giftrates to favour the deceit. None of thefe miracles were performed in places where they must have been the most wanted, viz. in the prefence of unbelievers; and befides, they were of fuch a nature, as could answer no good end whatever, many of them a bad one, and the reft were whimfical and ridiculous, fuch as, we cannot but think, must have been altogether unworthy of the character of the fupreme being. And yet, with refpe& even to the popish miracles, which are only pretended to have been wrought in countries in which it is highly dangerous not only to make any inquiry into them, but even to hint the leaft fufpicion of their truth; Mr. Chubb fcruples not to fay, that they are better attested than any that are said to have been wrought in the first century, that is, by Chrift and the apofties; and the philofophical Mr. Hume expreffes himself in a still ftronger manner to the fame purpose.

The pretended miracles of Apollonius Tyanaus have been set upon a level with those of Christ by Hierocles and Philoftratus among the antients, and by Mr. Blount among the moderns. I fhall therefore give a more particular account of thein:

This Apollonius was a Pythagorean philofopher, cotemporary with Chrift, and remarkable, as it is faid, for his temperance and many other virtues. It is affirmed, that he performed many miracles, particularly, transporting himself in the air from B 2

one

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

But it certainly tends to descredit 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 published, but given to this writer by the empress Julia, as fecret memoirs, without any evidence of their being genuine; and partly from the writings of Maximus Æginenfis, 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 style 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 fecret, 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 hiftory of the Evangelifts.

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

Laftly, the ftory of thefe miracles prefently died away, and the difciples of Apollonius were fo few, that there is little reafon to believe that he was, in any refpect, fo extraordinary a perfon as Philoftratus 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 contemptible art, and fent for the most eminent profeffors of it from all parts of the world; but the iffue 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 thefe 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 himfelf, or his confidents. In the tranflation of Mr. Sale, who is allowed to have been a great master of the Arabic language, and who certainly meant to give it all possible 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 Testament, 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 inan 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 Mohamm danifm 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 profefs this religion are flaves to the most abject superstition. And yet Mr. Chubb fays, that whether Mohammedanifm be a divine revelation, or not, there feems to be a plaufible pretence, arifing from the circumftance of things, to ftamp a divine character upon it.

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