things, to which no cause can be assigned in the natural order. Such a phenomenon authorizes the same inference as that which is drawn from the instantaneous cure, by a word, of a man born blind.

On this eminence He stands who called himself the Son of man. It is not claimed that this peculiarity of itself proves the divinity of Jesus. This would be a larger conclusion than the premises justify. But the inference is unavoidable, first, that his relation to God is altogether peculiar, and, secondly, that his testimony respecting himself has the attestation of a miracle. That testimony must be on all hands allowed to have included the claim to be the authoritative Guide and the Saviour of mankind.

CHAPTER VI.

PROOF OF THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST INDEPENDENTLY OF SPECIAL INQUIRY INTO THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE GOSPELS.

THE reader will bear in mind that we are reasoning, for the present, on the basis of the view respecting the origin of the Gospels which is commonly taken by critics of the sceptical schools. Let it be assumed that more than one of the Gospels resulted from an expansion of earlier documents which included a less amount of matter; that the traditions which are collected in the Gospels of the canon are of unequal value; and that all of these books first saw the light in their present form somewhere in the course of the second century. Still it is maintained, that, even on this hypothesis, the main facts at the foundation of the Christian faith can be established. In this chapter it is proposed to bring forward evidence to prove that miracles were wrought by Jesus substantially as related by the evangelists.

I. The fact that the apostles themselves professed to work miracles by a power derived from Christ makes it highly probable that they believed miracles to have been wrought by him.

The point to be shown is, that narratives of miracles performed by Christ were embraced in the accounts which the apostles were in the habit of giving of his life. A presumptive proof of this proposition is drawn from the circumstance that they themselves, in fulfill

ing the office to which they were appointed by him, professed to work miracles, and considered this an indispensable criterion of their divine mission. There is no doubt of the fact as here stated. Few scholars now hold that the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul. Some follow an ancient opinion, which Grotius held, and to which Calvin was inclined, that Luke wrote it. Others attribute it to Barnabas. Many are disposed, with Luther, to consider Apollos its author. It is a question which we have no occasion to discuss here. The date of the Epistle is the only point that concerns us at present. It was used by Clement of Rome in his Epistle to the Corinthians, and therefore must have existed as early as A.D. 97. A majority of critics, including adherents of opposite creeds in theology, infer, from passages in the Epistle itself, that the temple at Jerusalem was still standing when it was written.1 Hilgenfeld, the ablest representative of the Tübingen school, is of opinion that Apollos wrote it before A.D. 67.2 Be this as it may, its author was a contemporary and acquaintance of the apostles. Now, he tells us that their supernatural mission was confirmed by the miracles which they did: "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost." The same thing is repeatedly asserted by the Apostle Paul. "Working miracles among you "5 is the phrase which he uses when speaking of what he himself had done in Galatia. If we give to the preposition, as perhaps we should, its literal sense "in," the meaning is, that the apostle had imparted to his converts the power

1 See Heb. vii. 9, viii. 3, ix. 4. * Heb. ii. 3.

6 ἐνεργῶν δυνάμεις ἐν ὑμῖν, Gal. iii. δ.

2 Einl. in d. N. Test., p. 388. 4 Ibid., ver. 5.

to work miracles.1 In the Epistle to the Romans he explicitly refers to "the mighty signs and wonders' which Christ had wrought by him: it was by "deed," as well as by word, that he had succeeded in convincing a multitude of brethren.2 How, indeed, we might stop to ask, could such an effect have been produced at that time in the heathen world by "word" alone? But in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians he reminds them that miracles"signs and wonders and mighty deeds — had been wrought by him before their eyes; and he calls them "the signs," not of an apostle, as the Authorized Version has it, but of "the apostle." They are the credentials of the apostolic office. By these an apostle is known to be what he professes to be. In working miracles he had exhibited the characteristic marks of an apostle. The author of the book of Acts, then, goes no farther than Paul himself goes, when that author ascribes to the apostles "many wonders and signs." It is in the highest degree probable, in the light of the passages quoted from Paul, that, if he and Barnabas were vindicating themselves and their work, they would declare, as the author of Acts affirms they did, "what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them."5 Now we advance another step. In each of the first three Gospels the direction to work miracles forms a part of the brief commission given by Christ to the apostles. If the apostles could remember any thing correctly, would they forget the terms of this brief, momentous charge from the Master? This, if any thing, would be handed down in an authentic form. In the charge when the apostles

4

1 Cf. Lightfoot and Meyer, ad loc. 8 2 Cor. xii. 12.

5 Acts xv. 12, cf. ver. 4.

2 Rom. xv. 18-20.

4 Acts ii. 43, cf. iv. 30, v. 12, xiv. 3.

8 Matt. x. 1, 8; Mark iii. 15, Luke ix. 2; cf. Luke x. 9.

were first sent out, as it is given in Matthew, they were to limit their labors to the Jews, to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." They were not even to go at that time to the Samaritans. This injunction is a strong confirmation of the exactness of the report in the first evangelist. Coupling the known fact, that the working of miracles was considered by the apostles a distinguishing sign of their office, with the united testimony of the first three Gospels, the Gospels in which the appointment of the Twelve is recorded, it may be safely concluded that Jesus did tell them to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." He told them to preach, and to verify their authority as teachers by this merciful exertion of powers greater than belong to man. Is it probable that he expected them to furnish proofs of a kind which he had not furnished himself? Did he direct them to do what they had never seen him do? Did he profess to communicate to his apostles a power which he had given them no evidence of possessing?

II. Injunctions of Jesus not to report his miracles, it is evident, are truthfully imputed to him; and this proves that the events to which they relate actually took place.

It is frequently said in the Gospels, that Jesus enjoined upon those whom he miraculously healed not to make it publicly known. He was anxious that the miracle should not be noised abroad. For instance, it is said in Mark, that in the neighborhood of Bethsaida he sent home a blind man whom he had cured, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town."2 The motive is plainly indicated. Jesus had

1 Matt. ix. 30, xii. 16, xvii. 9; Mark iii. 12, v. 43, vii. 36, viii. 26, ix. 9; Luke v. 14, viii. 56. 2 Mark viii. 26.