Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-10
ALAW FOR MIRACLES.
The Probabilities and Possibilities of
the Miraculous.
GODS WAY OF WORKING ON EARTH
Is BY E1erting Natural Forces Of Which
We Know Nothing.
WHY WE MUST BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

| lCOhhESPONOENCE OF The HI
take for my subject this morning the
record of how a man who was dead came to
life again.
This is the description Of q miracle. Here
is an event which, if we were to read of it in
to-morrow's paper, we would disbelieYe. II
we were to read that beside the gate Of the
cemetery at Greensburg minister of the
sect of the Sandemanians met the funeral
procession which was carrying young man
OF that town to burial, stopped the carriages,
opened the hearse door, had the coffin lifted
out and the cover taken of, and then,
amidst the amazement of the bystanders,
cried out, "Young man, say unto thee
| ARISE" and that, upon the utterance Of those
words, the dead man opened his eyes, and
sat up, and began to speak; and ihereupon
getting out of his coffin, and taking his
mother on his arm, walked back along the
road and through the streets of Greensburg
to his home, we would wonder good deal
about that. We would want more evidence.
We would say that the young man was prob
| ably not dead at all.
We would desire to make some inquiries
about that Sandemanian minister. Who is
he? Where did be come from? What is
his reputation for honesty These and 20
other questions we would ask Immediately.
And if, instead Of nearby, in the State of
Pennsylvania, the locality had been some
obscure village in Central America, we
would have said, with little hesitation, that
the story was untrue. We would have de-
MED stoutly that anything really miraculous
happened.
And yet we read the story of resurrec-
ton beside the gate of that little Syrian
town of Main, 25 miles distant from Caper-
naum, and we accept it-or, at least, the
most of US accept it-without question and
without hesitation. "a good many hun
dreds Of years ago certain persons rose from
the dead" Yes. Sand an unknown num-
Der of years hence all who have ever died
will rise from their graves" Yes. "But a
man was brought to life again yesterday in
Central America" That is q lie. Is this
position altogether consistent?
PROBABILITIES OF MIRACLES.
I believe it is. We are bound upon the
one hand to hold to the possibility of the
miraculous. Indeed, I would go further
than that, and say-the probability Of the
miraculous. Have we soul within us?
There is an element of the supernatural. Is
God above us? Does He take an interest in
this world OF ours; does He care for us; does
He love US? Has He the power to help US,
to teach us, if He wishes? When you say
yes to these questions, you say yes to the
probability of the miraculous.
For what is the miraculous? It is Gods
unusual working for a special purpose. The
uniform working of God in the world is law.
The word which we have for certain, special
and unusual workings is miracle.
Miracle enters into the realm OF law very
much as the human will does It is the law
of heavy bodies to fall. But you take bar
of iron in your hand and lit it up. Will
has for the moment interfered with the ac-
tion of the law. A miracle Is the interfer-
ence, in manner not dissimilar, of the will
of God. To deny the possibility Of the
miraculous is to deny to God the possibility
of doing what we can do ourselves.
But while this is true, it is no less our
duty on the other hand to minimize the
miraculous. Because we desire to know the
truth about the workings of God. Law is
one manner Of explanation. Miracle is an
other manner. We want to put every event
just where it belongs. Aud since God COM
mends works after certain manner, so COM
mends that we call that manner law, 1t is
our Intellectual duty to explain By law
whatever will bear that explanation. That
is our religious duty which we owe to truth,
which we,owe to God. AS matter of fact,
the realm of law has for certain been widen
ing out, and the realm OF miracles has been
contracting. Once it was belived that the
planets moved in their courses, being pushed
along by the shoulders of stout angels. We
know better than that now. Once it was
believed that the cure of disease, by faith,
as we say, was by reason of the direct and
unusual, and so miraculous, workings of
God. There are a good many people who
believe that still. But year by year, we are
learning to put this, too, into the realm of
law. We are coming to see that