The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-10-09


mean that which is above human powes;
that which does not happen according 70
the course of nature, although in GER
tain sense a miracle is not a violation
of the laws of nature-it is not the sus-
pension of the law of nature. 1t is
work due to the introduction and opera
tion of a new cause. 1t is the production
in a single instance of a new effect, by
the introduction of a sufficient cause
And conversion, in the sense of regen-
GRAFTON, is above human or natural
power. Naturally, a man is dead in tres
passes and in sin. This definition above
is not from Webster, but a greater than
Webster defines for us. There is no
question about New Testament miracles:
there are thousands of people ready to
defend those, but unbelief shades off into
that which gives away everything. Re-
generation becomes to them, / say, sim
ply a repairing of the old nature by
culture, instead Of a miraculous commun-
ication Of the divine life. When Nico-
demus came that night to Jesus and
spoke Of miracles, Jesus said immediate
ly, ''Ye must be born again. When this
distinguished ruler referred to natural
birth Jesus said: mo; l do not mean
that; | mean we must be born of the
spirit" So we see, the Christian is
born from above. 1t is superhuman. 1t
Is not of the will of the flesh nor of
the will of man, but of God. And when
we thinl. of the lightnng-like shaft which
struck Paul Of Tarsus, of the Voice heard
and the glory light shining around him.
and Jesus saying to Peter, Thou art
Simon, but when l am done with you,
thou shalt be Cephas,' which is, by in
depreciation, a stone, we are ready to
admit that the same thing happens to
the man who is converted today. You
hath he quckened who were dead" In
deed, the Christie lives and walks in the
resurrection of the new life. He is a
miracle CT grace. Take the conversion
of Dr. B. H. Carroll, of Waco, Texas,
who has stood in this pulpit, and is one
of the most distinguished and scholarly
ministers in the Southern Baptist Con-
venton today, and hear him as he tells
of his ccnversion-how after that he had
gone far into infidelity and the world
held no more for him, when, at revival,
when certain women were praying for
him and he trying to lift up his own
heart in prayer, he heard the sweet
strains of the song, "Oh, land Of rest"
and was instantly born into the kingdom
of God The hired boy say saw Mr.. Car
rolls walking across the floor on his
crutches and rejoicing in his new found
love, and said to his mother, HE is
whistling and crying at the same time
His old mother walked to his bed that
night, turned back the covering and
looking at the radiant face, cried out
my son, you have found the Lord"
Was there anything miraculous in that?
Or take, for another illustration, that
one who a few weeks ago had beaten and
abused his poor wife until she carried
the scars in her face, and would not even
tell her father how the man who had
sworn at the altar to love her and to cher
ish her had thus abused her and run off
their children. See him when this mirac-
ulous change comes over him; when, like
the demainac, he sits at the feet of Jesus
clothed in his right mind. So that in this
passing from death unto life, in the realm
of the spiritual there is as great a
miracle as converting the water into
wine. AS great as when Jesus stood and
said with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth" Or when he said to the little one,
'"Telitha cumi.' AS great as when He
said ~ the storm tossed ocean, Peace
be still AS we hear these men speak
thus, we ask ourselves: Did Paul and the
when regeneration as a miracle would be
doubted. Shades of our fathers! We say
too with Jesus, "Oh, righteous father the
world hath not known thee, but these
have known thee; and l have both de-
clared Thy name, and will declare it,"
l would love to see the church, after a
few years-not to be pastor of it, ypI
understandable just to see the church
and how they do things where the mirac-
ulous is left out of regeneration. Then
we conclude that the man who main
tains that there is no miraculous in con-
version is out of harmony with the ac-
copied teachings of the Christian world;
is out of harmony with the New Testa-
ment, and all the teachings of Jesus on
this all-important subject for all of these
thus regenerated can say with the man
born blind, I know that whereas l was
blind, now 1 see.' If nothing of the
miraculous has taken place in you, o,
Christian, you are yet in the gall of bit
terness and the bond of iniquity.
Have faith in God for we see also this
spirit of Journalism holds within it's death