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lous to admit the miracles of those ages on human testimony, and deny those of after-ages, though equally attested; and from these clear truths he concluded, "That the only expedient which can effectually secure the Protestant religion from being undermined and subverted by the efforts of Rome, is at once to aim a bold stroke, and absolutely to deny all miracles whatsoever since the days of the apostles.

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The resolution being once taken, which the necessities. of the Reformation forced upon him, the next thing was to find such plausible arguments as might support it with at least a colour of reason; and here, indeed, it must be owned that he has done everything in defence of his bad cause which could possibly have been expected from a penetrating genius, extensive reading, and determined resolution. But as preconceived opinions are generally only flights of fancy, or the despairing necessities of falsehood, the Doctor's favourite system, when brought to the test of sound reasoning, is discovered to be without foundation, and calculated, if adopted, to produce results the most fatal.

This has been shown by the Doctor's learned adversaries of his own communion, who have fully vindicated the characters of the holy fathers of the primitive ages from the shocking representation which Doctor Middleton gives of them; for the Doctor grounds his whole proof upon this that these fathers, the most venerable Christian writers in every age, and all Church historians, are to be looked upon as credulous and superstitious fools, or a set of crafty knaves, possessed by strong prejudices, and an enthusiastic zeal for every doctrine of the Christian religion, scrupling at no art or means which might propagate the same; and, in short, were all of a character from which nothing could

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be expected that was candid and impartial," Preface, p. xxviii. In order to establish this point, which is vital to his system, the Doctor has exerted all his ingenuity and rhetoric, but to no purpose; his Protestant adversaries have examined him step by step, and have detected his false reasoning and sophistry. They have proved, beyond reply, that those venerable writers of the primitive ages were men of unspotted character, undoubted probity, unquestionable veracity, and most competent judges of the truth of the miracles which they related, having either themselves been eyewitnesses of them, or having heard them from such; or that the miracles were public and well known to the whole people among whom they spoke.

XVII. This alone is sufficient to destroy all that the Doctor has built on so sandy a foundation. But his Protestant opponents have gone further, and have shown that the system which he proposes is fraught with the following shocking consequences: First, that it destroys all faith in history. He acknowledges himself, that, as far as the church historians illustrate or throw light upon anything, there is not a single point in history so explicitly and unanimously affirmed as the continual succession of miraculous powers throughout all ages. If, therefore, notwithstanding this concurrent attestation, we are to look upon this succession as an absolute falsehood, how will it be possible to credit any historian whatever, or to believe any single fact attested by others, and of which we have not been eyewitnesses? Secondly, That it opens a door to universal scepticism. This is a natural consequence of the former. Thirdly, That it undermines the very foundation of the Christian religion itself. For if the immediate successors of the apostles, who had been their disciples and instructed by them,

VOL. II.

were knaves and impostors, as he pretends, is it not natural to suspect (to use his own argument on a similar occasion) that so bold a defiance of truth could not be acquired at once?

If this his argument be good, we must conclude that these early impostors had learned their knavery from their masters, and of course that the apostles themselves were as great impostors as their disciples. Besides, according to Protestant principles, the Bible is the sole ground of that religion, and it is a notorious fact that we at present have received the Bible as divinely inspired only upon the testimony of the primitive fathers and their successors, to our own days. If then these were all, as the Doctor represents them, crafty knaves or silly fools, and of such a character that nothing candid or impartial can be expected from them; nay, such impostors that we are unable to depend upon their word, even when relating facts which they declare they saw with their own eyes; how can we believe the Bible to be the Word of God, which comes to us through such a channel? What security have we that such a continued succession of villains, who, as he assures us, would stick at no art or means to propagate their principles, have not corrupted the Scriptures, and imposed their own forgeries on mankind instead of the Word of God? If so, there is an end at once of the Christian religion itself, upon Protestant principles !

XVIII. On this a Catholic must make another obvious reflection-namely, that the Doctor's system, with all its proofs, is founded upon the most childish supposition, a mere begging of the question; a supposition unworthy of a man of sense, much more of one who professes to be a teacher of mankind! He supposes that the respect which Catholics, after the example of the

primitive ages, pay to the relics of saints, their prayers. for the dead, belief in a purgatory, invocation of the saints, and the like, which he calls the corruptions of Popery, are really such in themselves; that such doctrines are impious, blasphemous, and superstitious; and upon this supposition alone he condemns all the miracles related by the fathers of the fourth age, "not only in general and for the greatest part, but entirely and universally as the effects of fraud and imposture," Introd., p. lxv.

"In this age," says he, "all its most illustrious fathers, now saints, of the Catholic Church, St Athanasius, St Epiphamius, St Basil, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Ambrose, St Jerom, St Austin, and St Chrysostom, have severally recorded and solemnly attested a number of miracles, said to be wrought in confirmation of some favourite institutions of those days, which, in the judgment of all the learned and candid Protestants, are manifestly fictitious and utterly incredible," Introd. p. lxv. Now, who does not see that this is merely begging the question, supposing and taking for granted what he ought to prove?

However incredible these institutions may seem to the Doctor and his Protestant brethren, they are far from appearing so to the great body of Catholics, who are endowed with as much common sense and sound judgment as the Doctor and his brethren. These receive them as divine, believe them to be truths revealed by God, and among many other proofs to show that they are so, they appeal to numberless miracles attested by the most credible eyewitnesses in every age, and recorded in the most authentic manner as performed by means of these very institutions, and consequently in approbation of them. How childish is it, then, in the Doctor, when, instead of attempting to prove that these

institutions are fictitious or incredible, he takes it for granted that they are so, and upon this silly pretence alone would have the world adopt a system injurious in the highest degree to the characters of the most venerable personages that ever have appeared in the Christian world, and involving all the monstrous consequences, which, as his Protestant brethren have demonstrated, necessarily flow from it!

How glorious a triumph must it be to every thinking Catholic, to see one of the most learned and determined adversaries of his holy religion reduced to such despicable expedients in attacking it! Yet it is upon the above pitiful supposition that the Doctor's whole fabric is built; for assuming that the miracles related by the holy fathers of the fourth age are mere fiction and imposture, he takes up his position, and by a pretence of argument as weak as its foundation, he includes all the miracles, related by those of preceding and subsequent ages, in the same condemnation.

XIX. To show this line of conduct in its proper light, let us apply it to a similar case. It is certain that the mysteries of the Trinity, incarnation, original sin, and the other fundamental articles of Christianity, appear as incredible to deists and atheists as those which the Doctor calls the corruptions of Popery can possibly appear to him, or to any other learned and candid Protestant; put, then, his argument into the mouth of a deist against these great Christian truths; hear him haranguing against the books of the Gospel, against Christ and His apostles, and rejecting with disdain all the miracles recorded of them, because they were said to have been wrought in confirmation of some favourite opinions of theirs, the Trinity, the incarnation, and

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