most pressing claims of humanity, men were at His word to follow Him. Although they did not see His ultimate intention, men were to take His plans without questioning and doubting. To doubt or question was to sin.

The immediate success or failure of His work made no difference in His self-estimate. He did not lower his claims when men left Him, nor raise them in the elation of popularity. Men came and went; He remained serenely the same. The tribute might not be rendered now, but it would be His at last. In the darkest hour of His fortunes He could calmly anticipate the time that He should be acknowledged as King of kings. Beginning His work in a peasant's garb, with almost no following, He anticipated the time when His religion should become fashionable,— when men should call Him "Lord, Lord!" and He would not know them; when His name, hardly known, or known to be despised, should become the spring of power-the well-head of great and sweet utterances, the name above every name, as Paul calls it, the beautiful name, as even the stern Apostle James says, with the rare, deep tenderness of a rugged nature. Such were His claims. None other made such claims; none other

claimed to stand so high, or to give so much. If these claims are untrue, can His character stand stainless? We are shut up to the old dilemma. Either He is God or He is not good.

His divinity and humanity both appear in His claims and in His work. He was never afraid of lowering Himself. Standing on the very verge of time, with the millenniums of glory stretching on before, He paused and stooped to wash the disciples' feet. He was ready always with all the help which a man may claim from his brother. Never dazzled by earthly splendors, He was never humbled by earthly lowliness. What explanation can there be of this but the old one,-He proceeded forth and came from God?

CHAPTER VII.

The Miracles of Christ.

"Greater works than these shall ye do."

"Thousands of things do Thee employ

In ruling all

This spacious globe: angels must have their joy,
Devils their rod, the sea his shore,

The winds their stint; and yet when I did call,
Thou heard'st my call and more.

GEORGE HERBERT.

T hardly accords with the plan of this work

IT

to discuss the philosophy of miracles. That miracles are possible is no question with those who believe in a personal God; that they have occurred is no question with those who believe in a divine Christ. A satisfactory philosophical foundation for miracles is to be found in the facts that God is free, and that His power is not exhausted in the creation and in the upholding of the universe. We go further, and say that miracles are probable, because the original order of the universe has been broken by sin. The

perverted use of man's free will has corrupted the world, and to restore it needs the interposition of God. Christ came to restore the moral order, and in performing this miracle He had to perform many others. The end of the universe is the glory of God in the salvation of man, and everything is made to subserve that. This delivers us from being crushed by material magnitude. It supplies an answer to the question: What are we -mere specks in the immensity of things? What are we-shut in and lost amidst these frightful wastes of space which Pascal shuddered at, encompassed by flaming and unknown worlds? The reply is: We are the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For us the course of nature exists, and if miracles are needed for our sakes they will not be refused. All that we demand about the Christian miracles is that they fulfil certain conditions. First, we may ask that they should be-not mere feats and wonders; they should have a moral meaning and end. If they are mere feats, we may suspect that they are nothing but the works of a juggler. The tricks may baffle and surprise us like many conjurers' tricks, but even although unable to explain them we shall still remain unconvinced,

and declare that the worker may be nothing more than the cleverest of the host of enchanters. We shall ask that the miracles have a moral and spiritual meaning. They must be not only what they have been called, a tolling of the great bell of the universe to call the inhabitants to listen to God's sermon, but also part of the sermon. They must be not only "a great belt round the furthest sun," but also part of the sun. Further, we shall ask that these miracles be done with ease. There must be no effort and no ostentation. Man performing a miracle may be exhausted in the work, and boastful when it is accomplished. If God does it, it will be nothing to Him, for He will not rise up to it, but descend upon it. He will not have a special class of feats; He will not prepare Himself for the effort; He will not exult over the work when it is achieved. Further, He will do the work completely. The miracle will not be partial, but total. These conditions, then-first, that the miracle have a moral and spiritual end; secondly, that it be done with ease and without surprise; thirdly, that it be done completely—are conditions such as we may fairly expect to see fulfilled in the Christian miracles. We shall, after ex