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SERM. to his Works; They, fays he, bear Witnefs V. of me. And 'tis evident what a good Opi

nion many had of the Works he had done from this Saying, When Chrift cometh will he do more Miracles than thefe which this Man hath done? From all which it is plain that they took him to be fome very extraordinary Perfon. And the Use I pro pofe to make of it is this, That upon the Strength of this Opinion of his Works, when he foretold of his rifing again the third Day, they thought it would come to pass; and accordingly were in Expectation of it, as appears from the Precaution they us'd to prevent it, viz. by fealing a Stone, and fetting a Watch. Now, while the Jews expected he would rife, the Apoftles, on the other hand, thought he would not, but that they had with him loft all the Hopes he had ever given them: For as yet they knew `not the Scriptures that he must rise again from the Dead. So that from the Expectation of the Jews on the one hand, and the no Expectation of the Apoftles on the other, there is no room to fufpect a Collufion in this Matter; and I think it is a corroborating Argument of the Fact, it being now brought as far as a Probability, and wants nothing but to be ripe for better Proof

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And I chufe to mention this here, becaufe SERM. the Matter of Fact is a distinct Thing, and ought to be tried by itself.

Another Thing I think proper to premise is, That no Objections about the Difficulties, that may be thought to attend this Event, can affect the Argument at all, because this is not a Subject of Philofophy, but a Matter of Evidence. And tho' fuch Objections are eafily anfwer'd by fhewing what a vast Extent of Knowledge it must require to be able to pronounce concerning the Poffibility and Impoffibility of Things, and how much we fall fhort of this Knowledge, and alfo how many thousand Things there are in Nature which we meet with every Day of our Lives, the very Poffibility of whofe Existence or Operations we fhould doubt of, did we not fee them with our Eyes, and therefore are fatisfied of the Truth of them, notwithstanding any feeming Difficulties or Impoffibilities to the contrary; yet if the Matter of Fact is proved, all things of this Kind are out of the Question. Suppofe a Man fhould start a thousand Difficulties concerning the Soul's re-animating the Body, what will an Argument drawn from hence prove? It will prove his Ignorance of the Thing, it's true, but it can

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SERM. never be Proof against the Thing itself; it can never be Proof against a Matter of Fact. "Tis but to apply the Argument to fomething of a like Nature, see the Abfurdity of it. We can't, for Example, anfwer all the Difficulties that may be ftarted about Gravitation, the Attraction of the Loadstone, &c. What then? Is there therefore no fuch Thing at all? No, we can't fay fo, because we know there is. And this may be carried through all the other Mysteries of Nature, which we hardly know any thing of, and yet believe to be true. We ought therefore to answer all the Difficulties in one Cafe before we ftart any in another; or fhew why the fame kind of Evidence fhould not have a Right to our Affent in both Cafes. We are here to judge of what we do know, and not of what we do not. The Truth or Falfity of this Matter depends upon the Fact: If it be not true, then there is no Need to talk of Difficulties; if it be true, which will appear by the Evidence, then the Fact which we do know ought to have greater Weight with us than the Difficulties which we do not know. I don't fay this, as if Objections of this Kind were not to be anfwer'd; for, as I have already obferv'd, 'tis cafily done; but because com

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mon People are not fo good Judges of these SERM. Things as they are of Matters of Fact: And therefore they should not leave a neceffary convincing Argument for what is not fo neceffary nor fo much to the Purpose. This will bring the Thing into a narrow Compafs, and upon this Foot there will be no Need of any other Method to filence the Jew, than only to demand greater Proof than Testimony that Daniel was in the Lions Den and not devour'd; or that Elifba made Iron to fwim, contrary to the Nature of it. Neither will there be Need of any other Method to confute the Gentile, than only to demand greater Proof than bare Testimony, that there were ever fuch Men as Alexander or Cafar, if they reject fuch kind of Proof themselves.

But I proceed now to fhew what Evidence we have for this Fact. And here, as it is a Matter of the greatest Importance, so we have a prodigious Number of Witnesses more than was ever required by any Law, to prove any Fact whatsoever. And, firft, we have the Testimony of the Difciples to whom he appear'd as they were going to Emmaus; of Mary Magdalen, by whom he was seen as she stood at the Sepulchre weeping, and alfo of Mary the Mother of James. We

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SERM. have likewife the Teftimony of the eleven Apostles, to whom he appear'd as they were affembled together for fear of the Jews, and others with them; then we are affur'd he was feen at another Time by above five hundred at once. We have alfo the Teftimony of Angels, who faid to the Women that came to the Sepulchre to feek the Lord, Why feek ye the Living among the Dead? He is not here, but is rifen. And we have one very extraordinary Evidence, which is that of God himself, who confirm'd the Truth of this Fact by giving the Apoftles, who were more immediately fet apart to give Teftimony of it, a Power of working Miracles. But, befides all this, we have the Witnefs of Enemies alfo, fo far as to prove that he was actually dead and laid in the Sepulchre, and was, after the fealing the Stone and setting a Watch, actually gone out of it again. This was acknowledg'd by the Jews themselves. And we have the Evidence of St. Paul, who was at that Time a great Enemy and a Perfecutor, and was converted himself by our Lord, as he was in his Way to Damafcus, in order to carry on his Perfecution.

Here then is the Evidence fairly laid beyou. Let us now see whether these Witneffes

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