430 1UISCtLLANEOUS THOUGHTS. and a General, and fought many battles, he cannot but confess by the salee reasonings, that this Jesus lived in Judea and Galilee; that he was the son of a carpenter, and that he taught many ex- e llent rules about vice and virtue, and the love of God and our neighbour ; and by the saine exercise of his reason on the histori- cal account of the facts of past ages,- he is persuaded that there were several men of mean education and circumstances who fol- lowed this Jesus, and without the help of arms or bribery, car- ried his doctrine afterward through the world. Arid yet, contrary to all reason, this very Apistus believes, that this obscure young man, Jesus of Nazareth, this son of a country carpenter, who was brought up to his father's trade, gave a better set of rules for the honour of God, for the love of our neighbour, and the conduct of our lives, than ever any philosopher did in Greece or Rome, and that he did all this without human literature, without any di- vine assistance, without any inspiration from God. He believes farther, contrary to all reason, that this poor carpenter had art and cunning enough to impose false miracles on thousands of people in Judea anti Galilee, and even in Jeru- ralem itself; that he made them believe that he cured the blind, that he gave hearing to the deaf, and feet to the lame, that he healed all manner of diseases by his word or his touch, and raised several who were dead to life again, without doing one real mira- cle, or having any extraordinary power given him by God. He believes yet farther still, and in opposition to all the principles of true reasoning, that the disciples of this Jesus, poor illiterate creatures and fishermen as they generally were, except one Paul, who was a scholar ; I say, he believes that these men went about the world, and persuaded mankind to believe that this Jesus Christ arose from the dead after he had been crucified and buried some days, and made multitudes of his own country - men and strangers, rich and poor, wise men and philosophers, and whole countries, believe it, though there was not a syllable of truth in it, says he, and it is scarce possible that it should be true. He believes yet again that these silly men were sometimes cheats and impostors, who practised the greatest subtleties and artifice to deceive the world ; that sometimes they were wild en- thùsiasts, and half mad with devotion, though reason might as- sure him, that imposture and enthusiasm cannot long reside toge- ther in the same breast, but one will betray or destroy the other. He believes on still, that these impostors or enthusiasts, be they what they will, engaged mankind to receive all the doctrines of titis Jesus, and his religion, either by their tricks of art, or their fooleries of honest zeal, beyond what any of the wisest men of the world with all their skill and learning could ever do in the like case, and went on sùccessfully to propagate his doctrine, and foretold it should stand and continue to the world's end, without any extraordinary commission from heaven, or presenoe of
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