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cease from his own wisdom, and tionable sense of the awful majesty, not lean to his own understanding, and holy searching purity of God, nor set up his depraved reason to keep him from carnal confidence against the instructions of Him and spiritual pride. He finds the whose understanding is infinite. necessity of universal and diligent As he will not reject the doctrines watchfulness and godly jealousy, of the Gospel, because of their even when he is favoured with the tendency to abase human haughti- most evangelical discoveries, and ness and to exalt the Deity, so heavenly joy; lest otherwise Saneither will he cavil at divine reve-tan should come upon him at unlation, because it contains some awares, and throw him down from things mysterious, and not fully to the top of the mount. It will be be comprehended. Indeed, a natural to a very humble man to small degree of reason (if human view himself, as Paul did, as the reason was not blinded by pride) chief of sinners, and less than the would convince us, that it would least of all saints. Certainly there be unreasonable to suppose, there is more sin in the best man's heart, can be nothing mysterious in the than in the worst man's life. Havdivine nature, counsels, or con-ing, therefore, a deep sense of his duct; when yet we must acknow- peculiar obligations, and a knowledge there are many mysteries in ledge of the plague of his own all sciences, in our own formation heart, he will be ready to account and voluntary motion, and in all that, all things considered, he nature around us. An humble stands more in need of forgiveman will not be stiff and dogmati-ness, and is more indebted to free cal, but open to conviction, and grace, than any other sinner in the jealous of being prejudiced, espe- world. In like manner, though he cially by the undue influence of may not be able to avoid seeing his own passions; willing to re- the external blemishes and defects ceive instruction, and embrace the of his fellow-saints, yet, being truth, let it be proposed by whom conscious of his own internal evils, it will. Humility will discover it- he will be apt to think far more self in a constant sense of our meanly of himself than of his breweakness and insufficiency, and thren; he will sooner suspect himour need to live upon Christ for self than any body, being disposed strength as well as righteousness; to make the best of others, and to exciting to incessant prayer for hope they are more free than he preservation from falling, as con- is from innumerable deficiencies scious of the imperfection of inhe-which he finds and laments in rent grace, and strength of in- himself. This blessed temper will dwelling sin; being aware, also, of the unnumbered snares and temptations that surround us. Humility will cause the Christian to "serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling," Ps. ii. 11. desiring, in the seasons of his greatest spiritual enjoyment and communion with God, that while he exults in the inestimable privileges which are freely bestowed upon him, he may have a propor

teach you to give reproof to others with tenderness and gentleness, in the spirit of love. Not that it is an enemy to faithfulness, or would connive at sin in any. But it would prevent scornful fierceness, and unchristian bitterness and severity, which so often prevent the success of the reproof, and harden the offender. At the same time, an eminently humble Christian will receive the reproofs of others with

meekness and thankfulness, even | lives; if you mortify and suppress though they should be mixed with it in one shape, it rises up in anseverity: he will say, "Let the other. There are a great many righteous smite me, and it shall be a kindness, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head," Ps. cxli. 5. He will be glad of the assistance and advice of his brethren, for he knows his own weakness, and thinks he wants help from every body; whereas one that is full of spiritual pride, thinks that every body wants his help.

kinds of it, that lie in different forms and shapes, one under another, and encompass the heart like the coats of an onion; if you pull off one, there is another underneath. We had need, therefore, to have the greatest watch imaginable over our hearts with respect to this matter, and cry most earnestly to the great Searcher of hearts for his help. He that trusts his own heart is a fool."

Great humility would teach you, even when reproached by enemies, The humble man, therefore, has seriously to examine if you have so much to do at home, that he not, at least in some measure, cannot spend the chief part of his given them occasion thus to reflect time in remarking and crying out upon you. And whether they have of the pride of others, criticising any just cause or not, it will pre- on their dress, carriage, manner of vent your rendering railing for living, or other external tokens of railing, and evil for evil. It will pride; he has more difficult and be your concern to be " gentle to-important work, in maintaining a

will not affect to set up himself above his brethren, but will be willing to be servant of all; desiring to please others for their good unto edification: not, indeed, conforming himself to them in things that are sinful; he will inflexibly adhere to duty, but in other things he will be gentle and pliable; resolutely attending to God's will, but easily giving up his own.

wards all men," and to "over-constant guard over his own proud come evil with good." You will heart, which is still far from suffiendeavour "in patience to possess cient conformity to the Lamb of your souls;" committing your God. He that is eminently humble selves, when injured, "unto Him that judgeth righteously." It is true, humility must oppose its opposite, pride; and an humble man must be grieved and pained when he sees evident tokens of pride in others; but he will most of all oppose the remains of that accursed evil in his own heart. His own pride will cause him to abhor himself; he will watch against it in all the modes wherein he can detect its operations. Pride is the most Humility will teach you to pity subtle of all the evils of the human sincerely the most ignorant and heart; the most like its father, erroneous of mankind; to "honour the devil, in serpentine deceit and all men;" to be "ready to give secrecy, appearing in a great many an answer to every man who askshapes, undiscerned and unsus-eth you a reason of the hope that pected, and sometimes as an angel is in you, with meekness and fear;" of light. It perverts and abuses to be " gentle to all men, patient, every thing, even the exercises of in meekness instructing those that real grace, and real humility, as oppose themselves." 1 Pet. ii. 17.; an occasion to exert itself. It is iii. 15. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. a sin which has, as it were, many

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Humility will be a blessed anti

(To be continued.)

dote for a murmuring spirit against forgiveness; as it will teach you to Providence. It will make you take notice of the good that is in willing to be at God's disposal; others, and to think the best of desirous that he should choose them, preferring them in honour as your inheritance for you, and re- better than yourselves; and to joiced that he has the ordering of make the least of their defects, as all your concerns. It will teach compared with your own; espeyou "how to be abased" without cially their deficiencies as to what repining, and "how to abound" you might suppose is due from without being puffed up. An them to you. Deep humility will humble man will naturally be produce resignation to the will of grateful, and disposed to confess God, and patience under the cross. his obligations both to God and It will excite to godly jealousy man. A sense of his own demerit over our own hearts, and constant must fill him with astonishment at watchfulness against temptation. the divine bounty, and make him It must greatly befriend a life of thankful for the kindness of his faith and prayer; for while we fellow-creatures; whereas pride dread presumption and self-conmakes a man a stranger to grati-fidence, not daring to trust to ourtude, for he never thinks he re-selves in any respect, we are laid ceives so much as his due. under a happy necessity of trustHumility, indeed, is a friend to ing in the living God, and making every other grace. God has ex- continual application to him. pressly promised that he will give more grace to the humble, and it will naturally put them upon asking him for it; for the more humble we are, the more sensible we shall be of our defects, and of our need of the supply of the Spirit. Besides, humility, in its own nature, stands related, and is akin to other most excellent graces. Thus it is closely connected with meekness," to see the motion of water downand must greatly preserve the mind from being unduly ruffled by slights and injuries; while a proud man is pained and irritated by every neglect and affront. It must tend greatly to make self-denial easy It will be easy for one who feels himself a poor, mean, vile creature before God, cordially to renounce his own dignity and glory; and also for God's sake to deny his worldly inclinations, and part with earthly objects and enjoyments, for the sake of promoting the divine honour, and the kingdom of his Redeemer. Humility will cherish brotherly love, and greatly lessen the difficulty of

to us.

ON THE MIRacles of CHRIST. DR. PRICE, in his Dissertation on Miracles, has refuted, with great clearness and force, the common opinion, that miracles imply a suspension or violation of the laws of nature. "Were we," he observes,

wards cease at once, at the word of a man, or a river parted in its course, as Jordan was, we should see a miracle; but we could not say, that the law of gravitation was suspended; for the water might have gravitated as usual, and the true cause of the event be the exertion of an adequate superior power, to control the effects of gravitation; in which its suspension is no more implied, than in a man's preventing a heavy body from falling, by applying his hand to it. Nor could we in this instance say, that the event was not agreeable to the constitution of the universe; for in order to this,

we should be able to discover what the constitution of the universe is, taking in the visible and invisible world; and that it excludes all interpositions of a superior power in human affairs." These acute and just observations go far to refute the sceptical system, by representing miracles as the result of the exertion of a superior power, controlling, rather than suspending or violating, the established order of nature.

The whole fabric of Christianity rests upon the credibility of the miracles recorded in the sacred volume. Jesus Christ appealed to the works which he had wrought, as convincing attestations to the truth of his doctrine, and the divinity of his mission. They clearly indicated the authority with which he was invested. He appeared as an ambassador from heaven, and these were his credentials. "The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me." Every unprejudiced mind must have felt the full force of this testimony, and been constrained to confess, with Nicodemus, "We know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." The Pharisees, indeed, with a few exceptions, adopted a singular hypothesis, to account for those astonishing results, the reality of which they could not possibly doubt or deny: they traced them to Satanic influence.

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presenting the miracles of Christ as having been performed by magic or infernal agency. A simple reference to the design and tendency of the works themselves, and the character of their great Author, may suffice to refute this preposterous and malignant calumny. Modern sceptics have, indeed, been ashamed to follow in this line of argument, deeming it more safe and prudent to call in question the reality of the miracles, than to resort to such a mode of explaining them away.

When we contemplate the miracles of Christ, the first thing which strikes us is their number. During the whole course of his personal ministry, he continued to exercise his astonishing powers, and multitudes were permitted to experience their healing and salutary efficacy. If only a few solitary wonders had been recorded, some colour of excuse might have been afforded to the objector, and the possibility of collusion or mistake more plausibly alleged; but when so many reaped the benefit, and so many more beheld the exertion of this miraculous energy, all reasonable ground of distrust is at once removed. These works were not attended with any circumstances of apparent mystery, likely to excite suspicion. They were performed in the broad light of day, in places of general resort, and before the public eye; so that no deception could possibly be practised: deception here would involve a miracle, no less than that which the supposition is intended

casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils."--to disprove. And it is a fact which shews the extreme difficulty the early infidels, such as Porphyry, and Celsus, and Julian, found, in constructing an argument against Christianity, that they too were compelled to take up so absurd a supposition; re

Their simple grandeur is also worthy of our notice. There was no ostentatious display; no note of preparation sounded; no attempt to heighten their effect. A word was sufficient. "He spake, and it was done." Such stupend

ous miracles had never before been the way of escape. But he who

gave sight to the bodily eye, can pour the light of truth on the benighted soul, and dissipate that moral darkness in which it is involved.

When to the deaf he restored the

faculty of hearing, it was significant of that influence by which he inclines the reluctant ear to listen to the warning and inviting voice, with which he speaks to us in the Gospel. Apart from that gracious

witnessed. Universal nature was subject to his controul. The unruly elements, at his voice, were hushed into repose; infernal spirits fled at his rebuke; and the grave itself yielded up its prey at his command. And yet the wonders which the Saviour wrought were not designed to attract attention, and to excite the feeling of surprize; there was a motive of kindness in them all. They were not like the miracles of Moses, in influence, man would continue deaf the land of Egypt-displays of to all the admonitions and entreaawful justice, destructive in their ties, the threatenings and the protendency, and appalling to the mises which are contained in the eye. They were characterized by Scriptures; and neither the thunmercy. They were the miracles of ders of a violated law, nor the incarnate love. They displayed, sweet accents of mercy, could in a striking and beautiful manner, arrest the vagrant attention, alarm the benignity of his nature, and or soothe the spirit. the tenderness of his heart; his Even the loosening of the tongue deep sympathy with suffering hu- of the dumb was not without its manity; his readiness to relieve emblematical meaning. How many its wretchedness, and to mitigate indeed, are there, who can conits woe. He scattered blessings verse freely and fluently on trifles; around his path with a profuse, but when any serious subject is unsparing hand. Never did the introduced in conversation, they cry of distress appeal to him in appear as if suddenly their lips vain. Never was the humble sup-were sealed: a dead silence enpliant sent empty away. There sues; for the theme has no charm was no variety or depth of human for them. Many there are, whose sorrow which he did not soften or tongue can readily articulate profane or profligate expressions, but But there is one point of view was never tuned to praise; and in which the miracles of Christ from whose mouth the breath of have not, perhaps, been sufficient-prayer never ascended. He who ly regarded. I allude to their can renovate our fallen nature, can emblematical nature. They are unloose the stammering tongue, full of meaning; fraught with sa- aud teach us a new dialect, the lutary instruction. Thus, when he dialect of heaven. opened the eyes of the blind, it There is a sickness of the soul, was an emblem of that spiritual as well as of the body. Sin is a illumination which he alone has malady which has infected every power to impart. Mankind are human being; and, however variuniversally sunk in a state of deep ous its symptoms, in each case it and deplorable ignorance; blind threatens to undermine the moral to their present condition and their constitution; and if not arrested in future destiny; unconscious of their its progress, will certainly termiguilt and of their danger; and nate in death. Who can minister therefore unconcerned respecting unto a soul diseased? It is beyond

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