5. Classifications, more or less instructive, of the miracles of Christ, have often been drawn up.§ We can here only briefly indicate their general character in respect of their claim to be regarded as due to power other than that of the ordinary forces of nature, as known or as conceivable to us. (a) There are, first, the miracles worked upon man, the miracles of healing. Some of these present no peculiar difficulty of credence to any one who is familiar with the remarkable phenomena of hypno- tism, or more generally with the influence of a strong will over a weak one, though it would be rash to assert, and (in view of all the facts) is in itself improbable, that this is the whole secret in any case. Such, for instance, are the cures of the demoniacs (Mt 8% 157! 1714, Mk 138), of the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda (Jn 5°), of the man with the withered hand (Mt 12!), of the woman with the spirit of infirmity (Lk 15"), of the dumb man with a devil (Mt 982), and of the man ‘ pos- sessed with a devil, blind and dumb’ (Mt 12). We find it increasingly difficult to accept any such explanations in the cases of the healing of the paralytics (Mt 8° 9), of the deaf man (Mk 78), of the blind (Mt 951 20%, Mk 8%, Jn 91, the last of which is specially remarkable, and was so regarded at the time), of the dropsical man (Lk 145), of the fever patient healed with a touch (Mt 8), of the woman with the issue (Mt 9°), of the lepers (Mt 8, Lk 174, the healing in the former case being brought about by a touch, in the latter case by a mere word of power), of Malchus’ servant (Lk 225). And more wonderful (to our eyes) than any of these was the raising of the dead, the daughter of Jairus (Mt 978, though here it is noteworthy that the statement that the child was really dead was not
* This question has been carefully examined by Bruce, /.c. 101
+ God and the Bible, p. 23.
+ Ecce Homo, p. 41.
§ See especially Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 480 ff.
MIRACLE
made by Christ Himself), the widow of Nain’s son (Lk 7"), and Lazarus (Jn 114%), in the last of which cases, at least, all doubt as to the fact of death is excluded by the attendant circumstances.
(b) We have, secondly, the cosmic miracles, as they have been called—those which were wrought upon nature. The Blasting of the Fig-tree (Mt21}*), the Stilling of the Storm (Mt 8%), and the Walking on the Sea (Mt 14%), betray the energy of One who had power not only over man, but over the unin- telligent forces of the universe. Certainly these cannot be explained, or explained away, by any hypothesis such as that which has been resorted to in the case of the healing of demoniacs or the like. And a controlling force of a quite extraordi- nary character seems to have manifested itself in the Feeding of the Four Thousand (Mt 1632) and of the Five Thousand (Mt 14"), as well as in that first ‘sign’ of all, the Transformation of water into wine at the marriage feast (Jn 21}.
(c) Four cases have been left out of considera- tion, inasmuch as if they stood alone they might be explained as coincidences, the like of which hap- pens in every one’s experience. The great dranghts of fish (Lk 5! and Jn 215) and the finding of the stater in the fish’s mouth (Mt 1774, although here it is noteworthy that we are not told that the coin was actually found), as well as the recovery of the nobleman’s son at Capernaum (Jn 4#°), are not in themselves preter naturam ; but they receive their significance from their connexion with prophetic words of the Christ. They are (to take the lowest view) σημεῖα of His superhuman wisdom.
6. Thus, on a review of all the miracles of the Ministry of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, al- though no doubt this or that isolated event might be plausibly referred to natural causes, yet un- doubtedly there are some among the number which cannot be reasonably thus explained; and all, taken together, if they have been correctly re- ported to us, present a phenomenon for which we are driven to seek a cause other than the physical forces of the universe can provide.
7. The Evidence—What is the value of the evidence for these phenomena? ‘The Gospels re- ceived their present form, let us assume, between the years 60 and 90 a.p. That is to say, we have written testimony to the facts set down within half a century of their alleged occurrence. Is this testimony strong enough to outweigh the ad- mitted improbability, @ posteriori, of such anom- alous and extraordinary events? The question about the Gospel miracles is often put in this form, but it is not the form in which it will be put by any one who appreciates what is the real problem at issue. For nothing has been said in the foregoing summary of the alleged resurrection of Christ Himself. It was this upon which the controversy as to His claims hinged in the early days of Christianity, and it was a true instinct which led the first preachers of the gospel to place it in the foreground. If He really rose from the dead, then it is plain that He cannot be judged by the standards which we rightly apply to the alleged doings of men like ourselves.* The miracles of the ministry, with rare exceptions, were not worked under circumstances which should fit them to be absolutely convincing credentials to the world of the Divine mission of Jesus. They were, speaking in general terms and with reserva- tions which have been already explained (see iii. § 5),