application to the eyes of the man born blind; it assured him that the person who came close to him, and spoke to him, and anointed his eyes, was the sole agent, by whose interposition the cure was wrought. Immediately, on approaching our Saviour, after receiving his sight, he must have recognised him by his voice. Had the grounds of his assurance been less full and circumstantial, he never could have so unanswerably silenced the objections, and replied to the captious queries of the Pharisees. "What did he do to thee? how opened he thine eyes?" He answered, and said, "a man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, go to the pool of Siloam, and wash, and I went and washed, and I received sight." We may be confirmed in believing this to have been the design of these external applications, by observing, that they were used in no instance except those of blindness and deafness, when a defect of the senses rendered them necessary to convey such assurance of Jesus having been the author of the miracle. And still more, by observing that it does not appear that any of these three men had any previous knowledge of our Saviour's power and character. The man born blind he healed without any solicitation. The blind man at Bethsaida, and the deaf man, do not appear to have come of themselves, they were brought by their friends; more precaution was therefore necessary to call their attention to the person by whom the miracle was wrought, and give them full evidence that it was his sole work. When the two blind men at Capernaum, and two others near Jericho, applied to our Saviour to be healed, it was with a declared previous conviction of his divine power, they followed him, crying, “Son of David have mercy upon us." Here therefore a less remarkable external application was sufficient, as they professed their belief; Jesus only required that this profession should be sincere. "Believe ye, said he, that I have the power to do this? and they said, yea Lord; then he touched their eyes, saying, according to your faith be it unto you; and their eyes were opened." If these remarks are just, they exhibit one of these numberless cases, where incidents apparently minute and objectionable, when well considered, display the miraculous nature of the facts, and the admirable propriety of our Lord's conduct in every circumstance. And every such instance confirms strongly the conclusion, that our Lord's miracles were not delusive visions, or the extravagancies of a wild and senseless enthusiast, but plain proofs of a divine power, exhibited with the sobriety and dignity becoming his divine character, and totally incompatible with either imposture or fanaticism. Still more remarkable is the account which the evangelists, with almost unequalled impartiality and humility, deliver of the apostles attempting to cure a child who was possessed with a dumb spirit, lunatic and sore vexed, and their having failed in the attempt. The scribes ever vigilant to discredit their mission, instantly appear active and curious, questioning them in the presence of the multitude. Our Lord approaches, asks the scribes "what question ye with them" discovers the cause, and instantly in the presence of the same multitude and the same watchful enemies, completely cures the child. What circumstances could display more strongly the strict scrutiny to which our Lord's miracles were exposed from his enemies, and the fearlessness with which he submitted them to that scrutiny ?* Thus also many of the Jews, who were witnesses of that great and awful miracle the resurrection of Lazarus, were plainly enemies, for immediately they inform the Pharisees, who call a council with the chief priests; and said, "what do we, for this man doeth many miracles? if we thus let him alone all men will believe in him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." Thus their alarm at the apprehended destruction of their church and state, counteracted the effect of an acknowledged supernatural interposition; and conceiving themselves justified by the expediency of committing a private crime, for a supposed public good; the expediency "that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not ;" they from that moment took counsel to put to death Jesus, the Teacher of righteousness and Dispenser of mercy. From all these instances I conclude with confidence, that our **Matt. xvii. 14. Mark ix. 14. Luke ix. 37. John xi. Why this miracle is mentioned only by St. John, see admirably well accounted for in Lardner's Vindication of it, vol. ii. p. 11-28, Edit. 1788. The evangelists who wrote before the destruction of Jerusalem might, by recalling the attention of the Jews to Lazarus, have re-exposed him to persecution. Lord's miracles were totally independent of any enthusiastic delusion. Experience proves, that such delusions seldom last longer than while they meet with minds all equally and fitly disposed to catch the impulse, as it passes, like an electric shock from soul to soul; but when numbers are constantly found to resist and repel instead of yielding to and forwarding this influence, its progress meets a speedy check, and the delusion fails. Hence it is, that enthusiasts can bear as little as impostors, the presence and the inspection even of cold and neutral spectators; much less of jealous scrutinizing enemies. Not so our Lord, he perpetually appealed to the sober reason even of his most obstinate enemies, to judge from plain facts, and acknowledged truths, of his right to the divine authority he assumed, and the validity of the proofs on which he rested his claims. His addresses on this subject are numerous and striking, and so important to our present purpose, that I cannot pass them by. "As Jesus walked in the temple, came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ tell us plainly. And Jesus answered, I told you, and you believed me not: the works that I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me: the works of my Father, believe me not; believe not me, believe the works, that ye that the Father is in me, and I in him." And again, if I do not but if I do, though ye may know and believe When John † sent his disciples to ask Jesus, art thou he that should come; or do we look for another? How directly does our Lord appeal to the miracles which he was at that moment performing: "Go and shew John again those things which you do see and hear, the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." Immediately after, he upbraids the cities in which his mighty works were wrought, because they repented not; and states their wilful and obstinate neglect of such proofs as the highest aggravation of their guilt. Finally, how fully and calmly does he appeal to the various * John x. 23, 24, and 36, 37. † Matt. xis 2-29. Luke vii. 18-35. proofs of his divine mission, in order to expose and overturn the obstinate perverseness of the Jews, who sought to kill him, because he healed on the Sabbath, and assumed the character of the Son of God. "If I bear witness of myself my witness is not true; there is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true; ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." And this strong appeal to prophetic testimony, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me: had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.” Such were the proofs by which our Lord's disciples were convinced of his divine authority. How different from the visions of enthusiasm, which appeal to no credentials but the impulse of secret inspiration, and rest on no support but blind credulity. SECTION V. The Apostles' belief in their Lord's resurrection, and in the subsequent manifestations of his divine power, is not imputable to Enthusiasm. If during the life-time of their Lord the apostles received such evidence of his divine authority as no enthusiasm could supply, such evidence as approves itself to our reason, and abundantly accounts for their ready obedience to their Master's call, and their adherence to his person even unto death, much more did they receive clear and undeniable proofs of his resurrection from the dead. If indeed we contemplate their situation and conduct at this important crisis, it will appear that enthusiasm must have been wholly excluded from their minds. Suppose for a moment, that by some unaccountable means, they had been worked up into an enthusiastic belief of miracles they had never seen, and of * John v. 18, to the end. * divine perfections, which existed only in their fond imaginations, how utterly impossible that such a delusion should have survived their crucified Lord. They had, as they confess, followed him as a temporal Messiah, who would prove by miracles his claim to the throne of David, who would be received by the assembled thousands of Israel, rescue them from the Roman yoke, and subjugate to their power the remotest nations of the earth. But the event exhibited the total reverse of this; their Master seized, bound, accused, declaring "his kingdom was not of this world," and submitting, without reply or resistance, to insult and outrage; they saw him persecuted by the priests and rulers; they heard the populace clamour for his condemnation, till the Roman governor pronounced his ignominious doom; and they beheld him expire on the cross, dying the death of the accursed, and lodged in the depths of the grave. Every fond hope seemed to be thus for ever blasted, every ambitious thought was crushed, every prejudice of their religion, their education, outraged. Alas! what delusion could have withstood such a shock as this? What credulity could have longer blinded, what enthusiasm could have longer possessed them? How disappointed, how dejected, how alarmed, must the coolest and the steadiest minds have been at such a scene! And much more, if inflamed enthusiasts, (with whom the bitterness of disappointment is ever proportioned to the extravagance of expectation,) how unwilling must they have been to resume a hope, which had thus deplorably deceived them! How slow to re-embark in a cause, thus plainly desperate! Such must have been the necessary tenor of their minds. And exactly conformable to this is the artless description which the evangelists record, of the feelings and conduct of their brethren. When the two disciples relate the crucifixion of their Lord, how full of perplexity and despondence is their * Matt. xvi. 21, to the end. Mark ix. 33-37. Matt. xx. to xxviii. Compare Mark x. 35-45. Luke xxiv. 31. Even after his resurrection, they resumed for some time the same ideas of his kingdom, as appears from their question to him, Acts i. 6. "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?" So ill prepared were they for the spiritual and enlarged scheme of the Gospel, till enlightened and directed by the miraculous effusion of the Holy Spirit. + Vide this point very well illustrated by Dr. Archibald Campbell, in his discourse to prove the apostles were not enthusiasts, from p. 4770. |