Supernatural Religion Volume I Part 17

2.

We have seen how incompetent those who lived at the time when the Gospel miracles are supposed to have taken place were to furnish reliable testimony regarding such phenomena; and the gross mistake committed in regard to the largest cla.s.s of these miracles, connected with demoniacal possession, seems altogether to destroy the value of the evidence for the rest, and to connect the whole, as might have been expected, with the general superst.i.tion and ignorance of the period. It may be well to inquire further, whether there is any valid reason for excepting any of the miracles of Scripture from the fate of the rest, and whether, in fact, there was any special "Age of Miracles" at all, round which a privileged line can be drawn on any reasonable ground.

We have already pointed out that the kind of evidence which is supposed to attest the Divine revelation of Christianity, so far from being invented for the purpose, was so hackneyed, so to speak, as scarcely to attract the

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notice of the nation to which the revelation was, in the first instance, addressed. Not only did the Old Testament contain accounts of miracles of every one of the types related in the New, but most of them were believed to be commonly performed both before and after the commencement of the Christian era. That demons were successfully exorcised, and diseases cured, by means of spells and incantations, was never doubted by the Jewish nation. Satanic miracles, moreover, are not only recognized throughout the Old and New Testaments, but formed a leading feature of the Patristic creed. The early Christians were not more ready than the heathen to ascribe every inexplicable occurrence to supernatural agency, and the only difference between them was as to the nature of that agency. The Jews and their heathen neighbours were too accustomed to supposed preternatural occurrences to feel much surprise or incredulity at the account of Christian miracles; and it is characteristic of the universal superst.i.tion of the period that the Fathers did not dream of denying the reality of Pagan miracles, but merely attributed them to demons, whilst they a.s.serted the Divine origin of their own. The reality of the powers of sorcery was never questioned.

Every marvel and every narrative of supernatural interference with human affairs seemed matter of course to the superst.i.tious credulity of the age. However much miracles are exceptions to the order of nature, they have always been the rule in the history of ignorance. In fact, the excess of belief in them throughout many centuries of darkness is fatal to their claims to credence now. The Christian miracles are rendered almost as suspicious from their place in a long sequence of similar occurrences, as they are by being exceptions

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to the sequence of natural phenomena. It would indeed be extraordinary if whole cycles of miracles occurring before and since those of the Gospels, and in connection with every religion, could be repudiated as fables, and those alone maintained as genuine.

No attempt is made to deny the fact that miracles are common to all times and to all religious creeds. Dr. Newman states amongst the conclusions of his essay on the miracles of early ecclesiastical history: "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 and false accounts; that no authoritative guide is supplied to us for drawing the line between the two."(1) Dr. Mozley also admits that morbid love of the marvellous in the human race "has produced a constant stream of miraculous pretension in the world, which accompanies man wherever he is found, and is a part of his mental and physical history."(2) Ignorance and its invariable attendant, superst.i.tion, have done more than mere love of the marvellous to produce and perpetuate belief in miracles, and there cannot be any doubt that the removal of ignorance always leads to the cessation of miracles.(3) The Bampton lecturer proceeds: 'Heathenism had its running stream of supernatural pretensions in the shape of prophecy, exorcism, and the miraculous cures of diseases, which the temples of Esculapius recorded with pompous display."(4) So far from the Gospel miracles being original, and a presentation, for the first time, of phenomena until then unknown

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and unlikely to suggest themselves to the mind, "Jewish supernaturalism was indeed going on side by side with our Lord's miracles."(1) Dr.

Mozley, however, rebuts the inference which has been drawn from this: "That His miracles could not, in the very nature of the case, be evidences of His distinctive teaching and mission, inasmuch as miracles were common to Himself and His opponents," by the a.s.sertion that a very marked distinction exists between the Gospel miracles and all others.(2) He perfectly recognizes the consequence if such a distinction cannot be clearly demonstrated. "The criticism, therefore, which _evidential_ miracles, or miracles which serve as evidence of a revelation, must come up to, if they are to accomplish the object for which they are designed, involves at the outset this condition,--that the evidence of such miracles must be distinguishable from the evidences of this permanent stream of miraculous pretension in the world; that such miracles must be separated by an interval not only from the facts of the order of nature, but also from the common running miraculous, which is the simple offshoot of human nature. Can evidential miracles be inserted in this promiscuous ma.s.s, so as not to be confounded with it, but to a.s.sert their own truth and distinctive source? If they cannot there is an end to the proof of a revelation by miracles: if they can, it remains to see whether the Christian miracles are thus distinguishable, and whether their nature, their object, and their evidence vindicate their claim to this distinctive truth and Divine source."(3)

Now, regarding this distinction between Gospel and

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other miracles, it must be observed that the religious feeling which influenced the composition of the Scripture narratives of miracles naturally led to the exclusion of all that was puerile or ign.o.ble in the traditions preserved regarding the Great Master. The elevated character of Jesus afforded no basis for what was petty, and the devotion with which he was regarded when the Gospels were written insured the n.o.blest treatment of his history within certain limits. We must, therefore, consider the bare facts composing the miracles rather than the narrative of the manner in which they are said to have been produced, in order rightly to judge of the comparative features of different miracles. If we take the case of a person raised from the dead, literary skill may invest the account with more or less of dramatic interest and dignity, but whether the main fact be surrounded with pathetic and picturesque details,.as in the account of the raising of Lazarus in the fourth Gospel, or the person be simply restored to life without them, it is the fact of the resurrection which const.i.tutes the miracle, and it is in the facts alone that we must seek distinction, disregarding and distrusting the accessories. In the one case the effect may be much more impressive, but in the other the bare raising of the dead is not a whit less miraculous. "We have been accustomed to read the Gospel narratives of miracles with so much special veneration, that it is now difficult to recognize how much of the distinction of these miracles is due to the composition, and to their place in the history of Jesus. No other miracles, or account of miracles, ever had such collateral advantages.

As works attributed to our sublimest Teacher, described with simple eloquence and, especially in the case of those in

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the fourth Gospel, with artistic perfection, and read generally with reverential wonder untempered by a thought of criticism, these miracles have seemed to be surrounded by a mystic halo certainly not emanating from themselves. It must not be forgotten, therefore, that the miracle lies in the bare act, and not in its dramatic arrangement. The restoration of life to a dead man is the very same miracle whether it be effected by the relics of a saint or by the word of an apostle. A miracle is not antecedently more credible because of the outstretched arm and word of command, than it is in the silence of the shrine. Being supernatural, the real agency is not seen in either case, although the human mind is more satisfied by the presentation of an apparent cause in the one case, which seems to be absent in the other. In preferring the former type, we are not only influenced by a more dramatic narrative, but we select for belief the miracle from which we can unconsciously eliminate more of the miraculous elements, by tracing it to a visible natural cause which cannot be seen in the latter. The antecedent incredibility of miracles, however, is not affected by literary skill, and is independent of scenic effect.

The Archbishop of Dublin says: "Few points present greater difficulties than the attempt to fix accurately the moment when these miraculous powers were withdrawn from the Church;" and he argues that they were withdrawn when it entered into what he calls its permanent state, and no longer required "these props and strengthenings of the infant plant."(1) That their retrocession was gradual, he considers natural, and he imagines the fulness of Divine power as gradually waning as it was

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subdivided, first among the Apostles, and then amongst the ever-multiplying members of the Church, until by sub-division it became virtually extinct, leaving as a subst.i.tute "the standing wonder of a Church."(1) This, of course, is not argument, but merely the Archbishop's fanciful explanation of a serious difficulty. The fact is, however, that the Gospel miracles were preceded and accompanied by others of the same type, and we may here merely mention exorcism of demons, and the miraculous cure of disease, as popular instances; they were also followed by a long succession of others, quite as well authenticated, whose occurrence only became less frequent in proportion as the diffusion of knowledge dispelled popular credulity. Even at the present day a stray miracle is from time to time reported in outlying districts, where the ignorance and superst.i.tion which formerly produced so abundant a growth of them are not yet entirely dispelled.

Papias of Hierapolis narrates a wonderful story, according to Eusebius, which he had heard from the daughters of the Apostle Philip, who lived at the same time in Hierapolis: "For he relates that a dead man was restored to life in his day."(2) Justin Martyr, speaking of his own time, frequently a.s.serts that Christians still receive the gift of healing, of foreknowledge, and of prophecy,(3) and he points out to the Roman Senate as a fact happening under their own observation, that many demoniacs throughout all the world [--Greek--] and in their own city have

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been healed and are healed, many of the Christian' men among is [--Greek--]

exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, subduing and expelling the possessing demons out of the man, although all the other exorcists with incantations and spells had failed to do so.(1) Theophilus of Antioch likewise states that to his day demons are exorcised.(2) Irenaeus in the clearest manner claims for the Church of his time the continued possession of the Divine [--Greek--] He contrasts the miracles of the followers of Simon and Carpocrates, which he ascribes to magical illusions, with those of Christians. "For they can neither give sight to the blind," he continues, "nor to the deaf hearing, nor cast out all demons, but only those introduced by themselves, if they can even do that; nor heal the sick, the lame, the paralytic, nor those afflicted in other parts of the body, as has been often done in regard to bodily infirmity.... But so far are they from raising the

dead,--as the Lord raised them and the Apostles by prayer, and as frequently in the brotherhood, when the whole Church in a place made supplication with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead was constrained to return, and the man was freely restored in answer to the prayers of the saints--that they do not believe this can possibly be done."(3) Canon

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Mozley, who desires for the purpose of his argument to weaken the evidence of patristic belief in the continuance of miracles, says regarding this last pa.s.sage on raising the dead:--"But the reference is so vague that it possesses but little weight as testimony."(1) We should be sorry to think that the vice, which seems at present to characterize the Church to which Dr. Mozley belongs, of making simple language mean anything or nothing just as any one happens to wish, should be introduced into critical or historical studies. The language of Irenaeus is vague only in so far as specific detailed instances are not given of the miracles referred to; but no language could be more definite or explicit to express the meaning of Irenaeus, namely, the a.s.sertion that the prayers of Christian communities had frequently restored the dead to life. Eusebius, who quotes the pa.s.sage, and who has preserved to us the original Greek, clearly recognized this. He says, when making the quotations: "In the second book of the same work he (Irenaeus) testifies that up to his time tokens of Divine and miraculous power remained in some Churches,"(2) In the next chapter Irenaeus further says:--"On which account, also, his true disciples receiving grace from him, work (miracles) in his name for the benefit of the rest of mankind, according to the gift received from him by each of them. For some do certainly and truly [--Greek--] cast out demons, so that frequently those very men who have thus been cleansed from the evil spirits both

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believe and are now in the church. And some have foreknowledge of future occurrences, and visions, and prophetic utterances. Others heal the sick by the imposition of hands and make them whole. Indeed, as we have already stated, even the dead have been raised up, and have remained with us for many years. And what more shall I say? It is not possible to state the number of the gifts which the Church throughout the world has received from G.o.d in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and which she each day employs for the benefit of the heathen,"

&c.(1)

Tertullian speaks with the most perfect a.s.surance of miracles occurring in his day, and of the power of healing and of casting out devils still possessed by Christians. In one place, for iustance, after a.s.serting the power which they have generally over demons, so that if a person possessed by a devil be brought before one of the Roman tribunals, a follower of Christ can at once compel the wicked spirit within him to confess that he is a demon, even if he had before a.s.serted himself to be a G.o.d, he proceeds to say: "So at our touch and breathing, violently affected by the contemplation and representation of those fires (of h.e.l.l) they (demons) also depart at our command out of bodies, reluctant and complaining, and put to shame

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in your presence."(1) He declares that although dreams are chiefly inflicted upon us by demons, yet they are also sent by G.o.d, and indeed "almost the greater part of mankind derive their knowledge concerning G.o.d from visions."(2) He, elsewhere, states that he himself knows that a brother was severely castigated by a vision the same night on which his slaves had, without his knowledge, done something reprehensible.(3) He narrates as an instance of the continued possession of spiritual _charismata_ by Christians: "There is at this day among us a sister who has the gift of revelations, which she receives in church amidst the solemnities of the Lord's day by ecstasy in the spirit: she converses with angels, and sometimes also with the Lord, and she both hears and sees mysteries (_sacramenta_), and she reads the hearts of some men, and prescribes medicines to those who are in need."(4) Tertullian goes on to say that, after the people were dismissed from the Church, this sister was in the regular habit of reporting what she had seen, and that most diligent inquiries were made in order to test the truth of her communications;(5) and after narrating a vision of a disembodied soul vouchsafed to her, he states: "This is the vision, G.o.d being witness, and

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the Apostle(1) having foretold that such spiritual gifts should be in the Church."(2) Further on Tertullian relates another story within his own knowledge: "I know the case of a woman, born within the fold of the Church, who was in the prime of life and beauty. After being but once, and only a short time, married, having fallen asleep in peace, in the interval before interment (sp.) when the presbyter began to pray as she was being made ready for burial, at the first breath of prayer she removed her hands from her sides, folded them in the att.i.tude of supplication, and again, when the last rites were over, restored them to their former position."(3) He then mentions another story known amongst them: that a dead body in a cemetery moved itself in order to make room beside it for another body;(4) and then he remarks: "If similar cases are also reported amongst the heathen, we conclude that G.o.d displays signs of his power for the consolation of his own people, and as a testimony to others."(5) Again, he mentions cases where Christians had cured persons of demoniacal possession, and adds: "And how many men of position (for we do not speak of the vulgar) have been delivered either from devils or from diseases."(6) Tertullian

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in the same place refers to the miracle of the "Thundering Legion,"(1) and he exclaims: "When indeed have not droughts been removed by our prayers and fastings."(2) Minucius Felix speaks of the casting out of devils from sick persons by Christians in his own day, as a matter of public notoriety even among Pagans.(3) St. Cyprian echoes the same a.s.sertions.(4) He likewise mentions cases of miraculous punishment inflicted upon persons who had lapsed from the Christian faith. One of these, who ascended the Capitol to make denial of Christ, suddenly became dumb after he had spoken the words.(6) Another, a woman, was seized by an unclean spirit even at the baths, and bit with her own teeth the impious tongue which had eaten the idolatrous food, or spoken the words, and she shortly expired in great agony.(6) He likewise maintains that Christians are admonished by G.o.d in dreams and by visions, of which he mentions instances.(7) Origen claims for Christians the power still to expel demons, and to heal diseases in the name of Jesus,(8) and he states that he had seen many persons so cured of madness and countless other evils, which could not be otherwise cured by men or devils.(9) Lactantius repeatedly a.s.serts the power of Christians over demons; they make them flee from bodies when they adjure them in the name of G.o.d.(10)

Pa.s.sing over the numerous apocryphal writings of the early centuries of our era, in which many miracles are

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recorded, we find in the pages of Eusebius narratives of many miraculous occurrences. Many miracles are ascribed to Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, of which Eusebius relates several. Whilst the vigils of the great watch of the Pa.s.sover were being kept, the oil failed, whereupon Narcissus commanded that water from the neighbouring well should be poured into the lamps. Having prayed over the water, it was changed into oil, of which a specimen had been preserved until that time.(1) On another occasion, three men having spread some vile slanders against Narcissus, which they confirmed by an oath, and with imprecations upon themselves of death by a miserable disease, of death by fire, and of blindness, respectively, if their statements were not true, omnipotent justice in each case inflicted upon the wretches the curse which each had invoked.(2) The election of Fabia.n.u.s to the Episcopal chair of Rome was marked by the descent of a dove from on high, which rested upon his head, as the Holy Ghost had descended upon our Saviour.(3) At Caesarea Philippi there is a statue of Jesus Christ which Eusebius states that he himself had seen, said to have been erected by the woman healed of the b.l.o.o.d.y issue, and on the pedestal grows a strange plant as high as the hem of the brazen garment, which is an antidote to all diseases.(4) Great miracles are recorded as taking place during the persecutions in Caesarea.(5)

Gregory of Nyssa gives an account of many wonderful works performed by his namesake Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, who was called _Thaumaturgus_ from the miraculous power which he possessed and very freely

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exercised. The Virgin Mary and the Apostle John appeared to him, on one occasion, when he was in doubt as to the doctrine which he ought to preach, and, at the request of Mary, the Apostle gave him all needful instructions.(1) If his faith did not move mountains, it moved a huge rock to convert a pagan priest.(2) He drove a demon out of a heathen temple in which he had taken refuge, and the evil spirit could not re-enter until he gave permission.(3) Nyssen relates how St. Gregory averted an armed contest of two brothers who quarrelled about the possession of a lake on their father's property. The saint pa.s.sed the night in prayer beside the lake, and in the morning it was found dried up.(4) On another occasion he rescued the country from the devastation of a mountain stream, which periodically burst the d.y.k.es by which it was restrained and inundated the plain. He went on foot to the place, and invoking the name of Christ, fixed his staff in the earth at the place where the torrent had broken through. The staff took root and became a tree, and the stream never again burst its bounds. The inhabitants of the district were converted to Christianity by this miracle. The tree was still living in Nyssen's time, and he had seen the bed of the lake covered with trees, pastures, and cottages.(5) Two vagabond Jews once attempted to deceive him. One of them lay down and pretended to be dead, while the other begged money from the saint wherewith to buy him a shroud. St. Gregory quietly took off his cloak and laid it on the man, and

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walked away. His companion found that he was really dead.(1) St. Gregory expelled demons from persons possessed, healed the sick and performed many other miracles;(2) and his signs and wonders are not only attested by Gregory of Nyssa, but by St. Basil,(3) whose grandmother, St.

Macrina, was brought up at Neo-Caesarea by the immediate followers of the saint.

Athanasius, in his memoir of St. Anthony, who began to lead the life of a recluse about a.d. 270, gives particulars of many miracles performed by the saint. Although he possessed great power over demons, and delivered many persons possessed by them, Satan tormented him sadly, and he was constantly beset by legions of devils. One night Satan with a troop of evil spirits so belaboured the saint that he lay on the ground speechless and almost dead from their blows.(4) We have already referred to the case of Natalius, who was scourged by angels during a whole night, till he was brought to repentance.(5) Upon one occasion when St. Anthony had retired to his cell resolved to pa.s.s a time in perfect solitude, a certain soldier came to his door and remained long there knocking and supplicating the saint to come and deliver his daughter, who was tormented by a demon. At length St. Anthony addressed the man and told him to go, and if he believed in Jesus Christ and prayed to G.o.d, his prayer should

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be fulfilled. The man believed, invoked Jesus Christ, and his daughter was delivered from the demon.(1) As Anthony was once travelling across the desert to visit another monastery, the water of the caravan failed them, and his companions in despair threw themselves on the ground. St.

Anthony, however, retired a little apart, and in answer to his prayer a spring of water issued at the place where he was kneeling.(2) A man named Fronto, who was afflicted with leprosy, begged his prayers, and was ordered by the saint to go into Egypt, where he should be healed.

Fronto at first refused, but being told that he could not be healed if he remained, the sick man went believing, and as soon as he came in sight of Egypt he was made whole.(3) Another miracle was performed by Anthony at Alexandria in the presence of St. Athanasius. As they were leaving the city a woman cried after him, "Man of G.o.d, stay; my daughter is cruelly troubled by a demon;" and she entreated him to stop lest she herself should die in running after him. At the request of Athanasius and the rest, the saint paused, and as the woman came up her daughter fell on the ground convulsed. St. Anthony prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, and immediately the girl rose perfectly restored to health, and delivered from the evil spirit.(4) He astonished a number of pagan philosophers, who had come to dispute with him, by delivering several demoniacs, making the sign of the cross over them three times, and invoking the name of Jesus Christ.(5) It is unnecessary, however, to multiply instances of his miraculous power to drive out demons and heal diseases,(6) and to perform other

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wonderful works. St. Athanasius, who was himself for a long time a personal follower of St. Anthony, protests in his preface to the biography his general accuracy, he having everywhere been mindful of the truth.(1)