ecy is confined to true religion so are veritable miracles, and it is as easy to discern between true and false miracles, as between true and false prophecy. If this be the precept of the Old Testament, what is the practice-the history? Mr. English, after saying that Samuel was acknowledged as a prophet, not because he wrought miracles, but foretold the future, adds, "and the same may be said of all the Hebrew prophets, from Nathan to Malachi.† Where this information was derived, it is not so easy to say, as of the most of them there is no kind of biography extant. But to begin with the Jewish economy; how was the mission of Moses confirmed? By miracles. And in fact what distinction is it possible to draw between a prophecy immediately fulfilled, and any other miracle? Now prophecy immediately fulfilled is the only kind, which could be offered as testimony to the prophet's contemporaries; and any miracle whatever can be reduced to the case of prophecy thus fulfilled. The dis τέτο δε αλλοι κατοχοι και ανδρες xal γυναικες ενθες φωνη προειπον ; οτα δε εξ αδύτων αυτων ηκέσθησαν θαυμασιά ; οσα δε εξ ιερείων και θυμάτων τοις χρωμένοις εδηλώθη; οσα δε εξ άλλων τεραστιων συμβολων ; τοις δε εναργή παρεστη φαντασ ματα. ΜΕΣΤΟΣ ΤΟΥΤΩΝ Ο ΠΑΣ ΕΣΤΙ ΒΙΟΣ. Orig. Contr. Cels. I. viii. § 45. † Mr. English differs here from Tertullian, whom he elsewhere assumes as a patron of his opinion. This father says, "Quos diximus prædicatores, prophete de officio præfandi vocantur. Voces eorum, ITEMQUE VIRTUTES, QUAS AD FIDEM DIVINTATIS EDEBANT, in thesauris literarum manent, nes istæ nunc latent Apol. xviii. tinction therefore has no foundation in reason. It has as little in fact. The mission of Moses was established by miracles in the strictest sense. His own mind was in the first place convinced of his divine mission by the miracle of the burning bush.* In reply to the divine command to conduct the children of Israel from Egypt, he says, "But behold they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice, for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, what is that in thy hand; and he said a rod. And he said, cast it on the ground: and he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail; and he put forth his hand and caught it: That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers hath appeared unto thee."+ He then gives him another sign, the power of assuming a leprous hand, and restoring it again, and adds, "And it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign, and it shall come to pass if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall be Exod. iii. 2, 3. † Exod. iv, 1, 2, 3, 45. come blood upon the land."* In short, if I may be excused for labouring so plain a point, the following testimony of a Jew will not be thought suspicious. "Upon the wonder that Moses showed at these signs, God exhorted him to be of good courage, and to be assured that he would be the greatest support to him, and bid him make use of those signs in order to obtain belief among all men, that thou art sent by me, and dost all things according to my commands."+ One more example only will suffice on this topick: "Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God; hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, &c. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man, and it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jor * In fact it is a maxim recognized and asserted, by the highest Jewish authority, and therefore decisive of the question as far as their champion is concerned, that "at the command of a prophet doing signs, any precept may be lawfully violated; and every prophet working signs shall be believed in whatever he teaches, whether by explication, addition, enlargement, or repeal of any part of the law, except in the one case of idolatry." Talm. Saned. et Jarchi, in Deut. xviii, 18. Chandler's Defence, p. 318. Joseph. Ant. Jud. 1. ii. c. xii. §3. dan shall be cut off, from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand up on an heap."* Now here is what, in the strictest sense, would be called a prophecy fulfilled; but wherein does its value as a testimony to the presence of God with the Israelites consist? Is it not in this, that the event foretold was a miraculous one, and that when it was wrought it evinced the divine interference? Had Joshua foretold something within the reach of human sagacity to discern, or human power to effect, would the fulfilling of the prediction have been sanction of his prophetic character? Had he predicted that the ark would be transported across the river in a boat, would the accomplishment of this prediction have been a proof that the most high God was with the Israelites? Certainly not. It was the miraculousness of the event which gave the value to the prediction, and though it may sometimes be a proof of inspiration to foretel things within the compass of human sagacity; yet it can be only under such particular circumstances as preclude the supposition that it was merely the exercise of this sagacity, that such prediction can be valuable as a divine attestation. In a word, if the utterance and correspondent fulfilling of the prophecy be not miraculous, it can be no proof of a divine mission or of a doctrine. We next say something of a part of this question, which Mr. English has, (I hope un * Josh. iii. 13. intentionally) misrepresented; the estimation in which miraculous testimony was held by our Saviour, and the primitive church. The following words of Collins are taken into the Grounds of Christianity examined: "Jesus laid no great stress upon miracles, as proving doctrines, for he forewarned his disciples that signs and wonders would be performed, so great and stupendous as to deceive if possible the very elect, and bids them not give any heed unto them." Mr. English then quotes in a note, a passage of Dr. Sykes, giving it of course as a confirmation of his own remark, though to do him justice he quotes it without acknowledgment.* In reply to this assertion of Collins, I will only quote the words of Dr. Sykes, which Mr. English overlooked, while appealing to that truly judicious and pious Christian as a denier of miraculous testimony. "Jesus himself always appeals to the works which he did, to prove that he came from God, and was that Son of man spoken of by Daniel. Had he called himself the Messiah, and given no evidence of it, no doubt a wise man might justly have refused his assent to him. For as he argues,t If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true, that is, ought not to be admitted as true. But then he adds, The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works, that I do, bear witness of me that • Compare the note p. 8, of Grounds of Christianity examined with Sykes' Essay, Introd. p. 2. † John v. 21, |