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The conclusion, therefore, to which we have ultimately arrived, is this, that there is such a difference in the circumstances under which the miracles of the magicians and of Jesus were wrought, that it would be both unfair and unsafe to make an inference which we have drawn from the one our rule of judgment with regard to the other. To say that because the miracles of the magicians do not prove their religion to be true, therefore neither do the miracles of Christ prove Christianity divine, is to draw a general inference from one particular case, and then apply it to another which has no resemblance to the first. Where the facts are different, the same reasoning will not apply.

2. It should be carefully remembered, however, in the second place, that we did not rest our whole argument for the divine authority of Jesus upon the nature and tendency of his many miracles alone. We drew from the mercy and multitude of his mighty works no more than a very strong presumption in favour of their divine origin. That presumption, however, was afterwards confirmed into certainty, by observing that the great and glorious wonders of the Gospel were wrought in defence of a religion of the most perfect righteousness and universal truth. Nor does thert appear to be the slightest shadow of a doubt, as to

the validity of this inference. It may be and we admitted the possibility-it may be possible for some powerful, yet evil being, to work numerous and beneficent wonders for the delusion of mankind; but we deny that there is any instance on record, in the history of the world, in which the fact can be proved; and we maintain that an evil being would never willingly exert his power in favour of a religion which is holy and true, nor ever be permitted to exert it in favour of one which is unholy and false. We, therefore, conclude that the miracles of Christ, being produced in defence of a system where all that is known and understood is just and wise and holy, must necessarily have been sanctioned by the divine approbation, and be the marks and proofs of a divine authority. Such is our demonstration; but here again we are interrupted by men reasoning after the rudiments of the world, and are told, that if the truth of the doctrine can be established without and before the consideration of the miracle, the miracle is needless, and that if it cannot, the miracle is inconclusive. In other words, our argument is said to run round a vicious circle, proving the doctrine by the miracles, and the miracles by the doctrine.

Oh! that men, before they proceed to apply their propositions upon any occasion, would be

careful to examine not only whether they be just and true in themselves, but also whether they be relevant to the matter in hand. In a certain sense, and to a certain extent, the objection to which we have alluded is perfectly correct; but it is correct, neither in that sense, nor to that extent, in which it would destroy or even weaken the evidence for the Gospel. Our argument was simply this,-We observed, first, that the source of the power by which our Saviour performed his miraclesmiracles whose reality depends upon the testimony by which they are supported-may be proved to have been divine and not devilish, by a reference to the truth of that part of his speculative doctrines and the excellence of that part of his moral precepts, upon which it falls within the province of human reason to determine. We next concluded that he who wrought such divine miracles in proof of his divine authority, must necessarily be regarded as a divine teacher; and then, from his being a divine teacher, we inferred, not only the additional weight which such a circumstance confers upon those doctrines and precepts of whose nature and tendency we are able to judge, but also the truth and divine authority of every other doctrine and precept which Jesus delivered; and whose truth, either because they are positive ordinances or because they relate to subjects of a heavenly and mysterious character, could never otherwise

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have been brought home to the human understanding. From the reasonableness of our Saviour's opinions in common things; from the propriety of his ideas with regard to the attributes and operations of the Deity, and from the excellence of that system which he has set before us as a rule of life, we infer that the power by which he wrought his wonderful works was from the God of holiness and truth. Having thus established his character as a teacher sent from God, we next infer his authority also in all uncommon things, and argue, that the positive ordinances which he enjoined, as of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, and the mysterious declarations which he made, with regard to the atonement and judgment of the world, must, because made by him, be both certainly and divinely true. It thus appears, that we do indeed prove the divine origin of the miracles by the truth of some of the doctrines, and the truth of some of the doctrines by the divine origin of the miracles. Yet we cannot be said to argue in a vicious circle, because the doctrines by whose truth the divine origin of the miracles is proved, are not the same doctrines with those whose truth the divine origin of the miracles themselves is afterwards brought forwards to confirm. The doctrines, whose truth is brought forward to prove the divine origin of the miracles, are those within the

reach of human judgment. Those doctrines, on the other hand, whose truth the miracles are supposed to establish, are those whose truth it is beyond the limits of man's feeble philosophy to ascertain; and the only satisfactory method of overturning the conclusion we have drawn, would be by shewing that these supernatural doctrines are altogether inconsistent with reason or with right. For we allow that miracles alone, however numerous, or merciful, or great, can never firmly establish the divinity of a system which is notoriously unjust or false. But we do confidently maintain, that wherever the character of a religion, so far as it can be understood, is both holy and true, the miracles by which it is accompanied are a sufficient proof that the whole system, if not unworthy of God, did actually proceed from him.

3. The last observation by which we endeavoured to confirm the divine authority of Jesus, consisted in an allusion to the unblemished beauty of his moral character; and here we have happily none of the sophisms of infidelity to contend with. A few sneers against the singularity of his virtue, and a few faint murmurs at the inimitable perfection of his example, are the only means by which his enemies have openly ventured to take away from the holy wisdom of his life. We may now, therefore, be permitted to

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