commiffion, to which it was fo requifite; and, to complete their attefting power, they were effentially and infeparably connected with the most important part of the difpenfation, and of the truths themfelves P. Thus, both from the expediency of the thing, the declaration of their agent, and their self-importance, they derive the strongest credibility.

J

P We come next to that fecond Species of Miracles whofe fubject makes fo effential a part in the Oeconomy of the GOSPEL, that, without it, the whole would be vain and fruitless. The firft and principal of this fpecies is the MIRACLE of Chrift's Refurrection from the Dead. If Chrift be not RAISED (faith Saint Paul) your faith is vain; you are yet in your fins. And St. Peter ufes the fame argument to fhew the NECESSITY of his Master's refurrection-God (fays he) raised him up, having loofed the pains of death; BECAUSE IT WAS NOT < POSSIBLE THAT HE SHOULD BE HOLDEN OF IT.—If • Chrift himself was not seen to enjoy the fruits of that Redemption, which was of his own procuring, what hopes could be entertained for the reft of mankind? Would it not have been too plaufibly concluded, that this expedient REDEMPTION had proved ineffectual by CHRIST'S not rifing? So neceffarily (connected in the Apoftle's opinion) was the MIRACLE of our Saviour's vifible refurredlion with the very effence of the Chriftian Faith

Thus, we fee, the MIRACLE of the Refurrection made a neceffary part of the integrity of the Gofpel.' Warb. Div. Leg. b. ix. c. 5. So

So plain and eafy of apprehenfion, are both the nature and ufe of Miracles, that fundamental groundwork of the Chriftian Faith. But fome men, lofing themfelves in the mazes of philofophy, poffefs the unhappy talent of puzzling the plaineft things: and, what is a greater evil, they draw others into the toils in which they have been taken, who, in vainly struggling to get free, entangle themfelves the more, till the whole fcene becomes a maze of perplexity and error 9.

By this EXTERNAL EVIDENCE of Works, "the Father that fent him bore witnefs "of him,"

1

Founded in the plainest truths of the internal and external Senfes, fo clear and convincing are these GROUNDS of Evidence, the one inherent in the very vitals of the religious difpenfation, and the other effentially connected sue with it, to which our Lord appealed in proof of that Truth" which he brought down from heaven to be the "Light of the world," in that concife and expreffive declaration, I am one that bear witnefs of myfelf; and the Father which hath fent me beareth

1 Mr. Hume and his opponents.

F 4

"witnefs,

"witness of me." And, when the blind obftinacy of his prejudiced and perverted hearers fhut their eyes against the full blaze of this twofold light, with that dignity and fublimity of character which diftinguished all that he faid or did, he condemned their double blindness in this fummary and decifive fentence-"And now have they both feen "and hated both ME and MY FATHER","

These two grounds of reafoning, fo totally different from each other, are jointly indifpenfable to the establishment of that Divine Teftimony which is the infallible principle of all revealed religion, mutually fupporting and supported by each other-The internal purity of the Doctrine proving that the Miracle which accompanied it was wrought of God: and the divine power of the Miracle proving, in its turn, the divinity of the Doctrine".

· John xv. 24.

III. In

So little being known of the powers of created spirits, fuperior to ourselves, (fome of which we are taught to believe are beneficent to man, and some averse) all that we can conclude of MIRACLES, confidered only in themselves, is, that they are the work of agents, able,

III. In addition to this fupernatural gift of Miracles exercised by Chrift and his Apoftles, for the rational foundation of his religion, in

in some instances, to controul Nature, and divert her ⚫ from her established courfe. But whether this controal be performed immediately by the God of Nature, or by Agents acting under his direction, or, on the contrary, by malignant agents, at enmity, with Man, and, for a time, permitted to indulge their perverfe and hurtful f purposes, cannot be known, but by the nature of that • Dodrine, in fupport of which, the pretended MIRACLES ⚫ are performed. The conclufion from this is, that THE MIRACLES ARE TO BE VERIFIED BY THE DOCTRINE. But then, fince we know fo little of the extent of the ⚫ human understanding, we cannot determine of the true original of the Doctrine propofed to our belief, till it be ⚫ supported by MIRACLES: now the conclufion from this is, that the DOCTRINE IS TO BE VERIFIED BY ⚫ MIRACLES.

In this there is no fruitless return of an unprogres five argument; but a regular proceffion of two diftinct and different Truths, till the whole reasoning becomes f complete. In truth, they afford mutual affistance to one another; yet not by taking back what they had given; but by continuing to hold what each had imparted to the fupport of the other.

On the whole, we conclude, that if any Meflengers ever wanted the CREDENTIALS OF MIRACLES, they were the firft MESSENGERS OF GOD, in the revealed" Mystery of the GOSPEL. Warb. Div, Leg. b. ix, c. 5.it

the

the fame interefting conference with the Jewish doctors, our Lord appealed to another GROUND of External Evidence, of a different and more complicated kind, in which the fame miraculous power was confpicuously, and still more wonderfully, difplayed. “Search "the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye ❝ have eternal life: and they are they which "teftify of me ","

This is the evidence of PROPHESY, founded on a natural truth, which is evinced by the experience of men in every age-That the knowledge of future contingent events is out of the reach of all human forefight; and confequently, that, when the prediction of such events is verified in fact, a divine interpofition must obviously have been made, for some important purpose. To atteft the truth of a fupernatural revelation, was frequently declared by our Lord himself, and the other illuftrious perfons who were favoured with this divine gift, to be that important purpose; and we cannot doubt the truth of this declaration, when made by those who were commiffioned with the power, and entrusted with the means.