Jèfus of tsIazaretli the onlyTrue andPromifedMefritth, when any Dot$rine which in its felf is fuch as becometh the Holinefs and ,Righteoufnefs ofGod,is confirmed by the emanation of his divine Power in the marking of Miracks, there can no greater Affurance, even byGod himfelf, be given of the Truth of it. Thirdly, The Lord Jefus, in the daies of his flefh, wrought many great, real Miracles , in the confirmation of the Teftimony that he gave concerning himfelf, that he was the Chrifi the Son of God. So job. 5.20.chap. ..7.3 t. chap. s o. 25. chap. 12. 37. Greater confirmation it could not have. Now that the Lord Jefus wrought the e Miracles recorded by the bvangelifts with others innumerable that are not recorded, yoh. 20. 30. chap. 21. z5. Wehave in general, all the Teftimony, Evidence, and cer-' tainty that any man can poffibly have-of things which h_, faw not done with hisown eyes ; and to fappofe that a man can have no affurance of any thing but what -he fees or feels himfelf, as it overthrows all the foundations of knowledge in the world, and of all humane fóciety, yea of every thing that as men we either do, or know; fo being once granted, it will neceffarily follow that we know-not the-things that we fee any longer then whilti we fee them; nonor perhaps then neither;. feting the evidence we have of knowingany thingbyour fenfes,procecdsfrom principles and prefúmptions, which we never faw, nor canever fodo: Andas for the-Jews, we have all the ad- vantage for the confirmation of what we affirm, that either we are capable of, or need todefire. . Fìtft, Wepleadour ownRecords, that written by the Evangel/h. And here- inwe have but onerequeft to make untothe Jews ; namely, that they would layno Ex- ceptions againftthem, which they knew to be of equal force again(} the writings of Moir, and all the Prophets. If they - declare themfelves tobe fuch Bedlam, as to fet their ownhoufes on fire, for no other end, but to endanger their neighbours; if they will the principlesof their ownFaith and Religion, to call the broken pieces of them at theheads'ofChriftians; if they cry, pereant amici dummod, & pereant inimicis they arenot fit to be any longer contended withal!. I dèfire then to know .what one Exception the Jewscan lay again(} this Record, which mutati: mutarulis may not be laid againft the MoJ ical Writings : And if they havealwaies concluded all fuch Excep- tions, to be invalid as to-an oppofition unto. thofe grounds and evidences on which they thofe Writings; why will they not give us leave to affirm the fame of them, in reference unto thofc which we receive and believe, on nes lets certain Tali - monies and Evidencies. Unlefs then they can except any thing to thecredit of our Writers, ordifprove that whichis written by them, from Records of equal weight with them,. which theycan never do, nor do attempt it, they have nothing rcafonablc to plead in thisCaufe. To tell us-that they do not believe what is written by them, neitherdid theirforefathers, is, as to themfelves no more then we know, and as to theirforefathers, nothing but what thofe very Writers teftifie concerning them ; and to look for their confine unto that in any Record, which that Record witneffeththat they difïénted from, is to overthrow theRecord it felf, and all that is contained in it. The Jews then have nothing to oppofeunto this Teftimony, but only their own unbelief; which for-all the Reafons that have been infiffed on, cannot be admitted as any juft Exception ; Rory or circumftance they have none tooppofeunto it. , Secondly, We plead the Notoriety of the Miracles wrought by Chri(}, and the Tra- ditiondelivering themdown unto us. This alfo the Jews plead concerningthe Mi- raclesof Mofe. They were, fay they, openly wrought in the fight of all Ifrael, and that they were fo wrought, the Teftimony of Ifrael in fucceeding Ages, is , next the writings its fell, the heft and only witnefs they have of them. And whereindoth our Teftimony come (host of theirs ? Nay, on both--.cwunts, of .their firft notoriety, and fucceeding Tradition; it far exceeds what they have to plead. For as the Miracles of Mofes were wrought openly; fo the molt of themwere fo only in the fight of that one People whom he 'had under his own con- duct, in a wildernefs, remote from any converfe with other Nations; and that in theft dark times of the world, wherein men were generally. Rapid and credulous, 'gas having not been impofed onby thedelufions, which thefollowing Ages were awaken eel by. The Jewsalfo layno greater weight on any Miracles then thsy do on thofe whirls werewrought in thewildernefsofMidian, which had no witnefs unto them, but that ofM fi himfelf.. But the Miracles of JeJiss ,were all, or molt of them; wrought before the eyesof Inuit:ruder, envying, hating, and perfecuting of him ; add that in.themolt knowing, daies of the world, when Reafon and Learning had im- proved the lightof the minds of men, to the utmoft of their capacity, in and upon H h multitudes 33 4.59- 4. 60. 4 6 r.
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