tian, who have likewife related a number of circumstances attending them, we have the fame evidence for these perfecutions, as for any hiftorical fact whatever only the atteftations concerning them, contrary to what ordinarily happens, are cleareft and moft authentic in behalf of the more ancient perfecutions. This circumftance merits attention, because the argument for the truth of the gospelhiftory, taken from the fufferings of the Chriftians in ancient times, chiefly depends on the evils to which the witneffes of the apostles miracles expofed themselves by receiving the gofpel-hiftory. The miracles they faw the apoftles perform, and which they were enabled to perform themselves, left them no room to doubt of the truth of what the apostles reported concerning the Lord Jesus. The evils to which they expofed themselves by their belief of these reports, and the fufferings which they actually underwent rather than renounce this their belief, ought to convince us, that the miracles by which they were perfuaded were neither illufions nor forgeries. But to ilJuftrate this more fully, fhall be the purpose of the following section.

SECT. III.

The truth of the Gospel-biftery proved from the converfion of the world to Christianity.

THE Chriftian records tell us, that the Apoftles and Evangelifts, who went about into all countries preaching the hiftory of Jefus, addreffed the inhabitants of every country immediately upon their firft arrival, being enabled fo to do by the gift of tongues which their Mafter conferred upon them. The fame records affure us, that these men proved the truth of their reports concerning Jefus, by perform. ing every where many miracles, and by fpeaking all manner of languages without having previously learned them. They inform us alfo of a fact ftill more extraordinary; namely, that the Apostles, according to their Master's promife, communicated to those who believed, a power of working the like miracles with themfelves, and of fpeaking with tongues; than which a greater or more illuftrious proof both of their own and of their Master's miracles, and of the truth of Chriftianity in general, could not be wifhed for; a proof which, were it offered to the moft obftinate oppofers of Christianity now-a-days, they will acknowledge they could not poffibly refift. Of the miraculous evidence wherewith the Gofpel-hiftory is faid in the Chriftian records to have been attended, we have clear proofs in the letters of the Apoftles to the particular churches; for there we find the many wonderful things which thefe men performed, in presence of their converts, and the miraculous gifts which they had conferred on them, openly appealed to, as matters univerfally known and acknowledged. For inftance, Paul, writing to the Romans, fays, chap. i. II. "For I long to fee you, that I may * impart unto you fome fpiritual gift, to the end you may be efta

blifhed,"

"blifhed."-So likewife to the church at Corinth: 2 Cor. xii. 12. "Truly the figns of an Apoftle were wrought among you in all "patience, in figns and wonders and mighty deeds. 13. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches ?"And to the churches of Galatia: Gal. iii. 2. "Received ye the fpirit by the "works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?-5. He therefore "that miniftereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among "you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of "faith?" Thefe are exprefs appeals to the miracles which Paul wrought in the prefence of his converts, and to the miraculous gifts which he bestowed upon them. If the reader defires farther fatis-. faction on this head, let him look into the twelfth and fourteenth chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which are wholly fpent in giving directions about the exercife of the gifts bestowed on that church by Paul. Nor were the miraculous gifts peculiar to the Corinthians. All the churches without exception enjoyed them; for he declares, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. that he gave to all the churches the fame rules for the exercife of them. If these things were wholly fictitious; if the churches had feen no miracles performed by the Apoftles; if they received from them no gifts of the Holy Ghoft; would these men have had the impudence thus to have addreffed their converts every where? Or though no fuch addreffes had been made perfonally, would the letters, which afferted that they actually were made, have gained the leaft credit? A proof of this kind, which contains in it fo many others, muft certainly be fuperior to all fufpicion. Indeed, if we fhall treat the miracles, whereof each church was the witnefs, as fables, it is not the teftimony of the Apoftles alone that we reject, but the depofitions, so to speak, of the whole world.

;

But my defign at prefent is to prove the truth of the Gospel-history, and of the miraculous evidence wherewith it was accompanied by the reception which this hiftory met with in the first ages. It was no fooner preached, that Jefus of Nazareth arofe from the dead, than thousands every where believed the wonderful relation; notwithftanding by fo doing they expofed themfelves to all manner of perfonal fufferings, as well as to the lofs of their goods. Now we affirm, that to entertain a belief of this kind, which drew along with it fuch confequences, mankind could not poffibly have been perfuaded by any arguments inferior to thofe above mentioned. My meaning is, the Heathens in Greece, Italy, Afia Minor, and other countries, never would have believed the reports concerning the miracles of Jefus, and concerning his refurrection from the dead, unlefs the men who told them these things had wrought in their prefence miracles equal to those which they reported of their Master, and had communicated to their converts the power of working the like miracles. By the converfion of the world, therefore, the miracles which the Apoftles wrought, and the miraculous powers which they beftowed upon their converts, and of confequence the truth of the Gospel- · history, is raised above all exception. Now, though this argument

be quite conclufive, even in the general manner wherein I have stated it, its importance makes it worthy of a nearer confideration and the rather that, as we approach, the converfion of the world fhews itself a much grander object than it appeared at a distance. It confifts of a variety of parts: thefe parts are adorned with numerous circumftances and the whole unite in prefenting a conclufion or general view of the moft ftriking kind; a conclufion which cannot fail to leave a lafting impreffion; a conclufion, therefore, which muft produce fuch a belief of the Gofpel-history as nothing can efface.

To form, however, a proper judgment of the converfion of the world, and of its circumftances, confidered as an argument for proving the truth of the miracles of the Apoftles, and by confequence the truth of the whole gofpel-history, the following particulars must be carefully weighed in the balance of unprejudiced reafon.

1. When the Gofpel was propofed to mankind, they were not without religion, as was the cafe when the different forms of Gentilifm were first introduced. I mention this to fhew, that the ready reception which Chriftianity met with in all countries did not proceed from its being the firft religion that was offered to rude and uncultivated nations; fo that the paffion for religion natural to the human mind, having no other object at hand, readily embraced this, and for its fake men received the ftrange hiftory on which it was founded, without any examination. In every country, there was already a religion established by law, patronifed by the rulers, and practifed by the people. In many places, but efpecially in the Leffer Afia, Greece, and Italy, Gentilifm was exquifitely adapted to the tafte of the vulgar, by the magnificence of its temples and the splendor of the ceremonies. Judaifm too gloried in the fame advantages; not to mention that it in particular really enjoyed the great honour which many of the others falfely claimed, namely, of being a religion from heaven. Moreover, in Heathenifm there was nothing that could have the leaft influence to prepare the minds of its votaries for the reception of Chriftianity, but rather every thing to alienate them from it. For it is well known, that there was the most direct oppofition between all the different forms of Heathenifm and the Gofpel. Judaism indeed ought to have paved the way for the Chriftian religion, as being the preparatory difpenfation: yet in fact it was otherwife. For the Jews, being prepoffeffed with the belief of the eternal obligation of the Mofaic inftitutions, were filled with the moft violent enmity against the Gofpel, which taught the abrogation of the law. It is evident therefore, from the nature of things, that the introduction of the Gofpel upon the ruins of the established religion, muft in all countries have been effected in oppofition to the fword of the magiftrate, the craft of priests, the pride of philofophers, and the humours, paffions, and prejudices of the people, all closely combined in fupport of the national worship,

and

and to crush the Chriftian faith, which aimed at the fubversion of Heathenifm.

2. It deferves attention, that in the converfion of the world, the method whereby abfurd fyftems have fometimes been fuccefsfully eftablished, was not used. For the life and doctrine of Chrift was not a story privately whispered among the Chriftians themselves, or communicated to the few who were disposed to be of their party. It was not propagated in the dark, by people who ftole about from houfe to houfe, with an intention to deceive the credulous. It was not delivered out in parcels, fo as to make one doctrine pave the way for another. It did not infinuate itself into the belief of mankind, by flow and infenfible fteps. Thefe indeed were the arts whereby the Romish faith crept into the world, which, if it had been offered openly and all at once, would have been rejected with abhorrence as monftrous. Inftead of this, the hiftory of Jefus and the most offenfive doctrines of Chriftianity were preached publicly firft in Jerufalem, the fcene of thefe wonderful tranfactions, in the fynagogues there, in the temple itfelf, nay, before the Jewith Sanhedrim. Next it was preached through all the Heathen countries. At those fermops any one who had a mind might be present. The history and doctrines above mentioned were propofed in their true native original colours, without any difguife or foftening; as is evident from the fermons of the Apoftles ftill on record. They were propofed all at once; I mean, the great and effential articles of the Gofpel, which, however difagreeable they might be to men's natural turn of thinking or to their paffions, were delivered by the Apostles with the greateft openness in every fermon. If the fermons we appeal to, as examples of the Apoftles manner of preaching, are thought not to have been publicly delivered, their being recorded in the Acts of the Apoftles is of equal importance in the present argument; feeing that writing came abroad while the Apoftles were alive. But why do we infift on this fort of proof? The Gofpels and Epiftles, containing the whole of Chriftianity, were published in the first age, were offered to the world entire as we have them at prefent, were quickly difperfed into many countries; and in no fubfequent age has any doctrine or matter of fact been univerfally received, as an effential part of Chriftianity, which is not plainly contained in those writings. It is therefore indubitable, that all who anciently embraced Chriftianity, had opportunity to examine the whole scheme before they formed any refolution of becoming the dif ciples of Jefus. No one was cheated into this belief by any artful dealing of the first preachers of the Gospel.

3. There is a third circumftance, which, with judicious perfons, will render the converfion of the world to Chriftianity a moft ftriking proof of our Lord's history, and that is, the belief of the doctrine and miracles of Jefus, which in fo fhort a time became general through the world, began in the country which had been the fcene of his miniftry, and particularly in the capital city thereof, where he had been publicly tried, condemned, and put to death, by

the

the fenate of Ifrael, as a deceiver. For, on the 50th day after his crucifixion, there were no less than three thousand converted in Jerufalem by a fingle fermon of one of the Apoftles, wherein he infifted upon the miracles performed by Jefus as things known to all prefent (Acts ii. 41.), a topic which the Apoftles in every fermon failed not to urge. See Acts x. 38. A few weeks after this, 5000 who believed are faid to have been prefent at another fermon preached in Jerufalem by the fame Apoftle, Acts iv. 4.-In the fecond year after our Lord's afcenfion, "the number of the difciples multiplied "greatly, and a great company of the priests," the moft violent enemies of this novel religion, "became obedient to the faith,' Acts vi. 7.-In the third year they multiplied fo exceedingly, that "there was a great perfecution against the church which was at Je

rufalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the region "of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles," Acts viii. 1.-In the third or fourth year, the spreading of the Chriftian faith was fo remarkable, even in the remoteft provinces of Paleftine, that the high prieft and council of Jerufalem, in order to put a ftop to it, fent forth perfecutors as far as Damafcus. Of thefe, the ringleader was a zealous young man named Saul, who in this very journey was converted by Jefus appearing to him at noon-day; fo that he became forthwith an earnest preacher of the faith which he was going to deftroy. A&ts ix. 1-20.- -About eight or ten years after our Lord's death, the difciples were grown fo numerous in Jerufalem and the country about, that they became the object of the jealousy of Herod himself. For, at the inftigation of the chief priests, he carried on the perfecution against them, by putting to death one of the Apoltles, and by imprifoning another, whom he intended likewife to say, Acts xii. 1.-In the twenty-fecond year after the crucifixion, the difciples in Judea are faid to have been many myriads, Acts xxi. 20. θεωρείς αδελφε, πόσαι μυριάδες εισιν Ιεδαίων των πεπιςευκίων. In this manner did the converfion of the Jews advance in their own country; than which a nobler proof of the truth of the Gofpels, as books of hiftory, cannot be defired. For if the things therein told had been falfe, would fuch numbers, upon the spot where they were faid to be done, and at the very time too in which they happened, have given such credit to them, as on their account to have exposed themselves to the moft grievous perfecution?

4. The fuccefs of the Gofpel, however, was by no means confined to Judea. Being preached in all the different provinces of the Roman empire, numbers of the Heathens, as well as of the Jews, believed. It feems, the evidence accompanying our Lord's miracles was fo ftrong, that it failed not to make an impreffion upon the minds of thofe to whom it was propofed, whatsoever nation they were of. The converfion of the Gentiles is fo much the more remarkable, that almoft the very firft triumphs of the Chriftian religion were in the heart of Greece itfelf, the nursery of learning and the polite arts; for churches were very early planted at Corinth, at Ephefus, at Beræa, at Theffalonica, at Philippi, as is plain from

the