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prejudices that had been raised against it were CENT. fully removed.

II.

PART I.

VIII. It is easier to conceive than to express, how much the miraculous powers, and extraordi- Miracles nary gifts, which were displayed in the ministry and extraof the first heralds of the gospel, contributed to ordinary gifts. enlarge the bounds of the church. These gifts, however, which were given for wise and important reasons, began gradually to diminish in proportion as the reasons ceased for which they were conferred. And, accordingly, when almost all nations were enlightened with the truth, and the number of Christian churches increased daily in all places, then the miraculous gifts of tongues began gradually to decrease. It appears, at the same time, from unexceptionable testimonies, that the other extraordinary gifts with which the omnipotence and wisdom of the Most High had so richly endowed the rising church, were in several places continued during this century [m].

IX. We cannot indeed place, with any degree The miraof certainty, among the effects of a miraculous cle of the thundering power yet remaining in the church, the story of legion. the Christian legion, who, by their prayers, drew from heaven a refreshing shower upon the army of Marcus Antoninus, ready to perish with thirst, when that emperor was at war with the Marcomanni. This remarkable event (which gave to the Christians, to whom it was attributed, the name of the thundering legion, on account of the thunder and lightning that destroyed the enemy, while the shower revived the fainting Romans) has been mentioned by many writers. But whether it was really miraculous or not, has been much disputed among learned men. Some think

[m] Pfanner, De donis miraculosis. Spencer, Not. ad Orig. contra Celsum, p. 5, 6. Mammachius Originum et Antiquitat. Christianar. tom. i. p. 363, &c.

CENT. think that the Christians, by a pious sort of misII. take, attributed this unexpected and seasonable

PART I.

More than dubious.

shower, which saved the Roman army, to a miraculous interposition; and this opinion is, indeed, supported by the weightiest reasons, as well as by the most respectable authorities [n].

X. Let us distinguish what is doubtful in this story, from that which is certain. It is certain, that the Roman army, enclosed by the enemy, and reduced to the most deplorable, and even desperate condition, by the thirst under which they languished in a parched desert, was revived by a sudden and unexpected rain. It is also certain, that both the Heathens and the Christians looked upon this event as extraordinary and miraculous; the former attributing it to Jupiter, Mercury, or the power of magic; the latter to Christ, interposing thus unexpectedly, in consequence of their prayers. It is still fur

ther

[n] Such readers as are desirous to know what learned men have alleged on both sides of this curious question, may consult Witsius' Dissertat. de Legione Fulminatrice, which is subjoined to his Egyptiaca, in defence of this miracle; as also what is alleged against it by Dan. Larroque, in a discourse upon that subject, subjoined to the Adversaria Sacra of Matth. Larroque, his father. But above all, the controversy between Sir Peter King and Mr. Walter Moyle upon this subject, is worthy of the attention of the curious; and likewise the dissertation of the learned Jablonski, inserted in the eight volume of the Miscellanea Leipsiensia, p. 417. under the title of Spicilegium de Legione Fulmatrice. This last-mentioned author investigates with great acuteness, the reasons and motives which induced the Christians to place so inconsiderately this shower in the list of miracles.

[*] It is by mistake that Dr. Mosheim confounds Sir Peter King, Lord Chancellor of England, with the person who carried on the controversy with Moyle concerning the thundering legion. Moyle's adver sary was Mr. King, a clergyman, rector of Topsham, near Exeter, which was the place of his nativity, and also of the famous Chancellor's, who bore his name. See the letters addressed to the Rev. Mr. King, in the Posthumous Collection of Locke's Letters, published by Collins. See also Lardner's Collection of Heathen and Jewish Testimonies, &c. vol. ii. p. 249, &c.

PART I.

ther beyond all doubt, that a considerable num- CENT. ber of Christians served, at this time, in the Ro- II. man army; and it is extremely probable, that in such trying circumstances of calamity and distress, they implored the merciful interposition and succours of their God and Saviour. And as the Christians of these times looked upon all extraordinary events as miracles, and ascribed to their prayers all the uncommon and singular occurrences of an advantageous nature that happened to the Roman empire, it will not appear surprising, that, upon the present occasion, they attributed the deliverance of Antoninus and his army to a miraculous interposition which they had obtained from above. But, on the other hand, it must be carefully observed, that it is an invariable maxim, universally adopted by the wise and judicious, that no events are to be esteemed miraculous, which may be rationally attributed to natural causes, and accounted for by a recourse to the ordinary dispensations of providence; and as the unexpected shower, which restored the expiring force of the Romans, may be easily explained without rising beyond the usual and ordinary course of nature, the conclusion is manifest; nor can it be doubtful in what light we are to consider that remarkable event.

XI. The Jews were visited with new calami- Sedition ties, first under Trajan, and then under Adrian, and slaughwhen under the standards of Barcocheba, who Jews. gave himself out for the Messiah, they rose in rebellion against the Romans. In consequence of this sedition, prodigious numbers of that miserable people were put to the sword, and a new city, called Elia Capitolina, was raised upon the ruins of Jerusalem, into which no Jew was permitted to enter [o]. This defeat of the Jews

tended

[o] Justin Mart. Dial cum Tryphone, p. 49. 278.

II.

PART I.

CENT. tended to confirm, in some measure, the external tranquillity of the Christian church. For that turbulent and perfidious nation had hitherto oppressed and vexed the Christians, not only by presenting every where to the Roman magistrates complaints and accusations against them, but also by treating them in the most injurious manner in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, because they refused to succour them against the Romans. But this new calamity, which fell upon that seditious nation, put it out of their power to exercise their malignity against the disciples of Jesus, as they had formerly done.

Philoso

phers con

verted to

nity.

XII. Among other accessions to the splendor and force of the growing church, we may reckon Christia- the learned and ingenious labours of those philosophers and literati, who were converted to Christianity in this century. I am sensible that the advantages arising from hence to the cause of true religion will be disputed by many; and, indeed, when the question is thus proposed, whether, upon the whole, the interests of Christianity have gained or lost by the writings of the learned, and the speculations of philosophers that have been employed in its defence, I confess myself incapable of solving it in a satisfactory manner. For nothing is more manifest than this truth, that the noble simplicity and dignity of religion were sadly corrupted in many places, when the philosophers blended their opinions with its pure doctrines, and were audacious enough to submit that divine system of faith and piety to be scrutinized and modified by the fallible rule of imperfect reason.

CHAP.

CHAP. II

Concerning the Calamitous events which happened to the church in this century.

I.

1. IN

II.

PART I.

The perse

N the beginning of this century, there were CENT. no laws in force against the Christians, for the senate had annulled the cruel edicts of Nero; and Nerva had abrogated the sanguinary laws of his predecessor Domitian. But, notwithstanding cution unthis, a horrid custom prevailed, of persecuting der Trajan. the Christians, and even of putting them to death, as often as a bloody priesthood, or an outrageous populace, set on by them, demanded their destruction. Hence it happened, that, even under the reign of the good Trajan, popular clamours [p] were raised against the Christians, many of whom fell victims to the rage of a merciless multitude.. Such were the riotous proceedings that happened in Bithynia, under the administration of Pliny the younger, who, upon that occasion, wrote to the emperor, to know in what manner he was to conduct himself towards the Christians. The answer which he received from Trajan amounted to this, "That the Christians were "not to be officiously sought after [g], but that "such as were accused and convicted of an adherence to Christianity were to be put to death as "wicked citizens, if they did not return to the religion of their ancestors."

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II. This edict of Trajan, being registered The effects among the public and solemn laws of the Roman of Trajan's empire, set bounds, indeed, to the fury of those Pliny. that persecuted the Christians, but was, however,

the

[p] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xxxii. p. 103. [q] See Pliny's letters, book x. let. xcvii. and xcviii. which have been illustrated by many learned men, such as Vossius, Bohmer, Baldwin, Heuman and others.

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