nothing  is  done  for  the  mere  sake  of  doing  it.  "  The
manifestation  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to
profit  withal6."  The  miracles  were,  first,  proofs  to
their  workers  themselves  of  the  reality  of  the  power
which  their  Lord  conveyed  to  them.  How  plainly
can  we  read  this  confidence  breaking  out  in  the  joyful
exclamation  of  the  returning  seventy,  "  Lord,  even  the
devils  are  subject  unto  us  through  Thy  Name f."  Fur
ther,  these  supernatural  powers  were  for  others  cre
dentials  of  the  new  messengers ;  they  were  wrought
to  shew  the  power  which  still  dwelt  in  the  Name
of  Jesus.  Some  of  them  were  meant  to  prove,  as  in
the  case  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  the  reality  of  the
invisible  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  for  punishment  as
well  as  blessing  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  They  were
to  summon  the  attention  of  a  barbarous  world  to  the
message  delivered  by  the  messenger  who  wrought
them;  and  having  borne  this  witness,  even  as  under
the  settled  spiritual  economy  of  the  older  dispensa
tion,  they  died  away,  leaving  their  testimony  behind
them  in  the  written  Word  of  inspiration.
If  from  this  enquiry  we  now  turn  to  the  miracles
of  our  Blessed  Lord,  we  find  them  in  this  one  great
feature  agreeing  absolutely  with  those  of  His  fore
runners  and  followers.  His  works,  like  theirs,  are
everywhere  stamped  with  the  impress  of  a  directly
moral  intention.  This  we  shall  see  even  more  clearly
when  we  mark  their  dissimilarity  from  those  of  others ;
but  it  may  be  traced  in  its  measure  in  their  points  of
resemblance  as  well  as  in  their  points  of  difference.
e  1  Cor.  xii.  7.  f  St.  Luke  x.  17.
