lame, and in some instances, life to the dead. Nor were these things undertaken in a corner, in a circle of friends, or dependants; nor were they said to be wrought on such, as might be suspected of being confederates in the fraud: But they were done often in the public streets, in the sight of enemies, on the persons of such, as were utter strangers to the apostles, but sometimes well known to the neighbours and spectators, as having long laboured under these calamities, to human skill utterly incurable. Would impostors have made such pretensions as these? Or if they had, must they not immediately have been exposed and ruined?

Nor is there any room at all to object, that perhaps the apostles might not undertake to do these things on the spot, but only assert they had done them elsewhere: For even then, it would have been impossible they should have gained credit ; and they would have seemed the less credible, on account of such a pretence. Whatever appearances there might have been of gravity, integrity and piety, in the conversation of Peter, for instance, very few, especially few that had known but little of him, would have taken it upon his word, that he saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead at Bethany: But fewer yet would have believed it upon his affirmation, had it been ever so solemn, that he had himself raised Dorcas at Joppa; unless he had done some extraordinary work before them, correspondent at least, if not equal to that. You will easily think of invincible objections, which otherwise might have been made; and undoubtedly, the more such assertions have been multiplied, every new person, and scene, and fact, had been an additional advantage given to the enemy, to have detected and confuted the whole scheme, which Peter and his associates had thus endeavoured to establish.

But to come still closer to the point: If the New Testament be genuine, as I have already proved it, then it is certain, that the apostles pretend to have wrought miracles in the very presence of those, to whom their writings were addressed; nay more, they profess likewise to have conferred those miraculous gifts, in some considerable degrees, on others†, even on the very persons to whom they write; and they appeal to their consciences as to the truth of it. And could there possibly be room for delusion here? It is exceedingly remarkable to this purpose, that Paul makes this appeal to the Corinthians, and Galatians§, when there were amongst them some persons disaffected to him,

Acts iii. 1-10. v. 15. lx. 33-42. xiv. 8—10. xix. 11, 12. xx 9-12. xxviii. 7—9. + Acts viii. 17. xix. 6. 1 Cor. i. 5, 7. ii. 4, 5. ix. 2. xii. 8-11, 28-30. xiv. 1— § Gal. iii. 2. 5.

18, 26, and seq. 2 Cor. xi. 5, 6. xiii. 12, 13. xii. 3, 10.

same, was a prophet sent from God with extraordinary powers, that he was raised from the dead, that they conversed with him after his revival, and at last saw him taken up into heaven: Would their united testimony make them be believed there?Or suppose them, if you please, to disperse, and that one or two of them should come hither, and go on to more distant places, suppose Leicester, Nottingham, or York, and tell their story there; and that others were to carry it over to Paris, or Amsterdam, or to Vienna, or Madrid: Could they expect any more credit with us, or with them; or hope for any thing better, than to be looked upon as lunatics, and treated as such ?-And if they should go into other places, and attempt to mend their scheme, by saying their master was put to death one hundred, or two hundred years ago, when there could be no historical evidence of it discovered, and no proof given but their own confident assertion: Would they remove, or would they not rather increase, the difficulty !—Or would they, in any of these cases, gain credit by the most dexterous tricks of legerdemain, of which you can suppose them masters? Especially if they should undertake, in consequence of such supposed facts, to engage men to renounce the religion in which they had been educated; to deny themselves in their dearest passions, and most important worldly interests; and even, probably, to hazard their liberties and their lives, in dependance on a future reward, to be received in a place and state, which no man living on earth had ever seen or known? You would readily allow this to be an insupposable case: And why should you suppose it to have happened sixteen or seventeen hundred years ago? You may assure yourselves, that the reason, and the passions of mankind, were then as strong, as they are now. But let us a little more particularly consider,

(2.) The manner, in which the apostles undertook to prove the truth of their testimony to this fact; and it will evidently appear, that instead of confirming their scheme, it must have been sufficient utterly to have overthrown it, had it been itself the most probable imposture that the wit of man could ever have contrived.-You know, they did not merely assert, that they had seen miracles wrought by this Jesus, but that he had endowed themselves with a variety of miraculous powers. And these they undertook to display, not in such idle and useless tricks as sleight of hand might perform, but in such solid and important works, as appeared worthy a divine interposition, and entirely superior to human power; Restoring, as they pre

lame, and in some instances, life to the dead. Nor were these things undertaken in a corner, in a circle of friends, or dependants; nor were they said to be wrought on such, as might be suspected of being confederates in the fraud: But they were done often in the public streets, in the sight of enemies, on the persons of such, as were utter strangers to the apostles, but sometimes well known to the neighbours and spectators, as having long laboured under these calamities, to human skill utterly incurable. Would impostors have made such pretensions as these? Or if they had, must they not immediately have been exposed and ruined?

Nor is there any room at all to object, that perhaps the apostles might not undertake to do these things on the spot, but only assert they had done them elsewhere: For even then, it would have been impossible they should have gained credit; and they would have seemed the less credible, on account of such a pretence. Whatever appearances there might have been of gravity, integrity and piety, in the conversation of Peter, for instance, very few, especially few that had known but little of him, would have taken it upon his word, that he saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead at Bethany: But fewer yet would have believed it upon his affirmation, had it been ever so solemn, that he had himself raised Dorcas at Joppa; unless he had done some extraordinary work before them, correspondent at least, if not equal to that. You will easily think of invincible objections, which otherwise might have been made; and undoubtedly, the more such assertions have been multiplied, every new person, and scene, and fact, had been an additional advantage given to the enemy, to have detected and confuted the whole scheme, which Peter and his associates had thus endeavoured to establish.

But to come still closer to the point: If the New Testament be genuine, as I have already proved it, then it is certain, that the apostles pretend to have wrought miracles in the very presence of those, to whom their writings were addressed; nay more, they profess likewise to have conferred those miraculous gifts, in some considerable degrees, on others+, even on the very persons to whom they write; and they appeal to their consciences as to the truth of it. And could there possibly be room for delusion here? It is exceedingly remarkable to this purpose, that Paul makes this appeal to the Corinthians‡, and Galatians§, when there were amongst them some persons disaffected to him,

Acts iii. 1-10. v. 15. lx. 33—42. xiv. 8—10. xix. 11, 12. xx 9-12. xxviii. 7-9. + Acts viii. 17. xix. 6. 1 Cor. i. 5, 7. ii. 4, 5. ix. 2. xii. 8-11, 28-30. xiv. 1— 18, 26, and seq. 2 Cor. xi, 5, 6. xiii. 12, 13. xii. 3, 10. § Gal. iii. 2. 5.

Nor will it signify any thing to object, that most of these converts were persons of a low rank, and ordinary education, who therefore might be more easily imposed upon than others: For, not to mention Sergius Paulus, Dionysius the Areopagite, or the domestics of Cæsar's household, with others of superior stations in life, it is sufficient to remind you, that, as I have largely shewn, the apostles did not put their cause on the issue of laboured arguments, in which the populace might quickly have been entangled and lost, but on such plain facts, as they might judge of as easily and surely, as any others; indeed on what they themselves saw, and in part too, what they felt.

Now I apprehend, this might be sufficient to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. You have seen that as there is no reason to believe, that the apostles, who certainly knew the truth, would have attempted a fraud of this kind ;————so if they had attempted it, they could not possibly have succeeded; -nevertheless they did succeed in a very remarkable manner;— wherefore it plainly follows, that what they testified was true.

And now then, after this, the reasonableness of receiving the gospel, on admitting the truth of what they testified concerning Christ, is an easy consequence.-Yet some things are to be offered under this head, which are of great weight, and would not so conveniently have fallen under any of the former: And some considerable additional evidence to the truth of christianity arises, from what has happened in the world, since its first propagation. And therefore I chuse rather to make a distinct discourse on these, with the improvement of the whole, than to throw together the hints of them, in so hasty a manner as I must do, should I attempt to dispatch the subject in this discourse, the just limits of which I have already transgressed, lest the great chain of the argument should be broken.

SERMON X.

POWER AND GRACE OF CHRIST.

Additional Evidences of Christianity, and Reflections on the whole.

2 Pet. i. 16.- -We have not followed cunningly devised Fables. As I had before proved the books of the New Testament to be genuine, I proceeded in my last discourse, to argue from thence the certain truth of the christian revelation; and we have made some considerable progress in the argument.

The matter in short stands thus.-The authors of the New Testament certainly knew, whether the facts they asserted were true, or false; so that they could not themselves be deceived: Neither can we think they would attempt to deceive others, since they appear by their manner of writing, to have been persons of great integrity and goodness;--and it is likewise evident, they could have no temptation to attempt a fraud of this nature:However, if they had attempted it, we cannot imagine they could have gained credit in the world, if the facts they asserted had not been true:-Nevertheless they did gain credit in a very remarkable manner; from whence it plainly follows, that these facts were true.--Now I am to shew farther, to complete the proof of our grand proposition, 6. "That admitting the facts which they testified concerning Christ to be true, then it was reasonable for their contemporaries, and is reasonable for us, to receive the gospel which they have transmitted to us as a divine revelation."

The great thing they asserted was, that Jesus was the Christ, and that he was proved to be so,-by prophecies accomplished in him, and by miracles wrought by him, and by others in his name. Let us attend to each of these, and I am per. suaded we shall find them no contemptible arguments; but must be forced to acknowledge, that the premises being established, the conclusion most easily and necessarily follows: And X X

VOL. II.