the chief stress is to be laid; and therefore I shall insist more largely on this branch of the argument, and endeavour, by the divine assistance, to prove the certainty of this great fact. You will naturally

apprehend, that I speak only of what is commonly called a moral certainty: which, though it amount not to strict demonstration, is such kind of evidence as suits past matters of fact, and is sufficient to make a candid and rational inquirer easy in his assent. But I need speak of no more; for, in many cases, such kind of evidence gives the mind as ample, and as rational a satisfaction, as it may find even in some supposed mathematical demonstration; since there it is possible, at least in a long deduction of particulars, for the most sagacious of mankind to fall into a mistake. Now, in order to settle this graud point as clearly as I can, I think it may be proper to prove,

I. That the books of the New Testament, as they are now in your hands, may be depended upon as written by the first preachers and publishers of Christianity. And,

II. That from hence it will certainly follow, that what they assert is true, and that the religion they teach brings along with it such evidences of a divine authority, as may most justly recommend it to our acceptance.

Each of these heads might furnish out matter for many volumes; but it is my business to hint at the most obvious and important thoughts, by which they may be illustrated and confirmed.

I. I am to prove to you, that the books of the

New Testament, now in your hands, were written by the first preachers and publishers of Christianity. I confine the present proof, to the books of the New Testament. Not that I think the authority of the Old to be suspected, or the use of it by any means to be despised. God forbid! It is an invaluable treasure, which demands our daily, delightful, and thankful perusal, and is capable of being defended in a manner in which I am persuaded its subtilest enemies will never be able to answer.

I now proceed to the argument, and shall advance in it by the following degrees. I shall prove,that Christianity is an ancient religion;—that there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, crucified at Jerusalem about eighteen hundred years ago;-that the first preachers of his religion wrote books, which went by the name of those that now make up the volume of our New Testament;-that they are preserved in the original to the present time;-and that the translation of them, which you have, is in the main such as may be depended upon as faithful. And then I shall have clearly made out what I proposed in this first part.

1. It is certain, that Christianity is not a new religion, but that it was maintained by great multitudes, quickly after the time in which Jesus is said to have appeared.

That there was, considerably more than sixteen hundred years ago, a body of men who went by the name of Christians, is as evident, as that a race of men was then existing in the world; nor do I know that any have been wild and confident enough to dispute it. If any should, for argument sake, ques

tion it, they might quickly be convinced, by a considerable number of Christian writers, who lived in the same, or the next age, and mention it as a thing notoriously certain, that Christianity was then of some standing in the world; some of them giving directions and exhortations to their brethren, and others forming apologies to their enemies, for which there could not otherwise have been the least foundation. We might have acquiesced in their testimony had it been alone; but it is confirmed by that of Jews and Heathens, who, by their early invectives against the Christians, do most evidently prove, that there was such a body of men in the world. The most considerable Roman historians, who lived in this age, and wrote of it, are Tacitus and Suetonius, who published their writings above sixteen hundred years ago; and they are always, and very justly, appealed to, as pregnant witnesses upon this occasion. For Tacitus assures us, "that in Nero's days," who begun his reign about twenty years after the death of Christ, "there was a vast multitude of Christians, not only in Judea, but at Rome too; against whom Nero raised a persecution, attended with such circumstances of ignominy and cruelty, as moved the compassion even of their enemies; of which number this historian evidently was. Nay, he plainly intimates, that this was not the first attempt which had been made to crush them; though this attempt was so early as we have heard.

His contemporary, Suetonius, in his more concise manner, attests the same. And Pliny, the intimate friend and correspondent of both, being employed in Trajan's time to persecute the Christians, writes an

account of them to that Emperor, which, though commonly known, must be mentioned, as it is so highly important. After having spoken very favourably of their moral charteter, he adds, "That many of both sexes, and of every age and rank, were infected with this superstition;" as he thinks fit to express it: "that it was got into the villages, as well as the cities; and that, till he begun to put the laws in execution against them, the temples of the heathen deities were almost deserted, and hardly any could be found, who would buy victims for them. It might be added, that Marcus Antoninus, who wrote a few years after Pliny, mentions the Christians as examples of a resolute and obstinate contempt of death. "And it is generally supposed, that they are the Galileans, whom Epictetus speaks of, as those whom practice had taught to despise the rage of their armed enemies."

I shall dismiss this head with observing, that it tends greatly to the confirmation of Christianity, that each of these celebrated and ancient Pagan writers, at the same time that they attest the existence of such a body of men professing it, inform us of those extreme persecutions which they underwent, in the very infancy of their religion. A fact also farther apparent, from the apologies addressed by the Christians to their persecutors, which, whatever imperfections may attend the manner in which some of them are written, appear to me some of the most valuable remains of antiquity, (the sacred records only excepted,) especially those of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Minutius Felix. This fundamental point is, then, abundantly made out, that there were

vast numbers of men, very quickly after the time when Jesus is said to have appeared upon earth, who professed his religion, and chose to endure the greatest extremities, rather than they would abandon it. From hence it will be easy to show,

2. That there was certainly such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified at Jerusalem, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor there.

It can never be imagined, that multitudes of people should take their name from Christ, and sacrifice their lives for their adherence to him, even in the same age in which he is said to have lived, if they had not been well assured there was such a person. Now, several of the authors I have mentioned, plainly assert, that the Christians were denominated from Christ; nay, Tacitus expressly adds, "that he was put to death under Pontius Pilate, who was procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius." And it is well known, that the primitive Christian apologists often appeal to the acts of Pilate, or the memoirs of his government, (which he, according to the custom of other procurators, transmitted to Rome,) as containing an account of these transactions; and as the appeal was made to those who had the command of the public records, we may assure ourselves such testimonies were then extant. But it is a fact, which our enemies never denied; they owned it, they even gloried in it, and upbraided the Christians with it. The Jews, therefore, in some of their earliest writings since those times, call Jesus by the ignominious name of " the man that was hanged or crucified," and his follow"the servants of the crucified person." And

ers,