which were more safe and honourable. Nay, though they believed it to be true, they would not have made Profession of it, unless they had believed such a Profession necessary; especially when they could easily foresee, and they quickly learnt by experience, that such a Profession would be attended with the Death of a vast Number; and they would have been guilty of the highest Wickedness, to have given such Occasion, without a just Reason. If they believed their Religion to be true, nay, that it was the best, and ought to be professed by all means, and this after the Death of their Master; it was impossible this should be, if their Master’s Promise concerning his Resurrection had failed <97> them; (b) for this had been sufficient to any Man in his Senses to have overthrown that Belief which he had before entertained. Again, all Religion, but particularly the Christian Religion, forbids (c) Lying and False Witness, especially in Divine Matters: They could not therefore be moved to tell a Lye, out of Love to Religion, especially such a Religion. To all which may be added, that they were Men who led such a Life, as was not blamed even by their Adversaries; and who had no Objection made
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against them, (a) but only their Simplicity, the Nature of which is the most distant that can be from forging a Lie. And there was none of them who did not undergo even the most grievous things, for their Profession of the Resurrection of Jesus. Many of them endured the most exquisite Death for this Testimony. Now, suppose it possible that any Man in his Wits could undergo such things for an Opinion he had entertained in his Mind; yet for a Falsity, and which is known to be a Falsity; that not only one Man, but very many, should be willing to endure such Hardships, is a thing plainly incredible. And that they were not mad, both their Lives and their Writings sufficiently testify. What has been said of these first, the same may also be said of Paul, (b) who openly declared that he saw <98> Christ reigning in Heaven, (c) and he did not want the Learning of the Jews, but had great Prospect of Honour, if he had trod in the Paths of his Fathers. But on the contrary, he thought it his Duty for this Profession, to expose himself to the Hatred of his Relations; and to undertake difficult, dangerous and troublesome Voyages all over the World, and at last to suffer an ignominious Death.
Sect. VII. The Objection drawn from the seeming Impossibility of a Resurrection, answered.
Indeed, no Body can withstand the Credibility of so many and so great Testimonies, without saying that a thing of this Nature is impossible to be, such as we say all things that imply a Contradiction are. (d) But this
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cannot be said of it. It <99> might indeed, if any one should affirm, that the same Person was alive and dead at the same time: But that a dead Man should be restored to Life, by the Power of him who first gave Life to Man, (a) there is no Reason why this should be thought impossible. Neither did wise Men believe it to be impossible: For Plato relates it of (b) Er the Armenian; (c) Heraclides Ponticus, of a certain Woman; (d) Herodotus, of Aristaeus; and (e) Plu-<100>tarch, out of another; which, whether they were true or false, shows the Opinion of learned Men, concerning the Possibility of the thing.
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The Truth of Jesus’s Doctrine proved from his Resurrection.
If it be not impossible that Christ should return to Life again, and if it be proved from sufficient Testimonies, such as convinced (a) Bechai a Teacher of the Jews, so far as to acknowledge the Truth of it; and Christ himself (as both his own Disciples and Strangers confess) declared a new Doctrine as by a Divine Command: it will certainly follow that this Doctrine is true; because it is repugnant to the Justice and Wisdom of God to bestow such Endowments upon him who had been guilty of a Falsity in a Matter of so great Moment. Especially when he had before his Death declared to his Disciples that he should die, and what Manner of Death; and that he should return to Life again; (b) and that these things should therefore come to pass, that they might confirm the Truth of his Doctrine.
Sect. VIII. That the Christian Religion exceeds all others.
These Arguments are drawn from Matters of Fact; we come now to those which are drawn from the Nature of the Doctrine. Certainly all manner of Worship of God must be rejected; (which can never enter into any Man’s Mind, <101> who has any Sense of the Existence of God, and of his Government of the Creation; and who considers the Excellency of Man’s Understanding, and the Power of chusing moral Good or Evil, with which he is endued, and consequently that the Cause, as of Reward, so of Punishment, is in himself;) or else he must receive this Religion, not only upon the Testimony of the Facts, which we have now treated of; but likewise for the sake of those Things that are intrinsical in Religion; since there cannot be Any produced, in any Age or Nation, whose Rewards are more excellent, or whose Precepts are more perfect, or the Method in which it was commanded to be propagated, more wonderful.
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Sect. IX. The Excellency of the Reward proposed.
To begin with the Reward, that is, with the End proposed to Man; because, as we are used to say, that which is the Last in Execution, is the First in Intention; (a) Moses, in his Institution of the Jewish Religion, if we regard the express Condition of the Law, made no Promises beyond the good Things of this Life; such as a fruitful Land, abundance of Riches, Victory over their Enemies, long Life and Health, and Hope of their Posterities surviving them. And if there be any thing more, it is only obscurely hinted, and must be collected from wise and strong Arguing; Which is the Reason why many who professed to follow the Law of Moses ((b) as the Sadducees) cast off all <102> Hope of enjoying any Good after this Life. The Greeks, who derived their Learning from the Chaldeans and Egyptians, and who had some Hope of another Life after this, (c) spoke very doubtfully concerning it, as is evident (d) from the Disputes of Socrates, and from the Writings of (e) Tully, (f) Seneca, (g) and others.
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And tho’ they searched <103> diligently for Arguments to prove it, they could offer nothing of Certainty. For those which they alledge, (a) hold generally as strong for Beasts as they do for Men. Which when some of them considered, it is no wonder, that they imagined that Souls (b) passed out of Men into Beasts, and out of Beasts into Men. Again, because this could not be proved by any Testimonies, nor by any certain Arguments, and yet it could not be denied but that there must be some End proposed for Man; therefore others were led to say, (c) that Virtue was its own Reward, and that a wise Man was very happy, though in Phalaris’s Bull. But others disliked this, and not without Reason; for they saw very well, that Happiness, especially in the highest Degree (unless we regard only the Sound of Words, without any Meaning) could not (d) consist in that which is <104> attended with Danger, Loss, Torment, and Death: And therefore they placed the chief Good and End of Man, in sensual Pleasure. And this Opinion likewise was solidly confuted by very many, as a Thing which overthrew all Virtue, the Seeds of which are planted
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in the Mind; and degraded Man, who was made for nobler Purposes, to the Rank of Brute Creatures, who look no further than the Earth. In so many Doubts and Uncertainties did Mankind at that time wander, till Christ discovered the true Knowledge of their End, promising to his Disciples and Followers another Life after this, in which there should be no more Death, Pain, or Sorrow, but accompanied with the highest Joy; And this not only to one Part
