wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, to the bar of his own purblind. and sensual understanding. But still, as the

Christian advances in the path of holy obedience, a clearer light will shine around his spirit from every part of the revealed counsel of God. "In thy light we shall see light." This is the glorious promise which has been written for his encouragement-a promise to be fully accomplished hereafter, but of which the earnests are attainable even here below. It implies that the Christian, taught by the sacred oracles, may rise more and more into the light of heaven; that he may perceive, more and more, the glorious harmony of the Divine attributes in the plan of redemption -the unity of that counsel of love, which began to reveal itself in Paradise, and has continued to advance, with stately tread, throughout the later history of the world, and awaits the promised finishing of the mystery of God, when the trumpet shall sound, and the glory of our God and Saviour be most fully revealed. There is a vast interval from the first step of sincere inquiry to the latest triumphs of spiritual wisdom; from the faltering confession of a Nicodemus, "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"-to the triumphant song of the living creatures before the throne-"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." But he who sets himself seriously to learn the will of God, will find a ladder of spiritual ascent provided in these Christian evidences, by which he may rise higher and higher above the mists of doubt and infidel darkness; and at every step may obtain a wider and clearer vision, until he rise into that perfect light of Divine wisdom, which is the blessed privilege of redeemed spirits in heaven.

It remains now to inquire into the relative limits of these distinct kinds of evidence. How may we sustain the importance of outward proofs, without sacrificing the claims of reason and conscience, and exposing ourselves to the inroads of superstition? How, again, may we vindicate the claims of internal evidence, without degrading the authority of a Divine message, and compelling it to plead, like a suspected culprit, at the bar of our fallible reason? These questions demand a brief answer, since the danger of error is very great on either side.

C

And first, it is plain that miracles, in the loose and popular sense of the term, are no infallible test of a Divine message. They may be distinguished into improper and apparent, or proper and real miracles. The first are unaccountable or unexpected results from some unknown concurrence of natural causes. These, taken alone, will not establish the fact of a superhuman agency. They may, however, furnish a strong presumptive, or even the full proof of such an agency, when those results are announced beforehand, and we are sure that the messenger could not have foreseen them by his own wisdom. The proof of a supernatural power would then be complete, but not the evidence that this power is strictly and properly Divine. And since these apparent miracles have sometimes no clear mark to distinguish them from others, in which there is a direct suspension of natural laws by Divine power, they render peculiar caution very needful, in estimating the force of this branch of evidence.

Even in proper miracles, supposing them to be clearly discriminated from the others, a similar limitation still exists. In themselves, they prove merely the agency of a superhuman power. But further proof of some kind is needful, to determine whether this power be good or evilwhether it be God himself, or some spirit of darkness. Here the conscience must pronounce its verdict, and on some higher ground of reason or natural religion. We must be assured, either that no such powers exist, or that they would not be suffered to work the miracles under examination, or that the very nature of those miracles, and the marks of Divine goodness and majesty which they involve, forbid us to ascribe them to an evil power.

The first of these grounds is refuted alike by reason and Scripture. We know by experience that there are wicked men; and we may infer, by analogy, the probable, or at least the possible existence, of evil spirits, higher and more powerful than human beings. Reason would lead us rather to believe than to deny, that such powers do exist. The voice of Scripture is still plainer, and asserts clearly the existence of fallen angels, of deep malignity, and higher in intellectual dignity than mankind.

The proof, therefore, which miracles afford of a Divine message, resolves itself into one of two alternatives. The

former is when such clear signs of moral goodness and holiness attend them, as utterly to disprove the notion of an evil origin. This is plainly the highest and most complete. The second is, when there are no clear marks of moral good or evil in the message itself; but still the absence of any marks of an evil origin lend a presumption that God would not allow the suspension of his own laws, or a signal departure from the ordinary course of his providence, to attest a lying message from any power of darkness. This is not an absolute proof, but a high moral presumption, that the message is really Divine. Such a case is conceivable, but its actual occurrence is very unlikely. It is not on light grounds that the allwise God would ever permit the laws of nature to be set aside. Certainly, He will either reserve this power to himself, or refuse to delegate it to any evil spirit, unless in displeasure against aggravated wickedness, and with such plain moral tokens attending it, that no upright person could possibly be deceived. His own messages, we may be equally assured, will bear some stamp, more or less clearly impressed on them, of the wisdom and goodness of their Divine Author.

The miraculous proof of Divine revelation, it thus appears, to be really conclusive, must borrow some aid from the moral evidence. But we must observe carefully the narrow limit of this mutual dependence. All that we need is such an absence of apparent evil in the message as to prove that no evil spirit is its real author; because we cannot conceive the Almighty to allow such miraculous agency to powers of darkness, without some moral test that may shield his creatures from unavoidable delusion. Within these limits, the proof from miracles is complete. To wait until we discern the moral fitness of all parts of the message before we will receive it as Divine, is, under pretence of reason, to be most unreasonable. Revelation implies that man is fallen, and needs a recovery; that his spiritual discernment is grievously impaired, and needs restoration. If, indeed, his moral sense were totally extinct, he could never have any safeguard against being deceived by devilish miracles, supposing that God were to permit them to arise. But, on the other hand, if his spiritual senses were perfect, even Divine miracles would be superfluous, and he might be safely left to his own unaided powers. Hence it has been

wisely arranged, that the evidence first presented to him, that of miracles, needs only the scantiest possible degree of moral discernment to render it complete and decisive. It is only needful to decide whether it is God who speaks to us, or the devil. It is only the first, the weakest, the simplest utterance of natural conscience which is called into play. When faith has thus obtained a firm basis on which to rest, the Divine message will begin its great work, in purifying the heart, quickening the conscience, and renewing the powers of the soul; till at length the moral and spiritual evidence of the sacred revelation shines forth upon the regenerated spirit in more than noonday brightness.

The danger which may arise, when the evidence of miracles is stated too broadly, and without any limitation, is of no light importance. It is true that in the present day we are apt to think that the supernatural has ceased, and is not likely to reappear; but if we credit the plain statements of Scripture, our confidence, in this respect, may prove hollow and deceitful. The world has not ceased, in our days, to be a spiritual battle-field between the powers of light and darkness. The existence, the activity, and the malignity of evil spirits is a revealed truth. We are even convinced that, in the last days, there will be a brief season in which their power will be permitted to display itself, as a Divine judgment on human perverseness; and lying miracles will appear, of deceptive subtlety,-signs and wonders, which, if it were possible, would "deceive the very elect." It is well, therefore, to beware of any principles which might aggravate the force of such an awful delusion, and to remember that our appeal to miracles must always be attended with a further appeal to the conscience and the first lessons of moral discernment. Our confidence in the miraculous attestations of Christianity must never lead us to forget the apostolic warning," Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God."

On the other hand, the danger is still greater and more imminent, when the light of inward reason is made the exclusive test of supernatural revelation. This was the constant maxim of the earlier infidels, and has been revived by the German rationalists and metaphysicians of our own days. No folly can well be deeper, however it

may be masked under the name of reason. For this really makes the diseased palate the only test of the medicine which is designed for its cure. The fallen creature, blinded with sin, will receive a professed message of God, only so far as it suits his own ideas of what is reasonable. What is this but to deify the human understanding, and to pour contempt on the authority of God? The word of God is not given us, that we may try it by our own notions and speculations, and reject whatever we dislike or disapprove. Its purpose is far higher and nobler: to mould our spirits anew, to rectify our false conceits, to enlighten our dim vision, to awaken our dull conscience, and, in fine, to cast down all these proud imaginations of our fallen reason, and, raising it to a nobler and clearer vision of eternal things, to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The mountain tops of philosophy are a dangerous eminence, unless we remember, in our highest elevation, that God is infinitely above us still; that His words are fuller, deeper, and wiser, than our largest thoughts at present are able to conceive; that the foolishness of God is wiser than man; and that the soul has never advanced so high in true wisdom as when it sits, like Mary, with the docility of a little child, to receive every message, whether of faith or practice, of moral duty or unseen mysteries, which has been revealed to us in the sacred oracles by the lips of the allwise and everlasting King. The only moral evidence we have a right to demand at the outset, is just so much as may solve the inquiry, Has God himself really spoken, or is it only the supernatural work of some spirit of darkness? This question once answered, reason bids us listen with reverence, hear with faith, and practise with a willing obedience. But still, as we advance in the course of child-like trust and practical holiness, fresh light will dawn upon our conscience. The difficulties occasioned by our fallen state, and the dimness of our spiritual senses, will one by one disappear. The soul may begin its Christian course, only with the knowledge of the child, who hears its father's voice, and, though it cannot understand fully, believes that its father will not deceive it. But at length, persevering in faith and obedience, it will rise into that blessed state of spiritual wisdom, which the beloved disciple attributes