emperor's referve was easily affected, or it is poffible he might not be in the fecret. There does not feem to be much weight in the obfervation of Tacitus, that they who were prefent continued even then to relate the ftory, when there was nothing to be gamed by the lie. It only proves that thofe, who had told theftory for many years, perfilted in it. The ftate of mind of the witneffes and fpectators at the time, is the point to be attended to. Still lefs is there of pertinency in Mr. Hume's eulogium upon the cautious and penetrating genius of the hiftorian; for it does not appear that the historian believed it. The terms in which he speaks of Serapis, the deity to whofe interpofition. the miracle was attributed, fcarcely fuffer us to fuppofe that Tacitus thought the miracle to be real, "by the admonition of the god Serapis, whom that fuperftitious nation (dedita fuperftitionibus gens) worship above all other gods." To have brought this fuppofed miracle within the limits of comparison with the miracles of Chrift, it ought to have appeared, that a perfon of a low and private station, in the midst of enemies, with the whole power of the country oppofing him, with every one around him prejudiced or interested against his claints and character, pretended to perform thefe cures ; and required the fpectators, upon the ftrength of what they faw, to give up their firmeft hopes and opinions, and follow him through a life of trialand danger; that many were fo moved, as to obey his call, at the expenfe both of every notion in which they had been brought up, and of their eafe, fafety, and reputation; and that by thefe beginnings a change was produced in the world, the effects of which remain to this day: a cafe, both in its circumftances and confequences, very unlike any thing we find in Tacitus's relation..

2. The story taken from the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz,which is the fecond example alleged by Mr. Hume, is this: "In the church at Saragoffa in Spain, the canons fhewed me a man whofe business it was to light the lamps, telling me thathe had been for feveral years at the gate, with one leg only. I faw him with two.' "a

It is stated by Mr. Hume, that the Cardinal who relates this ftory, did not believe it; and it no where appears, that he either examined the limb, or asked the patient, or indeed any one, a fingle question about the matter. An artificial leg

a Liv. 4. A. D. 1654.

wrought with art, would be fufficient, in a place where no fuch contrivance had ever before been heard of, to give origin and currency to the report. The ecclefiaftics of the place would, it is probable, favour the story, inafmuch as it advanced the honour of their image and church. And if they patronized it, no other perfon at Saragoffa, in the middle of the last century, would care to dispute it. The story likewife coincided, not lefs with the wishes and preconceptions of the people, than with the interefts of their ecclefiaftical rulers; fo that there was prejudice backed by authority, and both operating upon extreme ignorance to account for the fuccefs of the impolture. If, as I have fuggefted, the contrivance of an artificial limb was then new, it would not occur to the Cardinal himself to suspect it; efpecially under the careleffness of mind with which he heard the tale, and the little inclination he felt to scrutinize or expose its fallacy.

3. The miracles related to have been wrought at the tomb of the Abbé Paris, admit in general of this folution. The patients who frequented the tomb, were so affected by their devotion, their expectation, the place, the folemnity, and, above all, by the fympathy of the furrounding multitude, that many of them are thrown into violent convulfions, which convulfions, in certain inftances, produced a removal of diforders depending upon obftruction. We fhall, at this day, have the lefs difficulty in admitting the above account, because it is the very fame thing, as hath lately been experienced in the operations of animal magnetifm; and the report of the French phyficians upon that myfterious remedy, is very applicable to the prefent confideration, viz. that the pretenders to the art, by working upon the imaginations of their patients, were frequently able to produce convulfions; that convulfions fo produced are amongst the most powerful, but at the fame time, moft uncertain and unmanageable applications to the human frame, which can be employed.

Circumstances, which indicate this explication in the cafe of the Parifian miracles, are the following:

1. They were tentative. Out of many thoufand fick, infirm, and difeafed perfons, who reforted to the tomb, the profeffed history of the miracles contains only nine cures.

2. The convulfions at the tomb are admitted.

3. The difeafes were, for the most part, of that fort, which depends upon inaction and obftruction, as dropfies, palfies, and fume tumors.

4. The cures were gradual; fome patients attending many days, fome feveral weeks, and fome feveral months.

5. The cures were many of them incomplete.

6. Others were temporary.2

So that all the wonder we are called upon to account for is, that, out of an almost innumerable multitude which reforted to the tomb for the cure of their complaints, and many of whom were there agitated by ftrong convulfions, a very fmall proportion experienced a beneficial change in their conftitution, efpecially in the action of the nerves and glands.

Some of the cafes alleged do not require that we should have recourfe to this folution. The firft cafe in the catalogue is fcarcely distinguishable from the progrefs of a natural recovery. It was that of a young man, who laboured under an inflammation of one eye, and had loft the fight of the other. The inflamed eye was relieved, but the blindness of the other remained. The inflammation had before been abated by medicine; and the young man, at the time of his attendance at the tomb, was using a lotion of laudanum. And, what is a still more material part of the cafe, the inflammation after fome interval returned. Another cafe was that of a young man who had lost his fight by the puncture of an awl, and the difcharge of aqueous humour through the wound. The fight which had been gradually returning was much improved during his vifit at the tomb, that is, probably in the fame degree in which the discharged humour was replaced by fresh fecretions. And it is obfervable that thefe two are the only cafes, which, from their nature, fhould feem unlikely to be affected by convulfions.

In one material refpect I allow, that the Parifian miracles were different from thofe related by Tacitus, and from the Spanish miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. They had not, like them all the power and all the prejudice of the country on their fide to begin with. They were alleged by one party against another, by the Janfenifts againts the Jefuits. Thefe were of courfe oppofed and examined by their adverfaries. The confequence of which examination was, that many falfehoods were detected, that with fomething really extraordinary, much fraud appeared to be mixed. And if fome of the cafes, upon which defigned mifreprefentation could not be charged, were not at the time

a The reader will find these particulars verified in the detail, by the accurate inquiries of the present Bishop of Sarum in his criterion of miracles, p. 131. et feq.

fatisfactorily accounted for, it was becaufe the efficacy of strong fpafmodic affections were not then fufficiently known. Finally, the cause of Janfenifm did not rise by the miracles, but sank, although the miracles had the anterior perfuafion of all the numer ous adherents of that caufe to fet out with.

Thefe, let us remember, are the strongest examples which the hiftory of ages fupplies. In none of them was the miracle unequivocal; by none of them were established prejudices and perfuafions overthrown; of none of them did the credit make its way, in oppofition to authority and power; by none of them were many induced to commit themselves, and that in contradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortification, danger, and fufferings none were called upon to atteft them, at the expenfe of their fortunes and fafety.a

a It may be thought that the historian of the Parisian miracles, M. Montgeron, forms an exception to this laft affertion. He prefented his book (with a suspicion, as it fhould feem, of the danger of what he was doing) to the king; and was fliortly afterwards committed to prifon, from which he never came out. Had the miracles been unequivocal, and had M. Montgeron been originally convinced by them, I should have allowed this exception. It would have ftood, I think, alone in the argument of our adverfarics. But, befide what has been obferved of the dubious nature of the miracles, the account, which M. Montgeron has himself left of his conversion, shows both the state of his mind, and that his perfuafion was not built upon external miracles. "Scarcely had he entered the church-yard, when he was ftruck," he tells us, with awe and reverence, having never before heard prayers pronounced with fo much ardour and transport, as he obferved amongst the fupplicants at the tomb. Upon this, throwing himself on his knees, refting his elbows on the tombstone, and covering his face with his hands, he fpake the following prayer: 0 thou, by whofe interceffion fo many miracles are faid to be performed, if it be true that a part of thee furviveth the grave, and that thou haft influence with the Almighty, have pity on the darkness of my understanding, and through his mercy obtain the removal of it. Having prayed thus, many thoughts, as he fayeth, began to open themselves to his mind; and fo profound was his attention, that he continued on his knees four hours, not in the least disturbed by the vaft crowd of furrounding fupplicants. During this time all the arguments which he ever heard or read in favour of Christianity, occurred to him with fo much force, and feemed to ftrong and convincing, that he went home fully fatisfied of the truth of religion in general, and of the holiness and power of that perfon, who," as be fuppofed, "had engaged the divine goodness to enlighten his understanding fo fuddenly." Douglafs Crit. of Mir. p. 214.

PART THE SECOND.

OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

CHAP. I.

Prophecy.

If. lii. 13. liii. “BEHOLD, my fervant fhall deal prudent

:

ly, he fhall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; his visage was fo marred more than any man, and his form more than the fons of men: fo fhall he fprinkle many nations; the kings fhall fhut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they fee; and that which they had not heard fhall they confider. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he fhall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comelinefs; and when we fhall fee him, there is no beauty that we fhould defire him. He is defpifed and rejected of men, a man of forrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our forrows: yet we did efteem him ftricken, fmitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities: the chaftifement of our peace was upon him; and with his ftripes we are healed. All we like fheep have gone aftray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppreffed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the flaughter, and as a sheep before her fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prifon and from judgment: and who fhall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the tranfgreffion of my people was he ftricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord bruife him; he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt