and light of history; they translated the Scriptures into the popular language of different countries and appealed to them as the only test of religious truth; they exhorted Christians to judge for themselves, to search the Scriptures, to break asunder the bonds of ignorant prejudice and lawless authority, and to assert that liberty of conscience, to which they had an unalienable right as reasonable beings."

THE CURE OF THE BLIND MAN

NEAR BETHSAIDA,

PROVED то HAVE BEEN MIRACULOUS, BY

INTERNAL EVIDENCE,

DEDUCED FROM THE PECULIAR MANNER IN WHICH THAT WONDERFUL EVENT

THE CURE OF THE BLIND MAN

NEAR BETHSAIDA.

"And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man to him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking. After that, he put his hand again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his own house, saying, neither go into the town, nor fell it to any one in the town."-MARK viii 22-26.

THIS description of the miraculous cure of the blind man near Bethsaida, has been selected for our serious consideration, because it contains some peculiar circumstances, which (in my opinion) are sufficient to refute all the objections made by Infidels to the reality of the Scripture miracles. For, if it can be proved, that the cure of the blind man near Bethsaida, must have been miraculous, even the Infidel will be forced to admit, that the same power, which produced such a miracle, was also adequate to the production of all the mighty works recorded by the Evangelists.

The reader will remark, that the miracle, which has been selected for our present consideration, was distinguished from the other miracles recorded in the Gospel, by three peculiar circumstances: First, The question proposed by our Lord to the man who had been blind. Secondly, The man's answer, descriptive of the imperfection of his sight, after Christ had rendered the organs of vision perfect, by putting his hand on him the first time. Thirdly, The completion of the cure by a second miracle, which removed the imperfection of his vision, and enabled him to see all men clearly and at a distance from him.

As the contemplation of God's works has an evident tendency