(Gal 3», 1 Co 121"- ss-s" 14«). These works, which are instances of trveviiaTiKa or spiritual [gifts], in- clude healings and other ' powers,' speaking with tongues and interpretation of tongues, and pro- phecy. We have it at first hand that the Jews expected such signs of Christian preachers (1 Co I--). The visions of St. Paul are attested by him- self in 2 Co \-2--*.
(ii.) Of other works and charismata in the NT, we have not, outside the Gospels, first-hand evi- dence ; yet even what we have must be pronounced exceptionally good when we remember the ojipor- tunities which St. Luke had of converse with those who actually saw the events. At the outset we note that St. Peter in his speeches attributes to our Lord ' power and wonders and signs ' (Ac 2"-), and the healing of demoniacs (10**). Then, signs and wonders, healings of the sick and of demoniacs, are attributed to the apostles generally (2^ 5'-' "). In 3' 9** St. Peter heals the lame man and j^ineas ; in 5°- '° he inflicts sudden death on Ananias and Sapphira ; in 9*" he raises Dorcas from the dead ; and in 5'° the sick are brought so that his shadow may fall on some of them, though it is not said that they were thereby cured. In 6' Stephen works wonders and signs ; in 8"- " Philip works signs and powers at Samaria. In 15'^ Barnabas and Paul relate to the Apostolic Council how signs and wonders had been worked by them. In 13" St. Paul strikes Elymas blind ; in 14'" he heals the impotent man at Lystra ; in 19" he works ' special ' (oi> Tai rvxoi(Tai) powers at Ephesus, and even his garments taken to the sick and the demoniacs heal them. In He 2* the first preachers of the gospel are said to have worked signs and wonders and powers. Divine interpositions are recorded in Ac 519 12'", where an angel opens prison doors. We read of speaking with tongues and prophesying at Pentecost (2') and at Ephesus (19*), and the same thing is probably implied in 8'"-, because Simon Magus saw that the Holy Ghost was given at Samaria. Another prophecy of Agabus (this time at second hand) is quoted in 11^. Numerous visions of our Lord are recorded : in Ac P"- (be- tween the Resurrection and the Ascension), 9^"' etc. (to St. Paul at his conversion), 9'" (to Ananias), 22'* 23" (to St. Paul at Jerusalem) : and something of this sort is implied by the direction of the Spirit in le*'-. Visions of angels are recorded in 8=« (to Philip), 10' (to Peter), 27=» (to St. Paul on his voyage to Italy) ; in 16' St. Paul sees the 'certain man of Macedonia.'
Miraculous deeds are ascribed to non-Christians and also to Satan and his ministers. The Jewish exorcists might expect to cast out demons, though as a matter of fact they were not successful in doing so (Ac 19"'' )• Simon Magus by his 'magic' did wonderful things, so that he was named ' that power of God which is called Great ' (8'"). The Lawless One in 2 Th 2' is marked by ' power and signs and lying wonders ' ; in Rev. the second beast (IS"*-), the spirits of demons (16'^), the false pro- phet (19™), who is apparently to be identified with the second beast (see H. B. Swete, Apoc.'^, 1907, p. 206), work signs, just as our Lord had said that false Christs and false prophets should show signs and wonders (Mt 24=*, Mk 13-).
3. Examination of the evidence. — In consider- ing the facts enumerated above, it is quite possible, and even probable, that we must deduct several of the incidents mentioned as not being in any real sense miraculous, even though they might have seemed so to the bystanders. It is, for instance, probable that Eutychus was not really dead. Agabus' prophecies may have been but shrewd forecasts of events. The viper in Malta may not in reality have been poisonous. It is conceivable that Dorcas was in a state of coma and not really
MIRACLES
MIRACLES
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(lead. The visions, the gift of tonijnes and of pro- phesying may not belong properly to the category of the miraculous. Yet when all possihle deduc- tions have been made, there can be no doubt that the NT is saturated with miracles, and that the writers were lirnily persuaded that Jesus and His disciples had worked them.
How, then, are we to interpret the 'signs,' 'powers,' and ' wonders' of the NT? There is an increasing disposition at the present time among those who formerly would have denied all miracles to accept as genuine many of the NT narratives, especially those of healings and of e.\'pulsions of demons ; and tliis is due to the greater knowledge which we ;iow have of the power of mind over matter. But much depends on what we mean by a ' miracle.' To the man in the street it \isually conveys the idea of a contravention of nature. This, however, is not a good dehnition. Augustine, in an often-quoted passage, remarks that a miracle {portentum) is notagainstnature, butagainst known nature (de Civ. Dei, XXI. viii. 2). What may ap- pear to one eye to be a contravention of the laws of nature is often found in a later age to be in reality in accordance with them. As an example, wireless telegraphy would have seemed in the 1st cent, to be a miracle, whereas we now know it to be a natural phenomenon. Many, therefore, of the ' signs ' of the NT, not only those which we are now beginning to see are no contravention of nature, such as the healings in nervous cases, but also others, may before long be found to be in accordance with law. When we ourselves shall have risen from the dead, and see ' face to face,' we may find that our Lord's resurrection and our own are the necessary outcome of law. The theory of 'relative miracles' was propounded by Schleier- macher, and has perhaps hardly been done justice to, though it is not possible to assent to all his reasoning. The theory substitutes for a contra- vention of nature a miracle of knowledge. Certain persons had a greater hold on the secrets of nature than their contemporaries ; but this was by a Divine interposition. Even in the case of Jewish and heathen magicians this may to some extent be true ; it is not necessary to brand men like Simon and Elymas and Apollonius of Tyana (a Cappa- docian of the 1st cent, of our era) as mere impostors. It follows, then, that while the stories of miracles are narrated in the way that was best suited to the comprehension of the Apostolic Age, several of them, had they been \Tiitten in our day, would have been given in difl'erent language (Sanday, HDB ii. 625'').