whether the union of the divine and human natures in the person of the poor despised Nazarene had been from the first so perfect and indissoluble that His mother, being the mother of One, in all respects, God over all, was therefore to be called the Mother of God.

And what were the things, close upon this, that agitated men's minds and divided them from one another? Why, such things as whether the Divinity of our Blessed Lord was the thinking principle within Him or whether He had a human soul as wellwhether He had two wills, a human and divine will, or whether He had but one.

Do not suppose for a moment by what I am saying that I am vindicating the Church for having brought these matters into such public dispute, or that I am defending the tone or spirit in which the disputes were conducted. I am merely adducing the fact that such things then shook not the Church only, but the world.

It is a very noticeable fact in the history of human thought, that the philosophers-the leaders of that thought-should, at the time of St. Paul, be uncertain about the being of God, and that a few generations after those who inherited the place and influence of these philosophers should receive all the dicta respecting Christ's Divine nature of the Nicene Creed; a minority objecting to one syllable.

And it is very noticeable that when Jesus of Nazareth was preached, the world of human thought should be uncertain about the future state, and that a few generations after the world of thought in the very same countries should adopt the conclusions in theology of one man, and that man St. Athanasius.

Now I know and I can imagine but one reason for so astounding a change, and that is the miraculous testimony to the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

I know no principle that can explain the fact of the subjugation of the civilized world to the Nazarene but this, that the religion of the Nazarene had credentials that the very men who rejected it could not disprove; and first and foremost among these credentials were the miracles by which it was at first commended to men's notice. Christ professed to rest His claim upon His miracles. So did His immediate followers. These claims were urged upon a people far more able than we are to investigate such claims. That people were subdued by the evidence of these claims and by nothing else.

I mean, of course, humanly speaking, for into the question of the operation of the Holy Ghost in producing faith I do not now enter.

And now, my brethren, in conclusion, what is this religion which the Son of God came down from heaven to teach you, and which

He commended to you by the Gospel miracles, and at the last sealed by His Resurrection? What does it reveal to you? and do you, in your hearts, believe what it has revealed? It has revealed to you much respecting God, and much respecting your own hearts, and much respecting the eternal world.

It has revealed to you much respecting God, that He is a creating, a sustaining, and reconciled Father, a redeeming Son, a sanctifying Spirit. Do you so believe all this as to look to Him as a child does to its father? Do you so believe in the Person and work of His Son, as to love Him sincerely for what He has done for you, as to plead His merits, ask for His intercession, take up His cross, and wait for His, coming? Do you so believe in the Person and work of His Spirit as to desire and pray for the working of His full sanctifying power within you, so that you, whosoever you are, (as believe me, is your privilege, if you have turned to God,)—so that you "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement?"

This revelation has made known to you much respecting your own hearts, that they are exceedingly deceitful,-oh! do you distrust them?-and yet it has told you that these hearts are works of God, and capable of renewal, and so you can glorify God by them, and God can reign in them.

This revelation makes known to you an eternal life-that God will keep your soul and risen body alive as long as He lives-even for ever and ever.

Do you, then, know Him Whom to know is life eternal?

396

NOTE ON SERMON ON MIRACLES,

CONTAINING

EXAMINATION OF SOME POPULAR OBJECTIONS.

SINCE Writing the foregoing sermon, I have read a tract on Miracles in a well-known series.* It is entitled "Signs of the Kingdom of Heaven," and as it is apparently written for much the same class of persons as my sermon is written for, and as the conclusions of the writer are directly opposed to mine, I purpose to examine some of his statements. I do this mainly for the purpose of showing the utter futility of endeavouring to meet half-way those who object to the signs and wonders recorded in the New Testament, as interfering with the order of nature. The sacred narrative so insists upon the evidential character of the miracles recorded in it, and gives them such prominence, that its doctrinal teaching and history must be accepted or rejected together. It will also give me the opportunity of answering some popular objections which could scarcely be brought forward in a sermon to a mixed congregation.

The first statement which I shall examine, the reader will find in page 13 :

66 Any conversion or adhesion to His cause which rested rather on the impression produced by superhuman power, than on the acceptance of the truth in the heart, was studiously repelled by our Lord Himself. This most remarkable fact is illustrated, as might be expected, in St. John's Gospel more than in the other three.” ́

Again, in page 15:

Tracts for Priests and People.