Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His DiscoursesWoolston, Thomas
Religion
Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses
Woolston, Thomas
Gibson, Edmund, 1669-1748; Jesus Christ -- Miracles -- Early works to 1800; Smalbroke, Richard, 1672-1749
So could I enlarge in Praise of your _Clergy_; and so should you have
done; and then you might have disputed, as you do, against any
Doctrines, Miracles and Articles of Faith, without Molestation. Try, if
you can't correct that fundamental Error, you have committed. Assert
still, if you can, with Dr. _Rogers_, the Necessity of an establish'd
Priesthood, well paid, for the Service of the _King_ and the Country,
under all Changes of Religion; which may be a Means to retrieve their
Favour, and will beget in me a better Opinion of your Prudence, than at
present is entertain'd by your _Assured Friend_ N. N.
So ends the Letter of my Friend, the _Jewish Rabbi_, in which, to my
Comfort, he has conform'd himself to the Rules of _Sedateness_,
_Decency_ and _Sobriety_ of Argument, prescrib'd by the two great
_Bishops_ of _London_ and St. _David_'s. If the Weight and Solidity of
his Argument don't grieve the _Clergy_, I am in no Pain for the Levity
and Ludicrousness of it. And whether the Weight and Nature of his
Argument against _Jesus_'s Resurrection will at all startle and
surprize them, I know not; but I profess for my self, that I might
have study'd long enough for such an Argument against it, as this
_Rabbi_, with his great grey Beard, has presently hit of. He told me
beforehand, that his Thoughts on _Jesus_'s Resurrection should be out
of the common Road of thinking; and I must needs say, he has been as
good as his Word, or no Man ever kept his Promise.
There are two Things very remarkable in his Argument: The _one_ is,
the Use and Design of sealing the Stone of _Jesus_'s Sepulchre, which
he lays great Stress on, to the Proof of Fraud in his Resurrection;
and the _other_ is, his Application of these Words, _the last Error_
(or as he reads Deceit or Imposture) _will be worse than the first_
or former, in which he makes the _Chief Priests_ in their Speech to
_Pilate_, to refer to _Lazarus_'s Resurrection as the former known
Imposture. If his Application be just and true, the Consequence is,
that the Resurrections of _Jesus_ and _Lazarus_ are both Impostures.
It grieves me to the Heart to think of this Consequence, which our
_Divines_ are to see to, and evade, if they can. No sooner did I read
his Application of the foresaid Words, but I run to our _Commentators_
for another and better Exposition of them: But alas! to my Sorrow,
they made nothing of them, but a sort of a _proverbial Expression_,
which the _Chief Priests_ must have spoil'd and knock'd out of Joint.
Being then under great Trouble for the Truth of Christianity, and the
Certainty of these two grand Miracles, I refer the Matter to our
Learned _Clergy_, desiring them to be as speedy as they can in another
and more proper Interpretation of the foresaid Words, or _Jews_ and
_Infidels_ will run away with them in the _Rabbi_'s Sense, to the
Confutation of our holy Religion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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