58o The Évidencesof the Truth Vol II. Fir/1, We have a credible and authentick Account of this Dodrjne, and of the Confirmation which in the firft Ages was given to it, tranfmitted down to us. I told you at firft, that there are but thefe three ways whereby we can be affured of matters offa&. t. By the immediate Teftimony of our own Senfes, if we our felves be prefent when the thing is done or fpoken, and' fee and hear it. Or, 2. By the Teftimony ofcredible Eye or Ear-wìtneffes of it. Or, 3. By a credible Account or Relation of it tranfmitted to us. And all thefe ways, in their kind, are accounted fufficient to giveMen an undoubtedAffurance of matter of Fa&. No Man doubts of what he himfelf fees or hears: Men general- ly believe many things which they have not opportunity of feeing themfelves, if they be attefted to them by credible Eye-witneffes : and for things that were done long ago, and which no Man now alive was a Witnefs of, Men are abundantly fatisfied by a credible Relation tranfmitted down to them. Upon this account Men do firmly believe that Alexander about two thoufand years ago conquer'd a great part of the World; and that there was fuch a Perfon as Julius Cefar, who feventeen hundredyears ago conquer'd England; and the like. Now if we have the Doftrine and Hiftory of the Gofpel, and all the Evidences of our Saviour's divine Authority, conveyed down to us, in as credible a manner as any of thefe ancient matters of fa& are, which Mankind do molt firmly believe, then we have fufficient ground to be affured of it. Now there are but two ways imaginable, whereby the Doarine of Chrift's Re- ligion, and the Evidences of its Divinity can be conveyed down to us; either by Oral Report and Tradition; or by Books and Writing. The former of thefe the Experience of theWorld hath ¡hewn to be very uncertain, and in the fucceflion of malty Ages liable to great changes and hazards. Hence it is that the Prudence of Mankind, and the neceffity of humanAffairs, have introduced the latter way of conveying the memory of things to After-ages, namely byWriting and.Records: and the good God likewife in his wife Providence hath taken care , that thofe who were Eye and Ear-witneffes of our Saviour's Doftrine and Life, fhould Com- mit to Writing the Hiftory and Relation of thofe matters , that fo the memory of them might be preferved to all Generations: and thefe Books which we call the Holy Scriptures, are the authentick Records of our Religion, without which Chriftian Religion in probability had long fence either been ftrangely corrupted, or wholly loft out of theWorld. For that Oral Report would not have prefer- ved it, there is this Evidence, fufficient to convince any Man that is not obftinate- ly refolved to the contrary, That of all the Perfons that formerly lived in the World, and the great Allions that have beendone, befides what are recorded in Hiftory, and of the innumerable Miracles of our Saviour, which were not writ- ten in the Books of the Gofpel, I fay of all thefe, Oral Tradition hath preferved nothing; fo that if the Do&rine of Chriftian Religion, and the Hiftory of the Life and A&ions of our Saviour and the Apoftles, had not been put into a furer way of Conveyance than that of Oral Tradition, in all probability before this time there wouldhave been left no certain Monuments of them in fine World. And that we may underftand how much thefe latter Ages are indebted to the Wifdom and Goodnefs of God, that he hath furnifht us with fo fixt and certain a way of being acquainted with his Will, with the Dofirine and Grounds of our Religion, I might reprefent to ,you what Advantages this ftanding revelation of the Scripture bath above that way of Oral Tradition, yea though the revelation of the Gofpel had been renewed every two or three Ages. But this has been * See von.done in fome former Difcourfes*. I therefore proceed to the other ground of Sam. 73, Affurance which the Ages after the Apoftles are capable of having, Viz: a"d 74' Secondly, The Effe& of this Do&rine Rill remains in the World. Chriftian Religion is Rill profeft in feveral Nations , and is entertain'd by a confderable part of the World : And allowing for the difference between the extraordinary Afiftance which at firft accompanied the Gofpel, and was neceffary for the plant- ing of ir, and the more human and ordinary ways whereby it is now propagated, it hath confiderable Effe&s upon the hearts and lives of Men. x It
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