Maker of the world, and all things in it. This was the notion the Jews had of God; and when they distinguished the true God from the heathen gods, they defined him to be the Maker of the world and mankind. Look then into the miracles of the gospel, and you will see this attribute of God as clearly demonstrated by them as by the works of nature: for there you will find that the Author of the Christian miracles is the Maker of mankind; for by him men were made; that is, dead bodies were made into living men: for to raise a dead man, and to make a new man, are much the same thing. Any matter may be formed even by human art into the shape of a man; but it is adding life that makes the man. If we believe we received our senses, our reason, our natural strength and vigor, from the true God at first, look into the gospel, and you will find the miracles of Christ are from the same hand: for to the blind he gave sight, to the deaf hearing, to the lame and sick strength and soundness, to demoniacs and lunatics he gave reason and a right mind or if you choose rather to look into the material world for the proof of a God; if you think the beauty, order, and regularity of the world speak God to be both Author and Governor of nature; search the gospel, and you will find the miracles of Christ derive themselves from the Governor of the world, and speak the same language with the works of nature: for at his word the stormy winds were laid; the sea obeyed his voice: when he suffered, all nature trembled; the earth shook, the veil of the temple was rent, the sun and the moon were darkened: which drew from the centurion attending at his execution the confession, Truly this was the Son of God.' If you appeal to the natural sense and notions of mankind for the idea of the true God, and thence collect his essential attributes, justice, righteousness, holiness, and goodness, let the voice of nature be still; and the gospel shall speak more plainly, how just, how righteous, how holy and good God is, who is Author of the salvation and redemption which is by Christ Jesus. Take what way you will to prove the being or the attributes of God, and in the same way with equal advantage we will prove the God of the world, that is, the only true God, to be the Author of Christianity; which all who believe the being of a God are bound to admit for a

proof of the truth of Christianity for either the works of nature are not a good proof of the being of a God; or the works of the gospel, being of the same kind, and effects of equal power, must be allowed to prove God the Author of the gospel. And when our Saviour styled the wonders that he performed, the works that the Father had given him to finish,' he plainly appealed to the power of the Creator as manifested in the works that bore witness to him: for if any one else could have done the same works, there would have been no reason for calling them the works of the Father, nor would there have been any room for the inference which our Saviour draws from it: The Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me:' John v. 37.

There is a question commonly asked on this occasion, to which it may be proper to give an answer; that is, how we know that these miracles did not proceed from an evil power, since we have instances, as some think, of miracles so wrought? The answer is, we know this the same way that any man knows the works of nature to proceed from a good being: for how do you know that the Creator of the world was a good being if you answer that the Maker of mankind, the Author of nature, must of necessity be a good and holy being, because he has woven into the nature of man the love of virtue and hatred of vice, and given him distinct notions of good and evil, by which reason unerringly concludes the Author of this nature and these principles to be himself good and holy; I answer the same for the gospel of Christ: the love of virtue and hatred of vice is as inseparable from the gospel of Christ as from the reason of man; and the gospel of Christ more distinctly teaches to know and acknowlege the holiness and goodness of God, than reason or the works of nature can do: and therefore those who acknowlege the Author of nature to be a good being, have much more reason to acknowlege the Author of the Christian miracles to be a good being. But then we are told this is arguing in a circle; proving the doctrines first by miracles, and then the miracles again by the doctrines. But this is a great mistake, and it lies in this; that men do not distinguish between the doctrines we prove by miracles, and the doctrines by which we try miracles; for they are not

the same doctrines. God never wrought miracles to prove the difference between good and evil: and I suppose, if any man were asked how he proves temperance or chastity to be duties, murder or adultery to be sins, he would not recur to miracles for an argument. These and the like duties are enforced in the gospel, but were always truths and duties before our Saviour's coming: and we are in possession of them without the help of miracles or revelation. And these are the doctrines by which we try the miracles.

But the doctrines which are to be proved by miracles, are the new revealed doctrines of Christianity, which were neither known or knowable to the reason of man: such are the doctrines of salvation and redemption by Christ, of sanctification and regeneration by the Spirit of God: and whoever yet brought these doctrines to prove the truth or divine original of the miracles?

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I shall only add, that what has been said, it concerns those chiefly to consider who hold fast and admire the principles of natural religion, but despise or overlook the proofs of Christianity. If they will but consider the tendency of their own principles, they are not far from the kingdom of God: for the same reasons that oblige them to believe in God, oblige them to believe in Christ also. And as we have one God the Father of all, so should we have one faith, and one Lord, even Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of us all. And let them take heed, that, having been made partakers of so much grace, to the acknowlegement of the one true God, they fall not the more irrecoverably under condemnation by obstinately refusing to acknowlege his only and eternal Son, Jesus Christ the righteous,

SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE XI.

PSALM VIII.-VERSE 4.

THE reflexion of the text naturally suggested by a consi deration of the care of Providence, exemplified either in the works of nature or of grace. In the works of nature the glories of the heavens and the earth, plainly intended for our benefit, naturally lead us to wonder at the goodness of God in thus providing for beings so insignificant. The same reflexion may be made on the works of grace. Why should God continue his care towards sinful and disobedient creatures, and not only forgive them, but send his own Son to redeem them with his blood? These reflexions, which should naturally lead us to adore God's goodness, sometimes induce men to suspect the truth of the whole history of the redemption: their reasoning on this point shown to be erroneous; it being as hard to conceive that God should create this world for creatures like us, as it is that he should send his Son to redeem us: since it was as agreeable to God's goodness to make such creatures, it was consistent also that he should exert his power to save them. It is shown that a great opinion of ourselves and of the figure we make in the universe would be injurious to reli-, ligion, serving only to exclude a sense of dependence and gratitude to God. The Psalmist's reflexion in the text evinces a sense of dependence on God, admiration of his mercies, and a consciousness of unworthiness: yet it has been used to other purposes; and as it has been said that the great works of nature are too wonderful to have been formed for so inconsiderable a part of creation as the race of men, so also, with re

gard to the work of our redemption, that the end is not proportionate to the stupendous means used to attain it. It is considered whether these reflexions be a sufficient ground for questioning the truth of the gospel. Are we proper judges in this matter? Although in human affairs we may form a judgment by comparing the means and the end, and knowing the power of the agent, yet this will not apply to the works of nature, where the power of the agent is infinite; and as we cannot perfectly comprehend the end proposed, we are not qualified to judge rightly in the case before us: as all things are equally easy to be effected by God, we act most absurdly when we pretend to judge of his works by comparing them with the ends which we can discover to be served by them. This reasoning equally strong when applied to the works of grace. The wonders of the redemption are great and mysterious to us; but nothing is difficult with God. In judging of this matter we are also liable to fall into the error of supposing that we are the only persons concerned in the redemption, which, however immediately it concerns us, is intimated in many parts of Scripture to be adapted to answer the general ends of God's government in the universal moral world. The propriety of this will not be discovered by us, till we are enabled by a clearer light to see the whole scheme of Providence together. It has been shown that the objections against God's government in the natural and moral world, founded on the disproportion between the means used and the ends proposed, arise from the shortsightedness of men, and their propensity to judge on subjects on which they are ill-informed. It is considered whether the reflexions which have given rise to these objections do not admit of very different conclusions. Since God has provided abundantly for us in this life, it is reasonable to infer from thence that he will also provide for our well-being as moral and religious creatures. This shown also to be consistent with what the gospel has revealed to us. If we consider the ad