.Berm. CXXXIX. our Saviour's Retirrediron. 255 Secondly, We will confider the Proofs of the Realityof our Saviour's Appear- ance after his Refurre&ion i To whom alto he Sieved himfelf alive after his Paón, by ,many infallible Proofr, oa?.ois 7szun_ o«, by many certain and undoubtedProafs'ar Ar- guments, for fo theWords properly Signify, as kuintilian from Arifiotle tells us; lays he, are indubitata & neceffaria Signa, undoubted and neceJry Signs ofa Thing; as the A&ions of Speaking, Walking, Eating and Drinking, are the hY e undoubted Signs of Life. And there t.t.,et., or undoubted Proofs of our Saviour's .Refürre&ion, may be referr'd to thefe two Heads, the Natural, and the Supernatural and Miraculous Evidences of the Thing: I. The Natural Evidence of the Thing to their Senfes 5 to their Eyes, the quickeff and fureft of Senfes, Men being leaff apt to be deceived in thofe Things; ks e font midis commiffa ftdelibur ; " Which are committed to fuch faithful 4Vit- neffes, as our own Eyes. " He was feen of all hisDifciples, not once, but fe-" veral times; not by. a tranfient View and Glance, but in a Way of the rnof} familiar Convcrfation : He difcourfed with them, and did eat and drink with them, and with the fame Circumflances that he ufed in his Life-time, he gave Thanks, and brake Bread with them : He fuffered his Body to be touched by them, that they might be convinced that it was a real Body, confifiing of Fleih and Bones Luke 24. 39. Handle "me, andfee; for a Spirit bath not Fled and I3ones, ar ye fee me have. And to convince them beyond all Doubt and Scruple, that the very fameBody was raifed in which he had fuffer'd, he gives them Leave to handle the Wounds ofhis Hands andFeet, -Luke 24.39. Behold myHands and my Feet, that it isImyfélf. John 20. 19. He (hewed them his Handsand his Side. And to Thomas, who was snore unbelieving than the refs, he fays hi the Prefence of them all, her. 27, Reach hither thy Finger, and behold my Hands, and reach hither thy Hand, and thrall it into my Side, andbe not faithlefs, but believing. But 'betides this natural fenfible Evidence, he gave them likewife, 2. A fupernatural and miraculous Evidence. St. John mentions two or three Inftances 5 his coining on the Sudden upon them, and Handing in the midJ of then, when the Doors were first. Not that he pafs'd through the Door with his Body, which is not a Miracle, but a plain Impo{Tbility, and therefore juff ás fit to countenance Tranfubfiantiation, as one Impofíibility is to prove another : But that he did miraculoufly open the Door, and come in upon them fo quickly, as was undifcernable to them; which every Man will grant, not,only tobe pof iible, but eafy to the Divine Power. But this Way of our Saviour's conveying him- felf into the midft of his Difciples, tho' it be alto miraculous, yet the Church of Rome will by no Means allow it; it is too plain, and eafy to be recònciled with the Nature and Poffibilityof Things; they love at their Hearts a lying Wonder, a foppifh Miracle. . And this Miracle was repeated twice firft when7bomas was abfent, John2ó. 19, And when he was preferit, the fame was done again, ver. 26. And then the miraculous. Draught Of Fillies, by which alfo hehad made him- felf known to them in his Life-time. And then Peter's calling himfelf into the Sea, when he knew it was he, in Cónfidence of that Divine Power, which in the like Kind he had Experience of before. Thefe Miracles St. John mentions, but he tells us, Chap. 20. 3o. that many other Miracles Jefus did in the Prefence of his Difciples, which are not fit down in that Book. The Third Thing in the Text is, theDuration and Continuanceof his Appearing to them, beingfeen of themforty Days. And this is of great Moment to confirm the reality of the Thing: A Man may for once be impofed upon by an Elution of Fancy, in a Thing which he vehemently delires and expe&s, and which runs ftrongly in his Mind : But where there is Time to examine Things, and compare all Circumflances together, and to look narrowly into them, and to try them by feveral Senfes, and at feveral Times for fo longaSpace, it is morally, nay almoft naturally
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