Mr. Taylor replied, Then we are in a new dispensation?

The drift of this question was not exactly perceived; but, after something like private questioning and explaining, it was answered, That the Jewish dispensation was given for an inferior state of things; and as it consisted much of rites and cere-monies, it was suited to the less advanced state of the church; but the Christian was that new and better dispensation, which, being more spiritual and intellectual, suited a more advanced state of the church and the world.

Mr. Taylor then said, Were not the Jews assured that their law should be permanent, lasting as the sun, and perpetual as the days of heaven?

It was answered, Their own law taught them to look for the coming of a great personage, like Moses, their lawgiver, who said, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Mr. Taylor. Then if the Christian is a new and second dispensation, may we not look for a third to supersede this?

It was answered, Though Moses and the prophets taught the Jews to look for a Messiah, who should have legislative powers like Moses, when Jesus that Messiah came, he taught us to look for no third dispensation, except his coming a third time, to

judge the world, and fix all things in their eternal

state.

The Lecturer then said, But though I have answered these questions, I appeal to the chair and to the assembly, whether I had not a right to expect that the questions would refer to the preceding Lecture, on the Miracles which proved divine revelation true?

Mr. Taylor then said, I regret that the Lecturer did not write his discourse, that he might have referred to what he had said.

The Lecturer then said, It shall be in the press to-morrow, that it be answered from the press, as it is here open to discussion with the living voice.

may

Mr. Taylor said, The Lecturer affirmed that the miracles of Jesus were public—but this is not true, for that at the marriage of Cana was not public, but wrought in a private coterie of friends; and Dr. Belsham has said, that the resurrection of Christ was a private miracle.

It was answered, There are distinct things mixed up in this question, and I am not sure that I shall recollect them all; but I will endeavour to take them in their order. The miracle wrought at the marriage of Cana, in Galilee, was not mentioned in the Lecture, and I am therefore not bound to answer this question; but I will not avail myself of this right of declining this question, for my object is frankly to meet any difficulty. The miracle wrought, then, at the marriage of Cana, was any thing but private. It was wrought before all the world,

taking that phrase as it is used in common parlance to mean any body, or every body. Every one knows that an Eastern marriage is like an Irish funeral, as public as crowds and festivities can make it; and that this was the case at the marriage of Cana is manifest, from the circumstance which occasioned the miracle. The crowds that came to the wedding were so great, that the wine, which was the ordinary beverage of the country, was exhausted, and there was nothing for the guests to drink. This caused the application to the Saviour, who turned the water into wine, to supply the numerous company that flocked to the wedding.

But even if this had not been so public as the other miracles of Jesus, it would form no objection to Christianity; for it is expressly declared, that "this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him." For Jesus was but beginning to call disciples to attend him, and this miracle was designed to prove that he was a master worthy to be followed, so that the satisfaction of the disciples was the design of this miracle, which, after all, was substantially a public, and not a private one.

The resurrection of Christ was, I think, the next thing mentioned.

To this Mr. Taylor assented.*

* It was recollected afterwards that the raising of Lazarus was said to be another private miracle; but this, at the time, escaped the recollection of the Lecturer, and as Mr. Taylor consented to take the resurrection of Christ next, the raising of Lazarus was not again mentioned.

The Lecturer said, As to what Dr. Belsham has said of the resurrection of Christ being a private miracle; it must be well known that Dr. Belsham's views and mine are as wide apart as the poles. I must not, therefore, be expected to admit his assertions. I deny that the resurrection of Christ was a private miracle. In the first place, his crucifixion was not private; it was a public execution, all saw him expire on the cross. In the next place, his body was in the possession of the public, and they set a guard of soldiers over the tomb, to preserve the corpse until the third day. For, in the last place, Christ's own declaration was public, that he would raise himself on the third day. On the commencement of his ministry, when asked, "what sign shewest thou, that we may know that thou hast authority to do these things:" he answered, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again; but he spake of the temple of his body." This the priests and rulers of the Jewish nation remembered, and therefore applied to the Roman governor for a military guard, saying, "Sir, we remember that this deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead." Here then every thing was public, the death of the Saviour, his declared purpose of rising, and the preservation of his body under the care of the magistrates and the guard of the military: and now at last, on the third day, the

body was gone, and that very event occurred which all the power of the state was employed to prevent: for they could not produce the body, and this was the public notorious fact which gives us a right to say, that the resurrection of Christ was not a private miracle.

Mr. Taylor said, Then the body of Christ was raised, that same material body that was buried and subject to the same laws as other bodies, what became of it then? What was its state?

It was answered.-He that formed our bodies can do with them what he pleases, they are the mere creatures of his power; and after the resurrection they will be made immortal. But there is a class of persons, those who shall be found on the earth when Christ comes to judgment, who will not pass through the process of death and the resurrection, but though 66 we shall not all sleep, we shall all be changed," and fixed in an immortal state.

Mr. Taylor said, But these Scriptures declare that there are spirits of devils working miracles, and that they shall deceive the nations, and shall cause fire to come down from heaven, and that the coming of the man of sin shall be with signs and lying wonders how are we poor mortals then to distinguish between these lying wonders and the true miracles?

Answer. Here several things which are totally distinct are mixed up. Some of the questions of the gentleman are taken from the Revelation, a book confessedly mysterious, because written in symbolical language, in order so to declare things which were to come to pass that the prediction might