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Wisdom and benevolence displayed in the works of God.-All the divine works created in subserviency to mind.-Nature and Provi-` dence furnish such instruction to man as prepares him for the better blessings of a future life.-Not unreasonable to suppose that, if the well-being of man should require it, the Divine Being would occasionally interfere with the established order and laws of nature.Definition of a miracle.-False miracles of former times furnish no reasonable ground of objection to miracles in general.-Means of ascertaining the true character of any alleged miracle.-Fruitless endeavours which have been lately made to restore the age of miracles.— Reasons for not believing in the recent alleged miraculous cures.Infinite superiority of the evidence for the Christian miracles.-Rules of judgment applied. Of the miraculous destruction of the herd of swine. Of the blighting of the barren fig-tree.-Moral uses of the miracle.-Chief objections of the unbeliever considered.-By denying the miraculous origin of Christianity we virtually admit an effect without any adequate cause.

WE can direct our attention to no portion of the magnificent creation, without being forcibly struck with the wisdom and benevolence therein displayed. Whether we consider the vast or the diminutive, the sublime or the beautiful, of na

ture's works; whether we contemplate them in their boldness and irregularity, or in their grace and symmetry, we perceive every where, parts of a system, and of a design, both wise and good. From the sun in the firmament, dispensing its light and heat, and diffusing its life-giving influence throughout our globe, to the remotest star that glitters in the 'diadem of night:' from the most splendid and striking phenomena of nature, to the commonest and minutest of her operations : from the noblest of nature's works, to the meanest of her productions, all manifest intelligence and goodness, and display the wisdom and the greatness of the designing mind. We involuntarily exclaim 'O the depth of the wisdom, the irresistible power, the unbounded goodness of the Creator! His understanding is infinite, his judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.'

But it is not less manifest, that these works were created in subservience to, and for the exercise of, mind, than that they were the offspring of mind. The world was intended for other purposes besides those which constitute it the residence of animals, and the source whence they should dérive the necessaries of life. The glorious orbs which revolve in the vast spaces of the universe, were created for something more noble than to attract the vacant gaze and excite the idle curiosity of one species of sentient beings, and to contribute, by the dispensing of light and heat, and the influencing of the times and seasons, to produce sustenance for every species. Besides their accomplishing of the Creator's will, with respect

to the purposes of the animal life, they were designed to call forth and exercise the faculties of the spiritual life, and to lead rational beings, by contemplation and reflection to the Author of the stupendous structure. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their testimony is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Whether, therefore, we regard the shining host of heaven, or confine our attention to the constituent properties of the world we inhabit, whether wer reflect upon the great variety and wise contrivance manifested in the works of God, or consider ther economy of any particular portion of these works, we cannot fail to discover proofs of their having been designed as so many studies for the human mind, as matters furnishing abundant exercise for man's rational powers, and affording ample means whereby mind may be disciplined, expanded, strengthened, indefinitely produced. 16°

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As the works of God, in the whole frame and economy of nature, present to the human mind subjects for contemplation, by which its latent/ properties may be drawn forth and exercised, so! also do the dealings of his providence in the moral world conduce to the same beneficial end. Here we trace the general connexion which subsists between virtue and happiness, and between vice! and misery; between the conscientious discharge! of duty, and the peace of mind and various other

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blessings that attend upon it, and between a reckless disregard of principle, and the shame and perdition that are the necessary consequences of such baseness. Here we may perceive that the helpless, and other indigent, and the humble, and the innocent, are often protected and relieved as it were by an invisible hand, while the powerful, and the haughty, and the self-confident and thẹ worldling, are smitten with destruction Yea,

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the Lord loveth the righteous the Lord raiseth up them that be bowed down the Lord preserveth the stranger. He executeth judgment for the oppressed he relieveth the fatherless and widow -but he disappointeth the hope of the wicked.

Nature and providence therefore, form a school, which was instituted for the education of man. When the Creator's mandate went forth, and all things stood fast, he had regard to the future creation, discipline, and education of mind; not merely to the production of sentient beings, who should strut their brief hour upon the stage of existence, enjoy the advantages and the pleasures of the sensual life, and then sink into their original nothingness: this end would have been accomplished, had the Deity limited his power to the creation of the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven: but, that creatures might be brought into life, who should be capable of duly appreciating their blessings, of loving, serving, and glorifying their Creator, and of enjoying his favour for ever. ii,

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Since, therefore, nature's works, and the laws by which they are governed, were constituted

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chiefly for God's reasonable creatures since the whole scheme of divine providence seems to have been instituted for the training and disciplining of intelligent beings, why should it be thought unnatural, unreasonable, or incomprehensible, that the Deity may have occasionally interfered with the established course of the laws of nature and providence, when the welfare of man required it?

In the objections raised against these occasional interpositions, there seems to be more importance attached to the material part of creation's works, than to the intellectual, notwithstanding that the former must undoubtedly be subservient to the latter.j

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idt was our endeavour to show, in a previous lecture, on the Antecedent Probability of the Christian Revelation, that the circumstances and condition of mankind, at the time of Christ's appearance, required such a departure from the ordinary course of nature as that which, Christians allege, did take place. Then it was, that a voice more than human, was necessary to arouse mens' torpid faculties, and that a messenger, with an errand, and with powers, more than human, were needed, to recall men from the ways of sin and death.

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The Christian says, that this voice, and this messenger, were vouchsafed to mankind, when the spirit of God descended upon the Saviour and proclaimed This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' and that, in thus giving a revelation which brought life and immortality to light, God did but continue to carry forward his original pur

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