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by miracles is the seal of God himself to the truth of the facts and doctrines which it is designed to certify. It was the dictate of common sense which Nicodemus expressed, when he said to our Lord, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Miracles are in their nature, and from the necessity of the case, extraordinary signs; but they are for that very reason universally understood to be the testimony of God.

10. The inspired teachers, accordingly, appealed to miracles as the proofs of their mission. Our Lord referred to his works as conclusive evidence of his having been sent from God: "I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not: but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him." To the messengers sent by John the Baptist to ask, whether he were indeed the promised Messiah," Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John what things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up; and to the poor the gospel is preached." Here we have, in the first place, a distinct recognition of miracles as an attestation of the divine authority of Christ, and of the doctrines which he taught: Secondly, The fulfilment of ancient prophecy in Christ, both in regard to the works which he performed and the truths which he communicated, and by which he was thus proved to be the Messiah: And, thirdly, We have presented to our view that which forms the main subject of the internal evidence of Christianity, the admirable adaptation of the gospel to the condition and the wants

of man.

11. Our Lord and his apostles expressly and uniformly

asserted that they were teachers sent from God, and appealed to these evidences in proof of the validity of their claims. Commissioned to speak in the name and by the authority of God, they affirmed that the doctrines which they taught ought to be received and believed in, as his oracles; and which, because they are the truths of God, have the sacred character and high authority of a divine revelation. My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me," said Jesus." I am the Light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."-"I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath instructed me, I speak these things."

12. Indeed, the enemies of revelation have always admitted, that miracles furnish unquestionable evidence of the divine authority of the doctrines in attestation of which they are wrought. Spinoza acknowledged, that if he could be convinced of the resurrection of Lazarus, he would break his whole system into pieces, and readily embrace the common faith of Christians. "I believe," said Woolston, "it will be granted on all hands, that the restoring of a person indisputably dead to life, is a stupendous miracle; and that two or three such miracles, wellattested, and credibly reported, are enough to warrant the belief, that he who performed them was a divine agent, and invested with the power of God." The force of the evidence arising from this source was admitted by Hume himself, whose object in his Essay on Miracles is not to show that miracles, if acknowledged to be true, are not sufficient evidence of divine revelation, but that no such works have ever been performed.

13. It thus appears that the truth of a doctrine may be positively concluded from miracles. We may deduce this conclusion with confidence, because it seems entirely repugnant to the character of God to lend the sanction of his power to establish the impositions of designing men. Far be it from us to suppose that the God of infinite goodness would do that by which the best of men, the most vir

tuous of the human race, would be deceived; or that the divine wisdom would employ, in confirmation of a falsehood, the means best adapted to establish the truth. The object for which the miracles of the Mosaic and Christian dispensations were wrought, was to confirm the divine authority of the doctrines which were taught; and if God, knowing that this was their object, should have allowed false doctrines to have been accompanied with miracles, he would have confirmed it, and have wished it to obtain credit, a supposition which it is blasphemous to affirm.

14. Against this view of the subject I can only conceive it possible to urge five things: First, That in Deuteronomy xiii. 1-3, it is asserted that God would try the Israelites by the miracles of false prophets. But this does not mean that God would try his people, by performing miracles opposed in their design to those which he had previously wrought, but that he would permit the performance of such wonders as may deceive the unstable who are not steadfast in their adherence to the doctrines which had been previously established by many and great miracles. Secondly, An objection to the above conclusion is founded on the example of the magicians of Egypt. But without determining here whether the works said to have been performed by these magicians were realities, or whether they were merely the effects of delusion and jugglery, this is certain, that these works were not from God, —at least, they can be ascribed to him only to this extent, that he permitted the performance of those things which combined their influence with others in preventing Pharaoh from listening to that divine voice which many miraculous works proved to be the voice of God. Thirdly, It has been attempted to found an objection to our conclusion, on the affirmation respecting false prophets, of whom it is foretold, that they shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. But these signs and wonders are no more to be understood to be real miracles, than the

lying wonders which are elsewhere ascribed to Antichrist are to be regarded as real miracles. Apart from revealed religion, we know that this is a state of probation; and it is in perfect accordance with the moral purposes of such a state that God permits errors and delusions to exist in the world. Fourthly, It is objected to our argument, that it is said of the wicked, that they will maintain in the day of retribution that they have prophesied, and cast out devils, and done many wonderful works in the name of the Lord. But it is to be recollected, that the tendency of the works, to the performance of which they are said to lay claim, was not to confirm an imposture, but to secure respect for the name and the authority of Christ, and of his religion. Besides, it does not appear that the gift of miracles was confined in the early ages of the church to the converted, as we learn from the example of Judas. The exercise of the gift, however, was profitable for confirming the church in the truth, even when employed by men who were not personally under the sanctifying power of that truth. Fifthly, Demoniacal possessions. To this particular we shall direct attention in a subsequent chapter.

But it may be asked, how can true miracles be distinguished with certainty from other wonders? This is a deeply interesting and important inquiry; and we shall direct our attention to it in the following chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE MARKS BY WHICH MIRACLES MAY BE CERTAINLY

DISTINGUISHED.

1. WHILE all must admit that miracles are effects of supernatural power, may there not be difficulty in dis

tinguishing a miracle from some of those changes upon material substances which his growing knowledge of nature enables man to produce? If it really were the case, that the class of phenomena called miracles could not, with any certainty, be distinguished from the other phenomena connected with the discoveries of human science, the obstacle would be insuperable. But, in truth, there is no such ground of uncertainty. The broad distinction between these two classes of phenomena may be perceived even by uncultivated minds. Who would class the effects of medicine on disease, or of the loadstone on iron, with the raising of the dead to life, or the stilling of a tempest? Even were it true that in some rude states of society men might mistake the one for the other, or that some of the phenomena in the two different classes could not easily be distinguished, what does any such ambiguity take from the clearness with which others may be discriminated among all classes of men, and in almost every state of society? It is upon the clear distinction which can be discerned in these by all men, and in all ages, that the proof of revelation proceeds. The evidence from miracles for divine revelation exists in phenomena which were at the time, which now are, and which always will be, thought miraculous; which the progress of science has never had the least tendency to thrust from their supernatural place, and the real character of which must be determined, not by the opinion of ignorant but by the judgment of the most cultivated minds.

2. Nor is there any force in the remark of some deistical writers, that a miracle being that which exceeds the power of nature, we cannot know what exceeds it, unless we knew the utmost extent of the power of nature,—a thing which no man pretends to know, therefore no man can certainly know whether any event be miraculous. For, as Leslie remarks,* though we do not know the utmost

* A Short and Easy Method with the Deists, p. 41.