antony and Cleo∣patra having left the Stage, Lysanias, the Son of the murder'd Prince, enters upon his Fathers Estate by the permission of Augustus; during whose time Zenodorus, Lord of the Town and Territory of Paneas, farming the de∣mesnes of Lysanias, and paying a very great Rent for them, not only per∣mitted the Trachonites to play the Robbers, and to infest the Merchants of Damascus, but himself received part of the Booty with them. Augustus up∣on complaint hereof, commits the whole Country of Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulonitis and Auramitis to Herod, lately created King of Jewry, that he might quell the Robbers, and bring the Country into order, leaving unto Lysanias nothing but the City Abila, of which he was the natural Lord; whereof, and of the adjoyning Territory, he was afterwards created Te∣trarch, by the name of the Tetrarch of Abilene, which he enjoyed till a∣bout the latter end of the Reign of Tiberius: for his Tetrarchate was not disposed of till Caligula gave it to Herod Agrippa. (Josep. Antiq. 18. 19. 13.) From Lysanias, the City of his Residence, and from whence his Tetrarchate was called Abilene, was stiled 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to distinguish it from the Phoenician Abala: (Scal. in notis Eusebeanis, Chron. ex Ptolomeo.

§ 7. There is one passage in Josephus which hath found the greatest wits works enough to reconcile it to sacred Chronology, and gives a better ground for Vossius his distinction, of Tiberius his Reign with Augustus, and alone, than I elsewhere meet with, as seeming to force upon us either the rejecting of Josephus his Authority, or the concluding that St. Luke calculates Tibe∣rius his years from Tiberius his Colleagueship with Augustus. The place of Josephus (Antiq. 18. 8.) is this: At this time dyed Philip the Brother of Herod in the twentieth year of Tiberius his Empire; after he had justly and prudently managed his Tetrarchate, thirty seven years. The Knot this: If Herod had been dead thirty seven years in the twentieth of Tiberius, and our Saviour but thirty years of age in Tiberius his fifteenth, Christ's thirty seventh falls in Tiberius his twenty second, and by that acount he must be born two years after Herod's death, at which Philip his Son enter'd upon his Te∣trarchate. If in solution hereof it be said, that Josephus reckons the years of Tiberius from the beginning of his Reign alone, but St. Luke from the begin∣ning of his Colleagueship with Augustus: that will make Christ's thirty se∣venth fall in Tiberius his twentieth, and give room to date his Birth about half a year before Herod's death: for if Christ was thirty years of age in Tibe∣rius his fifteenth, from his Colleagueship with Augustus, he must be thirty two, and almost an half at Tiberius his fifteenth from his Reign alone, and by consequence thirty seven, at the twentieth of Tiberius alone; five added to Christ's thirty two, making him thirty seven, and five added to Tiberius his fifteenth, making his Empire twenty years old. But then we contract a worse snarle, and must be forc'd to date our Saviours Baptism before Pilat's Presidencie, which so palpably contradicts St. Luke, (giving this as one of the Characters of the time of Christ's Baptism, that it was when Pontius Pilat was president of Judaea) as we break the Evangelist's head in thus

plaistering Josephus's. And yet we need not with Scaliger here wholly reject the Authority of Josephus, but rather salve it, by supposing that the Number twen∣ty in Josephus, is falsified by the inadvertency of the Transcribers, and should be twenty two at least, as Scaliger himself writes it, out of Josephus, twice in less than two lines; if the Printer have not serv'd him as the Scribe serv'd Jo∣sephus (Canon. Isag. 309.) which I suppose he hath: because, otherwise, Sca∣liger's Argument is not cogent: for the twenty second of Tiberius concurrs with our Saviours thirty seventh, even according to St. Luke's account; who reckons Christ thirty full, at the beginning of Tiberius his fifteenth, as Sca∣liger himself with strenuous Reasons asserts. (de emend. lib. 6. de natali Do∣mini ad Canon. Isag. l. 3. pag. 306.) and is manifest from the Text it self [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] he beginning to be of the age of thirty years, which no man in common speech can be said to do till he be thirty com∣pleat: the difference of which phrase from this [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] he was beginning the thirtieth of his years] is so manifest, as every School-boy understands it, besides the incongruousness of such a speech to Grammar-rules (for had that been the Evangelists sence, he would have said 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (he was beginning his thirtieth year) and its insignificancy, as to the describing Christs age (for he was beginning his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] his thirty years, (and all the years besides he lived, first on earth, and since in heaven) the first minute he was born: And therefore I wonder how it escapt that most learned Man's observation, that Josephus, as he ren∣ders him (if his Printer did not mistake in his [twenty second of Tiberius] makes Philip's Reign younger than our Saviour, and a good deal younger, if we take in here that note of his (in emend. temp. l. 6.) concerning Philip the Te∣trarch's Reign (to wit, that according to Josephus he held his Tetrarchate but thirty six years compleat:) for this perfectly accords Josephus with his own, and some other Learned mens opinion, touching the time that Herod lived after the Birth of Christ, which they (at the utmost) extend not to two years. For if Philip was but Tetrarch full thirty six years in Tiberius his twenty second, and Christ had begun thirty one in the fifteenth of Tiberi∣us; his thirty eighth must be begun in Tiberius his twenty second, and so his Birth stated one compleat year, and a good part of another before Herod's death. But because I presume the Quotation out of Josephus of Philip's Death in the twenty second of Tiberius, was the mistake of the Printer (for the place in Josephus specifies the twentieth year) I will, at present, lay no greater stress upon this Argument, than what may incline the ingenuous Reader, not to think me immodest in this Proposal: That perhaps, what befel Scaliger by the Press, might happen to Josephus by an inobservant Pen; and that twenty might be crept into his Text, instead of twenty two or twenty three, until I give him out of Josephus himself the Reason of this my surmise; to wit, That his dating Philip's Death in Tiberius his twentieth, will no way consort with those stories, which (he saith) bore the same date with Philip's Death: such as Pilat's being turn'd out of Office, which in all reasons, could not be long before the Death of Tiberius, in the twenty third of his Reign; which yet he layeth in the precedent Chapter: And that of Vitellius his making peace with Artabanus, and his procuring him to send his Son an hostage to Tiberius: to which he immediately subjoyns the Narrati∣on of Philip's Death with this Chain, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Then dyed Philip, &c. Now that Artabanus had not made peace with Caesar in the twentieth year of Tibe∣rius, appears out of Tacitus, (Annal. l. 6 pag. 134, &c.) where the first men∣tion of the occasion of Artabanus his War with Vitellius is made in the Con∣sul-ship of C. Gessius, and M. Servilius; who were the last pair of Consuls, but two in Tiberius his Reign; and therefore belong to his twenty first year, of which he gives this account, That Artabanus (who till then (for fear of Germanicus) had been faithful to the Romans, and just towards his own sub∣jects) taking heart from the decrepid old age of Tiberius, and successfulness of his own arms against some neighbouring Countries; and gaping after the Ar∣menian

Kingdom, (whose King Artaxias was then•• lately dead; did not on∣ly impose his eldest son Arsaces upon Armenia: but also sent to demand the treasure that Vonon had left in Syria and Cilicia; together with the ancient bounds of the Persian and Macedonian Empire; threatning that he would in∣vade all the Countries that Cyrus first; and afterwards Alexander had pos∣ses'd, upon this his nobles (by the practices of Vitelius the deputy of Syria) conspire against him; go to Rome, and obtain of Tiberius, to appoint Phra∣hates, King of Parthia. Phrahates by deserting the Roman custom of living (to which he had been inured) his body not brooking that change, contracts a mortal sickness. He being dead, Tiberius institutes Tiridates in his room King of Parthia; and Mithridates King of Armenia. Mithridates takes Ar∣taxata the chief City of Armenia: and by help of Pharasmanes, forceth Ar∣tabanus out of Armenia and Parthia. What is hitherto reported of Artabanus (as it cannot in reason be otherwise conceiv'd) Tacitus affirmeth to have been two Summers work: and therefore seeing the occasion of th••se trans∣actions against Artabanus (to wit, the Embassie of his Nobles, and complaint against him to Tiberius) fell in Tiberius his twenty first, they could not be ended at the soonest before the twenty second of Tiberius, was almost expired, [quae duabus ••statibus gesta coujunxi, quo requiesceret animus à domesticis malis:] These Parthian affairs (saith he) which lasted two Summers, I have here handled altogether, that I might divert my thoughts from the unpleasant meditation of our domestick mischiefs. Sueton. (in Tiberio, cap. 66.) reports Tiberius his re∣ceipt of Letters from Artabanus: as that which was the last experiment he had of the World's Opinion of him, and prest him to write that desperate Letter to the Senate; wherein he protesteth, he found God so bent to his ruine, as he knew not what to write [Postremò semet ipse, pertaesus talis e∣pistolae, principia tantùm non summam malorum suorum professus est: quid scri∣bam, &c.] The contents of Artabanus his to him, were the upbraiding him with his Parricides, Murders, Sloath and Luxury; and the advising him, that he would satisfie the great, and most just hatred of the Roman Citizens by laying violent hands upon himself: he would never have writ at this rate, had his Son been then an Hostage with Tiberius. But Suetonius is an Histo∣rian, no Chronologer; Tacitus is both: we will therefore return to him: who, after he hath declared what cruelty Tiberius exercised at home, during those two years wars with Artabanus abroad, he returns again to the prose∣cution of his Story; telling how his Nobles repenting of the change, restored Artabanus to his Kingdom: of Tiridates his flight into Syria, and of the fire that happen'd, the same year at Rome: (from whence Tiberius taking oc∣casion to redeem his credit with the Romans, and making an estimate of the value of the streets and houses that were consumed, he assigned 1000 Sesterti∣ums towards the repair, and Commissioners to assign to every one their pro∣portion thereof, according to the loss they had sustain'd. This so ingra∣tiated him with the People, as every one strives who shall out-wit others, in inventing new honours for him: which whether he receiv'd, or omitted by reason of the so near approach of his death, is uncertain (saith my Author) For soon after, his last Consuls Cn. Acerconius and C. Pontius enter'd into Of∣fice, and the seventeenth of the Calends of the next April, Tiberius his breath was stopt. Now it was after this restoring of Artabanus to the Parthian Crown (which Tacitus thus clearly dates in the twenty second of Tiberius) that the Emperour wrote to Vitelius, to make peace with Artabanus [Ubi Artabanus restitutus est in imperium. Auditis his, Caesar petiit amicitiam Ar∣tabani & assentiente illo:] (Joseph. antiq. 18. 6.) and it was after that peace, that Artabanus sent his Son Darius an Hostage to Tiberius: at what time (saith Josephus) Herod inform'd Tiberius of the Articles of that Peace; and therefore, when Vitellius sent Caesar an account thereof, Caesar return'd him answer, that he might have spared that labour: for Herod had already given him information thereof: At which return of Caesar's Letters to Vitellius, Josephus dates the Death of Philip. And therefore it could not be long be∣fore

Caesar's death that Philip dyed, by this account of Josephus: to which Point of Chronology Josephus himself subscribes; telling us that at Caligula (the Successor of Tiberius) his preferring Agrippa to the Tetrarchate of Trachonitis, Philip was but newly deceas'd. I leave it now to any man of common discretion to judge, whether is most probable, that Josephus his Numericals have been in this place corrupted; or himself so fowly mistaken in a door-neighbour-Story, as to Philip's Death in the twentieth of Tiberi∣us, which he makes coetaneous with Vitelius his making peace (in Tiberius his Name) with Artabanus, after his Restauration: which Tacitus dates so near the end of Tiberius his twenty second; as 'tis hardly imaginable, how all those passages conducing to it, and attending upon it, could be crowded into that small remnant of his twenty second year, which Tacitus saves from the Conquest and Flight of Artabanus, falling out in, and taking up the Sum∣mer of that year: after which, Artabanus (when he had lurk'd, and was grown squalid, earning his sustenance with his bow, among the Scythians) was restored, Tiberius inform'd of his Restauration, Vitellius inform'd of Cae∣sar's Will to make peace, &c. that there could be a return of so many Posts as was requisite for intelligence within that year, if we reckon its end at Au∣gustus his Death (August 19.) is next to impossible; and yet it is certain Jo∣sephus (and all other Historians, who account Tiberius (whose death fell on the seventeenth of the Calends of April) to have reign'd twenty two years, five months, and thirteen days) must begin and end their account there. It is therefore most probable (all Circumstances consider'd) that Philip's Death fell in the twenty third of Tiberius, and that the account stood so in Josephus, before it was corrupted, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 being as soon overslipt, by a hasty scribe, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Briefly, if Josephus his intire discourse be of more weight, than two Syl∣lables; Pen cannot describe, nor Heart wish, a clearer Computation of the Time of Philip's Death, than in here presented; to wit, after Artabanus his recovery of the Parthian Crown, and the Pacification betwixt Tiberius and him: which that it could not be effected, nor so much as propounded by Tiberius, (at which Josephus, in this Chapter, begins the Story of Artabanus: and therefore, that's the soonest we can possibly date the Death of Philip) before the twenty third of Tiberius, is most palpably demonstrable, from Tacitus his placing his expulsion out of Parthia, in the Summer of Tiberius his twenty second; his reporting, after that, his residing in Hircania, till he was grown so squalid, as the sight of him moved pitty in his Subjects (ne{que} exuerat pu∣dorem ut vulgum miseratione adverteret:) Hiero his disgusting the new, making a party among the Nobles for their old King: the Nobles applying themselves to Artabanus with promise to restore him; his gathering of Forces: Tiri∣dates his delaying to give him Battle, till the Roman Legions came in: The Parthians stealing away from Tiridates, &c. To which if we add (what Tose∣phus subjoyns hereto) Tiberius his receiving information of all this, his send∣ing to Vitellius to offer peace to Artabanus, upon condition he would send his Son and other Hostages to him, Vitellius his Transactions with Artabanus, and concluding a peace with him, &c. He that can think all this could be done, betwixt the latter end of Summer, and the 19. of August (when Tibe∣rius his twenty second ended) may, by that time he has given his Brain ano∣ther turn, imagine, that Rome was built in a day.

CHAP. VI.

The Date of Christ's Birth, as it is asserted by the Church, maintain'd by Scripture.

§ 1. Christ homaged by the Magi early after his Birth. § 2. Christ born and baptized the same day of the year. § 3. God would have the Church observe the day of Christ's Birth. The Priestly courses, the character of it, which from their first Institution by Solomon, to the last and fatal year of the Second Temples standing, were never interrupted. § 4. The Calculati∣on of these Courses leads us to the Conception and Birth of the Baptist and our Saviour. § 5. Christ's Baptism, and John's Ministry in the same year of Tiberius Reign, point out the same thing, Objections answer'd. § 6. The Taxing of all the World ill-confounded with that of Syria.

§ 1. ANd now neither St. Luke nor Josephus need be beholding to Sca∣liger, for endeavouring if not to make them friends, yet to pre∣vent their being so far at odds; by his interpreting Josephus, to speak of Philip's Death in the thirty seventh incompleat year of his Government, (an Article of Agreement which this Text of Josephus will not subscribe to [after that he had presided over Trachonitis thirty seven years]) for we may allow Philip to have been Tetrarch thirty seven, and to have been well gone in his thirty eight year, at the pacification, in the twenty third of Tiberi∣us, and yet allow to Christ's Birth, time enough before Herod's Death to do all that in, which sacred Scriptures reports him to have done. Thus Christ was thirty compleat in Tiberius his fifteenth, December 25. his thirty seventh year compleat, therefore falls in the twenty second of Tiberius, December 25. and his thirty eighth current from thence overtakes Tiberius his twenty third, the 19. of August following; at what time Philip's Government had been going in its thirty eighth year, but from the middle of March. If we there∣fore will take the Universal Churches word, for this; that our Saviour was born, December 25. by so much sooner did Christ's thirty eighth commence, than the thirty eighth of Philip's Government, as Christmas preceds the middle of March. So that this does not only reconcile Secular and Sacred History; but afford us a place, where we may fix our feet, and stand our ground, in the defence of the Churches practice, against all those opposers, who employ their wit in removing old Land-marks. And therefore, for vindi∣cation of the Churches celebrating Christ's Nativity on the 25. of De∣cember, I shall improve this occasion in laying down these propo∣sitions.

Propos. 1. Whatever the Gospel reports, touching the Occurrences, be∣twixt our Saviour's Birth, and Herod's Death, might (in all reason) fall out, in as small a parcel of time, as intervenes betwixt Christmas and mid March next ensuing (at which time of the year; to wit, at the beginning of Ni∣san, Herod came to his miserable end: as Scaliger observeth out of Josephus; and proveth, from the Celebration of his Funeral, a little before the Feast of unleaven'd Bread.) For, the Magi found Christ at Bethlehem, whither they were sent by Herod [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (St. Matt. 2. 8.) where they could not have found him, had they not tender'd their homage to him, before he was presented in the Temple, at the Purification of his ever blessed Virgin-mother; but in Galilee, whither they returned, (as to their home) from Bethlehem, after they had performed those things in the Temple which the Law required (Luk. 2. 39.) neither is it like, that after the Magi had enquired that at the Priests lips, and been informed (out of so cleara Pro∣phecy) that the King of the Jews was to be born at Bethlehem: God, who

had been so rich in grace towards them, as to shew them Christ's Star, in their own Country) would put the Faith of such young Proselytes to so great a trial; as to put their hopes of finding him at Bethlehem, to a disap∣pointment, by his removal thence, before they found him: for had he been then in any place else, but where they were directed by Prophecy to look for him: at how great a stand and uncertainty, if not despondency, must they have been? I need not here urge, that the word [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] which we translate the house (Matt. 2. 11.) [and when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary his mother:] does more properly signifie an out-house (such as a Stable) than a dwelling house: at least, indifferently, an habitation for Men, for Cattle, and for Birds (as Scapula observes) which speaks it probable that the Magi in their visit, prevented that Office, of com∣mon Charity, of removing the blessed Babe and his Mother out of that cold Lodging, into a more convenient one; and found the Wisdom of God a∣mongst the Beasts that have no understanding. Nor that St. Matt. in his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] seems to imply, that the Magi came to Jerusalem, at the very point of Christ's Birth; and enquired after the place thereof, con∣ceiving, perhaps, that he was just then born, by the indication of that Light in the Air, which shone upon the Shepherds, and which they might, (by as many degrees of greater probability) see, rather from Jerusalem than their own homes, as their was degrees of difference betwixt the places, in point of distance from Bethlehem: Nor lastly, to shew how manifestly all this makes, for the justifying of the Churches Fidelity, in communicating this Doctrine to her Children, that the last appearance of the Star to the Magi, and their homaging our Saviour, was on that very day which we celebrate in Comme∣ration of it, that is the twelfth day after our Lords Nativity:

For, 1. Bethlehem was not so far from Jerusalem, as persons so inquisitive, and upon the spur, would spend many days in journeying thither, after they had informed themselves touching the place.

2. Herod would not be long of easing himself of the fear of a Rival-King, by putting all the Children of Bethlehem to the Sword, of whom, (in point of age) he might entertain the least suspicion; to wit, [all of two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men (St. Matt. 2. 16.) not that it was two years since he had enquired, but that the Wise men informed him it was so long since they first saw the Star: and he questioning, whether it was an indication, that the Messias was then born, when it first appeared; or a Praeludium to the Star of Jacob; to make all sure, on either hand, he slays all the Infants that were born within the Precincts of Bethlehem, from its first appearance, unto the time he sent out his bloody Executioners.

§ 2. Propos. 2. But because this is an Argument only à posse, and therefore does not prove it necessary that Christ was born at Christmas. I will there∣fore urge some that are more cogent, drawn from these undoubtedly true Chronological Observations; compared with the date of our Saviours Bap∣tism, and John's Ministry. After I have, by way of preparation thereunto, laid down and cleared the justifiableness of that Universal Opinion of the an∣cient Church, (viz.) That our Savour was born and baptized on the same day of the year: (eàm{que} sententiam omnes Ecclesiae scriptis & usu comprobarunt] this opinion (saith Scaliger Can. Isag. l. 3.) all Churches have approved of both by pen and practice: In their practice by celebrating the Birth and Baptism of Christ together, on the same day: (1.) (die Epiphaniorum.) not the Epi∣phany, or appearance of him to the Gentiles, (when the Magi found him with his Mother) but on the day of his appearances: first, to be the Son of Man, in his Nativity: secondly, to be the Son of God, by the Holy Ghost descending upon him, and the Voyce from Heaven, when he was baptized. They at once celebrated Christ's Caelestial Generation, promulgated at his Baptism, and his humane Birth. Gregory Nazianzen: in his Panegyrick de

natali Domini (which he therefore stiles [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [Upon the appearances of God, or Births of our Saviour]) This Cu∣stom continued in the Age of Eusebius; and long after, in the Church of Alexandria. Cassianus Monachus (Collat. 10. cap. 2.) [intra Aegypti regionem mos iste antiqua traditione servatur, ut peracto Epiphaniorum die, quem Provinciae Sacerdotes vel Dominici Baptismi vel secundùm carnem Narivitatis esse definiunt; & iccirco utrius{que} Sacramenti solennitalem non hifarie, ut in occiduis Provinciis, &c.] In Aegypt this Custom hath been observed by ancient Tradition: that the day of the Appearances being celebrated, which the Priests of that Province de∣fine to be the day of our Lord's Birth, or of his Baptism: and therefore comme∣morate both these Mysteries, not on several days, as they do in the Western Churches, but on the same day, &c. And in the Armenian Church it was not only practised, but vigorously pleaded for (in Epistola, Cathol. Armeniorum.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] As for our keeping the Feast of the Nativity and Baptism, we have very good reasons for what we do; first, the Example of all Churches beginning from the Apostles; secondly, the Word of God; for St. Luke gives Testimony of this (that our Saviour was born and baptized both on one day of the year (Vide Scaliger Ibid.) And Beroaldus Chronic. (l. 4. c. 2.) where he proveth from the joynt-Testimony of Authority, that the Birth and Baptism of our Saviour were celebrated and fell out on the same day of the year, though in computing Christ's Age when he was Baptized, he assigneth it to the beginning, that is the first day of his thirtieth year initiant; but therein he is sufficiently confuted by Scali∣ger, who, from the plain Grammatical sence of St. Luke's Phrase, evinceth, that Christ was baptized the last day of his thirtieth, and first of his thirty first. However this will make no difference here, for be it first or last, it comes all to one, as to the vindicating of this commonly-received Truth, that St. Luke dates Christ's Birth and Baptism on the same day. But for the Reasons pre-alledged I adhere to Scaliger. And therefore, if you demand where St. Luke testifies this? I answer; where, he saith, that Jesus, when he was baptized, was thirty years of age: that is, on that day, which terminated his thirtieth, and gave beginning to his thirty first. Secondly, and if St. Luke had not thus punctually delineated the Time of Christ's Age, when he exhibited him∣self to the Baptist, as a Candidate for Ordination. Yet the same thing might be collected from that Law (under which the Law-giver put himself, that he might fulfill all righteousness) prohibiting the Priests, to officiate till they were thirty, and commanding them, then to enter upon the exercise of their sacred Function. (Numb. 4. They shall serve from thirty years old and upwards.) By virtue of this Law, Christ would have been a Transgressor, had he in∣truded himself into the sacred Ministry, before his thirtieth year was com∣pleated: and therefore till then, he doth not shew himself to Israel, no not to his own Parents (for his Mother was uninstructed in the knowledge of her Son) not to his Fore-runner (for the Baptist, though he knew Christ was in the croud, yet who was he, he knew not, till he saw the Spirit de∣scending upon him) but kept at home, and was subject, to and under the Nur∣ture of Father and Mother. So wide is that Gloss from the sence of that Text, (where we have account of Christ's being amongst the Doctors) which stiles it, Christ's disputing with them, which was nothing else, but his ex∣hibiting himself at twelve years, as an Israelitish Catechumen, to ask the Law (the Tearms of the Covenant, which he enter'd when he receiv'd Cir∣cumcision) and to receive their Answers, to what he propounded, or to answer their Questions (not as their Doctor, but Scholar:) and upon his examen, and their approbation of him (who sate in Moses Chair) perso∣nally to enter into that Covenant, which his Sureties had enter'd into in his name, at his Circumcision. The Work of his Father which he had there to do, was to be a Scholar, not a Teacher.

And on the other hand, he would not have been an exact fulfiller of that Law, if he had delaid the tender of himself to Ordination, beyond the time fixt by the Law, and not applyed himself to the Baptist, at whose laying hands upon him, he knew, he was to receive the Holy Ghost, and be visibly separated to that Work, which his Father had fore-ordained him to, assoon as ever he was legally capable of it, in respect of Age: upon this account Christ urged the Baptist in these words [suffer it now, for thus it behoves us to fulfill all righteousness,] Christ had no need to be baptized with John's Baptism (the Baptism of Re∣pentance for remission of sins) neither did he receive that Baptism: but John's Baptizing of him, was of another kind, than his Baptizing of other per∣sons; to wit, and external Rite, in the administration whereof, Christ was to be visibly set apart, and called by God to his Office of Preaching, (See Dr. Hamond's Annot.) the Law, therefore, the Righteousness whereof Christ fulfill'd, in being baptized by John, was that which prohibited Prophets to run, till they were sent of God. But this was not all the Righteousness which Christ fulfill'd now, but also of that other Branch of the Law com∣manding them, whom God had separated to the service of the Sanctuary, to enter upon that Function, as soon as they were thirty years of Age: and therefore our Saviour inserts this note of time [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] suffer it [now] now, that the impediment of Age is removed, I must not defer my entrance upon the work of Teaching: Nay, if there had not been such a Law, Christ's Love to us would have been a Law to himself. He, who when the time was come that he should be offer'd, was straightned till his Baptism of blood was accomplish'd, that went into the Garden to meet the Traytor; would sure not be well at ease, when the time was come (assigned by the Law of his Father) that he should be inaugurated in the Office of the great Pro∣phet, till he was baptized with that Baptism, of Water by John, and of the Holy Ghost, by his Father, by which he was to be consecrate to that Office. Would this tender Shepherd of Souls, for his love and for his pitty, let a day pass, after the removal of the impediment of Under-age, before he put him∣self into a capacity of seeking and saving the lost Sheep of Israel! How have they learned Christ, either as to his Obedience to his Father, or his Com∣passion to his Brethren, who scruple the belief of this point, which the Primitive Church Universally embraced upon so good and solid Reasons, as who so questions the force of them, must present the blessed Jesus to their own minds, as a person that cared not what the Father said, not what we ail'd.

§ 3. Propos. 3. This being concluded on, and laid for a Ground, that Christ's Birth and Baptism fell on the same day of the year, I proceed with this Light before me, (by the help of those Chronological Observations I have, or shall irrefragably make good,) to find out the Day of Christ's Nativity.

The Mother of John Baptist was going in her sixth month at the Annun∣ciation of the Blessed Virgin, and Conception of Christ (St. Luke 1. 36.) [And loe thy cousin Elizabeth hath conceived a son [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] and this is her sixth month] saith the Angel Gabriel, when he was sent to Mary the blessed Mother of our Lord, [in the sixth month] that is, of Elizabeth's Con∣ception (vers. 26.) [about these days] (of Zacharie's returning home) (from fulfilling his Office in the Temple, in the Course of Abias, that is the eighth in order, of those twenty four, into which David divided the Priests (1 Chron. 24. 10. the eighth Lot fell to Abijah) [Elizabeth conceived, and hid her self five months, and in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a City of Galilee, named Nazareth, unto a Virgin espoused to an husband, whose name was Joseph, and the name of the virgin was Mary.] Certainly, if it had not been of use to us to know the Time of our Saviour's Conception, the Holy Ghost would not have given this Character of it twice, in ten Verses: Nor a Rule to find it out, in his specifying the Course of Abias falling out im∣mediately

before the Baptist's Conception, if that Rule had not been both sure and applicable to this Question. He would never have beaten the Air with those Chronological Descriptions of it, had it been vain for us to know the time, or impossible for us to find it out (so manifestly false is that Fana∣tick Conceit, which the Novelist propounds as his main Principle, to wit, that God hath conceal'd the time of Christ's Nativity, (as he did the Body of Moses) to prevent our observation of it: and so dim-sighted was the in∣dustrious Beroaldus at noon-day, who though he confesses (Chronic. l. 4. c. 2.) that the ignorance of the day of Christ's Birth proceeds from meer supine sloath in not sifting those means of its discovery which God hath propound∣ed to us: and if we could tell when, or how long Zacharie's Course begun and continued: the Question would quickly be determin'd: yet waves that enquiry, as a fruitless undertaking: chusing rather to pin that Character of time, assigned by St. Luke, upon Herod's sleeve, as denoting only his Reign (to which it cannot possibly have the least relation) than to fasten it upon the Baptists Conception, where St. Luke so manifestly fixeth it, as he must be blind, that sees not the drift of the Evangelist in this and the other forementioned marks of time, to be the leading us by the hand to the inve∣stigation of the Baptists, and, by it, our Saviours Birth. I will therefore follow the Conduct of Gods Spirit, and this Holy Angel, in pursute after the knowledge of that acceptable day, which God would not have the Church either ignorant, or unmindful of.

2. These several twenty four courses of Priests (by the Computation where∣of the Holy Ghost directs us to the Time of Christs Conception and Birth by comparing them with the Baptists) served their week about [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] (Joseph. antiq. l. 7. cap. 1.) [David appointed one Course to at∣tend upon the service of God eight days, from Sabbath to Sabbath] eight in∣clusively; for they began at the Morning-sacrifice of the first, and went out at the Morning-sacrifice of the next Sabbath, after that the High Priest entring with the Course which succeeded, had blessed that Course which had serv'd (Joseph. B. Jud. 6. 6.) [the High Priest went into the Temple with the other Priests, not every day, but only every Sabbath-day, and the Calends of every Month, and the aniversary Feasts.] And that the High Priest dismiss'd the Course that served the preceding week at the going out of their weekly service, the Book of the Jewish Liturgy affirmeth [Sabbato autem adjiciebant benedictionem unam ephemeriae illi, quae exibat ex ministerio.] (Libro Liturgarum Judaic.) [On the Sabbath they added one benediction upon that Course, that then went out of their ministration.] The compleat days therefore of the Fun∣ction of one Course were seven days, of all, 168 days, that is, seven times twenty four: so that they returned to the same day, whereon they officiated at the first Institution of these divisions, at the end of 487 Courses, which they fulfill'd precisely in the space of 224 years. But more of this anon.

3. This order lasted unto the time of Josephus [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Judaic. antiq. l. 7. c. 1.) and was so precisely observed to the very last, while the Second Temple stood, that in the year of its fall, the solem fast on the seventeenth day of Tamuz (where∣on the Jews to that day, afflicted their souls, in commemoration of Moses his breaking the Tables of the Law) (Judaic. comput. in Scal. de emend. l. 7. pag. 651.) was omitted, by reason that the Family, to which that weeks Course appertain'd was absent from Jerusalem, because of the close siege [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 17) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Joseph. Bel. Jud. 7. 4.) [Titus had heard that on that day the daily Sa∣crifice ceas'd to be offered to God, through want of persons to officiate; and that for that cause the Jews were exceedingly afflicted.] Insomuch, as they celebrate to this day the sad commemoration of that accident, on the seventeenth of Tamuz (which is our fifteenth of July, Scaliger emend. fragm.) as render'd thereby

unfortunate, as it had been of old by the breaking of the Tables. Ob∣serve here, that rather than they would break the Order of the Courses, by permitting (even in that case of extream necessity) any other Division to of∣ficiate, than that whose lot it was to attend that week, they will omit the service it self, on one of the most solemn Fasts they had in the whole year. When notwithstanding they were so zealous of this, as nothing else but meer force, could procure them to wave the daily sacrifice; of the continuance whereof they were more sollicitous than of their own safety. Hence when the Temple was besieged by Sosius, all the request they made to him was, that he would permit Beasts for the daily Sacrifice to be brought in (Joseph antiq. 14. c. ult.) of which Dion also, a Gentile Historian makes mention (lib. 49.) when Pompey besieged Jerusalem, he with greatest wonder observ'd that they intermitted nothing of their Religion, in the midst of arms: but as if they had enjoy'd the greatest peace, did offer their daily Sacrifices and Victims: and while his Soldiers were upon the slaughter of the Citizens, and put them daily to the Sword (even before the Altar) they abstain'd not from that Di∣vine Service, which by their Law they were to celebrate day by day [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Nay, the Priests when they saw the Sol∣diers rushing into the Temple (with drawn swords) did undauntedly per∣severe, in fulfilling their Divine Courses, and were themselves sacrificed to the Roman revenge in the very instant when they were offering Victims to God, and burning Incense: preferring the discharge of their Office before their Lives (Josep. Bel. Judaic. l. 1. c. 5.) Yet how zealous soever they were of maintaining the daily Service, they were more zealous of observing the Or∣der of the Priests and Levites Courses: For at this time, when the daily O∣blation ceas'd, there were Priests enough in the Temple (Josephus, in the place above quoted, writeth that when Titus sent him to John, the Captain of the Templars, upon occasion of his hearing that the daily Sacrifice was interrupted: many Priests, (by name Joseph and Jesus) taking that op∣portunity, made their escape out of the Temple to Titus; and therefore it was not simply for lack of Priests, but Priests of that Course, whose Lot it was then to officiate, that the Divine Service ceas'd: whence appears the invalidity of Scaliger's Herculean Argument, for the abruption of the Priests Courses, when the daily Oblation was taken away by Antiochus: for they placed more Religion in keeping their Courses, than in performing the Ser∣vice: and therefore might possibly stand in [procinctu] according to their Lots, when they were prohibited, (by main force) to offer sacrifice, wait∣ing for the removal of that force. Whatever therefore befel the daily sa∣crifice, Josephus his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] affirming, that the Courses set by David were not interrupted unto his time, is proof sufficient, that the Priests Courses kept their course.

But since it is questioned by some, whether in the several Apostacies during the first Temple, those Courses were canonically observed? And determin'd by Scaliger, that during the persecution under Antiochus, they were inter∣rupted in the Second Temple (upon which Principle he proceeds, to invali∣date the Ancient and Catholick Opinion [that our Saviours Birth was on the 25. of December.] So that nothing need be said more, in reply to his reasoning, and vindication of the Church, than to shew his mistake, in that point which he so peremtorily asserts, and the groundlessness of his and o∣ther learned mens questioning upon that account, the cessation of the Priests Courses, I shall prove from sacred Testimony, that no such cessation fell out, either under the First or Second Temple, nor till the year of the last Temples Fall, and the last part of that year: when God was departed from the Temple, as Josephus himself testifieth to his Country-men's faces, (Bel. Jud. 6. 11.) leaving upon Record to the Censure of all Ages this Sentence upon Jerusalem, [Jam enim Dei locus non eras] thou hadst then ceas'd, to be Gods habitation. (Bel. Jud. 6. 1.

1. Not under the First Temple, as is manifest from that mournful Song of the Jews thus render'd by Scaliger,

Die Nona mensis, hora vespertini temporis, Cum essem in vigilia mea, vigilia Joiarib, Introiit hostis—

wherein speaking of the Desolation of the First Temple, they introduce the Priest, whose Course it was then to wait, thus lamenting. [On the ninth day of the month, at the hours of the Evening-sacrifice, when I was in my Course; the Course of Joiarib. (to whom fell the first lost, 1 Chron. 24. 7.) the enemy enter'd, &c.] which could not have been his Course, if the Order of serving had been computed, either from Hezechias or Josias, his setting the Priests in order. But falls out exactly to be his lot, if we reckon from Solomon's Dedication (as that never to be sufficiently praised Keeper of the Clock of Time hath demonstrated, in his Fragments annext to his Emendation) And that there was no cessation of these Courses under the First Temple may be irrefragably evidenc'd from that plain Text (Ezech. 44. 15.) [The Priests that kept the charge of my Sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray from me after their Idols; they shall come near to me to minister, and they shall stand before me to offer.] And they are rebuk'd by that Prophet, that did not keep Gods charge by course in their own person (whether in compliance with the Court-interest under idolatrous Kings, or in scorn of those meaner Offices, to which their lot assign'd them, (for the several services was distributed by lot weekly, amongst the Priests of every Course at their entrance upon their service, whence it is said of Zacharias, that [his lot was to burn incense]) subro∣gated others in their room (just as our Pulpit-Pearchers (either in compli∣ance with the Rabble of their brainless Proselytes, or out of scorn, after the promotion to a Lecturer's place, to stoop so low as the Desk,) used to pro∣cure the Minister of the Parish to read the Divine Service to the Walls; but yet with so much more impious contempt, as the offering of the daily Sa∣crifice excell'd the kindling of a fire, or sweeping away the ashes of the Al∣tar: the Common-Prayer being that very daily Incense, and pure Oblati∣on which God promised should be offer'd in all places under the Gospel, and as far surpassing the best Pulpit-exercises, both in point of preaching the pure Gospel, and praying according to the Will of God, as the most rational Ser∣vice surpasseth the Sacrifice of Fools.) This irreligious shifting of the charge of God's holy things to others, God taxeth and menaceth the Jewish Priests for. Vers. 8. [Ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for your selves.]

2. Not under the Second Temple; as appears, from Gods Promse to the Priests who had kept his charge under the First, that they should stand before him in their Courses under the Second Temple (Ezcch. 44. 15. 16.) [They shall keep my charge] which as it is every whit as good a medium, for the probat of a Non-cessation under the Second; as the pre-alledged Text (which Sca∣liger urgeth to that purpose) is for the proof of a Non-cessation under the First Temple: so it might seem strange how it could escape the observa∣tion of that Eagles-eye; (but that we see it usully thus fall out, when men approach sacred ground, with their shooes on their feet; address themselves to sacred Scripture, prepossess'd with their own Conclusions; and do not strip themselves of all private preconceptions, when they come to enquire for Truth, at that sacred Oracle. But to proceed; the Non-cessation of these Courses, during either Temple, is clearly asserted by God himself, in his Promise to Zadok: whom Solomon advanced, (at the deposition of Abiathar,) to fulfill Gods threatning to Elie's house (1 Reg. 2. 27.) and of whom Sa∣muel carried from God to Elie, this Message (1 Sam. 2. 35.) [I will raise me up a faithful Priest, and he shall walk before mine anoynted for ever.] Which Promise never receiv'd accomplishment in any other sence but this; to wit,

that the Priesthood in that Line, should keep their Stations or Courses con∣tinually, till the rejection of the whole Nation. For in all other points the Priestly Office had been interrupted, they did not walk before God, or his anoynted perpetually, in their offering of Sacrifices, or actual performance of their charge of holy things; but only in their standing in their Courses, ready to perform their several charges, when the impediments were removed: they stood in their weekly lots perpetually, (waiting for times of refreshing, and break of day,) in the darkest nights of interruption of actual services, which befel them during the standing of both Temples. And this is farther evident from the deep silence of the Jewish Records, as to any interruption of their Courses, till the year that Jerusalem was desolated by Titus: of which we should certainly have heard (as well as of that last and final Ca∣tastrophe thereof) had such an accident befaln them. They who kept a Fast, for the extinction of the holy Lamp (through want of Oyl by the neg∣lect of the Priest, whose Lot it was to supply it) in the Reign of Ahaz, (on the 18. of Ab.) in Commemoration of the Israelites, ceasing to present their First-born in the Temple under Jeroboam, (the 23. of Sirvan) in memory of Gedoliah's slaughter (the 3. of Tisri) of the bickerings betwixt the Schools of Shammai and Hillel, and more contingencies of far less concern (lib. anga∣riarum) would sure have celebrated the day, whereon so sad an acci∣dent had happened, in the afflicting of their Souls: but more of this anon.

3. The only Scruple (then) remaining is, what became of these Courses, in the interval betwixt the two Temples, during the Babylonish Captivity. It is commonly taken for granted, that they then ceas'd: and if they did, it will not prejudice my account: for if we begin at Zorobabel's restoring of the Hierarchical Courses, the Lot will fall orderly upon the Course of Abias, (wherein Zachary serv'd, wherein he receiv'd the Promise of a Son) in such a time of the year, as thence may be demonstratively evinc'd the Time of Christ's Nativity to have been at that season, wherein the Church celebrates the memorials of it.

To which Calculation I find the account drawn from Solomon's Dedicati∣on of the Temple, to agree so perfectly; as encourageth me to assert (with∣out all hesitance,) that the Courses of the Priests, during that long Vacation of the exercise of their Function, were reckon'd by Zorobabel (much more, in that short interruption under Antiochus, by Judas Maccabeus) at their re∣storing them to the actual serving in their proper Courses; as vertually ful∣fill'd, (as the years of the Reigns of exil'd Princes are put into the account at their Restauration, as if they had actually during the time of their Banish∣ment exercised the Royal Function.) So that from the fall of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (in the 1. Course, the Course of Joiarib) there had so ma∣ny weeks passed, unto the 3. of Adar (when at the Dedication of the Second Temple, the Priests were set in their Divisions) as the same division was then appointed to serve; whose Course it would have been to serve, had the Ser∣vice not been interrupted; for otherwise their putting in Order, would have been a putting them out of Order, and an injury to those Families, whose turn by the Series of intervening years (according to David's Order) fell out before theirs, who first served at that Dedication, by the appointment of Zorobabel: And indeed what use can be made of St. Luke's mentioning the eighth Course in our Calculations of the Time therein pointed at, if it was not the eighth course from the first Institution?

§ 4. This will be both more intelligible and apparent, if we compute the Courses themselves. In order whereto (though I plough with Scaliger's Hei∣fer, I shall not let her run wild over the ancient bounds, but accustom her to bear the Churches yoak, and inure her to tread out the good Corn of Catho∣lick Verity) I shall first premise these two infallible dictates of that great Oracle of Chronology.

1. The compleat Cycle, or Period of Time, wherein the twenty four Courses of Priests (appointed by David, and set to serve in the Temple by Solomon) return to the same day and hour, wherein they first waited, is 224 years.

2. There is a less, but incompleat, Cycle of these Hieratical Courses con∣taining fifty Revolutions, and concluding at the end of twenty three years, after their first Institution, or Revolution of the great Cycle; with the over∣plus of ninteen hours.

Secondly, and these common Chronological Notes,

1. From the Dedication of the Second Temple, in the sixth of Darius Nothus, Adar the third, (about our February 19.) to the Fall of that Tem∣ple, are 490 years (Euseb. Chron. Daniel's seventy Weeks, Chap. 9. 24.)

2. From our Saviour's Birth to the Fall of Jerusalem are seventy one years (Scaliger append.) Phlegon, quoted by Origen (tractat. in St. Matt. 29.) reckons from the fifteenth of Tiberius, to Titus his desolating Jerusalem, for∣ty years: this falls in with Scaliger, if we understand him to mean (as his words plainly import) after the expiring of Tiberius his fifteenth, and we cannot pitch upon an Author better vers'd in the Roman Annals, than he was.

Upon these Principles, I proceed thus to collect the Time of Zacharie's Ser∣vice, from the Courses of the Priests intervening, betwixt that and the De∣dication of the Second Temple.

In the 490 years that that Temple stood, there are two compleat Hieratical Cycles ending	Anno	448
And there remains years to Temples Fall		42
Deduct this 42, out of Christ's at Temple Fall		71
And there remains 29; which denotes the year of Christ, when the second great Hieratical Cycle ended, and the third began. Out of this		29
Deduct a smaller Cycle, of fifty Revolutions, in the space of years		23
And the remainder from that sum: Years		6

Denotes the year of Christ, when the Courses began on the same day they did at first, with the overplus of ninteen hours:

Thus in Christs 6 the 1 course began. Feb. 19

5	January	19
4	December	19
3	November	19
2	October	19
1	September	19
The first course therefore, the year of Christ's Conception, began	August	19
From whence if we reckon to the eighth week, we come to the	its beginning falls October	7
eighth Course (that of Abias) & find its end	October	14

At what time Zacharias, having fulfill'd his Weeks Ministration, re∣turn'd home, and his Wife conceiv'd precisely five months and three Weeks, before the Annunciation.

With the like Certainty and Perspicuity may the same Date of Zacha∣rias his Ministration be collected, if we compute the courses from Solomon's dedication.

From the Dedication of first, on Adar 29 Mart. 30. (Scaliger) to fall of the Second Temple, Josephus accounts	1130 y. 7 m. 15 d.
From which deduct the year of Christ at the fall	71
There remains	1059 y. 7 m. 15 d.
In which 1059 there are Cycli Hieratici	4
Whose Period 896 taken out of	1059
There remains the year before Christs Birth when those four Cycles ended, and the fifth began:—	0163
Divide these 163 by 23 (the space of the lesser Hieratical Cycle, the Quotient is—	7
Denoting seven of these Cycles to have run out their course in that Period: and the remainder	2

Pointing to the second year before Christ, when the Courses began again, where they began at first (viz. at Solomon's Dedication of the Temple) within five days, (which the 19 overplus hours, in each Revolution, make up in the whole seven Cycles.)

The first Course therefore, the second year before Christ began, April 4. and the same Course, the year preceding Christ's Birth commenc'd, Mart. 4. Whose first Revolution of twenty four Weeks ended August. 19. where the second Revolution began: and therefore the eighth Course in that Revoluti∣on (the Course of Abias) began at the end of the seven weeks thence, to wit, Octob. 7. and ended, Octob. 14. the very same day we have found it fall, by computing the courses from the Dedication of the Second Temple. An admirable Correspondence; and such as must satisfie all persons, who have so much ingenuity, as to enter upon such kind of disquisitions, with that cau∣tion, which the Philosopher presented to the Candidates for admission into his School [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.]

These Way-marks set, the way-faring man, though an Idiot, cannot err; in fixing the Date of Christ's Conception, the 25 of March: and of his Birth, the 25 of December. And if Zacharies Wife, Elizabeth, conceiv'd in the week after her Husband's return, from his serving in the Course of Abias (which ended Octob. 14.) precisely five month's and three weeks be∣fore the Angel was sent to the Blessed Virgin (at what time Elizabeth was going in her sixth month) who sees not upon what substantial grounds the Church proceeded, in her fixing the Baptist's Birth upon the 24 of June; there being in that space, to wit, from the 14. of October (when Zachary end∣ed his Ministry) to the 24. of June following (when the Church celebrates the Baptist's Birth) exactly nine months and one day, the ordinary time of a womans going with Child, in the common opinion of Physiologists: who assign six weeks, for the plastick Virtue to do its work in; and seven months and a half, for the perfect vegetating of the Embrio (••echerm. Sy••••. Phys. l. 3. c. 14. Aristot. de Historia animal. l. 7. c. 4.) (〈◊〉〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Scip. l. 1. c. 6.) [cum nono mense absolutio est, &c.] this reckoning the Mother of the seven Brethren makes, 2 Mac. 7. 27. [Oh my son, have pity on me t••••t ••are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 nine months in my womb.] So that if the Baptist's Birth was 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the most com∣mon course, his Mother Elizabeth conceiv'd the 15. of October, that is the day of her Husbands returning home; for his Ministry in the Temple begin∣ning and concluding with the Morning of the Sabbath (when the Shew-bread was renewed) and his habitation being distant from Jerusalem, in the hilly Country of Judaea (and therefore probably more than a Sabbath days∣journey from the Temple) it is not like, but he would stay in Jerusalem,

till the Sabbath was over. Now from the 15. of October to the Annunciati∣on, on which day the Church celebrates the Virgins Conception are five months, three weeks, and one day precisely; so long was Elizabeth gone with Child at the Angels Salutation, as her sixth month was upon its last week: which is not only hinted by Gabriel, but by St. Luke in the sequel of that sto∣ry, vers. 39. [In those days Mary arose and went into the hill-country to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and she abode with her about three months] that is till her Cousin was delivered, and the Baptist circumcised: for it is improbable, that she (whose affection carried her so far from home to give her a visit, and de∣tain'd her with Elizabeth so long) would leave her in her greatest exigent: or that so near and dear a Relation (who had she been at her own home, would have been sent for to the Baptist's Circumcision, amongst the rest of the Kindred) being with Elizabeth, so near the end of her nine months; would go home in that juncture, and not stay till she had perform'd that Office of a Kinswoman: And most of all, that the blessed among Women, (whom the Evangelists signally commend, for laying up in her heart all special Emer∣gencies of Providence) should not stay, till she saw what became of Za∣charie's dumbness, or not be one of those Kinsfolks, who, upon the day of Circumcision, are said to ponder, what befel, then, in their hearts.

By this reckoning our Saviour, indeed, was ten months in the Virgins womb: but as it is no strange thing for women to go so long, so a fitter Pe∣riod could not have been pich'd upon, for the Lord of Hosts pitching his Tent in the blessed Virgin: if it were but barely to answer the expectations of the Gentiles, who (out of Sybils Books) had got this notion by the end, that the Eastern Monarch, the Jews Messias, the Restorer of all, was so long to Tabernacle in his Mothers Womb; well exprest by Virgil, in that Eclogue which Constantine the great (in his Oration to the Clergy) shews can be ap∣plyed to none but the blessed Jesus.

Matri longa decem tulerint fastidia menses.

When ten months shall have inflicted tedious weakness of stomack upon thy teem∣ing Mother.

How much more convenient was it, that Christ should fulfill that Period in the Womb, which of all others is most canonical, in the opinion of that great Oracle of Learning, Varro, who (in his first Book de Hebdomadibus.) as he's quoted by Agellius (noct. Attic. l. 3. c. 10.) thus dictates [Hi qui justissime in utero sunt, post ducentos octoginta dies, postquam sunt concepti, quadragessima deni{que} hebdomade nascuntur. [They who stay in the womb, the most exact time, after they have been conceiv'd, are born in the fortieth week.] The learned Au∣thor of the wisdom of Solomon (chap. 7. 2.) brings him in, affirming that he was fashioned to be flesh, in his Mothers Womb, in ten months. And behold here is a greater than Solomon. Taruntius being employed by Varro to calcu∣late the Nativity of Romulus, did with a great deal of confidence and alacri∣ty declare to him that Romulus was conceiv'd on the twenty third day of that month, which the Egyptians call Choe, we December, and born in Thoth, that is, September the 20. day, the 12. before the Calends of October (Plutarch. Ro∣mulus) that is, he was born in the fortieth week, in the last week of the tenth month after his conception: and I suppose, if the Births of Heroes were examin'd, it would be found that antiquity assigned them commonly one month in the Womb beyond the account of ordinary persons.

§ 5. But I leave this to be disputed by Mid-wives, while, to the proof of my Assertion, that Christ was born at Christmas, (drawn from the time of Zacharie's Ministration,) I add another drawn from the Circumstances of Christ's Baptism. St. Luke dates the Beginning of John's Ministry, and Christ's Baptism, both in one and the same fifteenth year of Tiberius; and Christ's

Baptism, before Easter in that year. Now St. Luke reckons Tiberius his Reign, from the death of Augustus (as hath been already proved) that is, the 19 of August.

And this clearly evinceth the absurdity of that Hypothesis, that Christ was born in September: and manifesteth all those strong Reasonings of ill-im∣ploy'd wits for it, to be meer Paralogisms. For since our Saviour was born, and baptized on the same day of the year; had that been in September, John must bestir himself at that rate, as no man in his right wits can make haste to believe he did, if betwixt then and the 19 of August preceding (which is the utmost latitude we can allow in the fifteenth of Tiberius, which commenc'd that day) he could come into all the Country about Jordan, and draw such multitudes of Disciples to his Baptism, from Jerusalem and all Judaea, and all the Region round about Jordan (St. Luke 3. 1. 3. St. Matt. 3. 5.) How vain doth this, by name, prove Beroaldus to be in his imagination, that our Saviours Birth fell in September at the autumnal Equinox: for from the 19 of August, which was the first day of Tiberius, his fifteenth year of Reign (in which year, the Divine Oracle saith, the Baptist began his Mini∣stry) to the fourteenth of September (on which day Beroaldus saith our Savi∣our was both born and baptized) are but three weeks and four days; now whether Christ's Forerunner could, in that scantling of time, fulfill the Pro∣phecies which went of him, and the work which the Evangelists say he did, in preparing Christ's way before his face; I refer to the determination of all unbiass'd and intelligent persons.

If it be, here replyed, that he began his Preaching towards the Spring, and after he had spent that Summer, baptized our Saviour about September; that indeed gives him time enough, but then the fifteenth of Tiberius would have been expired, and his sixteenth began, before our Saviour's Baptism: And be∣sides this supposition leaves our Saviour more time unto the Passover, for the effecting those things, which he is reported to have done in that space, than his zeal to the work of Redemption would permit him to take, who came into publick, as a Gyant refresh'd with Wine, ready to run his race.

But now all these inconveniencies are avoided by dating Christ's Birth and Baptism at Christmas.

For, 1. the Baptist being, in respect of Age, capable of a call to the Mi∣nistry at Mid-Summer, had a sufficient time to prepare himself for the exercise of it, after his call by fasting in the Wilderness: so that by that time that Tiberius his fifteenth year commenc'd, he might begin to perambulate the Regions about Jordan: and by Christmas, his fame might be spread so far abroad, as to bring persons of all ranks out of all Ju∣daea to his Baptism: that Nation being at that time big with the expectation of the Messias, then to be exhibited: which is hinted by St. Luke in his say∣ing that [all men were musing of John whether he were the Christ.]

And 2. Our Saviour by this account had time sufficient, and no more than sufficient, before Easter: for his forty days fast in the Wilderness: for his coming to Bethabara (where the Baptist gave Testimony of him, that he was that Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world; that Christ the Son of the living God, whom they looked for) for his setting his Fathers Seal to the Testimony of John, three days after, in Cana of Galilee; for his going down with his whole retinue to Capernaum, where he conti∣nued not many days before the Passover was at hand, at the approach where∣of, he went up to Jerusalem, purged the Temple, &c.

Briefly (for it were endless to enumerate particulars.) The perspicuity of this Calculation, as it gives light to several sacred Texts, otherwise unin∣telligible: so it discovers the Vanity of all attempts, to pitch Christ's Birth upon any other day but that (wheron it hath been commemorated in all Ages) the 25. of December: whether of those that go in that Analytical way which Beroaldus chalk'd out, who, though he hath sufficiently invalidated

the Argument of the Decembrians drawn from the Feast of Exipiation, yet he hath not offer'd any Arguments against the practice of the Church (which is not presently to be concluded unreasonable and groundless, as soon as some weak defenses, which some of more zeal than knowledge make of it, are cast down) but what proceeds upon more manifest mistakes. Such are (that I may, for the honour I bear to his Learning and Parts, particularly confute them) his professing he will shoot at an hairs-breadth (ad unguem) to the mark in Daniel's Bow. But he casts that Bow so, as it shoots not near Daniel's scope.

1. In assigning the Term of Daniel's seventy Weeks at Christ's Passion, which Daniel aim'd at the Fall of Jerusalem, as hath been prov'd in my Discourse upon those weeks.

2. In expounding Daniel's middle of the Week to denote the precise mid∣dle of the year of Christ at his Passion, he pareth the Prophet too close; for, as Mr. Meed observeth, that Phrase of speech implys no more, than that the Messias should be cut off within the space of the last Septimane, the last not of the 70 but 62.

3. He is wide of Daniel's mind in expounding the cutting off of the Mes∣sias to be his death, for Daniel meant it of his rejection by the Jewes from being their King. So that he fixeth not one of these steps upon firm ground, which he maketh in travelling for this Conclusion, Christ was born at the Autumnal Equinox, from this medium; His Passion fell out in the midst of this last year, at the Vernal Equinox.

His Argument from the Type of expiation stands upon no better ground, yea makes against him: for grant the world was created at the Autumnal Equinox, that then the ancients began to reckon the year, that then the Pro∣mise of Expiation was made in Paradise, that then the Feast of Expiation was observed: did not God himself alter the beginning of the year to the Vernal Equinox, at what time Christ expiated for sin by his death, and re∣created the World by his rising from the dead: and what fitter expedient could Wisdom it self have found out to draw peoples minds from expecting to see the Redeemer come in September.

Or of those who are not so industriously, but more subtilty, vain in their reasonings, than Beroaldus: that pack of lazie Curs that will not take the pains to range Chronology for Arguments against the Churches Practice, but lye barking in Chimney-corners, and manage their attempts against it, not by hunting out the account and marks of time set out by the holy Ghost, but by representing to us the complexion of the Season, when these things and others accompanying them fell out. Such is the objection from the cold∣ness of that Winter-month: Calculated indeed to the effeminacy of this degenerate Christian Age (wherein nothing passeth for Gospel-preaching, but Flesh-indulgency, wherein men's love to Christ and Zeal for their own Souls welfare is grown so cold, as they will scarce wet their foot in serving Christ, or in working out their own Salvation; and therefore shrug at the thought of men's watching their Flocks by night, of such multitudes descending into the Water, of the Virgins travelling to Bethlehem, and of Christ's travel∣ling for our salvation in the greatness of his strength into the deep of Jordan, in the depth of Winter:) but not bottom'd upon any thing, will go for Reason among any persons, but such as live by Sense. As to the Virgins jour∣neying in that Brumal season, it may put to a stand the Faith of the Sibarites (who were so dainty as they would not permit those Manufuctures that made a din to come within the hearing of their City) or those mincing Daughters of Jerusalem (who could not walk but where they could make a tinckling with their feet, nor abide that wind that would ruffle their well-set Hair:) But how Credulity should stick so deep in this mire, as it cannot get out amongst us: whose high-ways are never unoccupied (but terms and Markets frequented, by both Sexes Winter and Summer;) is scarce con∣ceivable; except we think the Air be full of frosty Daemons, in Christmas∣week,

above all the weeks in the year; and that upon that account the Coun∣try carriers come not up to London that week.

As to the Shepherds [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [abiding in the Field, &c.] Though Scaliger render it [sub dio] [in the open air] or rather if we speak properly in translating [sub dio] in the open Sun-light, or day-clarity of the Air (and that will be very proper to the night; but we must first imagine, that the Light which those Shepherds saw shining round about them, came from the Sun in the other Hemisphere, darting its Beams through some holes or clefts of the Earth: for otherwise they could not possibly be [sub dio] in the night.) Yet the word most properly signifies, [stabulantes in agris] [being in their huts] or rather their Field-halls [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [keeping court in the fields] whence both Homer and Hesiod ascribe it, as the Epithete of all Shep∣herds, [men living in the fields] and though they were not fire-houses, yet they might with Straw (or that Hay they prepar'd to feed their Cattle with next morning) make them as warm as they pleased? If it be replyed how then could they either see to their Flocks, or observe the shining of that glo∣rious Light, if they lay snugging in their Cabines. The Text exhibites this answer [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] they watched their watchings over their flocks, that is, [they kept watch by turns] and that they might do without de∣triment to themselves in the coldest Season, and with as much advantage to their Flocks, as if they had all watch'd at once: and sure what instinct teacheth Crows, reason would teach them, that one pair of attentive ears and eyes would as well hear or see what befel, as if they were all awake, who might call up the rest, if he descried the approach of any strange oc∣currence: Lastly, put the Case at the worst, say they had no Cabines (which yet it is unlike they were without, even in Summer, to defend them from the days heat, as well as nights cold) was this any greater hardship, than the Heir of that whole Land their Father Jacob endured in Laban's service? Or can St. Lukes words sound harsher than those wherein Moses expresseth Ja∣cob's complaint (Gen. 31. 40.) In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night.

As to the multitudes flocking in to John's Baptism, notwithstanding the ex∣tremity of the Season. The Baptist himself, even with a wet finger, wipes that stain off from the Churches practice, which some from thence cast upon it, in the observation he made thereupon: that they came to his Baptism, that they might flee from, and escape that wrath which, by the infor∣mation of their Prophets, they believed would fall upon those whom their Messias at his coming should find impenitent. Can it then seem strange, that men should run through fire and water, to avoid that ex∣cision, which the Axe (laid to the root) threatned to every Tree, that did not bring forth fruit meet for Repentance; to escape that Damnation of Hell, that unquenchable fire, which they believed was to be the portion of such as would not listen to the voyce of the Cryer. And as to our Saviours submitting himself to the tolerance of Winters cold, his acquainting him∣self with grief, as soon as he came out of the Womb, and his exposing his sacred Body to Jordan's chillest Streams; as they were part of his Cross and Expiations for that pleasure we take in sin, so they were the products of that inconquerable Love of his to Mankind, a Love stronger than Death, and which many Waters could not quench (Cant. 8.) And would doubtless be so taken; if men, who turn Grace into wantonness, did not fear, that the Ex∣ample of it would force them from their Epicurism, unto the most ingrateful austerities of Mortification, which rather than themselves will undergo, they will loose the benefit of Christ's Mediation.

§. 6. If thou beest as nice (Reader) as these fine-dame-Divines, I shall not know how to make my Apology before thee, for this large digression; however I will not hazard the bringing of thee to another qualm, by plead∣ing my excuse at large; but only beg thy pardon, and bring thee back from

whence I diverted (viz. the Testimony of Josephus in confirmation of the Verity of the Evangelical History, as to its Date of Christ's Baptism) to that Testimony he gives, touching the time of Christ's Birth, as to that other Character of it specified by the Evangelists, to wit, [the first Taxing under Cyrenius:] wherein, though some would make him disagree with St. Luke, and Maldonat by name, who will needs have that Taxing which he menti∣ons (lib. 18. c. 3.) to be mistaken by Josephus, for that which was made at our Saviours Birth: yet that there is a fair Correspondencie betwixt him and the Evangelists in that point, will appear, if we consider, that that which Jose∣phus there mentions is the last under Cyrenius, which he gives an account of; and that that which St. Luke speaks of, as coincident with our Saviour's Birth, is specified by him to have been the first of those two Taxings, which were made during Cyrenius his presidency over Syria. The first of all the World, that is, the whole Roman Empire (of which St. Luke speaks [Tunc breviarium totius Imperii conficere Augustus in animo habebat; in quo opes publicae continebantur; quantum civium sociorum{que} in armis, quot classes, regna, provinciae tributa, vectigalia & hujusmodi alia.] which was therefore made, because Au∣gustus had a mind to make a doomsday-book of the whole Empire; wherein was set down, the Revenues of the Empire; what Train-bands the Citizens, what the associates found: what Navies, Kingdoms, Provinces, what Tribute, Customs and such like, belonged to the Empire; as Scaliger (de emendat. 6. pag. 551. and in Euseb. Chron. numb. 2018.) collect out of Tacitus and Suetonius. The second nine years after that, in the thirty seventh year after the War of Acti∣um, wherein Augustus overthrew M. Anthony (Joseph. antiq. 18. 3.) of Syria only (and Judea, as annexed to the Province of Syria by Augustus) after the Banishment of Archelaus, and confiscation of his goods: for the Sale of which also, at that time Cyrenius came into Judaea.

Of the first of these Taxings Josephus is silent; and his very silence gives consent to the truth of that Circumstance related by St. Luke that it was [the taxing of the whole world;] which therefore he omits, as not falling in with his Subject the Jewish Antiquities; in relation to which only he glanceth at the affairs of the Empire, which peculiarly concern Judaea, but passeth over those that were of common Influence upon all the Imperial Pro∣vinces, as Suidas (in Augusto) affirms this to have been. [Augustus Caesar decreed to number by head 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all the inhabitants of the Romans] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. and that he did not only intend but per∣form this intent, he assures us in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [Augustus sent out un∣to all those Regions, that were subject to him, Officers by whom he made the en∣rolings.] and the word (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) he tells how many Myriads were found (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) inhabiting the Roman Empire. These places of Suidas do also confirm another Passage in St. Luke's History of this Taxing, that thereby Augustus took account of Women, as well as Men; and of both as to their Lineage, Extract and Condition. [all went to be taxed every one into his own City, and Joseph went up out of Nazareth unto the City of Da∣vid, Bethlehem, because he was of the house and Lineage of David; to be taxed with Mary his espoused Wife] This kind of Taxing and Enroling was in Custom in his time, saith Dionysius Halicarnassaeus (lib. 4.) who came to Rome presently after the Conquest of M. Anthony at Actium; where af∣ter he had learn'd the Latine Tongue, he gave himself up wholly to the stu∣dy, and writing of the Roman History (argumentum in historiam Dionys.) and though he either lived not to finish that History, or Fate hath deprived us of that part of it, which succeeds the ejectment of the Decem Virale Ty∣ranny: yet in the account he gives of the first institution (by Servius Tullius) of that way of enroling, which he saith was used in his time, in the Reign of Augustus: he fully agrees with the Evangelical Description of it [Jussit omnes, qui eandem pagam incolehant, in singula capita certum numismatis genus conferre, sed aliud viros, aliud mulieres, aliud impuberes: quibus connumeratis

apparebat quis esset hominum numerus per sexus & per aetates distinctus.] He commanded all that appertain'd to the same Town to give in by head, a certain kind of Coyn; the men, of one stamp; the women, of another: they of under-age, another: by counting whereof the number of persons appeared, distinguish'd by sex, age, &c. This was done, saith Florus (Hist. l. 1. c. 6.) [Ut omnia patri∣monii, dignitatis, aetatis, artium, officiorúm{que} discrimina:] that all the diffe∣rences of Patrimony, Dignity, Age, Craft, Office might be recorded. For, as Dionysius (in the place fore-cited) saith; the Coyns which were given in at this Enrolment were differently stampt, according to the distinction of E∣states and Degrees into Nobles, Plebeians, Artificers, &c. And they also gave oath, that they had truly rated their Estates, and gave in the names of their Parents, their Ages, their Wives, their Children, together with the place of their Habitation, saith the same Dionysius.

The Learned Dr. Hammond hath given an hint of one other particular, wherein secular History agrees with the Evangelists touching this Taxing, out of the relations of Sepulvada and Gerundensis: That twenty seven years before the Birth of Christ, Augustus appointed that there should be an en∣rolling of the whole Empire, and proclaim'd it a Tarracon, a City of Spain; after he had subdued the Cantabri, and others that had in that Country broke off from him (with whom Velleius Paterculus seems to agree:) but upon this Proclamation, he finding new stirs breaking out again, deferr'd the ex∣ecution, till a fitter time, which was this very point of time wherein Christ was born: of which the whole Christian World was so well perswaded, as the Christians of Spain (taking this Taxing to have been made when the Decree went first out) dated the Birth of Christ twenty seven years before all other Christians, taking it for granted on all hands that this Taxing did concurr with the Birth of Christ. This going out of the Decree, some considerable time before the Tax was made, St. Luke seems to imply in his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] there went (or there had gone) out a decree: and his [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] but this Taxing (though decreed before) was first made when Cyrenius was Governour of Syria. But I remit this to the judgement of Criticks: being more solicitous to unty a Knot, which he hath made upon this sacred Chronology, while (from a misunderstood place in Tertullian) he makes C. Sentius Saturninus to have been president of Syria, at what time this first Taxing was made, and will have Cyrenius to be sent only upon this extraordinary occasion, and not to have had any set∣led Dominion there; directly against St. Luke's [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [Cyrenius being Governour, or (as Erasmus translates it) President of Syria] against the Authority of Suidas thus (which he alleageth and translates) [Augustus desiring to know the strength and state of his Dominions, sent twenty chosen men into his Dominions, one into one part, another into another, to take this account: and P. Sulpitius Quirinius, had Syria for his Province:] and against the mind of Tertullian, who in the place quoted by the Dr. (advers. Marcionem. l. 4. c. 19.) thus answers that Heretick, perverting that Text (St. Luke 8.) [who is my Mother?] (to this fence, as if Christ thereby denyed he had a Mother.) [It is manifest, saith Turtullian, there was a tax∣ing at the time of Christ's Birth under Augustus in Judaea by Sentius Saturni∣nus, by which they might have found out Christ's stock:] he does not say that Sentius Saturninus was then Governour of Syria, but only that he assisted [tanquam Princeps in magistrorum auguralium numero,] at the making of that Enrolment [as the chief of the Colledge of Augures] as Franc. Junius ob∣serves (in his Notes upon that place) and as Tertullian explains himself (de pallio. Cap. 1.) [ubi maenia Statilius Taurus imposuit, solennia Sentius Satur∣ninus enarravit:] Taurus the Proconsul (what time the Tax was made there, and the liberty of Carthage restored by Augustus) built the Walls, [and Sentius Saturninus, the Augure recounted the solemnities,] that is, he per∣formed those sacred Offices, which Servius Tullius had appointed to be cele∣brated, at his instituting of this Tax, or Enrolment, and which Dionysiu••

saith were in use under Augustus, one of which was [to reckon up the tokens, which persons of all conditions had brought in by pole, and to compute how many there were of every estate, age and sex] [Quibus connumeratis per sacrorum Prae∣sides, &c. Romani autem ad meam us{que} aetatem hac lustratione post Censum per∣fectum lustrantur à sacratissimo magistratu.] (Dionysius Halicarnassaeus lib. 4.)

We need not therefore here betake our selves to that shifting distinction of [Governour standing and extraordinary] to make this passage in St. Luke's comport with Secular Chronology: For Saturninus might make this Descrip∣tion of Judaea (as a chief Augure) and yet Cyrenius be, as the Evangelist then stiles him, Governour of Syria.

Of that second Taxing under Cyrenius, St. Luke makes mention, from Gamaliel (Act. 5.) as that which gave occasion to Judas of Galilee his Insur∣rection, with his cut-throat Crew of St. Levellers. To which Josephus gives a most clear Testimony (Antiq. l. 18. c. 1.) [Quirinius a Roman Senator is sent into Syria by Caesar, to administer the Law, and rate every man's estate: with whom came Coponius, to take up the administration of the affairs of Judaea. Yea, moreover, Quirinius himself came into Judaea, now laid to the Province of Syria; that he might enroll the Estates of the Citizens of that Region, and put to sale Archelaus his goods. The Jews, though at first they took heavy the men∣tion of a Tax, yet did not pertinaciously resist, but by the perswasion of the high Priest permitted the Tax to be perfected. But a while after their stood up one Judas Gaulanites of the Town Gamale, who with his Companion, Sadducus a Pharisee, solicited the people to defection; saying that the Taxing was nothing else but a manifest profession of servitude. It is not to be imagin'd (saith Jose∣phus) how much these men disquieted the whole Nation; while they fill all places with slaughter and plunder, and a promiscuous robbing of friends and foes; and the murder of the best men, under the pretext of asserting the publick Liber∣ty. Insomuch, as they created such a deadly few'd in the Nation, as neither for∣reign War, nor Extremity of Famine could draw the enraged Factions from one anothers Throats: till at last the mischief proceeded so far, as the Temple of God was consumed with hostile flames; for to speak the truth, Judas and Sad∣duck were the Authors of all the succeeding Calamities, while to the three old ones of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Esseans, they introduced this fourth Sect of Gaulonites: and drew multitudes of such after them, as were given to change and affected Novelties: which did not only for the present disturb the publick Weal, but was the seminary of all future slaughters.] But for the date of this Insurrection of Judas (or as he names him (Bel. Jud. 2. 7.) Simon of Galilee) he sets it down most exactly in Gamaliel's Phrase (Jud. Antiq. l. 20. 23.) where speaking of two sons of this Judas or Simon, James and Si∣mon, whom Alexander the Successor of Cuspius Fadus, crucified: he calls them the sons of that Judas of Galilee [qui agente Syriae Censum Quirinio Judaeos solicitavit ad defectionem à populo Romano, &c.] [who, while Quirinius was making the Tax of Syria, solicited the Jews to a defection from the Romans.] At one breath informing us: that Cyrenius began to make that Tax of Syria in Judaea, and that after he had laid it there (Leaving Coponius to gather it) he himself went into Syria to lay it there; during which Leavy, Judas made Insurrection against Coponius, while he was collecting it in Ju∣daea. Or as Josephus (De Bel. Jud. l. 2. c. 7.) yet more clearly expresseth the pre∣cise juncture [Coponio disceptante, Galilaeus quidam, Simon nomine, defecti∣onis arguebatur; quia indigenas increparet, si tributum Romanis pendere pate∣rentur, dominós{que} post Deum ferrent mortales] [While Coponius was reason∣ing (with them, about paying their Tax laid by Cyrenius) a certain Galilaean, Si∣mon by name (the Greek hath Judas) was convict of making defection; be∣cause he reproach'd his Country-men, as grievously offending God, if they should permit Tribute by head, to be paid to the Romans, or acknowledge mortal Rulers, after God had been their King] From the whole we learn, that there were two Taxings while Cyrenius was Governour of Syria: the first (as St. Luke stiles that which was made at our Saviour's Birth) an enrolling of the whole

Empire (a Term so equipollent to that of the whole World, both in Sacred and Secular Writ, as Bartolus pronounceth him an Heretick, that will not say, the Emperour is Lord and Monarch of the whole World) that this first Tax was a mere enrolment of mens Ages, Dignities, Lineages, &c. and therefore no wonder if we hear of no commotion in Judaea, upon the account of that; nor find it mention'd in Josephus, the Jews being in that no more concern'd than the rest of the World; And least of all, that St. Luke should be so ready in drawing the Line of Joseph, (and by consequence of the blessed Virgin) up to David (even through those Generations, which the Sacred Old Testa∣ment-rolls make no mention of (notwithstanding that Herod had burnt all the Genealogies, he could, and durst, lay hands on) seeing Joseph had now given in an account of his Line, into those mens hands; out of which He∣rod durst not have snatcht it, if he had lived to an opportunity of attempting it; which he did not, but deceased within one half year after our Saviour's Birth; leaving behind him this new Edition of Judaean Chronology; to serve the Christian's use, and stop the Worlds mouth, from excepting against those Records which were so solemnly delivered to the Custody of the Ro∣man Archives, before the name of the blessed Jesus was known, or Con∣troversie concerning him raised in the World: as St. Chrysostom (in his 8. Hom. on St. Matthew) observes, and Tertullian suggests (in his fourth Book against Marchion) A providence which St. Luke sets an accent upon, in his prefacing the Genealogy of Joseph (which he lays down in his third Chapter) by giving us this Circumstance of our Saviour's Birth (in his second) that it fell out, at what time Joseph of the House and Lineage of David was gone up with Mary to the City of David, Bethlehem, there to have his Lineage enroll'd, in such a crowd of his more wealthy Kindred (who would certainly have excepted against the draught of his Line, if they could have found any flaw in it) as took up all the Inns in the Town, and forc'd this poor kins∣man into a Stable. And this enrolment made by Roman Officers, with the assistance of their Augures, to take him sworn to the truth of what he al∣leaged touching his stock, and with other such Formalities (mention'd by Dionysius Hallicarn, lib. 4.) as it was not possible that Forgery could in this case escape undetected. Our Josephs name-sake, this famous Jewish Histori∣an, in the History of his own Life, presseth this very Argument against the Calumniators of his Pedigree; against whose suggillations he proveth his Extract from the Priests of the first Order, and of that Family of Priests, who for a long time obtain'd, both the High Priesthood and Kingdom of of Juda; out of that Succession of his Kindred, which was inserted into the publick Tables, that is, into those Roman Records, which were taken of e∣very mans Stock, at the universal Taxing; for the publick Records of the Jews had been burnt by Herod, before Josephus was born: and there is no Track in History of transcribing Genealogies, after that, into any publick Registers, but what Augustus caused to be made at the first Enrolment of the Empire. Yea, what evidence, but that which was transcribed out of that Dooms-day-book, could be ground sufficient of that triumph which Jose∣phus sings [Hanc generis nostri successionem, ut est in tabulas publicas relata, huc transcripsi, parvi faciens calumnias] [This succession of our Family, as it is enter'd in the publick Rolls, I have transcribed hither: and now I value not the calumnies of busie wicked men.] For whatever Records he could appeal to besides those were, in comparison of them, but private, and not exempted from possibility of adulteration, which that first description left no place for. Neither were the Priests enroll'd at the second Tax, they being exempted from payment of such Taxes as were at that time levied. The second Tax∣ing (and under Cyrenius also) was this which Gamaliel mentions, and Jose∣phus writes at large of, as being of Syria only, to which Province Judaea then belong'd, and therefore pertinent to his subject. This being not on∣ly an enrolling of Persons, but a laying of a Tax upon their Estates, admi∣nister'd occasion to turbulent over-holy Hypocrites, to make head against

that Roman Power which God had set over them: which I therefore mention the story of, from the mouths and pens of persons of the Jewish Religion, to evince, that St. Luke hath the approbation of foreign Testimo∣ny, to the validity of that distinction which he makes of Taxes, when he saith [the first taxing] As for Theudas, who, as Gamaliel saith, made an in∣surrection before Judas; he must be another Theudas, than he of whom Jo∣sephus gives the story (Antiq. l. 20. c. 5.) under the Regencie of Fadus, long after the discourse of Gamaliel. For it is not to be imagin'd, that either Jo∣sephus or Gamaliel should be so far out, in a story so modern to them, as one of them must be, if they speak of one and the same person. But I am less careful to reconcile this Text to Josephus; because the Controversie which it adminsters, is not betwixt Josephus and St. Luke, but Gamaliel; whose saying St. Luke only records as an Historian, but undertakes not to justifie it: So that if their be any error therein, in point of Chronology, let the Scribes of the Law look to it, and study Arguments to perswade intelligent persons, that the Dictates of their Master are, in this case, to be preferr'd before the judgement of so exact both Historian and Chronologer: Who though he may, perhaps, disagree with Gamaliel, yet we have found him (and other secular Authors; so unanimously agree with St. Luke in those grand Synchronisms: As if the question be; Whether in the Reign of Tiberius; while Pilat was Governour of Judea; Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee; his Brother Philip, Tetrarch of Ituraea; Lysanius, Tetrarch of A∣bilene; and Caiaphas the High Priest; Jesus Christ shewed himself to Israel, and during all their continuance in their respective Offices, perform'd miraculous works, preach'd the Evangelical Doctrine, suffer'd death, rose a∣gain, &c? If the Question be, Whether this Jesus had for his Fore-runner, the Baptist, who preach'd repentance to all that came to his Baptism, re∣buked Herod for Herodias, for which he was beheaded? And lastly, if the Question be: Whether at that time when the Evangelists date the Birth of Christ, there was not a Taxing, in all points, as St. Luke describes, &c? He that will not acquiess in the Testimony of the Evangelists, may hear all these Questions determin'd affirmatively, by strangers to our Religion, and so suitable in every punctilio to our sacred History; as if they had laid the Gospel (and not only common fame) before them, to shape their Histo∣ries and Chronologies after, they could hardly have come nearer to the Evan∣gelists, than they do

CHAP. VII.

Josephus his Suffrage to the Evangelists in the Substance of their History of Christ.

§ 1. He appropriates the Compellation [Christ] to our Jesus, speaks of the Churches growth in a Gospel-stile. § 2. Describes Christs Disciples by Evangelical Characters; gives the Evangelists Reasons why others did not embrace the Gospel. § 3. He peremptorily asserts Christ's Miracles, how he came to a certain information thereof. Appion and Justus would have found it out, if he had proceeded here upon presumptions and uncertainties. § 4. He describes Christ's Miracles after the Evangelical Model; § 5. And affirms them to have been such as the Prophets had foretold. The Touch-stone of canonical History. § 6. He asserts Christ's Resurrecti∣on with all its Circumstances.

§ 1. JOsephus keeps time with the Evangelists in the date of Christs Histo∣ry. And if we lay our sound-trying ear to the History it self, we shall find that therein he keeps tune with them.

1. He giveth him the Name by which he was in common speech distin∣guished from others [Jesus Christ:] What will you (saith Pilate.) I shall do unto Jesus who is called Christ? Insomuch, as his compellations from the place of his education and converse [Jesus of Nazareth] [Jesus of Galilee] grew so far out of use, as his Disciples ceas'd to be stiled [Galileans and Nazarites;] except by the Jewish or Pagan enemies to the Name of Christ, when they would either cast scorn upon them or calumny; as denominated from a place of which they had this Proverb [Can any good come out of Na∣zareth?] Whence our Saviour inferrs to the man that called him [good] that thereby he confes'd, he was God, and something more than came out of Nazareth, that he had another Birth, before, and beside that he had in Na∣zareth (for the Jews thought he was born there) or from a place, whence the common opinion was that no Prophet was to come; [Search and see, for out of Galilee ariseth no Prophet.] These denominations (I say) except in such mens mouths quickly grew out of use, that of Christian being en∣tail'd upon them by consent of Nations: for which Names sake they were called before Kings and Governours, persecuted, hated of all men [Chri∣stiani, not Galilaei ad leones] was the common acclamation of the whole World of Heathens [negato te esse Christianum,] was the advice which was given to the Disciples of the blessed Jesus, when they were following him either to, or under his bloody Cross: by all that cruelly pittied them, that apishly loved them, and would have killed them with kindness, have had them lose eternal, by saving a temporal Life [Christianum se negat] was the Court-form of acquitting, of suspending proceedings against, those unhappy men, who apostatized from the Faith, and withered, for want of root and depth of earth, when the Sun cast its scorching Beams upon them, [Christi∣anus sum] was the Catholick Form, wherein all Martyrs made a good Con∣fession before their Persecutors. (With what face can the Jesuits, and their fruitful Spawn of Sectaries, who suffer under other names than that of Christian, challenge the Crown of Martyrdom, or lay the odious Crime, of persecution, to the charge of Gods Ministers, while they suffer as evil doers? Is this the silence of the Sheep before the Shearer, the voyce of the dumb Lamb under the hands of the Butcher? and not rather [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Jude 16.) the murmuring of sturdy Malefactors, while they are whipt deserved∣ly for their faults, the grunting of Hoggs (ut porcus saginatus:) (Aret.) who derives that word from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to grunt.) better fed than taught, against

their Keeper; or the cry of Swine, while they are a ringing, to prevent their rooting up the Vineyard of Christ; yea, the Field of the VVorld, and thereby so tainting it with their earth-poysoning Snout, as nothing but Soul-poysoning VVeeds grows after such ploughing (I have stept out of my way to turn this devouring and make-spoil Herd out of the Corn.) The good Shepherds Flock suffer'd under another Name, were known, as by o∣ther properties, so by another compellation, even this of Christian, im∣posed upon them at Antioch, and derived to them from Jesus his compella∣tion, Christ, as Josephus here testifieth, therein agreeing with the Evangeli∣cal History.

2. To which he gives his suffrage, as to the growth and wonderful in∣crease of the Christian Religion, both among Jews and Gentiles, Josephus his Text [And to this day the Christian people, which of him are so called, cease not to increase] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [the Tribe of Christians is not in its wane, but increase.] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [many Jews, and many out of gentilism] (some copies have [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] infinite numbers) became his Disciples. He lived to see, that Grain of Mustard-seed, the Kingdom of Heaven, (the least of all Societies) plant∣ed by Christ (in a Corner of the VVorld, Judaea) grown up to a Tree, that spread its Branches all over the VVorld: that little Leven hid in the three Measures of Meal (Judaeans, Grecians and Barbarians) levening the whole Lump: That light, which arose in the East, shining unto the West, and spreading its Beams all over the VVorld: that Grain of VVheat, which fell into the earth, and dyed there, bearing great increase, according to the Prophecies of Christ, related in the Gospel, and the accomplishment of those Prophecies; related in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. VVhat is there more said by St. Luke, when he tell us, [souls were added to the Church daily; that the word of God grew and increased mightily; that multi∣tudes, both of Greeks and Jews believed:] by St. Paul, when he writes [that the Gospel brought forth fruit in all the world, was made known in all places, &c.] than Josephus here attesteth; manifestly implying, it did not only in∣crease at first, but ceased not to increase under the persecutions raised by Nero and Domitian [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [To this very day the Tribe of Christians decreaseth not] now Josephus concluded these Books of Jewish Antiquities, in the latter end of Domitian, after that, by him and Nero, all the means for the suppressing it had been used, which hu∣mane VVit could invent, or Power use. [In praesentem us{que} diem, quae incidit in decimum tertium annum principatùs Domitiani] (Autiq. l. 20. c. 9.) In spite of all which, it grew, as our Saviour had fore-told, and St. Luke, and St. Paul frequently report. If they shed Christian blood, it manured the VVorld, and made it more fertile of Christians; if they burnt them, not single Phaenixes, but whole Nests of them arose out of their Ashes. The more the Olive was beaten, the more fruitful it grew: The Story of St. Steven's Martyrdom is seconded with that of Paul's Conversion; St. Paul's Chains made the Go∣spel more famous, &c. Insomuch, as in Tertullian's time the greatest part al∣most of every City were Christians; which he mentions as an argument of the loyalty of Christians, in his Apologie to Scapula, President of Africa: [Ex disciplina patientiae divinae agere nos satis manifestum esse vobis potest, cùm tantà hominum multitudo pars pene major civitatis cujus{que}••in silentio & modestiâ agimus, singuli forte magis noti quam omnes,] In all which expressions of the Christian Faith, bearing up against all winds, what is said more, than both Suetonius and Tacitus (in places already alleadged) and Josephus (in this place) testifies the truth of.

§ 2. VVhat other reasons of the Prevalency of Christianity (notwith∣standing all attempts made against it) are given in the Gospel, than what Josephus lays down in the Text.

1. The nature of Christ's Doctrine, and the qualification of them that re∣ceived

it [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [A Teacher of them that willingly received the Truth:] wherein Josephus bears wit∣ness to the truth of these points, so often inculcated by the Evangelists; that the generality of Common People reputed Christ, as they did the Bap∣tist, a Preacher sent from God, a Teacher of the Truth: insomuch, as for fear of the people, who held them Prophets, the Pharisees durst neither de∣ny John's Baptism to be from Heaven, nor cause Jesus to be apprehended, but on the night, and in the absence of the people, lest they should have raised a tumult. That the reason, why they gladly heard both him and his Fore-runner, but did not practically conform to their Doctrine, was, because though their Judgements were convinc'd, that they taught Truth, and in∣joyn'd nothing but what was holy, just, and good; yet their Affections be∣ing over-born with carnal interest, some were kept, from giving up them∣selves to the observance of his Law, by Envy (Act. 13. 45.) some, by Co∣vetousness (Luke 16. 14.) some, by Ambition, and seeking praise of men. (John 12. 42.) And that they, who, by the preventing Grace of God, were better disposed and qualified, for the reception of the Truth, when it should be reveiled to them, became Christ's followers, were peculiarly evangelized, effectually wrought on, by the preaching of the Gospel: where this seed fell on [a good and honest heart] it took root and brought forth fruit (St. Matt. 13.) where God had open'd the door of the heart (by the preventing Grace, of an humble teachableness, of a sincere desire to know and do Gods Will) there this King of Glory came in and was entertain'd. If any man will do [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that is [sincerely desire to do the Will of God] he shall know of the doctrine that I preach, whether it be of God. (Joh. 7. 17.) that is, ac∣knowledge it for divine, as it is: These were the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [fitted for the Kingdom of God] (Luke 9. 62.) the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [the disposed for eternal life] (Act. 13. 1.) the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [the meet for, worthy of becoming Christ's Disciples.) (Act. 13. 46.) This point of Evangelical Doctrine is well exprest by St. Austin, in that Socratical Sentence he minds Longinus the Pagan of (Epist. 20.) [quibus satis persuasum est, ut nihil mallent se esse, quam viros bonos, his reliqua facilis est doctrina:] [to them who are sufficiently perswaded, to desire nothing more than to be good men, the remainder of (Chri∣stian) Doctrine is easie.] But it were endless, to quote all Texts looking this way: for I believe a Tythe of the Gospel beats upon these three Ponts last specified; and therefore how much of it does Josephus bear witness to, and comment upon, in this succinct Sentence [Christ was a Teacher of (had for Followers and Disciples) such as willingly received the Truth.] VVhich how it could fall from his pen, and not soak into his heart (to make it compliant with Christ, and his heavenly Doctrine) can hardly be resolv'd, if not by this observation: That he, and such like admirably moralized persons, who came thus near the Kingdom of Heaven, as to think thus honourably of the Christian Religion, had the same opinion of it, as the Romanists have of those they call special Religions among themselves, profess'd by several Orders of Fryars: the Rules and Grounds whereof they look upon, as Evangelical Counsels of perfection (advantageous to those that will put themselves to the trouble of such heroick acts of Self-denyal and Mortification, in order to their obtain∣ing a far more exceeding weight of eternal Glory:) but not universal Pre∣cepts obliging all Christians. (Gerson de religionis perfectione:) [Religio Chri∣stiana sub uno supremo Abbate Christo sola est salutaris & perfecta: nibilominùs distincta gradibus meritorum & ordinum.—qui votis aliquibus se subjiciunt ultrà legem commune•• Christi.] [Christian Religion, profes'd under one supreme Ab∣bat, Christ, is the only saving and perfect Religion. It is notwithstanding, distin∣guish'd, according to the degrees of Merits and Orders; So as they are most perfect, who subject themselves to certain Rules, beyond the common Law of Christ.] Thus did these esteem the Royal Law to be an excellent Rule of Life and Heart; for such as aim'd at perfection of Grace and Glory: but for those that could content themselves with the common scantling, they might be saved

by that Religion, by which their Fore-fathers had been saved, there was no necessity of practising so chargeable and austere a Doctrine, as that of Christ. The moralized Gentile had that Opinion of the Christian Religion, in com∣parison of his own, as he had of his own, in comparison of all the rest: the Jew had that esteem of Christ, compared with Moses; as he had of Moses, compared with all other Legislators; or (to come to an Instance, will both administer more light to this business, and whereof we have from the Ancients a better account) as he had of the common Jewish Religion in comparison of those stricter Sects of the Pharisee and Essene: as leading to that height of Virtue, as few are capable of attaining to; to that Commu∣nion with God, as is inaccessible, saving by persons of a better Clay: and therefore obtains the good word of all, that are not brutified and led by un∣tamed Passions (as that which leads to the most perfect Beatitude, and a trade of Life far excelling all others;) but not practicable in common Con∣verse, and therefore obtains observance from few. As Philo speaks of the Essenes. [Meritò ut absolutae probitatis receptum in multis orbis regionibus, a Graecis at{que} barbaris ordo tendens ad faelicitatem perfectissimam:] (Philo de vita contemplativa.) They are deservedly entertain'd, as men walking by a Rule of absolute perfection, in many regions of the World: both Grecians and Barba∣rians applaud their Order, as tending to the most perfect happiness. It is adored and reverenc'd at a distance by all; but not approach'd to, except by such, as a kind of divine fury drives on, to lay violent hands upon it; having first laid violent hands upon themselves, and thereby become dead to this mortal Life. (amore correpti rerum caelestium, & quasi divino furore perciti prae immor∣talis cupidine, vitâ hac mortalidefuncti] (Id. Ibid.) Josephus himself is a notable Example of this praising the Heroick degree of Virtue (as absolutely the best) but yet chusing a more remiss degree (as best for him:) for though he far prefers, in point of worth, the Essene above the Pharisee (in his discourses of them.) (Antiq. 15. 13.) he presents the Pharisee, as indulg'd by Herod out of that respect he bore to Pollio, a chief Master amongst them, but out of the reverence which Herod had to the Religion it self of the Essenes, he re∣mitted to them the taking of the Oath of Allegiance, which he imposed up∣on the other two Sects, as conceiving the Essenes Virtue and Justice, would oblige them more to duty, than an Oath would the Pharisees or Sadducees. And he spends so much of a long Chapter (cap. 7. de Bell. Judaic. 2.) in commending the Essenes for that admirable degree of Temperance, Tole∣rance, Pacateness of Spirit, contempt of Earth, love of Heaven, which they attain'd to; as he almost forgets to describe the two other Sects, as not worthy to stand in competition with this. And in the History of his own Life, gives the preheminency for Virtue to the Essenes, whose Rules he followed, under Bannus, three years without intermission. Yet when he came to near twenty, and began to consider, where he was, and how to provide for a subsistence in this world, sutable to his mind; he chose the Religion of the Pharisees, whom he saw on the sunny-side of the hedge, as most conducible to a Civil Life; as a way wherein he might safely walk, towards the obtaining immortal happiness; though not administring so large an entrance into it, as that of the more mortified Essenes; yet more easie to be kept, without loss of his Secular Interests, and laying more in the way Preferment, &c. As he himself informs us (in the History of his own Life) [Jam{que} undeviginti annos, natus, civilem vitam aggressus sum, addictus Phari∣saeorum placitis.) Of whom, notwithstanding, he gives this Character; that they were a slie, and arrogant kind of Men, pragmatical in Affairs of State, enemies to Kings, beguiling silly Women with shews of holiness. (Antiqui∣ties, l. 13. c. 3.) But however that Sect he chuseth as most convenient for a Ci∣vil Life, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉:] (Isocrat de pace:) Thus he adhered to the Religion of Moses in practice, though he honour'd Christ's Doctrine in heart before it: with Philo his Eunuch philosopher (Phi∣lo de Josepho.) approving it in judgement as the most wholesome, but

relishing the other as more tooth-some: [loquitur ut oportet, sed sapit con∣trarium.] Of the same make were those multitudes of Believers, to whom Jesus would not trust himself, knowing what was in them; those of the Rulers and Pharisees, who believed, but did not practice his Doctrine, for fear of being cast out of the Synagogue; through love of the praise of men, &c. such were the Gnosticks, the Ebionites, the Hemerobaptists, and the whole Frie of Mungrel-Christians: who not being able to expung out of their Minds an honourable Opinion of Christ, nor out of their Wills an en∣mity to the pureness of his Doctrine, compounded the quarrel betwixt Conscience and Affection, betwixt Reason and Passion.

§ 3. Of Christ's working of Miracles, which he propoundeth as another Cause of so many Disciples flocking after, and adhering to him; Josephus thus writes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; [hic fuit mirabilium operum pa∣trator, He was a d••er of admirable Works:] Every word, and almost syllable hath its Emphasis.

1. The VVorks wrought by Christ were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [wonderful, beyond and beside the ordinary course of Nature;] not only in the opinion of the Vulgar, who are easie to be imposed upon by Thaumatourgists (by reason of their ignorance in the Reason and Cause of Effects) but in the judgement of the most knowing persons; for doubtless such was Josephus, and such those with whom he convers'd, in order to his receiving satisfaction in this Case: and therefore if he had not been well assured, that as it was beyond the power of the most approved minds, to find out; so it was out of the Sphere of Natures Activity, to afford Causes of such Effects: he would not have given them this Atrribute. Upon the same account, that bitter e∣nemy of Christ, Celsus also confesseth, that Christ by means of the Miracles he wrought, procured many Disciples (Origen. Contr. Celsum. lib. 1. cal. 21.)

2. He casts not in here that common allay, of, [as it is reported.] nor gives that Caution against his Readers too facil Credulity, which he usual∣ly inserts, where either himself questions the Truth of Matter of Fact, or fears his Prudence may be called in question, for not questioning that; but roundly affirms Christ to have done wonderful works; not fearing the Cen∣sure of his critical Readers, upon either his reporting it for a certain Truth, or believing it [nec meis scriptis timui conscius enim mihi eram veritatis ser∣vatae:] Vita Josephi) [I was not afraid of mens censuring my writings, for I was conscious to my self, that I have kept strictly to the Truth.] He writes in another strain, when he reports the dream of Archelaus expounded by Si∣mon the Essean; the appearance of Alexander's Ghost to Glaphyra, and an hundred more historical Passages, out of which I single this, for its proximi∣ty of time to our Saviour's working and preaching. These stories, though reported to him by the familiars of the Queen Glaphyra, though one of them came from an Essene (to the Professors of which Religion Josephus ascribed more holiness than all other the most strictest Sects) he concludes thus; [Though I thought good to communicate these Relations, as being of great use towards the proving the immortality of the Soul, and divine Providence; yet they that think these things incredible, I give them leave to enjoy their Opinion.] (Jud. ant. 17. ult.) And another thus (Antiq. l. 15. c. 13.) [Haec tametsi fi∣dem excedere videntur, visum est tamen Lectori indicare, quia multi sunt in eo ge∣nere, quibus ob morum probitatem, divinitas aperire dignatur sua decreta & con∣silia:] These things, though they seem to exceed belief, yet I thought good to ac∣quaint the Reader with them: because there are some of this Sect, to whom for the probity of their Manners, God vouchsafes to reveil his Decrees and Counsels.

What reason can be given of his confidence, thus peremptorily to di∣ctate, while he discourseth of Christ? is he, in so short a while, as the writ∣ing of two or three Chapters takes up, grown so regardless of his Credit

(that he was, so lately, so tender of) as, without any Salvo, or reserve; thus positively to affirm, that Jesus wrought admirable Works? or proceeds not this rather from the assurance he hath of the Authentickness of his In∣telligence; this being a point, that he had the fairest opportunity to inform himself about, of any that are recorded by him, except those he was an Eye-witness of, for before the end of Claudius's Reign, at sixteen years of age, he committed himself (for five years together) to the Discipline of the Essenes, Scribes and Pharisees in order to his making, a prudential Choice of the best Religion; who, doubtless, out of an inveterate odium against Christ, would taint this new Vessel with all imaginable Prejudices against the Gospel; from his one and twentieth year he resigned up himself to the Placits of (the greatest enemies our Saviour had while he was upon Earth) the Pharisees, and to the Society of their Brethren in iniquity, the Priests of Jerusalem. (Josephi vita) thus armed against the Christian Faith, in the Judaean troubles under Gessius Florus, he betakes himself into Galilee, the Stage of our Saviours great Works: in managing of which Province he staid till he was taken Prisoner by Titus; having in the mean while his resi∣dence, by turns, in all the Towns of note, in that tract which the blessed Jesus had so worn with his feet, as he could scarce come any where, where he might not yet see the recent prints of them, and converse with thousands, upon whom, and in whose sight, those Miracles were wrought; he might yet, at the Sea of Tiberias, where he first quarter'd, see the Ships which those Disciples were called out of to be Fishers of Men; wherein Christ taught multitudes, that stood on the shore, wherein he commanded the Winds, and the Sea to be still. At Gadera, the next place he march'd to, he might speak with the Relations of that man, out of whom Christ cast Legion, and with some of the owners of that Herd of Swine, into which the Devils enter'd. At Cana he might see the Water-potts whence the true Vine made Wine flow in room of Water. After quarter given him by Vespasian, he followed the Roman Ensigns, as a Prisoner, to Caesarea; where he might feel the Prison and Moot-hall, almost yet warm with St. Paul's Breath; the Judgement-seat, yet quaking with Felix his-trembling, yet resounding the Eccho of St. Paul's pleadings, and Agrippa's Confession, that he was half perswaded to be a Christian: if not infested by that Vermine, which in∣sinuated into that other Herod, the knowledge of his being a Man, while the flattering voyce of the people cryed him up for a God: where he might, with his Keeper, walk to the House where Cornelius was praying, when he saw the Angelical Vision; where he and his Family were brought in, and consecrated to Christ, as the First-fruits of the Gentiles; and converse with that Italian Band that Cornelius had command over. (Bel. Jud. 3. 14.) From whence he had as fair an opportunity of sending to Joppa, to enquire for the Tanners house where St. Peter lodged, and on whose Battlements he received his Commission to go to the Gentiles, as could be offered; for at that very time Vespasian, sent a party thither. (Bel. Jud. Ib.) But I must not write a Journal of his March with the Army in Chains, though all that while he had freedom and leisure enough to inform himself in the Truth of those things he then intended to commit to Posterity. Follow we him, whither the Eagles lead him, after he has liberty granted him by Vespasian, (now made Emperor) and we find him at Alexandria in Aegypt: where was a famous Chri∣stian Church, then gathered by St. Mark the Evangelist, and a Society of four thousand Essenes, mentioned by his Co-etanean Philo the Learned Jew; if they were not all one (as Eusebius thinks) they were so near a kin, in the Judge∣ment of the World; as the ancient Church, (to wash her hands of those stains were cast upon her Virgin-purity, by the Worlds deeming the Essenes to be of her Society,) was fain to explode them together with the Ebionites, Nazarites, and Hemerobaptists: or rather the Essenes were really the greatest opposers of Christians, and the Christian the most perfect hater of them, of any Society of men, as coming nearest him in outward shape (as the Ape to

a man) but having a divers Soul, and therefore the most odious of all Beasts: However Josephus his venerable Opinion of that Sect, and his three years Pupilage, in his Minority, under Bannus the strictest of the Judaean Es∣senes, could not but invite him to the acquaintance of the Alexandrian: a∣mong whom the fresh memory of Jesus, and his Fore-runner the Baptist, (a person of blessed memory with both him and them) must needs lead them to confer upon the Stories of them, and to compare Notes. With Titus we find him at Antioch: where the Name of Christian (by which he comme∣morates Christ's Followers) was first imposed upon Christians, taken up (as the learned Junius thinks) by themselves, to distinguish them from such as called themselves Galileans and Nazarites, as if they embraced the Gospel, but of whom for their Judaizing the Church was ashamed, and wiped their names out of her Calendar. At Jericho, at Bethany, and all Judaean Towns where Christ convers'd; from the Inhabitants and inspection of which places he either saw those manifest tracks, or received that full satisfaction of what he reports of Christ's miraculous Works, as makes him thus po∣sitively assert the Truth of those Matters. For where else, among whom else, could he gain that certain knowledge, that he himself requires in an Hi∣storian, and professeth himself to have had of those things he records, both in his Books of Antiquities, and the Wars. He that promiseth to others (saith he) the Tradition of Facts really done, must himself first have a perfect understanding of those things (either because he was present at the doing of them, or understood them by those that saw them done) which Rule I have strict∣ly observed in both my Treatises, (Josep. contrà Appion, l. 1.) He could not be a Spectator of the Works, of the Effects of them he might, (upon those per∣sons, upon whom they were wrought, in those places where Monuments of them remain'd:) but where could he have better information by Eye-witnesses, than the Inhabitants of those Countries and Villages where Christ manifested his Glory, and Josephus so long convers'd?

Of the Truth of such information that he was undoubtedly assured, will be yet more evident, if we observe, how narrowly he was watch'd by those two men of an evil-Eye, towards him and his History.

Appion, a learned Gentile Philosopher, and Justus so zealous a Jew, as Agrippa became his Advocate to the Emperour (against the accusations of the Decapolitanes, presenting him as the sole Author of his Countries Apo∣stacy from its Allegeance) and born and living in that part of Galilee, where our Saviour chiefly convers'd. How glad would either of these have been, to have taken Josepus tardy, in so considerable a point of his History? and how easily might they have catch'd him tripping here, if he had not look'd so well to his feet, as to deliver nothing concerning our Saviour, but what he was certain of, and could make good against all cavils? How comes it to pass that those critical Adversaries, (who scarce leave one Story, in either of his Treatises, untouch'd, against which they could make any plausible Exception) have not a word to say against this, but because the Evidence of its Truth was so apparent, as there was no contradicting of it? Nay, would not these pick-quarrels have found fault, if not with the falsity, yet at least with the presumption of this Passage; if they had not been convinc'd, that he went not upon presumptions, but undoubted Grounds. Photias (de Justo Tiberiadensi) writes, that in Emulation of Josephus, he wrote the Hi∣story of the Jews (from the time of Moses, unto the death of Agrippa, the seventh King of the Herodian Race, and last of the Jews, who began his Reign under Claudius, augmented his Kingdom under Nero, and more un∣der Vespasian, and dyed in the third year of Trajan, to whom Justus dedi∣cated his History.) I report this quotation at large: as well to certifie a mistake of my own, touching Josephus his Appeal to Agrippa, for the Truth of his Judaick Wars; it being this Agrippa, and not (as I then supposed) he whom Caligula preferr'd, for that was he, of whom the Text of St. Luke speaks, who dyed in the fourth of Claudius, of worms, while Josephus was

in his Nonage: as also to shew, that this Justus had time enough, betwixt Josephus his finishing his History (under Domitian) and his finishing his own (under Trajan) to examine, and find fault in it: and that if he could have detected Josephus of falsity, in this his Story of Christ: the Heathen World, and this persecuting Emperour (who hated Christians to death) would have been sure to have heard of it by Justus. Never did any Secular Historian pass a more severe scrutiny than Josephus did: and in no part of it more than this of Christ, and the Baptist. To proceed therefore in his Testi∣mony.

§ 4. 1. By the Characters he stamps upon Christ's mighty Works, he ma∣nifestly distinguisheth them from all others, and points them out to be those very individual ones, which are recorded in the Gospel.

1. In that he makes Christ the Maker of them [the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the Former of them by his own power; a word more properly attributed, by the Chri∣stian Church (in our common Creed) unto God, to express his creating Heaven and Earth, without pre-existent Matter, or co-existent Helpers: than that of [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] by the Philosophers (as Justin Martyr observes in his Protrepticks ad gentes) the Christian VVord expressing the Christian Sence of that Article (est enim 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 qui ex nihilo aliquid facit) and Plato's word ex∣pressing the Philosophers sence of the Original of the VVorld, to wit, that of Matter eternally pre-existing, was made the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (the well order'd Frame of the Universe) the confused Chaos was brought into shape, by the Ministry of co-eternal petty Gods, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or chief worker, drawing the Model, and over-seeing the VVork. Or if the Sirname of Martyr fright our dainty Scepticks from reading that Author. Sir Philip Sidney, that Prince of Romancers, (in his commendation of the Art of Poetry) will in∣form him what the proper importance of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is. According to which, Josephus his applying it to Christ, implies, that he thought those strange Ef∣fects wrought by Christ, not to have been educ'd out of the active Poten∣tiality of the Matter upon which, or means by which he operated; but to have been the immediate Emanations of Christ's Power, as the Fountain cause: and hereby he discriminates Christ's Miracles, not only from the Ef∣fects of natural Magick, produc'd out of natural Causes (though latent to us Owls, yet naked and barefac'd to those Spirits, that have their name from Intelligence) but from those which were wrought by Moses, by the Prophets, or Apostles, those being effected by another Power, in another name, than their own: but what Jesus of Nazareth did, he did as having power in him∣self, not as a subordinate Agent, but principal. That which never man pre∣tended to but he, that which never was ascribed to any man but him, and yet ascribed to him by such as did not write Christian.

He describes Christian Miracles according to the Gospel rule.

2. In his affirming these Works to have been [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] [inopinata, praeter omnem expectationem, & contrà omnium opinionem] A word which may seem to have faln into his Pen; either from the mouth of the people, or the Text of the Evangelist (Luke 5. 26.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] we have seen strange things to day; unexpected things, which we look'd not for, from Joseph's Son (chap. 4. 22.) from him, whose Father, and Mother, and Sisters we know. This was the Vulgar Vote, though the Christ, when he comes, will not, cannot do greater Miracles than this man doth: yet that this man (whose Generation we can declare, and know it to be so mean) should thus speak and work, is that which we little expected. The whole Nation were now big with expectation of some great Man, who should do great Things (they looked when the Mountains would bring forth, when God would shake the Heavens, and thence send the Desire of all Nations:) while they are thus musing, the Branch springs up out of the wither'd Stem, the dryed Root of David's Stock, without form, without comeliness; one wherein they could see no beauty: here they are as much frustrated of their

expectation, as those in the Fable were, when they saw nothing but a Mouse born of the swelling Mountains. But when they see this Mouse gnaw a∣sunder the Cords wherein Satan had kept the Seed of Abraham fast bound; when they see this Worm stinging the old Serpent to death; when they see this little Stone bearing down all adverse power before it: this was as much above what they looked for, from so contemptible a Person: as his external Form was below that Grandeur, they looked for in their Messias. Besides, Impostures filled their Followers with expectation of great things from them, by their boasting of their power to work Miracles, they had a Trum∣pet before them to call men in to see the show: Here goes the mighty Power of God, who will come and see it exerted, was the cry of the Si∣monists? Come with me to the Mount of Olives, and I will make the Walls of Jerusalem fall flat to the ground, by a Battery of omnipotent Words, crys one: Go with me to Mount Gerazim, there I'l shew you what has been hid from Ages, cries another: March with me into the Wilderness, and I'l there do wonders, crys another. But the Powers of the Kingdom of Heaven exert themselves, in the works of our Saviour, without ostenta∣tion, his Miracles (I mean those he wrought to convince the Jews before his Passion) were unpremeditate and extempore: the maladies he kill'd, felt the Bullet, before the by-standers heard the Crack: he rung no Bell to that Dinner he prepared, for many thousands, of a few Loaves and Fishes: his Acts of wonder were without Prologues, surprised the Spectators with their suddenness, were done before they could forethink he would do them, and upon that account, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, strange things they looked not for.

§ 5. And yet Josephus affirms, that the Jews had all the reason in the World to expect the doing of such things, as Christ did, by some Person of note, whom God was to raise up for the benefit of that Nation: for thus he writes: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [The divine Prophets having feretold these and other wonderful things concerning him] wherein he fully accords with our Evangelists in this main Foundation-point.

3. That the Wonders which Jesus of Nazareth wrought, were such as the Prophets of God had foretold, should be wrought by the Christ, when he came. A point which is constantly prest by our sacred Historiographers, and appealed to by our Saviour, in the answer he returned to John the Baptist (when he sent his Disciples to enquire, whether he were the Christ?) Go and tell John what you see, that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, &c. If these be not the Works assigned to the Messias by the Prophets, believe me not that I am he. The Miracles that Christ did were not elective Works (as those were which false Christs pretended to) but fore-appointed and prescribed him by the Spirit of Prophesie; and therefore as they point him out to be him that was to come; for never man but he applyed himself to work by the Rule of Pro∣phecy (and I challenge all Reading to produce one Example of a person, be∣side him, that so much as pretended to the doing of those wonders that the Prophets cut out for the Christ.) So they clearly evince those VVonders that were reported by common and undoubted Fame, in the Age of Jose∣phus, to be those very Works of Christ that are specified in the Evangelical History; there being none of them but bear this Character, are such as the Prophets fore-told the Messias should work: and none but those in the Go∣spel, being by any persons fasten'd upon Christ, that will abide that Test, or have not been reprobated upon that Rule of Trial. The Enemy began be∣times to sow the Tares of Forgeries with the good Seed of Evangelical Hi∣story.

Some, as the Carpocratians, reporting other things of Christ, than what the Gospel relates; upon this pretence, that Christ did or taught those things

in private, to some choice Disciples (Irenaeus cont. Haeretic. lib. 1.) And that false Merchant Isidore is not ashamed to feign the holy Bishop Clemens (whom St. Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Romans) to make the same Plea in his Apostolical Canons. Under the same Pretext the Ebionites, Gnosticks, Carpocratians, &c. forged the Gospel by St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Philip, St. Matthias, St. Peter, St. Thaddaeus, St. James the younger, St. Barnaby, St. Bartholomew, the Book of the Infancy, and another of the Nativity of our Saviour, of his Mother and her Midwife, the Manichees Book called the Foundation: (Crab. conc. tom. 1. Gelasii decreta. pag. 992.) Tertullian (in his Prescription against Hereticks) affirms, that when they could not make good their Conceipts by Scripture, they pretended that either the Disciples did not know all that was necessary for the Church, (Christ telling them he had many things to say unto them, which they were not able to bear) or else that they did not communicate all they knew to all, but that they reserved the greatest Mysteries for them that were perfect. Others boasted, that what they reported of Christ, beside what was contain'd in the Gospel, they had from the Apostles by word of mouth: This was Artemon's Plea, (Euseb. 5. 28.) Clemens (Strom. 7.) tells us, that Basilides gloried in his having for his Master one Glancias, the Interpreter of St. Paul: that Valentinus father'd his Fanatick VVhimsies upon Theodate, St. Paul's Familiar: and that the Mar∣cionites bragged, that the Disciples of St. Matthias were their Teachers. And Athanasius (2. contrà Arrianos) recites this Exordium of a writing of Arrius [I have heard these things of the Elect of God, of the most knowing and even paced servants of God.] These they called Depths of knowledge, but Christ calls them Depths of Satan; and the Church proved them to be such, and rejected them, as soon as ever they saw the light, for spurious; upon this Ground, because they did not bear Correspondency, to what, the Pro∣phets had fore-told: Pope Leo rejected Apochryphal Miracles by this Rule, that which the Prophets did not foretel should be done, and the Gospel re∣ports not to be done is spurious. [Quod Prophetia non cecinit, quod Evan∣gelica Veritas non praedicavit. (Leonis Epist. 50. Crab. con. tom. 1. pa. 715.) [per Prophetas & per Evangelium.] (Clem. Alex. Strom. 7. pag. 242. a.) [Sicut improbi pueri excludunt praeceptorem; ita etiam hi (haeretici) arcent Prophetias à suâ Ecclesiâ] (Id. Ib.) [As naughty boys shut out their School-master (saith Clem. Alexand.) so those Hereticks exclude the Prophets from their Church: whereas the full proof of a Truth is this that both the Prophets and Evangelists give their joynt Testimony to it.] And therefore he concludes, that that Faith that is not cloven-foot'd, that depends not on both Testaments (the Pro∣phesie of the Old, the History of the New) is unclean (Id. Ib. 245.) But of all other most Divinely, Lactant. (de Justicia l. 5. cap. 3.) [Disce igitur si tibi cordi est, non idcirco à nobis deum creditum Christum, quia mirabilia fecit: sed quia vidimus in eo facta esse omnia quae nobis annunciata sunt vaticinio Propheta∣rum. Fecit mirabilia: magnum putassemus, si non illa ipsa facturum Christum Prophetae omnes uno spiritu praedixissent. Ita{que} Deum credimus non magis ex∣factis mirandis, quam ex illa ipsa Cruce, quam vos sicut canes lambitis, quoniam simul & illa praedicta est:] [Learn therefore if thou hast a mind that we do not believe Christ to be God, barely because he wrought wonders: but because he wrought such wonders as the Prophets foretold should be wrought by the Messias at his coming: He wrought wonders, we should have thought that a great matter; but that is nothing in comparison of this, that those very works that Christ did, all the Prophets with one breath did predeclare should be done by him. We therefore believe Christ to be God, not more upon the account of his admirable Facts, than of that very Cross which ye doggs snarl at: because that also amongst other things was foretold.] And yet more clearly: That Christ (saith Tertullian) which Marcion describes (out of the Gospel of St. Luke, as he hath perverted chopt and changed it) is not the true Christ: [for God's Christ, is the Pro∣phets Christs; one that, every where, and in all things, bears a resemblance of Prophecy.] (Contra Marc. 4. 8.) [Caeter••m verus Christus Prophetarum erat Chri∣stus,

ubicun{que} secundùm Prophetas invenitur] That which Petilian affirms of Christ cannot be true (saith St. Austin) (contra literas Petiliani. 3. 6.) for who∣soever (I do not say of us men, but) of the holy Angels, shall say any o∣ther things of Christ, than what is foretold in the Old, as well as re∣ported in the New Testament, let him be accursed.

The same Father (contr. Faustum Manichaeum, lib. 12.) hence concludes the Manichees Christ, to be a Christ of their own invention, because he was not (talis qualem patres Hebraei prophetaverunt,) [such an one as the Hebrew Pro∣phets had described:] We will not believe (saith he) those Preachers, who would deceive us with a Christ, that not only is a counterfeit Christ, but never was at all; seeing we have the true Christ, even him [that was re∣ally described aforehand by the Prophets, and preach'd by the Apostles who make proof of what they say of him, out of the Law and Prophets.] The learned Chancellor of Paris, (in his Book de examine Doctrin. 1.) alledgeth this gloss upon the Text, [And there appeared with him Moses and Elias] [suspecta est omnis revelatio quam non confirmant Lex & Prophetae cum Evangelia,] [That is no true Picture of Christ, which answers not the Model drawn by Moses and the Prophets.] The Law is the Touch-stone of the Gospel, by which we may discri∣minate the good Money in the Apostles Scrip, from the adulterate in the Cheaters Bag: the Genuinness of their History (while they make known unto us the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus) from all other the most cunningly-devised Fables that ever were invented of him. Their drawing Christ after the Pattern they saw in the Holy Mount, (when Moses and Elias talked with him,) with those Rays of Glory, those Emanations of such mighty VVorks, as the Prophets speak off, as they give the Platform and rude draught off (when they speak of his Glory) puts the matter out of all possibility of delusion, beyond the Power of the subtilest Imposture to counter∣feit; and affords us, if we attend to this sure Word of Prophecie, as clear a Light to discern, that the Description which the Evangelists make of Christs Acts and Person, is a perfect representation of the Prototype, (and all Apo∣chryphal Pieces that write not after that Copy, therefore spurious Mis-re∣presentations) as I could have to judge, whether the Painter has hit it or mist it in drawing my Picture, by comparing it with the Image in my Glass. Brief∣ly, Josephus in this Character which he gives of Christ's Miracles (that they were such as the Jewish Prophets had assigned in their Predictions to be per∣formed by the Christ) doth both discriminate Christ's Miracles in point of Excellency from all others (for as the veriest Dunce may have conn'd some Lessons so by heart, as to have them at his singers end: that if he be left at liberty to read where he pleases, one that hears him would think he reads perfectly; when perhaps he scarce knows one Letter of the whole row and therefore, the way of trying his sufficiency, is to turn him to, and make him read the Lessons which we prescribe him:) So the most sottish Wizzard, if he may chuse what Pranks to play, may shew one or two, which may pass for Wonders: But if you prescribe him what to do, he forth with bewrays his inability: nothing but Omnipotency could keep pace with the Prophets Prescriptions in working Miracles;) And also evinceth those, of which the Evangelists make report, to have been those very in∣dividual great VVorks, of which Josephus writes: seeing all these, and these only, (of all those that either Christ hath been reported to do by apochry∣phal Authors, or any man pretended to do in any other Name) do mani∣festly bear the Impresses of this Character, that they are such, as the Prophets predicted should be performed by the Christ, at his appearance.

§ 6. Of all Christ's Miracles, the greatest and of most use to the Chri∣stian, (as being the crowning and confirmation of all the rest,) was his Resurrection; concerning which Josephus gives as full a Testimony to what the Evangelists deliver, as he could have done, had he been a fifth Evan∣gelist: for thus he writes. Though Pilat upon the accusation of the chief of

our Nation, sentenc'd him to be crucified, yet they that had loved him from the first, did not relinquish him; for he shewed himself again alive to them the third day after his death. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.]

In which Text this Jewish Priest gives witness to the Truth of what the Evangelists declare touching the most material points of Christ's Death: that he was crucified, and that under Pontius Pilat; and that by the instigation, and accusation of the Jewish Elders, and Chief Priests: and the main Circumstances of his rising from the dead, that it was on the third day; that he gave Demonstration of it, the very day he rose, not to all, but certain VVitnesses, whom he had chosen to go in and out with him from the beginning; that this Demonstration was so palpable and convincing, that it animated the Disciples to adhere to him, not withstanding his preceding ignominious Death. This is all so clear that it need no Comment, no o∣ther Reflection but this. That as Josephus could not be ignorant of the Allegation of the Jewish Priests (he being himself a Priest, and after∣wards an Associate of the Priests of Jerusalem) that his Disciples had stole him away; so he makes so little account of it, as he thinks it not worth the mentioning: but, not withstanding that report, without any circumlocution, affirms plainly, that Christ did shew himself alive the third day to his Disciples: on whom he bestows that Epethete which our Saviour gave them in his question to St. Peter. [Simon lovest thou me more than these?]

How strong is that Truth, upon which the whole Fabrick of Chri∣stian Religion is built? since the Evidence of it prevail'd so far with a Jew (in Religion more than Birth) as to obtain from him this full Testimony, and that upon Record for the perpetual memory of the thing, and in a Book dedicated to him that persecuted the Professors of this Truth!

CHAP. VIII.

Josephus confirms St. Lukes History of Herod A∣grippa.

§ 1. He paints him in Evangelical Colours, as the Jews Favourite, as a Pro∣digal, as much in the Tyrians debt, and therefore displeased with them, &c. § 2. He dates his Death according to St. Luke. St. James martyred in the third: and Famine at Rome in the second and third: In Judaea in the fourth of Claudius. § 3. He describes his Death after St. Lukes Stile. Two Acclamations: immediately after the second, he was struck by a Messenger of Death, an Owl. § 4. Angels assume what form the divine mandat prescribes: Evil Angels God's Messengers. § 5. Herod the Great dyed of the like stroke. Josephus gives the natural Symtomes of Agrippa's disease. § 6. A digression, touching St. Paul's Thorn in the Flesh.

§ 1. HE gives as full a Testimony to the History and Acts of the Apostles, as to Christ, in all those particulars where the Af∣fairs of the Church are interwoven with the Affairs of the Empire, or the Kingdom of Judaea, that is, where-ever their History comes in his way.

1. Herod Agrippa the Son of Aristobulus, his Story in Josephus goes hand in hand with St. Luke's Story of him.

1. As to his personal Qualifications, He is described by St. Luke (Act. 13.) to have been so great a Favourite of the Jews, so ambitious to gratifie them, and so zealous and forward a Professor of their Religion, that to serve their interest, and to do them a pleasure, he beheaded St. James, and imprisoned St. Peter, with an intention to have sacrificed his Blood also to that Peo∣ples humour. In the same habit of Soul does Josephus paint him; not only in those Texts which have been formerly alledged, but also in the seventh Chap. of his ninteenth Book of Antiquities: Where, shewing his different Temper from that of Herod Antipas, he tells us that Antipas, out of an o∣dium against that Nation, manifestly shewed more good will to the Greci∣ans than Jews, adorning foreign Cities with Gifts, Bathes, Theaters, Tem∣ples, &c. but not vouchsafing to grace any one Town of the Jews with any memorable, either Ornament or Bounty. But Agrippa, on the o∣ther hand, though he was beneficent, liberal, and courteous to all; yet he was above all others benign to, and ready to help in their greatest ex∣igencies, his own Country-men the Jews; willing to have had his constant residence in Jerusalem; being so religious an observer of his Countries Rites, as he let no day pass without sacrifice, nor suffered himself at any time to be polluted with Legal uncleannesses: insomuch, as when one Simon who had in a publick Assembly calumniated him behind his back, as impure, and not fit to be admitted to Temple-Worship, was convented before him, he was not able to instance one particular, where∣in Agrippa had miscarried touching the Law.

Another of his Qualifications; hinted by St. Luke, is his profuse Gallan∣try, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Because their Coun∣try was maintained by the Trade they drive at Court, (Acts 12. 20.) the Roy∣alty and Gallantry of Herods Court maintain'd their Country with Trade. The Maritine Towns and Countries of Tyre and Sidon being chiefly main∣tain'd, by their Court trade, by vending there their rich and costly Commo∣dities for back and belly, those Peacock-feathers that made him so gay on the Judgement-seat, as to procure him divine adoration: if their acclamations were any thing else than an artifice of those cunning Tyrian Merchants, to cry up and inhance the price of their own Wares, and to intimate to this ambitious Prince, that what had gain'd him the repute of a God, was well worth the price he had given for them; for I cannot think that Royal Ap∣parel could dazle those Eyes, which were dayly inured to the richest Rarities of Nature or Art: and I have strong impulses to opine; that Herod's fine Cloaths stood yet unpaid for in those Merchants Books, and that he stormed so furiously against them, either for that they had set the Dice upon him in their price, or dun'd him for payment: for I could never yet learn, what other cause of quarrel he could have with those Merchant-Towns; nor how that ambitious Prodigal could maintain that Pomp he kept, without run∣ning upon the Tick,; nor for what they, that (but five days before) call'd him a God, should at his death, curse his Memory: but because he died so much in their Books, and his Lands were not bound to pay his Debts. And I doubt not but my intelligent Reader will be partly of my mind, by that time he has heard Josephus speak to this point. This King, (saith he) was so born to Liberality and demeriting of people by Largesses; as he took ex∣tream pleasure in making his name famous by Munificence, and cared not what expence he was at, to purchase the repute of a munificent Prince, (l. 19. 7.) Before Calignla prefer'd him, (Joseph. Antiq. lib. 18. 8.) he brought himself to that penury, (with the Splendour of his dayly Attendance, and immoderate Liberalities) that he durst no longer shew his face in Rome; but taking Sanctuary (from his many and importunate Creditors) in a Castle of Idumaea, bethought himself how he might put an end to his miserable life: which hunger would quickly have determin'd, had not his Sister Herodias (by the instigation of his Wife Cypros) obtain'd of her Husband Herod, a sti∣pend for him, and an Office at Tiberias; till his Uncle (in the midst of their Cups) upbraiding him with it, he left him in scorn, and betook himself to the Trencher of Flaccus the President of Syria: from whose friendship he fal∣ling, doth (with much difficulty and disadvantage) obtain, of his Mothers Freeman, the Loan of 20000 Attick Drams: with which he makes fot Ita∣ly, but is intercepted and arrested by Herennius Capito, for 300000. he was indebted to Caesar. Follow him whither you will, till he come to the Crown, you shall find him immersing himself in Debt. And when he comes to that, he leaves not his old wont: for, though then his yearly Revenues were 1200. Myriades, yet he outrun the Constable in his Expences, his Disbursements did so far exceed his Incomes, as he was still forc'd to borrow and take up upon trust. (Joseph. Antiq. lib. 19. 7.) But we need no other Instance of his excessive profuseness, nor evidence of his being deeply in the Books of the Tyrian and Sidonian Tradesmen, than that Description of the Royal Apparel (mention'd by St. Luke) which Josephus makes, viz. [He was arrayed in Cloath of Silver so admirably wrought, as the Beams of the rising Sun beating upon it, it cast so wonderful radiant a splendour, as begat veneration in the be∣holders.

We will proceed to his external Character, [Herod the King] whereby he is distinguish'd from Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee, who slew the Baptist, and simply [the King] without the addition [of Judaea] to diffe∣rence him from Herod the Great, in whose son Arebelaus, the Kingdom of Judaea expired, being annext to Syria, and made a Roman Province, at the latter end of the Reign of Augustus, and administred by the Governours of

Syria, (Jos. ant. 18. 15.) from which time to the Reign of Caligula the Herodian Family had not so much as the Title of King; and when Cali∣gula bestowed that Title upon this Herod Agrippa, he made him not King of Judaea, but only of those Tetrarchates which he gave him, (the Tetrarchates of Philip, Lysanias, and Herod) together with some part of those Territories which Archelaus had held. And this Herodian Kingdom (of the second E∣dition) though it throve to as great dimensions, under the favourable influ∣ences of Claudius, Vespasian, Domitian, and Trajan, upon the Junior Agrippa, as that of Herod the Great, had done, under Julius and Augustus, [Claudius added to Agrippa's Jurisdiction, Judaea and Samaria, which had of old belonged to the Kingdom of his Grandfather Herod,] (Jos. ant. 19. 4.) yet it never re∣cover'd that Grandure, either to be, or to be so much as reputed, the King∣dom of Judaea, till either Eusebius or St. Jerome miscalled it so, (to make it comport with their former mistakes, about Daniel's Weeks, and the Depar∣ture of the Scepter.) Against which mistake both the sacred Historian, (in giving Herod the Great, and Archelaus, the formal Title of Kings of Judaea: but Herod Agrippa, and his Son, that only of, King;) and Josephus (by giving us the Story at large of both those Kingdoms) have given us sufficient Cau∣tion, have set up so plain VVay-marks, as the way-faring Ideot cannot erre, if he attend to those palpable differences of those Kingdoms, pointed out by those Mercuries; nor possibly overlook their perfect Correspondency in that particular. For this Herod is not so much as stiled King of Judaea, except once, by Josephus, and that for brevity's sake, with the addition of [totius:] [Tertium Judaeae totius regni annum agens:] (ant. 19. 7.) by that distingui∣shing that his three years Reign, from his four precedent, under Caius (where∣in he had only some part of its Territory, which under Herod the Great made up the Kingdom of Judaea) but not intending thereby, that he was,, in due form, King of Judaea: for he presents him as coap-mated and check'd by Marsus, the Deputy of Syria, in his building the walls of Jerusalem, and his entertainment of the five Kings, whom Marsus commanded forthwith to depart Herod's Court unto their own homes, much against Herods will, if he could have helpt it: (Joseph. Antiq. 19. 7.)

§ 2. The like agreement there is betwixt St. Luke and Josephus, in their dating the remarkable Death of Herod. At that time, while (upon Agabus his Prophecy of a general Dearth) the Church of Antioch sent St. Paul and Barnabas, with relief to the Christians which dwelt in Judaea, St. Luke dates it, for having mentioned their Mission, he subjoynes the stories of Herod mur∣dering James, imprisoning Peter, and his own miserable End; after which he tells of Paul and Barnabas their return, (from performing that Ministry, and Office of Charity) unto Antioch, from whence they had been sent: which though it do not necessarily inforce this Conclusion, that all those things mentioned in that intervall, fell out in that order, wherein they are related (for St. Luke might lay the Actions in the 12 Chapter, before the send∣ing out of Paul and Barnabas to the Gentiles, on purpose that the story of St. Peter might be taken up together, and concluded,) before the Story of St. Paul come in, which is to be prosecuted to the end of the Book (as Dr. Light∣foot well observes,) and therefore St. Paul's Mission to the Gentiles might, possibly fall out, before some part of the story of Herod, and yet properly e∣nough be mentioned after,) Yet this intertexture, plainly enough teacheth us, that their former Mission, to carry the benevolence of the Church of Anti∣och, to the Saints of Jerusalem, happen'd before the Commencement of He∣rod's Story, and that this is contemporary with that Famine which fell out in the days of Claudius, as St. Luke states it. That is Herod's murder of James fell out in the third, and his own death in the beginning of the fourth year of the Reign of Claudius, as Josephus expresly affirmeth, (antiq. 19. 7.) Herod Agrippa died at the age of 54. after he had reigned seven years. That is, in the Tetrarchate of Philip, three years: and one, in the Tetrarchate of Herod (ad∣ded

to that, by Caligula.) And three years more, under Claudius, who be∣stowed upon him. Iudea, Samaria, and Caesarea. And that Herods murdering of James could not be before the third of Claudius, is manifest, from Josephus his affirming, that Claudius sent not Agrippa into Judaea, till after he had sent forth his general Edicts in favour of the Jews, not only unto Alexandria, but throughout the whole Empire. [his edictis Alexandriam & per totum or∣bem dimissis; moxque Agrippam,] (Jos. ant. 19. 5.) which bare Date the second year of his Reign: (chap. 4. 5. l. 19.) and of his being Consul the se∣cond time: which Consulship beginning the First of January, it was so near impossibility, that those things should be done at Rome, and Herod provide for his journey, and travel it, and come to Jerusalem; and there perform all those things touching the settlement of his own Affairs, which Josephus reports he did, and proceed to the condemning of James, and all this before Easter, (for then it was that he apprehended St. Peter, Acts 12. 3.) unless he hasted as if it had been for a wager; that he that can believe St. Peter to have been imprisoned, in Claudius his second year of Consulship and Reign, must exceedingly straiten the time of these occurrences, to make way for his belief. It was therefore at the Passeover in the third of Claudius, that St. Peter was apprehended; and Herod missing of his prey, betakes himself to his Progress; wherein he stays at Berytum, during the pompous Dedicati∣on, and impious handselling of the Amphytheatre he had there built. At the Galilean Tiberias, while he caresseth the five Kings of Comagena, Emosine, Armenia the Less, Pontus and Chalcis. From thence he removes his Court to Cesarea, whence he departs not, till he departs the world: having at his coming thither, fulfill'd the third year of his reign, since Claudius began his, (pag. 19.) and therefore the tenth of the Calends of February, on which Claudius began to reign, was then past, when Herod arrived at Caesarea, and not so much of Herods fourth years reign remaining, as unto Easter follow∣ing, before his decease, for that would have made so considerable an addition of months and dayes to the years of Herod, as Josephus would not have o∣mitted the mention of them; neither would Herod have cast his progress so, as not to have been return'd to Jerusalem (had he lived) before the passe∣over: he being a man so punctual in observing the Law. It was therefore in the beginning of both Claudius, and of Herods reign under him, the fourth year, that Herod came to this wretched end. (Jos. ant. 20. 1.) puts this beyond all doubt: for there he tells, how that Claudius, after the death of Herod, sent Fadus to look after the affairs of Judaea, after whose coming thither, and demanding the high Priests stole and Crown to be de∣liver'd into his custody, the Jews sent an Embassie to Rome, to deprecate that impeachment of their privileges: this request Caesar grants, and writes to Fadus: to suffer the Jews to enjoy that, and other favours, granted them by the Romans; and these Letters of Claudius bear date the fourth of the Kalends of July, in the fourth year of his Reign: four or five moneths is little enough, for all these transactions, and journeyings betwixt Rome and Judaea. Let us now see how well this accords with that Character, which St. Luke sets upon these occurrences, [The time of the Famine,] Dion. (l, 60, p. 410.) Placeth the beginning of it indeed, in the second year of Claudius, but hints the continuance of it, some years after: for Claudius is reported by him, to have made that preparation for the importing of Corn at all sea∣sons of the year, (in his building that Haven, from the attempting where∣of, the Workmen discouraged him with the greatness of the charge) as the Horse must have starved while the Grass grew; if, that year, the famine had dilated it self so far, as the City could not be reliev'd out of the circumja∣cent Countries, (the way by Sea being blockt up, while the Haven was a building.) In his third year, the Dearth of necessaries bred that distur∣bance among the Commons, as the Emperour was fain for their Pacificati∣on, to go into Campus Martius, and himself set the price of Commo∣dities.

But what progress soever the famine might make in other parts, it reach∣ed Judaea in the fourth year of Claudius, Rufus and Pompeius Sylvanus Consuls, and Fadus Governour of Judaea: as Josephus dates it, (l. 20. 1.) at the same time that Helena Queen of Adiabenum, being turned Jew, went to Jerusalem: in an happy time for the poor distressed Inhabitants, whom she seeing to be opprest with a grievous famine, and multitudes of them to dye of hunger; sent some to Alexandria, for Corn; others to Cyprus, for dryed Figs: wherewith she relieved the almost famish'd people, (l. 20. c. 2. 3.) So that upon supposition of Dions faithfulness in the account he gives of the time when this Famine began at Rome, and his reconcileableness with Jose∣phus, who placeth the heat of it at Jerusalem two years after, viz. the fourth of Claudius; Josephus his date agrees exactly with St. Luke's: the Sacred Historian assigning Herod's Death to that time, when the Messengers of the Church of Antioch were carrying the Contributions of that Church to Jeru∣salem, for their relief in that grievous Famine; which fell (as Josephus saith) in the fourth year of Claudius, at the same time when Queen Helen succour'd the Circumcision, and King Herod expired. Upon which Hypothesis, I ra∣ther proceed, with Dr. Lightfoot, than upon that of Scaliger, that Dion speaks of one Famine, and Josephus of another: because 'tis usual for Famines to be of as long continuance, as we make that to have been; and chiefly because the sacred Text seems to look that way; if we either leave out the full point after [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] or render [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] with Dr. Hammond, according to its limited sence. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [There will be a great Famine over all this Nation, even that which is now and hath been some while at Rome,] For we may with more reason and correspondencie to the Context, supply the want of a word to follow the latter [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] by repeating [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] than by adding [in the reigns or the days,] The Question is but, whether we should add a word signifying time, or place? for the later; Agabus, in fixing the Article betwixt [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] seems to point to the ground, on which he stood while he prophecied; and to say, [On this whole Land there will be a grievous Famine,] and to be expounded by Josephus, thus describing that Famine, (antiq. 20. 3.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] There was a grievous Famine all over Judaea,] and therefore it is most congruous, to repeat that word in the next Clause, and to read it, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] [Even that, that hath been (this last year) and yet is, in Italy, the Native Country of Claudius Caesar.]

But if this be rejected as a Singularity, this other Translation is not guilty of that fault, viz. [This Famine, that is begun under Claudius Caesar, will with∣in a while spread over this whole Nation:] and this exactly agrees to Christs Prophecy of the same thing, (St. Mat. 24. 7.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] [There shall be Famines in divers places;] that is, successively, from place to place; this Meager Plague that now infects Italy, will shortly remove into Iudaea: and sutes the Course was taken by the Church of Antioch, in send∣ing Contribution thence, and from the neighbouring Provinces, where the Famine was not (at least, not then,) into Judaea, which was wholly infested with it: that the Equality that St. Paul speaks of (2 Cor. 8. 14.) might be observ'd in their disposing of benevolence; that at this time, the abundance of the Antiochians, might be a supply to the Jews, in their penury, that when the Famine reach'd them, the plenty of the Judean and other Churches might supply their wants.

§ 3. As to the substance of this Story, Josephus attesteth to these parti∣culars.

1. That Herod, upon a set day, presented himself in glorious Apparel, to the view of the People of Cesarea: to wit, on the second day of that great Solemnity he had appointed to celebrate there, for the Health of the Em∣perour: to which were assembled a great multitude of Nobles and Gen∣try,

out of the whole Province: at which Assemblies they that bid those extraordinary Festivals, used to make Speeches, in praise of Caesar, Pane∣gyricks upon the happiness of his Regiment, to stir the people up to more Devotion in praying for his Health. On which day, he had appointed them of Tyre and Sidon (saith St. Luke) to have an hearing, and to sue out their pardon, by crying Peccavi; that his Greatness in bringing them upon their knees, and his Goodness in pardoning of them, might be so far more conspicuous as the Audience, before whom these matters were transacted, was more august.

2. That while he was pleasing his ambitious Mind, with the expectation of the peoples grateful Acclamations, the Spectators and Auditors (amazed with the splendidness of his Attire, and ravished with the sweetness of his Voyce) salute him for a God: uttering that voice of Beasts, It is the Face, it is [the voice of a God;] and that no Demy-god, as the Hero's were esteem∣ed, but one altogether a God [not a man,] one of the immortal Gods: some crying out, [Hitherto we have rever'd thee as a Man, now we are forc'd to ac∣knowledge something in thee more excellent than Humane Nature; Oh, be thou a propitious and favourable Deity to poor Mortalls prostrate at thy sacred feet!] Josephus does not tell the story, of the Tyrians and Sidonians in St. Luke's Form of words; but yet he presents them in Hieroglyphicks and Rebuses: out of which we may spel their deep sence of his displeasure against them, and their deprecating, with all humility, the insupportable effects thereof: and smell the Chamberlain's contrivance of the whole Plot, that he, as the Master of those Ceremonies, had taught the Phaenician Merchants (who re∣ally had no other God than Hercules, the God of gain) this Lesson of Flat∣tery, to erect this Chair of State, this Bed of Honour for Herods pride to rest in, with as much complacential quiet, as the Center of his Ambition ob∣tain'd could confer upon him. A Lesson which Tiridates King of Armenia took out, and repeated to Nero, after he had con'd it over before his Statue, unto whose image, in the presence of Corbulo and the Roman Legions, that fawning Prince Sacrificed, and made oblation of his Crown, (Tacitus an. 15.) [Caesis ex more victimis, sublatum capiti Diadema Imagini imposuit,] and to whose self, before the Senate and People of Rome (as dazel'd with that pom∣pous Majesty in pretence, but) in design to obtain of him the Armenian Crown, he bleated out this sheepish speech (unworthy of the Family of the Arsacides,) [I am come, Caesar, to worship thee for a God, not inferiour to Mi∣thra, my Country-deity; to profess that I will be nothing but what thou art pleas'd, by a kind of destiny, to make me, for thou art my fate.] (Xiph. ex Dion. Nero.) Pride at this height is not far from its Fall, (and therefore Tiberius wisely avoided all Deifying Compellations, as bad Auguries, and unlucky Presages of approaching Ruine,) (Suetonii Tiberius,) Nero's shameful death did not tarry long after this blasphemous Sacrilege of Divine honour: But Herod is taken with the mannour, struck down in the Act of his Pride, the report whereof,

3. Is the third Point, wherein Josephus gives his Suffrage to St. Luke's Story, [immediately (upon the peoples shout) the Angel of the Lord smote him, and he was eaten up of worms and gave up the Ghost.]

Josephus instead of St. Luke's [immediately] hath [by and by,] but therein he contradicts him not, but explains the former part of his own Story, touch∣ing the Acclamation was given Herod, when he enter'd the Theater, and gives Reason it self room to think, that after Herod was sate down upon the Judgment-seat (where St. Luke begins his account of the Reason of God's smiting him, leaving out what befell at his first appearance, as that which he might on his part be excused for not shewing his dislike of, while he was passing through the throng) when the first thing he should have done there, was to have check'd the peoples Blasphemy, he begins his Speech in praise of Claudius: upon the Conclusion whereof, followed that second Ac∣clamation, upon which immediately he received his Deaths-wound: for it

will not stand with the Reason of his celebrating that Festivity for the Health of Caesar, that he should not, as soon as he was well composed on his Tribu∣nal, prefer his own good wishes for him, and perswade the people to say Amen; but only sit there as a gazing-stock, and make a dumb show of his own Attire, and the richness of his own VVardrobe: nor with the Divine Patience, to strike immediately upon the peoples Acclamations, before he could possibly shew his dislike thereof; had he not shown his approbation of it, in not rebuking them for their first sacrilegious ascribing to him divine honour, which he had time enough to have restored to God, while he made his speech, during that [by and by,] which intervened betwixt the first and second Acclamation; which he not doing, but on the contrary, by his silence, giving consent to, is now immediately arrested by the hand of Divine Justice, as a Partaker with them, in their first; as the Author of their second Shout: which he might have prevented, had he either repuls'd or chastised that first impious Flattery; for the neglect whereof, as Josephus saith, by and by (that is, after that which he mentions) the Angel of God smote him. For it is manifest, from the Comparison of St. Luke's and Josephus his Stories, that at Herod's first appearance in his gay Robes, the People adored him as a God: and after he had made his Speech, they renew'd their deifying Acclamations; which multiplying of Divine honour upon him, Herod, liked so well, as at the Conclusion of his Oration, and their blasphemous applauses; instead of casting down a frowning Countenance upon the People, he casts up an am∣bitious eye upon the Cieling, (as men do that think scorn of others;) or looked about him, as Orators do, when they please themselves with having pleased the Audience; or cast up his eyes as men do in suddain apprehensi∣ons of fear of Divine vengeance; and in this twinkling of an eye, he espies an Owle sitting over his head, upon a Curtain-rod, or one of the Cords that bore up his Canopy: and perceived (saith Josephus) that this Bird was the Angel or Messenger of Calamity, a German Southsayer having foretold him, that when he saw that Bird again (which was then a Messenger of glad ti∣dings to him; as he interpreted an Owls sitting upon a Tree, (on which Herod Agrippa lean'd and rested his weary body, born down with grief of mind,) to be) he must expect death, within five days. (Antiq. l. 18. 13.)

§ 4. It would be too large a Digression here, to discuss the Art or rather Craft of this kind of Divination, the Vanity of it has already been discovered, and is sufficiently evinc'd by this Example; for this German promis'd He∣rod an happy Death, and that he should leave his Children in the possession of his Wealth; neither of which proved true: his Son being kept many years from the possession of his Fathers Crowns, during which time he was the Emperours Beads-man: and his Soul passing out of his Body, through those faetid Pores the Worms made in his Entrails. Though God permitted the Augure to hit the point of truth, in his Prediction, that within five dayes after his second sight of that Bird, he should die; as he did, the Witch of Endor's Familiar (in Samuels mantle) to tell Saul the sad tidings of his next days loss of Field and Life: the divine Wisdom ordering mens Curiosity and Credulity, in such cases, to be their torment. That other Point, of Appa∣ritions of Spirits, this Text of Iosephus, forceth me to speak to, that I may illustrate his Paraphrase upon St. Luke, and proceed upon clear grounds, in paralleling the remaining parts of the story. But yet I shall not be so prodi∣gal of my Readers patience, as to discuss, whether this Angel of Herods mis∣hap, this Messenger of his death, sate upon his Canopies Cord, or only upon his Optick Nerve: that is, whether a Spirit, assumed this form upon it self, or painted it on Herod's Fancy? For 'tis all one, as to our Case, whether the File, was a real one, upon the Book; or a painted one, upon the Spectacles. Nor whether good Angels appear in any but august Forms? and, by con∣sequence, whether this was a good or an evil Spirit? I profess not to cure

the itch of mens Curiosity, but only to shew the agreement of St. Luke and Josephus in sence, while one calls that an Owl, which the other calls an Angel; in order to which it will be sufficient to observe, That good Spirits are more obedient, than to refuse any form, that God bids them take, for the service of his Providence, or the Ministry of his Saints, (as this was; for St. Luke reports it, as an occasion of the growth and multiplying of the Word) why then should a good Angel more scruple at appearing in this homely form, than a whole host of them did, at appearing in the shape of Centaures and Chariot-horses, for the encouragement of one poor servant of the Prophet: nay, than the eternal Spirit did, at the appearance in the form of a Dove? Is there not infinitely more distance betwixt the holy Ghost, and an Arch-angel; than is betwixt a Dove, and an Owl: Nay, hadst thou been of Gods council, what form couldst thou have advised him to command his Angel to take, whom he sent to bring message to Herod of his approach∣ing Death, (to torment him in the midst of his jollity, with the fore-thought of it) than of that Creature which he (being perswaded of the Infallibi∣lity of the German Oracle, in the last, by experiencing the truth of the first part of it) thought as verily to see five days before his Death, as Simeon hoped to see the Lord Christ; before his departure.

But that the Sceptick may not laugh in his sleeve, at my transforming an Angel into an Owl (though had he so much of Athenian Learning, as he boasts of, he would not think Minerva's Squirell, so contemptible a Bird, but that an Angel might assume her form, and therein be more congruously plac'd, than his (so brutified a Soul, as it lives by nothing but Sense) is, in an humane Body. I do not positively assert this to have been a good Angel; for as the heavenly attend as Voluntiers, so the infernal Spirits, as prest Sol∣diers, are at the command of the Lord of Hosts; and when he imploys them, they are his Messengers, the Angels of the Lord. God march'd through Aegypt, when the First-born were slain with the Pestilence, in the head of an Army of evil Angels, Psal. 78. 50. [by sending evil Angels among them,] [he weighed his anger] (distributed it by a just proportion, to the E∣gyptians, while the Israelites were passed over; and among the Egyptians, so as it fell upon the First-born of Man and Beast, while the rest escap'd) [they were given over to the Pestilence] by the immission of so many Asmodei, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] (Septuagint.) Sent by the hands of evil An∣gels. Chald. Indeed which of his Creatures can God more properly make use of to be the Executioners of his wrath than evil Angels: and yet the de∣stroying Angel is called [the Angel of the Lord] (2 Samuel 24. 16.) the Hang∣man is the Kings Officer. Be this therefore a good or bad Angel, it was that Angel of the Lord that smote Herod, as both St. Luke stiles this Appa∣rition, and Josephus conformably unto him. To proceed now in his Sto∣ry: therein the blewness of the Wounds this Messenger gave him, is appa∣rent both upon Herod's Soul and Body: for as soon as he perceiv'd this ill∣boading Angel, he is struck to the heart with grief [ex intimis praecordiis indoluit;] and his belly with gripings, [secuta sunt ventris tormina.] where∣upon turning his eyes to his Parasites, Behold, (saith he) I, whom ye called a God, am commanded to depart this life; fatal Necessity proves you layrs; and I whom you stiled immortal, am posting to the Chambers of Death: with his speech his pain increaseth: they therefore forthwith carry him to his Bed; where, after five days racking and gnawing pain in his Bowels, he gives up his weary Ghost.

§ 5. This part of Josephus his Text agrees with St. Luke's:

1. In his assigning this stroak to a supernatural hand, as inflicted upon him by the Angel of the Lord, so palpably, as Herod himself perceived that Spectrum, to be the Messenger of God, upon sight whereof he received these stroaks in Mind and Body, as proved mortal; of this supernatural im∣mission Josephus speaks not so dubiously, as he does of the last and mortal

disease of Herod the Great. (Bel. Jud. 1. 8.) upon whom the same malady of worms (was, as he saith) by some conceived to be inflicted, (assiduis vexa∣batur coli tormentis, inflatio ventriculi putredo{que} virilis membri vermiculos gene∣rans;) in revenge of Judas (not he of Galilee, but) the Son of Sepphorae∣us, and Matthias the Son of Margalus; whom that Herod, a little before his Death (as this a little before his, slew St. James) had put to death; for taking down that Golden Eagle which Herod had crected over the chief Gate of the Temple, and thereby profan'd the sacred place: so that those were Martyrs for the Law, as St. James was for the Gospel: and therefore his imbruing his hands in their Blood, was reputed by the religious Party, to be that which fill'd up the measure of that bloody Herod's sins, and ripen'd him for this Judgement. But in his assigning the meritorous Cause of this our Herod's being struck, he is positive in affirming, it was immitted from Heaven.

2. And as peremtory in fathering it upon his Pride, as its procuring Cause; because he gave not glory to God, by repulsing the peoples sacri∣legious Shout: of which his sin, this was no small aggravation, that he had before him such two recent Examples, the one of Tiberius, who might have led him to an expression of his dislike of such Flattery; for he, when he saw a Consular person attempting, to prefer a Petiton to him upon his knees; by making haste from him (as if he had seen a Ghost come towards him) gave himself a fall: if he heard any man either in common Discourse or a set Speech, fawn upon him, he never doubted to interrupt and repre∣hend him, till he had forc'd him to change his stile: when one stiled his Occupations, sacred; and another told him, he had been the Author of his advancement into the number of Senators; Say I was the Adviser of the Senate to it (faith he) to him: and call my Imployment, laborious (saith he to the other:) and to one that stiled him [Lord.] Let me no more (saith he) hear my self called by this ignominious name, which belonging to the immortal Gods, cannot without a reproachful taunt be attributed to any mortal Man. (Sueton. Ti∣berius, cap. 27.)

The other of Caligula; whose untimely end and general hate (pull'd up∣on him hy challenging Divine Honours to himself) might have deterr'd him from treading in his steps: to say nothing of the inconstancy of those po∣pular-breezes, with which Caligula fill'd his sails; Herod having seen (in less than a years time) his Statues, yet smelling of the Founders and En∣gravers hand, dispossest of the Temples they had usurped, and some of them thrown into Tyber; into which his Carcase had been dragg'd (as the case of an incarnate Devil) had the people dared to believe he was dead, before it was, in an hurry (before, for haste, it could be above half burnt) buried under a few Clods, in Samian Gardens. (Sueton. Caligula) So vain a Breath will Herod purchase with the displeasure of Heaven; and is there∣fore blasted by the Angel, deliver'd over to this Tormentor; not as Job was into Satan's hands, for trial; nor as St. Paul was buffeted, for Diet and Disci∣pline sake, (to keep him from ascribing glory to himself;) but in revenge for his Pride.

3. Josephus particularly specifics, what St. Luke generally hints, some space of time, betwixt the Angel's giving of the stroke, and Herod's giving up the ghost; to wit, five days: and that his Death is described by our sacred Author, as not following the blow so immediately, as the blow did the peo∣ples Acclamation; appears both from the pointing, the interserting the nar∣rative of the Cause betwixt them, and the words whereby he expresseth his Disease and Death, there being a full point after [because he gave not glory to God] and that being inserted, as the qua〈…〉〈…〉 that God had against him, as that for which he sent his Angel to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 him: and St. Luke's Words, after that pawse 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] being 〈◊〉〈◊〉 up of worms: argu∣ing that 〈◊〉〈◊〉 had some time of breathing (after the Angel had, as it were, f••••-blown him) before he gave 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉〈◊〉; that these Vermine might

grow; that this Army of Insects might muster and consume his Vitals by browzing upon them. He was immediately after the second Acclamation Thunder-struck, and upon that began to vermiculate; not after a few days according to the Course of Nature, but perhaps, immediately, in a few mi∣nutes (fulmine icta, intra paucos dies, verminant.) (Seneca, lib. 2. Nat. quaest. cap. 17.) But yet Herod, after he became a stable for Worms (as the Syriack Translation renders it) was not presently, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] crudus comesus [devoured raw at a morsel] but [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [gradually corroded] till he dyed: the Worms laying at rack and manger in that Stable, till they had eaten out a passage for Herod's Soul. The worms did not swallow him up at a morsel; but, by corroding his inwards, did, within a few days render, them unable to perform their Office. Erasmus renders it [Erosus] the Vul∣gar [consumptus] à vermibus [he was gnawn off, or rather gnawn through] as consumed by Worms: both well; not only as to the Terms, but in that their Terms are capable of Tense, and may best thus be rendred [And when he was eaten through, or his Vitals consumed of Worms, he gave up the ghost] but neither of them express fully St. Luke's [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉]. [becoming gnawn with worms] that is, becoming (verminosus) [full of Worms] when those Worms had consumed him, he dyed: implying the Germination of them, the Vermi∣culation (inflicted supernaturally) and their eating of Herod's inwards (their natural operation) for the effecting whereof, they have time allotted them here, though not so long as they spent in dispatching Herod the Great: for after they were immitted into him, he went to Calliroe, and finding no help in those Waters, struggled so long with his Worms, as weary of his loathed and painful Life, he attempted to cut his own throat, and prevented of that, made shift to get his Son's Antigonus head struck off, and yet lived after that five days; as long as our Herod lived in all, after he had received his Deaths-wound.

4. Though he does not, in terminis, say, that this Herod was eaten up of Worms; yet he concurrs with St. Luke in sence, in laying down the most proper Symptoms of that Malady, [ex intimis praecordiis dolor, ventris tor∣mina—&c.] the very first Symptom of Herod the Great, his mortal Disease, which Josephus himself mentions: and the Symptom of that distemper, that's caused by the Worm call'd [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (the name which St. Luke (the beloved Physician) gives to them that eat up Herod) which Riverius specifies (prax. med. l. 10.) [dolor in ventre morsum & erosionem repraesentans] [a grief in the Belly, representing biting or gnawing:] exprest thus by Sener∣tus (pract. med. l. 2. par. 2. Sect. 1. cap. 5.) [Symtomata vermium, morsus & velli∣catio in abdomine:] And by Duretus, upon Hollerius de vermibus, (in Josephus his own words) [tormina in alvo;] Nay, such griping and erosions of the in∣wards, are so signal indications of Worms: that the same word [vermina] which signifies Worms:

(Donec eos vitâ privarant vermina saeva. Expertes opis, ignaros quid vulnera vellent. Luc. lib. 5.

Until the Worms that bred in their undefiled wounds kill'd them,) signifies also, that kind of griping in the Bowels, which resembles the gnawing of VVorms. [Vermina dicuntur, dolor corporis cùm quodam minuto motu quasi à vermibus scin∣datur] (Festus) Hence, because the pain, that attends the Dropsie, resembles that of the VVorms, (and hath this name sometimes alotted to it) grew that dangerous mistake of Eusebius; that Herod the great dyed of the drop∣sie; who yet (if I mistake not) affirms, that Herod Agrippa dyed of the same Malady: in that, opposing Josephus; in this, both him and St. Luke. And verminatio, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (St. Luke's word in the Text) is used to signifie in general, any gripings in the inwards, like to the gnawing of VVorms, which it particularly signifies. [Vossii Etymologicon.) Can this common notion (of both Greeks and Latines) hint to us any thing

less, then this: that the [tormina] in the Bowels are commonly [vermina] the grief of the VVorms, and properly a Symptom thereof, except it ap∣pear, by other Symptoms joyn'd with it, that it is not that Distemper: and I am perswaded, were the Symptoms of Herod's Disease propounded to a skilful Physician, and the question put, what distemper the patient was afflicted with? he would, without any long pause, resolve, that he who is held, as Josephus represents Herod, must, as St. Luke reports him, be afflicted with Worms.

§ 6. If it might not be thought a digression, and (which I more fear) a culpable singularity: I would shew mine opinion of St. Paul's Thorn in the slesh (2 Cor. 12. 7.) [And lest I should be exalted above measure through the hyperbole of the Revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the mes∣senger of Satan to buffet me.] Its proximity to Herod's Case will alleviate the first: and the plausibleness of the Reasons, inducing me to it (together with my propounding it as a matter of Opinion, not Faith) the second crime, with candid Readers: in which presumptions, I shall hint these brief Observations.

[There was given me a thorn in the flesh.] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.]

1. They that make this Thorn to be Concupicense, should do well to con∣sider: how they can free God from being the Author of Sin: while they make it his gift to St. Paul: for mine own part, I shall not need to put in∣to my Letany [from such gifts of God good Lord deliver me,] for I am well assured, that that God whom I serve, cannot (by reason of his Holiness) o∣pen such a Pandora's Box; can no more tempt, than he can be tempted, to evil: and if he were such an one, as bestows such Gifts (as Concupiscence) upon his friends: I would bless my self from him, and chuse to be listed a∣mong his enemies. As also, how such an immission can be a gift (for any man's good) to him that receives it? as [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] implies this was for St. Paul's advantage: Besides, how Concupiscence (which is the Fleshes right Eye and right Side) can be a Thorn to it to grieve, and prick it? how that can be a Thron in its eye, a Goad in its side, which is the very Life and Soul of it? is so hard to conceive, (or else I am so dull of apprehension) as I cannot (with a Pitch-fork) thrust that Fancy into my head, any more than Musculus could into his: who thus staves us off, from embracing the Anti∣nomian Gloss. [Non simpliciter dicit esse sibi stimlum, sed esse sibi datum stimulum; uti{que} non allunde quam à Deo ipso, loco videlicet antidoti, quae à me∣dico contrà periculum pestis datur (Musc. in locum.) He does not say simply [that he had a thorn] but [that a thorn was given him] It proceeded therefore from none but God, by whom it was bestowed as an antidote against the danger of that plague, which St. Paul might possibly have caught, after his Rapture. [Disertè dicit [datus est mihi stimulus] ut significet illum reputari à se pro〈…〉〈…〉 s••ngulari Dei dono] Of which he therefore saith expresly [there was given me a thorn.] that he might give us to understand, that he reckon'd it for a singular benefit of God.

2. It must therefore imply the infliction of the evil of pain, not of sin: some sad and sharp affliction, some pricking anguish immitted by some instruments of Satan. Irenaeus (lib. 4. cap. ult.) Theodoret and Theophilact (on the place) think some of the Gnosticks, the Followers of Simon Magus, that great Sor∣cerer to have been the instrument of buffeting St. Paul (Vide Dr. Hamond in locum.) whose Teachers, in the stile of this Apostle, were Minsters of Satan (2 Cor. 11. 15.) as vying with the Apostles, in their lying Wonders wrought by a Satanical power (2 Thes. 2. 9.) Chrysostom names Alexander the Copper smith, Himenaeus and Philetus, as those among whom we may like∣••iest find this Messenger of Satan. And judicious Musculus singles out Alex∣ander, as that Minister of Satan that was given to St. Paul, for a Thorn, as it were sticking in his flesh, and every where pricking and afflicting him.

But I am not solicitous to determine the numerical Instrument: it will give more light to the Text, if we can resolve, what this pungent affliction was, wherewith St. Paul was kept humble? since it could not be Concu∣piscence; for that had been to cast out Satan by Satan: to expel one De∣vil, by bringing in seven, nay, the whole legion of unclean Spirits: the Body of Sin, to subdue one Member.

St. Chrysostom thinks (Epist. 15. to 7. pag. 101.) this Thorn was the Ca∣lumnies, the Persecutions, raised against the Apostle. But these were: 1. So usual and daily, and so universally inflicted by all the enemies of the Cross of Christ, as will hardly comport with this [Thorn] in the Text; which as it was signally given (upon this special occasion) so it was inflicted by some particular emiment Tool of Satan. 2. It will not be easie to conceive how this kind of Physick could be proper for this distemper, but should rather imp the Apostles Wings, for an higher flight of self exultation; and oc∣casion him to think that those Consolations in Christ, in the Anticipations of Paradise, were set to counterballance his afflictions for Christ, if not God's re∣warding his sufferings.

They guess most probably, in mine Opinion, that conceive this Thorn to have been some corporeal Disease (whether the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or some Iliac Passion, is not much material: the buffeting, that is, beating about the ears or head, favouring the first: and the Thorn in the flesh, the second.) That as Job was delivered, for his Trial, to Satan, to inflict what Diseases he would upon his Body, provided they were not mortal; and as the Apo∣stle, in mercy to men's Souls, and in order to their recovery from some fowl Lapses, gave some over to Satan, for the destruction of the Flesh, that their Spirits might be saved, (that they reflecting upon the sad Effects of the Apostolical Rod, might study to reconcile themselves to the Church.) (1 Cor. 5. 5.) so the Lord (in favour to St. Paul, and to prevent his being ex∣alted above measure) sent Satan to buffet him, to infix some pungent Dis∣ease in his flesh (Dr. Hammond (on 1 Cor. 5. 5) reckons St. Paul's buffeting as an effect of God's delivering him unto Satan) which caused the like pain as they feel, that have a Thorn in their Body, or a barbed Arrow stuck in their Flesh, or a sharp stake run through their body, upon which they are, as it were, spitted, as [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] the word that is here translated Thorn, signifies: or any other sharp-pointed thing stuck in Man's Body (as the Learned Cameron) having its derivation from a Verb that signifies, to dig or make holes in, or bore through, a thing: (affine 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Pasor, circum∣circa scalpo.) the same from whence comes [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that kind of Worm that consumed Herod: which makes me think St. Pau's Thorn might be a spice of his disease: and to have been so apprehended by St. Paul himself, as also to have been sent in his apprehension, as Herod's was, as a Judgement of God upon him, for his priding himself in that glorious priviledge of being rapt up into the third Heaven. Of which sin he suspected himself guilty, not so much from any feelings of Prides working in his Soul, as of these prickings and gnawings in his Flesh; which resentment he could not have express in fitter terms, than by the Metaphor, of a pricking Thorn: (which as it creates the same kind of pain, and shooting that Worms do, so the Word which the Apostle uses [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] comes as near the word [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] a worm, as to that other word, signifying a Thorn [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] & all three have their names from the sharpness of their heads or points, which makes them apt to prick and pierce:) Or than by the Metaphor of [Satans buffeting] which as it implies the Vermination of the Ears, of which both Pliny and Celsus affirm the cure to be very difficult, (Vess••i Etymolog.) and therefore might occasion St. Paul to su∣spect, that he was punish'd in that Organ, through which he had (in his Exta∣sie) received unutterable words; so it alludes to Herod's being smitten, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [the angel gave Herod a patt:] Or than by his more than importunate begging the removal of this Thorn: his beseeching thrice, speaks that veSpan••cy of desire to be quit of this affliction, as is scarce con∣sistent

with that greatness of Christian Courage he shewed, in bearing all o∣ther afflictions: if he had not apprehended this to have had that poysonful sting of Pride complicated with it, as its procuring Cause. Hence, signanter, he prayes not that [this thorn] but that [this thing] might be taken away; that is, the Affliction with its Circumstances; of his too much exaltation, if he were (as Satan suggested) really guilty; or if not, his fear of it; for that he was jealous of himself, as faln into Herod's sin; because he found him∣self in Herod's Disease, and thought he read his sin, in the judgement, is yet more manifest by the answer that God return'd. [My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness] and St. Paul's triumph upon that Answer [most gladly will I glory in my infirmities] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: and his now reading and repeating the gracious end of God in this Dispensation, which answer of God, is not a Promise, but an adjudging the Victory to St. Paul, the Spirits witness to his spirit, that that favour, which had rapt him up in∣to the third Heaven, had prevented his being lifted up above measure, in the sence of that Priviledge; and that by means of Gods sending Satan to in∣flict this Disease upon him; in which weakness, this tenderness of his heart (exprest in this godly jealousie) and the strength of his Faith (exprest in his recumbency upon God, & not letting his hold go, when Satan by these sugge∣stions pull'd so hard) were more glorious Effects of God's both Favour to him, and grace in him, than his preceding Rapture. And St. Paul's Inference, from this Answer, speaks him to have learn'd, by this, what the purpose of God was in thus afflicting him, which he knew not before: (vide Musculum in locum) and to resolve that he would now, to chuse, be so far from fear of over doing it, in boasting, as he would glory more in this sickness, than in his former ex∣altation, as an occasion of bringing more Glory to God, and an indication of a greater Vertue and Strength of Grace.—But I digress too far; only I took occasion, from the Parity of St. Paul's and Herod's Disease, to vindicate this Text, out of the bad handling of those, who to the perdition of them∣selves, (and millions of their Disciples) wrest it to a sence, whereby it is given out to speak of Concupiscence, or sinful Infirmities, whereas it mani∣festly intends a bodily Disease: except we will make God an Author of sin, and his chosen Vessel to glory in his shame, as themselves do in theirs. I re∣turn to Josephus, who witnesses a better Confession of the Christian Faith, and gives a more honourable Testimony of Christ, than they do in their Glosses; and speaks more consonantly to the Apostolical sence, in all those Texts of his, we have conferr'd with the Sacred: and in all the rest, that any way con∣cern the Emergencies specified in the Gospel, the comparing of all which would tire my Reader, and my self; and one would think it should put Im∣pudency her self to the blush, to demand more Instances than have been pro∣duced, or better Evidence for the proof of the Truth of Matters of Fact reported in the Gospel, than the Testimony of such an Author: yet that the Atheist may know, the Church hath, in this case, more than one such VVitness, I shall offer to Examination the Testimony of other Secular Re∣cords.

CHAP. IX.

Other Secular Witnesses to the Truth of Sacred History.

§. 1 Phlegon of the Darkness and Earthquake at Christs Passion. § 2. Thallus his mistaking that Darkness for an Eclipse. § 3. The Records of Pagan Rome, touching that and other Occurrences. §. 4. The Chronicles of Edessa, though Apochryphall, yet true. Julian's Prohibition of the use of Secular Books in Christian Schools, his Testimony. § 5. Moses his History of Joseph attested by Pagans. § 6. His History of himself. § 7. Of Noah, Balaam, &c. avou∣ched by Secular Writers.

§ 1. OF Phlegon, a Pagan Writer, under Adrian the Emperour, (who wrote 16 Books of Olympiads, and therein the memorable Ac∣cidents that fell out in the space of 229 Olympiads.) He, in his 13, or 14. Book, affirms, (as he is quoted by St. Origen, in Cels. l. 2. cal. 8. 9.) That Christ foretold many things to come, which accordingly fell out: and from this his foreknowledge of Contingencies, is forc'd there to confess, that his Doctrine was super-humane. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,—] And mentions the Eclipse that happen'd at our Saviours Passion, (as the same Father in his Treatise upon St. Matthew, chap. 35. affirms,) and St. Jerom upon Eusebius (his Chronicle notes) giving this Testimony of that miraculous defection. In the fourth year of the 202 Olympiad in the Reign of Tiberius, (this Olympiad concurrs with the 18 of Tiberius, (Gual∣ter's Chronolog. Bullenger in Daniel) happened the greatest and most famous Eclipse of the Sun that ever was, the day being, at the sixth hour, turn'd into night; so as the Stars appeared: which Eclipse was accompanied with such an Earthquake, as many Houses of Nice in Bithynia fell to the ground. Of which Earthquake Phlegon (out of the History of Apollonius the Gram∣marian) gives this further account, that by it were overthrown many and the most famous Cities of Asia, which Tiberius afterwards repaired: in me∣morial whereof were stampt those Silver-pieces, that had on one side, the I∣mage of Tiberius; on the other, of Asia, with this Motto, [Civitatibus Asiae restitutis,] one of which Scaliger saw in the custody of William Gorlaeus: (Scal. in Euseb: Chron:) And Pliny this description, [Maximus terrae, me∣moriâ mortalium, extitit motus, Tiberii principatu, 12 urbibus Asiae unâ nocte prostratis,] There was in the Reign of Tiberius, the greatest Earth-quake that has faln out in the memory of man; whereby in one night 12 Cities of Asia were ruin'd.] Tacitus, this, Twelve of the Famous Cities of Asia fell that year by an Earthquake; of which many men were swallowed up, by which the highest Mountains were levelled, the lowest Vallies elevated. (lib. 2.) where he men∣tions most of the Cities that underwent this sad accident, And Seneca, this hint, (upon occasion of that, which afterward happen'd in Campania.) [Asia duodecim urbes simul perdidit,] Asia lost twelve Cities at once by Earth-quake, (Natur. quest. lib. 6. cap. 1.) Whether Tacitus have stated this Earth-quake so long before the Passion of our Lord, as he seems to do at the first and overlie sight? and whether he has then stated it right, and might not be mistaken in that, as he is frequently in his Chronology? or how the stating it so early, stands with his interweaving it with the story of Artaba∣nus, which fell out so near the latter end of Tiberius? I shall leave to the Sceptick to discuss; and am content, to shake out of the lap of my discourse these Testimonies, concerning this Earthquake, when he shall have dispro∣ved my Opinion: that this was it, which happen'd at that time, when the

veile of the Temple rent and the Rocks trembled—(vide Scal. de emend. l. 6. pag. 564.)

§ 2. Of this same miraculous darkness wrote Thallus the Chronogra∣pher: whose Testimony the most Learned and Ancient Christian Antiquary, Affricanus cites in these words, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Thallus calls that Darkness, which overshadowed the Sun at Christs Crucifixion, an Eclipse, but without all reason, as I conceive, for it happen'd at the full of the Moon, when she was so far from being perpendicular under the Sun, as she was in opposition to him: in so much as the Moon her self suffered an Eclipse that day at Sun-setting, as Scaliger hath demonstrated by Astronomical Calculation (de emendat. 6. Of which also, as well as of this twofold Heathen Testimony S. Tertullian takes notice in his Apology for the Christian Religion: [Eodem momento dies, me∣dium orbem signante sole, subducta est, deliquium utique putaverunt, qui id quo∣que super Christo praedicatum non sciverunt.] At the minute of time when our Lord suffered, the Sun in the mid Heaven, day with-drew it self: so as they that ne∣ver knew how it had been prophesied of Christ, that while that Shepherd was smitten it should be neither day nor night but betwixt both, a Nucthemeron of God's own creating, thought that diminution of light to have been an E∣clipse.

§ 3. The Roman Archives and publick Records. Into which was entred and ingross'd (amongst other strange accidents) this also of darkness, in the Reign of Tiberius: where this wonder was to be read, in Tertullian's time, as himself testifieth, in his Apology: [eum mundi casum relatum in Archivis vestris habetis.] [Sane egregium tam celebris diei monumentum, (Scalig. de e∣mend. 6.) An excellent monument of so famous a day, as that was, whereon the darkness was so great and universal, as to be thought worthy of an intrado into the publick Records, amongst the portentous Contingencies of that Age. But Pilate's Letter to Tiberius, concerning our Saviours Crucifixion; with what past thereupon at Rome, (preserv'd till Tertullian's days, in the same Records) is a more remarkable piece of Roman Antiquity: for that Apo∣cryphal Gospel, as in point of Time it got the start of the Canonical, so it contains the sum thereof, viz. That the blessed Jesus through the envy of the Elders of the Jews (for the fame he got, by his miraculous healing of Diseases, stilling the wind and seas, raising the dead, &c.) was deliver'd to Pilate to be Crucified: that though his Sepulcher by Pilate's order, upon the motion of the Elders, was watch'd; yet his Sepulcher was found empty the third day; after which, he convers'd upon Earth forty days, and then ascended into Heaven, [Ea omnia super Christo Pilatus Tiberio nunciavit. (Ter. ap. cont. gent. 21.) upon which information given to Tiberius, by Pilate and other Roman Officers, that lived in Judaea (the place where Jesus exerted those indicati∣ons of his Divinity) the Emperour made a motion in the Senate, that Jesus should be Canonized for a God: which though, upon a Maxime of State, the Senate refused to grant, yet Caesar persisting in an honourable esteem of Christ, prohibited the Jews to persecute Christians, upon severe penalties, to be inflicted upon those that did disturb them, by the Roman Deputies in Ju∣daea and elsewhere, where the Jews inhabited: for the proof of all which he appeals to the Roman Chronicles, (Tertul. apol. cont. gentes. 5.) upon which Francis Zephirus thus paraphraseth: So famous and so many were the Mi∣racles of Christ, reported to Tiberius out of Judaea, as though the Secular Historians (whether out of envy to the Christian name or adulation to the Emperours, whose Gests they would be thought alone to admire) had not mention'd them, yet a great part of them might have been read in the Writings of those who were enemies to the Christian name, as long as the Books of Fasts, the Acts of the Senate, and the Commentaries of the Emperours were extant.

§ 4. The Ed••ssen Chronicles shared, with the Roman, in the honour of being the Repository of the Evangelicall Stories, concerning the mighty works of the blessed Jesus. Out of whose Annals (extant in the Syrian Tongue in his dayes) Eusebius (Eccles. hist. lib. 1. cap. 13.) translates word for word this Story. The fame of Christs Miracles drew infinite numbers of persons, to apply themselves to him for cure of their Maladies, among whom Ab∣garus the King of Edessa, (Tacitus mentions this King of Edessa, (annal. 12. pag. 157. (though he miswrite him Abbaras, as Scaliger observes, de e∣mend. temp. 6. tit. quinta pascha. pag. 561.) being faln into a grievous, and in humane appearance, incurable Disease, sent a Messenger to Jesus, with a supplicatory Letter, that he would please to come and heal him: of these con∣tents.

Abgarus, Prince of Edessa, to the propitious Saviour, that hath appeared in the Flesh, in the Confines of Jerusalem, health. I have heard of those miraculous Cures, which thou doest without application of Medicines and Herbs, (for it is reported that thou givest sight to the blind, causest the lame to walk, cleansest the Leprous, castest out Devils and unclean spirits, curest the most inveterate sick∣nesses, and recallest the dead to life.) from which I conclude one of these two things, that either thou art God, come from Heaven, and doest those things: or the Son of God, that bringest such things to pass: wherefore, by these my Letters, I beseech thee, to take the pains to come and cure me of my malady wherewith I am sore vexed. I have heard moreover that the Jews murmur against thee, and go about to mischiefe thee. I have here a little City, and an honest people, which will suffice us both.

To this Jesus sends this Reply.

Blessed art thou Agbarus, because thou hast believed in me when thou sawest me not, for it is written of me, that they which see mee, shall not believe in me; that they which see me not, may believe and be saved. Concerning that which thou writest unto me (that I would come unto thee) I let thee understand, that all things touching my Message are here to be fulfill'd, and after the fulfilling there∣of, I am to return to him that s〈…〉〈…〉 me. But after my Assumption, I will send one of my Disciples unto thee, who shall cure thy Malady, and restore life to thee, and them that be with thee.

Out of the same Records, Eusebius reports, how after our Lords Ascension Thaddaeus, one of the seventy, was sent to Edessa, who cured and converted Agbarus, and preach'd the Gospel to his Subjects, &c.

I know that Gelatius in a Council of 70, Bishops, (Crab. Con. Tom. 1. de∣cret. Gelasti, pag. 993.) decreed those Epistles Apochryphal (as he did also the VVritings of Tertullian and Eusebius his Ecclesiastical History) to pre∣vent their being received with the like reverence, wherewith we embrace the Canonical Scripture; but neither he, nor any body else (either Christian or Pagan) question'd the Truth of this Relation, till Nicephorus discredited it, by his forged additions (of Christs sending his Picture to Agbarus, drawn on an Handkerchiefe; and of the strange Effect that Image had, when that City was besieged; and those other ridiculous storyes relating to that bu∣siness.

The Sceptick, I know, will except against these last Allegations; that their Originals are not extant: in answer to which I commend to the Umpirage of common Reason, these Queries.

1. Whether it stand with Reason that men who stood so much upon their credit, as the ancient Christians did, would appeal to common Records, for the probat of these things, had they not then been to be read, in those Authors or Chronicles, out of which they made their Allegati∣ons?

2: By what means it came to pass, that the Adversaries of our Religion, who lived upon the place, and had opportunity enough to-examine those Quotations, and whom interest would have prompted to enquire into these things, did not make their exceptions against the Apologists of the Christian Cause.

3. Whether the Christian Church or the Pagan Adversaries were most like to obliterate those Antiquities? the Christian whom they favour'd; or the Pagan, whom they confuted? considering what artifices Julian the A∣postate, used to suppress Learning; forbidding Christians to be trained up in prophane Literature, (Ec. Hist. 3. 10. Socratis Scholast.) which Facts of Julian, Ammianus Marcel. (though a great admirer of him and the Pagan Religion) condemns, as worthy to be buried in eternal silence, [Illud autem inclemens obruendum perenni silentio, quod arcebat docere magistros rhetoricos & grammaticos ritus Christiani cultores,] (Am. Marcel. 22. 10.) As that where∣by Julian designed, to deprive the Christians of the knowledge of those Pa∣gan Writings and Records, out of which the Christian Apologists had colle∣cted such palpable Testimonies for the defence of Gospel-history; and to bury the Originals, out of which they had made their Quotations, in per∣petual oblivion, as advantagious to our Cause, by their confessing the Truth of the Matter of Fact, Lactantius by name, whose scope was, [Quia nondum capere poterat divina, prius humana testimonia ethnico offerre, id est Philosophorum & Historicorum, ut suis potissimùm refutaretur Authoribus—quo si eruditi ho∣mines se conferre caeperint evanituras brevi religiones fallas,] Because the Heathen World was yet uncapable of Divine, first to offer it Humane Testimonies of Hea∣then Philosophers and Histories; that it might at least be confuted by its own Authors: Which method if Learned men would take, false Religions would quickly vanish. See more in Eusebius his Apology for Origen, (where he shews how he and other Christian Doctors foil'd the Pagans at their own Weapons;) and Dionysius the Areopagite his Epistle to Polycarp. For not deal∣ing in this way (but by Texts of sacred Writ) with Demetrianus, Lactan∣tius blames St. Cyprian (Lact. de justicia l. 5. c. 4.) Let Julian who was thus careful to suppress Pagan records, bring up the Rear of Gentile Witnesses to the Truth of the Evangelical Writings, as to their being rightly Father'd upon those Authors whose Names they bear: who as Cyril, (Contra Julia∣num lib. 10.) testifieth, [Apertè fatetur Petri, Pauli, Mathaei, Marci, Lucae, esse ea quae Christiani legunt iisdem nominibus inscripta,] con∣fesseth, That the Books which the Christians read, inscribed with the names of Peter, Paul, Mathew, Mark, Luke, are the genuine Writings of those men.

§ 5. I should put the utmost of my Readers patience to trial, should I shew the Prints of Old-Testament-stories in the Antiquities of the Heathen; I will therefore content my self with these few particulars, and for the rest, re∣fer him to Blundel, Vossius, &c. The History of Joseph was presented in the Aegyptian Apis, saith Ruffinus (lib. 2. historiae Ecclesiast.) and produceth Pa∣gan Writers affirming, that a certain King or Steward of Aegypt, in a time of Famine, relieved the people out of his Storehouses; to whom therefore, af∣ter his Decease, they built a Temple, wherein an Ox was kept at the publick Charge, as an Embleme of the best Husbandman, a creature (saith Dio∣dorus, Siculus, l. 1. cap. 2.) exceeding helpful to Husbandmen; which Var∣ro (l. 2. c. 5. de re rusticâ) stiles the Husbandman's Companion and the ser∣vant of Ceres. Upon which consideration was grounded that Athenian Law, that no man should kill an Oxe that Plowed the ground, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Because he is a kind of Hus∣bandman, and a partaker with man in his labour, (Aelianus var. hist. l. 5. c. 14.) and therefore Appianus (de belis Mithridat.) makes it an Argument of the extremity wherewith Mithridates was opprest, that he spared not so much

as the Plowing Oxen, but slew them; to make Thongs of their Hides, and strings for his warlike Engines, of their entrails, (Appian. Alex. de bellis Mi∣thridat, p. 229.) But more plainly in Justin's Compendium of Trogus Pomp. (l. 36. cap. in risum) [Minimus inter fratres Joseph fuit, cujus excellens inge∣nium veriti fratres, clam interceptum mercatoribus peregrinis vendiderunt, à quibus deportatus in Aegyptum, cùm Magicas artes ibi solerti ingenio percepisset, brevi ipsi Regi percharus fuit. Nam & prodigiorum sagacissimus erat, & somniorum primus intelligentiam condidit, nihil{que} divini juris humani{que} ei incognitum vide∣batur. Adeò, ut etiam sterilitatem agrorum ante multos annos providerit; periisset{que} omnis Aegyptus fame, nisi monitus ejus edicto Rex servari multos per annos fruges jussisset. Tanta{que} experimenta ejus fuerunt, ut non ab homine, sed a Deo responsa dari viderentur,] Joseph was the youngest Brother, whose excel∣lent wit his brethren being jealous of, intercepted him privily, and sold him to forreign Merchants; who carried him into Aegypt; where having, through his industrious wit, learn'd the Magick Art in a short time, he grew greatly in favour with the King: for he was quick in finding out the meaning of Prodigies, and the first that taught the interpretation of Dreams, and seem'd to understand whatsoe∣ver appertain'd to the Divine or Humane Law. So as he foresaw a Famine ma∣ny years before it fell out: and all Egypt had perish'd through Famine, if the King, admonish'd by Joseph, had not commanded provision to be laid up for many years. Yea such experiments did he give of his Wisdom, as his Responds seemed to pro∣ceed not from man but God. For this it was that he obtain'd, while he lived, the honour of being proclaimed by the Kings Command, [Abrech,] that is, [tender Father,] or as St. Jerom, (in his Hebraick Questions) and the Vul∣gar Latine Translate it, [The Saviour of the World,] (Gen. 41. 43.) prefer∣ring that, before that of Aquila, which Aben Ezra favours, and our English follows, [bow the knee.] And after his Death was worship'd by the Israelites in the Wilderness, under the form of the Golden Calf: they putting more confidence in him (for relieving their wants, in that barren Land) than in their Fathers God, who so often had spread a Table for them in the Wil∣derness: Him also did Jeroboam worship at Dan and Bethel, as the God of Plenty, and for the honour of his Tribe, Jeroboam being of the Tribe of Ephraim, the Son of Joseph. Of which (beside the suffrage of some Rabbies mention'd by Vossius, (de origin. idololat.) these Observations may be a Con∣firmation. 1. The Image of the Aegyptian Ox, sacred to Osiris, had a bushel set upon its head (saith Ruffinus, Eccles. Hist. l. 2. cap. 23.) to denote Josephs measuring out of Corn; this reason is alledged by Suidas (in Serapis) why some conceiv'd that Idol to represent Joseph. 2. Moses in his blessing that Tribe, (Deut. 33. 17.) saith [The firstling of a Bullock is the Beauty of his countenance,] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] manifestly expressing the Embleme which the Egyptians erected in his memory; not that he appro∣ved their abusing of it, by Religious Worship; but only commends Joseph, whom God had blest with that Wisdom, as procured him that Testimony of civil respect: for it was no more at first, than a piece of Heraldry. This Coat of Arms, Moses calls, the Firstling of a Bullock; because of the green∣ness of Joseph's years, when he was set over the Land of Aegypt, being then but 30 years old, exceeding young for the Gravity of his Counsel and de∣portment; and therefore his Emblem was a Calf or Firstling. 3. Though the bewilder'd Israelites erected but one Image, yet their acclamation, before, it was, [These are thy Gods, oh Israel, which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt] [Exod. 32. 8.) VVhy Gods? but to denote, that Idol to have been of the Epicene Gender, and to have represented both Apis and Osiris, the Ox of Memphis and Heliopolis, which saith Plutarch, (de Iside & Osyride) the Aegyptian Priests affirmed to be all one, and that Isis was the Soul of Osy∣ris. And why, [Thy Gods which brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt,] but to exclude the Inderites, Egyptian Gods, whose Interest it was to keep them in Aegyptian Bondage, and to imply it was some deified Israelite, to∣wit,

Joseph, who at his Death had prophesied their Return and whose Re∣liques they brought with them out of Egypt, to whom they imputed their deliverance and conduct.

§ 6. The History of Moses is more plainly comprehended in the Fables of a third Osiris, or Liber, whom the Poets describe, in the Indian, or Ara∣bick expedition of Bacchus: for that this Osiris, and Liber and Dionysius, are all one, Nonnus testifieth (in his Dionysiacωn lib. 4.) and that the ancient Greeks accounted all the Tract beyond the Mediterranean, India; is mani∣fest from that of Ovid, (De arte amandi, lib. 1.)

Andromedam, Perseus, nigris portarat ab Indis.

Perseus brought away Andromeda from the black Indians: now Andro∣meda was brought away from Joppa, a City of Phoenicia, (saith Pliny, l. 5. cap. 13 & 31.) and (chap. 9. cap. 5.) [Belluae, cui dicebatur exposita fuisse Andro∣meda, ossa Romae apportata ex oppido Judaeae, Joppe, ostendit, inter reliqua mi∣racula, in Aedilitate sua M. Scaurus] [M. Scaurus, when he was Edile, did a∣mongst other rarities, make show of the bones of that Sea-monster, to which An∣dromeda was reported to have been expos'd, having caused them to be brought from Joppa a City of Judaea.] Having premis'd these Tropological Notes; let us compare the Stories.

The sacred History saith, that Moses was exposed in an Ark upon the Water, watched by his Sister, and found by Pharaoh's Daughter: The Pro∣phane tells us, of Liber's Mother and Nurses, being with him at the Bank of Nile. Orpheus in hymmis:

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

[With thy Goddess-mother, the venerable Isis wearing black, with thy Maiden∣nurses at the Egyptian River.] At Brasiae in Laconia, they had an old Tradi∣tion; that Bacchus, as soon as he was born, was put into an Ark, and com∣mitted to the Water; which after-ages (to give repute to that City) cor∣rupted with the addition; that the Ark was driven by Tides to their coast, and Bacchus educated with them: whence their City called formerly [Oreatae] took the name of [Brasiae] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, from a Verb signifying to be cast up with the tide (Pausanias Laconici.)

In certain Verses of Orpheus, the Caldean Liber, is stiled 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, [Wa∣ter-born] and [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] which misseth Moses his Name but one Vowel. It is true indeed, he is elsewhere stiled [unutterable Queen] but that proceeded from the Grecians mistake (expess'd by Alexander Polyhistor) that the Jews receiv'd their Laws from a Woman, named [Mosω] they conceiving that word to be of the Feminine Gender, as Saphpho, Didω, &c. whence also grew that Opinion that Bacchus was of both Sexes. Plutarch (de Iside) reports that Osiris, while he was at Nurse, was called [Palestinos] whence could this Fable rise, but from Moses his being an Hebrew, seeing that Nation came into Aegypt out of Palestine. Moses had two Mothers, one who bare him, ano∣ther who adopted him, and brought him up as her own Son (Exod. 11. 10. Act. 7.) no Epithet is more common to Bacchus, than, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [twice mo∣ther'd] which might be applyed to the younger Bacchus the Theban, because of his being sowed in Jove's Thigh, (yet not without straining courtesie with that word, as Martial, not without a Sarcasm, observes in an Epigram, I have elsewhere quoted:) but could not be attributed to the Indian, upon

any other so proper Reason, as that which our Scripture assigns, and Secular Historians and Poets beat so much upon, to wit, his being brought up by a∣nother, than his own natural Mother: for which he was so famed, as the Braseans pretended they could shew the place where his Nurses educated him, called [the Garden of Liber] (Pausanias, Ibid.) Our Moses [was a goodly child] (Exod. 2. 1.) that is, as St. Stephen expounds it (Act. 7. 20.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [exceeding or divinely fair.] rendred by Josephus (Antiq. 4. 5.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] [of a dvine form, and generous toward∣liness:] And brought up in all the Learning of the Egyptians. Diodorus Siculus describes Bacchus thus; [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (lib. 5.) [he far exceeded others, in comeliness of form.] And Justin (lib. 36.) Moses thus, [quem praeter paternae scientiae haereditatem etiam formae pulchri∣tudo commendabat] [the beauty of his Body commended him as well as that of the Mind.]

Bacchus is said (by Diodorus, lib. 3.) to have been conveighed unto Nyssa, a Mountain of Arabia: And before him, Homer, in his Hymns, had sung, that Bacchus was educated in Nyssa, which he thus describes:

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

[There is a certain Hill flourishing with thick woods, called Nyssa, in the confines of Phaenicia, near the Waters of Fenny Egypt] The Alexandrian Chronicle (pag. 80.) makes [Nyssa] to be the same with [Sina] [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] and so they are, by transplacing of Letters, and change of a Vowel: Whence could this grow, but from Moses his flight into Arabia, and resi∣dence there forty years, and the eminency of Mount Sina in the sacred Story, for Gods giving there the Law? From this flight arose the Fable [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] of Bacchus his Exile, (Plutar. de Iside) and from Moses marching through the Red Sea, that of Nonnus, concerning Liber (Dio∣nysiac••n 20.)

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.]

[He went through the tawny Waves of the Red Sea.] Of Bacchus, Diodorus (out of Antimachus) lib. 3. reports, That marching into Arabia, where he expected a friendly entertainment, the King of Arabia gather'd an host to destroy him, and his Company; but was put to flight by Bacchus. And (lib. 4.) That he lead about an Army, not of men only, but also of women. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Orpheus stiles Dionysius [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] Lawgiver, and ascribes to him [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] a Law of two Tables.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

[In the Laws received from Gods, which he received according to two sorts of precepts.] In the same place he mentions Gods making and ordering all things after the method set down by Moses, (i.) beginning at the evening and ending, at the morning.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

[Learn how God framed the whole order of Nature, of one night and also one day.] The same Poet gives him these Epithets [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [horned like a bull, bearing horns, ox-horn'd] usually gi∣ven to Bacchus, pointing to those Horn-like Beams of Glory, flowing from Moses's face, when he had been in the Mount (Exodus 34. 29.) from hence proceeded the Custom of drinking in Horns, at the Celebration of Bacchus his Rites. Euripides (in Bacchis) introducing Agave, and the rest of the Bacchae, celebrating Bacchus his Revels, saith,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

[But one of them snatching a javelin smote the Rock whence flowed the dewy humour of water.]

The same Author, in the same place, mentions the Bacchanals, crowning their heads with Snakes.

(〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—)

In remembrance of the Serpent that was lifted up in the Wilder∣ness.

From the ambiguity of Caleb's Name (which in common signifies a Dog) and his faithful adhering to Moses, against the murmurers (Numb. 13. 31.) and when they would have stoned him, (Numb. 14. 7.) grew the Fable of [Bac∣chus his Dog] bestowed upon him by Pan; a Dog that had reason, and for his service, was promoted to Heaven, as Caleb obtained the Land of Pro∣mise: Hyginus (Poetic. astron. tit. Arctophylax.) stiles the Dog-star [the Syri∣anstar of Myriam] by a word something corrupted: (but that's no new thing)

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—

Nonnus (Dionysiac••n 16.) mentions Bacchus his Promise, and therewithal Myriam, the Sister of Liber, of Moses, and the Bunch of Grapes, which Iearius, that is, (as he there saith) Liber his Dog, Caleh the Dog of Moses brought from Escol. [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that thou also mayst ripen the Grape, casting a splendor from thy self upon the fruitful bunch of Grapes. Euripides describes the Coun∣try, wherein Bacchus settled his Crew, in the same form of words, wherein the holy Text describes the Land of Canaan, wherein Moses his people rest∣ed, in his Bacchis.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

The Land flows with Milk, flows with Wine, flows with Honey; and smells like the Syrian Libanus.

The Memorial of Myriams taking a Timbrel, and going out before the Women singing, and dancing, and praising Jehova, was preserved in Bac∣chus his Frows; who in a posture of Triumphers, with Spears deckt with Ivie (in token of Victory) went about dancing and singing [Evohe,] whence they were called [Evantes, or [Ehovantes] that is [Jehovantes] women praising the Lord] and Theocritus (Idyl. 27.) mentions their erecting twelve Altars: whereof, though he applys three, to Semele; and nine, to Bacchus: yet we may with more probability conceive them to have pointed out the twelve Tribes, and to have been transferr'd, out of the Story of Israels passage o∣ver Jordan (where they erected twelve stones) into the story of their pas∣sage through the Red Sea, confounded with the three Tribes erecting an Altar of Memorial on the other side of Jordan, whereat the nine Tribes took unjust offence. Plutarch, (quaestion. Symposiacis, lib. 4. quaest. 5.) ascribes to Bacchus the Jewish institution, of abstaining from the Flesh of Swine, Hares, &c. their carrying of Boughs in the Feast of Tabernacles; their using Trumpets and other Instruments of Musick, in their Temple service. Their High-priests Mitre, Robes, Shooes, Bells on the Fringe of his Vest: There not using Homage in their Sacrifices: and so many other particulars, as Sym∣machus, in that conference, tell Lamprius, that he had transcribed all those things, out of the Mysteries of the Hebrews.

§ 7. The same Author (de solertia animalium) interweaves the Story of Deucalion, with the mention of a Dove, which being sent out of the Ark, by her returning gave notice, that the Flood was not yet allay'd: and by her not returning, when she was sent out the second time, signified that the Wa∣ters were abated. This Story of Noah's Ark and the Flood (saith Josephus antiq. lib. 1.) all Gentile Writers mention. Berosus the Caldaean, Hieroni∣mus the Egyptian, Muaseus also, and many more: and Nicholas Damascenus (lib. 96.) The History of Eden's Apples, and the Serpent, is manifestly re∣corded by Hyginus (in his Poeticon astronomic. titulo serpens.) That of Bala∣ams Ass, is plainly couch'd in his Story of that Ass, which Bacchus rode upon to the Oracle of Dodona, which spake with Man's voyce, and disputed with Priapus, about Nature. (titulo Aselli) And that of Sampson's conquer∣ing the Philistines, with the Jaw-bone of an Ass, which God shewed him; as plainly, in his relation, how that Hercules being opprest with multitudes of Barbarians, and having spent all his Arrows, Jove taking pitty of him, procured a great many Stones to lay at his feet, where∣with he defended himself, and put the Barbarians to flight. (titulo Ergonasia.

Menander, in the Gests of Ithobal, King of Tyre (Ahabs Contemporary) speaks of that Drought that happened in Ahab's Reign (Joseph. antiquit. l. 8. cap. 7.) The same Author (contrà Appionem. lib. 1.) sheweth, how the Truth of the Jewish Histories was attested to, by forreign Writers: even of such Na∣tions, as most hated and emulated the Jews: and produceth the Tyrian An∣nals, in confirmation of Solomon's building the Temple, of his being aided therein, by Hiram; of his wise Questions and Answers: there being then, when Josephus wrote, in the Tyrians hands many Letters, which Solomon and Hiram wrote one to another: for which also he alledgeth the History of Dius, concerning the Phenicians. But I refer my Reader (for fuller satis∣faction in this point) to that excellent Defender of the Jewish Antiquities, Josephus himself; who, not only in his Discourse against Appron, but in his

Jewish Antiquities (lib. 1.) prosecutes this Argument: quoting Abydenus, writing the same Story, that Moses doth touching the Flood. And Mare∣thus, Berosus, Molus, Hestiaeus, Hieronimus Egyptius, the Phenician Chroni∣cles, Hesiod, Hecataeus, Elaricus, Acasilaùs, Ephorus and Nicholas, affirming that the Ancient Heroes lived 1000 years: for that they being the friends of God, and using a more wholesome Diet, than could he had after the Flood, must in Reason be supposed to live longer than their Successors: and be∣sides, that they might find out Arts profitable for future Generations, as A∣strology, Geometry, &c. they had a longer life bestowed upon them, seeing it was not possible, that they could observe the several Faces of the Stars, in less than six hundred years; which space is therefore called the great year of Revolution.

And Abydenus, for the proof of Moses his History of the building of the Tower of Babel. And Sibyl, for the Confusion of Languages; thus speak∣ing, [When men were all of one Language, they attempted to build a Tower that might reach up to Heaven; but the Gods beat down the Tower with Tempests, which from the wonderful Confusion of Tongues was called Babel.] And Hestiaeus making this mention of the Plain of Sinar, [The Priest who escaped, sacrificed to Jove, in the Vale of Sinar, and the Language of men being confounded, they began to inhabit divers parts of the World.] But I am weary of transcribing: consult Josephus: and Eusebius (de praeparatione Evangelica, lib. 9. cap. 1.) whose title is [that many forreign Writers have admired the Jewish Nation] (Cap. 2.) The Testimony of Haecateus:] (Cap. 3.) [The Testimony of Clearchus to Jewish Antiquities:] (Cap. 4.) That many forinsick Authors agree with the Truth of the Hebrew History.

CHAP. X.

The Adversaries forced upon very great Disad∣vantages to their own Cause, by reason that they could not for very shame resist the E∣vidences, brought in defence of sacred Hi∣story.

§ 1. Christ accused of working by the Prince of Devils: that Accusation withdrawn in open Court: and this Plea put in against him, that he made himself a King, and therefore was an Enemy to Caesar. § 2. Pet∣ty Exceptions rebound upon the heads of their Framers. § 3. The Modern Scepticks half-reasons too young, to grapple with old Prescription. § 4. Christ's Works, God's Seal to his Mission. § 5. The present Age as able to judge of the Nature of those Works, as that was, wherein they were done. § 6. Aheistical exceptions against particular points of Religion, an Hydra's head; yet they all stand upon one neck, and may be cut off at one blow, by proving the Divine original of Re∣ligion.

§ 1. THese are all the kinds of Testimonies, that Matters of Fact are capable off: and so full and impartial; as, I am sure, our Modern Disputers cannot produce the like, for the probat of any Matters of Fact, except those which we have account of in the Gospel. I might therefore here conclude: But that I may leave the Sceptick without, not only all possibility of Reply, but of Excuse, for his Pertinacy, (if he hath the face to question the validity of this Argument) I shall add this weighty Consideration.

That the Adversaries of the Christian Religion, in their discoursing upon that Subject, were put upon exceeding great inconveniencies, meerly upon this Reason, because they could not (for very shame) resist those Evidences were brought, in defence of the Evangelical History.

To begin with the Jewish, we find the chief of them consulting, what they should do to hinder the Progress of the Gospel, when they saw such notable Miracles effected by Christ and his Disciples, as could not be denyed: and fore saw, that the whole World would run after them, if some stop were not put to this rowling Stone. The first Obstacle they lay in its way, was the calumniation of those great Works, as being done not by the Finger of God, but the Hand of Beelzebub. But whatever Presti∣giator was read of in any History, so qualified as Christ was? the In∣stitutor of a Society, accomplish'd with all Gravity and Virtue; a Prae∣ceptor of most sincere and true Doctrine (as Eusebius challengeth the Pagan Objectors (Demonst. Evang. 3. 8.) The only colour of a proof they bring for this (for their Fables, of Christ's going into Aegypt to learn Magick, of his having the Tetragrammaton sown in his Thigh, have not the least shew of Probability) was the seeming Contradicti∣on betwixt the Law of Moses and of Christ, it being on all hands con∣fess'd, that Moses was sent of God, and assisted in the Wonders he wrought

(in confirmation of his Mission) by a Divine Power: and therefore what Christ did, in proof of his Doctrine, must needs be (as they bla∣sphem'd) by a Diabolical. But when he attempts (at the araignment of our Saviour, and his Protomartyr) to prove Christ's Doctrine op∣posite, to that of Moses (by suborning Witnesses, to alledge many things in the New, looking a squint upon the Old Testament) these two, upon examination, prove better friends, and agree better with one a∣nother, than the Witnesses do among themselves: whose allegations de∣stroy one another, while they are combining to prove the Gospel destructive to the Law; and in conclusion, after they have left no stone unturn'd, they are not able to make good one Instance of any such Doctrine. And thus, while the Jew cannot, while he dares not, de∣ny the doing of the Works, the Delivery of the Doctrine (they were so manifest) but is forc'd, (if he will not, let the Gospel wholly alone) to en∣ter this Plea, he runs himself upon the inconveniency, of being manifest∣ly baffled, and nonsuted in open Court: Insomuch, as (for all his boast∣ing, when he put on that Armour) he dares not trust to it, in the pitch'd Field, has not the heart to mutter one word before Pilate, of Christ's casting out Devils by Beelzebub: though could he have made such a charge but probable, it would have administred to him a more plausible occasion of putting Christ to death, (both in respect of the Law of Moses and Caesar) than that which he was, at last pinch, forc'd to take up, viz. [he said he was king of the Jews.] A Plea which, of all other, the Jew would not have stood upon; had not Malice over-clouded his Intellect, and prompted him to snatch up, in a rage, that weapon to offend Christ with, which (otherwise) he could not but forethink, the Gospel would take up in defence of the Truth of its History, and Deli∣very of that Doctrine, which is the very Soul of our Religion [He said he was king of the Jews,] that is, King Messias, the great Prophet that was to come into the VVorld. This is proved to the Christians hand, in open Court; Christ is called to make a good Confession of it, before Pontius Pilate. Pilate causes this Indictment to be writ in Capital Letters, in He∣brew, Greek and Latin (for all to read) over his Cross; as the Crime, of which he was accused, and for which he suffered [Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews.

1. This is enough to evince the Truth of the Gospel, as to Matter of Fact and Delivery of Doctrine; that the Church hath not feigned this story, that Christ really gave out himself to be that Person, that the Go∣spel reports him to be: for in saying, he was King of the Jews (in the common sence of that Age, and in the Notion of King Messiah) Christ said, he was born of the Virgin, of the Lineage of David, born in Beth∣lehem, fled into Aegypt, educated in Nazareth, convers'd in Galilee, made the lame to leap as an Hart, made the Eyes of the blind to see out of obscurity; was anointed of God to be that great Prophet, whom all are to hear; that Seed of the woman, that was to break the Serpents head: the Desire of all Nations; that unknown God; whom the Gentiles ignorantly worship'd; that Judean King, who was to subdue all Kings Scepters to his.

2. Can it be imagin'd, that one who pretended to this Title, would come with his Thumbs in his Mouth, and not demonstrate his Right to it, by doing such stupendious VVorks, as could not be effected, but by Divine Power; (seeing all pretenders to the Messiaship, both before and after him made show of working Miracles, in confirmation of their Pretensions;) and not exercise that Office, he affirmed he came in∣to

the VVorld to manage, by giving out his Royal Law, by publishing his heavenly Doctrine.

3. VVhat VVorks, what Doctrine, was ever father'd upon Christ, so well becoming that Title, so like to sting the carnal and blinded Jews, to grate upon the proud and envious Pharisee, to offend that Generation that opposed him; as that whereof the Gospel giveth us an account? By what other VVorks but those, could Pilate be so far (conscientiâ Chri∣stianus, as Tertullian stiles him) convinc'd in judgement, that Jesus was indeed (what the Jews accused him to say he was) the King of the Jews; as he could not by their solicitations, be perswaded to alter the first Inscription? VVhat Doctrine but that could, upon trial, have been found so holy and blameless, as Christ's most malicious and cunning enemies, could not suggest one tittle of it, to a Judge, partial enough on their side, that he could find any fault in? St. Paul therefore had reason to call that [a good Confession] which Christ made before Pontius Pilat, and to urge it upon Timothy's Conscience, in that charge he gives him, to observe the Canon of Doctrine and Life, propounded in that Epistle: as being that Doctrine of Christ, which he confirm'd by work∣ing of Miracles before the people: and by confessing himself, before Pilat's Tribunal to be King of the Jews. And so much more infatua∣ted did the Jews appear, in procuring (by the Plea they enter'd against him) the publication of this Title, in the ears of Jews, Romans and Grecians: which as it comprehends the Sum of the Christian Faith, so it is the Touchstone of all VVorks and Doctrines father'd upon Christ; and clearly evinceth the Truth of Evangelical History, if we compare what it delivers, with what the Prophets foretel the King of the Jews was to say and do.

§ 2. These were their studied and unanimous Pleas against Christ: they had some Extempore ones, and, as it were, the Opinions of pri∣vate Doctors. I will but glance at these. VVhen the Resurrection is preach'd, the Pharisee Applaudes, the Sadducee derides: when Christ preacheth the paying of Tribute, the Herodians approve, the Pharisees oppose. VVhat means this snarling of the Dogs, but that such bones were thrown amongst them? Some alledge, [that no man knows whence the Messias comes,] and therefore concludes, that Jesus was not he; they knowing, that he came out of Nazareth, and having converse with his Mother, his Brethren, and Sisters. Others affirm that [the Christ was to come out of Bethlehem;] and that therefore the Son of Mary was not he, being of so obscure an Extract, such a Terrae filius, as no man knew whence he came. Besides the manifest Contradiction whereby those Adversa∣ries to Christ trip up one anothers heels, here are the manifest Prints of Christ's twofold Generation; one as God eternal, of his Father, which none can declare; another temporal, of the Substance of his Virgin-Mother. And of two material Passages in the History of Christ, point∣ed at by the Prophets, and infallibly conducting us to the places, where we are to look for the Messias; to wit, at Bethlehem, as to his so obscure Birth, as it was hardly taken notice of: and at Naza∣reth, as the place of his Education, and constant residence of his fleshly Relations.

But these are but slight Inconveniencies, which the Jew drew up∣on himself, by chusing rather to betake himself to these kind of Ex∣ceptions, than to oppose the Truth of the Narrative; in com∣parison of those mortal Wounds, he hereby, gave his Cause, and

might have avoided: if he had but dar'd, to have chosen that ground.

1. Had he excepted against the Truth of the History, and could have gotten the better there; he had been absolute Master of the Field: could he, for shame, have denyed the doing of the Miracles, the Do∣ctrine delivered would not have been able to stand out against his assaults, who would have followed a Doctrine, so repugnant to all mens carnal interest, so far above all humane Reason; had not God given it out, under his own Hand and Seal; without which Testimony of Christ's Mission from Heaven, he would but have been, as a private man: and his word of no more than (nay, not so much as) the Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees: for they sate in Moses's Chair, and could shew Gods ordinary Commission: and therefore if they could have invalidated Christ's extraordinary Call, they needed not have feared, that his VVord would have been taken before theirs. Now what shorter or clearer way could they possibly have proceeded in, to make void Christ's Commission (even to all mens satisfaction) than by proving, that those great Works, which are reported of him, were not done by him, had that been feasible? Again, could they have proved, that he did not preach such Doctrine, as the Gospel presents; the Miracles would have wheel'd about to them, and have proved as good a defence of Pharisaism, as they are (as the Case now stands) of Christianity. If it had not been so famously known what Christ preach'd; as they could not deny, nor pervert his Doctrine; they might have father'd their own, upon him: and have alledged the Miracles wrought by him, in confir∣mation of it. Had not the Jew wanted face or courage to fall on here, he could not have wanted men: their love to sin, and priding them∣selves in the Covenant of Peculiarity, would have furnish'd him with whole Legions of Voluntiers; besides those he might have prest with Bribes (as he did the Witnesses and Souldiers) to make a breach upon the Truth of Gospel-history: had not that attempt been looked upon as desperate, upon what other imaginable account can it be, that he sneaks about the Shore, where, ever and anon, he either runs on ground, or splits against the Rocks, and makes such miserable Shipwrack of his Re∣putation? Why avoids he the open Sea, and dare not encounter the Go∣spel there, where, if he can put her to the worst, all's his own? Can any thing stand in his way, but cowardise, and the desperateness of the adventure? It is reported of the northern Augustus, the great Gustavus, that he seldom brought into the Field an Army of above 10000 men, (but those veteranes and experienc'd Solders) chusing rather to animate a well-set, than a corpulent and bulkie Body. Such was Christ's Army of Martyrs, whereby he subdued the World to the belief of the Gospel, and so formidable to the Jew, as he despaired to break its ranks, with all the force he could raise. Methinks I hear him thus discoursing with himself: [Should I say, this or that Passage in the History of Christ, is a forgery? I could have Seconds more than a good many; I could levy more Legions, to employ in that service, than the Gospel hath Squadrons, to defend its Truth: But alas mine would be as so many droves of Sheep, led up a∣gainst Lyons: Those that she hath are faithful, and tried veterane Soldiers, Eye and Ear-witnesses of what was done and said; and the greatest part of them prest (at first) against the natural inclination of their will, against the Religion of their Country, to be on her side (and such in this case will do best service) meerly by such Conviction, as they are not able to withstand. It grieved them to hear and see such things; but such is the Evidence, whereby they commend themselves to the Consciences of all, that see or hear them, as they cannot be flattered, threatned, excommunicated, reason'd into

a denyal of them. Who can I muster up, that will not be as Grashoppers, in the eyes and hands of such Gyants? the greatest part of those I can rally, being such, as were out of the way, when the things, under debate, were done; the rest such, as all know to be my own Creatures: but the worst is, when they come to charge, they will not be kept in any Order, but fall foul upon one another, and be in as many different Tales, as they are Persons. I must therefore let the Gospel alone, as to the Truth of its History (which sails with so strong a gale, as it were desperate fool-hardiness, to affront it, di∣rectly:) I will rather try, what can be done by Consequences; I will give it Sea-room to sail by, perhaps I may espie something, in the works done, that may make men suspect, they are not the Finger of God; something, in the doctrine delivered, that may argue it not to come from Heaven: but as to the doing of the Works, the Delivery of the Doctrine, they are so manifest, as it were madness to oppose the Report.] This is the plain English of the Jew's behaviour, in his opposing the Go∣spel.

§ 3. Another irrepairable loss he hath sustain'd, to the disparagement of his Cause, (by permitting the History of the Gospel to pass currant, through the first Age, without any offer of his opposition) is, that he hath hereby deprived himself, and his friends, of the advantage of playing an After-game. Had he boldly calumniated the Truth of the Story, something might have stuck, that might have rendred it less cre∣dible, and afforded its Adversaries, in after-ages, some colourable ap∣pearance against it: but now, he that lived upon the place (and nar∣rowly watched, for Christ's halting: for the faultring of the Pen of the sacred Scribes) having nothing to say against these Matters of Fact, has wholly disappointed, and bereav'd succeeding Generations of all possible Pleas. [Orpheum Poetam docet Aristoteles nunquam fuisse, & hoc Orphi∣cum Carmen Pythagorici ferunt cujusdam fuisse Cecropis] (Cotta in Cicer. de natura deorum, l. 1.) Aristotle taught, that there never was any such Poet as Orpheus; and the Pythagoreans report, that the Poem that goes under the name of Orpheus, is the work of Cecrops. But both he any they were too young, to gain upon the VVorld's Faith, that had been ground∣ed upon the former, ancient, and universal Tradition, (that there was such a Poet, and that the Verses that go under his name, are his.) Let the Sceptick, if he can, produce one single Testimony, of that validity, that these against Orpheus are, against the blessed Jesus. How then can our Modern Atheist think, his silly and importune Quarrels, against the Evangelical History, are of any Validity with intelligent Persons? his Quarrels now, in the end of the World, sixteen hundred years too young, to bear witness against that, which its Contemporaries had not the face to deny? If Jephtha's Replie to the King of Ammon (demand∣ing of him to restore the Towns, which Israel had taken from that Crown, at their coming out of Aegypt, three hundred years before this demand:) [Why did you not recover them all that while?] (Jud. 11. 26.) be ground∣ed, as Civilians say, upon Principles of natural Honesty. (Grotius de jure 2. 4.)

2. If Isocrates his Plea against resigning up their right in Messina, (drawn from the Spartans, having had the uninterrupted possession there∣of, from before the erection of the Persian Empire, and the building of the greatest part of the Grecian Cities) be grounded upon the general Sentiment of all men [That Possession confirm'd by long Prescription is as good as inheritance] (Isocrat. Archidamus, pag. 287.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] And so valid, as to dispute against it, is branded

by Historians, as meer babling and beating the Air. (Tacitus annal. 6.) A∣mong whom do these novel Disputers against the Truth of Gospel-Histo∣ry (after the Prescription of so many hundreds of years) think their Al∣legations will be of any force; but persons that have renounc'd all Principles of Reason, Equity, Humanity, Polity, and common Sence? I would therefore advise them to bespeak themselves an Audience, in the Sister-hood of tatling Gossips and silly Women; who are not able to comprehend the weight of that sharp retort of St. Austin. [restat, ut ipsi velint esse testes de Christo, qui sibi auferunt meritum sciendi quid loquatur, loquendo quod nesciunt.] (August. tom. 4. pag. 162. de consensu Evang. 1. 8.) [It remains, that we take those mens Testimony of Christ, who by speaking those things which they are ignorant of, deprive themselves of the benefit of knowing what to speak:] while I lay open the mortal Wounds, which the Jew, his not daring to deny the Matter of Fact, hath given his Brother in iniquity, the Gentile Philosopher; who having so much Reason, as to think it unreasonable, that he, who was not an Eye-witness, should ex∣cept against the Evidence of Eye-witnesses, touching those things, which Eye-witnesses (and as great enemies to the Gospel, as himself) had not been able to make any substantial exception against; was forc'd to grant the Truth of the History, and had nothing left worthy of a Philosopher, to object but this,

§ 4. That the Works Christ did, did not speak him to be God, but only a good Man, and familiar with the Gods (by converse with whom, he learn'd the Art, or obtain'd the Power, of working Miracles) I use this Dis-junctive, because Porphyrie held the faculty of doing Miracles, may be attain'd by Art, but Jamblychus will have it, the free gift of God, bestowed on those that are most conformable to, and conversant with him, exploding all Arts tending that way, as Diabolical, (as Ficinus ex Jamblicho de mysteriis relates, pag. 78, 79. &c.). But let them dissent or a∣gree, as they please, that the stupendious Works of Christ were the effects of Divine Magick, and such as he could not have wrought, had not God been with him, was confest by the unanimous consent of all the Philosophical Opponents of the Christian Faith, who all subscribed to that of Porphyrie [Porphyrius dixit Christum summè religiosum, immortali animâ post corpus incedere, animâ sapientiae, gratiâ, honore affectâ, d••••s carâ, &c.] (Euseb. demonstr. Evang. 3. 8.) [Who said that Christ was a very reli∣gious Person, and subsisted after bodily death in an immortal soul; a soul exalted to honour, for the sake of that wisdom it was indowed with: dear to the Gods, &c.] Only they excepted against the Miracles, as no▪ suffici∣ent Indications of Christ's Deity: [nec u••••s competentibus signis tan•••• Majestatis indicia clarescunt, quoniam larvalis illa purgatio, debilium curae, reddita vita defunctis, haec & alia si cogites Deo parva sunt:] (August. Volusi∣an. Epist. 2.) [It appears not by any competent signs of a Divine Majesty at∣tending him, that your Jesus was God: for his casting out of Devils, his curing the sick, his restoring the dead to life, (if these and other strange things done by him be duly weighed) are too mean for him to manifest his glory by, whom you stile the Lord and Governour of the Universe,] said the Gentile Philosophers, in that Conference, of which Volusianus gave St. Au∣stin an Account. I will not so far anticipate my intended discourse a∣bout Christ's Miracles, as here to give a full Answer to this Argument, but only glance at that which St. Austin returns him, [It's true indeed, such things as these have been done by men. Elias and Elisha raised the dead (1 Reg. 17. 22. 2 Reg. 4. 36.) but whether the Heathen Magicians ever raised any from death, let them inquire, who will needs maintain Apuleius did so, contrary to that defence himself makes, against the imputation of that,

as a Crime. To be sure, in his being born of a Virgin, in his raising himself from death, in his Ascension into Heaven he out did all men. And he that thinks these things too mean for God, I cannot tell what he can expect more; except he thinks Christ should have done such things, as are inconsistent with his being made Man. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and all things were made by him: Ought he, therefore, being made Man, to have made another World, to convince men that he was he, by whom the World was made? But a greater than this, or one equal to this, could not have been made in this World: and had he either made another World out of this; the making of that would have been no evidence to the Inhabitants of this, (for it would have been out of their sight) or a less World than this, in this; the Scep∣tick would have had the same objection, that it was less than became God to make: seeing therefore it was not meet he should make a new World, he made new things in the old World; his Virgin-birth, his Resurrection, and Ascension, are works of greater Power, perhaps, than making the World: If here they answer, that they do not believe these things: what shall we do with such men, as contemn the least, and dis-believe the greatest of his Miracles? They believe he raised the dead, because that hath been done by others, and that's too mean for God: his taking Flesh of a Virgin, and lifting it up from death unto eternal Life above the Hea∣vens, is therefore not believed, because no man ever did it; and its fit for God to do.] To return to our Heathen Philosophers. The Rea∣son they gave why they thought those things reported of Christ in the Gospel, not clear enough evidences of his Deity, was because some of those amongst themselves, who were reputed most holy Men, had done the like things; and therefore Christ, being a very wise and holy Person, and who convers'd intimately with God, might obtain that favourable Gift at the bountiful hand of Heaven. What an infinite disparity, both in respect of the things done, and the credibility of the stories, there is betwixt the Works of Christ and their Magi, will be discust in its proper place: I am now only to shew, what inconveni∣ence the Learned Gentile was put upon, while he is forc'd upon making this Exception; as not having the face to deny the Matters of Fact.

1. By the Evidence of Christ's great Works, he is convinc'd that Christ was a good an holy Man; for none but such were privileged with a Power of doing such Works, as he did. By the same Evidence he must confess that Christ is God, for he profest himself to be one, with, and equal to the Father: and [a good man will not lye.]

2. Again, if Christ were an holy Man, and by his Holiness had at∣tain'd the Magick Art, he would have communicated the Principles of that Art to others: for [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] [a good man is a common good;] communicative of his profitable knowledge. The Pagan here, was driven to this Reply: That Christ did write Books of the Magick Art, and dedicated, and delivered them to St. Peter and Paul. They could not (saith St. Austin) have pitch'd up∣on a more ridiculous answer; the falshood thereof laying open to the youngest Catechumen; who can tell these gray-beards, that Christ was ascended into Heaven, before St. Paul became his Disciple. But they had seen the Memories of those two Apostles celebrated together, and had heard them spoken of as the prime Apostles (the one of the Cir∣cumcision, the other of the Incircumcision) and therefore they joyn'd them in this Fable, as the likeliest persons, by whose hands Christ

might diffuse the Principles of the Magick Art, through the World, of Jew and Gentile. Or they might take up this Conceipt, from the Helcesaitae, of whom Eusebius thus writeth: [St. Origen. in Psal. 80. mention'd a kind of Hereticks, called Helcesaitae, who gave out that they had a Book, which fell down from Heaven, which who so heard and believed the doctrine thereof, should receive an otherwise Remission of sins, than that which Christ dispensed.] This should be a Book of Magick by that Ti∣tle in Justinian's Codex [de maleficis & mathematicis o•• Incantationes quibus utebantur] where, amongst others, that Heresie of the Helcesaitae is condemned (Euseb. hist. lib. 6. cap. 31.

§ 5. But the mischief of mischiefs, that the Jew has brought upon his own, and his fellows Causes (in his not being able to resist the Truth of the Evangelical History,) is this, That hereby he has afforded the Christians of this last Age, an even ground to play with them upon, at all other Weapons, in all the remaining Controversies, touching that Subject.

1. It being confest, that the Doctrine of the Gospel was deliver'd by Christ and his Apostles, and witnessed to, by such wonderful Works as are therein reported: for the determining of this Question, whe∣ther those Works are truly and properly Miracles, and sufficient indi∣cations, that the perpetrators of them, were commission'd by God (as his Embassadors) to treat with man? we of this Age are e∣very way as well instructed as they that were (or as we our selves could have been, had we been) Eye-witnesses of them; whether Pompey or Caesar had the better Cause? (it being supposed that Antiquity has given us the true state of it) may as well (and perhaps more impar∣tially) be resolved by Modern Civilians, than by Cato or Cicero; though there may be more danger of mistake in resolving this Case, than ours; for the precise Rules that Lawyers are, in that case, to pro∣ceed by, are not the universal Maximes of Right, but as they are con∣fin'd, limited, and manacled by the then Laws of the Roman State, where that might have been just or unjust, two thousand years ago, that would be the quite contrary now, (in respect of those mutati∣ons have, in the interim, befaln their Politicks:) But, in our Case, we are to walk, by standing and fixed Principles in Nature, of eternal Ve∣rity: nothing can be a Miracle, or not a Miracle now, that would not have been so, three thousand years ago: State-maximes are not, like the Laws of Medes and Persians unalterable: but the Covenant which God hath made with Day and Night, (the Ordinances of Sun, Moon and Stars) cannot be broken, but by the immedate hand of him that made them (Jer. 32. 26. 33. 20.) And therefore we who live now are better abilitated to judge: when the interposition of that hand suspends the operation of those Ordinances, than they who lived before us, saving the advantage they had of us, by means of the first Traditional Learning, communicated either by God, to Adam, or by Adam, to the Patriarchs: or acquired by those long-livers before the Flood, (the length of whose Age allowed them so large a time, to conn those Les∣sons, which the hand of creating Omnipotencie had writ, in the Vo∣lume of the Universe) and deliver'd by their survivour Noah, to the Generations after the Flood; the benefit whereof the Devil did not so much envy (to humane kind) as he did the Tradition of Religion; (and therefore that was better preserv'd than this) Though our own be but a Pigmey-experience, yet it stands upon the Giants Shoulders of the experience of former Ages, by means of which upper ground, we dai∣ly

make new Discoveries, and take out new Lessons out of the Book of Nature, [facile est inventis addere.] To say nothing of the Modern helps we have; Of Scripture-physicks, by which many of the old Philoso∣phers mistakes are discover'd, and we lighted to a clearer discovery of Nature, than Nature could make of her self: Of Accademies, where we enjoy all imaginable expedients of Arts, towards the perfecting our Minds in the knowledge of Natures Laws, and Learning to judge, when those Laws are either suspended, or improved, beside, or be∣yond their own Line (the benefit of which opportunity would yet be improved, if we would subordinate Philosophy to Divinity, in point of Authority and Use:) of Authority in preferring the Light of the Sun, to the blaze of that Candle of the Lord within us: of Use, in studying natural Ethicks and Physicks, to the end we may know where Nature ends (as to both) and where Grace, and the God of Nature, begins to out-do those ordinary Powers, that are planted either in the great World, or its Epitome.

2. The Truth of the Gospel-Narrative yielded. If upon due exa∣mination, but any one of those mighty Works, therein reported to have been done, do undoubtedly appear to be a Miracle: we may, we must, without the least haesitancie, rest assured of the Infallibility of the Evan∣gelical Doctrine. For Gods Faithfulness and abhorrencie of Falshood, will no more consist with his setting one Seal to a Lye, than a thou∣sand. The Magicians vying with Moses, in some of those Wonders he wrought before Pharaoh, did not prejudice his Divine Com∣mission; seeing Moses did some things in confirmation thereof, which they could not imitate, but confess'd to be the Finger of God.

3. Any one Action of Christ, proved irrefragably a Miracle, will seal to the Truth of the whole Body of Gospel-doctrine, will attest the in∣tire sum, and compleat form of sound Words, to have been from Heaven. For God by granting Miracles to be wrought by Christ, and his A∣postles in Christ's Name, did immediately seal to Gods sending Christ, and Christ's sending his Apostles, as Heavens Plenipotentiaries, to treat with the World, about the Matters of Eternal Life. The miracu∣lous descension of the holy Ghost upon our Saviour, at his Bap∣tism, was to point him out to his Fore-runner, John the Baptist, as that true Light, which (according to Prophecy, and the general ex∣pectation of the Jews) was come into the World, [he it is upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend.] Upon seeing of which, and hearing that voyce from Heaven, [This is my well-beloved Son] the Baptist asserts him to be, that Prophet which God promised to send, to com∣municate his whole pleasure to the sons and daughters of men. Christ's transformation in the holy Mount, was to confirm the three Apostles, in the Truth of that Voyce, they heard [This is my Son, hear him;] that is, whatever he shall speak in my Name, what terms soever he shall propound to the World, what way soever he shall chalk out to reconciliation, let them be observ'd, let no other be expected; For I have made him my Ambassadour, and given him full power to treat with the World. When the Apostles returned from working Miracles, the Question that Christ propounded to them was [Whom do men say I am?] and the question he put to such, as upon hearing or seeing the miraculous Cures, he wrought on others, applyed themselves to him for Cure, was, [Believest thou that I am be?] Infinite Examples might be produc'd. But this Proposition [Miracles do immediate∣ly confirm the Divine Authority of the Speaker, and consequently

the Truth of whatsoever he delivers] is so evident, as it needs no proof.

4. Lastly, Matters of Fact granted, and the Supernaturalness of any one thing, done in confirmation of the Gospel, proved, affords Chri∣stians of the meanest Capacities, ability sufficient, to confirm them∣selves, in a full assurance of the Truth, of all Gospel assertions; to convince the subtilest Gain-sayers, (as that Laick did the Arrians, in the Council of Nice) and to answer all Objections, that ever were made, or can be invented, from those seeming absurdities, impossibilities, contradictions, &c. which the wittiest Sophister can make himself be∣lieve, he finds in the Evangelical Religion. For there cannot be [yea and nay] with God, nor any thing impossible to him, to whom it is possible to raise the dead, and to do such stupendious Works, as were wrought, for the demonstration of the Divine Authority of the Go∣spel: [Si Ratio contrà Scripturarum authoritatem redditur, quamlibet a∣cuta sit, fallit verisimilitudine; nam vera esse non potest: rursùs, si mani∣festissime certae{que} rationi velut Scripturarum authoritas objicitur; non intelligit qui hoc facit: & non Scripturarum sensum (ad quem pene∣trare non potest) sed suum potiùs objicit veritati; nec quod in eis, sed quod in seipso, velut pro eis invenit, opponit.] (August. Marcellino Ep. 7.) [If Rea∣son be alledged against the Authority of divine Scripture; be it never so a∣cute, it is not true, but deceives us, with an appearance of Truth, with a shadow of Reason. Again, if the Authority of Scripture seem to oppose manifest, and certain Reason: he that alledgeth that Authority does not un∣derstand the Text he quoteth; and objects against that Truth, which Rea∣son presents, not the sence of Scripture, (which he is not able to dive in∣to) but his own conceipt. Neither doth he oppose, against such Rea∣son, what he finds in the Text, but his own gloss and Comment, which he frames to himself.] And therefore when that Affricane Light thought he found any thing in Scripture, that seemed contrary to Truth, he concluded; That it was but either a shew of Truth, or a shew of Scripture, and that either [the Copy was corrupt, or the Translation false, or that he himself did not understand the Text aright] (August. Hieron. Ep. 19.) [—vel mendosum ese codicem, vel interpretem non esse assecutum quod dictum est, vel me minimè intel∣lexisse.]

The same Purity, and infinite Perfection of the Divine Na∣ture, that makes it impossible for God to lye, makes it impossible, that he should give his approbation, and the Imprimatur, to a self∣contradicting, absurd, or unreasonable Book.

§ 6. Judicious Plutarch (in his Treatise of the Fortune of Alexander) compares his attempt to subdue the World, to Hercules his Combat with Hydra; in that, though he had no sooner dispatch'd one War, but a∣nother sprung up, yet by searing the places of the neck where the heads grew which he cut off, he prevented the pullulation of fresh heads from those places: that is, by fortifying the places he gain'd, with Garrisons, he prevented the rising of the conquer'd, at his back; by which means at last he conquer'd all Nations. Of like difficulty and immense labour, is the undertaking to subdue Atheism: in an heart pos∣fest with which, is a world of Devices; and a Tongue, prompted by such an heart, is a World of Iniquity (if not Epicurean infinite Worlds) (Jacob. 3. 6.) Three of this Hydra's most lofty and blasphe∣mous

Heads are already dispatch'd, and the Topicks whence they were rais'd, the necks on which they grew sear'd by so feeling an application of each Argument, to the Serpents only beloved temporal and earthly concerns: as it may be hoped his delicacy will hardly indure the pain of a new fracture in those tender parts, by the reviving of those Ar∣guments against the Gospel, which speak him a mere Novice in the great affairs of the World, and not to know the State of that virile Age of the Roman Empire, when the Gospel was first publish'd, or render him uncapable of knowing, when to hum, when to kiss in a Play-house; or of maintaining his right, to what he challengeth, as his Fathers Heir, as his Mothers Son. It may be some daunting to the Atheists, some encouragement to the Church, to see so many heads lye gasping at the feet of the meanest of her Sons: And, perhaps, satisfie the ex∣pectations of modest persons, as to what my Title promiseth, to see three of those Horns, that have (with the greatest spite and dis∣dain) been pushing at the Gospel cast out, by one so unskilful a Carpenter; A work for three of the ablest Artists; for God allows to eve∣ry Horn a Carpenter, (Zech. 1. 20.) Had this Monster no more Horns than Zechary saw in that prophetical Vision, had this Hydra no more heads than Alexander's World had Kingdoms, than that Lernean Ser∣pent, which Hercules flew, had heads: (be they seven, according to Naucrates Erythraeus; nine, according to Zenodotus, or fifty, according to Heraclides Ponticus his opinion; my success hitherto might give me hopes, at last to excind the last of them. But how many Heads this Monster of Monsters hath, he only knows, before whom Hell is bare-fac'd, and who searcheth the above-measure Deceiptfulness of those Hearts, that are witty in contriving their own destructiou To pro∣ceed therefore in cutting off the several Heads of Atheistical Prejudice, one by one, would be more than an Herculean Labour, and as vain as that, which Pirrhus imploy'd in the conquest of the Roman Armies, which he could not faster defeat, than others rose up in their stead, the ranckness of the Roman Blood scorning to be stanch'd, by all the Searing-irons, he could apply to the Wounds, he gave that Cities then rising greatness; but putting forth its plastick Virtue, in the fresh production of so many martial Spirits, as taught that gallant Epirot (by the loss of his Kingdom) to construe Apollo's Oracle, to a sini∣ster sence (as to his own fortune, of which, Cyneas gave him a good item, when he told him, he was combating with the Lernean Hydra, and the Poet gives an elegant description.

Non Hydra secto corpore firmior Vinci, dolentem crevit in Herculem. * 1.2

No less numerous and fierce are the assaults which Atheism makes against particular Gospel-enunciations and Conclusions: It ferrets e∣very Text (from the beginning of Genesis, to the end of the Revelati∣on) to find breaches, in Jerusalem's pearly Walls; Seams in Chrst's

Coat; Errata, in that Edition of Heavens mind: this is impossible, that is too ordinary; this is impious, that incongruous; this is de∣fective, that redundant: he complains here, of affectation; there, of boldness; here, of obscurity; there, of plainness: The Christian Aedipusses (the Fathers, of old; the School-men, of late) untied these knots as fast as Sphinx could knit them: and, with indefatigable industry, pur∣sued the enemies of the Cross of Christ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: clearing all the Texts and Propositions excepted against, from the misprision of those Crimes were lay'd to their charge; and proving, that our Religion had nothing in it, against either Reason or good Manners, no∣thing unworthy of its Divine Original, or unsuitable to its merciful ends.

In their managing of which holy War, I cannot tell, whether I should more admire the solidness of their Judgements, or the heat of their Divine Zeal: the labour, or success of those Angels of Michael, contending with the Devil and his Angels. In which way of com∣bating, he that would now follow them, must be so much more pa∣tient of labour, than they were, as Atheistical prejudice is more proli∣fick now, than then; and fall so far short of them, in point of suc∣cess; as Pagans are less under judicial obduration, than Apostate Christians. Must we suffer then this many-headed Cerberus to go unmuzzl'd, out of the Lease, barking against the Light of Heaven. and drivelling his poysonful Foam upon the Flowers of Paradise? Must the new sprung Heads of Hydra still stand rampant upon her stiff-Neck, and hiss, without controul, against Religion? Must we in de∣spondencie cast away our Sword, and yield the Field to this Mon∣ster? Is there, after the dismounting of these three Heads of Preju∣dice, no way, whereby we may reach the rest? Nero wish'd, that all the heads of the Senators stood upon one neck (that he might dispatch them at one blow.). The opportunity, which he impiously wish'd against the Senate, God hath graciously vouchsafed us, against the Atheist; for though these three Objections of his against Chri∣stianity, that have been answered, stand upon several Grounds (as distinct Necks) and therefore are not to be cut off, but one by one: yet all his remaining Objections stand upon one neck, center in this one point. Say Christ and his Apostles meant honestly, say they were wise men, say we have in the Gospel a true account of their doings and sayings: yet they were but Men, and as men discover their weakness, in such and such Texts, in these and these passages: which had they been divinely inspired, would never have faln from their Lips or Pens. If, then, we can demonstrate the Errour of their Con∣clusion, we make the Sophistry of all their Premises, upon which they labour to ground it, apparent: a man of the weakest Intellect, that hath seen Snow, will conclude all arguments, brought to prove it is not white, Fallacious. If we can manifestly prove, (the contra∣dictory to what they would conclude) That the Sacred Scrip∣tures are of Divine Original, the weakest Christian (by help of that natural Logick, that is, every man's Birth-right) though he cannot discern the particular irregularity of the Atheists discourse, as to Mood and Figure; yet may certainly and scientifically con∣clude, in the gross; that the Atheist's Arguments are not cogent, and necessarily concludent: and may stop all his blasphemous mouths, charm, into a dead sleep, the hundred squint eyes he casts upon Re∣ligion; with one Bolus, with one Caducaeus; and, be his Heads a thousand, give them their deaths wound at one blow, and so cut

the Sinnews, that makes him go with a stiff neck, as if his Heads have brains in them, they shall stoop and vail to that Majesty, which the Gospel challengeth, and shall be confirm'd, in the just possession thereof, by the probat of this Position. In the Fourth Book.

The Divine Original of the sacred Gospel (and the Old Testament, of which it is the perfection) is as demonstrable as the Being of a Deity.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Issa Bills sweeter than a Dove; Issa's more blith, than Mal or Siss: No Pearls equal Issa's love: What Issa's this? Publius his Bitch.
• * 1.2

  Thus against Hercules, vext the field to lose, From wounded Hydra, heads more fierce arose.