Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-11-11
Miracles.

Dvterlan Church, Sunuav evening"
The speaker assumed the position
that the miracles referred to in the
Old and the New Testaments were
not effected by any change or sus-
pension of the well known laws of
nature; that God himself was pow
erless to change these governing
principles Which underlie the harmo-
NOUS life-impulses Of the Universe.
The miracles performed by Curlst,
he held. resulted from the exercise
of occult forces, laws not known to
finite beings. As the combination
of two chemicals may produce an
other differing from either, or the
introduction of a third may change
its form into still another dis>imllar
product, so many hidden laws, oper-
ated by divine power, occasionally
vary established results, by impart-
ing a vital force apparently in con-
fict with those principles we assume
to understand. This is substantially
the reverend gentleman's explana-
ton of the passages in Scripture
which have been the subject Of so
much doubt and perplexity since the
dawn of the Christian era.
The difficulty is by no means re-
moved or the question solved by the
gentleman's discourse. The intel
lect requires something more than a
faith in la,cs not understood to de-
monstrate the truth of any PROPOSE
ton. They may exist or they may
not. Whenever there is mystery
there is doubt, and where doubt
enters skepticism, if not disbelief,
takes the place of earnest conviction.
1t is not an easy task for the ordinary
mind to grasp the precise difference,
claimed between Jehovah operating
through laws unknown to the hu-
man mind, to obtain result, or by
suspending the laws of which we
have some conception, to produce
the same effect. In either case, il
follows that the known principles
are Illuminated, suspended, or d.
verted into q different course, which
the speaker assumed, as q premise,
God himself was powerless to effect,
unless (note the exception) it he
through the agency of occult forces,
or principles we do not understand.
In other words, it is impossible for
the Great Ruler of the Universe to
change or modify his laws, unless
it be through means he does not
deign to make known to human in
telligence, and the investigation
ends just where it began, except that
we are forced to admit that the ques-
ton is ono which earthly wisdom
cannot fathom, and the cause we
were seeking to discover and the
methods We fondly hoped would be
disclosed, are books that are sealed
from mortal vision forever. The re-
suit is not satisfactory nor will it be
final, SO long IS the intellect, under
divine impulse, is impelled to ex-
plcre the whole a,cana of nature.
But, before We dismiss the subject
the queries arise: Why is it that
God is unable to suspend his laws,
except in q very methodical way
Is He, while Omnipotent, still weak
Is there some law still higher than
deity, which limits and circumscribes
His powers? Why should the laws
used to divert or suspend an estab-
lished principle be withheld from
the human vision? Is it an essen
tial condition precedent to the per-
formance of wonder-inspiring mira
cles? Is Deity compelled, like the
juggler, to keep the machinery out
of sight, to enable Him to excite q
proper reverence and awe for the
wonderful things done under the
name OF miracles? This is not the
God OF our youth, and we fear that
IN the effort to reconcile philosophy
with revealed law, that deity himself
is to be reconstructed and made to
fit the precise geome,rical bounds
which finite minds have marked out
for Him.
OLYMPIA has never had a better
friend than the firm of Goodall
Perkins Co., of the Pacific Coast
Steamship Co. Several years ago,
they contracted to run their steamers
here once month, for the term of
one year, provided the people built
q wharf at deep water. That contract
was fulfilled to the letter, and al
though the stipulated period has
long since expired, and the local
traffic is insufficient sometimes to nav
the increased expense of passage
from Seattle or Tacoma, either the