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laws and to alter the course of nature. The Almighty Being, who called the universe out of nothing, whose creating hand gave a beginning to the course of nature, and whose will must be independent of that which he himself produced, acts for wise ends, and at particular seasons, not in that manner which he has enabled us to trace, but in another manner concerning which he has not furnished us with the means of forming any expectation, and which is resolvable merely into his good pleasure. The one manner is his ordinary administration, under which his reasonable offspring enjoy security, advance in the know. ledge of nature, and receive much instruction: the other manner is his extraordinary administration, which, although foreseen by him as a part of the scheme of his government, appears strange to his intelligent creatures, but which, by this strangeness, may promote purposes to them most important and salutary. It may rouse their attention to the natural proofs of the being and perfections of God; it may afford a practical confutation of the scepticism and materialism to which false philosophy often leads; and, rebuking the pride and the security of man, may teach the nations to know that the Lord God reigneth" in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places."*

To such moral purposes as these, any alteration of the course of nature, by the immediate interposition of the Almighty, may be subservient; and no man will presume to say that our limited faculties can assign all the reasons which may induce the Almighty thus to interpose. But we can clearly discern one most important end which may be promoted by those alterations of the course of nature, in which the agency of men, or other visible ministers of the divine power, is employed.

The circumstances of the intelligent creation may render it highly expedient that, in addition to that original revelation of the nature and the will of God which they enjoy by the light of reason, there should be superadded an extraordinary revelation, to remove the errors which had obscured their knowledge, to enforce the practice of their duty, or to revive and extend their hopes. The

* Psalm cxxxv. 6.

wisest ancient philosophers wished for a divine revelation; and to any one who examines the state of the old heathen world in respect of religion and morality, it cannot appear unworthy of the Father of his creatures to bestow such a blessing. This revelation, supposing it to be given, may either be imparted to every individual mind, or be confined to a few chosen persons, vested with a commission to communicate the benefits of it to the rest of the world. It is certainly possible for the Father of spirits to act upon every individual mind so as to give that mind the impression of an extraordinary revelation: it is as easy for the Father of spirits to do this, as to act upon a few minds. But, in this case, departures from the established course of nature would be multiplied without end. In the illumination of every individual, there would be an immediate extraordinary interposition of the Almighty. But such frequent extraordinary interpositions would lose their nature, so as to be confounded with the ordinary light of reason and conscience or if they were so striking as to be, in every case, clearly discriminated, they would subdue the understanding, and overawe the whole soul, so as to extort, by the feeling of the immediate presence of the Creator, that submission and obedience which it is the character of a rational agent to yield with deliberation and from choice. It appears, therefore, more consistent with the simplicity of nature, and with the character of man, that a few persons should be ordained the instruments of conveying a divine revelation to their fellow-creatures; and that the extraordinary circumstances which must attend the giving such a revelation should be confined to them. But it is not enough that these persons feel the impression of a divine revelation upon their own minds: it is not enough that, in their communications with their fellowcreatures, they appear to be possessed of superior knowledge and more enlarged views: it is possible that their knowledge and views may have been derived from some natural source; and we require a clear indisputable mark to authenticate the singular and important commission which they profess to bear. It were presumptuous in us to say what are the marks of such a commission which the Almighty can give; for our knowledge of what He can do, is chiefly derived from our observation of what he has

done. But we may say, that, according to our experience of the divine procedure, there can be no mark of a divine commission more striking and more incontrovertible, than that the persons who bear it should have the privilege of altering the course of nature by a word of their mouths. The revelation made to their minds is invisible; and all the outward appearances of it may be delusive. But extraordinary works, beyond the power of man, performed by them, are a sensible outward sign of a power which can be derived from God alone. If he has invested them with this power, it is not incredible that he has made a revelation to their minds; and if they constantly appeal to the works, which are the sign of the power, as the evidence of the invisible revelation, and of the commission with which it was accompanied, then we must either believe that they have such a commission, or we are driven to the horrid supposition that God is the author of a falsehood, and conspires with these men to deceive his creatures.

When I call the extraordinary works performed by these men the sign of a power derived from God, you recollect that all the language which we interpret consists of signs; i. e. objects and operations which fall under our senses, employed to indicate that which is unseen. What are the looks, the words, and the actions of our fellow-creatures, but signs of that internal disposition which is hidden from our view? What are the appearances which bodies exhibit to our senses, but signs of the inward qualities which produce these appearances? What are the works of nature, but signs of that supreme intelligence, "whom no man hath seen at any time?"* Upon this principle all those events and operations, beyond the compass of human power, which happen according to the established course of nature, form part of the foundations of Natural Religion; and any person who foretells or conducts them only discovers his acquaintance with that course, and his sagacity in applying what we call the laws of nature. Upon the same principle all those events and operations, which happen in opposition to the established course of nature, imply an exertion of the same power which established that course, because they counteract it; and any

John i. 18.

person who, by a word, produces such events and operations, discovers that this power is committed to him. To command the sun to run his race until the time of his going down, and to command him to stand still about a whole day, as in the valley of Gibeon in the time of Joshua,* are two commands which destroy one another; and, therefore, if we believe that the will of the Almighty Ruler of the universe produces an uniform obedience to the first, we must believe that the obedience which, upon one occasion, was yielded to the second, was the effect of his will also. As no creature can stop the working of his hand, every interruption in that course according to which he usually operates happens by his permission; and the power of altering the course of nature, by whomsoever it be exerted, must be derived from the Lord of nature.

This is the reasoning upon which we proceed, when we argue for the truth of a revelation from extraordinary works performed by those through whom it is communicated; and here we see the important purpose which the Almighty promotes by employing the agency of men to change the order of nature. Those changes which proceed immediately from his hand, however well fitted to impress his creatures with a sense of his sovereignty, do not of themselves prove any new proposition, because their connexion with that proposition is not manifest. But, when visible agents perform works beyond the power of man, and contrary to the course of nature, they give a sign of the interposition of the Almighty, which being applied by their declaration to the doctrine which they teach, becomes a voucher of the truth of what they say. To works of this kind, the term miracles is properly applied; and they form what has been called the seal of heaven, implying that delegation of the sovereign authority of the Lord of all, which appears to be reserved in the conduct of providence as the credential of those to whom a divine commission is at any time granted. This was the rod put into the hand of Moses, wherewith to do signs and wonders, that Pharaoh and the children of Israel might believe that the Lord God had sent him. This was the sign given to Elijah, that it might be known that he was a man of God;

* Joshua x. 12-14

and this was the witness which the Father bore to "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles, which God did by him in the midst of the people,"* and to the apostles of Jesus who went forth to preach the Gospel, "the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by signs following."+

The nature of the revelation contained in the books of the New Testament affords a very strong presumptive proof that it comes from God; whilst the works done by Jesus and his Apostles are the direct proof; and the two proofs conspire with the most perfect harmony. The presumptive proof explains the importance and the dignity of that occasion upon which the Almighty was pleased to make the interposition, of which these works are the sign: The direct proof accounts for that transcendent excellence in the doctrine and the character of the author of this system, which, upon the supposition of its being of human origin, appeared to be inexplicable; and thus the internal and external evidence of Christianity, by the aid which they lend to one another, make us "ready to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in us.

+

We have found that the reasoning, involved in the argument from miracles, proceeds upon the same principles by which a sound theist infers the being and perfections of God: in both cases, we discover God by his works, which are to us the signs of his agency. This analogy between the proofs of natural and revealed religion is very much illustrated by considering the particular miracles recorded in the Gospel. When we investigate the evidences of natural religion, we find that any works manifestly exceeding human power would lead us, in the course of fair reasoning, to a Being antecedent to the human race, superior to them in strength, and independent of them in the mode of his existence. But it is the transcendent grandeur of those works which we behold, their inimitable beauty, their endless variety, their harmony and utility; it is this infinite superiority of the works of nature above the works of art, which renders the argument completely

*Acts ii. 22.
1 Peter iii. 15.

+ Mark xvi. 20.

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