the Rev. W. Turner , Jun. , MA., Lives of the eminent Unitarians

[255] of himself. ‘It may here possibly be asked, Is this good reasoning, to prove the miracles to be wrought by God, by appealing to the doctrines or end for which they are wrought; and then to prove the doctrines or justify the end by an appeal to the miracles? I answer, that the very doing of the miracle argues the interposition or assistance of some superior agent; and that the end for which such a miracle is done evidently discovers the nature of that being by whose influence it is performed. The doctrines prove, not the existence of a superior power, but whether the assistance be given by a good or a bad power;— the miracles prove, not the goodness of the doctrines, but that he who preaches the doctrines so confirmed acts by an authority superior to his own. They neither of them separately prove the divine mission; but where they both concur, they certainly prove this proposition,—that such a person acts by the authority of some superior, good, and powerful being; or, in other words, that his mission is agreeable to the will of the Supreme; and therefore, in order to such proof, they ought both to concur.’—P. 95.

This argument is just in itself, and well and forcibly stated; but it may be doubted whether the author has not considerably weakened its effect by the concession that works properly miraculous, as far as human agents are concerned, may be performed by the intervention of other subordinate spirits, either good or bad. It is a concession apparently inconsistent with many express declarations of Scripture; it renders the criterion of a genuine divine miracle, such as may be received for a sufficient test of the authority of a