dressed to them, as that from prophecy is to us. To them, miracles would appear the best proof of the truth of a revelation, as they are addressed to the senses of the rude and the refined, and establish the truth of a religious system at once, without subtle disquisitions, for which comparatively few persons possess leisure, talents, or inclination. Miracles convince the mind at once; while prophecy does not give immediate conviction, but the means of conviction to such as in due time shall compare predictions with events. The antients, who beheld the miracles, had reason to believe that the prophecies would be accomplished; just as the moderns, who see them fulfilled, have, besides other arguments, a strong presumption that miracles were performed. The arguments from miracles, depending on written testimony, will at all times be equally forcible, while that from prophecy (which has been termed a standing miracle) is increasing in strength through every age; and the more prophecies are fulfilled, the more testimonies there are, and confirmations of the truth and certainty of divine revelation; and in this respect we have eminently the advantage over those who lived in the days of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and his apostles. They had this growing evidence in part, but to us this amazing web is still more unfolded, and more of its wonderful texture is displayed. They indeed heard the discourses of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and his apostles, and they beheld their miracles: but we have this advantage over them, that several things, which were then only foretold are now fulfilled; and what were to them only matters of faith, are become matters of FACT and CERTAINTY to us.

The evidence furnished by miracles and prophecy is so abundantly sufficient to prove that the Bible is the word of God, that we might safely rest its divine authority on these proofs. There are, however, other internal evidences, which, though not so obviously striking as miracles and prophecy, come home to the consciences and judgments of every person, whether learned or illiterate, and which leave infidels in every situation without excuse. These internal evidences are, the sublime doctrine and excellent moral precepts revealed in the Scriptures; the wonderful harmony and intimate connection subsisting between all the parts of Scripture, the miraculous preservation of the Scriptures, and their tendency to promote the present and eternal happiness of mankind, as evinced by the blessed effects which are invariably produced by a cordial reception of the Bible.

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SECTION II.

THE MIRACLES, RELATED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, ARE PROOFS THAT THE SCRIPTURES WERE GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD.

I. A miracle defined. II. Nature of the evidence from miracles.III. Their design. -IV. Credibility of miracles, vindicated and proved.-V. Refutation of the objection that the evidence for the credibility of miracles decreases with the lapse of years, and the contrary proved. —VI. Criteria for ascertaining true miracles. VII. Application of these criteria, 1. To the miracles of Moses and of Joshua, and, 2. To those of Jesus Christ and his apostles, the number, variety, design, and greatness of which, as well as the persons by whom and before whom, and the manner in which, they were performed, are fully considered, together with the effects produced by them. The miracles of Christ and his apostles were never denied.-VIII. An examination of some of the principal miracles related in the New Testament, particularly, 1. The conversion of water into wine by Christ.-2. The feeding of five thousand. — 3. The healing of the paralytic.-4. Giving sight to the man who was born blind.-5. The healing of a man, lame from his birth, by Peter and John.-6. Raising from the dead the daughter of Jairus. 7. The widow's son at Nain,-8. And Lazarus.-IX. The RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ, viz. 1. Christ's prophetic declarations concerning his death and resurrection. — 2. The evidence of adversaries of the Christian name and faith to this fact.-3. The character of the apostles by whom it was attested, and the miracles wrought by them; all which demonstrate the reality and truth of Christ's resurrection. — X. General summary of the argument furnished by miracles. XI. Comparison of them with pretended pagan and popish miracles, particularly those, 1. Of Aristeas the proconnesian. 2. Of Pythagoras.-3. Of Alexander of Pontus.-4. Of Vespasian.-5. Of Apollonius of Tyana.-6. Pretended miracle at Saragossa.-7. Pretended miracles of the Abbé de Paris. -The reality of the Christian miracles demonstrated.

I. A MIRACLE is an effect or event, contrary to the established constitution or course of things, or a sensible suspension or controlment of, or deviation from, the known laws of nature, wrought either by the immediate act, or by the assistance, or by the permission of God, and accompanied with a previous notice or declaration that it is performed according to the purpose and by the power of God, for the proof or evidence of some particular doctrine, or in attestation of the authority or divine mission of some particular person.

Nature is the assemblage of created beings. These beings act upon each other, or by each other, agreeably to certain rules formed by Infinite Wisdom, to which God has been pleased to conform his own agency. These rules are called by philosophers the laws of

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nature, and in the Scriptures, the ordinances of heaven and earth. Effects which are produced by the regular operation of these laws, or which are conformable to the established course of events, are said to be natural: and every palpable suspension or controlment of, or deviation from these laws, or rather from the progress of things according to these laws, which is accompanied with a previous notice or declaration that it is performed according to the purpose and by the of God, is a miracle. power "Thus the production of grain by vegetation, is according to a law of nature; were it to fall like rain from the clouds, there would be a miracle. Or, it is a law of nature that the dead return not to life; were a dead person to become alive again, there would be a miracle. It is thus carefully to be distinguished, although the distinction be often not observed, from events of extraordinary magnificence or unusual occurrence. A miracle, indeed, must be unusual; but events may be both unusual and magnificent which are not miraculous. The appearance of a comet is unusual, and a violent thunder storm is magnificent; but in neither the one nor the other, is there a suspension or alteration of any of nature's laws. All the various appearances indeed, which material or mental phenomena may, according to those laws, assume, we are perhaps far from knowing. But it is one thing to assume an appearance, which, although a variety, is obviously, from its analogy, resolvable into a general law, and another, to suspend or reverse the law; and it is by this total alteration, of what from ample experience and induction, even we, with all our ignorance, can safely pronounce to be a law of nature, that a miracle must be distinguished from every other phenomenon. We ascertain these laws by an experience so extensive and uniform, that it produces a certainty of expectation, scarcely inferior to the certainty accompanying the testimony of our senses this undoubted permanency being the foundation of all those rules of conduct in the affairs of life, which are the same in all generations, and implied in all the most brilliant discoveries, and profound calculations in the science of physics." It is further essential to a miracle, that it be accompanied with a previous notice or declaration that it is performed according to the purpose and by the power of God, for the proof or evidence of some particular doctrine, or in attestation of the authority or divine mission of some particular person. "This intimation is necessary, that it may not seem to happen in the ordinary course of things; and it must be beyond the reach of human calculation and power, that it may neither appear to be the effect of foresight and science, as an eclipse, nor the contrivance of human ingenuity and expertness, as the feats of jugglers."

II. It is commonly objected that a miracle is beyond our comprehension, and is therefore contrary to reason. This is by no means The possibility of miracles, such as we have described them to be, is not contrary to reason, and consequently their credi

the case.

1 Jer. xxxiii. 25. xxxi. 35. Job xxxviii. 33.

2 Dr. Cook's Inquiry into the Books of the New Testament, p. 337. Edinburgh, 1821. 8vo.

bility is capable of a rational proof: and though we cannot give a mechanical account of the manner how they are done, because they are done by the unusual interposition of an invisible agent, superior both in wisdom and power to ourselves, we must not therefore deny the fact which our own senses testify to be done. Every thing we see is, in one sense, a miracle: it is beyond our comprehension. We put a twig into the ground, and in a few years find that it becomes a tree; but how it draws its nourishment from the earth, and how it increases, we know not. We look around us, and see the forest sometimes shaken by storms, at other times just yielding to the breeze; in one part of the year in full leaf, in another, naked and desolate. We all know that the seasons have an effect on these things, and philosophers will conjecture at a few immediate causes, but in what manner these causes act, and how they put nature in motion, the wisest of them know not. When the storm is up, why does it not continue to rage? When the air is calm, what rouses the storm? We know not, but must, after our deepest researches into first causes, rest satisfied with resolving all into the power of God. Yet, notwithstanding we cannot comprehend the most common of these appearances, they make no impression on us, because they are common, because they happen according to a stated course, and are seen every day. If they were out of the common course of nature, though in themselves not more difficult to comprehend, they would still appear more wonderful to us, and more immediately the work of God. Thus, when we see a child grow into a man, and, when the breath has left the body, turn to corruption, we are not in the least surprised, because we see it every day; but were we to see a man restored from sickness to health by a word, or raised to life from the dead by a mere command, though these things are not really more unaccountable, yet we call the uncommon event a miracle, merely because it is uncommon. We acknowledge, however, that both are produced by God, because it is evident that no other power can produce them.

Such, then, is the nature of the evidence which arises from miracles; and we have no more reason to disbelieve them, when well attested and not repugnant to the goodness or justice of God, only because they were performed several ages ago, than we have to disbelieve the more ordinary occurrences of Providence which passed before our own time, because the same occurrences may never happen again during our lives. The ordinary course of nature proves the being and providence of God; these extraordinary acts of power prove the divine commission of that person who per

forms them.

"No event can be justly deemed miraculous merely because it is strange, or even to us unaccountable; for it may be nothing more than the regular effect of some physical cause operating according to an established though unknown law of nature. In this country earthquakes happen but rarely, and at no stated periods of time; and for monstrous births perhaps no particular and satisfactory account can be given; yet an earthquake is as regular an effect of the

established laws of nature as the bursting of a bomb-shell, or the movements of a steam-engine; and no man doubts, but that, under particular circumstances unknown to him, the monster is nature's genuine issue. It is therefore necessary, before we can pronounce an event to be a true miracle, that the circumstances under which it was produced be known, and that the common course of nature be in some degree understood; for in all those cases in which we are totally ignorant of nature, it is impossible to determine what is, or what is not, a deviation from her course. Miracles, therefore, are not, as some have represented them, appeals to our ignorance. They suppose some antecedent knowledge of the course of nature, without which no proper judgment can be formed concerning them; though with it their reality may be so apparent as to leave no room for doubt or disputation.

"Thus, were a physician to give instantly sight to a blind man, by anointing his eyes with a chemical preparation, which we had never before seen, and to the nature and qualities of which we were absolute strangers, the cure would to us undoubtedly be wonderful; but we could not pronounce it miraculous, because it might be the physical effect of the operation of the unguent on the eye. But were he to give sight to his patient merely by commanding him to receive it, or by anointing his eyes with spittle, we should with the utmost confidence pronounce the cure to be a miracle; because we know perfectly that neither the human voice, nor human spittle, has, by the established constitution of things, any such power over the diseases of the eye. No one is now ignorant, that persons apparently dead are often restored to their families and friends, by being treated, during suspended animation, in the manner recommended by the Humane Society. To the vulgar, and sometimes even to men of science, these resuscitations appear very wonderful; but as they are known to be effected by physical agency, they can never be considered as miraculous deviations from the laws of nature, though they may suggest to different minds very different notions of the state of death. On the other hand, no one could doubt of his having wit nessed a real miracle, who had seen a person, that had been four days dead, come alive out of the grave at the call of another, or who had even beheld a person exhibiting all the common evidences of death, instantly resuscitated merely by being desired to live."

Since miracles are effects contrary to the established constitution of things, we are certain that they will never be performed on trivial occasions: for the laws, in conformity to which created beings act, being a consequence of the nature of those beings, and of the relations which they bear to each other, are invariable. It is by them God governs the world, He alone established them: He alone can suspend them; and from the course of things thus established by infinite wisdom, no deviation can be made but by God himself, or by some person to whom he has delegated his power.

1 Bp. Gleig's edition of Stackhouse's History of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 241.