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dom, a City or Family be distracted by Factions and Parties, 'tis impoffible that Kingdom, City or Family should continue long in fafety. In like manner, if these evil Spirits be thus at variance one with another, their Empire muft quickly fall, and they ceafe being formidable to Man; which is a point you will not allow.

You fay 'tis by the Authority of Beelzebub that I caft out the evil Spirits, and offer no reafon for your Calumny. If a man fhould retort it upon your Difciples, who pretend to have the like Authority over the Demons, without producing any ground for fuch a Calumny, Would you think he had any right thus to detract from them? What defence foever they are able to make for themfelves, confider I hall have an equal Right to it, and take notice, that this injurious Calumny of yours will be condem'd by whatever anfwer they can make upon fuch an occafion.

But if I banish the Damons from the Bodies of Men by the Power of God, and it is not to be denied by you, all muft then conclude I have been fent by God to Men with the good tidings of the approach of the Kingdom of God.

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Can a man rob another, a valiant Perfon, and defpoil him of his Goods before: his Face, and while he is able to defend them? He can only expect to do it with impunity after having bound him, or otherways fecur'd him from making any Oppofition. Thus 'tis that I lay waft and deftroy the Empire of the Demons by cafting them out of the Bodies of Men. Know you not that proverbial Saying? He that is not with me is against me, he that gathereth not with me fcattereth abroad: which fignifies that Neuters are often look'd upon as Enemies. How can you then poffibly fufpect me to be a Favourer of thofe evil Spirits, who am fo far from being a mere Spectator of the Misfortunes they afflict men with, that I oppose them in every thing I do and fay?

It being then thus manifeft that my defign is by the ruin of the Devil's Empire to enlarge the Kingdom of God, you may take notice that in thus calumniating my Miracles as proceeding from the Affiftance of the evil Spirits, you have incur'd the Guilt of the moft heinous of all Crimes, and are become obnoxious to the most dreadful of all Punishments: For any Sin whatfoever, any impious Act or Saying, fhall be forgiven men upon their fincere Repentance; but this Calumny against the Miracles I have perform'd by the Power of the Holy Ghoft fhall never be forgiven. thofe that have been Eye-witneffes of them, becaufe fuch men are fo degenerated, that 'twould be next to an impoffibility to reclaim them. Whoever fhall detract

from

MATTHEW.

MARK.

L.UK E.

JOHN.

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from me, not having known me, nor the Reafons which manifeft my Authority, if this man, when he comes to be acquainted with them, retract his Error, and repents of fuch his Detraction, he may obtain Forgivenefs. But whoever having feen the Miracles I have wrought by the Power of the Holy Ghoft, fhall obftinately continue to calumniate them, can by no other argument be induc'd to repent, and confequently cannot expect any Mercy from God. These things were faid by Jesus, because the Pharifees and Doctors of the Law had declar'd his Miracles were per form'd by a Power deriv'd from the evil Spirits.

He then continued to fpeak unto them to this effect: Either pronounce the Tree good by reafon of the good Fruit it bears; or if you condemn it, fhow us the bad Fruit it has produc'd: for the Tree is known by its Fruit. If I exhort men only to the purfuit of Virtue, you ought to infer that my exhortation proceeds from a dif pofition inflam'd with a Zeal for Virtue; or if you cenfure my Actions as proceeding from an evil Temper, you ought to warrant this Cenfure by producing an inftance of fomething evil in my Doctrine. But O you degenerated Race of Men, fo truly like envenom'd Serpents, 'twill be impoffible for you to be more candid in your judgments, while you continue thus debas'd by Wickedness: For being

plung'd

MATTHEW.

CHAP. XII.

MARK.

LUKE.

JOHN.

abundance of the heart, the mouth fpeaketh.❤

35 A good man out of the good treafure of the heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things.

36 But I fay unto you, That every idle word that men fhall fpeak, they fhall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou fhalt be juftified, and by thy Words thou fhalt be condemned.

38 Then certain of the fcribes and of the Pharifees answered, faying, Master, we would fee a fign from thee.

39 But he answered and faid to them, An evil and adulterous generation feeketh after a fign, and there shall no fign be given to it, but the fign of the prophet Jonas.

plung'd in Vice, the Discourse must favour of the general Corruption: whereas there is a beauteous Harmony in every thing a good man fays and does; and the different Expreffions of thefe men difcover the different Notions they are both ftock'd with. But I forewarn you that men fhall be feverely punifl'd hereafter for every word that shall be pronounc'd with a defign to draw men off from the purfuit of Virtue: For were there no ill confequence attending it, your Words are the demonstation of the inward Frame and Temper of your Mind.

After Jefus had faid this; feveral of the Lawyers and Pharifees, not out of any love of Truth, but merely to tempt him, defir'd him to perform fome Miracle before them; but Jefus, who was not wont to refufe this Favour to fuch as really ftood in need of this Conviction, and defir'd it out of a Principle of Piety, thus replied: This deprav'd and vitious Age, whatever pretences they make to the true Worship of God, require a Miracle from me, as if I had not hitherto perform'd any; but they fhall receive no other from me to induce them to believe on me than a Miracle like to that of the Prophet Jonas: for as that Prophet continued three

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days

MATTHEW.

CHAP. XII.

40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly, fo fhall the Son. of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41 The men of Niniveh fhall rise in judgment with this generation, and fhall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas,. and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

42 The queen of the south fhall rise up in the judgment. with this generation, and fhall condemn it for the came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here...

43 When the unclean fpirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, feeking reft, and findeth.

none.

44 Then he faith, I will return into my house from:

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days in the Belly of the Whale that had fwallowed him up,, out of which he was deliver'd alive and unhurt, in like manner thall I rife again after I have been buried three days in the Sepulchre. In the day of Judgment the Example of the Ninivites hall be objected to the Men of this Age, and fhall be one argument for their Condemnation for the Inhabitants of that City repented at the preaching of the Prophet; but the prefent Jems are not in the leaft affected with the Words and Miracles of a Perfon much greater than Jonas. They fhall alfo be reproached with, and, condemned by the Example of the Queen of the Sabans, who came from the remoteft part of Arabia to be a witness of the Wisdom of Solomon, and return'd into her Country after the had heard his Difcourfes with admiration; whereas there. is among the Jews of this Age one infinitely fuperior to Solomon, and yet they lightly efteem his Doctrine: But let them take notice of the Punishment that attends their Obftinacy. When the evil Spirit hath been,difpoffeffed of the Body of any perfon, and is prohibited from reentring for fome time, he wanders about in. Solitudes in queft of fome place to reft in, but finding none, he bethinks himself.at. laft of the Habitation from which he had been of late expell'd. If the Perfon in

whale

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