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SCIENTIA VERITAS
1817
ARTES
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MIRACLES.
REV., E.
BY THE
t
LLLL
Edwa
A LITTON, M.A.
۔۔۔
RECTOR OF NAUNTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, AND EXAMINING
CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF DURHAM.
Published under the Direction of the Tract Committee.
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PREFATORY NOTICE.
It has not been thought necessary, in
the following pages, to make the Old
Testament miracles a subject of distinct
consideration. The objections of the pre-
sent day are directed against miraculous
agency as such, and, if valid against the
Christian miracles, they disprove the Mo-
saic also. On the other hand, if the former
are seen to rest on a solid basis, the proof
substantially applies to the latter, and the
reader can make the application for him-
self. Christianity rests on its own evi-
dence; and, though we cannot sever the
Gospel from the Law, the proof of the
superior dispensation carries with it that
4
A 2
4.
PREFATORY NOTICE.
λ
of the inferior. If Christ and the Apos
tles were what they professed to be, their
express statements are decisive as to the
supernatural origin of the Mosaic eco-
nomy. We thus free the argument from
questions relating to the authenticity and
genuineness of the several books of the
Jewish Scriptures, which, though capable
of satisfactory solution, are not, from the
nature of the case, so easy of determina-
tion as the corresponding questions relat-
ing to the books of the New Testament.
I
1
I
1
MIRACLES.
PART I.
4
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
:
CHRISTIANITY, in common with other reli-
gions, lays claim to a supernatural origin.
Systems of human philosophy, Christianity
however elaborate, make no pre- external ovi-
appeals to
tensions to be more than the pro- dence.
duct of unaided human reason; systems of
religion, however rude, since the element of
faith is inseparable from them, refer their origin
to heaven, and demand assent as communica-
tions from God to man. This, therefore, is not
peculiar to the religion of Christ: what is pe-
culiar to it is the nature of the credentials on
which it rests its claim to be a divine revela-
tion. These are partly internal and partly
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
{1
1
external. The Christian apologist justly refers
to the doctrines of the Gospel as exactly fitted
to meet the wants of human nature, and to its
precepts as embodying the most perfect system
of morality ever promulgated. The character of
Christ stands solitary and original amidst the
biographics of religious reformers. The can-
dour of the sacred writers stamps their narra-
tive with the impress of truth. Valuable, how-
ever, as these internal criteria are, they can
only be regarded in the light of auxiliary evi-
dence,* sustaining conclusions otherwise ob-
tained. The main stress of the argument
must ever rest upon the direct authentication
which the Christian religion has received from
heaven, and which, from its nature, is indepen-
dent of that moral and intellectual culture
which may be necessary duly to appreciate the
contents of the revelation. Christianity must,
to some extent, have christianised the prevalent
maxims and practice of society before it can
be recognised in its native beauty; it is apprc-
ciated by the light which itself gives. Its
livine Author therefore has seen fit to furnish
it with credentials which, antecedently to an
examination of the substance of the message,
and even before it could be fully delivered, or at
* See Paley's Evidences, Part II.
<
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
7
least recorded,* should at once, and from with-
out, impress the conviction that those entrusted
with it were sent from God. In pressing the
claims of the religion upon unbelievers, two
such were, from the first, appealed to by the
heralds of the Gospel-prophecy and miracles:
the former proving that the appearance of Jesus
of Nazareth, at the time and in the manner in
which He did appear,
appear, was no unforeseen
and isolated occurrence, but the fulfilment of
a scheme which dates from eternity, and the
outlines of which had been gradually unfolded
in the Old Testament Scriptures; the latter
attesting with the seal of supernatural power
the mission of Christ and the Apostles. It is
with the subject of miracles, as part The force of
of the external evidence of Christi-
anity, that the following pages are
concerned. But let it be premised
that, though it may sometimes be advisable,
or necessary, to select one of the
the main
branches of the evidences of our faith for par-
ticular consideration, great injustice will be
the argument
rests upon the
combination
of evidence.
* Tho inspired Volumo, containing the doctrine of Christ
and the Apostles, was not completed till the close of the first
century; but the recognition of Christianity, as a revelation,
was not postponed until it should be seen what additions the
last book of Scripture would make to the contents of those
already written,
со
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
done to the strength of the argument, if it be sup-
posed that it is to stand or fall with our greater
or less success in attempting to elucidate that
particular branch. Even should we totally
fail in vindicating its use and authority, abun-
dance of other proofs remain in reserve, which
must be dismissed as worthless, one by one,
before the objector can rationally advance to a
general sceptical conclusion. It is not upon
one pillar of proof, however firm, that Chris-
tianity rests, but upon an accumulation of evi-
dence tending to one conclusion, in which the
stronger supports the weaker, and all together
form a mass of conspiring probability resembling
the process of circumstantial evidence in a
court of justice. Let it be proved that the
Gospel miracles are of doubtful authenticity,
still the argument from prophecy remains un-
affected; let both be proved unsubstantial,
still the internal evidences retain their force.
It has been the common practice, and the com-
mon fallacy, of the unbeliever to deal otherwise
with the subject; and, when he fancies that he
has discovered a flaw in one species of evidence,
to precipitate himself upon the conclusion that
all has been proved valueless.
Even as regards the particular proof from
iniracles-our present subject-the miraculous
J
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
9
1
Miracles
other cireum-
stances.
event must not, if the full force of the argument
is to be perceived, be separated from
other concurring probabilities. themselves
such as the character of the doctrine not to be
considered
in support of which it is wrought, apart from
the end in view, and especially its
congruity with the personal cha-
racter of Christ, and the revealed purposes of
His coming. Objects of complex perception,
moral as well as intellectual, produce their
effect by a single impression, and not by
separate trains of reasoning; as the cultured
taste of the painter or the sculptor distin-
guishes a genuine Raphael from a copy, or a
piece of statuary of the classical age from that
of a later period. It is not by
It is not by a process
of reasoning that the conclusion is arrived at,
nor is it capable of logical analysis; it is a
matter of intuition, or instinctive feeling, in
which different elements blend together simul-
taneously to produce full conviction. So as
regards the Gospel miracles-the mere exercise/
of supernatural power, which is inseparable
from the notion of a miracle, is but a portion.
of their evidential force; and were it to stand
isolated, would constitute but a répas, a wonder,
not a onμɛîov, or significant token of the divine
intervention. Combined with manifest pro-
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
10
?
prieties of occasion and purpose the external
seal produces its full effect. Miracles, thus
viewed, belong to the substance as well as the
evidences of our faith: they teach as well as
prove. The charge of arguing in a vicious.
circle, as if we proved the doctrine by the mi-
racles and the miracles by the doctrine, is one
which, under this point of view, we may dis-
regard; the course of human belief is not
governed by the rules of logic. With these
cautions, we approach the subject in hand.
swd
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
11
CHAPTER II.
MIRACLES POSSIBLE.
A MIRACLE may be defined either nega-
tively, as an event which it is impossible to
account for from those laws of nature which
fall under ordinary observation; or Definition of
positively, as an exercise of super- a miracle.
natural power by an invisible agent (this
agent, in the case of the Scripture miracles,
being God himself), the result of the divine
moral government and for a moral object, i.c.
for an object to which the consideration of na-
ture by itself would not conduct us. Thus,
the object of the Mosaic miracles (supposing
them true) was the establishment of Mono-
theism as opposed to Polytheism, and such a
revelation of the attributes and will of the one
true God as was consistent with the preparatory
character of that dispensation. The object of
´the Christian miracles was (as we affirm) to
authenticate a religion, upon the truth or false-
hood of which incalculably important consc-
quences to mankind depend. With respect to
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
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the negative aspect of a miracle, it is desirable
to remove an ambiguity which attaches to the
expression “laws of nature." A law properly
means an enactment, and can only be ascribed
to an intelligent agent; as when we speak of
the Laws of Moses, or of the Statute Law of
Great Britain. Figuratively, the term is used
to describe the uniformity of antecedents and
consequents which pervades the material world;
as when we speak of the law of gravitation,
meaning thereby the general fact that all bodies,
hitherto known, attract each other with a force
which varies inversely as the square of the
distance, and directly as the mass of the at-
tracting body. When a particle acts in con-
formity with this observed fact, it is said to
obey the law of gravitation; whereas, it is but
a fresh instance of the inductive process by
which the general statement was originally
established. The fixed order of nature which
we see around us proceeds in accordance with
"laws "in this sense of the word; i. e. with a
system of efficient causes which invariably pro-
duce the same effects. All science, and all
art, is founded upon the presumption of this
uniformity of nature. Science arranges ob-
served facts, and by induction embodies the
results in general statements; art applies the
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
13
causes.
discoveries of science to the practical purposes
of daily life. It is obvious that neither would
find scope for its exercise if similar effects could
not be reckoned on to proceed from similar
Irregularities in expected results.
would paralyse the whole system of human
activity. Now, an interposition in the esta-
blished order of nature, owing to which its or-
dinary laws are set aside or suspended, is-a
miracle.
But this by no means exhausts the notion of
a true miracle. The mere strangeness of the
event is not of itself sufficient to stamp it as
such: we must have grounds for referring it to
the divine agency, working either directly or
mediately, and therefore the definition must in-
clude this positive element also. Now the foot-
steps of Deity are especially visible in the
excrcise of an intelligent free will, operating to
designed results. One created being alone, cog-
nisable by our senses, possesses this attribute-
man; man formed in the image of God, and
our only material for reasoning from analogy
to the nature and attributes of the Creator. Let
us briefly pursue the analogy. It is obvious
that the existence of an intelligent free agent
in creation introduces a class of efficient causes
which cannot be brought under the regular
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
tree.
sequences of causes and effects which nature
presents us with, viz. those connected with voli-
tion and the free-will of reasonable creatures.
The will of man is as much an efficient cause as
the principle of gravitation; it produces changes,
in the first instance, upon the matter most im-
mediately connected with it, viz. our bodies, and
through them upon matter external to us. At
our will we grasp the axe, and hew down the
But the peculiarity of this species of effi-
cient cause is that it obeys no law cognisable
by us: volition is apparently free; we cannot
calculate upon the exercise of it; we cannot
predict whether, or when, a certain person may
grasp the axe, or perform any other act; or
whether, when he has done it, he will do it
again. We may deny the existence of free-
will, and reduce human affairs to a question of
statistics and averages, as easily calculable as
the movements of a machine; but we do so at
the cost of undermining the foundations of mo-
rality as well as religion. Now, in the excrcise
of human volition, two distinguishing features
present themselves: unlike the blind sequences
of nature, it contains evidences of design, of
intelligent purpose extending beyond itself;
and it exhibits, on however limited a scale, the
fundamental distinction between mind and mat-
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
15
ter, and the power of the former over the latter.
Let us conceive these features enhanced to a
supernatural degree-that, in an extraordinary
event, purposes of infinite wisdom, and at the
same time a direct and unlimited power of mind
over matter (as when Christ spake the word,
and the palsied limbs, without further contact
with Him, received strength, or a person at a
distance was cured of sickness, Matt. ix. 6;
John iv. 50), manifest themselves—and we gain
the positive idea of a miracle, as an act which
we refer to infinite power guided by infinite
intelligence.
The terms which Scripture employs to desig-
nate such events are founded upon one or the
other of these aspects. The word tépas, or
marvel, expresses the negative side-an event
occurs which excites astonishment, as something
beyond and above nature. The word onμeîov,
σημεῖον,
or token, expresses the positive view-an event
occurs which, from its ethical significance, and
the conditions under which it has been per-
formed, leads the mind upwards to the divine
causality. The word dvváμes, or exhibitions of
power, intimates the presence of a force superior
to those which we see in daily operation, whether
in the rational or the irrational creation.
Are miracles, thus defined, intrinsically cre-
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
dible? One thing is certain, that if they be
not so, Christianity must be abandoned as a
Miracles not cunningly devised fable; for we
soparable cannot, as has been suggested,* re-
tain the essence of Christianity
Christianity. while separating from it the ob-
noxious element of miraculous evidence. It
is not merely that the contemporaries of Jesus.
from the sub-
stance of
C
* "Tho doctrine of Christianity is eternally true; it requires
only to be understood to be accepted. It is a matter of
direct and positive knowledge, dependent on no outside
authority; while the Christian miracles are, at best, but a
matter of testimony, and thereforo of secondary and iudiroct
knowledge. They now hang as a millstone about the neck of
many a pious man, who can believe in Christianity, but not
in the transformation of water into wine, or the resurrec-
tion of a doad body."-Parker's Discourses on Religion,
P. 209.
Compare Essays and Reviews, p. 140. The
doctrine of Christianity," of which these writers speak, is
Christianity robbed of all that makes revelation supernatural,
especially of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body to
life eternal. Even as regards other truths, supposed to be
common to Christianity and natural religion, Mr. Davison's
remark holds true: The religion of nature has had tho
opportunity of rekindling her faded taper by the Gospel light,
whether positively or unconsciously taken. Lot her not dis-
semble the obligation and the conveyance, and make a boast
of the splendour, as though it were originally her own, or had
always in her hands sufficed for the illumination of the
world.”—On Prophecy, p. 6. Apart from the light of revola-
tion with which he was surrounded, could Mr. Parker have
been able to evolve, from his inner consciousness, the standard
of morality which he recommends?
"
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
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and the Apostles conceived them to have
wrought miracles, but that Jesus and the Apo-
stles expressly lay claim to miraculous power
and agency as a divine attestation to their mis-
sion. "If I by the Spirit of God cast out
devils, the kingdom of God is come unto you"
(Matt. xii. 28); "Go your way and tell Jou
what things ye have seen and heard; how that
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised " (Luke vii. 22); "The works which the
Father hath given me to finish, they bear wit-
ness of me, that the Father hath sent me
(John v. 36); "The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me" (Ibid.
x. 25); "If I had not done among them the
works which none other man did, they had not
had sin " (Ibid. xv. 24); "His name, through
faith in his name, hath made this man strong
(Acts iii. 16); "Be it known unto you all, that
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
doth this man stand here before you whole
(Ibid. iv. 10); "I will not dare to speak of ary
of those things which Christ hath not wrought
by me
through mighty signs and wo.-
ders by the power of the Spirit of God" (Rom.
xv. 18, 19). There is no ambiguity in this
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
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language: it involves on the part of those who
employed it a distinct claim to miraculous
powers. Now, they either possessed these
powers, or they did not; and if they did not,
they must surely have been aware of the fact:
and, on this supposition, what becomes of the
moral character of Christ and the Apostles?
They must have been deliberate impostors,
availing themselves of the credulity of an igno-
rant age to gain a reputation which they did
not deserve. Their teaching, then, at once loses
all its authority. Not only must the mysterious
portions of it, i.e. the doctrines inscrutable to
reason, be regarded as the dreams of enthu-
siasts, but the moral precepts, which reason
approves, contract a taint from the impurity of
the channel through which they come to us.
We listen with repugnance to teachers incul-
cating truthfulness on false assumptions, and
reproving hypocrisy while conscious themselves
of deception. Better, surely, to place ourselves
at the feet of a Confucius or an Epictetus, who
put forward no pretensions incompatible with
honesty. If miracles, then, are impossible,
Christianity, so far as it is connected with its
Founder, becomes a mere shadow and a name.
Relieved of its reputed Author, it may stand as
a singularly pure code of morals; burdened
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
19
with falsehood and imposture, it must sink. It
is not necessary here to insist on the crucial
instance of the great miracle asserted to be
wrought not by but upon Christ-His resurrec-
tion from the dead. It is true, indeed, that if
Christ be not raised (and if miracles are incre-
dible He was not raised), our faith is vain: not
only is He, in predicting that event, proved to
have been a false prophet, and the Apostles, in
bearing witness to it, convicted of false tes-
timony-the very foundations of our hope, rest-
ing as they do upon the alleged fact, the seal
of Our Lord's mission and the pledge of man's
future restoration to endless life, sink beneath
us, and our faith becomes reduced to the vague
surmises of a Plato or a Cicero respecting the
immortality of the soul. But, inasmuch as this
principal miracle is more commonly ascribed to
God than to Christ in His proper person,* we
dismiss it for the present, and confine ourselves
to the instances in which He expressly lays
claim to supernatural power.
The question, then, should be clearly under-
Such is the usual languago of Scripture. See Acts ii.
24, 32; iii. 15; iv. 10; x. 40; Rom. i. 4. Occasionally,
however, the miracle is ascribed to Christ Himself, e.g.
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
John ii. 19. Compare John x. 18.
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
I
stood. It is impossible to save the essence of
Christianity while dispensing with its miracu-
lous attestation. The two are so interwoven
together, that the destruction of the one deals
a death-blow to the other. We must either
accept Christianity as it professes to have been
introduced; or we must reject it altogether, at
least, as possessing any authority over our belief
and our practice.
Miraclos not
The question, then, before us is of vital mo-
ment—are miracles intrinsically incredible?
They are violations of the laws
violations of of nature, it is replied, and such
natural laws. violations it is impossible to suppose
occurring. But, in the first place, it is phi-
losophically inaccurate to speak of miracles as
violations of natural laws, for this description
would only apply to the case in which different
effects should follow from the same cause; as,
e.g. if a stone should, contrary to general expe-
rience, mount upwards when released from the
hand, no force but the ordinary one of gravita-
tion being supposed in operation. This would
amount to a violation of sequences; and if it
occurred repeatedly, i.e. if the stone sometimes
fell and sometimes rose, there would be no law
of gravitation, and our confidence in it for prac-
tical purposes would be at an end. But the very
Į
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
21
(i
essence of a miracle is that it is not explicable
from the causes which we see in operation around
us. That it must proceed from some cause we are
led to conclude, for the idea of causation is in-
herent in the mind; but the cause may be an
extraordinary one, an interpolation in the com-
mon course of nature. There would, then, be
no violation of any known law, but simply a
now effect arising from the introduction of a
new cause; the new cause, in this case, being
an extraordinary interposition of divine agency.
But, secondly, what are the "laws of nature"
of which miracles are said to be a violation? If
by the expression be meant merely those se-
quences which fall under our notice, then, no
doubt, a miracle cannot be explained from them;
but let it be remembered that the system with
which we are conversant is but a fragment of
that of the universe: it is but a particular sys-
tem of natural laws. Now, to affirm that par-
ticular laws may not be suspended by higher
ones is to contradict daily experience. The
chemical laws which produce decomposition
after death are neutralised by those of the vital
powers: let the latter cease to operate, and the
former immediately resume their sway. We
take up a stone, and extend our arm; the law
of gravitation is counteracted by the superior
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MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
one (if it may be so called) of volition.
We na-
turally pursue what is pleasant, and avoid what
is painful: the supremacy of conscience over-
powers natural instinct. There is, therefore,
nothing inconceivable in the supposition that
the laws, or any of them, with which our expe-
rience is cognisant may give place to others of
a higher order. But if by the expression "laws
of nature" be meant all the laws which govern
the universe, no inference follows unfavourable
to miraculous agency; for to say that nothing can
happen contrary to the laws of nature, in this
sense, is merely to say that nothing can happen
which may not be reduced under some law. And
this is most true. God is a law to Himself; and
human volition, apparently most free, yet, we
cannot doubt, obeys some law of causality. In
like manner, miracles obey a law; i.e. as will be
explained in the following chapter, they may be
expected to occur at certain epochs and extraor-
dinary conjunctures. Could the first coming of
Christ, e.g. repeat itself, it would again be natu-
ral that it should be accompanied by miracles.
They do not occur at random, any more than
other events which we look upon as natural.
The objection, therefore, really applies to a
higher point in the argument, and amounts to
this that the interpolation of such a cause as
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
23
we have supposed, viz. an intelligent omnipo-
tent will, into the ordinary sequences of nature
is in itself incredible. Miracles, it may be
urged, are intrusions into this our material
world; but the material course of nature
proceeds by an immutable chain of antece-
dents and consequents, of which, if a link be
broken, the whole on either side becomes dis-
organised: i.e. if an effect does not follow
which ought to have followed, the failure
reacts upon the past, nullifying, in a certain
sense, all that has preceded; and affects the
future too, since a fresh series now begins with
consequences, of course, different from what
they would otherwise have been. E.g. the death
of Lazarus, had its effects not been arbitrarily
arrested, would have naturally issued in the
decomposition of his body, the constituent
elements of which would have gone to form
other substances, as the necessary conditions
of their existence and development. By the
miracle of his resuscitation,* the series received
a check in both directions: all the causes that
led to his sickness and death were, so to speak,
*Not his resurrection. The two ideas should bo carefully
distinguished. Rosuscitation is merely rekindling in a dead
body tho spark of natural life, and the body is again but
"a natural body;" rosurrection, in the full Scriptural sense,
is rising to die no more, and in a glorified body.
24
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
evacuated; and the forms into which the
material particles of his frame would have
passed failed, at that time, to receive their
being. Nor could the failure be remedied by
the second death of Lazarus, as we must sup-
pose that event to have occurred sooner or
later; for the particular conditions under
which his first death was a necessary link in
the chain of cause and effect, as regards the
production of fresh forms, no longer existed
when he died again. No doubt his body then.
entered into the reproductive forces of nature,
in a manner similar to what it would have
done if he had not been raised; but the
original series could never be reconstituted,
with all its special attendant circumstances,
unless, indeed, by a miracle. The opportunity,
so to speak, was lost, and could not be re-
called. Thus this miracle, had it occurred,
would have occasioned a violent interruption of
established sequences, and in fact given a new
impulse to the course of physical nature, how
far extending, or with what consequences, it is
impossible to say. The slightest deviation of
the heavenly bodies from their appointed orbits
would, as we well know, issue in the most
appalling material catastrophe which it is
possible to conceive.
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
25
""
So runs the objection; and we have ex-
plained it at some length, because it forms the
basis of much of the modern sceptical reason-
ing on this subject.* The reply is obvious.
The argument proceeds upon a limitation of
the term "nature' to the material world,
respecting which it may be conceded that
irregularities in its sequences, proceeding from
itself, would be contrary to the conclusions
founded upon the discoveries of modern science.
Not that we can properly speak of the "im-
mutability" of physical laws, as if an ante-
cedent necessity existed for their operating as
they do, and as if it were an absurdity to sup-
pose them otherwise than they are; the uni-
formity of nature is a fact, impressed upon us
by experience, not a necessary truth. It is
quite possible, e.g. to conceive a world in
which the law of gravitation does not exist.
As a fact, however, the uniform order of phy-
sical nature in our world is so invariable and
universal that self-caused violations of it could
hardly be conceived, and alleged instances of
them would have to encounter the strongest
resistance in our minds. But is there no
nature beyond the physical, no world but that
of matter? If mind, and free-will, and human
* Essays and Reviews. pp. 133, 141.
26
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
volition, are a part of nature, and yet distinct
from physical nature (and unless we avow
materialism, we must adinit the latter); if they
are really efficient causes, as experience proves
them to be; what becomes of the objection
from the uniformity of those physical sequences
which are only a part of nature? The other
part plainly obeys no such law, none such, at
least, cognisable by us. To recur to a former
illustration-the act of volition, by which the
stone in an outstretched hand is prevented
from falling, cannot be considered a link in an
immutable series, for then it would not be
really an act of free-will. It is so, however:
for all we see, it may, or it may not, have
taken place. But if the act of volition was
free, then the objection is practically refuted; *
for nature, we see, does admit of the interpo-
lation of higher efficient causes in her lower
without any disorganisation of the latter, so far,
at least, as we can perceive. How this may be
effected we know not, but the fact is unques-
tionable. In the actual constitution of things,
Jatt
* It is still, of course, open to the objector to maintain
that evon free-will and volition are absolutely determined by
immutable antecedents, i.e. that there is no such thing as
free-will. We suppose, in the abovo observations, that the
existence of free-will is granted.
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
27
allowance is made for the intrusion of agencies
which (of course only apparently) interrupt
the regular sequences of nature, or, in other
words, nature to this extent possesses a certain
elasticity. We are here concerned, however,
not with human, but with divine volition:
even if the former is bound in the adamantine
chain of necessity, it does not follow that the
latter is. And this leads us to the very core
of the question. In fact, the possibility of
miracles rests ultimately upon the assumption.
of a personal God, distinct from, and inde-
pendent of, nature. If atheism is our creed,
or our theism amounts merely to the belief of
an impersonal soul of the world, we are con-
sistent in rejecting the notion of such extra-
ordinary interpositions; if we believe in a
personal God, we must invest Him with the
attributes of personality, viz. intelligence and
absolute freedom of will. Let us add omni-
potence, and what difficulty is there in con-
ceiving that the Power which established the
laws of nature can so interfere as temporarily
to suspend them? That they should be for
wise purposes suspended is no contradiction to
necessary truth, as if we should affirm that
two and two make five; but merely an inter-
ruption of expected sequences, which, since
O
28
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
I
they were originally established by a fiat of the
divine will, may surely by the same power, and
in accordance with eternal prearrangements, be
suspended, if a fit occasion justifies the sus-
pension. There is no escape from this con-
clusion, but either in the hypothesis of Spinoza,*
that nature is a perfectly adequate represen-
tation of God which ultimately leads to Pan-
theism; or in the notion that God can only
act mediately, through the laws which He has
Himself imposed upon matter.
Either sup-
position places a limit to a will which, if it
exist at all in its proper freedom, must be
omnipotent, and so is fatal to every religious.
conception of the Deity. The latter, more-
over, is founded upon that mechanical theory
of the universe, according to which the Creator,
having first impressed upon matter the laws
which govern it, has retired into a state of
repose, leaving these laws to their regular and
immutable operation; as the engineer, having
set his machine in motion, withdraws from
personal interference with it. But this theory
is as unphilosophical as it is irreligious. Per-
vading all space, the Infinite Spirit works
directly everywhere, even under the visible
aspect of unchanging law. Far truer, even
* Tract., Theol.-Polit., c. vi.
Į
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
29
}
scientifically, are the scriptural statements that
by the Eternal Son "all things consist" (Col.
i. 17); that "by the word of His power" not
only were all things created, but all things are
upheld (Heb. i. 3); that "in God we live and
move and have our being " (Acts xvii. 28).
The Spanish Armada was, no doubt, destroyed
by the laws of nature, operating as God had
prearranged: yet the statesmen of Elizabeth's
time expressed the fact more accurately, as well
as more simply, when they ordered a medal to
be struck with the commemorative inscription,
"Deus afflavit, et dissipati sunt."
Ch
If the human will is really free, we must ad-
mit that even man can suspend processes which
he has commenced, or vary them at his plea-
sure. No doubt, his volitions obey some law,
but it is a law which is elastic enough to ad-
mit of these variations, which to us seem arbi-
trary and capricious. To deny that He who
created man possesses a similar but infinitely
higher attribute of personality; to maintain
that, while a free but created will is capable of
controlling and subjugating nature, or mov-
ing, without collision, among her physical se-
quences, the uncreated and omnipotent will can-
not vary or suspend the laws which itself
framed-this were to reduce the idea of Deity
30
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
below that of humanity, and to make man the
summit of creation. And the next step, as we
see it taken in the philosophy of Strauss and.
Feuerbach, is to deify humanity, and teach
that the human race is the only God. But
what is a God who is destitute of personality?
who has no will, no affection, no action; exer-
cises no providence, and hears no prayer?
Whatever value, in a philosophical point of
view, may attach to the conception, it has none
in a religious; and, indeed, none for the real
philosopher. For, surely, to all whose minds
have not been warped by immersion in physi-
cal studies, or overpowered by the contem-
plation of the giant march of physical law, it
must be evident that a conscious personality
transcends, in dignity, the whole world of mere
matter. An intelligent will stands in solitary
grandeur amidst the blind forces of nature.
"Man," says Pascal, in a well-known passage,
"is but the weakest reed in nature, but he is
a reed that thinks. It does not need that the
whole universe should rise in arms to crush
him. A vapour, a drop of water, suffices for
that purpose. But if the universe should crush
him, man would still be more noble than that
which destroys him, because he knows that he
dies; while of the advantage that the universe
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
31
possesses over him the universe knows nothing.
Thus our whole dignity consists in thought." *
To sum up (the introduction of direct divine
agency into the world of unconscious matter,
producing effects which seem to us miraculous,
is only incredible on the supposition that the
existence of the divine agent Himself is in-
credible.
But this conception of Deity, it is replied,
as a personal Being, above and independent
of nature, is derived not from the
contemplation of nature, but from
revelation; and if from revela-
tion, then we are but arguing in
a circle, for we prove revelation by miracles,
and the possibility of miracles by revelation;
i.e. by the notion of God which it reveals. Ac-
cording, therefore, to the measure and quality
of our theism will be our disposition to admit
the possibility of miracles. Many writers,"
we are told, "as the late J. Sterling, Mr.
Emerson, and Professor F. W. Newman, than
whom no men have evinced a more deep-seated
and devout belief in the divine perfections,
have agreed in the inference, that the entire
view of theistic principles, in their highest
spiritual purity, is utterly at variance with all
* Pensées. Part I. Art. 4.
66
Charge of
arguing in
a circle
unfounded.
32
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
1
conception of suspensions of the laws of nature,
or with the idea of any kind of external mani-
festations to the senses, as overruling the
higher, and as they conceive sole worthy and
fitting, convictions of moral sense and religious
intuition." * But whence have these devout
writers derived their conception of Deity?
Let one of them tell us: "The simple argu-
ment from the invariable order of nature is
wholly incompetent to give us any conception.
whatever of the divine omnipotence, except as
maintaining or acting through that universal
system of physical order and law."† Or, in
the language of another: "Everywhere I
find law the constant mode of operation of an
infinite God." That is, they confine their
attention to one portion of nature, viz. the phy-
sical world, with its series of impressed ante-
cedents and consequents. It may be admitted
that from this alone the conception of a per-
sonal Deity could hardly be derived. Nature
works blindly and unconsciously, without
apparent beginning or ending; treading the
ceaseless round of growth and decay, and re-
peating herself without variation or progress.
* Essays and Reviews, p. 114.
† Powell, Order of Nature, p. 245.
T. Parker, Theism, p. 263,
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
33
mad
If volition be at all connected with this system,
it can only be a volition which acts immutably,
or of which the immutable laws which belong
to the visible world are the complete exponent;
i.e. it is not real volition, which necessarily in-
volves the idea of freedom, and therefore the
possibility of change. But if under the term
"nature" is included man, the one instance of a
free moral agent, then natural theism coincides
very nearly with the theism of revelation; for
surely it is but reasonable that we should frame
our theism from the higher, and not the lower
phenomena of creation. (A created being, such
as man, endowed with personality--free, moral,
and intelligent-inevitably suggests the idea
of a free, moral, and intelligent Creator :) w
cannot conceive a blind irrational force issu-
ing in such a result. The God of Scripture,
therefore omniscient and omnipotent, whose
special providence is over all His works-this
conception of Deity, though presented in all
its fulness in Scripture, does not wholly depend
on Scripture for its proof, but is, in fact, that
which we gather from a comprehensive, as
contrasted with a partial, view of creation.
That it is confirmed and developed in Scripture
is admitted.
But is it not inconsistent with our ideas
C
34
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
of the divine perfections that the constitution
of things should have been so imperfectly
framed at the first as to require
occasional interpositions on the part
of the Creator? as a bungling work-
man is compelled to adjust, or re-
pair, the machine which ought,
when turned out of hand, to have needed no
further interference. "The laws of nature
are but the decrees of God, which proceed from
the necessity and perfection of the divine es-
sence. If, therefore, anything were to happen.
contrary to the universal laws of nature, it
would also, of necessity, be contrary to the
divine decree, intelligence, and essence; or if
any one should maintain that God does any-
thing against the laws of nature, he must also
maintain that God acts against His own nature,
which is absurd."* But we are far from sup-
posing that miracles are supplementary inter-
ferences to repair previous omissions. They
are not an afterthought, but entered, like every-
thing else, into the plan conceived by the
Creator from all eternity for the training of the
human race. At certain times, and on certain
occasions, it has seemed good to the Almighty,
in pursuance of His eternal counsel, to work
* Spinoza, Tract. Theo-Polit. c. vi.
Miracles not
inconsistent
with the di-
vino per-
fuctions.
1
PEA
J
•
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
35
directly, instead of mediately, on the stage of
human affairs; and to work directly is to work
miraculously. "Miracles on earth are nature
in heaven;"* i.e. when "the arm of the Lord
(Isa. liii. 1) is visibly revealed amongst us, it
can only be in the way of miracle: and this,
not mediate working through imposed laws, is
what is really appropriate and natural to a
personal Deity. It is an abatement, though
as regards the lower purposes of human life, a
necessary one, of the divine glory to operate
under the form of physical law: at times, not
arbitrarily, but in obedience to "general laws
of wisdom," the veil has been rent, and the
Creator stands confessed as such. And thus
the divine perfections, properly understood, in-
stead of rendering miracles incredible, almost
need them, to be fully manifested. The wis-
dom of God is exhibited in foreordaining the
occasions on which miracles should emerge;
His power in the miracle itself: and here are
the true footsteps of Deity. Or shall we affirm
that God can have no purposes beyond what
arc discovered to us by the order of physical
nature? i.e. venture to limit the divine intel-
ligence by that particular exhibition of it which
* Jean Paul.
+ Butler, Anal, Part II. c. i.
""
C 2
36
1
3
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
Ad
the visible world furnishes? If He has other
purposes, and those purposes cannot be accom-
plished without miracles, then it belongs to the
divine perfections to perform miracles. In-
flexible persistence in a certain course of con-
duct is not commonly regarded as the highest
proof even of human wisdom, which rather
appears in adopting changes suitable to altered
circumstances. Such apparent inconstancy is
constancy to a higher law. God certainly
cannot act against the universal laws* of nature,
for He cannot act against His own will, and
His will is part of His nature, and therefore
part of nature. But He can, consistently,
suspend partial laws, if by so doing important
purposes may be attained. To us such inter-
positions may wear the aspect of adaptations
to successive changes; but this is only from
the imperfection of our faculties. "Known
unto God are all His works from the begin-
ning" (Acts xv. 18). And what purpose can
be conceived more important than the intro-
duction of a religion like Christianity?
The course of nature, if that expression is
*In the passago cited above from Spinoza, it will be soon
that, in the second sentence, ho tacitly substitutes the expres-
sion "universal laws of nature" for that of "laws of nature,"
which he had used in the first.
}
·
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
37
The course
miraculous.
""
taken in its full extent, necessarily involves
the idea of the miraculous; so far, that is,
as it involves the idea of creation.
In its full extent, the expression of nature, in
comprises not merely the existing its full extent,
has always
arrangements of matter and mind involved tho
with which we are conversant,
but those which preceded the creation of man
and the present order of things; that history
of which the first chapter of Genesis is the
record. There existed a
(6 course of nature
proceeding, we cannot doubt, by fixed laws,
during the vast interval that clapsed between
the first divine act of reducing chaos to order,
and that of placing man in the world which
had been fitted up for his reception: but this
order of nature admitted of secondary acts of
creation, in the several recorded stages of pro-
duction, and actually received them; admitted,
that is, and received the miraculous. For acts
of creative power, as distinguished from that
which upholds the existing order of things, and
the miraculous, belong to the same category.
Now, the stages of creation, up to the period
when God rested from His works (Gen. ii. 2),
did not pass one into the other in the way of
natural antecedent and consequent. Lifeless
matter did not breathe into itself the elemen-
38
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
#
1
tary principle of vegetable life; nor did vege-
table life advance by any known law into
animal; nor animal into rational. There was
a chasm between each of these steps which na-
ture of itself could never bridge over: each of
them was an act of relative creation (creatio
mediata); i.e. demanded an exercise of divine
power different from that which sustains the
existing frame of nature. God, in one sense,
is always working (John v. 17), but not always
as He worked in the great epochs of the pre-
paration of our globe for man. Deny this mi-
raculous agency, and nothing remains but
either the scholastic distinction of an originat-
ing nature (natura naturans) and an originated
nature (natura naturata), or the idea of an
endless chain of cause and effect; and even
this latter, follow it as far back as we please,
must ultimately conduct us to a beginning.
Admit it, and there is no contradiction between
the ideas of nature and miracle. It is true
that there must have been a groundwork in the
earlier for the later manifestations of creative
energy; a point of affinity with which the
latter could connect themselves. Man, e.g.
was not created per saltum, after the reduc-
tion of the brute forces of matter into order:
there was a capacity in the irrational soul for
7
Japa
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
39
receiving the gift of reason. And so, to a
certain extent, each step lay hidden in its pre-
decessor, and nothing took place contrary to
nature. But the progression was not the less
above nature, and involved an agency strictly
miraculous. The fact of its exercise in the
pre-Adamite period constitutes the possibility
of miracles now; not merely of those which
are alleged to have accompanied the promul-
gation of Christianity with its predecessor the
Mosaic economy, but of those future marvel-
lous changes which Scripture not indistinctly
announces as in store for this redeemed world
of ours.
Conclusion.
It appears, then, that miracles cannot be pro-
nounced abstractedly impossible, provided al-
ways that the existence of a personal
God is granted. And, on this ground,
it seems better to let the question rest than to
introduce considerations which may seem of
doubtful force. Thus extraordinary interposi-
tions have been explained by the hypothesis of a
law of miracles originally impressed on creation,
*The abore observations assume as correct the common
beliof of tho essontial distinction of species. By those who
accept Mr. Darwin's theory on The Origin of Species, tho
argument will, of course, not be admitted; but that theory
has not yet forced itself into universal recognition, even
among natural philosophors.
40
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
and coming into action at the proper time; or by
that of" a higher and purer nature" coming
down into this world of discords, and restoring for
a moment the primitive order. E.g. miraculous
cures cannot be deemed against nature, but
rather a restoration of the true nature of man
which the sickness had disturbed. With re-
spect to the former explanation of miracles,
no doubt it was God's eternal purpose to per-
form them, and therefore, in the original con-
stitution of things, room was left for their
occurrence—a certain elasticity imparted to
nature, admitting the miracle without perma-
nent disturbance of the established order. But
a "law of miracles," if by the expression be
meant their regular recurrence, is inconsistent
with the notion of a miracle. A law of nature
is gathered from the observance of constantly
recurring sequences; and however extra-
ordinary the events may be, or however
separated by vast intervals, if they occur regu-
larly, they are removed from the region of the
miraculous. Thus, if it were originally im-
pressed on creation that a dead man should
come to life once in a thousand years, and if
this actually took place, we could no longer
**
* Tronch, On Miracles, p. 15.
what
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
41
..
deem it a miracle, but a remarkable natural
law. The element of divine personal agency
working for a special purpose, and in coinci-
dence with the assertion of a mission, would be
wanting. There would be a marvel, but not a
sign of the divine agency.
It is not the mere
occurrence of an inexplicable event, but its
occurrence in connection with a personal agent
and a professed mission, that constitutes an
evidential miracle, and this disappears on the
hypothesis of a recurrent law. The theory of
"a higher nature" is open to nearly the same
objection. But, besides this, whence do we
derive the idea of this higher nature—e.g. that
it is the true nature of man to be exempt from
sickness, or to live for ever in a glorified body—
but from the revelation which it is the object
of miracles to prove? The nature that we are
acquainted with is one from which pain, disease,
and death are not separable. The doctrine of
a primitive state of perfection, and of its
restoration after the general resurrection, are
Biblical doctrines-not a part of natural reli-
gion. Moreover, the theory applies only to
those miracles of the Gospel history which are
not of the highest type-such as the healing of
the sick, or opening the eyes of the blind-but
fails to explain such as the turning of the water
>
42
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
into wine, the feeding of the five thousand, or
the Ascension of Our Lord.
It seems better altogether to avoid the term
"nature" in connection with miraculous agency.
A true miracle is an act of omnipotent will
moving freely amidst the forces of nature, but
in no sense of them. There is no interference
here with the order of nature, because the effect
confessedly is not produced with the coopera-
tion of nature: * it proceeds directly from the
exercise of divine power. But once produced,
it takes its place amongst ordinary phenomena.
The Incarnation of Christ was a miracle of the
highest type; but Christ Himself was a man
like unto us," of a reasonable soul and human
flesh subsisting." And such, too, was the turn-
ing of the water into wine; but the wine thus
created possessed the qualities, and produced
the effects, of wine made in the ordinary way.
And thus it entered without violence into the
order of nature, but it did not enter by the
usual door.
It is hardly necessary, in conclusion, to ob-
*This is strictly true only of such absolute miracles as,
e.g. the Incarnation of our Lord. Relative miracles (i.e.
miracles to us, in our present state of knowlodgo), such as tho
Biblical curos, were performed with the cooperation of
natural forces. But the highest type is what wo must
reason upon,
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
43
serve that the theory of an order of nature,
perfectly coextensive with the divine intelli-
gence, and expressive of the divine will, is but
a theory too plainly contradicted by facts.
The order of nature, as it actually exists,
abounds in contradictions and frustrated aims,
which are inconsistent with the supposition that
it is a perfect order; and if not perfect, it is
not in accordance with the will of God. To
take the greatest of mysteries, the existence of
evil. It is inconceivable how, with infinite
goodness and infinite power presiding over the
universe, evil should ever have gained an en-
trance into it; yet the fact remains. Unless,
therefore, we are prepared to maintain that sin
and pain are not really evils, but only passing
discords which are necessary to the perfection of
the great harmony of nature (i.e. unless we are
Pantheists), we must admit that, in this capital
instance, at least, a glaring contradiction to the
divine will exists, of which we can give no
adequate explanation, but which renders the
present order of things far from being a per-
fect expression of the divine attributes and
nature. If miracles are to be regarded as the
descent of a "higher nature" into our world,
it can only be in the sense of their removing
the obstacles to the fulfilment of nature's plan
44
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
which arise from the disturbing forces of our
present condition. "The whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together"
(Rom. viii. 22); divine (i.e. beneficent)
miracles help nature in her extremity, and
enable her to accomplish the birth. E.g. na-
ture strove, but in vain, to restore the palsied
limbs to strength; the miracle of Christ re-
moved the impediment (Mark ii. 12). In this
sense, no doubt, the miracle is a "restoration "
of nature; and thus, as nature has always
involved miracle, so miracle has an intimate
connection with nature.
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
45
CHAPTER III.
MIRACLES THE FITTING
ACCOMPANIMENT
OF A REVELATION.
Ir miracles are possible, do they furnish a suit-
able voucher for the authenticity of a revela-
tion? This is the question now before us. The
reply to it depends upon the notion we form of
what a revelation really is. If it is what the
name properly imports, there is no difficulty
in perceiving that miracles are the proper seal
of it.
Man stood in
We set aside, as hardly deserving serious
consideration, the theories broached in some
quarters so confidently, that man
stood in no need of instruction from need of a re-
his Maker, inasmuch as he possesses, velation.
and ever has possessed, within himself all the
necessary elements of religious knowledge, and
only waited the appearance of the gifted sage,
Jesus of Nazareth, to prove how perfectly the
religious sentiment could respond to a proper
invocation;
* as the chords of the fabled statue
* Parkor's Discourses on Religion.
46
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
were mute till the beams of the rising sun
struck them, when they became vocal. The
religious history of mankind, apart from the
teaching of prophets and apostles, leads to a
very different conclusion. We assume that
man is in no such condition, either as regards
knowledge or spiritual power, as to dispense
with supernatural aid; that he is a fallen crea-
ture, and needs not direction merely but re-
covery. In proof of this we refer to the
popular religions of the civilised nations of
antiquity, and still more to the faith and ritual
of modern heathenism. But probably those
with whom we have to do will not be dis-
posed to question the necessity, or at least the
great desirableness, of a divine interposition for
man's better information on religion. The con-
troversy arises when the nature of this required
revelation comes under consideration. Has
God ever communicated with man directly,
or only mediately, through His works of crea-
tion or of providence? This is the question.
The apostle speaks of a manifestation of God-
γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ—of which the material world
is the vehicle, and which, far from being the
property of a few, so forces itself upon our
notice as to leave us without excuse if we fail
to perceive what it teaches respecting the divine
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
47
nature (Rom. i. 19). All religion, too, may in
one sense be called revelation, since, without
the idea of God already in the soul-a ray
from heaven, "lighting every man that cometh
into the world" (John i. 9)—it is difficult to
understand how man could rise from the con-
templation of the visible world to its invisible
Creator. Or, in a more special sense, more
nearly approaching the true, we may limit the
term to the methods which divine Providence
has employed in the education of the world by
means of the various subordinate agencies at
its command. At certain periods men are raised
up endowed with extraordinary gifts, and placed
in peculiarly favourable circumstances for im-
parting a decisive impulse, in a religious direc-
tion, to the human mind. In this sense God
is manifest in history. But none of these ade-
quately expresses the Scriptural idea of reve-
lation. Scripture speaks of One in our nature,
who was with God and was God (John i. 1);
who testified what He had seen and heard
(Ibid. iii. 32); whose doctrine was not his own,
but the Father's who sent Him; not the pro-
duct of human wisdom, but of immediate divine
teaching (Ibid.vii. 16; xii. 49). To His Apostles,
likewise, Christ promised not merely a special
human training, or concurrent providential aids,
•
48
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
for their work, but the Spirit, who should lead
them into the whole truth, and bring all things
to their remembrance whatsoever He had said
unto them (John xv. 26; xiv. 26); so that the
Gospel which they preached should be not of
man, nor received from man, but by the reve-
lation of Jesus Christ (Gal. i. 12).
Let us assume this last to be the adequate
description of a revelation; and it follows that
such a revelation is itself miraculous.
A rovelation,
properly so It is a miracle of divine instruction,
called, itsolf
if not of creation. It answers to the
miraculous.
definition of a miracle previously
given, both in its negative and its positive
aspect. It professes to be something which is
not explicable from a previously existing moral
or intellectual basis; which is not the natural
issue of pre-existing arrangements, as when we
say that modern civilisation is the result of the
concurring influences of Jewish, Greek, and
Roman culture. It is not referable to any
known law regulating the movements of the
spiritual world. And further, it professes to be
a direct exercise of divine agency upon the
mind of man, vindicating its necessity, and its
divine causality, both from the condition of the
beings for whose instruction it was given (fallen
man), and from the results to which it has led
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
49
(the influence of Christianity); exhibiting those
marks of design, of adaptation of means to ends
of ethical significance, as well as supernatural
origin, which lead the mind upwards to the
first great Cause as the Agent here at work.
But if a revelation of this kind be credible, or
not incredible, no visible miracles that follow
in its wake need create any difficulty. They
are the homogeneous, or natural, accompani-
ments of the first great act of interposition.
Whatever philosophical objections may be
urged against visible miracles apply, with
greater force, to the idea of revelation at all,
in its proper sense; which, therefore, consecu-
tive thinkers, like Strauss, deny has ever taken
place. Admit it; and whether it be followed
by other miracles appealing to the senses, of
what nature these miracles may be, and whether
they be more or less in number, are subordinate
questions: supernatural inspiration already in-
volves the notion of miracle, and, the prin-
ciple conceded, it is but a question of testimony
how far the application of it has extended.
Auto
Everything depends upon the light in which
we are to regard Christianity. Is it a mere
republication of natural religion, or a neu
manifestation of the divine character and attri-
butes, and the introduction of a new principle
D
50
1
I
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
of spiritual life, and new motives to practice,
into the world? Even if we limit its notion
to the former, an authoritative republication of
natural religion would constitute an epoch in
the spiritual education of mankind to which
nothing previous presents a parallel: but how
far short of the truth would such a conception
be! Christianity, in its scriptural meaning,
embodies mysteries, i.e. truths formerly hidden
but now brought to light, respecting the
divine nature and counsels which natural re-
ligion never surmised; it inculcates new duties
founded upon these discoveries; and it has
manifestly been the source, both in individuals.
and communities, of a revolution which cannot
be more aptly described than by its scriptural
designation, a new birth, or creation.* We
may emasculate Christianity by reducing it to
a mere ethical code, with the illustrious example
of its Founder's life; but this is not the
Christianity of the Bible. It claims to be a
"new thing" (Jer. xxxi. 22, 31)-an epoch in
the religious history of our race-and as such
is analogous to the commencement of vegetable,
animal, and human life, in which there was
a manifestation of direct creative power, and
secondary causes retired into the background as
* John iii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 17; Matt. xix. 28.
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
51
contrasted with the simple fiat of the Almighty.
But if its pretensions in this respect are well
founded, why should it be incredible that other
miracles, certainly not more difficult of com-
prehension than the primary one of revelation
itself, should accompany the entrance of the
latter into the world?
sure the re-
revelation.
But visible miracles not only are connected
with revelation by a law of natural propriety ;
they seem necessary to its due re- Miracles no-
ception in the world. It must be cessary to en-
obvious that, apart from a visible au- ception of
thentication of this kind, an alleged
miraculous revelation could make no impres-
sion on mankind; or, to speak more accurately,
the invisible miracles of revelation, which all
range themselves round the central one of the
Incarnation, need an external counterpart to
awaken attention to them-a "great bell of the
universe"* to announce what has taken place.
The question is, How was man, with eye dimmed
to the perception of the supernatural in na-
ture, buried in sense and the contemplation
of natural laws, to be vividly impressed with
the presence and agency of a personal God,
carrying into effect the plan which Himself had
devised for man's redemption? A Jew, of
* John Foster.
D 2
52
MIRACLES IN GENERAL,
1
humble birth, announces Himself as the promised
Messiah, claims equality with Jehovah (John
x. 30), and promulgates, with an air of autho-
rity (Matt. vii. 29), new doctrines. It is easy
to see what reception these pretensions would
have met with had there been no accompany-
ing visible scal. The question actually put to
Jesus expresses the unsophisticated expectation
of the human mind, "What sign shewest thou?
what dost thou work?" (John vi. 30). An un-
seen supernatural fact, such as the Incarnation,
could never have been impressed as a fact upon
the minds of men save by a supernatural attes-
tation appealing to the senses, The need of
such an attestation could not be supplied by
the assertions of Christ respecting Himself, nor
by the spotlessness of His life, nor by the excel-
lence of His moral teaching; these could not
convey any assurance of the stupendous fact,
which, transcending as it does human reason,
requires an authentication of kindred character.
The same may be said of the doctrine of the
Atonement. The fact upon which it is founded
-viz. the death of Christ-was not in itself
miraculous; but the import of that death—its
effect upon the relations between God and man
--is a matter that belongs to the invisible world,
and, being beyond the sphere of nature either to
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
53
conceive or to accomplish, needed to be pro-
pounded to man with a proportionate strength
of evidence. The evidence reaches its maximuni
in the two cardinal miracles-the Resurrection
and Ascension of Our Lord-the visible seals
of what is taught us in Scripture respecting
the efficacy of the sacrifice and of the priestly
functions of the risen Saviour.
between the
tion.
There is a wide distinction between the
original communication of mysterious doctrines
to the recipient of revelation, and Distinction
the publication of them for the use reception and
of mankind. In the former case no the delivery
of a divino
external guarantee of the divine act communica-
of illumination is needed; and though
the prophet, or the apostle, was no doubt con-
scious of the state of inspiration, and capable
of discriminating it from the suggestions of his
own mind, yet the process was secret and self-
evidencing, whether it was in the way of dream,
vision, or direct instruction. But when the
deposit was to be drawn forth from its original
seat, and to be proposed to man for his belief,
it is obvious that a divine guarantee of its au-
thenticity was, to say the least, highly de-
sirable; and no other guarantee is conceivable
save a visible suspension or interruption of the
ordinary sequences of nature, such as takes
54
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
16
place in a miracle. The prophet may deliver
his message; but still the reasonable demand
is, "What sign shewest thou? what dost thou
work?" He must prove that he stands in
special connection with the unseen world;
divine power, that attribute of God which most
immediately affects the mind, must seal his mis-
sion; he must be able to appeal to credentials
from heaven, if he is to speak with authority and
produce a permanent impression upon mankind.
And here it may be remarked, that the direct
object of miracles is not to prove a doctrine,
but to attest the mission of a person,
rectly intend- and only indirectly to bear upon the
Miracles di-
cd to attest
a mission, not question of the truth or error of
a doctrine.
what he delivers. It is true, in-
deed, that if the doctrine taught in connec-
tion with an apparent miracle should be either
contrary to a previous revelation, or incon-
sistent with the fundamental principles of natu-
ral religion or of morality, such a circumstance
would invalidate the claims of the teacher, but
it would not affect the evidential force of the
miracle. This, supposing it to be a true one,
would invest him with authority, until contra-
diction to some unquestionable truth should re-
verse the conclusion: in which case, we should
infer either that the supposed miracle is not a
4
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
55
real one, or that, if real, it is permitted to be
wrought as a trial of faith (Deut. xiii.; Gal.i.8;
Matt. xxiv. 24). This case, however, is merely
suppositious: there is no evidence of a miracle's
ever having been wrought in attestation of a
false doctrine. Such an event cannot, in the
abstract, be pronounced impossible; but we
may be sure that, should it occur, God will not
suffer sincere inquirers to be permanently de-
ceived, however difficult it may be to pronounce
à priori in what manner the deception will be
exposed. One possible mode is obvious, and is
suggested by the language of Scripture itself—
the overpowering of inferior by superior mira-
culous agency. 66
Lying signs and wonders"
(even if real) may be refuted by miracles of
such a type as clearly to betoken a power
nothing short of Almighty. So the magicians
of Egypt were compelled to confess-"This is
the finger of God" (Exod. viii. 19); and so
Nicodemus was convinced-" No man can do
these miracles that thou doest except God be
with him" (John iii. 2).
What miracles are intended to prove directly
is not a system of doctrine, but cer- Facts of re-
tain facts. Jesus is the Christ, God demption sui-
tably attosted
Incarnate; that is not a mere doc- by miracu-
trine. No power of intuition, no
lous facts.
P
56
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
L
process of reasoning, could have sufficed to
give us the assurance of it, or to advance man-
kind a single step towards the actual deliv-
erance from sin and death which the Incar-
nation and work of Christ have effected: this
redemption was a fact, and not merely a pro-
mise, or anticipation, or theory. To prove that
salvation had come into the world in the person
of Christ, was a very different thing from argu-
ing that the ideas of an incarnation and of an
atonement are congenial to the feelings of the
heart, and needs a different kind of demonstra-
tion. Kindred facts, fitted to awaken atten-
tion and inspire faith, must attest the spiritual
transaction, and bring it home to the convic-
tion of the unsophisticated mind. Such were
the miracles of Christ; facts attesting facts, as
well as shadowing forth spiritual under tem-
poral redemption. For, as has often been
observed by writers on this subject, the miracles
of Our Lord are significant in character, and
point to marvels of a higher nature than
themselves. The opening the eyes of the
blind, the restoring of the palsied limbs to
strength, the cure of sickness, the casting out
of devils, the raising of the dead to life, all
have their counterparts in the sphere of spi-
ritual malady, and proclaimed to the eye-
-
A
Jak
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
57
1
witnesses the office and the character of Him
who came to seek and to save the lost.
The Gospel miracles are homogeneous, not
merely with a supernatural revelation as the
supernatural evidence of it, but with the
special import and significance of the revela-
tion.
A mere mar-
miracle.
It is an erroneous statement of the case,
which has recently been put forward, that the
Christian miracles stand on the
same footing with alleged marvels vel, not an
of the present day; which, even if evidential
there were no suspicion of impos-
ture, every well-informed man would regard
merely as unaccountable facts, due to natural
causes which time may be expected to eluci-
date.* An isolated occurrence, however extra-
ordinary, would carry no evidential force with
it, because it would not profess to have been
wrought in attestation of a mission. It would
simply excite astonishment, or, perhaps, incre-
dulity. It would mean nothing, it would dis-
play no marks of design or moral purpose.
What constitutes a real miracle is the coin-
cidence between the event and the claim of
the agent to be a messenger from God.
extraordinary fact occurs in this connection-
* Essays and Reviews, p. 107.
If an
I
M
1
58
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
in connection with a professed mission-it must
be referred to the divine causality, which
cannot be supposed exerting itself in behalf of
error or imposture. Jesus claims to be the
Christ; would God sanction the claim by
"signs following" if it were fallacious? It is
idle to compare miracles performed under these
circumstances with a casual marvel-a mere
Tέpas-wrought by no intelligent agent, and
for no assignable purpose.
This argument
from design applies to prophecy as well as to
miracles. It is not the mere happening of an
event, however remarkable, but its coincidence
with an ascertained prediction, that raises both
prediction and fulfilment out of the sphere of
ordinary causation. Hence, as has been well
observed, no ordinary event, none, that is,
which is in the common order of nature, would
serve the purpose of divinely attesting a mis-
sion; it would be explicable on its own grounds,
and rest upon its own natural causes, and
therefore could be no proof of a special claim
such as that of Christ or of the Apostles.
Nothing short of an event out of the order
of nature-i.e. a miracle-could, in the way
of designed coincidence, authenticate such a
claim.
-*-
* Mozley, B. Lectures, p. 7.
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
59
To understand the propriety and necessity
of a miraculous attestation to the mission of
Christ and of the Apostles, it is Distinction
career.
necessary to bear in mind the dif-
botween the
ference between the commencement commence-
ment of a ro-
of a religion and its subsequent ligion and its
history. A religion once launched subsequent
into the world under supernatural
attestation may, indeed must, be left to run its
course, unaided save by the providential go-
vernment of its divine Author; a specially
providential government, if we please, in this
instance, but still one that works unseen and
by ordinary means. It may be left to run its
course, because the miracles which introduced
it, on the supposition that we have adequate
testimony to their occurrence, never lose their
force; they project their evidential power
throughout the whole course, and to the very
end, of the dispensation of which they are
part; nor do they lose anything of their
efficacy by the distance at which the lapse of
time places them from us. The authority of
Christ, though it may not be explicitly referred
to on each particular occasion, is tacitly as
sumed in all Christian preaching and instruc-
tion, and forms the basis on which the Church,
as the witness of divine truth, claims a right
60
MIRACLES IN GENERAL,
1
to direct and instruct the human conscience
But the authority of Christ ultimately rests
upon the miracles which attested it; which,
therefore, to this day operate evidentially,
flourish in perpetual vigour, and need no sub-
sequent ones to supplement them. From each
of them, but in an eminent degree from the
miracle of the Resurrection, there emanates a
ray of light which accompanies the Church.
throughout its career, and directs the mind of
the inquirer in every age back to the divine
source of his religion.-It must be left to run
its natural course, for miracles constantly
repeated would, from the nature of the case,
defeat their own object, besides interfering
with the probation of free agents, and the
blessing of those who, though they have not
seen, yet have believed (John xx. 29). Con-
siderations these which, independently of the
absence of a sufficient object to justify the
supernatural interposition-a dignus vindice
nodus-may well throw a shade of doubt both
upon the alleged miracles of the early church,
and those asserted to have been wrought in
later times for the conversion of particular
nations, or in support of particular ecclesiasti-
cal pretensions. We need not maintain the
impossibility of later miracles. If well-authen-
MAR,
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
61
ticated instances did exist, they would not
interfere with the glorious Constellation which
shines with undying lustre on the page of
Scripture; but when the necessity and the use
are no longer the same, the probability is pro-
portionably diminished. Christianity, indeed,
has still its invisible miracles perpetually re-
peated; but these consist in its effect upon the
heart and the life of believers-the mysterious
process of the new birth, the change from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God.
But what we do not look for in a religion
once established we naturally expect at its
introduction into the scene of human affairs.
We expect it from the analogies presented by
the material world. Even in the present course
of nature a wide difference is visible between
the origin of animal life and its continuance
and preservation, as regards the conditions
under which they respectively proceed. The.
formation of the foetus as well as its nourish-
ment in the womb are miraculous, as com-
pared with its growth when born into the
world; that is, they proceed without the
cooperation of those natural agents which are
afterwards indispensable. The lungs are
adapted for inspiration, the heart for pulsa-
62
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
tion, the stomach for digestion; but these
organs themselves, how came they into exist-
ence? In darkness and silence they were
elaborated by a mysterious agency which dis-
pensed with secondary causes, and organic
functions were in action before the organs
themselves were fully developed. At the
proper moment the birth takes place, and then
all becomes changed. The ordinary conditions
of existence must be observed, and life runs
its natural course. Air is necessary to the
lungs, and food to the stomach; and if these
be withheld the animal perishes. Previously
to the birth they were not needed. Thus, in
all cases in which we contemplate the com-
mencement of a new link in a natural series, as
distinguished from a mere development of pre-
existing powers, a miracle, or what is analo-
gous to it-viz. a more direct exercise of
Almighty power-seems to us to take place.
We should expect, therefore, from physical
analogies, that Christianity, as an epoch in the
spiritual history of our race, the commence-
ment of a new era, would signalise its entrance
into the world by divine acts, which would not
necessarily be repeated after its career had
begun. And the same may, in a lesser degree,
be said of the Mosaic religion. Accordingly,
L
63
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
in either case, a series of miracles ushers in its
respective dispensation.
We may pursue this physical analogy some-
what further. The idea of divine causality, as
distinguished from secondary causes, is espe-
cially forced upon us when we contemplate the
totality of things, e.g. the universe as com-
pared with the parts of it, or species as com-
pared with individuals. Since nature itself
cannot be derived, or explained, from natural
causes, when we have reached the limits of
the whole system of nature, nothing remains
but to ascend to the Creator. And the same
is relatively true of the subordinate totalities
of which the system is composed. When, e.g.
we consider animal life as a whole within a
whole, governed by its own special laws, which
are not those of mere matter; or compare
species as wholes with the individuals which
belong to them; or refer certain physical phe-
nomena (e.g. those of electricity) to a special
subtle agency pervading the material world;
in all these and such like cases we instinc-
tively rise from secondary causes to their
Author, who constituted these relative totali-
ties, and imparted to each the special force
needful to its origin and continuance. Now,
not only has Christianity been the mightiest
Baka
64
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
}
spiritual force ever introduced into the world, it
has proved itself a force of altogether a special
kind; it is not merely the soul of modern
history, but it has moulded society, laws, lite-
rature, and art, after a new pattern. Special fea-
tures establish an immense discrepancy between
the Christian world and the world before Christ.
We stand, therefore, before a phenomenon
which of itself impresses us with the idea of a
supernatural origin: what more natural or ap-
propriate than that, at its entrance into the
world, extraordinary traces of divine agency
should cluster round it? To recur to the
analogy of animal life; the peculiar force by
which each species is continued-viz. the in-
stinct of propagating its kind-does not exert
itself without accompanying marvels. There
is visible a "pre-established harmony "between
the impulse and the external circumstances
under which it operates, between the result
intended and the provisions made for its ful-
filment. The organs for the conception and
the growth of the foetus are present, but pre-
viously to its formation seem meaningless: no
sooner does it appear than they are roused
into activity, and contribute, each in its place
and office, to the desired end. The whole
body sympathises with the work that is going
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
65
1
on.
ļ
After the birth, another series of marvels
succeeds; such, e.g., as the appearance of the
secretion intended for the nourishment of the
new-born creature. The very disposition of
the animal undergoes a change; and the timid
deer, which at other times a sound would
terrify, braves every danger in defence of its
offspring. When the latter no longer needs.
support and protection, all these phenomena
disappear, and things revert to their former
state.*
What wonder if at the new birth of
things through the Gospel analogous harmonies
and sympathies of the moral and material
world should have appeared? If "the whole
creation" should be found, at Christ's advent,
"groaning and travailing in pain together
(Rom. viii. 22), under a sense of its helpless-
ness and in hope of a deliverer; if the politi-
cal and social condition of the Roman empire
at the time should have singularly assisted
the progress of the infant Church; if marvels
of spiritual renovation and of spiritual gifts
(miracula gratiæ) should have intimated that
a power was now at work of an order entirely
different from that of philosophy or of civilisa-
tion; and if, finally, nature itself should have
E
""
* See Twesten, Dogmatik i. p. 342, from whom this illus-
tration is taken.
66
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
bowed to its Lord, and, by admitting interrup-
tions of its ordinary course (miracula naturæ),
swell the general chorus of acknowledgment
that the "restitution of all things" (Acts iii.
21) had commenced?
Conversely, undoubted miracles in connec-
tion with the first promulgation of a religion
impress upon us the ideas of originality and
speciality; i.e. convince us that it is founded
upon a supernatural revelation. They were
needed at the commencement, because Chris-
tianity could not at once display the special
forces inherent in it; these required time for
their development, and could only act in com-
bination with history. And in this point of
view miracles were more important to the first
converts than to us, who witness, in the in-
fluence of Christianity, the results which our
predecessors were compelled to look forward
to with the cye of faith. But they are neces-
sary to us also. The record of them explains
what would otherwise be difficult of compre-
hension. As we gather from the marvellous
co-operation and sympathy of nature (i.e. of the
natural organisation of the species) with the
animal instinct above-mentioned, that this
latter is no cccentric or morbid impulse, but
an original tendency, implanted by the Creator
T
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
67
P
¿
Ja
for the wisest purposes and of paramount im-
portance; so we infer from the miraculous
accompaniments of the first introduction of
Christianity, that the religion derives its origin
from Him who is the author both of nature
and of miracle.
We are now in a position to supply some
answer to the question, In what consists the
evidential force of miracles, supposing we have
good grounds for believing that they actually
took place? We reply, that they are the
natural accompaniments of a revelation which
is really what it professes to be, an extra-
ordinary communication from God to man,
and which, as a scheme of salvation, reposes
upon invisible but actual miracles of the most
absolute kind (e.g. the Incarnation); that as
the commencement of species, above all the
formation of man, involved the exercise of a
power transcending that which works now
according to established sequences, insomuch
that, as compared with the sequences pre-
viously existing, such an epoch must have
appeared preternatural, and even in our system
the commencement of individual life is wrapped
in mystery as compared with its progression
when visibly launched into the world; so, in
the sphere of religion, a great spiritual epoch
E 2
68
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
↓
(e.g. the introduction of Christianity) may be
expected to exhibit credentials of superhuman
character; and that, in proportion as a religion
claims to enter as a special factor into the
history of the race and to conduct it to its
destination, physical as well as spiritual har-
monies suitably indicate that it is no intruder or
excrescence, but a legitimate claimant, and, as
such, from above.
But may not the powers of evil be permitted,
for purposes inscrutable to us, to perform mira-
cles in behalf of error? There is no
doubt, as has been already observed,
that Scripture contemplates at least
the possibility of such a case; nor is
it in our power to determine to what extent, if
permitted to interfere at all, an evil spirit may
display miraculous power, or enable human
agents to do so. But besides the certainty that
some test would be vouchsafed whereby the
miracles in question might be tried and refuted
(Scripture, in the passages referred to, Deut.
xiii. &c. makes the quality of the doctrine such
a test), our Lord, in reply to the Pharisees
(Matt. xii. 24-26), gives us a rule which ap-
proves itself at once to reason,-viz. that Satan
would never assist in the demolition of his own
kingdom. Were the miracles of Christ wrought
Alleged mira-
cles wrought
by the powers
of ovil.
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
69
to attest a pure code of morals, and in allevia-
tion of the temporal evils of humanity? Then
they could not have proceeded from the evil
principle: and they who threw out the insinua-
tion only proved themselves thereby incapable
of distinguishing between truth and falsehood,
good and evil.
70
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
CHAPTER IV.
/
DIFFERENT KINDS OF MIRACLES.
ALL MIRACLES are not of the same kind. Writers
have distinguished them into "absolute," and
"relative:" the former class comprising those
in which the divine causality acts without the
co-operation of secondary means, the latter those
in which it makes use of such means, but in a
manner which is beyond our reach, and there-
fore which to us seems miraculous. The Incar-
nation, and Resurrection of Christ-the central
miracles of the Gospel-are instances of the
former: an absolutely "new thing," effected by
an immediate exercise of almighty power, here
inserts itself among ordinary antecedents and
consequents. In themselves, such facts are
marvellous; and not merely on account of the
circumstances under which they occurred. On
the other hand, most of the plagues of Egypt,
and most cases of the healing of the sick in the
Gospels, come under the latter description.
That swarms of flies, or of lice, should infest the
land, was, in itself, not extraordinary ; and the
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
71
rence.
recovery of sight, or the restoration of palsied
limbs to strength, is a matter of daily occur
What constituted the miraculous in
these cases was the supernatural impulse im-
parted to the ordinary forces of nature, so as
to bring about a result which, in themselves,
those forces were incapable of producing; God
interfering with the order of nature, or touching
her chords, at a point so high up in the chain
of cause and effect, or in so peculiar a manner,
as to be beyond the range of our sensible expe-
rience. It is especially in connection with this
latter class of miracles that the prophetical
element is of importance. The plagues of Egypt,
however miraculous in the intensity of their
action, derived their chief significance from
the circumstances under which they were per-
formed, and the final end they answered; but
above all, from the announcements of Moses
which preceded them, and of which they were
the seal. The same holds good with respect to
most of our Lord's miracles: e.g. to find a coin
in a fish's mouth (Matt. xvii. 27) might be
ascribed to mere chance, until we connect it
with the foregoing word of Christ, when the
coincidence transforms it into a miracle. Per-
haps, the highest types of the relative miracle
-the miracle to us--are those in which mere
72
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
}
contact with our Lord effected the sudden cure
of an inveterate disease (Mark v. 30); or when
the "shadow of Peter," or "handkerchiefs and
aprons" from the body of Paul, produced
similar results (Acts v. 15, xix. 12). We
find an analogy to this class of miracles in the
manner in which human agency brings about
phenomena which nature, left to herself, never
would have produced. The experimental philo-
sopher, e.g. combines two simple substances,
and from the combination elicits a new sub-
stance with new properties: to us there is no-
thing miraculous in the result, because human
intelligence and human will are adequate to it;
but what must it appear to the inferior animals,
if they were capable of reflecting upon it? To
them it would be a real, though a relative,
miracle; i.e. a phenomenon which they were
unable to account for, and which, from their
natural incapacity, they could never themselves.
repeat. If they possessed the same insight into
the laws of nature which the philosopher does,
and the intelligent will to combine them, to
them also, as to us, the miracle would disappear.
Let us conceive the divine will operating among
causes, and effecting combinations, at a point
far out of our ken, and we have the notion of
miraculous agency employing natural means
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
73
and issuing in natural results, but still to us,
who cannot thus operate or combine, strictly
miraculous. Could we comprehend the whole
chain of natural causation, and put our hand
upon any part of it we please, there could be
no such thing as a relative miracle.
If the question be put as to the respective
uses of the two kinds of miracles, we reply, that
relative miracles belong appropriately to the
preparatory stages of revelation, such as the
giving of the law, or the great epochs of the
prophetical dispensation. These stages stand
in relation to local and temporary circumstances
-such as the deliverance of the people from
Egyptian bondage, the establishment of a mono-
theistic theocracy, its reparation when decayed
(under Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, &c.), and the
personal ministry of Christ. Πολυμέρως καὶ
πολυτρόπως, in many sections and in various
ways, gradually and in connection with history,
the scheme of redemption was unfolded; and
each principal preliminary stage had its mira-
cles, but corresponding in nature to what they
were intended to attest, i.e. they were of a local
and temporary character; miracles to the men
of the time, rather than miracles of permanent
and universal use. The absolute miracle, on
the contrary, corresponds to revelation as the
74
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
1
commencement of a new spiritual epoch, and
bears upon the permanent necessities of man-
kind-the same in all times and under all cir-
cumstances. Of this order are the Incarnation,
Resurrection, and Ascension, of our Lord;-
events which have permanently and essentially
affected the destinies of the human race. In
these the Almighty introduced emphatically a
"new thing" (Jer. xxxi. 32): they correspond
to the great epochs to which geological science
points as having occurred in the history of the
creation of the material world.
Closely connected with the relative miracle
are what are called special providences, in the
Special pro-
common course of life. These latter
vidences. are really miraculous in nature; but
they differ from a miracle in several respects.
The prophetical element is wanting in them,
and hence, from the absence of visible coinci-
dence, they do not rise to the elevation of
authenticating a mission. The argument from
design,which is common to them and the miracle,
is here reached in a more circuitous manner,-
by reflection upon the circumstances of the case,
and the results that have followed: for which
reason contemporaries are not always the best.
judges of the nature and amount of providential,
interposition. The actors, e.g. in the religious,
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
75
p
Reformation of the sixteenth century were too
busy, each in his own sphere, duly to estimate
the concurrent causes which favoured that
great movement: we, who can calmly look
back upon it, admire the seemingly fortuitous,
but really providential, combination of cir-
cumstances which rendered the attempt suc-
cessful: such as the revival of learning,
the invention of the art of printing, the
character of the Pope for the time being,
the character and training of Luther, and the
political state of Europe. The intersection
of these various lines of historical progression,
each in itself independent of the others,
at a given time, and so as to communicate a
united impulse to the revival of religion, is
what impresses the religionist as indicative of
God's providential government; what is called
"chance" being really that portion of the
domain of nature which, over and above the
regular operation of the laws cognisable by
us, the Creator has reserved to Himself. The
history of every individual supplies numberless.
instances of such unexpected intersections,
which impart a new bias to the whole of the
subsequent life, and which, in the retrospect, are
seen to have been indispensable elements in the
discipline of the soul for eternity. "Thou shalt
3
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
76
I
1
remember all the way which the Lord thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness to
humble thee and to prove thee " (Deut. viii. 2);
this is the dictate at once of piety and of
philosophy. This doctrine of a special provi-
dence, both over nations and individuals, may be
called the great lesson of the Old Testament;
it is the burden of the prophets, it is illustrated
in such biographies as those of Jacob, Joseph,
and David. And no other is more essential to
our peace of mind. "Were we in the chains
of fate, how gloomy would our case be! Were
we in the hands of men, too often how fearful,
how humiliating, and afflicting! But the im-
pression of the scene is changed, when we admit
into it the direction of an all-wise and perfect
Being, in whose rectitude and goodness we may
acquiesce through the whole course of His
providential dispensation. This subject is
particularly important in its bearing upon
the efficacy of prayer. Prayer and a special
providence are correlative terms: for when we
ask for a blessing, whether it be the bestowal
of a gift or deliverance from calamity, we
seem to expect that God will suspend the opera-
tion of general laws in our favour, and at our
request change His eternal purpose. Hence, to
*Davison on Prophecy, p. 61.
""
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
77
many minds, the difficulty of conceiving the use,
or even the propriety, of prayer. Happily the
instinct of nature combines with the promises
of Scripture and the facts of experience, to ren-
der the duty a necessity of the Christian life.
Nor need we despair of reducing it to consist-
ency with the principles of sound philosophy.
The difficulties connected with this question
may be alleviated, if not removed, by conceiv-
ing that the extraordinary agency Efficacy of
by which the answer is secured, prayer.
takes place indeed, but at a point incon-
ceivably remote from that to which human
observation has been able to ascend.* The
interference once effected, the subsequent chain
of causation proceeds in a regular manner,
and the boon seems to come to us quite in the
course of nature. When Samuel prayed that
it might thunder and rain in wheat harvest
(1 Sam. xii. 18), and the petition was granted,
the coincidence was so unaccountable as plainly
to mark miraculous agency somewhere; but how
high up in the chain of causation we cannot
say: through innumerable links down to the
last effect, all may have proceeded by regular
sequence, so that to human observation the
point of miraculous contact would have been
*See Chalmers, Nat. Theol. b. v. c. 3.
78
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
undiscoverable. It must be admitted, how-
ever, that this theory introduces into the
ordinary providence of God (and answers to
prayer, unlike miracles attesting a revelation,
come only under that category), suspensions of,
or interferences with, the sequences of nature
of which no instance is discoverable, however
far human observation may have been pushed;
every extension of science furnishing additional
proof of the universality and uniformity of
law. Extraordinary interferences with the
established course of things, in order to bring
about events, which, in their nature, take their
place among ordinary occurrences, and which,
as far as the chain of causation is traceable,
spring from natural causes, convey the idea
of imperfection in the divine government, and
jar upon our sense of propriety; as if prayer,
to be answered, required an unforeseen and un-
expected exercise of almighty power. The
doctrine of Leibnitz on the "pre-established
harmony" is, to a great extent, free from this
difficulty. We have but to suppose, as indeed
we must, that the prayer was foreseen from all
eternity, and provision simultaneously made for
its answer, to perceive that the latter, however
marvellous to us, may be perfectly natural as
regards its causation, and proceed from provi-
M
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
79
2
dential arrangements of eternal date. He who
foresaw the prayer determined to grant it; and
with that view so arranged events that they
naturally led to the desired result. The complex
maze of human life offers the materials which
divine wisdom employs, and which no wisdom
but that which is divine could employ, for the
furtherance of its purposes. The destinies of
individuals, as they pursue their appointed
course, intersect each other in innumerable
points, imparting and receiving a bias, at the
moment of contact, which may lead to the most
unexpected issues: to determine, amidst the
apparent chaos of fortuitics with which the
mind, as it attempts to calculate all possible
events, is bewildered, the particular point where
a new direction shall be given to the fortunes
of the suppliant, or rather to have determined
it from all eternity;- this is the triumph of
Omniscient intelligence. Nor is the theory,
as applied to this subject, more obnoxious to
the charge of fatalism than in other analogous
instances. If the answer is predestined, it may
be said, of what use to pray at all? We reply,
that the prayer is as much a foreseen condition
of success as any other link of the series. In
like manner, the successful harvest has been
preordained in the Divine counsels; but not
80
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
irrespectively of the toil and skill of the hus-
bandman. A further question indeed remains,
how to reconcile the foreseen fulfilment of the
condition with human free-will; but this is
foreign to the present inquiry.
It remains to make some remarks upon the
difference between the miracles of the Old
Testament and those of the New.
Besides the fundamental distinction
above noticed, between miracles
appropriate to the preparatory
stages of redemption, and miracles which con-
stitute redemption itself (e.g. the Incarnation
and the Resurrection of Christ), other points
of unlikeness exist between the two classes.
It has often been remarked, that in the miracles
of the Old Testament, particularly those which
resemble the Evangelical, the desired result is
attained not without effort and delay, as in the
raising of the widow's child by Elijah (1 Kings
xvii. 21), and the similar miracle of Elisha
(2 Kings iv. 34). There is something of a
"tentative" character in these instances. In
the miracles of Christ, on the contrary, the
effect follows at once, from the utterance of a
word, or a mere exercise of will: "He hath
done all things well: he maketh both the deaf
* P. 73.
Miracles of
the Old Tos-
tament and
those of tho
New.
*
S
1
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
81
to hear, and the dumb to speak " (Mark vii.
37). An unconscious ease, as if what were
marvels to others were ordinary and familiar
inodes of working to Him, distinguishes our
Lord's miracles. Again, the miracles of the
Old Testament were chiefly evidences of al-
mighty power; power either to discomfit the
enemies of Israel, or to punish the people for
their sins-such were the miracles of Moses
in Egypt, and in the wilderness. The divine
beneficence, though not altogether concealed
from view, here retires into the background;
as, indeed, befitted a dispensation the main ob-
ject of which was to inculcate the holiness of
Jehovah, and the evil of sin. But the Gospel
miracles are uniformly of beneficent character;
feeding the hungry, healing the sick, drying
the tears of the widow, and restoring beloved
relatives to the embraces of their friends :-
symbols, as well as evidences, of the milder
covenant which they introduced. The "Son
of Man," agreeably to the designation which
He loved to bear, moved among the homely
scenes, the joys and sorrows, of private life-
the "friend of publicans and sinners "-not
disdaining the simple festivities of the marriage
feast (John ii.) or the hospitality of a friendly
family in humble circumstances (Luke x. 38):
*
82
MIRACLES IN GENERAL.
+
and some of His greatest miracles were wrought
to supply the wants, or alleviate the distresses,
of those with whom He thus connected Himself.
The symbolical character of these miracles it
is impossible to mistake. The mind naturally
ascends from the removal of bodily disease, the
satisfying of bodily wants, and the occasional
reversal of the primeval sentence upon sinful
man, to the greater miracles of divine grace,
whereby the "mind diseased" is restored to
health, the craving heart satisfied, and the
pledge given of a complete triumph over the
last enemy, when "death shall be swallowed
"ip in victory."
4
PART II.
EVIDENCE FOR THE MIRACLES OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT.
WE TAKE for granted the authenticity and gen-
uineness of the histories in which these events
have been transmitted to us. The reader who
desires information on this subject is referred
to the works which especially treat of it.* It
is sufficient here to observe, that the evidence
on which we receive the Gospels as the product
of the age to which they are commonly as-
signed, and the works of the authors whose
names they bear, is immeasurably stronger
than that which can be produced for the best
attested remains of classical antiquity. When
we consider that no trace of any other account
of the origin of Christianity exists in the notices
of contemporary writers, whether heathen,
Jewish, or Christian (orthodox or heretical);
the difficulties which lay in the way of a suc-
* Paley, Evidences, part I. c. ix. Lardner, Credibility, &c.
F 2
84
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
}
1
cessful forgery in such an age and such a
locality; * the positive testimony of a series of
* No mistake is greater than to suppose that the period at
which the Gospels appeared was favourable to imposture of
this kind. It was an age of literature and philosophy, the
diffusion of which was promoted by the union of the civilised
world under one sceptre. In Palestine, learning had espe-
cially assumed the form of critical inquiries into the integrity
and genuineness of ancient books. Strauss's mythical theory
of the origin of the Gospels, labours under the same difficulty.
A true myth belongs to the pre-historic age, when not
individuals (as the epic poets), but a whole nation, thinks and
speaks poetically; an age when imagination runs riot, un-
checked either by the speculations of philosophy or the
researches of history. E.g. the mythical age of Greece had
long passed away, even when Homer wrote; much more
when Herodotus set an example of historical research. At
the first touch of the breath of philosophy and criticism, the
myth withers, nevor more in that particular nation to flourish
again. But what soil and what age can be conceived more un-
favourable to mythical formations than Judæa and the period
of Jewish history immediately succoeding the birth of Christ?
A monotheistic faith, sternly repellent of the frivolities of
polytheism (the natural material of myth), had at length
become indelibly impressed on the national mind. Prophecy
and inspired song had long ceased; and in their place had
arisen the didactic service of the synagogue. The hair-
splitting Rabbi bare rule in the halls of religious instruction.
As woll believe that, in the age of Livy or Tacitus, the early
legonds of Rome could have been framed, as that, in the age
of Josephus, a circle of myths could have arisen around the
person of Christ. Besides this, lapse of time and distance
of place from the scone of action are necessary to the growth
of the myth. Can we suppose that, in the country in which
He lived, and within thirty years after His death, the story of
Christ could have beon thus transformed? As regards the
|
}
1
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 85
writers reaching back to the middle of the
second century to the existence of the Gospels,
and to their authority as authentic biographies
of Jesus of Nazareth; the quotations from
these books from the first; the ancient versions*
which, though coming down to us through in-
dependent channels, exhibit such a substantial
agreement as to prove that they were derived
from one acknowledged original; the peculiar
portraituro of Christ, confessed by Strauss and Renan to be
without parallel, the first Christians seem, from the accounts
we possess of them, ominently unlikely to have conceived it.
Under the most favourable circumstances, fallen human
nature would have been inadequate to the task. Moreover,
how is it that what the first Christians imagined, their suc-
cessors totally failed to improve upon, or even to retain?
Compare the writings of the apostolical and subsequent
fathers with the Canonical, as regards the impression left on
the mind. To take one point in particular: the book of
Acts teaches us how loth the Jewish converts and even
Apostles wore to admit the principle of the free admission of
the Gentiles to the privileges of the Christian Church; yet
in the Gospels the mythic Christ delivers a command to the
Apostles to make disciples of all nations, by the simple
administration of baptism; thereby plainly foreshadowing
the universality of the Gospel, and the abolition of the legal
ordinances. How came the first Christians not to understand
thoir own myths?
* The Syriac vorsion, called Peschito, was made towards
the close of the first century. Tho Syriac Gospels, the dis-
covery of which we owe to Mr. Cureton, are supposed to be of
still earlier date. The old Italic vorsion is assigned to the
close of the socond century; and the Vulgate was the work
of Jerome in the fourth.
86
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
idiom of the New Testament, and the circum-
stantiality of the narrative, together with the
minute acquaintance which it displays with
Jewish institutions and traditions ;- -no reason-
able doubt can be entertained respecting the
authenticity of these documents.* Their
genuineness, in the sense of their being the
productions of their reputed authors, rests on
equally satisfactory testimony. We have
every reason to believe that the sacred text
has been transmitted substantially uncorrupt
to our times. The searching, and, in many
instances, unfriendly criticism to which the
evidence has, in modern times, been submitted,
* The difficulties which a forger would have experienced
in gaining currency for his spurious production are well
pointed out in the late Isaac Taylor's work on "The Process
of Historical Proof" e.g. he would have had to interpolate
every extant copy of the works of Christian writers during
the two first centuries, with quotations from his own work,
so as to make them tally; expunging at the same time the
original story from every MS.
+ If certain unknown writers had composed the Gospels,
and wished to gain credit for their works by prefixing apos-
tolic names to them, they would hardly have selocted those of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke; but rather of such Apostles as
Peter and James. And can we suppose that the former, who
must have been living at the time of the publication, would
have assonted to the fraud? Even had they done so, the
truth must have inevitably oozed out in time, and affected
tho reception of the books by the Christian Church.
I
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 87
has failed to establish any adverse conclusions.
And such we confidently anticipate will be the
result of future researches. In what follows,
the attention of the reader will be directed to
certain points connected with the proof of the
Gospel miracles, which recent controversy has
brought into prominence.
素
​88
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
1
#
CHAPTER I.
ON TESTIMONY.
OUR FAITH in testimony, antecedently to any
distinction between the several kinds of it,
seems to rest upon our instinctive faith in the
constancy of nature. From experience of what
has taken place we anticipate what will take
place; and in proportion to the length and
uniformity of our experience will be the confi-
dence of our anticipations of the future. Some
faculty, however, resembling what we call in-
stinct in the lower animals, seems necessary
to our reposing confidence in testimony previ-
ously to any experience of its trustworthiness.
Why does the child, e.g. implicitly put trust
in the veracity of its informant, the very first
time that testimony of any fact is presented to
it? Subsequent experience that the testimony
and the fact stand in the relation of antecedent
and consequent, like the other sequences of
nature, may strengthen this faith, but does not
account for its origin. Dr. Campbell, therefore,
as against Hume, seems in the right in assign-
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 89
ing to testimony a natural and original influence
on belief, antecedent to experience.* The
question, however, is of very little importance
in the present discussion; for, whatever be
the origin of our faith in testimony, every one
must admit that experience alone teaches us
what kind of testimony may be depended upon,
and the reverse. In this sense, Hume's obser-
vation is quite correct, that "the evidence
derived from witnesses and human testimony
is founded on past experience, and is regarded
either as a proof or a probability, according as
the conjunction between any particular kind of
report and any kind of object has been found
to be constant or variable." † The child's in-
stinctive faith in testimony is modified and
corrected by experience: he learns that certain
testimony may always be relied upon; certain
other is worthless: he discriminates between
the different kinds; and since this perspicacity
comes only by experience, it is correct to say
that the evidence of testimony rests upon ex-
perience. But what does the sceptical argu-
ment gain by the concession?
}
Ca
That argument is simply this :-"A firm and
unalterable experience" has established the
* On Miracles, p. 29.
Essay on Miracles.
Qui
90
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
argument.
laws of nature, but no such experience has
established the trustworthiness of testimony:
if, therefore, miracles (i.e. according
Examination
of Hume's to Hume's definition, violations of
the laws of nature)* are related
to us even by persons professing to be
eye-witnesses, it is more probable that the
testimony is false than that the miracles are
true. The inaccuracies of the statement are
obvious. In the first place, the expression.
"experience" is used ambiguously. Properly
speaking, experience signifies what has fallen
under our own observation; but this is but an
infinitesimal item of the "experience" which
has established the laws of nature. Hume
means the general experience of mankind; and
how is this ascertained? Plainly, by the very
testimony which he seeks by every means to
discredit. We have not seen a dead man come
to life again: but how do we know that the
fact is contrary to general experience? Only
by the testimony of others, and of past ages,
that such a fact has not fallen under their
observation. Testimony, then, after all, is the
weapon by which the author assails testimony.
In the next place, to affirm that an unalterable
experience has established the laws of nature,
See above, p. 20.
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 91
T
1
i.e. that no deviation from them has ever taken
place, is simply "begging the question." The
question is, whether miracles have happened;
the reply is, that experience has proved that
they never have happened. But whose expe-
rience? The experience, of course, of all but
those who profess to have witnessed them; for,
if we include the experience of these latter in
the term "universal experience," it is obvious
that no such "unalterable" experience has
established the impossibility of the suspension
of the laws of nature. The argument, then,
will run thus:-Experience proves the uni-
formity of nature, with the exception of the
experience of those who witnessed the miracles
of Moses and of Christ; which leaves matters
precisely as they were. No one contends that
miracles can occur commonly, or often; the
question is, whether they have ever occurred.
We affirm that the experience of Matthew,
Peter, John, &c. establishes them: Hume sets
out with the proposition that there has never
been any experience of them.
Of course the real meaning is, that the tes-
cimony of Matthew, Peter, John, &c. is worth-
less against the improbability of the facts
attested. And this leads us to the third fal-
lacy upon which the argument is based. When
Data
92
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
!
the untrustworthiness of testimony is urged,
we reply, of what testimony? Not of all
testimony, for it is admitted that if the false-
hood of the testimony be more miraculous than
the fact attested, we are bound to believe the
latter. We concede that a vast amount of the
testimony which has been alleged for (pre-
tended) miracles is insufficient to establish
them: but the very point which the Christian
apologist undertakes to make out is, that the
falsehood of the testimony of the writers of the
New Testament would be more extraordinary
than the reality of the miracles to which they
bear witness. We maintain that such testi-
timony as we are able to produce, has never
been known to deceive; why, then, should it in
this instance? Why should it be held fallible.
in the case of miracles alone? The only
answer that can be given is, not that miracles
are extraordinary events, but that, as miracles,
i.e. interpositions of the Deity, they are in-
trinsically impossible, and therefore, incredible.
And this is the real assumption, though it is
not stated, upon which this celebrated argu-
ment is based.
The author himself supposes an extensive
and uniform tradition of a total darkness over
the whole earth for eight days, and he con-
Į
S
1
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 93
atheistic.
cedes that upon such testimony the fact must
be admitted, and philosophers must set to
work to investigate the causes of
Hume's argu-
it. But if the same uniform testi- ment really
mony should depose to the restora-
tion of a dead man to life, it must be set aside as
insufficient. What is the distinction between
the two cases? Whether there be any rcal
distinction between them, may be doubted; for
surely a total darkness for eight days could
not occur without a violation, or suspension, of
the laws of nature, i.e. the law of the earth's
revolution on its axis. But the distinction in
the author's mind is obvious: the darkness may
have been a mere natural event, however mar-
vellous; the diurnal motion of the earth may
have come to a pause through some unknown
cause, and resumed its course when the im-
pediment was removed; analogies render so
probable the decay and dissolution of nature,
that any event tending in that direction be-
comes not absolutely incredible; it may be but
the prelude to the final catastrophe. In a
word, the darkness would be a mere répas, not
a σημείον. But the restoration of a dead man
to life is an event which it is impossible to
bring under the common order of nature, either
by analogy or otherwise; it offers no field to
94
EVIDENCE FOR THE
philosophers for investigation; no conceivable
combination of causes can effect it; in short,
it manifestly (if true) betokens the finger of
God. And it is really to divine interposition.
in any sense, i.e. to the existence of a per-
sonal God, that this system of philosophy is
essentially opposed. The truth is, that the
atheist is incapable of estimating the force of
testimony in the case of alleged miracles.
Where disbelief exists of a personal God,
religion of any kind becomes the illusion of a
heated imagination, and those who profess to
worship a God must be regarded as the most
crack-brained of enthusiasts. The evidence
of lunatics to an alleged fact would be uni-
versally discarded as worthless. But in the
eyes of the atheist there can be no more des-
perate lunatic than the theist. The testimony
of the latter, therefore, is at once set aside as
intrinsically worthless, and this more especially
if the miracles are alleged as the credentials
of a new religion. Where all religion is an
absurdity, no attention can be expected to
the reasonings of professors of religion, on this
their weak point. On other subjects their
testimony may be as valid as that of other
men; upon religion it must be merely the
dream of a disordered mind. The suppressedl
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 95
principle (or major premiss), therefore, of
Hume is this: no testimony to miracles as proofs
of revelation can have any weight with philo-
sophical minds. Therefore it is, that in Part
II. of his celebrated essay he sets himself to
the task of proving the unsatisfactory nature
of such testimony. No miracle has, in point
of fact, been credibly attested; the passions
of surprise and wonder predispose men to cre-
dulity; the accounts of miracles are chiefly
found among barbarous nations; all religions
have their miracles, and therefore the testi-
mony destroys itself, and none of them are
true; miracles, acknowledged by Protestants
to be false, rest on as good testimony as any
others; no greater temptation can be pre-
sented to men than to appear as ambassadors
from heaven, and therefore to affect the powers
suitable to such an assumption: such are the
incurable suspicions under which the evidence
for miracles, as a foundation of a system of
religion, labours. Yet the conclusion that
really follows (supposing the premisses true),
is only that "no testimony for any kind of
miracle has ever amounted to a probability,
much less to a proof;" to the further inference
that "
no testimony can have such force as to
prove a miracle," other premisses are necessary,
96
EVIDENCE FOR THE
*
viz. that there is no personal God, and that
religion is a fiction. But the author was too
sagacious openly to avow these positions.
To the religionist, of course, things assume
an entirely different aspect. Believing in a
personal God, he sees no impossibility in mi-
racles; and if, under the present circumstances
of mankind, a revelation appear desirable, and
miracles alone can attest it, he sees no improba-
bility in such divine interpositions.† Moreover,
the antecedent improbability against any ex-
traordinary fact is here converted into a posi-
tive probability; for analogies lead us to expect
that a new religion would naturally be ushered
in by miracles. What might otherwise be
abnormal is, in this instance, what was to be
expected, and we approach the records of
the first establishment either of Judaism or of
Christianity with a positive predisposition to
find them of a miraculous character.
-
It must indeed be conceded, that
A miraclo re-
quires extra- an extraordinary fact requires.
ordinary tes-
timony; and
stronger evidence in support of it
than a cominon one. For though
such testi-
mony exists
for the Scrip- there
are numberless chances
ture miracles. against the supposition of an ordi-
* Part I. c. ii.
† Ibid., c. iii.
‡ Ibid.
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 97
**
nary event's happening at a certain time, in a
certain place, and under certain circumstances,
the improbability is at once removed by ordi-
nary testimony. "There is," says Bishop
Butler, "a presumption of millions to one
against the story of Cæsar or of any other per-
son. He means an antecedent presumption,
for, on the moderate testimony we possess
for this story, we accept it without hesita-
tion, with all its singular circumstances. The
reason is, that, however impossible it was to
predict them beforehand, these circumstances
belong to the class of ordinary events, and there-
fore the antecedent presumption against them
gives way before a very small amount of evi-
dence. But a marvel, and much more a miracle,
belongs to a different order of events. Even
after testimony has been adduced for the fact,
we feel a difficulty in believing that the Deity
has stepped forth to manifest His personal
agency by suspending, or reversing, the ordi-
nary sequences of nature. Such agency is of a
different kind from what we see in daily exer-
cise around us; and therefore the circum-
stances, and the testimony, must be of a peculiar
kind to overcome this improbability "after the
* Anal. Part II. c. ii.
G
V
98
EVIDENCE FOR THE
T
1
↓
I
?
1
fact.” *
That they possess this peculiar cha-
racter is what we affirm. The circumstances
were the introduction of a new religion; the
testimony, we contend, is such that the false-
hood of it would be a greater miracle than the
facts which it attests. An outline of the proof
of this is given in Chapter III. of this Part;
for a full statement the reader must have re-
course to such works as those of Paley and
Douglas.†
* Mill, Logic, ii. p. 166. + Criterion of Miracles.
1
}
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 99
CHAPTER II.
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
"MIRACLES which I see with my own eyes,
and have opportunity myself to verify, are one
thing; very different are miracles concerning
which I only know from history that others
pretend to have seen and verified them."* So
wrote, in the last century, a German author of
great name.
He has been followed by many
professed theologians of his own country.
"Reported miracles can, at best, but excite
attention. Whatever evidential force they
may have possessed for contemporaries who
saw them, they have none for us who only
read of them." If this be true, one great
prop of our faith, it must be confessed, is
knocked from beneath
beneath us. But on what
ground is it asserted? Apparently there has
been a confusion in the minds of the writers
between a conviction of the truth of credibly
attested events, and the impression they made
on those who witnessed them. Yet the twe
* Lessing.
† De Wette.
G 2
100
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
1
things are very different. We may have the
best grounds for believing the story of the
death of Cæsar; but how feeble our impres-
sion of it compared with that of the spectators.
It is impossible for us to reproduce in our-
selves the feelings of astonishment and horror
which, no doubt, agitated their minds. No
one doubts the truth of the accounts of the
great earthquake of Lisbon; but no one now
can put himself in the place of those upon
whom the calamity fell, as regards a vivid im-
pression of its reality. The poet's remark
is perfectly true, that the eye affects the mind
more sensibly than the ear.* So it is with the
miracles of the New Testament. The impress
of conviction on those who witnessed them was
instantaneous and overwhelming (or ought to
have been so); on us, who are compelled to
accept them on testimony, it is far more feeble.
While we are satisfying ourselves, by critical
inquiries, of the credibility of the records
which preserve them, the force of feeling be-
comes blunted; and when at last, by a cir-
cuitous route, we arrive at a conviction that
the miracle really occurred, this rests upon
grounds of reason, not upon the instantaneous
* Sognius irritant animos demissa per aures
Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.
Mчou
mang
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 101
·
logic of perception. So far, therefore, we
occupy, as compared with the contemporaries
of Christ, a disadvantageous position. On the
other hand, we possess an advantage over them
in seeing before our eyes what they could not
see-the result of the miraculous story which
formed the substance of their preaching. The
spread and existence of Christianity are them-
selves miracles, which render it most improb-
able that some such story did not form its
foundation. The traveller who should have
visited the scene of devastation at Lisbon a few
days after the earthquake would probably have
received a livelier impression of its effects than
they who made their escape amidst falling
houses and the rush of the encroaching sea,
though the feelings of wonder and awe would
have been stronger in these; so the influence of
Christianity, past and present, which is a fact.
to us, and was only a prophecy to the first
Christians, makes a correspondingly stronger
impression on us, and compensates for the
advantage they possessed in being eye-wit-
nesses of the Christian miracles. But, what-
ever be the method of proof, and however
circuitous the process, when we have once
satisfied ourselves on grounds of reason that
the events took place, the conclusion should be
102
EVIDENCE FOR THE
t
Į
equally efficacious to govern our faith and our
practice. For proof is proof, by whatever
road it may have been reached. We are not
the less certain of the existence of numberless
things because we have not seen them-of the
existence, e.g. of a foreign country, though
our knowledge of it is only derived from the
reports of travellers, and our ideas of its fea-
tures and inhabitants comparatively vague.
The sole question, therefore, is, Have we suf-
ficient evidence that the events occurred? Now,
it is possible to conceive that they had come
down to us solely by the channel of oral tra-
dition; or, again, that a history of them had
been published, but long after the alleged
facts, and resting upon no chain of documen-
tary evidence reaching up to the period of
their occurrence, and therefore composed from
oral tradition. In neither case would the proof
be satisfactory; for oral tradition is so liable
to corruption or additions, however uninten-
tional, as it is transmitted through many succes-
sive generations, that little reliance can be placed
upon the ultimate deposit when the truth of it
is not authenticated, as in the case of the Old
Testament scriptures, by the seal of inspiration.
And this more especially when the events are
extraordinary and need a proportionate strength
ť
Joh
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 103
of evidence. In such a case, though we should
not be justified in peremptorily refusing assent
to the narrative, we should judge of its credi-
bility very much by internal criteria. How,
then, stands the case with the New Testament
miracles? The acknowledged authors of two of
our Gospels were among the first followers of
Christ-eye witnesses of His miracles, and ear-
witnesses of His discourses; the acknowledged
authors of the two others were friends and com-
panions of Apostles. The histories-three of
them, at least-were composed during the life-
time of numbers to whom the facts must have
been familiar. Copies became speedily multi-
plied, and were dispersed over the world, so
that wilful falsification would be rendered im-
possible. If we have reason to believe that
these books have come down to us substantially
the same as they proceeded from their authors,
in what respects are we in a worse position, as
regards the evidence, than those who lived in
the times of the authors, and conversed with
the witnesses of Christ's miracles? In none
whatever. Once committed to writing, the
record remains as fresh and as trustworthy,
after the lapse of centuries, as it was when
first published. The links of the chain may
be multiplied a hundredfold, but the strength
104
EVIDENCE FOR THE
remains unimpaired. The liability of succes-
sive testimony to decay only belongs to oral,
not to written, tradition; or only to the latter
so far as suspicions may be entertained that the
original documents have been tampered with.
If such suspicions are unfounded, we are pre-
cisely in the position of those who, though
they never saw Christ, nor even the eye-wit-
nesses of His miracles, were yet convinced on
the testimony of the Gospels, when first pub-
lished, that miracles were wrought by Him,
and especially that His own resurrection from
the dead was a fact.
Documentary
evidence in
the best.
In some respects documents possessing the
qualities above-mentioned possess a stronger
evidential force than accounts re-
ceived direct from eye-witnesses.
Rome rospects It would be impossible to examine
all the witnesses; and it is within
the range of possibility that the reports of
some might be distorted by prejudice or muti-
lated through inattention. But an authentic
document, published while the remembrance
of the facts is fresh in the minds of multitudes,
and not contradicted either by friends or
enemies, is a tacit appeal to the whole body
of eye-witnesses, and receives from their assent
to it a tacit confirmation or its truth. It is a
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 105
formal statement challenging refutation. Such
a document may not necessarily prove that
the miracles were actually wrought, but it cer-
tainly proves that they were alleged to have
been wrought, and believed by the first disci-
ples to have been so. It establishes the fact
that a miraculous story formed part of the first
preaching of the Gospel; and with such a
volume in our hands we possess a superiority
over oral tradition, however near its source.
We can examine its characteristics at our lei-
sure; we can summon it, as we please, to be
criticised and dissected. The conclusion is,
that this evidence is in no respect weakened by
time, and that it is the very species of evidence
which, if the choice were presented us, we
should prefer to any other.
106
EVIDENCE FOR THE
}
1
CHAPTER III.
J
THE EVENTS IN QUESTION WERE REALLY
SUPERNATURAL.
The theory of
the older
THE older school of rationalists, of whom Paulus
was the representative, accepted the Gospels
as authentic history, but endea-
voured to remove the supernatural
rationalists. element from them. Miracles are
impossible, and yet the evangelical narrative,
which possesses all the attributes of real his-
tory, is full of them. How is the contradic-
tion to be removed? One rule to be observed
is, not to put into the text more than it need
necessarily imply: the supposed miracle is
oftener an edition of the expositor than the
statement of the author. E.g., when the evan-
gelists speak of Jesus walking upon the sea,
they mean no more than that He walked upon
the margin of an elevated shore; when it is said
that Jesus fed five thousand people with a few
loaves and fishes, the explanation is that those
among the multitude who had provisions with
them, stimulated by His example, liberally im
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 107
parted of their stores to others, and so all had
enough. A vicious system of interpretation
puts a construction upon the artless and im-
perfect narrative which the authors would have
disavowed. This mode of explanation, how-
ever, will not meet all the cases; it is too plain
that sometimes at least the evangelists do really
intend to describe a miracle. The second rule,
then, is to distinguish between the fact as it
really occurred and the judgment of the
narrators. E.g. it was fact that some one an-
nounced to Mary that she should bear a son—
it was Mary's addition that the unknown
visitant was the angel Gabriel; it was fact
that Jesus was seen by the disciples on Mount
Tabor conversing with two men the disciples
transformed the reflection of the rays of the ris-
ing sun upon His garments into a divine ra-
diance, and the two strangers into Moses and
Elias. It is enough to say of this system that it
is exploded even in the land of its birth. Can-
did reasoners have perceived that it is impos-
sible to separate the miraculous from the
historical element of the narrative: the very
texture and substance of the history is miracu-
lous: it is miracle and nothing else which the
writers mean to describe, and they certainly
would not have deemed it worth their while to
108
EVIDENCE FOR THE
write at all if it had been merely for the pur-
pose of recording what, after this process of
evaporation, may remain. Of course, if we
attribute to them a deliberate intention to
deceive, the issue is shifted; but common ra-
tionalism does not take this ground. Moreover,
the hypothesis completely breaks down when
applied to the greater miracles, especially the
resurrection of Our Lord. To maintain that
the historians conceived that Jesus died, when
it was only a swoon into which He fell; that He
rose from the dead when it was only recovery
from the swoon; and that they saw Him ascend
to heaven, when they meant only that His tomb
remained concealed, is to make them wholly
incompetent witnesses of any historical facts.
C
Let us conceive that the miraculous portions
of the Gospels were removed, and how insigni-
ficant, in every point of view, would be the
few facts remaining. The discourses of Our
Lord might still be admired as models of in-
struction, as regards both matter and manner;
but He himself, as He now meets the eye,
would disappear from the scene. It is in the
performance of His miracles that the moral per-
fections, as well as the superhuman power, of
the Saviour appears; and were they absent, we
should lose the inimitable displays of tenderness
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 109
and compassion, as well as of divine majesty,
which the narratives now contain. More than
this, it is suppressed miraculous power which
adds intensity to those moral features of this one
human life which have captivated the world in
every age. Since that time patience and meek-
ness have been often displayed under trying
circumstances, but never under such circum-
stances as in Our Lord's case. The Christian
martyr resigned himself to the sword or the stake,
as the example of his Master required of him;
and he has had his reward. Considering what
human nature is at the best, we do not detract
from his merits if we try to imagine what he
would have done had he been conscious of an
abiding supernatural power, the slightest exer-
cise of which would have extricated him from
his sufferings. In some instances, at least, we
may well conceive that the temptation would
have been too great to be resisted. But in Our
Lord's case the extremity of human suffering
of every description is found in combination
with absolute power to have avoided it; and
the perfection of His resignation is exhibited in
His persistent refusal to avail Himself of His
extraordinary resources. When St. Paul admo-
nishes us to "let the mind of Christ be in us,
who humbled himself and became obedient unto
•
110
EVIDENCE FOR THE
the death of the cross," we lose the force of
the lesson if we omit the fact that "He was
in the form of God, and thought it not robbery
to be equal with God."* When Christ for-
bad the use of the sword in His own behalf, the
self-sacrifice is not appreciated until we read-
"Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my
Father, and he shall presently give me more
than twelve legions of angels." This is the
"love of Christ" which acts with irresistible
force on the Christian, and, through him, on
the world. It is obvious that the impression
would be materially diminished if the Gospels
did not furnish ample proofs that it was not
from want of power that Our Lord forbore to
effect His own deliverance; so that it would
not be far amiss to affirm that, instead of the
miracles being a mere adjunct of the history,
the history was composed for the sake of the
miracles.
That of
Exegetical rationalism having failed to ac-
complish its purpose, the expurgators of the
Gospel history fall back upon phi-
philosophic losophical considerations. These oc-
currences, it is urged, seem indeed to
violate, or suspend, the laws of nature with which
we are acquainted; but it is only a few of these
+ Matt. xxvi. 52-3.
rationalism.
* Phil. ii. 5-7.
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 111
laws with which we are acquainted: there may
be others, unknown to us, capable of producing
such extraordinary effects. Science is ever ad-
vancing, and improvements may render natu-
ral what once seemed miraculous: an ignorant
age would assign everything beyond its powers
to the region of the supernatural. The pre-
diction of an eclipse, e.g. would, among savages,
invest the astronomer with the character of a
prophet, whereas no scientific problem is sim-
pler. Or, again, unaccountable and unprece-
dented facts may really have occurred, but by
chance, in which case they might be "marvels "
(to be explained possibly by a deeper insight
into the laws of nature), but were not "signs
of the divine interposition.
ود
With respect to the first objection, we cer-
tainly are not acquainted with the whole sys-
tem of natural laws; but we do not need such
knowledge to enable us to determine whether
a certain event is miraculous or not, but only a
knowledge of such laws as are suspended or mo-
dified by the event. We must reason not from
what we do not know, but from what we do.
We are satisfied, e.g. that such laws and dis-
positions of matter as are exemplified in a
piece of mechanism can never produce the phe-
nomena of animal life. And our conviction is
112
EVIDENCE FOR THE
founded upon our knowledge of the properties
of inanimate matter: there is no need of our
going beyond thèse to decide the question.
Nor should we attach weight to the objection
that since machines of exquisite skill have been
constructed, it is impossible to say how far art
may be carried in this direction, and whether
at a certain point a machine may not pass into
a living being. In like manner, the laws which
regulate and limit human resources in the pro-
cesses of healing the sick and restoring sight to
the blind are sufficiently known to enable us
to pronounce with certainty that the cures per-
formed by Christ do not come under their ope-
ration; while, as regards the greater miracles
of Scripture, the resurrection and ascension of
Our Lord, there is an impassable gulf between
the power displayed in them and any known
natural agency: these miracles stand alone
"in their solitary grandeur," and remain as un-
approachable now as they have ever been.
The improvements that have taken place
in science, as has been well ob-
Advances of
science have served,* have been rather in the
been made
chiefly by the
use of im-
proved in-
struments.
instruments employed than in the
discovery of occult powers, or posi-
tive accessions to the skill of the
* Penrose. On Miracles, p. 60.
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 113
1
agent. If we know more of the mechanism of
the leavens than the ancients did, it is not be-
caus.. the human eye has acquired a larger
rare of vision, but because the telescope has
brought objects within its reach which formerly
were hidden from it. If the surgeon performs
operations which formerly were thought impos-
sible, it is because modern art has furnished
him with improved instruments. Even the posi-
tive discoveries of science-such as, those of the
circulation of the blood, or of the true nature of
the nervous system-have conferred upon the
physician no power superior in kind to what he
formerly possessed. He is enabled to under-
stand the nature of diseases more clearly, and
to apply his remedies with greater confidence,
but the process remains only tentative, at best.
Medicine is now, as it has always been, more
or less an empirical science. The physician, as
the greatest masters of the art have confessed.
can but promote the restorative processes of
nature. But the cures of Christ were per-
formed without instruments, or by such as had
no natural tendency to effect them--by clay or
spittle, by a word, a touch, a mere exercise of
the will-what analogy do the tentative pro-
cesses of modern art bear to these? No ap-
proach has been made to this mode of working :
II
114
EVIDENCE FOR THE
and, therefore, even if the results are in some
cases the same, the agency is altogether differ-
ent. And what approach has modern skill
made to such miracles as raising the dead to life?
or turning water into wine? or feeding five
thousand persons with a few loaves and fishes?
And let it be remembered, that the greater
miracles of the Gospel carry the lesser with
them, which are rather the lavish abundance
of infinite beneficence than necessary to the
evidences of our faith. If the resurrection of
Christ be a fact, of what moment is it if analo-
gies to some of the miror miracles can be
produced from the records of the past?
An acute writer* remarks, in this connection,
that the progress of science has rather strength-
ened than diminished our conviction of the su-
pernatural character of Christ's miracles. For
if it be supposed that Jesus was merely a
Rabbi greatly in advance of his age as regards
scientific knowledge, and so was enabled to
perform what seemed to his contemporaries
miracles but were not really so, the probability
is, that the natural advance of science would by
this time have put us on a level with the Jew-
ish sage. But when it appears that the advances
of science have not in the least enabled us to
* Mansel, Aids to Faith, p. 13.
-
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 115
imitate the works of Christ as He wrought
them, the inference is, that He possessed powers
beyond the attainment of man.
But shall we say that these marvels happened
by chance, or by a sudden manifestation of
some occult law hitherto unsus-
The miracles
Testament
not fortuitous,
nor the mani-
festation of
an occult law.
pected, and then were laid hold of of the New
to authenticate wrongfully a mere
human mission? This interpreta-
tion is precluded by the coincidence
between most or many of the mira-
cles and the assertion on the part of the agent
that they were, or were to be, wrought in at-
testation of a divine mission. Thus, Moses
announced to Pharaoh that certain miracles
would take place in case of his refusal to obey
the divine command; and that the miracles of
Christ were accompanied, in most instances at
least, by such previous announcements, it is
needless to repeat. He told the disciples that
He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead;
and IIe predicted His own resurrection. Now,
if Ile foresaw that these events would happen
(say by chance or an occult law) at the time
predicted, this amounts to a miracle of fore-
knowledge; if He did not foreknow them, but
hazarded a prediction, how many must have
beeu the chances against their happening at
1 2
116
EVIDENCE FOR THE
!
1
1
the very time predicted! Against any par-
ticular fact, imagined antecedently, the chances
are as millions to one, much more against an
extraordinary fact. It would, therefore, be
in the highest degree hazardous for an im-
postor to announce beforehand a miraculous
fact as an attestation of his mission, even sup-
posing some occult law or unknown combina-
tion of causes capable of producing it; for the
chances are innumerable against its fulfilling
the prophecy exactly in the manner and at the
time specified. Indeed, there would, in such a
supposed case, be a double improbability to be
overcome; first, that an impostor should appear
just when the event was about to happen; and,
secondly, that the event should happen so as
to authenticate his pretensions.
So cogent is this inference from coincidence
that it may elevate any common event into
the materials of an argument for superhuman
agency. Let us take the case of an eclipse,
so often adduced in this connection. An im-
postor, able to calculate the occurrence of an
eclipse, might gain credit among ignorant peo-
ple by predicting it; but if he were not able to
calculate it, and had no means of availing him-
self of the calculations of others, the fulfilment
of the prediction would make a serious impres-
Apa
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 117
1
sion even upon the most sceptical, so impro-
bable is it that it would occur at the very time
specified. How much greater the improbability
of the happening, under similar circumstances,
of an event wholly unprecedented, such as the
resurrection of a dead man to life again!
Under any circumstances, we may rest con-
fident that divine Providence would, in some
unexpected manner, extricate us from the diffi-
culty we should be placed in if an imposture
should thus be unaccountably authenticated.
We cannot believe that the beneficent Governor
of the universe would permit His reasonable
creatures to be exposed to a trial which they
were unable to surmount. Some "way of
escape" would assuredly open itself for those
who humbly rely upon His guidance and pro-
tection. Since there is nothing in the doctrine
of Christ intrinsically inconsistent with what
we know to be true, and since His miracles
were not refuted by superior authority, we
should be left exposed to serious danger of
error, if, after all, they were not supernatural
attestations of His mission.
118
EVIDENCE FOR THE
CHAPTER IV.
CREDIBILITY OF THE WITNESSES.
Tho witnesses
competent.
OUR dependence upon human testimony rests
upon a simple ground of reason, viz. that men
may be expected to state the truth when no
motives are apparent to induce them to deviate
from it, and no impediment exists to their being
competent judges of facts. Competency and
honesty are the qualities we require, and are
satisfied with, in a witness.
Two of our sacred historians (St. Matthew
and St. John) were eye-witnesses of the miracles
of Christ; a third (St. Luke) com-
piled his memoirs from the accounts
of those who were eye-witnesses.
(Luke i. 1-4). There is nothing to induce
us to question the competency of these per-
sons as witnesses. No trace of mental de-
rangement or of enthusiasm appears in their
writings. They state what they saw with-
out embellishment or exaggeration. The same
holds true of the other Apostles, whose tes-
timony is on record, though they did not
compose formal accounts of Christ's life (Acts
Ge
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 119
ii. 32; x. 38, 39). They were plain, but not
uneducated men; and though little versed in
Rabbinical or scientific lore, perfectly compe-
tent to testify to sensible facts, perhaps more
so than if they had belonged to a more learned
class. Philosophical observers, intent upon
the hidden connection of things, would have
been less likely to note and record the external
aspect of the occurrence just as it met the eye,
than the unsophisticated fishermen of Galilee.
There needed only common sense and the
faculties of seeing and hearing, to determine
whether water was changed into wine, or the
dead were raised to life again. That they were
not disposed to credulity is manifest from the
record which they themselves have left of their
slowness to believe the great miracle of the
resurrection. Moreover, credulity supposes a
prepossession in favour of the cause in behalf
of which the alleged miracles are wrought.
Protestants are not credulous of Roman Catholic
miracles. The Jews, according to the account.
given of their temper, were far from being dis-
posed to favour the mission of Moses; nor had
the Apostles any natural predilections for the
doctrine of a suffering and crucified Messiah.
Still less can the honesty of the witnesses be
called in question. Motives govern men; and
1.20
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
I
honest.
though obvious temptations to misstatement
or exaggeration do not necessarily invalidate.
human testimony, the total absence
The witnesses of such temptations must greatly
enhance its value. Now, it is ob-
vious, not only that the witnesses of Christ's
miracles had no object in delivering a false
testimony, but that they had every motive
for withholding their testimony to the truth.
Whatever hopes of temporal advantage they
might have entertained from their connection
with Christ were rudely dissipated by their
Master's own predictions, by His crucifixion as a
malefactor, and by the reception their preaching
met with from their fellow-countrymen. Neither
wealth nor station, they well knew, could ever
reward their efforts. Nor is it, indeed, to be
supposed that persons of their station in life
would entertain the ambitious project of found-
ing a new religion; especially when the first
principle of the religion was, that all the glory
was to be given to their Master, and, even if
it were not so, must be shared amongst many.
Party spirit, or the rivalry of contending sects,
has occasionally led to suspicious accounts of
miracles-as those of Loyola against the Jan-
senists, or those of the Jansenists against the
Jesuits; but no such feeling can be ascribed to
mbaga
Chukka
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 121
A
the Apostles. Their prejudices, as Jews, must
have been in favour of the existing system;
and as they appealed to the Mosaic scriptures
as confirmatory of the pretensions of Jesus of
Nazareth, and regarded Christianity as but the
development and fulfilment of the Mosaic eco-
nomy, no rivalry could exist, at least at first,
between the followers of Jesus and their Jewish
co-religionists. Indeed, it is a fact which throws
great light upon the early history of Christianity,
that the first converts looked upon themselves
rather as a Jewish sect than as maintaining an
antagonistic position to the earlier economy:
they were "in favour with all the people
(Acts ii. 47); they, no doubt, circumcised their
children; they were "zealous of the law
(Acts xxi. 20); and frequented the Temple
ordinances (Acts xxi. 26; ii. 46). It was the
destruction of the Temple that first entirely
severed the Christian church from the Levitical
system. The general remark may be made,
that no miracles but those of Scripture have
introduced a religion; others alleged to have
been wrought were to support a system already
established. Judaism and Christianity alone.
were founded upon miracles; it was the miracles
of Moses and of Christ, and nothing else, that
produced conviction, and led to the conversion
""
""
122
EVIDENCE FOR THE
of the witnesses; who, therefore, came to the
examination of them without prepossession of
any kind in favour of the religious system that
was to follow.
Perils and
The probabilities of the case,* and the ex-
plicit statements of the Christian writings,
conspire to prove that the first pro-
difficulties of mulgation of Christianity must have
the onter- been attended with extreme peril.
prise.
The doctrine of a purely spiritual
Messiah, the herald of no restoration of the
national splendour, but Himself crucified as a
malefactor, and promising no earthly reward
to His followers, must have been in the highest
degree distasteful to the prevalent temper of
the Jewish people. So must have been the
substitution of the spirit for the letter, which
distinguishes the Gospel from Rabbinical Ju-
daism. So, particularly, must haye been the
fundamental principle, speedily to be asserted,
that Gentile had equal privileges with Jew in
the kingdom of God. The Apostles, if they
preached at all, must be thought to charge the
leading men of the day with the commission of
a barbarous and unjust murder. It was not
likely that the teachers of such a system, whose
mode of teaching was publicly aggressive,
Paley's Evidences, Purt I. c. i.
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 123
1
htt
could escape the ill-usage which our books in-
form us they actually experienced at the hands.
of their countrymen.
They were much in
the position of modern Christian missionaries
publicly preaching in Constantinople; and with
what risk such an attempt must be attended
may be read in our missionary reports. If the
Roman government did not at first actually op-
pose the new sect (and this was the case-the
Roman power was providentially ordained to
form a shelter to the infant Christian society),
yet, in the course of time, it must have its
attention unfavourably drawn to it, if it were
only in consequence of the popular tumults to
which the preaching of the Apostles frequently
gave rise. But there was one prominent fea-
ture of Christianity which inevitably brought
it into collision, at first with popular preju-
dices and eventually with the state, viz. its
exclusiveness. Paganism was of necessity
tolerant; and the Roman government, from
motives of policy, admitted the divinities of
every country into its calendar. But Chris-
tianity openly declared war against every esta-
blished form of idolatry, and could tolerate no
rival. Now, as Gibbon remarks with justice,
"the innumerable deities and rites of poly-
theism were closely interwoven with every cir-
Pag
124
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
$
cumstance of business or pleasure, of public or
private life; and it seemed impossible to escape
the observance of them without, at the same
time, renouncing the commerce of mankind and
all the offices and amusements of society."
The Christian, therefore, who could not con-
scientiously join in these ceremonies, found
himself an isolated object of dislike and con-
tempt, and was exposed to the suspicion,
inherited from his Jewish predecessors, of uni-
versal misanthropy. It is not likely that the
emissaries of such a religion as this could pro-
secute their work without encountering active
opposition. Nor were the doctrines of the re-
ligion likely to attract the thoughtless or the
worldly. The fundamental tenet required to
be believed by every candidate for baptism was
the resurrection to life of One who had suffered
a shameful death; "to the Jews a stumbling-
block, and to the Greeks foolishness." Ad-
mitted within the pale, the believer was taught
that he must renounce his former sinful courses,
and cultivate the virtues of purity, humility,
and universal philanthropy. No present in-
dulgence of corrupt passions was permitted;
no Mahometan paradise awaited the Christian
hereafter. So great was the change of life
* Decline and Fall, &c., c. xv.
* 66
dad
1
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 125
}
enforced, and actually exhibited in numberless
instances, that it was termed, by a strong
metaphor, a new, or second birth. To those
acquainted with the state of morals in the hea-
then world, especially in such places as Corinth,
these rules of the Christian life must seem not
at all likely to facilitate the spread of the
religion. Nor did their severity terminate with
this life. The Christian was taught that he
was amenable to a future judgment, where his
past career would be submitted to a strict and
impartial scrutiny, and himself rewarded or
censured accordingly. "Knowing the terror of
the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. v. 11). We
may gather with certainty, then, not only that
the ordinary motives which might influence
men to propagate a falsehood were in this case
wholly wanting, but that there was everything
to deter from the enterprise. The emissaries
of the religion could expect nothing but scorn,
obloquy, bonds, and death. We read that these
sufferings they actually underwent. What
could have sustained ordinary men under them
but the profound conviction that they were
testifying to facts, and that these facts were of
paramount importance? Conscious dishonesty
would have speedily broken down under the
trial. Nor could a mere zeal for opinions have
1
126
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
1
inspired this undaunted courage: men do not
suffer and die for speculative opinions. But a
fact is a different thing; and especially a fact
such as the resurrection of Christ, involving
consequences the most momentous to the tem-
poral and spiritual interests of the human
race.
V
The circum-
The authenticity and genuineness of our
histories being assumed, the situation and cir-
cumstances of the witnesses were all
stances of the that could be desired. Suspicion just-
testimony add ly attaches to accounts of miracles
weight to it.
published long after their alleged
occurrence, such as those of Apollonius Tya-
neus, which were published about one hundred
years after his death by a single writer, Phi-
lostratus, or the prodigies of Greek and Roman
history. In such cases, means no longer exist
of examination and refutation. Our testimony
is contemporary. Suspicion, too, attaches to
accounts published far from the scene of action;
such as the miracles of Xavier, which were
performed in India, whereas the accounts were
published in Europe. Our histories were pub-
lished on the spot. If there is reason to be-
lieve that the accounts might pass without strict
scrutiny, this would cause hesitation. Hence
the accounts of Popish miracles performed in
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 127
A
J
Popish countrics labour under suspicion: we
are not sure that the friends of the established
religion would examine into them very mi-
nutely, and there are either no enemies, or
the enemies fear to speak. This is a very im-
portant consideration, and throws into strong
relief the convincing evidence of the Christian
miracles. Friends at first they had none; for
even those who, in consequence of conviction
wrought by what they saw, embraced Chris-
tianity, were affected with the same prejudices
and had to overcome the same obstacles which,
as we have seen, the witnesses themselves en-
countered in their progress from Judaism to
Christianity. The full conviction which these
first converts must have felt is a strong point in
our evidence. The three thousand who were
converted by Peter's discourse in Acts ii. were
certainly not prepossessed in favour of the
new doctrine, and they must have been aware
of the probable consequences of their step.
What, then, could have induced them to sub-
mit to baptism but the commanding evidence
(from their senses) of the miraculous gifts of
the Spirit, and (from the testimony of the
Apostles) of the resurrection of Christ? The
success of Christianity, without a miracle,
would be the most miraculous of events. But
Singl
128
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
if they could have no antecedent friends, it is
certain that they had powerful and active enemies.
The leading men of the Jewish people were
perfectly aware that the controversy between
them and the Apostles turned upon the reality
of the Christian miracles; to disprove these,
therefore, especially the miracle of the resurrec-
tion of Christ, must have been their principal
object. Is it credible that, with this disposition,
they would not examine into each case with
the utmost severity, with the view of exposing
the imposture, if such existed? If imposture
existed, would it not, with the means which
these implacable enemies had at their com-
mand, have infallibly been detected? That
the miracles were not suffered to pass without
scrutiny, we have actual proof. We have a
capital instance in the case of the man born
blind (John ix.). Nothing could exceed the
scepticism of the Pharisees, or the diligence of
their examination, as regards this miracle. Yet
they were reduced to the lame reply," Give God
the praise: we know that this man is a sinner"
(ver. 24). The same may be said of the raising
of Lazarus from the dead (John xi.). The Pha-
risees were conscious of the decisive character
of this miracle: they saw the effects of it in
the multiplying of Christ's disciples (ver. 45).
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 129
Beyond doubt they enquired strictly into the
circumstances of it; yet the conclusion they
arrived at was, not that the miracle was a
deception, but that it was better to quash the
evidence of it by putting both Christ and
Lazarus to death. Above all, they had reason
to dread the fulfilment of our Lord's own pre-
diction, that He should rise from the dead. If
it were fulfilled, Christianity would be esta-
blished; if it failed, Jesus would be convicted
of imposture. How much depended upon it is
shown by the precautions they took to prevent
the surreptitious abstraction of the body. How
they failed in disproving the reality of the
miracle, appears from their attempt to hush
it up by the most improbable of explanations.
The resurrection of Christ formed the main
topic of the Apostles' preaching: how came it
that it was never openly denied by their oppo-
nents? They straitly charged Peter and John
no longer to "speak in this name " (Acts iv. 17),
but the injunction was accompanied with no
reasons. We adduce one more instance from
the chapter just mentioned. A miraculous cure
had been wrought by Peter on the impotent
man, and caused no small stir among the fre-
quenters of the Temple. The "rulers, elders,
and scribes” held a council upon the matter.
I
2
}
130
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
They summoned the Apostles before them, who
declared that the miracle had been wrought in
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. There was
every inducement, and every opportunity, to
detect fraud, if such existed; yet the discussion
ended with the confession, that a "notable
miracle" had really been wrought; that it was
"manifest to all that dwelt in Jerusalem," and
could not be denied (v. 16).
Number and
portant.
The number and nature of the miracles
recorded in our sacred books render it impos-
sible that the witnesses could be
nature of the deceived. A few miracles, properly
miracles im- attested, would, of course, be suf-
cient to establish a divine mission;
but the proof is greatly strengthened by nume-
rous instances. A series of impostures would be
infinitely more difficult than a single case, since
curiosity would be augmented, and enquiry
stimulated, by cach successive repetition. But
the variety of the Christian miracles is of even
greater importance than their mere number.
According to our experience, or knowledge,
or natural temperament, we should, if alleged
miracles occurred in the present day, attach
more importance to some of them than to
others; and, with the exception of certain
capital instances, admitted by all to be proofs
kak
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 131
of divine intervention, differences of opinion
might exist as to the evidential force of dif
ferent classes. The profusion of the Gospel
miracles, embracing, as they do, all the ills
that ordinarily affect humanity as well as every
variety of suspension of the laws of nature,
met the predisposition of each observer, as they
now meet those of each reader: and this may
be one among other reasons why, in the Gos-
pels, some miracles are described at greater
length than others, and the same miracle in
greater detail in one Gospel than in another:
the reason being that some impressed them-
selves more strongly upon one witness, and some
upon another. In point of fact, alleged mira-
cles, to which suspicion justly attaches, will
be commonly found to have been of one des-
cription; as the casting-out of demons in the
ancient church, and the cures wrought at the
tomb of the Abbé Paris.
It is material to observe, that most of our
Lord's miracles were of such a nature as to
allow time and opportunity for their Time and op-
being verified. In proportion as a portunity at
miracle is of a transient or momen- command to
vorify them.
tary character, it is the less suscep-
tible of testimony: not that the witness may
not really have seen or heard something, but
I 2
132
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
/
that he cannot verify, or correct, his first im-
pression by subsequent examination. Hence
visions, such as that which Lord Herbert of
Cherbury affirms that he saw, or voices which
persons under religious excitement have heard,
labour under inherent defects, which unfit
them to be the attestations of a divine mission.
The fact is momentary, and no trace of it
remains. "The vision submits not to be
handled. One sense does not confirm another."*
Now several of the Scripture miracles, such as
the voice from heaven at our Lord's baptism,
His own transfiguration, and the vision that
appeared to Saul of Tarsus, come under this
description; and the testimony on which they
rest is so far defective. But of by far the
greater part of Christ's miracles the effects
were permanent. Those whose palsied limbs
were restored to strength, whose eyes had
been opened, who had been cleansed of leprosy,
who had been raised from the dead, remained
standing monuments of the power of God:
they could be examined (as we have seen they
were), and handled at leisure; full opportunity
was open to the witnesses to convince them-
selves that here was no deception. The senses
confirmed each other. Those who saw Laza-
*Paley, Evidences, Prop. II. c. i.
}
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 133
f
-
rus, after his resurrection, might, for a moment,
suppose it was a spirit, or "his angel" (Acts
xii. 15); they could not continue to think so,
when they heard him speak, and felt that he
had a material body. This test applies em-
phatically to our Lord's own resurrection. The
senses of hearing, sight, and touch, all com-
bined to prove the fact; and the many occa-
sions on which He was seen, by different per-
sons, served as checks to exclude the suspicion
of mistake or enthusiasm. Thus the greater
miracles of Scripture support the less; and
even if we set off, as of inferior evidential
force, the various cures recorded (for the
results were analogous to what we see daily,
though the mode of operation is beyond our
ken), and the transient miracles above men-
tioned, enough will remain of such command-
ing authority as to prove to all. reasonable
minds that the religion with which they were
connected came from heaven.
ma
134
EVIDENCE FOR THE
CHAPTER V.
THE FOREGOING REMARKS APPLIED TO THE
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
this miracle.
ONE miracle there is which, by the confession
of friends and foes, stands upon an unapproach-
able eminence, the resurrection of
Supreme im-
portance of the Lord Jesus Christ. If sub-
stantiated, it carries with it all those
of inferior moment; for to what purpose would
it be to attempt to disprove the reality of the
cures recorded in the Gospels, or of such cases
as that of Lazarus, while the far greater mar-
vel of Christ's resurrection remains unassailed?
Of its supreme importance the first heralds
of the Gospel were fully conscious. They felt,
that with it Christianity must stand or fall.
If Jesus rose from the dead, in accordance
with His own predictions, it was a decisive
attestation to His divine mission; if the story
was false, His pretensions fell to the ground,
and the Apostles were convicted of imposture
in affirming that they had seen Him alive after
His docease (1 Cor. xv. 14-17). It is upon
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 135
the resurrection, therefore, that, in their dis-
courses, they dwell almost exclusively: the
miracles of our Lord's life are seldom alluded
to, and then in a passing manner (Acts ii. 22;
x. 38): they are assumed as known and ac-
knowledged, but no details are given: while
to preach "Jesus" and "the resurrection"
were almost synonymous, as if the latter were
the main fact connected with the Gospel which
it was important to establish.
To this crowning miracle we have detailed
testimony in each of the four Gospels. We
leave it to harmonists to arrange the appear-
ances of our Lord in chronological order, or
to reconcile apparent discrepancies; for our
present purpose the broad fact is sufficient, that,
according to our books, Christ repeatedly ap-
peared to His disciples, and convinced them in
every way in which conviction could be con-
veyed, that He had really risen from the dead.
He permitted them to handle Him; He partook
of food; they identified Him by the print of
the nails, and the scar left in His side. The
nearest approach to a summary of the evidence
is given by St. Paul in the well-known pas-
sage, 1 Cor. xv. 5-8: "He was seen of Cephas,
then of the twelve: after that he was seen of
above five hundred brethren at once; of whom
136
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1.
the greater part remain unto this present, but
some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen
of James; then of all the apostles. And last
of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born
out of due time.”
tion of the
witnesses and
their con-
verts.
That the fullest conviction of the truth of
the miracle was felt by the Apostles is obvious
Full convic- to every reader of the New Testa-
ment. And that they succeeded
in transferring their own certainty
to the minds of the first converts is
unquestionable, from the mere fact of the rise.
and progress of the Christian church. Had
the Apostles had nothing to preach but a cru-
cified Messiah, who, after a life of hardship and
sorrow, had been overcome by the last enemy,
with every circumstance of ignominy, their
message would have been received with in-
difference, or rather contempt. It was the
prospect of "everlasting life," of which the
resurrection of Christ was a pledge, that stirred
to its depths the torpid mind of heathenism.
The rationalist theory-that Jesus did not
really die upon the cross, but was removed in
a swoon to the tomb, whence, upon His re-
vival, He crept forth (through the midst of the
guards), in weakness and suffering, to His
friends; by whom He was tenderly cared for,
1
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 137
but in vain; for at last, after some weeks, He
succumbed to the ill-treatment He had re-
ceived-labours under a similar inadequacy to
account for the reception the Gospel met with.
Would such a Messiah have inspired the
Apostles with the feelings of triumph which
breathe through their addresses after the day
of Pentecost? Would He be to them the
"Lord of life," "a prince and a Saviour," the
mighty conqueror, who had "put all things
under his feet?" Or what impression could
such a pitiful story make upon Jews and
heathens; the former indisposed already to
the pretensions of Jesus, the latter indifferent
to all religion? There can be no doubt, there-
fore, that the Apostles, and first converts, were
at least firmly persuaded, in their own minds,
of the reality of Christ's resurrection. Still,
it may be urged, this was but their belief: and
their belief does not necessarily establish the
fact. This leads us to make some remarks on
their testimony.
1. We have to observe, in the first place,
that the Apostles, previously to the fact,
cherished no very confident expecta-
tions of their Master's return to life.
It was not merely that their Jew-
ish prejudices, and their temporal
of the Apos-
Incredulity
tles bofore
the fact.
138
EVIDENCE FOR THE
""
interests, pointed the other way, but that there
was everything to depress their hopes as regards
this particular miracle. They had just seen
their Master put to a shameful death, and their
expectations seem to have been buried with Him.
A mournful incredulity marks their expressions
on the subject. They had "trusted that it had
been he which should have redeemed Israel
(Luke xxiv. 21); and the words imply that
they had abandoned that hope. When Mary
Magdalene announced to the disciples that
Jesus had appeared to her, they "believed
not " (Mark xvi. 11); when the two disciples
declared how He joined them on the road
to Emmaus, their intelligence met with a similar
reception (Mark xvi. 13). Even when Jesus
Himself" stood in the midst of them," they
"were affrighted, and supposed that they had
seen a spirit;" and it was with great difficulty
that they were brought to admit an opposite
conclusion (Luke xxiv. 36-46). It was "un-
belief and hardness of heart" (Mark xvi. 14;
Luke xxiv. 25), not credulous zeal, that Christ
had to encounter, and to overcome, by irresisti-
ble proofs of His resurrection, before such doubts
could be laid at rest. If it be asked, how could
they be so slow to believe when, more than once
during His lifetime, our Lord had predicted the
་
MILA
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 139
L
great event? We reply that none of Christ's
sayings were fully understood even by His im-
mediate followers until after the descent of the
Spirit. To strengthen the tangible proofs which
He gave them of His resurrection, "beginning
at Moses and the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
himself;" that" thus it behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day, and
that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name among all nations " (Luke
xxiv. 27, 46,47): yet, not long before His ascen-
sion, we find them putting a question to Him
which betrayed an entire ignorance of the na-
ture and objects of the Christian dispensation:
"Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel?" (Acts i. 6.) But, what-
ever account may be given of the matter, the
fact remains that the witnesses of Christ's re-
surrection were by no means predisposed to
believe it; that they were in a depressed and
sceptical frame of mind; and that their spirits
were raised and their zeal rekindled by their
tardy conviction of the truth of the miracle, not
the miracle suggested by enthusiastic anticipa-
tions. The scepticism of the Apostle Thomas,
though his unbelief was more marked than that
of the rest, represents faithfully the state of
140
EVIDENCE FOR THE
mind of the whole college of Apostles. We
infer that the story never would have been
spontaneously obtruded upon the world, and
that, if it formed the principal topic of the Apos-
tles' preaching, this was the result of evidence
which it was impossible for them to withstand.
2. Another feature of the testimony is its cir-
cumstantiality. There is nothing vague or inde-
Evidence cir- finite about it. The women who came
cumstantial. at dawn to the sepulchre found the
stone rolled away, and beheld the angel in shin-
ing garments sitting by it: they remember the
directions which both this heavenly visitant and
Jesus Himself gave them (to tell His disciples
that they should meet Him in Galilee), and the
part of His body which they held when they wor-
shipped (Matt. xxviii. 1-10). The description
of the appearance to Mary Magdalene alone
(John xx. 11-17) abounds with incident;-how
she saw two angels in the sepulchre; how,
while she was weeping at the supposed abstrac-
tion of the body, Jesus appeared to her, at first
not recognised; how He forbad her to detain
Him, for His ascension was at hand. The dis-
ciples whom He joined on the road to Emmaus
recalled His appearance, the conversation He
held with them, and the manner and occasion
of His disappearance (Luke xxiv. 13-32).
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 141
The ten Apostles had distinctly impressed on
their minds the salutation which Jesus ad-
dressed to them; His request that they should
examine His hands and His feet, and convince
themselves that He was not a spirit; and the
particular food of which He partook to confirm
their faith and as distinctly, the address of
Christ, a week later, to Thomas, and the proof
proposed to the latter (Luke xxiv. 36-43 ; John
xx. 26-29). Nothing can be more graphic and
minute than the account of the appearance to
the seven disciples at the sea of Galilee (John
xxi.), or more in character with the tempera-
ment, as we gather it from other parts of
Scripture, of the two leading Apostles Peter and
John. The large body of disciples (" five hun-
dred brethren at once," 1 Cor. xv. 6) to whom
He appeared in Galilee (Matt. xxviii. 16–20),
could testify to the particular commission given
to the Apostles on that occasion (Ibid.). How
deeply impressed on St. Paul's mind were the
circumstances of the vision with which he was
favoured is manifest from the various accounts
he has left of it (Acts ix. 1-7; xxii. 6-11;
xxvi. 12-18); accounts which substantially
agree with each other. Thus, if particularity
of description be, as it is, a mark of truth, we
have nothing to wish for, in this respect, in the
142
EVIDENCE FOR THE
extant testimony to the resurrection of our
Lord.
Ordinances
tion of it.
Koda
3. Furthermore, it is to be observed that a
particular day and a public ordinance were in-
stituted immediately after the alleged
instituted in fact of the resurrection, and in com-
commemora- memoration of it. Nothing is more
certain, than that at an early period
of the church, the first day of the week was
celebrated as a day of religious worship, and
Christian rejoicing, because on that day Christ
rose from the dead; and received, on that ac-
count, the title of the Lord's Day (Acts xx. 7; 1
Cor. xvi. 2; Rev.i. 10). Equally certain is it, that
from that time to the present the observance of
this day, and for the same reason, has prevailed
in the church; which, no doubt under apostolic
sanction, gradually suffered the Jewish sabbath
to fall into desuetude, and for it substituted
the Christian festival. Now a ceremony,
in-
stituted from the first in memory of an event,
whether miraculous or not, is an evidence of
belief which is independent of written accounts,
and would remain if the latter were lost.
for example, we can prove that, from the earliest
ages, the Lord's Supper has been celebrated in
remembrance of Christ's death, it would prove
that the Christian church has ever believed that
Ma
If,
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 143
He did die; and if the Gospels had perished,
the ordinance would still furnish evidence of
the fact. In like manner the institution of the
Lord's Day, with its known significance, proves
beyond question that the resurrection of Christ
formed a fundamental article of faith with the
Apostles and first converts; and, we may add,
proves the vast importance which they attri-
buted to the event, and, by inference, the care
which they took in sifting the evidence for it.
There is another Christian ordinance which, in-
directly at least, assumes the fact of the resur-
rection, viz. baptism. If the Apostles used the
form of words prescribed by our Lord (Matt.
xxviii. 19), baptism" in the name of the Son"
necessarily implies a living Saviour; and how-
ever brief the form might be (Acts ii. 38),
the candidate professed, and was considered to
profess, his belief of the death and resurrection
of Christ. The very symbolism of the sacra-
ment, as explained by St. Paul (Rom. vi. 3, 4),
and understood in the early church, presupposes
these two cardinal facts of redemption.
4. In weighing the direct evidence, the main
point to be remembered is, that the body of our
Lord was never produced, and there-
The body
fore we may presume was never seen
(after its interment) either by friends
never pro-
duced.
d
144
EVIDENCE FOR THE
i
}
T
or foes. The guard of soldiers was requested by
the Jews only until the third day should have
elapsed, that day having been fixed by Christ
Himself for the miracle: after that time no
impediment would have been offered to the
disciples' satisfying themselves that the body
was still in the tomb, if it was there. The
purpose of the Jews would have been an-
swered by the failure of the prediction on the
day specified. Let us suppose then, as Strauss
and Baur teach, that enthusiasm was the pa-
rent of the Christian faith; could enthusiasm
maintain its hold of the disciples' minds, while
the mouldering remains of their Master lay
before them, visible and tangible? Or could
it have blinded them to the necessity of satisfy-
ing themselves that the body was not in the
tomb before they ventured to announce publicly
that Christ had risen? But the fact was, as
we have seen, that they were disposed to be-
lieve that He had not risen; and doubtless, in
order to justify their unbelief, they would have
repaired to the spot, as soon as access to it was
permitted, and with the body before their eyes
the last faint hope must have been extinguished.
Another supposition indeed remains, that which
the Jews themselves adopted and procured a
current belief of, viz. that "his disciples came
maig
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 145
by night and stole him away" while the guards
"slept" (Matt. xxviii. 13). But still, though
not in the tomb, the body would, in that case,
have been amongst them, and in their posses-
sion; and the sight of it could hardly have been
consistent with the cherishing of visionary
hopes. Other difficulties, still more formidable,
weigh upon this hypothesis. It imputes de-
liberate fraud to persons whose character is the
most remote from any such suspicion; a most
hazardous enterprise to the most timid of fol-
lowers, at a time (the city being crowded at
the great Feast of the Passover, and the moon
being full) when detection was hardly to be
avoided; and all for the promotion of a cause
which could bring them neither temporal hon-
our nor advantage. It supposes that a guard
of Roman soldiers were all at the same tine
overcome by sleep-a sleep so profound as
not to be disturbed by the removal of the large
stone that blocked the entrance. It represents
these soldiers as able, notwithstanding their
sleep, to observe what occurred during it. The
absurdities thicken as we advance. It is no
wonder that the "chief priests and elders "
shrank from committing themselves to this re-
port, and delegated the task of circulating it to
the obtuser intellects of their military coadju-
K
146
EVIDENCE FOR THE
1
|
tors. The disciples then knew not what had
become of the body (John xx. 13). But neither
could the enemies of Christ produce it. Not
long after the event was said to have occurred,
the Apostles "filled Jerusalem with their doc-
trine," to the excessive annoyance of the Jewish
religious authorities (Acts v. 28). Why did
not the latter cut short the controversy by the
production of the body if it was still in the
tomb? If they believed that the disciples stole
it away, why did they not openly charge them.
with the fraud, and compel them to disclose its
hiding-place? If the Apostles had been con-
scious of fraud, would they, on the ordinary
principles of human nature, have cheerfully
submitted to scourging and imprisonment, and
the prospect of death, rather than remain quiet
and escape these sufferings? Why did not the
chief priests produce, at least, the soldiers pub-
licly, and confront their tale with that of the
Apostles? No doubt, because the collusion
would have come to light, and their position,
with respect to the new religion, have been ren-
dered still more embarrassing than it was.
5. It is unnecessary to remark that the cri-
teria by which we judge of the validity of the
Apostles' testimony to Christ's miracles in
general apply emphatically to this one.
The
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 147
testimony was delivered a very short time after
the alleged occurrence of the miracle, and in the
very place where it was said to have
occurred. It was delivered publicly,
before those who condemned Christ,
and who took all possible precautions
to prove Him an impostor. It was
delivered before the assembled multitudes who
filled Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost, and
who must have been deeply interested in ascer-
taining the facts. St. Paul tells us that of the
five hundred brethren who saw him "the
greater part" remained "unto this present," and
could therefore have at once exposed the fraud
if such it were. By none of these parties was
the fact ever denied. It is impossible to conceive
testimony more entirely exempt from suspicion.
6. There is one circumstance which has been
laid hold of to disparage the evidence, and to
which, therefore, it is necessary to Objection
advert―viz. that Christ did not that Christ.
did not show
show Himself publicly, but only to Himsolf pub-
chosen witnesses; and yet, if the licly.
miracle was to be placed beyond doubt, the
former was the course to have been adopted.
To this the general reply may be made, that,
when the evidence is sufficient, we have not
right to require that it should be stronger.
Criteria of
valid testi
mony all
here pre-
sent.
¿
x 2
148
f
1
EVIDENCE FOR THE
7
There is a certain measure of reserve observ-
able in the mode in which the credentials of
religion have been presented to the human
mind-religion both natural and revealed.
Enough is disclosed to sustain faith; but not
so much as to obviate all objections, or to
destroy the idea of moral probation. Indis-
position to the truths may find matter for
doubt in the evidences of religion; but the
question is, Has sufficient been furnished to
satisfy candid and reasonable inquirers? If
so, it is not for us to decide whether more
might have been given, or whether, if given, it
would have proved convincing. But more
particularly, the Jewish people had deliberately
rejected the strongest evidence of Christ's
mission-the miracles which He wrought in His
lifetime and had thereby forfeited all claim
to a further trial. They had accused Him of
acting in concert with Beelzebub; instigated
by their religious guides, they had demanded
His crucifixion; and these same rulers had
refused to receive the testimony of unbiassed
and perfectly competent eye-witnesses to the
fact of His resurrection. What probability
was there that, if He had showed Himself to
them, they would have abandoned their un-
belief? In the temper of mind in which they
[
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 149
t
1
were, they would have had recourse to every
species of evasion to deny or explain away the
fact; and that they would have succeeded in
thus imposing upon themselves and the nation
at large we cannot doubt. But in that case,
the evidence would have come down to us
burdened with the very grave circumstance
that Our Lord did "show himself openly to all
the people," and yet failed to convince them
that He had really risen from the dead. But
let us take the other alternative-that they
had been convinced, and (as a necessary con-
sequence) had become nationally converted to
the Christian faith. Then we should have
been deprived of the involuntary testimony
which, as adversaries, the Jews bore to the
truth of the history, in that, with every desire
and motive to invalidate it, they could not do
The Church would not have possessed
martyrs sealing their testimony with tempo-
ral suffering and death, and thus handing it
down to us with immensely augmented force.
By heathen opponents the history would have
been treated as the result of combination and
fraud. The evidence of those who had sealed
the stone, and placed the guard, and possessed
complete power over the sepulchre, would have
carried little weight. The Roman Govern-
so.
150
EVIDENCE FOR THE
ment would probably have regarded the move-
ment as a symptom of national rebellion, and
stifled Christianity in its cradle. It is need-
less to observe that prophecy, announcing the
‹listinct existence of the Jewish nation through
long centuries of unbelief and suffering, would
have failed of its accomplishment. Events
were otherwise, and in accordance with the
usual course of Providence. One further trial
was presented to the obdurate race: the Re-
surrection of Christ was preached to them
with sufficient, but not overpowering, evi-
dence; and they proved, by rejecting it, that
neither would they have been persuaded had
they actually seen one risen from the dead.
And thus, through the free agency of sinful
man, the designs of heaven advanced to their
end. The sufferings to which the witnesses
were exposed from the animosity of their un-
believing countrymen increased tenfold the
value of their testimony; the same animosity
procured for the nascent church the protection
of the Roman government, and at length, by
the complete severance of Christianity from
Judaism, enabled the former to pursue its in-
dependent career; and the obstinate unbelief
of the nation, with its penal consequences,
and yet its undying tenacity of national
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 151
existence, form standing monuments of the
truth of prophecy. To the Christian believer
other reasons for Our Lord's withdrawing Him-
self from public view after His resurrection will
be suggested by the discourses in St. John's
Gospel and by the Epistles, "If we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now hence-
forth know we him no more" (2 Cor. v. 16);
this is a maxim of spiritual Christianity.
Earthly communion with the Saviour termi-
nated with His earthly life, and was to give place
to the deeper fellowship of the Spirit, by Whom
He was to dwell in the hearts of His people
everywhere-faith, not sight, being the connect-
ing bond of union. To manifest Himself in this
way to the unbelieving world was of course im-
possible (John xiv. 22); and even His own disci-
ples must be taught that their intercourse with
Him was to be of a different kind from that which
they had hitherto enjoyed. Hence, though He
enabled them to bear ample witness to His re-
surrection, He appeared to them but seldom, and
remained but a short time with them when He
did appear: it was a transitional state between
the carthly and the heavenly life of Christ.
Thus were they gradually weaned from visible
dependence upon Him, and prepared for the
purely spiritual dispensation which was to follow.
152
EVIDENCE FOR THE
↑
""
of Tarsus.
66
The appearance of Our Lord to St. Paul
deserves to be considered by itself, inasmuch
as it is the one instance which even
The appear-
anco of Our Strauss and his followers admit to
Lord to Saul rest on the direct testimony of an
eye-witness. Paul of Tarsus, at
least, was no "mythical" personage, and he
affirms distinctly that "last of all Christ was
seen by him, as of one born out of duc
time"
(1 Cor. xv. 8). We assume that the
occasion referred to was that of his conversion
(Acts ix.); and nothing can be clearer than
that, as the narrative runs, it was a super-
natural appearance of Christ from without, i.e.
such as to affect the bodily senses. A bright
light shone around him, visible not only to
himself but to those who accompanied him
(Acts xxii. 9); he (and according to St. Luke's
account, his companions also, Acts ix. 7) heard
a voice saying, "I am Jesus, whom thou per-
secutest;" he was blind for three days, and
was restored to sight by Ananias, a disciple of
Damascus. There can be no doubt, then,
that the apostle fully believed, and communi-
cated his conviction to the writer of the
Acts, that the rison Saviour had appeared to
him in His glorified body. Still, reply Baur
and Strauss, it is only the apostle's belief
-
1
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 153
which the narrative establishes; whether he
actually saw Christ remains doubtful. What
he thought he saw may have been the off-
spring of a heated imagination, an ocular
delusion to be accounted for on natural prin-
ciples. Let us examine whether this hypo-
thesis is tenable.
In the first place, Paul's personal character
seems inconsistent with it. This is not the
case of a rude Galilæan peasant, The reality
whose untutored perceptions might of it not dis-
proved on
be supposed incapable of distin- exegetical
guishing between natural and mi- grounds;
raculous phenomena, between myth and fact;
but of a man of acute and discriminating in-
tellect, well versed in Jewish learning, and not
unacquainted with classic lore; and, as we
may judge from his letters, deeply read in the
mysteries of the human heart, and especially
in the disguises which fictitious religionism
may assume. A sublime enthusiasm is apparent
throughout them, but of weakness or credulity
there is no trace. Nor are they the com-
positions of a recluse, but of one thoroughly
acquainted with the world, and of eminent
practical good sense. This is the impression
we gather from the extant remains of this
apostle.
154
EVIDENCE FOR THE
It is to be observed, further, as proving the
apostle's own conviction, that he ranks the
appearance of Christ vouchsafed to himself
with those with which the eleven apostles and
other disciples were favoured (1 Cor. xv. 5-7),
and which the history manifestly intends to
describe as real appearances. It was the spe-
cial function of an apostle, as distinguished
from other orders of ministers, to bear witness
to the resurrection of Christ, and consequently
an indispensable qualification for the office that
he should have beheld the Lord in His glorified
body (Acts i. 21, 22): as certainly therefore as
Paul claimed to be an apostle, so certainly was
it his conviction that he had had ocular demon-
stration of the fact of Christ's resurrection :
on no other ground could he have asserted a
coordinate rank and authority with the rest.
It is urged, however, that both the book of
Acts and St. Paul's Epistles furnish proof that
the authors were incapable of distinguishing
between impressions upon the mind and exter-
nal facts, in matters relating to the spiritual
world; and, therefore, incapable of forming a
correct judgment respecting the nature of the
event which occurred on the journey to Damas-
cus. But, in fact, the writers exhibit a perfect
consciousness of the difference between the
SING
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 155
two things.
St. Peter's vision (Acts x.) is
expressly described as such (v. 3); and that the
distinction was familiar to the historian is
proved, beyond doubt, by his remark, in the
account of the apostle's miraculous deliverance,
that he "wist not that it was true which was
done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision "
(Acts xii. 9). The appearance of Christ to
Ananias was "in a vision " (Acts ix. 10), and
those subsequently vouchsafed to Paul himself
(Acts xviii. 9; xxiii. 11) are said to have oc-
curred while the apostle was in a trance; ex-
pressions which are not found in any part of
the narrative of his conversion. We draw the
same conclusion from the various passages in
his Epistles, in which he alludes to a state of
ecstatic trance as not unfrequent with him
(2 Cor. xii.). Now the peculiarity of this
state was, not the intrusion of the supernatural
into the domain of sense, but rather, as the
word ecstasy" implies, the rapture of the
spirit out of the sphere of sense into the
region of spiritual perception; it was not that
the "third heaven" opened itself to Paul, but
that he (in spirit) was caught up thither.
Most of the "visions" mentioned in the New
Testament, such e.g. as that of Stephen (Acts
vii.), and that of Peter, were "ecstasies" like
"
156
EVIDENCE FOR THE
I
those of St. Paul; not visible realities which
the bystanders could also perceive, but spiri-
tual realities, apprehended only by the subject
of them. Paul, speaking of such revelations,
declares that whether he received them in the
body or out of it he could not tell (2 Cor. xii.
3): whatever this may mean, the uncertainty
which the words imply, as to the precise nature
and mode of operation of such ecstatic rap-
tures, stands in strong contrast with the matter-
of-fact style which he uses in describing what
took place on the road to Damascus.
There remains the psychological explana-
tion, as it has been recently propounded by a
nor on psy- disciple of Baur's (Holsten). Exe-
chological. getical grounds failing, it was ne-
cessary, if the Tübingen hypothesis was to
maintain itself, that recourse should be had to
this explanation; i.e. that the attempt should
be made to show that the excited state of
Paul's feelings, as he journeyed to Damascus,
is sufficient to account for what followed. It
was especially incumbent on the Tübingen
theologians to establish this theory, if possible,
since it is the fact that, in those instances
in which God spake to man in vision, there
was usually, on the part of the recipient, a
preparation of thought and feeling to which
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 157
the divine communication attached itself; a
tuning, so to speak, of the human instrument,
which rendered it capable of giving forth the
intended sounds when touched with the ray
from heaven. The spirit of man was pre-
viously wrought up to a state of feeling in
harmony with the communication about to be
made; so that, in one point of view, the vision
might be regarded as the natural result of the
nervous tension of the system. Thus we find
the ancient prophets calling in the aid of
music, to bring the mind in frame for receiv-
ing the divine message. Now, if this was the
case when the vision or rapture is acknow-
ledged to have been supernatural, much more
must some such preparation be supposed when
the idea of the supernatural is excluded (as
by Baur and Holsten). Let us, then, see how
the problem is solved by these writers. It
was the very excess, we are told, of Paul's
anti-Christian zeal that paved the way to his
conversion. It brought him into contact with
Christians, and thus made him acquainted with
the arguments for and against the pretensions.
of Jesus of Nazareth. Was the scandal of
the Cross decisive against these pretensions?
An impartial examination of ancient prophecy
would prove that the idea of a suffering
1
158
EVIDENCE FOR THE
Messiah was familiar to it. To himself, as a
Pharisee, the idea of a resurrection from the
dead would present no difficulties. The spec-
tacle of the patience and joy with which the
Christians encountered suffering must have
produced a deep impression upon him. Thus
a state of doubt and hesitation would natu-
rally succeed to that of unreasoning prejudice.
Might not the death of Christ, shameful as it
appeared, be really, as the Christians asserted,
God's ordinance for the salvation of the world?
If His resurrection were but a fact, this would
turn the scale. The more this thought fixed
itself in Paul's mind, the more, in the agony
of suspense to which it would give rise, would
he long for some convincing evidence of what
he was now impelled to hope might be true.
We have but to suppose that on that memorable
journey the crisis took place. As he was vainly
endeavouring, by redoubled efforts against the
Christian faith, to stifle the remonstrances of
conscience and the growth of conviction, sud-
denly his excited imagination affected the nerve
of vision, and before the eye of the soul the form
which he had learned to attribute to the Saviour
stood out in bodily outline. He saw, as he
thought, the risen Jesus, and heard His voice ;
and forthwith became a Christian and an apostle.
س
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 159
Upon this hypothesis we make the following
remarks. If there had been no visible mani-
festation of Christ, how could Paul, and Paul's
historian, have ventured to promulgate such a
story as we have in the book of Acts, when
many of the alleged witnesses were probably
still alive, and not only could have at once
refuted it, but had every motive to do so? Let
us suppose that Ananias, as a Christian, might
have been tempted to let the apostle's state-
ment pass without rigid scrutiny, this will not
apply to Saul's companions on his journey.
These could not be ignorant whether a light
really shone round the party and a voice was
heard; whether all were prostrated to the
ground, and, when they arose, whether Saul
was found blind; or whether the whole passed
merely in the apostle's mind. From the
notoriety of Saul, as one of the most violent
opponents of Christianity, and the astonish-
ment his conversion excited, the story must
have speedily become known throughout the
Church, and known to the Jewish adversaries,
who would without doubt put the witnesses to
the question. If the apostle were inventing a
tale, or even substituting an internal impres-
sion for an external fact, here was a golden
opportunity to convict him either of fraud or
|
160
T
EVIDENCE FOR THE
t
of gross enthusiasm, and so to discredit his
pretensions for ever. It was a most hazardous
stake to publish the book of Acts, with the
story, substantially the same, thrice repeated
in it, at the date to which common belief
ascribes the book, if the facts did not occur as
they are described. On the supposition of his
undergoing a mental conflict of the kind above
described, Saul alone might impose upon him-
self; Saul's companions, in whom no such
conflict existed, cannot be supposed liable to
the delusion, or at all likely to support it. It
is unnecessary to remark how seriously the
apostle's character for probity would be com-
promised by the fact of his sanctioning such a
publication. He might at the moment have
mistaken a spiritual impression for a fact; but
since it was in his power to correct any illusion
of this kind by a reference to the experience
of his companions, either to confirm or refute
his own, it would have been improper for him
to allow the story as we have it to go forth to
the world, if the testimony of those with him
had not tended to the same conclusion.*
M
* Pressed by these difficulties, Baur has recourse to his
favourite solution, and throws doubts upon the authenticity
of the book of Acts. His arguments are based mainly upon
the slight discrepancies in the sever accounts of St. Paul's
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 161
But again, the language in which the Apostle
describes the change that passed over him on
his conversion, is inconsistent with this theory.
If it were true that his reception of Chris-
tianity was but the climax of a process which
had been going on for some time previously,
he would hardly have spoken of it as he does
in his addresses and epistles; as a revelation
of Christ in him,* a "gift of the grace of
God," a change from spiritual darkness to
light,‡ in short, a new creation.§ It is not
merely the magnitude of the change, but the
source of it, which these expressions indicate;
they refer it not to the energy of an awakened
conscience, but to the mighty power of God's
Spirit. St. Paul considered himself to have
been the subject of an act of creative, i.e.
miraculous agency (2 Cor. v. 17), and not to
have passed by natural transition from his
unconverted to his converted state. But the
hypothesis we are considering explains the
whole upon natural grounds. It is remarkable
that the Apostle's own conviction of the reality
of what he had seen never seems to have
conversion. It is strange that so able a man should have
made so much of so natural and trifling a circumstance.
‡ 2 Cor. iv. 6.
* Gal. i, 12.
† Ephes. iii. 7.
2 Cor. v. 17.
Ꮮ
ጎ
162
EVIDENCE FOR THE
wavered; and, in fact, formed the mainspring
of his unparalleled activity. Before he entered
upon an enterprise sure to involve danger and
suffering, and still more when suffering ac-
tually overtook him, he must have reviewed
the grounds of his conviction, and satisfied
himself that they were substantial, for any
misgiving on this point would paralyse reli-
gious zeal. Here, then, is an instance of a
delusion's lasting through a lifetime, and giv-
ing birth, not only to a radical transformation
of sentiment, but to unwearied zeal in propa-
gating a new faith in the face of an opposing
world; and this in a person whom nothing
that we otherwise know of him would point
out as liable to such hallucinations. It is
difficult to conceive that a change of this kind
could have been effected by the mere action of
conscience upon a sensitive mental organisa-
tion. The subject of it must be supposed as
well able to judge of its nature, as expositors
who live eighteen hundred years later.
Finally, there does not occur the slightest
trace, either in the history or in the Apostle's
letters, of his having had any intercourse with
Christians, of a friendly nature, previous to
his conversion. Up to the very moment of it
he describes himself as having been "exceed-
kedag
MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 163
ingly mad" against Christians (Acts xxvi. 11),
a state of feeling obviously incompatible with
a secret inclination to their society. Nor is it
credible, that if doubts had arisen in his mind
whether Jesus might not be the Messiah, he
would have continued, as he did, in his career
of persecution. Persecution is merciless in
proportion as it is conscientious; i.e. in pro-
portion as conscience is blinded by prejudice
and passion, and the dictates of morality are
overborne by a false estimate of duty. To
nerve the arm of the inquisitor, unhesitating
faith in the goodness of his cause is the first
requisite; doubts on this point would render
him unfit for his office, by allowing the voice
of justice and humanity to be heard, and
human nature in the end would assert its
rights. Such, as far as we have notices of it,
was Saul's state of mind previous to his con-
version. What he did, he did, as he himself
declares (1 Tim. i. 13), "ignorantly in un-
belief," i.e. without a shadow of a doubt that
he was doing God service. A temper of mind
which is very unlikely to have worked itself
clear of impurity; which needs, for its correc-
tion, an assault from without; such, in fact, as
Scripture tells us, was employed in this case.*
It has boen suggested, that the celebrated passage in
L 2
164 EVIDENCE FOR THE MIRACLES, ETC.
It appears, then, that Saul of Tarsus really
beheld the Saviour in His glorified body. His
independent testimony to that effect, though
"of one born out of due time," is, from the
circumstances attending it, of peculiar value.
It confirms the prime fact of the Gospel, with
all its momentous consequences, that "Christ
being raised from the dead, dieth no more,” and
is become the “first fruits of them that slept'
(1 Cor. xv. 20).
""
Rom. vii. may refer to a period in the Apostle's life in
which his feelings were like those supposed in Baur's
explanation. But, even granting that it describes a "legal
not a Christian stato, we find nothing in it which would
naturally, and of itself, lead to an acknowledgment of Jesus
as the Christ, as long as the latter was regarded as the
leader of a despised Galilean sect. The work of the law
would prepare Saul for a Saviour; but whether Jesus was the
Saviour might remain a question, and one which prejudice
forbad him to entertain.
30
¿
{
PART III
OTHER MIRACLES.
Ir is not the business of the Christian apolo-
gist to deny that other miracles besides those
of Scripture may have taken place. To con-
cede this, in no degree, of course, affects the
argument as regards those who hold that all
religious beliefs are, on account of their con-
nection with the supernatural, unworthy of
credit, i.e. that miracles are impossible; nor
does it interfere with the evidences of the
Christian faith, unless such alleged miracles
were wrought in support of doctrines incon-
sistent with those of Scripture. Properly
speaking, our task is finished, when we have
proved that miracles are neither in themselves
impossible, nor, as an attestation of revelation,
improbable;* and that the evidence in favour
of the Christian miracles is such that it would
be more difficult to believe it false than to
believe those miracles true.†
The onus is now
* Part I.
† Part II.
cindy
}
1
166
{
OTHER MIRACLES.
thrown upon the opponent; whose business it
is, if he persist in unbelief, to produce cases of
miracles, alleged to have been wrought under
the same circumstances and for the same pur-
pose as the Christian, but admitted by us as
well as himself to have been false; the evi-
dence for which fairly competes with that for
ours, under the same circumstances, and for
the same purpose, viz. to introduce into the
world a new religion, essentially opposed in its
tenets and its rules of life to existing modes
of faith, and stamp it with the seal of heaven.
With the truth or falsehood of alleged miracles
of another kind, the argument is not necessarily
concerned. We may entertain doubts, e.g.
whether the miracles of the ancient church
were real ones; but supposing them, or many
of them, to have been so, what would follow?
No damage to the Scripture miracles, for the
ecclesiastical were also Christian; if wrought,
they were wrought by believers in Christ who
never thought of proving by them anything
inconsistent with the fundamental facts of their
faith. As Protestants, we may suspect that the
miracles at the tomb of the Abbé Paris were
fictitious; but if some of them were real, it
is immaterial to us as Christians. For these,
again, were wrought in the bosom of Chris-
T
OTHER MIRACLES.
167
}
•
tianity, and were not used to throw discredit
upon any of its prime doctrines. It never en-
tered the minds of those who witnessed either
the ecclesiastical or the Jansenist miracles
(if real ones) to call in question, on that
account, those of the Bible. They argued
merely that miraculous powers were continued
in the church, and at certain times, or for cer-
tain purposes, emerged into view; they may
have been, and probably were, wrong in their
opinion, at least in the extent to which they
pushed it; but no rival system was set up by
the actors or narrators. If any of these later
miracles actually took place, they are simply
remarkable facts in the history of religion, and
of the Christian church, to which due atten-
tion must be given; but they have no adverse
aspect towards Christianity as such. This
disposes of two of the instances adduced by
Hume to throw discredit upon all miraculous
pretensions, the story of the Cardinal de Retz,
and the miracles of the Abbé Paris; * and
of adverse conclusions founded upon similar
claims to miraculous agency in any section of
the Christian church. If they are true, it
simply proves that that section of the church
is favoured by its great Head beyond other
Essay on Miraclos, Part II.
Kat
1
1
168
f
OTHER MIRACLES.
sections; and on that account, no doubt, its
pretensions would deserve most serious con-
sideration. If evidence sufficient to satisfy a
reasonable mind were forthcoming in behalf of
the Romish miracles, and no doctrine incon-
sistent with Scripture were sought to be estab-
lished by them, this, though not absolutely
decisive of the pretensions of the Romish
church, would render it incumbent upon us
to examine very carefully the arguments by
which they are supported. It is because they
are designed to establish what in our opinion
is error, and because they rest on no sufficient
evidence as it appears to us, and not because
we reject all miracles but those of Scripture,
that we hesitate to accept them.
In fact, no
religion but
the Christian
+
The only thing that could affect the evi-
dences of Christianity, so far as they rest upon
miracles, would be the fact, that
equally well-attested miracles can be
adduced in behalf of false religions,
such as Paganism or Mahometanism.
But to any insinuation of this kind
the proper answer is, that no instance exists
of any religion but Christianity (including
its preparatory stage, the Jewish economy)
professing to be founded on miracles. The
materials of comparison do not exist.
"To
professes to
have been
founded on
miracles.
I
OTHER MIRACLES.
169
}
hear some men talk," says Paley, "one would
suppose the setting up a religion by miracles to
be a thing of every day's experience: whereas
the whole current of history is against it."
Almost all religions, as Hume suggests,* have
their miracles; but they invariably occur in
support of religions already established, and
among those who had accepted the religion.
Christianity stands alone in the fact that it
took its origin from a miraculous story, and
forced its way to belief amidst enemies. The
miracle of Vespasian, the remaining example
of the three which Hume selects, was wrought
"at the admonition of the god Serapis," i.e.
in support of his worship, and amongst his
votaries. The prodigies of Livy correspond to
the Romish miracles, both having occurred (if
they occurred at all) in affirmance of already
received opinions. Whether other miracles,
then, have been performed or not, it is not so
much as pretended that any save those of Scrip-
ture were performed in order to found a religion,
and to found it among persons hostile to the
religion; which is a main point in the present
argument. There is really no parallel instance
to come into competition with Christianity.
Under these circumstances it may seem su-
* Essay, &c.
170
OTHER MIRACLES.
$
perfluous to discuss the question further; yet
as we do in fact, in common with
Circumstan-
ces which
the unbeliever, reject various classes
render cortain of (alleged) miracles, it may be
allegod
miracles sus-
picious.
proper to point out in what respects,
from their nature, or objects, or evi-
dence, they fall immeasurably below those of
Scripture. It may be impossible, and certainly
it is no concern of ours, to draw the line exactly
between truth and falsehood in this matter: it
is enough if it be shown that the suspicions
under which large classes of reported miracles
labour do not attach to the Christian miracles,
which therefore stand on an eminence of their
own. If some other miracles (not opposed to
Christianity) rest on satisfactory evidence, we
may safely affirm that those of Scripture rest on
still stronger; if we assume, or prove, respect-
ing many alleged cases, that they are false, we
may be fairly required to point out the marks
of probable falsehood. And they seem pal-
pable enough.
1. Many claims to miraculous agency are
doubtful, on account of the nature of the alleged
Nature of the facts; i.e. it is doubtful whether a
allogod facts. miracle was really wrought or not.
Of this kind are exorcisms, vaticinations, and
miraculous cures, whether at the temple of
1
OTHER MIRACLES.
171
Esculapius or the tomb of the Abbé Paris.
Some extraordinary facts may really have oc-
curred, but the type is not decisive enough to
leave no doubt of their having been miraculous.
They cannot for a moment be placed in the same
category with the turning of water into wine,
the feeding of the five thousand, or the resurrec-
tion of Christ. But most of the later miracles
are precisely of this ambiguous character.
They do not profess to rise above this level.
If they have ever done so, the discomfiture has
been signal. It seems as if divine Providence,
though it may have vouchsafed miraculous
powers to subsequent ages of the church, has
never permitted them to approach the grand
type of the principal miracles of Christ;
jealously guarding these from any possible
competition. And this justifies us in scrutinis-
ing later miracles the more narrowly, since
mistake is possible. The same remarks apply
to miracles analogous to known physical effects;
such as, luminous appearances in the air, appa-
ritions to devotees, the liquefaction of the blood
of St. Januarius, the sweating statues of the
ancients, or the weeping Madonnas of Romish
countries. Or analogous to intellectual efforts,
as the alleged miraculous perfection of the style
of the Koran. They apply also to tentative
}
MONDA
}
L
172
OTHER MIRACLES.
{
miracles, where, out of a great number of cases,
a few have succeeded; for this is parallel to
what has taken place in the annals of medical
science. No failure is recorded in any of Christ's
miracles. Miracles in one line, or confined to
one place, are doubtful; for it is probable, that
if Providence permitted them to be wrought
at all, they would exhibit variety (as those of
Christ did), and would not be restrained by
local limits. We are not called upon to pro-
nounce peremptorily upon the truth or false-
hood of such cases: it is sufficient to observe
that they stand far below the level of the
Scripture miracles, and from their very nature
may have been the offspring of credulity, super-
stition, or a heated imagination. They have
too much affinity with that love of the super-
natural which is common to human nature, to
strike instant conviction. It is remarkable
that even they who fully believed in the
existence of these inferior supernatural powers
recognised a marked distinction between what
they had been accustomed to and the miracles
of our Lord. The resurrection of Lazarus
excited astonishment and anger in the minds
of the Jews, among whom exorcism was com-
monly practised. The Athenians, to whom the
arts of magic and the responses of the oracles
OTHER MIRACLES.
173
were familiar, mocked when they heard Paul as-
sert the resurrection of the dead (Acts xvii. 32).
Miracles of a grotesque or ridiculous charac-
ter must be regarded as doubtful, such as those
of the infancy of Christ, of Simon Magus, or
of the ancient and modern saints. They offend
our moral perceptions of what is worthy of the
Creator. Miraculous agency is not analogous.
to creation, in which the strangest forms meet
our eye, as if infinite power luxuriated in its
own display; it is an interposition of Deity for
high moral purposes, and addressed to a moral
agent, and therefore may be expected to ex-
hibit appropriate marks of dignity and pro-
priety. If God speaks to man, it will be in a
manner befitting both. Very few of the Scrip-
ture miracles deviate from the loftiest type;
and of these (such as the speaking of Balaam's
ass, the devouring of Jonah by the whale, and
the expulsion of the demons into the herd of
swine), we can perceive the moral significance.
No marvel is more frequently related by ancient
writers than that of dumb animals "speaking
with man's voice," but we nowhere read of their
"rebuking the madness" of any "prophet."
The typical import † of Jonah's miracle rescues
it from insignificance; as is the case likewise
* Mozley, B. L. p. 214.
† Matt. xii. 40.
Uor M
?
174
OTHER MIRACLES.
1
with the ritual, otherwise a system of "beggarly
elements," of the ceremonial law of Moses.
Miraclos with
no object, or
quate ono.
2. We have reason to stand in doubt of mi-
racles apparently without an object; upon which
nothing has been founded, which
have had no permanent effects. For
for an inado- it is natural to suppose, that if God
thus interposes, He will do so with a
view to some important result; His presence.
in creation being known rather by final than by
efficient causes. It is true that God's designs
are often frustrated partially, or even totally,
by the perversity of man, as the miracles of
Christ failed of convincing the Jewish nation;
but if absence of results amounts to a leading
characteristic of classes of miracles, it must be
accounted a suspicious circumstance. A mi-
racle which has no connection with the present
loses its interest for us; it is merely a matter
of antiquarian research. Thus, nothing appears
to have followed from the miracle of Ves-
pasian but the glorification of the emperor:
notwithstanding their miracles, the Jansen-
ists were overpowered by the Jesuits: the
iniracles of the ancient church, or of the Pa-
pacy, have left no distinctive traces behind
them. They originated nothing which at the
K
* Gal. iv. 9.
OTHER MIRACLES.
175
}
present day is before our eyes. This cannot
be affirmed of the Scripture miracles. The
Christian religion, which is founded upon them,
is a great fact, of present and pressing import.
Though it has not as yet achieved the conquests
which might have been anticipated, it is by no
means a failure: it is professed by the nations
in the van of civilisation; it has wrought, and
is still working, mighty changes in the moral
sentiments of mankind; it has affected deeply
laws, literature, and art, in its chosen abodes;
and it is the only religion which, at the present
day, is actively progressive. These are facts,
irrespectively of the importance of its doc-
trines, which obtrude themselves upon our
notice, and challenge attention; and if Christ-
ianity professes to have been founded on
miracles, the magnitude of the actual results
justifies the assumption, or, at least, renders un-
belief inexcusable if every means has not been
used to investigate the truth of this pretension.
Inattention to a religion which possesses such
a history as ours, which has manifestly pro-
duced such effects as we can point to, and
which professes to throw light upon the great
problems of human nature and the destiny of
man, cannot be otherwise than immoral.*
* Pascal, Ponsées, Part II. Art. 2.
176
OTHER MIRACLES.
{
1
This applies still more strongly to miracles
the object of which is to promote the interests
of a particular party in the church. Miracles
are appropriate to the introduction of a reli-
gion, but not to its progress; this alone may
lead us to scrutinise narrowly later pretensions.
But, independently of this, it seems hardly a
dignus vindice nodus, when not the fundamental
truths of Christianity, but the tenets of a par-
ticular sect or church are. in question; espe-
cially since we possess the standing miracle of
Scripture as a touchstone of religious opinion.
The decision of the questions which divide
Christendom may safely be left to the ordi-
nary resources of controversy. It is especially
suspicious when the miracles seem unnecessary;
when, e.g. they occur where the points sought
to be established by them are already fully be-
lieved. The ancient church entertained strong
notions respecting the merits and dignity of
martyrdom; miracles at the relics or tombs of
the martyrs seem superfluous. So do modern
miracles intended to enhance the dignity of
the Virgin Mary in Roman Catholic countries;
it is fully accepted without them.
Most strongly of all does it apply to cases
where the object is frivolous, or immoral, or
tends to results inconsistent with known truth.
OTHER MIRACLES.
177
The miraculous legends of the saints tend to
exalt man rather than God. If it be the doc-
trine of Scripture (as Protestants believe), that
there is only one Mediator between God and
man-all-sufficient and ever accessible— the
cultus of the Virgin Mary, especially as re-
cently developed, must be pronounced emi-
nently unscriptural; and therefore it is
impossible for Protestants to believe that
miracles can be wrought in its behalf, i.e.
miracles proceeding from God as their author.
It is needless to remark how entirely free
from these objections the Gospel miracles are.
Their object was the greatest that can be
conceived-to authenticate a revelation which
solves the mysteries of man's present state, and
throws a bright light upon his future destiny; to
inaugurate a new spiritual era in the world; to
communicate impulses to humanity in lack of
which it never could reach the ideal presented
to it by sages and philosophers. The impor-
tance of the Christian miracles is commensu-
rate with the vastness of the change of which
the promulgation of Christianity has manifestly
been the starting-point. Christian practice
rests upon Christian doctrine; and Christian
doctrine rests, for its authority, upon the
miracles of the New Testament.
M
178
OTHER MIRACLES.
1
Miraclos the
fective.
3. Where neither the nature nor the object
of alleged miracles seems unworthy of a divine
origin, the evidence for them may labour
under deficiencies. If practical
evidence of effects of great moment are to flow
which is de- from the belief of miracles, we can-
not but suppose that the divine
Agent will provide that they be supported by
sufficient evidence; sufficient, not indeed to
destroy moral probation, nor to meet every
cavil that unreasonable scepticism may suggest,
but to satisfy the candid enquirer. Defects
therefore inherent in the evidence so far render
the miracle doubtful. The following may be
given as instances of such defects: the absence
of contemporary testimony; testimony given
remote from the scene of action; the testimony
of witnesses who belonged to the dominant
party, and ran no risk in delivering their testi-
mony; symptoms of exaggeration or fraudulent
intent. While events that happen in the com-
mon course of nature may rest upon tradition
for belief, since there is no antecedent objection
to their happening, miracles, as being events
against experience, seem to require the testi-
mony of eye-witnesses; the testimony, being
the sole ground on which we believe them,
must be unexceptionable. A vast number of
I
OTHER MIRACLES.
179
the later miracles are exposed to grave doubts
from one or more of the above-mentioned de-
fects in their evidence; and indeed most of
them labour under all these defects. The
narrators were not eye-witnesses, nor were the
accounts published on the spot, or if so, not
for many years after the facts occurred; or, as
in the case of the lamplighter of the church
of Saragossa, the witnesses were interested in
promoting belief of the facts; or they had a
spiritual hero to canonise, whose pretensions.
were already favourably received; or they were
subjected to no trying tests of their veracity.
Popish miracles occur in Popish countries. It
is said, that in the investigation of such miracles
a person is officially appointed to urge all pos-
sible objections against them; still the appoint-
ment rests with the Romish authorities, and
the opponent is of the same persuasion it
would be more satisfactory if the latter were,
let us say, an English Protestant dissenter.
A strong antecedent indisposition to believe,
really interested in detecting fraud (if such
there be), and possessing power to expose and
punish it, is what is needed to inspire full con-
fidence that miraculous pretensions have been
thoroughly sifted.
:
It is not necessary to adduce the well-known
C
M 2
}
1
180
I
OTHER MIRACLES.
1
instances in which the evidence does not reach
this high standard; they will be found in the
works of Douglas and Paley, detailed at length.
It is sufficient to observe, that the evidence
for the Gospel miracles does reach it: the
accounts were published within a period to
which the memory of man could easily reach;
they were published on the spot, in the face of
a strong and powerful antagonistic interest;
against the natural prejudices and the temporal
prospects of the narrators; and they were never
denied. There is one miracle which Christian
writers* have pronounced the best attested of all
that have been alleged since the apostolic times,
-that which is said to have occurred on the
attempt of Julian to rebuild the Jewish Temple;
and it may be worth while to point out how far
the evidence for it is inferior to that for the
Christian. The account is, that when the work
was begun, "terrible balls of fire broke out
from the foundations," and so annoyed the
workmen that, after repeated attempts, the de-
sign had to be abandoned. There is nothing to
he urged against the nature or the object of this
miracle, though, as regards the former point,
being analogous to certain natural phenomena,
it is of an inferior type. Still it may be ad-
Jortin, Warburton.
† See p. 171.
OTHER MIRACLES.
181
mitted that the balls of fire were miraculous ;
and, as regards their object, since the restoration
of the Temple seemed to imply the overthrow
of Christianity, it was an occasion not un-
worthy of the Divine interference. But let
the evidence be examined. The miracle is
alluded to by various Christian fathers, and
is related by a heathen historian, Ammianus
Marcellinus; nor was it denied until com-
paratively recent times. But the historians
were neither eye-witnesses, nor do they pre-
tend to have received the story from eye-wit-
nesses. This, however, may not be thought
essential, if there is reason to believe that they
who received the fact had means of ascertain-
ing its truth, were naturally indisposed to admit
it, and proved the sincerity of their conviction
by sufferings undergone in attempting to con-
vince others. But we have no reason to be-
lieve that these tests of truth belong to their
testimony. The historians, with one exception,
were Christians, and therefore can hardly have
been otherwise than willing to accept, without
very diligent scrutiny, a miracle which favoured
their cause. Christianity at that time was
beginning to prevail over paganism, and the
popular feeling would be on their side. As to
any sacrifices they made in consequence of
182
OTHER MIRACLES.
1
their conviction, we read of none; nor, indeed,
were any called for, for the miracle (if it oc-
curred) was an isolated fact, and nothing (be-
yond an interruption of the particular design)
was founded upon it.*
it.* It required no change
of faith or of life. Nor are there wanting
circumstances against the story; as, e.g. the
silence of other Christian writers, and es pe-
cially of Jerome, who lived long at Bethlehem,
and who makes frequent references to Julian's
character and career. The one exception to
Christian testimony is that of the heathen
historian above-mentioned. But it does not
appear that Marcellinus was animated by
sentiments of hostili ty to the Christians; and
even if he had been, miracles wrought by them
or in their behalf might not seem of moment
to one who was accustomed to believe that all
religions had their miracles, and who was fa-
miliar with the illusions of magic which he
saw practised around him. Such are the points
in which the evidence for this remarkable fact is
deficient. But does it follow that we are to reject
it? Certainly not; it may have been a fact
and a real miracle. The conclusion which we
do draw is that the Christian miracles, resting as
* Soe p. 174.
OTHER MIRACLES.
183
they do on incomparably stronger evidence, are
entitled to still more unhesitating acceptance.
It appears then, as a simple matter of fact,
that none of the later miracles, even the best
attested, rest on evidence equal to that for the
Christian. And it is the plain duty of the en-
quirer, instead of rejecting miracles in the mass
as unworthy of credit because many have been
spurious, to weigh carefully the circumstances
of each case and the evidence for it; with the
view of discriminating between those that do,
and those that do not, abide the scrutiny. There
is every reason to believe the Christian miracles
will come out triumphantly from the ordeal. In
their nature, their object, and their evidence,
they stand upon an elevation to which no others
approach. And we cannot doubt that this
superiority in the proof was designed to inti-
mate to us the surpassing dignity of the reve-
lation which was ushered into the world with
credentials so varied and so convincing.
1
}
1
}
2
1
CONCLUSION.
AN IMPORTANT distinction is drawn by Butler
between objections against Christianity and
Evidencos of objections against its evidences;
Christianity the former of which, he shows, are
*
not necessa-
rily convinc- frivolous, while the latter deserve
ing to all.
serious attention. That a real reve-
lation should contain mysteries, insoluble by
human reason, is only what we should expect;
but we expect also that the evidences for it
should not be open to insuperable objections,
otherwise it could hardly hope to gain general
acceptance, since the rules of evidence must
appeal to common reason. Yet it does not
follow that even the evidence may not be as
perfect as we conceive it might have been;
there may be gaps in it which we cannot now
fill up, or difficulties which we cannot remove.
And it might seem to us that if these defects
had been from the first obviated, and the evi-
dence rendered perfectly overwhelming, Chris-
tianity would have been to the same extent a
* Analogy, Part II. c. iii.
CONCLUSION.
185
gainer. To advert to the particular branch of
evidence with which these pages have been
occupied :-notwithstanding the strong reasons
we have to believe in the truth of the Christian
miracles, it is impossible to deny that objections
may be urged against them; either against
miracles in the abstract, or the Christian in par-
ticular. If we had had demonstrative evidence
(so far as the term can be applied to such
subjects) instead of probable, it might seem
an advantage. But to this we reply, that what
Christianity might have gained in extent it
would have lost in depth: quality would have
been sacrificed to quantity. If difficulties
attach to the evidence, this may have been
expressly appointed as a test of men's moral
dispositions, and thus acting as some impedi-
ment to a “mixed multitude's" rushing, with-
out previous thought and enquiry, into the
sacred precincts. From the very first our
Lord came forth with " His fan in His hand: '
His appearance and discourses, far from smooth-
ing over the passage to Christianity, seemed
to throw difficulties in the way: He spake not
of peace, but of a sword; of the straitness of
the gate that leads to heaven; of the absolute
surrender of heart which He requires. He re-
pelled thoughtless proposals of engaging in His
>>
186
CONCLUSION.
service. It was a sifting process throughout.
His earthly condition was a scandal to the
worldly-minded; His unrelenting rebukes of
their hypocrisy exasperated the leading reli-
gious men of the day. The mass of the people,
oscillating at first betwixt friendship and en-
mity, soon gave proof of the moral quality of
religious indifference, by joining in the cry,
"crucify Him." A spiritual ferment accom-
panied His work and His words everywhere.
The secrets of hearts were disclosed. The
legalist, the profane, the sensual, and the frivo-
lous, shrank back, "convicted by their own
conscience;" while the better part of the nation,
repentant publicans and harlots as well as
blameless Nathaniels, were attracted, by an irre-
sistible force of spiritual gravitation, to Jesus
of Nazareth. And the evidence of His mission
partook of the same character. There was
enough to satisfy the sincere secker after truth:
but objections might be, and were in fact, urged
against it. The Jews believed in magic and
exorcism; and those who were indisposed to
Christ's teaching were not slow to reduce His
miracles to this level. This was their probation.
They could not deny the facts, done before
their eyes, but they could question their evi-
dential force, and they did so to their own
A
1
CONCLUSION.
187
ruin. Christianity has not, in this respect,
become changed. It still repels the chaff,
while it gathers to itself, in every age, the
wheat; and its evidences too remain not without
difficulties, but of another kind, suited to fur-
nish a test of moral disposition in the present
day. Had we witnessed Christ's miracles we
should never, with our present knowledge, have
thought of ascribing them to any but a divine
source: our trial is, that we have not witnessed
them, and are compelled therefore to rely upon
the authenticity of books, and the credibility
of human testimony; against which objections,
some of them perhaps difficult to answer, may
be urged. Of these objections persons averse,
on other grounds, from Christianity, may avail
themselves to remain in infidelity; but if they
have not used every means of removing them,
and weighed the probabilities on either side,
they cannot be acquitted of moral obliquity in
so acting. Still the difficulties are there, and
serve the purpose of a moral test.
It appears then, that the Christian evidences
have never been of so irresistible a character as
to leave no room for frivolous and
immoral scepticism. And this is only gous to com-
in analogy with what we expe-
rience in the common affairs of life.
This analo-
mon expe-
rionco.
}
K
188
CONCLUSION.
F
}
The path of duty, or of our true worldly inte-
rest, does not always lie plain before us;
objections, real ones, may be urged against any
and every course of action: under these circum-
stances, our only resource is to use diligently
all the means in our power of arriving at a right
decision; and even then we act only on probable
grounds. But this semblance of probability
obliges us to act in one way rather than another,
just as forcibly as demonstration would; for
"probability is the guide of life." If it is more
probable than not that the New Testament
miracles are true, we have no alternative but
to embrace Christianity. For be it remembered,
our choice lies between this religion or none.
If Christianity be proved a fiction, nothing
else is at hand to step into its place. It ap-
pears too, that in every age men's trials and
advantages are pretty evenly balanced. The
miracles of Christ must have made a vastly
greater impression upon those who witnessed
them than they do upon us who receive them on
testimony; but on the other hand, we see before
our eyes, what they could not see, the result of
those miracles in the establishment and progress
of Christianity, with all its beneficent effects.
This is a vantage-ground to us which our pre-
decessors did not possess.
CONCLUSION.
189
some minds
And
Speculative difficulties, as regards evidence,
may constitute some men's moral probation, as
the practical requirements of the Speculative
Gospel may that of others. Intel- difficulties to
lectual pride, or the love of paradox, a moral
are temptations to be resisted not probation.
less than the sinful pleasures of sense.
if they are indulged, it is not at all impossible
that the argument for Christianity may fail to
produce its due effect. As our Lord spake in
parables, that those who would not see should
not see, while His meaning was plain enough to
the serious enquirer, so, to appreciate duly the
Christian evidences, requires a suitable frame
of mind-the furthest removed from flippancy
and arrogance. This, of course, is especially
true of the internal evidences, but it applies
also to the external. Great, therefore, is the
responsibility of those who, either by office or
the gifts of intellect, possess influence to shape
the opinions of their fellow-men. For it seems
to be the rule of Providence, that the mass of
the Christian commonalty should, while, equally
with their more gifted brethren, they feed upon
the substance of Gospel truth, take the evidences
of their faith very much upon trust; just as
the church, rather than the Bible, is the re-
ligious instructor of our earliest years. The
190
CONCLUSION.
{
poor, and the busy, do not possess ability or
leisure for these researches, which, therefore,
are the appropriate business of the few. From
the few the results descend to and permeate
the mass.
We cannot, therefore, acquit those
of grave moral delinquency who sow broadcast,
and with a manifest want of serious reverence,
crude doubts-doubts which deeper research
might have convinced them had been long ago
entertained and long ago answered. Honest
perplexity deserves our respect and our sym-
pathy, and, in time, will work itself clear of
its difficulties: captious irreverence is a moral
disease, and can only be expelled by moral
remedies. Nor need we be alarmed at the
vaunted triumphs of modern scepticism. What-
ever defects may be pointed out in the manner
in which the Christian argument has been
occasionally conducted, its foundations remain
firm; and every fresh investigation only con-
vinces us afresh of their depth and solidity.
Christ has built His church upon a rock, upon
which the billows neither of open persecution
nor of scoffing unbelief have hitherto made
the slightest impression.
Happily for the mass of Christians, the in-
ternal evidence, derived from the adaptation of
the Gospel to man's spiritual necessities, as it
CONCLUSION.
191
is the most convincing, is the most easily un-
derstood it makes its way to the heart by a
direct path. Unable, perhaps, to reply to
modern objections against the miraculous ele-
ment of the Gospels, or to appreciate the
grounds on which we receive them as authentic,
the unlettered Christian, nevertheless, feels
that He whom they reveal is "the way, the
truth, and the life;" and while the storm of
controversy rages round the external bulwarks
of his faith, it is his privilege to retire into its
interior recesses, where, in undisturbed com-
munion with his Saviour, he finds true and
lasting rest for his soul.
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON.
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
PUBLICATIONS
ON THE CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.
BOOKS.
ARGUMENT FROM PROPHECY (The).
By the Rev. Brownlow Maitland, M.A., Author of " Scepti-
cism and Faith," &c. Post Svo.
.Cloth boards 1 6
*
l'rice.
S. C.
SCEPTICISM AND FAITH.
By the Rev. Brownlow Maitland. Post 8vo. Cloth boards 1 6
MODERN UNBELIEF: ITS PRINCIPLES AND CHARAC-
TERISTICS. By the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Gloucester
and Bristol. Post 8vo,
Cloth boards 16
SOME MODERN RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES.
Six Sermons, preached, by the request of the Christian
Evidence Socioty, at St. James's, Piccadilly, on Sunday
Afternoons, after Easter, 1876; with a Proface by his Graco
the Archbishop of Canterbury. Post Svo.......Cloth bourds 1 6
SOME WITNESSES FOR THE FAITH.
Six Sermons, proached, by the request of the Christian
Evidence Society, at St. Stephen's Church, South Kensing-
ton, on Sunday Afternoons, aftor Eastor, 1877. Post Svo.
Cloth boards 1 4
THE ANALOGY OF RELIGION.
Dialogues founded upon Butler's "Analogy of Religion."
By Rev. H. R. Huckin, D.D., Head Master of Repton
School. Post 8vo....
1-11-77.]
Cloth boards 3 0
[Sm. Post Svo.
2
ވ
"MIRACLES."
By the Rev. E. A. Litton, M.A., Examining Chaplain of
the Bishop of Durham. Crown 8vo
Cloth boards 1 6
MORAL DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THE BIBLE.
Being the Boyle Lectures for 1871, proached in Her
Majesty's Chapel at Whitehall. By the Ven. Archdeacon
Hessey, D.C.L., Preacher to the Hon. Society of Gray's
Inn, &c. FIRST SERIES. Post 8vo...... ..Cloth boards 1 6
MORAL DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED WITH THE BIBLE.
Being the Boyle Lectures for 1872, preached in Her
Majesty's Chapel at Whitehall. By the Ven. Archdeacon
Hessey, D.C.L., SECOND SERIES. Post Svo...... Cloth boards 2 6
PRAYER AND RECENT DIFFICULTIES ABOUT IT.
The Boyle Lectures for 1873, being the THIRD SERIES
of "Moral Difficulties connected with the Bible.'
Preached in Iler Majesty's Chapel at Whitohall. By the
Ven. Archdeacon Hessey, D.C.L. Post 8vo......Cloth boards 2 6
The above Three Series in a volume
...Cloth boards 6 0
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE OLD TESTA-
"}
Price.
s. d.
ma
MENT. By the Rev. G. Rawlinson, M.A., Camden Pro-
fessor of Ancient History, Oxford. Post 8vo...Cloth boards 1
CAN WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
By G. Warington, B.A., of Caius College, Cambridge.
Post 8vo......
Cloth boards 1 6
THE MORAL TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
VIEWED AS EVIDENTIAL TO ITS IIISTORICAL TRUTH. By the
Rev. C. A. Row, M.A. Post 8vo.
...Cloth boards 1 6
SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF CREATION.
By the Rev. T. R. Birks, M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy
at Cambridge. Post 8vo....
Cloth boards 1 6
THE REASONABLENESS OF PRAYER.
By tho Rev. P. Onslow, M.A. Post 8vo.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE
POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THE
HUMAN MIND. By the late Benjamin Shaw, M.A., late
Fellow of Trinity College, Camb. Post 8vo....... Limp cloth 0 8
THOUGHTS ON THE BIBLE.
...
By the Rev. W. Gresley, M.A., Probendary of Lichfield.
Post 8vo.
Cloth boards 16
Limp cloth 0 8
3
LOCKE ON THE EXISTENCE of God.
Post 8vo..........
...
Price.
s. d.
Paper cover 0 3
PALEY'S EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
A New Edition, with Notes, Appendix, and Preface. By
the Rev. E. A. Litton, M.A. Post 8vo............ Cloth boards 4 0
………….
PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY.
Revised to harmonise with Modern Science. By Mr. F. le
Gros Clark, F.R.S., President of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England, &c. Post 8vo.
Cloth boards 4 0
PALEY'S HORÆ PAULINA.
A new Edition, with Notes, Appendix, and Preface. By
J. S. Howson, D.D., Dean of Chester. Post 8vo. Cloth boards 3 0
THE STORY OF CREATION, AS TOLD BY THEOLOGY
AND SCIENCE. By the Rev. T. S. Ackland, M.A. Post 8vo.
Cloth boards 1 6
RELIGIOUS
MAN'S ACCOUNTABLENESS FOR HIS
BELIEF. A Lecture delivered at the Hall of Science, on
Tuesday, April 2nd, 1872. By the Rev. Daniel Moore,
M.A., Holy Trinity, Paddington. Post Svo ..... Paper cover 0 3
THE THEORY OF PRAYER: WITH SPECIAL REFER-
ENCE TO MODERN THOUGHT. By the Rev. W. H.
Karslake, M.A., Assistant Preacher at Lincoln's Inn,
Vicar of Westcott, Dorking, late Fellow and Tutor at
Merton College, Oxford. Post Svo...
Limp cloth 1 0
WHEN WAS THE PENTATEUCH WRITTEN?
By George Warington, B.A., author of "Can we Believe
in Miracles?" &c. Post 8vo...
Cloth boards 16
THE CREDIBILITY OF MYSTERIES.
A Lecture delivered at St. George's Hall, Langham Place.
By the Rev. Daniel Moore, M.A. Post 8vo......Paper cover 0 3
ANALOGY OF RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED,
TO THE CONSTITUTION AND COURSE OF NATURE; to which
aro added, Two Brief Dissertations. By Bishop Butler.
NEW EDITION. Post Svo...
Cloth boards 2 6
CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES :
intondod chiofly for the young, by the Most Reverend
Richard Whately, D.D.
..12mo. Paper cover 0 4
*1
Price.
Sud.
THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
By the Rev. W. H. Karslake, M.A., Assistant Preacher
at Lincoln's-Inn, &c., &c. Post 8vo.
Limp cloth 0 6
SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE: a Lecture by the Right
Rev. Bishop Perry, D.D. 18mo. Papercover 4d., or Limp cloth 0 6
THE BIBLE: Its Evidences, Characteristics,
and Effects. A Locture by the Right Rev. Bishop Perry,
D.D. 18mo.......
Paper cover
A SERMON ON THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER.
By tho Right Reverend Harvey Goodwin, D.D., Bishop of
Carlislo. 16mo
Paper cover ( 2
FATHERS
04
THE TESTIMONY OF THE PRIMITIVE
to the Truth of the Gospel History. By T. G. Bonney, M.A.,
Follow of St. John's College, Cambridge. 18mo. Puper cover 0 2
THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL HISTORY confirmed
by the Earliest Witnesses after Apostolic Times. A Loc-
ture dolivored at Potsdam, by the late Dr. F. W.
Krummacher. 18mo.....
Paper cover 0 2
A LECTURE ON THE BIBLE, by the Very Rev.
E. M. Goulburn, D.D., Dean of Norwich. 18mo. Paper cover 0 2
DEPOSITORIES:
**For List of TRACTS on the Christian Evilences, see the Society's
Catalogue B.
77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN FIEL DS, W.C.;
4, ROYAL EXCHANGE, E.C.; 48, PICCADILLY, W.;
LONDON.
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