CHAPTER XI.
Real Miracles—A miracle defined by archbishop Tillotson—The miracles of Moses—The miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ—The miracles of the apostles—Collision with those who pretended to supernatural power—The magicians of Egypt—Magical arts at Ephesus—The miraculous power of the Saviour inherent, that of the prophets and apostles derived—Cessation of miraculous gifts.
Real Miracles—A miracle defined by archbishop Tillotson—The miracles of Moses—The miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ—The miracles of the apostles—Collision with those who pretended to supernatural power—The magicians of Egypt—Magical arts at Ephesus—The miraculous power of the Saviour inherent, that of the prophets and apostles derived—Cessation of miraculous gifts.
Wenow enter on a brief consideration of unquestionable miracles. As the grant of Divine revelation was made to some persons who were to proclaim it to the whole human race, so, while holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, the broad seal of Heaven was placed by miracles on their testimony. As a man’s signature gives validity to his bond, or the credentials of an ambassador demonstrate his right to transact the business of his sovereign; so the supernatural works performed by the prophets, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his apostles, prove as fully to those who witnessed them, that the words they heard proceeded from God, as if they had listened to him pronouncing them with an audible voice from the excellent glory; while all to whom their testimony has been faithfully transmitted, may cherish an equal confidence.
It has been well remarked by archbishop Tillotson, that “there are two things necessary in a miracle: that there should be a supernatural effect, and that this effect should be evident to sense.” He adds, “Neither in Scripture, nor in profane authors, nor in common use, is anything called a miracle but what falls under the cognizance of the senses; a miracle being nothing else but a supernatural effect evident to sense, the great end and design whereof is to be the sensible proof and conviction of something that we do not see.” The church of Rome affirms that, in the celebration of the mass, the bread and wine are changed into the very body and blood, soul and Divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; though they retain exactly the same appearance that they had before the change is said to have occurred. Hence, the same writer argues, “For want of a supernatural effect evident to sense, transubstantiation is no miracle; a sign or a miracle is always a thing sensible, otherwise it could be no sign. Now, that such a change in transubstantiation should really be wrought, and yet that there should be no sign of it, is a thing very wonderful; but not to sense, for our senses perceive no change. And that a thing should remain to all appearance just as it was, hath nothing at all wonderful in it. We wonder, indeed, when we see a strange thing done, but no man wonders when he sees nothing done.”
Numberless were the miracles wrought by Jehovah in ancient times, in behalf of his chosenpeople. In vain does infidelity object that the contents of the books of Mosesmaynot be true; since, had they been false, it was absolutely impossible that they could have obtained any credit. The number of the people must have amounted to three millions, and every adult person was a competent judge whether the things related to have taken place within his own memory had really happened.
The Israelites would not have believed that the Red Sea was divided to give them a passage—that, during their pilgrimage of forty years in the wilderness, a miraculous cloud had guided them by day, and become at night a fire casting round its radiance—that they had been supplied with manna from heaven, falling on six successive days around their camp, and on the last of them a double quantity, to prevent its being gathered on the sabbath—that God had published his law on the mount that might not be touched, amidst thunders, and lightning, and tempest—and that he had punished its violation by terrible plagues—for them to believe these things would have been absolutely impossible, had the whole narrative been a fiction. A romance would have excited their ridicule, and the yoke which, on the ground of the invention, was to be placed about their necks, would have been rejected with the utmost indignation. It is also morally impossible that the books of Moses could have been received in the age immediately after his death, if their contents had been false; and highly improbable that, though true, theywould have been considered his writings, if they had been set forth by some other person in his name, and had not appeared till he was lying in his grave.
It would be easy to show that the wondrous acts recorded are traced explicitly to Divine operation. In illustration of this, the following passages may be taken: “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” “Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters;” alluding, most probably, to the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, and, afterwards, to their crossing the Jordan, both of which events were unquestionably miraculous.
That one great object kept in view by the Redeemer in performing miracles was, to furnish convincing proofs of his Divine mission, is evident from the uniform tenor of the inspired narratives. Nicodemus reasoned justly when he said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him,” John iii. 2. The same conviction was possessed by the chief priests and the Pharisees, for they said, after the resurrection of Lazarus, “This man doeth many miracles: if we let him thus alone all men will believe on him,” John xi. 47, 48. Our Lord himself appeals to his miracles: “I have greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me,” John v. 36.It is impossible, therefore, that any statement could be more plain and decisive. Our Lord rests his claim to be believed on the wonders he wrought. Again, he says, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.” Thus, we see the wonders which Christ wrought were unparalleled. He healed the sick, he penetrated the minds of men by his own infinite power. And hence, the unbelief of those who witnessed his mighty deeds appeared in all its aggravated and naked enormity; “their sin remained.” But, in direct opposition to this, there would have been a plea for unbelief had pretended miracles been true. Had it been a fact, instead of a fable, that Æsculapius had cured disease at his oracle, or that the god of the oracle of Claros had known the thoughts of men’s hearts, then, and then only, there would have been a cover for their iniquity.
Were we to select one miracle as demonstrative that Jesus was sent by the Father, and of the acceptance of his work; and, still further, of the futility of every objection that can be raised against it; it should be that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. “See,” says Saurin, “how many extravagant suppositions must be advanced if the resurrection of our Saviour be denied. It must be supposed that guards, who had been particularly cautioned by their officers, sat down to sleep; and that, nevertheless, they deserved credit when thebody of Jesus was stolen. It must be supposed that men who had been imposed on in the most odious and cruel manner in the world, hazarded their dearest enjoyments for the glory of an impostor. It must be supposed that ignorant and illiterate men, who had neither reputation, fortune, nor eloquence, possessed the art of fascinating the eyes of all the church. It must be supposed either that five hundred persons were all deprived of their senses at a time, or that they were all deceived in the plainest matters of fact; or, that this multitude of false witnesses had found out the secret of never contradicting themselves or one another, and of being always uniform in their testimony. It must be supposed that the most expert courts of judicature could not find out a shadow of a contradiction in a palpable imposture. It must be supposed that the apostles, sensible men in other cases, chose precisely those places and those times which were most unfavourable to their views. It must be supposed that millions madly suffered imprisonments, tortures, and crucifixion, to spread an illusion. It must be supposed that ten thousand miracles were wrought in favour of falsehoods, or all these facts must be denied. And then, it must be supposed that the apostles were idiots, that the enemies of Christianity were idiots, and that all the primitive Christians were idiots.”
The apostles of our Lord were invested with miraculous powers: “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and withdivers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will,” Heb. ii. 4. As the apostles asserted a direct and unequivocal claim to miraculous powers, and as these are declared in the New Testament to have been exerted by them, falsehood, if proved, would destroy the veracity of their writings, and the validity of all the doctrines and precepts they contained. But, let the case be duly weighed, and it will be seen, that, to support their pretensions by artifice and chicanery, was absolutely impossible. A few might be deceived, an empire could not be; and great must be the infatuation of supposing that a few obscure men could blind the eyes of the people among whom they lived. In the face of the utmost hostility, in the midst of the greatest perils, in defiance of cruel persecutions, and with the crucifixion of their Lord before their eyes, they could not have claimed the exercise of miraculous powers if they had not been actually possessed. Had they resembled the Romanists, to whom we have referred, would it have been possible to escape detection?
It is worthy of special remark, that more than one account is given us in sacred history of the messengers of God entering into collision with those who pretended to supernatural power. Thus a memorable contest took place between Moses and the magicians of Pharaoh’s court. Different opinions are entertained as to the means by which the latter performed their feats, some contending that they were meretricks, and others that evil spirits were in active operation. On this controverted question we do not enter; it is sufficient for the present purpose to remark, that the superiority of the servants of Jehovah was placed beyond all dispute. The rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the magicians; at the plague of flies and the murrain on the cattle, they were compelled to say, “This is the finger of God;” and at length they “could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians and all the Egyptians,” Exod. ix. 11.
Another instance of a later date is equally conclusive. The gospel was proclaimed at Ephesus, where the arts which pretended to lay open the secrets of nature, and to arm the hand of man with supernatural powers, were especially apparent. Indeed, in the age of our Lord and his apostles, pretended adepts in the occult sciences were numerous; they travelled from country to country, and were found in great numbers in Asia, deceiving the credulous multitude, and profiting by their expectations. They were sometimes Jews, who referred their skill, and even their forms of proceeding, to Solomon, who is still regarded in the east as the head or prince of magicians. In Asia Minor, Ephesus had a high reputation for magical arts. Here, then, “God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul.” The appeal to the wonder-workers of a country which contained so magnificent a temple to Diana, that it was reckoned among the wondersof the world, was singularly striking. Accustomed as the Ephesians were to produce strange results by some species of magic, they would naturally ascribe miracles to a similar agency. It was necessary, therefore, that the miracles which were to serve as the credentials of Christianity, should be especially marked, and placed beyond the reach of all their enchantments and incantations. And it seems an instance not the less remarkable, because easily overlooked, of the adaptation of means to an end, that in Ephesus, in which, of all others, magic was resorted to, the powers granted to the first heralds of redeeming mercy sufficed to place them at an immeasurable distance above the most consummate magicians.
Another fact is equally entitled to attention. Certain Jews travelling in that country, and professing to cast out the evil spirits which frequently possessed the bodies of men, took upon them, as avowed exorcists, to employ the name of the Lord Jesus, from the success with which it was used by the apostle Paul. Amongst these were the seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, who addressed an evil spirit in the name of Christ, thinking, perhaps, that their number would give special force to their adjuration. The spirit, however, answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?” nor was he content with refusing to be thus ejected; for, causing the man in whom he dwelt to put forth supernatural strength, “he leaped upon the young men and overcame them, and forced them toflee out of the house naked and wounded.” These facts soon became notorious; fear fell alike on the Jews and Greeks residing at Ephesus; the most potent appeal had been made to those accustomed to use charms and incantations; and numbers were led at once to renounce their arts of magic.
Very celebrated were the “Ephesian letters,” which appear to have been a sort of magical formula written on paper or parchment, designed to be fixed as amulets on different parts of the body, such as the hands and the head. Erasmus says, that they were certain signs or marks which rendered their possessor victorious in everything. Eustatius mentions an opinion that Crœsus, when on his funeral pile, was very much benefited by the use of them; and that when a Milesian and an Ephesian were wrestling in the Olympic games, the former could gain no advantage, as the latter had Ephesian letters bound round his heel; but these being removed he lost his superiority, and was thrown thirty times. Many of these were, probably, among the books of which we read, Acts xix. 19; while others were most likely occupied by descriptions of the prevailing modes of practising “enchantments.” But all were promptly and cheerfully consigned to the flames. Thus the sincerity of the converts was evident by no trifling sacrifice, for, when they counted the price of these books, they “found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
That there was a difference between the operations of the apostles and the agency of our Lord, should be clearly perceived. The power of the Saviour was inherent—that of the apostles was derived. How manifest is the miraculous agency of Christ shown in the cure of the leper! “Lord, if thou wilt,” said he to the Saviour, “thou canst make me clean.” Jesus answered, “I will—be thou clean,” and immediately he was made whole. Our Lord made no appeal to any other power. At the grave of Lazarus, indeed, he “lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” But this prayer appears to have been offered not on his own account, but for the sake of those who surrounded him, and who needed such a seal to his mission to establish their faith. Therefore, he added, “And I know that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” And as on other occasions, he said, “Thy sins are forgiven thee”—“Arise, take up thy bed and walk”—“I command thee to come out of her,” so now he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go,” John xi. 42–44.
Our Lord had previously said, “Therefore, doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No mantaketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father,” John x. 17, 18. In like manner, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” John xi. 25, 26. How strikingly contrasted was the language of the apostles! In the case of the lame man laid at the beautiful gate of the temple, Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” These words, uttered on the first miracle of the apostles, expressed the great principle on which they performed every other, and the spirit in which they wrought all their wondrous deeds.
The apostle, like the prophet, laid down his authority, and resigned his commission with his life; but our Lord Jesus Christ not only exercised his power amidst his last sufferings and death, but extended his authority beyond the grave. “I lay down my life of myself; no man taketh it from me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” And though he said, “This commandment have I received of my Father,” he also added, “I and my Father are one”—“thereby,” as the Jews distinctly perceived, “making himself equal with God.”
Even the diversity of gifts distributed amongprimitive saints, proved the infinite resources of Him by whom they were granted. Though bestowed by the Holy Spirit, they were purchased by the blood and supplied by the grace of the Son of God. Speaking of the outpouring of the Spirit, and its results, Jesus said, “He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Most emphatically does he lay claim to all the fulness of the Godhead, when he adds, “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and show it unto you.” Thus, the gift of tongues, of miracles, of prophecy, and of interpretation, proved the infinite power of the Giver, on whose will the extent and diversity of the operation alike depended. Some had one power and some another: but all these wrought that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he would. 1 Cor. xii. 11.
The miraculous endowments of early times were, however, transient. Certain facts appear to be conclusive on this point. No gift was more highly estimated, or considered more necessary for the propagation of the gospel, than the gift of tongues. And yet, this was, unquestionably, of short duration. The only reference made to it in all the documents of antiquity, is in the work of Irenæus against the heretics. He says, “We hear of many in the church imbued with prophetic gifts, speaking with all kinds of tongues.” But though he must have required the gift as much as any—for he was called to labour for the diffusion ofthe gospel among the pagan Celts—yet he expressly declares, “It was not the least part of his trouble, that he was forced to learn the language of the country, a rude and barbarous dialect, before he could effect any good among them.” Augustine, it is evident, knew nothing of supernatural power like that which some had possessed at a former period. “In the primitive times,” he says, “the Holy Spirit fell upon believers, and they spoke in tongues which they had not learned, as the Spirit gave them utterance. These were signs suitable for the time. It was right that the Holy Spirit should thus be borne witness of in all tongues, throughout the world. That testimony being given, it passed away.” With equal explicitness Chrysostom affirms, “Of miraculous powers not so much as a single vestige or trace remains.”
In vain do Romanists contend for the continuance of miracles. Never have they been able to produce a solitary instance in which the gift of tongues has been exercised. And yet, if any member of their church might have been expected to be so endowed, it certainly would have been Francis Xavier, who has been called “the apostle of the Indies.” But even he confesses that, ignorant of the language of the people to whom he went, he was incapable of doing any service to the Christian cause, and was little more than a mute statue among them, till he could acquire some competent knowledge of their tongues.
Miracles have passed away; but we still possess the glorious gospel of the blessed God. A power, however, more than human is needed to apply it to the heart. To open the blind eyes, to unstop the deaf ears, to give spiritual discernment to the mind, to break down prejudice, to humble pride, to “cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,” is the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul, as he cast around him “the good seed of the kingdom,” might have given up all in despair, but for interposing Omnipotence. “I have planted,” he said, “Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
There is, however, a great diversity in the operations of the same Divine Spirit. Some are brought at once “from the power of Satan unto God;” and ever will the time and circumstances of their conversion be held in remembrance. Others are led by a slow and gradual process—perhaps scarcely perceptible, and affording few points of prominent recollection, out of darkness into “marvellous light.” Still the result is the same. All are brought to Jesus, and believe on him as having died for their sins, and risen again for their justification; all by virtue of union with him, under the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, are become new creatures, enjoying the blessings of his great salvation, holding communion with him,increasing in resemblance to him, and yielding to him practical obedience and devotion. To him, then, let us constantly look, to apply the truth to our own consciences and hearts, to sanctify us wholly, body, soul, and spirit, and to prosper every effort we make in behalf of others.