The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1878-01-10

| forgot to mention that as | was CO.
ing to meet Howard at Ysleta l met
Chico Barills and eighteen men, some
of them from the other side of the river.
Respectfully yours, ]. B. TAYs,
Lieut.. comd'g. detachment Co. c.
Front. Bait.
Can Miracles Ise Proven!
The lecture of the Rev. Mr.. Car
ripgton on the definition and credl-
bilIty of. miracles, delivered in the
Baptist Church last Sunday, was so re-
plete with learning, logic and rhetoric
that nothing short of the whole lecture
would do it justice. He said this lee
ture was but q proem to grander
theme, the miracle of miracles, the
resurrection of Jesus. Language was
too poor to detiae q miracle by single
word. Miracles, signs and wonders,
wonderful works, mighty works and
works are words IN Scripture indica-
tive of the general idea. A message
to mankind from the supsrnal world,
itself great wonder, is attssted by as
founding phenomena, which startle be-
holders from the dream of an existence
bounded only by the senses to consider
the character both of the message and
of its great source; and these phenom-
eaa are aptly styled IN the word of
God wonders. So they are called
signs because, as finger boards, they
point to God, or because they are
proofs both of the authority of his
messengers and of the truth of their
messages. SO they are called mighty
works by contrast, being truly works
of might and power. But IN the Ian
guage of Jesus himself, given 10y the
Apostle John, they were simply works.
To him whose name was "Woaderfuln
his own stupendous works, in all the
richness of their isolated grandeur, ap-
peared but the legitimate fruits of his
divinity, and he called them simply
his ''works." The Scripture words
for miracles indicate phenomena, not
in accordance with the coexisting
order of nature, and attributable only
to the direct Intervention of God.
But we would not say that a miracle is
a violation of law of nature. 1t is a
phenomenon above and beyond that
part of nature to which we are ac-
customed.
The word koSmos, translated world,
signifies order. But can we say that
the disorder and woe prevalent since
the day the primal pair strayed from
the fiowery paths of obedience are the
natural order. Shall we not rather
say they are unnatural, contrary to
that order, and that the miracle is but
higher order Of nature come down
from the world of hafmonies for the
time to n.utraiize them and restore the
true order of na'u-e. Are not pain,
sickness and death all abnormal2 Who
can say a relief from these is not
restoration to the primitive order OF
natuTtl
A miracle is not an infraction of law.
1t has analOgies familiar to us. Our
bodies would putreiy and disintegrate
but for the higher law of vitality that
checks and suspends the lower or
chemical law. | hold a book sus-
pended in spite of the law OF gravitl-
ton, which is now arrested 10y supe-
rior law. The law of sin ouce rIoted
in the body of the Christian, in whom
| it is now held in 8beyance by the law
of the spirit of life. OF conflicting
powers, the lower yields tn the higher.
We know of no agency in this world
by which to raise the dead or TO bring
forth new heaven and a new earth,
resplendent with the glory of eternity,
| from the womb of the old. Yet in this
great miracle we conceive the truest
order Of nature will one day be ushered
in with the gaTniturc of an eternal har-
mony.
A miracle is "the direct ipt-oduc-
ton by divine power of higher law
to neutralize the operation of lower
law" The New Testament miracles
were designed as the credentials both
of the grand message from God and of
the honored ambassadors who bore it.
But is it reasonable to believe mira
clesl Hume said they were contrary
to universal experience, and he could
not believe them. But to know the
universal experience Mr. Hume must
needs have the testimony of all men
from the beginning OF time and the
evidence OF physical nature from the
beginning of eternity. And to justify
his conclusions the testimonies of that
that no miracle has ever been witnessed.
But in the brief limits of his cwn re-
searches he had found the testimony of
divers witnesses who claimed to have
witnessed miracles, and that fact stood
confessed on the face of his own arg7-
ment. These witnesses testified 70
facts about which they could not have
been mistaken, the surrounding cir
cumstances, the indignities, the loss OF
caste, the prosecutions, the imprison-
ment, the sufferings and death conse-
quent upon the annuncistion OF what
they saw and heard atiested their sim
cerity. Their announcements, made,
as they were, under certain promise Of
the loss Of property. liberty and life,
were contrsry to every rule Of action
among men.
But Laplace, the astronomer, stated
the infidel argument thus: The prob
ability OF the continuance of the laws
OF nature was superior to every other
evidence, and hence il was impossible
70 prove a miracle. According 10
this, IL we had stood with the crowd
by the dead L1zarus aud examined bis
decayiDg corpse, and then seen him
live at the omnIpotent Fat Of Jesus we
must not believe the testimony OF our
eyes. Laplace, like Hume. and all the
infidel philosopher, assumed what be
proposed 70 prove. He could only
know what be assumes, that the laws
Of nature had always been a. they
seemed to him, from the testimony OF
men and from those records trieec by
the omnipetent on the face Of the
physical universe; and the former
should have been found uniform and
consistent with itself, and IN full ac-
cord with the latter, before bis as
SUMPTION should have been made. But
is there any one who win sag he has
gathered the testimony Of the whole
human race upon any subjectl Will
any one venture 70 assert that science