ever, he does no honour to his information; neither in the matter, nor in the composition of that piece; it being indeed one of the meanest and most disingenuous discourses of all antiquity and, in every respect, so pitiful, that, had the reasoning and rhetoric belonged to a Father, our anti-ecclesiastics could not have desired a better fund for their mirth and raillery.

On the whole, this calumny seems to have had its birth from a stratagem of Sapor to throw the Roman army into discord and confusion, when, on the death of Julian, he found it was not like to become so easy a prey to him, as he expected. It is probable he published the reward, spoken of above, without affectation or design: but no one coming to lay in his claim, he found a good use might be made of it; and so gave out, That Julian must needs be slain by a Roman soldier, since, after the most diligent search amongst his own troops, there was no one that pretended to the merit of his death. That this report might make its due impression, he ordered the Persians (who were then ha- rassing the Romans) whenever they came up within hearing of the enemy, to reproach them with the murder of their master: It was in prosecution of the same scheme, that when the ambassadors, whom Jovian sent to treat of peace, came to their audience. The first question he asked them was, Whether Julian's death had been yet revenged. But why so much solicitude in a matter he had no concern in and so much resentment of an action he had reaped such advantages from, if he did not expect, by this affected generosity, to reap greater? Every man of sense in the army treated this artifice as it deserved: and hence, without doubt, the neglect shewn to it by Eutropius and Marcellinus. Nor is this a stratagem unusual in war. Our Henry V. employed it with success after the battle of Azincourt, to appease the duke of Burgundy, when he sent the king his gantlet by an herald (the declaration of war in those times) to revenge the death of his two brothers, who fell in that action fighting on the side of Charles VI. For, unwilling to bring down upon himself so powerful an enemy, but principally desirous of inflaming the distracted councils of France, he took advantage of the quarrels between the houses of Burgundy and Orleans, to assure the herald that the duke's brothers were not killed by the English troops, but

Q 4

but by those of their own party, in the faction of Orleans: of which, he said, he would produce evidence, and make good his allegation to the full. But he performed his word just as Sapor did his, of the assassinate of Julian: where (to return to our subject) the pretence was so gross and ridiculous, that it is probable we had heard no more of it, had it not been for the delusion of some Christians, who, being on the hunt after miracles, catched at the circumstance of the dart's coming from an unknown hand, to make a miracle of the apostate's death. Henceforward the fable received new vigour; and soon after, a kind of establishment, from the strange indiscretion of Sozomene, who would needs venture to defend the morality of this pretended assassinate: a rashness which did the faithful more dishonour than all the contrivances of Julian against them. And yet, to do justice to every one, the folly, to speak no worse of it, is not to be charged on the Christian principles, but on the Pagan; which Sozomene would not suffer his Christianity to correct; for the cutting off a tyrant was one of the most illustrious of the Pagan virtues; and unhappily our church-historian seems have been struck with the glory attending that atchievement.

CONCLUSION.

WE shall conclude with a short recapitulation of

the whole argument.

First, It hath been shewn, That the occasion was most important; and that the credit and honour of Revelation required God's interposition at this juncture.

That Julian aggravated the impiety of his attempt, by all the insulting circumstances most likely to bring upon him the vengeance of heaven.

That the event is established by all the power of human testimony: That the church hath borne witness to it by a full, consistent, and contemporary evidence.

That the adversares of our holy Faith, who were in the neighbourhood of the scene, the followers of Julian, and most partial to his views, have confirmed their report. Nay, that the emperor himself hath confessed the hand which overcame him, though with that disingenuity which characterises the sophist and the bigot, in what party soever they are found.

And lastly, That the fact was, in its nature, such as least admitted of unfaithful accounts concerning it. Then the OBJECTIONS to the miracle have been considered.

It hath been shewn, that, from the word of PROPHECY, and the course of God's dispensations, his interposition was even necessary to support the honour of Religion.

That the evidence of the historian, AMM. MARCELLINUS, is so full and perfect in all its parts, that there is not one circumstance in his character or testi

mony,

mony, which an unbeliever could abuse, to keep back his assent; nor any wanting, which a Believer would desire, to prevent a cavil.

That the several accounts of the FATHERS of the Church and the Ecclesiastical Historians are not only consistent with, but highly corroborative of, one another; and, that such parts of their relations as appear at first sight most prodigious, are indeed, when maturely examined, the parts which most deserve credit.

That it is very unlikely, nay almost impossible, that the eruption should be the effect of human ART and contrivance.

And lastly, that it is no less absurd to suppose it a

NATURAL event.

Thus new light continually springing up from each circumstance as it passed in review; by such time as the whole was considered, this illustrious MIRACLE hath come out in one full blaze of evidence. Insomuch, that I will venture to affirm, there is nothing to be opposed to its force, but what must at the same time destroy the credit of all human testimony what

soever.

When, therefore, the Reader reflects, how little this invincible demonstration for our holy Faith hath been hitherto insisted on; how slightly it hath been handled; and how hastily and slovenly hurried over; he will possibly find cause to wonder as much, on the one hand, at this strange inattention, as on the other, at the unreasonable credulity of the blind adorers of antiquity. For though it hath ever affected the learned and impartial observer with the superiority of its evidence, yet no one before, that I know of, hath attempted to set that superiority in a just light, though provoked to it by the insolence of our enemies, and, what is still more provoking, the indiscretion of our

FRIENDS:

FRIENDS: some of whom have hinted their suspicions in private; and others given more open intimations of its falsehood.

This, in part, may be owing to those ticklish circumstances in the evidence of the Fathers, which, on examination, we have shewn to be its principal support. But what hath chiefly occasioned this neglect, I am persuaded, is the state and condition of the Ecclesiastical History of that time; when the light of miracles was surrounded with such a swarm of monkishfables, as was enough to darken the brightest of its rays; and, indeed, nothing, but the force of its divine extraction, could ever have broke through them: for, as if these unhappy artificers designed what they brought to pass, they were not content to counterfeit the hand of God on other common occasions: they would try their skill on this, where it had been so eminently displayed; and actually contrived to mimic its most essential and triumphant circumstances. Accordingly, Church History informs us, that when Julian and his brother Gallus projected to build a temple over the sepulchre of one St. Mamas; that part which Julian undertook fell down again as soon as built; the saint, it seems, disdaining the service of the future apostate. The cloudy monk, who invented this fable, had, we see, two conceits in his head: he would make Julian's offering as unacceptable as Cain's; and resolving likewise, he should be an unlucky builder through life, would not give him the skill or privilege of that primitive out-law. The same History again informs us*, That once, when Julian sacrificed, there was found impressed upon the entrails of the victim, a cross within a crown or circle: for when the monks had once got the apostate into their hands, they treated * Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. Sɔz. 1. v. c. 2.