have recourse to this solution. The first case in the catalogue is scarcely distinguishable from the progress of a natural recovery. It was that of a young man, who labored under an inflammation of one eye, and had lost the sight of the other. The inflamed eye was relieved, but the blindness of the other remained. The inflammation had before been abated by medicine; and the young man, at the time of his attendance at the tomb, was using a lotion of laudanum. And, what is a still more material part of the case, the inflammation after some interval returned. Another case was that of a young man who had lost his sight by the puncture of an awl, and the discharge of the aqueous humor through the wound. The sight, which had been gradually returning, was much improved during his visit to the tomb; that is, probably, in the same degree in which the discharged humor was replaced by fresh secretions. And it is observable, that these two are the only cases which, from their nature, should seem unlikely to be affected by convulsions.

In one material respect I allow that the Parisian miracles were different from those related by Tacitus, and from the Spanish miracle of the Cardinal de Retz. They had not, like them, all the power and all the prejudice of the country on their side to begin with. They were alleged by one party against another-by the Jansenists against the Jesuits. These were of course opposed and examined by their adversaries. The consequence of which examination was, that many falsehoods were detected that with something really extraordinary much fraud appeared to be mixed. And if some of the cases upon which designed misrepresentation could not be charged were not at the time satisfactorily accounted for, it was because the efficacy of strong spasmodic affections was not then sufficiently known. Finally, the cause of Jansenism did not rise by the miracles, but sunk, although the miracles had the anterior persuasion of all the numerous adherents of that cause to set out with.

These, let us remember, are the strongest examples which the history of ages supplies. In none of them was the miracle unequivocal; by none of them were established prejudices and persuasions overthrown; of none of them did the credit make its way, in opposition to authority and power; by none of them were many induced to commit themselves, and that in

contradiction to prior opinions, to a life of mortification, danger, and sufferings; none were called upon to attest them, at the expense of their fortune and safety.1

ANNOTATION.

The pretenders to the art [of Animal Magnetism] by working upon the imagination of their patients,' &c.

At the time when Paley wrote, he had no means of knowing that the report of the French Physicians, to which he alludes, was other than carefully and candidly made. Time has since brought much truth to light on the subject; and the most diligent and fair-minded inquirers have for several years been convinced, that, though (as was to be expected) many instances of imposture and of delusion have occurred, a real, and powerful, and serviceable agent has been discovered; which does not however in the smallest degree shake the evidence for the Scripture-miracles, except in the minds of the wrong-headed and the thoughtless.

It may be thought that the historian of the Parisian miracles, M. Montgeron, forms an exception to this last assertion. He presented his book (with a suspicion, as it should seem, of the danger of what he was doing) to the king; and was shortly afterwards committed to prison, from which he never came out. Had the miracles been unequivocal, and had M. Montgeron been originally convinced by them, I should have allowed this exception. It would have stood, I think, alone in the argument of our adversaries. But beside what has been observed of the dubious nature of the miracles, the account which M. Montgeron has himself left of his conversion, shows both the state of his mind, and that his persuasion was not built upon external miracles. 'Scarcely had he entered the churchyard, when he was struck,' he tells us, 'with awe and reverence, having never before heard prayers pronounced with so much ardor and transport as he observed among the supplicants at the tomb. Upon this, throwing himself on his knees, resting his elbows on the tombstone, and covering his face with his hands, he spake the following prayer: 0 thou, by whose intercession so many miracles are said to be performed, if it be true, that a part of thee surviveth the grave, and that thou hast influence with the Almighty, have pity on the darkness of my understanding, and through his mercy obtain the removal of it.' Having prayed thus, many thoughts,' as he saith, began to open themselves to his mind; and so profound was his attention that he continued on his knees four hours, not in the least disturbed by the vast crowd of surrounding supplicants. During this time all the arguments which he had ever heard or read in favor of Christianity occurred to him with so much force, and seemed to him so strong and convincing, that he went home fully satisfied of the truth of religion in general, and of the holiness and power of that person, who,' as he supposed, had engaged the divine goodness to enlighten his understanding so suddenly.'-Douglas, Crit. of Mir. p. 214.

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PART II.

OF THE AUXILIARY EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

CHAPTER I.

Prophecy.

SAIAH lii. 13, liii. 'Behold, my servant shall deal pru

ISAIAH

dently, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: so shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done

no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.'

These words are extant in a book, purporting to contain the predictions of a writer who lived seven centuries before the Christian era.

That material part of every argument from prophecy, namely, that the words alleged were actually spoken or written before the fact to which they are applied took place, or could by any natural means be foreseen, is, in the present instance, incontestable. The record comes out of the custody of adversaries. The Jews, as an ancient father well observed, are our librarians. The passage is in their copies as well as in ours. With many attempts to explain it away, none has ever been made by them to discredit its authenticity.

And, what adds to the force of the quotation is, that it is taken from a writing declaredly prophetic; a writing, professing to describe such future transactions and changes in the world as were connected with the fate and interests of the Jewish nation. It is not passage in an historical or devotional composition, which, because it turns out to be applicable to some future events, or to some future situation of affairs, is presumed to have been oracular. The words of Isaiah were delivered by him in a prophetic character, with the solemnity belonging to that character; and what he so delivered, was all along understood by the Jewish reader to refer to something that was to take place after the time of the author. The public sentiments of the Jews, concerning the design of Isaiah's writings, are set forth in the book of Ecclesiasticus: 'He saw, by an excellent spirit, what should come to pass at the last, and he comforted them that mourned in Sion. He showed what should

come to pass forever, and secret things or ever they came.'(Chap. xlviii. ver. 24.)

It is also an advantage which this prophecy possesses, that it is intermixed with no other subject. It is entire, separate, and uninterruptedly directed to one scene of things.

The application of the prophecy to the evangelic history is plain and appropriate. Here is no double sense: no figurative language, but what is sufficiently intelligible to every reader of every country. The obscurities-by which I mean the expressions that require a knowledge of local diction, and of local allusion are few, and not of great importance. Nor have I found that varieties of reading, or a different construing of the original, produce any material alteration in the sense of the prophecy. Compare the common translation with that of Bishop Lowth, and the difference is not considerable. So far as they do differ, Bishop Lowth's corrections, which are the faithful result of an accurate examination, bring the description nearer to the New Testament history than it was before. In the fourth verse of the fifty-third chapter, what our Bible renders 'stricken,' he translates 'judicially stricken:' and in the eighth verse, the clause 'he was taken from prison and from judgment,' the Bishop gives, by an oppressive judgment he was taken off.' The next words to these, who shall declare his generation?' are much cleared up in their meaning by the Bishop's version, 'his manner of life who would declare?' i. e., who would stand forth in his defence? The former part of the ninth verse, ' and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,' which inverts the circumstances of Christ's passion, the Bishop brings out in an order perfectly agreeable to the event; and his grave was appointed with the wicked, but with the rich man was his tomb.' The words in the eleventh verse, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,' are, in the Bishop's version, 'by the knowl edge of him shall my righteous servant justify many.'

It is natural to inquire what turn the Jews themselves give to this prophecy.' There is good proof that the ancient Rabbins explained it of their expected Messiah; but their

1 'Vaticinium hoc Esaiæ est carnificina Rabbinorum, de quo aliqui Judæi mihi confessi sunt, Rabbinos, suos ex propheticis scripturis facile se extricare potuisse, modo Esaias tacuisset.'-Hulse, Theol. Jud., p. 318, quoted by Poole in loc.

Hulse, Theol. Jud., p. 430.