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Show :34 mg. 01-" A CHRISTIAN "419.37. Par/.3. CoMMON-WEAL‘TH. wrought by the immediate hand of God , but of humane In- dulh‘y. That which Furthermore, feei'ng Admiration and Wonder, Item"! "Mi- the knowledge and experience, wherewith men are is confequent to "‘1" '0 we more, fome leffe; it followeth, that the fame thing, endued , form may be a Mirav $333,"),163" cle to one, and nor to another. And thence it is, that ignoran t,and mm"! fuperfhtious men make great Wonders ofthofe works , which other men, knowing to proceed from Nature,(which is not the immediate, but the ordinary work of God,) admire not at all: As when Ecclip- .fes ofthe Sun and Moon have been taken for fupernaturall works, by the common people; when nevertheleife, there were others, could from their naturall caufes, have foretold the very hour they {hould arrive : Or, as when a man, by confederacy, and fecret intelligence getting knowledge ofthe private actions ofan ignorant,unwary man,7 and thereby tells him, what he has done in former time; it ,feems to him a Miraculous thing, but amongft wife, and cautelous men, fuch Miracles as thofe,cannot eafily be done. 773137750!" M""1"" ' Again, it belongeth to the nature ofa Miracle, that it be wrought for the procuring ofcredit to Gods Melfenge rs, Miniflers,and:Prophets, that thereby men may know, they are called, fent , and employed by God,and thereby be the better inclined to obey them.And therefore, though the creation ofthe world, and after that the defiruétion of all living creatures in the univerfall deluge, were admirable works -, yet becaufe they were not done to procure credit to any Prophet, or Other Minif'ter ofGod, they ufe not to be called Mira- cles. For how admirable foever any work be, the Admiration confifieth not in that it could be done, becaufe men naturally beleeve the Almighty can doe all things, but becaufe he does it at the Prayer, or Word ofa man. But the works of God in Egypt , by the hand of Mofes, were properly Miracles, becaufe they were done with inten- tion to make the people of Ifrael beleeve,that Mofes came unto them, not out ofany delign of his owne intercft , but as fent from God. Therefore after God had commanded him to deliver the Ifraelites from the Egyptian bondage, when he faid T/2 r7 will no! [It/rev: me, bum/110,15: Lord [mt/2 not appeared mm 727:", God gave him power, to turn the Rod he had in his hand into a Serpent , and again to re- turn it into a Rod -, and by putting his hand into his bofome make it leprous, and again by putting it out to make it whole ,, to to, make the Children of Ifrael beleeve (as it is verfe 5. ‘1 that the God or their Fathers had appeared unto him : And ifthat were not e nough, he gave him power to turn their waters into bloud. And when her had done thele Miracles before the people,it is faid ( verfe 41. ) that Exo.4.l,0c. they belted/ed bzm. NevertheleflEfor fear ofPharaoh, they durll not yet obey him. Therefore the other works which were done to plug L'C Pharaoh, and the Egyptians,tended all to make the Ilraelites beleerc in Mofes,and were properly Miracles. In like manner if we conndcr all the Miracles done by the hand of Mofes, and all the fell: or IhC Prophets, till the Captivity-7 and thofe ofour Saviour,and his Apofiles afterward; we {hall find, their end was alwaies to beget, orfonhrme Clad/7.37. firm beleefe, that they came not of their own motion , but Were (cm. by God. Wee may further obferve in Scripture, that the end of Miracles, was to beget beleef, not univerfally In all men, eleé‘t, and rcpt-chute, but inthe eleét only; that is to fay, in fuch as God had determined ihould become his Subjcfis- For thofe miraculgus plagues of Egypt, had not for end, the converfion of Pharaoh, [or God had told Mofes before, that he would harden the heart of Pha- raoh, that he ihould not let the people goe = And when he let them ooe at Jail, not the Miracles periwaded him, but the plagues forced i'm toit. So alfo of our Saviour, it is written, (Mat. 13. 58.) that he wrought not many Miracles in his own countrey, becaufe of their unbeleef-7 and (in Marlee 6 .5.) in (lead of, I]: wrowgbt not mam] , it is, be (an/d marl: none. It was not becaufe he wanted powemvhich to fav, were blafphemy againf't God; not that the end of Miracles was not to convert incredulous men to Chrifl; for the end of all the Miracles of Moles, of the Prophets, of our Saviour, and of his Apoitles was to adde men to the Church; bur it was, beeaufe the end oftheir Miracles, was to adde to the Church (not all men, but fuch as thould be faved; that is to fay, fuch as God had elecfted. Seeing therefore our Saviour was fent from his Father, hee could not uie his power in the converfion of thofe, whom his Father had rejected. They thatexpounding this place of St. Make, fay, that this word, Her could not, is put for, He wouldmtfioit with- out example in the Greek tongue, (where Would nag-is put fometimes for Could mt, in things inanimate, that have no will; but Can/d not, for Wozz/dwt, never,) and thereby layaflumbling block before weak Chrifiians, as if Chril't could doe no Miracles,but amongfl: the credulous. - Fromthat which I have here fet down , ofthenature, and ufe a Mir.icle,we may define it thus, A MIRA e L E , is .4 work ofGol, of The definition (be. ofa Miraclg, jidr; I'm operation {I} [/M' (my ofNiIturtgordaz'uedm [be Credtion,)alo;1e, for IIIC making mar/fry} to In: elcr'f, flit mime); afrm extraordinary Jinn/hr for their alanine/1. And fromthis definition, we may inferre; I‘irlt, that in all Mi- raclcs, the work done, is not the efleét ofany vertue in the Prophet; became it h the effect otthe immediate hand ofGodv, that is to fa , God hath done it, Wltllout uiing the Prophet therein, asafubordimte cauie. Stcondh, that no Devil, Angel, or other created Spirit, can do a Miracle. For it mull either be by vertue offome naturall or by Incantation, that is, vertue of words. do itby their fcience, For if the Inchanters own power independent, there is fome power that proceedeth not from God, which all men deny: and if they doe it b power given them, then is the work not from the immediate hand of God, but naturall, and confequeutly no Miracle. ‘ F here be fome texts ofScripture, that feem to attribute the power otworkingwonders ( equall to foine ofthofe immediate Miracles wroughtby God himfelf,) to certain Arts of Magick, and Incantatii 0n. Astor example , when we read that after the Rod ofMofes be- Hh ing |