the words he spoke to him, and his blindness afterwards, rely upon his own testimony; and, that he was not then himself deluded and deceived, appears in that this happened at mid-day; the light was so great, as to be above the brightness of the sun. His blindness continued three days; his cure was wrought by Ananias putting his hand upon him, and declaring that Jesus, who had appeared to him in the way, had sent him to restore his sight; whereupon there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he saw. Such an account as this, of an apparition that happened to Paul, not when alone, but in company, and that not in the company of those who were friends, and of the same way with him, may well be related by St. Luke without credulity.

There is one passage, which, perhaps, is the hardest of all to be accounted for; what Paul had said of his being taken up into paradise, or the third heaven; where he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. However, I think he will be acquitted here, if we consider the occasion of mentioning them; namely, the subtle methods of designing persons to draw off the Corinthians, whom he had taken a great deal of pains with, from the simplicity of the gospel; their attempt to lessen him unreasonably, on account of some disadvantages in his person, and his manner of speaking; and, possibly, because he had not personally conversed with Christ, as Peter and the other apostles. For this reason he relates this extraordinary favour he had had from God, which he might certainly do of a truth, if he apprehended it might be of use to retain the Corinthians in the profession of the purity of the gospel, though he does not make it the sole ground of their belief of it, for he refers them in the twelfth verse of this chapter, as well as in other places, to the miracles he had wrought. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds." Our apology for this passage, and the apostle, would not be complete if we omitted the manner in which he relates it. He appears to be in pain, and can hardly persuade himself to mention it, as directly relating to himself. "I knew a man in Christ, above fourteen years ago." It was not mentioned till a long while after it had happened. He tells us the danger he was in honestly of some pride and vanity; and we have reason to credit what he has here declared, in that he uses so much caution not to say any thing positively, but what he was certain of; being in doubt whether this was with his spirit, or his whole man: "whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body,

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I cannot tell; God knoweth." Words twice used on this account.

And in behalf of these passages we may offer this general observation; that when men came with a set of religious principles, that were beyond all others for their real excellency, their reasonableness, their purity, their tendency to regulate and improve the minds and lives of men, and produced before men's eyes openly works of an extraordinary nature; if they should, upon some particular occasion, relate an account of a vision, or some uncommon appearance, and what was said unto them therein, they would deserve credit if they were persons of an unblamable behaviour, if the principles they taught were pure and holy, and their reasoning upon all occasions just and good, and they wrought miracles in attestation of their mission; this may secure their credit, and vindicate them from the charge of enthusiasm in such particulars, as we have now been considering, and that they are not under the power of an ungoverned imagination. But all this will be no vindication, or recommendation of others, who pretend to visions and appearances in behalf of trifles, and who give no sensible proofs of a correspondence between heaven and earth, and who, in their ordinary behaviour, show much greater strength of fancy and imagination, than of reason and judgment.

These two last particulars may be joined together. We suppose those matters of fact to be well attested, which we receive from persons of honest hearts and sound understandings.

11. That the apostles wrought miracles, and conferred extraordinary gifts upon many others, is apparent from their epistles, written and directed to those who had seen these works, and shared in these benefits. These epistles of Paul, and the other epistles in the New Testament, have all the tokens of genuine letters; all except one or two have the names of the persons that wrote them. Here is the name of the person or church, and place to which they were sent; salutations of particular persons sent to others by name. Here are references to the particular occasion of writing them. The second epistle to the Corinthians has respect to the success and acceptance of a former letter sent to them: in some, questions are answered, that are supposed to have been sent to the writer for solution; so that there can be no doubt of their having been really sent to the churches and persons they are directed to. I insist only on the marks and characters in these epistles themselves, that may assure us they are genuine; for I am upon internal testimonies only.

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Now, in these epistles, the writers take notice of the miracles that they or others had wrought among them, to whom these very letters were sent. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds," 2 Cor. xii. 12. "He therefore that ministereth to you the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Gal. iii. 5. "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 5. "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will," Heb. ii. 4. The writer doth not labour in the proof of these things, he supposes them well known; he suspects no doubt but they were convinced these works had been done among them; the thing he is solicitous about is, that they would act suitably; and in consequence of such proofs, that they would be stedfast in the profession of principles recommended by such testimonials: that they would not be moved by the artifices of persons who could not produce such works. And if we consider this, that there were some divisions in the churches; that there were some persons who were undermining the interest of the apostles among them, and endeavouring to overturn the work the apostles had begun; we can never imagine they would have expressed themselves thus, but that they knew the persons they wrote to had a conviction of the truth of what was written. Epistles are not treatises or histories, sent abroad to acquaint men of what they had not heard before; nor do these epistles tell them of wonders wrought in other churches; but they contain references to works wrought among them to whom they

were sent.

Yet here is somewhat more in these epistles. Here are reproofs of the mismanagement of gifts they were themselves possessed of: directions given about the better use and employment of them. Can this argument of their truth be any way evaded? "I thank my God always on your behalf, that in every thing you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge," 1 Cor. i. 4, 5. "Therefore, as you abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, in knowledge," 2 Cor. viii. 7. "This only would I know, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Gal. iii. 2. In the xii. xiii. xiv. chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians, are reckoned up divers sorts of gifts eminent among them; not all indeed bestowed upon one person; but some upon one, some upon another; though it

should seem the apostles, and perhaps some others, had all, or most of them. He argues, that as these were all derived from one and the same spirit, into one body, they were not to foment any divisions on the account of these things; and he that had a more splendid gift, was not to despise another who had not one so conspicuous and remarkable; even as in the body, there are members more honourable, others less honourable; but all useful and necessary; they are exhorted seriously not to value themselves too much upon these gifts; but though it was a privilege to enjoy them, and they were valuable and desirable, yet they should rather aim to excel in love and charity, and other internal dispositions: "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal: to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues," 1 Cor. xii. 7—11. "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues are all apostles? are all prophets? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?-Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way," ver. 28-31. "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away," ch. xiii. 8. "I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth, than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying," ch. xiv. 5. "Let all things be done to edifying," ver. 26. "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret," ver. 27. Almost the whole xiv. chapter relates to this one point. If there were no such gifts among them, would they have been cautioned not to overvalue them? If one had not one gift which another wanted, could there have been advices not to despise another who had not so remarkable and splendid a gift? If there had not been some disorderly use of prophecy, and the gift of tongues, would there have been so many directions earnestly urged upon them concerning the right and prudent use of them? Could they tell themselves whether they had received such gifts

or not; and did not they know, whether others among them showed such gifts or not, or practised such powers? If these things had not been thus, would this method of argument have recommended the persons or the doctrine of the apostles to them, who were declining from both; would it not have exposed both to contempt and ridicule? There were then certainly supernatural and uncommon gifts bestowed on the apostles, and the first converts to christianity, which were testimonies of a divine commission from heaven.

12. I shall mention but one particular more. It appears from the books of the New Testament, that we have the concurring testimony of divers persons. For the history of our Saviour's preaching and miracles, has the name of four different writers; and the authors of the epistles make references to many of the facts set forth. The difference of style, manner of expression, method and way of arguing upon some facts, sufficiently assure us they did not all come from one hand; nay, the omissions of some things in one gospel, mentioned by another; the different order in which matters are related; the seeming contrarieties in some lesser matters may satisfy us that the three former evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are three independent witnesses; as for St. John, indeed, there are reasons to suppose he was acquainted with, and had seen the other gospels, before he wrote his. The smaller differences in some circumstances of little or no moment, are so far from rendering the whole less credible, that they really add strength to it, by preventing all suspicion of concert. The agreement is, upon the whole, so great, that it is hardly possible for four persons to write a history of so many considerable things; to deliver an account of so many discourses, parables delivered on various occasions, so many miracles, so many precepts, rules, reflections, as the history of our Saviour contains, with a greater harmony and agreement than is here done, unless they had met together, or corresponded together for the performance of the work; and as it appears from the difference before mentioned, there was no concert, so far from being a diminution, they are a confirmation of their truth and credibility. The design and tendency of the apostles' preaching, is conformable to the doctrine delivered by our Saviour in his lifetime, in the main; he did not indeed address himself to Gentiles, in his ordinary preaching, it is true. When he sent forth the twelve in his lifetime, he commanded them, saying, " Go not into the way of the Gentiles; and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Matt. x.