ago, we find as circumstantial a description of Popery, as any one could write at this time. It must be a Christian power that the apostle Paul means, for he describes it as "sitting in the temple of God." The whole, as well as the "forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats," are such plain, such remarkable, and the two last such singular features of the Roman Catholic church, that it is impossible for any one, whose mind is unperverted, to mistake it for any other church. The very place where this portentous power is to appear, is mentioned by St. John. The seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth" cannot but mean Rome. The Roman, as well as other authors, mean Rome, when they speak of the city of the seven mountains. Virgil*, speaking of Rome, says,

Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma,
Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces.

It appears to me impossible that the utmost ingenuity of sophistry can evade the force of the argument that may from hence be urged in favour of Christianity. St. Paul and St. Johnt could not have conjectured that such a power as they describe would exist. The idea of such a power could only have been impressed upon their minds by the particular inspiration of God: for no such power had ever existed; and there was nothing, from the appearance

* Vide Georgics, at the concluding part of the second book, which Dryden translates

Old Rome from such a race deriv'd her birth,
The seat of empire and the conquer'd earth:
Which now on sev'n high hills triumphant reigns,
And in that compass all the world contains.

Martial (lib. 4, ep. 64) has the septem dominos montes, "the seven imperial hills." And Propertius (lib. 3), when also speaking of Rome, says,

Septem urbs alta jugis, toto que præsidet orbi.
Exalted Rome on seven high hills which stands,

And all the wide-extended world commands.

It must be allowed also that Daniel has the same meaning, when he mentions a power, that shall speak great words against the Most Iligh, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change times and laws." Daniel, chap. vii, verse 25.

of things upon earth at the time they wrote, to make them conceive that such a power would ever exist If they had been true prophets, therefore, in this matter, it naturally follows that Christianity is a divine revelation. Moreover, it may be observed, that it is impossible any one could have inserted this de scription of Popery, after the appearance of that extraordinary power, into the epistles of St. Paul and into the Revelation, without a discovery of the fraud. There is no author whatever who has even suspected a deception. And that the epistles of St. Paul were written by him, and the Revelation by St. John, is now as certain, as that Sallust and Tacitus produced histories which are attributed to them. That they wrote them in the first century, is also beyond a doubt. I think that it would be difficult to allege more satisfactory proofs in favour of any truth, Though this reasoning is not as conclusive as mathe matical demonstration, yet to a candid mind it must appear very little, if in any manner inferior.

I will now proceed to the most important point of all, the proof of the resurrection of Jesus: this is the great corner-stone through which we are to raise the noble fabric of a rational and firm belief. I hope, therefore, my reader will not lament my leading him into a long investigation of the matter. It is of infinite importance. If it is once settled, there is no occasion to dwell, for any length of time, upon the other proofs of the truth of Christianity; as it must be allowed by every person of sound understanding, if Jesus rose from the grave the third day after his burial, that Christianity is a divine revelation: for what reasonable man can imagine, that God would raise in a miraculous manner the dead body of an impostor?

It will easily be allowed, by every one who can reason, if a person tells us he saw a certain thing, that if he did not see it, he was deceived himself when he told us so, or that he willingly deceived us. The apostles declared that they saw Jesus their mas

ter several times after he was crucified and buried. If he did not appear to them, if it was not he, they were deceived themselves in thinking that they saw him, or they told others that they had seen him, when they did not imagine they had seen him, willingly to deceive them. In short, I think it will be readily granted, that if any one denies the resurrection of Jesus, he must say, the apostles were deluded enthusiasts, or impostors. Now it is my intent to shew they were neither deluded enthusiasts, nor impostors; and, therefore, that Jesus did certainly rise again after his burial. I will first prove they were not deluded enthusiasts. It must be allowed, that the evidence of his senses is the best evidence that any one can obtain for the truth of any matter. cannot be convinced by such evidence, we cannot conceive by what evidence he can be convinced. If a person sees a thing, and hears it, and feels it, he must be convinced that it really exists. The apostles saw and heard, and one of them handled, Jesus after his resurrection.

If he

St. Matthew says, when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had seen the angel of the Lord at the sepulchre, they ran to tell Jesus' disciples of it. And then he says, "And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail; and they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped bim. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go 'tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Then the eleven disciples went away into a mountain, where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped bim."

St. Mark† says, when Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene, and two of the disciples," Afterwards he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had *Chap. xxviii. verses 9, 10, 16, 17. + Chap. xvi. verses 14, 15.

seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go

*

St Luke says, speaking of the disciples to whom Jesus had appeared as they were going to Emmaus, "And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see: for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honey-comb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which

St. John says, "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called

Chap. xxiv. 33---44.

Chap. xx. verses 19--28. I would recommend the reader to "Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Gilbert West, Esq." If he has ever been puzzled by objections against the account of the resurrection of Jesus, as related by the Evangelists, he will find in these Observations a satisfactory answer to them. They are judicious, learned, and elegant.

Didymus, was not with them, when Jesus came. The other disciples, therefore, said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered, and said unto him, My Lord, and my God."

I have not quoted all that the_evangelists say upon the resurrection of Jesus, as I think this fully sufficient to remove every doubt of the apostles themselves being deceived in this matter, and of their being deluded enthusiasts. If the resurrection of Jesus was not a truth, they must have feigned a history of it, knowing it to be false. For the apostles were so far from yielding easily to the belief of the resurrection of their Master, that they would not only not believe Mary Magdalene, and the other woman who told them of it, but they would not upon this matter believe one another. They required the most satisfactory evidence, that of their senses, for its truth. They required to see and hear him. And one of them was totally averse to belief, till, as well as seeing the print of the nails in his hands, he should

* The author of the Acts says, speaking of Jesus and his dis. ciples, "To whom he shewed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Acts, i. 3.

St. Peter says, speaking of Jesus, "Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him, after he rose from the dead." Acts, x. 40, 41.

⚫ St. Paul says, " But God raised him from the dead; and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people." Acts, xiii. 30, 31. And again," He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once." 1 Cor. xv. 5, 6.

C