On the Credibility and Proofs of the Gospel

Records.

DISCOURSE XX.

JOHN XX. 30, 31.

And many other Things truly did Jefus in the Prefence of his Difciples, which are not written in this Book. But thefe are written, that ye might believe that Jefus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have Life through his Name.

T

HESE remarkable Words of the Apostle John are intended to fhew the excellent Defign for which the evangelical Records were written, and the happy and falutary Effects they have a Tendency to produce, where they are fincerely believed and embraced. It is therefore undeniably of great Importance to us to get VOL. III. Dd

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our Minds established in a well-grounded Perfuafion of the Truth and Certainty of the Accounts that are there given us concerning our Lord Jefus Chrift, especially fince we live in an Age in which the Credit of our holy Religion, and the original Records of it, is fo boldly ftruck at. Accordingly, in my former Difcourfe on thefe Words, after offering fome general Confiderations to prepare our Way, it was fhewn, That we have all the Evidence that can reasonably be defired to fatisfy us, that the Books of the Evangelifts were written in the apoftolical Age, i. e. in the Age in which the Facts were done, and the Laws and Doctrines taught and delivered, which are there recorded.

I now proceed to the Second Thing I propofed to fhew, which was, That these Books were written by Perfons who were themselves perfectly acquainted with the Things they relate, and fully affured of the Truth of them. Two of the Evangelifts, Matthew and John, were Chrift's Apoftles, who were his fpecial Intimates, and conftantly attended him in his perfonal Miniftry, and faw and converfed with him, after his Refurrection. The other two, Mark and Luke, are probably fuppofed to have been of the Number of the Seventy Difciples, as fome Ecclefiaftical Writers inform us ;

in which Case they alfo were among those that attended our Lord Jefus Christ, but, whether they were of the Seventy Difciples, or not, they were certainly Companions of the Apoftles, and had a perfect Underftanding of all Things from the very first, as St. Luke fpeaks. The Apostles might justly declare, as St. John expreffeth it, That which was from the Beginning, which we have heard, which we have feen with our Eyes, which we have looked upon, which our Hands have handled of the Word of Life

that which we have feen and heard declare we unto you. 1 John i. 1, 3. The Instructions and Difcourfes of our bleffed Lord, of which they give an Account, were what they heard him deliver; and the wonderful Works they relate, as done by him, were what they themselves faw.

And

these Works were not merely a few extraordinary Facts done now and then, but a Series of Facts done for a confiderable Time together, all tending to the fame End, and giving Weight and Force to one another : They were Facts obvious to all their Senfes, and which they had a full Opportunity of knowing and examining in all their Circumstances. And they had the fame Reason to be affured, that Chrift rofe again from the Dead, as that he had lived Dd 2 and

and taught among them, and had done many wonderful Works, and that he was at length crucified and flain, viz. the concurring Teftimony of all their Senses; their Seeing, Hearing, Feeling, Converfing, Eating, and Drinking with him, after his Refurrection. And therefore St. Luke's Manner of expreffing himself on this Occafion is very just and well founded, viz. that he, Jefus, fhewed himself to them alive, after his Paffion, by many infallible Proofs, being feen of them forty Days, and speaking of the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Acts i. 3. And it was an additional mighty Confirmation of the Truth of his Refurrection and Afcenfion into Heaven, of which they were alfo Witnesses, that they themselves, in a few Days after his Afcenfion, received the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost, as he had promised them. It is manifeft, therefore, that the Things related by the Apostles concerning Jefus, and which are recorded in the Gospels, were Things which they themselves

were

fully acquainted with, and of which they had a perfect Knowledge and Affurance: They were Things in which they could not be deceived, and which they were as fure of as any Man can be of what he bears and fees.

And

And accordingly that they themselves were abfolutely perfuaded of the Truth of what they relate admits of the cleareft Evidence: No Man can impartially confider the Accounts they give, without being fenfible of this. They relate these Things plainly and circumftantially, with an Openness and Simplicity, and Confidence of Truth: They all along reprefent Chrift's whole perfonal Miniftry as a public Thing well known throughout all Judea; that his admirable Difcourfes and Inftructions were, for the most Part, delivered in the Hearing of his own Difciples, and of Multitudes of People; and, in like Manner, his wonderful Works were done, not in a private and fecret Way, but in the Prefence of great Numbers of Perfons, and even of his Enemies, those that were moft ftrongly prejudiced against him. They inform us, that he went about through the Cities and Villages, teaching and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all Manner of Sickneffes and Difeafes among the People; that Multitudes followed him from Galilee, and from Judea, and from Jerufalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon; and even that his Fame went through all Syria, and they brought to him, from all Dd 3 Parts,