Cornell University Library BT97 .N55 1870 Two essays on Scriptural miracles and on olin 3 1924 029 372 004 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029372004 TWO ESSAYS ON SCRIPTURE MIRACLES AND ON ECCLESIASTICAL. <^%dxlfo^ SCRIPTURE MIRACLES AND ON ECCLESIASTICAL. BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, FORMERLY FELLOW OP ORIEL- COLLEGE, OXFORD. SECOND EDITION. LONDON : BASIL MONTAGU PICKERING, 196, PICCADILLY. 1870. TO SIR FREDERIC ROGERS, Bart., ETC., ET©m IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF OLD DAYS OF PLEASANT INTIMATE COMPANIONSHIP, FROM HIS AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, JOHN EL NEWMAN. June 29TH, 187a ADVERTISEMENT. "O OTH these Essays were written when the author ■^ was Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. The former of them, on the Miracles of Scrip- ture, was written in 1825-26 for the "Encyclopaedia Metropolitana," being the sequel to a Life of Apollo- nius Tyanaeus. The latter, on the Miracles of the first age of Christianity, was written in 1^842-43, as a Preface to a Translation of a portion of Fleury's Ecclesiastical History. In the first of the two, the Miracles of Scripture are regarded as mainly addressed to religious inquirers, of an evidential nature, the instruments of conversion, and the subjects of an inspired record. In the second, the Ecclesiastical Miracles are regarded as addressed to Christians, the rewards of faith, and the matter of devotion, varying in their character from simple providences to distinct innovations upon phy- sical order, and coming to us by tradition or in legend, trustworthy or not, as it may happen in the particular case. viii Advertisement, These distinct views of miraculous agency, thus contrasted, involve no inconsistency with each other ; but it must be owned that, in the Essay upon the Scripture Miracles, the Author goes beyond both the needs and the claims of his argument, when, in order to show their special dignity and beauty, he depre- ciates the purpose and value of the Miracles of Church History. To meet this undue disparagement, in his first Essay, of facts which have their definite place in the Divine Dispensation, he points out, in his second, the essential resemblance which exists between many of the Miracles -of Scripture and those of later times ; and it is with the same drift that, in this Edition, a few remarks at the foot of the page have been added in brackets. With the exception of these bracketed additions in both Essays, and of a Memorandum at the end of the volume, the alterations made, whether in text or notes, are simply of a literary character. As to the latter, no verification has been made of the references which they contain, much pains having been bestowed on them, as it is believed, in the original Edition. CONTENTS. ESSAY I. THE MIRACLES OF SCRIPTURE. PAGE Introduction . . . . .3 SECTION I. On the Idea and Scope of a Miracle . . 4 SECTION II. On the Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 13 SECTION III. On the Criterion of a Miracle . . - 49 SECTION IV. On the Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 70 x Contents. ESSAY II. THE MIRACLES OF EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. PAGE CHAPTER I. Introduction . . . . -97 CHAPTER II. On the Antecedent Probability of the Eccle- siastical Miracles .... 101 CHAPTER III. On the Internal Character of the Ecclesias- tical Miracles . . „ . , nj CHAPTER IV. On the State of the Argument in behalf of the Ecclesiastical Miracles . . . 175 CHAPTER V. On the Evidence for particular alleged Mira- CLES • • - . . .228 Section I. — The Thundering Legion . . 241 Section II. — Change of Water into Oil by St. Narcissus . . nrr Section III. — Change of the Course of the Lycus by St. Gregory . 2 gj Contents. xi PAGE Section IV. — Appearance of the Cross to CONSTANTINE ..... 271 Section V. — Discovery of the Holy Cross by St. Helena . , . . .287 Section VI. — The Sudden Death of Arius . 327 Section VII. — Fiery Eruption on Julian's at- tempt to Rebuild the Temple . . . 334 Section VIII. — Recovery of the Blind Man by the Relics of the Martyrs . . . 348 Section IX.; — Speech without Tongues in the INSTANCE OF THE AFRICAN CONFESSORS . . 369 ESSAY I. THE MIRACLES OF SCRIPTURE COMPARED WITH THOSE REPORTED ELSEWHERE, AS REGARDS THEIR NATURE, CREDIBILITY, AND EVIDENCE. Introduction. ON THE MIRACLES OF SCRIPTURE. T PROPOSE to attempt an extended comparison -*• between the Miracles of Scripture and those elsewhere related, as regards their nature, credibility, and evidence. I shall divide my observations under the following heads : — § I. On the Idea and Scope of a Miracle. § 2. On the antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, considered as a Divine Interposition. § 3. On the Criterion of a Miracle, considered as a Divine Interposition. § 4. On the direct Evidence for the Christian Miracles. Section I. ON THE IDEA AND SCOPE OF A MIRACLE. A MIRACLE may be considered as an event in- ■^ *- consistent with the constitution of nature, that is, with the established course of things in which it is found. Or, again, an event in a given system which cannot be referred to any law, or accounted for by the operation of any principle, in that system. It does not necessarily imply a violation of nature, as some have supposed, — merely the interposition of an external cause, which, we shall hereafter show, can be no other than the agency of the Deity. And the effect produced is that of unusual or increased action in the parts of the system. It is then a relative term, not only as it presupposes an assemblage of laws from which it is a deviation, but also as it has reference to some one particular system ; for the same event which is anomalous in one, may be quite regular when observed in connexion with another. The Miracles of Scripture, for instance, are irregularities in the economy of nature, but with Idea and Scope of a Miracle. 5 a moral end ; forming one instance out of many, of the providence of God, that is, an instance of occur- rences in the natural world with a final cause. Thus, while they are exceptions to the laws of one system, they may coincide with those of another. They pro- fess to be the evidence of a Revelation, the criterion of a divine message. To consider them as mere exceptions to physical order, is to take a very incom- plete view of them. It is to degrade them from the station which they hold in the plans and provisions of the Divine Mind, and to strip them of their real use and dignity ; for as naked and isolated facts they do but deform an harmonious system. From this account of a Miracle, it is evident that it may often be difficult exactly to draw the line between uncommon and strictly miraculous events. Thus the production of ice might have seemed at first sight miraculous to the Siamese ; for it was a phenomenon referable to none of those laws of nature which are in ordinary action in tropical climates. Such, again, might magnetic attraction appear, in ages familiar only with the attraction of gravity. 3. On the other hand, the extraordinary works of Moses or St. Paul appear miraculous, even when referred to those simple and elementary principles of nature which the widest experience has confirmed. As far as this affects the discrimination of supernatural facts, it will be con- Campbell, On Miracles, Part i. Sec. 2. 6 Idea and Scope of a Miracle. sidered in its proper place ; meanwhile let it suffice to state, that those events only are connected with our present subject which have no assignable second cause or antecedent, and which, on that account, are from the nature of the case referred to the immediate agency of the Deity. A Revelation, that is, a direct message from God to man, itself bears in some degree a miraculous cha- racter ; inasmuch as it supposes the Deity actually to present Himself before His creatures, and to interpose in the affairs of life in a way above the reach of those settled arrangements of nature, to the existence of which universal experience bears witness. And as a Revelation itself, so again the evidences of a Revela- tion may all more or less be considered miraculous. Prophecy is an evidence only so far as foreseeing future events is above the known powers of the human mind, or miraculous. In like manner, if the rapid extension of Christianity be urged in favour of its divine origin, it is because such extension, under such circumstances, is supposed to be inconsistent with the known principles and capacity of human nature. And the pure morality of the Gospel, as taught by illiterate fishermen of Galilee, is an evidence, in proportion as the phenomenon disagrees with the conclusions of general experience, which leads us to believe that a high state of mental cultivation is ordinarily requisite for the production of such moral teachers. It might Idea and Scope of a Miracle. 7 even be said that, strictly speaking, no evidence of a Revelation is conceivable which does not partake of the character of a Miracle ; since nothing but a dis- play of power over the existing system of things can attest the immediate presence of Him by whom it was originally established ; or, again, because no event which results entirely from the ordinary operation of nature can be the criterion of one that is extra- ordinary. 13 In the present argument I confine myself to the . consideration of Miracles commonly so called ; such events, that is, for the most part, as are inconsistent with the constitution of the physical world. Miracles, thus defined, hold a very prominent place in the evidence of the Jewish and Christian Revelations. They are the most striking and conclusive evidence ; because, the laws of matter being better understood than those to which mind is conformed, the trans- gression of them is more easily recognised. They are the most simple and obvious ; because, whereas the freedom of the human will resists the imposition of undeviating laws, the material creation, on the con- trary, being strictly subjected to the regulation of its b Hence it is that in the Scripture accounts of Revelations to the Prophets, etc., a sensible Miracle is so often asked and given ; as if the vision itself, which was the medium of the Revelation, was not a sufficient evidence of it, as being- perhaps resolvable into the ordinary powers of an excited imagination ; e-g-, Judg. vi. 36—40, etc. 8 Idea and Scope of a Miracle. Maker, looks to Him alone for a change in its constitu- tion. Yet Miracles are but a branch of the evidences, and other branches have their respective advantages. Prophecy, as has been often observed, is a growing evidence, and appeals more forcibly than Miracles to those who are acquainted with the Miracles only through testimony. A philosophical mind will per- haps be most strongly affected by the fact of the very existence of the Jewish polity, or of the revolution -effected by Christianity. While the beautiful moral teaching and evident honesty of the New Testament writers is the most persuasive argument to the un- learned but single-hearted inquirer. Nor must it be forgotten that the evidences of Revelation are cumu- lative, that they gain strength from each other ; and that, in consequence, the argument from Miracles is immensely stronger when viewed in conjunction with the rest, than when considered separately, as in an inquiry of the present nature. As the relative force of the separate evidences is different under different circumstances, so again has one class of Miracles more or less weight than another, according to the accidental change of times, places, and persons addressed. As our knowledge of the system of nature, and of the circumstances of the particular case varies, so of course varies our con- viction. Walking on the sea, for instance, or giving sight to one born blind, would to us perhaps be a Idea and Scope of a Miracle. g Miracle even more astonishing than it was to the Jews ; the laws of nature being at the present day better understood than formerly, and the fables concerning magical power being no longer credited. On the other hand, stilling the wind and waves with aword maybyall but eye-witnesses be set down to accident or exaggera- tion without the possibility of a full confutation ; yet to eye-witnesses it would carry with it an overpower- ing evidence of supernatural agency by the voice and manner that accompanied the command, the violence of the wind at the moment, the instantaneous effect produced, and other circumstances, the force of which a narrative cannot fully convey. The same remark applies to the Miracle of changing water into wine, to the cure of demoniacal possessions, and of diseases generally. From a variety of causes, then, it happens that Miracles which produced a rational conviction at the time when they took place, have ever since proved rather an objection to Revelation than an evidence for it, and have depended on the rest for support ; while others, which once were of a dubious and perplexing character, have in succeeding ages come forward in its defence. It is by a process similar to this that the anomalous nature of the Mosaic polity, which might once be an obstacle to its reception, is now justly alleged in proof of the very Miracles by which it was then supported. It is important to keep this remark c See Sumner's " Records of Creation," Vol. i. io Idea and Scope of a Miracle, in view, as it is no uncommon practice with those who are ill-affected to the cause of Revealed Religion to dwell upon such Miracles as at the present day rather require than contribute evidence, as if they formed a part of the present proof on which it rests its preten- sions^ In the foregoing remarks, the being of an intelli- gent Maker has been throughout assumed ; and, indeed, if the peculiar object of a Miracle be to evidence a message from God, it is plain that it implies the admission of the fundamental truth, and demands assent to another beyond it. His particular interference it directly proves, while it only reminds of His existence. It professes to be the signature of God to a message delivered by human instruments ; and therefore supposes that signature in some degree already known, from His ordinary works. It appeals to that moral sense and that experience of human affairs which already bear witness to His ordinary presence. Considered by itself, it is at most but the token of a superhuman being. Hence, though an additional instance, it is not a distinct species of d See Hume, On Miracles : " Let us examine those Miracles related in Scripture, and, not to lose ourselves in too wide a field, let us confine ourselves to such as we find in the Penta- teuch, etc. It gives an account of the state of the world and of human nature entirely different from the present ; of our fall from that state; of the age of man extended to near a thou- sand years," etc. See Berkeley's "Minute Philosopher/ ' Dial. vi. Sec. 30. Idea and Scope of a Miracle. 1 1 evidence for a Creator from that contained in the general marks of order and design in the universe. A proof drawn from an interruption in the course of nature is in the same line of argument as one deduced from the existence of that course, and in point of cogency is inferior to it. Were a being who had ex- perience only of a chaotic world suddenly introduced into this orderly system of things, he would have an infinitely more powerful argument for the existence of a designing Mind, than a mere interruption of that system can afford. A Miracle is no argument to one who is deliberately, and on principle, an atheist Yet, though not abstractedly the more convincing, it is often so in effect, as being of a more striking and imposing character. The mind, habituated to the regularity of nature, is blunted to the overwhelming evidence it conveys ; whereas by a Miracle it may be roused to reflection, till mere conviction of a super- human being becomes the first step towards the acknowledgment of a Supreme Power. While, more- over, it surveys nature as a whole, it is not capacious enough to embrace its bearings, and to comprehend what it implies. In miraculous displays of power the field of view is narrowed ; a detached portion of the divine operations is taken as an instance, and the final cause is distinctly pointed out. A Miracle, besides, is more striking, inasmuch as it displays the Deity in action ; evidence of which is not supplied in the 1 2 Idea and Scope of a Miracle. system of nature. It may then accidentally bring conviction of an intelligent Creator ; for it voluntarily proffers a testimony which we have ourselves to extort from the ordinary course of things, and forces upon the attention a truth which otherwise is not discovered, except upon examination. And as it affords a more striking evidence of a Creator than that conveyed in the order and estab- lished laws of the Universe, still more so does it of a Moral Governor. For, while nature attests the being of God more distinctly than it does His moral govern- ment, a miraculous event, on the contrary, bears more directly on the fact of His moral government, of which it is an immediate instance, while it only implies His existence. Hence, besides banishing ideas of Fate and Necessity, Miracles have a tendency to rouse conscience, to awaken to a sense of responsibility, to remind of duty, and to direct the attention to those marks of divine government already contained in the ordinary course of events. 6 Hitherto, however, I have spoken of solitary Mira- cles ; a system of miraculous interpositions, conducted with reference to a final cause, supplies a still more beautiful and convincing argument for the moral go- vernment of God. e Farmer, On Miracles, Chap. i. Sec. 2. Section II. ON THE ANTECEDENT CREDIBILITY OF A MIRACLE, CONSIDERED AS A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. T N proof of miraculous occurrences, we must have -*- recourse to the same kind of evidence as that by which we determine the truth of historical accounts in general. For though Miracles, in consequence of their extraordinary nature, challenge a fuller and more accurate investigation, still they do not admit an in- vestigation conducted on different principles, — Testi- mony being the main assignable medium of proof for past events of any kind. And this being indisputable, it is almost equally so that the Christian Miracles are attested by evidence even stronger than can be pro- duced for any of those historical facts which we most firmly believe. This has been felt by unbelievers ; who have been, in consequence, led to deny the admissibility of even the strongest testimony, if offered in behalf of miraculous events, and thus to get rid of the only means by which they can be proved to have taken place. It has accordingly been asserted, 14 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. that all events inconsistent with the course of nature bear in their very front such strong and decisive marks of falsehood and absurdity, that it is needless to examine the evidence adduced for them. " Where men are heated by zeal and enthusiasm," says Hume, with a distant but evident allusion to the Christian Miracles, "there is no degree of human testimony so strong as may not be procured for the greatest absur- dity ; and those who will be so silly as to examine the affair by that medium, and seek particular flaws in the testimony, are almost sure to be confounded. ,,g Of these antecedent objections, which are supposed to decide the question, the most popular is founded on the frequent occurrence of wonderful tales in every age and country— generally, too, connected with Reli- gion ; and since the more we are, in a situation to examine these accounts, the more fabulous they are proved to be, there would certainly be hence a fair presumption against the Scripture narrative, did it resemble them in its circumstances and proposed object. A more refined argument is that advanced by Hume, in the first part of his Essay on Miracles, in which it is maintained against the credibility of a Miracle, that it is more probable that the tes- f I.e., it is pretended to try fast events on the principles used in conjecturing future; viz., on antecedent probability and examples. (Whately's Treatise on Rhetoric.) See Ice- land's " Supplement to View of Deistical Writers," Let. 3. 8 Essays, Vol. ii. Note 1. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 15 timony should be false than that the Miracle should be true. This latter objection has been so ably met by vari- ous writers, that, though prior in the order of the argument to the former, it need not be considered here. It derives its force from the assumption, that a Miracle is strictly a causeless phenomenon, a self- originating violation of nature ; and is solved by refer- ring the event to divine agency, a principle which (it cannot be denied) has originated works indicative of power at least as great as any Miracle requires. An adequate cause being thus found for the production of a Miracle, the objection vanishes, as far as the mere question of power is concerned ; and it remains to be considered whether the anomalous fact be of such a character as to admit of being referred to the Supreme Being. For if it cannot with propriety be referred to Him, it remains as improbable as if no such agent were known to exist. At this point, then, I propose taking up the argument ; and by examining what Miracles are in their nature and circumstances referable to divine agency, I shall be providing a reply to the former of the objections just noticed, in which the alleged similarity of all miraculous narra- tives one to another, is made a reason for a common rejection of all. In examiningwhat Miracles mayproperlybe ascribed to the Deity, Hume supplies us with an observation so 1 6 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. just, when taken in its full extent, that I shall make it the groundwork of the inquiry on which I am entering. As the Deity, he says, discovers Himself to us by His works, we have no rational grounds for ascribing to Him attributes or actions dissimilar from those which His works convey. It follows, then, that in discrimi- nating between those Miracles which can and those which cannot be ascribed to God, we must be guided by the information with which experience furnishes us concerning His wisdom, goodness, and other attri- butes. Since a Miracle is an act out of the known track of Divine agency, as regards the physical sys- tem, it is almost indispensable to show its consistency with the Divine agency, at least, in some other point of view ; if, that is, it is recognised as the work of the same power. Now, I contend that this reasonable demand is satisfied in the Jewish and Christian Scrip- tures, in which we find a narrative of Miracles alto- gether answering in their character and circumstances to those general ideas which the ordinary course of Divine Providence enables us to form concerning the attributes and actions of God. While writers expatiate so largely on the laws of nature, they altogether forget the existence of a moral system : a system which, though but partially under- stood, and but general in its appointments as acting upon free agents, is as intelligible in its laws and pro- visions as the material world. Connected with this Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 17 moral government, we find certain instincts of mind ; such as conscience, a sense of responsibility, and an approbation of virtue ; an innate desire of knowledge, and an almost universal feeling of the necessity of religious observances ; while, in fact, Virtue is, on the whole, rewarded, and Vice punished. And though we meet with many and striking anomalies, yet it is evident they are but anomalies, and possibly but in appearance so, and with reference to our partial information. 11 These two systems, the Physical and the Moral, sometimes act in union, and sometimes in opposi- tion to each other ; and as the order of nature certainly does in many cases interfere with the operation of moral laws (as, for instance, when good men die pre- maturely, or the gifts of nature are lavished on the bad), there is nothing to shock probability in the idea that a great moral object should be effected by an interruption of physical order. But, further than this, however physical laws may embarrass the operation of the moral system, still on the whole they are subser- vient to it ; contributing, as is evident, to the welfare and convenience of man, providing for his mental gratification as well as animal enjoyment, sometimes even supplying correctives to his moral disorders. If, then, the economy of nature has so constant a refer- ence to an ulterior plan, a Miracle is a deviation from h See Butler's "Analogy," Part i. Chap. iii. 2 1 8 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. the subordinate for the sake of the superior system, and is very far indeed from improbable, when a great moral end cannot be effected except at the expense of physical regularity. Nor can it be fairly said to argue an imperfection in the Divine plans, that this interfe- rence should be necessary. For we must v!ew the system of Providence as a whole ; which is not more imperfect because of the mutual action of its parts, than a machine, the separate wheels of which affect each other's movements. Now the Miracles of the Jewish and Christian Religions must be considered as immediate effects of Divine Power beyond the action of nature, for an important moral end ; and are in consequence accounted for by producing, not a physical, but a final cause. 1 We are not left to contemplate the bare anomalies, and from the mere necessity of the case to refer them to the supposed agency of the Deity. The power of displaying them is, according to the Scripture narrative, intrusted to certain individuals, who stand forward as their interpreters, giving them a voice and language, and a dignity demanding our regard ; who set them forth as evidences of the greatest of moral ends, a Revelation from God, — as instruments in His hand of effecting a direct in- tercourse between Himself and His creatures, which 1 Divine Legation, Book ix. Chap. v. Vince, On Miracles, Sermon i. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 19 otherwise could not have been effected, — as vouchers for the truth of a message which they deliver. k This is plain and intelligible ; there is an easy c Dnnection between the miraculous nature of their works and the truth of their words ; the fact of their superhuman power is a reasonable ground for belief in their super- human knowledge. Considering, then, our instinctive sense of duty and moral obligation, yet the weak sanction which reason gives to the practice of virtue, and withal the uncertainty of the mind when advancing beyond the first elements of right and wrong ; con- sidering, moreover, the feeling which wise men have entertained of the need of some heavenly guide to instruct and confirm them in goodness, and thatunex- tinguishable desire for a Divine message which has led men in all ages to acquiesce even in pretended revelations, rather than forego the consolation thus afforded them ; and again, the possibility (to say the least) of our being destined for a future state of being, the nature and circumstances of which it may concern k As, for instance, Exod. iv. 1 — 9, 29 — 31; vii. 9, 17; Numb, xvi. 3, 28, 29; Deut. iv. 36 — 40; xviii. 21, 22 ; Josh. iii. 7 — 13; 1 Sam. x. 1 — 7; xii. 16 — 19; 1 Kings xiii. 3 ; xvii. 24; xviii. 36 — 39 ; 2 Kings i. 6, 10; v. 15 ; xx. 8 — 11 ; Jer. xxviii. 15 — 17 ; Ezek. xxxi:i. 33 ; Matt. x. 1 — 20 ; xi. 3 — 5, 20 — 24 ; Mark xvi. 15 — 20; Luke i. 18 — 20; ii. 11, 12 ; v. 24; vii. 15, 16 ; ix. 2 ; x. 9 ; John ii. 22; iii. 2 ; v. $6, tf ; ix. ^ ; x. 24 — 38; xi. 15, 41, 42; xiii. 19; xiv. 10, 11, 29; xvi. 4; xx. 30, 31 ; Actsi. 8; ii. 22,33; iii. 15, 16; iv. 33, v. 32; viii. 6; x. 38 ; xiii. 8 — 12 ; xiv. 3 ; Rom. xv. 18, 19 ; 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5 ; 2 Cor. xii. 12 1 Heb. ii. 3, 4 ; Rev. xix. iq. 20 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. us much to know, though from nature we know no- thing ; considering, lastly, our experience of a watch- ful and merciful Providence, and the impracticability already noticed of a Revelation without a Miracle, it is hardly too much to affirm that the moral system points to an interference with the course of nature, and that Miracles wrought in evidence of a Divine communication, instead of being antecedently im- probable, are, when directly attested, entitled to a respectful and impartial consideration. When the various antecedent objections which ingenious men have urged against Miracles are brought together, they will be found nearly all to arise from forgetfulness of the existence of moral laws. 1 In their zeal to perfect the laws of matter they most unphilosophically overlook a more sublime system, which contains disclosures not only of the Being but of the Will of God. Thus, Hume, in a pas- sage above referred to, observes, " Though the Being to whom the Miracle is ascribed be Almighty, it does not, upon that account, become a whit more probable, since it is impossible for us to know the attributes or actions of such a Being, otherwise than from the ex- perience which we have of His productions in the usual course of nature. This still reduces us to past obser- vation, and obliges us to compare the instances of the violation of truth in the testimony of men with 1 Vince, On Miracles, Sermon i. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 21 those of the violation of the laws of nature by Miracles, in order to judge which of them is most likely and probable." Here the moral government of God, with the course of which the Miracle entirely accords, is altogether kept out of sight. With a like heedlessness of the moral character of a Miracle, another writer, notorious for his irreligion/* 1 objects that it argues mutability in the Deity, and implies that the physical system was not created good, as needing improvement. And a recent author adopts a similarly partial and inconclusive mode of reason- ing, when he confuses the Christian Miracles with fables of apparitions and witches, and would examine them on the strict principle of those legal forms which from their secular object go far to exclude all reli- gious discussion of the question. 11 Such reasoners seem to suppose, that when the agency of the Deity is introduced to account for Miracles, it is the illogical introduction of an unknown cause, a reference to a mere name, the offspring, perhaps, of popular super- stition ; or, if more than a name, to a cause that can be known only by means of the physical creation ; and hence they consider Religion as founded in the mere weakness or eccentricity of the intellect, not in actual intimations of a divine government as con- tained in the moral world. From an apparent impa- m Voltaire. n Bentham, Preuves Judiciaires, Liv. viii. 22 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. tience of investigating' a system which is but partially revealed, they esteem the laws of the material system alone worthy the notice of a scientific mind ; and rid themselves of the annoyance which the importunity of a claim to miraculous power occasions them, by discarding all the circumstances which fix its antece- dent probability, all in which one Miracle differs from another, the professed author, object, design, charac- ter, and human instruments. When this partial procedure is resisted, the a priori objections of sceptical writers at once lose their force. Facts are only so far improbable as they fall under no general rule ; whereas it is as parts of an existing system that the Miracles of Scripture demand our attention, as resulting from known attributes of God, and corresponding to the ordinary arrangements of His providence. Even as detached events they might excite a rational awe towards the mysterious Author of nature. But they are presented to us, not as un- connected and unmeaning occurrences, but as holding a place in an extensive plan of Divine government, completing the moral system, connecting Man and his Maker, and introducing him to the means of securing his happiness in another and eternal state of being. That such is the professed object of the body of Christian Miracles, can hardly be denied. In the earlier Religion it was substantially the same, though from the preparatory nature of the Dispensation, a Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 23 less enlarged view was given of the Divine counsels. The express purpose of the Jewish Miracles is to con- firm the natural evidence of one God, the Creator of all things, to display His attributes and will with dis- tinctness and authority, and to enforce the obligation of religious observances, and the sinfulness of idolatrous worship. Whether we turn to the earlier or later ages of Judaism, in the plagues of Egypt, in the parting of Jordan, and the arresting of the Sun's course by Joshua, in the harvest thunder at the prayer of Samuel, in the rencing of the altar at Bethel, in Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel, and in the cure of Naaman by Elisha, we recognise this one grand object throughout Not even in the earliest ages of the Scripture history are miracles wrought at random, or causelessly, or to amuse the fancy, or for the sake of mere display ; nor prodigally, for the mere conviction of individuals, but for the most part on a grand scale, in the face of the world, to supply whole nations with evidence concerning the Deity. Nor are they strewn confusedly over the face of the history, being with few exceptions reducible to three eras \ the formation of the Hebrew Church and polity, the reformation in the times of the idolatrous Kings of Israel, and the Exod. iii.— xiv. ; xx. 22, 23 ; xxxiv. 6—17 ; Deut. iv. 32— 40 ; Josh. ii. 10, 11 ; iv. 23, 24 ; 1 Sam. v. 3, 4 ; xii. 18 ; 2 Sam. vii. 23 ; 1 Kings viii. 59, 60 ; xviii. 36, 3? ; xx. 28 ; 2 Kings xix. 15—19, 35 ; 2 Chron. xx. 29; Isaiah vi. 1—5 ; xix. 1 : xliii. 10 — 12. 24 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. promulgation of the Gospel. Let it be observed, moreover, that the power of working them, instead of being assumed by any classes of men indiscriminately, is described as a prerogative of the occasional Pro- phets, to the exclusion of the Priests and Kings ; a circumstance which, not to mention its remarkable contrast to the natural course of an imposture, is de- serving attention from its consistency with the lead- ing design of Miracles already specified. For the respective claims of the Kings and Priests were already ascertained, when once the sacred office was limited to the family of Aaron, and the regal pov/er to David and his descendants ; whereas extraordinary messengers, as Moses, Samuel, and Elijah, needed some supernatural display of power to authenticate their pretensions. In corroboration of this remark I might observe upon the unembarrassed manner of the Prophets in the exercise of their professed gift ; their disdain of argument or persuasion, and the confidence with which they appeal to those before whom they are said to have worked their Miracles. These and similar observations do more than invest the separate Miracles with a dignity worthy of the Supreme Being ; they show the coincidence of them all in one common and consistent object. As parts of a system, the Miracles recommend and attest each other, evidencing not only general wisdom, but a digested and extended plan. And while this appear- Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 25 ance of design connects them with the acknowledged works of a Creator, who is in the natural world chiefly known to us by the presence of final causes, so, again, a plan conducted as this was, through a series of ages, evinces not the varying will of suc- cessive individuals, but the steady and sustaining purpose of one Sovereign Mind. And this remark especially applies to the coincidence of views observ- able between the Old and New Testament ; the latter of which, though written after a long interval of silence, the breaking up of the former system, a revolution in religious discipline, and the introduction of Oriental tenets into the popular Theology, still unhesitatingly takes up and maintains the ancient principles of miraculous interposition. An additional recommendation of the Scripture Miracles is their appositeness to the times and places in which they were wrought ; as, for instance, in the case of the plagues of Egypt, which, it has been shown, p were directed against the prevalent supersti- tions of that country. Their originality, beauty, and immediate utility, are further properties falling in with our conceptions of Divine agency. In their general character we discover nothing indecorous, light, or ridiculous ; they are grave, simple, unambiguous, majestic. Many of them, especially those of the later Dispensation, are remarkable for their benevolent and p See Bryant. 26 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. merciful character ; others are useful for a variety of subordinate purposes, as a pledge of the certainty of particular promises, or as comforting good men, or as edifying the Church. Nor must we overlook the moral instruction conveyed in many, particularly in those ascribed to Christ, the spiritual interpretation which they will often bear, and the exemplification which they afford of particular doctrines. 11 Accepting then what may be called Hume's canon, that no work can be reasonably ascribed to the agency of God, which is altogether different from those ordinary zvorks from which our knowledge of Him is originally obtained, I have shown that the Miracles of Scripture, far from being exceptionable on that account, are strongly recommended by their coincidence with what we know from nature of His Providence and Moral Attributes. That there are some few among them in which this coincidence cannot be traced, it is not ne- cessary to deny. As a whole they bear a determinate and consistent character, being great and extraordi- nary means for attaining a great, momentous, and extraordinary object. I shall not, however, dismiss this criterion of the antecedent probability of a Miracle with which Hume has furnished us, without showing that it is more or less detrimental to the pretensions of all professed q Jones, On the Figurative Language of Scripture, Lecture x. Farmer, On Miracles, Chap. iii. Sec. 6, 2. A?itecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 27 Miracles but those of the Jewish and Christian Reve- lations ; in other words, that none else are likely to have occurred, because none else can with any proba- bility be referred to the agency of the Deity, the only known cause of miraculous interposition. We exclude then 1. Those zvhich are not even referred by the ivorkcrs of them to Divine Agency. Such are the extraordinary works attributed by some to Zoroaster ; and, again, to Pythagoras, Empe- docles, Apollonius, and others of their School ; which only claim to be the result of their superior wisdom, and were quite independent of a Supreme Being. 1 Such are the supposed effects of witchcraft or of magical charms, which profess to originate with Spirits and Demons ; for, as these agents, supposing them to exist, did not make the world, there is every reason for thinking they cannot of themselves alter its ar- rangements. 3 And those, as in some accounts of r See, in contrast, Gen. xl. 8; xli. 16; Dan. ii. 27 — 30, 47 ; Acts iii. 12 — 16 ; xiv. 11 — 18; a contrast sustained, as these passages show, for 1500 years. 8 Sometimes charms are represented as having an inherent virtue, independent of invisible agents, as in the account given by Josephus of Eleazar's drawing out a devil through the nos- trils of a patient by means of a ring, which contained in it a drug prescribed by Solomon. Josephus, Antiq. viii. 2, Sec. 5. See Acts viii. 19. 28 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. apparitions, which are silent respecting their origin, and are referred to God from the mere necessity of the case. 2. Those which are unworthy of an All-wise Author. I. As, for example, the Miracles of Simon Magus, who pretended he could assume the appearance of a serpent, exhibit himself with two faces, and transform himself into whatever shape he pleased. 1 Such are most of the Miracles recorded in the apocryphal accounts of Christ ; u e.g., the sudden ceasing of all kinds of motion at His birth, birds stopping in the midst of their flight, men at table with their hands to their mouths, yet unable to eat, etc. ; His changing, when a child, His playmates into kids, and animating clay figures of beasts and birds ; the practice attri- buted to Him of appearing to His disciples sometimes as a youth, sometimes as an old man, sometimes as a child, sometimes large, sometimes less, sometimes so tall as to reach the Heavens ; and the obeisance paid Him by the military standards when He was brought before Pilate. Of the same cast is the story of His picture presented by Nicodemus to Gamaliel, which, when pierced by the Jews, gave forth blood and water. t Lavington, Enthusiasm of Meth. and Papists comp. Part iii. Sec. 43. u Jones, On the Canon, Part iii. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, 29 2. Under this head of exception fall many of the Miracles related by the Fathers ? e.g., that of the con- secrated bread changing into a live coal in the hands of a woman, who came to the Lord's supper after offering incense to an idol ; of the dove issuing from the body of Polycarp at his martyrdom ; of the petri- faction of a fowl dressed by a person under a vow of abstinence ; of the exorcism of the demoniac camel ; of the stones shedding tears at the barbarity of the persecutions ; of inundations rising up to the roofs of churches without entering the open doors ; and of pieces of gold, as fresh as from the mint, dropt from heaven into the laps of the Italian Monks. 1 3. Of the same character are the Miracles of the Romish Breviary ; 2 as the prostration of wild beasts before the martyrs they were about to devour ; the miraculous uniting of two chains with which St. Peter had been at different times bound ; and the burial of Paul the Hermit by lions. 4. Such again are the Rabbinical Miracles, as that of the flies killed by lightning for settling on a rabbi's paper. And the Miracles ascribed by some to Ma- homet, as that the trees went out to meet him, the stones saluted him, and a camel complained to him. x T Middleton, Free Enquiry. 1 [Vide, however, Essay ii., infra, n. 48 — 50, 54, 58, etc.] 2 [Vide ibid.] 1 The offensiveness of these, and many others above in- 30 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. The exorcism in the Book of Tobit must here be mentioned, in which the Evil Spirit who is in love with Sara is driven away by the smell of certain perfumes. 7 5. Hence the Scripture accounts of Eve's temptation by the serpent ; of the speaking of Balaam's ass ; of Jonah and the whale ; and of the devils sent into the herd of swine, are by themselves more or less impro- bable, being unequal in dignity to the rest. They are then supported by the system in which they are found, as being a few out of a multitude, and therefore but exceptions (and, as we suppose, but apparent excep- tions) to the general rule. In some of them, too, a further purpose is discernible, which of itself recon- ciles us to the strangeness of their first appearance, and suggests the possibility of similar reasons, though unknown, being assigned in explanation of the rest. As the Miracle of the swine, the object of which may have been to prove to us the reality of demoniacal possessions. 2 6. Miracles of mere power, even when connected with some ultimate object, are often improbable for stanced, consists in attributing moral feelings to inanimate or irrational beings. ' [So the Protestant version.] It seems to have been a com- mon notion that possessed persons were beloved by the Spirit possessing them. See Philostr. iv. 25. Gospel of the Infancy, xiv.— xvi., xxxiii. Justin Martyr, Apol. p. 113, Ed. Thirlb. We find nothing of this kind in the account of Scripture demoniacs. z Divine Legation, Book ix. Chap. v. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 31 the same general reason, viz., as unworthy of an All- wise Author. Such as that ascribed to Zoroaster, a of suffering melted brass to be poured upon his breast without injury to himself. Unless indeed their imme- diate design be to exemplify the greatness of God, as in the descent of fire from heaven upon Elijah's sacri- fice, and in Christ's walking on the sea, b which evidently possess a dignity fitting them to be works of the Su- preme Being. The propriety indeed of the Christian Miracles, contrasted with the want of decorum observ- able in those elsewhere related, forms a most striking evidence of their divinity. 7. Here, too, ambiguous Miracles find a place, it being antecedently improbable that the Almighty should rest the credit of His Revelation upon events which but obscurely implied His immediate presence. a Brucker, Vol. i. p. 147. b Power over the elements conveyed the most striking proof of Christ's mission from the God of nature, who in the Old Testament is frequently characterized as ruling the sea, winds, etc. Psalm lxv. 7 ; Ixxvii. 19 ; Job xxxviii. 11, etc. It is said, that a drawing of feet upon the water was the hieroglyphic for impossibility. Christ moreover designed, it appears, to make trial of His disciples' faith by this miracle. See Matt. xiv. 28 —31 ; Mark vi. 52. We read of the power to " move moun- tains," but evidently as a proverbial expression. The transfi- guration, if it need be mentioned, has a doctrinal sense, and seems besides to have been intended to lead the minds of the Apostles to the consideration of the Spiritual Kingdom. One of Satan's temptations was to induce our Lord to work a Miracle of mere power. Matt. iv. 6, 7. See Acts x. 38, for the general character of the Miracles. 2,2 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 8. And, for the same reason, those are in some mea- sure improbable which are professed by different Reli- gions ; because from a Divine Agent may be expected distinct and peculiar specimens of divine agency. Hence the claims to supernatural power in the primi- tive Church are in general questionable, 3 as resting upon the exorcism of evil spirits, and the cure of diseases ; works, not only less satisfactory than others, as evidence of a miraculous interposition, but suspi- cious, from the circumstance that they were exhibited also by Jews and Gentiles of the same age. c In the plagues of Egypt and Elijah's sacrifice, which seem to be of this class, there is a direct contest between two parties ; and the object of the divine messenger is to show his own superiority in the very point in which his adversaries try their powers. Our Saviour's use of the clay in restoring sight has been accounted for on a similar principle, such external means being in repute among the Heathen in their pretended cures. 3. Those which have no professed Object. I. Hence a suspicion is thrown on all miracles ascribed by the Apocryphal Gospels to Christ in His infancy ; for, being prior to His preaching, they seem 3 [Vide Essay ii., infra, n. 81, etc.] c Middleton, Stillingfleet, Orig. Sacr. ii. 9, Sec. 1. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 33 to attest no doctrine, and are but distantly connected with any object. 2. Those again on which an object seems to be forced. Hence many harmonizing in one plan arrest the attention more powerfully than a detached and solitary miracle, as converging to one point, and pressing upon our notice the end for which they are wrought This remark, as far as it goes, is prejudicial to the miracle wrought (as it is said) in Hunneric's persecution, long after the real age of Miracles was past ; when the Athanasian confessors are reported to have retained the power of speech after the loss of their tongues. 3. Those, too, must be viewed with suspicion which are disjoined from human instruments, and are made the vehicle of no message ; d since, according to our foregoing view, Miracles are only then divested of their d priori improbability when furthering some great moral end, such as authenticating a divine com- munication. It is an objection then to those ascribed to relics generally, and in particular to those attri- buted to the tomb of the Abbe Paris, that they are left to tell their own story, and are but distantly con- nected with any object whatever. As it is, again, to many tales of apparitions, that they do not admit of a meaning, and consequently demand at most only an otiose assent, as Paley terms it. Hence there is a d Fanner, On Miracles, Chap. v. 3 34 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. difficulty in the narrative contained in the first verses of John v. ; because we cannot reduce the account of the descent of the Angel into the water to give it a healing power under any known arrangement of the divine economy. We receive it, then, on the general credit of the Revelation of which it forms part. 6 4. For the same reason, viz., the want of a declared object, a prejudice is excited when the professed worker is silent, or diffident as to his own power ; since our general experience of Providence leads us to suppose that miraculous powers will not be committed to an individual who is not also prepared for his office by secret inspiration. This speaks strongly against the cures ascribed by Tacitus to Vespasian, and would be an objection to our crediting the prediction uttered by Caiaphas, if separated from its context, or prominently brought forward to rest an argument upon. It is in general a characteristic of the Scripture system, that Miracles and inspiration go together/ 5. With a view to specify the object distinctly, some have required that the Miracle should be wrought after the delivery of the messaged A message delivered an indefinite time after the Miracle, while it cannot n The verse containing the account of the Angel is wanting in many MSS. of authority, and is marked as suspicious by Griesbach. The mineral spring of Bethesda is mentioned by Eusebius as celebrated even in his day. f Douglas, Criterion. Warburton, Sermon on Resurrection. g Fleetwood, Farmer, and others. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, 35 but excite attention from the general reputation of the messenger for an extraordinary gift, is not so expressly stamped with divine authority, as when it is ushered in by his claiming, and followed by his dis- playing, supernatural powers. For if a Miracle, once wrought, ever after sanctions the doctrines taught by the person exhibiting it, it must be attended by the gift of infallibility, — a sustained miracle, which is inconsistent with that frugality in the application of power which is observable in the general course of Pro- vidence. 11 On the other hand, when an unambiguous Miracle having been first distinctly announced, is wrought with the professed object of sanctioning a mes- sage from God, it conveys an irresistible evidence of its divine origin. Accident is thus excluded, and the final cause indissolubly connected with the super- natural event. I may remark that the Miracles of Scripture were generally wrought on this plan. 1 In conformity to which we find moreover that the Apostles, etc., could not work miracles when they pleased ; k a circumstance more consistent with our h The idea is accordingly discountenanced, Matt. vii. 22, zy } Heb. vi. 4 — 6; Gal. ii. 11 — 14. 1 St. Mark ends his Gospel by saying, that the Apostles " went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working- with them, and confirming the word by signs FOLLOWING," chap, xvi. 20. See also Exodus iv. 29, 30 ; 1 Kings xiii. 2, 3 ; 2 Kings xx. 8 — 11 ; Acts xiv. 3, etc. k £.g., Acts xx. 22, 21 ; Phil. ii. zy ; 2 Tim. iv. 20. In the Book of Acts we have not a few instances of the Apostles act- 36 Antecedent Credibility jof a Miracle. ideas of the Divine government, and connecting the extraordinary acts more clearly with specific objects, than if the supernatural gifts were unlimited and irrevocable. 6. Lastly, under this head I may notice professed miracles which, as those attributed to Apollonius, may be separated from a narrative without detriment to it. The prodigies of Livy, for instance, form no part in the action of the history, which is equally intelligible without them. 1 The miraculous events of the Pentateuch, on the contrary, or of the Gospels and Acts, though of course they may be rejected together with the rest of the narrative, can be rejected in no other way ; since they form its substance and groundwork, and, like the figure of Phidias on ing under the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit. The gift of tongues is an exception to the general remark, as we know it was abused ; but this from its nature was, when once given, possessed as an ordinary talent, and needed no fresh divine influence for subsequent exercise of it. It may besides be viewed as a medium of conveying the message, as well as being the seal of its divinity, and as such needed not in every instance to be marked out as a supernatural gift. Miracles in Scripture are not done by wholesale, i.e., indiscriminately and at once, without the particular will and act of the individual ; the contrary was the case with the cures at the tomb of the Abbe Paris. Acts xix. n, 12, perhaps forms an exception; but the Miracles there mentioned are expressly said to be special, and were intended to put particular honour on the Apostle; Cf. Luke vi. 19, viii. 46, which seem to illustrate John iii. 34. [But vide Essay ii, n. 83 — 85.] 1 E.g., he says, "Adjiciunt miracula huic $ugnm" ii. 7. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 37 Minerva's shield, cannot be erased without spoiling the entire composition.™ 4 Those which are exceptionable as regards their Object. 1. If the professed object be trifling and unim- portant ; as in many related by the Fathers, e.g., Tertullian's account of the vision of an Angel to pre- scribe to a female the exact length and measure of her veil, or the divine admonition which Cyprian pro- fesses to have received to mix water with wine in the Eucharist, in order to render it efficacious. 11 Among these would be reckoned the directions given to Moses relative to the furnishing of the Tabernacle, and other regulations of the ceremonial law, were not further and important objects thereby effected ; such as, sepa- rating the Israelites from the surrounding nations, im- pressing upon them the doctrine of a particular Provi- dence, prefiguring future events, etc. m Whereas other extraordinary accounts are like the statue of the Goddess herself, which could readily be taken to pieces, and resolved into its constituent parts, the precious metal and the stone. For the Jewish Miracles, see Graves, On the Pentateuch, Part i. It has been observed that the discourses of Christ so constantly grow out of His Miracles, that we can hardly admit the former without admitting the latter also. But His discourses form His character, which is by no means an obvious or easy one to imagine, had it never existed. n Middleton, Free Inquiry. [No question relative to the Eucharistic rite can be unimportant.] 38 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 2. Miracles wrought for the gratification of mere curiosity are referable to this head of objection. Hence the triumphant invitations which some of the Fathers make to their heathen opponents to attend their exorcisms excite an unpleasant feeling in the mind, as degrading a solemn spectacle into a mere popular exhibition. 3. Those, again, which have a political or party object, as the cures ascribed to Vespasian, or as those attri- buted to the tomb of the Abb£ Paris, and the Eclectic prodigies, all which, viewed in their best light, tend to the mere aggrandizement of a particular Sect, and have little or no reference to the good of Mankind at large. It tells in favour of the Christian Miracles, that the Apostles, generally speaking, were not en- abled to work them for their own personal conveni- ence, to avoid danger, escape suffering, or save life. St. Paul's preservation from the effects of the viper's bite on the Isle of Melita is a solitary exception to this remark, no mention being made of his availing himself of this Miracle to convert the natives to the Christian faith. 4. For a similar reason, those bear a • less appear- ance of probability which are wrought for the con- viction of individuals. I have already noticed the Rev. J. Blanco White, Against Catholicism, Let. 6. The Breviary Miracles form a striking contrast to the Christian in this point. [Not surely on the point of their benefiting the worker.] Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 39 contrary character of the Scripture Miracles in this respect ; for instance, St. Paul's miraculous conversion did not end with itself, but was followed by moment- ous and inestimable consequences. 1 * Again, Miracles, attended the conversion of the ^Ethiopian Eunuch, Cornelius, and Sergius Paulus ; but these were heads and firstfruits of different classes of men who were in time to be brought into the Church. q 5. Miracles with a bad or vicious object are laden with an extreme antecedent improbability ; for they cannot at all be referred to the only known cause of supernatural power, the agency of God. Such are most of the fables concerning the heathen deities ; not a few of the professed Miracles of the primitive Church, which are wrought to sanction doctrines op- posed not only to Scriptural truth, but to the light of nature ; r and some related in the Apocryphal Gospels, especially Christ's inflicting death upon a schoolmas- ter who threatened to strike Him, and on a boy who happened to run violently against Him. Here must be noticed several passages in Scripture, in which a miraculous gift seems at first sight to be exercised to p Acts xxvi. 16. q Ibid. viii. 26, 39 ; x. 3, etc. ; xiii. 12. These three classes are mentioned together in prophecy. Isa. lvi. 4 8 . r E.g., to establish Monachism, etc. [Monachism is not unnatural, unless we are prepared to maintain that an un- natural state of life has the sanction of our Lord and St. Paul.] 8 Jones, On the Canon, Part iii. 40 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. gratify revengeful feelings, and which are, therefore, received on the credit of the system.* 6. Unnecessary Miracles are improbable ; as, those wrought for an object attainable without an exertion, or with less exertion, of extraordinary power. u Of this kind, we contend, would be the writing of the Gospel on the skies, which some unbelievers have pro- posed as but an adequate attestation to a Revelation ; for, supposing the recorded fact of their once occur- ring be sufficient for a rational conviction, a perpetual Miracle becomes superfluous/ Such, again, would be the preservation of the text of Scripture in its verbal correctness, which many have supposed neces- sary for its infallibility as a standard of Truth. 7. The same antecedent objection presses on Mi- racles wrought in attestation of truths already known. We do not, for instance, require a Miracle to convince t Gen. ix. 24—27 ; Judges xvi. 28—30 ; 2 Kings ii. 24 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. 22. u It does not follow, because all Miracles are equally easy to an Almighty Author, that all are equally probable ; for, as has been often remarked, a frugality in the application of power is observable throughout His works. v Dr. Graves observes, of the miraculous agency in the age of Moses and Joshua, that " God continued it only so long as was indispensably necessary to introduce and settle the Jewish nation 5 in the land of their inheritance, and establish this dis- pensation so as to answer the purposes of the divine economy. After this, He gradually withdrew His supernatural assistance; He left the nation collectively and individually to act according to their own choice," etc. Lectures on the Pentateuch, Part iii. Lecture 2. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 41 us the Sun shines, or that Vice is blameable. The Socinian scheme is in a great measure chargeable with bringing the Miracles of the Gospel under this cen- sure : for it prunes away the Christian system till little is left for the Miracles to attest. On this ground an objection has been taken to the Miracle wrought in favour of the Athanasians in Hunneric's persecu- tion, as above mentioned ; inasmuch as it merely pro- fesses to authorize a comment on the saered text, i.e., to sanction a truth which is not new, unless Scripture be obscure. x Here, too, may be noticed Miracles wrought in evidence of doctrines already established ; such as those of the Papists, who seem desirous of answering the unbeliever's demand for a perpetual Miracle. Popish Miracles, as has often been observed, occur in Popish countries, where they are least wanted ; whereas, if real, they would be invaluable among Protestants. 4 Hence the primitive Miracles become suspicious, in proportion as we find Christi- anity established, not only from the increasing facility of fraud, but moreover from the apparent needless- ness of the extraordinary display. And hence, ad- mitting the Miracles of Christ and His followers, future Miracles with the same end are somewhat improbable. For enough have been wrought to attest * See Maclaine's Note on the subject, Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent. v. Part ii. Chap. v. [Vide Essay ii., n. 220, etc.] * [This is answered znfra, Essay ii., n. 97, etc.] 42 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. the doctrine ; and attention, when once excited by supernatural means, may be kept alive by a standing Ministry, just as inspiration is supplied by human learning. 8. I proceed to notice inconsistency in the objects proposed, as creating a just prejudice against the validity of miraculous pretensions. This applies to the claims of the Romish Church, in which Miracles are wrought by hostile sects in support of discordant tenets/ It constitutes some objection to the bulk of the Miracles of the primitive Church, when viewed as a continuation of the original gift, that they differ so much in manner, design, and attendant circumstances, from those recorded in Scripture. 5 " We see/' says Middleton (in the ages subsequent to the Christian era) "a dispensation of things ascribed to God, quite different from that which we meet with in the New Testament. For in those days the power of working Miracles was committed to none but the Apostles, and to a few of the most eminent of the other dis- ciples, who were particularly commissioned to pr6pa- gate the Gospel and preside in the Church of Christ. But, upon the pretended revival of the same powers in the following Ages, we find the administration of them committed, not to those who were intrusted with the government of the Church, not to the successors y Douglas, Criterion, p. 105, Note (8vo edit. 1807). c [All this 13 answered infra, Essay ii., n. 96, 101.] Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 43 of the Apostles, to the Bishops, the Martyrs, nor to the principal champions of the Christian cause ; but to boys, to women, and, above all, to private and obscure laymen, not only of an inferior but sometimes also of a bad character. 9. Hence, to avoid the charge of inconsistency in the respective objects of the Jewish and Christian Miracles, it is incumbent upon believers in them to show that the difference between the two systems is a difference in appearance only, and that Christ came not to de- stroy but to fulfil the Law. Here, as far as its antece- dent appearance is concerned, the Miracle said to have occurred on Julian's attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple is seen to great advantage. The object was great, the time critical, its consequences harmonize very happily with the economy of the Mosaic Dispen- sation, and the general spirit of the Prophetical z Scripture sometimes attributes miraculous gifts to men of bad character ; but we have no reason for supposing such could work miracles at pleasure (see Numb. xxii. 18 ; xxiii. 3, 8, 12, 20; xxiv. 10 — 13), or attest any doctrine but that -which Christ and His Apostles taught ; nor is our faith grounded upon their preaching. Moreover, their power may have been given them for some further purpose ; for though to attest a divine message be the primary object of Miracles, it need not be the only ob- ject. "It would be highly ridiculous," says Mr. Penrose in his recent work on Miracles, " to erect a steam engine for the mere purpose of opening and shutting a valve ; but the engine being erected is very wisely employed bolh for this and for many other purposes, which, comparatively speaking, are of very little significance. " [This applies to ecclesiastical miracles."] 44 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, writings, and the fact itself has some correspondence with the prodigies which preceded the final destruction of Jerusalem. 11 10. Again, Miracles which do not tend to the ac- complishment of their proposed end are open to objection ; and those which have not effected what they had in view. Hence some kind of argument might be derived against the Christian Miracles, were they not accompanied by a prediction of their tempo- rary failure in effecting their object ; or, to speak more correctly, were it not their proposed object gradually to spread the doctrines which they authen- ticate. b There is nothing, however, to break the force of this objection when directed against the Miracles ascribed to the Abbe Paris ; since the Jan- senist interest, instead of being advanced in conse- quence of them, soon after lost ground, and was ultimately ruined. c 11. These Miracles are also suspicious, as having been stopped by human authority ; it being impro- bable that a Divine Agent should permit any such interference with His plan. The same objection ap- plies to the professed gift of exorcising demoniacs in the primitive Church ; which was gradually lost after the decree of the Council of Laodicea confined a See Warburton's Julian. b See Parables in Matt. xiii. 3, 24, 31, ^ t 47; xxiv. 12; Acts xx. 29, 30 ; 2 Thess. ii. 3 ; 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 5, etc. Paley, Evidences, Part i. Prop. 2. Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 45 the exercise of it to such as were licensed by the Bishop. d And lastly, to the supernatural character of Prince Hohenlohe's cures, which were stopped at Bamberg by an order from authority, that none should be wrought except in the presence of Magis- trates and medical practitioners." e These are the most obvious objections which may be fairly made to the antecedent probability of mira- culous narratives. It will be observed, however, that none of them go so far as to deprive testimony for them of the privilege of being heard. Even where the nature of the facts related forbids us to refer the Miracle to divine agency, as when it is wrought to establish some immoral principle, still it is not more than extremely improbable and to be viewed with strong suspicion. Christians at least must acknowledge that the d priori view which Reason takes would in some cases lead to an erroneous conclusion. A Mira- cle, for instance, ascribed to an Evil Spirit is, prior to d It had hitherto been in the hands of the meaner sort of the Christian laity. After that time, " few or none of the clergy, nor indeed of the laity, were any longer able to cast out devils ; so that the old Christian exorcism or prayer for the energumens in the church began soon after to be omitted as useless.' 7 Whiston, in Middleton. [Vid. Essay ii. n. 59.] e Bentham, Preuves Judiciaires, Liv. viii. Chap. x. [This fact requires testimony stronger than Bentham's. However, as to the Abb§ Paris, the epigram is well known, " De par le roi, defense a Dieu, De faire miracles en ce lieu. "J 46 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. the information of Scripture, improbable ; and if it stood on its own merits would require very strong testimony to establish it, as being referred to an un- known cause. Yet, on the authority of Scripture, we admit the occasional interference of agents short of divine with the course of nature. This, however, only shows that these d priori tests are not decisive. Yet if we cannot always ascertain what Miracles are * improbable, at least we can determine what are not so ; moreover, it will still be true that the more objections lie against any professed Miracle, the greater suspicion justly attaches to it, and the less important is the fact even if capable of proof. On the other hand, even when the external appear- ance is altogether in favour of the Miracle, it must be recollected, nothing is thereby proved concerning the fact of its occurrence. We have done no more than recommend to notice the evidence, whatever it may be, which is offered in its behalf. Even, then, could Miracles be found with as strong an antecedent case as those of Scripture, still direct testimony must be produced to substantiate their claims on our belief. At the same time, since there are none such, a fair prepossession is indirectly created in favour of the latter, over and above their intrinsic claims on our attention. Some few indeed of the Scripture Miracles are open to exception ; and have accordingly been noticed in the Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle. 47 course of the above remarks as by themselves impro- bable. These, however, are seldom such in more than one respect ; whereas the other Miracles which came before us were open to several or all of the specified objections at the same time. And, further, as they are but a few in the midst of an overpowering- ma- jority pointing consistently to one grand object, they must not be torn from their moral context, but, on the credit of the rest, they must be considered but apparent exceptions to the rule. It is obvious that a large system must consist of various parts of un- equal utility and excellence ; and to expect each par- ticular occurrence to be complete in itself, is as un- reasonable as to require the parts of some complicated machine, separately taken, to be all equally finished and fit for*display. f Let these remarks suffice on the question of the antecedent probability or improbability of a miraculous f In thus refusing to admit the existence of real exceptions to the general rule, in spite of appearances, we are not expos- ing ourselves to that charge of excessive systematizing which may justly be brought against those who, with Hume, reject the very notion of a Miracle, as implying an interruption of physical regularity. For the Revelation which we admit, on the authority of the general system of Miracles, imparts such accurate and extended information concerning the attributes of God, over and above the partial and imperfect view of them which the world affords, as precludes the supposition of any work of His being evil or useless. Whereas there is no voice in the mere analogy of nature which expressly denies the possibility of real exceptions to its general course. 48 Antecedent Credibility of a Miracle, narrative. Enough, it may be hoped, has been said to separate the Miracles of Scripture from those else- where related, and to invest them with an importance exciting in an unprejudiced mind a just interest in their behalf, and a candid attention to the historical testimony on which they rest ; inasmuch as they are ascribed to an adequate cause, recommended by an intrinsic dignity, and connected with an important object, while all others are more or less unaccount- able, unmeaning, extravagant, and useless. And thus, viz. on the ground of this utter dissimilarity between the Miracles of Scripture and those reported elsewhere, we are enabled to account for the incredulity with which believers in Revelation listen to any extraor- dinary account at the present day ; and which some- times is urged against them as inconsistent with their assent to the former. It is because they admit the Scrip- ture Miracles. Belief in these has pre-occupied their minds, and created a fair presumption against those of a different class ; — the prospect of a recurrence of supernatural agency being in some measure dis- countenanced by the Revelation already given ; and, again, the weakness and insipidity, the want of system and connexion, the deficiency in the evidence, and the transient repute of marvellous stories ever since, creating a strong and just prejudice against those similar accounts which now from time to time are noised abroad. Section III. ON THE CRITERION OF A MIRACLE, CONSIDERED AS A DIVINE INTERPOSITION. T T has sometimes been asked, whether Miracles are -*- a sufficient evidence of the interposition of the Deity? under the idea that other causes, besides divine agency, might be assigned for their production. This is obviously the reverse objection to that I have as yet considered, which was founded on the assump- tion that they could be referred to no known cause whatever. After showing, then, that the Scripture Miracles may be ascribed to the Supreme Being, I proceed to show that they cannot reasonably be ascribed to those other causes which have been some- times assigned for them, for instance, to unknown laws of nature, or to the secret agency of Spirits. i. Now it is evidently unphilosophical to attribute them to the power of invisible Beings, short of God ; because, independently of Scripture, (the truth of which, of course, must not be assumed in this ques- tion,) we have no evidence of the existence of such 4 57- 62 Criterion of a Miracle. cable in a case where the apparent means are known to be inadequate, and are not constantly used ; as our Lord's occasional application of clay to the eyes, which, while it proves that He did not need its instru- mentality, convey also an intimation that all the effi- cacy of means is derived from His appointment. 3. Those which may be referred to the supposed operation of a cause known to exist 1. Professed Miracles of knowledge or mental ability are often unsatisfactory for this reason ; being in many cases referable to the ordinary powers of the intellect. Of this kind is the boasted elegance of the style of the Koran, alleged by Mahomet in evidence of his divine mission. Hence most of the Miracles of Apollonius, consisting, as they do, in knowing the thoughts of others, and predicting the common events of life, are no criterion of a supernatural gift ; it being only under certain circumstances that such power can clearly be discriminated from the natural exercise of acuteness and sagacity. Accordingly though a knowledge of the hearts of men is claimed by Christ, it seems to be claimed rather with a view to prove to Christians the doctrine of His Divine Nature than to attest to the world His authority as a messenger from God. Again, St. Paul's prediction of shipwreck on his voyage to Rome was intended to prevent it ; and so was the pred ction of Agabus Criterion of a Miracle. 63 concerning the same Apostle's approaching perils at Jerusalem/ 2. For a second reason, then, the argument from Prophecy is a less simple and striking proof of divine agency than a display of Miracles ; it being impos- sible, in all cases, to show that the things foretold were certainly beyond the ordinary faculties of the mind to have discovered. Yet when this is shown, Prophecy is one of the most powerful of conceivable evidences ; strict foreknowledge being a faculty not only above the powers, but even above the compre- hension of the human mind. 3. And much more fairly may apparent Miracles be attributed to the supposed operation of an existing physical cause, when they are parallel to its known effects; as chemical, meteorological, etc., phenomena. For though the cause may not, perhaps, appear in the particular case, yet it is known to have acted in others similar to it. For this reason, no stress can be laid on accounts of luminous crosses in the air, human shadows in the clouds, appearances of men and horses on hills, and spectres when they are speech- less, as is commonly the case, ordinary causes being assignable in all of these ; or, again, on the pretended liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, or on the exorcism of demoniacs, which is the most frequent Miracle in the Primitive Church. 7 Acts xxi. 10 — 14; xxvii. 10, 21. 64 Criterion of a Miracle. 4. The remark applies, moreover, to cases of heal- ing, so far as they are not instantaneous, complete, etc. : conditions which exclude the supposition of natural means being employed, and which are strictly fulfilled in the Gospel narrative. 5. Again, some cures are known as possible effects of an excited imagination ; particularly when the dis- ease arises from obstruction and other disorders of the blood and spirits, as the cures which took place at the tomb of the Abbe" Paris. 2 6. We should be required to add those cases of healing in Scripture where the faith of the petitioners was a necessary condition of the cure, were not these comparatively few, and some of them such as no ima- gination could have effected (for instance, the restora- tion of sight), and some wrought on persons absent ; and were not faith often required, not of the patient, but of the relative or friend who brought him to be healed. 11 7. The force of imagination may also be alleged to account for the supposed visions and voices which some enthusiasts have believed they saw and heard ; for instance, the trances of Montanus and his fol- z Douglas, Criterion, p. 172. a Mark x. 51, 52; Matt. viii. 5 — 13. See Douglas, Criterion, p. 258. " Where persons petitioned themselves for a cure, a declaration of their faith was often required, that none might be encouraged to try experiments out of curiosity, in a manner which would have been very indecent, and have tended to many bad consequences.'* Doddridge on Acts ix. 34. Criterion of a Miracle. 65 lowers, the visions related by some of the Fathers, and those of the Romish saints \i lastly, Mahomet's pretended night-journey to heaven : all which, grant- ing the sincerity of the reporters, may not unreason- ably be referred to the effects of disease or of an excited imagination. 8. Such, it is obvious, might be some of the Scrip- ture Miracles ; for instance, the various appearances of Angels to individuals, the vision of St. Paul when he was transported to the third heaven, etc., which accordingly were wrought, as Scripture professes, for purposes distinct from that of evidencing the doctrine, viz., in order to become the medium of a revelation, or to confirm faith, etc. In other cases, however, the supposition of imagination is excluded by the vision having been witnessed by more than one person, as the Transfiguration ; or by its correspondence with distinct visions seen by others, as in the circumstances which attended the conversion of Cornelius ; or by its connection with a permanent Miracle, as the ap- pearance of Christ to St. Paul in his conversion, is connected with his blindness in consequence, which remained three days. b 9. Much more inconclusive are those which are ac- 7 [The visions of Catholic saints were granted to them, as is said in the next sentence about Scripture visions, "for purposes distinct from that of evidencing the doctrine."] b Paley's Evidences, Part i. Prop. 2. 66 Criterion of a Miracle. tually attended by a physical cause known or suspected to be adequate to their production. Some of 'those who were cured at the tomb of the Abbe" Paris were at the time making use of the usual remedies ; the person whose inflamed eye was relieved was, during his attendance at the sepulchre, under the care of an eminent oculist ; another was cured of a lameness in the knee by the mere effort to kneel at the tomb. c Arnobius challenges the Heathens to produce one of the pretended miracles of their Gods performed with- out the application of some prescription.* 1 10. Again, Hilarion's cures of wounds, as mentioned by Jerome, were accompanied by the application of consecrated oil. 6 The Apostles indeed made use of oil in some of their cures/ but they more frequently healed without a medium of any kind. A similar objection might be urged against the narrative of Hezekiah's recovery from sickness, both on account of the application of the figs, and the slowness of the cure, were it anywhere stated to have been miraculous. g Again, the dividing of the Red Sea, accompanied a? it was by a strong east wind, would not have been clearly miraculous, had it not been effected at the word of Moses. c Douglas, Criterion, pp. 143, 184, Note. d Stillingfleet, Book ii. Ch. x. Sec. 9. e Middleton, Free Inquiry, iv. See. 2. f Mark vi. 13. g 2 Kings xx. 4 — 7. Criterion of a Miracle. 67 ti. Much suspicion, too, is (as some think) cast up- on the miraculous nature of the fire, etc., which put a stop to Julian's attempt to rebuild the Temple at Jeru- salem, by the possibility of referring it to the opera- tion of chemical causes. 12. Lastly, answers to prayer, however providential, are not miraculous ; for in granting them, God acts by means of, not out of, His usual system, making the ordinary course of things subservient to a gracious purpose. Such events, then, instead of evidencing the Divine approbation to a certain cause, must be proved from the goodness of the cause to be what they are interpreted to be. Yet by supposed answers to prayer, appeals to Heaven, pretended judgments, etc., enthusiasts in most ages have wished to sanction their claims to divine inspiration. By similar means the pretensions of the Romish hierarchy have been sup- ported. 8 Here we close our remarks on the criterion of a Miracle ; which, it has been seen, is no one definite peculiarity, applicable to all cases, but the combined force of a number of varying circumstances deter- mining our judgment in each particular instance. It might even be said, that a determinate criterion is almost inconceivable. For when once settled, it might 8 [But not ultimately founded and rested upon them, as has been the way with enthusiasts.] 68 Criterion of a Miracle. appear, as was above remarked, to be merely the phy- sical antecedent of the extraordinary fact ; while, on the other hand, from the direction thus given to the ingenuity of impostors, it would soon itself need a cri- terion to distinguish it from its imitations. Certain it is, that the great variety of circumstances under which the Christian Miracles were wrought, furnishes an evidence for their divine origin, in addition to that derived from their publicity, clearness, number, instan- taneous production, and completeness. The exorcism of demoniacs, however, has already been noticed as being, perhaps, in every case deficient in the proof of its miraculous nature. Accordingly, this class of Miracles seems not to have been intended as a primary evidence of a divine mission, but to be addressed to those who already admitted the existence of evil spirits, in proof of the power of Christ and His followers over them. 11 To us, then, it is rather a doctrine than an evidence, manifesting our Lord's power, as other doctrines instance His mercy. With regard to the argument from Prophecy, which some have been disposed to abandon on account of the number of conditions necessary for the proof of its supernatural character, it should be remembered, 11 See Div. Leg. Book ix. Ch. v. Hence the exercise of this gift seems almost to have been confined to Palestine. At Philippi St. Paul casts out a spirit of divination in self- defence (Acts xvi. 16— 18). In the transaction related Acts xix. ii — 17, Jews are principally concerned. Criterion of a Miracle. 69 that inability to fix the exact boundary of natural sagacity is no objection to such prophecies as are un- deniably beyond it ; and that the mere inconclusive- ness of some of those in Scripture, as proofs of Divine Prescience, has no positive force against others con- tained in it, which furnishes a full, lasting, and, in many cases, growing evidence of its inspiration. 1 1 Some unbelievers have urged the irrelevancy of St. Mat- thew's citations from the Old Testament Prophecies in illustra- tion of the events of Christ's life, e.g. ch. ii. 15. It must be recollected, however, that what is evidence in one age is often not so in another. That certain of the texts adduced by the Evangelist furnish at the present day no proof of Divine Prescience, is very true ; but unless some kind of argument could have been drawn from them at the time the Gospel was written, from traditional interpretations of their sense, we can scarcely account for St. Matthew's introducing them. The question is, has there been a loss of what was evidence for- merly, (as is often the case,) or did St. Matthew bring forward as a prophetical evidence what was manifestly not so, as if to hurt the effect of those other passages, as ch. xxvii. 35, which have every appearance of being real predictions ? It has been observed, that Prophecy in general must be obscure, in order that the events spoken of may not be understood before their accomplishment. Section IV. ON THE DIRECT EVIDENCE FOR THE CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. IMPORTANT as are the inquiries which I have hitherto prosecuted, it is obvious that they do not lead to any positive conclusion, whether certain mira- culous accounts are true or not. However necessary a direct anomaly in the course of nature may be to rouse attention, and an important final causeto excite interest and reverence, still the quality of the testimony on which the accounts rest can alone determine our belief in them. The preliminary points, however, have been principally dwelt upon, because objections founded on them form the strong ground of unbelievers, who seem in some degree to allow the strength of the di- rect evidence for the Scripture Miracles. Again, an examination of the direct evidence is less necessary here, because, though antecedent questions have not been neglected by Christian writers, k yet the evidence k Especially by Vince, in his valuable Treatise on the Chris- tian Miracles ; and Hey, in his Lectures. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 71 itself, as might be expected, has chiefly engaged their attention. 1 Without entering, then, into a minute con- sideration of the facts and arguments on which the credibility of the Sacred History rests, I proceed to contrast its evidence generally with that produced for other miraculous narratives ; and thus to complete a comparison which has been already instituted, as re- gards the antecedent probability and the criterion of Miracles. For the present, then, I forego the advantage which the Scripture Miracles have gained in the pre- ceding Sections over all professed facts of a similar nature. In reality, indeed, the very same evidence which would suffice to prove the former, might be in- adequate when offered in behalf of those of the Eclectic School or the Romish Church. For the Miracles of Scripture, and no other, are unexception- able, and worthy of a Divine Agent ; and Bishop Butler has clearly shown, that, in a practical question, as the divinity of a professed Revelation must be considered, even the weakest reasons are decisive when not counteracted by any opposite arguments. 111 Whatever 1 As of Paley, Lyttelton, Leslie, etc. m The only fair objection that can be made to this statement is, that it is antecedently improbable that the Almighty should work Miracles with a view to general conviction, without fur- nishing strong evidence that they really occurred. This was noticed above, when the antecedent probability of Miracles was discussed. That it is unsatisfactory to decide on scanty 72 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. evidence, then, is offered for them is entirely available to the proof of their actual occurrence ; whereas evi- dence for the truth of other similar accounts, supposing it to exist, would be first employed in overcoming the objections which attach to them all from their very character, circumstances, or object. If, however, it can be shown that the Miracles of Scripture as far surpass all others in their direct evidence, as they excel them in their a priori probability, a much stronger case will be made out in their favour, and an additional line of distinction drawn between them and others. The credibility of testimony arises from the belief we entertain of the character and competency of the witnesses ; and this is true, not only in the case of Miracles, but when facts of any kind are examined into. It is obvious that we should be induced to dis- trust the most natural and plausible statement when made by a person whom we suspected of a wish to deceive, or of relating facts which he had no suffi- cient means of knowing. Or if we credited his nar- rative, we should do so, not from dependence on the reporter, but from its intrinsic likelihood, or from cir- cumstantial evidence. In the case of ordinary facts, therefore, we think it needless, as indeed it would be endless, to inquire rigidly into the credibility of the evidence is no objection, as in other most important practical questions we are constantly obliged to make up our minds and determine our course of action on insufficient evidence. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 73 testimony by which they are conveyed to us, because they in a manner speak for themselves. When, how- ever, the information is unexpected, or extraordinary, or improbable, our only means of determining its truth is by considering the credit due to the witnesses ; and then, of course, we exercise that right of scrutiny which we before indeed possessed, but did not think it worth while to claim. A Miracle, then, calls for no distinct species of testimony from that offered for other events, but for a testimony strong in proportion to the improbability of the particular fact attested ; and it is as impossible to draw any line, or to deter- mine how much is required, as to define the quantity and quality of evidence necessary to prove the occur- rence of an earthquake, or the appearance of any meteoric phenomenon. Everything depends on those attendant circumstances, of which I have already spoken, — the object of the Miracle, the occasion, man- ner, and human agent employed. If, for instance, a Miracle were said to be wrought for an immoral object, then of course the fact would rest on the credibility of the testimony alone, and would chal- lenge the most rigid examination. Again, if the object be highly interesting to us, as that professed by the Scripture Miracles, we shall naturally be care- ful in our inquiry, from an anxious fear of being biassed. But in any case the testimony cannot turn out to be more than that of competent and honest 74 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. men ; and an inquiry must not be prosecuted under the idea of finding something beyond this, but to obtain proofs of this. And since th« existence of competency and honesty may be established in various ways, it follows that the credibility of a given story may be proved by distinct considerations, each of which, separately taken, might be sufficient for the purpose. It is obvi- ous, moreover, as indeed is implied by the very nature of moral evidence, that the proof of its credibility may be weaker or stronger, and yet in both cases be a proof; and hence, that no limit can be put to the conceivable accumulation of evidence in its behalf. Provided, then, the existing evidence be sufficient to produce a rational conviction, it is nothing to the purpose to urge, as has sometimes been alleged against the Scripture Miracles, that the extraordinary facts might have been proved by different or more over- powering evidence. It has been said, for instance, that no testimony can fairly be trusted which has not passed the ordeal of a legal examination. Yet, cal- culated as that mode of examination undoubtedly is to elicit truth, surely truth may be elicited by other ways also. Independent and circumstantial writers may confirm a fact as satisfactorily as witnesses in Court. They may be questioned and cross-questioned, and, moreover, brought up for re-examination in any succeeding age ; whereas, however great may be the Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 75 talents and experience of the men who conduct the legal investigation, yet when they have once closed it, and given in their verdict, we believe upon their credit, and we have no means of examining for ourselves. To say, however, that this kind of evidence might have been added to the other, in the case of the Christian Miracles, 11 is merely to assert that the proof of the credibility of Scripture might have been stronger than it is ; which I have already allowed it might have been, without assignable limit. The credibility, then, of Testimony depending on the evidence of honesty and competency in those who give it, it is prejudicial, first, to their character for honesty — ■ 1. If desire of gain, power, or other temporal ad- vantage may be imputed to them. This would de- tract materially from the authority of Philostratus, even supposing him to have been in a situation for ascertaining the truth of his own narrative, as he pro- fesses to write his account of Apollonius at the in- stance of his patroness, the Empress Julia, who is known to have favoured the Eclectic cause. Again, the account of the Miracle performed on the door- n Some of our Saviour's Miracles, however, were subjected to judicial examination. (See John v. and ix.) In v. 16, the measures of the Pharisees are described by the technical word idtwKov. 76 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. keeper at the cathedral at Saragossa, on which Hume insists, rests principally upon the credit of the Canons, whose interest was concerned in its establishment. This remark, indeed, obviously applies to the Romish Miracles generally. 9 The Christian Miracles, on the contrary, were attested by the Apostles, not only without the prospect of assignable worldly advantage, but with the certainty and after the experience of actual suffering. 2. When there is room for suspecting party spirit or rivalry, as in the miraculous biographies of the Eclectic philosophers ; in those of Loyola and other saints of the rival orders in the Romish Church ; and in the present Mahometan accounts of the Miracles of Mahomet, which, not to mention other objections to them, are composed with an evident design of rivalling those of Christ. 3. Again, a tale once told may be persisted in from shame of retracting, after the motives which first gave rise to it have ceased to act, even at the risk of suffer- ing. This remark cannot apply to the case of the Apostles, until some reason is assigned for their get- ting up their miraculous story in the first instance. If necessary, however, it could be brought with force against any argument drawn from the perseverance of 8 [The Miracles of Catholic Saints as little benefited theii workers as the Miracles of the Apostles.] See Professor Lee's Persian Tracts, pp. 446, 447. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 77 the witnesses for the cures professedly wrought by Vespasian, " postquam nullum mendacio pretium ; " for, as they did not suffer for persisting in their story, had they retracted, they would have gratuitously con- fessed their own want of principle. 4. A previous character for falsehood is almost fatal to the credibility of a witness of an extraordinary narrative ; for instance, the notorious insincerity and frauds of the Church of Rome in other things are in themselves enough to throw a strong suspicion on its testimony to its own Miracles. 10 The primitive Church is in some degree open to a charge of a similar nature. p Or an intimacy with suspicious characters ; for instance, Prince Hohenlohe's connection with the Romish Church, and that of Philostratus with the Eclectics, since both the Eclectic and Romish Schools have countenanced the practice of what are called pious frauds. 10 5. Inconsistencies or prevarications in the testi- mony, marks of unfairness, exaggeration, suppression of particulars, etc. Of all these, Philostratus stands convicted, whose memoir forms a remarkable contrast 10 [There have been frauds among Catholics, and for gain, as among Protestant dissenters, or among antiquarians, or tran- scribers of MSS., or picture-dealers, or horse-dealers ; for the "Net gathers of every kind;" but that does not prove the Church to be fraudulent, unless geological or chemical frauds are slurs upon the character of the British Association.] p Hey, Lectures, book i. ch* xii. sec. 15. 78 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. to the artless and candid narratives of the Evangelists. The Books of the New Testament, containing as they do separate accounts of the same transactions, admit of a minute cross-examination, which terminates so decidedly in favour of their fidelity, as to recommend them highly on the score of honesty, even indepen- dently of the known sufferings of the writers. 6. Lastly, objection may be taken to witnesses who have the opportunity of being dishonest ; as those who write at a distance from the time and place of the professed Miracle, or without mentioning particulars, etc. But on these points I shall speak immediately in a different connection. Secondly, witnesses must be not only honest, but competent also ; that is, such as have ascertained the facts which they attest, or who report after examina- tion. Here then I notice — i. Deficiency of examination implied in the cir- cumstances of the case. As when it is first published in an age or country remote from the professed time and scene of action ; for in that case room is given to suspect failure of memory, imperfect information, etc., whereas to write in the presence of those who know the circumstances of the transactions is an appeal which increases the force of the testimony by asso- ciating them in it. Accounts, however, whether miraculous or otherwise, possess very little intrinsic authority, when written so far from the time or place Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 79 of the transactions recorded, as the biographies of Pythagoras, Apollonius, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Ma- homet, Loyola, or Xavier. q The opposite circum- stances of the Christian Testimony have often been pointed out. Here we may particularly notice the providential dispersion of the Jews over the Roman Empire before the age of Christ ; by which means the Apostles' testimony was given in heathen countries, as well as in Palestine, in the face of those who had both the will and the power to contradict it, if incorrect. While the testimony of contemporaries is necessary to guarantee the truth of ordinary history, Miracles require the testimony of eye-witnesses. For ordinary events are believed in part from their being natural, but testimony being the main support of a miraculous narrative, must in that case be the best of its kind. Again, we may require the testimony to be circum- stantial in reference to dates, places, persons, etc. ; for the absence of these seems to imply an imperfect knowledge, and at least gives less opportunity of in- quiry to those who wish to ascertain its fidelity. 1 Miracles which are not lasting do not admit of ade- quate examination ; as visions, extraordinary voices, etc. The cure of diseases, on the other hand, is a q Paley, Evidences, Part i. Prop. 2. r The vagueness of the accounts of miraculous interpositions related by the Fathers is pointed out by Middleton. (Free Inquiry, ii. p. 22.) [Vide Essay ii., n. 137, 138.] 80 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. permanent evidence of a divine interposition ; par- ticularly such cures of bodily imperfections as are undeniably miraculous in their nature, as well as per- manent ; to these, then, our Lord especially appeals in evidence of His divine mission. 9 Lastly, statements are unsatisfactory in which the miracle is described as wrought before a very few ; for room is allowed for suspecting mistake, or an understanding between the witnesses. Or, on the other hand, those wrought in a confused crowd ; such are many standing miracles of the Romanists, which are exhibited with the accom- paniment of imposing pageants, or on a stage, or at a distance, or in the midst of candles and incense. 11 Our Saviour,, on the contrary, bids the lepers He had cleansed show- themselves to the Priests, and make the customary offering as a memorial of their cures. 1 And when He appeared to the Apostles after His Resurrec- tion, He allowed them to examine His hands and feet. u Those of the Scripture Miracles which were wrought before few, or in a crowd, were permanent ; as cures/ and the raising of Jairus's daughter ; or were of so vast a nature, that a crowd could not prevent the wit- B Matt. xi. 5. 11 [Candles and incense are more commonly used in the daytime ; and our Lord wrought many of His Miracles in a throng which was pressing upon Him.] t Luke v. 14 ; xvii. 14. 11 Luke xxiv. 39, 40. v Mark viii. 22 — 26. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 81 nesses from ascertaining the fact, as the standing still of the Sun at the word of Joshua. 2. Deficiency of examination implied in the cha- racter, etc., of the witnesses : (i) for instance, if there be any suspicion of their derangement, or if there be an evident defect in those bodily or mental faculties which are necessary for examining the Miracle, as when the intellect or senses are impaired. Number in the witnesses refutes charges of this nature ; for it is not conceivable that many should be deranged or mistaken at once, and in the same way. (2) Enthusiasm, ignorance, and habitual credulity, are defects which no number of witnesses removes. The Jansenist Miracles took place in the most ignorant and superstitious district of Paris.* Alexander Pseudo- mantis practised his arts amongst the Paphlagonians, a barbarous people. Popish Miracles and the juggles of the Heathen Priests have been most successful in times of ignorance. 12 Yet, while we reasonably object to gross ignorance or besotted credulity in witnesses for a miraculous story, we must guard against the opposite extreme of requiring the testimony of men of science and general knowledge. Men of philosophical minds are often x The Fauxbourg St. Marcel. Less. 12 [Might not the same insinuations be thrown out against the miracles of Elisha ? On the other hand, was the age of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine ignorant ? or that of St. Philip 1 eri ?] 6 82 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. too fond of inquiring into the causes and mutual de- pendence of events, of arranging, theorizing, and refin- ing, to be accurate and straightforward in their account of extraordinary occurrences. Instead of giving a plain statement of facts, they are insensibly led to cor- rect the evidence of their senses with a view to account for the strange phenomenon ; as Chinese painters, who, instead of drawing in perspective, give lights and shadows their supposed meaning, and depict the pros- pect as they think it should be, not as it is. y As Miracles differ from other events only when considered relatively to a general system, it is obvious that the same persons are competent to attest miraculous facts who are suitable witnesses of corresponding natural ones. If a peasant's testimony be admitted to the phenomenon of meteoric stones, he may evidence the fact of an unusual and unaccountable darkness. A physician's certificate is not needed to assure us of the illness of a friend ; nor is it necessary for attesting the simple fact that he has instantaneously recovered. It is important to bear this in mind, for some writers argue as if there were something intrinsically defective in the testimony given by ignorant persons to miracu- lous occurrences. 2 To say that unlearned persons are y It is well known, that those persons are accounted the best transcribers of MSS. who are ignorant of the language trans- cribed ; the habit of correcting being almost involuntary in men of letters. 2 Hume, On Miracles, Part ii. Reason i. Evidence for the Christian Miracles, 83 not judges of the fact of a miraculous event, is only so far true as all testimony is fallible and liable to be distorted by prejudice. Every one, not only superstitious persons, is apt to interpret facts in his own way ; if the superstitious see too many prodigies, men of science maysee too few. The facility with which the Japanese ascribed the ascent of a balloon, which they witnessed at St Petersburgh, to the powers of magic, (a circumstance which has been sometimes urged against the admission of unlearned testimony/) is only the conduct of theorists accounting for a novel phenomenon on the principles of their own system. It may be said, that ignorance prevents a witness from discriminating between natural and supernatural events, and thus weakens the authority of his judgment concerning the miraculous nature of a fact. It is true ; but if the fact be recorded, we may judge for ourselves on that point. Yet it may be safely said, that not even before persons in the lowest state of ignorance could any great variety of professed Miracles be dis- played without their distinguishing rightly, on the whole, between the effects of nature and those of a power exterior to it ; though in particular instances they doubtless might be mistaken. Much more would this be the case with the lower ranks of a civilized people. Practical intelligence is insensibly diffused from class to class ; if the upper ranks are educated, a Bentham, Preuves Judiciaires, Liv. viii. Ch. ii. 84 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. numbers besides them, without any formal and sys- tematic knowledge, almost instinctively discriminate between natural and supernatural events. Here science has little advantage over common sense ; a peasant is quite as certain that a resurrection from the dead is miraculous as the most able physiologist.^ The original witnesses of our Saviour's Miracles were very far from a dull or ignorant race. The inhabi- tants of a maritime and border country, as Galilee was, engaged, moreover in commerce, composed of natives of various countries, and, therefore, from the nature of the case, acquainted with more than one language, have necessarily their intellects sharpened and "their minds considerably enlarged, and are of all men least disposed to acquiesce in marvellous tales. Such a people must have examined before they suffered themselves to be excited in the degree which the Evangelists described *> It has been observed, that more suitable witnesses could not be selected of the fact of a miraculous draught of fishes than the fishermen of the lake wherein it took place. o See Less, Opuscul. d If, on the other hand, we would see with how unmoved an unconcern men receive accounts of miracles, when they be- lieve them to be events of every-day occurrence, we may turn to the conduct of the African Christians in the Age of Austin, whom that Father in vain endeavoured to interest in miraculous stories of relics, etc., by formal accounts and certificates of the cures wrought by them. (See Middleton, p. 138.) The stir, then, which the miracles of Christ made in Galilee implies, that they were not received with an indolent belief. It must be noticed, moreover, in opposition to the statement of some Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 85 But even* supposing those among them who were in consequence convinced of the divine mission of Christ, were of a more superstitious turn of mind than the rest, still this is not sufficient to account for their con- viction. For superstition, while it might facilitate the bare admission of miraculous events, would at the same time weaken their practical influence. Miracles ceasing to be accounted strange, would cease to be striking also. Whereas the conviction wrought in the minds of these men was no bare and indolent assent to facts which they might have thought antecedently- probable or not improbable, but a conversion in prin- ciples and mode of life, and a consequent sacrifice of all that nature holds dear, to which none would submit except after the fullest examination of the authority enjoining it. If additional evidence be required, ap- peal may be made to the multitude of Gentiles in Greece and Asia, in whose principles and mode of living belief in the Miracles made a change even more striking and complete than was effected in the case of the Jews. In a word, then, the conversion which Christ and His Apostles effected invalidates the charge of blind credulity in the witnesses ; the practical nature of the belief wrought in them proving that it was founded on an examination of the Miracles. unbelievers, that great numbers of the Jews were converted (Acts ii. 41 ; iv. 4 ; v. 13, 14 ; vi. 7 ; ix. 35 ; xv. 5 ; xxi. 20). On this subject, see Jenkin, On the Christian Religion, Vol. ii., Ch. xxxii. 86 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. (3) Again, it weakens the authority of the witnesses, if their belief can be shown to have been promoted by the influence of superiors ; for then they virtually cease to be themselves witnesses, and report the facts on the authority (as it were) of their patrons. It is observable, that the national conversions of the Middle Ages generally began with the princes, and descended to their subjects ; those of the Apostolic Age obvi- ously proceeded in the reverse order. 6 (4) It is almost fatal to the validity of the testimony, if the miracle which is attested coincides with a pre- vious system, or supports a cause already embraced by the witnesses. Men are always ready to believe what flatters their own opinions, and of all prepossessions those of Religion are the strongest. There is so much in the principle of all Religion that is true and good, so much conformable to the best feelings of our nature, which perceives itself to be weak and guilty, and looks out for an unseen and superior being for guidance and support ; and the particular worship in which each in- dividual is brought up is so familiarized to him by habit, so endeared to his affections by the associations of place and the recollections of past years, so con- nected too with the ordinary transactions and most interesting events of life, that even should that form be irrational and degrading, still it will in most cases preserve a strong influence over his mind, and dispose e Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent. vi. viii. ix. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 87 him to credit upon slight examination any arguments adduced in its defence. Hence an account of Miracles in confirmation of their own Religion will always be favourably received by men whose creed has already led them to expect such interpositions of superior beings. This consideration invalidates at once the testimony commonly offered for Pagan and Popish Miracles, and in no small degree that for the Miracles of the primitive Church. 13 The professed cures of Vespasian were performed in honour of Serapis in the midst of his worshippers; and the people of Sara- gossa, who attested the Miracle wrought in the case of the door-keeper of the Cathedral, had previous faith in the virtues of holy oil. f Here the evidence for the Scripture Miracles is unique. In other cases the previous system has sup- 13 [Vide Essay ii. n. $6 — 45. Ecclesiastical Miracles are mainly the rewards of faith ; not, strictly speaking, evidence.] f It has been noticed as a suspicious circumstance in the testimony to the reported miracle wrought in the case of the Confessors in the persecution of the Arian Hunneric, that Victor Vitensis, one of the principal witnesses, though writing in Africa, where it professedly took place, and where the in- dividuals thus distinguished were then living, yet refers only to one of them, who was then living at the Athanasian Court at Constantinople, and held in particular honour by Zeno and the Empress. — " If any one doubt the fact, let him go to Con- stantinople/* See the whole evidence in Milner's Church History, Cent. v. Ch. xi. ; who, however, strongly defends the miracle. Gibbon pretends to do the same, with a view to provide a rival to the Gospel Miracles. 88 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. ported the Miracles, but here the Miracles introduced and upheld the system. The Christian Miracles in particular® were received on their own merits ; and the admission of them became the turning-point in the creed and life of the witnesses, which thenceforth took a new and altogether different direction. But, more- over, as if their own belief in them were not enough, the Apostles went out of their way to debar any one from the Christian Church who did not believe them as well as themselves. 11 Not content that men should be converted on any ground, they fearlessly challenged refutation, by excluding from their fellowship of suf- fering any who did not formally assent, as a necessary condition of admittance and a first article of faith, to one of the most stupendous of all the miracles, their Master's Resurrection from the dead ; — a procedure this, which at once evinces their own unqualified con- viction of the fact, and associates, too, all their con- verts with them as believers in a miracle contemporary with themselves. Nor is this all ; a religious creed necessarily prejudices the mind against admitting the miracles of hostile sects, in the very same pro- portion in which it leads St to acquiesce in such as support its own dogmas. 1 The Christian Miracles, then, have the strongest of conceivable attestations, g Not to mention those of Moses and Elijah, b Campbell, On Miracles, Part ii. Sec. i. 1 Ibid, Part i. Sec. 4. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. 89 in the conversion of many who at first were prejudiced against them, and in the extorted confession of enemies, who by the embarrassment which the admis- sion occasioned them, at least showed that they had not made it till after a full and accurate investigation of the extraordinary facts. (5) It has been sometimes objected, that the minds of the first converts might be wrought upon by the doc- trine of a future state which the Apostles preached, and be thus persuaded to admit the miracles without a rigorous examination.^ But, as Paley well replies, evidence of the truth of the promise would still be necessary ; especially as men rather demand than dispense with proof when some great and unexpected good is reported to them. Yet it is more than doubt- ful whether the promise of a future life would excite this interest ; for the desire of immortality, though a natural, is no permanent or powerful feeling, and furnishes no principle of action. Most men even in a Christian country, are too well satisfied with this world to look forward to another with any great and settled anxiety. Supposing immortality to be a good, it is one too distant to warm or influence them. Much less are they disposed to sacrifice present comfort, and strip themselves of former opinions and habits, for the mere contingency of future bliss. The hope of another life, grateful as it is under affliction, will not k Gibbon, particularly Ch. xv. go Evidence for the Christian Miracles. induce a man to rush into affliction for the sake of it The inconvenience of a severe complaint is not out- balanced by the pleasure of a remedy. On the other hand, though we know that gratuitous declarations of coming judgments and divine wrath may for a time frighten weak minds, they will neither have effect up- on strong ones, nor produce a permanent and consist- ent effect upon any. Persons who are thus wrought upon in the present day believe the denunciations be- cause they are in Scripture, not Christianity because Scripture contains them. The authority of Revealed Religion is taken for granted both by the preacher and his hearers. On the whole, then, it seems inconceiv- able that the promise or threat of a future life should have supplied the place of previous belief in Chris- tianity, or have led the witnesses to admit the Miracles on a slight examination. (6) Lastly, love of the marvellous, of novelty, etc., may be mentioned as a principle influencing the mind to acquiesce in professed miracles without full exami- nation. Yet such feelings are more adapted to exagge- rate and circulate a story than to invent it We can trace their influence very clearly in the instances of Apollonius and the Abbe* Paris, both of whom had excited attention by their eccentricities, before they gained reputation for extraordinary power. 1 Such 1 See the Author's memoir of Apollonius. — Of the Abbe, Mo- sheim says, "Diem vix obierat, voluntariis cruciatibus et poenis Evidence for the Christian Miracles, 9 1 principles, moreover, are not in general practical, and have little power to sustain the mind under continued opposition and suffering. 111 These are some of the obvious points which will come into consideration in deciding upon the authority of testimony offered for miracles ; and they enable us at once to discriminate the Christian story from all others which have been set up against it. With a view of symplifying the argument, the evidence for the Jewish miracles has been left out of the question ; n because, though strong and satisfactory, it is not at the present day so directly conclusive as that on which exhaustus, mirabilis iste homo, quum immensa hominum mul- titude ad ejus corpus conflueret; quorum alii pedes ejus osculabantur, alii partem capillorum abscindebant, quam sancti loco pignoris ad mala quaevis averruncanda servarent, alii libros et lintea quae attulerant, cadaveri admovebant quod virtute quadam divina plenum esse putabant. Et statim vis ilia mirifica, qua omne, quod in terra hac reliquit, pras- ditum esse fertur, apparebat," etc. Inquisit. in verit. Mira- culor. F. de Paris, Sec. \. m Paley, Evidences, Part i. Prop. 2. n The truth of the Mosaic narrative is proved from the genuineness of the Pentateuch, as writtten to contemporaries and eye-witnesses of the miracles ; from the predictions con- tained in the Pentateuch ; from the very existence of the Jewish system (Sumner's Records) ; and from the declarations of the New Testament writers. The miracles of Elijah and Elisha are proved to us by the authority of the Books in which they are related, and by means of the New Testament. Q2 Evide7ice for the Christian Miracles. the Christian rest Nor is it necessary, I conceive, to bring evidence for more than a fair proportion of the Miracles ; supposing, that is, those which remain unproved are shown to be similar to them, and indis- solubly connected with the same system. It may be even said, that if the single fact of the Resurrection be established, quite enough will have been proved for believing all the Miracles of Scripture. Of course, however, the argument becomes far stronger when it is shown that there is evidence for the great bulk of the miracles, though not equally strong for some as for others ; and that the Jewish, sanctioned as they are by the New Testament, may also be established on distinct and peculiar grounds. Nor let it be forgotten, that the Christian story itself is supported, over and above the evidence that might fairly be required for it, by several bodies of testimony quite independent of each other. By separate pro- , c The fact of the Christian miracles maybe proved, first, by the sufferings and consistent story of the original witnesses ; secondly, from the actual conversion of large bodies of men in the age in which they are said to have been wrought ; thirdly, from the institution, at the time, of a day commemora- tive of the Resurrection, which has been observed ever since ; fourthly, by collateral considerations, such as the tacit assent given to the miracles by the adversaries of Christianity, the Eclectic imitations of them, and the pretensions to miraculous power in the primitive Church. These are distinct arguments ; no one of them absolutely presupposes the genuineness of the Scripture narrative, though the force of the whole is much in- creased when it is proved. Evidence for the Christian Miracles. g 3 cesses of reasoning it' may be shown, that if Chris- tianity was established without miracles, it was, to say the least, an altogether singular and unique event in the history of mankind ; and the extreme improba- bility of so many distinct and striking peculiarities uniting, as it were, by chance in one and the same case, raises the proof of its divine origin to a moral certainty. In short, it is only by being made un- natural that the Christian narrative can be deprived of a supernatural character ; and we may safely affirm that the strongest evidence we possess for the most certain facts of other history, is weak compared to that on which we believe that the first preachers of the Gospel were gifted with miraculous powers. And thus a case is established so strong, that even were there an antecedent improbability in the facts attested, in most judgments it would be sufficient to overcome it. On the contrary, we have already shown their intrinsic character to be exactly such as our pre- vious knowledge of the attributes and government of the Almighty would lead us to expect in works ascribed to Him. Their grandeur, beauty, and consistency; the clear and unequivocal marks they bear of superhuman agency; the importance and desirableness of the object they propose to effect, are in correspondence with the variety and force of the evidence itself. Such, then, is the contrast they present to all other professed miracles, from those of Apollonius down- 94 Evidence for the Christian Miracles. wards — which have been shown, more or less, to be improbable from the circumstances of the case, inconclusive when considered as marks of divine in- terference, and quite destitute of good evidence for their having really occurred. Lastly, it must be observed, that the proof derived from interruptions in the course of nature, though a principal, is yet but one out of many proofs on which the cause of Revealed Religion rests ; and that even supposing (for the sake of argument) it were altogether inconclusive at the present day, still the other evi- dences, 11 as they are called, would be fully equal to prove to us the divine origin of Christianity. p Such as the system of doctrine, marks of design, gradual disclosure of unknown truths, etc., connecting together the whole Bible as the work of one mind : — Prophecy : — the character of Christ : — the morality of the Gospel : — the wis- dom of its doctrines, displaying - at once knowledge of the human heart, and skill in engaging its affections, etc. ESSAY II. THE MIRACLES OF EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, COMPARED WITH THOSE OF SCRIPTURE, AS REGARDS THEIR NATURE, CREDIBILITY, AND EVIDENCE. ON ECCLESIASTICAL MIRACLES. Chapter I. INTRODUCTION. I. O ACRED History is distinguished from Profane ^ by the nature of the facts which enter into its composition, and which are not always such as occur in the ordinary course of things, but are extra- ordinary and divine. Miracles are its characteristic, whether it be viewed as biblical or ecclesiastical : as the history of a reign or dynasty more or less approxi- mates to biography, as the history of a wandering tribe passes into romance or poetry, as a constitu- tional history borders on a philosophical dissertation, so the history of Religion is necessarily of a theolo- gical cast, and is occupied with the supernatural. It is a record of "the kingdom of heaven," a manifesta- tion of the Hand of God ; and, (( the temple of God being opened," and "the ark of His testament," there are "lightnings and voices," the momentary yet re- 7 9 8 Introduction. curring tokens of that conflict between good and evil, which is waging in the world of spirits from age to age. This supernatural agency, as far as it is really revealed to us, is from its very nature the most im- portant of the characteristics of sacred history, and the mere rumour of its manifestation excites interest in consequence of the certainty of its existence. But since the miraculous statements which are presented to us are often not mere rumours or surmises, but in fact essential to the narrative, it is plain that to treat any such series of events, (for instance, the history of the Jews, or of the rise of Christianity, or of the Catholic Church,) without taking them into account, is to profess to write the annals of a reign, yet to be silent about the monarch,—to overlook, as it were, his personal character and professed principles, his indirect influence and immediate acts. 2. Among the subjects, then, which the history of the early centuries of Christianity brings before us, and which are apt more or less to startle those who with modern ideas commence the study of Church History generally, (such as the monastic rule, the honour paid to celibacy, and the belief in the power of the keys,) it seems right to bestow attention in the first place on the supernatural narratives which occur in the course of it, and of which various specimens will be found in any portion of it which a reader takes in hand. It will naturally suggest itself to him Introduction. 99 to form some judgment upon them, and a perplexity, perhaps a painful perplexity, may ensue from the difficulty of doing so. This being the case, it is in- considerate and almost wanton to bring such subjects ■before him, without making at least the attempt to assist him in disposing of them. Accordingly the following remarks have been written in discharge of a Sort of duty which a work of Ecclesiastical History in- volves, 1 — not indeed without a deep sense of the ardu- ousness of such an essay, or of the incompleteness and other great defects of its execution, but at the same time, as the writer is bound to add, without any apology at all for discussing in his own way a subject which demands discussion, and which, if any other, is an open question in the English Church, and has only during the last century been viewed in a light which he believes to be both false in itself, and dangerous altogether to Revealed Religion. 3. It may be advisable to state in the commence- ment the conclusions to which the remarks which follow will be found to tend ; they are such as these : — that Ecclesiastical Miracles, that is, Miracles posterior to the Apostolic Age, are on the whole dif- ferent in object, character, and evidence, from those of Scripture on the whole, so that the one series or family ought never to be confounded with the other ; 1 [The occasion of this Essay was the publication of a portion of Fleury's Ecclesiastical History in English.] i oo Introduction. yet that the former are not therefore at once to be rejected ; that there was no Age of Miracles, after which miracles ceased ; that there have been at all times true miracles and false miracles, true accounts i and false accounts ; that no authoritative guide is supplied to us for drawing the line between the two ; that some of the miracles reported were true miracles ; that we cannot be certain how many were not true ; and that under these circumstances the decision in particular cases is left to each individual, according to his opportunities of judging. Chapter II. ON THE ANTECEDENT PROBABILITY OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL MIRACLES. 4. A FACT is properly called " improbable," only -**• when it has some quality or circumstance attached to it which operates to the disadvantage of evidence adduced in its behalf. We can scarcely avoid forming an opinion for or against any statement which meets us ; we feel well-disposed towards some accounts or reports, averse from others, sometimes on no reason whatever beyond our accidental frame of mind at the moment, sometimes because the facts averred flatter or thwart our wishes, coincide or inter- fere with the view of things familiar to us, please or startle our imagination, or on other grounds equally vague and untrustworthy. Such anticipations about facts are as little blameable as the fancies which spon- taneously rise in the mind about a person's stature and appearance before seeing him : and, like such fancies, they are dissipated at once when the real state of the case is in any way ascertained. They 102 Antecedent Probability of are simply notional ; and form no presumption in reason, for or against the facts, or the evidence of the \ facts, to which they relate. ! 5. An antecedent improbability, then, in certain I facts, to be really such, must avail to prejudice the i evidence which is offered in their behalf, and must be of a nature to diminish or destroy its force. Thus it is improbable, in the highest degree, that our friend should have done an act of fraud or injustice ; and im- probable again, but in a slight degree, that our next- door neighbour should have been highly promoted, or that he should have died suddenly. We do not acquiesce in any evidence whatever that comes to hand even for the latter occurrence, and in none but the very best for the former. Again, there is a general improbability attaching to the notion that the mem- bers of certain sects or of certain political parties should commit themselves to this or that cast of opinions, or line of conduct ; and, on the other hand, though there is no general improbability that indivi- duals of the poorest class should make large fortunes, yet a strong probability may lie against certain given persons of that class in particular. 6. Now it may be asserted that there is no pre- sumption whatever against miracles generally in the ages after the Apostles, though there may be and is a certain antecedent improbability in this or that parti- cular miracle. the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 103 There is no presumption against Ecclesiastical Miracles generally, because inspiration has stood the brunt of any such antecedent objection, whatever it be worth, by its own supernatural histories, and in establishing their certainty in fact, has disproved their impossibility in the abstract. If miracles are ante- cedently improbable, it is either from want of a cause to which they may be referred, or of experience of similar events in other times and places. What neither has been before, nor can be attributed to an existing cause, is not to be expected, or is improbable. But Ecclesiastical Miracles are occurrences not without a parallel ; for they follow upon Apostolic Miracles, and they are referable to the Author of the Apostolic as an All-sufficient Cause. Whatever be the regularity and stability of nature, interference with it can be, because it has been ; there is One who both has power over His own work, and who before now has not been un- willing to exercise it. In this point of view, then, Ecclesiastical Miracles are more advantageously cir- cumstanced than those of Scripture. 7. What has happened once, may happen again ; the force of the presumption against Miracles lies in the opinion entertained of the inviolability of nature, to which the Creator seems to "have given a law which shall not be broken." When once that law is shown to be but general, not necessary, and (if the word may be used) when its prestige is once destroyed, io4 Antecedent Probability of there is nothing to shock the imagination in a mira- culous interference twice or thrice, as well as once. What never has yet happened is improbable in a sense quite distinct from that in which a thing is improbable which has before now happened ; the improbability of the latter class of facts may be greater or less, it may be very great ; but whatever the strength of the im- probability, it is different in kind from the improba- bility attaching to such as admit of being called impossible by those who reject them. 8. It may be urged in reply, that the precedent of Scripture is no special recommendation of Ecclesias- tical Miracles ; for the abstract argument against miracles, as such, has little or no force, as soon as the mere doctrine of a Creator and Supreme Governor is admitted, and even prior to any reference to inspired history; that there is no question among religious men of the existence of a Cause adequate to the production of miracles anywhere or at any period ; the question rather is whether He will work them ; whether the Ecclesiastical Miracles themselves, being what and when they were, are probable, not whether there is a general presumption against them all simply as miracles ; on the other hand, that while the Scrip- ture Miracles avail little as a precedent for subsequent miracles, as miracles, for no precedent is wanted, they do actually tend to discredit them, as being subsequent, for from the nature of the case irregularities can be the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 105 but rarely allowed in any system. It is at first sight not to be expected that the Author of nature should interrupt His own harmonious order at all, though He is powerful to do so; and therefore the fact of His having done so once makes it only less probable that He will do so again. Moreover, if any recurrence of miraculous action is to be anticipated, it is the recurrence of a similar action, not a manifestation of power, ever so different from it ; whereas the miracles of the ages subsequent to the Apostles are on the whole so very unlike those of which we read in Scripture, in their object, circumstances, nature, and evidence, as even to be disproved by the very con- trast. This is what may be objected. 9. Now as far as this representation involves the discussion of the special character and circumstances of the Ecclesiastical Miracles, it will come under con- sideration in the next Chapter ; here we are only en- gaged with the abstract question, whether the fact that miracles have once occurred, and that under cer- tain circumstances and with certain characteristics, does or does not prejudice a proof, when offered, of their having occurred again, and that under other cir- cumstances and with other characteristics. 10. On this point many writers have expressed opinions which it is difficult to justify. Thus Bishop Warburton, in the course of some excellent remarks on the Christian miracles, is led to propose a cer- 106 Antecedent Probability of tain test of true miracles, founded on their professed object, and suggests that this will furnish us with means of drawing the line of supernatural agency in the early Church. " If [the final cause]" he says, " be so important as to make the miracle necessary to the ends of the dispensation, this is all that can be reasonably required to entitle it to our belief ; " so far he is vindicating the Apostolic Miracles, and his rea- soning is unexceptionable; but he adds in a note, " Here, by the way, let me observe, that what is now said gives that criterion which Dr. Middleton and his opponents, in a late controversy concerning miracles, demanded of one another, and which yet both parties, for some reasons or other, declined to give ; namely, some certain mark to enable men to distinguish, for all the purposes of religion, between true and certain miracles, and those which were false or doubtful." a He begins by saying that miracles which subserve a certain object deserve our consideration, he ends by saying that those which do not subserve it do not deserve our consideration, and he makes himself the judge whether they subserve it or not. ii. Bishop Douglas, too, after observing that the miracles of the second and third centuries have a character less clearly supernatural and an evidence less cogent than those of the New Testament, and that the fourth and fifth are " ages of credulity and a Div. Leg. ix. 5. the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 107 superstition/' and the miracles which belong to them are "wild and ridiculous," proceeds to lay down a decisive criterion between true miracles and their counterfeits, and this criterion he considers to be the gift of inspiration in their professed workers. "Though it may be a matter more of curiosity than of use, to en- deavour to determine the exact time when miraculous powers were withdrawn from the Church, yet / think that it may be determined with some degree of exactness. The various opinions of learned Protestants, who have extended them at all after the Apostles, show how much they have been at a loss with regard to this, which has been urged by Papists with an air of triumph, as if, Protestants not being able to agree when the age of miracles was closed, this were an argument of its not being closed as yet. If there be anything in this objection, though perhaps there is not, / think I have it in my power to obviate it } by fixing upon a period, beyond which we may be cer- tain that miraculous powers did not subsist." Then he refers to his argument in favour of the New Testa- ment miracles, that " what we know of the attributes of the Deity, and of the usual methods of His government, inclines us to believe that miracles will never be performed by the agency and instrumentality of men, but when these men are set apart and chosen by God to be His ambassadors, as it were, to the world, to deliver some message or to preach some 108 Antecedent Probability of doctrine as a law from heaven ; and in this case their being vested with a power of working miracles is the best credential of the divinity of their mission." So far, as Warburton, this author keeps within bounds ; but next he proceeds, as Warburton also, to extend his argument from a defence of what is true to a test of what is false. " If we set out with this as a. princi- ple, then shall we easily determine when it was that miracles ceased to be performed by Christians ; for we shall be led to conclude that the age of Christian miracles must have ceased with the age of Christian inspiration. So long as Heaven thought proper to set apart any particular set of men to be the author- ized preachers of the new religion revealed to man- kind, so long, may we rest satisfied, miraculous powers were continued. But whenever this purpose was answered, and inspiration ceased to be any longer necessary, by the complete publication of the Gospel, then would the miraculous powers, whose end was to prove the truth of inspiration, be of course withdrawn." b 12. Here he determines a priori in the most posi- tive manner the "end" or object of miracles in the designs of Providence. That it is very natural and quite consistent with humility to form antecedent notions of what is likely and what not likely, as in other matters, so as regards the Divine dealings with us, has been implied above ; but it is neither reverent b Pp. 239—241. Edit. 4. the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 109 nor philosophical in a writer to " think he has it in his power" to dispense with good evidence in behalf of what professes to be a work of God, by means of a summary criterion of his own framing. His very mode of speech, as well as his procedure, reminds us of Hume, who in like manner, when engaged in in- validating the evidence for all miracles whatever, ob- serves that " nothing is so convenient as a decisive argument," (such as Archbishop Tillotson's against the Real Presence,) " which must at least silence the most arrogant bigotry and superstition, and free us from their impertinent solicitations/' and then "flatters himself that he has discovered an argument of a like nature, which, if just, will, with the wise and learned, be an everlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion, and; consequently, will be useful as long as the world endures." 13. It is observable that in another place Douglas had said, that " though we may be certain that God will never reverse the course of nature but for im- portant ends, (the course of nature being the plan of government laid down by Himself,) Infinite Wisdom may see ends highly worthy of a miraculous inter- position, the importance of which may lie hid from our shallow comprehension. Were, therefore, the mira- cles, about the credibility of which we now dispute, events brought about by invisible agency, though our being able to discover an important end served by a no Antecedent Probabiltiy of miracle would be no weak additional motive to our believing it ; yet our not being able to discover any such end could be no motive to induce us to reject it, if the testimony produced to confirm it be unexception- able." The author is here speaking of the miracles of the Old and New Testaments, which he believes ; and, like a religious man, he feels, contrariwise to Hume, that it is not " convenient," but dangerous, to allow of an antecedent test, which, for what he knows, and before he is aware, may be applied in disproof of one or other instance of those gracious manifesta- tions. But it is far otherwise when he comes to speak of Ecclesiastical Miracles, which he begins with dis- believing without much regard to their evidence, and is engaged, not in examining or confuting, but in bur- dening with some test or criterion which may avail, in Hume's words, " to silence bigotry and superstition, and to free us from their impertinent solicitations." He acts towards the miracles of the Church, as Hume towards the miracles of Scripture. 14. And surely with less reason than Hume, from a consideration already suggested ; because, in being a believer in the miracles of Scripture, he deprives himself of that strong antecedent ground against all miracles whatever, both Scriptural and Ecclesiastical, on which Hume took his stand. Allowing, as he is obliged to allow, that the ecclesiastical miracles are c Page 217. the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 1 1 1 possible, because the Scripture miracles are true, he rejects ecclesiastical miracles as not subserving the object which he arbitrarily assigns for miracles under the Gospel, while he protects the miracles of Scripture by the cautious proviso, that " Infinite Wisdom may see ends" for an interposition, "the importance of which may lie hid from our shal- low comprehension." Yet it is a fairer argument against miraculous agency in a particular instance, before it is known in any case to have been employed, that its object is apparently unimportant, than after such agency has once been manifested. What has been introduced for greater ends may, when once introduced, be made subservient to secondary ones. Parallel cases are of daily occurrence in matters of this world ; and if it is allowable, as it is generally understood to be, to argue from final causes in behalf of the being of a God — that is, to apply the analogy of a human framer and work to the relation subsisting between the physical world and a Creator — surely it is allowable also to illustrate the course of Divine Provi- dence and Governance by the methods and procedures of human agents. Now, nothing is more common in scientific and social arrangements than that works be- gun for one purpose should, in the course of operation, be made subservient, as a matter of course, to lesser ones. A mechanical contrivance or a political orga- nization is continued for secondary objects, when the 1 1 2 Antecedent Probability of primary has been attained ; and thus miracles begun either for Warburton's object or Douglas's may be continued for others, " the importance of which," in the language of the latter, " may lie hid from our shallow comprehension." 15. Hume judges of professedly Divine acts by experience ; Bishops Warburton and Douglas by the probable objects which a Divine Agent must pursue. Both parties draw extravagant conclusions, and that unphilosophically ; but surely we know much less of the designs and purposes of Divine Providence, on which Warburton and Douglas insist, than we know of that physical course of things on which Hume takes his stand. Facts actually come before us ; the All-wise Mind is hidden from us. We have a right to form anticipations about facts ; we may not, except very reverently and humbly, attempt to trace, and we dare not prescribe, the rules on which Providence conducts the government of the world. The Apostle warns us, " Who hath known the mind of the Lord ? and who hath been His counsellor ?" And surely, a fresh or additional object in the course of Providence presents a less startling difficulty to the mind than an interposition in the laws of nature. If we conquer our indisposition towards the news of such an inter- position by reflecting on the Sovereignty of the Creator, let us not be religious by halves, let us submit our imaginations to the full idea of that inscrutable the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 113 Sovereignty, nor presume to confine it within bounds narrower than are prescribed by His own attributes. 16. This, then, is the proper answer to the objection urged against the post-apostolic miracles, on the ground that the first occurrence of miracles does in itself discredit their recurrence, and that the miracles subsequent to those of Scripture differ, in fact, from the Scripture miracles in their objects and cir- cumstances. The ordinary Providence of God is con- ducted upon a system ; and as. even the act of crea- tion is now contemplated by some philosophers as possibly subject to law, so it is more probable than not that there is also a law of supernatural manifesta- tions. And thus the occurrence of miracles is rather a presumption for than against their recurrence ; such events being not isolated acts, but the indications of the presence ,of an agency. And again, since every system consists of parts varying in importance and value, so also as regards a dispensation of miracles, " God hath set every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him;" and even "those members which seem to be more feeble" and less "comely" are "necessary," and are sustained by their fellowship with the more honourable. 17. It may be added that Scripture, as in Mark xvi. 17, 18, certainly does give a primd facie counte- nance to the idea that miracles are a privilege accorded to true believers, and that where is faith, there will 1 14 Antecedent Probability of Miracles. be the manifested signs of its invisible Author Hence it was the opinion of Grotius, d who is here quoted from his connection with English Theology, and of Barrow, Dodwell, and others, that miracles are at least to be expected as attendants on the labours of Missionaries. Now this Scripture intima- tion, whether fainter or stronger, does, as far as it goes, add to the presumption in favour of the miracles of ecclesiastical history, by authoritatively assigning them a place in the scheme of Christianity. But this subject, as well as others touched upon in this Chapter, will more distinctly come into review in those which follow. d On Mark xvi. 17, Grotius avows his belief in the continu- ance of a miraculous agency down to this day. He illustrates that text from St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Lactantius, as regards the power of exorcism, and refers to the acts of Victor of Cilicia in the Martyrology of Ado, and to the history of Sabinus, Bishop of Canusium, in Greg. Turon., for instances of miraculous pro- tection against poison. As to missions, he asserts that the presence of miraculous agency is even a test whether the doctrine preached is Christ's. " Si quis etiam nunc gentibus Christi ignaris, (illis enim proprie miracula inserviunt, 1 Cor. xiv. 22), ita ut ipse annunciari voluit, annunciat, promissionis vim duraturam arbitror. Sunt enim d/tera^X^Ta rod SeoO 5%>a. Sed nos, cujus rei culpa est in nostra ignavi& aut diffidentia, id solemus in Deum rejicere." Elsewhere he professes his belief in the miracle wrought upon the Confessors under Hun- neric, who spoke after their tongues were cut out ; and in the ordeals of hot iron in the middle ages (De Verit. i. 17) ; and in the miracles wrought at the tombs of the Martyrs. Ibid, iii. 7, fin. Vide also De Antichr. p. 502, col. 2. Chapter III. ON THE INTERNAL CHARACTER OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL MIRACLES. 1 8. ' I ^HE miracles wrought in times subsequent to ■*- the Apostles are of a very different cha- racter, viewed as a whole, from those of Scripture viewed as a whole ; so much so, that some writers have not scrupled to say that, if they really took place, they must be considered as forming another dispensa- tion ; e and at least they are in some sense supplement- ary to the Apostolic. This will be evident both on a survey of some of them, and by referring to the language used by the Fathers of the Church concern- ing them. i. 19. The Scripture miracles are for the most part evidence of a Divine Revelation, and that for the sake of those who have not yet been instructed in it, and in order to the instruction of multitudes : but the e Vide Middleton's Inquiry, p. 24. et alib. Campbell on Miracles, p. 121. 1 1 6 Internal Character of miracles which follow have sometimes no discoverable or direct object, or but a slight object ; they happen for the sake of individuals, and of those who are already Christians, or for purposes already effected, as far as we can judge, by the miracles of Scripture. The Scripture miracles are wrought by persons con- sciously exercising under Divine guidance a power committed to them for definite ends, professing to be immediate messengers from heaven, and to be evi- dencing their mission by their miracles : whereas Ecclesiastical miracles are not so much wrought as displayed, being effected by Divine Power without any visible media of operation at all, or by inanimate or material media, as relics and shrines, or by instru- ments who did not know at the time what they were effecting, or, if they were hoping and praying for such supernatural blessing, at least did not know when they were to be used as instruments, when not. The miracles of Scripture are, as a whole, grave, simple, and majestic : those of Ecclesiastical History often partake of what may not unfitly be called a romantic character, and of that wildness and inequality which enters into the notion of romance. The miracles of Scripture are undeniably beyond nature : those^of Ecclesiastical History are often scarcely more than extraordinary accidents or coincidences, or events which seem to betray exaggerations or errors in the statement. The miracles of Scripture are definite and the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 117 whole transactions, drawn out and carried through from first to last, with beginning and ending, clear, complete, and compact in the narrative, separated from extraneous matter, and consigned to authentic statements : whereas the Ecclesiastical, for the most part, are not contained in any authoritative form or original document ; at best they need to be extracted from merely historical works, and often are only floating rumours, popular traditions, vague, various, inconsistent in detail, tales which only happen to have survived, or which in the course of years obtained a permanent place in local usages or in particular rites or on certain spots, recorded at a distance from the time and country when and where they profess to have occurred, and brought into shape only by the juxta-position and comparison of distinct informa- tions. Moreover, in Ecclesiastical History true and false miracles are mixed : whereas in Scripture in- spiration has selected the true to the exclusion of all others. 2. 20. The peculiarity of these miracles, as far as their nature and character are concerned, which is the subject immediately before us at present, will be best understood by an enumeration of some of them, taken almost at random, in the order in which they occur in the authors who report them. The Life of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea in Pontus 1 1 8 Internal Character of (A.D. 250), is written by his namesake of Nyssa, who lived about 120 years after him, and who, being a native and inhabitant of the same country, wrote from the traditions extant in it. He is called Thau- maturgus, from the miraculous gift ascribed to him, and it is not unimportant to observe that he was the original Apostle of the heathen among whom he was placed. He found at first but seventeen Christians in his diocese, and he was the instrument of converting the whole population both of town and country. St. Basil (A.D. 370), whose see was in the neighbourhood, states this circumstance, and adds, " Great is the admiration which still attends on him among the people of that country, and his memory resides in the Churches new and ever fresh, impaired by no length of time. And therefore no usage, no word, no mystic rite of any sort, have they added to the Church beyond those which he left. Hence many of their observances seem imperfect, on account of the ancient manner in which they are conducted. For his successors in the government of the Churches did not endure the introduction of anything which has been brought into use since his date." f 21. St. Gregory of Nyssa tells us that, when he was first coming into his heathen and idolatrous diocese, being overtaken by night and rain, he was obliged, with his companions, to seek refuge in a f De Spir. S. 74. the Ecclesiastical Miracles, 119 temple which was famous for its oracles. On enter- ing he invoked the name of Christ, and made the sign of the cross, and continued till morning in prayer and psalmody, as was his custom. He then went forward, but was pursued by the Priest of the temple, who threatened to bring him before the magistrates, as having driven the evil spirit from the building, who was unable to return. Gregory tore off a small portion of the book he had with him, and wrote on it the words, " Satan, enter." The Priest, on returning, finding that the permission took effect as well as the former prohibition, came to him a second time, and asked to be instructed about that God who had such power over the demons. Gregory unfolded to him the mystery of the Incarnation ; and the pagan, stumbling at it, asked to see a miracle. Nyssen, who has spoken all along as relating the popular account, now says that he has to relate what is " of all the most incredible." A stone of great size lay before them ; the Priest asked that it might be made to move by Gregory's faith, and Gregory wrought the miracle. This was followed by the Priest's conver- sion, but not as an isolated event ; for, on his entry into the city, all the inhabitants went out to meet him, and enough were converted on the first day by his preaching to form a church. In no long time he was in a condition to call upon his flock to build a place of worship, the first public Christian edifice on 120 Internal Character of record ; which remained to Nyssen's time, in spite of the serious earthquakes which had visited the city. 22. St. Gregory's fame extended into the neighbour- ing districts, and secular causes were brought for his determination. Among those who came to him were two brothers, who had come into their father's large property, and litigated about the possession of a lake which formed part of it. When his efforts to accom- modate their difference failed, and the disputants, being strong in adherents and dependants,' were even proceeding to decide the matter by force of arms, Gregory the day before the engagement betook him- self to the lake, and passed the night there in prayer. The lake was dried up, and in Nyssen's time its bed was covered with woods, pasture and corn land, and dwellings. Another miracle is attributed to him of a similar character. A large and violent stream, which was fed by the mountains of Armenia, from time to time broke through the mounds which were erected along its course in the flat country, and flooded the whole plain. The inhabitants, who were heathen, hav- ing heard the fame of Gregory's miracles, made appli- cation to him for relief. He journeyed on foot to the place, and stationed himself at the very opening which the stream had made in the mound. Then in- voking Christ, he took his staff, and fixed it in the mud ; and then returned home. The staff budded, grew, and became a tree, and the stream never passed the Ecclesiastical Miracles. 121 it henceforth : since it was planted by Gregory at the very time when the mound had burst, and was ap- pealed to by the inhabitants, g who were converted in consequence, and was still living in Nyssen's time, it became a sort of monument of the miracle. On one of his journeys two Jews attempted to deceive him ; the one lay down as if dead, and the other pretended to lament him, and asked alms of Gregory for a shroud. Gregory threw his garment upon him, and walked on. His companion called on him to rise, but found him really dead. One day when he was preaching, a boy cried out that some one else was standing by Gregory, and speaking instead of him ; at the end of the discourse Gregory observed to the bystanders that the boy was possessed, and taking off the covering which was on his own shoulders, breathed on it, and cast it on the youth, who forth- with showed all the usual symptoms of demoniacs. He then put his hand on him, and his agitation ceased, and his delusion with it. 23. Now, concerning these and similar accounts, it is obvious to remark, on the one hand, that the alleged miracles were wrought in order to the con- version of idolaters ; on the other hand, when we read of stones changing their places, rivers restrained, and *> M.expl tov vvv rots etrixtoptoLi diafxa ylverai t6 vrbv koX d<.tfyr}fj.a. . . 6vo/ia 8k fiexpl T °v v ^ v ^ a " rl T ^ 8evdp<^ 77 ^aKT7]pla,p,V7}fj.6avvov tt}s Yprjyopiov Xdpiros Kal 8vvd/j.eo)S f rots ^x w P^ 0L$ & navTi r& xpbvw