426 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD trials feem to us above the flrength of hu- man nature, and able to overbear duty, reafon, faith, convirion, nay, and the molt abfolute certainty of a future Rate. Hu- Inanity, una{fi[led in an extraordinary man- ner, mud have fhaken off the refent pref- füre, and have delivered itfelf out of fuch a dreadful diftrefs, by any means that could have been fuggefled to it: We can eafily imagine, that many perfons, in fo good a caute, might have laid down their lives at the gibbet, the flake or the block : but to expire leifurely amongfl the moll exquifite tortures, when they might come out of them, even by a mental refervation, or an hypocrify, which wasnot without a poffibï- lity of being followed by repentance and forgivenefs, has fomething in it, fo far be- yond the force and natural flrength ofmor- tals, that one cannot butthinkthere was force miraculous power to fupport the fufferer. We find the church of Smyrna, in that admirable letter which gives an account of the death of.Polycarp their beloved bifhop, mentioning the cruel torments ofother early martyrs for Chriftianity, are ofopinion, that our Saviour flood by them in a vifion, and perfonally converfed with them, to give them flrength and comfort during the bit- ternefs oftheir long-continued agonies; and we have the dory ofayoungman, who, ha- ving fuffered many tortures, efcaped with life, and told his fellow Chriflians, that the pain of them had been rendered tolerable, by the prefence of an angel who flood by him, and wiped off the tears and fweat, which ran down his face whilfl he layunder his fufferings. 'We are allured at lead, that the firft martyr,for Chriftianity was encou- raged in his lad moments, by a vifion of that divine Perfon, for whom he fuffèred, and intowhofe prefence he was then haden- in is certain, that the deaths and fufferings of the primitive Chriflians had a great (hare in the converfion of thofe learned Pagans, who lived in the agesof perfecution, which with fome intervals and abatements, laded near three hundred years after our Saviour. Juan' Martyr, Tertullian, Laaantius, Ar- nobius, and others, tell us, that this firft of all alarmed their curiofity, roufed their at- tention, and made them ferioufly inquifitive into the nature of that religion, which could endue the mind with fo much flrength, and overcome the fear of death, nay, raife an earned defire of it, though it appeared in all it's terrors. This they found had not been effeaed by all the docì.rines of thofe philofophers, whom they had thoroughly dudied, and who had been labouring at this great point. The fight of thefe dying and for mented martyrs, engaged them to fearcli into the hiflory and doctrines of him for whom they fuffered. Themore they fearch ed, the more they were convinced; till their conviéiion grew fo ftrong, that they them- felves embraced the fame truths, and ei- ther actually laid down their lives, or were always in a readinefs to do it, rather than depart from them. There are predi&ions ofour Saviour re- corded by the evangelifts, which were not completed till after their deaths, andhad no likelihood of being fo, when they were pro- nouncedby our bleffed Saviour. Such was that wonderful notice he gave them, that they fhould bebrought before governors and kings for his fake, for a teftimony againft them and the Gentiles, Matth. x. i8. with the other like prophecies, by which he fore- told that his difciples were to be perfecuted. Origen infifts with great flrength, on that wonderful prediélion of our Saviour con- cerning the deftruétion of Jerufalem, pro- nouncedat a time, as he obferves, when there was no likelihood nor appearance of it. This has been taken notice of and in- culcated by fo many others, that we (hall refer you towhat this father has faid on the fubjea in his firft book againft Celfus. And as to the accomplifhmentof this remarkable prophecy, (há11 only obferve, that whoever reads the account given us by Jofephus, without knowing his charaaer, and com- pares it with what our Saviour foretold, would think the hiflorian had been a Chrif- tian, and that he had nothing elfe in view but to adjuft the event to the prediction. The ancient Chriflians were fo entirely perfuaded of the force of our Saviour's prophecies, and of the punifhment which the Jews had drawn upon themfelves, and upon their children, for the treatment which the Meffiah had received at their hands, that they did not doubt but they would always remain an abandoned and difperfed people, an hiding and an aflonifhment ainongfl the nations, as they are to this day. In fhort, that they had loft their-peculiarity of being God's people, whichwas now transferred to the body ofChriflians; and which preferved the church of CHRIST amongd all the con- flias, difficulties, and perfecutions, inwhich it was engaged, as it had preferved the Jew- ifh government and ceconomy for fo many ages, whild it had the fame truth and vital principle in it, notwithftanding it was fo frequently in danger of being utterly abo- lifhed and deflroyed. Origen, in his fourth book
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