their Lawgiver was an Impoftor, and con- SERM. I. fequently, muft have been fo far from believing him, that they would have been a Nation of Infidels. Nay, they could not actually have obferved the Sabbatical Year, according to his Directions, upon a Failure of his Promise. But if this Mira

cle was performed, then it must be the Lord's doing For God would never suffer any evil Spirit, for fuch a long Tract of Time, for feveral Centuries, by an oftrepeated Exemplification of his Power, to do thrice as much in a fupernatural Manner; as he himself did in one Year, in the ordinary Course of his Providence. It is as certain then, that no fuch Miracles could be wrought by any evil Spirit; as that there are not two diftinct independent Beings at the Helm. Where there is an infinite Difproportion of Power between two Beings, there must be fome fufficient Marks of Diftinction, to afcertain, which of them acts. It cannot therefore be impoffible to hit the dividing Point, between the little puny Feats of evil Spirits, and the auguft Difplay of divine Power. But if fuch an uninterrupted Series of unparalleled Miracles as our Saviour did, do not point out to us R 3

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SERM. I. the appropriate Enfigns of the Deity; what others can we single out as fufficiently and peculiarly expreffive of his Majefty ? The most astonishing Idea we can conceive of the most astonishing Being that is, is, that he brings about Things, by the mere Act and Fiat of his Will, without any tedious, flow, gradual Procefs; that it is as easy for him to effect whatever he wills, as it is to will any Effect. But behold another, if he were another, ufurps his fovereign, Stile: I will, be thou clean. Lazarus, come forth: It is fpoke, it is done: Nature hears his Voice, and, confeffing her Author, inftantly obeys the dread Command.

Thofe fettled and established Rules, by which God governs the material World, being for the general Good of the Whole, God will never act by particular Wills, and Miracles in numerous, opeh, uncontefted Inftances; nor will he fuffer others to act by them, but for fome fuperior and prepollent Good, which cannot be attained but by a Deviation from the fettled Course of Nature. Either then the Miracles were wrought for fome fuperior Good; or they were not. If they were, then there is no abfolute Neceffity to fuppofe other Beings concerned :

concerned: It was not beneath the Deity SERM. I. to interpofe; it was no Proftitution of his Power and Dignity, but an Act of Condefcenfion and Goodness worthy of himself. If they were not for fome prepollent Good; then he would not fuffer them to be wrought at all: Since if evil Beings might, for no prepollent Good, interrupt the Courfe of Nature, and turn Things into another Channel, all human Affairs must stand still, all our Industry muft ftagnate, and all our Prudence be fuperfeded. For where every Thing in the Course of Nature was precarious, ́where there was no regular Conduct of Providence; no regular and well-concerted Means could be of any Service, to procure any defirable End, or avert any Evil. Wisdom, and Folly, Carefulness, and Idlenefs, would be upon a Level; if Beings of a fuperior Nature were left at large, to difconcert, unfettle, and embroil every Thing. I can eafily fee, that God may facrifice the Uniformity and Harmony of his Providence, upon fome uncommon Exigency; the Love of the Happiness of his Creatures being fuperior to his Love of Order: But that he should fuffer a Set of evil Spirits to break through that magnifi

SERM. I. cent Simplicity, and regular Variety, which conftitute Beauty; that he fhould suffer an Impoftor to go on in a continued Series of unrivalled Miracles, to raise the Dead, and himfelf, to confer the fame Powers on his Followers, and to enable them to speak all Languages; and all this with a Design to deceive a Set of Creatures, who may be, and are, every Day deceived, without the Expence of one Miracle is a Suppofition highly injurious to the Wisdom of the Deity, which has given Things a Law, which fhall not be broken upon every flight Occafion. "Tis in Nature, as in a Poem: The great Author of it may break through fet formal Rules, when a greater Beauty may be compaffed by werving from them, than by fcrupulously adhering to them. But then he will never permit others to break through his regular Adjustment of Things, and blend their own Performances promifcuously with his. I grant that evil invifible Beings may be the Minifters of God's Vengeance, as well as vifible Beings are; nay, they are much properer Inftruments, as their Intellects are clearer, their Reafon more extenfive, and their Powers more enlarged. But all this may be done confiftently with

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the Laws of Nature; at leaft without any notorious uncontroled Breach of them.

To thefe Miracles of Power we may add Prophecies, which are Miracles of Knowledge. Now, how God himself should certainly forefee uncertain Events, is unconceivable by us; but it is abfolutely impoffible, that any fuch Degree of Knowledge fhould be lodged in finite Beings. Yet there are several fuch Prophecies as fuppofe infal lible Knowledge of contingent Events; and, confequently, must be afcribed to God alone. Such is the Prophecy about Cyrus by Name, and what he would do, above an hundred Years before he was born, Ifaiah's Prophecy concerning our Saviour's Sufferings, a Prophecy so very punctual, that, if we were not certain of the contrary, one would fufpect that the Author had lived after our Saviour, and had nothing to do but to adjust the pretended Prophecy to the Event. Such is our Saviour's Prediction concerning the unexampled Destruction of Jerufalem, and the Dispersion of the Jews, till the Fulness of the Gentiles fhould come in.

There then is no Question, but, if the Miracles were wrought, they were wrought by God himself: Which brings me to the

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