beginning; for they expect to go through great conflicts and trials with their Meffiah (as the Chriftian church has done) before his final conqueft, and that they come to reign with him. So that this is no obftruction to their embracing of chriftianity. They fee the fame things fulfilled in us, which they expect themselves; and we expect the fame things they do.

I tell this to the Deifts, left they may think that the Jews have fome stronger arguments than they know of, that they are not perfuaded by the miracles of our bleffed Saviour, and by the fulfilling of all the prophecies in him, that were made concerning the Meffiah.

As I faid before, I would not plead even miracles against these. And if this is fufficient to perfuade a Jew, it is much more fo to a Deift, who labours not under thefe objections.

Befides, I would not feem to clash with that (in a found fenfe) reasonable caution ufed by Chriftian writers, not to put the iffue of the truth wholly upon miracles, without this addition, when not done in contradiction to the revelations already given in the holy scriptures.

And they do it upon this confideration, that though it is impoffible to suppose, that God would work a real miracle, in contradiction to what he has already revealed; yet, men ry be imposed upon by false and seeming miracles, and pretend revelations, (as there are many examples, efpecially in the church of Rome) and fo may be fhaken in the faith, if they keep not to the Holy Scriptures as their rule.

We are told, 2 Theff. ii. 9, "of him whofe coming is after "the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying "wonders." And Rev. xiii. 14, xvi. 14, and xix. 20, of the devil, and falfe prophets working miracles. But the word, in all these places, is only Enusia, Signs, that is, as it is rendered, Matt. xxv. 24, which, though fometimes it may be used to fignify real miracles, yet not always, not in these places. For though every miracle be a sign and a wonder, yet every sign or wonder is not a miracle.

X. Here it may be proper to confider a common topic of the Deifts, who when they are not able to stand out against the evidence of fact, that fuch and fuch miracles have been done, then turn about, and deny fuch things to be miracles, at leaft that we can never be fure whether any wonderful thing that is fhewn to us be a true or a falfe miracle.

-And the great argument they go upon is this, that a miracle being that which exceeds the power of nature, we cannot know what exceeds it, unless we knew the utmost extent of the power of nature; and no man pretends to know that, therefore that no man can certainly know whether any event be miraculous; and, confequently, he may be cheated in his judgment betwixt true and falfe miracles.

To which I anfwer, that men may be fo cheated, and there are many examples of it.

But that though we may not always know when we are cheated, yet we can certainly tell, in many cafes, when we are not cheated.

For though we do not know the utmost extent of the power of nature, perhaps in any one thing; yet it does not follow that we know not the nature of any thing in fome measure; and that certainly too. Eor example, though I do not know the utmost extent of the power of fire, yet I certainly know that it is the 1 nature of fire to burn; and that when proper fuel is administered to it, it is contrary to the nature of fire not to confume it. Therefore, if I fee three men taken off the street, in their common wearing apparel, and without any preparation caft into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and that the flame was fo fierce that it burnt up those men that threw them in, and yet that these who were thrown in fhould walk up and down in the bottom of the furnace, and I should see a fourth perfon with them of glorious appearance, like the Son of God. And that these men fhould come up again out of the furnace, without any harm, or fo much as the smell of fire upon themselves, or their clothes, I could not be deceived in thinking that there was a ftop put to the nature of fire, as to these men; and that it had its effect upon the men whom it burned, at the fame time.

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Again: Though I cannot tell how wonderful and sudden an increase of corn might be produced by the concurrence of many causes, as a warm climate, the fertility of the foil, &c. yet this I can certainly know, that there is not that natural force in the breath of two or three words, fpoken to multiply one fmall loaf of bread so fast, in the breaking of it, as truly and really, not only in appearance and fhew to the eye, but to fill the bellies of feveral thousand hungry perfons; and that the fragments fhould be much more than the bread was at first.

So neither in a word spoken, to raise the dead, cure discafes, &c.

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Therefore, though we know not the utmost extent of the power of nature; yet we can certainly know what is contrary to the na ture of feveral fuch things as we do know.

And therefore, though we may be cheated, and impofed upon in many feeming miracles and wonders; yet there are some things wherein we may be certain.

But further, the Deifts acknowledge a God of an Almighty power, who made all things.

Yet they would put it out of his power, to make any revelation of his will to mankind. For if we cannot be certain of any miracle, how fhould we know when God fent any thing extraordinary to us?

Nay, how fhould we know the ordinary power of nature, if we knew not what exceeded it? If we know not what is natural, how do we know there is such a thing as nature? That all is not fupernatural, all miracles, and fo difputable, till we come to downright fcepticism, and doubt the certainty of our outward fenfes, whether we fee, hear, or feel; or all be not a miraculous illufion!

Which, because I know the Deifts are not inclined to do, therefore I will return to purfue my argument upon the conviction of our outward fenfes, defiring only this, that they would allow the fenfes of other men to be as certain as their own; which they cannot refuse, fince without this they can have no certainty of their own.

XI. Therefore, from what has been faid, the caufe is fummed up fhortly in this; that though we cannot fee what was done before our time, yet by the marks which I have laid down concerning the certainty of matters of fact done before our time, we may be as much affured of the truth of them, as if we saw them with our eyes; because whatever matter of fact has all the four marks before-mentioned, could never have been invented and received but upon the conviction of the outward fenfes of all those who did receive it, as before is demonftrated. And therefore this topic which I have chofen, does ftand upon the conviction even of men's outward fenfes. And fince you have confined me to one topic, I have not infifted upon the other, which I have only named.

XII. And now it lies upon the Deifts, if they would appear as men of reafon, to fhew fome matter of fact of former ages, which they allow to be true, that has greater evidence of its truth,

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than the matters of fact of Mofes and of Chrift; otherwife they cannot, with any fhew of reafon, reject the one, and yet admit

of the other.!

But I have given them greater latitude than this, for I have thewn fuch marks of the truth of the matters of fact of Mofes and of Chrift, as no other matters of fact of those times, how ever true, have, but thefe only: and I put it upon them to fhew any forgery that has all these marks."

"This is a thort iffue. Keep them clofe to this. This deter mines the caufe all at once.

Let them produce their Apollonius Tyanæus, whofe life was put into English by the execrable Charles Blount, and compared with all the wit and malice he was mafter of, to the life and mi racles of our bleffed Saviour.

Let them take aid from all the legends in the church of Rome, thofe pious cheats, the foreft difgraces of Christianity; and which have bid the fairest of any one contrivance, to overturn the cer tainty of the miracles of Chrift and his apostles, and whole truth of the Gofpel, by putting them all upon the fame foot; at leaft they are fo understood by the generality of their devotees, though difowned and laughed at by the learned, and men of sense among them.

Let then pick and choose the most probable of all the fables of the heathen deities, and fee if they can find in any of thefe, the four marks before-mentioned.

Otherwise let them fubmit to the irrefragable certainty of the Christian religion.

XIII. But if, notwithstanding all that is faid, the Deifts will ftill contend that all this is but priest-craft, the invention of priests for their own profit, &c. then they will give us an idea of priests, far different from what they intend: for then we mult look upon these priests, not only as the cunningeft and wifest of mankind,

The hand of that fcorner, which durft write fuch outrageous blafphemy against his Maker, the Divine Vengeance has made his own executioner, Which I would not have mentioned (because the like judgment has befallen others) but that the Theistical Club have fet this up as a principle, and printed a vindication of this fame Blount for murdering of himself, by way of juftification of self-murder; which fome of them have fince, as well as formerly, horridly practised upon themselves. There fore this is no common judgment to which they are delivered, but a visible mark fet upon them, to fhew how far God has forfaken them; and as a caution to all Chris tians, to beware of them, and not to come near the tents of these wicked men, left they perish in their destruction, both of soul and body.

but we shall be tempted to adore them as Deities, who h have fuch power as to impofe at their pleasure, upon the senses of mankind, to make them believe that they had practised such public institu tions, enacted them by laws, taught them to their children, &c. when they had never done any of these things, or ever fo much as heard of them before: and then, upon the credit of their believing that they had done fuch things as they never did, to make them further believe, upon the fame foundation, whatever they pleased to impose upon them, as to former ages: I fay, fuch a power as this must exceed all that is human and confequently make us rank these priests far above the condition of mortals.

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2. Nay, this were to make them outdo all that has ever been related of the infernal powers; for though their legerdemain has extended to deceive fome unwary beholders; and their power of working fome feeming miracles has been great, yet it never reached nor ever was fuppofed to reach fo far, as to deceive the fenfes of all mankind, in matters of fuch public and notorious nature as thofe of which we now fpeak, to make them believe, hat they had enacted laws for fuch public obfervances, continually practifed them, taught them to their children, and had been instructed in them themselves, from their childhood, if they had never enacted, practifed, taught, or been taugh we things. 3. And as this exceeds all the power of hell and a , fo is it more than ever God Almighty has done fince the foundation of the world. None of the miracles that he has fhewn, or belief which he has required to any thing that he has revealed, has ever contradicted the outward fenfes of any one man in the world, much lefs of all mankind together. For miracles being appeals to our outward fenfes, if they should overthrow the certainty of our outward fenfes, must destroy with it all their own certainty as us fince we have no other way to judge of a miracle exhibited to our fenfes, than upon the fuppofition of the certainty of our fenfes, upon which we give credit to a miracle, that is fhewn to four-fenfest.

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4. This, by the way, is a yet unanswered argument against the ud fex, miracle of tranfubftantiation, and fhews the weakness of the defence which the church of Rome offers for it, (from whom the -Socinians have licked it up, and of late have gloried much in it amongst us) that the doctrines of the Trinity or Incarnation contain as great feeming abfurdities as that of Tranfubftantiation: for I would afk, which of our fenfes it is which the doctrines of