in any fuppofeable Cafe of publick Calamity or Restoration; but does manifeftly denote the Meffias, and in him Chrift our Saviour, who, in his State of Humiliation, is defcribed by the one, and in the State of his Exaltation by the other; and, laftly, that our Saviour and his Apoftles could not poffibly be mistaken in their Application of any ancient Prophecies, because they both had the gift of working Miracles, which manifefted their divine Miffion, and were directed by the infallible Spirit of God; and therefore could not err in Judgment.

THE 8th Section treats of the Miracles of Jefus, and the Senfe wherein they are to be taken! Where it is objected "That Miracles can be no "Evidence of a divine Miffion; because, both "in the Law and the Gofpel, it is foretold, "that there fhould arife falfe Prophets, who, "by the Power of Satan, or Permiffion of God,

fhould be enabled to do many wonderful "Works: That if we look into the Hiftory' "of the World, we fhall accordingly find it

came to pass, viz. that feveral Perfons were "invefted with a wonder-working Faculty, "without ever pretending to a divine Com

miffion; and that therefore our Saviour, "when he appeals to the miraculous Cures, "which he wrought upon the People, in analogy to what the Prophet Ifaiah had fore"told of him, is to be understood, not in a literal, but figurative Senfe; not to denote "the outward Maladies of the Body, but the "inward Distempers of the Soul, the Paffions, " and fundry vicious Affections of the Mind, "which are represented under the Metaphors " of Blindness, and Lameness, and Deafness, &c." To which it is replied, That the Power

of working Miracles in Chrift was fo vaftly great, that it can be fuppofed to proceed from no other Cause, than a Communication with God; and yet, to imagine that God would communicate any part of his Power to give countenance and fanction to an Impoftor, is a thing repugnant to his facred Attributes: That God has not left us without means, either from the Works themselves, or the Manner of doing them, or from the Perfons themselves, and the End for which they do them, to distinguish between the Prophet, and the Impoftor, the real Miracles of the one, and the lying Wonders of the other: That all the Signs and Characters of true Miracles concur in the Works of Jefus; but, on the contrary, violent fufpicion of Trick and Artifice, at leaft an Inferiority, that will admit of no manner of Comparifon, in fuch as are named in competition with him; and, confequently, that the Miracles of our Saviour were not only a good proof of his divine Miffion; but fuch very Miracles in kind as the Meffias (when he came into the World) was pre-ordained to do. For fince the 35th Chapter of Jaiah's Prophecy is fuppofed by all Interpreters to relate to the Meffiah; and, notwithstanding fome figurative Paffages in it (a thing very common in Prophetick Writings) was, both by the Tradition of the ancient Jews, the Senfe of the Jews in our Saviour's Time, and the Ufe which our Saviour himself makes of it, thought to denote, in a true and litteral Senfe, the Actions and Miracles of the Meffiah: fince many of our Saviour's Miracles were of the fame Kind and Character, with what the Prophet afcribes to the Meffiah; and being outward and vifible Works, were the only

proper

1

proper Evidences of his divine Commiffion and Authority: fince the notion of mystical and invisible Miracles (befides the ftrange and chimerical oddnefs of it) is attended with many abfurdities and contradictions to Scripture; makes our Saviour's Appeal to his Works impertinent, and his Anfwer to the Baptift's Difciples ridiculous; juftifies the Jews in their Demand of more Signs, and condemns the Judgment of fuch, as were converted upon no better Evidence: fince the Arguments on one fide; are fo clear, and the Abfurdities on the other fo palpable (which our Author has fhewn at large) it muft needs follow, that our Saviour, in healing all manner of Sickness and Difeafe among the People, according to the Prophecies concerning him; did in reality the Miracles that the Meffiah was to do, and confequently came with a divine Authority to found a new Religion,

The 9th Section treats of the allegorical Fathers. and their Authority. And here it is objected, "That the propereft Judges of the Senfe, wherein

પ

our Saviour's Miracles are to be taken, are "the ancient Fathers; but now thefe Fathers, "with one confent, agree that the allegorical "is the true Senfe of Scripture; that what Jefus did in the Flesh, is typical of what he "would do in the Spirit, the feveral bodily "Difeafes, which he healed, were Symbols of "the fpiritual Diseases of the Soul; and his other "outward Miracles, Figures only of his more "myfterious Operations." To which it is replied, That tho', for very good Reasons, the Authority of the Fathers is to be received with great Refpect and Veneration; yet the Custom of allegorizing Scripture owes its Original to the Jews and Gentiles (no great Friends to the Chriftian

E 3

ftian Caufe) and was afterwards indulged to gratify, in fome measure, a depraved Tafte and extravagant Imagination: That no Authority can be produced for it in Scripture; but many Paffages out of St. Paul's writings to fhew the Danger and bold Prefumption of it, as well as the neceffary Duty of our adhering to the plainnefs and fimplicity of the Gofpel: That no Arguments in its Vindication can be drawn from the writings of the ancient Fathers; forafmuch as the greatest Masters and Admirers of it have always acknowledged a literal Senfe, and fuch as are produced to the contrary, upon proper Examination, are found to do the fame: for, remember, fays Tertullian, that, when we admit of Scriptural Allegories, the true litteral Senfe of the Scripture is not altered, tho' a Rhetorical Application be given it.

THE 10th Section treats of Christ's driving the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple. To which it's objected, "That in all probability, there

was no Market kept in the Temple of Jerufalem; but if there was, there could not "poffibly be any Sin in buying or felling fuch things therein, as were proper for the Service of God in Sacrifice: That if there was "an offence in it, yet our Saviour could hardly "be supposed able of himself to drive fuch a Company out of the Temple; nor can we suppose any caufe for this intemperate Zeal for the honour of God's Houfe, which, "in a fhort time, by God's own Appointment "was to be deftroyed." To which it is replied, That, by the Temple here, is meant the puter Court, or Court of the Gentiles, where undoubtedly were Shops and Stalls, and feveral forts of Merchandize; which muft needs

be

be a great Profanation of a Place fet apart for religious Worship: That the Honour and Reverence due to the Houfe of God was motive fufficient for our Saviour to attempt a Refor mation of this Abufe; and, in his prefent triumphant Condition, he had followers and abettors enough to fupport him in fuch an Attempt; nor does the fuppofed fhort or long continu ance of the Temple make any manner of difference in the Cafe.

7

The 11th Section treats of Christ's curing the Demoniacks, and fending the Devils into the Swine. To which it is objected, That it "feems highly improbable, that Tombs fhould

be proper Habitations for Madmen; and "that, if they were fo exceedingly fierce and * outrageous, their Neighbours fhould take no

care of them; That it feems to be more "than probable, that there could be no Swine "at Gadara, becaufe the Jews were exprefly "prohibited to eat Swine's Flefh: and fup"pofing the Swine to belong to other People,

not Jews; yet, for Chrift to deftroy them, and thereby rob their Owners of their Property, feems to reflect not a little upon his "Goodnefs and Juftice: tho' if the difpoffef

fing of the Devils was really true, there feems "to be no great matter in it, becaufe Exor"cifms were common things among the Jews." To this it is anfwered, That Tombs among the Jews, were not like ours built in Churchyards, but cut out in the fides of Caverns in defert Places and Mountains, where, confidering the Fertility of the Country, the Madmen might meet with fufficient Food to sustain their Lives: That thefe Madmen, according to the Scripture Account, had very probably been

E 4

taken