and if they had not had the courage to ftand fo refolutely to the truthof what they delivered, their Miracles themselves might have become fufpected; but acting by a Divine Power, and being fupported in all their fufferings by a fupernatural conftancy and greatnefs of Mind, and being fo fuddenly changed and raifed above themfelves in all they did or fuffered, and working the fame change in others; they gave all the evidence and certainty of the [ truth of the Doctrines they taught, that it was poffible for men to give.

And as a power of working Miracles was derived from the Apoftles down upon their Difciples, fo was the fpirit of meeknefs and patience under afflictions com municated to them. And it is obfervable, that God was pleafed not to raise up any Chriftian Emperor, till above three hundred years after Chrift, that he might shew that theReligion which came from heaven, could need no human aid nor be fupprefs'd by any human force; and that he might recommend the great vertues of meeknefs and patience to the world by the examples of men as eminent for thefe, as for the Miracles they wrought, and might instruct mankind in a fuffering Religion. For to affure the world of the truth of it, he would not grant it protection from Chriftian Emperors, till moft of the Empire was

be

viii. c. f.

become Chriftian, and Christianity had diffused itself into all the known parts of the Earth. For before the laft Perfecuti

on, begun by Dioclefian, (1) the Church (1) Eufeb. flourished as much, and had the favour of Hift. lib. the Court, and of great men, in as high a degree almoft, as under Conftantine himfelf; till their Profperity caufed their fins, and these brought Perfecution. But at laft the perfecuting Emperors were forced by a divine power, manifefted in miraculous difeafes inflicted on them, to restore the Christians to their former liberty, in their worship of God; that fo it might appear to all the world, that the Chriftian Religion needed no Patronage of men; for God would compel its worft Enemies to become its Protectors, when he saw it fit. (m) So ting. And (m) when Julian made it his great aim and bufinefs to restore Paganism again in the world, he faw, to his grief,· how ineffectual all his endeavours proved ; he observed that the Chriftian Religion ftill retained a general esteem and approbation, and that the Wives and Children and Servants of his own Priests themfelves were most of them Chriftians.

zom. lib.v. c. 16.

If any one then, upon a ferious confideration of all circumftances, can withstand the conviction of fo great evidence; I would only ask him, whether he believes any Hiftory, or relation of matters of fact,

which he never faw, and defire him to fhew what degrees of certainty he can dif-, cern in any of them, which are not to be found here: and befides to confider, that if in a vicious and fubtile Age, a Doctrine fo contrary to flesh and blood, by fo weak and incompetent means, could obtain fo univerfally amongst men of all Tempers, and Profeffions, and Interefts, in all Na. tions of the world, against fo violent op pofition, without the help of Miracles; this is as great a Miracle as can be concei ved either therefore the Chriftian Religion was propagated by Miracles, or it was not; if it was, then the Miracles, by which it was propagated, prove it to be from God; if it was not propagated by Miracles, the Propagation itself is a Miracle, and fufficient to prove it to be from him.

CHAP. XVII.

Of the Writings of the Apofiles and
Evangelifts.

T is justly esteemed a fufficient reafon for the credibility of any Hiftory, if it be written by men of Integrity, men who have no fufpicion upon them of dif honefty, and have no Temptation to deceive, and who relate nothing, but of their own Times, and within their own knowledge, though the Authors never fuffered any lofs, nor run any hazard in afferting what they deliver. But the Hiftory of Chrift has this further advantage, that many of the most confiderable things in it were done in the fight of his enemies, and that which is an Hiftory, to future Ages, was rather an Appeal to that Age, whether the things related were true, or

not.

The Hiftory of our Saviour's Life and Death, and Refurrection, and Afcenfion, as it hath been proved, was attested by his Apostles, to the faces of his very Crucifiers; and they all remained upon the place, where what they witnessed had been done, for feveral years afterwards, declaring and preaching to all people, the

things which they had feen and heard.
And foon after his Afcenfion, when all the
proceedings against him, were fresh in me-
mory, they committed the fame to writing
in Greek, which was the most common lan-
guage, and generally known at that time.
St. Matthew, who firft penned his Gospel,
is faid to have written it in Hebrew or Syri-
ack, (tho it was soon after translated into
Greek) fo that whoever of the Jews did
not understand the Greek tongue, might
read the Gospel in their own Language.
Not long after the other Gospels were
penned, and they were all in a fhort time
difperfed into the feveral parts of the
world, and tranflated into all Languages.
It is particularly related, (a) that St. John's (a) Epi•
Gofpel, and the Acts of the Apostles were phan.He-
foon tranflated into the Hebrew tongue.

The Evangelifts give fuch an account
both of the Birth and Death of our Savi-
our, as muft fuppofe them recorded at Rome.
For there the cenfual Tables were kept,
where, by St. Luke's account, the name of
our Saviour must have been registered;
and his Death and Refurrection were fo
remarkable, as they relate them, that ac-
cording to the cuftom ufed in the Go-
vernment of the Roman Provinces, the
Emperor muft have a relation fent him of
them, and (as I have fhewn) both Juftin
Martyr and Tertullian appeal to the Ro-

ref, Ebion.