one place to another, and even raising the dead. He is alfo faid to have afcended into heaven, and to have appeared to the emperor Alexander.

But it certainly tends to defcredit the story, that Apollonius had been dead, or tranflated, above a hundred years before Philoftratus wrote, and that his history was compiled partly from the commentaries of one Damis, which were never publifhed, but given to this writer by the emprefs Julia, as fecret memoirs, without any evidence of their being genuine; and partly from the writings of Maximus ginenfis, and Meragenes, the former of whom only wrote a few particulars; and, according to the character given of him by Philoftratus himself, was a very fabulous and romantic writer.

· It is, indeed, faid, that there were public monuments of fome of the Miracles of Apollonius, but they are also faid to have been in diftant cities of India and Ethiopia, where no writer pretends to have found them. Some letters of Apollonius are mentioned, but Philoftratus owns that they did not relate to any of his miracles, but only to the curiofities of the countries through which he travelled.

The manner in which Philoftratus writes, gives us but a very indifferent opinion of his own character, and his ftyle is affected and extravagant, full of an oftentation of learning, and fhewing a difpofition

difpofition to exaggerate every thing that could tend to the reputation of his hero.

Many of the miracles afcribed to Apollonius were faid to have been done in secret, or before very few witneffes; fome were felf-contradictory, and others were evidently vain and foolish; and not a few of them appear to have been borrowed from the history of the Evangelifts.

The occafion of Philoftratus's writing feems to have been his defire to ingratiate himself with Julia, the wife of Severus, and with Caracalla the fuceeeding emperor, by detracting from chriftianity, to which they both had a very great aversion •

Lafly, the story of thefe miracles pref.ntly died away, and the difciples of Apollonius were fo few, that there is little reafon to believe that he was, in any respect, fo extraordinary a person as Philostratus pretended.

As to the magical rites of the heathens, nothing could be more wicked or abfurd. Nero fhewed the moft extravagant fondnefs for this odious and con temptible art, and fent for the moft eminent profeffors of it from all parts of the world; but the issue of it was his own, and a general conviction of the folly of their pretences.

The emperor Vefpafian is faid to have cured a blind and a lame man at Alexandria; and this, Mr. Hume fays, is one of the best attested miracles in all profane hiftory. But it may be eafily

collected from the accounts of the two hiftorians, who mention thefe miracles (neither of whom it is probable believed in them, and one of them evidently did not) that these extraordinary narrations were very convenient, in order to give weight to the authority of Vefpafian, who was newly made

emperor.

Mohammed himself did not pretend to any miracle, except the Koran itfelf; and that this was a divine compofition, he does not pretend to give any pofitive proof; but contents himself with appealing to its own excellence; and it was probably fuperior to the poetical compofitions of other Arabians of his time; and this it might very well be, though written by himself, or his confidents. In the tranflation of Mr. Sale, who is allowed to have been a great mafter of the Arabic language, and who certainly meant to give it all poffible advantage, it is, upon the whole, a very mean performance. The ftyle of the Koran cannot be faid to be comparable to that of many parts of the Old Teftament, which, however, was never alledged as any proof of its divinity.

It does not appear that this only pretended miracle of Mohammed gained him any followers; the propagation of his religion having been owing chiefly to the fword. Moreover, though the Mohammedan religion be very abfurd, and unnaturally harsh in fome refpects, especially in the abfo

lute

lute prohibition of wine, it flatters men with the greatest indulgence in others; every man being allowed four wives, and as many concubines as he can keep; and the future rewards of good Muffelmen are reprefented as being of a fenfual nature. The great advantage which Mohammedanism had over the corrupt chriftianity of the times in which it was published, was, that it afferted the great doctrine of the unity of God, against the Trinitarians; but, in other refpects, all who profess this religion are flaves to the most abject superstition. And yet Mr. Chubb fays, that whether Mohammedanism be a divine revelation, or not, there seems to be a plaufible pretence, arifing from the circumftance of things, to stamp a divine character upon it.

Of all the Popish miracles, those which have been afcribed to the Abbé Paris are generally allowed to be the moft credible. Mr. Hume boafts exceedingly of them, afferting that no where else can there be found fuch a number of circumstances, agreeing to the corroboration of one fact; and that nothing can be opposed to such a cloud of witneffes, but the abfolute impoffibility, or mira. culous nature of the events. He even fays, that thofe miracles may be faid, with fome appearance of reason, to furpafs thofe of Chrift in evidence and authority, Philofophical Essays, p. 198, &c. Let us now confider a few circumstances which

B 4

our

our philofopher feems to have overlooked, when he gave his judgment in this case.

At the time when thefe miracles were faid to have been performed, there was a ftrong and numerous party in France, under the conduct of very able and learned men, who were ftrongly prepoffeffed in favour of that caufe which those miracles were calculated to fupport; and on the first rumour of them, they were eagerly cried up, and confidered as the clear decifion of heaven in favour of the Janfenifts.

The character of this Abbé was fuch, as makes it highly improbable that any miracle fhould have been wrought by him, or in his favour. His whole life was a courfe of the moft abfurd and painful fuperftitions. He abridged himself even of the neceffaries of life, and was, in fact, acceffary to his own death, by refufing proper affiftance, and even better nourishment, when he was manifeftly drawing near his end, in confequence of his extreme aufterities.

By the manner in which Mr. Hume writes upon this fubject, one would imagine that these miracles had never been contradicted, and that the evidence for them had never been difputed; and yet the fact is, that they were always fufpected by moft 'perfons who heard of them; that the archbishop of Sens confidered twenty-two of them as impoftures; that the counfellor Montgeron, who un

dertook