vention of means; without recourse to any law of nature, ordinary or extraordinary; and for the promotion of his own eternal glory and the eternal happiness of his creatures, in connection with God's holiness and man's regeneration.

This would include the case referred to in Deuteronomy as well as that of a miraculous judgment.

It would exclude extraordinary phenomena.

It would embrace the case in which certain laws not discoverable by man in his present condition, and therefore not in the ordinary course of nature, were brought into operation to effect the miracle.

to.

It would embrace that in which means were resorted

Also that in which means may have been altogether rejected, as it is possible for us to conceive.*

It would exclude the case of a law of nature for the first time discovered, or lost and regained.

It would exclude the simple development of God's wisdom and power in connection with the improvement of man's intellectual powers.

And it would embrace miracles either performed by God himself or by his express agents, or with his permission by evil agents, for the promotion of his own glory and the good of his creatures.

And it would exclude all phenomena which do not tend to promote such glory or the good of God's creatures, and have no connection with God's holiness and man's regeneration.

The point may be long contested, but it will never be satisfactorily proved, that there are not well recorded cases in the Bible of miracles performed by evil agents, at the same time that reason assures us of the good which may be effected by God's permission of this circumstance.

* This involves a metaphysical point, but may be thus rendered intelligible. In an inquiry into final causes we arrive at a point in which all that can be said is, that such and such effects are produced simply by the will of God-creation of matter out of nothing, for example. Miracles of such a nature are here intended.

+ We may add, it would exclude Mr. Hume's miracle of a feather lifted by the wind.

God seeks to show that all power is centred in him, and this will never be effectually done until the instruments of evil are permitted to exercise all power,* and then to perceive themselves divested of it without remedy and subject to punishment.

Ordinary phenomena run no risk of being regarded as miracles, but extraordinary phenomena sometimes do. 'Hence it is desirable to bear in mind certain leading principles connected with them.

Concurrently with the development of the mysterious counsels of God as pertaining to man's regeneration and God's holiness (and which give occasion for miracles), there is a development of God's wisdom and power, in connection with a gift to man of improved and enlarged faculties, fitted to behold and contemplate the wonders of such wisdom and power. Extraordinary phenomena are the means by which this concurrent development is effected.

Incontrovertible facts which have no pretension to miracles and yet are not resolvable into ordinary laws of nature cannot otherwise rationally be accounted for.

Extraordinary phenomena may arise also, not alone from a development of novel occurrences calculated specially to declare the wisdom and power of God, but also from a discovery of powers in nature long concealed, or once known and subsequently lost. Supposing the discovery of the wondrous properties of steam had been known to the antediluvian world, it would in this age fall among this class of phenomena. Yet the effects of steam power have been regarded as miraculous.

Extraordinary phenomena have been sometimes invested with an air of secrecy and mystery, and have been converted into instruments of fraud and villany. Adventitious circumstances, however, change not the nature of things, and therefore an age of deception and fraud would not alter the characteristic of a law of nature producing extraordinary phenomena, or of such description of phenomena resulting from the will of God.

Miracles can never degenerate into ordinary or extraordinary phenomena without an overthrow of the system

* See 2 Thess. ii. 9.

of nature, but extraordinary phenomena may become ordinary. Hence, regarding all these considerations, we are at all times enabled to distinguish between them.

We need not devote much time to the task of proving that the absence of an ability to discriminate has in past ages placed many checks to the progress of knowledge, and given occasion to much superstition. “Man,” remarks Mr. Dick in his work on the improvement of society by the diffusion of useful knowledge,“ is naturally timid, terrified at those dangers whose consequences he cannot foresee, and at those uncommon appearances of nature whose causes he has never explored. Thus he is led in many instances to regard with apprehension and dread those operations of nature which are the results of regular and invariable laws.” Revelation, moreover, having disclosed that certain evil natures are for wise purposes sometimes permitted to exercise control over the laws of nature, he is also prone to regard every extraordinary occurrence as such an occasion. Let us beware of falling into an error pregnant with so many mischievous results, at the same time that we strive to shun that misconception which would resolve every phenomenon into one of those "operations of nature which are the result of regular and invariable laws."

The connection, then, of evil agents with miracles we have seen from the preceding remarks. God permits such agents to perform miracles, when those miracles tend to promote his own eternal glory and the eternal good of his creatures, in connection with his holiness and man's regeneration. On no other occasion have we reason to conclude that a miracle is performed by an evil agent.*

An evil agent may, however, it is conceivable, be active in another case.

The case may be proposed of such agent bringing to the knowledge of the world in some particular manner, and for the furtherance of his wicked purposes, certain laws of nature redeemed from obscurity or for the first time disclosed. This case will not be difficult to be

* The same remark would apply to any other agent, but we are now discussing the subject of the agency of evil spirits.

dealt with. He who casts a weapon of offence in the midst of unarmed yet angry combatants hath determined to minister to the death of one or more; but if a bystander, fearing the result, secures the weapon and probably converts it into an instrument of punishment of the author of the evil deed, he is the angel of mercy. Thus in the case supposed, he who takes care that evil doth not arise from the disclosure with ill intent of the law of nature, or mayhap converts such disclosure into a punishment of the author, by causing it to redound to the glory of God, in demonstrating that the law in its origin and use was holy and benevolent, he also is a minister of good. He participates not in the condemnation of him who sought to convert that which was wise in its conception and beneficial in its use into an occasion of falling.

From these brief remarks, then, we arrive at the conclusion that miracles are akin to, but are to be distinguished from, extraordinary phenomena; that both may be subjected to the power of an evil agent, but the latter only by the direct permission of God and for his glory; that miracles only occur on occasions connected with the purposes of God's holiness and man's regeneration; that extraordinary phenomena are produced by ordinary as well as what appear to us special laws; and that an extraordinary law or phenomenon, though capable of abuse, may be converted into an instrument of good, by being made to redound to the glory of God.

A recognition of these truths would prevent many errors, which, from various circumstances, are continually arising, particularly from the habit of too readily receiving or rejecting the belief of the agency of evil spirits.

POSTSCRIPT.

UNAVOIDABLE delay in the publication of these pages affords the author an opportunity of making some further remarks. Although nearly two years have elapsed since he adopted the views he has with much consideration been led to entertain on the subject of prophecy, particularly that portion which bears on the "Mystery of Iniquity," he has seen no reason materially to change them. On the contrary, occurrences which have since transpired in the political world tend to confirm him in them. The author holds that the "Mystery of Iniquity," or Antichrist, although upholding a false religion, will appear (for he has not yet appeared) in a character political rather than religious. That is to say, he will be a great conqueror-a tyrant. The author also holds that certain types of this personage have been already manifest to the world, and that at least one other type hath yet to come ere the revealing of the " Mystery of Iniquity" himself shall take place. These types, he further thinks, arise out of one of the kingdoms into which the old Roman Empire was and is divided, and assume a prominent position with reference to the said Empire, that is, they become rulers of Italy. The last of these types which has as yet appeared, he conceives is Napoleon Buonaparte; and although not in a position definitively to say that another type is immediately appearing, yet there is good reason for observing the signs of the times." When he wrote, not a trace of the approaching confirmation of his views could have

66