1 Cor. xv. 8, "And last of all, he (Christ) was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

None of which bear out Luke's statement; for the appearance of Jesus on which Paul founds his claim to the apostleship might be a vision, as there is reason to suppose it was in the case of James. See chap. vii. Earthquake The earthquake in the at Philippi. several marks of fiction.

prison of Philippi has The keeper prepares

to kill himself, before he knows whether the prisoners are fled or not. Paul guesses, in the dark, what the keeper is doing, and calls out in time to save him. This heathen keeper having obtained a light, addresses Paul and Silas with the very Christian phrase, "What must I do to be saved?" Moreover, the two prisoners' release is attributed, not to the earthquake, but to the order of the magistrates the next morning. In Paul's Epistle to the Philippians no allusion is made to this miracle.

CHAPTER XI.

ON THE EVIDENCE AFFORDED TO THE MIRACLES BY THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS.

PALEY admits (Evid. part iii. ch. v.), that the Apostles appealed less frequently than he himself should have done to the miracles, and he attributes this to the want of a due appreciation of miracles in that age, owing to the general belief in magical agency. But the excuse seems insufficient. The church of Rome, whilst denouncing practisers of witchcraft, has been eager enough to set forth its own miracles. The Jews who believed in the magical acts of Pharaoh's magicians, were not the less forward to celebrate the miracles of Moses; and the disciples, if not admitting the absolute conclusiveness of a miracle as a divine credential, were yet well aware of its great value. For they admit that the Jews frequently required a sign, and John makes Jesus say, "Unless ye see wonders and signs, ye will not believe."

The four Gospels and the Acts were written at a comparatively late period, viz. forty years and upwards after the death of Christ, or a distance of time varying from ten to forty years after the events recorded. But most of the Epistles were written earlier, whilst the Apostles were administering the affairs of the church, and consequently in the midst of the miraculous period. Moreover, in these writings, at least in the Epistles of Paul, John, James, and the first of Peter, we may fairly calculate upon having very nearly these Apostles' own words. Let us collect all the passages in these Epistles which seem to allude to the miracles of Jesus or of his disciples.

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Rom. xv. 17-19: "I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ, in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the spirit of God."

1 Cor. ii. 4: " And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power."

1 Cor. xii. 8-10: "For to one is given, by the spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge, by the same spirit; to another faith, by the same spirit; to another, the gifts of healing, by the same spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kind of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues."

Ver. 28: "And God hath set some in the church; first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that miracles; then, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."

2 Cor. xii. 12: "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds."

Gal. iii. 5: "He, therefore, that ministereth the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ?"

the Epistles of

There are no allusions to miracles in James, John, Jude, or the first of Peter. In the second, or doubtful* Epistle of Peter, there is an allusion to the prophecy of Peter's death, and to the transfiguration. But the word of prophecy is said to be "more sure.”

The above passages in Paul's Epistles shew that the church, in general, valued miracles as divine credentials, but they are insufficient to prove that any had been really wrought; for

1. Not one instance of a miracle is cited; which is extraordinary in such a large collection of letters to the communities amongst whom they were supposed to have

*The testimony of Eusebius seems almost enough to stamp this Epistle as spurious, since it appears incredible that the early church should have hesitated to receive any real writings of the chief Apostle. Nevertheless, it may be appealed to as assisting to shew the opinions of the early Christians.

been frequent; the subject of miracles being occasionally introduced, and Paul being in the habit of frequently appealing to facts within their own knowledge. For instance, he reminds Timothy of the afflictions he met with at Lystra, but never alludes to the healing of the lame man there. The ill health of Trophimus is mentioned, and also that of Timothy, but none of the miraculous cures at Ephesus or Melita.

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2. The low rank in which Paul places miracles appears inconsistent with the supposition that those of which he speaks were real and indisputable ones. manifest suspension of the laws of nature must be one of the most impressive events that could happen to men of any age or country; and persons commissioned to command or declare such suspensions from time to time could hardly fail to be regarded, in any society, with the highest degree of reverence ever paid to men; yet Paul speaks of the Corinthian miracle-workers in this depreciating manner,-"thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles," &c. The only explanation seems to be, that he knew that the performances in question were far from being clear miracles, and would not bear to have much stress laid upon them. Hence, although he himself did not wholly reject the pretensions in question, and was willing that they should contribute as far as they might to the service of the church, he urges the Corinthians to seek after gifts, which he was conscious might be claimed with less danger of discredit.

3. It appears that Paul's claims to the apostleship were resisted by a strong party, although, according to his own account, he had wrought all the signs of an apostle, including wonders and mighty deeds. Yet in 2 Cor. xi. xii., where he asserts his claim to be considered one of the chiefest apostles most forcibly, he makes very little use of his miracles; and when speaking even of his adventures at Damascus, does not mention the miracle of his

conversion, which would have supplied a very pertinent argument. The twelfth verse 2 Cor. xii. is added, when he appears to have nearly concluded the subject.

Upon the whole, the notices of the miracles found in the apostolic writings are too scanty to agree with the reality of such numerous and striking miracles as are recorded in the Gospels and the Acts. Such miracles, whilst yet in the in the eyes and ears of men, must have formed a constant topic of discourse; and, although much of the Epistles is argumentative and hortatory, we should have expected that some allusions to the miraculous as well as to the ordinary occurrences within the knowledge of the persons addressed, would have found their way into them.

The lower classes in every age and country, owing to their less acquaintance with physical science, are disposed to see special interventions in ordinary events, and receive readily miraculous tales when brought to them; but about the time of Christ, even grave historians, both Greek and Roman, admitted such tales into their most finished compositions. Amongst the Jews, especially, the national temper, creed, and low degree of scientific attainments, promoted the taste for the miraculous; consequently, their accomplished historian Josephus, although obviously checked by his fear of Greek and Roman criticism, and without any other apparent motive than a pure love of the marvellous, could not resist the temptation of introducing abundance of miraculous stories. The historians of the early reformed Jewish, or Christian, churches, were inferior to Josephus in education and literary attainments, wrote under stronger excitement, had in view the interest and honour of their own newly risen sect, and apparently intended their works for the use of their brethren, who were influenced by the same