that these Prophecies and Miracles are true and effe&tual, and not feigned or infufficient? I anfwer, because we have them fo related and attefted, that, confidered barely as Matter of Fact, they have all the credibility that any Matter of Fact is capable of, and therefore may as fafely be relied upon, as any thing which we do our felves fee or hear. If it be farther urged, that for all this I may be deceived, fince all Men are fallible, and no Man is infallibly affured that there is fuch a place as Rome who never faw it; tho' no Man neither can any more doubt of it, than he can doubt whether there be any fuch place as London, who lives in it. I acknowledge, that there is a bare poffibility of being deceived in all human Evidence ; but yet I deny that we can poffibly be deceived in this cafe, because, though the Evidence it felf be human, yet the things which it concerns are of that nature, that God would never fuffer the World to be thus long impofed upon in them, without all poffibility of finding out the Truth. So that here we refolve our Faith into the Divine Authority, by rea fon of the fame Miracles, by reafon whereof the Eyewitneffes of them did refolve theirs into it; but they believed thefe Miracles as feen by themselves, and we believed them as feen and witneffed by others; but both they and we believe them as the Works of God himself.

It might have been alledg'd, If we had seen thofe Miracles, that we might poffibly be deceived; and so indeed we might, if we could not have fecurely relied upon God's Truth and Goodness, that they were defigned by him to confirm the Doctrine, for the fake of which they were wrought: And we may with equal fecurity rely upon the fame Truth and Goodness for the certainty of the Hiftory of them, as we could have done for the fufficiency of them to the purpofe for which they were wrought, tho' they had been performed in our fight; fince it is as

impoffible to find out any deceit in the account given of them, as it would have been for us to find any in the Miracles themfelves at the time of their performance.

Human Teftimony is the conveyance and the means of delivering the Truths contained in the Holy Scriptures down to us; and we, who could neither fee the Miracles nor hear the Doctrines at the firft hand, have at this distance of time the truth of them afcertained by a continued fucceffive Teftimony, 'till we arrive at fuch as were immediate Witnesses of them. Now, those that saw and heard all things which are delivered to us in the Scriptures, could not esteem their Senses infallible; but they, notwithstanding, believed our Saviour and his Difciples to be fo, of whom yet their Senfes only could give them means of affurance, that they were infallible. They knew their Senfes might deceive them, (or that they might be mistaken concerning the Objects of Senfe) but nevertheless, they believed that our Saviour and the Apoftles could not deceive them, upon this only ground, that their Senses or their Reason, by deduction from Senfe, told them fo. There was not one Man of them, perhaps, but had often obferved his Senses misreprefent Objects to him; and yet, in this cafe, upon the fole Teftimony of their Senfes, they grounded an infallible Faith: because, though their Senfes had mifreprefented Objects, yet it was in a wrong medium, at an undue distance, or by reafon of fome indifpofition of the Sense it felf; and ftill their Senfes, or rather their Reason by the help of their Senfes, discovered that their Senfes had led them into Mistakes. But in the prefent cafe, when the Object was placed in open and frequent view, to the greatest advantage, when it was publick and exposed to multitudes, when all agreed in the fame opinion concerning it, and when the matter was of infinite importance; here they had reason to conclude, that the God who framed their Senfes,

Senfes, would not fuffer them to be fo hurtful to them, as they must needs have been, if they had been deceived by them. In like manner, in the Teftimony, which defcends to us from former Ages, we fee with other Mens Eyes, and hear with other Mens Ears; and though the Teftimony of others may often fail us, and is fubject to a double inconveniency, through the Incapacity and Unfaithfulness of Witneffes; yet, as in the former cafe, fo here, when all Circumftances are weigh'd and confider'd, and, after the utmost trial, no reason can be found to with-hold our Af fent, but all things ftand undisproved, and no just Scruple appears, but only a bare poffibility of being deceived; and this arifing, not from any defect, but that of human Nature it felf, here God's Goodness and his Truth muft needs interpofe, to take away that only Impediment, which otherwife muft unavoidably hinder any thing from ever being known to be infallible.

The only certainty which we can have, that our Senfes are true, is this, That God will not fuffer them to be deceived, where the Difpofition of the Medium, and Distance of the Object, and all other Circumftances, are rightly qualified: because that would be inconfiftent with his Attributes of Juftice, Goodness, and Truth, but it would be inconfiftent with these Attributes, not upon the account of our Bodies; for they would be provided for as well, though our Senfes were deluded; we fhould fee, and hear, and taste, juft as we do now, though we were never fo much deceived in these Sensations: therefore the Truth, and Goodness, and Juftice of God, are engaged not to fuffer us to be deceiv'd, in refpect to our Souls, not in regard to our Bodies: and if we have no certainty that our Senfes do not deceive us, but because God would not fuffer fuch a Cheat to be put upon us, as we are intelligent and rational Beings; we have the fame and much greater reason to conclude, that he

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would

would not fuffer us to lie under fuch a Delufion, in reference to our eternal Intereft. If God would not fuffer our Minds unavoidably to lie under a temporal Delusion of no great confequence; have we not much more reason to conclude, that he would not fuffer us unavoidably to be deceiv'd by any means whatfoever, in reference to our eternal Intereft? For in this cafe, to be deceiv'd is to be deftroy'd; and to fuffer it, is a thousand times worse, than if he should fuffer all Mankind at once, not only to be deceiv'd by their Senfes, but to be poifon'd by that Deceit : And therefore the fpecial Providence and particular Care of God must be concern'd to prevent it. If we have nothing to object but the Imperfection of human Nature, we may rely upon God, that this shall never mislead, in a matter of fuch confequence, whether the imperfection be in our Senfes, or in the Testimony of others. In fhort, the Miracles related in the Scriptures will as effectually prove a Divine Revelation to us, as they could to thofe that faw them; but the difference is, that they believ'd their Senfes, and we believe them; and all things confider'd, we have as much reafon to believe upon their Evidence, as they could have to believe upon the Evidence of their Senfes.

Let us confider Hiftory as a Medium, by which thefe Miracles become known to us, and compare this Medium with that of Sight. If a Man would be fceptical, he might doubt whether any Medium of Sight be fo fitly difpofed, as to reprefent Objects in their due Proportion, and proper Shape, he might fufpect that any Miracles which he could fee, were falfe, or wrought only to amuse and deceive him, and there would be no way to fatisfie fuch a one, but by telling him, that this is inconfiftent with the Truth and Goodness of God. So in this other Medium of Hiftory, which to us fupplies the want of that of Sight, a Man may doubt of any Matter of Fact, if

he

he pleases, notwithstanding the most credible Evidence; but in a matter of this nature, where our eternal Salvation is concern'd, we may be fure, God will not fuffer Mankind to be deceiv'd, without all poffibility of discovering the Deceit. The Circumftances have all the marks of Credibility in them; and therefore, if they be duly attended to, cannot but be believed; and the Doctrine of which they are brought in Evidence, being propounded to be believed, under pain of Damnation, requires that they fhall be attended to, and confider'd: and that, which is in its Circumftances moft credible, and in its Matter is fuppofed neceffary to Salvation, must be certainly true, unlefs God could oblige us to believe a Lye. For not to believe things credible, when attended to and known to be fuch, is to human Nature im→ poffible; and not to attend to things proposed, as from God, of neceffity to Salvation, is a very heinous Crime against God; and to think that God will fuffer me to be deceived in what I am obliged, in honour and obedience to him, to believe upon his Authority, is to think he can oblige me to believe a Lye.

But it may be Objected; If this be fo, how comes it to pass, that they are pronounced blessed, who have not feen, and yet have believed, John xx. 29. which feems to denote, that a peculiar Bleffing belongs to them, because they believe upon lefs Evidence. Ianfwer, that they are there pronounced Bleffed, who had fo well confider'd the Nature and Circumftances of things, the Prophecies concerning the Meffias, and what our Saviour had deliver'd of himself, as to believe his Resurrection upon the Report of others; not because others might not have as fufficient grounds for their Belief, as those who faw him after his Refurrection, but the Evidence of Senfe is more plain and convincing to the generality of Men, tho' Reason proceeds at least upon as fure and as undeniable Principles. A Demonftration, when it is rightly per

form'd