ripture. Bul these must not he rged the
■ me in th.- ..I her. even if they should be imagined in
Ii . Especially must we nol assume the
intrusion of a superior moral law into the domain of
upplanting it in that sphere, and so divesting
a miracle of its real miraculoustiess, \\ hen God works
a mirai le he Bets aside, we must suppose, a certain law
of laws ol nature for the time being, and in
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' that particular respect, by virtue of his own superior right as creator. It is nol merely the spontaneous su- pervention of a mightier countervailing law up to that lime held in abeyance for such conjunctions. Th.- lat- ter assumption is only an insidious form of modern ra- tionalism, which would fain, ai all hazard, divest the miracles of the Bible of their supernatural character. We musl never forget thai a miracle is a physical fact, bul one- in its very nature abnormal from a scientific point "I < >' w.
Nor do we overlook the argument derived from the moral change effected by the Holy Spirit in regener- ation and sanctification. These are often claimed as miracle- of grace. Ileal they are supernal ural, ill the
sen-.- ol being wrought by a power beyond ami superior to human nature, is certainly true: hut the fact that they are specially, or even immediately, the work of God does not prove them to lee properly miraculous. For, in the first place, in Ihis respect they are merely analogous to any .act of particular divine providence, and in like manner they lack all the essential charac- teristics of a miracle, namely, a point-blank contradic- tion "I natural law, the authoritative behest of an oper- ator, ami a moral truth to he sanctioned. They are .answers to prayer \\ 1 1 i< -1 1 await the divine pleasure, on the- performance of certain well-known ami universally fixed conditions. They are in no sense' special « >r arbi- trary. On the contrary, they are most fully un.hr the. dominion of law. and can he counted upon with the most invariable certainty. They an- as -ore to follow the diligent use of the appointed means as any other effect is to flow from iis appropriate cause. Indeed, all the healthful and legitimate influences of the spirit are normal and in the regular line of our own mental action (John iii. .s I. Even the afflatus of inspiration is no ex- ception to ihis ruh' 1 1 < or. \i\ . :;•_> |. But, in the sc cond pl.i.-e. the. spiritual character of the revolution at con- version places it .altogether outside the category of mi- raculous events. These latter always have reference, more or less intimately, to the realm of physics; they appeal to the senses; thej musl he susceptible of ocu- lar, audible, tangible proof. This is their only security against imposition or self-delusion. II in an\ case, as in the instance of the miraculous "gift of unknown tongues" in the early Church, and the expulsion of dae- mons from the possessed, they have their seal in the
mind, yet they exhibit palpable evidences through the
organs ami acts of the body, namely, the lang the endowed, and the rational behavior of the dispos- sessed. In short, miracles are mutt rod evidences of a supernatural authority.
Iii the discussion of this whole question we would do well to see what Scripture says on the subject. There is a large class of passages, chiefly in the words of our Lord Jesus himself, which seem to give tin. believer the broadest privilege in this respect. For example, he
said to his disciples on one occasion. "If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard-seed, \ e shall say unto this moun- tain. Remove hence to yonder place: and ii shall re- move: and nothing shall he impossible to you" (Matt. xvii. 20) ; and on another occasion he told them, " If ye have faith, and doubl not. ye shall not only do that whi.h is done to i he fig-tree, hut also if ye shall say
unto this mountain, lie thou r. moved, and he thou cast
into the sea. ii shall be done; and all things whatsoev- er ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive*' (Matt. xxi. 21, 22). Elsewhi re he adds another condi- tion to this grant: "Whatsoever ye- shall ask in my name, thai w ill I d... that the Father ma\ he- glorifii d in the Son. [fye shall ask anything in my name, I will
do it" i John \i\ . 1".. Ili: and again. " \Vhals..o\ . r ye shall ask I he father in mj name, he will give il you"
(xvi, -'■; . The force of these declarations is usually parried, as to the' question under consideration, by the
explanation that they were addressed I" the apostlt S as
such, and intended to apply in their full sense only to them in th.ir official capacity, or at furthest only to
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479
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Christian teachers in the apostolic age. It is true there is nothing in the language that thus limits them, but it is claimed that the fact of the cessation of the miracle- working power proves that such was the intention of the Grantor. We suggest the query whether this very interpretation has not clipped the wings of that faith upon which the believer is here authorized to soar into the higher region of Christian privilege. For aught that legitimately appears to the contrary, if the grant has been revoked, it has been precisely and solely in consequence of unbelief in these identical promises. But, he that as it may, in point of fact, we repeat, few if any sane and orthodox Christians nowadays profess to have the requisite faith to venture upon such acts; and therefore the question is narrowed down, whether rightly or wrongly, to the commonplace sphere of non- miraculous subjects of prayer.