any confiderable Matter be corrupted. And from that Time to this, in a continual Succeffion, there have been Men that have fuffer'd Martyrdom for the Atteftation of it; and in the firft Ages after Chrift, when they had the best Opportunities of examining the Truth of thefe Things, many Thousands did fo.

Now I fay, though according to the ordinary Proverb, Seeing be Believing: Yet next to Seeing, an univerfal, well-grounded Tradition, which hath visible Effects attending it, hath the moft Force to gain Belief. Nay, I do not know whether there be fo much Dif ference between the Evidence of the one and the other, as one would think at firft. Sure I am, there are many Cafes in which we do as firmly believe Matters of Fact upon the Credit of Tradition, and the permanent Effects that do accompany it, as if we ourselves had been present, and feen them with our Eyes. Which of us, for Inftance, doth make any more doubt of the Story of William the Conqueror his fubduing this Kingdom, or of Henry the Eighth his cafting off the Pope's Supremacy, than he doth of the Revolutions that have happened in his own Time? And yet thefe Matters of Fact are no better attefted than the Hiftory of our Saviour and his Mira cles and Doctrines.

But, Secondly, Though thofe that lived in Our Saviour's Time had Evidence of Senfe for the Truth of what they believed concerning him and his Doctrine, which we have not;

yet

yet this is to be confidered, that they laboured under far greater Prejudices against his Religion, than we now do; and confequently, all that fenfible Proof which they had of the Truth of it, would not be more effectual for the convincing of them; than that Proof we now have, though it be lefs, ought in reason to be for the convincing of us.

They that were the Hearers and Spectators of what our Saviour faid and did, had mighty and inveterate Prepoffeffions to ftruggle with, They were Educated in a quite different Religion, and fo must be fuppofed to have entertained feveral Notions and Principles which would very difficultly be rooted out; and, indeed, for the effecting of it, there needed little less than an Almighty Power. But it is not fo with us; we, by our Education, are already difpofed and prepared for the receiving Christianity. We have no previous Engagements to alienate our Minds from it; nay, it is our Intereft to be of that Religion, rather than any other. So that certainly a lefs Evidence for the Truth of it, will be as convincing to us, as a much greater would have been to thofe, to whom our Saviour firft Preached. Nay, I am very confident, that this Thing being duly confider'd, it will appear, that our Arguments for Chriftianity drawn from Tradition, will be more convincing to thinking Men among us, than those Arguments they had from Senfe and Experience could be to them.

But, Thirdly, If to what hath been faid we add the feveral Arguments for the Credibility of the Chriftian Religion, which we now have at this Distance, that they had not nor could have, that were our Saviour's immediate Disciples; we fhall be fatisfied, that in point of Evidence, we have indeed much the Advantage of them. We have now feveral ftanding Proofs of our Religion, which they could not have; and which are so ftrong. and conclufive, that they do more than compenfate for the want of that Evidence of Senfe which they had, and we have not. I briefly inftance in these Three following:

Firft, The ftrange Propagation and Success of our Religion throughout the World, and the Means by which it was effected. That a poor defpifed crucified Perfon, fhould, in a few Years, draw all the Roman Empire after him; and that without any visible Means, except the Goodness of his Caufe, and the Reafonableness of his Doctrine, and the Sincerity and Conftancy of his Difciples, not in fighting for their Mafter, but in laying down their Lives for him; And this against all the Power, and all the Arts and Stratagems that the Devil or the Princes of this World could invent to ftifle and fupprefs his Name: This is fo ftrong an Argument, that this Cause was the Cause of God, and that his Providence was particularly concerned in the promoting of it, that he must feem little to be fenfible either of God or Providence, that is not convinced by it,

If Chriftianity had been of the fame Strain that the Religion of Mahomet is, had been as well calculated for Mens Lufts and worldly Interefts as that is; had allowed as many fenfual Liberties to its Difciples as that doth; and laftly, had been carried on in the World by the fame Ways and Means that that hath been, that is, by the Force of Arms, and Dint of the Sword; it would have been no great Wonder that it should have prevailed, as we fee it hath done. But that a Religion which had no Worldly Advantages to promife to its Followers; Nay, on the contrary, was fo contrived, that none could own it, but he muft at the fame Time deny all his Temporal Interefts, quit his Friends, his Reputation, and all his Fortunes in this World, and live in hourly Expectation of a Martyrdom; that fuch a Religion as this fhould not only not die with the firft Broachers of it, but daily grow and spread; and the more it was perfecuted, the more increafe; 'till at laft it fo weathered out all Oppofition, that it got Poffeffion of the Thrones of Princes, and Kings became Nurfing Fathers to it: I fay, Whoever is not convinced, that the Finger of God was in this, would scarce have been convinced, that the Finger of God was in our SaviOur's Miracles, had he been alive and present when they were done. But this Effect of Christianity, both the Prophets and our Lord, long ago foretold, and this we now fee was verified long ago, and is ftill verified in our Days: Though thofe that lived with our

Saviour had no Experience hereof, nor perhaps would several of them have been forward to believe it, though it had been told them. So that in this Respect we have a moft confiderable Argument for our Religion, which they had not.

Secondly, This is not all, Those that undertook the Religion of our Saviour upon his Preaching, had no Experience of it: They were to be the firft Experimenters themselves. They ran a great Rifque, and ventured the Sale of all that they had, and yet knew not so certainly what kind of Treafure they should purchase. But we have the Experience and Suffrage of Sixteen Ages, which will all vouch, that what we lay out in this way, will prove valuable Treasure, will reward all the Pains and all the Expence we are at for the purchafing of it. We have never, in the Compafs of our own Knowledge, nor in all Hiftory, met with any who ferioufly laid out themfelves in the Service of Jefus Christ, and lived up to his Religion, that ever grudged the Pains they took about it, or repented themfelves that they believed or practifed as they did. The more any Man has been a Chriftian, ftill the more he hath thanked God for it; ftill the more Quiet of Mind and Peace of Confcience he hath poffeffed; the more he hath enjoyed himfelf, and the lefs he hath feared Death, and all other outward Calamities. If ever any Chriftian hath repented of any Thing, it is, that he hath not been Chriftian enough, that he hath not so heartily be