Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/29

 After their  multitude,  the  next  strongest  argument for  Christ's  divinity  is  their  magnitude. " Such works  I  do,"  says  He,  "  as  no  man  ever  did before  .  .  ." and we  may  add,  or  since. True, Christ promised that  whosoever  believed  in  Him  would have the  power  to  work  equal  and  even  greater prodigies than  He,  but  we  must  not  forget  that whatever is  accomplished  by  God's  servants  in  the way of  miracles  is  really  done  by  power  not  theirs but Christ's.  Christ  taught  this  when  He  said :  "  I go  to  the  Father  and  whatever  you  ask  in  My  name that  I  will  do,"  and  Peter  and  John  showed  how  well they had  learned  when  they  declared  to  the  Jews that not  by  their  power,  but  in  the  name  of  Jesus, had they  cured  the  infirm  man  at  the  Beautiful  Gate of the  Temple. Besides, Christ  calls  the  effects  of apostolic  ministry  greater  miracles  than  His  to  show that the  conversion  and  the  cleansing  of  a  soul  from sin is  a  greater  miracle  than  the  raising  of  the  dead to life.

Again the  manner  of  Christ's  miracles  distinguishes them  from  miracles  of  saints  and  further proves Him  God,  for  they  by  prayer  and  fasting accomplished gradually  their  results,  but  Christ  not  so, but instantly  and  by  His  sole  command. The variety of His  miracles,  too,  attests  the  self-same  truth of His  divinity,  for  in  every  creature  of  the  universe, animate and  inanimate,  He  showed  His  almighty power. Of inanimate  objects  the  star  led  to  His birthplace, and  the  sun  was  darkened  at  His  death; the loaves  were  multiplied;  the  water  saw  its  Lord