Ausof Nazareth the only True andPromáfedMefiah. zaq their other pretence, about their ownfins and unworthinefs. For, as we have de elated, this is nothingbut in plain terms to affect, that God hath violated his faith and promiCe; and that in a matter , wherein the great Concernments of his own Glory, and the welfare of all mankind doth confid£, upon the account of their mil: carriages, which as they either cannot, or will not remedy, fo he himfelf hath not, ( though he might have fodone ) provided any relief againft. This then (lands up- on equal evidencewith the whole Authority of the Old Teltament, namely, that the promifed Wirth, was to come within the time prefixed for his coming , and. foretold. We ask than then, IfJefus of Nazarethbe not the Méßiah, where is he? or who is he that came in answer to theFrophecies infiftedon ? Two things then remain to be' proved. Firft, That our LardJefiu Cbriff came, lived, and dyed within the time limited for the coming of the Meßiah. Secondly, That no other came within that feafon, that either pretended with any colour of probability unto that dignity, or was ever as filch, owned or e(leemed by the Jews themfelves. Firft then, that Jefus came and lived in the time limited unto the coming of the Mef?iah, Tome them (pace of time before the departure of Scepter andScribe from Judah, theceafing of thedaily Sacrifice, and final defolation of, the fecondTemple, We have all the evidence, that a matter of fart fö long paffed, is capable of as good, as that theworldwasofold by God created. The Stories of the Church are exprefs, that he was born during the Empire ofAugustus Cesar, in the latter endof the Reign ofHemd over Judea, whenCyrenius wasGovernour over Syria that he lived unto the time, wherein Pontius Pilate was Govetnour of Judea under Tiberius, about thirty fix or thirty fevenyears before the deftructionofthe Nation,City and Temple by Titus. This the 'tones written by Divine infpiration, and cominittedunto the care of the Church, exprefly affirm; neither have the Jews any thing to objetk againft the truth of the relation, what ever thoughts they have of his Perlon, who he was, or what he did : That he lived and dyed then, and there; is left Whited onRecords beyond Control'. And if they should deny it, what is the bare negation of a few interested , blinded perlons, without Téffiinoniesor evidence from any one circumftanceofTimes , Per- tons, or Actions to be laid" in the ballance againft the CatholickTradition of all the world , whether believing in Jefus, or rejecting of him. For they all alwayes contented in this , that he lived, and died at the time mentioned' in ehe sacred ftories. And this was (till one part of the charge managed againft his followers,' in the very next Age after, that they believed in a- perfon whom they knew,io live at fuch a feafon, and in a mean condition. Neitherdid the moll malicious afid fierelimpug- nets of the Religion taught by him, fish as Gelfus, Porphyrie, and Julian ever once attempt to attacquè theTruthof the Rory, as. to his real existence, ánd the time of it. So that herein wehave as concurrent a luffrage as the whole world in any cafe is able toafford. Thebelt of theHO;ians of the Nations, who lived near thofè times, give their Te(timony unto what is recorded in our Gofpel. The words of one of them, a per- fon of uuqudfionable credit, in things that he could attain the knowledge of, andas it will appear by them, far enough from any compliance with the followers of Jefur, may luf lce for aninflance. This is Cornelius Tacitus, in the fifteenth of his Annals Abelendo ( faith he) rumori (he (peaks ofNero and his firingof Rome,) fubdiditreos, erquejtif imis puns afficit, quos per flagitia invifos vulgus Chrifiianos appellebat. Au- thor ejus nominis Chrii fus qui Tiberia ilnperitante per procurarorem Pontium Pilatum fup- plicia affeltus erat. He exprefly affignes the time of the death ofChrist unto the reign ofTiberias, and government ofPilate. The fame alto is confirmed by the Jews own Hiflorian Flavius Jofepbus, in the fourth Chapter of the eighteénth Book, of their Anti9ui- ties ; unto which feafon alto he aligns the death of John the Baptíif, who was his con- temporary, according to the EvangelicalStory. urther,Wehave that Teflimony in thismatter,which though i-n its felf,it be efflittle orno moment,yet as unto themwithwhom we have to dos is cogent above all others a and this. is their ownconteffon. They acknowledge in theTalmud, that he lived be- ' fore the defolation of the frondTemple, for they tell us, cap. Cheleck, and ly ----cap. 2. that he was the Son ofPandira and Stada, and that he lived in the dayes of the Mac- - cakes, Alexander, Hircanus, and'AriJlohulus, under whom he was crucified. I confels Galatinus, lteuchlinus, and of late the learned Schiklard with fome othersdo contend E e - that 11.4 If 5' f. 6.
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