felf to be difputed out of his fenfes. But if all thefe engines fail of doing the work; yet,

Laftly, ime, and a fucceffion of other objects, will bring it about. Every day the impreffion lofes fomewhat of its force and grows weaker, till at length it comes to lie under the fame dif advantage with the standing proofs of the gospel, that is, to be diftant; and, accordingly, to ope rate alfo (as thofe, and all other diftant things do) but faintly upon carelefs unawakened minds. They, who attend fick beds, will tell you, how often they have met with cases not unlike this; wherein men, upon the near approach of death, have been rouzed up into fuch a lively fenfe of their guilt, fuch a paffionate degree of concern and remorse, that, if ten thoufand ghosts had appeared to them, and hell itfelf had been laid open flaming to their view, they fcarce could have had a fuller conviction, or a greater dread of their danger and yet, no fooner had their dif temper left them, but their good thoughts and refolutions began to leave them too; till they had at laft, perhaps, forgotten their firft fears and agonies as much, as if they had never felt them ; their folemn vows and promises as thoroughly, as if they had never made them. Thus, in all like lihood, would it be with a libertine, who should have a visit made to him from the other world: The first horror and aftonishment it raised, would go off by degrees, as new thoughts, new diverfions, came on; it would be driven out by bufinefs, or pleasure, or the various accidents of life, that might afterwards befal him; till, at laft, he came, perhaps, to reflect upon it, with as much indifference,

indifference, as if it were a story only, which he had heard, or read, and which he himfelf was no way concerned in.

Hitherto I have fuppofed, That the evidence of one rifen from the dead, hath really the advantage, in point of force and efficacy, of any standing revelation, how well foever attefted and and confirmed; and, proceeding on that suppofition, I have endeavoured to fhew, That fuch evidence, however in itself forcible, would certainly not be complied with. But the truth is, and, upon a fair balance of the advantages on either fide, it will appear, That the common standing rules of the gospel are a more probable and powerful means of conviction than any fuch meffage or miracle: And that,

First For this plain reason, because they include in them that very kind of evidence, which is fuppofed to be fo powerful; and do, withal, afford us feveral other additional proofs, of great force and clearness.

Among many arguments, by which the truth of our religion is made out to us, this is but one, that the promulgers of it, Jefus Chrift, and his apoftles, did that very thing which is required to be done; raised men and women from the dead, not once only, but often, in an indifputable manner, and before many witneffes. St. Peter raifed Dorcas: Our Saviour raised the ruler's daughter, the widow's fon, and Lazarus ; the first of these, when fhe had just expired; the fecond, as he was carried to the grave on his bier; and the third, after he had been some time buried. And having, by these gradual advances,

manifested

manifefted his divine power; he at laft exerted the highest and most glorious degree of it; and raifed himself alfo, by his own all-quickening virtue, and according to his own exprefs prediction. We did not indeed fee thefe things done; but we have fuch authentic accounts of them, that we can no more doubt of their reality, than if we had actually feen them. For though no evidence affects the fancy fo ftrongly as that of fenfe; yet there is other evidence, which gives as full fatisfaction, and as clear a conviction to our reafon; fo that there are fome diftant matters of fact of the truth of which we are as certain, as we are of what happens before our eyes; the concurring accounts of many fuch witneffes, as were every way qualified to inform us, and could have no intereft in deceiving us, and fealed the truth of their teftimony with their blood, rendering it (morally, as we fpeak, or, as we might fpeak) abfolutely impoffible that these things fhall be falfe. And what can we fay more for the evidence. that comes by the fenfes? for cán any thing be more certain than that, which 'tis impoffible fhould not be true? And of this nature are ma ny of thofe miraculous facts, upon which the truth of our religion is founded; particularly, that most important miracle of all, the refurrection of our Lord: It is fo convincingly attefted, by fuch perfons, with fuch circumftances, that they, who give themfelves leifure to confider and weigh the teftimony, atwhat distance foever they are placed from the fact itself, cannot help clofing with it; nor can they entertain any more doubt of the refurrection, than they do of the cruVOL II. F

cifixion

cifixion of Jefus. And therefore, I fay, if this miracle of Chef's rifing from the dead heretofore be not fufficient to convince a refolved libertine ; neither would the raifing of one now from the dead be fufficient for that purpofe; fince it would only be, the doing that over again which hath been done already, and of the truth of which (all things confidered) we have as much reafon to be fatisfied, asif weourselves had stood by and feen it.

Thus far the old standing proofs of the gospel, and the new miracle demanded, aro (in reality and right reafon) equal; and fhould therefore (reasonably) have equal influence and effect. But there are alfo feveral other acceffary proofs, by which the truth of the gospel was further demonftrated. It was attefted by miracles ofall forts, done in great variety and number; by the vifible centering of all the old prophecies in the perfon of Chrift, and by the completion of thofe prophecies fince, which he himself uttered; by the holy and unblemished lives, the exemplary fufferings and deaths, of the publishers of this religion, and by the furpaffing excellence of that heavenly doctrine which they published; finally, by the miraculous increafe of the profeffors of Christianity, without any vifible grounds and causes, and contrary to all human probability and appearance. Now, if the proof of a future ftate, by an immediate ap pearance of one from the dead, be (in truth, and at the bottom) but equal, to that fingle proof of Christianity taken from our Lord's refurrection; how much inferior muft it be to thefe feveral proofs united? And therefore, how little probability is there, that he, who is not wrought upon

by

by the one, would be convinced by the other? But I have not time to pursue this fruitful head of argument as far as it deferves; by difplaying, firft, the general evidences of our religion, in all their force and brightness, and then, comparing them with that of a particular apparition; and, by this means, calculating, as it were, the feveral degrees of credibility and conviction, by which the one furpaffeth the other. Such an attempt would carry me beyond the bounds of a fingle difcourfe. I have room only at prefent to fuggeft a general reflexion or two, which may contribute to illuftrate this point; and proceed therefore to observe,

Secondly, Another great advantage which the standing proofs of the gospel have over fuch an extraordinary appearance; that this hath all its force at once, upon the first impreffion, and is ever afterwards in a declining ftate; fo that the longer it continues upon the mind, and the oftener it is thought of, the more it lofes: Whereas those, on the contrary gain strength and ground upon us by degrees; and the more they are confidered and weighed, the more they are approved.

The

There is a like difference between the ways in which thefe feveral proofs operate, as there is between the feveral impreffions made upon thoughtful minds by the works of art and nature. works of art, which are extremely nice and curious, ftrike and furprise us moft upon the first view; but the better we are acquainted with them, the lefs we wonder at them: Whereas the works of nature will bear a thousand views and reviews, and will still appear new to us; the more frequent

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ly