gave the
Holy Ghost, restored the dead to life, etc. Every ingenuous mind must
see in these all the characters of real miracles. Ponder Matt. xi.
2-6; and John xiv. 11. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler among the Jews,
was so struck with the extraordinary character of our Lord's miracles
that he came to Him, saying, "Rabbi," excellent master, "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." And miracles we think, with
Nicodemus, show that a prophet or religious teacher comes from God,
because God would not work a miracle in attestation of a falsehood, or
to encourage a false teacher. When, therefore, a miracle is wrought in
confirmation of anything, or as evidence of anything, we know that the
thing is true, because God has given to it His testimony. Every real
miracle is a work of God, done by His permission, and with His
concurrence; it is therefore, emphatically, the testimony of God. And
that greatest of miracles, the resurrection of our Lord Himself from
the dead, crowns the whole, and clearly attests the Divinity of the
Bible, and the truth of the Christian religion.

_From its wonderful prophecies._ Prophecy is a declaration of
something to come; a prediction of future events. It is the
foretelling of such future things as were beyond the reach of human
sagacity, and which, therefore, none but God could reveal. What mere
man can foretell the events of to-morrow? Who can say what shall
transpire in ages to come? This is the sole prerogative of God, who
alone knows the end from the beginning. Now the Bible abounds with
predictions which were uttered long before their actual fulfillment,
and which no human sagacity or foresight could possibly conjecture or
foretell. Take the first gospel promise given--the seed of the woman
to bruise the serpent's head; and remember that this promise was
delivered at least four thousand years before its fulfillment. The
celebrated prediction of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 10) was uttered between
sixteen and seventeen hundred years before it took place. Moses
declared the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, etc. (Deut. xxviii. 49,
etc.), fifteen centuries previously. In the first book of Kings (chap.
xiii. 2, 3) there is a prophecy concerning Josiah by name, three
hundred and thirty-one years; and in Isaiah (xlv. 1) concerning Cyrus,
one hundred years, before either of them were born. According to the
predictions of the pr