The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-22

LIZ 1Od W w Illdy JSt III NApt . W C9
(presuming that in Gods eyes there
We're degrees in miracles) very small
thing for God to do. God alone can be
the judge of this But this must be
conceded namely, if God can perform
the greatest miracle, universe with
its millions Of activities, and the crown
ing miracle of man, man, then He can
perform every needed miracle down to
the minutest. And when men come to
think of God as did Elihu when he said
to Job in their contention "Behold, God
is great and we know Him not" then
miracles, big or small cease to disturb
ones faith in miracle-Worktng God.
Men come then to expect such God to
work miracles, and if miracles stopped,
men would say, and say rightly, that
God was dead.
So long as God lives miracles must
also live. DR.. r. f. Horton of London,
in an article on miracles, has said that
1.-The difficulty which many people find
in miracles to-day is simply result of
their radical disbelief in God" This is
true word. 1t strikes the nail on the
head. 1t comes as near as aught well
can come to the very heart of the ques-
ton. Let a mans belief in God be but
slim and faulty, let him lose sight of
Gods matchless majesty, and 1t won
be long ere he dismisses as puerile the
belief of men in Gods wonder working
power.
l repeat-the bigger your God the less
startled you will be when He proceeds
| to work some mighty deed. And 1t
must surely be admitted that when God
sends Ills only begotten Son to a sim
cursed world in order that He may re-
deem it, then both His entrance into
such a life, His continuation in such
life and His exit from such life must
all partake, to some degree, of the-at
leastin mems eyes-miraculous. To my
mind it seems only natural that such
life as that of Jesus should be accom-
panied by miracles; indeed, the absence
of them would shake my faith in Him.
If Christ come from God He must bring
credentials with Him, and He did So
Nicodemus said to Jesus on a memora-
BILE OCCASION Rabbi, we know that
Thou art Teacher come from God"
Why did they know 1t? Because no
man can do these miracles that Thou
doest except God be with him. That
proved it. There is the argument for
I'LL dClGS III d IlulSItil' w llSlC hiiieiIiC6
are we feel that God certainty Is And
to meet this natural need of some clear
proof that God speaks to us it is prob
able that If He does speak through
man that man will do such works as
prove to all cnadd minds that He comes
with the authority of God. While the
wonders which Moses wrought at
Pharaohs court were successfully imi-
tated by the magicians, they carried
but little weight, But when the rod was
stretched out and smote the dust of the
earth, so that it became lice, and all the
power of enchantment could not imi-
tate the miracle. then even the magi-
clans said unto Pharaoh, "This is the
finger of God-God, God"
Now, whatever may be said of mira
cles as a sign that God spake by ordi-
nary men, if ever crisis justified them
it was when, last and best of all, God
sent His only Son to this world. We
are justified in expecting that Gods
seal ring will be on His finger. And so
when John the Baptist from his cell at |
Machaerus sent to ask Christ for signs |
of His Messiahship, Jesus replied by re- |
ferring to the grand scale on which He |
was welding the power Of God. Said |
he, go and tell John those things |
which We do see and hear, how the blind |
see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the |
dead are raised UP and the poor have |
the gospel preached to them" That |
was enough evidence. Christ wrought |
not to crafty curiosity, but to
satisfy the reasonable demand fer ey'-
dence that His power was divine When,
lioio ri
and boldly says, God bears me wit
ness, both with signs and wonders and
with divers miracles" it meets him with
a challenge--its bids him dispute it's
claims, If he dare, by first disproving
It's signs, if he can.
st. Paul confesses that if we can even
disprove one mira ele-the resurrection
of Christ-than the whole structure
falls, our preaching Is vain and your
faith is vain. But can it be disproved?
What does the great German rational
LIST, De Wette, say on this pointo This:
THE resurrection of Christ can NO more
be brought into doubt by honest historic
evidence than can the assassination Of
Julius Caesar" Mohammed did not
claim miraculous power, though centu-
ries after they were claimed for him,
and such marvels as he did impose up
IN the credulity Of his followers he took
good pains not to make dependent on
any other testimony than his own. But
see how bold the challenge of our Lord
when He says, IF l had not done :
among them the works which none 9TH ,
n man did they had not had sin" And ,
hone of these things was done in a
corner or with the lights turned half :,
nut; but they were done openly, in ,
broad daylight, in temple courts, on :
public streets by lake shore and before /;
Christ performed His miracles in the |
presence of those who hated Him as G
veil as in the presence of those who :
owed Him, and even His most bitter 6
His most inveterate foes, adj
nitted that He wrought wonders. Most S
of all, even the Jewish rab- t
lis, in the Talmud, acknowledge these {
Miracles, but pretend that they We're S
by magic or by the use Of r
ecret charm which Jesus is said to Y
ave stolen from the temple. CELSIUS. V
earned and able as he was among the II
ssailants of Christianity, both allows C
ba faots of the posDel history and con- |