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be objected to them. They began with the miraculous appearance of fire, in a bufh which was not confumed by it, the withering and reftoring of Moles' arm, and the changing his rod into a ferment, and that ferpent into a rod as at fift. Then follow the ten great plagues of Egypt, beginning with the changing of the waters of the river into blood, and ending with the death of all the first-born of the Egyptians in one night, according to the prediction of Mofes. We then proceed to the paffage of the Red Sea, while the waters rofe on each fide to admit of it; the fweetening of the waters of Mara; the delivery of the ten commandments in an articulate voice from mount Sinai; the fupplying of the whole nation with manna, and the conducting of them with the appearance of a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, during forty years; the drawing water from a rock, enough to fupply the whole nation, at two different times; the death of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, by the opening of the earth, at the word of Mofes; the death of Nadab and Alhu, the two fons of Aaron, by fire from heaven; the paffage of the river Jordan, by the dividing of its waters; the fall of the

walls

walls of Jericho, and fome others of lefs confequence, all in the compafs of one ge

neration.

In the fubfequent hiftory of the Ifraelites, miracles were not fo numerous, but it is probable that no long period of it was entirely without them, till they were discontinued after the Babylonish captivity. But in this interval the Hebrew prophets foretold in the plaineft language many future events which came to pass in their own times, or very near to them, and among these the fate of all the neighbouring nations, as well as of their own, to the latest period of time. Jeremiah foretold not only the Babylonish captivity, but the exact duration of it. In the time of Daniel we have the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, from the fiery furnace; of Daniel himself in the den of lions; and his fortelling the infanity (for such it must have been) of Nebuchadnezzar, and his restoration after feven years, as well as his prophecies concerning the rife and fall of the four great monarchies, which have been wonderfully verified, though part of them yet remain to be fulfilled,

After this we have an interval of about four

hundred

hundred years, in which we find no pretenfions to miracles, or prophecy. But during the public miniftry of Jefus, miracles were more numerous than they had ever been before. His divine miffion was announced three times by articulate voices from heaven; he cured the diseases, however obftinate, of all who applied to him, and fome when he was at a distance; and he raised at least three perfons from a ftate of death. He twice fed feveral thousand perfons with a small quantity of provifions; he also changed a large quantity of water into wine. He ftilled a tempeft at a word, he walked on the fea, and caused a fig-tree to wither by only fpeaking; he foretold the deftruction of Jerufalem, and the temple, and the defolation of the country, tò come to pafs in that generation; he rofe from the dead after being publicly crucified, and vifibly afcended to heaven.

1

Miracles not lefs confiderable than thefe diftinguished the miniftry of the apostles, who fucceeded Jefus. They not only expreffed themselves in languages which they had never learned, but imparted this power to all the converts. They healed many fick perfons; they even raised the dead; and foretold feveral

future

future events, which came to pass in their own time. If any perfon will say that these miracles (and many are omitted in this general view) are not fufficiently numerous for the purpose for which they were wrought, he would fay that no number whatever would be fufficient, and therefore his objection would not be to the number, as fuch, but must be of fome different kind, which will be confidered under some of the following heads.

2. Many of the miracles recorded in the fcriptures were on fo large a scale, or on other accounts of fuch a nature, that there could be no fufpicion of trick or deception with respect to them. If the appearances only exifted (and with refpect to them, the fenses of men could not be deceived) the caufe was indifputable. And fuch were almost all the miracles exhibited in Egypt, as the changing of all the water of fuch a river as the Nile, as large as any in this country, into blood, or any thing like blood, fo that no use could be made of it, and this not momentarily, but for a confiderable time, and yet an evil of this magnitude was removed at the prayer of Mofes. Perfons skilled in tricks of flight-ofhand, which was no doubt, the case of the

magicians

magicians of Egypt, might impofe upon a company, even of intelligent and quick-fighted perfons, not used to them, and on Mofes himself, with a fmall quantity of water, contained in a bafon, or they might dexterously fubftitute a serpent in the place of a rod, or a rod in the place of a ferpent; but the miracles exhibited by Mofes convinced even the magicians themselves that what he did was by the finger of God, as they expreffed themfelves.

The plague of frogs, that of the lice (as our tranflation renders the word), of the murrain among the cattle, of the boils, of the hail, of the locufts, and of the darkness, might each of them feparately have been produced by natural causes. But that they should all be announced beforehand, that none of them should affect the district occupied by the Ifraelites, which adjoined to the rest of Egypt, and that they fhould all be removed at the prayer of Mofes, are undeniable evidences that the hand of God was in them. Still more was this evident in the death of the first-born, and of the first-born only, of man and of beast, through all the country, while not one of the Ifraelites died. By this display

of

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