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SERMON LX.

MIRACLES OF CHRIST.

ACTS ii. 22.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.

In a series of discourses, I have considered, at length, the character of Christ, as a Prophet, Priest, and King. I shall now proceed to investigate his character as a Worker of Miracles.

In the text, Christ is styled Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among the Jews. This approbation is declared to have been testified by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of that People: and of all this, it is asserted, the Jews themselves had been witnesses. These subjects I propose to consider in the following discourse, so far as I shall judge necessary to my general design. I shall, however, neglect the order of the text; and adopt one more suited to the present pur

pose.

I. I shall define a Miracle:

II. Shall show that Christ Wrought miracles: and,

III. Shall point out their Importance.

I. I Shall define a Miracle.

A miracle is a suspension, or counteraction, of what are called the Laws of Nature. By the laws of nature I intend those regular courses of Divine agency, which we discern in the world around us.

glory and honour, which kings will covet in vain, and before which all earthly grandeur shall be forgotten? With what melody will the voice of the Redeemer burst on our ears, when he proclaims, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom, prepared for you from the foundation of the world? How will the soul distend with transport, when, accompanied by the Church of the firstborn, and surrounded by Thrones, Principalities, and Powers, it shall begin its flight towards the highest heavens, to meet his Father and our Father, his God and our God? What an internal heaven will dawn in the mind, when we shall be presented before the throne of JEHOVAH, and settled amid our own brethren in our immortal inheritance, and our final home; and behold all our sins washed away, our trials ended, our dangers escaped, our sorrows left behind us, and our reward begun, in that world, where all things are ever new, delightful, and divine?

At these solemn and amazing seasons, how differently will those unhappy beings feel, who on a death-bed find no such friend; who rise to the resurrection of damnation; who are left behind, when the righteous ascend to meet their Redeemer; who are placed on the left hand at the final trial; and to whom in the most awful language, which was ever heard in the Universe, he will say, Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels?

SERMON LX.

MIRACLES OF CHRIST.

Acrs ii. 22.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.

In a series of discourses, I have considered, at length, the character of Christ, as a Prophet, Priest, and King. I shall now proceed to investigate his character as a Worker of Miracles.

In the text, Christ is styled Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among the Jews. This approbation is declared to have been testified by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of that People: and of all this, it is asserted, the Jews themselves had been witnesses. These subjects I propose to consider in the following discourse, so far as I shall judge necessary to my general design. I shall, however, neglect the order of the text; and adopt one more suited to the present pur

pose.

I. I shall define a Miracle :

II. Shall show that Christ Wrought miracles: and,

III. Shall point out their Importance.

I. I Shall define a Miracle.

A miracle is a suspension, or counteraction, of what are called the Laws of Nature. By the laws of nature I intend those regular courses of Divine agency, which we discern in the world around us.

God, to enable us to understand his works, and his character as displayed in them, and to enable us, also, to direct, with success, our own conduct in the various duties of life, and probably for other purposes, has been pleased to conform his own agency to certain rules, formed by his wisdom; called by Philosophers Laws of nature, and in the Scriptures, Ordinances of Heaven. To these laws all things, with which we are acquainted by experience, are usually conformed. A miracle, is either a suspension or counteraction, of these laws; or, more definitely, of the progress of things according to these laws. I have chosen both these words, because I would include all possible miracles; and because some events of this kind may more obviously seem to be suspensions, and others counteractions of these laws.

II. I shall show, that Christ wrought miracles.

In this case, I shall, for the present, assume the story as true, which is told us by the Evangelists concerning the works of Christ; and refer my observations on this subject to another part of the discussion. Taking it, then, for granted, that Christ really did the things, ascribed to him in the Gospel; I assert, that a considerable number of these things were real miracles. I say a considerable number, because it would be idle to extend the debate, on the present occasion, to any thing, supposed to be of a dubious nature; and because, after every deduction which can be asked, a sufficient number will remain to satisfy every wish of a Christian, and to overthrow every cavil of an Infidel. Among other examples of this nature, I select the following.

The case of the man, who was born blind: who observed justly concerning it, Since the world began, it was not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. No arguments are necessary to prove this to have been a miracle in the perfect sense; for every individual knows, that it is a total counteraction of the laws of nature, that clay, made of spittle and earth, and smeared upon the eyes, should restore sight to a person born blind. I select this case the rather, because it was formally examined by the Jewish Sanhedrim, and evinced to have been real, beyond every doubt.

The case of Christ's walking upon the water in the lake of Gennesaret is another, equally unexceptionable.

The cures, which he wrought on lepers by his mere word and pleasure; cures, which no other person has been able to perform by any means whatever; are instances of the same nature. Of the same nature, also, are those cases, in which he raised the dead to life: viz. the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. That these persons were all really dead, there is not the least room to doubt: that they were all raised to life is certain.

I shall only add two instances more; one, in which he fed four, and the other, in which he fed five, thousand men, besides women and children, with a few loaves of barley bread, and a few little fishes. In this miracle creating power was immediately exerted, with a degree of evidence which nothing could resist, or rationally question.

That all these were miracles, according to the definition, given above, must, I think, be acknowledged without hesitation. Arguments to prove this point, therefore, would be superfluous.

That these facts really took place, and that the narration, which conveys the knowledge of them to us, is true, has been so often, so clearly, and so unanswerably proved, that to attempt to argue this point here would seem a supererogatory labour. All of you have, or easily can have, access to a numerous train of books, containing this proof, elucidated with high advantage. I shall, therefore, consider this subject in a manner extremely summary, and calculated to exhibit little more than a mere synopsis of evidence, pertaining to the subject. For this end I observe,

1st. The facts were of such a nature, as to be obvious, in the plainest manner, to the senses, and understanding, of all men, possessed of common sense.

2dly. The narrators were eye and ear-witnesses of them.

3dly. They were performed in the most public manner; in the presence of multitudes, the greater part of whom were opposers of Christ.

4thly. They were generally believed, so generally, as to induce, customarily, the friends of the sick and distressed, wherever Christ came, to apply to him with absolute confidence in his ability to relieve them: a fact, which proves the universal conviction of the Jewish people, at that time, that Christ certainly

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