them, and lay his hands upon them, than the Holy Ghost came on them, and “they spake with tongues and prophesied,” Acts xix. 6.

The above citation from 1 Cor. xii. shows that these graces were common among them; and they are also noticed in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, and in that to the Galatians. From this it appears, first, that the extension of these graces at the beginning of Christianity was very great; and that they were generally bestowed upon all Christians, but in such order and degree as the Holy Ghost judged proper. Secondly, That this was done chiefly by means of the sacrament of Confirmation, or the imposition of the hands of the chief pastors of the Church after baptism: so that the apostles not only communicated these graces themselves to their converts together with the Holy Ghost, the Author of them, but also transmitted to their successors in office the power of communicating them to others successively, till the work of God should be accomplished.

From the repeated testimony of Christian writers during the first three ages of the Church, it is clear that these supernatural graces and miraculous powers continued to be bestowed on great numbers during all that period; and we find two reasons why they should have been so. First, Because the necessities of the Christian religion were much the same during all that time; for while the efforts of hell were united with the greatest powers upon earth, animated by the most violent passions of the human heart, to persecute, oppress, and destroy the Christians during the first three ages, it was necessary that Almighty God should never cease to stretch forth His hand in their defence, and to continue His supernatural and miraculous interposition

both for their comfort and support, and for the confusion and conversion of their enemies. Secondly, Few or none embraced Christianity in those days of persecution who did not do so from their heart; they had no worldly motive to induce them, no temporal views to influence them; the conviction of its being the only way to save their souls was their sole motive for embracing it. Hence they were Christians in earnest, ready to sacrifice everything for their faith, and therefore well disposed for receiving the supernatural influences of the Divine Spirit.

But when the Roman emperors were converted to the faith of Christ, when Christianity was established by law, and it became even conducive to worldly interest to be a Christian, the face of things was changed. Christianity being then protected by the civil power, and every worldly motive concurring with the solid and convincing reasons on which it was founded, Religion no longer stood in need of the general continuation of those supernatural marks of the divine favour which had been necessary in the days of persecution. Besides, from the concurrence of worldly motives, numbers embraced the faith with views not purely spiritual, and carried a worldly spirit and a corrupted heart even into the sanctuary of God. Thus many became Christians who were altogether indisposed for receiving those divine communications of the Holy Ghost which had been so liberally bestowed upon the generality of the faithful in the three preceding ages.

About this time, then, a cessation of miracles is acknowledged to have taken place, and is attested by some of the greatest lights of the fourth century; but a cessation of what kind? A cessation of the abovenamed supernatural graces, both as to their extension,

and the manner of their transmission. As to extension, they were no longer communicated as previously to the generality of Christians. They were now bestowed only upon the few, upon those chosen souls who, still preserving the primitive spirit of Christianity, lived in heart and affection, and frequently in person also, detached from the world, and who sought God in purity of spirit. "As to the manner of transmission," because the Holy Ghost, when communicated to souls by the imposition of hands in the sacrament of Confirmation, did not now give those external signs of His presence which He had done at the beginning, by the appearance of fiery tongues, or by bestowing the gift of languages. These were necessary while the Church continued under the pressure of persecution; but that necessity was now past, and therefore, though the communication of the Divine Spirit, and the confirming and strengthening those who receive Him, will continue to the end of time to be the neverfailing effect of the sacrament of Confirmation in the worthy receiver, yet this is now done in an invisible manner, without the exterior signs which were given in the early ages.

VI. That this is the true nature of the cessation of miracles acknowledged by the holy fathers of the fourth age is evident from the express declaration of St Augustine. This great saint having, in different parts of his writings, mentioned this, and being well aware what use the enemies of the Church would make of such an acknowledgment, thought it necessary, in his book of Re-. tractations, to explain his meaning more precisely, which he does as follows:

"What I also said, that those miracles were not allowed to continue to our times, lest the soul should always seek after things visible, and mankind should.

wax cold by their frequency who had been inflamed by their novelty, is certainly true. For when hands are laid on the baptised, they do not receive the Holy Ghost now in such a manner as to speak with the tongues of all nations, nor are the sick now cured by the shadow of Christ's preachers as they pass by them, and others such as these, which it is manifest did afterwards cease: But what I said is not so to be understood, as if no miracles were believed to be performed now in the name of Christ For I myself, when I wrote that very book, knew that a blind man had received his sight in the city of Milan, at the bodies of the Milanese martyrs, and several others besides; nay, such numbers are performed in these our days, that I neither can know them all, nor, though I knew them, could I enumerate them :" St. Aug. Retract., lib. 1. cap. 13. § 7.

From this passage it is evident, that the fact spoken of by the holy Fathers of the fourth century regards only the extension and visible signs of the communication of the charismatic graces, when the Holy Ghost was received by the imposition of hands after baptism, or some of those more extraordinary miracles which were performed in the days of the apostles, such as curing the sick by their shadow, and the like. But though in this sense they acknowledge a cessation, they no less strenuously assert the continuation of the gift of miracles, and its actual exercise in numberless instances in their own days, to many of which they themselves were eyewitnesses.

VII. Hence, then, the question concerning the continuance of miracles in the Church is only with regard to these latter. We do not inquire whether the Holy Ghost continues now to be communicated at Confirmation, with those visible signs of His presence, the appear

ance of fiery tongues, speaking languages, and the like, which He displayed at the beginning; nor whether these and the other graces above mentioned be now indiscriminately bestowed on all the faithful. It is plain that this is not the case; and it is acknowledged by all that a cessation of these took place before, or about the beginning of, the fourth century. But the question is, Whether or not Almighty God has in every age of the Church, down to these our days, raised up from time to time holy persons, whom He has replenished with His Divine Spirit, and by whom He has been pleased, on many occasions, to perform miracles for ends of the same nature, or similar to those, for which He performed miracles by His holy servants, in every period of the Jewish dispensation?

This is the precise state of the question; and that Almighty God has actually done so, is what I have now to prove. But it will throw light upon the question, and show still further its importance, if we first take a view of the manner in which it has been treated by Dr Middleton and his Protestant antagonists, according to the different systems which they have advocated.

VIII. The Doctor everywhere professes the highest veneration for the Protestant religion, and assures us, towards the close of his introductory discourse, that his design in his work against the continuation of miracles, is to fix the religion of Protestants on its proper basis; that is, on the sacred Scriptures. For these he professes the greatest regard, and on the credit of their testimony firmly believes all the miracles related in them, however great and amazing. He acknowledges, of course, that the power of working miracles was bestowed on the apostles, and on others during the lives of the apostles, but insists that it ceased entirely upon their death, and