Act. ii. 22. among which was the power of working miracles, these gradually ceased, as that generation became extinct to which the apostles had communicated this power. Miracles are as capable of being supported by proper testimony as any other actions of which men are eyewitnesses. To say that we will not believe them, because we have not seen them ourselves, is making our own personal experience the test of all possible facts: it is saying that, because there is an ordinary and established course of nature, this cannot be set aside by the omnipotent Being who first arranged it, though for moral and religious purposes, the greatest and the most worthy of his benevolent interposition which can be conceived. The miracles of Christ were publicly appealed to by his apostles a few days after his ascension; they are transmitted down to us by eyewitnesses and contemporary writers in well authenticated books; and they are supported by the most credible testimony, that of a number of plain honest men, who sacrificed all worldly advantages, and life itself, in attestation of what they advanced. And we are to consider in these witnesses their competency to judge of the facts, their integrity, and their benevolence to mankind; not their learning, station, or opulence. Upon the whole, the miracles of Jesus prove Jo. xx. 31. St. John's conclusion, THAT HE WAS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. SECT. III.-Why our Lord sometimes concealed his Messiahship, and the mighty works which proved it. A CANDID and attentive reader of the Gospels will be convinced that our Lord's Messiahship was sufficiently promulged to the Jews; and that the display of his miracles, one great proof of his prophetic cha racter, was sufficiently illustrious to create attention and conviction. When the angel Gabriel announced the birth of John the Baptist, he foretold to Zacharias that his son should be "great before the Lord;—and should go be- Luk. i. 15, fore him in the power and spirit of Elias." When the same angel was sent to Mary, he described 17. her promised Son in the following terms: "He shall be Ver. 32, 33. great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no endm." "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore also the holy child who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Ver. 35. Mary herself was inspired with this language: "He Ver. 54, 55hath holpen his servant Israel, that he might remember his mercy (as he spake unto our fathers) to Abraham and to his seed for ever." And Zacharias represented God as "visiting and redeeming his people, according Ver. 68, 73. to the oath which he sware unto Abraham." When the angel appeared to Joseph, an intimation was given that Jesus should be a king: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins".” Immediately after Jesus's birth at Bethlehem, an angel used very express terms to the shepherds, "Unto Luk. ii. 11. you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is CHRIST the Lord." m His spiritual kingdom on earth shall last as long as the world itself, and for ever in heaProphecy seems to point out a very glorious manifestation of this kingdom here below. Dan. ven. ii. 44; vii. 14, 27; Rom. xi. 12, n Matt. i. 21. Locke's Reas. 30, 32. It was revealed to Simeon that he should not see Luk. ii. 26, death before he had seen the Lord's CHRIST: and accordingly Simeon called him "God's salvation;" "a light to lighten the Gentiles ;" and "the glory of Israel," on account of his birth and appearance among that people. Ver. 38. At the same time Anna, a prophetess, spake of the child Jesus to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. When the magi came to Jerusalem, and asked, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Herod immediately inquired of the chief priests and scribes Mat. ii. 2, 4. where CHRIST was to be born. We see then what expectation was raised of Jesus at his coming into the world, and how directly and indirectly, but in language well understood by the Jews, his peculiar office was declared. About thirty years after this, "when the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts of Luk. iii. 15, John, whether he were the Christ or not," John disclaimed that character, and described a much greater person who was to succeed him. 16. At Jesus's baptism, a voice from heaven proclaimed, Ver. 21, 22. and probably in the hearing of the multitude, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." Jo.i.19-27. When the Jews sent a solemn embassy of priests and Levites from Jerusalem, for the purpose of asking John, "Who art thou?" he confessed that he was not the Christ, and asserted that there was one among them whom they knew not, who came after him, but was before him, and for whom he was not worthy to perform the meanest offices. Again: he called Jesus, Ver. 29, 33, "the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world" and he bare witness to the miracle at his baptism; and in effect asserted his Messiahship, by acknow 34. ledging him to be the Son of God. And how this language, repeatedly used by John, was understood among the Jews, may hence appear very plainly; that one of the Baptist's disciples, who heard it, said to his brother Simon, "We have found the MESSIAH." Nay, the Bap- Jo.i.41,45. tist himself puts the meaning of his declarations beyond a doubt, when he says, "Ye yourselves bear me Jo. iii. 28. witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him." At the first passover Jesus indirectly affirmed that he was the Messiah, when he said, "Make not MY Jo. ii. 16. FATHER'S house a house of merchandise." And to Nicodemus he expressed himself very remarkably: “No Jo. iii. 13. man ascendeth up to heaven, but he who descended from heaven, even the Son of man, who was in heaven" and he styled himself "the Son of God," and Ver. 17. even his "only begotten Son, in whom whosoever be- Ver. 16, 18. lieved should have everlasting life." The Baptist's last testimony to Jesus was, "He that Ver. 31-36. cometh from above is above all." "What he hath seen "He whom God hath and heard, that he testifieth." Soon after this our Lord unreservedly declared to the woman of Samaria, "I that speak to thee am the Jo.iv.25,26. Christ." John the Baptist, our Lord himself, the twelve, and the seventy, preached that the kingdom of heaven was Mat. iii. 2 ; at hand. iv. 17; x. 7; Luk. x. 9. It is my opinion that demoniacs were supernaturally influenced to proclaim, as they often do, "I know thee Mar. i. 24. who thou art, the Holy One of God:" "Thou art the Mar. iii. 11. Son of God:" "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, Mar. v. 7. Luk. iv. 41. thou Son of the most high God?" "Thou art Christ, the Son of God." This testimony was given to Christ, that those who heard it might be led to a due consideration of his character. From the same cause, and for a like reason, a damsel, possessed with a spirit of Act. xvi. 16, divination, cried after Paul and his attendants, "These men are the servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of salvation:" and the evil spirit anAct. xix.15. swered the Jewish exorcists, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" 17. At the second passover, when the Jews sought to kill Jesus for performing a miracle on the sabbath, he Jo. v. 17. answered, "MY FATHER worketh hitherto, and I work." And though the Jews considered this as blasphemous language, he persisted in it; and asserted that the Ver. 20, 22, Father loved him, committed all judgment to him, and 36, 37. bare witness of him by the works which he enabled him to perform. When he vindicated his disciples for plucking ears Mat. xii. 6, of corn on the sabbath, he called himself one "greater than the temple," and "Lord of the sabbath." 8. Mat. v. 28, In his sermon on the mount he improved on the law, 32; vii. 24. placed his own authority in opposition to it, and de clared that whoever heard his words built on a rock. When John sent to him from his prison, saying, Mat.xi. 3,5. "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" he plainly, though indirectly, asserted his high office by appealing to his miracles and conduct. Luk. xii. 8, 9. In the hearing of a very great multitude he declared to his disciples, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." After he had walked on the waves, he received the |