Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-12-06


say le. us follow their gods, whom ye
know not, and let as serve them; then
thou shalt not hearken unto them unto
tie woTds 81 the prof hst or that dreamer
u dreEms, for the Lord only tiles yen
whether ysu love the Lord your Sod
with ali your heart and all your sonl.N
Here then th5 law assumes Mat a man
nay arise hearing the tile Of prophet,
give a siglt OF perform miracles, OF pre-
dict that something wonderful will come
10 pass, tand il sctGslly does take p!aee.)
Bus says The Bible, no matter whether
tHe miracle is performed or not, il he says
q rs follow other gods, do act you listen
g. him. In other words IL he tell you
anything contrary to your BELIEF in the
doctrine OF tie unity Of God, don't you
harken 10 him, even though nc does PSF
form miracles.
What clearer proof do We need fron
the Bible itself, that We are no TO rely
upon miracles as evidence Of the truth (;
that We are to judge mems assertions by
tbei. Intrinsic merits, and pay no Rtten-
ion to any ofthese external Over-Rwing
circumstances he may present in attes-
alton OF his authority or divinity, or the
truth of his assertions. II is needless to
i~eii upon this direct preeept 1t is too
plain to need any further explanation.
The Rsbsis OF the Ialmud, aisO, not
9-ithstsndlBg their Darr0w-miBdsd views
in some things, hold that miracles are DO
evidence IF divinity. They themselves
pretended 10 possess power to work mira
ciss land the Talmud Is Just as full Of
miracles wrought by the r Ibbis as any
other b03k6 yet they never appealed e
them az proof of the truth Of any Of
their assertions, nor would they ALLOW
Others to do so, as the following anec-
dote, related in the Talmud, illustrates:
A certain Rabbi Eieszer differed from
his colleagues in the R~3bbiDical Acade-
my on certain questions OF the law, bGi
insisted that he was correct and ali the
rest OF The Rzbbis mistaken. His rea-
soning not being sufficient to convince
bis colleagues, he appealed to outward
proofs he commanded q tree that vas
standing ia front Of the college to move q
hundred yards, and il did so, upon which
The RSbb.s said, "the tree is 30 proof"
he then commanded the river to flow
backwards, and the river obeyed.
Brit the Rabbis again ansRers.,
The river is no evidence, proved BY
your reason :" and hen appealed to the
walls of the college, saying, "If my
opinion is correct, [ wish you to fall down
upon oar heads" and the wsils began to
give way, ss if about to fall but the
president of the academy in an impOsi &
manner commanded the walls 20 stay,
which they did u of respect to his Office,
and did not fall, whilst out OF respect t.
Eieszer they did not regain their former
position, but remained crooked ever az
Ter that. At last Eieszsr said 81 ap
peal TO Heaven to declare my opinion is
correct - and q voice was heard from
above, saying "R4bbi Eleszer is cor
rect - upon which the presiding officsr
agained exclaimed, (" We have the Law
of doBes before US; we have our God
given resson within; va pay &c atten-
ton t., voices from above; here is our
reason and the Bible; upon this basis
prove that you are Correct
This anecdote is sufi lent to illus
trate the opinion of the Rabbis, that no
miracles, however great ana numer-
Gus, suffice to prove any thing
Hence, too, the great M~dinl0nides, in his
learned work, summing up the views of
the Talmud, says:
IAN the miracles that Moses per-
were not sddueed as proof of his
divine mission, but simply in order to
meet the necessities of the age " it was
in short to accommodate the wants OF
the masses, as well as the opinion pre-
in that day. A man could not at
that time prevail over the masses by force
Of reason, but only by q display OF phys
ical pager.
AT present, however, the correctness
Of q creed is tested by the tombstone of
reason, and it is the duty of every thinking
70 subject his faith to this test.
We need not fear the result. Trut5 viii
prevail. Let other creeds appeal to the
miraculous works for the proof or confir-
nation OF their teachings; let them do
it who need il, these creeds whose doc
trines are so peculiar, so mysterious, that
nothing but a miracle can be cited az
evidence Of their correctness. Judaism
needs no such appeal it ven forbids any
such appeal it is TO stsLd firm forever,
and it can only do SO on the eternal rock
Of reason.