sheep's clothing; put on a form, an outward show, "of godliness, but denying the power thereof; men of corrupt minds, and reprobate concerning the faith," 2 Tim. iii.

Men of this kind the devil stirs up from among the children of the Church, who, as the same great apostle tells us, "Depart from the true faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their consciences seared as with a hot iron," 1 Tim. iv. Having corrupted their faith, and hardened them in his service, he uses them to spread his doctrines among others, to seduce the faithful by false doctrines, and, if possible, to make lies and falsehood triumph over the truths of Jesus. But in vain; the same divine power which protected the spouse of Christ from open force, will, we are assured, equally defend her from these secret snares. Through the unsearchable judgments of God these dangerous attempts shall prevail with many, but, when they have come to the length permitted by divine providence, we are assured, by the same great apostle, that then "they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be made manifest to all men," 1 Tim. iii. 9.

St Peter also, describing these attempts of Satan against the truth, speaks thus: "There shall be false. teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies;" but he immediately assures us that "they bring upon themselves swift destruction ;" and though he also lets us know that "many shall follow their pernicious ways by whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of," yet he immediately adds, that "their judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not," 2 Pet. ii.

In the description given us by these two apostles, we

see displayed the nature of those violent and dangerous snares which the gates of hell will use in all ages against the Church; but we are assured that they never shall prevail against her, that they shall proceed no farther, that they shall fall for her sake, and their damnation shall not slumber. That is to say, we are assured that whilst God permits the devil to rage against His Church, and to endeavour to corrupt the purity of her doctrine by heresies, He never fails at the same time to defend her truth, to manifest their folly, and to give her in the end a triumphant victory over all their efforts.

XVIII. Now, what are the means which we may expect the divine wisdom will employ for this purpose? The invincible fortitude of martyrs? the heroic constancy of confessors? the zealous labours of the Church pastors? All these, no doubt, will greatly contribute to confirm the faithful and defend the purity of the true doctrine. But these alone will not suffice. Nay, all these in some degree are to be found even among heretics. Heresy has had its martyrs, who, blinded by their passions, and excited. by enthusiasm, have gone to death in profession of their false doctrines. Heresy, also, has had its confessors, who have suffered imprisonment and banishment for its sake; and among the characters which St Paul gives of heretics, one is the putting on a form of godliness, an outward show of piety, of zeal, of virtue; and experience shows the indefatigable labours which many heretics have undergone to propagate their sects, and corrupt the minds of the faithful. In fact, we find in the sacred Scripture that these things alone did not suffice to defend the true religion under the law when exposed to such dangers; and that therefore Almighty God Himself judged it necessary, and becoming His divine wisdom,

to raise up another more efficacious standard to preserve it.

During the attempts of Jezebel and Achab against the true religion there were martyrs, for “Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord;" there were confessors, for Obadiah “hid a hundred of them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water," 1 Kings, xviii. 13: there were zealous pastors; the great Elijah, who alone was worth thousands, who did not fail to stand up as a wall in defence of the truth, and to reprove the king for his impiety, threatening him with the divine justice if he persisted in it; but were these sufficient to confirm the people and defend the truth? No; they still halted between two opinions, many of them bowed their knees to Baal, and were on the point of entirely forsaking the God of their fathers. The holy prophet, full of zeal for the glory of his Master, had recourse to the all-powerful standard of miracles; and no sooner did these appear, than the clouds were dispelled from the minds of the people, their doubts removed, their faith confirmed, and with one voice they cried out, "The Lord, He is God! the Lord, He is God!"

Miracles, then, are the proper arms to defend the truth when attacked by error; they are the natural and effectual means to convince the human heart, because they are the language of God Himself, which can never be spoken by His enemies; they are the broad seal of heaven, confirming the doctrine of God beyond all reply. Hence we find, as we have seen above, that during the whole period of the Mosaic institution, whenever the true religion was attacked, God never failed to use these powerful means to defend it. From this we draw the unde niable conclusion, that if it was worthy of God to defend His true religion under the law, by working miracles on

every occasion when it was in any danger, much more becoming His infinite wisdom and goodness must it be to perform miracles in defence of the Christian faith on similar occasions, to the end of time, when the gates of hell and the malice of man combine with united rage to destroy it.

That He will defend the true doctrine of His beloved Son from all such attempts to the end of the world is undoubted. He has repeatedly promised, and sworn by Himself, that He will do so. That miracles are the most proper, natural, and effectual means for this purpose is self-evident; that the using them for this end is worthy of Almighty God, and highly becoming His divine wisdom, is most certain, from what He actually did on all such occasions under the law; therefore we have the highest presumption, and the strongest probability, that He will actually continue to work miracles in defence of His truth throughout all ages, even to the end of the world.

I go a step further: we have seen that, under the law, the other means of defending the truth were insufficient ; that miracles were therefore necessary for that purpose. Are they less so under the Gospel? At least it cannot be denied that, if not absolutely necessary, they are the most proper, the best suited to convince the human heart, and therefore the most effectual means for the above purpose. We conclude, therefore, that the conduct of Almighty God under the law, in defending the purity of His holy religion by miracles, not only gives us the highest probability, but even absolute certainty, that He will never fail under the Gospel to use the same glorious means from time to time in defence of His truth so long as the world endures.

XIX. Here I cannot help expressing my astonishment

at the conduct of those who pretend to restrict the duration of miracles in the Church to any certain period. Their reasoning seems one of the most humiliating examples of the weakness of human reason when engaged in a bad cause. However they disagree among themselves as to the precise period to be assigned for the cessation of miracles, they are most unanimous in giving the same reason for this pretended cessation at the different periods they assign. As long, say they, as the Church continued pure, the gift of miracles continued with her; but when the corruptions of Popery crept in, when her doctrine became infected by superstition, when “the Athanasian heresy," says Mr Whiston, 66 was established by her councils, and she became Athanasian, antiChristian, and Popish," then that glorious gift of miracles was withdrawn from her, and the devil substituted his lying wonders in their place.

Is it possible to hear men arguing thus without astonishment and indignation? astonishment that men of sense and learning should speak in a manner so unworthy; indignation to hear expressions so injurious to Almighty God, and so contrary to every part of His conduct which He has been pleased to reveal? Can a serious Christian allow himself to believe, after what we have just now seen, that at the very time when the truths of God are supposed to stand in the greatest need of His protection; when the gates of hell are striving to prevail over the Church of Christ; when the enemy, like a torrent, seems upon the point of carrying all before him; that at that very time Almighty God should abandon His truth to be totally corrupted and defaced, and give up His Church as a prey to the enemy? Is it possible that a serious Christian can harbour such a thought, and not be shocked at the blasphemous supposition?