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    tempts naturally encoorajyed others to practise similar impositions upon the creaulHy of mankind . fa emy succeeding age miracles multiplied in num . her ana increased Jn extravagance ; till at length , by their frequency , they lost all title to the name , since they could be no longer considered as deviations from the ordinary course of nature . "—Pp . 98—102 .

    With similar diffidence we would beg leave to suggest ( after Bishop Pearce ) that the promise of our Lord to his apostles , that he would be with them to the end of the age , £ & > $ r ^ trvvrsXtiou ; rov ouuvnq , authorizes us to limit the bestowment and the exercise of miraculous gifts , not merely to the apostolical times , but to the period which was closed by the destruction of Je- * rusalem and the desolation of Judea . In the discourses of our Lord recorded

    by John near the conclusion of his Gospel , we find him comforting his disciples with such promises as these ; " I will not leave you comfortless , ( orphans , ) I will come to you . A little while and ye shall see me , because I go to the Father . I wijl see you again , and your heart shall rejoice . If a man love me , he will keep my words : and my Father will love him , and we will come to him , and make our abode with him . " All these passages manifestly refer to what in other passages in the same discourse is described as the sending and the coming of the comforter , or the advocate , that is , of

    the Holy Spirit . If such Were the presence of Jesus with his disciples , if he were with them in the miraculous powers with which they were endowed , and if he have limited his continuance with them to the end of the age , are we not warranted in believing that , at the end of the age , those powers , being no longer required , were no longer conferred ? " The gospel of the kingdom had then been preached in all the world for a witness to all nations , " as our Lord had predicted ; the spirit of prophecy had borne ample testimony to his divine mission ; all that he had foretold respecting his

    coming , as he sat on the Mount of Olives , having been fully accomplished ; and the Mosaic dispensation had been concluded by the almighty hand to which it owed its introduction and establishment . The Jewish adversaries were silenced : the Gentiles , in every part of the civilized world , had seen the demonstrations of divine power which every where attended the preach-, ing of the gospel ; the history of Christ and of the labours of his apostles was committed to writing , while thousands were living who could attest to

    others the credibility of all that the history contained . Miracles , therefore , were no longer necessary ; the future success of the gospel might be safely left to the operation of natural means , and by such only , we are inclined to believe , it was from that time aided . It is certainly a remarkable fact , that in the writings which are ascribed to the Fathers who are called Apostolic , who were the immediate successors of the apostles , no pretensions on their part to the possession of any supernatural powers are advanced .

    In an Appendix to this chapter , some very valuable extracts , in reference to this subject , are given from some manuscript Lectures on Ecclesiastical History , by the late Dr . J . Hey ; justly described , as all will acknowledge who are acquainted with the excellent course delivered by him as Norrisian Professor , as " one of the most acute , most impartial , and most judicious divines of modern times . " ( P . 163 . ) We cannot refrain from citing the following passage :

    " The authors on both sides of this question concerning the reality of the miraculous powers in the primitive Church , seem to have looked too far before them , and to have argued the point with too . much regard to the comequences which were lively to follow from Us being determined in this manner or in that . Those who defend the pretensions of the Fathers , do it through

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    270 Revte& . i-Dr * Kaye ** Tertultiafa

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 270, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/38/