and renewed, as to abide the scorching sun of temptation and persecution. Let such a stedfastness be maintained, that hope may arise, and gather strength and maturity, within us. Yet a genuine and well-grounded hope cannot even exist in the soul of him, who does not know and obey the promises and precepts of the Gospel. But if hope has respect to the blessings which Jesus has purchased, and be founded on a scriptural faith, and attended by that "charity, which never faileth," it will then be "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, which entereth within the vail, whither our forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." He, as the Baptist declared, is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." And John also bare witness, "that he is the Son of God;" and solemnly said to his disciples, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him "."

a John i. 29, 34; iii. 36.

ban LECTURE VIII.

OUR LORD'S APPEAL TO HIS MIRACLES AS ATTESTING HIS DIVINE MISSION.

St. JOHN V. 36.

But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

In whatever point of view the serious inquirer contemplates the facts and circumstances of the Christian story, or any portion of them, he cannot fail to be impressed with a conviction, that he therein discerns the arm of the Almighty not obscurely revealed, but employed for great and holy purposes. The evidence arising from miracles doubtless affords to us one of the most obvious and intelligible indications of this truth; and one which has been observed and acknowledged even by those, who have taken a less detailed and complete survey of the whole, and who have, therefore, perhaps, not attended much to the

evidence arising from the proceedings, character, and witness, of John. The Gospel records, however, present to us the latter of these as the earliest subject for our examination; and no one, who has given to it the attention which it deserves, will be disposed to deny, that it affords a most satisfactory evidence of the truth of Christianity. In our last Lecture we took the particular view of this extensive argument, which was suggested by the words immediately preceding our text. In our text our Lord states, that the miracles which he wrought are “a greater witness than that of John." Not that the one was of divine appointment and interference, and the other not; but because miracles are the visible tokens of divine interposition, from which the inference is more immediate, and of which the evidence is more sensible. And, indeed, the witness of John, considered merely as the testimony of a zealous and holy person, and even as that of a prophet, is not complete without the evidence of miracles; for these were necessary in order to prove Jesus to be the mightier one of whom he spoke. John's ministry wonderfully prepared the way for that of our Lord, that he might, with more advantage, appear as the worker of miracles, and as the authoritative teacher of a more enlarged scheme. But the miracles themselves were the greater, more definite, and more unequivocal

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demonstration of his authority, and of the divinity of his doctrine.

The words of our text might, indeed, be considered as referring, not merely to the mighty works which he performed in order to our conviction, but also to "the whole work which the Father gave him to do." And, undoubtedly, from the great design itself, and its accomplishment, an argument arises which includes all others, and which sets them before us with the greatest advantage; because we then not only discern the force of each, separately considered, but of all as connected with each other, and as manifesting, both the unity and consistency of the design, and the completeness of its accomplishment. But that the words of our text have a more limited reference, appears from the phraseology which our Lord employs on other occasions. And in the first passage which we shall cite, there seems decidedly to be such an allusion to the very words of our text, as clearly to shew, that our Lord intended therein to refer to his miracles.

Shortly after the cure of the man born blind, some of the Jews, who, as the context shews, probably were persons in authority, "said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ; tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not; the works that I do in my Father's name, they

bear witness of me." In a subsequent part of the same conference, he again alluded to the "good works which he had shewed them from his Father;" and added, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." To his disciples he delivered similar statements; which, being more enlarged, point out to us more fully the connexion of these miracles with the doctrines, in proof of which he wrought them; and the criminality of not attending to that proof:-"Believest thou not," said he to Philip, "that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son "." Shortly afterwards, when speaking to his disciples of their future sufferings in his cause, he observed, "These things will

John x. 24, 25.

b

mb John xiv. 10-13.