and perfecuted it; yet, by what is recorded by ve ry faithful Men, I fee he could not deny but that Jefus did open the Eyes of fome blind Men, and cured others that were lame, and difpoffeffed not few that were molefted with evil Spirits; and tho' he makes light of thefe Wonders, yet to a Man that is not poffeffed with Prejudice, thofe Works will feem Divine and Supernatural; not but that Cataracts, and accidental dimnefs of the Eyes, may be redreffed by natural means; but where Men,that are born blind,are restor'd to their fight with a Word, it cannot but argue a Commiffion from Heaven. Indeed, all that faw it, profeffed, they never faw it on this fashion. There were Philofophers and Learned Men, as well as Tradefmen and Mechanicks, in the crowd of his Hearers, who, could they have found but the leaft hole for evafion, would certainly have made use of it against him; but with the exactest Obfervations they could make,they could not make the leaft fhadow of an Impofture, but were forced to confess that a mighty Prophet was rifen up amongst them.

I cannot readily comprehend, why Tiberius fhould have been fo fond, to have this Jesus afcribed into the number of the Roman gods; or why Severus fhould worship him in his Clofet, among his other Deities; or why Adrian fhould have purpofed to erect Temples, without Images, to his Honour, if they had not looked upon him as fome extraordinary person, and had not been fufficiently affured of the many wonderful works he had done. I find, the Chriftians appeal to the publick Ads and Records among the very Heathens, where

where many of the wonderful things that Jefus did were defcribed, which they durft not have done, had they not been fure, that there were fuch publick Monuments, and those things in them.

The Evangelifts (whofe Writings I have no more reafon to question, than I do the Writings of Tacitus, or Seneca, or Cicero, or Livy,they having been univerfally acknowledged to be theirs, and no Man having ever been able to confute their Relation, or to give any fatisfactory Argument why they fhould not be believed,) these Evangelifts, fome of them being Eye-witneffes, I perceive, make mention of feveral Miracles that were wrought before great multitudes of People, and certainly, fome judicious Men then living would have found it out, if there had been a cheat or juggle in't: Nay is it rational, that the Apoftles of this Jefus would, or durft, with that freedom,boldnefs,and confidence,have affirmed, afferted, and abetted, both his Refurrection, and his Miracles, in the very Metropolis of Judæa,in the City of Jerufalem, where it had been an easie matter to discover the fraud, if there had been no fuch thing? From all which I must neceffarily conclude, as Nicodemus, Joh. 3.2. Mafter, we know that thou art a Teacher come from God; for no man can do thefe Miracles that thou doeft, except God be with him.

Indeed, If I will not put a veil over my Face, and wilfully blind my felf, I muft needs conclude, That this Doctrine must be Divine, whofe Miracles were fo; nor can I fuppofe it poffible, that God would suffer that person, whom he in$ 2

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trufted with his own Power of doing Miracles, to obtrude upon the World falfe and idle Tales, or unneceffary and impertinent Doctrines, and Injunctions. I cannot conceive,why God fhould communicate to him the Power of doing Miracles, except it be to confirm the Divinity, and indifpenfible neceffity of his Doctrine and Precepts; fo that if the Works he did had a Divine Original, his Doctrine and Commands must be derived from Heaven too; elfe it would follow, that God had been very unwife in his Choice, and had exerted his Omnipotent Power to little or no purpose, only to make a fhew in the World, or to increase the Kingdom of Darkness; than which, there can nothing be imagined more abfurd, or incongruous. And tho it's true, that most Religions boaft of Miracles; and many things which are cried up for Miracles are nothing lefs; yet thefe are fo attefted, that a Man mult go against the strongest Evidence, that goes to contradict them.

If I confider the progrefs of this Gofpel, I find it's altogether Miraculous, not only because the Apostles who propagated this Doctrine had the Power of Miracles conferred on them by this Jefus, which proves him to have been in the form of God; but because in lefs than 200 years, without Force or Arms,in defpite of Sword and Fire, and the direft Torments, it fpread over all the known World. That the Mahometan Religion made a ftupendious Progrefs,after its Rife, is not denied; but he that fhall reflect on the Means whereby it enlarged its Power, viz. by Sword and Violence, by depopulating Countries,by kil

fing and murdering all that refifted, will judge it rofe from Hell, rather than came down from Heaven. But I find the Gospel spread to a Prodigy, only by Innocence and Patience; by doing Good, and fuffering Evil, the proper Arms of Heaven. No force was put upon Men, but what came from demonstration of the Spirit; and that sooo Men, in 2 or 3 days time,fhould be captivated by it,is to me as great a Wonder,as St. Peter's bidding the Lame Man take up his Bed and walk.

Ifee, how in defpite of all the Arms and Stratagems the Devil could invent to top its progrefs, in despite of all the endeavours of Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Decius, Dioclefian, to root it out,it mock'd their rage and fury. I find how the blood of Martyrs, that was fpilt this day, broughtforth a greater number of Confeffors the next; and multitudes of Chriftians, that were facrificed this week, were feconded by a greater Army in a few days after, and Men feemed to glory in being defigned for Death, and ferving as Apprentices of Martyrdom; and tho' here and there a Mahometan may die for his Religion, yet fuch a number of Martyrs no Religion can fhew: And what can I think of fo many Myriads of Men, that being offered Eafe, Plenty, Riches, Honours, Preferments, defpifed them all, and would fuffer the most exquisite Tortures, which the Executioners themfelves trembled at, and which made the very Heathen blush, (fo great was the Inhumanity,) rather than deny that Doctrine, which they had upon indubitable Teftimonies received as Divine? What can I think, I fay, of thefe Men but that S 3

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they had fufficiently fearched into the Truth of this Gofpel; and were moft certainly affured, that it was the Word and Will of God; and that this Jefus would most certainly fullfil his Promifes to them, and give them eternal Life, if they could be content to lofe their Lives on Earth for his fake; That fo many Hundred thousand Men, many of them Learned, and Wife, and of Noble Blood, and ingenious Education, should throw away their Lives in a Humour, without very good ground that what they believed was really Divine, and could not be fo, is a thing fo incredible, that those who can think fo, difcover themselves to be the most credulous Dunces in the World.

I read, how in and about Christ's time,either just before his coming, or fhortly after his departing out of this World, by confeffion of the Heathens themfelves (for Porphyrius, as bitter an Enemy as ever Chriftianity had among Philofophers, acknowledges fo much) the Hea then Oracles, and the Voices of Devils, ceafed. And can I think, the Devil would have left deluding the World, by his ambiguous Oracles, gone off of the Stage voluntarily and quietly,except he had been forced and compelled to it by this prodigious Perfon, whom God fent into the World to reveal his Glory? Certainly it could not be one that was mere Man, whom thefe Evil Spirits would have veiled and bowed to; without he had been more than Man, they would have difputed their Power, and maintained their Poffeffion, and defended their Univerfal

Empire,