Representation of its primitive State, to be deftitute of other or external Arguments; and Nothing fhould feem more falfe and more remote from the original State of Things, than the Affertion of the Reverend Mr. REEVES, (a) that if Christianity be a Cheat, 'tis a Cheat, [fo proved or contrived] that we are bound to embrace and follow.

VII.

That if thofe Proofs are invalid, then is Christianity falfe.

N the other Side, if the Proofs for Christianity from the Old Testament be not valid; if the Arguments founded on those Books be not conclufive; and the Prophefies cited from thence be not fulfill'd; then has Chriftianity no juft Foundation; for the Foundation, on which JESUS and his Apostles built it, is then invalid and falfe. Nor can Miracles, faid to be wrought by JESUS and his Apostles, in Behalf of Christianity, avail any Thing in the Cafe; for Miracles can never render a Foundation valid, which is in itself invalid; can never make a falfe Inference true; can never make a Prophecy fulfill'd, which is not fulfill'd; and can never mark out MESSIAS, OF JESUS for the MESSIAS, if both are not mark'd out in the Old Teftament.

(a) Reeves's Apol. Vol. 2. p. 137.

Befides,

Befides, Miracles, faid to be wrought, may be often justly deem'd false Reports, when attributed to Perfons, who claim an Authority from the Old Teftament, which they impertinently alledge to support their Pretences. God can never be fuppofed often to permit Miracles to be done for the Confirmation of a falfe or pretended Miffion; and if at any Time he does permit Miracles to be wrought in Confirmation of a pretended Miffion, we have Directions from the (b) Old Teftament not to regard fuch Miracles; but are to continue firm to the antecedent Revelation confirm'd by Miracles, and contain'd in the Old Testament, notwithstanding any Miracles; which (in the Opinion of fome Divines, (c) as fplendid Gifts as they are, are no Demonftrations of the Truth, but) under the Circumftance of attesting something contrary to an antecedent Revelation, confirm'd by Miracles, are certainly no Proofs of the Truth. No new Revelation, however proved by Miracles, ought ever to be received, unless it confirms, or does not contradict the preceding, ftanding, true Revelation.

Moreover, (d) Thofe among the Jews, who expected a MESSIAS or Deliverer, (for all the Jews did not (dd) in our Saviour's Time, and perhaps none before the Captivity) ever expected a Real or Temporal Deliverer.

(b) Deut. 13. 1, 2. the Church of England. p. 23, 24. 2. C. 5. n. 7.

(dd) Le Clerc fur l'endroit. Ib.

(c) Hickes's Apol. Vind. of Stillingfleet's Orig. Sacræ. 1. (d) Luke 2. 38. Hift. Eccl. p.4.

Such

Such the (e) Apoftles before the Death of JESUS expected he would be. Such they expected he would be after his Resurrection, when they ask'd him, whether (f) at this Time he would reftore again the Kingdom of Ifrael; in which Notion he feems to leave them, by not setting them right as to the Reftoration of the Kingdom of Ifrael; but taking their Notion for granted, he only answers as to the Time, by telling them, that it was not for them to know the Time, when he would reftore the Kingdom of Ifrael; and all the primitive Chriftians were, for a confiderable Time after the Afcenfion of JESUS, in the vulgar Error of expecting him to come in the Clouds and reign perfonally and triumphantly upon Earth in a Kingdom that was at hand. The Jews expected a MESSIAS, who was to change their miserable Condition into a happy one, and to govern them by their own Law, without the leaft Imagination of a mere (g) fpiritual Deliverance or any Alteration of their divine Law, (which they thought was (b) to be eternal) in Vertue of a new legislative Power conferr'd on him by God. Pursuant to which they thought the Perfon and Doctrines of JESUS to be fo far from being held forth in the Old Teftament, that they (i) knew not whence he was, and look'd on him to be in many Respects different from the CHRIST

(e) Luke 24. 21.

(f) Acts 1. 6. See

Tillotson's Sermons. Vol. 10. p. 226. (g) Scripta Judæi apud Limborchii Amic. Collat. p. 76, 115. (b) Whitby's Note on Gal. 4. 21.

(i) John 9. 29.

they

they expected from thence; and thought (k
no greater Contradiction could be form'd, No-
thing in Nature or Terms more irreconcilable,
than affirming the fame Perfon to be CHRIST
(That is, a triumphant Prince) and to be
crucify'd. Wherefore the numerous and won-
derful Miracles wrought by JESUS, tho' equal
(1) to what the Jews expected from their
MESSIAH, were no Proofs to them, that he
was the MESSIAS. They were not in the least
disposed to take him for the MESSIAS On (m)
Account of them; but on the contrary they
procured him to be crucify'd for pretending to
be the MESSIAS, (n) not knowing the Lord of
Glory, from his Miracles.

Nor had his Miracles any Effect on his own (0) Brethren, and Kindred, and Family, who feem to have been more incredulous in him, than other Jews. Nor had they the Effect, which naturally they fhould feem fitted to produce, among his immediate Followers, and Disciples; fome of whom did not (p) believe in him, but deferted him, and particularly had no Faith in him, when he fpake of his Sufferings; and thought he could (q) not be the MESSIAS, when they faw him fuffer; notwithstanding his Miracles and frequent Declarations to them, that he was the MESSIAS. And the Jews were fo rooted in their Notion

(k) Stanhope's Boyl. Lect. Firft Sermon for 1700. p. 7, 8. (1) John 7.31. (m) Luke 2.34.

(0) Mark 6. 4. John 7.5. Mark 8.31.

(n) Acts 3. 17. (p) Ib. 6. 64, 66.

(9) Luke 24. 21.

of

"

of a temporal Deliverer, even after the Refur rection and Afcenfion of JESUS, and the Progrefs of Christianity grounded on the Belief of JESUS to be the MESSIAS, that they have in all Times of Distress, and particularly in the (r) Apoftolical Times in great Numbers follow'd Impoftors, who have set up for the ME SSIAH with Force and Arms, as the Way to reftore the Kingdom of Ifrael. So that the Jews, who mistook, in this most important Matter, and after the moft egregious Manner, the Meaning of their own Books, might, 'till they were fet right in their Interpretations of the Old Testament, and were convinced from thence, that JESUS was the MESSIAS, as juftly reject JESUS afferting his Miffion and Doctrine with Miracles, as any other Perfon, who, in Vertue of Miracles, would lead them into Idolatry, or into any other real Breach of the Mofaick Law. And the Gentiles, who ought regularly to be converted to Judaism, before they could become Chriftians, and ought to ground their Chriftianity on the Old Teftament, had a Right to the fame Satisfaction; and might want it (as (s) CELSUS did) no lefs than the Jews, whom they might perhaps allow to understand their own Books better than the Apostles, who manifeftly put new Interpretations upon them, and those not

(r) Jofeph Antiq. 1. 20. c. 2 & 6. Ib. De Bello Jud. 1. 3. c. 23. 1. 7. c. 30. Lent De Pfeudo Meffiis. Vandale Differt. de Origine Idol, &c. p. 227, &c. Tillotson's Sermons. Vol. 13. p. 116, 119, 151. (s) Origen contra Celfum. p. 78, 343agreeable