Savior himself, of deliberate fraud and imposition; since they and he declared, with the most solemn asseverations, that he was directly sent by God, the Father of mankind, when, if there be no such Being, but only certain principles and laws, he could not have been sent by him. Their language, in that case, is altogether deceptive. It seems to mean one thing, when it really means something quite the reverse. When Jesus declares, again and again, that he came from the Father, and speaks his word, he does not intend what the words assert, but only what is equally true, in a degree, of all men. He was merely giving utterance to thoughts poured into his mind by the everlasting stream which flows into all minds. There was nothing special in his case, excepting, that, as he was purer and better than other men, his thoughts were higher and purer. They were from God in the same sense in which any man's thoughts are from God,

Plato's, Mahomet's, Luther's; they have the same authority; that is, no authority beyond what lies in their own evident truth the doctrine of Plato or Mahomet, of Luther or Confucius, is just as divine, and just as authoritative, if it but recommend itself as strongly to my mind; and a holy thought of Fenelon or Swedenborg is as truly a divine revelation, as the gospel of Christ. This is the result at which the doctrine arrives. It destroys the possibility of a revelation in any sense which makes it peculiar and valuable, by making all truth a revelation, and all men revealers. It takes away all special divinity and authority from the gospel, reduces it to a level with any other wisdom, and thus robs it of its power over the earth. Its pure and holy author becomes a pretender; for he professed to be sent from God, and to bring his message; he worshiped him, and spake of holding continual personal intercourse with him; and by such means he gained a hearing and an influence among

men, gained them, however, only by deceiving the world, if there be, after all, no personal God.

By thus tracking this doctrine through its various bearings, and observing its tendencies, we come to a clear discernment of its falseness and mischievousness. We see that it opposes what is taught in nature by all the marks of design which cover the works of creation; it sets aside the fundamental fact, that conscious, intelligent being, in its various relations, is the chief interest of the universe, for the sake of which every thing else is ; - it is a virtual denial of God, and a consequent overthrow of worship and devotion; - it injures happiness by taking from the affections their highest object, and virtue by enfeebling the sense of responsibility; contradicts the express lessons of the Bible, excludes the possibility of a revelation in any proper sense of the word, and denies to the gospel its right to authority and power.

it

But,

Of course, it will not happen that all these disastrous consequences will follow from this doctrine in the case of every individual who may receive it. To the pure all things are pure; and some men will dwell forever in the midst of abstraction and falsehood without being injuriously affected. Express infidelity is not vice, and may exist together with great integrity and purity of life. Atheism is not immorality, and may consist with an unblemished character. however it may be with individuals, living in the midst of a believing and worshiping community, it is not to be doubted that a community, unbelieving and godless, would rush to evil unmitigated and hopeless. A philosopher here and there, by his science and skill, might perhaps live without the sun; but, strike it out from the path of all men, and despair and death ensue.

On this subject, then, we are first to look for the truth, and then at the consequences of denying it. And those

consequences, we are to remember, may flow as certainly from a practical disregard of it, as from a speculative rejection. It is possible by the mouth to profess God, and in works to deny him. The number of those who can be misled by the ingenuity of an imaginative mind, is comparatively small; but the world is crowded with those who become aliens from God through the hardening influences of a worldly career, while they fancy themselves to know and acknowledge him as he is. On this account, the views of the present discourse ask the serious regard of all men. For who can doubt, that, among the causes which produce in society so much moral and religious deadness, this is one that men

satisfy themselves with referring to the laws and principles of nature, and stop short of that Being in whom they reside? How much is this a habit amongst us! We talk of the "laws of our being," and of living by them, and of the consequences of violating them, as we should talk of a machine,

or

of fate. We thus throw out of view the agency and love of the living God, whose children we are, and claim relationship to inanimate abstractions. According to the common phrase, we stop at second causes. And in so doing, we not only wrong the truth, which is thus denied, but defraud ourselves of that exercise and enjoyment of the thinking, affectionate spirit, in which our highest action and bliss are to be found. This ought not so to be. And until men come more to realize the presence and the authority of the living Father, who governs them now, and who will judge them in the end, it is vain to hope for any wider prevalence of elevated piety or of happy devotion to duty.

SERMON IV.

THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. — MIRACLES.

JOHN III. 2.

RABBI, WE KNOW THAT THOU ART A TEACHER COME FROM GOD; FOR

NO MAN CAN DO THESE MIRACLES THAT THOU DOEST, EXCEPT GOD BE WITH HIM.

I TAKE these words for a text at this time, because they express, in simplest form, the truth that the working of miracles is conclusive evidence of a divine mission. It was so, it seems, to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, who here expresses the common judgment of men. It was so to the blind beggar restored to sight, who reasoned with the chief men who cavilled. "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." It was also to the evangelist, when he wrote, Though he did so many miracles, yet they believed not; implying that they refused a sufficient testimony. It was so to Peter, when, addressing the Jews, he declared that Jesus was a man approved of God by miracles, and signs, and wonders." It was so esteemed by Jesus himself; when he showed his miracles to the disciples of John, in answer to their inquiries whether he were the Messiah; and when he said to the Jews, "The works that I do bear witness of me;" and again, "If ye believe not me, yet believe the works." This proposition, thus sanctioned by so various

testimony, I take for the foundation of what is now to be said on the subject of miracles; in which I am to complete our consideration of the divine government as manifested in special interposition for the instruction and guidance of mankind. Having seen,* in the morning, how it operated by inspiration and prophecy, we are now to observe how it acts in miracles. I treat the great subject only in those points of view which bear upon the present discussion. And accordingly my statement will embrace the three heads of their nature, their credibility, their uses.

power

I. Their Nature.- A miracle is an act beyond the of man to perform; an event out of the established course of nature - such as is an exception to its known laws, and can be accounted for only by the express interposition of divine power. There is a certain order established in nature- deeds are done and events take place agreeably to a fixed law of succession. There is a certain limit to human power, and to the operation of all known powers. Whatever takes place within these limits, is agreeable to the course of nature; whatever transcends these limits, transcends the course of nature, and is a miracle. Thus, that the command of a man should affect the wills of a multitude of men, and lead them to execute his pleasure, is agreeable to the fixed order of nature; but that the command of a man should cause the river to divide, or the tempest to cease, is opposed to the order of nature, and, being done, is miraculous -referable to the immediate interposition of divine power.

It is, however, sometimes said, that the case is otherwise; "there is, and can be, no infringement on the order of nature; these apparent exceptions, and sometimes violations, of. natural laws, are only instances of the action of higher

* This Discourse was one of a series on the Divine Government. See note, page 53.