Fact of Christ, and fo give the ftrongest Sort of Evidence, that of Enemies, to the Truth of them, and, confequently, to the Truth of his Doctrine, which they were brought to vouch; fo, as before is told, p. 46, many Myriads of your Fathers did embrace his Doctrine; and, by the Computation there made, there must be many more Myriads of their Pofterities, than of the infidel Fers. So that here the Queftion is not betwixt the Tradition of your Fathers, and of the Gentiles; but of those of your Fathers who did believe, and those who did not believe, in Chrift. For Chriflianity is nothing elfe but a Tradition of the Jews, to which the Gentiles did come in. For, as fhewn before, the firft Christian Church was wholly Jewish, without any Mixture of the Gentiles, for a confiderable Time. Now then, fince you have the Tradition of your Fathers on both Sides, what Method are you to take? What Method did you take in the contrary Traditions Limbor. N. v. of the Ten Tribes, which grew among them, in fucceeding Ages, after their Defection to Idolatry under Jeroboam? Your learned fer gives a good Rule, viz. To recur to the Original pretended of each Tradition; and there fee upon what Foundation it began. That of Mofes was grounded upon Miracles exhibited before all the People. Not fo of Jeroboam, who pretended no fuch Thing; only. to give a different Expofition of the Law of Mofes, to countenance his Idolatry; which Expofition became, in time, a Tradition to their Pofterities. And this is exactly your Cafe, as to Chriflianity. Your Fathers did at firft embrace it upon the Conviction of those many Miracles fhewn publicly before their Faces. But those of your Fathers who did not believe. did not deny the Matters of Fa&; only put a different Conftruction upon them, faying, that they were wrought by Beelzebub. And thofe Jezus who believed, and their Pofterities are many more (as before fhewn) than those Jews who remained remain'd in their Infidelity, if that were an Argument: For the Tradition of Two Tribes was true, and that of Ten was falfe: Therefore we must recur to the Original, and that muft determine the Tradition on either Side. And the Argument, infifted upon in the firft Part, against the Deifts, ftands wholly and irrefragably on our Side; and, befides, has the Tradition of all your Fathers, fo far as to acknowlege the Matters of Fact (which in confequence is the whole): And the major Number were convinced by them. Or if not the major Number then, yet certainly much more so now, in their Pofterities; having, by the miraculous Providence of God, efcaped the dreadful Deftruction at Jerufalem, and under your feveral falfe Meffiahs, which purfued those of your Fathers only, who hardened themselves in their Obftinacy against Chrift. So that the Tradition of your Fathers does not lie in your Way, to prejudice you against Chriftianity: The moft it can it oblige you to, is to examine the feveral Traditions of your Fathers: And that is it to which we would invite you. Confider then, first, the Tradition of your Chriftian Fathers, who call themselves by the Name of their Meffiah, as you have done by the Names of your Fathers, Heber, and Is. rael, and Judah. And this was foretold by the Prophet: Thou halt be called by a Ifai. lxii. new Name, which the Mouth of the Lord 3. fhall name. Therefore tho' these your Fathers have loft the Name of Jews, yet they may fay, in the Words of the fame Prophet, Doubt efs thou art our Father, tho' Abraham be fai, Ixiii. ignorant of us, and Ifrael acknowlege us 16. not; thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Re deemer: Thy Name is from everlasting. This is an everlafting Name, by which they are now called, even the Name of our God; whereas they were heretofore called only by the Name of your Fathers in the Flesh; but now, of your Father in Heaven. Confider, I fay, the Tradition of these your Chriftian Fathers, that it is on the affirmative Side; whereas the Tradition of your unbelieving Fathers is altogether upon the negative; E particularly A&t. 1. 3. particularly in that great Article of our Faith, the ReJurrection of Chrift: Which being done in the Sight nly of a few Soldiers, who were capable of being brib'd, you truft wholly to their No-Evidence, that his Difciples ftole him away, while they flept. For how could they know this, if they were afleep? Yet this is all the Foundation you have for your Negative. But for the Affirmative, there were many infallible Proofs; Chrift being feen of his Difciples forty Days, and fpeaking of the 1 Cor. xv. Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. 5,6,7,8. He was feen of Cephas, then of the Twelve: After that he was feen of above 500 Brethren at once; of whom the greater Part (fays our Apo. ftle) remain unto this Prefent, when he Matthery wrote. These were too many to be bribed, xxviii. 12. not with large Money, as you gave to the Soldiers, but with Stripes, and Imprisonments, and Death, to have concealed fuch a Forgery; when any one of them might not only have avoided these Perfecutions, but, no doubt, have got much more large Money than you gave to the Soldiers, for fuch a foolish Excufe as they made: For any one of thefe 500 could have effectually difcovered the Contrivance, if it was one; and ftifled Chriftianity in its Cradle. And one Evidence on that Side would, at that Time, have borne down 500 on the other. And the Chriftians putting you to the Trial of this, when these many Witnesses were alive: And that not one of them could be tampered with, either by Bribes or Threats! That all fhould ftand it out, even to the Death! But we have furer Evidence than all this; even inJallible; And that is, the many Miracles which the Apoftles fhew'd, in Atteftation to the Truth of this. Miracles as flagrant and notorious as thofe which Chrift himfelf had wrought, and which have all the four Marks that do infallibly demonftrate the Truth of any Matter of Fact. Thefe are the Grounds of the Tradition of your Chriftian Fathers: And all the Ground for the Tra dition dition of your unbelieving Fathers is nothing elfe but that fenfelefs Story of the Soldiers; fufficiently ridiculous to confute itself, were there no Evidence at all on the other Side. Let me add to this, that your Chriftian Fathers had all thofe Difficulties to ftruggle with, which do now keep you back from Chriftianity. They hung as much. as you upon the Expectation of a temporal Kingdom of the Meffiah. The very Apofiles of our Lord were not wrought off of this, all the Time that he liv'd with them: And they refum'd their Hopes of it, after his Refurrection. They were ignorant of his Refurrection. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rife again from the Dead. And fo far were they from con certing of this, that they would not believe it, when it was first told them by thofe who had seen A. i, 6. fob.xx.9 II. John xx. 25, 27. Luke xxiv. 39 to 49. it. Their Words feemed to them as idle Tales, Luke xxiv. and they believed them not. And when all the other Apostles had feen the Lord, yet would not Thomas believe even them, till he had more than even ocular Demonftra. tion, to thrust his Hand into his Side, and put his Finger into the Print of the Nails. Nor was this peculiar to Thomas: For when Chrift appeared first to the reft, they were as hard to believe. And he afforded them the like Demonstration, not only to fee, and hear him speak to them, but to handle him, and examine the Wounds in his Hands and Feet, and further, to eat before them. And, as a yet more forcible Conviction, he minded them how he had told them all this before; and that it was agreeable to the Scriptures of the Old Teftament. And he said unto them, these are the Words which I fpake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all Things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Pfalms, concerning me. Then opened he their Understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and faid unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to E 2 rift rife from the Dead the third Day: And that Repentance and Remiffion of Sins jwould be preached in his Name, among all Nations, beginning at Jerufalem. And ye are Witneles of th. je things Our biciled Lord suffered his Difciples to be thus for in believing, thereby to confirm our Faith the more. But he would not permit them to proceed up on their Miffion, notwithstanding of all this Evidence, tul they should have yet further Credentials, fuch as no Man could refufe, without the highest Objinacy, and which is the utmolt that God can outwardly exhibit, that is, the Power of Miracles. But tarry ye (fays he) in the City of Jerusalem, until ye be andued with Power from on high. And this was granted them at first, by a moft ftupendous Miracle, in the Defeent of the Holy Gheft at Pentecoft, and infpiring them, in an Inftant, with ail Languages: Which was visible not only to the Jews, but to Multitudes of Aasii. 41. other Nations, then at Jerufalem. And the fame Day about Three Thoufand were converted. And by the many Miracles which the Apoftles were enabled to work afterwards, many praes Myriads of the Jews, and a great Company of your Priefs, were obedient to the Faith. These were your Fathers; therefore reject not their Tradition. Compare with this the Tradition of your other Fathers, who believed not; which is built only upon a Negative, of which there is no Proof at all. 'Atts xxi. 20. vi. 7. Then I defire you to recollect what has been faid before, from p. 76. to p. 84. of your having forfaken the conftant Tradition of your Fathers before Chrift came, in so many Particulars as are there fet down and having invented new and contrary Traditions, on purpose to prejudice yourfelves against Chriflianity See likewife before, Section iv. p. 17. And if Traditions must take Place, why not the most antient? These fure are most authentic: And they are more traditious than the latter: For it is Age that makes Tradition. Yet you reject the most antient Tra |