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ascribed the miracles which they wrought, not to their own power, but to that of God. They who came to Christ that he might work miracles for them, were required to believe that by his own power he was able to do what they asked. "Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.-My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." From Him his disciples received power to work miracles, which they always performed in the name of Christ.

CHAPTER II.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE EVIDENCE OF MIRACLES.

1. THE miraculous works which were to announce the arrival and characterize the age of the Messiah, had been fully described in the Old Testament Scriptures many centuries before the coming of Christ. When we find Jesus, as the prophets had foretold, healing the sick, causing the blind to receive their sight, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the lepers to be cleansed, and raising the dead to life; and when also we witness the fulfilment of ancient prophecy in the line of his descent, the time and place of his birth, the circumstances of his life, and the manner of his death, we have the strongest grounds on which our faith may rest, while we believe that in Jesus of Nazareth we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.

2. The dispensation which He introduced was attested and established by numerous miracles. Deviations from the established laws of nature took place at his birth and at his baptism, when he was transfigured on the mount, and when angels ministered to him in the garden of

Gethsemane, when, during his ministry, he so extensively performed those mighty works which no man can do except God be with him; they also signalized his crucifixion, when the sun was darkened, the veil of the temple was rent in twain, the rocks were torn asunder, and the earth trembled ;-his glorious resurrection from the dead, when the angel of the Lord descended from heaven with a great earthquake, and rolled away the stone from the sepulchre, and sat on it,-whose countenance was like lightning, which made the keepers to quake as dead men; his triumphant ascension into heaven before many witnesses, to whom, as they steadfastly looked to their ascending Lord, two celestial visitants had said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Miraculous works were continued in the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost,-in the gift of tongues, -in the conversion of the apostle Paul,-and in the many mighty signs and wonders which were wrought by all the apostles, and by which their mission was attested.

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3. It was formerly observed that our Lord performed his miracles for the noblest purpose, to attest by the seal of heaven his own divine mission, and, consequently, to prove the truth and high authority of the doctrines which he taught. They corresponded in their nature to the benevolence and grandeur of this design. They were proved to have been real, and that they could not have been the effects of mere natural causes. They were addressed to the senses, and wrought openly and publicly in the presence of multitudes. They were, in number and variety, suited to the divine character and mission of Christ; and they were, at least in many cases, illustrative of the peculiar doctrines of that religion of which they are an evidence.

4. Can it be doubted that he who healed by a word all those diseases which are the effects of sin, has the power

which he claimed to forgive sin? That he who proved himself to be able to alleviate or remove all those temporal calamities which are its consequences, can deliver from the spiritual and eternal evils of which it is the source? Is not He who gave sight to the blind capable of enlightening the understanding with the knowledge of God and of divine things? Does not he who casts demons out of the bodies of men give a sufficient pledge that he can rescue their souls from the dominion of the devil, and is able to destroy all his works? Does not he who has power instantly to cleanse from leprosy, the most loathsome disease, afford the most perfect assurance of his possessing the power to which he lays claim, of purifying the whole nature from the pollution of sin? Is not he, at whose call the dead rose to life, capable of verifying his declaration regarding the resurrection of his people to eternal happiness? Has not he to whom no one ever applied in vain for the exercise of his miraculous power in the removal of bodily or mental disease, given satisfactory proof that him who cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out? In a word, has he not evinced, by his miraculous works, that he is an all-sufficient Redeemer, and that he is able to save to the uttermost all those who come unto God by him? Have we not, in all this, a pleasing and striking discovery of the infinite power, goodness, and manifold wisdom of God, in rendering those acts of beneficence which Jesus performed on the bodies of men subservient to his great purpose of redeeming mercy regarding mankind, and to the complete attestation of that gospel which contains the promise as it gives the hope of eternal life?

5. It is clear from the declarations of the evangelists, that of all the miracles which Jesus wrought, comparatively few are recorded in the gospels. St Matthew, after relating in his eighth chapter the miraculous cures of a leper, of the centurion's servant, and of Peter's wife's mother, concludes with this brief but comprehensive

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notice," When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick." There is only an account at length of one person who was healed by touching the hem of Christ's garment, and yet we learn from the evangelist Matthew that there were many other similar cases. They besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." We are assured by Mark of the same thing, for he had healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. Whithersoever he entered, they laid their sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment; and as many as touched him were made whole. St Luke confirms this account: "And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all." In like manner, there is good reason for thinking that the evangelists knew of other persons who were raised to life by Jesus besides those they have particularly mentioned. This appears highly probable, not merely from the message sent to John the Baptist, in which it is said that "the dead are raised;" but from the fact that Matthew, Mark, and John, have recorded each but one example of this kind, while it is certain they knew of more. The raising to life of the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The restoration of the widow of Nain's son is related by Luke only; and the deeply touching account of the resurrection of Lazarus is given by John.

6. A chief reason of this selection, no doubt, was a regard to brevity. The subject on which the evangelists had to write was as copious as it was engaging. They had to give a faithful record of the words of him who spake as never man spake; and of the particular circumstances as to time and place of such of his miracles as they were directed to relate. They have inserted, each with

more or less detail, an account of the miraculous manner of our Lord's birth,-the extraordinary interpositions of God in his favour,-and his various journeyings and actions in the course of his ministry. They have given the substance of his doctrine, many of his parables, together with the occasions of their delivery; the objections and questions of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, and the answers which were made to them; some of the public discourses of our Lord, and of his private instructions to his disciples; and the facts and circumstances of his condemnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The gospels in which these things are contained being a leading part of divine revelation, and intended for the use of all ranks and orders of men in all ages of the world, it was highly important and necessary that they should be

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7. Of the three striking examples given by the Evangelists, in which our Lord raised the dead to life, the first mentioned is that of the daughter of Jairus. To this case I formerly alluded, and shall now only remark, that the parent at whose solicitation this miracle is performed, a ruler of a synagogue, and of an order of men generally averse to Jesus; the person who was the subject of it his only child; the pressing but respectful terms in which he entreats the exercise of our Lord's miraculous power in regard to his daughter; the perfect conviction of the spectators that she was really dead, shown both by the scorn with which they treated a doubt on that subject, and their having begun the customary lamentations for the dead; and the circumstances in which this signal interposition took place, at a time when multitudes attended our Lord's ministry, including many bitter and powerful enemies,―all these things unite in rendering this one of the most impressive manifestations of the divine power of Christ. The effect was produced instantly by his word; and of its reality all were satisfied when they saw her whom they knew had been dead receiving food as a per

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