Use of Christ's Miracles.

Jehovah-Jesus, thou Saviour all-divine, for mercy unmeasurable like this, for grace and glory yet before me, to which there is no end! O how shall I show forth thy praise for all which thou hast done for my soul!

CHAP. VIII.

ON THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST,

WE see but little into the true worth and importance of the miracles of Jesus, if we look no farther than the historic facts. These indeed do speak aloud the glory of the Divine Person to the carnal sense of man, and did so even to those who hated and blasphemed him; but the grandeur of these works consisted in this, that they were only outward testimonies of the far more noble operations of his grace within the soul, which were not to endure for a time only like their outward signs, but to flourish throughout eternity.

He gave sight to the blind, that he might testify unto men his sovereign power in giving light and understanding to the mind. He opened the deaf ear, that men might know, by whom alone they can hear aright the good news of salvation, and live for ever. The lame he caused in a moment to walk, that his people might learn, that they can only move, as well as live, by him, and that without him they can do nothing. He eured the foul leprosy of the body in order to show, that only by him can be healed the far more deplorable leprosy of sin, which covers and

Explanation of the Miracles.

defiles the mind. AH sicknesses. vanished at his command, that we might have hope in him, as the sure Restorer of our souls. The poor, or meek among men, were made rich for eternity. He cast out unclean spirits, and suffered them to possess the swine, who were thereby lost, that he might teach his redeemed that he only delivered and can deliver them from the powers of darkness, which, being let loose upon the world, drive them violently and swiftly down the steep course of time, into a gulph of inextricable woe.

The hungry multitudes were fed by his miraculous power, to explain this great truth, that he is not only the Giver of spiritual life, but the constant Sustainer and Nourisher of it from day to day: And he did this by small means, that the excellency of the power might be known to be his, and not in the creatures, however sanctified, blessed, and used. The winds and waves were instantly obedient to his word, that his beloved might rejoice in him, as the Stiller of all spiritual wayes, the tumultuous madness of this world, the ragings of Satan, and the confusion of all things. These can roar and foam no longer than it pleaseth him; and when they foam and roar at all, it shall turn out in the end for the good of his people. The dead were raised to proclaim his rising power, and to declare that the issues also of spiritual life and of endless death are altogether in his bands. Whatever he did, was an act of mercy, under which he revealed, as in a parable, the most important lessons of grace and love. The divinity of his works proclaimed him to be both the Crea tor of all, (and what is more comforting to his chosen) the Redeemer and Restorer of millions that were lost.

The Lord's Teaching.

Learn from these things, O believer! what thy Lord and God hath done for thy soul. He quickened thee from the death of trespasses and sins; he giveth light and peace to thy mind; he feedeth thee with the bread of life; he cureth all thy spiritual diseases; he quelleth thy manifold enemies and temptations; he strengtheneth thee with strength in thy soul; he doeth all that is done in thee by grace; and he will never cease working in thee both to will and to do, no, not even when he hath brought thee to his kingdom in heaven.

O pray fervently, my soul, rightly to apprehend these precious things. If thou teach me, blessed Lord! then shall I know them, in some measure at least, according to my capacity, as they ought to be known. Such knowledge, indeed, is too excellent for my clouded faculties of nature; these cannot, if left to themselves, attain unto it. I, therefore, would not seek to acquire the apprehension of these truths, as fallen man can teach or attain them, but as thou dost teach and enforce them. In thy teaching, though the substance of the truths be the same, there is a wide difference from all the teaching of men. Man, by his own study, gropeth in the dark, and wearieth himself in vain to reach up to the perception of thine excellent wisdom; but thou art light in thyself, and sendest down both illumination and influence at once to such as are taught by thee, by which they not only know thy truth as a truth demonstrable in itself, but feel the blessings of it, as a truth applied and made their own. They find strength and nourishment in what thou givest for food, and not airy words, or unprofitable speculations, which, without thy saving impression, are

The Word of the Redeemer.

all that can be found in the most rational instructions of men.. O raise me up, then, my blessed Teacher, above the pictures of things, which may be gained by words, to the true enjoyment and reality of the things themselves. So shall I not hear, or give discourse only of thy spiritual feast, Jike a man in a dream, but shall taste and see indeed how good and gracious thou art, and that all life, power, and consolation, are entirely from thee.

CHAP. IX.

ON THE WORD OF CHRIST.

FOR ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven; and upon earth it runneth very swiftly. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: Give me understanding and I shall live.

Such is the word, and the end of the word, of my gracious Redeemer. It is called a word, because it is a revelation; all words being only the revelation or expression of things. This revealed word is settled in heaven upon the throne of God, is ordered by the Divine Persons in all things, and is sure, because ordered by them in a covenant which cannot be broken. Thus it stands a law unalterable, and established in the heavens.

It is a word too of testimony, because it testifieth of my Saviour throughout, either directly by the institutions and declarations of his grace, or indirectly by the courses and actions of his providence, meeting in one and the same pur

Use of the Written Word.

pose, which is the guidance and salvation of his people.

This word, in the conduct of the Divine Spirit, is also a word of power, and the fit instrument of all his work. It is his spiritual sword, by which he divides asunder the soul and spirit, and effects that circumcision of the heart, whereby his people are enabled to live no longer unto themselves, but unto God. The operation is painful indeed to the Alesh, or to nature; but it causeth the spirit to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to give up its confidence in all things beside.

For this purpose, then, of testifying for Christ, and of acting by the Spirit in the redeemed, is alĺ the written word calculated and given. Hence, the institutions of the law preached Jesus and his salvation, the prophecies declared the same truth, the histories are records of God's conduct towards his people from age to age, the gospels are evidences of the accomplishment of all these things in Christ, and the epistles are explanations and enforcements of these things to believers. In short, all the holy writings relate to Christ, and to the redeemed in him. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of the whole word and work of the Most High.

In this word and its experience consist the right wisdom and comfort of a Christian. Here is truth without error; so that he can read without fear, and trust without danger. All other books, as they come from men, have more or less of folly or vanity in them, and often are looked over with little real satisfaction and improvement. But, in this volume, grace not only discovers something new, but brings new force out of old truths, which have charmed the soul a thousand times. It dis