The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-20
TESTAMENTAL MIRACLES.
AsHORr DISCUSSION OF THEM FOR
BUSY PEOPLE.
Miracles the Cargo Of the Gospel Ship
and Cannot be Thrown Overheard
A New Definition of Miracles.

/ NEW DIRK, JAN lo.-lne lnpSEuhblOuhl
lesson series never goes out of its way for
the sake of the interesting The song Of
Zacharias, known as the Bsnedictus, is not
particularly exciting, though it may not be
without some spiritual exhilaratiOn. the
last verse has a touch Of humanity and
history in it, and we are glad that was left
in. The rest is an ecstasy. highly poetic,
but what about the childreni Where do they
come in: What is the Sunday school for, but
for them! What they want is not ecclesias-
teal poetry, but live history, with which the
New Testament is crammed. 1t is a pity
that another opportunity is deliberately
thrown away to interest and excite tue
Sunday school child. Just read the ex-
tract beginning with the 9th verse Of the
first chapter Of Luke TO your boy. His
wandering eyes won't gistel until he hears
the last verse. Then q lestions will be fired
| ut YOU until you wish that John the Baptist
had never gone to the desert and staii
there thirty years on the strength of thls
one, short, aggravating assertion.
| A thousand old-fashioned sermons can be
preached on these fourteen verses, but
where is there a live issue2 In such default
and we nave wrestled, God knows, man
fully for glimmer-let us go back to the
thought we left over from our last column.
] q
Christ, we are startled by the inexplcable.
His life begins as it closes, with phenomena
the most tremendous possible in human his
tory, and correspondingly audacious in
their originality. He is born without
father.
In the lesson of to-day, Zacharias
rhapsodizes over another marvel His son
was introduced amongst mortals by at
| least the extra natural il not the super
nntural. In the regular course of events
John could not have been born. His aged
parents acc pied his astounding advent
with faith in angelic interference which
we cannot but admire, whether we share it
| or not.
The miraculous claim is to many minds
| the one only and lnsuperable objection to
belief in the New Testament. Throw the
miracle overheard and I'll go with the
Gospel ship" This is the persistent cry of
| an increasing class, whose only idea of
what they call science consist in scepti-
| cism.
Now, the trouble is that you can't throw
the miracle overheard. 1t is no. the cargo.
it is the ballast Of the ship. The narrators
insist upon it. 1t is the basis Of their rei-
gion and history. We may as well mako
up our minds at the beglnning-or we surely
shall at the end-that to accept the New
Testament is to accept its miracles, once for
| all The impulse to QUITO take and leave
| at Dleasure-lS rampant.
The chief and final argument brought to
bear upon the Bible by modern readers is
the scissors. But the interesting fact is that
this mania for pruning is matter of tenn
| permanent No two scholars would agree to
| lop off the same verse. No two unbelievers
scrip" the same wonder. You utterly re-
iect Jon ali in the whale and accept Daniel
IN the den. The bartender accepts the
water made into wine The fisherman
| no hi fba
class of exceedingly devout minds, destitute
of the sense of proportion and of the ridicu-
| lous, snub the Christian religion for the sake
of the blasted fig tree aud receive the resur-
rection of Lazarus without murmur.
Let US bring ourselves up short by ask
ing, What is a miracles A clever definition
would serve us a good turn. Let us find a
modern answer. To 20 back to Augustine
is an anachronisn. This century knows
more about Christ and his errand, about
faith and its condition, is more Intelligent,
is more instructed, is more spiritual than
the whole lot of the old apologists and saints
from Justin Martyr down.
A few prominent religious thinkers have
been asked to define the miraculous for this
column. The late revere n /, the present Mr..
Hugh o. Pentecost, answers:
MY opinion of the New Testament
miracle is that the records which record it
are wholly untrustworthy for practical
purposes"
The gentleman is an honest man. Why.
then, can amy one tell us, does Mr. Pente-
cost preach the principles of Christ three
times every Sunday?
Prof. Shed of Union Theological seminary
answers:
"Our principal point is to define the
miracles, not as Hume does, as violation
OF the laws of nature, but as a suspension OF
them for particular purpose or particular
occasion.
"a second point is that the miracle must
be accounted for by the execution of ON
nipotent will, not by the operation of some
law of nature, high or low, known or ia
known"
1t is interesting at this time when the
theological thumb-screws are turned on the
Andover faculty, to note what the "heret
ical" professor of theology SAYS Prof
Harris writes
"a miracle is an effect produced in pays
ical nature, or in the physical constitution
of man, which neither nature, in its uai-
form sequences, nor man, by his constitu
tional powers nor both combined, are capa
BILE of producing, and which, therefore
reveals the agency of some supernatural
| being other than man."
he then adds: Erroneous statements
usually define miracle as a suspension OF
violation of natural law"
} We hold our breaths and go on. Next
4 | Professor George p. Fisher of Yale semi
1 | nary, answers the question as follows:
|, Pascal has hit the central characteristic,
! of a miracle when he calls it a result ex
| ceeding the natural force Of the means EN-
ployed But as there may be, most woulC
a | think, supernatural events produced by
! creatures of supernatural power, | woult
! guard against misconception and objection
by adding the words: And evidently hav
: | ing God for its author
: We suppress the rest OUT of pity for tn,
!, reader. For we have enough to show tina
:, a miracle is as hard to disguise as it is CO
, perform. Not to be out of line, we would
respectfully suggest the following as shor
, popular definition:
"rhe miraculou.s may be called the divine
hand moving the pawns OF life, contrary C
, I the laws of the game"
Definition or no definition we hold that
miracles are dead issue, and should be per.
mi1ted to lie deep i'll their grave Many q
subject considered by biblical writers a.
necessary to their times, is of little or nc
importance to-day. When Paul Cravely
tells wives to be subject to their hus
, bands, what American wife takes his word
, for it
, We have no doubt that Christ did what
no one has done since. Bat he did it {.
give authority TO a new faith. Then.
miracles were necessary. Men needed the
physical proof We do nos. The authority
of his words and life is to us sufficient if il