frequent, and ceased entirely at the death of the last in- dividual on whom the hands of the Apostles had been laid. That event would, in the natural course of things, take place before the middle of the second century — at a time when Christianity, having obtained a footing in all the provinces of the Roman Empire, the miraculous gifts conferred upon the first teachers had performed their appropriate office — that of proving to the world that a new revelation had been given from heaven. What, then, would be the effect pro- duced upon the minds of the great body of Christians by their gradual cessation? Many would not observe, none would be willing to observe, it. . . . They who remarked the cessation of miracles would probably succeed in per- suading themselves that it was only temporary and de- signed by an all-wise Providence to be the prelude to a more abundant effusion of the supernatural powers upon the church. Or if doubts and misgivings crossed their minds, they would still be unwilling to state a fact which might shake the steadfastness of their friends, and would certainly be urged by the enemies of the gospel as an argu- ment against its divine origin. They would pursue the plan which has been pursued by Justin Martyr, Theophilus, Irenasus, etc.; they would have recourse to general asser- tions of the existence of supernatural powers, without at- tempting to produce a specific instance of their exer- cise. . . ." The bishop then proceeds to recapitulate the main points and grounds of this theory.62
Whatever we may think of the specific explanation which Bishop Kaye presents of the language of the second-cen- tury Fathers, we can scarcely fail to perceive that the con- finement of the supernatural gifts by the Scriptures to those who had them conferred upon them by the Apostles, affords a ready explanation of all the historical facts. It explains the unobserved dying out of these gifts. It even explains — what might at first sight seem inconsistent with it — the failure of allusion to them in the first half of the second
THE DEEPER PRINCIPLE 25
century. The great missionary Apostles, Paul and Peter, had passed away by A. D. 68, and apparently only John was left in extreme old age until the last decade of the first century. The number of those upon whom the hands of Apostles had been laid, living still in the second century, cannot have been very large. We know of course of John's pupil Polycarp ; we may add perhaps an Ignatius, a Papias, a Clement, possibly a Hermas, or even a Leucius; but at the most there are few of whom we know with any definite- ness. That Justin and Irenaeus and their contemporaries allude to miracle-working as a thing which had to their knowledge existed in their day, and yet with which they seem to have little exact personal acquaintance, is also ex- plained. Irenaeus's youth was spent in the company of pupils of the Apostles; Justin may easily have known of, if not even witnessed, miracles wrought by Apostolically trained men. The fault of these writers need have been no more than a failure to observe, or to acknowledge, the cessation of these miracles during their own time; so that it is not so much the trustworthiness of their testimony as their understanding of the changing times which falls un- der criticism. If we once lay firm hold upon the biblical principle which governed the distribution of the miraculous gifts, in a word, we find that we have in our hands a key which unlocks all the historical puzzles connected with them.
There is, of course, a deeper principle recognizable here, of which the actual attachment of the charismata of the Apostolic Church to the mission of the Apostles is but an illustration. This deeper principle may be reached by us through the perception, more broadly, of the inseparable connection of miracles with revelation, as its mark and credential; or, more narrowly, of the summing up of all revelation, finally, in Jesus Christ. Miracles do not ap- pear on the page of Scripture vagrantly, here, there, and elsewhere indifferently, without assignable reason. They
26 COUNTERFEIT MIRACLES