men in the midst of fuch Dangers; for there they ftay to ftrip the Body, and lay the Napkin in one Part of the Sepulchre, and wrap up the Grave-Cloaths in the other, as two or three of the Evangelifts relate the Matter, whom you your felf cannot imagine to falfify, in fuch a circumftantial Relation. Now pray confider, how much Time would be taken up, in ftripping off the GraveCloaths from an Eastern Corps. Thofe Grave-Cloaths: were a Sort of Fafcia, or thin Slips of Linen, which were rolled round the Body; fo that about a dead Body there might be many fcore Yards of Filleting, which be ing bound over those viscous Balfams, they used, must make it a long Work to unroll fo much Bandage. But, that the Difciples fhould do all this unneceffary Work, in the midft of fo much Danger, and not immediately carry off the Body, which they might as well have done without it, is a Point, Philologus, that I confess we Chriftians have not Faith to believe. Phil. But ftill you drop a material Thing objected, Why Chrift fhould be fo fly of his Appearance after his Resurrection. How do you get over that? Cred. You make a very ill Conftruction of these Paffages of our Saviour's Life, to think that there was any Trick play'd by the Apoftles, because our Saviour did not fo frequently converfe with the Difciples, as he did before. For our Saviour appear'd to them, fo often, and in fuch a Manner,as was fufficient to overcome the greatest Doubtfulness, and the most obftinate Incredulity. There are a great many Times which he is recorded, in that fhort Hiftory of the Gospel, to have appeared to his Difciples, and probably there were many more. He fhew'd himself to the Women juft after his Refurrection; after that to Peter alone; and then to the whole Number of the Apostles: At another Time, when they were Fishing in the Sea, when he caufed them to catch fuch a miraculous Draught of Fishes. At another Time, he eat and drank with them, and gave them fome principal Points of "Instruction; and when they met together to pray, he food in the midst of them. He talked with fome of them as they went went to Emaus. And, at another Time, he complied with the doubtful Temper of Thomas, and suffered him to view his crucified Body, and to thrust his Hands into his Side. At another Time, he was feen of the five hundred Brethren mentioned by St. Paul, befides the amazing Wonder of his Afcenfion, which was feen by all the Apostles. Now all these Times, here mentioned, were within forty Days after his Refurrection; fo that, if he appeared at no other Time but what is in Scripture recorded, you cannot fay he was shy of his Converfation, to be in the Disciples Company fo often in fo fhort a Time. Which makes St. Luke fay plainly, That he was feen of them forty Days, Acts i. 3. But I cannot imagine what Trick you can fancy in this; you have no Grounds to imagine, that any of the Apoftles fet up a fuppofititions Chrift, which they were afraid of having too narrowly viewed; for that strict Examination he underwent of his Hands and Sides, does for ever confute fuch a Fancy; and the Disciples, by once or twice Converfing with him, were as fure it was he, as if they had feen him an hundred Times. But, fuppofing our Saviour did not so often converfe with his Difciples and others, as he did before; There was a very good Reafon for it. Before his Death, he was upon his prophetick Office, when he was obliged to teach the World the excellent Morality of his Inftitution, to make known the Will of God in relation to the Mediator fhip of the Meffias, and to exhibit in himself the most fhining Example which ever came into the World. But, after his Refurrection this Work was over; and it was not reasonable, that the eternal Son of God fhould converfe with Mankind more than abfolate Neceffity, or the Reason of Things, required. Nay, Who can tell, but that one Reason, why our Saviour did not appear fo publickly, among all Sorts of Perfons, as he did before, was, becaufe by this he would fhew an eminent Example of God's Vengeance upon the wicked Jews, by giving them occafion to be hardned in their Infidelity, till God, in his good Time, fhould be pleafed to open their Eyes and Hearts, that they, as well as others, others, might fee and feel the Light and Comfort of the Gospel. For if our Saviour had appeared every Day in the Sight of his Crucifiers, they would have been forced, whether they would or no, to have believed in him : But God Almighty did not fee Reason, to afford fo great Bleffings to fuch ill-difpofed,malicious,and ungrateful Men. And there may be another Reason, for our Saviour's fequeftring himself, more than ordinary, from the Converfation of this World; because, though his Humanity was not perfectly glorified, yet, by having his Soul feparated for a Time from the Body, and by having partaken of the Joys of Paradife, his human Nature must be confiderably weaned from the Things of this Life, and, being now more let into the fpiritual World, he would be more defirous of that heavenly Conversation than before. He conversed with his Difciples and Followers, as much as was requifite to ftrengthen their Faith, and to do them good; but was obliged to affociate, at other Times, with thofe bleffed Inhabitants of the intellectual World, to which he was, fince his Refurrection, more nearly allied. Phil. Well! fuppofing all this true, yet the Heathens themselves have as much to fay, for their Philofopher Apollonius Tyanaus. For the Gods, in a Dream, admonished the Mother of the Birth of this great Infant; and when he was born, a Flash of Lightning fell down from the Heaven to the Earth'. He, as well as Chrift, broke off the Familiarity which one had with a Damon 2. He raised a young Maid, at Rome, from Death to Life'. Being bound in Fetters, he shook them off at his Pleasure*. And being to anfwer an Accufation before Domitian, vanished out of his Sight". He, as well as the Apostles, had, by Infpiration, the Gift of all Tongues. And, what is the most furprifing Miracle of all, and equal to any you pretend of Chrift, after he was dead, he 'rofe to life again, and taught the Rules of his Philosophy 7. Philoftrati Hift. lib. 1. cap. 4. cap. 10. Id. lib. 7. cap. 10. cap. 13. 7 Id. lib. 8. cap. 13. • Id. lib. 4. cap. 8. ⚫ Id. lib.4. Id. lib. 1. Indeed, for my Part, I am inclined to believe all Miracles alike; but if you are to be guided by these for the Truth of Opinions, why is not Apollonius's Philofophy as well attefted, as the Religion of Chrift? Befides, as Hierocles obferves, the wonderful Actions of this great Philofopher, are not related, like thofe of Chrift, by fuch obfcure Men as Peter and Paul, but by learned Men and Philofophers, as Damis, Maximus, and Philoftratus. The like miraculous Power was in Abaris, another Pythagorick Philofopher, who ufed to fly through the Air upon a winged Arrow; and yet, as Celfus fays*, He was not for this reputed as a God. Cred. It is but a vain Cavil, and the poor Refuge of a routed Argument, to compare the Character of Apollonius with that of our bleffed Lord; between which two Perfons, there is as wide a Difference as there is between the Hiftory of Julius Cafar and that of Guy of Warwick. For the History of the Actions of Chrift, were written by Men who either converfed with, or lived at the fame Time with him, and all of them to a Tittle agree in the moft material Paffages of his Life. But Apollonius's Hiftory is owing to Philoftratus, a Man who lived more than a hundred Years after him, and pretends he had his Memoirs from the Talk of the People in the Cities where Apollonius had converfed; which muft needs be very imperfe& Stories, when they had been handed about by Hear-fay for fo many Years. The Actions of Chrift were written by the Apostles, who laid down their Lives for the Truth'; but Philoftratus ventured nothing for the Writing his Hiftory, but was greatly encouraged to write fome ftrange Stories of the Philofophers, by the Emprefs Julia. For the was a philofophick Lady, who had always a great Number of Rhetors, Sophifts, and Philofophers about her, and therefore was glad to hear the Account of the Lives and St.dies of fuch famous Men, as the admired. Indeed, Ph loftratus fays, That a great Deal of Apollonius's Life w taken from the Commentaries of Damis, the Companion of Apollonius, which he himself had never publifhed, but fome Body had communicated to the Emprefs; fo that 'tis probable that That Book was a Forgery too, because it was never heard of before that Time, which containing fuch remarkable Stories, 'tis almoft impoffible it fhould not. And as for this Damis, according to the Character Philoftratus gives of him, he was a Man of very little Judgment, as appears all along in his Difputes with Apollonius. But 'tis plain, by a tranfitory View of this Hiftory, that it was compiled only to fhew the Reading and Learning of the Author, and rather to give Defcriptions of the Places and Customs of the People, with whom Apollonius converfed, than to write the Actions of that Philofopher. He runs off in every Page to Things perfectly foreign to the Bufinefs of Apollonius, and is for edging in all the fine Stories, he ever met with among the Geographers and Naturalifts; as is plain, by his Talking fo much of the Armenian Panthers, Elephants, Phoenixes, Griffins, and Satyrs. There are in it feveral foolish poetical Stories of Tantalus, Hercules, Prometheus, and Mnemon; many ridiculous Forgeries of the Bramins keeping Tubs of Rain and Thunder by them; of the Earth's fwelling, just like the Waves of the Sea, by the Motion of a Bramin's Wand; and one of a magical Feaft, where the Tables and Chairs, Meat and Drink, came in, of their own Accord, into the Entertainment. In other Places, there is more legendary Stuff, of Apes as large as a Man; of other Beafts, with a Man's Head and a Lion's Body; of Wool growing out of the Ground, like Grafs; and of Women, half whofe Bodies were white, and the other half black; of Apollonius's underftanding the Language of Birds, and Beafts; of his Feeding upon Dragon's Hearts; Dragons, which in that Place were fo numerous, that the Inhabitants hunted them, as we do Hares. Now though thofe Stories might pafs off well enough, in Philoftratus's Time, when Geography was but little understood; yet the Obfervation of Modern Travellers, has proved all thefe Relations to be ridiculous Lies; and therefore the other Stories, which he tells of his Philofo pher, |