Him and shouted for His death. But to His immediate disciples He gave further personal proofs of His Divine nature. He calmed the tempests and stilled the waves, He appeared walking on the water, and taught them that faith in Him would be signalised by their being endowed with equal power; and having thus reassured their feeble apprehensions, He gradually unfolded the great cardinal truth that, though He must be crucified, He would rise again. Yet even they could hardly understand that this could be, till after He visibly reappeared, on the way to Emmaus, on the sea shore, in their secret gatherings together, till He had bidden them touch and feel Him, and the -last doubter among them exclaimed,' My Lord and my God.' Then the crowning miracle had effected the crowning work.

It needs only this brief review and summary of the miracles of Jesus to show that these departures from the ordinary laws of nature were necessary for the purpose of accrediting Him as the allpowerful Son of God. In order likewise to accredit His immediate messengers the power of working such miracles on special occasions was conferred on the apostles. And the evidence that all these narratives are true is as good as the

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EVIDENCE OF GOSPELS

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evidence for any other historical fact. Biblical critics have in these last days come to a general concurrence in the belief that the Gospels were written by the authors whose names they bear, and at no long period after the events which they narrate. Very many were then living who had seen some of the events, and on their teaching and testimony the sect of the Christians spread with unexampled rapidity over the whole civilised world. The idea of this being the result of falsehood and forgery is contrary to common-sense, and is especially untenable when we keep in view that the doctrine thus attested was one of absolute truth, purity, and disregard of every suggestion of earthly advantage and credit. It is inconceivable that such a number of persons could all be mistaken, equally inconceivable that guided by such motives they could be wilful deceivers. The evidence, therefore, judged by ordinary legal or historical principles, is overwhelming that the miracles really occurred.

The objection that a breach of the laws of nature must be disastrous to the regular course and anticipation of events in the physical world is answered by the fact that the Gospel miracles were only special and occasional, and consequently had

M

no bearing on the general sequence of natural laws. These violations effected God's purpose for the moment, just as the general rules effect His purpose in the general design of nature.

If now it be asked whether miracles occur at the present day, the answer of most of us can only be that we cannot tell. God's message of the Gospels is now so widely spread and acknowledged that it needs not the repetition of such attestation. But many events occur in the physical and moral world at this day which we cannot explain by anything we know of natural laws. Many a person declared by physicians to be hopelessly ill of mortal disease has risen from the sick-bed and is among us now. Many an event takes place in which human foresight is baffled, and human arrangements are set at naught, and if we can trace these events in the first stage to natural causes, we are utterly lost in the attempt to trace what influence brought these natural causes into action at the precise moment when they took effect. But if we believe in God we may be content to be in His care, and if we believe that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father, we may accept His gracious words that we are in His sight of more value than

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many sparrows. The line between His special intervention in the form of miracles and His general government of the world must be in many cases beyond our comprehension, but in the next chapter we shall see the grounds for believing that His guidance of us is not limited to the occasions on which He sees fit to apply His power in what we deem a miraculous way.

CHAPTER XI

PROVIDENCE

THIS is a word often used by persons of a religious turn of mind when they wish to speak of God without using His name. If anyone suffers misfortunes, if he loses some who are dear to him, if he has pecuniary troubles, or falls ill, or meets with an accident, he is reminded that these events come from Providence. So, on the other hand, an escape from danger is called providential, and if the future is uncertain we are bidden to put our trust in Providence. There is nothing to be said against the sentiment, if it means referring all things to God; but it is difficult to understand why we should be shamefaced in directly saying so. There seems to be some vague idea that Providence is a species of impersonal destiny, or at best a being who regulates the world in a distant and regardless way- often inflicting punishment, though perhaps for our good; sometimes bestow