to think that He did not begin to speak in parables until a considerable
time after He had entered upon His ministry. [23:1] By these symbolical
discourses He at once blinded the eyes of His enemies, and furnished
materials for profitable meditation to His genuine disciples. The
parables, like the light of prophecy, are, to this very day, a beacon to
the Church, and a stumbling-block to unbelievers.

The claims of Jesus as the Christ were decisively established by the
Divine power which He manifested. It had been foretold that certain
extraordinary recoveries from disease and infirmity would be witnessed
in the days of the Messiah; and these predictions were now literally
fulfilled. The eyes of the blind were opened, and the ears of the deaf
were unstopped; the lame man leaped as an hart, and the tongue of the
dumb sang. [23:2] Not a few of the cures of our Saviour were wrought on
individuals to whom He was personally unknown; [23:3] and many of His
works of wonder were performed in the presence of friends and foes.
[23:4] Whilst His miracles exceeded in number all those recorded in the
Old Testament, they were still more remarkable for their variety and
their excellence. By His touch, or His word, he healed the most
inveterate maladies; He fed the multitude by thousands out of a store of
provisions which a little boy could carry; [24:1] He walked upon the
waves of the sea, when it was agitated by a tempest; [24:2] He made the
storm a calm, so that the wind at once ceased to blow, and the surface
of the deep reposed, at the same moment, in glassy smoothness; [24:3] He
cast out devils; and He restored life to the dead. Well might the
Pharisees be perplexed by the inquiry--"How can a man that is a sinner
do such miracles?" [23:4] It is quite possible that false prophets, by
the help of Satan, may accomplish feats fitted to excite astonishment;
and yet, in such cases, the agents of the Wicked One may be expected to
exhibit some symptoms of his spirit and character. But nothing