Our second proposition, and which now remains to be treated of, is, That
there is NOT satisfactory evidence, that persons pretending to be
original witnesses of any other similar miracles have acted in the same
manner, in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely
in consequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts.
I enter upon this part of my argument, by declaring how far my belief in
miraculous accounts goes. If the reformers in the time of Wickliffe, or
of Luther; or those of England in the time of Henry the Eighth, or of
Queen Mary; or the founders of our religious sects since, such as were
Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Wesley in our times--had undergone the life of
toil and exertion, of danger and sufferings, which we know that many of
them did undergo, for a miraculous story; that is to say, if they had
founded their public ministry upon the allegation of miracles wrought
within their own knowledge, and upon narratives which could not be
resolved into delusion or mistake; and if it had appeared that their
conduct really had its origin in these accounts, I should have believed
them.
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