What use shall we make of this, of God's owning the word by success ? Besides satisfaction in the matter in hand, and admiration of providence, we may make this use of it, to bewail our own blind- ness and hardness, that the word which hath prevailed over the world doth not prevail over our hearts : Col. i. 6, ' Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.' This is comfortable when we can say so, This word prevaileth over all the world, and, blessed be God, over my heart. But oh ! how sad is it Avhen that which subdueth the world standeth still, and getteth no ground with us ! Say, out of what rock was my heart hewn ? Is my will only the toughest sinew in all the world, that it can stand out against the battery of the word ? In tlnrty years, or thereabouts, the word prevailed over most of the known world. I have been a hearer ten, twenty, or thirty years, and yet I cannot find my heart soft, pliable to the purposes of grace ; much ignorance and obstinacy still remaineth. As they said, Luke xxiv. 18, ' Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things that are come to pass there in these days ? ' Art thou only a stranger to the power and success of the word ? Thus may we bemoan ourselves.
Secondly, By miracles, the known miracles that accompanied the teach- ing of it. Miracles you know are a solemn confirmation, or letters-patent brought from heaven to authorise any person or doctrine ; for they are such effects as do exceed the force and power of nature, and therefore must needs come from an extraordinary divine power. Now it is not to be imagined that ever a divine power would co-operate with a falsehood and cheat ; and therefore whatever is confirmed by miracles hath God's solemn testimony and ratification, and so deserveth credit and estimation. Now a little before Christ's time, there was a great silence and rest from prodigy and wonder, that the Messiah might be known ; but after he had preached his sermon on the mount, they were commonly wrought, both by himself and his messengers, and to evi- dence the truth of them, they were commonly done in the sight of the multitude, even of them that withstood his doctrine. His adversaries objected, that he did ' cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.' But that could not be, because all miracles were referred to
442 SERMONS UPON JOHN XYil. [SeR. XXVIII.
the glory of his Father, and the devil cannot work beyond the power of a natural agent. Now by the circumstances of Christ's miracles it appeared that he wrought beyond any natural power. It is possible that by natural power diseases may be secretly inflicted and secretly cured by Satan ; but Christ not only cured, but restored perfect health, which no natural means can work. He raised the dead, a miracle that cannot be counterfeited. Therefore well might Nicodemus say, John iii. 2, ' Kabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these miracles that thou dost, except God be with him ; ' they being wrought by a divine power, they showed liis divine mission and calling. And as Christ, so did his messengers ; as the apostles : Heb. ii. 3, 4, ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him ? God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.' They were authorised by Christ, as Christ by God, and God bore them witness : it is my truth, I am their witness, and you will perish if you do not hearken to it. That which may be observed in these scripture miracles is, that they were not done when men would require, or when the in- struments pleased, but according to God's own will, upon special and weighty occasions, that it might be the more evident that God was the worker of them ; and therefore were not merely used to beget a reputa- tion at all places, and at all times, as if God's power should be at the creature's beck. Counterfeits, such as Apollonius Tyanaeus, were never dainty to show their juggling tricks, but always were pliable to the humours and lusts of men, and to satisfy curiosity. Only now and then, and upon special occasions, would God manifest himself. Jug- glers prostitute their feats. Come, let us see what you can do, show us a miracle ; as ' Herod desired to see Christ, that he might see some miracle,' Luke xxiii. 8. This would not lesseni the majesty of God. Signs and wonders were not ordained for the stage and scene, to cause admiration and pastime for every wanton spectator. Again, I observe, that generally these miracles were actions of relief and succour, not merely of pomp and glory, and tended to deliver from the miseries of soul and body, as blindness, sickness, and devils. I remember but two of Christ's miracles that were destructive, blasting the fig-tree, and drowning the herd of swine ; in other miracles, he was exercised in curing the sick, raising the dead, casting out Satan, &c.