finite understanding. On time, Eternity hangs. As we live here, we shall live hereafter. If our time be well employed, and our talents well used, it will be well with us in the end. abuse both here, it will be ill with us hereafter. The present moment is important, chiefly, as it affects those which are future; begins, or strengthens, an evil or virtuous habit; depraves, or amends, the soul; hardens, or softens the heart; and contributes in this way to advance us towards heaven, or towards hell. There is no man, who is not better or worse to-day, by means of what he thought, designed, or did, yesterday. The present day, therefore, is not only important in itself, as a season, for which we must give an account; but because of the influence, which it will have on the events of the morrow. Thus circumstanced, frail, irresolute, wandering, wicked, exposed to immense dangers, and yet capable of immense enjoyments; how infinitely desirable is it, that we should have such a friend, as Christ. In his mind are treasured up all the means of happiness, which we need; the immense power, knowledge, and goodness, the unchangeable truth, faithfulness, and mercy, which, and which only, can provide, and secure, for us immortal blessings, or preserve us from evils, which know no end. In all places he is present; over all things he rules with an irresistible dominion. No being, no event, can be hidden from his eye. No enemy, however insidious, or however powerful, can escape from his hand. His disposition is written in letters of blood on the cross. He who died, that sinners might live; he who prayed for his murderers, while imbruing their hands in his blood; can need, can add, no proofs of his compassion for men. This glorious Redeemer is, also, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Such a friend to man, as he was when he hung on the cross, he will be throughout eternity; and to every one, who sincerely desires an interest in his good-will, he will manifest his friendship in an endless succession of blessings. While we wander through the wilderness of life, amid so many wants; how desirable must it be to find a friend, able and willing, to furnish the needed supplies! Amid so many enemies and dangers, how desirable must it be to find a friend, able and willing to furnish the necessary protection! Amid so many temptations, to watch over us; amid so many sorrows, to relieve us; in solitude, to be our companion; in difficulties, our helper; in despondence, our support; in disease, our physician; in death, our hope, resurrection, and life! In a word, how desirable must it be to find a friend, who, throughout all the strange, discouraging state of the present life, will give us peace, consolation, and joy; and cause all things, even the most untoward and perplexing, to work together for our good! On a dying bed especially, when our flesh and our hearts must fail, of course; our earthly friends yield us little consolation, and no hope; and the world itself retire from our view; how delight ful will such a friend be! Then the soul, uncertain, alone, hovering over the form, which it has so long inhabited, and stretching its wings for its flight into the unknown vast, will sigh, and pant, for an arm, on which it may lean, and a bosom, on which it may safely recline. But there, Christ is present with all his tenderness and all his power. With one hand he holds the anchor of hope; and with the other he points the way to heaven. In the final resurrection, when the Universe shall rend asunder, and the elements of this great world shall rush together with immense confusion and ruin, how supporting, how ravishing, will it be, when we awake from our final sleep, and ascend from the dust in which our bodies have been so long buried, to find this glorious Redeemer re-fashioning our vile bodies like unto his glorious body, and re-uniting them to our minds, purified and immortal! With what emotions shall we arise, and stand, and behold the Judge descend in the glory of his Father, with all his holy Angels! With what emotions shall we see the same unchangeable and everlasting friend placing us on his right hand in 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 first-born, 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, de lightful, 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 purpose. 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 cuspension, 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. 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 254 MIRACLES OF CHRIST. [SER. LX 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, 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. 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 No arguments are 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 Genne- The cures, which he wrought on lepers by his mere word and plea- I shall only add two instances more: one, in which he fed four, 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 plainest manner, to the senses, and understanding, of all men, pos of such a nature, as to be obvious, in the sessed 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 and continually wrought miracles. But this conviction could not have existed, to any considerable extent, unless he had actually wrought miracles. 5thly. The Apostles had no possible interest to deceive their fellow-men. They neither gained, could gain, nor attempted to gain, any advantage in the present world by publishing this story. On the contrary, they suffered, through life, the loss of all things, while declaring it, and the religion, of which it was the foundation, to mankind. In the future world, as Jews, believing the Old Testament to be the word of God, they could expect nothing, but perdition, as the reward of their useless imposture. 6thly. They were men, whose integrity has not only been unimpeached, but is singular. This is evinced by the fact, that innumerable multitudes of their countrymen, and of many other nations, embraced the religion which they taught; committed to their guidance their souls, and their everlasting interests; hazarded, and yielded, all that they held dear in this world, for the sake of this religion; and still esteemed these very men, through whose instrumentality they had been brought into these distresses, the very best of mankind. It is also proved by the further fact; that, in the ages immediately succeeding, as well as in those which have followed, their character has, in this respect, stood higher, than that of any other men whatever. 7thly. Their Narratives wear more marks of veracity, than any other which the world can furnish. 8thly. The Existence of these miracles is acknowledged by Jews, and Heathen, as well as Christians; and was wholly uncontradicted by either for fifteen hundred years. 9thly. These Narratives were the genuine productions of those, to whom they are ascribed. That they were written by these persons is unanswerably proved by the testimony of their cotemporaries, and very early followers. That they have come down to us uncorrupted, and unmutilated, is certain, from the age, and coinci dence, of numerous Manuscripts; from the Versions early made of them into various languages; from the almost innumerable Quotations from them, found in other books, still extant; from the joint Consent of orthodox Christians and heretics; from the Im possibility of corrupting them with success, because of the frequency, and constancy, with which they were read in public and |