148 The general and EffeEhual Publication Vol. I out, till the veryMalice of their Perfecutors was out of breath, and. their Cruelty had tired it felf. Nay it did not onlyfupport it felf, under all thefe Oppo/itions, butgrew and profpered, and the Bloodof Martyrsbecame the Seed of the Church, and Chriftians fprang up falter, than any Perfecution could mow them down : For Men by De- grees became curious to enquire into the Caufe of fuck Sufferings, and the Reafon of fo much Conftancy and Patience under them ; and upon enquiry were fatisfied, and becameChriftians themfelves ; and many times their very Perfecutors, were ready to Sacrifice their Lives the next Day, for that very Caufe for which but the Day before, they had put others to Death. And it cannot here be reafonably Objected, that Chriftians yielded up them- felves to all thefe Sufferings, upon the fame Account that force brave Spirits a- mong the Heathen, laid down their Lives for their Country ; namely, out ofa defire of Fame; and to perpetuate their Naines in After-ages ; this, I fay, cannot reafonably be Paid in this Café ; becaufe thefe Sufferers, were not the great and ambitious Spirits, the Flower and Sele& Part of Mankind, but the Common People, and many of them of the tenderer Sex and Age, who have ufually a greater Senfe of Pain than of Glory ; and yet fo were they animated by their Religion , and tranfported beyond themfelves, as not only to fubmit, but many times to offer themfelves to thofe Sufferings, by 'declaring themfelves to be ,Chriftians, when no Man accufed them, and when they knew they fhould die, for making that Profeffion ; fo that it is harder to juftifie their forwardnefs to Suffer, than the fincerity of their Sufferings. Betides that nothing could be inure foolifh, and unreafonable, than for Men to hope to get a Name by Suffering in a Crowd, and to be particularly remembred to Pofterity, when they dyed in fuch multitudes, that no Man knew the Names of the greateft part of their Sufferers. You fee then how Strongly the Gofpel prevailed, how loon this new Religion over-ran the World, how fuddenly it fubdued the Spirits, and changed the Man- ners of Men; and by what mean and defpicable Inftruments, to all humane ap- pearance, this great Work was done ; and how in defpite of all Oppofition and Difcourageméñts, + it was carried on. Can any one of the falfe Religions of the World pretend to have been propagated and eftablifht in fuch a manner, meetly by their own force, and the Evidence and Power of Truth upon the Minds of Men ; and to have born up and fuftained themfelves fo long under fuch fierce Alfaults, as Chriftianity hathdone ? As for the Religion of Mahomet, it is famoufly known to have been planted by force at firft, and to have been maintained in the World, by the faine violent means. So that great Imeofior openly declares, that be came not toplant his Re- ligion by Miracles, but the Sword, And as for the Idolatries of the Heathen, they came in upon'the World by in- fenfible degrees, and did not oppofe the Corruptions of Men, but grew out of them ; and being fuited to the vicious Temper and Difpofition of Mankind, they eafily gained upon their Ignorance and Superftition, by Cuftorn and Example.' They were juft fuch a Corruption of Natural Religion, in fuck times of darknefs and ignorance, and by fuch infenfible fteps, as there bath been fince, of the Chrifli- an Religion in force Parts of the World, which we all know. But no fooner did the Light of the Gofpel Thine out upon the World, but the Idolatry and Super- ítition of the Heathen fell before it, like Dagon before the Ark ofGod ; and tho' it had the Power of the World, and Countenance of Authority on its fide, yet it was not able to maintain its ground ; and no fooner was that Prop taken away, which was the only fupport of it, but it prefently funk and vanifht; it was not driven out of the World by Violence and Perfecution, but upon the breaking in of fo great a Light, it filently withdrew, as being afhamed of it felf : And when afterwards the Emperor .7ulian endeavoured to retrieve it, by his Wit and Au- thority, and ufed all imaginable Arts and Stratagems, to fupprefs and extinguifh Cliriftianity, he was able to effe& neither ; for the Chriflian Religion kept its ground, and Paganifm, after it had madea little Blaze, died with him. Now
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