ing wonders which He performed. All these circumstances connected together convinced those who were not wilfully blind, that Jesus of Nazareth was no other than He who "should finish the transgression, make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, and seal up the vision and prophecy." (Dan. ix.) Or, in other words, and those the words of the text, that in Him was the mystery of godliness revealed, that He was "God

manifest in the flesh."

Therefore, when the people saw his manifestations of miraculous power, and compared them with the doctrines which He taught, the conduct by which He was distinguished, the preceding circumstances of his birth and past life, and the prophecies which went before concerning Him, they rightly exclaimed, "This is the Son of God." And this was not a mere expression of their belief in Jesus as a great teacher sent by the Almighty, who, on account of excellence

superior to that of his fellow-men, peculiarly merited this appellation. "Son of God" had reference to the belief which prevailed in the ancient Jewish church from the earliest times, and which regarded the divine economy in general, and all the revelations which had been vouchsafed from the Deity to man, as proceeding from that Person who was the eternal Word, the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father. When we view our blessed Saviour as the Incarnation of Jehovah when we apply to Him the words of the text, "God was manifest in the flesh," we shall cease to regard as wonderful the miracles which He performed. Nay, it would have been more wonderful, had his mission upon earth been unaccompanied by any such manifestations of Almighty power. The supernatural events which are recorded in the New Testaments, instead of fostering the doubting spirit of the sceptic, ought rather to confirm our belief in the great truths, of which the revelation was accompanied by

these miracles. For, as the miracles would not have afforded satisfactory proof, had they been unconnected with doctrine and corresponding practice; and had they not been preceded by prophecy, and universal expectation founded on prophecy; even so, the advent of Him, who was foretold by the prophets, who brought life and immortality to light, and who appeared on earth as the incarnate God, would have been strange and unnatural, had it not been attended by signs and wonders, which, by the degree of power they exhibited, were suited to the magnitude of the occasion. If God's dealings with men appear wonderful in individual miracles, they are infinitely more so, when considered in relation to the creation and government of the universe; and his occasional deviation from the rules of nature by himself established, ought not, when rightly considered, to excite surprise, but rather to confirm our faith, by bringing immediately before us the mighty arm of the Lord, of whose

operation we are too apt to lose sight, when veiled behind the ordinary working of the laws of nature.

The

Our blessed Saviour is held up to our veneration as Lord of endless life, God in man, everlasting Word, not so much on the ground of the miracles which the sacred history records as having been performed by Him, as on that of the spiritual life which he imparts. apostles challenge not our belief in Christ because He performed this or that miracle. But they say, Believe on Him, who died and rose again, and ascended to heaven, from whence He sends his Holy Spirit upon his church. His resurrection must not be regarded as an individual miracle, like that of Lazarus, but as the foundation of the eternal union of the divine and human natures in heaven, from whence He imparts his blessed Spirit to all of us who will receive the glad tidings of the Gospel. The miracles of Christ do not bear a more convincing attestation in support of his divinity, than He him

self does in favour of their reality. When regarded as acts of the Divine Mediator, they cease to excite our surprise, for then they appear natural, and their absence would have been inconsistent with our ideas of Christ's character, and of the nature of his mission. The Lord of everlasting life revives and quickens the souls of his servants; and it was no more than was to be expected, that he should possess the power of reanimating a body with life which is perishable. Christ is the Word of God, Lord of the universe, God manifest in the flesh; and He thus embodies in himself the powers of nature which He bends to his will, and which, while He dwelt on earth, He made to subserve the great purpose of attesting the divinity of his character, and the truth of his mission.

Let the commencement of the Gospel of St. John be taken as the groundwork of our system of theology; and then the miracles of our Saviour will follow as a necessary consequence of the mission of