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ly and narrowly we look into them, the more occafion we fhall have to admire their fine and fubtle texture, their beauty, and use, and excellent contrivance. The fame we may fay of the ftanding evidences of the gofpel; every time they are confidered and inquired into, they gain upon fincere unbyaffed minds, appear ftill more reafonable and fatisfactory than before, and more worthy every way of that inimitable power and fkill which wrought them: And, on that account they are, doubtless, better contrived to work a rational, a deep, and durable conviction in us, than thofe aftonishing motives, which exert all their force at once, upon the first propofal. An argument, that is fometime working its way into the underftanding, will at last take the furer hold of it; as thofe trees, which have the flowest growth, are, for that reafon, of the longeft continuance. To all which, we may add, in the

Third place, That, let the evidence of fuch a particular miracle be never fo bright and clear, yet it is ftill but particular; and muft, therefore, want that kind of force, that degree of influence, which accrues to a standing general proof, from its having been tryed and approved, and confented to by men of all ranks and capacities, of all tempers and interefts, of all ages and nations. A wife man is then beft fatisfied with his own reafonings and perfuafions, when he finds that wife and confidering men have in like manner reafoned, and been in like manner perfuaded; that the fame argument, which weighs with him, has weighed with thoufands, and ten thoufand times. ten thoufand before him; and is fuch as hath borne

borne down all oppofition, where-ever it hath been fairly propofed, and calmly confidered. Such a reflection, tho' it carries nothing perfectly decifive in it, yet creates a mighty confidence in his breast, and strengthens him much in his opinion. Whereas he, who is to be wrought upon by a fpecial miracle, hath no helps, no advantages of this kind, toward clearing his doubts, or fupporting his affurance. All the force of the motive lies entirely within itfelf; it receives no collateral ftrength from external confiderations; it wants thofe degrees of credibility that fpring from authority, and concurring opinions: which is one reason why (as I told you) a man is capable of being difputed out of the truth and reality of fuch a matter of fact, tho' he faw it with his eyes..

This therefore is a further advantage, which the standing proofs of a revelation have over any occafional miracle; That, in the admitting fuch proofs, we do but fall in with the general fenfe and perfuafion of thofe among whom we converfe: whereas we cannot affirm the truth of fuch, a mi. racle, without incurring the fcorn and derifion; at leaft, not without running crofs to the belief and apprehenfion, of the rest of mankind; a difficulty, which (as hath been already fhewn) a modeft and good man is fcarce able, but a man addicted to his vices is neither able nor willing, for the mere fake of truth, to encounter.

Let us lay these several reflexions together, and we fhall find, "That even a meffage from the "other world is not an argument of such invin❝cible strength, but it would be refifted by fuch

as had before-hand refifted the general proofs

"of

"of the gospel; and that our Saviour therefore "uttered no paradox, but a great, a clear, and "certain truth, when he faid, That they who "hear not Mofes and the Prophets, will not be perfuaded, though one rofe from the dead." From which truth it is now time, as my

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III. Third General head directs, to deduce the feveral inferences, which I intended.

And,

First, We learn from hence, what is the true afe and end of miracles: They are not private, but public proofs; not things to be done in a core ner, for the fake of fingle perfons, but before multitudes, and in the face of the fun. Again, they are figns to those who believe not, not to thofe who believe: I mean, that the great, the chief end of them is, to establish the truth of a new revelation in those countries where, and at the time, when, it is first promulged and propa gated; not to confirm men in the belief of it, after it is fufficiently established. Miracles are the immediate act of Omnipotence; and therefore, not to be employed, but where the importance of the occafion requires them: much lefs are they to be employed, where they are neither requifite, nor likely to fucceed; as the cafe is, where perfons, who are not convinced by the old miracles, demand. new ones. It follows from hence,

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Secondly, That we have great reason to look upon the high pretenfions which the Roman church makes to miracles, as groundlefs, and to reject her vain and fabulous accounts of them. the faints, which have place in her peculiar calendar, were, if you will believe her, converted by miracles: Apparitions, visions, and intercourses

of

!

of all kinds between the dead and the living, are the frequent and familiar embellishments of thofe pious romances, her legends; which exceed the Scripture itfelf in wonders and do, indeed by that means, contradict the doctrine and design of it; for, where Mofes and the prophets are received, there, a continued fucceffion of miracles is needlefs; and confequently, not to be expected, believed, or pretended. It may be a

Third Ufe of what hath been faid, To take an occafion from thence of confidering, how fure the foundation of God ftandeth [that foundation of the apifles and prophets, upon which the church is built, Jefus Chrift himself being the head Cornerfone, as the Collect for this day fpeaks]; how very strong and irrefragable the first evidences of Chriftianity needs mult be, fince they appear tboth from reafon and revelation) to be fuch, as that they who refifted them, would refit every thing befides them. But this is fufficiently underftood from the whole tenor of the preceeding argument: which inftructs us alfo, in the

Fourth place, to condemn the folly and impiety of those perfons (for füch there have been) who have obliged themfelves to each other, to appear after death, and give an account of their conditi on in another world; and the worse use that hath been made of thefe ill contracts, when the furvi ving party hath hardened himfelf in his wickednefs, upon the other's failure. It is ftupidly foolish, thus to venture our falvation upon an experiment, which we know not whether God will fuffer, and which, we have all the reason imaginable to think, he will not suffer to take

place.

place. It is highly impious to refolve to perfift in our unbelief, till fomething more is done for our conviction, than God hath thought fit fhould be done, for the conviction of any man in our circumstances. An apostle, indeed, once faid, "Except I fhall fee in his hands the print of the "nails, and put my finger into the print of the "nails, and thruft my hand into his fide, I will "not believe;" John xx. 25. and God was pleafed to ftoop to his requeft, and to plant faith in his heart by such an experiment. But it was on the account of the public character he was to bear, as an apoftle; that is, a witnefs of the refurrection of Chr ft to the rest of the world; and it might therefore be fit, that he himself should, in a very particular and extraordinary way, be fatisfied of it; not merely for his own fake, but for the fake of all those who should hereafter believe in his teftimony. The manner of his conviction was defigned, not as a peculiar privilege to him; but as a ftanding miracle, a lafting argument for the conviction of others, to the very end of the world. Befides, though flow of belief, he was at the bottom honeft and fincere; not led into thofe doubts which he entertained, by his lufts and vices; not a revolter from the truth which he had once embraced: And they, therefore, have no reason to expect to be favoured as he was, who stand not poffeffed of any one of thofe qualifications that belonged to him, but are (generally speaking) the very reverse of his character.

Fifthly, From the fame truth we may also be taught to correct a vain thought, which we are fometimes apt to entertain: That, if it had been

our

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