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really proceed from God. And this shows how necessary miracles are to the introduction of a new revelation: not that miracles can prove the truth of any doctrine; but they directly prove the commission of the person who does them, to proceed from him by whose power alone they could be performed. This distinction between miracles considered as a proof of the doctrine, and as confirming the authority and commission of the person who reveals it, will plainly appear, on considering what the case would be should any man openly perform unquestionable miracles, and then retire in silence, without declaring any purpose he had the great works might astonish and confound us; but we could not possibly make any use of them we might indeed conclude that some great and invisible power assisted and enabled the man to perform the works; but what that invisible power had to do with us, or we with it, we could by no just inference conclude. But should such a man declare himself to be a messenger from God commissioned to publish his will to the world, and appeal to the great works which he did as a proof of the authority he had received; the miracles, though, considered in themselves, they do not directly prove his doctrine, yet do they establish his authority, and give the force of a divine command to what he publishes in God's name.

The law of Moses then requiring submission and obedience to commands and doctrines which have no establishment in the light of reason and nature, it was necessary to found them on the authority of God, to which no submission could be due till sufficient evidence was given of it, to guard men against imposition and deceit either from wicked men or wicked spirits: and this made miracles to be a necessary proof in the establishment of a new revelation.

We see then to what purposes miracles were originally introduced, and in what manner applied by Moses: and whoever considers of what consequence it was to the happiness of mankind to have a standing evidence always before their eyes of the unity and supremacy of God manifested in his government of the Jewish nation, and how far the Mosaic dispensation prepared the way, and laid the foundation, for the accomplishment of his great work in the salvation of the world by Christ

Jesus, will see reason to think that the end proposed was worthy of God, and fully accounts for his interposition by signs and wonders, which were acts not only of great power, but of great goodness and benevolence towards mankind.

If we consider the miracles of the gospel, we shall find that they had the same ends in view. If Moses withstood the magicians of Egypt, and manifested a superiority of power over them, and the false gods whom they served, our Saviour did much more in opposition to the power of Satan, and the wicked spirits who had taken possession of men, and tormented them in divers manners: in subduing them he showed such an uncontrollable power, that they were obedient to his command ; and when he said Go, they were forced to go, yielding a ready though unwilling obedience. And as the gospel spread, idolatry fled before it, the heathen deities became dumb, and their oracles were silenced. And if we look abroad into the world, and take a view of the nations where idolatry and superstition once prevailed, and where the knowlege of the unity and supremacy of God is now established, which happy change can only be ascribed to the propagation of the gospel, we shall see how fully and perfectly this great end was answered by the miracles wrought by Christ.

If Moses had a commission from God to publish his will to the people of the Jews, Jesus had a far more ample commissionto publish the terms of God's salvation to all mankind: and as these terms were of God's appointment, and not such as human wisdom could suggest, they stood in need of the evidence of miracles to support them.

It has been observed before, that no miracles can alter the clear dictates of natural religion. The same may be said with respect to any former divine revelation: for to suppose a revelation to come from God, and to be fully established by miracles, and that a later revelation on the like proof and authority should abrogate and render the former void, would be setting up miracle against miracle, and destroy the authority of both and therefore, admitting the Mosaic revelation and the Christian to be both of divine original, they must necessarily be consistent, and each be in its proper place to carry on the great and ultimate views of Providence. This evidently

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was the case of Moses, who came to prepare the way for the full and perfect declaration of God's will, reserved till He should come who was the end of the law and to this purpose are the words of our blessed Saviour: Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled:' Matt. v. 17, 18. And during the whole course of his ministry he constantly appealed to the testimony of the law and the Prophets: had you believed in Moses,' says he to the Jews, you would have believed me : for he wrote of me.' And his Apostle St. Paul, in his defence before king Agrippa, gives this account of the gospel he preached: Having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come.' And indeed one revelation admitted to be of divine authority must be a touchstone to try all succeeding revelations by: for God cannot contradict himself; and the great works done by Moses and by Christ are not only an evidence of their divine authority, but are a bar to all succeeding pretenders. The miracles reported to have been done in the heathen world are unworthy of God, considered either in themselves or the end proposed by them: for let it be observed that God never works miracles merely to astonish and surprise people, but always to serve some great ends of providence: and though he has in favor of his people, and sometimes even of particular persons, wrought a miracle; yet when he published the law and the gospel, he did not rest the authority on one or more single miracles, but on a long series of miracles exhibited from day to day for years together. And if miracles are properly applied as a proof of the purposes and the will of God, miracles wrought without being attended with any declaration of God's will in which we have any concern, are very improper instances to be set up in opposition to those of Moses and Christ, on which the happiness of mankind depends in this life and that which is to come. This consideration gives weight and authority to the miracles of the gospel: for it was a design worthy of God to restore mankind to that happiness which they had

forfeited; and it was a work in every view of equal dignity and benevolence with the creation: for if God is adorable in the work of the creation, he is equally so in the work of redemption; and there is at least as much goodness in making men happy as in making them at all.

With what color of reason can the pretended miracles of the heathen world be brought into this question, which were done on trifling occasions, unworthy of the interposition of God? Look into all the ancient oracles; see to what mean purposes they are applied, and how often they prove destructive to those who relied on them; and then tell me what marks you see of divine wisdom or goodness in them, that should set them on an - equal foot with the miracles of Christ Jesus.

We read in the Old Testament of some miracles wrought in behalf of particular people and for particular purposes; but neither are these, though of divine authority, to be set in competition with the miracles of the gospel: for they were not introductory to any scheme of religion or new declaration of God's will, but are rather to be considered as acts of government, and suitable to the character of God as king of Israel; for where the government itself was divine, no wonder to see the measures of the government to be of the same kind. And this character of God being peculiar to the Jews, is the reason why such miracles were frequent under the Jewish law, and are very rarely to be met with under the gospel.

Secondly, I am to consider what sort of works are to be admitted for miracles in proving the truth of any religion.

The first suspicion that men naturally have of any one who pretends to prophecy or inspiration is, that he has contrived the whole matter himself: for we have seen many visions and inspirations imposed on the vulgar by men of very bad heads or very bad hearts. And therefore the first inquiry is, whether the miracles might not proceed from human art or cunning?

And shall I undertake to prove, that it exceeds the power of man to raise the dead to life, to give sight to the blind, and to cure all diseases by the word of his mouth? No: never was any such attempt set up. But perhaps no such miracles were ever really done, and the people were deceived by false appearances. As for instance, when the man born blind was

restored to sight, he did not indeed recover his eyes, but all the rest of the people lost theirs; which I think would be the greater miracle of the two: for it is as easy to believe that the word of Christ should make one man see, as that it should make a thousand blind.

But must they, you will say, of necessity proceed from God, because they could not be wrought by men? Were they effects of nothing else but infinite power?

The miracles of the gospel, being such works as neither human wisdom nor power can perform, force us to have recourse to a superior invisible cause. But still you will say, can the wit of man discover all the different orders of beings between himself and his Creator, their powers and properties, so as with security to affirm that no being but the All-wise and Almighty God could perform these wonderful things; especially considering that no effects, neither the miracles of the gospel, nor the works of nature, can prove directly an infinite power or wisdom? For who will be bold to say, that the wisdom and power of God were exhausted in the visible works of the creation, so that there is nothing either wiser or greater that infinite wisdom and power can contrive or execute?

Let this matter be rightly stated, and thus it will stand: the works of nature are certain proofs of an all-powerful cause; not because they appear to be works of infinite power, and such as cannot be exceeded, but because of necessity they prove in course of argument a first cause of all things; which first cause being unlimited, nothing is or can possibly be done, that the power of the first cause cannot do. And therefore the works of the creation must be and are admitted as an infallible proof of the being of a God. Let it then be remembered that a revelation is not introduced to prove the being of a God; that the miracles of our Saviour were not wrought to that purpose, supposing the being of a God, to prove God the Author of the revelation and then it must be allowed, that if we bring as good arguments to prove God the author of the revelation, as can be brought to prove the being of a God, all who believe the being of a God are equally obliged to believe the divinity of the revelation.

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