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promise himself from them. St. Luke, a Phyfician by his profeffion, left an employment both of Honour and Advantage, and the reft loft all they had, and can any man lofe inore? All of them left an honest and fecure livelihood, and exposed themfelves to the hatred and contempt of all their nearest Friends and Relations, whofe love and esteem, both by nature and education, they must be enclined most to defire and they became obnoxious to all the affronts, and outrage, and torments, which a furious zeal could inflict upon them. All which was no new or unexpected thing to them; they faw what their Mafter had fuffered, and could hope to fare no better than he had done. They T were often forewarned by Chrift long before hand. what muft befal them, they were told that they must take up their Crofs and follow him, and could be his Difciples upon no eafier terms. He had fet forth the reception which they must expect to meet with in the world, juft in the fame manner as they found it, under the most frightful appearance that words cou'd reprefent. And this they foon found as punctually true, as all the reft that he had punctually true, as foretold to them: but though they found it fo, and fometimes were difmiffed witha fevere charge to defift from preaching the Gospel, and at other times cfcaped, and

had

1

had an opportunity give a them to avoid any further danger by preaching it; they ever perfevered in it with the greatest zeal and conftancy, defipifing all dangers, andall forts of torments and deaths, and glorying ftill and rejo ycing, that they fuffered in fo good a Caufe; and at last they fealed their Doctrine with theirBlood.

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St. Paul was in great reputation with the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharifees before his converfion, and was employed by them in perfecuting the Church, and as often as he appeared before them they had nothing to accufe him of but his profeffion of a Religion, which obliges all men to the strictest juftice and holinefs. If the Apostles had not been the best, they must have been the worst of men for impofing upon the world, under the presence of a Divine Miffion and Authority and yet this they must do with no other defign, but to promote virtue and holiness; whicha no ill man could defign, to his own certain lofs and destruction in this world and the next; and the lefs men believe of the next world, the more fond they are to make fure of this.

Ambition, and a defire of Fame, and a Name after Death, rarely happens to men of obfcure Birth and mean Education; and it was naturally impoffible, that it should now befal fo many of them, without any ground or reafon to expect it, when in all

⚫ humane

humáne confideration they had a certain profpect of nothing but infamy after death, as well as of difgrace, and want and torment, during their lives. And no man could refolve upon attefting any thing on fuch terms, unless he had been abfolutely certain ofthe Truth of it, much less could fo many fet upon fuch a defign together: for as they could have no arguments to perfwade one another to enter upon fuch an Attempt, fo if they had once confpir'd in it, they would foon have deferted and discovered each other, when they lay under all the disadvantages and difficulties imaginable, and had nothing to fupport and unite them, but the truth and reality of what they delivered. And it is further obfervable, that in the firft Ages of the - Church, and the nearer Christians were to the Apostles, the more zealous they were to live according to the Gospel of Christ, and to die in defence of it: for they had then greater opportunities of informing.. themselves of the Impofture, if there had been any, and had therefore the greater means of being certified that there was none. And men of great parts and Accomplishments, fuch as Sergius Paulus, Governour of Cyprus, Dionyfius the Areopa gite, Justin Martyr, Tertullian and others, who were inquifitive men, and able to make a true judgment of things, upon a

full

full examination of all particulars, be came early Converts to the Christian Re1 ligion.

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II. There are peculiar marks of fincerity in all the writings of the Apostles and Evangelifts. They were not ambitious of being known to the world by their writings but wrote only as they were (a) by neceffity drawn to it, for the further pro Eccle.hift. (a) Eufeb. pagation of the Gospel. And upon all lib. iii, 3o occafions they declare their own frailties and faults, and many times fuch as could never have been known but from themfelyes. St. Matthew had spent the former part of his Life in no very creditable em ployment, but among Publicans and Sinners, as he lays himself: for he leaves recorded to all Pofterity, the cenfure of his own Life, faying, that he fat at the receit of custom, Matt. ix. 9, 10 and ftiling himfelf Matthew the Publican, Matt. x. 3. Eu febius obferves that none of the other Evangelifts have mentioned a thing fo reproachful of him, as his having been a Publican, but St Matthew only has written it of himself. For it was the opinion not (6) Eufeb. only of Eufebius, (b) but of Origen, and of lib. iii.c.is Heracleon, that St. Matthew and Levi men- Orig. contioned, Mark ii. 14. Luke v. 27. were two i. Heracl different perfons; and Grotius is of the apudClem. fame opinion. Or if Matthew and Levi Alex. ftre. were the fame perfon, St. Mark writes,

Demonftr.

traCelflib.

lib.4.Grot. ad Matt. that ix. 9.

a.lv. Marc.

lib 17. c.5.

that Jefus fat at meat in Levi's house; and St. Luke, that Levi made him a great Feaft in his own house; but St. Matthem faysonly, as Jefus fat at meat in the house, not mentioning in whofe house, though he omits nothing that the others fet down, but the mention of his own Hofpitality.

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In St. Mark's Gofpel, (c) which was (+)Tertull. written from the account, that that Evangelift had from St. Peter, when St. Peter anfwered our Saviour, that he was the Chrift, no further is faid of our Saviour's reply, but that he charged them that they should tell no man of him, Mark viii. 30. St. Peter, omitting that honourable character given him by our Saviour, and the Power of the Keys bestowed upon that ⚫ occafion, which is at large related by St. Matthew, Mat. xvi. 16. But immediately after St. Peter's behaviour towards. our Saviour is fully related; which was fo unfeemly, as that he began even to rebuke Christ for speaking of his fufferings, and extorted that fevere rebuke from meeknefs itself, Get thee behind me, Satan. This St. Peter has left written of himself by St. Mark, who wrote by the approbation and direction of St. Peter; but the honourable part is past over in filence, though belonging to the fame time and place. So again, the Denial of St. Peter is related in all its circumftances of aggravation, by

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St.

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