Thomas Woolston

“ Supposing God should send an Ambassador at this day, who, to convince Christians of the Mischiefs and Inconvenience of an Hireling Priesthood, should work such a Miracle as was this of Lazarus's Resurrection, in the Presence of a multitude of Spectators; how would your Bishops and Clergy behave themselves upon it? Why, they would be as mute as Fishes; or if they did fret and grieve inwardly for the Loss of their Interests; yet they would have more Prudence (ask them else,) than to show their Anger openly, and persecute both Agent and Patient for it. ”

“ How a Man may be mistaken in himself! I took my self for a real Advocate for the Truth of Christianity; and was so vain as to imagine these Discourses tended to a Demonstration of Jesus's Messiahship: And tho' the Bishop of London may be of a contrary Opinion, yet I am still so conceited of my Ability to defend our Religion, that I'll stake my Life against his Bishoprick, which I'll not be troubled with, if I win it, that he can't form an Objection against Christianity, which I can't solidly confute, and make our Readers merry too, with his Weakness and Impertinence in it. ”

“ But waving, I say, that Argument for the present, which of itself would be enough to prejudice a reasonable Man against the Belief of Jesus's Resurrection; I will allow Jesus to have been a much better Man, than I believe him to have been; or as good a one in Morals as your Divines do suppose him; and will only consider the Circumstances of the Evangelical Story of his Resurrection; from which, if I don't prove it to have been the most bare-fac'd Imposture that ever was put upon the World, I deserve for the Vanity of this Attempt, a much worse Punishment, than he for his Frauds endured. ”

“ Why, to help the Fathers out here, without departing from their Opinions, by the Spittle of Jesus must be understood the Water of the Spirit instill'd into the Earth of the Letter of the Scriptures, which temper'd together, does, in the Judgment of them all, make perfect Doctrine to the opening of the Eyes of our Understanding in the Knowledge of the Providence of God of all Ages; which Knowledge, Light, Sight, or Illumination, Mankind has hitherto wanted. ”

“ If any Pool or Cistern of Water about this City of London was so blessed with the Descent of an Angel to such an End, the Magistrates, such is their Wisdom, would, if God did not direct, take care of the prudent Disposal of the Mercy to the best Advantage of the Diseased. And if they sold it to an infirm Lord or Merchant, who could give for it most Money, to be distributed among other Poor and distressed People, would it not be wisely done of them? To suppose they would leave the Angelick Favour to the Struggle of a Multitude, is absurd and incredible. ”

“ If the Story of such a Miracle had been related of any Impostor in Religion, of an Arch-Heretick, or Popish Exorcist, our Divines would have flouted at it; they would have told us, there was nothing supernatural and uncommon in the Event, nor any thing at all to be wonder'd at in it. Taking the Devil out of this Story, and there's no more in it, than what's common for a simple, melancholy, and drooping Woman, to be chear'd and elated upon the comfortable Advice and Admonition of a reputedly wise and good Man. ”

“ But for all that, I could wish, for the Sake of Christianity, that such a Liberty was indulg'd to Infidels. Whatever our zealous Clergy may think, one Persecution of an Infidel does more Harm to Religion, than the Publication of the worst Book against it.
Liberty is so essential, My Lord, to the Enquiry after Truth, that where It is wanted, Truth will want that Splendor, which it receives from Disputation: And Christianity would be the more tryumphant over its Enemies, for that unbounded [Pg vii] Liberty, they may enjoy to contest it from the Press. ”

“ But what's the Dedication to the Book it self, will some here say? Tho' the Bishop may have made some Slips in his Dedication which betray Weakness and Ignorance; [Pg 43] yet his following Performance may be Strenuous and Nervous, and a compleat Confutation of my Discourses. I answer, that such a Dedication bodes ill to the Book; and a Man may as well expect to find the inside of a House beautiful and richly adorn'd, when the Porch and Entrance into it is mean and nasty; as that an admirable Treatise for Wit, Reason, and Learning, should follow upon such a poor, simple, and insipid Dedication. ”

“ Should our Divines suppose or describe, for the Evangelist, a state of Blindness in this Man, incurable by Art; that would be begging the Question, which no Unbeliever will grant. But to please them, I will yield, without Enquiry into the Nature of this Man's Blindness, that, if Jesus had used no Medicines; if with only a word of his Mouth he had cured the Man, and he had instantaneously recover'd, as the Word was spoken; here would have been a real and great Miracle, let the Blindness or Imperfection of the Man's Sight before, be of what kind or degree soever. ”

“ But if Jesus's telling the Woman her Fortune was no real and conclusive Argument of his being the Messiah; St. John has told us an impertinent Tale of a simple Woman, upon whose Credulity and false Notions Jesus palm'd himself as the true Messiah; and whether he did not ill thus to banter and deceive the Woman, let any one judge.
But let us here behold the Difference amongst the Jews and Samaritans, as to the Expectation of a Messiah. Some of the old Jews, like the Apostles, expected the Messiah would be a temporal Prince, a great Warriour and Conqueror of the World. ”

“ And it is not impossible, but the passionate Skreams of the Feminine By-standers might fright her into Fits, that bore the Appearance of Death; otherwise why did Jesus turn there inordinate Weepers out of the House, before he could bring her to her Senses again? And why did he tell her Parents, that she was only in a sleep, but to Comfort them with the Possibility of his awakening her out of it? Is not this destructive of the Miracle, and making no more of it, than what another Man might do? ”

“ The Conduct of Jesus, to all Appearance, is not only blameable, his Power of healing disputable, and his Mercy indefensible, for that he cured but one infirm Man out of a Multitude, at Bethesda, but,
Eightly, and lastly, it may reasonably be questioned, whether he wrought any Miracle in the healing of this one Man. Miracles (to say nothing of the ridiculous Distinction between divine and diabolical ones) are Works done out of the Course of Nature, and beyond the Imitation of human Art or Power. ”

“ A sober, prudent and wise Philosopher or Magician, in the place of Jesus, if he had an Art or Power to turn Water into Wine, would never have exercised it upon such an occasion; no, not to please his best Friends, nor in obedience to the most indulgent Parent. What would he have said in such a Case? That the Company had drank sufficiently already, and there was no need of more Wine: The Bridegroom had kindly and plentifully entertain'd his Guests, and he would not for the Honour of God, who had endow'd him with a divine Power, be at the Expence of a Miracle to promote the least Intemperance. ”

“ But in the Perfection of Time, signified by the sixth Hour, will Christ, according to the Fathers, enable her to draw out of this Well of the Profundity of the Scriptures, spiritual Waters of Divine Knowledge, which will daily more and more, like the Fountains of the Waters of Life, arise and flow in upon the Soul, and constantly recreate and refresh her with Wisdom, to her Delight and Satisfaction ”

“ As for my self and my Adherents at home, which, as yet, are without Number, we are all Quietists and should act against our Consciences and Religion, if we should injure any Man in his Person and Property. But I smile to see a Clergyman all on a sudden, like the Bishop, so tender of the Welfare of the Publick, when Ecclesiasticks, in all Ages past, have been the Bane of Society and the Pest of Mankind, as appears from the Wars and Persecution they have rais'd in the World ”

“ God be prais'd, this Kingdom is bless'd with such a Civil Administration for Wisdom, Justice and Mercy, as no Nation of the World can equal. Our Magistrates are all Philosophers, Lovers of Truth, and of an Enquiry into it ”

“ Such a manifest Miracle, let it be wrought for what End and Purpose, we can possibly imagine, would strike Men with Awe and Reverence; and none could hate and persecute the Author of the Miracle; least He who could raise the dead, should exert his Power against themselves, and either wound or smite them dead with it. For which Reason, the Resurrection of Lazarus, on the certain Knowledge of our Ancestors, was all Fraud, or they would have reverenc'd and adored the Power of him, that did it. ”

“ Infidels, "That in Consequence of their own Infidelity, and their wicked Diligence in spreading that Infection, are bringing in upon us the real Persecutions of the Church of Rome; who likewise, whilst they rail so plentifully at the most rational Religion in the World as Superstition, give great Advantages towards restoring the insupportable Superstitions of that Communion. These are the Persons indeed that appear in favour of an unbounded Liberty, but God grant it may not terminate in an absolute Slavery." ”

“ And to prepare Mens Souls for the Susception of such a spiritual Jesus, I intend to publish a Discourse of the Mischiefs and Inconveniencies of an Hireling Priesthood, wherein it shall be proved, that Mankind can't be either good, wise or happy under the Kingdom of this Messiah to come, without an Abolition and Extirpation of them. ”

“ Moreover History affords us Instances of Men, such as of Apollonius Tyanæus, Vespasian, and of the Irish Stroaker, Greatrex, who have miraculously cured Diseases to the Admiration of Mankind, as well as our Jesus: But if any of them, or any other greater Worker of Miracles than they were, should withall assume to himself the Title of a Prophet, and Author of a new Religion, I humbly conceive, we ought not to give heed to him.
Neither is there the least Reason that we should; for the Power of doing Miracles is no certain, nor rational Seal of the Commission and Authority of a divine Lawgiver. ”

“ The more Witnesses are present at a Miracle, the better it is attested, and the more readily believed by others; and who should be present at the Miracle rather than those who were incredulous of Jesus's divine Power? Are not all these Circumstances, so many Absurdities, which, if they are not to be accounted for in the Mystery, are so far destructive of the Letter, as that it is Nonsense and Folly in our Divines to talk of a Miracle here, against Jesus's express Word and Prohibition to the contrary. ”

“ I heard a wild Spark say, that he could be as grave as the Bishop of London, if he was but as well paid for it. Whether he believ'd the Bishop would have been as loose as himself, but for his Hire, I can't tell. But this is certain that, what can't be said of Infidels, there are Priests who put on the Face and Form of Godliness, and want the Life and Power of it; who lift up their Hands and Eyes unto God, when their Hearts are far from him; and were not their Interests more than their Faith, a Restraint to their Lusts, it is commonly believ'd they would be a Company of loose Blades. ”

“ If Historians can parallel this Story of the Malignity of the Jews towards Jesus and Lazarus upon such a real Miracle, with any Thing equally barbarous and inhuman, in any other Sect or Nation; we will acknowledge the Truth of it against our ancient Nation: Or if such Inhumanity, abstractedly consider'd, be at all agreeable to the Conceptions any one can form of Human Nature in the most uncivilis'd and brutish People, we will allow our Ancestors, in this Case, to have been that People. ”

“ Indeed a more proper Occasion cannot possibly happen in a Nation, where Christianity is establish'd by human Laws, to invigorate the Zeal of the Magistrate, in putting the Laws in Execution against so flagrant a Sort of Profaneness, that tramples with such Indignity on the Grounds of the Christian Faith; and to convince the World that the Minister of that God, who is so highly affronted, bears not the Sword in vain. And certainly the Higher Powers have great Reason to exert their Authority on this and the like Occasions. ”

“ Agreeable to these our old Opinions of the Scripture, and to our Expectations of a Messiah, did the Fathers of your Church endeavour to prove Jesus's Messiahship, by an allegorical Explication and Application of the Law and the Prophets to him: But in as much as they labour'd in vain, proving little or nothing, this Way, to the Satisfaction of our old Jews; and in as much as your Priesthood have altogether given over this Way of Proof; we persist in our Disbelief of Jesus's Messiahship, and expect another for the foresaid grand Purposes. ”

“ John, the Time is near at Hand for the binding this Apocalyptical old Dragon or Satan, that has pester'd the World through all Ages past. All the Honour that I desire, is, by my Studies and Endeavours to be contributing to so great a Work, for the Good and Happiness of Mankind.
To conclude. I have been the more expeditious in printing of this Discourse, not only for fear the Bishop's Vindication (as it is call'd) should have a malign Influence upon some People, I don't mean our Civil Magistrates, who are wiser and more learned than to be guided by such outragious Stuff ”

“ The only Difficulty here is to know, upon what Principle, the Project and Story of Jesus's Resurrection was at first devised. And whether it was Ambition or Revenge upon our ancient and Pharisaical Priesthood, that prompted the Apostles to it, is all one to me. Such bad [Pg 27] Principles too often put Men upon desperate Attempts. But however, an Imposture it was, for the Argument above. To say the Apostles and Confederates in the Fraud, would not have stood to it, and have dy'd for it, if the Resurrection had not been real Fact, signifies nothing. ”