the truths they proclaimed. In the miracle now wrought, they did not merely think of conferring a boon, as if they had given to the man a piece of silver or of gold. Of such gifts they had none to bestow : but an infinitely higher gift, which not all the silver and gold in the universe could purchase, they were empowered to bestow, for the purpose of leading his mind, and the minds of the nation at large, to the Lord Jesus. The very words, by which they conveyed the blessing, shewed this : " In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And when the spectators of the miracle were struck with admiration of them, as the authors of it, they utterly disclaimed all honour arising from it, as though they had either wrought it by their own power, or merited it at the hands of God by their own holiness : they declare that God himself had wrought it, for the purpose of " glorifying his Son Jesus," whom the Jews had so lately crucified, but whom he had raised from the dead, and whom all the prophets had referred to as the Prophet like unto Moses, that was to be received by them at the peril of their souls c. Thus the Apostles themselves appeal to the miracle, as demonstrative of Christ's Messiahship : " His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know ; yea, the faith that is in him hath given him this perfect soundness, in the presence of you all d." In the miracle there were two things which must carry conviction to every dispassionate mind ; namely, the suddenness, and the perfection of it. No natural means could have effected the cure so instan- taneously ; nor, considering that he had been a cripple from his birth, and was now forty years of age, could the cure have been so effected as to leave no measure of weakness and languor in the person healed. But here he, in the first instance, shewed himself as strong and vigorous as if he had never been diseased at all : from whence it was evident that God had wrought it in the name of Jesus Christ, and had by this act set his seal to the truth of Christ's Messiahship.]
2. In this light it was regarded by the enemies of our Lord —
[They had long known the man ; and seeing him now, a totally altered man, present in the midst of them, they knew what conviction the miracle must carry to the minds of all. Reduced to great difficulties, they thus argued amongst themselves : " What shall we do to these men ? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem ; and we cannot deny it. But, that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this
c ver. 12 — 15. d ver. 10.