vita Claud.

Sueton. in Claudius Cefar, as it appears more at large by the History of Suetonius. It must therefore be out of Policy that Jofephus made no mention of them and we can never fufpect him of having had a defign to conceal by his filence, thofe Impoftors which arofe amongst the Jews, becaufe he speaks of all the reft; nor to fpare the fhame and confufion of his own Nation, because he fo particularly made it his business to discover the fury and leudness of that people. Let any one throughly confider all these things, and he will then neceffarily confefs that the filence of Jofephus which was occafioned meerly by Policy, cannot but be very advantagious to our cause.

VI. But lastly, 'Tis objected there is nothing more frequent than to fee fome men endeavouring to make others believe thofe miracles as were never in being, It is very well known how ftrangely people have always been infatuated in this refpect, and what an easy matter it is to impofe Tacit.lib. 5. upon them. Tacitus relates that VefpaHiftor. cap. fian being one day at Alexandria, he healed two blind men; and that this matter of fact would have been altogether incredible, hadnot the whole Court been an eye-witness to it.

13.

We anfwer, that it is very likely Vefpafian was willing to be thought to have done fome miracles, in respect of those prophecies which feemed to promife him the Empire of the World,according to the falfe application Jofephus had made of them to his perfon. He was at first well enough pleased to see that Jew flattering him by fuch an agreeable prediction: but being fometimes after come to Alexandria, and perceiving that his concerns fuccessfully went on, he thought it behoved him to perfwade the people that he was called to the Empire by Divine Infpiration; and doubtlefs with that defign he com

manded

manded two men that counterfeited blindness to be brought unto him, on purpose to work upon them a falfe Miracle. But giving this objection a greater latitude, I answer that there are no miracles whatever but what I verily believe to be true, and which appear to me past all contradiction, if they have those ten Characters which any one may obferve in the Miracles of the Apostles. I. If they were as the former, foretold in the Ancient Oracles. II. If they are very frequent, very numerous, various, and evident. III. If the Authors of them were a fimple and difinteressed sort of people, who in all appearance had neither malice enough to have a defign to deceive, nor understanding enough to have the power to do it, nor boldness to undertake it, nor credit to maintain it. IV. If those Miracles are so try'd by the prudence and industry of the most skilful men in the World, that they not being able altogether to deny the truth of them, are obliged to refer them to feveral odd and extravagant causes. V. If there is an innumerable company of Witnesses who die, and rejoyce to die in the testimony not that they only heard of them, but that they both faw and work'd them themselves. VI. If the end of thofe Miracles is not to fatisfy mens paffions or loose defires, but to fanctify their hearts and regulate their manners. VII. If those

perfons which both testify and admit of them, seem on the one hand to aim at nothing else but their own Salvation, and that of their brethren; and on the other if they are perfwaded that their Salvation is inconfiftent with imposture and deceit. VIII. If those who testify them, proffer to do the like, if they pretend themselves able to impart any miraculous gifts to others; and if by the help of that fenfible means, and of that proof, which they call the conviction of the mind, they make greater progrefs

tha

than ever the most fortunate Conquerours did by the force of their arms. IX. If those who refufe to allow of all thefe miraculous matters of fact, muft unavoidably fall into an infinite number of felf evident contradictions, as for inftance, to believe that the wifest amongst men are the most foolish, and the most conftant the moft deceitful. X. If all those matters of fact are so strictly united to one another, that it is impoffible to own the one, without prefently granting the other too; and fo infeparably interwoven with fome other undeniable matters of fact, that cannot be called in question without utterly renouncing our Senfe and Reason. And Laftly, If they end in the Refurrection of a man, who was vainly fought for in his grave after his death, notwithstanding his Sepulchre had been fealed and furrounded with a watch; of fuch a man whom above five hundred witneffes affirm'd they had feen, and who converfed with his Difciples forty days after his Refurrection, as they unanimously teftify'd, notwithstanding all the punishments inflicted on them for the fame. The incredulous must either fhew us to be deceived, in afcribing all these Characters to the Miracles of Jefus Chrift, or else forbear making fuch comparisons.

CHAP. XVI.

Where we further examine thofe Difficulties which may be raised against our principles.

To

Hofe who regard not the Master of the Horse, doubtless will not refpect the person of his Servants. The Incredulous no doubt have many things to object against the Difciples of Jesus Christ.

They

They will ask why the number of them was fo fmall, wherefore he chose them fo poor and ignorant, fince your famous Teachers, fuch as the Pharifees amongst the Jews; the Stoicks amongst the Heathens, would have probably gained his Sect more credit and refpect: Wherefore was he attended with Pub licans and Sinners, nay even with Harlots? And Laftly, Why fhould we rather believe the teftimony of the Disciples concerning their Master, than that of thofe men whom the Jews employ'd to fignify that Jefus a Galilean was an Impoftor, and that his Difciples had taken away his Body by night from the Sepulchre wherein he had been laid. Juftin is the man who speaks of those chofen by the Synagogue to spread abroad this report, in his Dialogue against Tryphon.

It will be eafie for us not only to answer all their objections, but even to draw from them feveral very confiderable advantages to our Caufe.

For as to the First, We answer that befides the twelve Difciples, commonly called Apostles, which Jefus Chrift had chofe to himfelf in the beginning, he alfo fent feventy others, who were not only eyewitneffes to all his Actions, but also the very inftru ments he made use of to advance his Kingdom: that the truth of his Refurrection was teftify'd and feen by above five hundred brethren at once, and that the miraculous gifts which fell on the Disciples after the Afcenfion of their Mafter, and the Miracles which God wrought by their hands, had as many witneffes, as their were people that believed there preaching.

As to the fecond, we anfwer,that the choice of fuch vile contemptible inftruments as God was pleafed to make use of for the Execution of the greatest and most noble defign, is one of the most confiderable proofs that every thing here was folely tranfacted

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