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 DEISM REFUTED: 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 T R U \ H 
 
 O F 
 
 CHRISTIANITT 
 
 DEMONSTRATED, 
 
 B Y 
 
 Infallible PROOF from FOUR RULES 
 
 Which are incompatible to any Impofture that can 
 poffibly be. 
 
 In a LETTER to a Friend. 
 
 By a LOVER of T R u T H. 
 
 Magna eft Veritas^ 6? Prevalent. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed in the Year MDGCLV.
 
 StacK 
 [ 3 1 ** 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I. "IT N anfwer to yours of the third inftanr, I much 
 condole with your unhappy Circumstances of 
 
 JL being placed amongit fuch Company, where, 
 as you fay, you continually hear the Sacred Scriptures, 
 and the Hiftories therein contained, particularly of 
 Mofes and of Cr//?, and all revealed Religion, turned 
 into Ridicule, by Men who fet up for Senfe and Reafon. 
 And they fay, That there is no greater Ground to be- 
 lieve in Chrijl, than in Makomtt : That all thefe Pre- 
 tences to Revelation are Cheats, and ever have been, 
 among Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, and Chrijlians .- 
 That they are all alike Impofitions of cunning and de- 
 figning Men, upon the Credulity, at firft, of fimple and 
 unthinking People ; till, their Numbers increafmg, their 
 Delufions grew popular, came at laft to be eftabliih'd by 
 Laivs ; and then the Force of Education and Cujlom 
 gives a Bias to the Judgments of After- Ages, till fuch 
 Deceits come really to be believ'd, being received upon 
 Trujt from the Ages foregoing, without examining into 
 the Original and Bottom of them : Which thefe our mo- 
 dern Men of Senfe (as they defire to be efteem'd) fay, 
 that they only do ; that they only have their Judg- 
 ments freed from the flavifti Authority of Precedents and 
 Laws in Matters of Truth, which, they fay, ought 
 only to be decided by Reafon: Tho', by a prudent 
 Compliance with Popularity and Laws, they preferve 
 themfelves from Outrage and legal Penalties ; for none 
 of their Complexion are addifted to Sufferings or Mar- 
 tjrdom. 
 
 Now, Sir, that which you defire from me, is fome 
 fhort Topic of Reafon, if fuch can be found, whereby, 
 without running to Authorities, and the intricate Mazes 
 of Learning, which breed long Difputes, and which 
 thefe Men of Reafon deny by wholesale, tho' they can 
 jjive no Reafon for it, only fuppofe that Authors have 
 A 2 been
 
 [4] 
 
 been trumpM upon us, interpolated and corrupted, fo 
 that no Strefs can be laid upon them, tho' it cannot be 
 fhewn wherein they are fo corrupted; which, in Rea- 
 fon, ought to lie upon them to prove, who allege it; 
 otherwjie it is not only a precarious, but a guilty Pica : 
 And the more, that they refrain not to quote Books 
 on their Side, for whofe Authority there are no better, 
 or not fo good Grounds. However, you fay it makes 
 your Difputes endlefs, and they go away with Noife 
 and Clamour, and a Boaft, That there is nothing, at 
 leaft nothing certain, to be faid on the Ckrijlian Side : 
 Therefore you are defirous to find fome one Topic of 
 J?i.-^/'o,which mould dcmonftrate the Truth of the Cr/- 
 fian Religion, and, at the fame time, diltinguifti it 
 from the Impojlures of Mahomet, and the old Pagan 
 World ; that our Deijts may be brought to this TV/?, 
 and be either oblig'd to renounce their ./for/ow, and the 
 common Reafon of Mankind, or fubmit to the clear 
 Proof, from Reafon, of the ChriJHan Religion ; which 
 muft be fuch a Proof as no Impofiure can pretend to ; 
 Ctherwife it cannot prove the ChriJHan Religion not to 
 be an linjvjlure. And whether fuch a Proof, one 
 fmgle Proof (to avoid Confufion) is net to be found 
 out, you defire to know from me. 
 
 And you fay, that you cannot imagine but there 
 mult be fuch a Proof, becaufe every Truth is in itfelf 
 clear, and one ; and therefore that one Reafon for it, if 
 jt be the true Reafon, muft be fufficient : And, if fuf- 
 fcient, it is better than many : For Multiplicity con- 
 founds, efpeciatly to weak Judgments. 
 
 Sir, you have impos'd an hard Taflt upon me ; I wifh 
 I could perform it : For tho' every Truth is one, yet our 
 Sight is fo feeble, that we cannot (always) come to it 
 direftly, but by many" Inferences, and laying of things 
 together. 
 
 But I think that in the Cafe before us, there is fuch a 
 Proof as you require; and I will fet it down as Jkort 
 and plain as I can. 
 
 11. Firft then I fuppofe, that the Truth of the Doe- 
 of CHRIST will be fufficiemly evinced, if the 
 
 Matten
 
 [5 ] 
 
 "Matters of Faff which are recorded of him in the Gc/- 
 pels be true j for his Miracles, if true, do vouch the 
 'Truth of what he delivered. 
 
 The fame is to be faid as to Mofes ; If he brought 
 the Children of Ifrael through the Red-Sea, in that mi- 
 raculous manner which is related in Exodus, and did 
 fuch other wonderful things as are there told of him, 
 it muft neceflarily follow, that he was fent from 
 GOD ; thefe being the ftrongeft Proofs we can defire, 
 and which every Daft will confefs he would acquiefce 
 in, if he faw them with his Eyes. Therefore the Strefs 
 of this Caufe will depend upon the Proof of thefe 
 Matters of Faff. 
 
 1. And the Method I will take, is, Fir/, to lay down 
 fuch Rules, as to the Truth of Matters of Faff in gene- 
 ral, that where they all meet, fuch Matters cfTaft can- 
 not befa/fe. And then, Secondly, to (hew th.it all thefe 
 Rules do meet in the Matters of Fait ot Mofcs, and of 
 Chriji ; and that they do not meet in the ALift.rs c-f 
 Faff of Mahomet, of the Heathen Diities, or can pofii* 
 bly meet in any Inpofture whatfoev'cr. 
 
 2. Thc/ are thefe ; ift, That tht Matter of Fatt 
 lefuch as that Metis outward Senfes, their Eyes and Ears, 
 may be Judges of it. 2. That it be </<?/;<? Publickly in the 
 Face of the World. 3. That not only pitblick Monuments 
 be kept up in Memory of it, but fame outward Aftions be 
 performed. That fuch Monuments and fuch Adlions or 
 Obfervances be inftituted, and do commence, from the 
 time that the Matter of Faft nvas done. 
 
 3. The two firft Rules make it impoffible for any 
 fuch Matter of Faff to be impofed upon Men, at the 
 Time when fuch Waiter of Faff was faid to be done ; 
 becaufe every Man's Eyes and Senfes would contradict 
 it. For Example : Suppofe any Man mould pretend 
 that Yefterday he divided the Thames, in Prefence of 
 ail the People of London, and carried the whole City, 
 Men, Women, and Children, over to Soutkivark, on dry 
 Land, the Waters Handing like Walls on both Sides : I 
 fay it is morally impoffible that he could perfuade the 
 People of London that this was true, when every Man, 
 
 A 3 Woman,
 
 [6] 
 
 Woman, and Child, could contradict him, and fay, 
 That this was a notorious Falfehood, for that they had 
 not feen the Thtvnes fo divided, or had gone over on 
 dry Land. Therefore I take it for granted, (and, I 
 fuppofe with the Allowance of all the Deijis in the 
 World) that no fuch Impofition could be put upon 
 Men at the 7in;e when {uchfui>/ic& Matter cf Faff was 
 faid to be done. 
 
 4. Therefore it only remains that fuch Matter of Faff 
 might be invented fome time after, when the Men of 
 that Generation wherein the thing was faid to be done 
 .ire all paft and gone ; and the Credulity of After- 
 Ages might be impos'd upon to believe that things 
 \vere done in former Ages, which were not. 
 
 And for this, the t-ivo laft Rules fecure us as much 
 as the two firft Rules in the former Cafe : For whenever 
 fuch a Matter of Faff came to be invented, if not only 
 Mcn:,mexts were faid to remain of it, but likewife that 
 publick Actions and Obfervances were conftantly ufed 
 ever fince the Matter of Faff was faid to be done, the 
 Deceit muft be detected, by no fuch Monuments appear- 
 ing, and by the Experience of every Man, Woman, and 
 Child, who muft know that no fuch Aftions or Olfer- 
 imnces were ever Ub'd by them. For Example : Sup- 
 pofe I fhould now invent a Story of fuch a thing done 
 a thoufand Years ago, I might, perhaps, get fome to 
 believe it : But if I fay, that not only fuch a thing was 
 done, but that, from that Day to this, every Man, at the 
 Age of twelve Years, had a Joint of his little Finger 
 cut off, and that every Man in the Nation did want 
 a Joint of fuch a Finger, and that this Injiitutian was 
 faid to be Part of the Matter of the Faff done fo many 
 Years ago, and vouch 'd as a Proof and Confrmatitn of 
 it, and as having defcended, without Interruption, and 
 been constantly practised, in Memory of fuch Matter of 
 Faff, all along from the time that fuch Matter of Faff 
 was done ; I lay, it is impoffible J mould be believ'd in 
 luch a Cafe ; becaufe every one could contradict me, 
 as to the Mark of cutting off a Joint of the Finger ; and 
 
 that
 
 [ 7] 
 
 that being Part of my original Matter ofFatf, mull 
 demonftrate the whole to be falfe. 
 
 III. Let us now come to the Second Point, to {hew, 
 that the Matters of Faft of Mejes and of Chi-iji have 
 all thefe Rules or Marks before-mentioned ; and that nei- 
 ther the Matters of Faft of Mahomet, or what is report- 
 ed of the Heathen Deities, have the like ; and that no 
 Impofture can have them all. 
 
 I . As to Mofes, I fuppofe it will be allowed me, that 
 he could not have perfuaded 600,000 Men that he 
 had brought them out of Egypt, through the Red~Sea t 
 fed them 40 Years without Bread, by miraculous Man- 
 na, and the other Matters ofFaft recorded in his Books, 
 if they had not been true ; becaufe every Man's Senfes, 
 that were then alive, muft have contradicted it. And 
 therefore he muft have impos'd upon all their Senfes, if 
 he could have made them believe it when it was falfe, 
 and no fuch things done. So that here are the firjl 
 zndfecond of the above-mentioned four Marks. 
 
 For the fame Reafon, it was equally impoffible for 
 Vim to have made them receive his Jive Books as 
 Truth, and not to have rejected them, as a manSfcil 
 Impofture, which told of all thefe things as done before 
 their Eyes, if they had not been fo done. See how 
 pofitively he fpeaks to them. Deut. xi. 2. to ver. 8. 
 And know you this Day : For I fpeak not with your Chil* 
 dren, which have not known, and which have not feen the 
 Chaftifement of the Lord your God, his Greatnefs, his mighty 
 Hand, and his ftretched out Arm, and his Miracles, and 
 his Afls which he did in the miJJi of Egypt, unto Pharaoh 
 the King of Egypt, and unto all his Land, and what he 
 did unto the Army of Egypt, unto their Horfes and to then' 
 Chariots, how ht made the Water o/ r /^Red-Sea to over- 
 flow them as they purfued after you, and how the Lord hath 
 dejlroyed them unto this Day : And what he did unto you in 
 the Wildernefs, until ye came into this Place : And what he 
 did unto Dathan and Abiram the Sons e/*Eliab, the Son of 
 Reuben, how the Earth opened her Mouth andfivallowed 
 them up, and their Houjbolds, and their Tents, and all the 
 Subjiance that ivat in their PoffeJJion^ in the midft of all 
 A 4 Ifrael.
 
 [ 8 I 
 
 Ifrael. But your Eyes have feen all the great Atts of tie 
 Lord, which he did, &c. 
 
 From hence we may fuppofe it impoflible that thefe 
 Books of Mcfes (if an Impofture) could have been in- 
 vented and put upon the People, who were then alive 
 when all thefe Things were faid to be done. 
 
 The ntmoft therefore that even a Sufpofe can ftretch 
 to, is, that thefe Books were wrote in fome Age after 
 Mcfes, and put out in his Name. 
 
 And to this I fay, that if it was fo, it was impofli- 
 ble that thofe Books mould have been receiv'd as the 
 Books of Mo/es, in that Age wherein they may be fup- 
 pos'd to have been firft invented. Why ? Becaufe they 
 Ipeak of themfelves as deliver'd by Mofes, and kept in 
 the Ark from his time. And it came to pafs when Mofes 
 had made an end of 'writing the Words of this l,aw in a 
 Book, until they were fnijhed, that Mofes commanded the 
 Levites who bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, 
 foying, Take this Book of the Law, and put it in the Side 
 of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it 
 way be therefor a Wttnefs agmnfl thee. Deut. xjcxi. 24-, 
 25, z6. And there was a Ccpy of this Book to be left 
 likewife with the King. Anditjhall be, when he jitteth 
 ypoK the Throne of his Kingdom, that he Jhall write him a 
 Copy of this Law in a Book, cut of that which is before 
 the Priejls the Levites : And it Jhall be with him, and be 
 foall read therein all the Days of his Life : That he may 
 learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the Words of this 
 Law and thefe Statutes to do them. Deut. xvii. 1 8, 19. 
 
 Here you fee that this Book of the Lanv fpeaks of it- 
 felf not only as an Hijtory or Relation of what Things 
 were then done, but as the /landing and municipal 
 Law and Statutes of the Nation of the J<-<ws t binding 
 the King as well as the People. 
 
 Now, in whatever Age after Mofes you will fuppofe 
 this Book to have beenfbrgtii, it was impoflible it could 
 have been received as Truth ; becaufe it was not then 
 to be found, either in the Ark, or with the King, or any- 
 where elfe ; for, when firft invented, every body mud 
 know that they had never heard of it before. 
 
 And
 
 And therefore they could lefs believe if to 6e the 
 Book of their Statutes, and the Handing Law of the 
 Land, which they had all along received, and by which 
 they had been governed. 
 
 Could any Man now at this Day invent a Book of 
 Statutes or Atts of Parliament for England, and make it 
 pafs upon the Nation as the only Bock of Statutes that 
 ever they had known ? As impoffible was it for the 
 Books of Mofes (if they were invented in any Age after 
 Alofc'j) to have been received for what they declare 
 themfelves to be, viz. The Statutes and municipal Law 
 of the Nation of the Jews: And to have perfuaded 
 the Jtivs that they had own'd and acknowleg'd thefe 
 Books, all along from the Days of Mofes, to that Day 
 in which they were firft invented ; that is, that they 
 had own'd them before they had ever fo much as 
 heard of them. Nay, more, the whole Nation rmift, 
 in an inftant, forget their former Laws and Govern- 
 ment, if they could receive thefe Books as being their 
 former Laws. And they could not otherwife receive 
 them, becaufe they rouch'd themfeives fo to be. L 
 me afk the Drifts but this one fhort Queftion, Was there 
 ever a Book of /ham Laws, which were not the Laws 
 of the Nation, paltnd upon any People fmce the 
 World began ? If not, with what Face can they fay 
 this of the Book of Laws of the yews ? Why will they 
 fay that of them, which they confefs impoffible in any 
 Nation, or among any People ? 
 
 But they muft be yet more Unreafonable. For the 
 Books of Mofes have a further Demonftration of their 
 Truth than even other Law-Books have : For they not 
 only contain the Laws, but give an hirtorical Account of 
 their Inftitution, and the Practice of them from that 
 Time : As of the PaJ/'oi-er, in Memory of the Death of 
 the Firft-Born in Egypt : And that, the 
 fame Day, all the Fh-Ji-Born of Ifrael, Ntiml. viii. 
 both of Man and Beaft, were, by a 17, 1 8. 
 perpetual Law, dedicated to Goo 1 ; and 
 the Levites taken for all tbe Firft -Born of 'tie Children of 
 Ifrad: That Aaroit* Rod, which bud&d, was kept in 
 
 the.
 
 the Ark, in Memory of the Rebellion and wonderful 
 Deftruftion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and for the 
 Confirmation of the Prietthood to the Tribe of Levi : 
 A s likewife the Pot of Manna, in Memory of their hav- 
 ing been fed with it 40 Years in the Wildernefs. That 
 the Brazen Serpent was kept (which remained to the 
 Days of Hezekiab. 2 Kin. xviii. 4.) in Memory of that 
 wonderful Deliverance, by only looking upon it, from 
 the biting of the fiery Serpents. Numb. xxi. 9. The 
 Fealt of Penticojl, in Memory of the dreadful Appear- 
 ance of God upon Mount Horeb, &c. 
 
 And befides thefe Remembrances of particular A&i- 
 ons and Occurrences, there were other folemn Injiitu- 
 tions, in Memory of their Deliverance out of Egypt in 
 the general, which included all the Particulars : As of 
 the Sabbath. Deut. v. 15. their daily Sacrifices, and 
 yearly Expiation ; their New-Moons, and feveral Feajis 
 and Fa/is. So that there were yearly, monthly, week- 
 ly, daily Remembrances and Recognitions of thefe 
 Things. 
 
 An4 no* only To* but the Books of the fame Mo/a 
 tell us, that a particular Tribe (of Levi) was appoint- 
 ed and confecrated by God, as his Priefts ; by whofe 
 Hands, and none other, the Sacrifices of the Peopl e 
 were to be offered, and thefe folemn Injlitutions to be 
 celebrated : That it was Death for any other to ap- 
 proach to the Altar : That their High-PrieJi wore a 
 glorious Mitre, and magnificent Robes of God's own 
 Contrivance, with the miraculous Urim and Thumrrim 
 in his Ereaft-plate, whence the divine Refponfes were 
 
 given : That at his Word the King 
 Num. xxvii. and all the People were to go out and 
 21. to come in. That thefe LwTtes were 
 
 Dtut.'xvn. 8. likewife the Chief-Judges, even in all 
 to 1 3. Civil Caufes ; and that it was Death to 
 
 I Cer.xxiii. refift their Sentence: Now whenever 
 4. it can be fuppos'd that thefe Books of 
 
 Mofes were forged in fome Age after 
 Mefes, k is impoffible they could have been received 
 as true, uixlefs the Forgers could have made the whole 
 
 Nation
 
 [ II ] 
 
 Nation believe, that they that had received thefe Books 
 from their Fathers, had been inftructed in them when 
 they were Children, and had taught them to their 
 Children : Moreover, that they had all been circum~ 
 cis^d, and did circumcife their Children, in purfuance 
 to what was commanded in thefe Books: That they 
 had obferved the yearly PaJJbver, the weekly Sabbath, 
 the Neiv-Moons, and all the feveral Feafts, Faffs, anL 
 Ceremonies commanded in thefe Books : That they hac > 
 never eaten any Swines Flefh, or other Meats prohi- 
 bited in thefe Books : That they had a magnificent 
 Tabernacle, with a vifible Priefthood to adminijier in it, 
 which was confined to the Tribe of Levi ; over whom 
 was placed a glorious High Prieft, cloathed with great 
 and mighty Prerogatives ; whofe Death only could de- 
 liver thofe that were fled to the Cities of 
 Refuge ; and that thefe Priefts were Num. xxxv. 
 their ordinary Judges, even in Civil 25. 28. 
 Matters : I fay, was it poflible to have 
 perfuaded a whole Nation of Men, that they had 
 known and pra'Sifed all thefe things, if they had not 
 done it? or, Secondly, to have received a Book for 
 Truth, which faid they had praftifed them, and ap- 
 pealed to that Praftice ? So that here are the third and 
 fourth of the Marks above-mentioned. 
 
 Bat now let us defcend to the utmofl Degree of Sup- 
 pojition, viz. That thefe Things were praftifed be- 
 fore thefe Books of Mofes were forged j and that thefe 
 Books did only impofe upon the Nation, in making 
 them believe, that they had kept thefe Obfirvances in 
 Memory of fuch and fuch Things as were inferted in 
 thofe Books. 
 
 Well then, let us proceed upon this Suppofition 
 (however groundlefs) : And now, will not the fame/i- 
 poj/ibilities occur as in the former Cafe ? For, Firft, this 
 mutt fuppofe, that the Jews kept all thefe Obfer- 
 vances in Memory of nothing, or without knowing 
 any thing of their Original, or the Reafon why they 
 kept them : Whereas thefe very Observances did ex- 
 prefs the Ground and Reafon of their being kept , 3$ 
 
 the
 
 [ u] 
 
 the PaJ/b<ver, in Memory of Gc/s paffing over the 
 Children of the Ifraelites in that Night wherein h 
 flew all the Firft-born of Egypt ; and fo of the reft. 
 
 But, Secondly, let us fuppofe, contrary both to Rea- 
 fon and Matter of Faft, that the Jews did not 
 know any Reafon at all why they kept thefe Obfer- 
 vances ; yet was it poflible to put it upon them, that 
 they had kept thefe Obfervances in Memory of what 
 they had never heard of before that Day, whenfoever 
 you will fuppofe that thefe Books of Mofes were firft 
 forged ? For Example : Suppofe I fhould now forge fome 
 romantick Story of ftrange Things done a i ooo Years 
 ago; and, in Confirmation of this, fhould endeavour 
 to perfuade the Chrijlian World, that they had all 
 along, from that Day to this, kept the firft Day of the 
 Week in Memory of fuch an Hero, an Apollonius, a Bar- 
 cojbas, or a Mahomet, and had all been baptized in his 
 Name, and fwore by his Name, and upon that very 
 Book (which I had then forged, and which they never 
 faw before), in their publick Judicatures: That this 
 
 cc!: was their G*fc! ar.d Law, which they hs.d, ever 
 
 fmce that Time, th-.fe i ooo Years paft, tmiverfaily re- 
 ceiv'd and owned, and none other : I would alk any 
 Deift, whether he thinks it pcffible, that fuch a Cheat 
 could pafs, or fuch a Legend "OQ received, as the Gofpel of 
 Chrijlians ? And that they could be made believe, that 
 they never had any other Gofpel ? The fame Reafon is 
 as to the Books of Mofes ; and mull be, as to every 
 Matter ofFaJt which has all the four Marks before-men- 
 tioned. And thefe Marks fecure any fuch Matter of 
 Faff as much from being invented and impofed in Af- 
 ter-Ages, as at the Time when fuch Matters of Fa<3 
 were laid to be done. 
 
 L-et me give one very familiar Example more in this 
 Cafe. There is the Stonage in Satijlury Plain \ every 
 body knows it ; and yet none knows the Reafon why 
 thofe great Stones were fet there, or by whom, or in 
 Memory of what. 
 
 Now, fuppofie I fhould write a Book To-morrow, 
 and tell there, that thefe Scones were fet up by Hercules,
 
 [ '3 ] 
 
 Polyphemus, or Garagantua, in Memory of fuch and 
 fuch of their Adlions ; and, for a further Confirma- 
 tion of this, mould fay, in this Book, that it was 
 wrote at the Time when fuch Actions were done, and 
 by the very Attort themfelves, or Eye WitneJ/es ; and 
 that this Book had been received as Truth, and quoted 
 by Authors of the greateft Reputation in all Ages fmce. 
 Moreover, that this Book was well known in England, 
 and enjoined by Aft of Parliament to be taught our 
 Children, and that we did teach it our Children, and 
 had been taught it ourfelves when we were Children: 
 I afk any Deijl, Whether he thinks this could pafs up- 
 on England? And whether if I, or any other, mould 
 infift upon it, we mould not, inilead of being believed, 
 be fent to Bedlam ? 
 
 Now let us compare this with the Stonage, as I may 
 call it, or twelve great Stones fet up at Gilgal, which 
 is told in the fourth Chapter of Jojbua. There it is 
 faid, ver. 6. that the Reafon why they were fet up, 
 was, that when their Children in After- Ages mould afk 
 the Meaning of it, it mould be told them. 
 
 And the Thing, in Memory of which they were fet 
 up, was fuch as could not poffibly be impofed upon 
 that Nation at that time when it was faid to be done : 
 It was as wonderful and miraculous as their Paffage 
 thro' the Red-Sea : 
 
 And withal free from a very poor Objection, which 
 the Dei fit have advanced againft that Miracle of the 
 Rtd-Sea ; thinking to falve it by a Spring-Tide, with 
 the Concurrence of a ftrong Wind, happening at the 
 fame time; which left the Strand fo dry, as that the 
 Ifraelites, being all Foot, might pafs thro' the ouxey 
 places and Holes which it muft be fuppofed the Sea left 
 behind it : But that the Egyptians, being all Horfe and 
 Chariots, ftuck in thofe Holes, and were entangled, fo 
 as that they could not march fo faft as the Ifraelites ; 
 And that this was all the Meaning of its being faid, that 
 God took off their (the Egyptians) Chariot-Wheels, 
 that they drove them heavily. So that they would 
 
 make
 
 [ '4] 
 
 make nothing extraordinary, at leait not miraculous, in 
 all this Aftion. 
 
 This is advanced in Le Clerk's DiJ/ertations upon Gene- 
 fis, lately publiflied in Holland; and that Part, with 
 others of the like Tendency, endeavouring to refolve 
 other Miracles, as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. 
 into mere natural Caufes, are put into Englijh by the 
 well known T. Bro-ivn, for the Edification of the Deijis 
 in England. 
 
 But thefe Gentlemen have forgot that the Ifraelitei 
 had great Herds of many thoufand Cattle with them ; 
 which would be apter to ftray, and fall into thofe 
 Holes and ouzey Places in the Strand, than Horfes with 
 Riders, who might direft them. 
 
 But fuch precarious and filly Suppofes are not worth 
 the anfwering If there had been no more in this Paf- 
 fage thro' the Red-Sea than that of a Spring-Tide, &c. 
 it had been impoflible for Mofes to have made the If- 
 raelites believe that Relation given of it in Exodus, with 
 fo many Particulars, which themfelves faw, to be 
 true. 
 
 And all thofe Scriptures which magnify this Adlion, 
 and appeal to it as a full Demonftration of the miracu- 
 lous Power of God, muft be reputed as Romance or 
 Legend. 
 
 I fay this for the Sake of fome Chriftians, who think 
 it no Prejudice to the Truth of the Holy Bible, but ra- 
 ther an Advantage, as rendering it more eafy to be 
 believed, if they can folve whatever feems miraculous 
 in it by the Power of ft cond Caufes ; and fo to make 
 all, as they fpeak, natural and eafy : Wherein, if they 
 could prevail, the natural and eafy Refult would be, 
 not to believe one Word in all thofe facred Oracles. 
 For if Things be not as they are told in any Relation, 
 that Relation muft be falfe: And iffa/fe in Part, we 
 cannot truft to it, either in Whole or in Part. 
 
 Here are to be excepted Miflranjlations, and Errors, 
 either in Copy or in Prtfs. But where there is no room 
 for fuppofing of thefe, as where all Copies do agree, 
 there we muft either receive All, or rejeft All : I mean
 
 [ '5 ] 
 
 in any Book that pretends to be written from the Mouth 
 of God. For in other common Hiftories we may be- 
 lieve Part, and reject Part, as we fee Caufe. 
 
 But to return. The Paflage of the Ifraelltes over 
 Jordan* in Memory of which thofe Stones at Gilgal 
 were fet up, is free from all thofe little Carpings be- 
 fore-mentioned that are made as to the Paflage thro* 
 the Red-Sea. For Notice was given to the Ifraelites the 
 Day before, of this great Miracle to be done. Jojb. iii. 
 5. It was done at Noon-day, before the whole Na- 
 tion : And when the Waters of Jordan were divided, it 
 was not at low Ebb, but at the Time when the River 
 overflowed all his Banks, i>er. 15. And it was done, 
 not by Winds, or in length of Time, which Winds 
 muft take to do it ; but all on a fudden, as foon as the 
 Feet of the Priejls that bare the Ark were dipped in the 
 Brim of the Water. Then, the Waters which came down 
 from above Jlood and rofe up upon an Heap, very far, from 
 the City Adam, that is befidc Zaretan : And thofe that 
 came dotvn towards the Sea of the Plain, even the fait Sea, 
 failed, and were cut off": And the People pajjed over, right 
 again/I Jericho. The Priefts flood in the midft of J.er- 
 dan, till all the Armies of Ifrael had pajjed over. And 
 it came to pafs, when the Priejls that bare the Ark of the 
 Covenant of the Lord, ivere come up out of the midft of Jor- 
 dan, and the Soles of the Priejls Feet were lifted up upon 
 the dry Land, that the Waters of Jordan returned unto 
 their Plact, and flowed over all his Banks as they did be- 
 fore. And the People came up out o/^" Jordan on the tenth 
 Day of the firjl Month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the eaft 
 Border of Jericho. And thofe five/we Stones which they 
 took out of Jordan, did Jofliua pitch at Gilgal. And he 
 (pake unto the Children of Ifrael, faying, When your Chil- 
 dren Jball ajk their Fathers in time to come, faying. What 
 mean thefe Stones ? Tbenjhall ye let your Children know, 
 faying, Ifrael came over this Jordan on dry Land. For 
 the Lord your God dryed up the Waters of Jordan from 
 before you, until iveivere gone over. That all the People 
 of the Earth might know the Hand of the Lord, that it is 
 
 mighty :
 
 naghty : Tfiat ye might fear the Lord your God for ever. 
 Chap. iv. from <ver. \ 8. 
 
 If thePaffage over the Red-Sea had been only taking 
 Advantage of a Spring-Tide, or the like, how would 
 this teach all the People of the Earth, that the Hand of 
 the Lord was mighty ? How would a Thing no more 
 remarkable have been taken Notice of thro' all the 
 World? How would it have taught Ifrael to fear the 
 Lord, when they muft know, that notwithftanding all 
 thefe big Words, there was fo little in it ? How could 
 they have believed, or received a Book as Truth, which 
 they knew told the Matter fo far otherwife from what 
 it was ? 
 
 But, as I faid, this Pafiage over Jordan, which is 
 here compared to that of the Red-Sea, is free from all 
 thofe Cavils that are made as to that of the Red-Sea ; 
 and is a further Atteftation to it, being faid to be done 
 in the fame Manner as was that of the Red-Sea. 
 
 Now, to form our Argument, let us fuppofe that 
 there never was any fuch thing as that Pafiage over 
 Jordan- That thefe Stones at Gilgal were fet up up- 
 on fome other O-ccafion, in fome After-Age : And 
 then, that fome defigning Man invented this Book of 
 Jojhua, and faid, that it was wrote by Jojhua at that 
 time, and gave this Stonage at Gilgal for a Teflimony 
 of the Truth of it : Would not every body fay to 
 him, We know the Stonage at Gilgal; but we never 
 heard before of this Reafon for it, nor of this Book of 
 Jojhua ? Where has it been all this while ? And where 
 and how came you, after fo many Ages, to find it ? Be- 
 fides, this Book tells us, that this Paiiage over Jordan 
 was ordained to be taught our Children, from Age to 
 Age ; and therefore, that they were always to be in- 
 Ihudled in the Meaning of that Stonage at Gilgal, as a 
 Memorial of it : But we were never taught it when we 
 were Children ; nor did ever teach our Children any 
 fuch thing : And it is not likely that could have been 
 forgotten, while fo remarkable a Stonage did continue, 
 which was fet up for that and no other End ! 
 
 And
 
 E 17] 
 
 And if, for the Reafons befoie given, no fuch /w-' 
 pojttion could be put upon us, as to the Stcnage in Sa- 
 lijbury -Plain, how much lefs could it be as to the Sta- 
 rt age \nGilgal? 
 
 And if, where we know not the Reafon of a bare 
 naked Monument, fuch a Jham Reafon cannot be im- 
 pofed, how much more is it impoffible to impofe up- 
 on us in Attions and Obfcrvances which we celebrate in 
 Memory of particular Paffages ? How impoffible to 
 make us forget thofe Pajfages which we daily comme- 
 morate ; and to perfuade us, that we had always kept 
 fach Inftitutions in Memory of what we never heard of 
 before ; that is, that we knew it before we knew it ? 
 
 And if we find it thus impoffible for an Impofuion 
 to be put upon us, even in iome Things which have 
 not all the four Marts before-mentioned, how much 
 more impoffible is it that any Deceit mould be in that 
 Thing where all the four Marks do meet ! 
 
 This has been mewed in the firft Place, as to the 
 Matters of Fact of Mo/es. 
 
 2. Therefore I come now (fecondly) to (hew, that, 
 as in the Matters of Fad of Mcfes, fo likewife all thefe 
 four Mcrks do meet in the Matters of Fact, which are 
 recorded in the Go/pel, of our blelTed Saviour. And 
 my Work herein will be the fhorter, becaufe all that is 
 {aid before of Mcji i and his Books, is every way a? ap- 
 plicable to Cbrifl and his Gofpel. His Works and Mira- 
 cles are there faid to be done publick'y, in the Face of 
 the World, as he argued to his Accufers, I /pake cpe?-!y 
 to the World) and iajtcrtt have I faid nothing. John xviii. 
 20. It is told, A8i ii. 41. that three thoufand at one 
 time, and Als iv. 4. that about five thoafand at an- 
 other time, were converted, upon Conviction of what 
 themfelves had feen, what had been done publicklv be- 
 fore their Eye?, wherein it was impoflible to have im- 
 pofed upon them. Therefore here were the two firil 
 of the Rules before-mentioned. 
 
 Then for the two fecond; Eaptifm and tit LortTs-St-p- 
 per were inftituted as perpetual Memorials of thcfe 
 Things: Ami they were not inilituted in After- A-es, 
 B "b,t
 
 but at the very time when thefe Things were faid to 
 be done ; and have been obferved without Interrup- 
 tion, in all Ages, through the whole Chriftian World, 
 down all the Way from th?t Time to this ; and Cbrijl 
 himfelf did ordain Jpojlles, and other MiniJIers of his 
 Gofpel, to preach, and adminijier thefe Sacraments : And 
 
 to govern his Church : And that always, 
 Matth. xxvii. unto the End of the World. And accord- 
 20. ingly they have continued, by regular 
 
 SucceJ/ion, to this Day ; and, no doubt, 
 ever mall while the Earth mail laft. So that the Chrif- 
 tian Clergy are as notorious a Matter of Faff as the 
 Tribe of Lei-i among the Jews : And the Gofpel is as 
 much a Law to the Chrijlians, as the Books of Mofes to 
 the Jtivs : And it being Part of the Matters of Fa<3 re- 
 lated in the Gofpel, that fuch an Order of Men were ap- 
 pointed by Cbrifl, and to continue to the End of the 
 World, confcquently, if the Gofpel was a Fifiion, and in- 
 vented (as it muft be) in fome Ages after Cbrijl, then, 
 at that time when it was firft invented, there could be 
 ro fuch Order of Clergy as derived themfelves from 
 the Institution of Chrijl ; which muft give the Lie to 
 the Gaffe/, and demonitrate the Whole to befa/fe. And 
 the Matters of Faff of Chrijl being prefTed to be true, 
 no otherwife than as there was, at that time (when- 
 ever the Deijfs will fuppbfe the Gofpel to be forged) not 
 only publick Sacraments ofCbri/la Inftitution, but an 
 Order of Clergy likewife of his Appointment, to admi- 
 nifter them ; and it being impoffible there could be any 
 fuch Things before they w r ere invented, it is as im- 
 poflitle that they fhould be received when invented. 
 And therefore, by what is faid above, it was as impof- 
 fible to have impofed upon Mankind in this Matter, 
 By inventing of it in After- Ages, as at the Time when 
 thofe Things were faid to be done. 
 
 3 . The ^Matters of Fcfl of Mahcmet, or what is fa- 
 bled of the heathen Deities, do all want foine of the 
 aforefiud/evr Rules, whereby the Certainty of Matters of 
 FaJ? is d<.monftrated. Firft, for Mahomet, he pretend- 
 ed' to no Miracles, as he tells us in his Altgren, c. 6,
 
 [ 19 J 
 
 &c . and thofe which are commonly told of him pafs 
 among the Mahometans themfelves but as legendary Fa- 
 bles ; and as fuch are rejected by the wife and /^r- 
 ^/amongft them ; as the Legends of their Saints are in. 
 the Church of Rome. See Dr. Prideaux his Life of Ma- 
 homet, pag. 34. 
 
 But, in the next place, thofe which are told of him 
 do all want the two firil Rules before-mentioned. For 
 his pretended Converfe with the Moon, his Mefra, or 
 Night-Journey from Mecca to Jeritfalem, and thence ta 
 Heaven, &c. were not performed before any-body ; 
 We have only his own Word for them : And they are 
 as groundlefs as the Delufions of Fox or Muggleton a- 
 ongft ourfelves. The fame is to be faid (in the fe- 
 cond place) of the Fables of the Htathen Gods, of Mer- 
 cury's ftealing Sheep, Jupite^s turning himfelf into a 
 Bull, and the like ; befides the Folly and Unwortkinefs 
 of fuch fenfelefi pretended Miracles. And moreover, 
 the Wife among the Heathen did reckon no otherwife 
 of thefe but as fables, which had a Mythology or tr.yf- 
 tical Meaning in them, of which feveral of them have 
 given us the Rationale, or Explication. And it is plain 
 enough that Ovid meant no other by all his Metamor- 
 phofes. 
 
 It is true the Heathen Deities had their Priefls: They 
 had likewife Feajls, Games, and other publick Inftitu- 
 tions, in Memory of them : But all thefe want the fourth 
 Mark, viz. That fuch Prjejihoodznd. Inllitutions ihould 
 commence from the Time that fuch Things as they 
 commemorate were faid to be done ; ochervvife they 
 cannot fecure After-Ages from the Impofture, by de- 
 tedling it at the Time when firft invented, as hath 
 been argued before. But the Bacchanalia, and other 
 Heathen Feajis, were inftituted many Ages after what 
 was reported of thefe Gods was faid to be done, and 
 therefore can be no Proof of them. And thePriefts of 
 Bacchus, dpollo, Arc. were not ordained by thefe fup- 
 pofed Gods, but were appointed by others, in After- 
 Ages, only in Honour to them ; And ;herefore thefe 
 B Z Orders
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 Onten of Prlefis are no Evidence to the Truth of th 
 Matters of Tacl which are reported of their Gods, 
 
 IV. Now to apply what has been faid, you may 
 challenge all the Deijh in the World to {hew any Ac- 
 tion that is fabulous, whjch has all the four Rules or 
 Marks before-mentioned. No; it is LmpoiTible. And 
 (to refume a little what is fpoke to before) the Hifto- 
 ries of Exodus and the Gofpel could never have been re- 
 ceived, if they had not been true; becaufe the Inftitu- 
 tion of the Priefthood of Le-vi, and of Cbriji, of the 
 Sabbath, the Pa/fiver, of Circumcifion, of Baptifm and 
 the Lord's Suffer, &c. are there related as detcending 
 all the Way down from thofe Times, without Inter- 
 ruption. And it is full as impoflible to perfuade Men 
 that they had been circumcifed, baptized, had eircum- 
 fifed or baptized their Children, celebrated PaJ/bwers, 
 
 Sabbaths, Sacraments, Sec. under the Government and 
 Adminillration of a certain Order of Priefls, if they had 
 done none of therfe Things, as to make them believe 
 they had gone thro' Seas upon dry Land, feen the Dead* 
 raifed, &c. And without believing of thefe, it was 
 impoffible that either the Law or the Gofpel could have 
 been received. 
 
 And the Truth of the Matters of Facl of Exodus and 
 the Gofpel being no otherwife preffed upon Men, than 
 as they have pra&ifed fuch publick Institutions, it is 
 appealing to the Senfes of Mankind for the Truth of 
 them ; and makes it impoffible for any to have in- 
 vented fuch Stories in After-Ages, without a palpable 
 Detection of the Cheat when firfl invented ; as impof- 
 fible as to have impofed upon the Senfes of Mankind as 
 the Time when fuch publick Matters of Fat were faid 
 to be done. 
 
 V. I do not fay, that every thing which wants thefe 
 four Marks is falfe ; but that nothing can be falie 
 which has them all. 
 
 I have no manner of Doubt that there was fuch a 
 M^n as Julius Ctefar ; that he fought at Pharfalia ; was 
 killed in the Setifttt-Houfe ; and many other Matters of 
 
 Faft
 
 [21 ] 
 
 Faft of antient Times, tho' we keep no publick 01* 
 f(r<uances in Memory of them. 
 
 But this mews that the Matters of Faft of Mofes and 
 of Cbrijl have come down to us better guarded than 
 any other Matters of Faft, how true foever. 
 
 And yet our Deijis, who would laugh any Man out 
 of the World, as an irrational Brute, that mould offer 
 to deny Cafar or Alexander, Homer or Virgil, their 
 publick Works or Adions, do, at the fame time, value 
 themfelves as the only Men of Wit and Senfe, of free, 
 generous, and unbiafled Judgments, for ridiculing the 
 Hiftories of Mofes and Ckrift, that are infinitely better 
 attefted, and guarded with infallible Marks, which the 
 others want. 
 
 VI. Befides that, the Importance of the Subject 
 would oblige all Men to enquire more narrowly into 
 the one than the other : For what Confequence is it to 
 me, or to the World, whether there was fuch a Man 
 a& Co-far ; whether he beat, or was beaten, at Pharfa- 
 lia ; whether Homer or Virgil wrote fuch Books ; and 
 whether what is related in the Iliads or ^Eneids be true 
 or falfe ? It is not Two-pence up or down to any Man 
 in the World ; and therefore it is worth no Man's 
 while to enquire into it, either to oppofe or juflify the 
 Truth of thefe Relations. 
 
 But our very Souls and Bodies, both this Life and 
 Eternity, are concerned in the Truth of what is related 
 in the Holy Scriptures ; and therefore Men would be 
 more inquifitive to fearch into the Truth of thefe, than 
 of any other Matters of Faft ; examine and fift them 
 narrowly, and find out the Deceit, if any fuch could 
 be found : P'or it concerned them nearly, and was of 
 the laft Importance to them. 
 
 How unreafonable then is it to rejedl thefe Matters 
 of Fact, fo fifted, fo examined, and fo attefted, as no 
 other Matters of Fadl in the World ever were ; and yet 
 to think it the moft highly unreafor.able, even to Mad- 
 nefs, to deny other Matters of Fad, which have not 
 the thoufandth Part of their Evidence, and are of no 
 at all to us, whether true or falfe / 
 
 3 VII.
 
 [ 3 
 
 VII. There are feveral other Topicks, from whence 
 the Truth of the Chriflian Religion is evinced to all 
 who will judge by Rea/bn, and give themfelves Leave to 
 conjider. As, the Improbability that ten or twelve poor 
 illiterate Fijbermen mould form a Defign of converting 
 the whole World to believe their Delufions ; and the Im- 
 foffibility of their effecting it, without Force of Arms, 
 Learning, Oratory, or any one vilible thing that could 
 recommend them ! And to impofe a Doflrine quite op- 
 pofite to the Liifts and Pleafures of Men, and all worldly 
 Ad-vantages, or Enjoyments ! And this in an Age of fo 
 great Learning and Sagacity as that wherein the Gofpel 
 was firft preached ! That thefe Apofths mould not only 
 undergo all the Scorn and Contempt, but the fevereft 
 Perfecutions and moft cruel Deaths that could be in- 
 flicted, in Atteftation to what themfelves knew to be 
 a mere Deceit and Forgery of their own contriving ! 
 Some have fufFered for Errors, which they thought to be 
 Truth -, but never any for what themfelves knew to be 
 Lies. And the Apojlles muft know what they taught to 
 be Lies, if it was fo ; becaufe they fpoke of thofe 
 Things, which, they faid, they had both 
 Aa. iv. 20. feen and heard, had looked upon, and kand- 
 I . John i. I . led with their Hands, &c. 
 
 Neither can it be faid, that they, per- 
 haps, might have propofed fome temporal Advantages 
 to themfelves, but mi/Ted of them, and met with Suf- 
 ferings inilead of them : For if it had been fo, it is 
 more than probable, that, when they faw their Difap- 
 pointment, they would have difcovered their Con/pira- 
 cy, efpecially when they might not only have faved 
 their Lives, but got great Rewards for doing of it. 
 That not one of them mould ever have been brought 
 to do this ! 
 
 But this is not all : For they tell us, that their Maf- 
 ter bid them expeft nothing bat Sufferings in this World. 
 This is the Tenuor of all that Gofpel which they taught ; 
 and they told the fame to all whom they converted : So 
 that here was no Difappointmen*. 
 
 For
 
 For all that were converted by them, were convert- 
 ed upon the certain Expectation of Sufferings, and bid- 
 den to prepare for it. Chriji commanded his Difciples 
 to take up their Crofs daily, and follow him : And told 
 them, that in the World they fhould have Tribulation : 
 That whoever did not forfake Father, Mother, Wife, 
 Children, Lands, and their very Lives, could not be his 
 Difciples : That he who fought tofave his Life in this 
 World fhould lofe it in the next. 
 
 Now, that this defpifed Doflrine of the Crofs fhould 
 prevail fo univerfally againft the Allurements of Fle/h and 
 Blood, and all the Blandishments of this World, againft 
 the Rage and Perfection of all the Kings and Powers of 
 the Earth, muft fhew its Original to be Divine, and its 
 P rote Sot; Almighty. What is it elfe could conquer 
 without Arms, pirfuade without Rheterick, overcome 
 Enemies, difarm Tyrants, and fubdue Empires, without 
 Ofpo/Jtiox. 
 
 VIII. We may add to all this, the Teftimonies of 
 the moft bitter Enemies and Pcrfecutors of CtriSteanty^ 
 both Jews and Gentiles, to the Truth of the Matter of 
 Fad of Chriji ; fuch as Jofephus and Tacitus ; of which 
 the firfl flourifhed about/or/^ Years after the Death of 
 Chriji, and the other aboutfeventy Years after : So that 
 they were capable of examining into the Truth, and 
 wanted not Prejudice and Malice fufficient to have in- 
 clined them to deny the Matter of Faft itfelf of Chriji : 
 But their confefling to it, as likewife Lucian, Ce/fus, 
 Porphyry , and Julian the Apoftate, the Mahometans fince, 
 and all other Enemies of Chriftianity that have arifen 
 in the World, is an undeniable Attestation to the Truth 
 of the Matter of Faff. 
 
 IX. But there is another Argument, more ftrong and 
 convincing than even this Matter of Faft ; more than 
 the Certainty of what I fee with my Eyes; and which 
 the Apoftle Peter called* a more fure Word, that is, Proof, 
 than what hey^w and heard upon the holy Mount, when 
 our bleffed Saviour was transmitted before him, and two 
 other of the Apojlles: For having repeated that PafTage, 
 as a Proof of that whereof they were Eje-ivitne/es, and 
 
 btard
 
 [ 24] 
 
 "heard the Voice from Heaven giving Alteration to our 
 Lord C/6;-//?, ^ Pet. i. 16, 17, 18. he fays, a/. 19. #V 
 >W* <2^/0 a more f ure Word of a Prophecy, for the Proof of 
 this Jefus being the MeJJiab ; that is, the Prophejies which 
 had gone before of Him, from the Beginning of the 
 World, and all eiuJBtty fulfilled in Him. 
 
 Men may difpute an Impofition or Delufion upon 
 our outward Senfes ; but how that can be falfe which 
 has been fo long, even from the Beginning of the 
 World, and fo often, by all the Prophets, in feveral 
 Ages, foretold \ how can this be an Impofition or a 
 Forgery ? 
 
 This is particularly infilled on in the Cafe of the 
 Jews. And even the Deijts muft confefs, that that 
 Book we call the Old Tejlament was in Being, in the 
 Hands of the Jews, long before our Saviour came into 
 the World. And if they will be at the Pains to com- 
 pare the Prophefies that are there of the Mcjfiab, with 
 the fulfilling of them, as to Time, Place, and all other 
 Circumjlances, in the Perfon, Birth, Life, Death, Refur- 
 rcSlion, and Afcenjicn of our bleffed Saviour, will find this 
 Proof what oar ApoKU here calls it, a Light Jhining in 
 a dark Place, until the Day dawn, and the Day-jlar arife 
 in your Hearts. Which God grant. Here is no Pofli - 
 bility of Deceit or hnpofture. 
 
 Old Prophefies (and all fo agreeing) could not have 
 been contrived to countenance a new Cheat; and no- 
 thing could be a Cheat that could///f/ all thefe. 
 
 For this therefore I refer the Deifls to the Cafe of 
 the Jews. 
 
 I'defire them likewife to look there, SeR. XT. and 
 confider the Prophefies given fo long ago, of which they 
 fee the fulfilling at this Day with their own Eyes, of 
 the State of the Jews for many Ages pad, and at pre- 
 fent ; without a King, or Priejl, or Temple, or Sacrifice; 
 fcattered to the four Winds ; fifted as with a Sieve 
 among all Nations ; yet preferved, and always fo to be, 
 a diftinft People from all others cf the whole Earth. 
 Whereas thofe mighty Monarchies which opprefled the 
 Jews, and which commanded the World in their 
 
 Turns,
 
 Tufns, and had the greateft human Profpeft of Per- 
 petuity, were to be extinguifhed, as they have been, 
 even that their Names mould be blotted out from under 
 Heaven. 
 
 As likewife, that as remarkable of our bleiTed Sa-r 
 t'iour, concerning the Prefervation and Prcgrtfe of the 
 Chriftian Church, when in her Stivadling-Cloaths, con- 
 filling only of a few poor Fijker-mcn : Not by the 
 Sword, as that of Mahomet, but under all the Perfe- 
 cution of Men and Hell, which yet mould not prevail 
 againft her. 
 
 But tho' I offer thefe as not to be flighted by the Drifts, 
 to which they can mew nothing equal in all profane 
 Hiftory, and in which it is impoflible any Cheat can 
 lie ; yet I put them not upon the fame Foot as the 
 Prophefies before-mentioned, of the Marks and Com- 
 ing of the Mejfiah, which have been fmce the World 
 began. 
 
 And that general Expectation of the whole Earth, 
 at the time of his Coming, infifted upon in the Cafe of 
 the Jewi, Sefl. V. is greatly to be noticed. 
 
 But I fay, the foregoing Prophefies of sur Saviour 
 are fo ftrong a Proof, as even Miracles would not be 
 futiicient to break their Authority. 
 
 I mean, if it were poflible that a true Miracle could 
 be wrought in Contradiction to them : For that would 
 be for God to conLradift himfelf. 
 
 But no Sign or Wonder, that could poflibly be folved, 
 fliould lhake this Evidence. 
 
 It is this that keeps the Jews in their Obftinacy j 
 tho' they cannot deny the Matters of Faft done by our 
 blefled 'Saviour to be truly Miracles, if fo done as 
 faid : Nor can they deny that they were fo done, be- 
 caufe they have all the four Marks before mentioned ; 
 yet they cannot yield. Why ? Becaufe they think that 
 the Gofpel is in Ccntradiftion to the La*w ; which if it 
 were, the Confequence would be unavoidable, that 
 both could not be true. To folve this, is the Bufmefs of 
 the Cafe of the "Jcn^s : But the Contradiction which they 
 iuppoie is in ftctfCfanmnift that they put upon theZ^iu ; 
 C especially,
 
 [ 26] 
 
 efpecially they expecl a literalFulfilling of thofePromifes 
 of the Reflaurarion of Jerusalem, and outward Glorits 
 of the Church, of which there is fuch frequent mention 
 in the Books of Mofes, the Pfalfns, and all the Prophets. 
 And many Chriftians do expeft the fame ; and take thofe 
 Texts as literally as the Jew^ do. We do believe and 
 pray for the Con<verjion of the Jews. For thj* End they 
 have been fo miraculoufly preferved, according to the 
 Prophefies fo long before of it. And when that Time 
 fhall come, as they are the moft honourable and an- 
 tlent of all the Nations on the Earth, fo will their 
 Church return to be the Mother Chriftian Church, as me 
 was at firft ; and Rome muft furrender to Jerufalem. 
 Then all Nations will flow thither : And even EzekiePs 
 Temple may be literally built there, in the Metropolis of 
 the whole Earth ; which Jerufalem mufl be, when the 
 Fulnefs of the Gentiles (hall meet with the Converfion of 
 the Jews. For no Nation will then contend with the 
 Jews ; nor Church with Jerufalem for Supremacy. All 
 Nations will be ambitious to draw their Original from 
 the Jews, whofe are the Fathers, and from whom, as 
 concerning the Flefh, Cbriji came. 
 
 Then will be fulfilled that outward Grandeur and Re - 
 ft duration of the Jews, and of Jerufalem, which they 
 expeft, purfuant to the Prophefies. 
 
 They pretend not that this is limited to any parti- 
 cular Time of the Reign of the Mejfiah : They are 
 fare it will not be at the Beginning ; for they expecl to 
 go through great Confifls and Trials with their MeJJiab 
 (as the Chriftian Church has done), before his final Con- 
 queft, and that they come to reign with him. So that 
 this is no ObitruCtion to their embracing Chriftianity. 
 They fee the fame Things fulfilled in us, which they 
 expeft to themfelvesj and we do expeft the fame 
 Things they do. 
 
 I tell this to the Delfts, left they may think that the 
 Jtnvs have fome ftronger Arguments than they know of; 
 that they are not perfuaded by the Miracles of our 
 blefled Saviour, and by the fulfilling of all the Prophe- 
 fies in him, that were made concerning the MeJJiab. 
 
 As
 
 As I faid before, I would not plead even Miracles 
 againft thefe. 
 
 And if this is fufficient to perfuade a c fe c w, it is 
 much more fo to a Diijt, who labours not under thefe 
 Obj. clions. 
 
 Befides, I would not feem to clalh with that (in a 
 found Senf<i) reafonable Caution ufcd by ChrijUan Wri- 
 ters, not to put the Iflue of the Truth v. holly upon 
 Miracles, without this Addition, when no: done in 
 Contradiction to the Revelations already given in the 
 holy Scriptures. 
 
 And they do it upon this Confideration, That tho' it 
 is impoflible to fuppofe that God would work a real Mr- 
 racle in Contradiction to what he has already revealed, 
 yet Men may be impofcd upon byfulfe a.n&feewing Mi- 
 racles, and pretended Revelations (as there are many Ex- 
 amples, efpeciall/in UtiKGburcb of Rome) ; and fo may 
 be lhaken in the Faith, if they keep not the Hsly Scrip- 
 tures as their Rule. 
 
 We are told, z The/f. ii. 9. of him whofi Coming it 
 after the working of Satan, with all Power, and Signs, 
 and lying Wonder!. And Rev. xiii. 14. xvj. 14. and xix. 
 20. of the Devil and falfe Prophets working Miracles. 
 But the Word in all thefe Places is only 2n,y-/a Signs, 
 that is as it is rendered, Mattb.xxiv. 24. ; which tho' 
 fometimes it may be ufed to fignify real Miracles, yet 
 not always, not in thefe Places : For tho' every Miracle 
 be a Sign and a Wonder, yet every Sign or Wonder is 
 not a Miracle. 
 
 X. Here it may be proper to confider a common 70- 
 pick of the Deijh, who, when they are not able to ftand 
 out againlt the Evidence of Facl, that fuch and fucli 
 Miracles have been done, then turn about and deny fuch 
 things to be Mlracl s ; at leaft, that we can never ba 
 fwe whether any wonderful Thing that is Ihewn to us 
 be a true or a falj'e Miracle. 
 
 And the great Argument they go upon is this, That 
 
 a Miracle being that which exceeds the Power ot Nature, 
 
 we cannot know what exceeds it, unlefs we knew the 
 
 utmoft Extent of the Power of Nature i and no Man pre- 
 
 C 2 tends
 
 t 28 ] 
 
 tends to know that : Therefore that no Man can cer- 
 tainly know whether any Event be miraculous ; and con- 
 fequently he may be cheated in his Judgment betwixt 
 true and falfe Miracles, 
 
 To which I anfwer, That Men may be fo cheated; 
 and there are many Examples of it. 
 
 But that tho' we may not always know when we are 
 cheated, yet we can certainly tell, in many Cafes, when 
 we are not cheated. 
 
 For tho' we do not know the utmoft Extent of the 
 Fewer of Nature, perhaps, in any one Thing, yet it 
 does not follow, that we know not the Nature of any 
 thing, in fome Meafure, and that certainly too. For 
 Example : Tho' I do not know the utmoft Extent of the 
 Power of Fire, yet I certainly know, that it is the Na- 
 ture of Fire to burn ; and then, when proper Fe-ti-e! is 
 adminiilered to it, it is contrary to the Nature of Fire not 
 to confume it. Therefore if I fee three Men taken off 
 the Street, in their common wearing Apparel, and, 
 without any Preparation, call into the midlt of a burn- 
 ing f er^ Furnace, and that the F/amewas fo ferce that it 
 burnt up thofe Men that threw them in, and yet that 
 thefe whcr were thrown in fhould walk tip and down in 
 the Boltom of the Furnace ; and I mould fee a Fourth 
 Perfon with them, of glorious Appearance, like the Son 
 of Gcd ; and that thete Men fhould come up again out 
 of the Furnace without any Harm, or fo much as the 
 ftr.ell of Fire upon themfelves or their Cloaths ; I could 
 'not be deceived in thinking that there was a Stop put to 
 the Nature of Fire, as to thcfe Men ; and that it had 
 its Ejfeci upon the Men whom it burned at the fame 
 time. 
 
 Again ; tho' I cannot tell how wonderful and fudden 
 an Increafe of Corn might be produced by the Concur- 
 rence of many Caufes, as a v:arm Climate, the Fertility 
 of the Soil, &c. yet this I can certainly know, that 
 there is not that natural Force in the Breath of two cr 
 three Words fpoken, to multiply one fmall Lorfof Dread 
 fo faft, in the breaking of it, as truly and really, not only 
 in Appearance and Shew to the Eje, but to fill the Bellies 
 
 of
 
 of feveral Thoufand hungry Per/am ; and that the Frag- 
 ments fhould be much more than the Bread was at firft. 
 
 So neither in a Word fpoken, to raife the Dead, Cure 
 Difeafes, &C. 
 
 Therefore, tho' we know not the utmoft Extent of 
 the Power of Nature, yet we can certainly know what 
 is contrary to the Nature of feveral fuch Things as we 
 do know. 
 
 And therefore, tho' we may be cheated &HQ. impofed 
 upon in many feeming Miracles and Wonders, yet there 
 are fome Things wherein we may be certain. 
 
 But further : The DeiJIs acknowlege a God, of an 
 Almighty Power, who made all Things ; yet they wo jld 
 put it out of his Fewer to make any "Revelation of his 
 V/ill to Mankind. For if we cannot be certain of any 
 Miracle, how mould we know when God fent any thing 
 extraordinary to us ? Nay how mould we know the ordi- 
 nary Power of Nature, if we knew not what exceeded it ? 
 If we know not what is natural, how do we know there 
 is fuch a Thing as Nature ? That all is not Superna- 
 tural? All Miracles? And fo difputable, till we come 
 to downright Scepticism, and doubt the Certainty of oar 
 ' out-ward Senfes ; defiring only this, that they would allow 
 the Senfes of other Men to be as certain as their own : 
 Which they cannot refufe, fince, without this, they 
 can have no Certainty of their own. 
 
 XI. Therefore, from what has been faid, the Caufc is 
 fummed up fhortly in this ; That tho' we cannot fin what 
 was done before our Time, yet, by the Marks which 1 
 have laid down concerning the Certainty of Matters of 
 Fail done before our Time, we may be as much affured 
 of the Truth of them, as if we faw them wi:h our Eyes : 
 Becaufe whatever Matter ofFafi has all the foar Marks 
 before -mentioned, could never have been invented or 
 received, but upon the Conviction of the outward Senfes 
 of all thofe who did receive it, as before is demonftrat- 
 ed. And therefore this Ttpick which I have chofen, 
 does Hand upon the Conviction even of Mens outward, 
 Senfes. And fiace you have confined me to one Topick, 
 C 3 I
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
 I have not infilled upon the others, which I have only 
 named. 
 
 XII. And now it lies upon the Deijis, if they would 
 appear as Men of Rcafon, to (hew fome Matter of Fail 
 of former Ages, which they allow to be true, that has 
 
 freater Evidences of its Truth than the Matters of 
 ad of Mofes and of Chrijl : Otherwife they cannot, 
 with any Shew of Reafon, rejeft the one, and yet admit 
 of the other. 
 
 But I have given them greater Latitude than this ; 
 for I have fhewn fuch Marks of the Truth of the Mat- 
 ters of Faft of Mofes and of Cbrijt, as no other Matters 
 of Fact of thofe Times, however true, have, but 
 thefe only : And I put it upon them to (hew any For- 
 gery that has all thefe Marks. 
 
 This is a fhort I/fite. Keep them clofe to this. This 
 determines the Caule all at once. 
 
 Let them take Aid from all the Legends in the Church 
 cf Rome, thofe pious Cheats, the forelt Difgraces of 
 Cbrijiianity, and which have bid the faireit of any 
 one Contrivance to overturn the Certainty of the 
 Miracles of Chrifl and his Apofths, and whole Truth of 
 the Go/pel, by putting them ail upon the fame Foot ; at 
 leail they are lo underftood by the Generality of the.r 
 Devotees, tho' difowned and laughed at by the Learned 
 knd Men of Senfe among them. 
 
 Let them pick and chufe the moft probable of all the 
 Fables of the Heatktn Leitics, and fee if they can find 
 in any of thefe the four Marks before-mentioned. 
 
 Otherwife let them fubmit to the irrefragable Cer- 
 tainty of the Chriftian Religion. 
 
 XII I. But if, not/.ithftanding of all that is faid,the 
 DciJIs will Itill contend, that all this is but Priefl-craft t 
 the Invention of Pricfis for their own Profit, c5V. then 
 they will give us an Idea of Priefts far different from 
 what they intend : For then we muft look upon thefe 
 Priejls not only as the cunningeft and wife ft of Man- 
 kind, but we (hall be tempted to adore them as Deities, 
 who have fuch Power as to impofe, at their Pleafure, 
 upon the Senfes of Mankind ; to malte than believe 
 
 that
 
 t 3 ] 
 
 that they had praftifed fuch publick Inflitutions, enabl- 
 ed them by Laws, taught them to their Children, &c. 
 when they had never done any of thefe Things, or 
 ever fo much as heard of them before : And then, upon 
 the Credit of their believing that they had done fuch 
 Things as they never did,, to make them further be- 
 lieve, upon the fame Foundation, whatever they 
 pleafed to impofe upon them as to former Ages : I fay, 
 fuch a Power as this muft exceed ail th^t is human ; and 
 confequently make us rank thefe Priefts far above the 
 Condition of Mortals. 
 
 2. Nay, this were to make them outdo all that has 
 ever been related of the infernal P^ivrn ; for tho' their 
 Lfgeraemain has extended to deceive Come unwary Be- 
 holders, and their Power of working fbme feeming Mi- 
 racles has been great, yet it never reached, nor ever 
 was fuppofed to reach, fo far as to deceive the Senfes of 
 all Mankind, in Matters of fuch publick and notorious 
 Nature as thofe of which we now fp-ak j to make the.n, 
 believe, that they had enafted Laws for fuch publick. 
 Obfervances, continually praftifed them, taught them 
 to their Children, and had been inftrufted in them 
 themfelves from their Childhood, if they had never 
 enafted, prafiifed, taught, or been taught, fuch Things. 
 
 3. And as this exceeds all the Power of Hell and 
 Devils, fo it is more than ever God Almighty has d .ne 
 fince the Foundation of the World. None of the Mi- 
 racles, that he has fhewn, or Belief which he has re- 
 quired to any-thingthat he has revealed, has ever con- 
 trad idled the outward Senfes of any one Man in the 
 World, much Icfs of all Mankind together. For Mi- 
 racles, being Appeals to our outward Senfes, muft de- 
 ftroy with it all their own Certainty, as to us ; fince 
 we have no other Way to judge of a Miracle exhibited 
 to our Senfes, than upon the Suppofition of the Certainty 
 of our Senfes, upon which we give Credit to a Miracle 
 that is fliewn to our Senfes. 
 
 4. This, by the way, is a yet unanfwered Argu- 
 ment againft the Miracle of Tranfubjlantiatlon ; and 
 flievvs the Weaknefs of the Defence which the Church 
 
 C 4 of
 
 [ 3* 3 
 
 f>f Rome offers for it (from whom the Socinians have 
 licked it up, and, of late, have gloried much in it 
 amongft us), that the Doctrines of the Trinity, or Incar- 
 tion, do contradict all of thefe. Therefore the Com - 
 parifon is exceedingly fhort, and out of Purpofe. But 
 to return. 
 
 If the Chriftian Re'igion be a Cheat, and nothing elfe 
 but the Invention of Priejls, and carried on by their 
 Craft, it makes their Pc^-er and Wifdom greater than 
 th^t of Men, Angels, or Devils, (and more than God 
 himfelf ever yet (hewed or exprefTed) to deceive and 
 impofe upon the Senfes of Mankind, in fuch publick and 
 r,su-rious Matters of Fact. 
 
 XIV. And this Miracle, which the Drifts muft run 
 irto, to avoid thefe recorded of Mofes and Cbrijl, is 
 much greater, and more aftonifhing, than all the Scrip' 
 tares fell of tbim. 
 
 So that thefe Men, who laugh at all Miracles, are 
 row obliged to account for the greateft of all, how the 
 Senfes of Mankind can be impofed upon in fuch pub- 
 ILk Matters of Fact. 
 
 And how then can they make the Triejls the moft 
 contemptible of all Mankind ; fir.ce they make them 
 the fo'e Authors of this the greateft of Miracles ? 
 
 XV. And fmce the Deijis (thefe Men of Senfe and 
 Reafon !} have fo vile and mean an fdea of the Prlfjlt 
 of all P.eligions,vj}\y do they not recover the World out 
 of the Polfeflion and Government of fuch Blockheads ? 
 Why do they fuffer Kings and States to be led by them ? 
 To eftablifh their Deceits by Laws, and inflift Penal- 
 ties upon the Oppcfers of them ? Let the Deijts try their 
 Hands : They have been trying, and are now very 
 bufy about it, and free Liberty they have; yet have 
 they not prevailed, nor ever yet did prevail, in any ci- 
 vil, -^cd or generous Nation. And tho 1 they have fome 
 Inroads among the Hottentot!, and fome other the mod 
 brutal Part of Mankind, yet are they (till exploded ; 
 and Priefts have and do prevail againlt them, among 
 not only the greattft, but beft Part of the World, and 
 the moil glorious for Arts t Learning and War.
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 XVI. For as the Devil does ape Cod, in his Inftitu- 
 tions of Religion, his Feafts, Sacrifices, 6v. fo likewife 
 in his Prielts ; without whom no Religion, whether true 
 or falfe, can fland. Falfe Religion is but a Corrup- 
 tion of the true : The true was before it, though it be 
 followed clofe upon the Heels. 
 
 The Revelation made to Mo/es is elder than any Hi- 
 Jtory extant in the Heathen World. The Heathens, in 
 Imitation of him, pretended likewife to their Rfvefar 
 tions j but I have given thofe Marks which diftinguifh 
 them from the true : None of them have thefe four 
 Marks before-mentioned. 
 
 Now the Deifis think all Revelations to be equally 
 pretended, and a Cheat ; and the Prirfls of all Religions 
 to be the fame Contrivers and Jugglers ; and therefore 
 they proclaim War equally againit all, and are equally 
 engaged to bear the Brunt of all. 
 
 And if the Conteft be only betwixt the Deijls and 
 the Priefts, which of them are the Men of the greatefl 
 Parts and Senfe, let the Ejfefts determine it ; and let 
 the Deijls yiefd the Viclory to their Conquerors, who, by 
 their osvn Confefllon, carry all the World before 
 them. 
 
 XVII. If the Deijls fay, that this is, becaufe all the 
 ^ orld are Blockheads, as well as thefe Priejlt who go- 
 vern them ; that all are Blockheads except the Delfn t 
 who vote themfelvcs only to be Men of Senfe ; this 
 (befides the Madefy of it!) will fpoil their great and 
 beloved Tcpick, in Behalf of what they call Natural 
 Religion againft the Revealed, viz. Appealing to the 
 common Reafon of Mankind : This they let up againll 
 Revelation; think this to be fumcient for all the LJfes 
 of Men, here cr hereafter (if there be any After-State) ; 
 and therefore that there is no Ufe of Revelatio*. This 
 common Reafon they advance as infallible, at leaft as the 
 furejl Guide; yet now cry out upon it, when it turns 
 againll them : When this common Senfe runs after Reve- 
 lation (as it always has done), then common Reafan is a 
 and we muft look for Reafon^ not from the com-
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 men Sentiments of Mankind, but only among the Beaux 
 the Deijh. 
 
 XVIII. Therefore, if the Delfts would avoid the 
 Mortification (which will be very nneafy to them) to 
 yield, and fubntlt to be fubdued and hewed down before 
 the Priefts, whom of all Mankind they bate and de- 
 fpife; if they would avoid this, let them confefs, as 
 the Truth is, that Religion is no Invention of Priefts, 
 but of Divine Original ; that Priejis were inftituted by 
 the fame Author of Religion j and that their Order is a 
 ferpetual and living Monument of the Matters of Faff of 
 their Religion, inftttuted from the Time that fuch Mat- 
 ters of Fafl were faid to be done ; as the Leslies from 
 Mofes j the dpcftles, and fucceeding Clergy, from Chrift, 
 to this Day ; that no Heathen Priefts can fay the fame : 
 They were not appointed by the Gods whom they 
 ferved, but by others in After-Ages : They cannot 
 Hand the Teft of theyoar Rules before-mentioned, which 
 the Ckriftlan Priefts can do, and they only. Now the 
 Chrlftlan Priefthood, as inftituted by Cbrlft himfelf, and 
 continued by Succejfion to this Day, being as impregna- 
 ble and flagrant a Teftlmony to the Truth of the Matters 
 of Faft of Cbrift, as the Sacraments, or any other pub- 
 lick Jnftitutlons ; befides that, if the Prleftbood were 
 taken away, the Sacraments, and other publick Inftltu- 
 tlons, which are adminiftered by their Hands, muft fall 
 with them ; therefore the Devil has been moft bufy, 
 and bent his greateft Force, in all Ages, againft the 
 Priejihood, knowing that if that go down, all goes 
 with it. 
 
 XIX. With the Delfts, in this Caufe, are join'd the 
 Quakers, and other of our DiJJenters, who throw off the 
 Succeffton of our Prieftbcod (by which only it can be 
 demonftrated), together with the Sacraments and publick 
 Feftivals. And if the Devil could have prevailed to 
 have thefe dropt, the Chrlftlan Religion would lofe the 
 moft undeniable and demcnftrative Proof for the Truth 
 of the Matters of Fai of our Saviour, upon which the 
 Truth of his Dofirlne does depend. Therefore we, may 
 fee the Artlfce and Malice of the Devil in all thefe At- 
 tempts :
 
 H [ 35 ] 
 
 tempts : And let thofe wretched Injlrumtnts, whom he 
 ignorantly (and fome by a mifguided Zeal) has deluded, 
 thus to undermine Cbrijlianity, now at laft look back, 
 and fee the Snare in which they have been taken ! For 
 if they had prevailed, or ever {hould, Chri/lianity dies 
 with them ; at lead, it will be rendered precarious, as 
 a Thing of which no certain Proof can be given. 
 Therefore let thofe of them, who have any Zeal for 
 the Truth, blefs God that they have not prevailed ; 
 and quickly leave them ; and let all others be aware 
 of them. 
 
 And let us confider and honour the Prisjlhood, Sacra- 
 ments, and other publick Injlitutions of Qbfifl, not only as 
 Means of Grace, and Helps to Devotion, but as the great 
 Evidences of the Chrijlian Religion. 
 
 Such Evidences as no pretended Revelation ever had, or 
 can have : Such as do plainly diflinguim it from all 
 foolifh Legends and Impojiures \\ hatfoever. 
 
 XX. And now, laft of all, if one Word of Advice 
 would not be loft upon Men who think fo unmeafur- 
 ably of themfelves as the Deijls, you may reprefent to 
 them, what a Condition they are in, who fpend that 
 Life and Senfe which God hath given them, in ridicule- 
 ing the greateft of his Blcffings, his Revelations of Cbrijl, 
 and by Cbrijt, to redeem thofe from eternal Mifery, 
 who (hall believe in him, and obey his Laws : And that 
 God, in his wonderful Mercy and Wifdom, has fo 
 guarded his Revelations, as that it is paft the Power of, 
 Men or Devils to counterfeit ; and that there is no de- 
 nying of them, unlefs we will be fo abfurd as to deny 
 not only the Reafon, but the Certainty of the outward 
 Senfes, noc only of one, or two, or three, butofAf- 
 kind in general : That this Cafe is fo very plain, that 
 nothing but want of Thought can hinder any to dif- 
 cover it : That they muft yield it to be fo plain, un- 
 lefs they can fhew fome Forgery which has all the four 
 Marks before fet down. But if they cannot do this, 
 they muft quit their Caufe, and yield a happy Viftory 
 over themfelves : Or elfe fit down under all that Igno- 
 miny with which they have loaded the Priejts, of being 
 
 not
 
 not only the moft pernicious, but (what will gall them 
 more) the'moft inconjiderate, and inconjiderable, of Man- 
 kind. 
 
 Therefore let them not think it an undervaluing of 
 their Wortbinefe, that their whole Caufe is compnicd 
 within fo narrow a Compafs, and no more Time be- 
 flowed upon it than it is worth. But let them rather 
 reflect, how far they have been all this time from 
 Chriftianlty, whofe Rudiments they are yet to learn ; how 
 far from the Way of Salvation ; how far the Race of 
 their Lives is run, before they have fet one Step in the 
 Road to Heaven . And therefore, how much Diligence 
 they ought to ufe to redeem all that Time they have 
 loft, left they lofe themfelves for ever ; and bs con- 
 vinced, by a dreadful Experience, when it is too late, 
 that the Go/pel is a Truth, and of the laft Conference, 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 TRUTH of Chriftianity 
 
 DEMONSTRATED, 
 
 I N A 
 
 DIALOGUE 
 
 BETWIXT A 
 
 CHRISTIANA and a DEIST. 
 
 Wherein die Cafe of the Jews is Jikewife 
 confidered. 
 
 I 
 
 (i) CHRISTIAN. "^f"T is ftrange you mould ftand it 
 out fo againft your own Happi- 
 nefs, and employ your whole 
 Wit and Skill to work in your- 
 felf a Dijbelief of any future Rewards or Punishments, 
 owly that you may live eafy (as you think) in this 
 World, and enjoy your Pleafures. Which yet you 
 cannot enjoy free and undifturbed from the Fear of 
 thofe Things that are to come j the Event of which 
 you pretend not to be Jure of; and therefore are fure 
 of a Life that admits not of any Confutation, and of a 
 miferable and wretched Death, according to the utmoft 
 that you yourfelf propofe ! 
 
 DEIST.
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
 DEIST. How can you fay that ? When I propofe t 
 live without any Fear of thole Things. I fear not Hell ; 
 and I have difcarded the Expectation of Heaven, be- 
 caufe I believe neither. 
 
 CHR. Are youfure there are no fuch Things ? 
 
 DE. That is a Negative, and I pretend not to prove 
 it. 
 
 CHR. Then you muft remain in a. Doubt of it. And 
 what a Condition is it to die in this Doubt, when the 
 Iflue is eternal Mifery ! And this is the utmoft, by your 
 own Confeffion, that you can propofe to yourfelf. 
 Therefore I called yours a Dijbelief, rather than a Be- 
 lief of any-thing. It is we Chriftians who believe ; you 
 Deifts only difielieve. 
 
 And if the Event fliould prove as you would have it, 
 and that we (hould all be annihilated at our Death, we 
 fhould be in as good a Condition as you. Bur, on the 
 other Side, if the Event {hould prove as we expeft it, 
 then you are eternally miferable, and we eternally hap- 
 py. Therefore one would think it the tut/eft Part to 
 take our Side of the Queftion. 
 
 Efpecially confidering, that thofe poor Pleafures, for 
 the fake of which you determine yourfelves againft us, 
 are but mere Amufementi, and no real Enjoyments. Nay, 
 we had better be without them than have them, even 
 as to this Life itfelf. Is not Temperance, and a health- 
 ful Conftitution, more pleafnnt than thofe Pains and 
 Aches> fick Head and Stomach, that are the infeparable 
 Companions of Debauchery and Excefs ; befides the 
 clouding our Reafon, and turningyo////?> in our Under- 
 Jlanding ? 
 
 DE. We take Phafure in them for' the Time ; and 
 
 mind not the Confequences . But however, a Man 
 
 cannot believe as he pleafes : And therefore, notwith- 
 ftanding all theg/orious and all the terrible Things you 
 {peak of, it makes nothing to me, unlefs you can evi. 
 dently prove them to be fo. And you muft ftill leave 
 me to judge for myfelf, after you have done all you 
 can. 
 
 CHR.
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 CHR. What I have faid, is only to difpofe you to 
 hear me impartially, and not to be prejudiced againit 
 your own Happinefs, both here and hereafter. 
 
 (2.) DE. Well, without more prefacing, the Cafe is 
 this ; I believe a God as well as you ; but for Revela- 
 tion, and what you call the Holy Scriptures, I may 
 think they were wrote by pious and good Men, who 
 might take this Method of Speaking as from God, and 
 in his Name, as fuppofmg that thofe good Thoughts 
 came from him, and that it would have a greater Ef- 
 feff upon the People ; and might couch their Morals 
 under Hijlories of Things fuppofed to be done; as fe- 
 veral of the wife Heathens have taken this Courfe, in 
 what they told of Jupiter and Juno, and the reft of 
 their Gods and Godne/es : But, as to the Faffs them- 
 felves, I believe the one no more than the other ; or 
 that all the Faffs in O-vid's Metamorpbofes, or in jEfop's 
 Fables, were true. 
 
 CHR. You feem willing by this to preferve a re- 
 fpedlful Efteem and Value for the Holy Scriptures, as 
 being wrote by pious and good Men, and with a good 
 Defign to reform the Manners of Men ; but your Ar- 
 gument proves direftly againft the Purpofe for which 
 you brought it ; and makes the Penmen of the Scrip- 
 tares to be far from good Men, to be not only Cheats 
 and Impojion, but Blafphemers, and an Abomination 
 before God: For fuch thefe fame Scriptures frequent- 
 ly call thofe who prefume to fpeak as from God, 
 and in his Name, when he had not fent them, and 
 given them Authority fo to do : And the Laiv in 
 the Scriptures condemns fuch to bejloned to Death, as 
 Blafphemers. 
 
 It was not fo with the Heathen ; their MoraliJIs did 
 not ufe the Style of, Thus faith the Lord; and their 
 Philofophers oppofed and wrote againft one another 
 without any Offence : For all the Matter was, which 
 of them could reafon beft ; they pretended to no more. 
 
 And for the Faffs of the Fables of their Gods, them- 
 felves did not believe them, and have wrote the Mytho- 
 logy or Moral that was intended by them. 
 
 DE.
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 DE. But many of the common People did believe 
 the Fafis themfelves ; as it is with the common People 
 now in the Church of Rome, who believe the molt feuie- 
 lefs and ridiculous Stories in their Books of Legends to 
 be as true as the Gofpel; though the more wife among 
 them call them only pirns Frauds to increafe the Devo- 
 tion of the People. And fo we think of your Gofpel it- 
 felf, and all the other Books you fay were wrote by 
 Men divinely infpired: We will let you keep them to 
 cajole the Mob ; but when you would impofe them upon 
 Men of Senfe, we mull come to the Tejl with you. 
 
 CHR. That is what I defire ; and to fee whether 
 there are no more Evidences to be given for the Truth 
 of Cbriftianity, that is, of the Holy Scriptures, than are 
 given for the Legends, and all the fabulous Stories of 
 the Heathen Gods : And if fo, I will give up my Argu- 
 ment, and confefs that it is not in my Power to con- 
 vince you. 
 
 DE. I cannot refufe to join JJJue with you upon this. 
 To begin then : I defire to know your Evidences for the 
 Truth of your Scriptures, and theFafis therein related. 
 
 (3). CKR. If the Truth of the Book, and the Faffs 
 therein related, be proved, I fuppofe you will not deny 
 the Doflrines to be true. 
 
 DE. No : For if I faw fuch Miracles with my Eyes, 
 as are faid to have been done by Mofes and CbriJ}, I 
 could not think of any greater Proof to be given, that 
 fuch an one was fent oiGod. Therefore if your Bible 
 be true as to the Fafis, I muft believe it in the Doflrixe 
 too. But there are other Books which pretend to give 
 us Revelations from God, and we muft know which of 
 thefe i& true. 
 
 CHR. To diftinguifh this Book from all others which 
 pretend to give Re<velatiens from God, thefe four Marks 
 or Rule's were fet down. 
 
 I. That the Fatfs related be fuch of which Mens out- 
 ward Senfes, their Eyes and Ears, may judge. 
 
 [This cuts off enthujtajlical Pretences to Revelation, 
 and Opinion* which may be propagated in the Dark, 
 
 and
 
 [41 ] 
 
 and, like the Tares, not known till they are grown up, 
 and the firft Beginning of them not diicovered.] 
 
 II. That thefe Fads be done openly in the Face of 
 the World. 
 
 III. That not only publick Monuments, but outward 
 Injlitutions and Adions, mould be appointed, and perpe- 
 tually kept up, in Memory of them. 
 
 IV. That thefe Injlitutions to be obferved mould 
 commence from the Time that the Facts were done; and, 
 confequently, that the Bock wherein thefe Fatfs and In- 
 Jiitutiotis are recorded, mould be written at the Time, 
 and by thofe who did the Facts, or by Eje and Ear- 
 Witr.ejj'es, For that is included in this Mark, and is 
 the main Part of it, to prevent falfe Stories being 
 coined in After- Ages, of Things done many hundred 
 Years before, which none alive can difprove. Thus 
 Mofes wrote his/w Books containing his Aclicns and Jn- 
 Jiitutions : And thofe of Cbrift were wrote by his Difei- 
 fles, who were Eye and Eur-WitneJJ'e^ of what they re- 
 lated : And particular Care was taken of this, as you 
 may fee, AEls i. 21, 22. upon choofing one to fupply 
 the Place of Judas ; Wherefore of thefe M n which have 
 con:panied with us, all the Time that the Lord jcfus went 
 in and out among us, beginning from the Bcptifm of John, 
 until that fame Day that be was taken up from us, tnujt 
 one be ordained to be Witnefs with us of his Refurreflion. 
 And St. John begins his firft Epijlle thus, 1 hat which- 
 was from the Beginning, which we have heard, which we 
 have feen with our Eyes, which ws have looked upon, and 
 our Hands have handled That which we have fetn 
 and heard declare we unto you. 
 
 1 have explained this fourth Mark, becaufe the Au- 
 thor of the Detection, either wilfully, or ignorantly, ft ems 
 not to understand it. And this alone overthrows all 
 the Stories he has told, which he would make a Pa- 
 rallel to the Fafs of Mofes, and of Chiift ; and there- 
 fore alleges that they have all thefe four Marks. But 
 he muft begin again, and own that thefe four Marks 
 ftill Hand an irrefragable Proof of the Truth of any 
 Fa ft which has them all ; till he can produce a Bi.ok 
 D \vhich
 
 [4* ] 
 
 vhich was wrote by the Aftors or Eye-Witnf/es of the 
 Fafls it relates, and (hew, that fuch Fatfs, having the 
 other three Marks, have been detected to be falfe. 
 Which when he can do, 1 will give him up thele/er 
 Narks as an inefficient Proof, and own I v,as miltaken 
 in them. But hitherto they have ftood the Teft ; for 
 he himfelfwill not fay, he has produced any fuch Book 
 in all his Deletion. 
 
 If he fays, that FaHs may be true , tho' no fuch Book 
 can be produced for them, and tho' they have not all 
 the aforefaid Marks ; I will eaf;ly grant it. But all I 
 contend for is, that whatever Fail has all thefe /&ar 
 Marks cannot befa/fe : For example: Could Mofes have 
 perfuaded Six hundred thoufand Men that he had led 
 them through the Sea, in the Manner related in Exodus* 
 if it had not been true ? If he could, it would have 
 been a greater Miracle than the other. The like of 
 their being fed forty Years in the Wildernefs, without 
 Bread, by Manna rained down to them from Heaven. 
 The like of Chrijfs feeding Five thoufand at a Time 
 with five Loaves. And fo of all the reft. The t-ivo 
 Srft Marks fecure from any Cheat or Impofture at the 
 Time the Faffs were done : And the two laft Marks fe- 
 cure eqaally from any Itnpofition in After- Ages; becaufe 
 this Fook, which relates thefe Fafls, fpeaks of itfelf a> 
 written at that Time, by the Aflors or Eye-Witneffes ; 
 and as commanded by God to be carefully kept and 
 preferred to all Generations, and read publickly to all 
 the People at ftated Ttjxes, as is commanded, Dent. 
 xxxi. 10, 11,12. And was praftifed, Jojb. viii. 34, 35-. 
 Neb. viii. CSV. And the Injlitutions, appointed in thift 
 Bock, were to be perpetually obferved from the Day of 
 the Inf.itution for ever among thefe People, in Memory 
 of the Faffs ; as the PaJfoiJir, Exod. xii. ; and fo of the 
 reft. Now fuppofe this Book to have been forged & 
 thoufand Years after Mofes, would not every one fay, 
 when it firft appeared, We never heird of this Book 
 before, we know of no fuch Injlitutions, as of a PaJ/over^ 
 or Circumcifan, or Sabbaths, and the many Feajis and 
 f ajis therein appointed, of a Tribe of Lrvi, and a Ta- 
 4
 
 [43 ] 
 
 lernacle* wherein they were to ferve in fuch an Order 
 of Priefthood, &c. Therefore this Book muft be an er-. 
 rant Forgery, for it wants all thofe Marh it gives of it- 
 felf, as to its own Continuance, and of thofe Inftttu- 
 tions it relates ? No Injiance can be (hexvn, fince the 
 World began, of any Book, fo circumftantiated, that was 
 a Forgery upon any People : I think it impoflib'e ; and 
 therefore that the/our Marts are Hill an invincible Proof 
 of the Truth of that Book, and thofe FaEis wherein all 
 thefe Marks do meet. 
 
 But, fince I am come upon this Subject again, I will 
 endeavour to improve it, and give four other Marks ; 
 fome of which no Faff, however true, ever had, or 
 can have, but the Faft of Cbrift a'one. Thus while I 
 fupport the Fatl of Mofes, I fet that of Chrift above 
 him, as the Lord is above the Servant. And the "J. ws 
 being herein principally concerned, I will confider 
 their Cafe likewife as we go along . Therefore I add 
 this fifth Mark, as peculiar to our Bible, and to diftin- 
 guifh it from all other Hijtories which relate Fafis for- 
 merly done. 
 
 V. That the Book, which relates the Faffs, contains- 
 likewife the Law of that People to whom it belongs, 
 and be their Statute-Boo^ by which their Caufes are de- 
 termined. This will make it impoflible for any to coin 
 or forge fuch a Book, fo as to make it pafs upon any 
 People : For example : If I fhcuid/or^ a Statute-Bock 
 for England, and publifhit next7V, could 1 make all 
 the Judges, Lawyers, and Perpls, believe, that this was 
 their true and only Statute Btok, by which their Caufes 
 had been determined thcfe many hundred Years paft r" 
 They muft forget their old Statute-Book, and belijve 
 that this new Book, which they never faw OP heard of 
 before, was the fame old Book which has been pleaded 
 in Wejlminjler-Hall for fo many Ages, which has been 
 fo ofren printed, and the Originals of which are now 
 kept in the Tower, to be consulted as there is Occa- 
 Con. 
 
 DE. I grant that to be Impoflible. But bow do you 
 apply it ? 
 
 D 2 C**.
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 CHR. Jt is evident as to the Bozks of M/is, which 
 are not only a Hijfary of the Jciv.', but their very /- 
 tute-Bcob, wherein their municipal Lava, as well civil 
 as rctltjiafltcal, was contained. 
 
 DE, This is fo indeed as to the Becks of Mofes, to 
 which they always appealed ; to the Law, and to thele- 
 jlirr.tny ; and they had no other Statute-Book, But this 
 will not agree to your Gofpd, which is no municipal 
 Law, nor any civil Law at all, and no civil Caufes 
 were tried by it. 
 
 CHR. I he Laiv was given to the Jci<:s as a diftirct 
 and feparate People from all other Nations upon the 
 Earth; and therefore was a municipal Laiv particu- 
 larly for that Nation only of the Jens. But Chrijlian- 
 ity was to extend to all the Nations of the Earth; and 
 Chrifiians were to be gathered out of all Nations ; and 
 therefore the Gofpe! could not be a municipal Law as to 
 civil Rights to all Nations, who had each their own- 
 municipal Laws : This could not be without deftroy- 
 ing all the municipal- Laws in the World, of every Na- 
 tion whatfoever ; and then none eould be a Chriftin> 
 without at the fame time becoming a Rebel to the Go- 
 vemmtnt where he lived. This would have been for 
 Cbrift to have immediately fet up for univerfal and 
 tewforz/KiKG of all the World ; as the Jews expected 
 of their Mcjfiah, and therefore would have made Chiijl 
 a King : Lut he inftrufled them in the fpiritual Nature 
 of his Kingdom, that it was not of this World, nor did 
 refpect ilieir temporal or civ il IVI atters ; which there- 
 fore he left in the fame State he found them, and com- 
 manded their Obedience to their civil Governors, tho' 
 ILalken, not only for Wrath, but alfo for Conference* 
 fake : And as to the Laiv of Mofes, he left the Jeucs 
 ftill under it, as to their civil Concerns, fo far as the 
 Ramans, under whofe Subjection they then were, would 
 permit them : As Pili.it faid to them, Ye have a Law, 
 VA& judge ye him according to \our Law. 
 
 But the Gofpe} was given as the fpiritual and eccleji- 
 aftical Law to the Church, w hither foever difperied 
 tiuough aJ Nations ; for that did not interfere with 
 
 Uueir
 
 [45] 
 
 their temporal Laws, as to civil Government; and in 
 this, thefftb Mark is made itronger to the Gojptl thaa 
 even to the Law : For it is eafier to fuppofe that any 
 Forgery might creep into the municipal Law of a par- 
 ticular Nation, than that all the Nations, whither Cbrif- 
 tin>.ity is fprcad, fliould confpire in the Corruption of 
 the Go/pel, which to all Cbrijiiant is of infinitely greater 
 Concern than their temporal Laws : And, without fuch 
 a Concert of all Cbrijlian Nations and People fuppofed, 
 no fuch Forgery could pafs undifcovered in the Goffei, 
 which is fpread as far as CbrijKanity, and read daily in 
 their public k Ojfices. 
 
 DE. But 1 fay it is difcovered, as appears by the 
 Multitude of your various Leflions. 
 
 CHR. That cannot be called a Forgery; it is no- 
 thing but fuch Mijiakes as may very eaiiJy happen, and 
 are almoli unavoidable, in fo many Copies as have 
 been made of the Gofpel, before Printing was known i 
 And, confidering the many Iranjlatiom of it into feve- 
 ral Languages, where the Idioms are different, and 
 Phrafes may be mirtaken, together with the natural 
 Slips of Amanuenfis, it is much more wonderful that 
 there are no more various Lettions, than that there are 
 fo many. 
 
 But in this appears the great Providence of Gtd, in 
 the Care the Chrijnans took of this, that they have 
 marked every the leaft various LcSion, wzvifyllabtcal : 
 And that among all thefe there is not found one which 
 makes any Alteration either in the Faffs, or in the 
 Dofirines : So that, inftead of an ObjeRion, this be- 
 comes a ftrong Confirmation of the Truth and Certainty 
 of the Gofpel ; which ftands thus perfectly clear of fo 
 much as any Doubt concerning the Faffs, or the Doc- 
 trines therein related. 
 
 But I will now proceed to a ftronger Evidence than 
 even this, and all that has been faid before, which I 
 have made the Jixtb Mark ; and that is the Topick of 
 Prophecy. 
 
 VI. The great Faff of Cr//?'s Coming into the 
 World was propbejted of in the Old Tejlament from the 
 
 Beginning
 
 [46] 
 
 Beginning to the End, as is faid, Luke\. 70. By all the 
 koly Prophets which have been fence the World began. 
 
 This Evidence no other faft ever had : For there 
 was no Prophecy of Mo/es, but Mofes himfelf did pro- 
 phefy of Cbriji, Deut. xviii. 15. (applied Ads iii. 22,23, 
 24); and fets the feveral Promifes given of him. The 
 firft was to Adam, immediately after the Fall, Gen. iii. 
 15. where he is called the Seed of the Woman, but not 
 of the Man ; becaufe he was to have no Man for his 
 Father, though he had a Woman to his Mother : And 
 of none other can this be faid ; nor that he mould bruife 
 the Serpents Head; that is, overcome the Devil, and 
 all his Power. 
 
 He was again promifed to Abraham, as you may fee, 
 Gen. xii. 3. xviii. 18. See this applied, Gal. iii. 16. 
 
 Jacob did exprefly profhejy of him, with a Mark of 
 the Time when he Ihould come ; and calls him Sbiloh t 
 Ot he that was to be fent, Gen. xlix. 10. 
 
 "Balaam prophefied of him by the Name of the Star 
 of Jacob, and Sceptre of Ifrael, Numb. xxiv. 17. 
 
 Daniel calls him the MeJJlah the Prince ; and tells 
 the Time of his Coming, and of his Death, Dan. ix. 25. 
 26. 
 
 It was foretold that he Ihould be born of a Virgin, 
 Ifai. vii. 14. in the City of Bethlehem, Micah. v. 2. 
 of the Seed of Jejft, Ifai. xi. i. 10. His low Eftate 
 and Suffering! are particularly defcribed, Pfal. xxii. and 
 Ifai. liii. And his Re/urrefiicn, Pfal. xvi. 10. That he 
 ftould fit upon the Throne of David for ever, and be 
 called, Wonderful, the mighty God, the Prince of 
 Peace, Ifai. ix. 6, 7. The Lord our Right eoufnefs, Jer. 
 xxxiii. 1 6. Jehovah Tjidktnu (an incommunicable Name 
 given to none but the Great God alone), and Immanueh, 
 that is, God with us, Ifai. vii. 14. And David, whofe 
 Son he was according to the Flefli, called him his 
 Lord, Pfal. ex. i. 
 
 The Caufe of his Sufferings is faid to be for the Sim 
 of the People, and not for himfelf, Ifai. liii. 4, 5, 6. 
 Dan, ix. 26. 
 
 Aad
 
 [47 1 
 
 And as to the Time of his Coming, it is exprefly faid 
 (to the Confufion of the Jews now) that it was to be 
 before the Sc.ptre fhould depart from Judab, Gen. 
 xiix. 10. In the fecond Temple, Hag. ii. 7 9. within 
 feventy Weeks of the building of it, Detn. ix. 24. that 
 is (according to the prophetical known Stile of a -D/zp 
 for a Tear), within Four hundred 'and ;*/y Years after. 
 
 (i). From thefe, and many more Prophecies of the 
 M.Jfiah or CbriJI, his Coming was the general Expefta- 
 tion of the J*"tt>j from the Beginning ; but more efpeci- 
 ally about the Time in which it was foretold he mould 
 come, when feveral falfe MeJJiabs did appear among 
 them: And this Expectation flill remains with them; 
 tho' they confefs, that the Time foretold by all the 
 Prophets for his Coming is pad. 
 
 But what I have next to offer will be more ftrange 
 to you. You may fay, it was natural for the Jews to 
 txpecJ their MeJJiah, who was prophejied of in their Book 
 of the Laiv, and was to be a Jew, and King of all the 
 Earth : But what had the Gent i Its to do with this ? . 
 There were no Prophecies to them. 
 
 Therefore what I have to mew you is, that thefe 
 Prophecies of the MeJ/tah were likewife to the Gentiles .- 
 For it is faid, that he mould be the Expectation of the 
 Gentiles as well as of the Jews. And, Gen. xlix. 10. 
 That the Gathering of the People (or Nations) mould be 
 to him : In the Vulgar it is rendered ExpcfiatioGentium> 
 the Expectation of the Gtntiles. He is called the De/irt 
 of all Nations, Hag. ii. 7. And I will (hew you the 
 general Expectation the Gentiles had of his Coming 
 about the Time that he did come. 
 
 They knew him by the Name of the Eajl. Their 
 Tradition was, that the Eajl mould prevail; Ut valefce- 
 rct O R i E N s ; as I will (hew you prefently : But firft 
 let me tell you, that the Holy Scripture often allude* 
 to him under this Denomination. The Blood of thf 
 great Expiatory Sacrifice was to be fprinkled towards 
 the Eajl, Lev. xvi. 1 4. to fhew whence the true Ex- 
 piatory Sacrifice mould come. And he is thus fre- 
 quently ftiled in the Profbcts > Zctb. iii. 8. it is faid, 
 
 according
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 according to the Vulgar, 1 w.-ill bring forth my Servant 
 the EAST ; and Chap. vi. 12. Behold the Man whofe 
 Nam is the EAST. Our Englijh renders it in both 
 Places the Branch ; for the Hebrew Word bears both 
 Senfes ; but the Greek renders it 'AftTOA>\ which we 
 tranflate the Day-Spring, Luke i. 78. and put on the 
 Margin Sun-rijing or Branch. The Vulgar has it Orient 
 ex Alto, the Eajt, or Sun-rijing from on High. He is 
 called the Sun of'RigbtnufneJi, Mai. iv. 2. And it is 
 faid, Ifai. lx. 3. The Gentiles Jhall come to thy Light, and 
 Kings to the Bright nefs of thy Rijing. 
 
 (2.) Now, SIR, how literally was this fulfilled in the 
 Magi (generally fuppofed to be Kings) coming from 
 the Eajt, led by a Star which appeared to them in the 
 Eaft, to worfhip Chriji when he was born, and to bring 
 Prefents unto him as unto a King ? as it is told in the 
 Second of St. Matthew. 
 
 DE. Why do you quote St. Matthew to me ? You 
 know we make no more of him than of one of your 
 Legend Writers ; and believe this Story no more than 
 that thefe three Kings are now buried at Cologne. 
 
 (3.) CHR. You make great Ufe of the Legends, and 
 anfwer every thing by them : And I confefs they are 
 the greateft Affront to Chrijlianity, and if poffible) a 
 Di [proof of it, as it muft be to thofe who will place 
 them upon the fame Foot \vith the Holy Bible, as too 
 many do in the Church of Rome, and cry, we have 
 the Authority of the Church for both ; and they are 
 taught to receive the Holy Scriptures upon the Authority 
 of the Church only : But my Bufinefs is not with them 
 now. I mail only fay, that when they can bring fuch 
 Evidences for the Truth of their Legends, or for any 
 particular al in them, as J do for the Truth of the 
 Holy Scriptures, and in particular for the Fad of Chrijl t 
 then I will believe them. 
 
 DE. Will you believe nothing that has not all thefe 
 Evidences you produce ? 
 
 (4.) CHR. Far from it : For then I muft believe no- 
 thing but this fingle Fatt of Chrijt ; becaufe no other 
 Fad in the World, no not of all hofe recorded in 
 
 Bafy
 
 [49 ] 
 
 Holy Scriptures* has all thefe Evidences which the Faff 
 of Chrijl has: And fo GWhas thought fitting, that 
 this great Faff, above all other Faffs, of the greateft 
 Glory to God, and Importance to Mankind, mould ap- 
 pear with greater and more undeniable Evufaut than 
 any other Faff that ever was in the World. 
 
 DE. We are now upon the particular Faff of the 
 Magi or 'wife Men coming to Cbrift, Have you any 
 more to fay as to that ? 
 
 (5.) CHR. It has thofe fame Evidences that the Truth 
 of the Bible in general has ; which are more than can 
 be produced for any other Book in the World. But 
 now as to this Faff in particular ; St. Matthew was the 
 firft who wrote the Gofpel ; and it was in the fame Age 
 when this Faff was faid to be done. And can you 
 think it poffible that fuch a Faff as this could have 
 pafled without Cotitradiflion, and a publick expofing 
 of Cbriftianity, then fo deferable, and fo much endea- 
 voured by the unbelieving Jews, their High Prie/fs, 
 Elders, &c. as the only Means for their own Prefer<va~ 
 tiottj if the Faff had not been notorious, and frefh in the 
 Memory of all the People then ttjerufalem; <z//z. That 
 thefe wife Men came thither, and that Herod, and the 
 whole City were troubled at the News they brought of 
 the Birth of the King of the Jews ; that Hered there- 
 upon gathered all the Chief Priejts and Scribes of the 
 People together, that they might iearch out of the Pro- 
 phets, and know the Place where Chrijl mould be born ; 
 and then the Slaughter of the Infants, in and about 
 Bethlehem, and in all the Coafts thereof, which follow- 
 ed 1 fay, could fuch a Faff as this have pafled at 
 
 that very time, if it had not been true? Could St. 
 Matthew have hoped to have palmed this upon all the 
 People, and upon thofe very fame Chief Priefts and 
 Scribes, who, he faid, were fo far concerned in it ? 
 Would none of them have contradifftd it, if it had 
 been a Forgery ? Efpecially when the detecting it would 
 have ftrangled Chriftianity in its Birth. Would not 
 they have done is who fuborned falfe Witnejjes againft 
 CJsrift j and gave large Money to the Soldim to conceal 
 E (if
 
 [50] 
 
 (if poffible) his Rfurreftion? Would not they Kave 
 done it, who perfecuted Chrijtianity with all Spite and 
 Fury, and invented all imaginable/^ Stones and Ca- 
 lumnies againll it ? Whereas here was one at hand, this 
 of the Magi, which, if falfe, could have been fo eafily 
 detefted, by appealing to every Man, Woman and Child, 
 I may fay, in Jerufalem, Bethlehem, and even in &\\Ju- 
 dea, \vho, no doubt, had heard of the terrible MaJJacre 
 of fo many Infants, and the Caufe of it. 
 
 DE. I can give no Account why the Writers againft 
 Chrijlianity did not offer to contradifl this Faft of the 
 Star and the Magi, which is put in the very Front of 
 this Gofpel of St. Matthew : And there it is called his 
 (ChrijTs) Star ; We have feen his Star in the Eaft As if 
 God had created a new and extraordinary Star on Pur- 
 pofe, as the Signal of Chrift hung out in the Heavens, 
 to give the World Notice of his Birth. But did none 
 of the heathen Philrfophers take Notice of this Star, Of 
 of this Relation given of it by your St. Matthew ? 
 
 (6). CHR. Yes. For Chalddius, in his Comment 
 upon Plato" sTimtfus, fpeaking of the Prefages of Stars 
 mentioned by Plato, adds, as a further Proof, Eft quoque 
 alia venerabilior & fanftior Hiftoria There is likewife 
 another more venerable and holy HiJIory. By which I 
 doubt not he means this of St. Matthew \ for what he 
 tells feems to be taken out of it. That, by the Rijing of 
 a certain unufual Star, not Plagues and Difeafes, but the 
 Dffcenf of the venerable God, for the Salvation and Be- 
 nefit of Mortals, iv as obfervcd by the Chaldeans, who *wor- 
 fiiped this God newly born, by offering Gifts unto him. 
 
 DE . This makes thofe Magi or wife Men to have been 
 Chaldeans, who, I know, were the moft noted then in 
 the World for the moft curious Learning, particularly 
 in Aftronomy : And they were Hkewife Eaft vt Jerufalem ; 
 fo that it might be well faid they came from the Eaft t 
 and had feen his Star in the Eaft. But I cannot ima- 
 
 f'me how they mould read the Birth of a God in the 
 ace of a new Star ; and how that Star mould fend 
 them particularly to Jtrufalem, though I may fuppofe 
 it pointed them Wtftward,
 
 L 5' ] 
 
 (y.) CHR. This will be eafier to yo, when you, 
 know, that all over the Eaji there was a Tradition, or 
 fix'd Opinion, that about that Time a King of the J^ws 
 would be born, who mould rule the whole Earth. And 
 the Appearance of this extraordinary Star in the Eajf f 
 was taken by them as a Sign that he was then born. 
 And whither fhould they go to look for the King of 
 the yews, but to Jerufalem ? And when they came thi- 
 ther, they enquired, faying, Where is he that is born 
 King of the Jews ? For we ha<ve feen his Star in the E aft, 
 and are come to ivorjhip him. This made Herod gather 
 the Priejls and Scribes together : And they, by fearch- 
 ing the Prophets, found that Bethlehem was the Place : 
 Whereupon the wife Men went to Bethlehem. And, to 
 convince them that they were right, the Star, which 
 they had feen in theEa/t, appeared to them again, and 
 went before then:, till it came and flood over where the 
 young Child 'was : This made them rejoice with fuch an 
 exceeding great Joy. 
 
 DE. This would go down in fome meafure with me, 
 if you could make good your firft Pojlulatum, of fuch a 
 current Tradition or Opinion in the Ea/f : But for this 
 you have given no fort of Proof: And all the reft, 
 which you have inferred from thence, muil come to the 
 Ground with it, if it be not fupported. I confefs it 
 would feem as ftrange to me, as the Star to the wife 
 Men, if God had (we know not how, it is unaccount- 
 able to us) fent fuch a Notion into the Minds of Men, 
 and at that time only, of fuch a King to be born ; 
 and that he mould be a Jew (the then moft con- 
 temptible People in the World, fubdued and conquered 
 by the Romans) and that he was to be King of the 
 Jews, and thence to become King of all the Earth, 
 and conquer his Conquerors. The Romans would have 
 looked with DifJain upon fuch a Notion or Prophecy as 
 this ; it would have made fome Stir among them, if 
 they had heard of it, or given any Credit to it. 
 
 (8.) CHR. You argue right. And 1 will (hew yo* 
 
 what Stir it made among them ; and I hope you will 
 
 take thek Word, as well for this Ea/tent Tradition, as 
 
 E z foe
 
 [ 52 ] 
 
 for the Effects it had among themfelves : Nay they 
 wanted not the fame Tradition among themfelves, and 
 exprefs Prophecies of it in their Sibyls, and otherwife. 
 So that the fame Expedition of the Mejfiah was then 
 current over all the Earth, with the Gentiles ai well as 
 with the Jews. 
 
 Tacitus, in his Hifory, 1. v. c. 13. fpeaking of the 
 great Prodigies that preceded the Definition of Jeru- 
 Jalem, fays, that many underftood thefe as the Fore- 
 runners of that extraordinary Perfon, whom the antient 
 Books of the Priejii did foretel mould come, about that 
 Time, from Judea, and obtain the univerfal Dominion ; 
 his Words are, Pluribus Perfuafio inerat, antiquis Sacer- 
 fatum Literis con t inert, eo ipfo Temper e fore, ut <valef- 
 r'erct O R I E N s , profeffique J u D jf. A Reritm potirentur, i.e. 
 Many were perfuadcd that it *was contained in the old 
 Writings of the Priejls, that at that 'very Time the EAST 
 /bould prevail, and the JEWS Jhould ha<vz the Dominion. 
 And Suetonius, in the Life of Vefpajian, c. I. n. 4. 
 fays, Percrebuerat ORIENTE toto vetus & con/fans Opi- 
 nio, ejfe in Eat is, ut eo Tempore, JUDAEA profefli Rerum 
 potirentur ; i. e. That it was an antient and conftant Opi- 
 nion (Or Tradition) throughout the ivhole EAST, that at 
 that Time thofe nvho came from JUDEA Jhould obtain the 
 Dominion ; that is, That {omejenv fhou'd be univerfal 
 King. Therefore Cicero, who was a Commonwealths- 
 Man, in \i\sfecond Book of Divination, fpeaking of the 
 Books of the Sibyls, who likewife foretold this great 
 King to come, fays, Cum Antiftilus agamus, & quidiiis 
 po'tius ex illis Libris, quant Regem prof er ant : quern Roma 
 poji htcc nee Dii, nee Homines, ej/e patient ur: i. e. Let us 
 deal with thefe Priefts, and let them bring any thing out 
 of thefe Books rather than a King ; whom neither the 
 Gods nor Men e will fuffer, after this, at Rome. 
 
 But he was miftaken, and had his Head cut off for 
 writing againft A7/y Government. And others, more 
 considerable than he, laid greater Strefs upon thefe 
 Prophecies* even the whole Senate of Rome, as I come 
 to mew you. 
 
 Whether thefe Sibyls gathered their Prophecies out of 
 
 the
 
 f 53 ] 
 
 the Old Teflamenf, is needlefs here to examine. I am 
 now only upon that general Expectation, which was 
 then in the World, of this great and univerfal King to 
 come about that Time. 
 
 (9.) The fame Year that Pompey took Jerufalon, one 
 of thefe Oracles of the Sibyls made a great Norie, 
 which was, That Nature n-.-as about to bring forth a King 
 to the Remans. Which, as Suetonius relates, in the Lite 
 of Auguflus, c. 94. did fo terrify the Senate, that they 
 made a Decree to expofe, that is, deftroy, all the Chil- 
 dren born that Year ; Senatum exterritum cenfuijje, ne 
 quis illo Anno genitus educaretur :. That none born that 
 Year Ihould be brought up, but expofed ; that is, left in 
 fome Wood or defer t Place to perifi. But he tells hojjf, 
 this dreadful Sentence wa<; prevented ; Eos qui gra^'r- 
 das Uxores haberent, quod adfe quifque Spem traherct, ca- 
 rafe ne Senatus confultum ad jfcrarium deferretur : That 
 thofe Senators, whofe Wives were with Child, becaufe 
 each was in hopes of having this great King* took 
 care that the Decree of the Senate fliould not be put 
 into the sErarium, or Trcafury ; without which, by 
 their Conftitution, the Decree could not be put in Exe- 
 cution. And Appian, Plutarch, Salujl, and Cicero, do 
 all fay, That it was this Prophecy of the Sibyls which 
 raifed the Ambition of Cora. Lentulus at that time, hope- 
 ing he mould be this King of the Romans. Virgil, a 
 few Years before the Birth of Chrifl, in his 4th Eclogue 
 quotes a Prophecy of one of thefe Sibyls, fpeaking of 
 an extraordinary Perfon, to be born about that Time, 
 who fhould introduce a golden Age into the World, and 
 
 re/lore all Things, and mould blot out our Sins Si 
 
 qua manent Sceleris Vefiigia. Noftri And calls him, 
 
 Chara Deum Soboles, Magnum Jovis incrementum. Dear 
 Offspring of the Gods, and great Son of Jove. He de- 
 fcribes a new State of Things, like the neiv Heavens 
 and ne*w Earth, Ifai. Ixv. i j. Magnus ab intcgro Seclo- 
 ncm Nafcitur Ordo. A great Order of Ages docs begin, 
 wholly New. And as Ifaiah defcribes the happy State 
 in the ne<w Earth ; that the Lion and the Lamb mould 
 feed together, the Serpent eat Dujf, and that they 
 E 3 fhould
 
 [54] 
 
 fhonid not hurt Or deflroy in all the 6ofy Mountain* 
 Jfai. Ixv. 25. Virgil does almoft repeat his Words. 
 Nee magnos tnetuent Armenta Leones. Occidet & Serpens, 
 13 fallax Herba Veneni occictet. And as God introduces 
 the Mejfiah, with faying, I luilljbake the Heavens, and 
 the Earth, and the Sea, Hag. ii. 7. Virgil does in a 
 manner translate it in this Eclogue, introducing the 
 Great Per/on then to be born, and the Joy that Ihould 
 be in the whole Creation. 
 
 Afpiee cowexo nutantem Pent/ere MunJum, 
 Terrafque, Trafiufque Marts, Calumque profundum : 
 Office, <venturo l&tentur ut emnia Seclo. 
 
 I.o ! teeming Nature, bending with its Load, 
 The Earth, the Ocean, and the Heavens high : 
 Behold, how all rejoice, to greet the coining Age. 
 
 Here the Poet describes Nature as in Labour to bring 
 forth this great King, as the other Prophecy of iheSiiyJs, 
 before mentioned, fpeaks : And he fays, Adtrit jam 
 Ttmpus : 'That tie Time was then at hand. Jam nova 
 Pngenics Calo aimittitur alto : No*w a neiu Progeny from 
 fie jr. en defctnds. 
 
 And he applies it to Saloninus, the Son of Pallia the 
 CoK/ul, then newly born, as if it was to be fulfilled in 
 him. But as there was nothing like it in the Event, 
 fb thefe Words are too great to be applied to any 
 Mortal, or the Reign of any King that ever was in the 
 World ; or to any other but to the MeJJiah, the Lord 
 of Heaven and Earth. 
 
 (10.) DE. But you know the Authority of thefe 
 Sibyls is difputed : Some fay, the Chrifiians did inter- 
 polate them, and added to them, in about a hundred 
 Years after Chrifi. 
 
 CHR. ft is true, the Chriftians did often quote them 
 againft the Heathen; as St. Paul quoted the Heathen 
 Poets to the Athenians, Ads xvii. 28. And Clem. Alex- 
 andrinus, in his ftrom. 1. vi. fays that St. Paul quoted 
 the Sibyls likewife, in his Difputations with the Gentiles ; 
 and the CkrlJUans were called Sibjdianijis t from their 
 
 quoting
 
 t 55 ] 
 
 quoting thsSilyh fo often. ButOr/gr, in his Anfwer 
 to Celfus, 1. 7. challenges him to {hew any Interpola- 
 tion made by the Cbriftians ; and appeals to the Heathen 
 Copies, which were in their own Pofleflion, and kept 
 with great Care. 
 
 But what I have quoted to you out of Virgil, was 
 before Cbriji was born, and therefore clear of thefe 
 Objections. 
 
 DE. Then the Jews muft have had fome hand in 
 them ; as likewife in that Eaftern Tradition you have 
 fpoke of. 
 
 CHR. If fo, you muft fuppofe that the Jews had it 
 from their own Prophets. And this will be a ftrong 
 Confirmation, that the Time of the Mejjlah^ Coming 
 was plainly told in the Prophets. 
 
 (n.) D E . What fay the Jews to this ? For I cannot 
 imagine how they can get off of it. 
 
 CHR. Some of them fay, That the Mr/ftab put oT 
 his Coming at the appointed Tine, beca.Je cf their 
 Sins : Others fay, Hu did come at the Time, but has 
 concealed himfelf ever fmce. 
 
 DE. Thefe are mere Excu/es : Do they pretend 
 any Prophecy for this ? But to what Purpofe r For thefe 
 Excufes mew, that Prophecies are no Proofs ; becaufe, 
 if they may be thus put off, they can never be known ; 
 and they may be put off, and put off, to the End of the 
 World. 
 
 (12.) CHR. But now, SIR, as to your Point.. If 
 this general Expectation, both Eajl and Weft, of the great 
 King of the Jews to be born about that very Time 
 that he did come, was occafioned by the ^Wj/fcTra* 
 dition of it, it ftrengthens the Truth of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, whence the Jtivs had it. But otherwife, if God, 
 we know not how, did fend fuch a Notion into the 
 Minds of Men all over the World, at that particular 
 Time , and never the like, either before or fence, then 
 the Miracle will be greater, and the Attcjiation to the 
 Coming of Chrift ftronger ; and, as you faid,itwill be 
 more wonderful, and more convincing to you, than the 
 Star was to the ivi/e Men in the Eaft, 
 
 4 DE
 
 I)E. I muft take time to anfwer this. I made no- 
 thing at all of this of the Magi and the Star, and of 
 HerocT& flaying the Infants upon it ; I thought it a ri- 
 diculous Story, and to have no Foundation in the 
 World. But when I fee Sueto?tins telling us of the 
 Decree of the Senate of Rome to deilroy all the Children 
 born that Year, and for the fame Reafon, for fear of 
 this great King, that was then to be born ; I muft think 
 there was a llrange chiming in of Things here, one to 
 anfwer the other ; I know not how it happened ; By 
 chance, or how ! 
 
 (13.) CHR. You cannot imagine there could be any 
 Concirt in this Matter : That the Chaldeans, and Rs- 
 mans, and Jeivs, mould all agree upon the Point, and 
 hit it fo exadlly, without any one of them difcovering 
 the Contrivance ! Efpecially when it was fo terrible to 
 both the Romans and the Jewt, that they took fuch 
 etefferate Methods to prevent i^ as to deflroy their own 
 Children ! 
 
 LE. It is ridiculous to talk of a Concert : I will not 
 put my Caufe upon that ; would they concert what they 
 thought their own Dejlrufii&n ? Befides, the Jews and 
 Romans were then Enemies ; and the Chaldeans were far 
 off", and had little Correfpondence with either of them : 
 And fuch an univerfal Notion could not be concerted. 
 Whole Nations could not be trufted with a Secret ; and 
 if they all kept it, and againft their own Intereft 
 too, it would be as great a Miracle as any in your 
 Bible. 
 
 (14.) CHR. How much more impojflbh is it to fup- 
 pofe, that there mould be a Concert between different 
 Ages, between all the Ages, from Adam downwards, in 
 all thofe Prophedes of the Coming of the Mejfiah ? How 
 fhould they know it but by Revelation ? And would they 
 have all agreed fo exaftly, as to the Titre, Place, Man- 
 ner, and other Circumjiances, if it had been a Forgery, 
 contrived by different P. rfons, and in different Ages? 
 
 (15.) This is an Argument which St. Peter thought 
 ftronger than the Convidion even of our outward Senfes ; 
 for, having fet down what he, and the other two Apoftles, 
 
 had
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 had boihfeen and beard upon the Holy Mount, he adds, 
 We have yet a morefure. Word (that is, a ftronger Proof ) 
 of Prophecy, <vubereunto you do 'well to take heed, as unto a 
 Light that jhineth in a dark Place, until the Day danvn, and 
 the Day-Star arife in your Hearts, z Pet. i. 19. And he 
 inforces it thus, For the Prophecy came not, in old Time, 
 ly the Will of Man, but holy Men of God fpake as they 
 were moved by the Holy Gbojl. 
 
 DE. I will grant his Argument fo far, that it is 
 eafier to fuppofe the Senfes ofthree Men, or of all the 
 Men in the World, to be impofed upon, than that 
 Adam, Abraham, and /, had concerted together : But I 
 will not give you my Anfwer yet. Have you any more 
 to fay upon this Head of Prophecy ? 
 
 CHR. I need fay no more till your Anfwer comes ; 
 for you have granted that this Proof is ftronger than 
 what -we fee with our Eyes. 
 
 (16.) But that your Anfwer may take in all toge- 
 ther, I will give you fomething further : I have fet 
 down already fome of the great Prophecies of the Com- 
 ing of Chrijt, his Sufferings, Death, and Refurrefiion. 
 But there are others which reach to feveral minute Cir- 
 cumjtances, fuch as cannot be applied to any other Fa8 
 that ever yet happened, and which could not have 
 been forefeen by any but God; nor were known by the 
 Atlors who did them, elfe they had not done them. 
 For they would not have fulfilled the Prophecies that 
 went before of Chrift, in applying them to him whom 
 they crucified as afaJ/e Chrift. 
 
 See then how literally feveral of thefe Prophecies 
 were fulfilled : As Pfal. Ixix. 21. They gave me Gall to 
 eat, and Vinegar to drink. Then read, Matth. xxvii. 
 34. They gave him Vinegar to drink, mingled with GalL 
 It is faid, Pfal.xxii. 16, 17, 18. They pierced my Hands, 
 and my Feet They Jland Jlaring and looking upon me, 
 Thty part my Garments among them, and cajl Lots upon my 
 Vejiure. As if it had been wrote after Job. xix. 23, 24. 
 It was merely accidental in the Soldiers ; they would 
 not tear his Coat, becaufe it was woven, and without 
 Seam ; therefore they call lots for it : Thus fulfilling 
 
 this
 
 this Serif turty without any Knowlege of theirs j for 
 they were Roman Soldiers, and knew nothing of the 
 Scripture: Again, it is faid, Pfal.y.\\\. 7, 8. All they 
 that fee me laugh me to fcorn ; they Jhoot out their Lips, 
 and Jbake their Heads, faying, He trufted in God, that he 
 would deliver him ; let him deliver him if he will have 
 him. Compare this with, Matth. xxvii. 39. 41, 42, 43. 
 And they that paffed by reviled him> wagging their Heads, 
 
 and faying Come down from the Crofs. Likewife alfo 
 
 the chief Priejls mocking him, <vcith the Scribes and Elders, 
 
 faid He trufted in God, let him deliver him now if 
 
 be v:ill have him ; for he faid, 1 am the Son of God. I 1 
 is faid again, Zech. xii. 10. They Jhall 'look upon me whom 
 they have pierced. His very Price was foretold, and 
 how the Money fhould be difpofed of, 7,ecb. xi. 1 3. 
 Fulfilled, Matth. xxvii, 6, 7. And his riding into Je- 
 rufalem upon an Afs, Zech. ix. 9. which the learned 
 Rabbi Saadia expounds of the MeJJiah. That he (hould 
 fuffer with Malefaaors, Ifai. liii. 12. That his Body 
 Ihould not lie fo long in the Grave as to fee Cor- 
 ruption, Pfal.-xvi. 10. 
 
 Many other Circumftanees are told, which cannot be 
 applied to any but to Cbriji. I have fet down thefe few, 
 that you may take them into Confideration, when you 
 think fit to give your Anfwer as to this Head of Pro- 
 phecies : And you are to take care to find fome other 
 Fa ft, guarded with Prophecies, like this, or elfe you 
 jnuft confefs that there is no other Fafl that has fuch 
 Evidence as this. 
 
 17. But before I leave this Head, I mufl mention 
 the Prophecies in our Bible, of Things yet to come to 
 the End of the World; and of the new Heavens and 
 new Earth that mall fucceed. 
 
 DE. Thefe can be no Proofs here, becaufe we cannot 
 fee ti\z fulfilling of them. 
 
 CHR. You may believe what is to come, by the 
 fulfilling you have feen of what is paft. But I bring 
 this now to (hew you, that there is no other Law, or 
 Hiflory, in the World, that fo much as pretends to this, 
 
 or
 
 [59] 
 
 or to know what is to come : This is peculiar to the 
 Holy Bible, as being written from the Mouth of God. 
 
 You have feen how the Current of the Prophecies of the 
 OlJTeftament did point at, and centre in, that great 
 Event, the Coming of the MeJJiak. 
 
 When he was come, then he told us more plainly of 
 what was to come after him, even to the Ccnfumma- 
 cion of all Things : And by what we have feen ex- 
 aclly fulfilled of all he told us, to this Time, we muft 
 believe what remains yet to come. 
 
 1 8. How particularly did he foretel the Definition 
 of Jerufalem, and the Te?i;ple, Matth. xxiv. And that 
 that Age mould not pafs, till it fhould be fulfilled ? And 
 his very Expreflion was literally fulfilled, That there 
 fhould not be left one Stone upon another in the Temple ; 
 for the very Foundations of it were ploughed up by Tur- 
 nus Rufus. SeeSca/iger's Canon. If agog, p. 304. 
 
 When Jerufalem was firft befieged, it was full oSCbrif- 
 tians : But the&'qriwas raifed unaccountably, and for 
 no Reafon that Hijlory gives. In which time the Chrif- 
 tians feeing thofe Signs come to pafs, which Cbrift had 
 foretold would precede its Deftrudlion, and particularly 
 laying hold of that Caution he gave, Then let them that 
 are in Judea flee to the Mountain, and that in fuch Hafle, 
 as that he that was in the Field was not to return (to Je- 
 rufalem) to fetch his Garment ; or he on the Houfe-top 
 there, to flay to take his Goods with him ; accordingly 
 all the Chriftians left Jerufalem, and fled to Pclla, a 
 City in the Mountains : And as foon as they were all 
 gone, the Romans returned and renewed the Siege. And 
 fo it came to pafs, that when Titus facked the City, there 
 was not one Cbriflian found there, and the Deftrudtion 
 fell only upon the wtttlieviagjews ; the others efcaped, 
 as Lot out of Sodom, by believing the Prediction of that 
 Ruin. 
 
 1 9. A nother very remarkable Prediftion of our blefled 
 Lord, in that fame Chapter, was, of the many falfe 
 Chrifts that fhould come after him ; and he warned 
 the Jews not to follow them, for that it would be to 
 their Deilru&ion. Behold ifays he, vet: 25.) / have 
 
 told
 
 told you before : But they would not believe him : And 
 accordingly it came to pafs. Jofephus, in his Antiquities 
 of the Jews, 1. xviii. c. 12. 1. xx. c. 6. and de Bell. 
 Jud. 1. vii. c. 31. tells of abundance of thefe falje 
 Mejfiabs, who appeared before the Deftru&ion of Jem- 
 falem, and led the People into the Wildermfs, where 
 they were miferably deftroyed ; the very Thing of 
 which our Saviour cautioned them, ver. 26. If they 
 fay unto you, behold, He (that is, Cbrijl) is in tbeDe- 
 fert, go not forth. And,<& Bell. Jud. \. vii. c. 12. Jo- 
 fepbus fays, that the chief Caufe of their Obftinacy, in 
 that War with the Romans, was, their Expe&ation of a 
 MeJ/iah to come and deliver them ; which brought on 
 their Ruin, and made them deaf to the Offers of Titus, 
 who courted them to Peace. 
 
 And fmce the Deftruftion of Jerufalem, there have 
 been fo many falfe Mejfiahs, that Johannes a Lent has 
 wrote a.Hiftory of them, printed Herbon<s, 1697. which 
 brings them down as far as the Year 1682, ; and tells 
 the lamentable Deitrudtion of the Jews in following 
 them. 
 
 20. But the next Prophecy of our bleffed Lord, which 
 I producers more remarkable than thefe ; and of which 
 you fee the fulfilling, in a great meafure ; viz. That 
 his Go/Pel mould prevail over all the World, and that 
 the Gates of Hell mould not prevail againft it : And this 
 told when he was low and defpifed, and had but twelve 
 poor Fijhermen for his Followers : And that his Reli- 
 
 Cion mould conquer, not by the Sword, like Mahomet 's, 
 ut by patient Suffering, as Lambs among Wolves. And 
 in this State the Church endured molt terrible Perfec- 
 tions, when all the Rage of Hell was let loofe againft 
 her, for the firft three hundred Years, without any 
 Help but from Heaven only ; till, at laft, by the Di- 
 vine Providence, the great Emperor of Rome, and other 
 mighty Kings and Princes, without any Force or Com- 
 puf/ion, did voluntarily and freely fubmit their Sceptres 
 to Chrijl. 
 
 No Religion that ever was in the World was fo be- 
 gun, fa propagated, and did fo prevail: And hence we 
 
 affuredly
 
 [ 61 ] 
 
 affuredly trujl, that what remains will be fulfilled, of 
 the Promife of Chrifl to his Church in the latter Days. 
 
 But I fpeak now only of this Prophecy fo long before- 
 hand, and when there was fo little Appearance of its 
 coming to pafs, fo far as we have feen already. 
 
 Let me here remember one particular Paflage, fore- 
 told by Chrijl, concerning the Woman who 
 anointed his Body to the Burying, That where- Mark xiv. 
 foe-Tjer this Gofpel Jhould be preached through- 8, 9. 
 out the whole World, this alfo that foe hath 
 done Jkall be fpoken of, for a Memorial of her : And we 
 fee how it is fpoken of to this Day. 
 
 DE. If this Book had been loft, we had not heard of 
 this Prophecy. 
 
 CHR. So you may fay of all the Bible, or of any 
 Other Book ; but Providence has fulfilled this Prophecy by 
 preferring the Book : And it is a Prophecy that this 
 Book, at lead this Fatf of the Woman, mould be pre- 
 ferved for ever ; and it may be preferred, though that 
 Book were loft. 
 
 12. DE. When Prophecies are fulfilled, and the 
 Events come to pafs, they are plain to every body ; 
 but why might they not have been as plain from the 
 Beginning ? And then there could have been no Dif- 
 pute about them ; as if it had been faid, that fuch a 
 one by Name, at fuch a Time, and in fuch a Place, 
 fhould do fuch things, &c. 
 
 CHR. Becaufe God having given Man Free-Will, he 
 does not force Men to do any wicked thing. And it 
 would be in the Power of wicked Men to defeat a Pra- 
 phecy againft themfelves, as to the Circumftance of Time, 
 Place, or the Manner of doing the Thing. For Ex- 
 ample : If the Jews had known that Chrijl had told 
 his Apoftles he was to be crucified, they would not have 
 done it ; they would have ftoned him, as they did 
 St. Stephen ; for that was the Death appointed by the 
 Law for Blafphemy : And they feveral times at- 
 tempted to have ftoned Chrift for this, becaufe he faid, 
 I am the Son of God, John vii. 59. x. 31, 32, 33. 
 But Crucifixion was a Death by the Roman Law. There- 
 fore
 
 1 62 ] 
 
 fore the Jews, to fulfil this Prophecy (but not knowing 
 It), delivered Chrift to the Romans to be put to Death: 
 Yet he told them fo much of it, that after he was cru- 
 cified they might know it; as he faid to them, Joh. 
 viii. 28. When ye have lift up the Son of Man, then Jhall 
 ye know that lam he; and Chap. x. 32, 33, And I, 
 if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all Men unto 
 me: This he faid, Jignijying what Death he Jhould die--. 
 But they underftood it not till they had done it: Then 
 they knew what the lifting up meant. And Chap, xviii. 
 31, 32. When Pilate would have had them^W^ him 
 according to their Law, which was Stoning, they were 
 cautious at this Time only, and faid, // is not lawful for 
 us to put any Man to Death ; becaufe they were then 
 under the Government of the Romans. But the next 
 Words (hew the Defign of Providence in it, That the Say- 
 ing ofjefus might be fulfilled, which hefpake, fignifying 
 what Death he Jhould die. They had no fuch Caution 
 upon them, when they Jtoned St. Stephen after this ; nor 
 the many times before, when they took up Stones to 
 have/c/ttv/ the fame J-'fus. 
 
 Then again, the piercing his Side with the Spear was 
 no Part of the Roman Sentence of Execution, but happen- 
 ed, feemingly, by mere Accident ; for the Sentence of the 
 Law was to hang upon the Crofs till they were dead: 
 But that being the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath f 
 which began that Evening, foon after Cbrijt and the 
 Thieves were fattened to the Crofs, before it could be 
 fuppofed they were dead; therefore, That the Bodies 
 might not remain upon tie Crofs on the Sabbath Day, the 
 Jews befought Pilate that their Legs might be broken 
 (which was no Part of the Sentence neither, but done), 
 left they mould efcape when taken down : According- 
 ly the Legs- of the Thieves were broken, for they were 
 yet alive; and the Reaf.n why they broke not the 
 Legs of Chrift was, becaufe they fa<w that he was dead 
 already ; but, to make fure, one of the Soldiers pierced 
 his Side with a Spear, little knowing that they were 
 then fulfilling Prophecies, as that a Bone of him Jhould not 
 be broken ; And again, They Jhall look on him whom they 
 
 pierced,
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
 pierced. As little did the Soldiers think of it, when they 
 were calling Lots upon his Vejlure : And the Chief 
 Priefis (if they had known it, or refledled upon it) would 
 not have upbraided him in the very Words that were fore- 
 told in the xxi\.Pfa/m, which I have before quoted : And 
 they would have contrived the Money they gave to 
 Judas to have been one Piece more, or lefs, than juft 
 thirty : They would not have come fo punctually in 
 the Way of that Prophecy, Zech. xi. 12, 13. They 
 ^weighed for my Price thirty Pieces of Silver : And they 
 would not have bought any other Field with it, but ef- 
 pecially that of the Potter ; which Zechariah there like- 
 wife mentions. 
 
 And as the Enemies ofChriJi did not know they were 
 fulfilling thefe Prophecies of him, fo neither did his Dif- 
 ciples, at that time when they were fo doing ; as it is 
 faid, Joh. xii. 1 6. Thefe Things underjiood not bis D if- 
 ciples at the firft ; but when Jefus was glorified, then re- 
 membered they that thefe Things were written of him, and 
 that they had dene thefe Things unto him. This makes the 
 fulfilling thefe Prophecies yet more remarkable. 
 
 Where Providence fees that Prophecies will not be 
 minded, they are more exprefs and plain ; as likewife 
 where the Paffions and Interejls of Men will hurry them 
 on towards fulfilling them : Thus Alexander the Great 
 is defcribed as plainly almoft as if he had been named, 
 Dan. viii. 20,21,22. And it is faid, That this Prophecy, 
 which was fhewed him by the High Priejt at Jerufalem, 
 did encourage him in his Expedition againft the Per- 
 fians. But it is noc fo when a Man is to dofoolijh and 
 wicked Things, and Things hurtful to himfelf ; for if 
 thefe were told plainly and literally, it would be in his 
 Power to do othervvife ; unlefs God mould force his 
 Will, and then he would not be zfree Agent. 
 
 (22.) DE. I mult have recourfe to the Jews, in An- 
 fwer to thefe Prophecies of the Mejfiah, which you have 
 brought : For they, owning thefe Scriptures as Revela- 
 tions given them by God, muft have fome Solution or 
 other for them ; or elfe give themfelves up as fdf- con- 
 demned. 
 
 CHR.
 
 [64] 
 
 CHR. The Anfwers the Jews give will convince 
 you the more, and render them indeed felf- condemned. 
 
 Before the Coming of Chrift, the Jews underftood 
 thefe Texts, as we do, to be certainly meant of the Me/' 
 Jiah, and of none other ; but, fince that time, they have 
 forced themfelves to put the moft drained and contra- 
 didory Meanings upon them ; for they agree not in 
 their Expofitions ; and the one does manifeftly deftroy 
 the other : Thus that Text I before quoted, Gen. xlix. 
 10. was underftood, by the Cbaldee and antient Jewijb 
 Interpreters, to be meant of the Mejfiab. 
 
 Yet of their modern Rabbles, fome fay, that it was 
 meant of Mo/es. But others rejeft that; Fir/1, Becaufe 
 it is plain that the Gathering of the Nations or Gentiles 
 was not to Mofes. Secondly, Becaufe the Sceptre was 
 not given to Judah till long after Mofes. The firft of 
 it that appears was, Judg. xx. 18. whenjudab was 
 commanded by God to go up frjt, and lead the reft of 
 the Tribes: And David was the firft King of the Tribe 
 of Judah. Thirdly, Becaufe Mofes did prophejy of a 
 greater than himlelf to come, to whom the People 
 fhould hearken, Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19. 
 
 For thefe Reafons, other Rabbies^ny, it could not 
 be meant of Mofes ; but they apply irto the Tabernacle 
 at Shiloh. This was omly for the fake of the Word 
 Shiloh ; for otheiwife it bears no Refemblance either 
 to the Gathering of the Gentiles, or the Sceptre of Ju- 
 dah. And though the Houfe of God was firft fet up 
 at Shiloh, yet it was removed from thence, and efta- 
 blimed at Jerufalem ; which was the Place of which 
 Mofes fpoke, that God would place his Name there, as 
 I mall {hew you prefently. 
 
 This Interpretation therefore being rejefted, other 
 Rabbles fay, That this Prophecy muft be meant of the 
 Mejffiah ; but that by the Word Sceptre is not to be un- 
 derftood a Sceptre of Rule and Government, but of Cor- 
 rection and Punijbment, and that this mould not depart 
 from Judah till Shiloh came ; but the Text explaining 
 Sceptre by the Word Lawgiver, that the Sceptre mould 
 not depart from Judah y nor a Lawgiver from between 
 
 his
 
 his Feet until Sbilob came, overthrows this Interpreta- 
 tion, and ihews the Sceptre here mentioned, to be 
 meant of a Sceptre of Rule and Government. Again, 
 Jojbua gave them Reft from their Enemies round about: 
 And the Land had Reft many Years under their Judge* : 
 And David delivered them out of the Hands of their 
 Enemies : And under Solomon they were the richeji and 
 happieji People upon Earth : And frequently after they 
 were in good Condition, and at Eafe : So that the 
 Sceptre of Correction did often depart from them before 
 Sbilob came. 
 
 This is fo evident, that others of them allow this 
 Sceptre to be a Sceptre of Government ; but they fay the 
 Meaning is, That the Sceptre (hall not finally or for ever 
 depart from Judab, becaufe the MeJJlab will come and 
 reftore it to Judab again. But this is adding to the Text, 
 and making a new Text of it, and quite different from 
 the former ; nay, diredlly oppofite to il : For the Text 
 fpeaks only of the Departing of the Sceptre, but nothing 
 of the rejioring it : And it cannot be rejlored till once 
 it is departed: Therefore this Expofition, faying it 
 Jhall depart, and the Text, faying it Jhall not depart, 
 are direclly contrary. 
 
 Lajlly, There are others who throw afide all thefe 
 Excufes, and fa)^ That the Sceptre or Dominion is not 
 yet departed from Judah ; for tnat fome Je~M or other 
 may have fome Sort of Rule or Government in fome 
 Part or other of the World, tho' we know it not. 
 
 DE. As if the Jews (who hold the beii; Correfport- 
 dence with one another of any People) could rot tell 
 this tyflce, if there were any fiich, where they were go- 
 verned by their own Laws, and by Governors of their 
 own Nation, though in Subjection to the Government 
 of the Country whi;re they lived ! 
 
 Theie Salvoes of the Jaw are contradictor^ to eack 
 other ; they are poor Excujes, and (hew their Cciuje to 
 be perfectly deftitute. 
 
 But I have an Objection againft this Prophecy, vvbicJi 
 arTefts both Jews and Chriftiam, That the r v ;a/ Saptre 
 did depart from the Tribe of Judab long before your 
 SLilah came. 
 
 F CK.
 
 [66] 
 
 CHR. Firft, This Prophecy does not call the Sceptre a 
 regal Sceptre ; and, therefore, denotes only Government 
 in the general. 
 
 Secondly, The whole Land and the Nation took their 
 Name from jW, : It was called the Land of Judah, 
 and the Nation took the Name of Jrcw, from Judab t 
 as, before that, of Hebrews, from ffeJkr their Progenitor, 
 Gen. x. 25. And this Prophecy fpoke of thofe Times 
 when Jittfab fhould be the Father of his Country, and 
 the whole Nation mould be comprehended under the 
 Name of Judab', and therefore Judab holds the Seep' 
 ire where-ever a Jew governs. Befides, the Words 
 Sceptre and Throne are ufed in relation to inferior Go- 
 vernors, to tributary Kings, and Kings in Captivity. 
 Thus it is faid that thirty-feven Years after the Cap- 
 tivity of Judab, the King of Babylon fet the Throne of 
 Jtboijachin, King of ^Wa, above the Thrones of the 
 Kings that were with him in Babylon, 2 Kin. xxv. 27, 
 28. This was more than half the Time of the Capti- 
 vity, and this was continued to Jchoijachin all the 
 Days of his Life (ver. 20, 30.) which might laft till the 
 End, or near the End, of the Captivity. But, befides- 
 the King, the Jews had Governors of their own Na- 
 tion allowed them, who were their Arcbontes, or Rulers ;, 
 and they enjx>yed their own Lanvj, though in Subjec- 
 tion to the King cf Babylon. The Elders of Judab 
 (which was a Name of Government) are mentioned in 
 the Captivity, ExeL viii, i. And the Chitfof the Fa~ 
 then of Judab, and the Priefts and the Let'ites, Ezra 
 i. 5. : And after the Captivity they had a Tirfhatba or 
 Governor of their own Nation, znzii. 63. JV>. viii. 9. 
 And theThrone of the Governor is named, jV<r. iii. 7. So 
 that here was flill the Throne and Sceptre oijudah. 
 
 And from the Time of the Maccabees to their Con- 
 cjueft by the Romans, thefufrgme Authority was in their 
 High Priefts ; as it was afterwards, but in Subjeftion. 
 to the Romans ; and they enjoyed their own Laws. Pi- 
 fate faid unto them, Take ye him, and judge him accord- 
 ing to ysur La<w, Joh. xviii 31. : And though they an- 
 fwered, // is not lawful for us to put any Man tr Death* 
 the Reafon is given in thie next Verfe, That the Saying of 
 4 7'fa*
 
 Jffus night be fulfilled which he fyake, fignifying i(.-l>at 
 Death hejhould die : For Crucifixion was a Roman Death ; 
 but Stoning, by the Law of Mofes, was the Death for 
 Blafphemy, of which they accufed him. And they af- 
 terwards ftoned St. Stephen, for the fame (alleged) 
 Crime, according to their oven Law. Their High Priefls 
 and Coawa'/had full Liberty to meet when they pleaied, 
 and to aft according to their Law. And Chrijl him- 
 felf owns, they fat in Mofeis Seat, Matt, xxiii. 2. The 
 High Prieft fat to judge St. Paul, who applied to him 
 that Text, Exod. xxii. 28. Thou Jbalt not revile the 
 Gods, nor curfe the Ruler of thy People, or fpeak Evil of 
 him, as the dpoftle renders it, Ads xxiii. 5. : So that 
 here the Government was ftill in the Ji*ws, though in 
 Subjedion to the Romans : And thus it continued till 
 the Deftrudion of Jerufalem, and the Temple, by the 
 Romans. But, fince that time, they are difperfed in all 
 Countries, and have no Governor or Ruler of their own 
 in any. The Sceptre is intirely departed from them. 
 
 DE. It is impoflible but the Je<v:i muft fte the Dif- 
 ference of their State before the De'truclion of Jeru- 
 faltm, and fince ; and of their Condition as to Govern- 
 ment in their feveral Captivities, and now in their Di- 
 fperfion. In the former, they had ftill a Face tf Govern- 
 ment left among themfelves ; but now, none at all. 
 And their Excufes, which you have mentioned, render 
 the m indeed fclf- condemned. 
 
 What do they fay to that Text you have quoted, 
 Jer. xxxiii. 17, &c. That David mould never want a 
 Sen to fit upon his Throne, &c. You Chriftians apply 
 it to Chrift, who was called the Son of David ; Bt 
 to whom do the Jews apply it ? 
 
 CHR. Some of them fay, That David will be raifed 
 from the Dead, and made immortal, to fulfil this Pro- 
 phecy. Others fay, That after the MeJ/iah, who is to 
 be of the Seed of David, he mall thenceforward no 
 more want a Son, &c, 
 
 DE. Both tKefe Interpretations are in flat Contra- 
 
 diction to the Text. The Text fays, mail never ivant-. 
 
 Thefe fay, fcallvjant for a long Tim ; they muft con- 
 
 F a fefs
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 f efs now for near eighteen hundred Years together ; and 
 how much longer they cannot tell. They have had none 
 to fit in MofeSs Seaf, or on the Throne of David, tho' in, 
 Subjedlion to their Enemies, as they had in the worft of 
 their Captivities j but have not now in their Difperjion. 
 
 But is there any Difference betwixt what you call the 
 Cathedra or Seat of Mofes, and the Throne of David ? 
 
 CHR. None as to Government: For Mofes was King 
 in Jejhurun, Deut. xxxiii. 5. But David was the firft 
 King of the Tribe ofjudab ; which was to be the Name 
 of the whole Nation. And Chrift was called the King 
 of the Jews : It was the Title fet upon his Crofs : But 
 after him none ever had that Title to this Day. 
 
 DE. This is not to be anfvvered by the Jews. But 
 pray what Per/on is it, do they fay, was meant in the 
 liii. of Jfaiab, which you have quoted ? 
 
 CHR. They will not have it to be any Per/on at all. 
 For they can find none, except our Chrift, to whom 
 thefe Prophecies can any way be applied. Therefore, 
 they fay, it muft be meant of the Nation of the Jews ; 
 whofe Sufferings, &c. are there defcribed in the Name 
 of a Perfon, by which the People are to be underilood. 
 
 DE. But the People and the Perfon, there defcribed as 
 fuffering, &c. are plainly contradiftinguiihed. It is faid, 
 ver. 8. For the TranfgreJJton of my PEOPLE vcas HE 
 ftricken. And ver. 3, 4, &c. We (the People) efteemed 
 him not. All We (the People) like Sheep have gone ajiray 
 And the Lord hath laid on HIM the Iniquity cfUs 
 ull; that is, of the People, who are here called Wicked: 
 But he is called, My righteous Servant, who did no Vio- 
 lence, neither "Mas any Deceit in his Mouth. Therefore 
 this People and the Perfon here fpoke of could not be the 
 fame : They are oppofed to each other : The one 
 called righteous, the other wicked ' : The one to die for 
 the other, and to jujiijy the other. By his Knowlege 
 Jhall my righteous Servant jujtify many, &c. 
 
 CHR. The Jews, before Chrift came, underftood this 
 
 Prophecy of the Mejjiah ; as indeed it can be applied to 
 
 none other. But the Jews fince Chrift, to avoid the 
 
 orce of this, and other Prophecies which fpeak of the 
 
 ' v . Sufferings
 
 Sufferings and Death of the Mejfiah, have invented two 
 Mejffiahs ; one Ben-Jofeph, of the Tribe of Epbraim, who 
 is to be the/uffering Mejfiab ; the other Ben-David, of 
 the Tribe of Judab, who is to triumph glorioufly ; and 
 {hall raife from the Dead all the Ifraelites, and among 
 them the firft Mejfiah, Ben-Jofeph. 
 
 DE. Does the Scripture (peak of tivo Mejfiahs, and 
 the one railing the other ? 
 
 CHR. No, not a Word; but only of the Mejfiah ; 
 which (hews it fpoke only of one. But it mentions the 
 twofold State of this Mejfiab ; the fabfuffering* the fe- 
 cond triumphing : Whence the modern Jews have 
 framed to themfelves thefe two Mejfiahs, 
 
 DE. This is fhameful ! and plainly to avoid the 
 Prophecies againft them. 
 
 CHR. This of Ifaiak is fully explained, Dan. ix. 1 
 24, sV. where it is faid, that the Mejfiab the Prince 
 fhould be cut of, but not for bimfe/f, but for the Tranf- 
 greffions of the People, to make an End of Sins, and to 
 make Reconciliation fcr Iniquity. And that this was to be 
 withinyiar tnaubrtdvcA ninety Years after the Building 
 of the fecond Temple, which I have mentioned before. 
 
 DE. I cannot imagine how the Jews get clear of this. 
 
 CHR. They cannot. But, in Spite to it, they feek 
 now to undervalue the whole Book of Daniel: though 
 they dare not totally rejett it, becaufe it was received 
 by their Forefathers who preceded Cbriji. But, about 
 a hundred Years after Chrijl, they made a ne v Difirl- 
 bution of the Books of the Old Tejlament, different from 
 their Fathers, and took the Book of Daniel out of the 
 Middle of the Prophets, where it was placed before, 
 and put it laft of all. But more than this ; to leflea 
 the Credit ot thi? Bock, they adventured to make the 
 Authority of their whole Scriptures : For they cook 
 upon them to make a D-JtinSion of the Books of the 
 Scripture, and made them not all inffiredor canonical -, 
 butfome of them ;hey called .\j,t'jy>A<tct, that is, holy 
 or pious Books, though in a> lower Clafs than thofe 
 called infpired or canonical Scriptures : And they put 
 the Book of Daniel into the inferior Clafs. But in that 
 2 Book
 
 [ 70 1 
 
 Book Daniel fpeaks of himfelf as having received thefe 
 Prophecies immediately from an Angel of God. Where- 
 in if he told us the Truth, it muft be put in the higheft 
 Clafs of canonical Scripture : But, if he told us falfe, 
 then this Book is quite through all a Lie, and blafphe- 
 tnous too, in fathering it all upon God ! So that the 
 Diftin&ion of our modern Jewt confounds themfelves. 
 And, fmce they allow this Book of Daniel a Place 
 among the 'Ayioy^^a, or holy Writings, they cannot 
 deny it to be truly canonical, as all their Fathers own- 
 ed it before the Coming of Chrijt. And, if they throw 
 off Daniel, they muft difcard Eiekiel too : For he gives 
 the higheft Atteftation to Daniel that can be given to 
 mortal Man ; he makes him one of the 
 three moft righteous Men to be found in Ezek. xiv. 1 4, 
 all Ages ; and the very Standard of Wif- 20, xxviii. 3. 
 Jam to the World. 
 
 DE. What do they fay to Hag. ii. 7, 9. where it is 
 faid, that Chrijl was to come into thefecond Temple? 
 CHR. Some of them fay, That this muft be meant 
 of a Temple yet to be built. 
 
 DE. This is denying the Prophecy ; For it is faid, ver. 
 7, /IV//////THIS HOUSE with Glory, &c. And, ver. 
 
 9. The Glory of THIS latter Houfe And in THIS 
 
 PLACE vtiUl gi've Peace, &c. But I am not to de- 
 fend the Caufe of the Jews : It feems to me very de- 
 rate : I own you Cbriftians have the Advantage of 
 n in this. 
 
 CHR. And I hope it will have fo much effefl with 
 you, as to make you confider ferioufly of the Weight 
 of this Argument of Prophecy we have difcourfed. 
 
 DE. Let us at prefent leave this Head of Prophecy. 
 Have you any further Evidence to produce for your 
 Chrifl ? 
 
 (VII.) CHR. I have one more, which is yet more 
 peculiar to him than even that of Prophecy. For what- 
 ever weak Pretence may be made of fome Prophecies 
 among the Heathen, as to &me particular Events, of 
 little Conference to the World, yet they never offered 
 at that Sort of Evidence I am next to produce : Which 
 
 is,
 
 [ 7i 1 
 
 is, not only Prophecies of the Faff, and that from the Be- 
 
 f'nning of the World, but alfo Types, Refemblances, and 
 xhibitions of the Faff, in outward fenfible Injiitutions, 
 ordained as Law from the Beginning, and to continue 
 till the Faff they prefigured fhould come to pafs. 
 
 (i.) Such were the Sacrifices inftituted by God im- 
 mediately upon the Fall (and upon his Promife of the 
 Life-giving Seed, Gen. Hi. 15.), as Types of that great 
 and only propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin which was to 
 come, whofe Blood they faw continually Jbtd (in Type) 
 in their daily Sacrifices. 
 
 Thefe were continued in the Heathen Pofterities of 
 Jldam, by immemorial Tradition from the Beginning. 
 Though they had forgot the Beginning of them, as 
 they had of the War la, or of Mankind, yet they re- 
 tained fo much of the Reafon of them, as that they 
 had univerfally the Notion of a vicarious Atonement, 
 and that our Sins were to be purged by the Blood of 
 others fuffering in our Stead: As likewife, That the 
 Blood of Bulls and Goats could not take away Sin, but 
 that a more noble Blood was necefiary. Hence they 
 came to- human Sacrifices ; and, at laft, to facrifice the 
 Greatefi, moft Noble, and mo/1 '.Virtuous : And fuch of- 
 fered themfelves to be facrificed, for the Safety of the 
 People ; as Codrus, King of the Athenians, y/ho facrificed 
 himfelf on this Account : The like did Curtius for the 
 Romans, as fuppofing himfelf the bravefi and moft 
 valuable of them all. So the Decii, the Fabii, &c. Aga- 
 memnon facrificed his Daughter Iphigenia for the Greek 
 Army : And the King of Moab facrificed his eldeji Son 
 that mould have reigned in his Stead, 2 Kings iii. 27, 
 Thus the facrificing (not their Servants or Slaves, but) 
 their Children to Moloch, is frequently mentioned of the 
 Jevjs ; which they did in Imitation of the Heathen, a 
 it is faid, Pfal. cvi. 35, 36, 37, 38. They were mingled 
 among the Heathen, and learned their Worts ; and they 
 
 ferved their Idols Tea, they facrificed their Sons and 
 
 their Daughters unto the Idols of Canaan, c* Purfuant 
 to which Notion, the Prophet introduceth them argu- 
 ing thus, Wberewitb Jhall I come before tbt lord, and 
 
 INK
 
 [ 7* 3 
 
 IDVJ myfelf before the high God? Shall I come before him 
 nvith burnt Offerings, i^ith Calves of a Tear old? Will 
 the Lord be pi afed with thoufands of Rams, or with ten 
 thoufands of Rivers of Oil ? Shall I give my Firft-bornfor 
 my TranfgreJJion, the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my 
 Soul? Micha vi. 6, 7. They were plainly fearching 
 after a complete and adequate SatisJacJion for Sin : And 
 they thought it neceflary. 
 
 DE. No doubt they thought fo. But that did not 
 make it neceflary. 
 
 CHR. The Doftrine of Satisfaction is a Subjeft by 
 itfelf, which I have treated elfewhere, in my Anfaer 
 to the Examination of my loft Dialogue againft the Soci- 
 vians. But I am not come fo far with you yet : I am 
 now only fpeaking of Sacrifices, as Types of the Sacri- 
 fice of ChriJL 
 
 (2.) And befides Sacrifices in general, there were 
 afterwards fome particular Sacrifices appointed, more 
 nearly exprellive of our Redemption by thrift : As the 
 PaJ/over, which was inftituted in Memory of the Re- 
 demption of the Children of Ifrael (that is, the Church) 
 out of JEgypt (the Houfe of Bondage of this World, 
 where we are in Servitude to Sin and Mifery) in the 
 Night when G^flew all ihc frfl-bcrn of the Egyp- 
 tians : But the Dejlroyer was to pafs over thofe Houfet 
 where he faw the Blood of the pafchal Lamb upon the 
 Door-pojts ; and it was to be eaten with unleavened 
 Bread, expreffing the Sincerity of the Heart, without any 
 Mixture or Taint of WickeJnefs : And thus it is applied, 
 I Cor. v. 7, 8. Purge out therefore the old Leaven, that 
 ye may be a new Lump, as ye are unleavened. For even 
 Chrift our PaJ/bver is facnficed for us. Therefore let us 
 keep the Feajt, not with old Leaven, neither ivith the 
 Leaven of Malice and Wickednefs, but -with the unleavened 
 Bread of Sincerity and Truth. 
 
 (3 ) There was a double Exhibition of Chriji on 
 the great Day of Expiation, which was but once 4 
 Tear : On which Day only the High Prieft entered in- 
 to the Holy of Holies (which represented Heaven, Exod. 
 xxv. 40. Wifd. ix. 8. Heb. ix. 24.) with the Blood 
 
 of
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 oF the Sacrifice, whofe Body was burnt without the 
 Camp ; to fhew Gctfs Detettation of Sin, and that it 
 was to be removed far from us; and that we muft go 
 out of the Camp, that is out of this World, bearing 
 our Reproach for Sin, before we^can be quite freed 
 from it. See how exaftly this was fulfilled in Chrif, 
 Heb. xiii. u, 12, 13, 14. For the Bodies of tbcfe Beajls 
 ivbofe Blood is brought into the ^.anSuary by the High 
 Prieft fir Sin, are burnt without the Camp. Wherefore 
 Jefus alfo, that be m' gbt fanftify the People ivith his ov:n 
 Blood, fujf'ered without the Gate. Let us go forth there- 
 fore unto him without the Camp, bearing his Reproach ; for 
 here we hai<e no continuing City, but we feek one to come. 
 
 The other lively Reprefentation of Chrijfs bearing 
 our Sins, and taking them away from us, which was 
 made on the fame Day of Expiation, was the Scape-Goat, 
 Lev. xvi. 21, 22. And Aaron Jhall lay both his Hancs 
 vpon the Head of the li~J Goat, and c&nftfs oi'cr him all 
 the Iniquities of the Children of ' Ifrael, and nil th'.ir Tranf- 
 gre-ffions in all their Sins, putting them upon the Headofths 
 Goat, and Jhall fend him away by the Hand of a ft Man 
 into the Wild.mefs. And the Goat Jhall bear upon him all 
 their Iniquities, ir.to a. Lend not inhabited : And he Jkall 
 let go the Goat in the Wildernrfs. This is fo plain that 
 it needs no Application. 
 
 (4.) Another exprefs Rfprefntation of Cbrift was the 
 brazen Serpent in the Wildernefs, by /a^zVj-upon which 
 the People were cured of the Stings of the' /try Serpents. 
 So in looking upon Cbrijl by Faith, the Sting of the 
 old Serpent, the Devil, is taken away. And the lifting 
 up the Serpent did reprefent CbriJTs being lifted up upon 
 the Croft. C;//?himfelf makes the Allunon, 'Jch. iii. 
 1 4. As Mofes lifted up the Serpent i* the Wildernefs, wen 
 fo muft the Son of Man be lifted tip ; that -ivhofoe-ver be- 
 lie<veth in him Jhould not perijh, but ha*ue eternal Life, 
 
 (5.) He was Ukewile reprcfented by the Manna. 
 For he was the true Bread that came down from 
 Heaven to nourifh us unto eternal Life, Joh. vi. 31
 
 [ 74] 
 
 (6.) As alfo by the Rock, whence the Waters flowed 
 out to give them Drink in the Wildernefe : And that 
 Rocb 'was Cbrift, I Cor. X. 4. 
 
 (7.) And he was not only their Meat and Drink, but 
 he was alfo their conftant Guide, and led them in a 
 Pillar ef Fire by Night, and of a Cloud by Day. And 
 the Cloud of Glory in the Temple, in which God appear- 
 ed, was by the Jews underftood as a Type of the 
 Mejfiah, who is the true Sbecbitia, or Habitation of 
 God. 
 
 (8.) The Sabbath is called a Shadow of Chrijl, Col. 
 ii. 17. It was a Figure of that eternal Rejl procured 
 to us by Chrift : Therefore it is called a Sign of the 
 perpetual Covenant, Exod. xxxi. 16, 17. Ezek. xx. 
 12. 
 
 (9.) And fuch a /# was the Temple at Jerufalem : 
 At which P/W, and none other, the Sacrifces of the 
 Jiws were to be offered, .D^*/. xii. 11, 13, 14. Be- 
 caufe Cbrift was to be facrifced there ; and, as a Token 
 of it, thole Sacrifces, which were Tjpes of him, were 
 to be offered only there. 
 
 And fo great Strefs was laid upon this, that no Sin 
 of the Jews is oftener remembered than their Breach 
 of this Command. It was a Blot fet upon their feve- 
 ral Reformations, otherwife good and commendable in 
 the Sight of God, that the high Places (where they ufed 
 to facrifce) were not taken away. This is marked as 
 the great Defefl in the Reformation of Afa, I Kin. xv. 
 14. of Jehojbaphat, \ Kin. Xxii. 43. of Jchoajh, 2 Kin. 
 xii. 3. of Amaziah, 2 Kin. xv. 4. tfjotkam, ver. 35. 
 But they were taken away by Hezekiah, 2 Kin. xviii. 4. 
 and the People inftrucled to facrifce and burn Incenfe at 
 Jtrufalem only, 2 Cbr. xxxii. 12, 7/2?. xxxvi. 7. 
 
 There was likewife a further Defign of Providtnce in 
 limiting their Sacrifces to Jerufalem ; which was, That 
 after the great propitiatory Sacrifce of C&r//? had been 
 once offered there, God was to remove the Jews from 
 Jerufalem, that they might have no Sacrifce at all (as, 
 for that Reafon, they have not had, in any Part of the 
 World, near thefe eighteen hundred Years paft) ; to in- 
 
 4 ftruft
 
 L 75 ] 
 
 Sruh them, That (as the Jpofllt fpeaksto them, Hef>. 
 A". 26.), there remaincth no more (or other) Sacrifice for 
 Sin. And, fmce by the Law their Sins were to be 
 purgedby Sacrifice, they have now no way to purge their 
 Sins : And, till they return to that, they mull have no 
 Sacrifice at all, but die in their Sins. As 7V J kid unto 
 
 them, I go my Way, and ye /hall die ir. your Sins. 
 
 For if you believe not that I am be, yejhall die in your Sins, 
 Job. viii. 21, 24. 
 
 And Z)rt/Wprophefiedexprefly, That, (bon after the 
 Death of the MeJ/iab, the City ofjcrufalem, and the 
 SanSuary, Ihould be dejlroyed ; and that the Sacrifice 
 fhould ctafe, even until the Confummation, and that de- 
 termined, Jaall be poured upon the Dcfolate, Dan. xi. 
 26, 27. 
 
 And this Defolation of theirs, and what was deter- 
 mined upon them, was told them likewife by Hofta, 
 Chap..iii. 4. For the Children of Ifraci Jhall abide many 
 Days without a King, and without a Prince, and without 
 a Sacrifice. But he fays, in the next Verfe, That in the 
 latter Days they (hall return andfcek the Lord their God* 
 and David their King ; that is, the Sen of David their 
 Prince and Mfffiab ; as he is called Mejfiab the Prince, 
 i?an. ix. 25. 
 
 Thus as Salvation was of the Jtvus, becaufe Cbrifi 
 was to come of them, fo this Salvation was only to be 
 had at Jfrufalcm, where he was tofufer, and by \vhic\ 
 only Salvation was to be had. 
 
 (10.) DE. This Argument is to the fews. And if 
 I were a jff-^u it would move me ; becaufe they never 
 were fo long befqrc without King, Temple, or Sactr- 
 fat. 
 
 CHR. But tbe Pr phecies of it, and thefe fulfilled ,i 
 you have feen, and Chi-ijl being fo plainly pointed at, 
 and the Place of his Paj/tcfi f by limiting the Sacrifica to 
 Jerufaltm only, and by that caufjng the legal Sacrifice 
 to ceafe throughout the World, to Ihew that they were 
 fulfilled; all this is a ftrong Evidence to you of the 
 'Truth of thefe Things, and of our Jefus being the 
 , or Chrijt, who was profbrfojof. 
 
 Gt r*.
 
 CE. I cannot deny but there is fomething remark- 
 able in this, which I will take Time to confider. But 
 I do not fee how the Jews can ftand out againit this : 
 Becaufe this Mark, given by Daniel of the Mejffiak, that 
 foon after his Death the Sacrifice mould ceafe, cannot 
 agree to any After- Mfjfiah, who fhould now come fo 
 many Jlgts after the Sacrifice has ceafed. 
 
 CHR. Since we have fallen into the Subjedl of the 
 Jmvs, I will give you another Prophecy, which cannot 
 be fulfilled in any After- "MeJJiah whom the Jews expect: 
 And it will be alfo a Confirmation to you of the Truth 
 of the PrcpJ.ecics of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Thus God (peaks, Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21, 22. Thus 
 .faith the Lord, if you can break my Covenant of the Day, 
 and my Covenant cf the Night, and that there Jhould not be 
 Day and Night in their Seafon : Then may alfo my Cove- 
 .nant be broken with Dc.vid my Servant, that he Jhould not 
 have a Son to reign upon his Throne ; and -with the Levites, 
 the Priefis, my Min'ijlers. ds the liojl of Heaven cannot 
 I.e numbered) neither the Sand of the Sea meafured: So 
 TV/// / multiply the Seed cf David my Servant, and the 
 Levites that winificr unto me. 
 
 Now let the 'fives tell in which Son of David Ms is 
 fulfilled, except only in our Chrijl: And how this is 
 made good to the Priefis and Lcvites, otherwife than 
 as Ift:iah prophefied, Chap. Ixvi. 21. j?nd I will alfo 
 take of them (the Gentiles) for Priefis and for Levites, 
 faith the Lord. And as it is thus applied, i Pet. ii. 5, 
 g. and Rev. i. 6. And this evangelical Priefihood is 
 multiplied as the Stars of Heaven (which they are fre- 
 quently called), not like the Tribe of Levi, which could 
 not afford Priefis to all the Earth. 
 
 And as I fa.id before of Jerusalem, and the Sacrifices 
 there, that they are ceafed, to Ihew they are fulfilled ; 
 fo here, after this Son of David was come, and his 
 other Sons ceafed ; and the very Genealogy of their Tribes, 
 - and fo of Judah, is loft, as alfo of the Tribe of Levi; 
 fo that the ^evcs can never tell, if any Mttr-McJJiab 
 fhculd appear, whether he were of the Tribe offudah ; 
 far kfs, whether he were of the Lineage of David; 
 
 nor
 
 [77 I 
 
 nor can they (hew the Genealogy of any they call Ls- 
 vites now among them. 
 
 This is occafioned by their being difperfed among all 
 Nations, and yet preferred a diltinct People from all the 
 Earth; though without any C,unt>-\ of their own, or 
 /L/wg-, or PrieJ}, or Temple* or Sacrifice. And they are- 
 thus preferred by the Providence of GJ</, (fo as nevjr 
 any Nation was fince the Foundation of the World) to 
 (hew the fulfilling of the Prophecies concerning them, 
 and the Judgments pronounced againft them, for du-ir 
 crucifying thtir MeJ/iah ; and that their Converjion may 
 be more apparent to the World, and their being ga- 
 thered out of all Nations, and reflored to JervfaUm (as 
 is promifed them) when they (hall come to ackno.vlcge 
 their MeJJiab. 
 
 And Gad not permitting them to have any King or 
 Governor upon Earth, ever fince their latt Difperjlon by 
 the Ramans (left they might fay, That the Sceptre was 
 not departed from judab), is to convince them (when 
 God (hall take the Veil off their Heart) that no other 
 Mcjfiah, who can come hereafter, can anfwer this Pro- 
 phecy of Jeremiah, or that of Jaccb, that the Sceptre 
 ihould not depart from Judah till Shiloh came. 
 
 (11.) And it is wonderful to confider how exprefly 
 their prefent State is proph.-fied of, that it could no: be 
 more literal, if it were to be worded now by us who 
 fee it. As, that they mould be f.attered into all Court' 
 tries, Jifted as with a Sieve among all Nations, yet pre- 
 ferved a People ; and that God would make an utter 
 End of thole Nations who had opprefled them, and 
 blot out their Names from under Heaven (as we have 
 feen it fulfilled upon the great Empires of the dj/yrians, 
 Chaldeans, and Romans, who, one afcer the other, had 
 miferably wafted the Jetxi) ; but that the Name of the 
 Jews (the few eft and the poorejt of all Nations) fhould 
 remain for ever, and they a Pecple diftinft from all 
 the Nations in the World, though f-at.errd among 
 them all. Read the Prophecies " exprefs upon this 
 Point, Jer.xxx. 11. xxxi. 36, 37. xxxiii. 24, : 
 xlvi. 28. Ifai. xxvii. 7. xxix. 7, 8. iiv. 9, 10. Ixv. 8. 
 G 3
 
 [ 7 1 
 
 i'e^LvJ. 8. xi. 16,17. xii. 15,16. ^"///cj ix. 8, g, 
 Zich. x. 9. And it was foretold them long before, that 
 thus it would be, Lev. xxvi. 44. and this in the latter 
 Days, Deut. iv. 27. 30, 31. Thus Mofes told them of 
 it ib long before ; as the Mter-Prophets frequently. 
 And you lee all thefe Prophecies literally fulfilled and 
 fulfilling. The like cannot be faid of any other Na- 
 tion that ever was upon the E^rtb ! So dejlrcjed, and fo 
 preferred! And for fo long a Time ! Having worn out 
 all the great Empires of the World, and ftiil fur<vi r uing 
 them, to fulfil what was further prophejted of them to 
 the End of the World ! 
 
 DE. I cannot fay but there is fomething very fur- 
 prizing in this. I never thought of it before. It is a 
 living Prophecy, which we faz fulfilled, and Kill fulfilling 
 at this Day, before our Eyes. For we are fare thefe 
 Prophecies were not coined Yefterday : And they are as 
 txprifs and particular, as if they were to be wrote now, 
 alter the Events are fo far come to pafs. 
 
 (12.) CHR. As the Door was kept open to Chrijl be- 
 fore he came, by the many and flagrant Prophecies of 
 him, and by the Tjpfs reprefeniing him, fo was the- 
 Ddor for ever Jhut after him, by thofe Prophecies being 
 all futylkd and completed in him, and applicable to 
 none who ihould come after him, and by all the Types 
 ceafing, the Sbadiius vanimlng, when the Subfiance was 
 conic-. No M'Jpab can now come, before the Sceptre 
 depart from Judab, and the Sacrifice from Ji:rufii!e!>i ; 
 before the Sons of David (all except Cbrift) ihail ceafe 
 to fit upon his Throne. None can come now, within 
 jour hundred vn& ninety Years of the Building of the^- 
 cond 'Temple; nor corae into tbat very Temple, as I have 
 before {hewed was exprefly frofbefttd by Daniel and 
 
 I know not what the Jews can fay, who own 
 thefe Prophecies. 
 
 CHR. They fay, That the Coming of the Mrjfiab, 
 at the time fpoken of in the Prophets, has been delay 'd 
 becaufe of their Stus.
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
 Dfc. Then it may he delay 'cf-for ever, unlefs they 
 can tell us when they will grow better. But however 
 thefe Prophecies have failed, which fpolte of the Time 
 of the Mejfia&s Coming : And they can never be a 
 Proof hereafter ; bccaufe the Time is paft. So that, 
 according to this, they were made for no Purpofe, 
 unlefs to (hew that they were/a^; that is, no Prophe- 
 cies at all ! 
 
 But were thefe Prophecies upon Condition ? Or was it 
 faid, that the Coming ofthzMefiab ihould be delay 'd, 
 if the Jews vierejinful? 
 
 CHR. No. So far from it, that it was exprefly pro- 
 phejied, that the Coming of the Mejjlah fhould be in 
 the moft f'nful State of the Je-m-s, and to purge their 
 Sim, Dan. ix. 24. ZecJy.xiii. i. And the ancient Tra- 
 dition of the Jews was purfuant to this, That, at the 
 Coming of the MeJHah, the Tewple mould be a Den of 
 Tbiti'es. Rabbi Juda in Mafoseta. And a Time of 
 great Corruption. Talmud, tit. dt Synedrio and de Pcn./e- 
 ril>us > &c. 
 
 But more than this, the very Cafe is put of their 
 being moft jinfvl; and it is exprefly faid, that this 
 fhould not hinder the fulfilling of the Prophecies con- 
 cerning the Coming of the Mejjiak, fpoken of as the 
 Son of Da<vld, 2-Sarn. vii. 14, 15, 1 5. PfuL Ixxxix. 30. 
 33, to 37. 
 
 But it was prcphejicfi that they mould not know their 
 ftltjfiah, and mould rejecl him when he came ; that he 
 fhould be s.Stor.e of S tumbling, and a Rock of Offence 
 to them, Ifai. viii 14, 15.; and that their Eyes. Jf.ould 
 be do fed, that they fhould not underfland their own 
 Proftoefj, chap. xxix. 9, 10, it. That their Fuilders 
 fhould reject the Head Stone of the Corner, Pfal. cxviii. 
 22. Andi the like in feveral other Places of their own 
 Prcphets. And thus they miilook the Prophecy con- 
 cerning the Coming of E/ias, whom, it is faid, th.-y 
 knew not, but did to him what they lifted ; and fo the 
 fame of Chriji, Matth. xvii. iz. And it is faid, i Cor. 
 ii. 8. That, had tb<:y known it, they would no' h.i<v* 
 {ratified the Lojrd of Glory. 
 
 G 4 DE.
 
 D. This indeed folves the Prophecies, both thofe of' 
 the Coming of the Me$:ab, and of the Jenvs not know- 
 ing him, and therefore rtje&ng him : And likewife 
 obviates this Excufe of theirs : for if they were very 
 f.nful at that Time, it was a greater Punijhment of their 
 Sin not to know, and to r:jei their Mejfiab, than his 
 not Coming at that Time would have been. 
 
 CHR. The great Sin mentioned, for which they were 
 puniihed by feveral Captivities, was their Idolatry, the 
 lail and longeft of which Captivities was that ofjfrutglj 
 Tears in Babylca. Since which time they have forfakea 
 their Idolatry, and have never been Nationally guilty of 
 it fince, but always had it in the utmoft Abhorrence. 
 But fince their rejecting their Meffiah, they have been 
 now near eighteen hundred Years, not in a Capti-vity 
 where they might be all together, and enjoying their 
 own Lav:, Government, and Wor/Lip, in forae Manner; 
 but difperfcd over all the World, without Country of 
 their o.vn, or Kirg, or Prlefl, or Temple, or Sacrifice, 
 or any Prcpket to comfort them, or give them Hopes 
 of 2 Reftcration. And all this come upon them, not 
 for their old Sin of Idolatry, but from that Curfe they 
 imp-ecated upon themfclves, when they crucified their 
 M.J/Jah, faying, His Blood be on as, and our Children : 
 Which cleaves unto them from that Day to this, and 
 is v.f:b'e to all the World, but to themfelves ! And 
 v/hat other Sin can they think greater than Idolatry, 
 for which they have been punijhcd fo much more ter- 
 ribly than for all their Idolatries ? What other Sin can 
 this be, but their crucifying their MeJJlah ? And here 
 they may fee their finful State, which they allege as 
 an Excufe for their Mcjjial}* not coming at the Time 
 
 foretold by the Prophets, rendered tenfold more Jinful t 
 by their resetting him when he came. 
 
 DE. Th ; s is a full Anfaer t and convincing, as to the 
 jFt^vs. But have you any more to fay to me ? 
 
 (13.) CHR. I have one tVngmoreto offer, which 
 may come under this Head of Types, and that is, Per- 
 fans, who reprefented Cbriji in feveral Particulars, and 
 fo might be called per/ova! Typ<;s. 
 
 And
 
 And I will not apply thefe out of my own Head, but 
 as they are applied in the Neiu Tejlament ; which hav- 
 ing all the Marks of the Old Tejlament, and llronger 
 Evidence than thefe, in thofe Marks we are now upon-, 
 their Authority is indifputable. 
 
 (i.) I begin with Adam, who gave us Life, and 
 Death too : And Chriji came, by his Death, to reftore us 
 to Life again, even Life Eternal. Hence Cbrift is called 
 the fecond Adam, and Adam is called the Figure ofCbrijt. 
 The Parallel betwixt them is infilled on, Rom. v. i z. 
 to the End, and i Cor. xv. 45, to 50. Eve received 
 her Life from Adam, as the Church frm Chriji. She 
 Was taken out of the Side of Adam, when he was in a 
 dead Sleep ; and after Chriji was dead, the Sacraments of 
 Water ?nd B'lood flowed out of his Side; that is, Bap- 
 tifm, whereby we are born into Chriji ; and the Sacra- 
 ment of his Blood, whereby we are nourished into eternal 
 Life. 
 
 (2.) Enoch was carried up bodily into Heaven ; as 
 -E/y : One under the Patriarchal, the other under 
 the /^a/Difpenfation. In both, the Afcenfion of Chriji 
 W3.S prefigured. 
 
 (3.) Noah, a Preacher of Right eo ujnefs to the old 
 World, and Father of the new ; who faved the Church 
 by Water. The like Figure whereunto, even Jjaptifm r 
 doth alfo now fave us, i Pet. iii. 20, 21. 
 
 (4.) Melchifedeck, that is, A7a of Righteoufnefs, and 
 King Qi Peace, and Priejl of the moil high Go</; who 
 was made like unto the &/ oiGod, a Pn' t y/ continually, 
 H?. vii. i, 2, 3. 
 
 ( ; . ) Abraham, the Friend of G od, and Father of the 
 Faithful, the /&/> of the World, Rom. iv. 13. In whom 
 all the Nations, of the V/ are bleffed, Gen. xviii. 1 8. 
 
 (6.) #w<r, the /&/> of this Promi/e, was born after 
 his Father and Mother were both paft the Age of Ge- 
 neration in the Courfe of Nature, Gen. xvii. 17. xviii. 
 ii. Rom.'iv. 19. Heb.\\. 11, 12. The neareft 'Tj/ir 
 that could be to the Generation of Chriji wholly with- 
 out a Man. And his Sacrifice had a very near Re- 
 frmblance to the Sacrifice and Death of Cbrijt t who lay 
 
 three
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
 three Days in the Grave ; and Ifaac was three Days a 
 dead Man (as we fay in Law) unde_r the Sentence of 
 Death, Gen. xxii. 4. whence Abraham received him in 
 a Figure, Heb. xi. 19. that is, of the Refurre tficn of 
 Cbrijl. And Abraham was commanded to go three 
 Days Journey, to facrifice Ifaac upon the fame Moun- 
 tain (according to the Antients) where Chrifl was cru- 
 cified, and where Adam was buried. Again, the com- 
 mon Epithet of Ckriji, i. e. The only begotten of the 
 father, and his beloved Son, were both given to Ifauc, 
 Gen. xii. 2. Heb. xi. 17. For he was the only Sen that 
 was begotten in that miraculous Manner, after both his 
 Parents were decayed by Nature. And he was the 
 only Son of the Promife; which was r.ot made to the 
 Seed of Abraham in general, but in Ifaac fball thy Seed 
 be called, Gen. xxi. 12. He faith not, and to Seeds, as 
 ef many, but as of one* And to thy Seed ; which is Ckrifty 
 Gal. iii. 1 6. 
 
 And as Ifaac, which fignifies rejoicing, or laughing 
 for Joy, was thus the only begotten of his Parents, fo 
 Abram fignifies the glorious father ; and Abraham (into 
 which his Name was changed on the Promife of Ifc.ac, 
 Gen. xvii. 5. 16.) fignifies the Father of a Multitude, to 
 exprefs the Coming in of the Gentiles to Cbrijt, and the 
 Increafe of the Gofpel-, whence it is there faid to 
 Abraham, a Father of many Nations have I made thee. 
 And in thy Seed all the Nations of the Earth [hall be 
 lle/ed. 
 
 Ifaac, who was born by Promife of a Free-Woman, re- 
 prefented the Chrijijan Church ; in Oppofition to Ijbmael, 
 who was born after the Flefh, of a Bond-Maid, and 
 fignificd the Jetvijh Church under the Law. See this 
 Allegory carried on, Gal. iv. 21. to the End. 
 
 (7.) Jacob, his \ifion of the Ladder (Gen. xxviii. 12.) 
 fhews the Intercourie which was opened by Chrift be- 
 twixt Heaven and Earth, by his making Peace. And 
 to this he alludes, when he fays, Hereafter you Jhall 
 fee Heaven open, and the Angels of God spending and 
 Jefcending upon the Son of Man, John i. 51. 
 
 And
 
 [ 83 3 
 
 And Jacobs Wreftling with the Angel (Gen. xxxii. 
 24, ts*r. Hof. xii. 4.) and, a^ it were, prevailing over 
 him by /cnv to blefi him, (hews the ftrong and power- 
 ful Interceffion of Chrijl : Whereby (as he words it, 
 Matth. xi. I 2.) Heaven fujferetb Violence, and the violent 
 take it by Force. Whence the Name of Jacob was then 
 turned to Ifrael; that is, one who prevails upon God, 
 or has Power over him ; God reprefenting himfelf here 
 as overcome by us. And the Name of Ifrael was ever 
 after given to the Church; but much more fo when 
 Chrijl came, as he fold, Matth. xi. I ^. From the Days 
 of John the Baptijl until nova, the Kingdom of Heaven 
 fujferetb Violence, Sec. j that is, from the nrft Pro- 
 mulgation of ChriJ} being come, thenceforward the 
 Gentiles began to prefs into the Gcfpel, and, as by force, 
 to take it from the Jews. This was fignified in the 
 Name Jacob, that is, a Supplanter ; for the Gentiles here 
 fupplanted their elder Brother the Jcvjs, and ftole the 
 Blejjlng and Heirjhip from them. 
 
 (8.) Jofeph was fold by his Brethren out of Envy; 
 but it proved the Prefcrvaticn of them and all their 
 Families. And Chrijl was fold by his Brethren out of 
 Envy, Mark xv. 10. which proved the Means of their 
 Redemption. And Chrijl, as Jofeph, became Lord over 
 his Brethren. 
 
 (9.) MT/J calls G&r(/? a Prophet like unto b'unfelf, 
 Deut. xviii. 18. He reprefented C^rry?, the great Law- 
 giver. And his delivering Ifrael out of Egypt was a 
 7)'/>* of CbrijTs delivering his Church from the Bondagt 
 of Sin and He//. 
 
 (10.) Jojhua, called alfo y^j, Heb. iv. 8. orer- 
 came all the Enemies of Ifrael, and gave them Pofief- 
 fion of the Holy Land, which was a Type of Heaven. 
 And Chrijl appeared to Jflua, as Captain of the //<?/? 
 of the LW, y<3/. v. 14. So thaty^aa was his Lieute* 
 nant reprefenting him. 
 
 ( 1 1 .) Sampfon, who, by his fingle Valour and &j <?<u>* 
 Strength, overcame the Philijlinei, and flew more at 
 his Death than in all his Lift:, was a Reprefcntatien ef 
 tb* Wine-jrefs alone, and of the People 
 tkert
 
 E4] 
 
 there iuas-Jione with him ; but his own Arm brought him 
 Salvation, Ifai. Ixiii. 3.5. But his Death completed 
 his Viclory ; whereby he overcame all the Power of the 
 Enemy, and having fpoiled Principalities and Powers, he 
 made a She r w of them openly, triumphing over them in his 
 Crefs, Col.ii. 15. 
 
 (12.) David, whofe Son CHRIST is called, fpeaks 
 frequently of him in his own Per/on, and in Events 
 which cannot be applied to David, as Pfal. xvi. '10. 
 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, nor fujfer thine Holy 
 One to fee Corruption. For David has feen Corruption. 
 Chrijl is faid to fit upon the Throne of David, Ifai. ix. 7. 
 And Chrijl is called by the Name of David, Hof. iii. 5. 
 and frequently in the Prophets. 
 
 David from a Shepherd became a King and a Prophet ; 
 denoting the threefold Office of Chrijl, Pajloral, Regal, 
 and Prophetical. 
 
 (13.) Solomon, the laifejt of Men ; his peaceable and 
 magnifcent Reign repreiented the triumphal State of 
 Chri^s, Kingdom, which is defcribed, Pfal. Ixxii. (in- 
 fcribed/ir Solomon, there called the Kings Son) but far 
 exceeding the Glory of his Reign, or what can poffibly 
 be applied to him, as ver. 5. 8. 1 1. 17. But his Reign 
 came the neareft of any to that univerfal and glorious 
 Reign there defcribed ; particularly in his being chofea 
 to build the Temple, becaufe he was a Man of Peace, 
 and had ftied no Blood, like David his Father, who 
 conquered the tommies of Ijrael; but Solomon built the 
 Church, in full Peace ; and as it is particularly fet down, 
 I Kings vi. 7. And no doubt he was ordered by God fo 
 to do, That the Houfe, when it was in building, was 
 built of Stone made ready before it was brought thither : 
 So that there was neither Hammer nor Ax, nor any Tool 
 of Iron heard in the Houfe-, <while it was in building. 
 Which did denote that the Church of Chrijl was to be 
 built not only in Peace, but without Noife or Ccnfufwn j 
 as Ifai ah prophefied of him, chap. xlii. 2. He Jball not 
 cry, nor lift up, nor caufe his Voice to be heard in tht 
 Street : a bruij'td Reed flail he not break, Sec. He was 
 not to conquer with the S<word, as the Ifraelites fubdued 
 
 Canaan ;
 
 Canaan ; but to overcome by Mecknefs, and doing Good 
 to his Enemies, and patiently fufering all Injuries from 
 them. And fo he taught his Followers, as St. Paul 
 fays, 2 Tim. ii. 24. The Servant of the Lord mujl not 
 jlriwe, but be gentle unto all Men In Meeknfi injlrufting 
 tbofe that oppofe themf elves, &C. 
 
 And I cannot think but there was fome Imitation 
 of this peaceable Temple of Solomon in the Temple of 
 Janus among the Romans ; for that was never to be 
 jbvt but in time of Peace, which happened rarely among 
 them ; but three Times in all their Hi/orjV f The lait 
 was in the Reign of Augujlus, in which time Chrijl came 
 into the World, when there was a profound and uni- 
 verfal Peace. And fo it became the Prince of Peace, 
 whofe Birth was thus proclaimed by the Angels, Luke ii. 
 1 4. Glory to God o>t High, and on Earth Peace, Good- 
 will towards Men. But to go on. 
 
 (14.) Jonah's being three Days and Nights in the 
 Belly of the Whale, was a Sign of Chrijt's being fo long 
 in the Heart of the Earth. Chrift himfelf makes the 
 Allufion, Matth. xii. 40. 
 
 (15.) But as there were feveral Perfons, at feveral 
 times, r<prefentig and prefguring feveral Particulars 
 of the Life and Death of Chrift ; fo trure was one 
 Handing and continual Reprefentation of him appointed 
 in the Pirfon of the High Priejl under the Law ; who 
 entering into the Holy of Holies once in a Year, with the 
 Blood of the great Expiatory Sacrifice, and he only, to 
 make Atonement for Sin, did lively reprefent our great 
 High Priejl, entering into Heaven, once for all, with 
 his own Ehod, to expiate the Sins of the whole World. 
 This is largely infifted upon in the Epiftle to the He- 
 brews, chap. vii. viii. ix. x. 
 
 And our Deliverance by the Death of Chrijl is re- 
 prefented, as in a Piflure, in that Ordinance of the 
 Laiv, That the Man-Jlayer, who fled to one of the Cities 
 of Refuge, (which were all of the Cities of the Levites) 
 fhould not come out thence till the Death of the High 
 Priejl ; and wSathfa&hn be taken till then ; and then 
 
 he
 
 [86] 
 
 he fhould be acquitted, and return into the Land cf Us 
 Pojfejpon, Numb. xxxv. 6. 25, 26, 27, 28. 
 
 And I doubt not but the Gentiles had from hence 
 their Afyla, or Temples of Refuge for Criminals, 
 
 (i.) DE. There is a Refemblance in thefe Things : 
 But I would not have admitted them as a Proof, if 
 you had not fupported them, at leaft moft of them, 
 with the Authority of the Ne<w Tefament. And it was 
 not neceflary that every one mould be named in it ; 
 for thofe that are named are only occafionally : And 
 I muft tafe*5 time to confider of the Evidences you have 
 brought for the Authority of the New Tejiament ; which 
 you have made full as great, if not greater, than the 
 Evidences for the Old Tejiament, 
 
 CHR. I may fay greater, upon this Head of Prophe- 
 cies and Types ; becaufe thefe are no Proofs till they are 
 fulfilled. Though then they prove the Truth of thefe 
 Prophecies wATypes; and fo the one confirms the other : 
 But the whole Evidence of the Lava is not made appa- 
 rent, till we fee it fulfilled in the Gofpel. For which Rea- 
 fon I call the Gofpel the ftrongeft Proof, not only as to 
 itfelf, but likewile as to the Law. And the Jews, as 
 much as in them lies, have invalidated this ftronger 
 Proof for the Old Tejiament, which is \h& fulfilling of it 
 in the NWJ. Nay they have rendered theie Prophecies 
 falfe ; which, they fay, were not fulfilled at the Time 
 they fpake of, and never now can be fulfilled. And 
 as no Faft, but that of our Chrift alone, ever had the 
 Evidence of Prophecies and Types from the Beginning, fo 
 never can any other Fa have it now while the World 
 lails. 
 
 (2.) DE. Why do you fay, Never can have it? For 
 may not God make what Fafi he pleafes, and give it 
 what Evidence he pleafes^ 
 
 GHR. But it cannot have the Evidence that the FacJ 
 ef Chriji has, unlefs at that Diftance of Time hereaf- 
 ter, as from the Beginning of the World to this Day. 
 Becaufe God took care that the Evidence of Chrift 
 fhoukl commence from, the very Beginuing t ia the Promife 
 
 cf
 
 [87 ] 
 
 of him made to Adam ; and to be renewed by th 
 Prophets in all the After- Ages till he ftiould come. And 
 the Evidence of him after his Coming (in which I have 
 inllanced, and which continues to this Day) before it 
 can belong to any other, muft have the fame Compafs 
 of Time that has gone to confirm, this Evidence ; elfe 
 it has not the fame Evidence. 
 
 (3.) DE. By this Argument the Evidence grows 
 fironger the longer it continues ; fince you fay, that 
 the Prophecies of the Scriptures reach to the End of the 
 World, and fo will be further and further fulfilling 
 every Day. 
 
 This is contrary to what one of your Doflors has ad- 
 vanced, who pretends to calculate 
 the Age of 'Evidences, that in fuch a Cra/g-.Theo- 
 Time they decay, and in fuch a Time logiae Chrifti- 
 muft die ; And that the Evidence of anae Principia 
 Cbrijlianity, having lafted fo long, is Mathenutica, 
 upon the Decay, and muft wear out 1699. 
 foon, if not fupplied by fome frelh 
 and new Evidence. 
 
 CHR. This may be true as to Fables, which have na 
 Foundation ; but is that Prophecy I mentioned to you, 
 of the Difperjton, and yet wonderful Prefcrvation, of the 
 Jews, leis evident to you, becaufe it was made fo long 
 ago ? 
 
 DE. No. It is much more evident for that. If I 
 had lived at the Time when thofe Prophecies were 
 made, I fanfy I fhould not have believed one Word of 
 them ; but wondered at the AJfurance of thofe who 
 ventured to foretel fuch improbable and almoft impoffiblt 
 Things. 
 
 And I mould have thought the fame of what you 
 have told me of your Chriji foretelling the Piogrefs 
 of his Gofpel, at the firll fo very (lender Appearance of 
 it, and by the weak and improbable Means, as only 
 fuffering and dying for it ; which, to me, would have 
 feemed perfect Defpair, and giving up the Caufe. I 
 ftiould have thought of them (as of others) who pro- 
 of Things alter their Tint , that they might not 
 
 be
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 be contradidled while they lived. But my feeing fo 
 much of thefe Prophecies concerning the Jews, and the 
 Progrefs of the GoJ'pel, come to pafs fo long Time after, 
 is the only thing that makes me lay a.Strefs upon them, 
 and which makes them feem wonderful to me. 
 
 CHR. When the Prophecies mail all be fully com- 
 pleted at the End of the World, they will then feem 
 Jfrongejf of all. They will then be undeniable, when 
 Cbrijt mail vifibly dcfcend from Heaven (in the fame 
 Manner as he afcended) , to execute both what he has 
 promifed and threatened. And, in the mean time, the 
 Prophecies lofe none of their Force, but their Evidence 
 increafes, as the Light Jhintth more and more unto the 
 perfeS Day. 
 
 (VIII.) DE. I obferve you have made no Ufe of that 
 common Topic of the Truth and Sincerity of the Pen- 
 men of the Scriptures, and what Intereft they could have 
 in letting up thefe Things, if they had beenfa/fe. For 
 this can amount at moll but to a Probability. And 
 you having produced thofe Evidences which you think 
 infallible, it might feem a leffening of your Proof to 
 infill upon bare Probability's. So that, I fuppofe, you 
 give that up. 
 
 (i.) CHR.) No, SIR, I give it not up, though I have 
 not made it the chief Foundation of my Argument. And 
 if it were but a Probability, it wants not its Force ; for it 
 is thought unreafonable to deny a flagrant Probability, 
 where there is not as ftrong a Probability on the other 
 Side ; for then that makes a Doubt : But otherwife, 
 Men generally are'fatisfied with Probabilities, for there 
 is the greateft part of our Knowlege. If we believe 
 nothing but what carries an infallible Demonjlration 
 along with it, we muft be Sceptics in moll Things in 
 the World : And fuch were never thought the vjifefl 
 Men. 
 
 But befides, a Probability may be fooner difcerned 
 by fome, than the Infallibility' of a Demonftration. 
 Therefore we muft not lay afide Probabilities. But, in 
 this Cafe, I think there is an infallible Affurance, as
 
 Infallible as the Senfes of all Mankind. And I fuppofe 
 you will not afk a greater. 
 
 (2.) DE. How can you fay that ? When the fuffer- 
 ing of Jjfliftions t and Death itfelf, is but a Probability 
 of the Truth of what is told us. Becaufe fome have 
 fuffered D,ath for Errors. 
 
 CHR.. But then they thought them true. And Men 
 may be deceived in their Judgments : We feem any Ex- 
 amples of it. But if the Fa ft 3 related be fuch, as that 
 it is impoffible for thofe who tell them to be impofed upon 
 themfelves, or for thofe to whom they are told to bc- 
 li(--ve them, if not true, without fuppofmg an univerfal 
 Deception of the Senfes of Mankind, then, I hope, I 
 have brought the Cafe up to that infallible Dtmonftra- 
 tion I promifed. And this is the Cafe of the Fa3s re- 
 lated in Holy Scripture. They were told by thofe who 
 fa-iv them, and did them ; and they were told to thofe 
 who fa-t(j them likewife themfelves ; and the Relatert 
 appealed to this. So that here could be no Deceit. 
 
 DE. I grant there is a great Difference betwixt Er- 
 rors in Opinion, and in Fal : And that fuch Falls as 
 are told of Mo/el and of Chrift, could not have paffed 
 upon the People then alive, and who were faid to have 
 feen them. And I find that both Mofes, Chrifl, and the 
 jfpojiles, did appeal to what the People they fpoke to 
 hadfeex themfelves. 
 
 CHR. With this Confideration, their patient Suffer- 
 ing even unto Death for the Truth of what they taught, 
 will be a full Demonjlration of the Truth of it. 
 
 (3). Add to this, That their Enemies who pe'f.cuteJ 
 them, the Romans as well as Je-u-s, to whom they ap- 
 pealed as WitneJJes of the Fafti, did not offer to deny 
 them : That none of the Apojlates from Chrijii unity did 
 attempt to deleft any Faljhood in the Fad* ; though, they 
 might have had great Rewards if they could have done 
 it ; the Roman Emperors being then Pirfecutors of Cbri- 
 Jiianity, and for three hundred Years after Cbrift. And 
 Julian the Emperor afterwards turned dpoftate, w ho had 
 been initiated in the Sacra of Cbrijiianity ; yet could 
 not he dttefl any of the Fafit. 
 
 K C4-)
 
 [90] 
 
 (4-) And it was a particular Prwi&nct for the forv 
 ther Evidence of Cbriftianity, That all the c ivil Govern - 
 meats in the World were againil it for the firft three 
 bundredY ears, left it might be faid (as it is ridiculoufly 
 in your dmintor), That the Awe of the ci*i-il Government 
 might hinder thofc who could make the Detection. 
 
 Now, SIR, to apply all that we have faid, i defire 
 you would- compare thefe Evidences I have brought for 
 Cbriftianity, with thofe that are pleaded for any othez 
 Religion, 
 
 There are bat four in the World, &/. C&riJHamtj f 
 Judaifm, Heaiktnifm, and Mabometifm. 
 
 (i.) Christianity was the Fir ft. For from the firft 
 Promife of Chrijl made \&Adam, during the Patriarchal 
 and Legal Difpenfations, all was Cbrijiienity in Type, as 
 1 have fhewed. 
 
 And as to Mofes and the Law, ihejeivs can give no 
 Evidence for that, which v/ill not equally eftablijh the 
 Truth of C^-//? and the Gcfpel. Nor can they difprove 
 the FaSs of Cbrift by any Topis, which will not like- 
 wife difprove ail thofe of Mcfss and the Presets. 
 So that they are hedged in on every Side. They'mull 
 cither renounce Mofes, or acknowiege Cbrift. 
 
 Mofes and the Law have the fail fae Evidences, but 
 they have net titsjixth and the feventb, which are the 
 ftrongeit. 
 
 This is as to Judaifm before Cbrift came. Bat fimre, 
 as it now ftands in Oppttfiiion to Cbrijtianity, in favour 
 of any future Meffiab, it has none of the Evidences at 
 all. On the contrary, their own Prophecies and Tjprt 
 make againlr. them ; for their Prophecies are fulfilled, and 
 their Types are Ci.afed-, and cannot belong to ar.y etlu-r 
 Mejfiab who mould come hereafter. They ftand now 
 more naked than the Hcatntns. or the Mahometan. 
 
 ( 2.) Next for fbathsmfm ; fome of the Faffs recorded 
 of their Gods have the Jirft and fecond Evidences, and 
 fome the third ; but not one of them \befourfb, or any 
 of the other Evidences. 
 
 But, fuly and properly fpeaking, and if we will 
 take the Opinion of the Heathen themfelves, they were
 
 [9' 1 
 
 BO Facts at all ; but mythological Fablei, invented to 
 exprefs fome moral Virtues or Vices, or the Hiltor\ of 
 Nature, and Power of the Elements, &c. As likewife 
 to turn great Part of the Hiftory of the Old Teflawent 
 into Table, and make it their own, for they diidained 
 to borrow from the "Jews. They made Gods of Men, 
 and the moftqmrinw too : Infomuch that fome of their 
 wife Men thought it a Corruption of Youth, to read 
 the Hijtory of their Gods, whom they reprefented as no- 
 torious Liars, Thieves, Adulterers, &C, though they had 
 fome Mythology hid under all that. 
 
 And as Men were their Gods, fo they made the f.rfl 
 Man to be Father of the Gods, and called him Saturn ; 
 not begot by any Man, but the Son of Calm and Vefta, 
 that is, of Heaven and Earth. And his maiming his 
 Father with a ftcel Scythe, was to fhew how Heaven it- 
 felf is impaired by Time, whom they painted with 
 Wings, and a Scythe mowing down all Things. And Sa- 
 turn eating up his own Children, was only to exprefs 
 how Time devours all its own Produftions. And his 
 being depofed by Jupiter his Son, (hews, That Time, 
 which wears away all other Things, is worn away it- 
 felf atlaft. 
 
 Several of the Heathen Authors have given as the 
 Mytholcgy of their Gods, with which I will not detain 
 you. 
 
 They expreJfeJ every thing, and ivorfliped every 
 thing, under the Name of a God; as the God of Sleep, 
 of Mujtfk, of Eloquence, of Hunting, Drinking, Lcn;e, 
 War, &c. They had above Thirty thoujhnd of them. 
 And in what they told of them, and as they defcribed 
 them, they often traced the facred Story. 
 
 Ovid begins his Mftamcrphofes . ith a perfect Poetical 
 Verfion of the Beginning of Gere/is, Ante Mare & Ter- 
 ras Then goes on with the Hiitory of the Crea- 
 tion ', the Formation of Man out of the Daft of the 
 Earth, and his being made after the Image of Gcd, and 
 to have Dominion over the inferior Creatures. Then 
 he tells of the general Corruption, and the Giants be- 
 fore the Flood, when the Earth was filled with Violence ; 
 H 2 for
 
 [9* ] 
 
 for which all Mankind, with the BeaJIs and the Fmvl, 
 were deftroyed by the univerfal Deluge ; except only 
 Deucalion and Pyrrha his Wife, who were faved in a 
 Beat, which landed them on the Top of Mount Par- 
 ra jfits ; and that from thefe two the whole Earth was 
 reptopled. I think it will be needlefs to detain the 
 Reader with an Application of this to the Hiftory of 
 the Creation fet down by Mo/es, of the Flood, and the 
 Ark wherein Noah was faved, and the Earth repeopled 
 by him, &c. 
 
 And Noah was plainly intended likewife in their 
 God 'Janus, with his two Faces ; one old, looking back- 
 ward to the old World that was deftroyed; the other 
 young, looking forward to the new World that was to 
 fpring from him. 
 
 So that even their torniag the Sacred Hiftory into 
 Fable, is a Confirmation of it. And there can be no 
 Comparifon betwixt the Truth of ths Fafis, fo at- 
 tefted as I have ftvewed, and the Fables that were made 
 from them. 
 
 (3.) Laftly, as to the Mahometan Religion, it want? 
 all the Evidences we have mentioned : For there was no 
 Miracle faid to be done by Mahomet publicly, and in 
 the Face of the World, but that only of conquering 
 with, the Sword. Who faw his Mefra, or Journey from 
 Mecca to Jerttfulem, and thence to Heaven, in one Night, 
 and back in Bed with his Wife in the Morning ? Who 
 was prefent and heard the Converfation the Mocn had 
 with him in his Cave ? It is not faid there was any 
 Witnefs. And the Alcoran, c. vi. excufes his not work- 
 ing any Miracles to prove his Mijfian. They fay, 
 that Mofes and Cbrift came to (hew the Clemency and 
 Goodnefs of God, to which- Miracles were neceiTary ; 
 bat that Mahomet came to fhew the Power of Goet, 
 to which no Miracle was needful but that of the 
 Sword* 
 
 (j.) And his Alcoran is a Rbafcfody of Stuff without 
 Head or Tail, one would think wrote by a Madman, 
 with ridiculous Titles, as the Chapter of the Cmu, of 
 the Spidtr, &e. 
 
 And
 
 [93 ] 
 
 And their Legends are much more fenfelefs than thofe 
 of the Papifis ; as of an Angel, the Diftance betwixt 
 whofe two Hands is feventy thoufand Days Journey. 
 Of a CrwV-J&Wwidt Horns which have forty thoufand 
 Knots, and forty Days Journey betwixt each Knot. And 
 others which have feventy Mouths, and every Mouth 
 feventy Tongues, and each Tongue praifes God feventy 
 Times a Day, in feventy different Idioms. And of Wax 
 Candles before the Throne of Go./, which are ffty Years 
 Journey from one End to the other. The Alcoran fays, 
 the Earth was created in /oca Days, and is fupported 
 by an O.r which {lands under it, upon a ii-hite Stone, 
 with his Head to the Eaji, and his Tail to the Weft, 
 having forty Horns, and as great a Diftance betwixt 
 every Horn as a Man could walk in a thoufand Years 
 Time. 
 
 Then their Defcription tf Heaven, in a full Enjoy- 
 ment of Wine, Women, and other like grofs fenfual 
 Pleafures. 
 
 (2.) When you compare this with our Holy Scriptures^ 
 you will need no Argument to make you fee the Differ- 
 ence. The Heathen Orators have admired tiiefublime 
 of the Stile of our Scriptures. No Writing in the World 
 comes near it, even with all the Difadvantage of our 
 TranJJation ; which, being obliged to be literal, mufl lofe 
 much of the Beauty of it. The Plainnefs and Suc- 
 cinflntfi of the hijiorical Part, the Melody of the P/a/ms, 
 the Inftritftion of the Proverbs, the Majejiy of the Pro- 
 phets, and, above all, that eafy Svceetnefs in the New 
 Teftament, where the Glory of Heaven is fet forth in a 
 grave and moving Expreffion, which yet reaches not 
 the Height of the SubjeS ; not like the Flights of Rheto- 
 ric, which fet out _/5W/ Matters in mtf Words. But 
 the //o/H Scriptures touch the //^r/, raife Expectation, 
 confirm our Faith, give /Wrc of Confcitnce, and Jty in 
 the #o/y Ghofl, which is inexprejfible. All which you 
 will experience when you once come to believe : You 
 will then bring forth thefe Fruits of the 'Spirit, when 
 you receive the Word \\'vh pure Jfeclion, as we pray 
 in our Litany. 
 
 (3-)
 
 [94] 
 
 ($.} But, Si&, if there is Truth in the Alcoran, then 
 the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God; for the Alcoran 
 fays fo, and that it was fent to confrm them, even the 
 Scriptures of both the Old and Netu Tejtament. And it 
 exprefly owns our Jefas to be the MeJJtah. At the End 
 of the fourth Chap, it has laefe Words, The Mejfiah, 
 JefiiSy the Son of Mary, is a Prophet, and an Angel of 
 Cod, bis Word, and his Spirit, -which he fent to Mary. But 
 it gives him not the Name of Son of God, for this 
 wife Reafon, Chap. vi. How /ball God ha<ve a Son, who 
 bath no Wives ? Yet it owns Jefus to be born of a 
 pure Virgin, without a Man, by the Operation of 
 the Spirit of God. And in the fame Chapter, this Ma- 
 homet acknowleges his own Ignorance, and fays, / 
 told you not that I had in my Ponder all the Treafures of 
 God-, neither that 1 had Knoiulege of the future and faff ; 
 nor do ajffirm that I am an /fngel. I only aft what bath 
 keen infpired into me. Is the Blind like him that fcetb clear- 
 ly ? And after fays, 1 am not your Tutor. Every thing 
 hath its Time. Ton Jhall hereafter under ft and the Truth. 
 
 This is putting off, and bidding them expect fome 
 other after Mahomet. But our Jefus faid, he was our 
 Tutor and Teacher, and that there was none to come 
 after him. Mahomet faid, he was no Angel t but that 
 Jefus was an Angel of God: Lut when God bringeth 
 Jefus into the World, he faith, Let all the Angsh of 
 God ivorflnp him, Heb. i. 6. And he made him Lord 
 of all the Angels. Mahomet knew not what was pait, 
 or to come : But our Jefus knew all things, and 
 what was in the Heart of every Man (Joh. ii. 24, 25.) 
 which none can do but God only, i Kin. viii. 39. And 
 foretold Things to come to the End of the World'. 
 Mahomet had not all the Treafures of God; but in Jfjus 
 are hid all the Treafures of Wifdom and Ktioivlege. For 
 in him dwelleth all tht Fulnefs of the Godhead bodily, 
 Col. ii. 3, 9. 
 
 Again, Mahomet never called him felf the Mejfiah, or 
 the Word, or Spirit of God; yet all thcfe Appellations 
 he gives to our Jefus. 
 
 The:0
 
 [ 953 
 
 There were Prophetic* of Jtfm, which we have Teen; 
 Were there any of Mahomet? None, except of th 
 falfe ChrijJs, andfalfe Prophets, which Jefiu told Ihould 
 come after him ; and bid us beware of them, for that 
 they Ihould dccswe many, 
 
 (4.) PE. But \{ Mahomet gave thus the Preference 
 to Cbriji in every thing, and faid that his Alcoran was 
 only a Confirmation of the GoJ'pel, how came he to fet 
 it up againft the Gofpel, and to reckon the Chrijliam 
 among the Unbelievers ? 
 
 CHR. No otherwife than as other Heretics did, who 
 called themfelves the only true CbriJUans, and invented 
 new Interpretations of the Scriptures. The Socixjans 
 now charge whole Chrijiianity with Apojiaey, Idolatry, 
 and Polytheifm : And the Alcoran is but a Syfiem of the 
 old Arianifm ill-digefted, and worfe put together, with 
 a Mixture of fome Hatbemfm and Judaifm. For Ma- 
 homet's Father was an Heathen, his Mother a Jeiuefe, 
 and his Tutor was Sergius the Monk, a Nejloriau ; which 
 &># was a Branch of Arianifm. Thefe, crudely mixed, 
 made up the Farrago of the Alcoran ; but the prevail- 
 ing Part was Arianifm : And where that fpread itfelf 
 in the Eajl, there Mabomttifm fucceeded, and fprung 
 out of it; to let all Chrijlians fee the Horror of that 
 Hcrejy ! And our Socinians now among us, who call 
 themfelves Unitarians, are nuch more Mahometans than 
 CbriJIians. For, except fome ferfonal Things as t& 
 Mahomet, they agree almoft wholly in his Do&ripe j 
 and, as fuch, addrefTed themfelves to the Morocco- 
 AmbaJJador here, in the Reign of King Charlts II. 
 Nor do they fpeak more honourably of Ckriji, and 
 the Holy Scriptures, than the Alcoran does. And 
 there is no terror concerning Chrift in the Alcoran, 
 but what was broached before by the Heretics of 
 Chrijlianity ; as that Chrift did not fuffer really, but 
 in Appearance only ; or that fome other was cruci- 
 J!ed\n his Stead, but he taken up into Heaven, as the 
 Alcoran fpeaks. So that, in Stri&nefs, I mould not 
 have reckoned Mahomet ifm as one of the four Rcligittu 
 in the Wtrld, but as one of the Herefas of Chriftianity. 
 
 But
 
 But becaufe of its great Name, and its having fpread 
 fo far in the World, by the Conquefts of Mahomet, and 
 his Followers, and that it is vulgarly underftood to be 
 a diftindl Religion by itfelf, therefore I have confidered 
 it as fuch. 
 
 And as to your Concern in the Matter, you fee plain- 
 ly, that the Alcoran comes in Attejtation and Confir- 
 mation of the Faffs of Chrift, and of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 DE. I am not come yet fo far as to enter into the 
 Difputes of the feveral Sefii of Cbrijlianity. But as to 
 the Fafi of Chriji, andlof the Scriptures in general, Ma- 
 hometifm I fee does rather confirm than oppofe it. 
 
 CHR. What then do you think of Judaifm, as it 
 now (lands in Oppofition to Cbrijlianity ? 
 
 DE. Not only as without any Evidence, the Time 
 prophefied of for the Coming of the MeJJiah being long 
 fince paft ; but all their former Evidences turn diredly 
 againft them, and againft any MeJ/iah whoever here- 
 after mould come. As that the Sceptre mould not de- 
 part from "Judah ; that he mould come into the fecond 
 Temple ; that the Sacrifices mould ccafe foon after his 
 Death ; that David mould never want a Son to fit up- 
 on his Throne ; that they fhould be many Days with- 
 out a King, and without a Prince, and without a Sa- 
 crifice, &c. which they do not fuppofe ever will be the 
 Cafe after their MeJJiah is come : So that they are Wit- 
 nejfes againft them/elves. 
 
 CHR. And what do you think of the Stories of the 
 Heathen Gods ? 
 
 DE. I believe them no more than all the Stories ire 
 Ovid's Metamorphofes* Nor did the wifer Heathen be- 
 lieve them ; only fuchjt/fy People as fuck in all the Po- 
 fijh Legends without examining. And to tell you the 
 Truth, I thought the fame of all the Stories in your 
 Bibk. But I will take time to examine thofe Proofs 
 you have given me. For we Delfts do not difpute 
 againft Chriftianity, in behalf of any other Religion, of 
 the Jews, or Heathens, or Mahometans, all which pre- 
 tend to Revelation ; but we are againft all Revelation \ 
 4 and
 
 [ 97 ] 
 
 and go only upon bare Nature, and what our own 
 Reafon dictates to us. 
 
 (i .) CHR. What Nature di&ates, it diclates to all ; at 
 leaft to the mojl and the Generality of Mankind. And if 
 we meafure by this, then it will appear a natural No- 
 tion, that there is Neceffity of Revelation in Religion. 
 And herein you have all the World againft you from 
 the very Beginning : And will you plead Nature againft 
 all thefe ? 
 
 DE. The Notion came down from one to another, 
 from the Beginning, we know not how. 
 
 CH R . Then it was either Nature from the Beginning ; 
 or elfe, it was from Revelation at the Beginning; whence 
 the Notion has defcended through all Pofterities to this 
 Day. 
 
 (2.) And there wants not Reafon for this. For when 
 Man had fallen, and his Reajon was corrupted (as we 
 feel it upon us to this Day, as fenfibly as the Difcafes 
 and Infirmitiej of the Body), was it not highly reafon- 
 able that God fhould give us a Law and Direftions how 
 \.Q ferve and wor/hip him ? Sacrifices do not fcem to be 
 any natural Invention. For why fliould taking away 
 the Life of my Fellow-creature be acceptable to GoJ, o'r 
 a Worjhip of him ? It would rather feem an Office 
 againft him : But as Types of the great and only Propi- 
 tiatory Sacrifice of Cbrijl to come ; and to keep up our 
 Faith in that, the Injiitution given with the Revelation 
 of it appears moll rational. And that it was necejjary t 
 the great Defection (hews, not only of the Heathens, but 
 of the Jews themfelves ; who, though they retained 
 the Injlituthn, yet in a great meafure loll the true 
 Meaning and Sigxif.cation of it ; and are now to be 
 brought back to it, by reminding them of the Injlitu- 
 tiorr t and the Rsafon of it. 
 
 Plato, in his Altibiad. ii. a'e Prtcat. has the fame Re?.- 
 foning; and concludes, that we cannot know ofour- 
 Iclves what Petitions will be pleafing to God, or what 
 Worfhip to give him ; but that it is necefl'ary a Law- 
 giver mould be fent from Heaven to inftruft us. And 
 i'uch an one he did expccl. And bsv: greatly do I dejire 
 I tr
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 to fee that Man ! fays he. And who is he ? The pri- 
 mitive Tradition of the expefted Mejjiab had no doubt 
 come to him, as to many others of the Heathen, from 
 the Jews ; and likely from the Perufal of their Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 For Plato goes further, and fays (de Leg. 1. 4.), 
 That this Lawgiver muft be more than Man. For he 
 obferves that every Nature is governed by another Nature 
 that \sfuferiorto it; as Birds and Tieajls by Man, who is 
 of a diftin& andfupe>ior Nature. So he infers, that this 
 Lawgiver, who was to teach Man what Man could not 
 know by his own Nature, muft be of a Nature that is 
 fupcrior to Man, that is, of a divine Nature. 
 
 Nay, he gives as lively a Defcription of the Perfon, 
 Qualifications, Life, and Death of this Divine Man, as 
 if he had copied the liii. of Ifaiah : For he fays (de 
 Repub. 1. 2.), that this juft Perfon muft be poor, and, 
 void of all Recommendations but that of Virtue alone : 
 That a wicked World would not bear his bijlruflions and 
 Reproof ; and therefore, within three or four Years after 
 he began to preach, he mould be perfecuted, imprifoned, 
 fcourged, and at laft put to Death. His Word is 
 'Afa<^/c<^t/AfvWcrT<*/, that is, cut in pieces, as they cut 
 their Sacrifices. 
 
 DE. Thefe are remarkable PafTages, as you apply 
 them. And Plato was three hundred Years before Chriji. 
 But J incline to think that thefe Notions came rather 
 from fuch Tradition as you fpeak of, than from Nature. 
 And I can fee nothing of Nature in Sacrifices ; they look 
 more like Injlitution, come that how it will. 
 
 (3.) CHR. It is (trange, that all the Nations, in the 
 World fhould be carried away from what you call Na- 
 ture. Unlefs you will take Refuge among the Hot- 
 tentots at the Cape of Good Hope, hardly diftmguifhable 
 from BeaJIs, to fhew us what Nmure left to itfelf would 
 do ! and leave us all the wifMmd polite World on the 
 Side of Revelation, either reafor prttendtd ; and of Opi- 
 nion that Mankind could not be without it. And my 
 Bufinefs now with you has been to diftinguifh the real 
 Horn the fretendid. 
 
 (4-)
 
 [ 99 1 
 
 (4-) DE. By the Account you have given, there ts 
 but one Religion in the World, nor ever was. For the 
 Jt-^ijk was but Cbriftianity in Type, though in time 
 greatly corrupted: And the Heathen was a greater Cor- 
 ruption, and founded the Fables of their Gods upon the 
 Fatfs of Scripture : And the Mahometan, you fay, is 
 but a Herefy of Cbriftianity. So that all is Chriftianity 
 toll. 
 
 CHR. It is true, Go^/gave but one Revelation to the 
 World, which was that of Cbrift : And as that was 
 corrupted, new Revelations were pretended. ButGWhas 
 guarded his Revelations with fuch Evidences, as it was 
 not in the Power of Mr or Devils to counterfeit, or con- 
 trive any-thing like them. Some bear Refemblance in 
 one or two Features, in the firlt tivo or three Evidences 
 that I have produced ; but as none reach the fourth, 
 fo they are all quit;; deftitute of the lead Pretence to 
 the remainingyor. So that when you Jook upon the 
 Face of divine Revelation, and take it all together, it is 
 impoflible to millake it for any of thofe D flu/ions which 
 the Devil has fet up in battalion of it. And they a.\; 
 made to confirm it, becaufe all the Refemblance they have 
 to Truth, is that wherein they are any- ways like it ; but, 
 when compared with it, they fhevv as an ill- drawn 
 PicJure, half Maw, half Beaft, in Prefence of the beauti- 
 ful Original. 
 
 (5.) DE. It is ftrange, that, if the Cafe be thus 
 plain as you have made it, the whole World is not im- 
 mediately convinced. 
 
 CHR. If the Seed be never fo good, yet if it be 
 fown upon Stones, or among Thorns, it will bring forth 
 nothing. There arc Hearts of Stone ; and others fo 
 filled with the Love of Riches, with the Cares and Plea- 
 fures of this Life, that they will not fee : They have not 
 a Mind to know any-thing which they think would 
 diilurb them in their Eujwments, or lefien their Opinion 
 of them ; for that wouldrbe taking away fo much of 
 their Pleafure. Therefore it is no eafy Matter to per- 
 fuade Men to place their Happinefs in future Expefia- 
 tions, which is the Import of the G off el. And in prefT- 
 , J 2 ing
 
 C ioo ] 
 
 ing this, and bidding the Worldly-minded abandon their 
 beloved Vices, and telling the fatal Confequences of them, 
 \ve muft expel to meet not only with their Scorn and 
 Contempt, but their utmoft Rage and Impatience, to get 
 .rid of us, as fo many Enemies of their Lufts and Plea- 
 fures. This is the Crcfs which our Saviour prepared all 
 his Difciples to bear ; who were to fight againft Flejb 
 and Bloed, and all the Allurements of the World. And 
 it is a greater Miracle that they have had fo many Fol- 
 lowers in this, than that they have gained to them- 
 felves fo many Enemies. The World is z.ftrong Man ; 
 and till zftronger than he comes (that is, the full Per- 
 juafion of the Future State), he will keep Pofleflion. 
 And this is the Victory that overcometh the World, 
 even our Faith. But we are told alfo, that this Faith 
 is the Gift of God. For all the Evidence in the World 
 will not reach the Heart, unlefs it be prepared (like the 
 gr.od Ground) to receive the Dottrine that is taught. 
 Till then, Prejudice will create Obftinacy, which will 
 harden the Heart like a Rock ; and cry, Nonperfuadebis, 
 ttiamji perfuaferis ! I will not be perfuaded, thV I mould 
 be per haded! 
 
 You muft confider under this Head too, the many 
 that have not yet heard of the Gcfpel ': And of thofe 
 that have, the far greater Number who have not the 
 Capacity or Opportunity to examine all the Evidences of 
 Chriftianity, but take Things upon Truft, juft as they 
 are taught. And how many others are carelefs, and 
 will not be at the Pains, though they want not Capa- 
 city, to inquire into the Truth ? All thefe Cla/es will 
 include the greateft Part of Mankind. The ignorant, 
 the carelefs, the vicious, and fo the okftinate, the ambi- 
 tious, and the covetcus, whofe Minds the God of this 
 World hath blinded. 
 
 But yet, in the midft of all this Darknefs, Gcd hath 
 not left himfelf without Witnefs ; which will be appa- 
 rent to every diligent and fober Enquirer, that is w///- 
 ~ing and prepared to receive the7Va/. 
 
 (6.) Good SIR, let me afk you, though you are of 
 HO Religion, as you fay, but what you call Katural, 
 
 yet
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
 yet would you not think me very brutal, if J {hould 
 deny that ever there was fuch a Man as Alexander, or 
 Cfgfar, or that they did fuch Things ? If I fhould deny 
 all Hi/lory \ or that Homer, or Virgil, Demojihenes, or 
 Cicero, ever wrote fuch Books ; would you not think 
 me perfectly objiinate, feizcd with a Spirit of Contra- 
 ditfion, and not fit for human Converfafion ? 
 
 And yet thefe Things are of no Confequence to me. It 
 is not a Farthing as to my Inter eft t whether they are 
 true or falfe. 
 
 Will you then think yourfelf a reafonable Man, if, 
 in Matters of the greateft Importance, even your eternal 
 State, you will not believe thofe Faffs which have a 
 thoufand times more certain and indifputable Evidence ? 
 Were there any Prophecies of Ctefar or Pompey ? Were 
 there any Types of them, or public Inftitutions, appoint- 
 ed by a LOTM, to prefigure the great Things that they 
 fhould do ? Any Perfons who went before them, to 
 bear a Refemblance of thefe Things, and bid us exped 
 that great Event ? Was there a general Expectation in 
 the World of their Coming, before or at the Time when 
 they came ? And of what Confequence was their Coming, 
 to the World, or to After- Ages ? No more than a Rob- 
 bery committed a thoufand Years ago ! 
 
 Were the Greek and Roman Hijiories written by the 
 Perfons who did the Faffs, or by Eye-WitneJJes ? And, 
 for the greater Certainty, were thofe Hijiories made the 
 (landing Laiv of the Country ? Or were they any more 
 than our Holin/kead and Stow, &c. ? 
 
 Muft we believe thefe, on Pain of not being thought 
 reafynable Men ? And are we then unreafonable and cre- 
 dulous, if we believe the Faffs of the Hoiy Bible? which 
 was the (landing Law of the People to whom it was 
 given, and wrote, or dilated, by thofe who did the Faffs, 
 with publick Inflitutions appointed by them, as a perpe- 
 tual Lma to all their Generations ; and which, if the 
 Faffs had becnfaJ/e, could never have patted at the Time 
 when the Faffs were faid to be done ; nor for the fame 
 Reafon, ifthatlfoo/f had been wrote afterwards ; be- 
 caufe thefe Injiitutiow (as Circmncijion, the PaJJo r ver t 
 
 Baptifm,
 
 [ I2 J 
 
 Saptlfm, &c.) were as notorious FaRs as any ; and that 
 Book, faying they commenced from the Time that the 
 Falls were done, muft be found to befa/fe, whenever it 
 was trumpt up in After Ages, by fuch Injiitutions being 
 then known. Not like the Feafis, Games, &c. in Me- 
 mory of the Heathen Gods, which were appointed long 
 after thofe Faffs which were faid to be done : And the 
 like Injiitutions may be appointed To-morrow, in Me- 
 mory of any Faljhood faid to be done a tkoufand Years 
 ago j and fo is no Proof "at all. And though a Legend or 
 Book of Stories of Things faid to be done many Years 
 paft may be palmed upon People, yet a Book of Statutes 
 cannot, by which their Caufes are tried every Day. 
 
 Are there fuch Prophecies extant in any profane Hijlo- 
 ry fo long before the Fafis there recorded, as there are 
 in the Holy Scriptures of the Coming of the Mcfflab ? 
 
 Were there any 'Types or Forerunners of the Heathen 
 Cods, or of Mahomet ? 
 
 Is there the iike Evidence of the Truth and Sincerity 
 of the Greek and Roman Hiftorians, as of the Penmen of 
 the Holy Scriptures ? 
 
 Would thefe Hiftorians have given their Lives for the 
 'Truth of all they wrote ? 
 
 Did they tell fuch FatJs only, wherein it was impeffi- 
 ble for themfelves to be impo/edapon, or that they fhould 
 impofe upon others ? Nothing but what themfelves had 
 feen and beard, and they alfo to whom they fpoke ? 
 
 Did they expeft nothing but Perfection and Death 
 for what they related ? And were they bidden to bear 
 it patiently without Re/i/tance ? Was this the Cafe of 
 the Difciples of Mahomet, who were required to fight 
 and conquer with the .Sivord? 
 
 Did any Religion ever overcome by Suffering, but the 
 Cbriftian only ? 
 
 And did any exhibit the future State, and preach the 
 Contempt of this World, like the Cbriftian ? 
 
 DE. That's the Reafon it has prevailed fo little. 
 And yet, confidering this, it is ftrange it has prevailed 
 Co much. 
 
 (7-)
 
 [ '03 ] 
 
 ^7-) But there is one thing yet behind, wherein I 
 vould be glad to have your Opinion, becaufe I find 
 your Divines differ about it : And that is, How we 
 ihall know to diftinguifti betwixt true and falfe Mi- 
 racles. 
 
 And this is neceflary to the Subjeft we are upon. 
 For the Force of the Fafts you allege ends all in this, 
 That fuch miraculous Fadls are a fufiicient Alteration of 
 fuch Perfons being fent of God ; and, confequently, that 
 we are to believe the Doflrine which they taught. 
 
 You know we DeiJJs deny any fuch Thing as Mi' 
 racles, but reduce all to Nature: Yet, I confefs, if I 
 had feen fuch Miracles as are recorded of Mofes and of 
 Chrijt, it would have convinced me. And for the 
 Truth of them, we muft refer to the Evidences you 
 have given. But, in the mean time, if there is no 
 Rule whereby to diftinguilh betwixt true and falfe Mi- 
 racles, there is an End of all the Pains you have taken. 
 For if the Devil can work fuch Things as appear Mi- 
 racles to me, I am as much perfuaded as if they were 
 true Miracles, and wrought by God. And fo Men may 
 be deceived in trufting to Miraclet. 
 
 The common Notion of a Miracle is what exceeds 
 the Power of Nature. To which we fay, That we 
 know not the utmoft of the Power of Nature, and con- 
 fequently cannot tell what exceeds it. Nor do you pre- 
 tend to know the utmolt of the Power of Spirits, whe- 
 ther good or evil ; and how then can you tell what ex- 
 ceeds their Povjer? 
 
 I doubt not but you would have thought thofe to be 
 true Miracles which the Magicians are faid to have 
 wrought in jEgypt ; but that Mofes is faid to have 
 wrought Miracles that werefupcrior to them. 
 
 CHR. Therefore if two Powers contend for the Su- 
 periority, as here God and the Devil did, the bell Iflue 
 can be is to fee them ivr Jlle together, and then we 
 {hall foon know which is Jlrongejl '. This was the Cafe 
 of Mofes and the Magicians, of Chrijl and the Devil. 
 There was a Struggle, and Satan was plainly overcome. 
 
 I con-
 
 I confefs I know not the Power of Spirits, nor how 
 they work upon Bodies. And by the fame Reafon that 
 a Spirit can lift a Straw, he may a Mountain, and the 
 whole Earth, for aught I know ; and may do many 
 Things which would appear true Miracles to me, and 
 fo might deceive me : And all I have to truft to, in 
 this Cafe, is, the reftraining Power of God, that he 
 will not permit the Devi/ fo to do. And were it not for 
 this, I doubt not but the Devil could take away my 
 Life in an Inftant, or inflid terrible Difeafes upon me, 
 as upon Job. 
 
 And I think this Confideration is the ftrongeft Mo- 
 tive in the World to keep us in conftant Dependence up- 
 on God, that we live in the midft of fuch powerful 
 Enemies as we can by no means reftjl of ourfelves ; and 
 are in their Power every Minute, when God mail with- 
 draw his Proteclion from us. 
 
 And it is in their Power likewife to work Signs and 
 Wonders to deceive us, if God permit. And herein the 
 great Power and Goodnefs of God is manifeft, that he 
 never yet permitted the Devil to work Miracles in O/>- 
 pofition to whom he fent; except where the Remedy was 
 at Hand, and to fhew his Power the more, as in the 
 Cafe of Mofes and the Magicians, &c. 
 
 And this is further evident ; becaufe God lias, at 
 other times, and upon other Occafions, fuftered the 
 Devil to exert his Power, as to make Fire defcend upon 
 Job's Cattle, CJ>. But here was no Caufe of Religiox 
 concerned, nor any Truth of God'm Debate. 
 
 DE. But your Chrijl has foretold, Matth. xxiv. 24. 
 That falfe Chrijts, and falfe Prophets mall arife, who 
 mall mew greac Signs and Wonders, to deceive, if pof- 
 fible, the very E/eff. And it is faid, z Tbef. ii. 9. That 
 there fliall be a wicted one, whofe Coming is after the 
 Working of Satan, with all Power, and Signs, and lying 
 Wonders. And it is fuppofed, Deut. xiii. i, &c. That a 
 falfe Prophet may give a Sign or a Wonder, to draw 
 Men after falfe Gods. Here then is Sign againft Sign, 
 and Wonder againft Wonder, and which of thefe mail 
 we believe ? 
 
 CHR.
 
 CHR. The/;;/?, no doubt. For God cannot contradict 
 himfelf, nor will fhew Signs and Wonders, in Oppofi- 
 tion to that Law which he has eftabliftied by fo many 
 Signs and Wonders. Therefore in fuch a Cafe we mud 
 conclude, that God has permitted the Devil to exert his 
 Power, as againft Mofcs and drift t for the Tryal of 
 our Faith, and to mew the fuperior Power of God more 
 eminently, in overcoming all the Power of the Enemy. 
 
 But, as I faid before, we have a more fure /F<?/-<?', 
 that is, Proof, than even thefe Miracles exhibited to our 
 outward Senfes, which is the Word of Prophecy. Let then 
 any falfe Chri/t, who mall pretend to come hereafter, 
 (hew fuch a .Soo/fr as our Bible, which has been fo long 
 in the World ,the mod antient Book now extant) tefli- 
 fying of him, foretelling the Time, and all other Circum* 
 Jlances of his Coming, with his Sufferings and Death, and 
 all thefe Prophecies exaftly fulfilled in him : And till he 
 can do this, he cannot have that Evidence which our 
 Chrift has ; and he muft be ufalfe Chriji to me : And 
 all the Signs that he can fhew will be but lying Wonders, 
 10 any that is truly eftablifhed in the Chrifttan Faith. 
 
 But it may be a Tryal too ftrong for thofe carelefs 
 Ones, who will not be at the Pains to enquire into the 
 Grounds of their Religion, but take it upon Truft, as 
 they do the Fa/bions, and mind not to frame their Lives 
 according to it, but are immerfed in the World, and the 
 Plrafures of it. 
 
 (8.) And it will be a juft Judgment upon thefe, that 
 they, who fhut their Eyes againft all the clear Evidences 
 of the Gofpel, mould be given up to believe a Lye. And 
 the Reafon is given 2 Theft, ii. 12. Becaufe they bad 
 Pleafure in Unrighteoufnefs. They loved Darknefs ra- 
 ther than Light, becaufe their Deeds were ei'il, 
 
 So that I muft repeat what I faid before, That there 
 is a Preparation of the Heart (as of the Ground) to re- 
 ceive the Truth: And where the Do firing does not 
 pleafe, no E-vidence, how clear foever, will be re- 
 ceived. God cannot enter, till Mammon be difpofieffed. 
 We cannot ferve thefe two Majiers. He who has a 
 clear Sight of Htavtn, cannot value the dull Pliafuret 
 K of
 
 of this Life. And it is impoffible that he who is drown- 
 ed in Seaff f can relifh fpiritual Things. The Love of 
 this World is Enmity againft Gc^. The firft Sia was a 
 Temptation of Serfs : And the Reparation is, to open, 
 our Eyes to the Enjoyment of God. Vice clouds this Eye, 
 and makes it blind to the only true and eternal Pleafurc. 
 It is Foolijbwfi to fuch an one. 
 
 This, this, SIR, is the Remora that keeps Men from 
 Ckrifiianity. It is not Want of Evidence, but it is 
 Want of Confederation. I would not fay this to you, 
 till I had firft gone through all the Topics of Reafon 
 with you, that you might not call it Cant. But this is 
 the Truth. As David fays, To him that order etb kit 
 Converfation aright, will IJhew the Salvation of God. 
 And OUT Saviour fays, If any Man do the WillofGdd, 
 te Jhall kr.ovj of the Dodrine, whether it be of God, or 
 whether I fpeak cf myfelf. And no Man can come unto 
 me, except the Father dra-iv him. 
 
 This was the Reafon why St. John the Baptijt was 
 fent as a Forerunner to prepare the Way for Cbrift, by 
 Preaching of Repentance, to fit Men for receiving the 
 Gcfpel. And they, who repented of their Sim upon his 
 Preaching, did gladly embrace the Doflrine of Chrift. 
 But they, who would not forfake their Sins, remained 
 tbdurate, though otherwife Men of Senfe and Learning. 
 As our Saviour told the Priefts and Elders, Matth. xxi. 
 32. Jchn came unto you intheWajofRighteoufncfs, and 
 y believed him not ; but the Pub lie am and the Harlots be- 
 lieved him. And ye, when ye bad feen it, repented not 
 afterwards, that ye might believe him. And when Chrifi 
 fought toprtpareihem for his DocJrine, by telling them, 
 That they could not ferve God and Mammon, it is faid,. 
 Luke xvi. 1 4. Thatvjhen the Pharifees, who were covetous* 
 heard thefe Things, they derided him. But he inilrufted 
 them in the next Verfe (if they would have received it). 
 That what is highly efteemed amongfl Men, is Abomination 
 in the Sight of God : And inforced this with the Exam- 
 ple of the Rich Man and Lazarus : And faid, Chap, 
 xviii. 25. That it was eajter for a Camel to go through 
 the Ejtofa Needle t than for a rich Man to otter into the 
 4
 
 Kingdom of Gael. And, Chap. xiv. 33. That ivhofoever 
 he be that forfaketh not all that be bath, be cannot be my 
 Difdple. Now take this in the largeft Senfe, That he 
 who is not ready and willing \oforfake all, as if he hated 
 them, as Chrift faid, ver. 26, If any Man come to me, 
 and hate not his Father and Mother, &C. (that is, when 
 they come in Competition with any Command of Cbrijl) 
 and take not up his Crofs, andfollo-iv me, he cannot be my 
 Difcifle ; how few Difdples would he have had in this 
 Age ! Would all his Miracles perfuade fome to this ? 
 The World is too hard for Heaven with moft Men ! 
 
 Here is the Caufe of Infidelity. The Love of the 
 World, the Lufi of the Flejh, the Luft of the Eyes, and 
 the Pride of Life, darken the Heart, and, like Shutters, 
 keep out the Light of Heaven: Till they are removed, 
 the Light cannot enter : The Spirit of Purity and Ho- 
 linefs will not defcend into an Heart full of all Un- 
 cleannefs. If we would invite this Guejl, we muft/w 
 the Htufe, and make it clean. 
 
 But this too is of God : For he only can make a clean 
 Heart, and renew a right Spirit within us. But he has 
 promifed this Wifdom to thofe who afk it, and lead a 
 godly Life. Therefore ask, and you mail have ; feek t 
 and you fhall fnd; knock, and it fkall be opened unto 
 you. But do it ardently and incejfantly, as he that 
 ftriveth for his Soul. For God is gracious and merciful r , 
 long-fujf'ering, and of great Goodnefs ; and thofe who 
 come to him in Sincerity he will in, no-wife caft out. 
 Therefore pray in Faith, nothing doubting : And what 
 you pray for (according to his Will) believe it, and you 
 fhall receive it. 
 
 To his Grace I commend you; 
 
 (9.) And with the Fulnefs of the Gentiles, O that it 
 would pleafe God to take the Veil of the Heart of the 
 Jews, and let them fee, That as they have been de- 
 ceived by many falfe Mejfiahs fince Chrijl came, fo none 
 whom they expeft hereafter can anfwer the Prophecies 
 of the Mejpab (fome of which I have named) ; and 
 
 therefore
 
 [ io8 ] 
 
 therefore no fuch can be the MeJJiah who is prophefied 
 of in their own Scriptures. 
 
 And let them fee and confider, how that fatal Curfe 
 they imprecated upon themfelves, His Blood be on us, 
 and on our Children, has cleaved unto them, beyond all 
 their former Sins, and even repeated Idolatry ; from 
 which (to fhew that this is not the Caufe of their pre- 
 fent Difperfan) they have kept themfelves free ever 
 fince ; and for which their longeft Captivity was but 
 feventy Years ; and then Prophets were fent to them, 
 to comfort them, and aflure them of a Rejlauration : 
 But now they have been about eighteen hundred Years 
 difperfed over all the Earth, without any Prophet, or 
 Profpeft of their Deliverance, that the whole World 
 might take Notice of this before unparalleled Judgment, 
 not known to any Nation that ever yet was upon the 
 Face of the Earth! So punijhed, and fo preferred for 
 "Judgment, and, I hope, at laft, for a more wonderful 
 Mercy ! For if the Cafting away of them be the Recon* 
 tiling of the World, in. hat Jhall the Receiving of them be, 
 but Life from the Dead ? For God hath concluded all in 
 Unbelief, that he might have R'erey upon all- O the 
 Depth of the Riches both of the Wifdom and Knowlfge of 
 God! HOVJ unfearchabk are his Judgments, and his Ways 
 faftfnding out ! For cf kim, and through him, and to him , 
 art alii kings. To whom be Glory for ever. Amen.
 
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