(4.) That such monuments and such actions be instituted, and do commence from the time that the matter of fact was done.
All of these marks concur in establishing the truth of the most remarkable facts related in the inspired records, and conse- quently in confirming their truth as a whole. These monuments and actions are such as follows : The weekly Sabbath, circum- cision, the passover, the yearly feasts, the Aaronic priesthood, the temple and its services, baptism, the Lord's supper, and the Christian ministry. These must date from the facts they com- memorate, and prove that the cotemporaries of those facts, and
MIRACLES. 53
every generation of their descendants since, have believed the history to be authentic.
2d. Many of the principal facts are corroborated by nearly co- temporary infidel writers, as Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny, etc.
3d. Many of the facts of the gospel history are corroborated by, it is said, as many as fifty Christian authors of the first four centuries. — Angus' Bible Handbook, page 85.
4th. The sacred historians are perfectly accurate whenever they allude to any facts of cotemporaneous profane history, e. g., Luke ii., 1, etc. — See Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul.
5th. The character of the writers. (1.) They were honest a because their doctrine was holy — bad men never would have taught such a code, good men would not wilfully deceive ; b, because both prophets and apostles sealed their testimony by their sufferings and death ; and c because of their evident candor in narrating many things to their own disadvantage, personally, and appar- ently inimical to the interests of their cause. — See Paley's Evi- dences, Part II. (2.) They were not fanatics, because the modesty and moderation of their words and actions is as manifest as their zeal.
6th. There exists the most accurate agreement between the several historical books, as to matters of fact, and such subtle co- incidences as to details between narratives widely differing in form and purpose, that all suspicion of fraud is rendered impossible. — See Paley's Horaa Paulinas and Blunt' s Undesigned Coincidences.
7th. All of their geographical and local allusions and refer- ences to the customs of ancient nations are verified by modern re- search.
6. What is a miracle, and how are such events designated in Scripture ?
A miracle is an act of G-od, the physical effect of which is visi- ble and evidently incapable of being rationally assigned to any natural cause, designed as a sign authenticating the divine mis- sion of some religious teacher.
These are called, therefore, in the New Testament sometimes, t'pya, works, John v., 36 ; vii., 21 ; sometimes, gt\\luqv^ a sign, Mark xvi., 20 ; sometimes, 6vvd\iEiq, translated in our version, wonderful works, Matthew vii., 22, and mighty works, Matthew
54 THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
xi, 20, and miracles, Acts ii., 22 ; sometimes, repag, ivonder. " Signs, wonders, and powers, or miracles," occur together, Acts ii., 22 ; 2 Corinthians xii., 12 ; Hebrews ii., 4.
7. JFAa£ *'$ Hume's famous argument against the credibility of miracles, and how may that argument be disposed of ?
Hume argues, 1st, that miracles are professedly established on the evidence of human testimony. 2d. That the power of human testimony to induce our faith arises from our experience of the truthfulness of testimony. 3d. In cases of conflicting evidence we must weigh the one against the other and decide for the stronger. 4th. That a miracle is a violation of a law of nature. But the universal experience of ourselves, and of the whole human family, prove that the laws of nature are uniform without excep- tion. We have, then, universal experience against the testimony of a few men, and, on the other hand, only a partial experience that human testimony is credible, for all testimony is not true. No amount of human testimony, therefore, the credibility of which is guaranteed only by a partial experience, can induce a rational belief that the laws of nature were suspended, because their absolute uniformity is established by universal experience.
In answer we admit that universal experience establishes the uniformity of a law of nature as such. But it is this precisely that makes a miracle possible, otherwise we could not discrimi- nate between the natural and the supernatural. A miracle is a supernatural act, and universal experience testifies nothing upon the subject, further than that nature being uniform, a supernat- ural act might be recognized as such, if it occurred. Negative evidence has no force against well established positive evidence. But the fact that men in China never saw a miracle in six thou- sand years proves absolutely nothing as to whether men in Judea did or did not see them on many occasions.