sweat, which ran down his face whilst he lay under his sufferings. We are assured at least that the first martyr for Christianity was encouraged in his last moments, by a vision of that divine Person, for whom he suffered, and into whose presence he was then hastening.

VI. Let any man calmly lay his hand upon his heart, and after reading these terrible conflicts, in which the ancient martyrs and confessors were engaged, when they passed through such new inventions and varieties of pain, as tired their tormentors; and ask himself, however zealous and sincere he is in his religion, whether, under such acute and lingering tortures, he could still have held fast his integrity, and have professed his faith to the last, without a supernatural assistance of some kind or other. For my part, when I consider that it was not an unaccountable obstinacy in a single man, or in any particular set of men, in some extraordinary juncture; but that there were multitudes of each sex, of every age, of different countries and conditions,

who, for near 300 years together, made this glorious confession of their faith, in the midst of tortures, and in the hour of death; I must conclude, that they were either of another make than men are at present, or that they had such miraculous supports as were peculiar to those times of Christianity, when without them perhaps the very name of it might have been extinguished.

VII. It is certain, that the deaths and sufferings of the primitive Christians had a great share in the conversion of those learned pagans, who lived in the ages of persecution, which, with some intervals and abatements, lasted near 300 years after our Saviour. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, and others, tell us, that this first of all alarmed their curiosity, roused their attention, and made them seriously inquisitive into the nature of that religion, which could endue the mind with so much strength, and overcome the fear of death, nay, raise an earnest desire of it, though it appeared in all its terrors. This they found had not

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been effected by all the doctrines of those philosophers, whom they had thoroughly studied, and who had been labouring at this great point. The sight of these dying and tormented martyrs engaged them to search into the history and doctrines of him for whom they suffered. The more they searched, the more they were convinced; till their conviction grew so strong, that they themselves embraced the same truths, and either actually laid down their lives, or were always in a readiness to do it, rather than depart from them.

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SECTION VIII.

I. The completion of our Saviour's prophecies confirmed pagans in their belief of the gospel.

II. Origen's observation on that of his disciples being brought before kings and governors.

III. On their being persecuted for their religion;
IV. On their preaching the gospel to all nations;
V. On the destruction of Jerusalem, and ruin of the
Jewish economy.

VI. These arguments strengthened by what has happened since Origen's time.

I. THE second of those extraordinary means, of great use to the learned and inquisitive pagans of the three first centuries, for evincing the truth of the history of our Saviour, was the completion of such prophecies as are recorded of him in the evangelists. They could not indeed form any arguments from what he foretold, and was fulfilled during his life, because both the prophecy and the completion were over before they were published by the evangelists; though, as Origen observes, what end could there be in forging some of these predictions, as that of St. Peter's denying his Master, and all his disciples

forsaking him in the greatest extremity, which reflects so much shame on the great apostle, and on all his companions? Nothing but a strict adherence to truth and to matters of fact, could have prompted the evangelists to relate a circumstance so disadvantageous to their own reputation; as that father has well observed.

II. But to pursue his reflections on this subject. There are predictions of our Saviour recorded by the evangelists, which were not completed till after their deaths, and had no likelihood of being so, when they were pronounced by our blessed Saviour. Such was that wonderful notice he gave them, that "they should be brought "before governors and kings for his sake, "for a testimony against them and the "Gentiles," Matt. x. 28. with the other like prophecies, by which he foretold that his disciples were to be persecuted. "Is "there any other doctrine in the world,” says this father, "whose followers are pu"nished? Can the enemies of Christ say, "that he knew his opinions were false and "impious, and that therefore he might well