Aood and cried, faying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the Scripture bath faid, out of his belly fhall flow rivers of living water." In a greater latitude, to preach is, from a given topic, to argue, to. exhort, to reprove, to encourage; to affail the heart, in the view of producing conviction, and of regulating the life through every avenue of the foul, the intellect, the pallions, the very fenfes, Thus Paul on Mars-hill at Athens," preached Jefus and the refurrection." Thus alfo at Troas, after breaking of bread, he preached, and continued his fpeech until midnight." And as Chrift himself thus preached, "he fent out his twelve difciples to preach, faying the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and with this folemn charge he left them, when he afcended into heaven: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptifing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghoft; teaching them to observe all things whatfoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." And thus until now, through the operation of his mighty power, "the foolishnels of preaching," the preaching of "Chrift crucified" is to them that are called, Chrift the power of God, and the wisdom of God.",

Teaching and preaching were accompanied and supported by the difplay of miraculous powers, all employed in doing. good." He healed all manner of fickness, and all manner of difeafe, among the people." This general defcription of human wretchednefs, to which the promised Meffiah was to apply a remedy, is followed by a fad enumeration of the feveral particulars which compofe this depreffing aggregate; fome of them were more common, and in many cafes removable by human skill and the ufe of ordinary means; fome were more obftinate and hopelefs, as the palfy, lunacy, which in general bid defiance to the healing art, and terminate at length, the one in the diffolution of the body, the other in a total derangement of the mental powers. This catalogue is closed by an extraordinary malady, feemingly peculiar to that period and fpot of the world, diabolical poffeffion. Attempts have been made to explain away this terrible. affliction into a fpecies of madnefs or epilepfy, to which the human frame has in all ages been deplorably fubjected, but which can with no propriety bè afcribed to the operation of malig-nant fpirits. The inftances; however, both of the existence of; the disease, and of the cure, are too numerous, and too fpecific, to be confounded with mental diforder or bodily, infirmity; and every attempt of the kind ought to be refifted, as a blow aimed at all historical evidence, as an infidious defign to limits

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the agency of fpiritual beings, and to measure all exifting pow ers by those of man. The influence of "the spirit that now worketh in the children of difobedience" has no need to be des monftrated. And wherefore fhould it be thought a thing incredible that, for a feafon, and for purposes by us infcrutable, this evil fpirit might be permitted to harrafs and convulfe the bodies of men, that the fuperior power of the Son of God might be manifefted in recovering, both in body and in fpirit, "out of the fnare of the devil, them who are taken captive by. him at his will ?'

The whole taken together, the teaching, the preaching and the miraculous cures performed by Chrift, in their combined effect, amount to this: There is not an evil which man is liable to, in his body, his mind, his eftate, of yesterday or of ma ny years ftanding, but what muft yield to the wifdom, the power, the grace of Chrift. It was the union of those several methods of conducting his divine miffion that gave weight to each feparately, and to the combined whole. Miracles without infiruction might have amufed, might have excited admiration and aftonishment. But we know how very tranfient and inef cient impreflions of this fort are. The wonder ceafes, it is driven out by a new prodigy, and this, in its turn, gives place to a third, and fo on in fucceffion, till extraordinary become mere common things, and no falutary effect is produced. But when the perfon who has been trying to inftruct me, and whose leffons I found wearifome, and treated with neglect, takes a kindly intereft in me and my concerns, makes my health and comfort his own; when he interpofes feafonably, condefcendingly, in behalf of myself, my child, my friend, my neighbour; and not only seasonably, but powerfully, effectually, in a way that lar transcends the ufual courfe of things; when I Behold my teacher and my benefactor to be one and the fame, the fame man who vouchlafed to point out truth and tell me my duty, giving fight to a man that was born blind, and raising the dead to life, then the leffon comes with force to the heart and confcience. Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler, felt and acknowledged the irrefiftible power of this combination. He faid to Jefus," Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do thefe miracles that thou doeft, except God be with him." Thus the fimplicity of doctrine is dignified and impreffed by the luftre of miracle, and the effect of miracle, on the other hand, acquires permanency. from the ftability, importance and usefulness of the doctrine.

The preaching of the Gofpel is no longer fupported and. confirmed by miracles. Granted. It is no longer necessa

ry that it should. While fupernatural, external aid was neceffary, fuch aid was communicated. In Jefus Chrift, and in what he did, taught and fuffered, the Scriptures were fulfilled. He authenticated his commiffion by the feal of miracles. Under that feal he executed it; and that feal he tranfmitted to his immediate disciples. Under it they acted, and the world was chriftianized. Miracles have effected all that they were intended to effect, and the Gospel now refts on its own unmoveable bafis. What need of the formality of a feal to a writing which bears the impress of Deity on every line, on every letter? You call for miraculous proof of its divine original. That very call, in the nineteenth century from its firft eftablishment, is the proof. Had it not been the caufe of God and truth, it must long ere now have cealed to be a fubject of difcuffion. When the oppofition of avowed enemies, and the treachery of pretended friends, are taken into the account, that Chriftianity fhould at all exift, is the greatest wonder that ever was prefented to the world. You call for proof; it is at hand. What political, philofophical, moral system ever lafted fo long, or could boaft fo many profelytes? What fyftem is fo favourable to Icience, to intellectual, civil, moral improvement? Introduce the fpirit of Chrift, and defpotifm and flavery expire together; man is fettled on a bafis of equality which disturbs not the order of society, and a prospect is opened of a state of being in which all the disorders now prevalent fhall be completely rectified. You cail for proof; it is at hand. Go to hamlets and huts; look to empty fcrips and exhaufled penury, to the field of painful, unproductive toil, and to the bed of languishing; fee Rachel weeping for her children, because they are not, and David mourning over living, ungracious children. The fufferers repine not, they charge not God foolishly; they commit themselves to him who clotheth the lily and feedeth the raven; labour makes reft fweet, and hope puts a pillow under the drooping head; the heart is poured out before God, and the countenance is no more fad. Is this no miracle ? In what school of the philofophers are fuch leffons taught? And let it be obferved that thefe, and fuch as thefe, are not the glaring, splendid triumphs of Chriflianity, but its daily, noiseless, unobtruding, unoftentatious operation.

"Except ye fee figns and wonders, ye will not believe." Is miraculous proof of the divinity of the Gospel ftill demanded? It is at hand. By what inftruments does the great Jehovah ftill fupport and extend the Mediator's kingdom? By men themfelves feeble, ignorant, forlorn like thofe to whom they minif ter: men ftanding in need of the felt-fame inftruction, confo

lation and fupport which they are called to adminifter to othe ers men, in general, as little qualified by natural endowments or by the acquifitions of literature, to fubvert the kingdom of Satan, and to build up that of Meffiah, as the fishermen of Galilce were to fhake the throne of the Cefars. and to restore that. of David which was fallen down. It is in every age he fame. "Where is the wife? where is the fcribe ? where is the dif puter of this world? Hath not God made fool fh the wifdom of this world? For after that, in the wifdom of God, the world by wifdom knew not God, it pleafed God by the foolishness of preaching to fave them that believe." "Who then isPaul, and who is Apollos, but minifters by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increafe. So then, neither is he that planteth any thing. neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increafe." 'We have this treasure in earthen veffels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

Still call for proof! What kind and degree of proof will fatisly or filence Infidelity? Shall the fun stand still and the moon be flayed? Are not the conftant and uniform motions and appearances of thofe great luminaries an equal, or a fuperior demonftration of fovereign power and wifdom? Shall the fhadow upon the fun dial of Ahaz be accelerated or retarded ten degrees What can it prove more than is done by a steady and regular progreffion? Thousands are fed miraculously, at once, by a few loaves and fishes. Is the miracle lefs which day by day feeds the innumerable tribes of the human race, by a procefs of vegetation, and of animal increase? The producing hand is the fame in both cafes, the manner of production makes all the difference. Should one rife from the dead, will ye believe and repent? One has arifen from the dead: but infideli-' ty ftill holds out. And we must leave it to its confequences: If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets, neither will they be perfuaded though one rofe from the dead."

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As the evidence, fo the doctrine of Christianity is the fame. that it was from the beginning. Whether to the Jew or to the Greek; the preaching of John or of Chrift himself, of the primitive difciples, or of the minifters of to-day, it is a teftifying of repentance toward God, and of faith toward our Lord Jefus Chrift." From the beginning to the end of the world, the call is," Turn ye, turn ye, Why will ye die ?" "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.' The command and the promise are blended together: "Believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou fhalt be faved," and they are addreffed equally to the jailor at Philippi, and to the multitudes at Jerufalem

"Repent

"Repent and be baptifed every one of you in the name of Jefus Chrift for the remiffion of fins, and ye fhall receive the gift of the Holy Ghoft." The univerfality of guilt demands univerfality of contrition and reformation; and there is but one "blood" that cleanfe:h from all fin;" "neither is there falvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be faved."

What other teacher, what other legiflator did not find himfelf under the neceffity of suspending, of relaxing, of mitigating the feverity of the law; of accommodating himfell to times, tempers, and circumftances? Even Mofes himfelf was obliged to temporize, and to connive at the breach of the law, in favour of the hardness of the people's hearts. But the great Christian Legislator has but one unvarying, inflexible code, for the prince and the peasant, for the noble and the ignoble, for the flave and his mafter. It alone fuits all nations, all feasons, all fituations. Among the other marks of Deity this is not the leaft. Chriftianity is a religion, not for this diftrict or for that, but for the globe; no: for the Jew or the Greek, but for mankind, and thus approves itlelf to be of him who "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Nay more, Chriftianity is a religion for both earth and heaven, for time and for eternity. Its fpirit is the fpirit of love and perfect love is the fulfilling of the Law and the perfection of felicity. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, thefe three: but the greateft of thefe is charity." Wherefore? Faith and hope are adapted to a flate of trial and suffering; they imply doubt, difficulty, imperfection: " but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part fhall be done away." But after the exercife of faith and hope has ceafed, charity is arrived at its maturity; a maturity that knows no decay. Thus are "the fpirits of just men made perfect."

Once more we afk, Is the hiftory which we have been reviewing, the hiftory of a mere man? Is there nothing fuperior, nothing divine in this mode of teaching and acting? What mortal could have engaged in fuch an enterprize, with fuch fupport and have profpered? What human power and fkl reach to the paralytic, the lunatic, the leper? What arm of flesh can control" the prince of the power of the air?" What eloquence of man can perfuade the rich, or the poor, to give up every thing? What tongue can fay, with effect, to the wind and to the fea, Peace, be ftill ?" If thefe are not proofs of a prefent Deity, What proof can be demanded, What proof can be given? Our knees bow, our tongues confefs "that Jefus Chrift is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Amen.

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LECTURE