THE EVIDENCE FOR MIRACLES.
It does not come within the scope of this work to examine at any length
the general subject of miracles. The assertion that miracles, such as
those recorded in Scripture, are absolutely impossible, and so have
never taken place, must be met by the counter assertion that they are
possible, and have taken place. They are possible to the Supreme Being,
and have taken place by His will or sufferance at certain perfectly
historical periods; especially during the first century after the birth
of Christ. When to this it is replied that miracles are violations of
natural law or order, and that it is contrary to our highest idea of the
Supreme Being to suppose that He should alter the existing order of
things, we can only reply that it is in accordance with our highest idea
of Him that He should do so; and we say that in making these assertions
we are not unreasonable, but speak in accordance with natural science,
philosophy, and history.
And, in order to prove this, we have only to draw attention to the
inaccuracy which underlies the use of the term "law" by the author of
"Supernatural Religion," and those who think as he does. The author of
"Supernatural Religion" strives to bring odium on the miracles of the
Gospel by calling them "violations of law," and by asserting that it is
a false conception of the Supreme Being to suppose that He should have
made an Universe with such elements of disorder within it that it should
require such things as the violation, or even suspension, of laws to
restore it to order, and that our highest and truest idea of God is that
of One Who never can even so much as make Himself known except through
the action of the immutable laws by which this visible state of things
is governed.
Now what is a law? The laws with which in this discussion we are given
to understand we have to do, are strictly speaking limitations--the
limitations of forces or powers which, in conception at least, must
themselves be prior to the limitations.
Take the most universal of all so-called "laws," the law of gravitation.
The law of gravitation is the limitation imposed upon that mysterious
force which appears to reside in all matter, that it should attract all
other matter. This power of attraction is called gravitation; but
instead of acting at random, as it were, it acts according to certain
well-known rules which only are properly the "laws" of gravitation.
Now the very existence of our world depends upon the force of attraction
being counteracted. If, from a certain moment, gravitation were to
become the only force in the solar system, the earth would fall upon the
surface of the sun, and be annihilated; but the earth continues in
existence because of the action of another force--the projectile
force--which so far counteracts the force of the sun's attraction, that
the earth revolves around the sun instead of falling upon its surface.
In this case the _law_ of gravitation is not violated, or even
suspended, but the force of gravitation is counteracted or modified by
another force.
Again, the blood circulates through our bodies by means of another power
or force counteracting the force of gravitation, and this is the vital
power or force.
But why do we lift up our feet from the ground to go about some daily
duty? Here comes another force--the force of will, which directs the
action of some of the vital forces, but not that of others.
But, again, two courses of action are open to us, and we deliberately
choose the one because we think that it is our duty, though it may
entail danger or pain, or even death. Here is a still deeper force or
power, the force of conscience--the moral power which is clearly the
highest power within us, for it governs the very will, and sits in
judgment upon the whole man, and acquits or condemns him according to
its rule of right and wrong.
Here, then, are several gradations of power or force--any one of them as
real as the others; each one making itself felt by counteracting and
modifying the action of the one below it.
Now the question arises, is there any power or force clearly above the
highest controlling power within us, _i.e._ above our conscience? We say
that there is. There are some who on this point can reverently take up
the words of our Great Master, "We speak that we do know." We believe,
as firmly as we believe in our own existence, that this our
conscience--the highest power within us--has been itself acted upon by a
Higher Power still, a moral and spiritual Power, which has enlightened
it, purified it, strengthened it, in fact renewed it.
Now, this purifying or enlightening of our moral powers has one
remarkable effect. It makes those who have been acted upon by it to look
up out of this present state of things for a more direct revelation of
the character and designs of the Supreme Being. Minds who have
experienced this action of a Superior Power upon them cannot possibly
look upon the Supreme Being as revealing Himself merely by the laws of
gravitation, or electricity, or natural selection. We look for, we
desire a further and fuller Revelation of God, even though the
Revelation may condemn us. We cannot rest without it. It is intolerable
to those who have a sense of justice, for instance, to think that,
whilst led by their sense of what is good and right, men execute
imperfect justice, there is, after all, no Supreme Moral Governor Who
will render to each individual in another life that just retribution
which is assuredly not accorded to all in this life. [152:1]
Now this, I say, makes us desire a revelation of the Supreme Moral
Governor which is assuredly not to be found in the laws which control
mere physical forces. As Dr. Newman has somewhere said, men believe what
they wish to believe, and assuredly we desire to believe that there is a
supreme Moral Governor, and that He has not left us wholly in the dark
respecting such things as the laws and sanctions of His moral
government. But has He really revealed these? We look back through the
ages, and our eyes are arrested by the figure of One Who, according to
the author of "Supernatural Religion," taught a "sublime religion." His
teaching "carried morality to the sublimest point attained, or even
attainable, by humanity. The influence of His Spiritual Religion has
been rendered doubly great by the unparalleled purity and elevation of
His own character. He presented the rare spectacle of a life, so far as
we can estimate it, uniformly noble and consistent with His own lofty
principles, so that the 'imitation of Christ' has become almost the
final word in the preaching of His Religion, and must continue to be one
of the most powerful elements of its permanence." (Vol. ii. p. 487.)
It is quite clear from this testimony of an enemy to the Christian
religion, as it appears in the Scriptures, that if the Supreme Moral
Governor had desired to give to man a revelation of the principles and
sanctions of His moral government, He could not have chosen a more
fitting instrument. Such a character seems to have been made for the
purpose. If He has not revealed God, no one has.
Now, who is this Man Whose figure stands thus prominent above His
fellows?
We believe Him to be our Redeemer; but before He redeemed, He laid down
the necessity of Redemption by making known to men the true nature of
sin and righteousness, and the most just and inevitable Judgment of God.
He revealed to us that there is One above us Who is to the whole race,
and to every individual of the race, what our consciences are to
ourselves--a Judge pronouncing a perfect judgment, because He perfectly
knows the character of each man, perfectly observes and remembers his
conduct, and, moreover, will mete out to each one a just and perfect
retribution.
But still, how are we to know that He has authority to reveal to us such
a thing as that God will judge the race and each member of it by a just
judgment? Natural laws reveal to us no such judgment. Nature teaches us
that if we transgress certain natural laws we shall be punished. But it
teaches no certain judgement either in this life or in any future life
which will overtake the transgression of moral laws. A man may defraud,
oppress, and seduce, and yet live a prosperous life, and die a quiet,
painless death.
How, then, are we to know that Jesus of Nazareth had authority to reveal
that God will set all this right in a future state, and that He Himself
will be the direct Agent in bringing the rectification about? How are we
to know that what He says is true respecting a matter of such deep
concern to ourselves, and yet so utterly unknown to mere physical
nature, and so out of the reach of its powers? What proof have we of His
Revelation, or that it is a Revelation? The answer is, that as what He
revealed is above mere physical nature, so He attested it by the
exhibition of power above physical nature--the exhibition of the direct
power of God. He used miracles for this purpose; more particularly He
staked the truth of His whole message on the miracle of His own
Resurrection. [155:1] The Resurrection was to be the assurance of the
perfection of both His Redemption and His Judgment.
Now, against all this it is persistently alleged that even if He had the
power He could not have performed miracles, because miracles are
violations of law, and the Lawgiver cannot violate even mere physical
laws; but this specious fallacy is refuted by the simple assertion that
He introduced a new power or force to counteract or modify others, which
counteraction or modification of forces is no more than what is taking
place in every part of the world at every moment.
Before proceeding further we will illustrate the foregoing by testing
some assertions of the author of "Supernatural Religion."
"Man," he asserts, "is as much under the influence of gravitation as a
stone is" (vol. i. p. 40). Well, a marble statue is a stone. Can a
marble statue, after it is thrown down, rise up again of itself, and
stand upon its feet?
Again--
"The law of gravitation suffers no alteration, whether it cause the
fall of an apple or shape the orbit of a planet" (p. 40).
Of course the "law" suffers no alteration, but the force of gravitation
suffers considerable modification if you catch the apple in your hand,
or if the planet has an impulse given to it which compels it to career
round the sun instead of falling upon his surface. Again (page 40):--
"The harmonious action of physical laws, and their adaptability to
an infinite variety of forms, constitutes the perfection of that
code which produces the order of nature. The mere superiority of man
over lower forms of organic and inorganic matter does not lift him
above physical laws, and the analogy of every grade in nature
forbids the presumption that higher forms may exist which are exempt
from their control."
The number of fallacies in this short passage is remarkable. In the
first place laws never act, _i.e._ of themselves. They have to be
administered. Forces or powers act under the restraint of laws. I think
I am right in saying that all physical _laws_, as distinguished from
forces, are limitations of force. No man can conceive of a law acting by
itself. There is no such thing, for instance, as a "Reign of Law." A
power acts or, if you please, reigns, according to a law, but laws of
themselves can do nothing.
Again, the author says, "The mere superiority of man over lower forms of
organic and inorganic matter does not lift him above physical laws."
Yes, it does, partially at least, for it enables him, in his sphere, to
control the very forces whose action is limited by laws. The superiority
of man is shown in his control of the powers of nature, and making them
obey his will. All such inventions as the steam engine or the electric
telegraph lift man above certain physical laws, by enabling him to
control the forces with which those laws have to do.
Again, he writes: "The analogy of every grade in nature forbids the
presumption that higher forms may exist which are exempt from their
control." On the contrary, we assert that the analogy of every grade in
nature encourages the presumption that higher forms may exist which can
control these forces of nature far more directly and perfectly than we
can.
To proceed. In page 41 we read:--
"If in animated beings we have the solitary instance of an efficient
cause acting among the forces of nature, and possessing the power of
initiation, this efficient cause produces no disturbance of physical
law."
I cite this place, in order to draw attention to what I suppose must
have struck the careful reader, which is the application of the term
"solitary instance" to the action of animated beings amongst the forces
of nature. If there had been but one animated being in existence, such
an epithet might not have been out of place; but when one considers that
the world teems with such beings, and that by their every movement they
modify or counteract, in their own case at least, the mightiest of all
nature's forces, and that no inconsiderable portion of the earth's
surface owes its conformation to their action, we are astonished at
finding all this characterized as the solitary instance of an efficient
cause. But by a sentence at the bottom of this page we are enlightened
as to the real reason for so strange a view of the place of vital powers
in the universe. In the eyes of those who persist in, as far as
possible, ignoring all laws except physical laws, even to the extent of
endeavouring to prove that moral forces themselves are but mere
developed forms of physical ones, all manifestations of powers other
than those of electricity, gravitation, magnetism, and so forth are
anomalous, and we have the very word "anomaly" applied to them. "The
only anomaly," he writes, "is our ignorance of the nature of vital
force. [158:1] But do we know much more of the physical?"
Men who thus concentrate their attention upon mere physical laws or
phenomena, get to believe in no others. They are impatient of any things
in the universe except what they can number, or measure, or weigh. They
are in danger of regarding the Supreme Being Himself as an "anomaly."
They certainly seem to do so, when they take every pains to show that
the universe can get on perfectly well without His superintending
presence and control.
Whatever odium, then, may be attached to the violation of a natural
_law_, cannot be attached to the action of a superior _force_, making
itself felt amongst lower grades of natural forces.
If it be rejoined that this superior force must act according to law, we
answer, certainly, but according to what law? Not, of course, according
to the law of the force which it counteracts, but according to the law
under which itself acts.
The question of miracles, then, is a matter of evidence; but we all know
what a power human beings have of accepting or rejecting evidence
according as they look for it or are prejudiced against it.
If men concentrate their thought upon the lower forces of the universe,
and explain the functions of life, and even such powers as affection,
will, reason, and conscience, as if they were modifications of mere
physical powers, and ignore a higher Will, and an all-controlling Mind,
and a personal superintending Providence, what wonder if they are
indisposed to receive any such direct manifestation of God as the
Resurrection of Jesus, for the Resurrection of Jesus is the pledge of a
righteous Judgment and Retribution which, however it takes place, will
be the most astounding "anomaly" amidst the mere physical phenomena of
the universe, whilst it will be the necessary completion of its moral
order.
The proof of miracles is then, as I said, a matter of evidence. When
Hume asserts that "a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature," we
meet him with the counter-assertion that it is rather the new
manifestation in this order of things of the oldest of powers, that
which originally introduced life into a lifeless world.
When he says that "a firm and unalterable experience has established
these laws," we say that science teaches us that there must have been
epochs in the history of the world when new forces made their appearance
on the scene, for it teaches us that the world was once incandescent,
and so incapable of supporting any conceivable form of animal life, but
that at a certain geological period life made its appearance.
Now, we believe that it is just as wonderful, and contrary to the
experience of a lifeless world, that life should appear on that world,
as that it is contrary to the experience of the present state of things,
that a dead body should be raised.
When he asserts that a miraculous event is contrary to uniform
experience, we can only reply that it is not contrary to the experience
of the Evangelists, of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of the other Apostles
and companions of the Lord; that it was not contrary to the experience
of the multitudes who were miraculously fed, and of the multitudes who
were miraculously healed. When it is replied to this, that we have
insufficient evidence of the fact that these persons witnessed miracles,
we rejoin that there is far greater evidence, both in quality and
amount, for these miracles, especially for the crowning one, than there
is for any fact of profane history; but, if there was twice the evidence
that there is, its reception must depend upon the state of mind of the
recipient himself.
If a man, whilst professing to believe in "a God under whose beneficent
government we know that all that is consistent with wise and omnipotent
law is prospered and brought to perfection," yet has got himself to
believe that such a God cannot introduce into any part of the universe a
new power or force, as for instance that He is bound not to introduce
vital force into a lifeless world, or mental power into a reasonless
world, or moral power into a world of free agents, but must leave these
forces to work themselves out of non-existence;--if it man, I say, has
got himself to believe in such a Being, he will not, of course, believe
in any testimony to miracles as accrediting a Revelation from Him, and
so he will do his best to get rid of them after the fashion in which we
have seen the author of "Supernatural Religion" attempt to get rid of
the testimony of Justin Martyr to the use of the Four Gospels in his
day.