on a certain occasion our Saviour was followed by five thousand men into a desert place, where they were in need of food; that all the food at hand was five barley loaves and a few small fishes; that of these he commanded his disciples to distribute to the multitude; and after they had all eaten and were filled, the fragments remaining were much more in quantity than the original loaves and fishes. These are plain statements, related in the gospel as unquestionable facts. The gospel history being credible, they must be true. To call that a credible history, and then suppose it unworthy of reliance in such prominent particulars, would be absurd. But these facts constitute a miracle. There must have been a miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Consequently, in having proved the credibility of the gospel history, we have proved that in this case a miracle was wrought.

Thus might we proceed with regard to a great. variety of other statements, as to the works of Christ and his apostles; and I fully believe that, in strict justice, nothing more ought to be required in evidence of the gospel miracles, than what has been already adduced in proof of the credibility of the narratives contained in the New Testament. But inasmuch as our object is not merely to exhibit a sound and conclusive argument, such as ought to satisfy every mind, but so to present the great variety and abundance of proof in support of Christianity, that no attentive, candid mind can help being satisfied, we will adopt a broader plan.

Before proceeding any further, let it be remarked, that the religion of the Bible is THE ONLY ONE which, d in its first introduction, appealed to miracles for

evidence of the divine authority of its teachers. Under the religion of the Bible I include the dispensation of Moses and that of Christ, as exhibiting essentially the same religion, though more largely and clearly revealed under the latter than under the former. Both dispensations were introduced and sanctioned by miracles. Now, I know it is a common supposition, that the same mode of attestation was resorted to by all the false religions that ever gained acceptance in the world, and that this was the chief cause of their ascendency in the public mind; but the truth is, that no religion, except that of the Bible, was ever set up by appeal to miracles as the credentials of its founder. We speak of miracles which are capable of being witnessed and investigated by others. It is not asserted that many wonderful things of a miraculous nature have not been pretended to and boasted among the disciples of sundry false religions. The annals of paganism abound with relations of auguries and oracles and apparitions. Many miraculous, not to say ridiculous marvels, are asserted of Mohammed. But the remark is applicable to all of these things, and is of great importance in connection with our present object, that they were asserted not as proofs of religions appealing to them for credentials, but only as appendages of religions already set up, and previously received on considerations entirely independent of the truth or falsehood of such marvels.

It was the credit and influence of a religion already established which gave them all their currency, and not their evidence which established the religion with which they were respectively connected. The prodigies of heathenism, unaccompanied as they were by any pretence of proof, had no manner of reference to the setting up of a new system of faith, or of a teacher pretending to a divine commission. Miraculous stories were published of Mohammed by writers of six and eight centuries after his death, but no such pretensions were made by himself. On the contrary, he expressly disclaimed miraculous powers. In the Koran it is written of him, "Nothing hindered us from sending thee with miracles, except that the former nations have charged them with imposture." Again, "They say, unless a sign be sent down unto him from his Lord, we will not believe; answer, signs are in the power of God alone, and I am no more than a public preacher. Is it not sufficient for them that we have sent down unto them the book of the Koran, to be read unto them?" We grant that Mohammed did give out to the credulity of his followers a few marvellous doings; but they were such as cannot be included under the title of sensible miracles, inasmuch as he always took the discreet precaution of having no witness but himself, entirely avoiding the hazardous experiment of resting the evidence of his divine mission upon the testimony of any eyes more disinterested than his own.

But how can it be accounted for that one of such high pretensions-aware, as he was, of the success

which miracles had obtained for the gospel in times past-should have neglected so powerful a means of proselyting the world? It was not for want of importunity on the part of others; for his opposers were constantly teasing him with their demands on this head. It was not because he could anticipate no favorable influence from a well-sustained pretension to miracles; for his adversaries assured him, even by oaths, that on the evidence of one such sign they would own his claims. Nor was it that Mohammed was too honest. The marvellous tales of the nocturnal visits of Gabriel, of his own nightjourney, and of the transmission, from time to time, of parcels of the uncreated book from heaven, prove what this impostor was capable of attempting when allured by a prospect of success. Nor was it that this unequalled adventurer was deficient in an unusual degree of craft and address for the management of bold imposture. His whole biography would refute such an opinion. Nor was it that he was surrounded with a people peculiarly prepared, by knowledge and cultivated discernment, for the detection of such frauds. The age was one of the darkest in the annals of man, and his country one of the darkest of that age. Nor could it have been that his cause needed no such auxiliary, for the fruits of his labor, during the first three years, were only fourteen disciples; and in ten years his cause had not advanced beyond, and had made but little progress within, the walls of Mecca. Then if Mohammed was neither too honest to attempt the forgery of miracles, nor too

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unskilful to manage it with cunning and address; if his cause needed it, and his enemies demanded it, and the barbarity of the people and age favored it, no earthly reason can be given for his having disclaimed the attempt, except that he considered it too difficult and hazardous, too certain of detection, even among a barbarous, credulous, and superstitious race. The religion of the Bible is the only one that ever ventured on such evidence in proof of divine original. This single fact, united with the well-known truth, that however her miracles may have been derided and suspected by enemies, none ever pretended to ト have discovered an imposition, is strong presumptive evidence that they had a reality which no human device could rival-a truth which no human scrutiny could alarm.

In coming, therefore, to our present examination, we should feel that the religion of the Bible stands alone, not only as to the wisdom and grandeur of her communications, but equally so as to the boldness of her evidence, the sublimity of her credentials, and the godlike dignity with which she cometh to the light, that her deeds "may be made manifest that they are wrought in God."

We proceed to the testimony connected with the miracles of Christ.

1. We observe, in the first place, that supposing the works related of the Lord Jesus to have actually occurred, many of them must have been genuine miracles. They cannot be ascribed to natural causes. If five thousand men were fed, when all the food to feed