FEBRUARY 15.
His walking was a proof of the reality and perfection of the cure. His praising God was the proper improvement of it.
But what an attestation was here to the divine mission of the apostles. and so to the truth of Christianity itself! We speak, said they, in his name who was crucified, and if you ask for a proof of it, we will act in his name. Bring forth your dumb, and we will give them speech; your blind, and we will open their eyes; your sick, and we will heal them ; your lame, and we will make there leap as a hart. This was evidence adapted to persons of every rank and capacity. It required no labored process of reasoning and eloquence. It was the broad seal of heaven, which all could see and understand.
And there was nothing like artifice or collusion in these miracles. Take the case before us. The patient resided, not in a remote place, but in Jerusalem, that is, in the midst of the enemies of the apostles. He had been lame from his mother's womb. He was now upwards of forty years old. He was well known; He was a beggar. Multitudes had seen him, many had relieved him, and many had handled him, for he was carried daily to the place of begging. and this was not an obscure corner, but the entrance into the temple. And the thing was not done in the night, but at nine o'clock in the morning, when there was a concourse of people.
Put all this together, and then ask whether anything could have been fairer? Could any thing have been more open to detection, had there been any imposture? Compare such an achievement with the prodigies of heathenism, and the miracles of the Romish church.
And see, also, what can equal the credulity of unbelievers. What is the faith of a Christian to their belief? Christians believe difficulties, because the truth of them is abundantly confirmed, but they admit improbabilities and impossibilities. Their rejection of the gospel cannot arise from an intellectual, but a moral cause. They do not want evidence, but disposition; they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore, "how can they escape, if they neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto them by those 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?"
Need I tremble for the cause of Christianity ? Need my reason be ashamed of my faith?
"Hence, and for ever, from my heart,
1 bid my doubts and fears depart;
And to those hands my son l resign,
That bear credentials so divine."
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TO REV. WILLIAM JAY'S HOMEPAGE
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TO REV. THOMAS BOSTON'S HOMEPAGE
