faith, (pp. 222 sq.) they received it unexamined. There is, however, to be set against this self-contradictory rumour, the intelligent testimony of numbers who, from "many infallible proofs," exhibited during forty days, were satisfied of the reality of the resurrection. And when I said that this miracle was exhibited only to a chosen few, I was speaking comparatively; for the number absolutety was not small. Beside that Jesus appeared to the women at the sepulchre, to Peter, John, the eleven, and others, he was, on one occasion "seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the the greater part" remained alive when Paul made this statement to the Corinthians, that is, nearly thirty years after the event. (1 Cor. xv. 6.) All these seconded a steady and consistent testimony by passing their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the account they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief in that account. It is not a little singular that the only contradictory statement which has come down to our time, has been rescued from oblivion by one of the evangelists themselves. Now the account St. Matthew has given, both of the origin of this rumour, and of the main fact itself, the Jews were bound to controvert, if they could; and if they had done so successfully, every Jew in Judæa, every Jew in the world must have known it; Gentile adversaries would have caught up the tale, and Christianity could have made no progress. But it did continue to spread beyond precedent, and only by the mild influence of conviction and persuasion. It is fair to conclude that the fact was incontrovertible, that the miracle had been done, and could not be denied.

(4.) Lastly, laying aside all this weight of human evidence to a fact, let us view the resurrection in the light of a doctrine, taught by Jesus and his followers, or if you will, by his followers alone. It now stands on the same footing as all the other doctrines of the New Testament; and its truth will be made out as they are made out, from the independent miracles by which it is supported. The reality of these has been fully shown; it remains now only to trace the connection between them and the truth of the doctrine; and this is the third and last thing that has to be elucidated in the present chapter.

316

SECT. III.

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MIRACLES AND THE TRUTH OF THE DOCTRINE.

Limited powers of man:-supernatural events brought about by some superior power.-(1) Not evil, because the doctrine is pure:-objections to morality of Scripture briefly considered:-proof of its purity.-(2) No evil power superior to the author of our Scriptures.-(3) No certainty of truth in words ascribed to any evil being:-miracles and purity of doctrine must be combined:-illustrations. -Natural conscience the judge of good and evil.-Revelation, not opinion, our guide in questions of religion.

III. THE third head under which I have arranged the main subject now before us, may appear to many to need but little comment. There is hardly a candid person who could hear a teacher appealing to heaven in support of the truth of what he taught, and be witness to an immediate answer to that appeal, without feeling satisfied that the God he had appealed to had confirmed the truth of his assertion; and sealed it with the stamp of his authority. And if my reader be satisfied with the association already pointed out between the teacher and the miracle, and consider this enough to give all the authenticity required; instead of troubling him to accompany me through the remainder of the section; I would recommend him to pass on at once to the succeeding chapter on Prophecy.

If, however, he see in the miracles only the interposition of a superior being, and fail to recognise, infallibly, a Being of holiness and truth; or if he be curious to analyze the soundness of the conclusion he has already drawn; and trace the process by which it has been arrived at; I must ask him to lend his best attention to a few additional remarks. I trust they will make it appear that the soundness of the impression in favour of the truth of the doctrines, like every thing that is really sound, is only rendered more conspicuous by inquiry; and he will thus be enabled to discriminate between the conclusiveness of the reasonings applicable to

our Christian system, and the fallacy of somewhat similar processes, when an attempt is made to apply them to other pretended revelations from on high.

I need add nothing to what has been already said concerning the inability of man to interfere with a single law of nature, by any power inherent in himself. Whatever be the source of our belief that the same consequent must always result from a repetition of the same antecedent, no consequent will ever be looked for with more infallible certainty, than failure from any attempt on the part of human powers, to interrupt any one of nature's constituted sequences. He that can do this, is either, in virtue of his own essential nature, more than man, or must be assisted by some other being who is so. The possession of these powers, moreover, demonstrates that an actual communication has been opened between mankind, and some invisible being. It is no longer a matter of speculation, either whether such a being exists, or whether he takes an interest in the visible world. Here is a palpable proof, even when he acts by an agent, that he is conscious of, and does, at least sometimes, assume a control over what takes place on earth; and once admitting as much as is necessarily involved in the very essence of an authentic miracle, every excuse is taken away for imagining that the deity is unconscious of the words and actions of men, or does not care to notice them. The interference up to a certain point is unequivocal; how much further it may go we cannot tell. This is a secondary question, one of mere degree, and not of principle. But a knowledge and a power are displayed which clearly extends to secret operations far beyond our reach; and may, for any thing we can see, even penetrate the recesses of our inmost souls. At any rate, in making his agent sensible of the power entrusted to him, supposing it is mere agency he employs, and of the extent to which it may be exercised without the risk of failure, this invisible being can and does address himself to man; and this, and the notice he takes of passing events in every wonder which follows a direct appeal, make it clear that he is capable also of receiving addresses from man. But abstractedly from any associated doctrine, as I have already explained, there is nothing that can infallibly show whether the superhuman power exercised in working a miracle be supreme, or subordinate; infinite or limited;

inherent, or derived; every way free, or acting under the instructions, or simply by the permission of another; or lastly; whether it be good or evil, or a combination of the two. Antecedently to inquiry all these questions may arise; and they can be determined only by considerations drawn from a review of the system as a whole.

(1) Let us take the last question first, and try if we can satisfactorily make out the goodness of the Power to whom the Christian miracles are ascribed. We may safely reason from the axiom that no Being will work miracles, or confer the ability to work miracles, against itself. "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” (Matt. xii. 25.) It is not altogether inconceivable that an evil power, in league with another evil power, and for the purposes of evil, might yield an apparent obedience to some command, productive of an impression on the minds of men that an evil spirit has been miraculously cast out. But no credulity can believe that this would be for the purpose of inculcating doctrines whose entire tendency is to root out every evil, and introduce one universal spirit of holiness and purity.

I think it scarcely necessary to give more than a hurried passing notice to the frivolous cavils that have been sometimes strangely urged against the morality of our Scriptures. As well might one go about to prove the brightness of the sun, notwithstanding an occasional spot that telescopic observations have detected on its surface; as waste time in an elaborate vindication of that pure standard of exalted virtue, which is, in truth, the real, and often ill-concealed origin of all the opposition with which our holy religion has been assailed. Most of these objections have been taken against the sins of God's own people; or against the judg ments executed on the wicked by the hands of their fellow men; or are based upon the perversion of some misinterpreted word or sentence. With regard to the transgressions attributed to holy men, it is to be observed that most of them are openly rebuked and punished;-as in the case of Moses, David, and Peter. (Num. xx. 12-24. 2 Sam. xii. 1-14, &c. Luke xxii. 61. “and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, &c. Gal. ii. 11. Ps.xcix. 8.) Others are indirectly followed by disastrous consequences, clearly originating from the commission of the sin;-as in the affecting history of Ja

cob, most of whose subsequent sorrows have an obvious connexion with the deceit he practised on Isaac; (Gen. xxvii. &c.): while a few are simply recorded, without a comment on their guilt; as many acts of faith are, in like manner, passed over with no mark of approbation subjoined. The actions are left to speak for themselves, and when judged of by principles clearly laid down, for this very purpose, in other portions of God's word, they must be condemned. It is

strange that the conduct of Jesus to the woman taken in adultery, (John viii. 1-11.) should ever have been thought a connivance at sin: for how can that be a connivance at sin, which confounded a whole company of men by conscious shame for sin; and though it screened one guilty sinner from the immediate consequence of her crime, did so with a full recognition of the offence:-"Go and sin no more."

Reverting to the judgments executed upon the wicked, I reply, that one of the essential attributes of God is a hatred of evil; and consequently a necessity to manifest his displeasure against the guilty. The fearful chastisement of those who offend against morality, is surely no breach of a moral law; and were judgments altogether remitted, exception, as in the cases of which we have just disposed, would immediately be taken against the remission as a connivance at sin. The final recompense of the guilty is, we are taught, reserved for another world: and a state of future retribution must always be taken into the account, in considering what we read or see of God's dealings with men on earth; for we must form our estimate of the Christian system as a whole, and this stands' in the position of a fundamental among its principles. But if punishment be sometimes partially inflicted now, or by the hands of man, rather than by the immediate interposition of God; this does not alter the nature of the case, but only the mode of action; and a terrible lesson is read, in letters, of blood, to those employed as the executioners of wrath, that they too may "see it and fear, and trust in the Lord." (Ps. xl. 3.)

The charge that St. Paul was favouring immorality when he claimed for himself the liberty to carry about "a sister, a woman,” (1 Cor. ix. 5.) can only serve to indicate the shifts to which those are put, who seek to pick out faults of this kind from our Scriptures; for every school-boy knows that