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4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with J. P. 4740. thee? mine hour is not yet come.

verable. He who ordained the regularity of the universe, and appointed the powers and properties of its beings, can suspend the ordinary laws which govern this lower world. The credibility of the one class of uniform miracles depends upon the testimony of the senses and daily observation: the credibility of the unusual miracles depends upon the evidence of the senses of those who behold them. If the miracles which at present are daily exhibited were from this moment to cease, and another uniform course of events were to demonstrate in another manner the power of God, then, indeed, the experience of one generation would be contrary to the testimony of that which preceded it; but this experience would not falsify the testimony of the former generation. So also, we are no longer witnesses of the unusual miracles of God, yet we should act very irrationally to reject them, and to disbelieve them on that account, since they are transmitted to us by the concurrent testimony of the then existing generation of credible and unprejudiced witnesses.

The Jews, as well as others who believe in the authenticity of the Old Testament, and receive it as a divine revelation, declare their conviction of the certainty that the public miracles recorded therein are true, principally for the six following reasons:

1. The object of the miracles was worthy of its divine author.

2. They were publicly performed.

3. They were submitted to the senses in such a manner, that men might judge of their truth.

4. They were independent of second causes.

5. Public monuments were set up, and outward actions performed to commemorate them.

6. And this was done at the very time when the events took place, and continued afterwards without interruption.

The miracles of Moses, of Elias, and others recorded in the Old Testament, may be divided into those of a private and public nature; each of which are to be received on different grounds, according to the object proposed. The public miracles were designed to impress a whole tribe, or nation, or large body of men, with the conviction of a truth, or to confirm them in the profession of the true faith, in the days of indifference, apostacy, and idolatry: those of a more private nature were designed to convince individuals, or smaller bodies of men, of the same truths; by relieving human wants, or sufferings, by raising the dead, or in some cases by inflicting punishment, thereby demonstrating the divine mission of the prophet, and the importance and truth of all that he was appointed to teach.

1. Do the Jews believe in the miracles which were wrought by Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, because it was an object worthy of the Divine Being to save his people at the time when the prediction of his servant had announced their release? How much more worthy of the divine goodness was that greater deliverance of the descendants of the same Israelites from a worse bondage than that of Egypt, from the captivity of sin and death.

2. Were the miracles of Moses, which effected this deliverance, publicly performed? Was darkness brought upon the land? Were the fruits of the ground VOL. I.

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V. Æ. 27.

Cana, in Ga. lilee.

J. P. 4740.
V. Æ. 27.

Cana, in Galilee.

5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

destroyed? Was the river changed into blood, and was the Red Sea opened for their rescue? And were all these things publicly and instantaneously performed? Equally wonderful was the darkness at the crucifixion of Christ; the feeding of a multitude with seven loaves and a few small fishes; and, above all these, the public resurrection of the dead to life.

3. Could the senses of the people perceive and know the miracles of Moses and of Elias? So the miracles of Christ appeal to the scrutinizing examination of the multitudes who witnessed them.

4. Were the accumulations of the waves of the sea, as the gathering waters on each side of the passing Israelites rose in heaps, instead of smoothly proceeding on their course, evidently independent of second causes? So was the miracle of Christ, when he rose from his slumber in the endangered vessel, at the entreaties of his terrified disciples, to rebuke the raging of the winds, and the roaring of the sea, and command the elements to subside into a calm. What human power could have enabled Moses to divide the sea, or Joshua to roll back the tide of Jordan, or Elijah to part the river, and go through dry shod, or Christ to walk himself, and to enable Peter to walk on the bosom of the deep? They were the manifestations of the providence of the same God, watchful over the same people.

5. Were public monuments set up, or outward actions performed, to celebrate the miracles that delivered Israel from Egypt? Was the Passover appointed as a lasting memorial? Equally is it demonstrable that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was ordained as a continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and likewise the Christian Sabbath for a testimony of his resurrection: and, to come to the sixth criterion of public miracles, if the Passover was instituted at the time when the Exodus took place, to be continued from that day to the time of the true Paschal Lamb, we also, who glory in the name of Christians, can demonstrate, by the most indisputable authority, that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted but a few hours before the death of our beloved Master, and has ever, from that period, been commemorated by his followers, in remembrance of his precious death.

Let us refer also to other circumstances, and compare the character of the witnesses who have testified the truth of these miracles, under the separate dispensations. The most decided impugner of the truths of Christianity, who receives the Old Testament, will be satisfied with the evidence in favour of our sacred faith. In whatever point of view we consider these witnesses, we shall find them distinguished by the same characteristics. Their motives, circumstances, and conduct, wonderfully correspond. It appears graciously designed by Jehovah, that the whole system of Revelation should be established on the same evidence that if one was worthy of faith and acceptance, the other was equally so.

Was Moses, the legislator of his people, appointing for their government a new code of laws? So also was Christ the great lawgiver of his people. If Amos was an ignorant and obscure man, "neither a prophet, nor a prophet's son," but a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, it cannot be necessary to shew that the majority of the twelve apostles were equally unlearned, and so much

V. Æ. 27.

6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after J. P. 4740. the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

without pretension, that when the high priests desired to repress the incipient dawning of Christianity, they permitted them to remain at Jerusalem, as too inferior, both in rank and attainments, to excite either apprehension or suspicion. If the testimonies of Isaiah and Amos be received, and thereby, as a necessary consequence, demonstrate the divine origin of the Old Testament, what reason can be assigned why St. John and St. Paul, and the Apostles, should not be equally regarded as credible witnesses to the truth of Christianity?

Was Moses brought before Pharaoh, or Daniel before Darius, or the three children before Nebuchadnezzar, to appeal by the miracles that evidenced the superiority of Jehovah, to all the wise, and learned, and noble of their own day, and to confirm the truth of their religion for ever? So was Christ brought before Herod, before the Roman Governor, and the assembly of the Priests, who had heard of his mighty deeds. It was in the presence of the rulers of the people, that Christ raised the dead, and healed the sick, and created new limbs to the maimed; while they, hating his doctrine, were keenly and maliciously intent upon all his actions, to denounce him as an enthusiast, or to prove him an impostor. St. Paul struck the sorcerer with blindness at the tribunal of Paulus; and St. Peter restored the lame man, who was known to all the heads of the Priests, and the rulers of Israel.

Did Moses work his miracles in that place where detection would have been the most easy? So did Christ, when he multiplied bread in the wilderness, which produced only roots and herbs, the scanty provision of nature. Did the ancient Prophets so entirely and unanimously agree with each other, that no contradiction whatever is to be found between them? So neither can any variation of doctrine be discovered between the testimonies of the Evangelists, and the writers of the Epistles. Was Isaiah tortured with the saw, and Jeremiah cast into prison? So also were the Apostles, and first Martyrs, crucified, stoned, imprisoned, or otherwise persecuted. If we believe, therefore, the writers of the Old Testament; the same laws of reasoning and judgment require, that we should give equal credence to those of the New Testament. Of both it may be justly asked,

"Why should men, of various age and parts,
Weave such agreeing truths, or how or why
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie-

Unasked their pains, unheeded their advice,

Starving their pains, and Martyrdom their price."

The writers of the New Testament, like the writers of the Old, express themselves with the artless simplicity of truth; no real contradiction exists between them; their deviation is only an additional testimony in their favour, as it proves there could have been no intended deception, where was no premeditated scheme, not even the reconciliation of apparent differences.

If the representation of this agreement between the writers of the Old and New Testament, be not satisfactory to the Jewish reader, let him further consider the singular contrast between his past and present condition.

Cana, in Ga. lilee.

f Mark vii. 3.

J. P. 4740.

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water.

V. E. 27. And they filled them up to the brim.

Cana, in Galilee.

Unless the Messiah has really come, and the Jews have despised and crucified him, as we assert; by what means can they reconcile to themselves the fearful change that has taken place in their circumstances? Let them tell the Christian, for what reason it is, that the sons of Abraham, so long the peculiarly favoured children of God, who were honoured with miracles, admonished by prophets, directed by visions, and visited by angels, should, for so long a period, be permitted to wander over the whole world, a by-word, and the very scorn of all nations, without a king, a temple, or a prophet? When their proud and noble city was destroyed, idolatry had long ceased. They were zealous for the letter of the law-they venerated even the characters in which it was written, and the parchment on which it was inscribed. The gods of the Gentiles were abhorred. They ventured even to encounter the hatred of the merciless Caligula, rather than admit an image into their sacred temple. Jehovah was the God they worshipped, with an enthusiastic adherence to the minutiae of their difficult and burthensome ritual. The most embarrassing of their appointed ordinances was their pride and boast. Wherefore, then, has God forgotten to be gracious? They have endured, and suffered, and hoped, and prayed for mercy, for centuries; they have called upon the Jehovah who from the beginning promised them a Messiah-yet no prophet has appeared-no miracle has been wrought in their favour. Since the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem, which took place forty years after the crucifixion of their Redeemer, they have been scattered over the face of the whole earth, an astonishment, and a proverb, among all nations, (Deut. xxviii. 37.) by the command of an overruling Providence, an undeniable evidence of the fulfilment of prophecy, in their own blindness of heart, and of the truth of Christianity. Can any cause whatever be assigned for this standing miracle, this wonderful dispersion, so long, and faithfully predicted by their great lawgiver, (Deut. xxviii. 64—68.) than that which is given by inspiration itself. "He came to his own, and his own received him not;" and they remain, as Moses foretold they should remain, a "sign and a wonder," till the day in which they shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (c)."

(c) See the Letter of Mr. Hamilton to Dr. Herschell, chief Rabbi of the German and Polish Jews in London. Horne's Crit. Introduct. first edit. vol. i. p. 584. with his references. Limborch's Amica Collatio cum erud. Jud. 4to. p. 172. where this learned writer shews that the divine mission of Christ is less dubious than that of Moses. Quæro nunc: Si de alterutrius mirabilibus factis dubitari a quoquam possit, in quem magis alicujus artis, qua res non prorsus veras nec tantas ignaro populo persuasit, cadere possit suspicio; an in virum doctum, aulicum, potentem, liberatorem populi e durâ servitute, et omnia pro nutu suo moderantem; an in pauperculum, contemptum, doctoribus populi invisum, magistratui exosum, et omni humanâ ope, ac favore destitutum? Non solum ea in auctoribus et utriusque religionis fundatoribus est differentia; sed in ipso populo, qui hæc accepit, et posteris tradidit. Tempore enim Mosis, populus diuturnâ et durissimâ servitute fractus non poterat non esse rudis, et ignarus valde, et, uti est oppressæ plebis animus, paratior ad quævis magnifica de liberatoribus suis credenda, et de iis posteris suis majora tradenda; quam ii, qui jam libertati assueti, patriis institutis imbuti, legi, quam divinam habebant, addieti, nullo magno beneficio ab hoc suo Messiah in præsente hâc vitâ affecti, nullo

8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto J. P. 4740.. the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew ;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

V. Æ. 27.

Cana, in Ga.

lilee.

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples be- 8 Ch. i. lieved on him 12.

Christ goes

SECTION IV.

down to Capernaum, and continues there some short

time.

JOHN ii. 12.

After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his Capernaum. mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they h Matt.xii. 46. continued there not many days 13,

12 A very curious, but too forced and mystical an interpretation of this miracle, is given by Lampe, in which he endeavours to shew, that by the bridegroom is meant the governors of the Jewish Church-the bride is the Jewish Church itself-the marriage is the Christian dispensation. The failing of the wine is the departure of the Spirit of God from the Jewish Church, which had begun to depart from the purity of the law-the mother of our Lord is the heavenly Jerusalem, bringing into the liberty of the Gospel the children of the Jewish Church; but she is reproved for impatience, not knowing the times and seasons, or the hour which had not yet come. The water is changed into wine, that is, prophecy and the law are changed into the Gospel; with much more of the same kind. Lampe, vol. i. p. 518-520.

13 The expression, not many days, is used in Acts i. 5. In that passage it denotes ten days only, being the interval between the Ascension and the day of Pentecost.

mundano splendore, vel felicitate moti, et diversa plane expectantes; quibus igitur nihil aliud nisi rerum ipsarum claritas argumento esse posset, ut vel ipsi crederent, vel aliis pro veris narrarent. This is admirably done. The whole work abounds with eloquence, as well as sound argument. Leslie, in his Preface, acknowledges his obligations to Limborch, and confesses that his work was principally compiled from the Amica Collatio.

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