The reasonableness and certainty of the Christian religion by Robert Jenkin ...

CHAP. XIII. Of the Prophecies and Miracles of our Blessed Saviour.

AS our Blessed Saviour was Prophesied of by all the Prophets who were be∣fore him, so he was himself the Great Pro∣phet that was to come, and was at the time of his being in the world expected of the Jews; and he fulfilled that Prediction by the many eminent Prophecies which he spake. He foretold the Treachery of Judas, and knew from the beginning who it was that should betray him; he foretold the manner of his own Death, that it was to be by cru∣cifixion, though the Jews often sought op∣portunities to put him to death privately, and that was a kind of punishment which the Jews could not inflict, but if they had killed him themselves, and had not brought him to the Roman Judicature, they would have done it by stoning, as they murther∣ed St. Stephen. He foretold all the cir∣cumstances of his sufferings, that he should be delivered unto the Chief Priests and unto the Scribes, and that they should condemn him to death, and should deliver him to the Gen∣tiles, and that they should mock him, and should scourge him, and should spit upon him,

and should kill him, and that he would rise again the third day, Mark x. 33, 34. which his enemies took such notice of that they used all their vain endeavours to prevent it. He assured his Disciples, that his Go∣spel should be preached over the whole world, and that one particular action, which they were offended at, of the Wo∣man who anointed his head, should never be omitted, wheresoever it should be preached, Matt. xxvi. 13. He declared that his Religion should prevail against all the opposition which it would meet with∣al, and continue to the end of the world. He foretold the denial of St. Peter, and the manner of his Martyrdom, and both were foretold to St. Peter himself, and his denial, but a very little while before it came to pass, when St. Peter looked upon it as a thing impossible, who alone could have it in his power to hinder it. He pro∣phesied of the destruction of Jerusalem which came to pass about forty years af∣ter his own Death, within the compass of that Generation, as he had foretold: the very foundations of the Temple and City were destroyed, and the ground plowed up, so that one stone was not left upon a∣nother of all the magnificent Buildings of the Temple, which the Disciples so much admired, when our Saviour told them that this should be the Fate of that glorious

Pile, Matt. xxii. 2. And as I have already observed upon another occasion, when Juli∣an with a design (a) to defeat this Prophecy; endeavoured to have it rebuilt, both the Works and the Workmen were miraculous∣ly destroyed by a fire bursting out of the ground. The Inhabitants fell by the edge of the Sword, and were led away captive into all Nations, Luke xxi. 24. the chiefest place of security was the mountainous part of Judea, which our Saviour foresaw, when he advised his Disciples to flee to the Mountains, Matt. xxiv. 16. And Cestius Gallus compassed Jerusalem with his Ar∣my, which was a warning to the Chri∣stians to depart, and then by raising the Siege, gave them an opportunity to es∣cape to Pella, in the Mountains of Perea, exactly according to Luke xxi. 20, 21. And what Dion Cassius relates in the Reigns of Claudius, Nero, Vitellius, and Titus, may serve as a comment upon our Saviour's Pro∣phecy; for there were famines and pesti∣lences, fearful sights and great signs from Hea∣ven, and great Earthquakes, the Sea and the Waves Roaring, xxi. 11, 25. The Sun was darkned, and the Moon did not give her light, Matt. xxiv. 29. Mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which were coming on the Earth, Luke xxi. 26. and there was so terrible an eruption of Vesu∣vius, that the Ashes were carried by

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the winds into Africk, and into Egypt and Syria, with so great smoak and darkness, that it was thought the world had been at an end.

Our Saviour's Miracles verified the Pro∣phecies, which had been concerning the Messias; for the Jews expected that the Messias should manifest himself by Mira∣cles to the world, as they concluded from the ancient Prophets: and therefore St. John Baptist did no Miracles that he might not be mistaken for the Messias, of whom Mi∣racles were a principal Token to know him by. His Miracles were wrought in the midst of his Enemies, and extorted a con∣fession from the Devils themselves of his Divine Power; they were of that nature, that it was impossible for them before whom they were wrought, to be imposed upon by them, and as impossible for them to be performed but by the immediate Power of God. The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes was twice done, and the Persons who were Witnesses to it, were at one time five thousand men, besides Women and Chil∣dren, Matt. xiv. 21. and the other time four thousand men, besides Women and Chil∣dren, Matt. xv. 38. a Miracle wrought at two several times, and obvious to all the sences of so many thousand Men, besides Women and Children, who being hun∣gry, found themselves filled and satis∣fied

with this miraculous food in the barren Wilderness, where it was impossible for them to be supplied by natural means, was impossible to be mistaken. The Miracles of our Saviour were so many, and so pub∣lick and undeniable, that St. Peter appeals to the Jews themselves, declaring that Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God among them by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of them, as they themselves also knew, Acts ii. 22. The Nobleman's Son was cured at a distance, and the multitude were Witnesses to the re∣quest he made to our Saviour, and to our Saviour's answer upon it, and the Nobleman's Family were Witnesses that the cure was effected at that very time. He cast Devils out of one known to have been a long time possess'd, and then suffered them to go into the Swine, to make it appear, that they were indeed evil Spi∣rits, which had possess'd the Man contrary to the Doctrine of the Sadduces, who believ∣ed no such thing as Spirits. He cured the Leprosy and sent the cured to the Priest, as the Law required, that he by inspection might examine, whether it were a perfect cure or no. He gave sight to one born Blind, and this was upon examination attested to the Pharisees themselves. Laza∣rus was raised to life again, after he had been dead four days, before so many Wit∣nesses,

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that the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to contradict the Truth of it, but were mightily enraged against him for it, and consulted to put Lazarus to death, be∣cause many were induced to believe on Christ, by reason of so great and manifest a Miracle. Some who had been cured, and others who had been raised from the Dead by our Saviour, were living for many years after, (b) as Quadratus testified of his own time, in his Apology to Adrian the Emperor. The circumstances of these, and the rest of our Saviours Miracles, shewed that they were really performed, and they were wrought with this intent and design to prove him to be the Christ. The nature therefore and end of them shews, that no∣thing less than a Divine Power could have effected them: For God would never have suffered them to be wrought to vouch an Imposture to the World under his own Name and Authority. (c) A ••earned Phy∣sician has Written a Treatise to shew, that according to the Principles and Axioms of the best Physicians, all the Diseases, which our Saviour cured, were incurable by natu∣ral means, and it is evident to every man that many of them were so. But I shall insist more particularly upon the Resurrecti∣on of our Saviour, this being the most won∣derful, and a confirmation of all his other Miracles, and of the whole Gospel to us.

Notes

• (a)

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Sozom. lib. 5. c. 21.
• (b)

  Enseb. Hist. lib. iv. c. 13. Hieron. Catalog.
• (c)

  Guil. Ader me dici enar∣rationes de a grotis & morbis in Evan∣gelio.