out a king or priest, or temple, or sacrifice, scattered to the four winds, sifted, as with a sieve, among all nations; yet preserved, and always so to be, a distinct people from all others of the whole earth. Whereas those mighty monarchies, which oppressed the Jews, and commanded the world in their turns, and had the greatest human prospect of perpetuity, were to be extinguished, as they have been, even their names being blotted out from under heaven. Likewise that, as remarkable, of our blessed SAVIOUR concerning the preservation and progress of the Christian church, when in her swaddling clothes, consisting only of a few poor fishermen. Not by the sword, as that of Mahomet, but under all the persecution of men and hell; which yet should not prevail against her.

But though I offer these, as not to be slighted by Deists, to which they can show nothing equal in all profane history, and in which it is impossible any cheat can lie; yet I put them not upon the same foot, as the prophecies, before mentioned, of the marks and coming of the Messiah, which have been since the world began; and that general expectation of the whole earth, at the time of his coming, insisted upon in the method with the Jews, is greatly to be noticed. But I say, the foregoing prophecies of our SAVIOUR are so strong a proof, that even miracles would not be sufficient to break their authority. I mean, if it were possible, that a true miracle could be wrought in contradiction to them; for that would be for God

to contradict himself.

But no sign or wonder, that could possibly be solved, should shake this evidence.

It is this, that keeps the Jews in their obstinacy; though they cannot deny the matters of fact, done by our blessed SAVIOUR, to be truly miracles, if so done, as said. Nor can they deny that they were so done, because they have all the four marks before mentioned. Yet they cannot yield. Why? Because they think that the Gospel is in contradiction to the law; which, if it were, the consequence would be unavoidable, that both could not be true. Το solve this is the business of the method with the Jews. But the contradiction, which they suppose, is in their comments upon the law; especially they expect a literal fulfilling of those promises of the restoration of Jerusalem, and outward glories of the church, of which there is so frequent mention in the books of Moses, the Psalms and all the Prophets. Many Christians also expect the same, and take those texts as literally, as the Jews do. believe and pray for the conversion of the Jews. For this end they have been so miraculously preserved, according to the prophecies of it so long before; and, when that time shall come, as they are the most honorable and ancient of all the nations on the earth, so will their church return to be the mother Christian church, as she was at first; and Rome surrender to Jerusalem. Then all nations will flow thither; even Ezekiel's temple may be literally built there, in the metropolis of the

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whole earth; which Jerusalem must be, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall meet the conversion of the Jews. For no nation will then contend with the Jews, nor church with Jerusalem for supremacy. All nations will be ambitious to draw their original from the Jews, "whose are the fathers, and from whom, as 'concerning the flesh, Christ came." Then will be fulfilled that outward grandeur and res→ toration of the Jews and of Jerusalem, which they expect pursuant to the prophecies.

They pretend not that this is limited to any particular time of the reign of the Messiah. They are sure it will not be at the beginning; for they expect to go through great conflicts and trials with their Messiah (as the Christian church has done) before his final conquest, and before they come to reign with him. So that this is no obstruction to their embracing christianity. They see the same thing fulfilled in us, which they expect themselves; and we expect the same things, they do.

I tell this to Deists, lest they may think that the Jews have some stronger arguments, than they know of, that they are not persuaded by the miracles of our blessed SAVIOUR, and by the fulfilling of all the prophecies in him, that were made concerning the Messiah.

As I said before, I would not plead even miracles against these; and, if this is sufficient to persuade a Jew, it is much more so, to a Deist, who labors not under these objections.

Beside, I would not seem to clash with that (in a sound sense) reasonable caution, used by

Christian writers, not to put the issue 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 consideration, that, though it is impossible to suppose that God would work a real miracle, in contradiction to what he has already revealed; yet men may be imposed upon by false and seeming miracles, and pretended revelations, (as there are many examples, especially in the church of Rome) and so may be shaken in the faith, if they keep not to the Holy Scriptures, as their rule.

We are told "of him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders ;" and of the devil, and false prophets working miracles. But the word, in all these places, is only Enusia, signs, as it is rendered Matt. xxv. 24, which, though sometimes it may be used to signify 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 consider a common topic of the Deists, who, when they are not able to stand out against the evidence of fact, that such and such miracles have been done, then turn about, and deny such things to be miracles; at least we cannot be sure, whether any wonderful thing, that is shown to us, be a true or false miracle.

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 no man can certainly know, whether any event be miraculous; and consequently he may be cheated in his judg ment betwixt true and false miracles.

To which I answer, that men may be so 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 cases, when we are not cheated.

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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 some measure; and that certainly too. For example; though I do not know the utmost extent of the power of fire; yet I certainly know that it is the nature of fire to burn; and that, when proper fuel is administered to it, it is contrary to the nature of fire not to consume it. fore, if I see three men taken off the street, in their common wearing apparel, and without any preparation cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and that the flame was so fierce, that it burnt up those men, who threw them in, and yet that these, who were thrown in, walked up and down in the bottom of the furnace; and I should see a fourth person with them of glorious appearance, like the Son of GOD; and that these men came up again out of the furnace, without any harm, or so much as the smell of fire upon themselves or the