Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-03-10
HAVE NO MIRACLES.
Rabbi CaliSCh Argues That There are
Really No Such Things.
nut MYSTERIES WE HAVE.
The Human Mind Impressed by
Things IL Cannot Understand.
..The Miracle Limits Gods Wisdom;
the Mystery Enhances It,"


of a strikngly fine sermon that Rabbi
T.. y. Calisch preached at the First Uni
tartan church Sunday night. The cosey
room I'm which this congregation worships
was crowded, and the discourse was lis
tened to with close attention and deep
interest.
Or. Calisch began by defining the "ords
miracle" and mystery" making the
distinction that n miracle IL something
which is believed to have occurred III
contravention of the laws of nature, by
an upheaval which could have come only
from a special vollton on the part oil
Deity, while a mystery Is something
which is simply beyond our comprehen-
sion, unexplainable to US because OF our
ignorance, though it may be regular
and legitimate process of natural law.
He then said that the founding of al
most all great religions was associated
with miracles.
I'VE question now" the speaker con-
tinued did these miracles as here re-
corded take place, and were they actuaI
Miracles. G., contravenuOns or inter-
ruptions Of the usual processes OF MAUI
raj law? Many believe them to be SO,
some do not There IL one PECULIARLY
here to be observed-viz.. that some OF
those who do believe these miracles 10
have occurred do not believe tnal MIRA
cles do now occur, signifying so to speak
that the power Of Deity TO upset the laws
of nature ceased when the canon OF the
Scriptures closed.
THERE ARE NO MIRACLES.
81 maintain that this world is governed
absolutely and unerrngly by the laws
laid down In the beginning by the divine
Creator; that these laws are infallible'
and. I'm their logical courses, ineXorable.
| believe that God himself as providence
is guided and governed by the laws which
He himself had ordained and caused to
onerate How. then, can there be mira
cIes in q world Of law? There IS but one
answer: There are none, and there never
have been miracles The very conception
OF the wisdom Of God. and Of His inenable
Justice. denies the possibility of miracles.
II my faith Is to stand or fall by the
belief I'm miracles, my faith would be
torn from me.
"To assert the existence Of miracles Is
IN limit the wisdom OF God-to confine
His omniscience, to confess his proVl-
dence as weak and impotent"
BOUND BY HIS LAWS.
Further on, Dr. Calisch said: Il nave
maintained the Creator himself Is Douha
nv the laws which He has established
but ] believe that His wisdom Is so uh-
sneakably vast that there can be no OBJ
loot hevond its pale; His foresight so
ineffably all-embracing that there can no
emergency arise: His omniscence so all
enfolding that there can be no crisis, no
contingency. no hitch, or flaw in the
glorious unrolling OF His divine designs.
"But." continued the speaker, after ar
euing further along this line, lit has been
argued, God has performed these miracles
not because He had to- but because He
wished to. He may have wished TO make
manifest His favor to an individual or a
people: or TO emphasize the authority or
the messenger charged with carrying out
this will 10 prove that He spoke nomine
Dei-in the Name OF God. In this last
thought we shall doubtless find the real
reason for the presence of miracles in
Holy Script
IN BIBLICAL RECORDS.
After referring to the power OF the
mysterious over the human mind, Dr.
Calisch continued
1T Is easily to be inferred that these
miracles were afterwards related and IN
scribed in Biblical records 10 justify the
claims OF leaders in the eyes OF the
people. But the highest conception OF
Deity cannot brook the thought that God,
either through necessity or caprice, should
find cause to stop or change the appoint
ed functions Of any particle OF the uni
verse; for He has established them SO
unerringly perfect, that in their appoint
ed way they accomplish whatsoever lie
desires.
THERE ARE MYSTERIES.
"But" the speaker declared. there
are mysteries which will forever remain
such-thoroughly and regularly lawful
processes-which occur and reoccur, ana
vet remain TO he human being an eter-
nally insoluble enigma. Mystery shroud-
ing the Being Supreme does not conflict
with reason Mystery there must al
WAYS be. else there can be no faith.
Yet we need not look beyond ourselves.
or beyond our own experience, not LOT
miracles. but for mysteries. Can We ex-
nIain the mystery OF life or the mystery
OF its cessation? Can we comprehend
the marvel OF the preservation OF species
and the reproduction OF life in man, In
animals, In bird. or fsh, or vegetables
or even the protopiasmic speek that di-
vides itself in halves and thus make
two lives where one had been before?
Yet all these things are the ever-recur-
ring processes OF natural law"
USE OF THE MIND.
DIR. Caiisch spoke OF the unexplained
difference In the color OF flowers. and
concluded:
consider the human hand. 1t Is
mere tool. an instrument Of the mind Of
man. The man has q thought He bids