which all his actions displayed? If he were only a teacher sent to enlighten the world, by instructing them in a purer morality, and a more spiritual worship, why should he studiously avoid introducing a sanction, which all other prophets justly considered as adding to their reasonings and precepts the authority of immutable truth? Upon one principle only can the difficulty be solved: that Christ, the glorious antitype, of which Moses and many others were the imperfect type, spake by his own authority: that there was in him a power greater than had ever been vested in any human being, however favoured by the inspiration of heaven that, therefore, he spake as never man spake; that, therefore, the words which he delivered, "they are spirit, and they are life.""

2. In the performance of his miracles, the authority of Christ is as conspicuous as in his teaching.

Calm, dignified, collected, he but speaks the word, and the powers of nature obey. There is no appearance of effort or constraint; no elaborate preparation, no studied effect.

Christ, and his disciples, entered into a ship. "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the John vi. 63.

John vii. 46.

hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm."

With reason might the disciples, who witnessed this, fear exceedingly, and say one to another, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"

In the synagogue of Capernaum, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil. And Jesus rebuked him: and he came out. And they who witnessed it "were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they

We cannot, by the exertion of our finite intellect, pretend to appreciate omnipotence. But an intrinsic power, such as is here exercised by Christ, over all the operations of nature with which we are conversant, calming the seas, and stilling the winds, and controlling those evil spirits, of which we can think only with a feeling of indefinite terror; and conveying the same authority to those whom he would, does seem, not only to complete

t Mark iv. 36-41.

u Luke iv. 33-36.

the highest idea we could form of a Prophet like unto Moses, in all that mighty hand which he shewed in the sight of all Israel; but as approaching to that power of the Almighty and Eternal God, immeasurable, and incomprehensible, by the boldest conceptions of human imagination.

3. This highest degree of authority, which the very circumstances would lead us to ascribe to Christ, is confirmed by the express assertion of Holy Writ.

When Jesus had completed all that was written of him, and finished the work which God sent him to do; when he had, by his ignominious death and glorious resurrection, for ever proved himself to be the very Christ, he addressed these plain words to his assembled disciples, before he ascended visibly in their presence into that heaven whence he came down. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."x It is impossible for language to express more precisely a fact of immense importance. He now, at least, speaketh plainly, and speaketh no proverb. Here is no ambiguity, no figurative construction, no forced inference. The meaning cannot be mistaken: and the authority thus ascribed to the person and commands of Christ is such, as excludes y John xvi. 29.

- Matt. xxviii. 18.

the supposition of any superior. He, who has all power in earth, has a right to the obedience of man: He, who has all power in heaven, has a prerogative which is peculiar to God.

At a much earlier period of his ministry, Christ declared his authority in terms equally express; with the addition of the peculiar nature of the power given to him, as the Judge of all the world. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given unto the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man."

Before authority such as this, all earthly splendour and power sink into absolute insignificance. They are but the glimmering of the morning-star, fading away before the glorious rising of the day-spring from on high.

In the fulness of time, then, there did arise a Prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face; like him, also, in the signs and wonders which he did, and in the authority with which he was invested. And that Prophet was Jesus of Nazareth.

Knowing, therefore, that these things are

John v. 26, 27.

so, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?*

The great terror which Moses exhibited, was unexampled upon earth; and we may, in some measure, conceive the dread with which the Israelites received a law introduced by such awful sanctions. We read, with a mixture of pity and regret, the history of their wilfulness, and obstinacy, and sin; and we almost wonder that, after having witnessed such an impressive display of God's power, they should yet have forsaken his ordinances, and given no continued credence to his word. We read of the received by the

warnings which they had

voice of God's Prophet, and of the judgment which overtook them in their sins; and are almost tempted to regard such infirmity of purpose, as an unaccountable instance of more than ordinary weakness. But while we contemplate the fate of those who were disobedient to the law of Moses, let us not overlook our own neglect of a law, purer in its nature, and still more awful in its sanctions.

Moses spake to the people of Israel the words of God's law. Christ has spoken unto us often; by his word of revelation, by the warnings of his Providence, by the inward admonitions of our own consciences, by afflic

a 2 Pet. iii. 11.