The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1902-02-13
A hELAHGE Of
LIVE TOPICS
Penned for Journal Readers
by a Local Scribe.
MIRACLES.

Poi. Charles w. Pearson, Of the
Methodist Northwestern Universe
ty, at Evanston, H., has declared
that he disbelieves the recorded
accounts Of miracles in the Bible.
He enumerates a number of such
statements IN the Bible and de-
clares them all to be unworthy of
belief. Among those he mentions
are the feeding Of Elijah by the
ravens, Elijah raising the dead,
Elijah multiplying oil and meal,
Elisha making iron to float, Jesus
feeding the multitude, JESUS walk
ing Or the water, etc.
If it be admitted that there is
supreme personal Being, the Gre
ator Of all things, and that He, in
times past, executed His DEGREES
through human as we'll as divine
agencies, there should be no diff
Guilty in accepting without ques-
ton, every one of the miracles of
which the Bible gives an account.
The God who called matter and
natural law into existence surely
possesses the power to suspend or
change the manner of operation Of
that law, as we'll as to delegate the
exercise of that power to His
chosen agents. Notwithstanding
all this modern cutlery against mir
acles because they are supposed tc
be unreasonable and opposed to
our experiences, they are found.
ed upon sound reasons, and if we
could only understand the hidden
truths which lie at their founda-
ton, they might not be found to
be so unreasonable, after all. Be-
cause they do not conform to our
very limited experiences, does not
prove that they are untrue. Ten
years ago we should have consid-
! cred wireless telegraphy to be a
miracle if we were told then that
| two persons, hundreds of miles
apart, could converse through ma
chimes having no apparent connec-
tion with each other. 1t seems to
the writer that Prof. Pearson Is
very impudent to set up his very
circumscribed knowledge and ex-
perience against the whole range
! Of scientific possibilities. In point
of fact, two of the miracles to
which Pearson objects, Elijah
multiplying oil and meal, and
Christ feeding the multitude with
the five loaves and two fishes, lis
practically repeated at the present
time by the transcendentalists of
| India. The writer read, not long
ago, a magazine article by a Ger
man scientist, man OF the high
est character, in which he gave an
account of a feat which he saw per-
formed by mahatmas Of that
country. Holding above his head
a small vessel containing about a
half-pint of water, the operator
continued pouring its contents IN
to large barrel until the latter
became full, permitting at the
same time spectators to stand near
him to see that the small vessel
had no connection with u larger
one containing water. In regard
to iron floating, the writer has
often caused q needle Git must be
perfectly dry to float in q basin
of water.
Christ considered miracles to be
essential as credentials of His di-
vine character; for when John the
Baptist sent to Him to inquire if
He were the Christ, Jesus replied
telling the messengers of the mir
acles which He had wrought, such
as raising the dead, giving sight to
the blind, healing the sick, and the
like. Luke z, 1928. Also when
he wished to give commissions to
! His apostles, which all the world
would understand and recognize,
He said to them: "And as We 90,
preach, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
cast out devils, etc" Matt. 10.
vs.. Z, 8. If, then, the Bible were
only book of morals or ethics, as
critics of the Pearson stripe would
have it, it would not commend it.
self to us as history emanating
from divine source because it
would he wanting in corroborating
evidence as to acts which God
alone could perform. Of such ma
ture are the teachings of Socrates
and the system of other phlloso-
pliers. and because they have no
internal evidence that they were
inspired by God, how little do they
effect mankind at the present time.
The dean of the divinity school