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Objections answered.

[Ess. II.

Such a conclusion respecting the miracles of Jesus Christ and his followers derives a further confirmation from the comparison of them with those signs and wonders so idly pleaded by Hume and other infidel writers in opposition to Christianity. While the evidences which prove that the Christian miracles really took place are both numerous and clear, and while those miracles were of so plain and decisive a character as to preclude the possibility of delusion, the prodigies advanced on the other side of the question are either such as might readily be accounted for by secondary causes, or such as are not to be believed, because we are in possession of no solid or sufficient evidence that they ever happened. The former of these characteristics attaches to the cures said to have been wrought at the tomb of the Abbé de Paris; the latter, to the wonders of Pythagoras, Vespasian, and Appollonius: see Paley's Ev., vol. i. p. 349.

To the conclusion, however, that the miracles recorded in the New Testament could be the work of God only, an objection is sometimes urged, which it may be desirable concisely to notice. It is remarked that the Egyptian magicians, who were employed by Pharaoh in opposition to Moses, and who were therefore on the side of the Lord's enemies, were enabled, by the power of evil spirits, to work miracles.

Many able biblical critics explain the wonders of these magicians as the mere contrivance of expert jugglers. If, however, it be allowed that, on some peculiar occasions, and under especial control and limitation, God permits evil spirits to exercise a certain degree of miraculous power over the order of nature, such an admission will by no means affect the Divine origin and authority of the Christian miracles. When we consider the benevolence of those miracles, as well as their number, variety, and greatness, it seems impossible for us to refuse to attribute them to a merciful and omnipotent Being.

That they were not produced by the power of evil spirits we may, moreover, rest satisfied for two additional reasons; first, because they were wrought in direct attestation of that which professed to be a revelation of the Divine will, for the guidance and instruction of mankind; for it is morally impossible that the God of all truth should permit his enemies to affix to a fictitious revelation of his will the seal

Ess. II.]

Objections answered.

35

of miracles of numerous, stupendous, undoubted miraclesand thus consign his reasonable creatures to inevitable and irremediable error; secondly, because they were wrought in support of a religious system, which was directed in all its parts to righteous ends; which was therefore entirely opposed, on the one hand, to the dominion of the powers of darkness, and perfectly conformed, on the other, to the moral attributes of God.

Thus, then, there appears to be nothing which can interrupt our conclusion, that God alone was the author of the Christian miracles. And, since God alone was the author, Christianity, which was attested by them, is the religion of God.

ESSAY III.

ON THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY.

THE evidence of the Divine origin of Christianity afforded by the miracles of Jesus Christ and his apostles, although substantial and satisfactory, is not to be considered as standing alone; for it forms only one division of a cumulative proof. Such has been the providential care exercised by our heavenly Father over the spiritual interests of men, that he has been pleased to furnish them with a variety of correspondent and harmonious signs, that the religion, by means of which their salvation is to be effected, proceeds from himself.

In the present essay, I propose to take a concise, yet comprehensive view of the sign of Prophecy.

Of those future events which are connected with the established order of nature-such as the rising and setting of the sun on the morrow; the growth of a plant from the seed sown in the earth; the death of mortal creatures now living-analogical reasoning enables us to form a correct apprehension. Sometimes also the intelligent observers of moral and political causes are enabled, by a somewhat more difficult application of the same species of reasoning, to form successful conjectures respecting future circumstances, appertaining not so much to the order of nature as to the scheme of Providence. But, ready as we may be to allow these positions, we cannot conceal from ourselves that an actual knowledge of the future is one of the characteristic and peculiar attributes of the Supreme Being. Every one, who believes in the existence, unity, and omniscience of God, will probably be willing to confess that he has no counsellor; that it is he alone who conducts the operations of nature, and regulates the course of events; that a knowledge of the future is the knowledge of his secret designs; and, therefore, that such a knowledge can be communicated to mankind only by Divine revelation.

Ess. m.]

Prophecies of Jesus.

37

From these premises it follows, that all prophecies which by the exactness of their fulfilment, as well as by the complex or singular nature of the circumstances to which they relate, are proved to have proceeded, not from mere human conjecture, but from a real foreknowledge, must have been dictated by the Almighty himself; and further, that a religion which is attested by such prophecies is a Divinely authorized religion.

That any system of religion, except that of the Scriptures, has ever been thus attested, no enlightened inquirer will presume to assert. The folly and vanity, mixed up as they were with art and delusion, which distinguished the omens, the auspices, and the oracles of the ancient Greeks and Romans, are now universally acknowledged. And with respect to Mohammedanism, it does not even pretend to establish its authority either by miracles or by prophecy. Mohammed could direct his hearers to no existing prophecies of which he was the subject, and he was far too prudent, and far too sensible of his own fallibility and imposture, to venture upon any tangible prediction himself: see Porteus's Ev., ch. viii. Rees's Cyclop., Art. Mahometanism.

How then does this matter stand with Christianity? Every reader of the Bible must be aware that our religion professes to be attested by prophecies. Do the prophecies, by which it is attested, relate to circumstances of such a nature, and is the accomplishment of such of them as have been fulfilled so complete and accurate, as to lead us to a sound conclusion that they were inspired by the Almighty, and therefore that the religion which they attest is his religion? A little investigation will enable us to give a satisfactory answer to this interesting inquiry.

Jesus Christ himself was a prophet. He did not hesitate to foretel future occurrences of a very extraordinary and complicated nature; and many of his predictions have been already verified by events.

In our Lord's being betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and scribes by Judas Iscariot; in his being by them delivered to the Gentiles; in his being mocked, scourged, spitted on, and crucified; and in his rising from the dead after three days; there was much that was singular, complicated, and not to be easily calculated on beforehand.

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Prophecies of Jesus.

[Ess. III. Yet we find from the harmonious testimony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that Jesus, during the course of his ministry, predicted all these circumstances in the most explicit terms: see Matt. xvi. 21; xx. 18; Mark x. 33; Luke xviii. 31; John xvi. 32, etc.

It was a circumstance placed far out of the reach of any probable conjecture, that the zealous Peter should not only deny his Lord, but deny him three times before the cock. crew. Yet this circumstance was predicted by our Saviour with a perfect exactness, while he and his disciples were still in a condition of apparent safety, and immediately after a hearty profession of fidelity on the part of Peter, Matt. xxvi. 33, 34.

The effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of our Lord, after his ascension, was one of the most striking, and, according to mere natural observation, one of the most improbable events that ever happened. This event also was plainly foretold by Jesus: see John xiv. 16; xvi. 7; Acts i. 5, 8.

But among the prophecies uttered by our Saviour, there is no one so much detailed, or clothed in such impressive language, as that which relates to the fall and desolation of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, the dispersion of the Jews, and finally the end of the world. This remark

able prediction is related by Matthew, (ch. xxiv.) Mark, (ch. xiii.) and Luke, (ch. xxi.), and is in accordance with the affecting expressions addressed by our Lord to Jerusalem or its inhabitants, on two other occasions: see Matt. xxiii. 37, 38; Luke xxiii. 27—31.

We read that when the disciples of Jesus pointed out to him the magnificence and extensive structure of the temple, Jesus declared the days to be coming, when that splendid edifice should be utterly destroyed, and not even one stone be left upon another. This declaration gave birth to an inquiry when these things should be, and what should be the signs of his coming, and of the end of the world? In his answer to the question thus addressed to him, our Lord has plainly mentioned some of the principal circumstances which were to precede or accompany the two periods alluded to by his disciples-periods which they might probably confuse in their own minds, but which were in fact to be separated by a very long interval. At the first