I shall insist more largely on this branch of the argument, and endeavour, by the divine assistance, to prove the certainty of this great fact. You will naturally apprehend, that I speak only of what is commonly called a moral certainty*: But I need speak of no more; for in many cases, such kind of evidence gives the mind as ample, and as rational a satisfaction, as it may find even in some supposed mathematical demonstration; since there it is possible, at least in a long deduction of particulars, for the most sagacious of mankind to fall into a mistake.

Now in order to settle this grand point as clearly as I can, I think it may be proper to prove,

I. That the books of the New Testament, as they are now in your hands, may be depended upon as written by the first preachers and publishers of christianity. And,

II. That from hence it will certainly follow, that what they assert is true, and that the religion they teach, brings along with it such evidences of a divine authority, as may most justly recom mend it to our acceptance.

Each of these heads might furnish out matter for many volumes; but it is my business to hint at the most obvious and important thoughts, by which they may briefly be illustrated and confirmed.

I. I am to prove to you, "That the books of the New Testament, now in your hands, were written by the first preachers and publishers of christianity."

You see I confine the present proof, to the books of the New Testament. Not that I think the authority of the Old to be suspected, or the use of it by any means to be despised. God forbid! It is an invaluable treasure, which demands our daily delightful and thankful perusal, and is capable of being defended in a manner, which I am persuaded its subtlest enemies will never be able to answer. But the nature of my present argument, and the limits of my time, oblige me at present to wave the proof of it, any farther than as it is implied in, and dependant upon, what I have more immediately in view.

In the process of the discourse, though I shall studiously avoid any ostentation of learning, yet it will be absolutely necessary to assert some things, which cannot certainly be known, with

*Which, though it amount not to strict demonstration, is such kind of evidence as suits past matters of fact, and is sufficient to make a candid and rational enquirer easy in his assent.

out some little acquaintance with ancient writers. You cannot, most of you, be supposed to have forced such an acquaintance; but I take it for granted you will readily believe, that I will not Lie for God nor talk deceitfully for him*. I shall say nothing of this kind, but what I know to be contained in those writings; and you may assure yourselves, that no man of common sense, whatever his moral or religious character were, would venture in such an age as this, publicly to cite passages, as from authors in every ones hands, which he cannot prove to be contained in them.

Having premised these things, I go on to the argument, and shall advance in it by the following degrees. I shall prove, that christianity is an ancient religion;that there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, crucified at Jerusalem about seventeen hundred years ago;- -that the first preachers of his religion wrote books, which went by the name of those, that now make up the volume of our New Testament ;—that they are preserved in the original to the present times;—and that the translation of them, which you have, is in the main such, as may be depended upon as faithful. And then I shall have clearly made out what I proposed in this first part.

1. It is certain, "that christianity is not a new religion, but that it was maintained by great multitudes, quickly after the time in which Jesus is said to have appeared."

That there was, considerably more than sixteen hundred years ago, a body of men, who went by the name of christians, is almost as evident, as that a race of men was then existing in the world; nor do I know, that any have ever been wild and confident enough to dispute it. If any should for argument sake question it, they might quickly be convinced by a considerable number of christian writers, who lived in the same, or the next aget, and mention it as a thing notoriously certain, that christianity was then of some standing in the world; some of them giving directions and exhortations to their brethren, and others forming apologies, to their enemies, for which there could not otherwise have been the least foundation. We might have acquiesced in their testimony, had it been alone; but it is confirm

*Job xiii. 7.

Such as Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Tatian, Athenagoras, and Theophilus Antiochenus, who all wrote before the year 200, and some in the first century: Not to urge Barnabas, and Hermas; nor to mention any of those cited by Eusebius, whose books are all lost, except some frag ments, preserved chiefly by that excellent writer.

ed by that of Jews and heathens, who, by their early invectives against the christians, do most evidently prove, that there was such a body of men in the world. The most considerable Roman historians, who lived in this age, and wrote of it, are Tacitus and Suetonius, who both published their writings above sixteen hundred years ago, and they are always and very justly appealed to, as pregnant witnesses upon this occasion.-For Tacitus assures us, "that in Nero's days," who begun his reign about twenty years after the death of Christ, "there was a vast multitude of christians, not only in Judea, but at Rome too; against whom Nero raised a persecution, attended with such circumstances of ignominy and cruelty, as moved the compassion even of their enemies;" of which number this historian evidently was*. Nay he plainly intimates, that this was not the first attempt which had been made to crush them; though this attempt was so early as we have heard.—His contemporary Suetonius, in his more concise manner, attests the same. And Pliny, the intimate friend and correspondent of both, being employed in Trajan's time to persecute the christians, writes an account of them to that emperor, which though commonly known, must be mentioned as it is so highly important. After having spoken very favourably of their moral character, he adds, "That many of both sexes, and of every age and rank, were infected with this superstition;" as he thinks fit to express it; that it was gone into the villages, as well as the cities; and that, till he begun to put the laws in execution against them, the temples of the heathen deities were almost deserted, and hardly any could be found who would buy victims for them." It might be added, that Marcus Antoninus§,

* Nero quæsitissimis pœnis affecit, quos, per flagitia invisos, vulgus christianos appellabat― Repressa in præsens exitiabilis superstitio, rursus crumpebat, non modo per Judæam, originem ejus mali, sed per urbem etiam, &c.—Multitudo ingensOdio humani generis convicti sunt; & pereuntibus addita ludibria,―unde miseratio oriebatur, &c. Tacit. Annal. Lib. xv. c. 44.

† Afflicti suppliciis christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novæ ac maleficæ. Sueton. Ner. cap. xvi.

Multi omnis ætatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam vocantur in periculum. Neque civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam, atquæ agros, superstioniis istius contagio pervagata est ;-prope jam desolata templa,-& sacra solennia diu intermissa: -Victimas, quarum adhuc rarissimus Emptor inveniebatur. Plin. Epist. Lib. x. Epist. 97.

§ Ετοιμα απολυθήναι το σωματα μη κατα ψιλην παράταξιν, ως οι Χριστιανοί. Marc. Antonin. Lib. xi. § 3.-See also this Emperor's Constitution to the Community of Asia (as inserted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, Lib.

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who wrote a few years after Pliny, mentions the christians, as examples of a resolute and obstinate contempt of death :" And it is generally supposed, they are the Galileans, whom Epictetus speaks of*, " as those whom practice had taught to despise the rage of their armed enemiest."

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I shall dismiss this head with observing, that it tends greatly to the confirmation of christianity, that each of these celebrated and ancient Pagan writers, at the same time they attest the existence of such a body of men professing it, inform us of those extreme persecutions which they underwent, in the very infancy of their religion; a fact also farther apparent from the apologies addressed by the christians to their persecutors, which whatever imperfections may attend the manner in which some of them are writ, appear to me some of the most valuable remains of antiquity, the Sacred Records only excepted, especially those of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Minutius Fælix.— This fundamental point is then abundantly made out; that there were vast numbers of men, very quickly after the time when Jesus is said to have appeared upon earth, who professed his religion, and chose to endure the greatest extremities, rather than they would abandon it. From hence it will be easy to

shew,

2. "That there was certainly such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified at Jerusalem, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor there."

It can never be imagined, that multitudes of people should take their name from Christ, and sacrifice their lives for their adherence to him, even in the same age in which he is said to

iv. cap. 13.) in which he mentions their persecuting the christians to death; τες Χρισιανες διώκετε έως θανατε" and speaks of these persecutions as having continued a considerable time. N. B. This was inserted in Melito's Apology for the Christians, which he wrote in that Emperor's reign, so that there cannot be the least doubt of its being genuine.

**

Υπο μανίας μεν δυναται

διατεθηναι τις στο

προς ταυτα (δαρυφορες scil. η μαχαίρας) και υπο εθώς οι Γαλιλαοί. Arrian. Epictet. Lib. iv. cap. 7. p. 400. This would be the proper place to mention the passage said to be in Philo Judæus, (who was contemporary with the apostles,) relating to the christians in his days, and the methods taken by an Embassy from Jerusalem to prevent the progress of their religion: But though I verily believe the fact to have been true, I omit it, for reasons which the reader will find in a note under head 3. of the next sermon. -Some other passages of ancient writers, which might be very pertinent here, I reserve to mention under some following heads, and particularly where I shall speak of the Miraculous Propagation of the Gospel, in Sermon X.

have lived, if they had not been well assured, there was such a person. Now several of the authors I have mentioned plainly assert, that the christians were denominated from Christ; nay, Tacitus expressly adds, "that he was put to death under Pontius Pilate, who was procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius*." And it is well known, that the primitive christian apologists often appeal to the acts of Pilate, or the memoirs of his government, which he, according to the custom of other procurators, transmitted to Rome, as containing an account of these transactions: And as the appeal was made to those, who had the command of the public records, we may assure ourselves such testimonies were then extant. But it is a fact which our enemies never denied; they owned it, they even gloried in it, and upbraided the christians with it. The Jews therefore in some of their earliest writings since those times, call Jesus by the ignominious name of "the Man who was hanged, or crucified," and his followers, "the servants of the crucified Person‡." And Lucien rallies them for deserting the pompous train of the heathen deities, to worship one whom he impiously calls "a crucified Impostor§."-Spartian also assures us, that the emperor Alexander Severus entertained such high thoughts of Christ, "that he would have admitted him into the number of his deities, and have built a temple to him, had not his Pagan subjects vigorously opposed it||." And Porphyry, though an inveterate enemy to christianity, not only allowed there was such a Person, "but honoured him " as a most wise and pious Man, approved by the Gods, and taken up to heaven for his distinguished virtuesq.”. I might add a great deal more on

* Auctor nominis ejus Christus, qui Tiberio imperitante per Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat. Tacit. ubi supra.

Vid. Justin. Mart. Apolog. Oper. page 76. & Tertul. Apolog. cap. xxi.
Buxtorf. Lexic. Talmud. in Voce

§ Τον δε ανεσκολοπισμένον εκείνον σοφιςην αυτον προκύνωσι. Lucian de Morte Peregrini, Oper. Tom. II. page 568. I might here introduce a great many other remarkable particulars from this writer, which relate to "the fortitude of the christians in bearing sufferings, their entire submission to the authority of Jesus, their unparalelled charity to each other, the prophets and messengers of their churches, and the great progress of their religion." All these things are mentioned in the Pseudomantis, and the death of Peregrinus, which are undoubtedly Lucian's: Not to mention those very memorable passages in the Philopatris, which is of a much later date. But a particular detail of these things would swell this note to a very improper bulk. Spartian. de Vita Severi, cap. xxix. & xliii.

Euseb. Demonstr. Evang. Lib. iii. page 134.