was seen by St. Peter: But the disciples did not think him infallible, and therefore believed him not. At last, when all the Apostles, except Thomas, were assembled together, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them: But they were so far from being credulous in embracing a phantasm instead of Christ, that they were seized upon with a sudden fear and consternation, supposing that they had seen a spirit. But our Saviour soon undeceived them, by appealing to the judgment of their senses; saying, "Handle "me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh

and bones, as ye see me have." Now, the more suspicious and incredulous the Apostles were at first, concerning our Lord's resurrection, the greater evidence it is, that they had an undoubted and certain knowledge of what they reported afterwards, and that there were strong convictions in the nature of the thing itself, which could satisfy such scrupulous and suspicious persons. If the Apostles had been prepossessed with hopes of our Saviour's rising again, and had believed his resurrection upon the report of others,

and

ཚ།

and upon that ground had transmitted it to posterity, we might then have suspected the easiness of their belief and the uncertainty of their knowledge. But when we find they were so slow and backward to believe, that they would not trust the report of others, nor even credit their own eyes, unless they had the concurrent. testimony of their hands, we cannot imagine but that they had sufficient knowledge and conviction to assure both them.. selves and us, that our Saviour rose from the dead. And therefore one justly says, "Valde dubitatum est ab illis, ne dubitare"tur a nobis:" it was doubted by them, that after-ages of the Church might have no ground to distrust the certainty of their knowledge, and the reasons of their conviction.

But 2dly. The Apostles were men of such integrity, that they related no more than what they knew to be true. And this will appear clear and unquestionable, if we can discover no secular designs or interests, which might tempt them so confidently to vouch a falsehood, and de

lude the world into a belief of so bold an imposture. For we cannot imagine that any man should be so void of all shame and ingenuity, as publicly to preach and propagate an untruth, unless interest and honours, pleasures or emoluments, were the great temptations to such infamous schemes of fraud and falsehood. Now, the Apostles were so far from being actuated by such motives in preaching the resurrection of Christ, that the belief of their own doctrine prevailed so far with them, as to make them renounce all the satisfactions and comforts which the world could give them. Wife and children, friends and relations, houses and country, ease and quiet, were all forsaken by them; that so they might convince men of a truth of so great importance and concern. Nay, so satisfied were they of the truth and interesting consequences of the doctrine of the resurrection, and so industrious in spreading through the whole world the intelligence of it, that neither ignominy nor disgrace, poverty nor persecution, nor fire and faggot, and all the most exquisite torments which in

genious

genious malice could invent, could either discourage them from propagating the belief, or force them to a denial of the truth of it. Their resolution was as strong as their conviction was great, and the boldness of their courage was only equal to the certainty of their doctrine. Now, can it ever be imagined, that men of so many different humours and interests, qualities and conditions, should ever unite together only to cheat themselves into ruin, and the world into the belief of a falsehood? Can any man believe, that there should be such a pleasure and delight in propagating a notorious imposture, as could mitigate the pain of racks and tortures, make death eligible, and destruction lovely? We find that all men have a natural aversion to pain, and nothing can make them submit to it but the strong allurements of pleasure, profit, or honour: But the Apostles cannot be supposed to have been influenced by any of these: For the fountain of honour was in the hands of the Jews and Romans, from whom they could expect no greater favour or respect,

than

than their Master, the holy Jesus, had received from them. Nay, he had beforehand assured them, that they should be despised and hated of all men for his sake: And the event was answerable to the prediction: For, so far were they from receiving either pleasures, or profits, or honours, that they met with nothing but scorn and reproach, death and persecution, from the greatest part of mankind. And can we now seriously think, that any, who had the common reason and feelings of men, would part with all the satisfactions and enjoyments of the world, expose themselves to continual hazards and insults, and at last undergo death itself, for the sake of a mere fable, the baseless fabric of their own imagination? It is true, indeed, the possessions of the Apostles were not many, nor their riches great but we well know that the little all of the poor is as dear and valuable to them as the abundance of the rich is to its possessors: and therefore we are not to regard how much they parted with, but how chearfully they parted with all they had, and moreover laid down